Rifftides

Roscoe Mitchell, Bells For The South Side (ECM) If you have followed Mitchell’s searching music over the past 50 years, Bells For The South Side will reassure you that the septuagenarian composer, saxophonist and tireless avant-garde inspiration continues to innovate. Mitchell’s music makes demands on listeners—and rewards them for their attention. This is not a rehash of his work in the 1960s with AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), or of Mitchell’s free jazz … [Read more...]

On July 12 we lost Joe Fields. During his long career Fields was the guiding spirit of record labels committed to unalloyed jazz. He started the Cobblestone label and later changed its name to Muse. Among the dozens of musicians he recorded on Muse over three decades were Woody Shaw, Houston Person, Grant Green and Pat Martino. In the 1980 Fields absorbed the Savoy and Landmark labels, whose holdings encompassed recordings by major figures including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, … [Read more...]

Before long, the Rifftides staff will be flying to Europe for the 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. As always, the festival lineup will include prominent visiting American artists. Among them are tenor saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and Joshua Redman, trumpeter Tim Hagans, drummer Al Foster and guitarist Al Di Meola. In addition, the Ystad artistic director, pianist Jan Lundgren, has engaged some of Europe’s intriguing young musician—and a few older ones. For instance, the veteran pianists Louis … [Read more...]

Today’s early morning cycling expedition took me past a magnificent pear orchard in the hills west of town. Here is the orchard… …and here are pears taking on color and that lovely pear shape. Apples are the principal cash crop in this area of Eastern Washington State, but in a good year pears do nicely for their growers. Mulling over what music about pears to use with this post, I quickly ran out of options. You’d be surprised how few songs there are with “pear” in the title. So, I … [Read more...]

Our Rifftides Russian correspondent, Svetlana Ilicheva, writes that one of her favorite listening spots in Moscow is the Zhurfac café. Not far from the Kropotkinskaya metro stop on Gogol Boulevard, the Zhurfac is in a neighborhood of major cultural interest because of the State Art Museum named for writer and national icon Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837). Nearby on the bank of the Moskva River is the massive Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The district is a few blocks southwest of … [Read more...]

With the abeyance of certain physical annoyances, cycling is back in more or less full swing. Glorious weather makes it a pleasure to be on the road again, but only if the cyclist leaves before the morning heat gets serious. August temperatures here on the dry side of the Cascade Mountains often go above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 38 degrees Celsius. Toward the end of this morning’s ride, I had to stop on a freeway overpass to make way for a semi truck and trailer, and I’m glad I did. … [Read more...]

Moments after I posted yesterday’s Riftides review of Fanny Gunnarsson’s Mirrors, I came across a video of the pianist and singer with her quartet performing a piece from the album. Again, the quartet members are Ms. Gunnarsson, piano: Karolina Almgren, soprano saxophone; Kristian Rimshult, bass; and Hannes Olbers, drums. They perform the Gunnarsson composition “Theme.” This was at the Victoriateatern in Malmö, Sweden, last February. There are more reports to come about recent … [Read more...]

Kurt Rosenwinkel, Caipi (RAZDAZ Records) From his emergence in the 1990s, Rosenwinkel has been a relaxed guitar improviser even when negotiating the complex pieces that make him one of the most interesting composers at work today. He retains his leisurely approach to soloing in this collection, which is redolent with feelings and flavors of modern Brazilian music. Rosenwinkel’s guitar solo on “Chromatic B” is a highlight. On that piece and several others he also plays piano, bass, drums, … [Read more...]

An annual Rifftides reminder 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...]

It is always a challenge to decide how Rifftides should celebrate the anniversary of the independence of The United States Of America. In 2017, we are observing it with pieces by artists whose careers began on the west coast of the US before their names and their music became familiar around the world. Both works are short traditional songs that express feelings of profound importance to millions of Americans. The first piece, "America The Beautiful," is from Clare Fischer’s 1967 album Songs … [Read more...]

Alan Broadbent, Developing Story (Eden River Records) Broadbent’s title composition is in concerto form, although it is not described as a concerto. His piece combines jazz and classical sensibilities in a flow that evolves with logic rarely achieved when genres are blended. Broadbent’s booklet notes identify the orchestral beginning as a “forte introduction.” Robustly, it lives up to the promise of strength before a flute, then an oboe, quietly state a five-note theme and Broadbent’s piano … [Read more...]

Geri Allen died today of cancer. She was 60. Ms. Allen was a pianist of uncommon technical achievement and fluency and inspired a generation of younger pianists. Recently a resident of Pittsburgh, Ms. Allen grew up in Detroit, where she began piano lessons at age seven. While at Cass Technical High School she studied with the trumpeter and Detroit jazz mentor Marcus Belgrave. One of her early trios included bassist Anthony Cox and drummer Andrew Cyrille. In the course of her career she … [Read more...]

