Category Archives: Jazz History

Ornette Coleman: Lessons in Freedom (excerpt)

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Richard Guzman

This is the first of 16 short excerpts from my radio series Voices and Freedoms: A History of Jazz.  Based on my book of the same name, the series (and book) were produced at the University of Virginia in the … Continue reading →

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Un-Blue Jazz: Remembering Dave Brubeck

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Richard Guzman

For me the two coolest instrumentals to ever make the pop charts are “Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and “Green Onions” by Booker T and the MG’s. They’ve always been a pair for me, bookends, so I’ve thought … Continue reading →

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Sterling Plumpp salutes Von Freeman

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Richard Guzman

Von Freeman, one of Chicago’s titanic tenors, passed away this August, and his passing brought to mind the most beautiful lines ever written about him: “Be-Bop is precise clumsiness.       Awkward lyricism       under a feather’s control. A world in a crack. … Continue reading →

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