Puerto Rican trombonist Juan Tizol contributed two of the great songs of the classic jazz repertoire, "Caravan" and "Perdido", both of which he co-wrote. He joined the Ellington band at 29 and a second trombonist in the band for the first time allowed Duke another sound for his palette. Some credit Tizol as a pioneer in both modal jazz and latin jazz. His career was mostly spent with Ellington and Harry James. "Caravan" happens to be one of my very favorite songs.

There would be no soul music without Sam Cooke's sweet gospel-reared voice and his many impactful hits, such as "You Send Me", "Another Saturday Night", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' The Night Away", "Shake" (all composed by Cooke himself) and many others. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and grown up in Chicago, Sam was a member of the great gospel group The Soul Stirrers before transitioning to pop music (at first under an alias). He was a pioneer everythingman of black artists, as he founded his own record label and took care of his own business, which included production, composing, artist management, musical...

You don't want to miss this special concert event with Klezperanto, Sun Feb 19 at The Arts Block, Greenfield MA, for one night only! World-renowned clarinetist Ilene Stahl brings her Boston-based band to "the 413" for a night of cumbias, car chases, and Romanian surf guitar! Try some smokin' hot latkes and an ice cold "belt" of boozy borscht for an un-beet-able night of dance music. 6:30-10pm, at The Arts Block, 289 Main St, Greenfield MA Details here Poster by Thom Dudley / Sightlab http://klezperanto.com/ http://theartsblock.com/

Check out Jose Conde's new video! It's been a long time coming and the dream has been realized! Check it out. Ola Fresca bandleader and the project's visionary, Jose Conde: "In 1998, almost 20 years before the historic re-opening of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, I wrote a song called “Puente a Mi Gente” (Bridge to My People). Now, through the mediums of video and audio recording in a new arrangement of this song and a 6 minute video clip, the cultural bridge visualized in the song has been built! "Puente a Mi Gente" features Cuban musicians...

Happy birthday to DJ superstar Jason Mizell (aka Jam Master Jay) of Run DMC. He helped bring mainstream approval to DJs and hiphop in general. He also played the live instruments on Run DMC's records. He later produced Onyx and opened a DJ academy. He was shot to death in his Queens studio in 2002 but remains a popular music icon. "The best DJ in the US of A!".