Heard the other night in the Denver area on a local jazz radio station: “We’re here to play some great jazz, and on this evening with the presidential debate, we are one of the few places providing a distraction from that and won’t care to say a word about it.” (Thanks to Adam Smith.) Actually, jazz is not a distraction from the State. The State is a distraction – worse, an impediment – from jazz and all else that is good. Jimmy Blanton, bassist, was a creative force in Duke Ellington’s orchestra between 1939 and 1941. Blanton took the bass … Continue reading Jazz Birthday: Jimmy Blanton (1918)