Some Milestones: 200 Essays So Far, an Index, and Another National Award

I’ve just been notified that another of my articles has won the national 2024 ASCAP Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism in the pop music field. The essay, “Miles Davis Did Not Exactly Steal Tunes,” is an explanation of how and why Miles Davis's name was placed on tunes that he did not write. (Hint--he did not "steal" them! It's more complicated.) My previous winner, in 2022, was a series proving that the Billie Holiday movie is entirely false.

The most recent post was my 200th since I began this series in September 2022 to share my unpublished research with all of you! This material is only available here, often including previously unknown audio or video. ALL the essays are permanently stored on the site. Have you quickly skimmed through all the essays titles to see what you might have missed? Or, alternatively, if you’re looking at this on a computer, have you gone to the Index, under the heading “Playback with Lewis Porter!,” where you can search through all of the essays arranged alphabetically by topic? I suggest that you take five minutes to do one of these now, if you haven’t already. (The link to the Index doesn’t show up on phones, but you can still get to it easily: Click on any Index link within one of my essays, and you’ll see the word “Index” at the top of the page. Click on that and you can search through all of my essay topics.)

Here are only a few of the most-read essays to date:

The history of vocalese, with rare audio and video clips! (Indexed under “Singing.”)

Many previously unknown Ellington items: videos, audio interviews, music audio, and even a script that he typed himself!

A series highlighting the unknown experimental side of Tatum

An audio interview with Charlie Parker that was totally unknown and is only available here

The presentation of an unissued audio track from Sonny Meets Hawk

A video clip of Lester Young speaking on TV

A series diving deep into Coltrane's A Love Supreme

A listing of Best Jazz Reference Sources (with links)

As you know, all essays are free, but any essay with the word “Bonus” in the title has a gift item at the bottom that is only available to paying subscribers. That’s $50 per year; anything over that amount is optional but entitles you to meet with me on Zoom, plus other “perks.” When you become a Paying Subscriber, ALL of the Bonus items posted up to now will UNLOCK and become available to you—more than 70 items so far, and more to come!

There are of course many other essays in addition to those listed above—about Monk, Bebop, Freddie Keppard, King Oliver, Wayne Shorter, Eric Dolphy, the legendary Hasaan, and on and on. And I’m working on many more. I have a large international readership and I THANK YOU ALL for your support!

All the best,
Lewis