TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Jazz has always danced with mystery—on stage, in the music, and even in its history.
Take Bix Beiderbecke, the brilliant cornetist whose life was cut short at 28. His death in 1931 is still surrounded by questions—alcohol, illness, or something else?
Or Charlie Parker’s “lost recordings”—rumors persist of unreleased takes and private sessions that have yet to surface. For jazz lovers, they’re the holy grail.
Then there’s Monk’s silence—why did Thelonious Monk stop performing in the final years of his life? Was it mental illness, disillusionment, or something even deeper?
And let’s not forget Buddy Bolden, considered the first jazz musician. No confirmed recording of his playing has ever been found. His sound—so central to jazz’s birth—remains a ghost.
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.