• Home
  • About
    • Doug Ramsey
    • Rifftides
    • Contact
  • Purchase Doug’s Books
    • Poodie James
    • Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond
    • Jazz Matters
    • Other Works
  • AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal
  • rss

Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside

September 16, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

As Rifftides readers have undoubtedly noticed, it has been a long time since we posted. We are creating a new post in hopes  that it will open the way to resumption of frequent reports as part of the artsjournal.com mission to keep you up to date on jazz and other matters. Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s stunning new trio album for the Sunnyside label is one that we have been hoping for weeks to call to your attention. Zeitlin's interaction with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson makes … [Read more...]

A Brief Hiatus

August 16, 2020 by mclennan

Rifftides has been unable to post for many days because of computer problems. Its proprietor, Doug Ramsey, has asked us to assure Rifftides readers that the blog will resume as soon as difficulties are resolved. … [Read more...]

Bley, Swallow, Sheppard: Life Goes On

July 13, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Sometimes it takes a while to catch up. Case in point: Carla Bley's, Andy Sheppard's and Steve Swallow's Life Goes On. ECM released the album on Valentine's Day. But the Rifftides staff (blame me) somehow managed to overlook what would ordinarily have been a quick and enthusiastic response to a nifty album. Swallow is all but certifiably one of the leading bassists alive, Bley has been at the apex of jazz composition and arranging for much of her life, and the British tenor saxophonist Sheppard … [Read more...]

The New One By John Scofield And Friends

July 11, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Several Rifftides readers have expressed concern that this blog has appeared infrequently of late and asked if the staff are all right. We are fine. Thank you for asking. Back to business: John Scofield brings together a pair longtime colleagues for a new collection reminding us that his range and flexibility are among the greatest of any guitarist. With drummer Bill Stewart and bassist Steve Swallow (Swallow, left, and Scofield pictured) the repertoire of Scofield's new all-star trio … [Read more...]

Recent Listening, In Brief

June 12, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Michelle Lordi,'s Break Up With The Sound  (Cabinet Of Wonder) runs an eclectic course from Hank Williams's heart-tugging country classic "I'm So Lonesome" to songs by Ms. Lordi herself,  plus pieces by Cole Porter and members of The Beatles. It is popular, mostly American, music that maintains C&W earnestness without sliding into the heart-on-the-sleeve sentimentaility that constricts so many of today's mainstream country performances. Lebowsky and Newman's "The Wayward Wind" kept Gogi … [Read more...]

A Big Band Of Canadians

June 5, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Jim Wilke (pictured above) tells us about the next program on his Jazz Northwest, and where to hear it. Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra  (Hersog, front & center) photo by Robert Iannone CD Debut of Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra on Jazz Northwest, June 7 on 88.5 KNKX A rich collection of original compositions and arrangements by Daniel Hersog has just been issued on a new CD "Night Devoid of Stars" to be issued this week.  Recorded in Vancouver BC, the orchestra includes some … [Read more...]

On Memorial Day, Thoughts Of A Friend

May 25, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Every Memorial Day, I think of someone who became a friend under demanding circumstances. Some years, I share that thought with Rifftides readers. MEMORY OF A FRIEND First posted May 30, 2011 There is someone I think of every Memorial Day, and many other days. Cornelius Ram and I were among a collection of young men who accepted the United States Marine Corps’ bet that we weren’t tough or smart enough to wrestle commissions from it. It quickly became apparent to everyone, including the drill … [Read more...]

Frantisek Uhliř’s Welcome New Album

May 23, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Some time ago, I wrote on Rifftides, "The Czech Frantisek Uhliř is one of the greatest bassists in the world. He works frequently in the trio of his countryman pianist Emil Viklicky, another great European player about whom most Americans know little. I just ran across a brief note I made when I was in Prague twelve years ago (now, more like 25 years ago), helping American economists teach market economics to Czech journalists newly released from communism." June 10, 1993: Went to Agartha … [Read more...]

Paul Desmond & His Canadians, The Complete Set At Last

May 16, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Mosaic Records reports that the first release of Paul Desmond--The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings has sold out. The seven-CD set features the former Dave Brueck Quartet alto saxophonist  with his prized Canadian rhythm section of guitarist Ed Bickert, bassist Don Thompson and drummer Jerry Fuller. Mosaic's Michael Cuscuna says that he expects the next batch of pressings to be available by the end of May. When after 17 years together the Brubeck Quartet disbanded, Desmond vacationed in the … [Read more...]

