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August-September 2020
You hear it all the time: This or that jazz artist is "underrated." What does it mean? A more useful, more objective term might be "overlooked," perhaps even "forgotten," and, for whatever reasons, there are plenty of those in jazz. And that brings us to Beverly Kenney.
Past Newsletters
June-July 2020Everybody knows a nice guy cop. But the police force is the frontline agent that serves and protects ...
April-May 2020Pandemic is a word few of us have said or even heard until barely a couple months ago. And now our l ...
December 2019-January 2020Listening to the songs of the Great American Songbook, especially the stories they tell and the way ...
October-November 2019It never ceases to amaze and amuse me, the trivial things that bug some people. Why take offense at ...
August-September 2019We know from his words and his deeds, his tweets and his policies, that Donald Trump is a sexist and ...
June-July 2019In nearly two and a half years of the Trump administration not a single note of music of any kind ha ...
April-May 2019Sorry, Rachel Maddow, Maxine Waters, David Corn, assorted liberals, and erstwhile leftists, but ther ...
February-March 2019For thirty-five days in December and January the American labor movement was faced with a singular o ...
December 2018-January 2019Earlier this month a Cleveland radio station announced that it has stopped playing the seasonal favo ...
October-November 2018There has been a lot of loose talk lately about invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution — sp ...
August-September 2018In political science, "reaction" refers to an extreme conservatism that advocates the reversal of so ...
June-July 2018Henry Mancini titled his autobiography, Did They Mention the Music? Coming from a writer of m ...
March 2018In early February the website, Vulture, published an interview with composer-arranger-bandleader-pro ...
January-February 2018Sometimes people, especially liberals, really make me laugh. I've actually heard some of them sa ...
December 2017The most overused — and least understood — words of 2017 are treason, fascism, and impeachment. But ...
November 2017Here's something I don't get: vinyl records and the fetish that "audiophiles" — and even som ...
October 2017I am not just "pro-gun control," I am anti-gun. And only in recent years has the Supreme Court endor ...
September 2017In past few months we have witnessed in this sick, sad nation the rise of a more active, more embold ...
August 2017Eddie Jefferson is understood to have invented the vocalese genre. Jon Hendricks is the genre's ...
July 2017I actually believe that Russia did hack the Democratic National Committee, et al. But to assert that ...
May-June 2017Recently Pop singer Bruno Mars stated, "When you say 'black music,' understand that you are ...
April 2017I just finished reading a book I hated and I want to tell you about it — and why. According to it ...
March 2017People ask me all the time, "Is Frank Sinatra a jazz singer?" The short answer is, "Yes — and no," a ...
January-February 2017I am proud to say that I hope Donald Trump fails as president. Having said that, the only reasonable ...
December 2016Hillary Clinton may have "won" the popular vote, but she didn't run to win the popular vote. Lik ...
November 2016Trump has been insisting that the election, which will end in his certain defeat, is "rigged" agains ...
October 2016Why isn't Hillary Clinton running away with this election as she, her supporters, and most of th ...
September 2016Bribes are illegal and campaign contributions are messy, so how do you create a legal, tidy high lev ...
August 2016Has a well-meaning person ever tried to soothe your disappointment and pain with those empty words o ...
July 2016Just before Congress' July 4th break House Democrats broke the rules and staged a twenty-five ho ...
June 2016Even Hillary Clinton's allies admit weaknesses in her candidacy. That is not a winning combinati ...
February 2016Ted Cruz may be a "natural-born citizen" of the US, and so constitutionally eligible to run for pres ...
January 2016If that mess called "the Republican Party" were still an actual political party with actual leaders ...
Sinatra (December) 2015After a month off the air I've returned to the radio (and the Internet, too) and, after a month ...
October 2015Yoenis Céspedes of the New York Mets is the Most Valuable Player in the league. No player has made a ...
September 2015Why isn't Tommy John in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Why are so many young pitchers today having T ...
August 2015Of the cartoon cast known as "the Republican presidential candidates" no more than three or four of ...
