If you're in southeastern Michigan, come to Top of the Park, a free outdoor concert and movie series on the U of M campus, to see our big band, the II-V-I Orchestra, on Tuesday July 5. The Tom Loncaric Swing Band featuring Paul King opens.

I just found an online Real Book (in French). Check the new Links section.

And, lest I drift off message, here are Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins from 1951 doing Out of the Blue . This is as usual a homemade rip from the Prestige LP "Dig". Enjoy!

I'm finding more good jazz sites, and best of all one of them is here in SE Michigan, over in Pontiac. Jazz with Tiger is a great podcast. I hope to find out more about Tiger but he sounds like he was there back when it was happening. That kind of perspective is so precious to us relative youngsters. I wish I had been hitting the jazz clubs in 1956 instead of being born then. This guy should be on local public radio instead of all that franchised Lincoln Center dreck they're always pushing on NPR.

Also there are some educational materials on this Portland Jazz Jams site.

Here's John McLaughlin's Follow Your Heart from the Joe Farrell CTI LP of the same name, from a vinyl rip I made. This is a really fun one to play along with because of the 11/8 meter. Enjoy! *** EMAIL TO REQUEST THIS FILE ***

Tonite was the last time for the old Delhi truss bridge for awhile. That really messes up the scenic route back to Ann Arbor from big band rehearsals in Loch Alpine (or "LA" as it is known locally).

Sunday the 26th from 6:30 to 9:00 the II-V-I Orchestra is at the Creekside Grille west of Ann Arbor, and Tuesday July 5 we'll appear for free in downtown Ann Arbor at Top of the Park.

The Tigers are above 500 and the Pistons are going to win the NBA championship tomorrow night. Listen to Marvin do the Star Spangled Banner to get psyched.

Here is Sarah Vaughan from 1948 or so doing the Tadd Dameron ballad "If You Could See Me Now". The trumpet intro is by Freddie Webster, the seldom recorded early bebop trumpet player cited as a major influence by Miles Davis among others, (though frankly it doesn't seem like Miles learned that much from him...). I made this vinyl rip at home from a Canadian LP, Metro M-539, titled "Sarah Vaughan - Tenderly", apparently some kind of re-release of the Musicraft sessions.

I got the LP and most everything else that will appear on this page at Encore Recordings, the local used music resource of choice.

Jimmy Wilkins is a veteran trombonist and big band leader who led a Detroit all star big band yearly to close out the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival in the early 90s. Here is Billy Strayhorn's "Upper Manhattan Medical Group" as performed by Jimmy's band. Soloists are Miller Brisker and Louis Smith, and this MP3 is a cassette recording of the WDET/WEMU live radio broadcast. *** EMAIL ME TO REQUEST THIS MP3 ***

Very little information about past years of the jazz festival is available online, but I think this was 1993 or so, shortly before Jimmy relocated to Las Vegas.

Hi!

First posting ever! For tonite's 2005 NBA finals game 5, here is Marvin Gaye performing the "Star Spangled Banner" from the 1984 NBA AllStar Game. Enjoy the game!

- Jerry