Matthew Shipp’s Piano Equation

April 29, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Matthew Shipp: The Piano Equation (Tao Forms) The dictionary defines equation as "the act of making equal." In his engrossing new solo album, pianist Matthew Shipp creates eleven new pieces of music in which the equality of his powerful hands is important to the venture's success, but not as important as the fertile imagination that guides his music-making. For the past three decades, Shipp has been a formidable collaborator on recordings with Joe McPhee, Whit Dickey, Marshall Allen, David S. … [Read more...]

Lee Konitz, 1927-2020

April 15, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Lee Konitz died today in a New York City hospital. He was 92. Known primarily for the individualism of his  alto saxophone work, Konitz in his later years also played soprano saxophone. Using aspects of phrasing, rhythm and tonal quality adapted from the great tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Konitz in the 1940s developed into one of the most distinctive soloists in jazz. His mid-forties recordings with pianist and composer Lennie Tristano influenced dozens of musicians who wanted to develop … [Read more...]

Iverson, Harrell And The Gershwins

April 14, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Perhaps a good way to buoy spirits in this dispiriting time is to call your attention to music that gives the Rifftides staff a lift...in hopes that it may do the same for you. Pianist and composer Ethan Iverson's recent collection Common Practice has moments that are helpful in that regard. Iverson put together a quartet that includes himself, bassist Ben Street, drummer Eric McPherson, and  guest artist Tom Harrell at a peak of imagination and inventiveness that is stunning even by that … [Read more...]

Weekend Listening Tip

April 10, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Jim Wilke sent us a weekend listening tip, illustrated: Jay Thomas photo by Daniel Sheehan Seattle Jazz Hero Jay Thomas featured on Jazz Northwest, Sunday April 12 Multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas was named a Seattle Jazz Hero recently by the national Jazz Journalists Association, and will be featured opening this week's Jazz Northwest with a pair of pieces drawn from Jay's recent CD "High Crimes and Misdemeanors".  The Jazz Journalists Association is a national organization of those … [Read more...]

Recent Listening: Ernesto Cervini’s Tetrahedron

April 5, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Canadian drummer Ernesto Cervini's Tetrahedron manages to meld elements of contemporary electronica with references to developments in the six decades since John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" innovations and Ornette Coleman's free jazz turned the music in new directions. Cervini enlists electric bassist Rich Brown, the daring New York guitarist Nir Felder and alto saxophonist Luis Deniz. From the album's one standard, "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise," through five stirring tunes by Cervini and … [Read more...]

2020 Jazz Heroes: The Complete List

April 5, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Each year, the Jazz Journalists Association recognizes musicians, writers, broadcasters and others who have made important contributions to the health and success of jazz in their parts of the United States. Here are the new honorees. For the list of 2020 heroes and their biographical sketches, scroll down and click on the names of the heroes who interest you. You're likely to find at least one whom you know, or know about. Ann Arbor, MI: Deanna Relyea Atlanta, GA: Gwen Redding … [Read more...]

Ellis Marsalis Is Gone

April 4, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

The death this week of Ellis Marsalis recalls dozens of enounters with him when he was one of New Orleans' premier jazz musicians. Long before Ellis became famous as the father of Wynton, Branford, Jason and Delfeo, he established himself as a nonpareil pianist and educator. I remember hearing the the young Marsalis when he was  a key member of alto saxophonist Al Belletto's sextet in the 1960s and being spellbound  by the intricacies he and Belletto wove in their performances together. Marsalis … [Read more...]

An Intriguing Trio Album

March 31, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Asked about his intriguing new album, west coast trumpeter Dick Titterington talked about the project's genesis at a Christmas party gig. At their bandleaders's request, each of the musicians wrote a new composition for the occasion.  Titterington says that they enjoyed one another and the resulting interplay so much that they expanded the Christmas encounter into material for an entire album. The CD has emerged on the HeavyWood label as Horn Art Works: 14 Pieces. It has plenty of … [Read more...]

Dick Titterington’s New Trio Album

March 30, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Asked about his intriguing new album, west coast trumpeter Dick Titterington talked about the project's genesis during a Christmas party. Their bandleader had asked each musician to write a new composition for the occasion. Titterington says that the trio enjoyed one another and the resulting interplay so much that they expanded the Christmas encounter into material for an entire album. The CD, Horn Art Works: 14 Pieces, has emerged on the HeavyWood label at … [Read more...]

Want To Feel Better? This May Help.

March 28, 2020 by Doug Ramsey

Rifftides has been inactive for a few days. None of the reasons for that...thank goodness...have to do with a virus. The staff are healthy and keeping our distance from other humans, as instructed. We hope that you are doing the same. I'm not positive what music is best to share with readers and listeners as this worrisome infection sweeps the world, but I'm convinced that it must make us  feel better. These two classic recordings should be a good … [Read more...]

Next Page »

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism... [Read More]

Rifftides

A winner of the Blog Of The Year award of the international Jazz Journalists Association. Rifftides is founded on Doug's conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but the blog reaches past... Read More...

