Jazz Stories

Jazz Stories

with
John Stowell and Rob Davis

In an interplay of words and music, author Lynn Darroch recites tales of musicians, artists and mysterious strangers while John Stowell (guitar) and Rob Davis (tenor saxophone) improvise on jazz standards and original tunes in a carefully orchestrated performance.

These stories, based on personal encounters, interviews and historical study, feature include trumpeter Red Rodney, Thelonious Monk sideman Charlie Rouse, saxophonists Charles Lloyd and Phil Woods, the great Ray Charles, and beatnik inspiration Neal Cassidy. In addition to dramatic interactions between Darroch and his subjects, you’ll hear about the lives and work of these musicians and artists. This educational component will help connect the history of American music with these artists.

These are musical performances meant to entertain, though, and the focus is always on telling a good story.

You can read the full text of each story while listening by selecting the "read" option below.

Jazz Stories

  1. Adventures of the Red Arrow (Red Rodney) [read] | [listen]
  2. Brother Ray (Ray Charles) [read] | [listen]
  3. Walking on Water: A Meditation on Older Brothers (Charles Lloyd) [read] | [listen]
  4. Beatniks (Neal Cassidy, Irv Kazmarek) [read] | [listen]
  5. Phil Among The Giants (Phil Woods) [read] | [listen]
  6. Silt [read] | [listen] | [download this complete story free]
  7. Rouse at Rest (Charlie Rouse) [read] | [listen]