Rifftides

Black Art Jazz Collective, Armor of Pride (High Note Records) Half of the Collective’s members are leading lights among jazz artists in their forties and early fifties. They include trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and pianist Xavier Davis. The younger trombonist James Burton III, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Jonathan Blake blend into a modern mainstream sextet inspired, at least in part, by Wayne Shorter’s writing during his Art Blakey period (and since) and by … [Read more...]

Duck Baker Plays Monk (Triple Point Records) Duck Baker (Richard Royal Baker IV) may not be a household name among jazz devotees at large, but in his career of more than four decades he has become a hero to other guitarists. He has led or been involved in dozens of recordings of folk music from all over the world, and several varieties of ragtime, gospel, bluegrass and blues. Baker is an exemplary performer and teacher of what is often called fingerstyle or fingerpicking guitar. To … [Read more...]

Jeff Cosgrove, Scott Robinson, Ken Filiano, Hunters & Scavengers (Grizzley Music) Drummer Cosgrove gets composer credit for all but one of the ten pieces in this collection. The exception is Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman,” the album closer. Coleman, of course, was a pioneer of free improvisation in modern jazz. For their adventurousness and interactive chance-taking, tenor saxophonist Robinson and bassist Filiano deserve equal credit because to a large extent this is improvisation as … [Read more...]

Rifftides readers sent so many interesting comments about the passing of Bill Watrous, and about Alexandra Leh’s remembrance the following day, that the staff has voted to reward you all with video of the trombonist in a remarkable ballad performance. It’s from a 1976 television appearance. I have no information about the name of the program. Watrous is accompanied by Chick Corea, piano; Ron Carter, bass; and Billy Cobham, drums. Maybe that was the best he could do for a rhythm section at the … [Read more...]

  The gifted New Orleans pianist Henry Butler has died. He was 69. Noted for virtuosity at the keyboard and soulful depth as a singer, Butler pursued his career primarily in his home city, with frequent tours overseas. Blinded by glaucoma as an infant, he excelled academically at all levels and dazzled other musicians with his skill. In recent years, Butler lived in the Bronx borough of New York City. In today’s New York Times, Jon Pareles’ obituary of Butler contains video of the … [Read more...]

In response to yesterday’s item about the passing of trombonist Bill Watrous, Alexandra Leh sent a comment so interesting that I am taking the liberty of converting it to a stand-alone guest column. I hope she doesn't mind. I certainly don't mind her making me homesick for Jim & Andy's. Ms. Leh is a writer and actress who comes from—to say the least—a musical family, as she explains. By Alexandra Leh Bill Watrous was in his mid-twenties when I first met him at the Manhattan musicians’ … [Read more...]

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. —Benjamin Franklin America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. —Abraham Lincoln … [Read more...]

Trombonist Bill Watrous died yesterday in Los Angeles at the age of 79. Celebrated for his skill, range and speed, Watrous employed those attributes in a career that began with Billy Butterfield and included work with the big bands of Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson and Johnny Richards. In the early 1970s he recorded with his own big band, Manhattan Wildlife Refuge. Fellow trombonists admired Watrous for his technical achievement, but they may have envied him equally for his way with … [Read more...]

Improvisation in music did not begin with jazz. Bach and Chopin were noted improvisers, as was Beethoven. One of the great Beethoven stories is about the flamboyant pianist Daniel Steibelt (seen right) challenging Beethoven (seen left) to an improvisation contest, in effect a musical duel. Steibelt played first. When it was Beethoven's turn, he used a few notes of Steibelt’s score, turned the page upside down, mocked his opponent’s first notes and built a brilliant improvisation. In that early … [Read more...]

Scenes, Destinations (Origin) Drummer John Bishop, guitarist John Stowell and bassist Jeff Johnson will soon be celebrating two decades together as the trio they call Scenes. Bishop founded the Origin label in Seattle in 1997, and by the fall of 2000 the three veteran Pacific Northwest musicians had combined in a group that has released six records on Origin. For all the subtlety and intricacy of the group’s interaction, their music commands attention because of sheer musicianship and … [Read more...]

Now and then, Rifftides alerts readers to Jim Wilke’s Jazz Northwest, the program in which the veteran broadcaster presents his recordings of the region’s jazz artists. Jim’s long-running Sunday series has become a regular date for listeners not only in the Pacific Northwest but also—because it’s on the internet—for music lovers around the world. Here are Jim’s rundown on what he plans for this Sunday, and links that will take you to the program. For the first weekend of summer, Jazz Northwest … [Read more...]

