Leonard Bernstein & Aaron Copland (1958)

Thanks to Stupefaction for reminding me of Boing Boing, who then pointed me in the direction of some kind soul who posted several parts of Leonard Bernstein's EXCELLENT 1958 televised "Young People's Concerts". There is something pretty gripping about Lenny turning the podium over to composer Aaron Copland who then conducts what is perhaps his best known work.

Altec Lansing (1954)

Pages from the 1954 Altec Lansing home audio catalog. High Fidelity.

1957-D, No. 1 (1957)

Painting by Clifford Still

The Madison Time (1960)

I woke up this morning with a yearning desire. A yearning desire to dance the Madison. Fortunately for both me as well as countless others out there who awoke with a disturbance in their minds, relief is just a few clicks away.

First, let's drop a coin in the jukebox and check out the Ray Bryant's hit.

Now, let's learn a bit about the history of the dance here.

Finally, in case you missed it, let's check out the dance steps.

Feel better? Yeah, me too.

Willie Mitchell (1928-2010)

Rest in peace.

Merry Xmas (1950)

This Christmas, sit down with your egg nog by the fire, and dig into the amazingly true story of the legendary Korla Pandit. "People talk about adversity..."

Slam Stewart Trio (1947)

I had to re-post this here. The quality is very good (is YouTube FINALLY becoming a watchable medium?) and I have never seen it before. It gives a rare glimpse of Slam Stewart's late-40s trio that featured Beryl Booker on piano and vocals and John Collins on guitar. Stewart had previously been a member of the Art Tatum Trio with Tiny Grimes, which, like this combo, showed the undeniable influence of The King Cole Trio. In fact, it's hard to really grasp how influential The King Cole Trio were at their time. This clip was taken from the 1947 film, "Boy! What a Girl" that also featured musicians such as Big Sid Catlett. If you are interested in the trio check out this site.