My two cents in response to the recent, New Yorker magazine Jazz ‘satire’, “Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words” by Django Gold, a senior writer for The Onion. In order for satire to work here, there must be the assumption that the practice of jazz involves some sort of vice, stupidity, etc.—something to expose and actually mock. Since the […]
THE STORY BEHIND THE MUSIC At long last, I’ve decided to release these homemade demos that I’ve been holding onto for around 20 years. Over those years, I’ve revisited them from time to time and always enjoyed. At the time, I remember doing all I could to put the most into the music and get the […]
Mr. Ron Davis, the father of deceased 17 year-old Jordan Davis, made a beautiful post-trail statement this evening. Which got me thinking… I do not believe this country will ever recover from its self-concocted racism, the fuel of the tormented Black men and women who worked to build this nation, and the life-blood of the […]
I can’t remember the last time I had such a profound reaction to a guitar player than when I heard Jef Lee Johnson in 2010. Not in 30 years or more had a fellow guitarist made me feel like I had discovered the musical Holy Grail. Yes, I’d had lesser seismic stirrings as a kid […]
written for Jazziz magazine’s Coda section, fall 2012 Recently, I had an exchange with a jazz impresario about a fan’s preference for jazz standards over original material — a preference, I believe, shared by many other jazz fans. I have no statistical data to support that assumption, but I do have a wealth of empirical […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column Hiram Bullock probably became best known as the barefoot guitarist in Paul Schaefer’s band for the Late Night with David Letterman show during the early eighties. But he amassed a massive resumé playing alongside many of contemporary music’s brightest stars including James […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column People often ask me what it’s like to work with Sonny Rollins: what he’s like, what he practices, if he hangs out with the band, et cetera. Well, forget all that. My relationship with Mr. Rollins has been so important to me […]
written by Bobby Broom for Jazz Voicings, his bimonthly Chicago Jazz Magazine column I sometimes wonder if jazz needs a competition akin to the Olympics in order to move towards meritocracy in the field. The competition categories might be: harmonic inventiveness, time feel, solo structure – One thing I’d bet all jazz musicians would agree […]
Bobby BroomJazz Voicings Ahhh, those summer days! They make me think of freedom and fun and an escape from the constraints of the classroom. I am a high school jazz student at a reputed private educational institution and it would not be wrong to say that I owe my love for music to my institute. […]
I am actually happy to eat crow after having erroneously accused Northwestern University’s School of Music of altogether disregarding America’s, or more accurately, African-Americans’ great contribution to world culture: jazz music. I was pleased to learn of the appointment of Victor Goines, former Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, as Northwestern’s new Jazz […]