When I was a kid, I’d drive along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago late at night, and I’d listen to ‘Sid McCoy, the Real McCoy’ jazz show. I’d hear Ella and Billy Strayhorn and the Modern Jazz Quartet. And I’d wonder, ‘How do you get from this world to that one?’

Jazz musicians ‘heard’ something no one had ever heard before. It’s like they cracked open the universe and provided a gateway to an invisible world that only reveals itself through improvisation. Much of the music hung on songs from the Great American Songbook—witty, elegant, and altogether lovely. But it’s music that’s been all but abandoned for…what exactly? Crudeness? Self-absorption? Probably the worst part of it all is how uninteresting so much of what passes for culture is today.

But enough of my screed. I hope you enjoy the music and the musicians who brought their extraordinary talents to the recordings. I’d especially like to acknowledge the great Tammi Brown who passed away a few short months ago. She gave her great gifts to the second JazzBook recording (You can see her in the live performance video). If jazz musicians changed music, African American women changed singing. And Tammi Brown changed me. I miss her deeply.

Albert Greenberg, Creator and Principal Composer of The Lost American JazzBook.

THE LOST AMERICAN JAZZBOOK THROUGH DANCE

LIVE AT YOSHI’S

“Simply the best jazz concert I’ve ever seen at Yoshi’s Jazz Club.”

JIM CALLAHAN, CURATOR, PIEDMONT PIANO JAZZ CONCERT SERIES

“Congratulations on a smashing success.”

DANIEL GRUJIC, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, YOSHI’S