2009 May 04

It’s For Your Own Good

May 4, 2009 by Doug Ramsey

You may have been wondering why, to submit a comment to Rifftides, you are asked to type in a box two words like these samples. A curious and, possibly, irritated reader asked, Isn't it funny when they want you to type in the words at the bottom - it's like a "TEST" to see if you can make them out? Why don't they make it easy for us? Why is that? We can't cheat. We are on our own computers. That is so funny isn't it? It's not so funny if spammers grab your e-mail address and plague you with … [Read more...]

Other Places: Charlap On Improvisation

May 4, 2009 by Doug Ramsey

Last Friday, Leonard Lopate of WNYC radio in New York invited Bill Charlap to drop by the studio where Lopate does his Please Explain program and talk about how jazz improvisation works. Seated at the piano, Charlap spoke clearly about the raw materials of music and showed what jazz players do with them in the act of creation. He used "These Foolish Things" and the blues as his demonstration models. Lopate, a personification of the inquiring mind, asked good questions. He reached a couple of … [Read more...]

Bill Crow on Irene Kral
Nice to hear Irene's version of this tune. The lyric was written by my friend Jack Segal, who saw me through some early hard...
Posted Apr 18, 2014
jeffsultanof on Irene Kral
Ms. Kral sang like an angel. One of my treasured memories is my boss at Warner Bros. Music playing Irene's album Better than Anything every...
Posted Apr 17, 2014
alan schultz on Irene Kral
Doug,thanks for the Irene clip.She was not only a great vocalist ,but someone who handled her health problems in a way we should all have...
Posted Apr 17, 2014
Don Conner on Irene Kral
Thanks, Doug, for the Irene Kral video posting. I've been following her since her first record entitled The Band and I on Capitol in 1958,...
Posted Apr 17, 2014
Jim Wilke on Irene Kral
Thanks for sharing that clip from Frankly Jazz. You nailed it when you said this demonstrates "the control and expressiveness that made her one...
Posted Apr 17, 2014

Monday Recommendation: The Girls In The Band

The slow acceptance of women as jazz artists is a microcosm of the larger struggle for equality of females in society. For decades, women jazz performers were largely relegated to ghettos

known as all-girl bands. Today, increasing numbers of gifted women jazz artists are accepted on an equal footing with men. The Girls In The Band, created with skill, sensitivity and documentary professionalism, is the story of the women who opened the way. There were, and are, many more of them than the handful who became household names. This moving film produced by Judy Chaikin should be experienced by anyone concerned with music—and with human progress. It is winning awards all over the place, and no wonder. It is not yet on DVD. To see a clip, and for information about screenings, go here.

CD Recommendation: The Keynote Box

The Keynote Jazz Collection 1941-1947 (Fresh Sound)

The Keynote records produced by Harry Lim trace jazz as it evolved from traditional through swing and bebop. The 11 CDs in the set begin in New Orleans with George Hartman’s trad band. By the time they end, the listener has spent time with a wide cross section of the decade’s best musicians, including Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Lennie Tristano, Red Rodney, Dinah Washington, Shorty Rogers, Sid Catlett, Dodo Marmarosa and dozens of others. Among the rarities: a 1945 Horace Henderson octet session and the Dave Lambert-Buddy Stewart bop vocalese recordings. The 124-page book with the discography and the story of Keynote is packed with photos. At last, we have all of the invaluable Keynote sides in a comprehensive, organized, beautifully produced box set. This is a major jazz event.

CD Recommendation: Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips

Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips, Moment To Moment (NPM)

Although Pianist Menzies and trumpeter Phillips make judicious embellishments in the ballads of this enchanting collection, their operating principle seems to be adoration of the melody. The tempos are slow, the harmonies rich, bassist Jeff Chambers and drummer Jaz Sawyer finely tuned to the leaders’ wave length. The quartet illuminates standards including “The Peacocks,” For All We Know,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” “Speak Low” and Kenny Barron’s “Phantoms.” Phillips’ C-minor musings on his composition “You” and Menzies’ touch and folkish harmonies on her “Mal’s Moon” are highlights, far from the only ones. By day, she’s a music teacher. He’s an executive at Concord Music. The quality of this collection makes it unlikely that it will be their last one.

CD Recommendation: Bill Kirchner

Bill Kirchner, Lifeline (Jazzheads)

In 2008, I initiated an occasional series called Medium But Well Done. It highlights the accomplishments of groups bigger than combos but smaller than big bands. Introducing it, I wrote, “Six to eleven pieces allow arrangers freedom that the conventions and sheer size of sixteen-piece bands tend to limit.” There is no better recent illustration of that proposition than this release by Bill Kirchner’s Nonet. His arrangements of pieces by composers including Wayne Shorter, Cole Porter, Denny Zeitlin and Kirchner himself show that a skilled writer using what some might consider a limited palette can achieve excitement, expansiveness and an impressive range of tonal colors. His adventurous three-part “Lifeline Suite” is an important contribution to the literature of mid-sized bands.

CD Recommendation: Anton Schwartz

Anton Schwartz, Flash Mob (AntonJazz)

The front-line blend of the leader’s tenor saxophone and Dominic Farinacci’s trumpet may recall Hank Mobley and Kenny Dorham, but if this is hard bop, its 21st century attitude is Schwartz’s own. His compositions have a distinctive quality that incorporates disparate harmonies and rhythms. “Pangur Ban” could be a down home Irish reel, if there is such a thing. “Swamp Thang” has overtones suggesting that the swamp in question is on Georgia or southern Florida tribal land. Thelonious Monk’s and Kenny Clarke’s “Epistrophy” and Dorham’s “La Mesha” are interesting for Schwartz’s special treatments, but his 10 originals hold their own in that distinguished company. He and Farinacci play beautifully throughout. Pianist Taylor Eigsti, bassist John Shiflett and drummer Lorca Hart are an impressive rhythm team.

CD: Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough, Eulalia (Merry Lane Records)

In addition to endearing vocal performances of several of his best songs, Dorough gives listeners what may come as a surprise to many; his ingenuity as an arranger. The deceptive simplicity of “Eulalia,” the album’s sole instrumental, is one of several instances of his melody lines and the tang of his voicings giving energy and richness to a mid-sized ensemble. Dorough plays piano. Other soloists include alto saxophonist Phil Woods, bassist Steve Gilmore and Dorough’s daughter Aralee, a symphony flutist. Woods is on fire in Dorough’s gospel anthem “A Few Days of Glory” and in the classic “I’ve Got Just About Everything.” When Dorough recorded Eulalia, he was 88. His musicianship and wit were ageless.

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