Rifftides

Vibraphonist, pianist and bandleader Charlie Shoemake (pictured right) wrote the other day to relate an experience involving pianist Jimmy Rowles (1918-1996). Here is Charlie's message: August 19 is the birth date of my (and your) hero Jimmy Rowles. Sometime ago, in a nothing-to-do moment, I just happened to come across on YouTube an occasion in my life (and Jimmy’s) that is seared in my memory. A short time before I left the world of Hollywood studio work and joined the George Shearing Quintet … [Read more...]

For at least the next couple of days we’ll attempt to deal with some of the backlog of albums that accumulated during the week or so when the Rifftides staff was on vacation.   Daan Kleijn, Passages, (daankleijn) Kleijn’s spare format of his guitar with bass and drums allows him freedom to pursue an instinct for melodic creativity. Despite its title, his composition “Bird Song” has no obvious Charlie Parker allusion. Rather, it develops subtle rhythmic movement, and relaxed … [Read more...]

It’s nice to go traveling, even knowing that the mailman, FedEx and UPS will have delivered more albums than anyone could possibly hear without giving up sleeping, eating and cycling. Catching up with all of that music is out of the question, but we’ll try—ears open, nose to the grindstone. JD Allen, Lovestone (Savant) Tenor saxophonist Allen’s brief liner notes are addressed to “Hello Dearest,” who is not identified. Allen tells the object of his affection, 'True confession: playing the … [Read more...]

Cy Coleman, A Jazzman’s Broadway (Harbinger Records) Cy Coleman’s success as a popular songwriter and a composer for musical theater overshadowed his effectiveness and influence as a jazz pianist. Nonetheless, as this album reminds us, he could be a spirited improviser whose background as a classical prodigy equipped him with impressive technique and a feeling for the harmonies inspired by classical music that underlay much jazz improvisation in the late 1950s. The album has no music written … [Read more...]

Vacation is almost over. Rested and rejuvenated, the Rifftides staff can’t wait to spring into action after they fly home.As they head back to their duties, the staff want to be sure that you’re up to date on listening opportunities, so they customized this announcement from Jim Wilke about his next presentation on Jazz Northwest. Trumpet player Terell Stafford led an all-star quintet in concert at Centrum's Jazz Port Townsend in July. The concert was recorded for radio and will air on Jazz … [Read more...]

Vacation-bound on an airplane, I heard a woman behind me say, approximately 732 times in a twenty-minute conversation, “I know, right?” I didn’t realize how long that annoying, meaningless phrase has been around. Researching it, I found this 2011 episode from Jerry Scott's and Jim Borgman's comic strip Zits. Further investigation disclosed that the phrase appeared even earlier, in the 2004 motion picture Mean Girls. Some experts credit the movie with infusing the phrase into the … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff's demands for a vacation won’t stop until they get one. The only solution is to put the blog on temporary inactive status and hope that when things settle down around here, we can resume blogging with renewed energy and dedication. We plan to be back in about a week. Full disclosure: The Rifftides staff is simulated in the stock photo above. But that is sort of what we look like.   … [Read more...]

On southern Sweden’s Baltic coast, the venerable town of Ystad is about to launch the 2018 edition of the festival that has made the medieval village, now a town of 29,00, a prime summer music destination in Europe. Officially named the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, it has been notable for a cross-section of top Scandinavian groups alternating with well-known musicians from the US and elsewhere. This year’s visiting American attractions will include pianist Monty Alexander and his trio; The … [Read more...]

About a year ago, I received a request from The Upper Hand Press for permission to use parts of what I wrote in the liner notes for the reissue of Getz/Gilberto Featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim. The 1963 album included Joao Gilberto’s wife Astrud singing Jobim’s “The Girl From Ipanema.” In the post-Elvis Presley era also dominated by the Beatles and chart-toppers like “Tha Crossroads” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, the track by Getz and the Gilbertos achieved something nearly unimaginable for a … [Read more...]

Sorry to learn that composer, arranger and bandleader Patrick Williams died yesterday at 79. Prolific in his work for motion pictures and television, Williams was sometimes taken for granted—but never by fellow members of the arranging fraternity or by the musicians who took part in recordings of his ingenious, often demanding, arrangements. Frank Sinatra chose Williams to do the arrangements for the singer’s final studio albums. Williams’ work on television series brought him several Grammy … [Read more...]

Charles Pillow Large Ensemble, Electric Miles (Mama Records) Whatever the title Electric Miles might lead you to expect, chances are that it wouldn’t be an album of non-electric big band music. A Louisiana alto saxophonist long since ensconced in New York, with skill and imagination Pillow arranges eight of the pieces with which Miles Davis surprised—even shocked—the jazz establishment in one of the trumpeter’s many influential next steps following the last phase in which he led a … [Read more...]

It's Sunday, it's hotter than blazes around here, and I'm out of ideas. Well...almost out. Something brought to mind a contribution by Dave Frishberg early in the blog's history.  Here it is, exactly as it appeared in the summer of 2007, except that when I enlarged the photos a bit, they took on a fuzziness that may be in keeping with the nostalgic character of his essay.  It begins with my introductory paragraph. REMEMBERING THE HALF NOTEBy Dave Frishberg, June 28, 2007 In the recent … [Read more...]

When you search for information about a wide variety of jazz subjects, chances are good that you will find it on Noal Cohen's site. Experienced as a drummer, writer and researcher, Mr. Cohen (pictured) is particularly knowledgeable and helpful about music of the 1950s and '60s, but his expertise extends well beyond that period. He recently posted an exhaustive retrospective of Miles Davis's Capitol Records period in 1949 and 1950. It serves as an introduction to his work as a historian … [Read more...]

Following the June 28 Rifftides review of the Scenes trio’s Destinations album, its guitarist, John Stowell, sent this comment: "Your readers might also enjoy the recent duo CD I recorded with Dave Liebman. It was Dave’s idea to do Sidney Bechet tunes. The record, Petite Fleur, is also on Origin." Liebman, like virtually all contemporary soprano saxophonists including John Coltrane and Steve Lacy, is a third- or fourth-generation descendant of Bechet. He is generally considered a tenor and … [Read more...]

The long-playing 33&1/3 RPM record is far from dead. Following up on the July 12 Rifftides review of Duck Baker’s LP of Thelonious Monk compositions, here are three other relatively recent vinyl albums worthy of your acquaintance.   Rudresh Mahanthappa Indo-Pak Coalition, Agrima (Mahanthappa) Nine years following their first album, Apti,alto saxophonist Mahanthappa’s trio further expand on the possibilities in combining music from his double heritage, American and Pakistani. … [Read more...]

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...]