Podcast appearances and mentions of gary giddins

Film critic Gary Giddins

Host Nate Wilcox welcomes back Gary Giddins to discuss the opening section of his classic book "Visions of Jazz" including discussions of vaudeville greats Al Jolson and Bert Williams, Louis Armstrong's signifying takes on old time songs of slavery and some of the forgotten Black songwriters of 1920s Tin Pan Alley. Buy the book and support the show. CHECK OUT THE NEW LET IT ROLL WEB SITE -- We've got all 350+ episodes listed, organized by mini-series, genre, era, co-host, guest and more. Please sign up for the email list on the site and get music essays from Nate as well as (eventually) transcriptions of every episode. Also if you can afford it please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support the show. Thanks! Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook. Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Film critic Gary Giddins

We're re-presenting host Nate Wilcox's second 2020 interview with Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins as part of a new series focused on Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. This discussion focuses on Bing Crosby's many triumphs in the 1940s. Buy the book and support the show. Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook. YOU HAVE SAVED THE LET IT ROLL PODCAST!!!!! Thanks to the incredible outpouring of support for the show we have raised more than our $6000 goal which will pay Steph for a year's worth of recording and production work on the show. Thanks to everyone who contributed and thanks to all of you for listening! Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're re-presenting host Nate Wilcox's 2020 interview with Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins with a new introduction as part of a new series focused on Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Buy the book and support the show. Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook. YOU HAVE SAVED THE LET IT ROLL PODCAST!!!!! Thanks to the incredible outpouring of support for the show we have raised our $6000 goal which will pay Steph for a year's worth of recording and production work on the show. Thanks to everyone who contributed and thanks to all of you for listening! Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we close out #JazzAppreciationMonth with a short tribute to a primary architect of the sound, the legendary New Orleans son, Louis Armstrong. To learn more about Armstrong, check out the Louis Armstrong House Museum, his 1936 autobiography, Swing That Music, his 1954 autobiography Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans, 1999's Louis Armstrong in His Own Words, and other books like Satchmo: The Genius of Louis Armstrong by Gary Giddins from 2001, Pops: The Life of Louis Armstrong from 2009 by Terry Teachout, and All of Me: The Complete Discography of Louis Armstrong by Jos Willems from 2006.More sources:https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/article_1dc3e26d-1f7b-5324-8b21-1389a514a589.htmlhttps://www.biography.com/musician/louis-armstronghttps://www.louisarmstronghouse.orghttps://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2021/04/apple-original-films-announce-definitive-louis-armstrong-documentary-black-and-blues-the-colorful-ballad-of-louis-armstrong/https://nyfos.org/louis-armstrong-performs-black-and-blue/https://youtu.be/UGIYaqz5rI0 (Duke and Louis on Ed Sullivan)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LDPUfbXRLM (1965 “Black and Blue”)

Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and ‘70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers – brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane – are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America's most innovative art form. FIRE MUSIC showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries, and produced landmark albums like Coleman's Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane's Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement's key players. FIRE MUSIC tells the exciting history behind the free jazz movement. This incredible music documentary focuses on a new form of jazz that began in the late 1950s. This new jazz was separate from the happy sounding commercial jazz music that made jazz a well known music genre all over the world. This free jazz was angrier and more emotional because the music reflected the turbulent times. The musicians behind this free jazz sound were ignored by mainstream media and as a result created their own subculture. Today free jazz has the largest audience in its 50 year plus history. FIRE MUSIC will stand as the first serious attempt to capture the sights and sounds of one of the most innovative movements in music history. Director Tom Surgal joins us for a conversation on the contentious birth and begrudging acceptance that has morphed into a celebration of the musicians who pushed the boundaries of America's greatest contribution to the world of music. For news, screenings and updatesfiremusic.org

