Author: Doug Hall

In the 1950s, with the advent of “cool jazz” and Miles Davis leading the way with a modal change with Birth of the Cool (1957) Milestones (1958), and later the seminal, legendary recording of Kind of Blue (1959) with its stellar cast of musicians, there were suddenly jazz recordings that became million-sellers. Along with Kind […]

If you happened to be on the Williamsburg Bridge anytime from the summer of 1959 through roughly the autumn of 1961, you would have been privileged to hear the sound of a true artist seeking to find new directions and an inner voice on his instrument. Already famous and successful, with constant performing and recording, […]

If legendary jazz musicians were collected together in one giant jigsaw puzzle and each musician was one piece – Thelonious Monk’s individual piece would be impossible to cut out. As a singular artist, his shape or place in jazz is too uniquely non-conforming. From a musical and historical standpoint, he is recognized as one of […]