Discussion: Daniels & Kellaway & the American Songbook

The Library's Larry Appelbaum talks with musicians Eddie Daniels and Roger Kellaway on jazz and the American songbook. Speaker Biography: American tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Edddie Daniels took up alto saxophone at the age of nine, began doubling on tenor saxophone and clarinet about three years later, and attended the High School of the Performing Arts in New York. After graduating from Julliard, Daniels became a founding member of the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Orchestra (with which he remained for six years); he also won first prize as a saxophonist at the International Jazz Competition in Vienna, recorded with Friedrich Gulda, and made his first recording as a leader. After years spent in recording studios and in television and theater orchestras, Daniels received a grant from the NEA in 1986, and at this point in his career he sold his saxophones, ceased doubling as a flutist, and focused solely on clarinet. He has continued to work in both classical and jazz circles and he remains one of the most technically gifted clarinetists in jazz. Speaker Biography: American pianist, arranger, and composer Roger Kellaway learned piano as a child, became interested in jazz through the recordings of George Shearing, and taught himself to play double bass. He studied piano, double bass, and composition at the New England Conservatory (1957???9), and later worked with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Bob Brookmeyer, Ben Webster, Wes Montgomery and Sonny Rollins (1966). In 1966, Kellaway moved to Los Angeles to play in Don Ellis's big band, and he later worked as a music director for the popular singer Bobby Darin. During the same period he toured with Joni Mitchell, and recorded with Carmen McRae, for whom he also wrote arrangements and led a backup group. Speaker Biography: Larry Appelbaum is aSenior Music Reference Librarian and jazz specialist in the Music Division at the Library of Congress. As a former supervisor of the Library's Magnetic Recording Laboratory, he transferred, edited and mastered many classical, jazz and folk recordings for commercial release. As a critic, he is a contributor to the books "Jazz: The First Century" (William Morrow, 2000) and "The Encyclopedia of Radio" (Museum of Broadcast Communications 2003). He writes regularly for JazzTimes and other magazines and websites around the world, curates a jazz film series, and is a long time radio host on WPFW-FM in Washington D.C. For captions, transcript, and more information visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5178&loclr=ytb

Added 27 Mar 2026