This is a special episode of Coffeeshop Conversations @ Artichoke Music and one in a series of radio interviews I did thirty years ago. Still listening or reading? I'm grateful. I was doing a talk show for the American Radio Network when radio networks meant something. And it was before the internet too, in the days of newspapers and pay phones. I decided that I would interview people who I had always wanted to talk to. One of them was pianist/composer Cecil Taylor. He was world famous and little-known because of how his music sounded. Taylor was known as being as ferocious as his music, at least that's what I heard. I was afraid he was going to eat me for lunch, so I used the weight of a commercial network radio show as leverage and asked Gary Giddins,probably the top Jazz Journalist in the world, in English anyway, and a friend of Taylor's if he would join Taylor and I in a one hour live intereview. He said yes. And then I asked Taylor. Good move. He said yes, too. You're about to hear the result. Please excuse the crappy audio. It's an air check and the gear was pretty bad. Suggest you use headphones. You won't be sorry. I've left in the commercials and breaks to mark the place in time when this occurred. It was March third 1990 in Baltimore, Maryland in the studio of the American Radio Network. And yes, the following was my theme music.

Good News: A fascinating new method has been proposed to help remove micro plastics form the environment to dispose of them, Link HERE. The Good Word: A great quote from Henry David Thoreau (again!) Good To Know: The unusual story of the origin of the ubiquitous baby carrots. Good News: A new vaccine has been […]

Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins joins host Nate Wilcox to discuss Bing Crosby's incredible run during the World War 2 era.The 1940s were a period when Crosby set still-unbroken records for single sales, won an Oscar for his acting, sang for a radio audience in the tens of millions and led Hollywood's war effort.The conversation focuses on Gary's second book on Crosby, "Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946."Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins joins host Nate Wilcox to discuss Bing Crosby's incredible run during the World War 2 era.The 1940s were a period when Crosby set still-unbroken records for single sales, won an Oscar for his acting, sang for a radio audience in the tens of millions and led Hollywood's war effort.The conversation focuses on Gary's second book on Crosby, "Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946."Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins joins host Nate Wilcox to discuss Bing Crosby’s incredible run during the World War 2 era. The 1940s were a period when Crosby set still-unbroken records for single sales, won an Oscar for his acting, sang for a radio audience in the tens of millions and led Hollywood’s war effort. The conversation focuses on Gary's second book on Crosby, "Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946." Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins joins host Nate Wilcox to discuss Bing Crosby’s incredible run during the World War 2 era. The 1940s were a period when Crosby set still-unbroken records for single sales, won an Oscar for his acting, sang for a radio audience in the tens of millions and led Hollywood’s war effort. The conversation focuses on Gary's second book on Crosby, "Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946." Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Host Nate Wilcox talks to Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins about Bing Crosby's jazz credentials, his rise to fame with Paul Whiteman, his conquest of radio, early days in Hollywood and mastery of the microphone.This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Host Nate Wilcox talks to Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins about Bing Crosby's jazz credentials, his rise to fame with Paul Whiteman, his conquest of radio, early days in Hollywood and mastery of the microphone.This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Host Nate Wilcox talks to Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins about Bing Crosby's jazz credentials, his rise to fame with Paul Whiteman, his conquest of radio, early days in Hollywood and mastery of the microphone. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

Host Nate Wilcox talks to Bing Crosby biographer Gary Giddins about Bing Crosby's jazz credentials, his rise to fame with Paul Whiteman, his conquest of radio, early days in Hollywood and mastery of the microphone. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.

What should you give the readers on your Christmas list? Ray Keating provides a varied list of book recommendations. The titles and links to the books Ray recommends, as well as links to relevant articles and Authors and Entrepreneurs episodes can be found at https://pastorstephengrant.blogspot.com/2018/12/links-to-books-recommended-for.html.

Gary Giddins is the author of the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Visions of Jazz: The First Century, ''a grand, brilliant history" (The New York Times Book Review). Jazz columnist at The Village Voice for 30 years, his other books include Weatherbird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century, Faces in the Crowd, and biographies of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. Giddins teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center and was prominently featured on Ken Burns's landmark Jazz documentary series. Drawing on scores of interviews and unprecedented archival access, his latest book is the second installment of his multi-part biography of America's quintessential crooner.  Watch the video here. (recorded 12/4/2018)

“Can a meretricious, inane movie with nothing else to recommend it produce a radiant, rousing film score?” asks Gary Giddins in “Rolling Thunder,” the January/February 2018 edition of Film Comment‘s “Playing Along” column. “Very rarely,” he answers. Although Giddins isolates Franz Waxman's score for Taras Bulba as a specific example, the guests on this week's episode of the Film Comment Podcast each provide a couple more, which led to reminiscences about genre sampler OSTs, unlikely pop music cues, and whether or not Steven Spielberg's idea of humor is just…shouting. For this conversation, FC Digital Producer Violet Lucca is joined by Tom Scharpling, host of The Best Show, and frequent FC contributors Margaret Barton-Fumo and Nick Pinkerton.