July 2015Where do domestic terrorists get the motivation, the inspiration for their acts? Their hate-filled l ...
June 2015The easiest, most effective way to prevent a candidate from being elected is to buy into the argumen ...
May 2015In its twenty-eight years in existence the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra never has had a permanent w ...
April 2015"Nothing was more perfect than what she was. Nor more willing to fail. ... Sometimes you are afraid ...
March 2015Whenever you encounter racists, spouting their racist venom, it's important that you call them o ...
February 2015There is only one thing Americans hate more than a loser, and that's a winner. "Oh, how the migh ...
January 2015Remember George Carlin's "The Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV?" Well, here's my own list ...
December 2014Last year at this time I told you about a terrific charity that does wonderful work, and recommended ...
November 2014Americans, you do not possess an absolute and unfettered "Second Amendment right" to own a gun. Noth ...
October 2014October 11 marks the seventieth anniversary of the release of my favorite film of all time, Laura ...
September 2014Last month the incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, managed to occupy the so-called "24-hour news cycle" ...
August 2014In 1936 Count Basie and his free-wheeling band from Kansas City came east and took New York by storm ...
July 2014I have managed to catch "World Cup Fever." While watching the matches I've discovered quite a fe ...
June 2014Hilary Clinton's latest book, Hard Choices, comes out in June, an "inside account of the crises, ...
May 2014Centuries ago someone invented theatre. The next night, so that the audience would have something to ...
April 2014Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, is offering a summer course called — seriously — "Th ...
March 2014Arizona's campaign to be the most bigoted state in the union was derailed when its governor vet ...
February 2014Maybe you've heard, I've just begun teaching "Black American Music Since 1900," an undergrad ...
January 2014The New York Times sucks because of the shabby, disrespectful way it treats our music.
...
December 2013Since it was formed in 2009 Brass for Africa has donated over 150 instruments to Africa, has initiat ...
November 2013Solomon Northup was a freeborn African-American who in 1841 was drugged, bound, and sold into slaver ...
October 2013You know when people tell you to "save the date?" Well, whether you are a jazz musician, teacher, st ...
September 2013People in every corner of the globe know and revere the brilliance, the stunning eloquence of Dr. Ma ...
August 2013My August Artist of the Month is my late friend, Benny Powell, best known for his twelve-year tenure ...
July 2013Normally in this space I throw my fastball (jazz) or my curveball (politics). But this month I'm ...
June 2013For years I'd thought that the woman president would be a Republican. And then along came Hilary ...
May 2013It was with amusement mixed with disgust that I watched, on April, 25, the dedication of the oxymoro ...
April 2013In Facebook World all you have to do it paste a famous and respected name onto a bit of fortune cook ...
March 2013You already may be aware of the immense regard that I have for Antonio Carlos Jobim But after having ...
February 2013Since last November's election Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has been telling fellow Republica ...
January 2013A dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant that he found attractive because he and his wife ...
December 2012It was some years ago, only a week or so before Christmas, I
had gotten back to Brooklyn on t ...
November 2012He's the man I call "America's Poet": Johnny Mercer. And on Sunday, November 18, the anniver ...
October 2012In 1982 my very good friend, Toronto-based soprano saxophonist-flutist Jane Bunnett visited Cuba fo ...
September 2012I always enjoy having musician friends join me in the studio for Just Jazz, so I'm happy to anno ...
August 2012Impeccably dressed in the inevitable tuxedo, more often seated at the piano than posed at the mic, B ...
July 2012After making wholesale and arbitrary cuts in numerous ethnic music categories in the most recent Gra ...
June 2012If you're a regular Sunday night listener to Just Jazz on 91.9 WNTI or wnti.org then you know ab ...
May 2012May 11 marks the eighty-fifth birthday of the great and groundbreaking comedian Mort Sahl. ...
April 2012Do you hate the phrase "let's agree to disagree" as much as I do? What does it mean? Why do peop ...
