Jazz

Ed Polcer grew up in a world filled with music and the older people around him were supportive and encouraging. As a result, all throughout his career, Ed sought to do the same for younger musicians. His musical career began when he was a child playing xylophone and his sister sang, the act was...
Mary Jo Papich has dedicated decades to creating programs to assist music teachers! As co-founder of the Jazz Education Network (JEN) and as a former band director and arts director administrator, Mary Jo wanted to provide meaningful engagement, educational resources and connections that would be...
Dennis Spragg is a music historian and author who has become an expert on the bandleader Glenn Miller. He is the senior consultant for the Glenn Miller Archives and the American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, as well as the historian for the Glenn Miller Birthplace...
Lew Shaw grew up admiring musicians he heard on the radio or saw in concert and wanted to do all he could to promote their music and tell their stories. He was a journalist and advertising manager by day and an avid music lover by night. He has interviewed over a hundred musicians and even wrote...
John Altman, the world-renowned composer, grew up in a musically rich family and found his own passion for music at an very young age. His uncles (Woolf and Sid Phillips) were successful arrangers, bandleaders and conductors and his cousin Simon Phillips is best known as the drummer for Toto. John...
Ernie Watts is the answer to the question - who was playing the “mystery horn” on Frank Zappa’s The Grand Wazoo album? A veteran studio musician and bandleader, Ernie has had thousands of career highlights such as playing in the Tonight Show band and recording with Marvin Gaye, Kenny Burrell,...
Dennis Chambers has always had music in his life and started playing professional gigs before he was ten years old! He joined the group Parliament-Funkadelic in 1978 and is considered to be one of the best funk drummers out there. Dennis has a playing style that is unmatched which makes him a great...
Ketty Lester sang several ballads while in a recording studio in Los Angeles in 1963, under the assumption that the point of the session was an audition to explore her musical range and style. In fact, that session was recorded to tape and at the very end when the producer asked for one more song...
Dan Miller grew up with music all around him and joined the school band the first chance he got. Dan was the first to admit how fortunate he was to have opportunities to go to many clinics in Chicago and meet some incredible and influential musicians. One of these musicians, Bobby Shew, became not...
Billy Hart was born in Washington DC, where he was exposed to the drums at a young age. He worked with several R&B groups before landing an important gig with the jazz singer Shirley Horn, who taught Billy the fundamentals of working with a soloist. In the mid 1960s Billy performed with Wes...

Pages