Last week OffBeat posted a story about a pair of incredible 1920s-era Louis Armstrong recordings that had surfaced online. The tracks–a 1929 rendition of “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and a 1928 version of ...

The total effect can be a little unnerving. There's an eerie call-and-response episode in the 1928 classic "The Mooche" where Takase uses loud and soft dynamics to suggest physical space — between her ...

Duke Ellington is unquestionably the most important and prolific jazz composer. He composed over 1,500 tunes and quite a few have become both jazz standards and part of Americana. Even folks who don't ...

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sammy Miller is a Juilliard-trained jazz drummer and music educator. The views expressed in this commentary are his. View more opinion at CNN. This spring marks both the 50th ...

(This is the first part of a three-part series. Read the second part.) Duke Ellington, whose contours have something of the swell and sweep of a large, erect bear and whose color is that of coffee ...

Bassist Jimmy Woode, who held down the low end for Duke Ellington’s orchestra between 1955 and 1960, died at his home in Lindenwold, New Jersey, on April 23, 2005. He was 76 years old. James Bryant ...

Dave Black, a jazz drummer who toured and recorded with Duke Ellington’s big band in the mid-1950s and inspired composer Billy Strayhorn to write the drum showcase “Gonna Tan Your Hide,” died Monday ...