picture of a young Ronnie Cuber in the recording studio with his baritone Saxaphone.

Farewell Ronnie Cuber

I was sad to learn from Marc Myers Jazzwax on the passing of Ronnie Cuber, especially in the circumstances [1]Ronnie Cuber (1941-2022) – JazzWax. Ronnie died on October 7th following complications from a surgery he never had that was delayed during COVID. Ronnie Cuber played with George Benson early in […]

picture of a pile of CD's from the CTI label with books next to them.

CTI On CD Only Volume-2

To complete this years “Creed Taylor Month” here is “CTI On CD Only Volume-2”. Volume-1 was included in this post. As with the first volume, this mix was compiled to demonstrate some of the great music Creed released after the supposed demise of CTI in the late 1970’s or early […]

pile of CTI compact discs on a shelf

September is Creed Taylor Month

It’s with more than a hint of sadness that I’m continuing a tradition originally launched in 1968, Creed Taylor month. This year, in fact this week, marks the first time since the legendary producer Creed Taylor passed on to the great studio in the sky. I do plan to continue […]

Poster advertising the 2022 NEA Jazz Master concert

NEA Jazz Masters 2022

Congratulations to this year’s musicians recognized as 2022 NEA Jazz Masters—Stanley Clarke, Donald Harrison, Jr., Billy Hart, and Cassandra Wilson. There will be a concert tonight live in San Francisco that will also be live streamed and available via many radio stations. For details of the coverage online and on radio, the concert […]

Picture of New York City Traffic and Buildings

The Street Sounds Mix

We didn’t arrive in New York City Until 1983, giving rise to the saying “I’m not from here, but I got here as quick as I could.” In 1983 New York was still grimy and worn down. Years of mismanagement and underfunding had left whole neighborhoods in a state of […]

On This Day: Rhythmstick

Coincidentally, when I started turning my curiosity about Creed Taylor and his producing career into research, it was because I thought it would be fun to cover the event’s of 50-years ago, and the first releases of the startup of the independent CTI Records by Creed Taylor International. The juxtaposition […]

Happy Birthday Creed Taylor!

Today, May 13th, 2020 marks Creed Taylor’s 91st birthday. Hopefully Creed is still well and keeping safe during the current pandemic. I personally owe Creed a debt of gratitude for all the great music and musicians he enabled during his career. Creed is/was a controversial producer, and as Creed himself […]