Author Archives: The Independent Ear

A Grand Night for Mastery The annual National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters awards concert is always a grand night on the annual jazz calendar. Peculiar to this art form, jazz remains both nostalgic and forever questing in forward … Continue reading →

So what is it about playing the bass and developing a keen eye for photography? Remember those three superb coffee table photography books by one of the great jazz bass pioneers, Milt Hinton (“Bass Line”, “Over Time”, and “Playing the … Continue reading →

My WPFW colleague, scholar, educator and all-around jazz stalwart around town, Rusty Hassan recently posted an interesting post-concert observation in Facebook that struck a chord. Anyone who has read the Independent Ear knows that as a frequent jazz performance audience … Continue reading →

JAZZ TAKES A STAND By Ron Scott Regardless of America’s ever-changing situation black music has always been its soundtrack depicting the mood of the times from war to peace, lynchings to chain gangs, segregation, civil disobedience, integration, to police brutality, … Continue reading →

The Kennedy Center, outside of Lincoln Center, offers the most extensive jazz programming of any of the major arts centers in this country. We owe that in part to the stewardship of the late, great jazz renaissance man Dr. Billy … Continue reading →