Heroes
Miles Davis
Seven Steps to HeavenThis song is from a 1963 Miles Davis album, and features pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams who was a star in Miles Davis’ Band at age seventeen. For some ten...
Steve Lacy
DaydreamThis 1957 recording of a Duke Ellington song showcases Steve Lacy playing soprano sax in the style of one of jazz’s great innovators, Sidney Bechet. When you hear the clarity and precision of his playing...
Freddie Hubbard
Suite SiouxThe trumpet equivalent to a fast break. Freddie Hubbard’s hard bop notes enter through your gut, then pinball of each organ until your whole body is involuntarily bopping along. Freddie’s album, Red Clay, featured...
Herbie Hancock
One Finger SnapThis great Herbie Hancock composition has been one of my favorites since college. It’s played at such a breathless sprinter’s speed it would make a perfect soundtrack for a chase scene. By the...
Sonny Rollins
Strivers Row This 1957 Sonny Rollins homage to an upscale Harlem neighborhood first appeared on the album, A Night at the Village Vanguard. One reason I like this song so much is because I saw...
Bud Powell
Dance of the Infidels “Bud” Powell’s troubled life is well known from the film ‘Round Midnight‘. But whatever his personal demons were, there is no denying his genius as a pianist. Thelonious Monk was an...
Joe Henderson
Our Thing Joe Henderson became a favorite of mine while I was in college and I got to see him perform at the Slugs Saloon in the East Village. He recorded Our Thing in 1963...