Today in 1948 American jazz critic and historian Gary Giddins was born in Brooklyn, New York. On today's "A Day in the Life", we take a listen to a little-known 1956 composition that Giddins sited as an example of why he is inspired to write about jazz.

TRANSFORMATIONSJazz guitarist Roni Ben-Hur has earned a sterling reputation as a musician and educator, renowned for his golden tone, improvisational brilliance, compositional lyricism and ability to charm peers, students and listeners alike. Eminent jazz critic Gary Giddins wrote in the Village Voice: "A limber and inventive guitarist, Ben-Hur keeps the modernist flame alive and pure, with a low flame burning in every note... [He's] a guitarist who knows the changes and his own mind." Ben-Hur - born in Israel in 1962 but a longtime American citizen, now based in New Jersey - has released nine albums as leader or co-leader, with Time Out New York calling him "a formidable and consummately lyrical guitarist." The Star-Ledger of New Jersey summed him up this way: "A deep musician, a storyteller, Ben-Hur works with a warm, glowing sound and has an alluring way of combining engaging notes with supple rhythm." Along with releasing acclaimed educational products - including the instructional DVD Chordability and method book Talk Jazz: Guitar - Ben-Hur has directed international jazz camps for nearly 15 years. Jazz guitar star Russell Malone got it right when he said: "Everything Roni does is beautiful. He has the magic touch."Ben-Hur's latest album is Our Thing (Motéma Music, 2012), a co-led trio project with Panamanian-born bassist Santi Debriano that also features Brazilian drummer Duduka Da Fonseca. Marked by soulful grooves, telepathic interplay and a rich, organic ensemble sound, Our Thing ranges from deeply swinging interpretations of Thelonious Monk's "Green Chimneys" and Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance" to a pair of poetic tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim and several beautiful originals that channel the players' Middle Eastern, Latin and Brazilian heritages through a post-bop prism. One of Ben-Hur's compositions is a fresh rendition of a longtime favorite in his songbook: "Anna's Dance," written for one of his two daughters. DownBeat called Our Thing "mesmerizing," while New York City Jazz Record captured it colorfully: "Ben-Hur, Debriano and Da Fonseca sway with the grace of palm trees, exuding a laidback introspection." The Buffalo News encapsulated the album by describing it as "delectable jazz internationalism of near-Olympic variety. Ben-Hur and Debriano are players of first-rate fluency and taste."Ben-Hur's family relocated from Tunisia to Dimona, Israel, where he was born into large family - teaching him good ensemble values early on. The guitarist began playing in wedding bands and in Tel Aviv clubs as a teenager enraptured by the recordings of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell. The young musician also came to love the classical Spanish repertoire via Segovia, hearing a Moorish sound that resonated with his family's North African roots. Later, after moving to New York in 1985, he would fall for Brazilian music, particularly through the work of guitarist-composer Baden Powell. When Ben-Hur came onto the New York jazz scene, he was fortunate to be taken under the wing of veteran jazz pianist Barry Harris, a Monk disciple and Grammy Award-winner who led the influential Jazz Cultural Theater during the mid-'80s in Manhattan. The up-and-coming guitarist played in Harris's band, absorbing musical wisdom and life lessons.Teaching has become increasingly important to Ben-Hur over the years, as he has developed an international reach as an educator. As founder and director of the jazz program at the Lucy Moses School at the Kaufman Center in Manhattan since 1994, Ben-Hur has educated a multitude of jazz enthusiasts in ensemble playing, improvisation and jazz guitar. Along with his jazz camp with Santi Debriano in the South of France, Ben-Hur led camps for years in Patterson, N.Y. More recently, through his company Adventures in Jazz - which he operates with his wife, singer Amy London - Ben-Hur conducts jazz camps in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, in Istanbul, Turkey, and in Schroon Lake, N.Y., teaching