Mark Stryker

Miles and Trane on Record: A Critic’s Favorites University Musical Society

Sidebar: My personal desert island picks for both Miles and Trane. ums.org/2026/01/29/m...

Miles Davis and John Coltrane at 100 University Musical Society

ICYMI

@umspresents.bsky.social in Ann Arbor invited me to write about the centennials of Miles Davis and John Coltrane in advance of Sunday's homage concert at Hill Auditorium featuring Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane. tinyurl.com/ycyxh7w4

Jazz from Detroit Jazz from Detroit explores the city’s pivotal role in shaping the course of modern and contemporary jazz. With more than two dozen in-depth profiles of remarkable Detroit-bred musicians, complemented ...

Follow the link and enter UMWEB30 promo code on the shopping cart page to apply the 30% discount. press.umich.edu/Books/J/Jazz...

Ben is very hip. He just ordered the newly published paperback edition of "Jazz from Detroit" from the University of Michigan Press and took advantage of the 30% discount. Be hip like Ben and order a copy for yourself or as a gift. Management thanks you for your attention to this matter.

Jazz from Detroit Jazz from Detroit explores the city’s pivotal role in shaping the course of modern and contemporary jazz. With more than two dozen in-depth profiles of remarkable Detroit-bred musicians, complemented ...

Publication Day!

Now in paperback for the first time, the newly revised edition of The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit is officially available from the University of Michigan Press. For a 30% discount, follow the link and enter UMWEB30 on the shopping cart page. press.umich.edu/Books/J/Jazz...

Thanks, Ben!

Q&A with Jazz from Detroit Author Mark Stryker

More advertisements for myself: In conjuction with publication, the University of Michigan Press has posted a nice interview with me about the book and the process of updating and revising it. press.umich.edu/Blog/2026/02...

Jazz from Detroit Jazz from Detroit explores the city’s pivotal role in shaping the course of modern and contemporary jazz. With more than two dozen in-depth profiles of remarkable Detroit-bred musicians, complemented ...

Publication Day!

Now in paperback for the first time, the newly revised edition of The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit is officially available from the University of Michigan Press. For a 30% discount, follow the link and enter UMWEB30 on the shopping cart page. press.umich.edu/Books/J/Jazz...

cc: @petersokolowski.bsky.social

Since they were on different coasts, there are no recordings of at least 3 of the 4 together, but the Tom Lord Discography lists countless dates with Glow and Royal (the Miles Davis/Gil Evans records, for example). There are some, not nearly as many as you might think, with both Gozzo & Fagerquist.

Metal on Flesh

Good God, Feb. 6 has SERIOUS post-war big band/studio trumpet karma. Born on this day: Bernie Glow (1926), Ernie Royal (1921), Conrad Gozzo (1922), Don Fagerquist (1927). All first-call — Glow and Royal in NY, Gozzo and Fagerquist in LA — all but Fagerquist known for lead playing.

Kaper's "While My Lady Sleeps" has a bit of currency thanks largely to John Coltrane's recording in the 1950s.

"All God's Chillun" was written for Ive Anderson in 1937 ("A Day at the Races"), but became a bebop anthem both in its original form and as the harmony underpinning a bunch of tunes, among them "Reets and I," "Little Willie Leaps," "Mayreh," and "Visitation."

Coda: Two updates to this thread. First, there is another song that has gained sustained traction with jazz musicians, "All God's Chillun (sic) Got Rhythm," which is credited to Walter Jurmann, Gus Kahn and Kaper. Kahn was a lyricist, but, Jurmann wrote music & was Kaper's partner in Hollywood.

YouTube video by Joe Henderson - Topic Invitation

"Invitation" quickly became a staple of Joe's club and concert performances. This extraordinary version from 1987 with Charlie Haden and Al Foster graces my favorite post-1980 record by Joe. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzJS...

YouTube video by JGC History Joe Henderson (1968) [INVITATION]

Joe Henderson owned Invitation as much as Coleman Hawkins owned Body and Soul. Joe played it as if he wrote it. I must have heard him play the song a dozen times live. This was his initial recording of it in 1968 with Don Friedman, Ron Carter, and Jack DeJohnette. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gj2...

YouTube video by Les Brown - Topic Invitation (Remastered 2001)

On Green Dolphin Street has been recorded more than 1100 times in the jazz idiom according to the Tom Lord Jazz Discography. Invitation clocks in with 681 versions. This was the first: Les Brown in 1953. www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FZ...

YouTube video by MilesDavisVEVO Miles Davis - On Green Dolphin Street (Audio) (Official Audio)

Perfection: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGVd...

YouTube video by JGC History Ahmad Jamal (1956) [GREEN DOLPHIN STREET]

Miles' 1958 recording of On Green Dolphin Street cemented the tune in the repertoire, but it had been kicking around a bit previously in modern jazz circles. Miles almost certainly picked it up from Ahmad Jamal (1956), who he was watching like a hawk. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKMd...

A friend told me that he met Kaper once. When he told the composer he was a jazz lover, Kaper replied: "I don't really like jazz, but Miles Davis made me a rich man!"

YouTube video by Bill Evans - Topic Hi Lili, Hi Lo (For Ellaine)

None of his other songs gained sustained traction from jazz musicians but the big tune from "Lili" -- "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" (lyrics by Helen Deutsch) -- was recorded by Bill Evans in 1974 on the duet record "Intuition" with Eddie Gomez. Lovely waltz. www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5SI...

🧵Happy birthday to the Polish composer Bronislaw Kaper (1902-83), who wrote dozens of film scores and won an Oscar for for "Lili" (1953) but is best known today for penning two popular songs that became indelible jazz standards: "On Green Dolphin Street" and "Invitation."

YouTube video by Huliak_Kuiv_UA Barry Harris Giant Steps transcription

But it's still not as melodic or as swinging as Barry Harris plays it here for a chorus and a half. m.youtube.com/shorts/F2N9T...

Certainly fascinating to hear Trane exploring possibilities of the original tune after working extensively with the basic progression as substitute changes (Satellite/But Not for Me, Body & Soul, etc.) This is more melodic w/more space, more varied in phrasing, less etude-like than on original LP.

This is it--the copy here was made in recent years. Those voices are not contemporary to the original tape.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLC...

Pretty sure this is that one.

Jazz from Detroit Jazz from Detroit explores the city’s pivotal role in shaping the course of modern and contemporary jazz. With more than two dozen in-depth profiles of remarkable Detroit-bred musicians, complemented ...

'Jazz from Detroit' Now In Paperback!

I've been so preoccupied promoting my film, "The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit," that I've neglected to announce that my book, "Jazz from Detroit," will be published in a fully revised paperback edition on Feb. 11.

press.umich.edu/Books/J/Jazz...

Center for Public Humanities - College of Arts and Sciences - Oakland University

... at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 10 at Dodge Hall on the Oakland University campus. Details regarding both the book talk and film screening can be found here: www.oakland.edu/cas/humaniti...

A book talk and signing is scheduled at the Rochester (Mich.) Public Library at 7 p.m. Thurs., March 5. The event, co-sponsered by the Center for Public Humanities at Oakland University, comes in conjuction with a free screening of The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit ...

I have also been able to give a modest nod to a few of younger Detroit-bred musicians whose careers have developed significantly in recent years and update the appendix of Jazz Musicians from Detroit.