Winners of this blog's first Blues Lyric Contest are suitably troubled -- and all get Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson Play the Music of Ray Charles DVDS to ease their weary minds. Full Article at ArtsJournal

Readers of this blog can win 2 tix for JALC's November 14 shows by Maceo Parker or the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra playing Mary Lou Williams, or autographed Wynton-Willie Nelson Play Ray Charles dvds. Full Article at ArtsJournal

TODAY TRIPLE THREAT: Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People series kicks off with “Who Is Mary Lou Williams?” You’ll soon find out, when the kid-friendly concert honors the great jazz pianist, composer and arranger. 1 and 3 p.m. , $12, $20, $28. Full Article at New York Post

In the 1990s, Maria Schneider told JazzSet , "When I think that, for the rest of my life, I'm going to be trying to figure out, 'What am I going to be writing next?'' — it's kind of scary." Full Article at NPR

DURING the first half of his junior year at Stuyvesant High School in New York, Thelonious Monk, the great American jazz artist, showed up in class only 16 out of 92 days and received zeros in every one of his subjects. Full Article at Shanghai Daily