Pianist Bill Mays and the Oregon Festival of American Music Orchestra will perform George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue tonight. Mays tells Rifftides it will be the full-blown composition that debuted in 1924 with Gershwin as soloist, not the shortened version frequently performed by symphony … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2009
George Russell, 1923-2009
George Russell died Monday night. Here are some of the facts of his life, outlined by the Associated Press. BOSTON (AP) -- Jazz composer George Russell, a MacArthur fellow whose theories influenced the modal music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, has died. His publicist says Russell, who taught … [Read more...]
Kilgore And Frishberg Head East
I am not in the business of promoting night club engagements. Nor do I intend to be. However, this is so rare an event on the east coast, I would hate to think that Rifftides readers in and about New York might fail to hear about it. As a companion unsolicited plug, allow me to call your attention … [Read more...]
Recent Listening: Kuhn, Alexander, Griffin, Assadullahi
Steve Kuhn, Mostly Coltrane (ECM). Kuhn pays homage to John Coltrane, who briefly employed him in 1960 when the pianist was on the doorstep of his career. His tribute encompasses elegiac, earthy and wildly exploratory facets of the great saxophonist. It may remind listeners that, despite a … [Read more...]
Other Matters: Wretched Excess On The Language Front
• Overkill word of the day, perhaps the decade: Absolutely. This week on The News Hour on PBS television, nearly every person interviewed began answers to a total of approximately 150 questions with, "Absolutely. " That frequency, from educated people discussing policy issues, is typical at all … [Read more...]
Weekend Extra: Larry Bunker’s Dream
Larry Bunker's versatile drumming, vibes playing and skill as an all-'round percussionist put him in demand by jazz players, symphony conductors, film and television studios, and singers. He worked with an array of artists that included Gerry Mulligan, Pierre Boulez, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Dizzy … [Read more...]
Billy Taylor Is 88
Today is Billy Taylor's 88th brthday. It has not gone unnoticed by his publicists that, coincidentally, the piano has 88 keys. Appropriately, they have posted on his web site 88 videos of Taylor playing in a variety of contexts; speaking informatively on CBS Sunday Morning, where for years he did … [Read more...]
Russ Freeman In Canada
To those who who knew Russ Freeman or his work it was a source of frustration that he elected during his final years not to play the piano. Freeman died in 2002 at the age of 76. He was part of the west coast jazz scene before it was called that. He worked in Los Angeles in the late forties and … [Read more...]
Rifftides Recommendations
In the center exhibit under the legend Doug's Picks you will find new recommendations assembled by the Rifftides staff. They include CDs, a DVD and a book. They are by: •A great pianist in the creative burst of his last days •A bassist eschewing hybridized jazz for the straight but not … [Read more...]
CD: Bill Evans
Bill Evans, Turn Out The Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings (Nonesuch). This six-CD box set has kicked up a fuss lately on several blogs and web sites. The great pianist was dying when he recorded it. That knowledge informs the way critics hear the music he made with his trio at the … [Read more...]
Time Is The Enemy
The following exchange showed up on the Jazz West Coast listserve today. It was attributed to Bill Crow's book Jazz Anecdotes, although I couldn't find it there. Wherever it's from, it deserves wide exposure. "How late does the band play?" "About half a beat behind the drummer." … [Read more...]
CD: Christian McBride
Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Kind of Brown (MackAvenue). The bassist sets aside his fascination with rock, hip-hop and electronica to cruise the mainstream. He uses only his acoustic bass. The music is latterday bebop, with a few modal tinges. Alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, always … [Read more...]
CD: Kristin Korb
Kristin Korb, In The Meantime (KK). In the nature of things, attention will go to Korb's vocals and her glamorous makeover illustrated in the cover shots. Serious listeners will also be drawn to her bass playing. She accompanies herself as she sings with pianist Llew Matthews, saxophonist Bob … [Read more...]
DVD: Philip Dizack
Philip Dizack Quintet Live In Barcelona Featuring Greg Tardy (Fresh Sound). Dizack, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was 20 when he played a club during the 2005 Barcelona Jazz Festival. Fresh Sound Records was on hand with a camera crew to capture a trumpeter with a huge sound, audacity and polished … [Read more...]
Book: Graham Collier
Graham Collier, The Jazz Composer: Moving Music Off The Paper (Northway). The title reads like that of a textbook, but this evaluation of the art is accessible to any layman with ears. Contradicting conventional wisdom about some composers, Collier nudges Thad Jones from his pedestal, for instance, … [Read more...]
Other Places: Twelve By Zeitlin
The newest addition to jazz.com's "The Dozens" series is Bill Kirchner's recommendation of twelve tracks by pianist Denny Zeitlin. Five of the pieces appear in the new Mosaic compendium of Zeitlin's 1960s trio recordings for Columbia. The others are from single albums, some available, others rare. … [Read more...]
Breakfast Wine: Missing Too Long
Bobby Shew's Breakfast Wine is so rare that it does not appear in the Shew discography on the trumpeter's own web site. Nonetheless, the PAUSA long-playing vinyl album released in 1985 is a highlight not only of Shew's recording career but also of all jazz releases in the last two decades of the … [Read more...]
Other Places: Chinatown/Sax No End
On his web site, Old And New Swingin' Dreams, Bruno Leicht gathers together four versions of "Chinatown, My Chinatown" and its latterday nom de déguisement "Sax No End." The clips run from Fletcher Henderson in 1930 to the Clarke-Boland band in 1967, the Oscar Peterson Trio a year later and, … [Read more...]
JazzTimes Resuscitated
JazzTimes magazine announced today that it will come back to life with an August issue. A post on the magazine's web site says that a Boston company, Madavor Media, has acquired JazzTimes. It describes Madavor as "a market-leading enthusiast publishing and trade-show group." Jazz Times announced in … [Read more...]