Category Archives: Queen Mary 2

April 23, 2017 · 12:35 pm

Coming up: more jazz history lectures on the Queen Mary 2 and at L.I. libraries

QM2 voyage to Norway - Flaam

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be presenting about jazz history aboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 again this summer and fall. First up will be a voyage from Southampton, England to the fjords of Norway, July 13-21, including the tiny village of Flaam, pictured above. Please consider joining me if you can! The beautiful Queen Mary 2 is one of the greatest cruising experiences in the world. For more information on this trip, visit Cunard’s website. (Feel free to email me if you have questions.) And on November 5-12, I’ll be a guest speaker on a transatlantic crossing, Southampton-New York.

Much closer to home, I’ll be speaking at the Freeport Memorial Library (on Merrick Road in Freeport) again on Sunday, May 21 at 2:30 p.m. My subject will be “A Brief History of Modern Jazz Piano: From Bud Powell to Herbie Hancock and Beyond,” complete with rare film clips and audio. Admission is free. I’ll announce the event on Facebook soon.

Playlist #1: A Brief History of Jazz Piano (Part 1, 1900-1945)

Dear Friends,

Here’s the first playlist of audio and video clips from my recent series of talks on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 about the history and development of the piano in jazz. This expanded playlist corresponds to my talk, “From Jelly Roll to Nat King Cole,” covering the dawn of jazz, circa 1900, to the birth of the modern jazz piano trio. It includes fascinating and entertaining performances by Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Fats Waller, and so many more. Enjoy, and I welcome your feedback!

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Filed under Allen Morrison, Blue Note Jazz at Sea, Cunard, Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Nat King Cole, Queen Mary 2, Willie "the Lion" Smith

August 10, 2016 · 11:00 am

A Note of Thanks

Armstrong singing

Just a note to thank to all my new friends who came to my jazz history lectures on the Queen Mary 2 as part of the 2nd Cunard/Blue Note Jazz at Sea transatlantic crossing this past week (Aug. 1-9), featuring the brilliant Herbie Hancock Quintet! It was such a pleasure to meet so many jazz fans – and maybe to inspire some new ones. I was especially gratified by your enthusiasm and spontaneous applause for the great jazz artists whose music we enjoyed together.

boswell-1 I’ll soon be sharing playlists from my talks, “Jazz Piano – A Brief History” (Parts 1&2) and “The Great Jazz Singers” (Parts 1&2 ) here on my website, so that you can find all those great video and audio clips easily; and I’ll post some recommendations for additional listening.

Ellington at the piano

Please feel free to contact me with your questions and comments. You can always reach me here at my website, follow me on Twitter , and on Facebook at http://fb.me/allenmorrisonjazz. Hope to see you again soon!

Allen