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  • Writer's pictureGloria Krolak

Jalen Baker Cooks Up A High-Calorie Dessert


gkrolak©2023


The Amina Scott Quartet featured Jalen Baker on vibraphone, Oscar Rossignoli on piano, Leon Anderson drums and Ms. Scott on bass, at a recent performance at Hilton Head's Jazz Corner. Baker looks like a young Lionel Hampton but plays with all the intensity of... a young Jalen Baker. Catch him if you can!

  • Debbie Burke

Review of Jazz Lines...free verse in the key of jazz

Updated: Mar 27

by Debbie Burke


Author of Icarus Flies Home

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Sing a song of jazz titles From musicians near and far Big band, bebop, traditional Bring lyrics to where you are

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Ed Berger’s photos lovingly placed In luminous black & white Accompanied by free verse from Gloria Krolak from NPR, that’s aight

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In her book from 2018, NPR host and author Gloria Krolak uses the photos of Ed Berger and poetry to tell a story of the jazz life. The images are lush and convey the right mood: Lee Konitz, Christian McBride, Carol Fredette, Kurt Elling. Krolak’s free verse explores categories that song titles suggest: the passage of time through the days of the week; an address book with women’s names (“Georgia on My Mind,” “Nancy with the Laughing Face”) and anatomy (“Body and Soul,” “Sugar Hips”). Krolak is the host of “Good Vibes” and is a jazz columnist.

Photographer Ed Berger (1949-2017), who at 16 took his first jazz photo at a Louis Armstrong concert, was an author, radio host and record producer.

“Jazz Lines” is inventive, satisfying, and beautifully produced.

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Also visit

https://www.amazon.com/Free-Verse-Photos-Key-Jazz/dp/1364810085.

(c) 2021 Debbie Burke



  • Writer's pictureGloria Krolak

SWEET JAZZ O'MINE

Updated: May 10

August 20, 2021


Jerry Jazz Musician (jerryjazzmusician.com) is a non-commercial website you’ll want to bookmark. It’s all things jazz curated by Joe Maita, founded and published in Portland, Oregon in 1997. Music, culture, history, art, poetry, interviews, fiction, Maita shares the best in jazz. If it were a museum it would be the Smithsonian; if it were a book it would be Carl Sagan’s Cosmos; a magazine National Geographic. Now you get the idea of the quality represented here.


The name came from one of Woody Allen’s stand-up routines from the 1960’s. Called “Unhappy Childhood,” Allen describes traveling the subway to his clarinet lessons dressed as “Jerry Jazz Musician,” that might have included a beret and probably a beard, if he’d been able to grow one at the age of 15, when he began. This may have been Allen's first acting role. Joe Maita doesn’t have to act, his fascination with everything jazz is real and natural and you’ll see it when you visit his website.


The summer issue is the poetry collection, which includes a poem from my book Jazz Lines, “Sweet Jazz O’Mine.” My lighthearted dissection of jazz instrumentation stands on tiptoe trying to reach the height of insightful odes by true poets, to the giants of jazz lore like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, and many worthy others. I’m so excited to be included!


This is the second verse from Jazz Lines that Maita published at jerryjazzmusician.In the June 24, 2021 issue Maita included “Teach Me Tonight,” under the title “Thelonious Monk…and Five Poems.”


"Which Way Did She Go?"

Joe Maita, creator of jerryjazzmusician.com, does it again! 

He curates one of the best jazz poetry collections I’ve ever read.

(Poetry, you say?  Don’t think you have to be a “longhair” to read poetry.  These are readable, thought-provoking and memorable.  In poetry, every word, every piece of punctuation is important. Poems are meant to savor, read again and again to absorb the mood and feeling the poet intended.)

Joe’s Summer 2022 Collection is not to be missed.  Nor is the rest of his highly  erudite and informed website of jazz, interviews, history, paintings and commentary.  IMHO, this is the very best of what the internet offers. 

Here is a link to the Summer Poetry Collection, including one of mine, “Which Way Did She Go?”  My poems, less serious than the others, are playfully built of jazz tune titles and tell a little story. 

https://jerryjazzmusician.com/a-collection-of-jazz-poetry-summer-2022-edition/  

Leave a comment if you enjoy your visit. 

And while you’re here, check out my book Jazz Lines…free verse in the key of jazz.

Best,

Gloria

8/15/22

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JERRY JAZZ MUSICIAN PUBLISHES KROLAK POETRY 

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December 16, 2022

jerryjazzmusician.com is a non-commercial website to which you’ll want to subscribe.  It’s all things jazz curated by Joe Maita, founder and publisher, in Portland, Oregon in 1997.  Music, culture, history, art, poetry, interviews, fiction, Maita shares the best in jazz.  It’s as if the best museum, book, magazine and newspaper united to present its worldly view of the subject. 

