Jazz DateBook Blog

Jazz stories, listening notes, and essays

Longer reflections on jazz records, musicians, live performance, radio, history, and the feeling inside the music.

June 20, 202612 min read

The Shout Inside the Music: Charles Mingus, Ellington, and the Courage of Raw Emotion

A reflection on Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Tchaikovsky, and the kind of raw feeling that asks performers to be brave.

Charles MingusDuke EllingtonJazz essayClassical musicTchaikovsky

May 25, 202614 min read

A researched Jazz DateBook tribute to the Saxophone Colossus: Harlem, bebop, St. Thomas, the Williamsburg Bridge, and a lifetime of searching.

Sonny RollinsIn memoriamJazz history