Grant Green, From Paris To Antibes (1969-1970) (Resonance) Grant Green, Slick! Live At Oil Can Harry’s, (Resonance) Two previously unissued Grant Green albums are giving the guitarist’s music something of a comeback. Green, who died in 1979 when he was 47, recorded extensively for the Blue Note and Prestige labels in the 1960s and ‘70s with Stanley Turrentine, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and other leaders. Later, Blue Note recordings under his own name included such … [Read more...]

For many aficionados of Bix Beiderbecke the surprise is not that there is so little film of the great cornetist, but that there is any. To the left, we see a frame of film shot in 1928 for Fox Movietone News of the Whiteman orchestra recording or rehearsing a piece called "My Ohio Home." When Beiderbecke died in 1931 at the age of 28, he had earned the admiration of his contemporary and friend Louis Armstrong and become an inspiration for generations of cornetists and trumpet players. The … [Read more...]

Having heard an advance CD by Jamie Shew, a singer new to me, I asked the trumpeter Bobby Shew if she is related to him. He followed his answer—No— with a question of his own, the one that musicians invariably ask about singers: “Can she sing?” Meaning: • Is she in tune? • Doe she phrase well? • Does she have good time? I have listened twice to Ms. Shew’s album and watched several of her Youtube videos. She can sing. The CD, Eyes Wide Open, finds her in the company of players from … [Read more...]

Lorraine Gordon, who inherited the Village Vanguard after her husband Max died in 1989, remained its proprietor and no-nonsense guiding spirit until her death yesterday in New York. She was 95. Under the Gordons, the Vanguard became quite likely the most famous jazz club in the world. Bill Evans, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis were among many musicians who made memorable live recordings and videos there. The club is a destination not only … [Read more...]

As I may have mentioned a time or two, keeping up is impossible. We can only try. Here we go with observations on a few of the dozens (hundreds?) of recent jazz releases. Roni Ben-Hur, Harvie S: Introspection (Jazzheads) Compatibility, mutual responsiveness and subtle interactivity characterize this album from guitarist Ben-Hur and bassist Harvie S. It might have just as appropriately been titled “Interaction.” With drummer Tim Horner as a third partner, the trio moves through a ten-track … [Read more...]

A new Rifftides reader, Orsolya S., joined us recently. Now and then she sends comments, an activity we encourage among all readers. Her latest communique concerns a recording that has been exciting listeners for more than sixty years. Thanks for recommending the album Dave Brubeck Quartet at Oberlin College a while back. One of my favorite albums, I've listened to it 8 or 9 times since buying it. All the tracks are great, but "Perdido" is my favorite. The quartet recorded the album in the … [Read more...]

Keeping up with the ceaseless flow of jazz albums is impossible, but it’s a pleasure to try. Here are short reviews of a few relatively recent releases. Hank Jones In Copenhagen: Live At Jazzhus Slukefter 1983 (Storyville) From nearly the moment he moved from Detroit to New York in 1944, pianist Hank Jones was a central figure in jazz as the music evolved from swing to bebop. In this album recorded at a leading Danish jazz club, Jones reunites with drummer Shelly Manne, another key … [Read more...]

It is Memorial Day in the United States, a time for parades, picnics and family gatherings across the land. This is the perfect occasion on which to honor the US armed services by acknowledging and displaying the accomplishments of their bands dedicated to the music that is the primary stock in trade of Rifftides. We begin with the Airmen of Note, the jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force. The arrangement of “Cherokee” is by Alan Baylock. The US Army Blues appeared a few years … [Read more...]

Composer, arranger, educator and jazz authority Jeff Sultanof occasionally honors Rifftides with his insights. This is one of those happy occasions. Jeff has seen a restoration of  King Of Jazz, a pioneering film from the days when motion picture studios had decided that sound was here to stay. King Of Jazz: A Guest Review By Jeff Sultanoff Until 1926, the only sound the movie-going public heard in a theatre was the accompaniment of a piano, organ or symphony orchestra if they went to one of … [Read more...]

News has arrived that the pianist Jack Reilly (pictured) died of a massive stroke on Friday at his home in New Jersey. Mr. Reilly, 86, was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist who returned to his native New York in 1954 following Navy service and pursued graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music. His early experience in jazz was with John LaPorta, Sheila Jordan, Ben Webster and George Russell, among other prominent figures in the bebop and post-bop eras. From the biography on … [Read more...]

In Monday’s posting revisiting an early <em>Rifftides</em> piece about Tom Talbert (pictured ca. 1956), the staff was remiss in not including examples of Talbert’s music. Let’s remedy that. From his remarkable Bix Duke Fats album, we will hear his transformation of two Duke Ellington compositions. The first is “Do Nothing ‘Til You Hear From Me,” one of Ellington’s best-known popular hits; the second, “Ko Ko,” is perhaps his most celebrated pioneering of bitonal harmonies).  Both were … [Read more...]