Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Jazz in the 50's
In a great recent blog post, my dad wrote about some of what he was doing before I was born. I love getting this little window into what he was up to in those days:
In the 1950’s I spent some time in New York City. My idea of a great night was to drink some beer and listen to jazz. The 50s were a time of creative breakout. We had been busy with war and reconstruction and the whole world was bursting with creative juices. Large expressive art was replacing the drab art of the war years. This was an exciting time, and jazz was at the center of it all. I spent time at familiar spots like Birdland and Jimmy Ryan’s and heard that Bird, Dizzy and Monk were hanging out downtown at The 5 Spot. They were changing the music.
Also in the 50’s I had a chance to go to the clubs in L.A. where one night Mulligan was playing across the street from Chet Baker. These were great jazz clubs. Great memories. I didn’t have a clue at the time how important these guys would be but I did know that something was going on.
