Jazz

Today’s Google Doodle — the little graphics and animations that sometimes accompany its home page — celebrates the legendary Savoy Ballroom. The Harlem nightclub shut down a generation before I was born, but that didn’t stop me from learning about its importance in American cultural history, as in the late ’90s all of us who …

Jack Lemmon, who was born to play the sack-suited, dyspeptic advertising man of the Atomic Age, was also pretty deft on the keyboard, and so we round out this musical weekend with a snippet of his chops in this duet with Dinah Shore. We’ve previously done posts on Lemmon’s films “Good Neighbor Sam,” “Bell, Book And …

One night on the quiz show “Jeopardy!” there was a jazz category. The three contestants left it for last, then failed to answer a single question. America’s classical music, indeed… So here’s to spring, seersucker, and Sarah and Miles with something from the Great American Songbook. 

The younger and less-hip cats out there likely didn’t get the reference in our last headline. “No Room For Squares” is the title of a 1963 album by Hank Mobley, who, like many jazz greats active during the heyday of the Ivy League Look, donned sack jackets, buttondown shirts and rep ties. Here are some …

“Protean” is a word often used to describe Miles Davis. And while it’s become a cliché nearly 25 years after his passing, this Bootleg Series release, which came out in 21015 illustrates just how true it is. The Miles reissue parade has focused largely on specific groups, mammoth recording sessions, or complete concert experiences. They …

John Coltrane, saxophonist and visionary, set standards in nearly every facet of his short but ultimately fruitful life. While generally associated with Philadelphia, Coltrane is actually from Hamlet, North Carolina, and never tried to hide his Southern roots. In an interview by author Frank Kofsky — one of the few times his voice was recorded — …

  For me, Joe Williams always was, is, and will be the perfect male jazz singer. I say this with the greatest respect to Armstrong, Sinatra, Nat Cole, Johnny Hartman, Torme, Bennett, and anyone else you can think of from that fifty-year classic period of  jazz singers, 1925–1975. From the moment I first heard his …

In 1941, Count Basie release “Harvard Blues,” which opens with the following immortal lines: I wear Brooks clothes and white shoes all the time I wear Brooks clothes and white shoes all the time Get three “Cs,” a “D” and think checks from home sublime The lyrics were written by George Frazier, close pal of …

The time for Christmas cheer is once again upon us and Ivy Style is here to help you celebrate in midcentury manner. When one thinks of the Christmas season, one of the first things to spring to mind is music. With that in mind, here’s a look back at some worthy old chestnuts, standards and …

Both Chet Baker and Miles Davis played pivotal roles in the founding of Ivy-Style.com. Both were remembered fondly by Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop when I interviewed him for my 2008 article for Ralph Lauren Magazine entitled “Ivy League Jazz,” which inspired me to found this website. I later ended up writing profiles of …