Subscribe to RiffTides by Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Doug’s Books

Doug's most recent book is a novel, Poodie James. Previously, he published Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. He contributed to The Oxford Companion To Jazz and co-edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? He is at work on another novel in which, as in Poodie James, music is incidental.

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Rob D on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • W. Royal Stokes on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • Larry on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • Lucille Dolab on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • Donna Birchard on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside

Doug’s Picks

We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside

As Rifftides readers have undoubtedly noticed, it has been a long time since we posted. We are creating a new post in hopes  that it will open the way to resumption of frequent reports as part of the artsjournal.com mission to keep you up to date on jazz and other matters. Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s stunning new trio album […]

Recent Listening: The New David Friesen Trio CD

David Friesen Circle 3 Trio: Interaction (Origin) Among the dozens of recent releases that deserve serious attention, a few will get it. Among those those receiving it here is bassist David Friesen’s new album.  From the Portland, Oregon, sinecure in which he thrives when he’s not touring the world, bassist Friesen has been performing at […]

Monday Recommendation: Dominic Miller

Dominic Miller Absinthe (ECM) Guitarist and composer Miller delivers power and subtlety in equal measure. Abetted by producer Manfred Eicher’s canny guidance and ECM’s flawless sound and studio presence, Miller draws on inspiration from painters of France’s impressionist period. His liner essay emphasizes the importance to his musical conception of works by Cezanne, Renoir, Lautrec, […]

Recent Listening: Dave Young And Friends

Dave Young, Lotus Blossom (Modica Music) Young, the bassist praised by Oscar Peterson for his “harmonic simpatico and unerring sense of time” when he was a member of Peterson’s trio, leads seven gifted fellow Canadians. His beautifully recorded bass is the underpinning of a relaxed session in which his swing is a force even during […]

Recent Listening: Jazz Is Of The World

Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano, Jan Lundgren, Mare Nostrum III (ACT) This third outing by Mare Nostrum continues the international trio’s close collaboration in a series of albums that has enjoyed considerable success. With three exceptions, the compositions in this installment are by the members of Mare Nostrum. It opens with one the French accordionist Galliano […]

Monday Recommendation: Thelonious Monk’s Works In Full

Kimbrough, Robinson, Reid, Drummond: Monk’s Dreams(Sunnyside) The subtitle of this invaluable 6-CD set is The Complete Compositions Of Thelonious Sphere Monk. By complete, Sunnyside means that the box contains six CDs with 70 tunes that Monk wrote beginning in the early years when his music was generally assumed to be an eccentric offshoot of bebop, […]

More Doug's Picks

Blogroll

All About Jazz
JerryJazzMusician
Carol Sloane: SloaneView
Jazz Beyond Jazz: Howard Mandel
The Gig: Nate Chinen
Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong
Don Heckman: The International Review Of Music
Ted Panken: Today is The Question
George Colligan: jazztruth
Brilliant Corners
Jazz Music Blog: Tom Reney
Brubeck Institute
Darcy James Argue
Jazz Profiles: Steve Cerra
Notes On Jazz: Ralph Miriello
Bob Porter: Jazz Etc.
be.jazz
Marc Myers: Jazz Wax
Night Lights
Jason Crane:The Jazz Session
JazzCorner
I Witness
ArtistShare
Jazzportraits
John Robert Brown
Night After Night
Do The Math/The Bad Plus
Prague Jazz
Russian Jazz
Jazz Quotes
Jazz History Online
Lubricity

Personal Jazz Sites
Chris Albertson: Stomp Off
Armin Buettner: Crownpropeller’s Blog
Cyber Jazz Today, John Birchard
Dick Carr’s Big Bands, Ballads & Blues
Donald Clarke’s Music Box
Noal Cohen’s Jazz History
Bill Crow
Easy Does It: Fernando Ortiz de Urbana
Bill Evans Web Pages
Dave Frishberg
Ronan Guilfoyle: Mostly Music
Bill Kirchner
Mike Longo
Jan Lundgren (Friends of)
Willard Jenkins/The Independent Ear
Ken Joslin: Jazz Paintings
Bruno Leicht
Earl MacDonald
Books and CDs: Bill Reed
Marvin Stamm

Tarik Townsend: It’s A Raggy Waltz
Steve Wallace: Jazz, Baseball, Life and Other Ephemera
Jim Wilke’s Jazz Northwest
Jessica Williams

Other Culture Blogs
Terry Teachout
DevraDoWrite
Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
On An Overgrown Path

Journalism
PressThink: Jay Rosen
Second Draft, Tim Porter
Poynter Online

Return to top of page

an ArtsJournal blog

This blog published under a Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in