My first bass teacher was an old Jewish guy by the name of Henry Loew. He was the principal bassist in the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He was an amazingly generous soul who cared for me like a son. In my very first lesson, I brought along a bass that was once owned by a […]

I first saw Chris Potter in the early 1990s when he was travelling with Red Rodney, a trumpet player who was one of the last players to play with Charlie Parker before he died. Red Rodney was doing a gig in St. Louis at the Majestic Hotel but this kid on tenor saxophone was the […]

The mechanics of jazz, the ideology, the culture, the genesis of jazz is built from the freedom to blur the lines, break down the artificial walls, and promote a true sense of peer equality while codifying a universal language in the sound of art. It’s true that some people can realize gifts that others have […]

Jazz definitely has its problems. For one thing, most of the songs that jazz musicians perform were written many decades ago as popular tunes. The sounds of those times were trumpets, trombones, saxophones, clarinets and flutes, guitar, piano, bass, and drums. Today’s sounds are more likely guitar, keyboard synth, drums, bass, and voice. Love songs […]

I first met Jaleel Shaw in the 90s when he was still a high school kid. He was an up-and-coming saxophonist, and came to the Antonio Hart show I was playing in. A lot of time passed, and then we were classmates in the graduate program at the Manhattan School of Music. Along with Miguel […]