As a writer and pianist/keyboardist, drummers have always been important to me. One of my longest running musical partnerships has been with drummer Tani Tabbal (who appears most recently on my album "Early Morning Star" (2020, FMR). Another highlight was the time I spent speaking and playing with Billy Hart (the fruits of which include the album "Infinite Spirit, Revisiting Music of the Mwandishi Band" (2016, FMR) and interviews that appear within my book "You'll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band (University of Chicago Press, 2016).

Jerome Cooper, wonderful drummer and a totally unique human being, passed away on Wednesday, May 6. The last surviving member of the Revolutionary Ensemble, and not quite 70 years old, Jerome died of cancer. I first saw him play in the early-70s when he was playing with the Revolutionary Ensemble and had the chance to meet him for the first time following a solo concert he gave in New York.

I’ve been posting on substack a three-part series on this important topic, which includes: NYC Council and Federal small business support in the recovery from the devastation of jazz clubs during the COVID 19 pandemic, the historical role of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Small Business Administration… in supporting Arts in the United States, …

There's an interesting story to how studio sessions, concerts, a recording, and the writing and publication of a book have shaped performances of Pat Metheny's music by the trio Transcendence This is a story of a set list. A set list is the order of compositions to be played in a concert. At some concerts, audiences may have in hand a printed list, although that’s a practice in only some kinds of musical settings.

This is a barebones chronology. A narrative explaining how these set lists evolved appears in my “Music and Our Lives” Substack at: March 30, 2019: Pat Metheny hands Bob Gluck a copy of The Pat Metheny Songbook after a concert April-July 2019: Rehearsals and recording of Bob Gluck’s Early Morning Star Bob begins playing his way through the Pat Metheny Songbook…

The first book about the jazz pioneer known for jamming with wolves, whales, and other creatures.

Spring Equinox, March 20, 2025 The Musical World of Paul Winter by Bob Gluck (Terra Nova Press) There are surely many saxophonists and environmentalists, but very few environmentalist/saxophonists. Most influential is Paul Winter, about whom Bob Gluck has written the first book, now available from Terra Nova in a paperback, expanded edition. Gluck’s narrative follows Winter’s fascinating path, from a small central Pennsylvania railroad town to touring South America at the invitation of the U.S.