Recordings are a commodity. Companies sell them to make money. When a CD stops selling briskly, only a label willing to make money slowly over a period of years, or one that feels a cultural obligation, keeps it in the catalog. For decades, the Fantasy complex of labels took the long view. Its Original Jazz Classics program maintained supplies of LPs, then CDs, that sold slowly but steadily. The collection preserved a wide slice of music essential to American culture. Companies that make … [Read more...]

In the final installment of … [Read more...]

Welcome to the final installment of messages from Rifftides readers sharing with all of us what you have been listening to. ·I enjoy reading your blog. The following is what have been listening to recently. Dave Holland Quintet, Prime Directive. I have been listening to this album for the last few weeks. It makes me smile. Tom Jobim & Elis Regina, Elis and Tom. I got this after I saw your link to the YouTube video of them singing "Waters of March". Thank you for introducing me to this … [Read more...]

Ah, well, over the weekend so many more of you responded to the request for your current listening choices that we can't wrap it up today after all. If you wish to understand the genesis of these listings, go here. But--I am sorry--it's too late to contribute. At some point, we have to get back to business as usual, whatever that is, so the arbitrary cutoff is hereby imposed. The final batch will appear in tomorrow's Rifftides edition, or whatever you call a blog installment. ·The most recent … [Read more...]

Here is the third report on the survey of what Rifftides readers are listening to these days. ·Today I have two CDs in my car player: A lovely duo recording by Randy Sandke and Dick Hyman, and a CD reissue of one of my favorite LPs, Boss of the Blues, with Joe Turner and a dynamite studio band arranged by Ernie Wilkins. Bill Crow New City, New York, USA ·I'm currently knocked out by a net recording from website Dimeadozen from Vienna's Opera House in June 2006 of Sergio Mendes current band. … [Read more...]

Entries are still arriving in the worldwide Rifftides listeners' sweepstakes (no losers, no prizes). It is not too late to join. All civil responses will be published. Simply send an e-mail message telling us your current listening choice. Please include your name and where you live. Here is the second installment. ·Jimmy Witherspoon featuring Ben Webster. And for the past week, it was Charlie Byrd/Herb Ellis. Must have played that record twenty times. Sean Cannon Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, … [Read more...]

We suggested that Rifftides readers around the world disclose their current listening. The replies are rolling in, so many that we will have to post them in installments. Here is the first batch. Wherever possible, the Rifftides staff has provided links for those who are interested in pursuing their fellow Rifftiders' choices. What We're Listening To ·A recently arrived shipment of Mosaic Select sets. I'm currently enjoying the wonderful Bob Brookmeyer "revisited" sessions that I first fell in … [Read more...]

Homeward bound on a two-hour ride, I saw this sign on the front of a ramshackle house: HIPPIESUSE SIDE DOOR If you have forgotten about hippies or are too young to remember them, or if you're an aging hippie and want to read about yourself, here are the first few lines of the Wikipedia definition Hippie, often spelled hippy, is a term originally used to describe some of the rebellious youth of the 1960s, although the dawn of the 21st century has brought with it a neo-hippie movement, holding … [Read more...]

The site meter shows that new Rifftides readers have checked in this week from Algiers, Algeria Tokyo, Japan Bejing, China Reykjavk, Iceland Ajidjan, Cote D'Ivoire Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain North Ockendon, Thurrock, in the United Kingdom And from these places, among others, in the United States Coraopolis, Pennsylvania Blue Earth, Minnesota Kihei, Hawaii Cave Creek, Arizona The Rifftides staff is interested in what all of those readers, and all of you, are listening to. Please take a moment to send … [Read more...]

Devra DoWrite, of eagle eye and encylopedic knowledge, adds information to the Rifftides item in the following exhibit about a good old Cal Tjader album wth Eugene Wright, Gerald Wiggins and Bill Douglass. What was not mentioned was a small fact that gives "but of course" understanding to why "everything clicked" -- Bill Douglass was Wig's drummer and they'd been working together alot in the few years leading up to the Tjader recording. To read all of Devra's addendum and mild rebuke, go here. … [Read more...]

At a concert, Louis Armstrong almost invariably said, "And now, we're going to lay one of those good old good ones on you." He used variations of that introductory line during his entire career. Here's an example, on video, from 1933. I'm borrowing Pops's line and applying it to two albums from the mid-1950s. This fits in with Deborah Hendrick's (she has a last name, after all) request to suggest CDs she can recommend to friends who are neophyte jazz listeners. Concord, through its Fantasy, … [Read more...]

Terry Teachout has come up with a terrific idea for his About Last Night blog. I only wish that I had thought of it first. In recent months I've been posting links to interesting videos that I found on other blogs, but until a few days ago it never occurred to me to experiment with turning this blog into a one-stop portal to the wonders of YouTube. Now I've done just that. Take a look at the "Sites to See" module of the right-hand column and you'll see that it ends with a brand-new roll of … [Read more...]

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Red Smith You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~Ray Bradbury Writing does for me what milking does for a cow. ~H.L. Mencken … [Read more...]

From Washington, DC: The other morning I was pawing through my CD collection, looking for something to accompany my pre-work meal when I came upon The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival. I put it on and, in seconds, was reminded why that recording has stayed near the top of my all-time best list for nearly 50 years. For sheer head-long momentum, nothing I have ever heard can match it. Peterson has headed some notable trios, but the Herbie Ellis-Ray Brown edition beats … [Read more...]

The DVD choice is now among the new batch of Doug's Picks in the right-hand column. It took a while to get it there because isolating nearly two hours of viewing time during the holiday weekend turned out to be impossible. When I finally got to it, I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would that I watched it twice. … [Read more...]

Hey, do you want to read some nifty short stories? Go here. You may get hooked. Don't forget to come back, please. … [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...]

Jason Crane writes concerning the Doug's Picks item about John La Barbera (right-hand column): If I'm not mistaken, Joe is a co-owner of Jazz Compass with Clay Jenkins, Tom Warrington and Larry Koonse. The label has put out a crop of high-quality releases. It's refreshing to see the players taking control of their musical destiny. Mr. Crane is not mistaken. Jazz Compass is an intelligently run independent company, five years old, with a catalogue of fourteen CDs by its owners, as well as John … [Read more...]

In the right column under Doug's Picks, you will find three new CD entries and a timely book tip. A new DVD entry will follow before the week is out, if I can get ahead of the apricot and cherry harvesting long enough to watch the one I have in mind. The birds got most of the Royal Annes and Bings, but I spent an hour and a half picking pie cherries this morning, ending up with enough for one pie. We had it for dessert this evening. It was sensational. Last year, our one apricot tree was barren. … [Read more...]