Editor's Note: Spring Is Near

Photos from a walk across Central Park during New York's briefest season

Spring is a slippery season in New York. It pops its head up briefly only to have winter barge back in. When the weather starts to become consistently warmer, it often rains and the wind blows the blossoms off tree branches.

So, net-net, the city tends to get just two weeks of sunny weather in the 70s before summer brushes it aside. If we’re lucky, those spring days in the mid-70s will fall on a weekend. That was the case last Saturday. [Photo above and all photos below by Marc Myers]

Since I was crossing Central Park en route to my place on the West Side after visiting my daughter on the East Side, I thought I’d take a bunch of photos of early spring in all its magnificence to share with you:

What I’ve watched. I have been screening a ton of upcoming films and series in advance of Hollywood interviews for my House Call column in the WSJ. But rather than torture you with what you can’t see yet, I figured I’d share two films that I loved that you can access: Agent Zeta (Amazon Prime), a Spanish action film, and Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Roku/free).

A special thanks to my paid subscribers for their support, their comments and their wisdom when a post needs a factual tweak.

How JazzWax works. If you like logging in to JazzWax and roaming around, let me explain how the site is set up.

Across the top you’ll see a menu: Jazz101 houses my posts on jazz history; Albums holds my posts on records; Tracks are my posts on individual songs; Films are my posts on music documentaries; Interviews are my conversations with jazz musicians and singers that took place after JazzWax moved to Substack; Beyond are all posts that don’t fit any category—commentary on rock, pop and other forms of music as well as my Editor’s Notes; 2007-2025 is the JazzWax archive with all of my pre-Substack posts dating back to 2007; and WSJ is where you’ll find my Wall Street Journal columns, accessible if you subscribe to the newspaper’s online site.

Want to read my pre-Substack JazzWax interviews? Scroll down the home page. On the right side you’ll see a long list of jazz legends. Just click on a name and you’ll be taken to the interview.

Disclaimer. A reader last week asked why I provide links to buy albums and whether I received payment for doing so. The answer is absolutely not.

Receiving payment (pay for play) would be a conflict of interest. I include the links in case readers want to buy what I’m posting about and don’t want to fuss. As most readers know, nearly all of the music I write about can be heard via streaming at Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify and other platforms without charge.

Charles Tolliver. Bill Kirchner last week sent along the Gerald Wilson Orchestra playing Paper Man, composed and arranged for Wilson by Charles Tolliver. Solos are by Charles Tolliver (tp), Hadley Caliman (ts) and Phil Moore III (p).

As for the Gerald Wilson Orchestra: Al Porcino, Gary Barone, Dick Forrest, Larry McGuire and Alex Rodriguez (tp); Charles Tolliver (tp,arranger of track #1); Thurman Green and Lester Robinson (tb); Mike Barone (tb,arranger on #3); Don Switzer (b-tb); Anthony Ortega and Ramon Bojorquez (as); Hadley Caliman and Harold Land (ts); Howard Johnson (bs,tuba); Phil Moore III (p); Jack Wilson (org); Buddy Woodson (b); Carl Lott (d); Gerald Wilson (arr on balance of tracks).

Paper Man was recorded at Marty’s on the Hill in Los Angeles on April 1, 1967…

Piano trios. Last week I heard from Mark Rabin…

Marc, I’ve been in a piano trio mood lately. I found two piano trio live-streams that I enjoyed:

Here’s Bruce Barth at Clement’s Place in Newark, N.J.…

And here’s Bill Cunliffe at Mezzrow in New York…

Weekend listening. Here’s Don Patterson on organ with tenor saxophonist Sonny Stitt, guitarist Blue Grant and drummer Billy James playing Donny Brook, from the Prestige album of the same name, recorded in 1969…

One more? Here’s João Donato and Bud Shank playing live in 2006…