The name came from one of Woody Allen’s stand-up routines from the 1960’s.  Called “Unhappy Childhood,” Allen describes traveling the subway to his clarinet lessons dressed as “Jerry Jazz Musician,” his idea of what a jazz musician looked like.  That might have included a beret, black turtleneck sweater and maybe a beard, if he’d been able to grow one at the age of 15, when he began his lessons.  Maybe this was Allen’s first acting role that mattered.  Joe Maita doesn’t need to act; his fascination with everything jazz is real and natural and you’ll see it when you visit his website. 

The winter 22/23 issue is another sweet poetry collection, which includes a new poem of mine, “And In Vibraphone News…” Different than my previous poetry, this one builds with album titles, not song titles.  They’re in italics for easy identification.  Here’s the link.

https://jerryjazzmusician.com/a-collection-of-jazz-poetry-fall-winter-2022-23

My lighthearted poetry has to stand on tiptoe trying to reach the height of insightful odes by true poets, to the giants of jazz like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, and many worthy others.  I’m so excited to be included! 

Joe Maita, Oregon

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          Christian Tamburr                 Count Basie Orchestra                     Charlton Singleton

                           Hail to the Chief!

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by Gloria Krolak 
We've been almost on music overload (notice I wrote "almost") these past few days as the Jazz for All Ages annual festival spooled out at the Sonesta Resort on Hilton Head Island, once again the host site. Presented by The Jazz Corner as a fundraiser for their Junior Jazz Foundation, it all began at a jazz brunch with vibraphonist Christian Tamburr and pianist Scott Giddens, a formidable duo under any circumstances. With a vibraphone in the room, you know I'm in my element. They played a variety of tunes honoring Gary Burton and the late Chick Corea, as well as a Tamburr original called "The Chief,' which Tamburr explained is his dad's nickname for him.

The brunch is a new addition to the festival. A hot breakfast, a mimosa in hand and an unbeatable playlist by two well-seasoned players is a great way to start the day! Tamburr/Giddens included "Libertango," an Astor Piazzolla original that Burton recorded on an album of the same name, bringing the tune around full circle.
That night the Count Basie Orchestra headlined the program, after a set by the Junior Jazz Band, a quartet of musicians raised in music by the JJF. Having watched them grow physically and musically as little guys over the years at the summer bandcamp, it is always a pleasure to be entertained by the Rising Stars.
When the Basie band started up it was like standing behind a jet ready for takeoff. What do they call that, the blast zone? Neal Hefti's "Lil Darlin'" was on the playlist, as well as "Honeysuckle Rose," with vocalist Carmen Bradford. And it wasn't just the volume that blew the audience a few feet back, it was the artistry, talent and professionalism that made the orchestra such a big hit.
On the next and last night we heard trumpeter Charlton Singleton and his tribute to the seminal Earth, Wind and Fire band (mostly fire). Quiana Parler paired with Singleton on vocals, both Grammy winners, were explosive together, and the rest of the band played at that same high level. Hearing "Sun Goddess" made my day.
It was a weekend to remember. Next year get your tickets early. It's a festival worth attending and the island is your playground.

10/31/2022
#jazz #hiltonhead #JazzFestival #ChristianTamburr #CountBasieOrchestra #CharltonSingleton #QuianaParler #ScottGiddens 

#JuniorJazzFoundation #TheJazzCorner #GoodVibes #EarthWindFire #GaryBurton #ChickCorea 

In Which Nica Reveals Her Dreams 

by Gloria Krolak

April 2022

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The real life Rothschild heiress and Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter (1913-1988) was a fervent patron of jazz.  She fearlessly left her husband and five children to support and encourage the jazz artists she loved.  Although the  Rothschilds disowned her and her husband won custody of the children, she maintained contact with them.  She is especially well-known for her assistance to Thelonious Monk, but many others benefitted from her generosity in the form of rent payments, grocery deliveries, hospital stays and the famously speedy adventures in her Bentley.  She chaperoned them to  gigs and defended them against racism.  There are at least 11 tunes by various musicians named for her. “Nica’s Dream” was written by Horace Silver.  There is even a jazz club in Nantes, Frances named for her, Le Pannonica. 

You can read "Nica's Dream," my latest verse, at the website, Jerry Jazz Musician.  Joe Maita, founder,  publisher, and jazz enthusiast, curates one of the most comprehensive and best jazz websites.  Go ahead and get lost in it! 

http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/

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Food For Thought
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