@markstryker.bsky.social
Author, Journalist, Critic, Filmmaker. Books: “Jazz from Detroit”; “Destiny: 100 Years of Music, Magic, and Community at Orchestra Hall in Detroit.” Film: “The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit.” Former Detroit Free Press arts reporter/critic, 1995-2016
Nightcap
1946. A great, if unsung, band of the day, perched between the late swing era and the emerging modernism. Check out the cats in the ranks, and Benny is his usual quintuple threat -- alto, trumpet, arranger, composer, bandleader. One of the most quietly influential figures in jazz.
New To Me: Joe Henderson and Eddie Palmieri (duo!) A revealing piece of the Palmieri puzzle.
11/1/91, San Francisco Jazz Festival.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=n0VD...
For Eddie Palmieri, a true master and innovator, as great as great can be, decade after decade. R.I.P. The three recordings that I return to most often are "Live at Sing Sing" (1972), "The Sun of Latin Music" (1974), and "Unfinished Masterpiece" (1975). www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQmW...
07.08.2025 02:14 — 👍 18 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Bags, Basie, and Sassy
Sarah Vaughan was just hanging out in the studio listening to Milt Jackson record w/the Basie bnad in 1978. But she was so inspired by what she heard, she joined in on Q's timeless "Lena and Lenny," singing along with the saxophone section. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vke...
Bags, Basie, and Sassy
Sarah Vaughan was just hanging out in the studio listening to Milt Jackson record w/the Basie bnad in 1978. But she was so inspired by what she heard, she joined in on Q's timeless "Lena and Lenny," singing along with the saxophone section. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vke...
I'll keep you posted. Thanks for your enthusiasm!
02.08.2025 02:13 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Not sure yet. We hope to be working with a Canadian distributor soon who will get us into lots of places, but it's not clear yet where these will be. Any suggestions of film societies/series/university presenters?
02.08.2025 01:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Alert
"The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit" screens at the Penn Theatre in Plymouth, MI, 5 pm, Sunday. All seats $5. No advance sales; box office opens at 4:30, 30 minutes prior to the show. I'll be on hand to introduce the film and host a Q-and-A after the show.
Alert
"The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit" screens at the Penn Theatre in Plymouth, MI, 5 pm, Sunday. All seats $5. No advance sales; box office opens at 4:30, 30 minutes prior to the show. I'll be on hand to introduce the film and host a Q-and-A after the show.
Happy 70th birthday to “The Gig,” an incredible piece of music by a remarkable person who, in a certain sense, I always carry with me. Here, allow me to explain.
01.08.2025 10:01 — 👍 17 🔁 5 💬 2 📌 1don't wait.
01.08.2025 00:38 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Just bought this bad boy few weeks ago, can’t wait to dive in —
www.amazon.com/Jazz-Detroit...
Many thanks for the sale. Hope you enjoy it.
31.07.2025 23:39 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Thrilled to see this great review of The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit (which I wrote/co-produced) in the NYC Jazz Record. Thanks to editor Laurence Donohue-Greene & writer Paul Gaita. We're on the cusp of big news re: screenings & distribution. Stay close. nycjazzrecord.com/wp-content/u...
31.07.2025 22:43 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Sugar waltzing
back into dynamite,
sweetest left hook
you ever dug, baby;
could it violate violence
Bud, like Leadbelly's
chaingang chuckle,
the candied yam
twelve string clutch
of all blues:
there's no rain
anywhere, soft
enough for you.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7QW...
🧵On the 59th anniversary of the death of Bud Powell, July 31, 1966.
"For Bud,” by Michael Harper
Could it be, Bud
that in the slow galvanized
fingers beauty steeped
into bop liked Bird
weed and Dizzy clowned --
Birthday Boys
July 31 is a big day in the cosmology of #JazzFromDetroit. Kenny Burrell turns 94 today & Hank Jones would have turned 107. They appeared together on about 40 records. Among the first was in support of yet another Detroiter, Paul Chambers, 7/14/57. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnrW...
One of Charlie Parker’s greatest studio sessions took place on 7/30/53. Confirmation, Now’s The Time, I Remember You, several takes of an A-flat blues, Chi-Chi. With a beautifully balanced, swinging trio: Haig, Heath & some of the deepest groove Max Roach on record. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOpC...
30.07.2025 13:48 — 👍 22 🔁 2 💬 3 📌 0Coda: I learned all of these solos as a kid, and when I hear them today, I often find myself involuntarily ghost fingering an alto as I listen.
30.07.2025 13:49 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
One of Charlie Parker’s greatest studio sessions took place on 7/30/53. Confirmation, Now’s The Time, I Remember You, several takes of an A-flat blues, Chi-Chi. With a beautifully balanced, swinging trio: Haig, Heath & some of the deepest groove Max Roach on record. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOpC...
30.07.2025 13:48 — 👍 22 🔁 2 💬 3 📌 0
Nightcap
Brahms Concerto, Halle' Orch., Hamilton Harty. 1928. Peak Szigeti--sublime, deeply thought, expressive, never showy or mannered. Modernist sheen of the playing enhanced by quality of the original recording & transfer: So good it almost sounds like prime 1950s mono.
Damn, the great satirist Tom Lehrer has died at 97. He was one of my heroes. Razor sharp, wickedly smart, prescient. The world could use his voice today more than ever, but there was only one of those. One of his masterpieces: National Brotherhood Week. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zClu...
27.07.2025 18:30 — 👍 22 🔁 5 💬 3 📌 0
Damn, the great satirist Tom Lehrer has died at 97. He was one of my heroes. Razor sharp, wickedly smart, prescient. The world could use his voice today more than ever, but there was only one of those. One of his masterpieces: National Brotherhood Week. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zClu...
27.07.2025 18:30 — 👍 22 🔁 5 💬 3 📌 0
Saturday night agenda.
27.07.2025 00:17 — 👍 20 🔁 1 💬 3 📌 0