workshops in straight-ahead jazz, Latin jazz and Brazilian jazz with Debriano and other teachers. With Brazilian bassist Nilson Matta, Ben-Hur also co-leads Samba Meets Jazz camps in Paraty, Brazil, and in Bar Harbor, Maine.With his partner in the Samba Meets Jazz camps, bassist Nilson Matta, Ben-Hur released the album Mojave (Motéma, 2011), which also featured drummer Victor Lewis and percussionist Café. The album was the second in Motéma's Jazz Therapy series. The series was co-founded by Ben-Hur and the label to raise money and awareness for the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund of New Jersey's Englewood Hospital and Medical Center Foundation, which provides care for uninsured jazz musicians. The first album in the series wasSmile, Ben-Hur's 2008 duo set with veteran guitarist Gene Bertoncini.Ben-Hur and Matta are each masters of a musical tradition, the guitarist with bebop and the bassist with samba. Mojave sees them meld the two worlds, in league with New York jazz drummer Victor Lewis and Brazilian percussionist Café. They range from pieces by such Brazilian icons as Jobim, Baden Powell and choro pioneer Pixinguinha to Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love" and deftly rhythmic originals by all four players. One of Ben-Hur's contributions is the moody beauty "Eretz" (Hebrew for "land"), another of his signature tunes interpreted afresh. The Rochester City Newspaper offered a glowing review of the album: "Mojave is magical from start to finish... The combination of Matta's samba and Ben-Hur's swing is a marriage made in heaven.Acclaim for Smile, Ben-Hur's dual-guitar album with Gene Bertoncini, was equally wide-spread. The New York Times lauded the "sophisticated and lyrical" musicianship, and DownBeat simply called the album "stunning," as the players stretch from the Charlie Chaplin title track and the Arlen-Mercer standard "Out of This World" to an enterprising take on Roberta Flack's hit "Killing Me Softly" and two of Ben-Hur's personal standards - his "Anna's Dance," written for one daughter, and "Sofia's Butterfly," penned for the other. Jazz sage Nat Hentoff praised the "lyrically meditative dialogue" between the two guitarists in the Wall Street Journal, while the Washington Post was enamored by "the dazzling dexterity and tasteful elegance of these duets."Two other key albums in Ben-Hur's discography are Fortuna (Motéma, 2009) and Keepin' It Open (Motéma, 2007), both quintet sets with piano vet Ronnie Matthews and ultra-swinging drummer Lewis Nash, plus percussionist Steve Kroon. Keepin' It Open, which also includes bassist Santi Debriano and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt in the group, has a wide purview, from Monk's rollicking "Think of One" to a dark-hued old Sephardic melody, "Eshkolit." Tapping into his family's Sephardic Jewish roots and his love of the Spanish classical guitar repertoire, Ben-Hur recasts Granados' "Andaluza" as an ensemble piece. And the guitarist's originals include the finger-snapping "My Man, Harris," a tribute to his mentor Barry Harris. JazzTimes called the album "a delight from start to finish," while critic Scott Yanow singled out the guitarist on All Music, saying that Ben-Hur "can swing as hard as anyone."Fortuna, which has Rufus Reid on double-bass, sees Ben-Hur recast Albéniz's "Granada" with an ear for the early Israeli popular music influenced by the Moorish sound. Along with two Jobim numbers, the disc includes the Irving Berlin ballad "I Got Lost in his Arms" and Ben-Hur's funky original "Guess Who." Jazz scholar Dan Morgenstern listed Fortuna as one of his top 10 discs of 2009. JazzTimes described the album this way: "A keen story teller, Ben-Hur's dexterous, melodic and emotive playing is supported by a tight-knit cast of stellar musicians... his skill and warm tone underscoring the band's chemistry." All About Jazz said, "Fortuna is a sparkling ode to the brightness of life."Ben-Hur's album Signature (Reservoir, 2005) put the guitarist in the company of pianist John Hicks, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Leroy Williams, again plus percussionist Steve Kroon. The tracks include the first appearance of Ben-Hur's gem "Eretz," plus two pieces by Villa-Lobos and tunes by Jobim and Cole Porter. DownBeat