The Rifftides staff is pleased to announced that (finally) we have posted a new group of Doug's Picks in the right-hand column. A reminder: We now archive the Picks. To see past entries, click on "More Picks" at the end of the current crop. … [Read more...]
Archives for May 9, 2007
CD: Bill Holman
The Bill Holman Band, Hommage (Jazzed Media). On the verge of his eightieth birthday, Holman retains the energy, wit, freshness and multi-layered conception that have made him a standard-setting arranger for fifty years. "Hommage á Woody," is a three-part suite that captures aspects of Woody Herman … [Read more...]
CD: Anat Cohen
Anat Cohen, Poetica and Noir (Anzica). Two new CDs illuminate several facets of the remarkable Israeli reed artist who has become a star of the New York jazz scene. In Poetica, she plays only clarinet, with a rhythm section on some tracks, a string quartet on others. In Noir, with a medium-sized … [Read more...]
CD: Roland Kirk
Roland Kirk with Jack McDuff, Kirk's Work (Prestige). This reissue in the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters series presents Kirk long before he added "Rahsaan" to his name, before he became famous, when he was a tornado roaring out of the Midwest playing three saxophones at once, whistles, flute and siren … [Read more...]
DVD: Chicago Underground Trio
Chicago Underground Trio, Chronicle (Delmark). The music is from the trio's Delmark CD of the same name. The latest expression of the avant garde Chicago cornetist and composer Rob Mazurek, it is alternately explosive and reflective and somehow leaves the listener with a sense of calm. The video by … [Read more...]
Book: Miles Davis
Richard Cook, It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off The Record (Oxford). Yes, another book about Miles Davis. Neither a biography nor a discography, Cook's book has elements of both. The best way to read it is sitting next to your CD player with the fourteen Davis albums Cook analyzes as … [Read more...]