Everyone in the group writes original music, some of which has been played publicly in the past and some which will be premiered this week. In this episode, the guys discuss what it's like to write their own original tunes.

Pianist/composer Kenny Werner (born Nov 19, 1951) has been leading his own trios since 1981. He played with the Mel Lewis Orchestra in the early 1980s and was encouraged by Lewis and Bob Brookmeyer to compose for the band, which led to him composing for many European radio bands. He played duo with Toots Thielmans for 14 years and was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in composition. His book Effortless Mastery, about the psychological aspects of music performance is widely read and he teaches a course based on it at the Berklee School in Boston.

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Saxophonist / multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy (born June 20, 1928) and trumpeter Booker Little (born April 2, 1938) were frequent collaborators near the end of their all too brief careers. After establishing himself with the Chico Hamilton group, he went on to perform with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, as well as his own groups and recordings with Oliver Nelson and George Russell. While often considered a member of the jazz avant-garde, he was just stretching the conventions of tonality and rhythm established by the beboppers in novel and unexpected ways. Trumpeter Little played with Max Roach, replacing the great Clifford Brown in that band. He passed away at the age of 23 of uremia, and Dolphy at 36 of complications of undiagnosed diabetes.

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