WBGO Blog

  • J-Lo is 55!

    December 29, 2007. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: banner year, Birthdays, christian mcbride, class act, drummer jeff, favorite places, jazz standard, jeff tain watts, joe lovano, kenny barron, mccoy tyner quartet, montefalco, nation hope, orvieto italy, palazzo del popolo, Riff, sagrantino, toast of the nation, trio da paz, umbria region, Video, www youtube, york crew

    Joe Lovano, that is.

    It's Lovano's 55th birthday today, and he's celebrating it with a three-day run with his quintet at the Palazzo del Popolo in Orvieto, Italy. What a way to end a monumental year. Wish I could be there, since Italy's Umbria region is one of my favorite places to be, but I'll be spending my New Year's Eve at Jazz Standard, with Trio da Paz, Kenny Barron, and a great New York crew for NPR's Toast of the Nation (hope you'll be listening!).

    Incidentally, Toast of the Nation is where Lovano's 2007 began, as a member of the McCoy Tyner Quartet (bassist Christian McBride and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts make four) at Yoshi's. You can hear the fruits of that week at Yoshi's on record.

    It's been such a banner year for Joe. Check out the video below. And when you see him again, raise a glass of my favorite Umbrian wine, Paolo Bea's Sagrantino de Montefalco, in honor of him.

    Happy birthday, Joe Lovano. You're a class act.

     

    © 2007 WBGO

  • Ed Thigpen at 77

    December 28, 2007. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Birthdays, drummer, drummers, ed thigpen, education conference, educator, happy birthday, herbie hancock, humanitarian award, Jazz Education, kenny burrell, Listening Post, mouthpiece, nola, oscar peterson trio, percussion, retrospect, rhythm, ron carter, trumpeter clark terry, tympani, verve

    Ed Thigpen

    Drummer Ed Thigpen has lived in Denmark since the early 70s, but we haven't forgotten him stateside. Especially given the recent death of Oscar Peterson. Thigpen recorded more than 50 records as a member of the Oscar Peterson Trio, but not very many as a leader.

    In 1966, though, he made a record for Verve called OUT OF THE STORM. Not a lot of music here, and Thigpen doesn't solo much, but it's still worth checking out. At the time, Thigpen had recently left the Oscar Peterson trio. Trumpeter Clark Terry adds some mouthpiece-only solos for an nice effect. Thigpen plays tuned drums that sound like tympani at times. Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, and Ron Carter round out the date. Give it a listen.

    The last time I saw Ed Thigpen, he was teaching kids at a percussion clinic in New Orleans. As you can imagine, there were a symphony of drummers in attendance (which, in retrospect, is pretty easy for a rhythm town like NOLA). It was just around the time that he won a Humanitarian Award at the International Association for Jazz Education conference.

    That seems fitting. He's a beautiful cat, and a tremendous educator. And for the record, he's a hell of a wire brush player.

    Happy Birthday, Ed Thigpen.

    Ed Thigpen

    © 2007 WBGO