Kevin Sun

Every weekday this month I'll be posting new content in observance of  Jazz Appreciation Month (J.A.M.) , so-designated by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History beginning in 2001.  International Jazz Day , so-designated by UNESCO in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, is on the last day of April, the 30th; it was first celebrated in 2012. Debating the relative merits of designating specific days or months for celebrating heritages, traditions, and the like aside, Jazz Appreciation Month is at the very least an excuse to dig into some material that I've been interested in for a while on the blog.  Yesterday's installment featured  part two  of  a twofer on Teddy Edwards and early West Coast bop . The final installment tomorrow will feature some of Charlie Parker's earliest commercially recorded improvisations from 1941 with Jay McShann. †If you enjoy the content on this blog, please consider  supporting my ban...

One of the most helpful pedagogical devices I've been introduced to since coming to the New England Conservatory has been the playing lesson. Once a semester, Miguel Zenón asks his students to put together a rhythm section to play tunes with him (Donny McCaslin and John McNeil do this as well). Although Miguel is probably best known for his own compositions and arrangements, hearing him in a jam session-type situation like this where you're just calling tunes and blowing over changes is enlightening in its own way—you can tell he's really in his element here, with such a strong rhythmic gravity of his own that it pushes the rhythm section to swing harder as soon as he starts playing.  One of the tunes I called last semester in this lesson was "Isfahan," which we did in a medium tempo, rather than as a ballad. What really surprised me, though, was that instead of playing the melody with me, Miguel immediately started playing the saxophone background lines from th...

Earlier today I picked up a Billy Strayhorn tribute record by Fred Hersch called Passion Flower  (1996), which, aside from being excellent, I've realized is one of many Strayhorn tribute records I've checked out over the past few years. Others include Joe Henderson's Lush Life (1991), the PBS Documentary all-star companion compilation Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life (2007), and the original Strayhorn tribute, Duke's ...And His Mother Called Him Bill  (1967), which I snatched up last month from Prex.  Clark Terry in 2002. Photo by Michael Worner. The first track of that record is a medium swing tune called "Boo-Dah," which featured a flugelhorn solo that demanded my attention from the first note. It's only a chorus long, but a memorable example of making the most of a brief big-band feature to get up, say what you want to say, and sit down. I was particularly drawn to the blues and swing inflections throughout the solo, which I haven't heard much late...