It’s Take Five Friday (almost Saturday, but I had a thing…) and a fresh batch of links for you:
- Howard Mandel searches for joyous music after the election of Obama, but "can’t think of a movement akin to the bells ringing in Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’ in the repertoire of Miles, Ornette, Cecil or Coltrane, Mingus, Monk, Bird and Diz, or Ellington, Basie and Goodman . . . . Jazz seems to temper its joy with the thought that the struggle continues and it’s folly to forget that for even a moment." Read The jazz of victory and celebration in Mandel’s Jazz Beyond Jazz blog.
- Another favorite of mine, Rifftides, opened my eyes to the fact that one of the characters of the story of my earlier life in Chicago, Studs Terkel, wrote a book Giants of Jazz, published in 1957, that ends with Coltrane who was just emerging. I didn’t know that! Doug Ramsey’s post has some great links to learn more about this amazing individual spirit.
- In case you missed it, "Over the Rainbow," played by ukelele sensation Jake Shimabukuro at last year’s Rochester International Jazz Festival.
- As the Jazz Impact website says, "[g]ood jazz and high performance business depend on creativity, agility, empathy and flexibility." Jazz Impact is a company that uses jazz to teach businesses and their employees the skills of collaboration.
- The sweet Ms. Ella Fitzgerald sings "Useless Landscape" by Jobim in Montreux in 1969 with Tommy Flanagan.
So take five and explore. Let me know what you think in the comments ….There will be five more next week.
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