We visit with New York base Al Schulman, a guitarist who played early on with Pittsburgh’s David Gurwin - they’ll be reunited at Con Alma June 4th along with vocalist Stacey Schulman - who also happens to be married to Al. Al and Stacey perform as “As Is,” and they have a new CD out named for the Henry Mancini tune Crazy World.
The week just passed saw the passing of notable jazz figures - including “Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins at the age of 95. On the program, we play some Sonny, and encourage you to read a 2020 interview of Sonny with Lee Mergner, the former Publisher of JazzTimes Magazine (and a longtime friend of ours).
We also share one of Sonny’s first records as a leader, Sonn Rollins + Four - which was also one of the last studio dates for members of the Clifford Brown / Max Roach Quintet in 1956 (Trumpeter Clifford Brown and pianist Richie Powell died in an accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike about 3 months later.
Guitarist Bill Frisell has a new release out - and plays at City Winery, Friday June 5. We play that new one - and also music from two other jazz artists who passed this week - saxophonist and first-call player in Los Angeles, movies and TV - Gary Foster (age 89); and guitarist Ron Escheté (age 77), longtime featured player with Gene Harris.
The Scene - Thursday night at six, Friday and Saturday at noon, Sunday afternoon at 5 on WZUM