said: "Signature is a collection of consummately played music that matches the six-stringer's consistently creative melody reading, soloing and comping with the supportive work of superb sidemen. Ben-Hur's original compositions are similarly impressive, from opening burner 'Mama Bee,' which dazzles with a brilliantly constructed guitar solo, to 'Eretz,' a gorgeous ballad intended as a tribute to the guitarist's native Israel that feels like an instant standard."For Anna's Dance (Reservoir, 2001), Ben-Hur convened a combo of elders: Barry Harris on piano, Charles Davis on saxophone, Walter Booker on double-bass and Leroy Williams on drums. The highlights include the debut of Ben-Hur's title composition, as well as the Billy Strayhorn ballad "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing." In the Village Voice, Gary Giddins said: "As eloquent as a cool breeze, this understated exercise in bebop equilibrium goes down so easy that you might underestimate the magic. Ben-Hur and Charles Davis, who trades in his Sun Ra baritone for suave tenor, speak Harris's lingo like natives." Ben-Hur's kick-started his discography with two bebop showcases.Sofia's Butterfly (TCB, 1998) saw the guitarist - with drummer Leroy Williams and bassist Lisle Atkinson in tow - offering much promise; there's the ultra-fluid virtuosity of his take on Monk's "Four in One," not to mention the first appearances of his original title tune and "Fortuna." Ben-Hur made his initial splash on record with Backyard (TCB, 1996), which presented him with the Barry Harris Trio.In addition to leading his own bands, Ben-Hur has shared the stage and the studio not only with the heroes and great peers mentioned above but with the likes of Cecil Payne, Etta Jones, Marcus Belgrave, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Earl May, Teri Thornton and Bill Doggett. Ben-Hur regularly performs in the top jazz venues and in major festivals across the country and around the world. As an educator, he has established jazz programs in New York City high schools, along with presenting workshops for students of all ages in the U.S. and Europe. His instructional releases include the DVD Chordability (Motéma, 2011), which offers 20 lessons on chord voicings and jazz harmony for intermediate and advanced guitarists. He also translated "the Barry Harris method" to guitar with the publication Talk Jazz: Guitar (Mel Bay, 2003), which has appeared in English and Japanese editions.Ben-Hur’s latest album is Our Thing (Motéma Music, 2012), a co-led trio project with Panamanian-born bassist Santi Debriano that also features Brazilian drummer Duduka Da Fonseca. Marked by soulful grooves, telepathic interplay and a rich, organic ensemble sound, Our Thing ranges from deeply swinging interpretations of Thelonious Monk’s “Green Chimneys” and Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” to a pair of poetic tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim and several beautiful originals that channel the players’ Middle Eastern, Latin and Brazilian heritages through a post-bop prism. One of Ben-Hur’s compositions is a fresh rendition of a longtime favorite in his songbook: “Anna’s Dance,” written for one of his two daughters. DownBeat called Our Thing “mesmerizing,” while New York City Jazz Record captured it colorfully: “Ben-Hur, Debriano and Da Fonseca sway with the grace of palm trees, exuding a laidback introspection.” The Buffalo News encapsulated the album by describing it as “delectable jazz internationalism of near-Olympic variety. Ben-Hur and Debriano are players of first-rate fluency and taste.”To Visit Roni Ben-Hur's website CLICK HERE

Jazz writer Gary Giddins on the incomparable Louis Armstrong. 

Jazz writer Gary Giddins on the incomparable Louis Armstrong. [32:17]

Jazz writer Gary Giddins on the incomparable Louis Armstrong. [32:17]

Jazz writer Gary Giddins on the incomparable Louis Armstrong. [32:17]

The great jazz writer Gary Giddins talks about the great jazz legend Duke Ellington.

The great jazz writer Gary Giddins talks about the great jazz legend Duke Ellington. [34:38]

The great jazz writer Gary Giddins talks about the great jazz legend Duke Ellington. [34:38]

The great jazz writer Gary Giddins talks about the great jazz legend Duke Ellington. [34:38]