tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60924352012-02-08T13:10:38.305-08:00Mingus LivesOne jazz writer's musings on music, family, and whatever else comes off the top of his head.Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-16276399821747791312011-04-14T07:09:00.000-07:002011-04-14T07:17:57.920-07:00Pending Trombone Legislation (thanks to Robert Robb for this)(UP Newsfeed: 2/10/11) WASHINGTON, D.C. Each year thousands of people are killed, maimed or annoyed by Trombones.The statistics of head, neck and even shoulder injuries sustained by Reed Players, French Horn and String Sections seated within reach of the Deadly Seventh Position are truly shocking...not to mention forced early retirementTodd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-22045833506975852582011-01-06T21:04:00.000-08:002011-01-06T21:59:49.333-08:00From the mid-1960s until he retired from music in 1982, Captain Beefheart (aka Don Van Vliet) and the Magic Band epitomized the avant-garde frontier of rock-and-roll. His ferocious blend of Howlin' Wolf-inspired blues passion, stream-of-consciousness ranting, and cutting-edge rock energy was unmatched in his lifetime. Despite his friendship with Frank Zappa and his ability to recognize and Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-51266687454128838892011-01-06T13:32:00.001-08:002011-01-06T14:12:58.534-08:00I have been reviewing music long enough to be a little skeptical when so-called "lost recordings" emerge. While a good number of them turn out to have been worth the wait and make one wonder why they were forgotten for so long, the bulk of such unearthed sessions tend to be uninteresting additions to the artists' discographies, notable more for their novelty than their quality.How wonderful, thenTodd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-90303515614048011422010-12-30T12:55:00.001-08:002010-12-30T12:59:07.683-08:00A tip of the hat in memory of Dr. Billy Taylor, godfather of the Jazzmobile, icon of jazz education in America, and one of the finest pianists this nation has ever produced. While he was never as famous a musician as many of his peers, Dr. Taylor positively impacted more lives with the joyous gospel of jazz than most educators could ever hope for. He was universally respected, deeply loved, and Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-15172456722711543332010-12-22T11:10:00.000-08:002010-12-22T11:38:23.818-08:00A few years back, in a blindfold test done for Down Beat, bassist Charlie Haden referred to a piece of music (this one, actually) as "completely unnecessary". It was an interesting choice of words, and led to a brief but insightful discussion within the jazz community as to what type of music would be considered "necessary". At the time I thought Haden was a bit off-base; while the piece in Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-21757472839737154542010-08-21T20:27:00.000-07:002010-08-21T20:34:15.412-07:00Lately I've been up to my ears in everything but writing about jazz. Still, I have managed to come across some really brilliant new releases I'd like to point you to. More words later as I find the time; until then, go check these albums out pronto! They represent the best in contemporary jazz stylings.Champian Fulton, The Breeze and I (Gut String Records). A charming, vital, bright-voiced singerTodd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-78862740341491515032009-11-01T07:12:00.001-08:002009-11-01T07:26:56.937-08:00I'm still halfway in shock over the passing of trumpeter and vocalist Stacy Rowles, due to complications following a major car accident two weeks ago. She was a dear friend and one of L.A.'s hidden jazz treasures. Stacy never really received her due in the jazz community, despite being a very talented player and singer.When I was first approached to start writing about jazz back in 1991, the Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-66884413330689067002009-09-29T06:58:00.000-07:002009-09-29T07:19:40.220-07:00Testing, testing... Hey, is this thing on?Hello to whomever might still be out there. After a loooooooooooong absence brought on by various life intrusions, I've decided to return to Mingus Lives on occasion. My jazz activities are finally picking up again, and it would be nice to have a regular outlet for discussion, dissertation, dissension and blab. Hopefully it will be worth the ride for all Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1168661932691867702007-01-12T19:46:00.000-08:002007-01-12T20:30:02.003-08:00Sheesh! Once again, it's been a terribly long time since I had a chance to post here. After the Mingus book was done, I had to dive into a number of different projects that I'm still chugging through. I hope to get back here more regularly... just like I said eleven months ago! Life intrudes, you know?At any rate, I received a number of insightful e-mails over the past year regarding the Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1141068098735871562006-02-27T11:07:00.000-08:002006-02-27T11:21:38.763-08:00At IAJE's annual gathering in 2005, bassist/educator Charlie Haden participated in a Blindfold Test for Down Beat Magazine. One of the selections played was Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen's interpretation of the Beatles' "Come Together", full of strummed double-stops and other exotic bass techniques. When the track was over, the first comment that Haden made was simply, "That piece of music was Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1141067028976144762006-02-27T10:58:00.000-08:002006-02-27T11:03:48.990-08:00A quick update on my next book, for those who are interested. I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus will be published by Praeger around the end of April 2006. The book is a comprehensive laymen's listener's guide to Mingus' recordings, from the earliest West Coast 78s through his last sessions and some of the tribute albums that followed his passing. Arranger Sy Johnson has been kind Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1141065885493440112006-02-27T10:41:00.000-08:002007-02-19T22:39:07.780-08:00Mingus fans who have long lamented the absence of the 1965 UCLA concert on CD need lament no longer. Sue Mingus Records will be issuing the complete concert on CD in September 2006, simultaneously with Live in Tokyo by the Mingus Big Band. Now if only Sue could get her hands on My Favorite Quintet, the other major Mingus work that's absent in CD format...Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1137621350979264292006-01-18T13:51:00.000-08:002006-02-27T11:05:28.770-08:00There aren’t many hometown boys here in the Inland Empire that are making waves in the jazz world. Alto saxophonist Matt Zebley is one, fresh out of Berklee’s master’s program and gone a while now from the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Another man deserving further recognition is arranger Sandy Megas, whose oddest claim to fame is being the man who composed the U.S. Army’s “Be All That You Can Be” Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1135943861533894532005-12-30T03:25:00.000-08:002006-01-18T14:00:59.873-08:00One of my New Year's resolutions for 2006 is to keep this blog updated more than once every few months. