Ron McClure: Seeing Miles Davis and Meeting Coltrane—An Extra Chapter
[The well-known bassist Ron McClure is my friend and neighbor on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Playback with Lewis Porter!
New insights into jazz and its history
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Wardell Gray with Billy Eckstine & Sonny Criss: An Unissued Radio Broadcast!
There is a substantial website, by Stuart Varden and our friend James Accardi, devoted to the beloved saxophonist Wardell Gray (1921-1955). If you click on the discography tab there, you will see an annotated listing of every recording of Gray. A number of items, mostly isolated numbers from radio broadcasts, are marked “unissued.” Today you will get to hear a complete broadcast that has never…
Freddie Hubbard Audio Interview with Dan Morgenstern, 1 of 2 (+Bonus)
(For paying subscribers, below you’ll find the Downbeat issue of December 1, 1966 where the printed version of this interview appeared, along with an article on Johnny Hodges and a blindfold test with Bill Cosby—long before anybody knew what we now know about him.)
Sonny Rollins, In Memoriam: The Rarest Print Interview
With the recent passing of Sonny Rollins (1930-2026), we have lost one of the great masters in the history of music.
Stuff Smith Performs & Talks on Paul Whiteman's Show, Unissued—Guest Post by Anthony Barnett (+Bonus Audio)
(Paying Subscribers, you will find a rare Stuff Smith 8-minute radio broadcast at the bottom, featuring wild violin and Jonah Jones’s flamboyant trumpet.)
Tadd Dameron & Fats Navarro: A Complete Recording Date w Unissued Takes & A Mistitled Song, 2 of 2 (+Bonus Transcriptions)
(Paying Subscribers, your bonus this time is a book of 42 Fats Navarro solos, transcribed by Boston-based trumpeter Peter Kenagy. Even for non-musicians, transcriptions are helpful as guides for following the recorded music.)
Tadd Dameron & Fats Navarro: A Complete Recording Date with Unissued Takes, 1 of 2
These materials were uncovered by the late researcher and radio host Phil Schaap (1951-2021), during a period when he was working in the Savoy Records archives.
Jack Teagarden Audio Oral History, 4: Boyhood Photo & Tales of Wingy Manone (+Bonus Book)
(For Paying Subscribers, you will find below a PDF of the complete 274-page autobiography of Wingy Manone, a book that is very entertaining as well as historically valuable!)
Charlie Parker: Dating His Solo Recording of "Honey & Body"—Guest Post by John Purcell, with Carl Woideck
[John Purcell is a Boston alto saxophonist with a lifelong interest in Charlie Parker and his music, and a Founding Member of this Playback.
Ornette Coleman: Rare Print Interview with John Litweiler, 2 of 2
Last time we read the first part of this interview of Ornette Coleman by John Litweiler, a jazz journalist based in Chicago.