May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Filmmaker Bret Primack has produced new podcasts available through his site and iTunes. The new installments are part of the Orrin Keepnews series featuring the work of Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk.
Keepnews discusses producing Adderley’s third live recording, The Cannonball Adderley Sextet in New York, in the podcast. In addition to the record producer’s memories of his friend and his live date at the Village Vanguard, this podcast includes video of a 1958 Adderley interview where he recalls hearing Charlie Parker, and a performance clip from his 1963 sextet.
Keepnews worked closely with Evans, producing the pianist’s first recordings when he arrived in New York in the mid-’50s for Riverside Records. This episode, “Portrait Of Bill,” features Portrait In Jazz, Evans’ first recording with his own trio and includes 1958 video of the pianist playing George Russell’s “Billy The Kid.”
“Thelonious Monk, Town Hall Concert, Part 2” captures Monk’s 1959 Town Hall Concert. Before the concert, Keepnews explained to Monk a series of signals they would use so that between numbers, Monk would wait and make sure the tape was running. But in performance, things ran amok.
More info: jazzvideoguy.tv
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
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Ava Preston, a 12-time DownBeat Student Music Award winner, is currently pursuing her master’s degree in jazz voice at Juilliard.
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Ava Preston, from Cleveland, Ohio, was named the winner of the ninth annual Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition on…
