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Tom Reney’s writings delve into the history and mystery of jazz, blues, and beyond. The Jazz à la Mode Blog has plenty to stimulate your interest and curiosity in American music.

Lenny Bruce on Modern Jazz and Modern Art

Lenny Bruce
The Telegraph
Lenny Bruce

Too much! Amazing and sweet! Lenny Bruce on jazz and modern art, with Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Teddy Kotick, and Philly Joe Jones playing Charlie Parker's "Au Privave," and Lenny and Philly Joe jiving on Bela Lugosi. (Jones had recorded the album Blues for Dracula in 1958.) And stick around for Lenny singing, complete with an Irish brogue, "How Are Things in Glocca Morra.” If you listen closely, you’ll hear Lenny introducing his accompanists as “Ike Isaacson," and for Nat Pierce, he first says, "Nat Hent,” as in Hentoff, then quickly corrects himself and says, “ Ah, Nat Pierce...mishpocheh," a Yiddish word for family. October 13 was Lenny Bruce's 93rd birthday anniversary. I’m sure you’ll agree that, like the music he celebrates here, his style holds up well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD3j4K2z_MM&feature=share

Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. In addition to hosting Jazz à la Mode since 1984, Tom writes the jazz blog and produces the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tom holds a bachelor's degree from UMass Amherst, where he majored in English and African American Studies.


Email Tom at tom_reney@nepm.org.