The following post appeared on Rifftides nine years ago this spring. What thoughts does it stimulate in readers now? Have there been significant changes in jazz since 2008? Originally posted on March 4, 2008 Rifftides reader George Finch sent this message in reaction to a ten-year-old article in The Atlantic. There has been so little essential change in jazz since 1997 that The Atlantic piece might have been written last week. It consists mainly of a conversation among authors Tom Piazza, the … [Read more...]

Rifftides readers following the discussion about this week’s Monday Recommendation, Bengt Hallberg’s Dinah, may be interested in the information that Ivan Sundberg sent from Sweden. He wrote: Hallberg´s album did reach the shores of the US. Already a year after the original Phillips release in Sweden an American label affiliated to Columbia issued it on a 12 inch vinyl on EPIC LN 3375. Leonard Feather contributed with deep insight liner notes of Hallberg and his music on it.This particular … [Read more...]

Thelonious Monk, Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960 (Sam Records/Saga) In the summer of 1959 in New York, Thelonious Monk recorded music for the sound track of the Roger Vadim film Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Adapted loosely from a 1782 novel by Choderlos de Laclos, the film’s erotic nature led elements of the French literary establishment to insist that “1960” be appended to the title. Having seen pre-production sections of the film starring Jeanne Moreau and Gerard Phillipe, Monk had its story … [Read more...]

Bengt Hallberg Trio, Dinah (Phillips) When the Swedish pianist Bengt Hallberg died four years ago at the age of 80, most of his obituaries included a quote from a 1950s Miles Davis blindfold test that included Stan Getz’s celebrated recording of “Ack Värmeland du sköna,” (aka ”Dear Old Stockholm”). The piano player gasses me . . . I never heard anybody play in a high register like that. So clean, and he swings and plays his own things… Dinah, One of Hallberg’s most rewarding trio … [Read more...]

…because you feel like hearing Shank play something you’ve never heard him do. You look around on the internet and see what you can find. There he is in Sao Paulo in 2004 at the Chivas Jazz Festival with Bill Mays, piano; Bob Magnusson, bass; and Joe LaBarbera, drums. They play “Nature Boy.” You decide that’s not enough Shank. You look again and the subtitles in the clip strongly indicate that he's not in The United States. The YouTube contributor doesn’t disclose the year or the exact … [Read more...]

As I was writing liner notes for the next album by Cyrus Chestnut (pictured), the research led me to a remarkable performance of its title song. Published in 1989, "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" by gospel composer Doris Akers became a favorite of Elvis Presley, who sometimes sang it with The Stamps Quartet but did not record it with them. Gospel devotees consider The Stamps to be one of the genre’s quintessential groups. This may help to explain why. In the recording, Chestnut plays “There’s A … [Read more...]

Several Rifftides readers have sent messages reminding me that Paul Desmond died 40 years ago today. Thanks to all of them. I hadn’t forgotten. One of Desmond’s most dedicated admirers, Svetlana Ilicheva, wrote from Moscow suggesting that Desmond’s solo on “Out of Nowhere” from a 1966 London radio broadcast would constitute a suitable memorial. Ms. Ilicheva explained that James Dobernig, whom she identified as “one of us,” sent her links to this and  several other Desmond/Brubeck videos. … [Read more...]

A friend from the military chapter of my life asked if I would republish a story that first ran on Memorial Day weekend five years ago. We present this with pleasure in recalling an extraordinary man and with renewed sadness at his loss. Originally posted on Rifftides on 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 enough or … [Read more...]

Charlie Shoemake Trio And Quartet: Central Coasting (CCJAZZI) In addition to being a premier jazz vibraphonist, Charlie Shoemake has long devoted himself to helping young musicians develop their skills. After he and his vocalist wife Sandi moved from Los Angeles to the Central California coast in 1990, his playing and teaching and playing activities continued, with young musicians making the 440-mile round trip to Cambria to absorb Shoemake’s lessons in improvisation, composition and harmonic … [Read more...]

As pointed out in a Rifftides review earlier this year, drummer John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet… …has unity of thought, purpose and execution more often found in long-lived classical ensembles than in jazz. The difference, of course, is improvisation. Yet, Hollenbeck’s skills as composer-arranger, leader and drummer are so finely honed that it is often a challenge to differentiate between his canny orchestration and all-out blowing. Here is Hollenbeck with his Claudia sidemen in a television … [Read more...]