Gosling: World’s Greatest Ambassador for Jazz?

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Ryan Gosling (left) gives a lecture on jazz, with help from the SNL band’s musical director, Lenny Pickett.

(Photo: Courtesy NBC)

Actor Ryan Gosling hosted the season opener for Saturday Night Live and began the Sept. 30 broadcast with a lecture on how he saved jazz—before being corrected by some famous friends.

To see the “informative” clip on the history of jazz, click here. DB.



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    A drummer’s drummer, Rodney Holmes gigged with everyone from Joe Zawinul and Carlos Santana to Steve Kimock and the Brecker Brothers.

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    Clockwise from top left, Mary Halvorson, Patricia Brennan, Adam O’Farrill, Keith Jarrett’s At the Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings, Sheila Jordan and Jaki Byard.

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    “The love from the jazz and music community restored my faith in humanity,” Walia wrote in an online post upon his release from detention at an ICE facility.

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    Ibrahim was an early jazz acolyte, studying the music via 78s he would buy from soldiers stationed in South Africa — who also gave him the nickname “Dollar.”

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    ​Percussionist Poncho Sanchez was among the artists scheduled to perform at the now-canceled inaugural LA Jazz Festival.


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