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll have more of value to say, but...I've been thinking for the past couple of weeks about the notion of tribute albums. To my ears, the best jazz tributes have tended to be those that balance the inspirational essence of the honoree and the creativity of those Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1115417546183462432005-05-06T15:09:00.000-07:002005-05-06T15:12:26.186-07:00I got an update this morning on the proposed Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center, to be built next to the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. Ernest Dillihay, the Performing Arts Facilities Director for L.A. Cultural Affairs, told me that the project is still on target, and construction on the new facility will begin sometime in June of this year. I've asked him for further details about what kind of Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1115417101330541892005-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:002005-05-06T15:05:01.340-07:00I've always referred to my late friend Joanne Greenough as my "jazz buddy". Between the time I got out of high school and my marriage, we would often go to whatever jazz concerts caught our attention in Southern California. Never mind that she was my best friend's mother; our mutual love of jazz gave us a great and enduring bond.In about 1992 Joanne called me in a state of ecstasy to let me know Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1111510441981294612005-03-22T08:43:00.000-08:002005-03-22T08:54:01.983-08:00While I'm thinking about it, I need to update a couple of prior postings:A relative of Kenneth Terroade was kind enough to contact me several months ago and give me an update on the saxophonist. It turns out that he's a full-time worship musician at his home congregation in Jamaica, devoting all of his musical energies to worshipping God. Can't think of a better pursuit, myself!One of the first Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1111509728689235812005-03-22T08:37:00.000-08:002005-03-22T09:01:52.940-08:00Well, it’s been just about a year since I posted anything here. Can’t say much except that life intrudes. I got my free jazz book out on the market, and now I'm continuing work on the Mingus listener's guide. I’m going to try and get back to regularly sharing thoughts and reviews on “Mingus Lives”, because I’ve been surprised at the number of people who actually read what’s posted here with very Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1079150254660527082004-03-12T19:57:00.000-08:002005-05-06T21:12:47.806-07:00I've been doing a research project on Latin music for the past couple of weeks. In the process I rediscovered an amazing musician of whom I think the world needs to be more aware. Pianist and composer Hugo Fattoruso hails from Uruguay but has lived in upstate New York for some time. He belongs to one of the great dynasties of candombe, Uruguay's dynamic musical art. His father, bassist Antonio, Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1076301357171291232004-02-08T20:35:00.000-08:002004-02-08T20:41:19.606-08:00Well, just a couple of days after I posted my wonderment about the new Aebersold volume, I got their catalog in the mail. Turns out Volume 100 involves Dixieland, another wonderful element of jazz history that Aebersold had neglected for too long. Kudos to Jamey for filling in a much-needed gap there. But you still gotta work Mingus in there somewhere, sometime...
Having observed the jazz camp atTodd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1074200458025612582004-01-15T13:00:00.000-08:002004-01-15T13:37:10.746-08:00For well over a year now Jamey Aebersold, he of the immensely instructive jazz play-along records, has been promising that Volume 100 of the series would be something really special. The company has gotten up to about Volume 107 now, yet they're still mum about what will be in the delayed centennial book. Since they've barely given Mingus' music the time of day in their prior releases, a little Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1073112699876936682004-01-02T22:51:00.000-08:002004-01-02T22:51:57.853-08:00Following my recent hunt for Jacques Coursil, I started to wonder about another free jazzer who ran in the same circles: Jamaican-born saxophonist Kenneth Terroade. Like Coursil, Terroade is chiefly remembered for appearing on a few BYG Records releases in 1969: Sunny Murray's Sunshine, (Never Give A Sucker) An Even Break and Homage to Africa, sessions with Dave Burrell and Alan Silva’s Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1071823414206531562003-12-19T00:43:00.000-08:002003-12-19T01:15:27.550-08:00Upon hearing the new Cecil Taylor album, The Willisau Concert (Intakt), one thought stuck with me. But it didn't specifically have to do with Cecil's undiminished improvisational powers or the intense, lingering emotional impact of his music. What kept haunting me was a comment from Branford Marsalis in Ken Burns' Jazz documentary. He off-handedly characterized Cecil's performance theories as "Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1071165911699761282003-12-11T10:05:00.000-08:002003-12-11T10:08:34.346-08:00Word to the jazz business: raise up off Norah Jones, would you? I can’t think of a performer since Kenny G who’s gotten so much negative press just for not fitting into someone’s pigeonhole. In light of the deluge of personality-minus white-chick jazz singers that America has produced in the last thirty-odd years, Ms. Jones possesses not only a solid degree of talent but something that vocal jazzTodd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1069868147813947782003-11-26T09:35:00.000-08:002003-11-26T09:36:52.070-08:00Fans of free jazz might have been following the fascinating tale this past year of bassist Henry Grimes. Grimes was a legend of free jazz who made his name backing such artists as Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Lennie Tristano, Jimmy Giuffre, and Don Cherry, as well as more mainstream jazzmen like Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker, and even Benny Goodman. In 1967 Grimes Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6092435.post-1069101994435654352003-11-17T12:46:00.000-08:002004-01-15T12:54:10.996-08:00Hello to whomever happens across this page. I decided to explore the wide world of blogging after seeing the fad proliferate amongst my online friends and cohorts. I figured, what the heck, I might as well join the 21st century soapbox brigade. So here we are.
I can't make any rash promises as to the quality or intelligibility of the posts here, so I'll simply state that they will be (fairly Todd S. Jenkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06239181953886264902noreply@blogger.com0