"Down Beat" - July 2009

What's inside the July issue?
Here's a glimpse ...

The Letters
Classic letters from our Chords & Discords column, from the flat-out angry to the over-the-top thankful, written by some of the great names in music responding to articles they read in DownBeat – Charles Mingus, Phil Spector, Oscar Pettiford, Ornette Coleman, Doc Pomus, Mark Murphy, Bobby Darin, Donald Byrd, Henry Mancini and many more.

In Their Own Words
DownBeat has always been a magazine where musicians do the talking. For this special edition, our editors asked three of our greatest living legends – Dave Brubeck, Marian McPartland and Sonny Rollins – to read what has been written about them and by them in DownBeat magazine, then give their impressions today on those writings.

Benny Goodman @ 100
There is no way DownBeat could celebrate its 75th anniversary without a retrospective on Benny Goodman's centennial. When Goodman became a nationwide hit in 1935, he ushered in the Swing Era – and gave DownBeat its reason to be.

When They Were Young
Even the legends have to start somewhere. Here's a collection of first interviews or very early stories about some of the greatest names in jazz.

The Classic Interviews
The DownBeat archives are a national treasure of America's music. The staff has been combing them to bring back the greatest jazz journalism on record.