SST Blog

Buy the chart I refer to in the video, and play it with your own band.

12/28/20   I came across a quote from Shakespeare this morning. After 400 years, he’s still the greatest writer in the English language, having coined hundreds of our words and phrases. When I was in high school and learned that many of his plot lines were commonly used by his contemporaries and others before him, my first reaction was: Then what makes this guy so great?   Flash forward 50 years. After two days of recording my CD, I Had The Craziest Dream, with my octet and two guests, saxophonists Harry Allen and Joe Temperley, I remarked to Matt Hong...

  9/16/20   I’m feeling very sad today and writing a paragraph on Facebook just isn’t going to do it for me. Today would have been my buddy Jon Hendricks’ 99th birthday. We collaborated for 25 years. Jon taught me how to enjoy life to the fullest. He exuded joy, and even at my worst moments, being with him made me feel happy just to be alive. It didn’t matter what we did—sharing a bandstand, writing songs together, eating in the best restaurants, trying on every article of clothing in Century 21—it didn’t matter, we laughed and thoroughly loved each...

4/17/20   In 1959, when I was ten years old, there was a new show on TV that quickly became my favorite. It was called The Twilight Zone and was the creation of Rod Serling. Serling had written a number of great TV scripts and was finally given his own series to write and produce. His onscreen intros and outros took him from the invisible behind-the-scenes writers’ world to instant fame. After more than 150 Twilight Zone shows, Serling went on to write screenplays like Seven Days in May and Planet of the Apes.   While in college, I signed...

3/14/20   I frequently think and talk about conflict and resolution in music. The greater the contrast between the opposing points, the more satisfied we feel when they are resolved. This is a major reason for my disinterest in pop music. The lack of disagreement creates superficiality. Jazz and classical music are by nature thornier and require more from the listener. If we can hang on, we are rewarded.   I'm not saying that all jazz is good or even worthwhile, but certainly the best of our genre challenges us and makes us earn our reward. Having the music playing...