The comments to the above clip point out that Ben Webster clearly is crying after Teddy Wilson’s piano solo. The explanation provided — there is no...
Category - Jazz
A list of Duke Ellington songs is like a list of those from the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Bob Dylan and a few others. The song are so familiar and deeply...
Editors Note: The Daily Music Break periodically re-posts music from earlier in the site’s run. Since Tuesday was the centennial of Les Paul’s...
The Daily Music Break periodically re-posts older content. This pretty remarkable video originally appeared on April 27, 2012. This video becomes very...
Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller was a riot, a great musician, the prototype of the vested fat stride piano player and an important figure in the...
This is a fascinating clip — and not just because it features Louis Jordan, which usually would be enough. The Steve Allen Show pulls off a live remote...
The Daily Music Break periodically re-post artists and posts from earlier in the site’s run. Here is the great Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk...
Billie Holiday would have been 97 on Saturday. Wikipedia has a particularly good bio of her sad life and its even sadder ending–broke, broken, addicted...
Editor’s Note: From time to time, The Daily Music Break re-posts older content. Alex Welsh and Fred Hunt’s version of Davenport Blues is haunting...
(Editor’s Note: Happy New Year. I’ve given up on finding good music for the holiday. There isn’t too much. Check out yesterday’s post...
Reading Music
The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.
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Here are some books to check out.
Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.
What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.
The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").
David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.