March 2102This month I want to pull your coats to three new and highly recommended books about my favorite sub ...
February 2012Have you heard? It's outrageous! For this year NARAS, the organization that gives the annual Gra ...
January 2012Wow, is that Newt Gingrich guy really something, or what? I mean, he's accomplished more in one ...
December 2011I've always wondered, when the three wise men brought that Jesus kid those gifts of gold, franki ...
November 2011Texas Toast" Unbuttered: A Guide to Understanding Rick Perry ...
October 2011Bob's List: 10 Movie Quotes That Should be on T-Shirts (because I have nothing particular to say ...
September 2011Maybe you heard — last weekend we had a hurricane in the eastern US. ...
August 2011As you probably heard by now, tenor saxophonist-composer-arranger Frank Foster died on July 26 at th ...
July 2011This year, "Just Jazz, Inc." (a subsidiary of jazzbob.com) is dedicating its Summer Film Festival to ...
June 2011Regular listeners to "Just Jazz" on 91.9 WNTI or wnti.org are familiar with my "Just Jazz Presents.. ...
May 2011In April the Recording Academy announced that for 2012 it has cut its Grammy Awards categories from ...
April 2011You've heard the news: just because some mugs in Congress hate pubic radio — I mean really hate ...
March 2011Last year marked the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of pianist, composer, and arranger Mary ...
February 2011Last month I attended the second annual Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans. It was a b ...
January 2011Well, the blizzard that hit the NYC-NJ area the day after Christmas kept me from doing my annual "Th ...
December 2010This is the final newsletter of the year and that means it's time for my "Best New Jazz CDs of 2 ...
November 2010"Janet Jackson says despite winning numerous Grammy Awards, gracing the big and small screens and ha ...
October 2010This month marks the 80th anniversary of "Body and Soul." Jazz instrumentalists and singers particul ...
September 2010"Friending." To quote Henry Higgins: "I ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?" I'll tell you ...
August 2010Anyone who knows me, knows that there is no one in the jazz world whom I hold in higher regard than ...
July 2010Abrazos y besos to my friend, singer Amanda Martinez. A
Toronto native and a rising star on t ...
June 2010From May 20 to 22 I had the great joy of attending the
inaugural conference of the Jazz Educa ...
May 2010Welcome to "Bob's List." What is "Bob's List?" Something
I'm going to subject you ...
April 2010I've been trying to think of a way to increase my listening audience, to "broaden my base," as t ...
March 2010For more than five decades pianist Morris Nanton performed in clubs, lounges, and restaurants throug ...
February 2010Last month I received news of the passing of two eminent members of our jazz community, two lives we ...
January 2010News Item #1:
An angry purist attending the Sigüenza Jazz Festival in Spain called the police ...
December 2009One of the things I enjoy most this time of year is putting together my two special year-end Just ...
November 2009Did you know there was a New Jersey Hall of Fame? Well,there is, and this year Count Basie and Les P ...
October 2009Trumpeter Valery Ponomarev had a dream: to play with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. But Valery li ...
Septermber 2009My friend, saxophonist Sue Terry, is someone who always has something valuable to say, something wor ...
August 2009On July 6, Oscar Gustave Mayer, retired chairman of one of the world's most famous wiener and co ...
July 2009I have something very special planned for my Just Jazz program of July 5. Since it's 4th of July ...
June 2009I'm delighted to announce that on Sunday, June 14, I'll be joined in the Just Jazz studio by ...
May 2009At the end of March I attended Slide Factory 2009, a terrific classical and jazz trombone festival i ...
Aprl 2009April 29 marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Duke Ellington. And so, to commemorate Duke' ...
March 2009It's up and running and ready for you: my new website! I'm very happy with the design and ab ...
February 2009For February I'm doing something a bit different with my "Just Jazz Artist of the Month." For th ...
January 2009The Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra once told a teammate, who suggested they eat at a popular restau ...
December 2008Four years ago, only a week or so before Christmas, I had gotten back to Brooklyn on the Monday afte ...

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