GOING
To repeat: I have no intention of Rifftides becoming an obituary service, but as James Moody says his grandmother told him, “Folks is dyin’ what ain’t never died before,” and some passings demand to be observed.
John Norris died yesterday in Toronto at the age of 76. He was the founder of the Canadian jazz magazine Coda, and of Sackville Records. Norris was a benevolent and resolutely independent spirit in music north of the border. He steadfastly resisted
technological demands of not only the 21st century but also many of the 20th. To the frequent frustration of his correspondents, he eschewed both computers and fax machines, but he somehow managed to keep up with music and produce valuable recordings. His roster of Sackville artists was varied. It included Ed Bickert, Don Thompson, Benny Carter, Terry Clarke, Julius Hemphill, Ben Webster, Dick Wellstood, Archie Shepp, Ralph Sutton, Jay McShann, Ronnie Matthews, Geoff Keezer and Junior Mance, to name a very few. According to longtime Toronto broacaster Ted O’Reilly, Norris’s wife Sandy will schedule a memorial service. For more about John Norris, click here.
COMING
Thanks to Tony Emmerson’s blog Prague Jazz, I learned of a young band called the Infinite Quintet. Based on their videos, it seems that they are nurturing the modern jazz legacy established by such predecessors as Karel Velebný, George Mraz, Emil Viklický and Karel Růžička.
The band is Petr Kalfus, alto and soprano saxophones; Miroslav Hloucal, fluegelhorn; Viliam Beres; piano; Petr Dvorsky, bass; and Martin Novak, drums. Here they are in a video from Czech television.
For other videos of the Infinite Quintet, go here.
Thanks to the link for Prague Jazz alongside the Infinite Quintet video. I’ve just put up a video of Beata Hlavenkova (whose album I reviewed recently). I don’t know if you’ve heard her stuff but for my money she’s one of the more innovative young Czechs on the scene.
I played a bit (alto) in the 60′s in Toronto (The Night Owl) with Russ Little, Dougie Richardson, Kenny Baldwin, Pete Cover, Bill Best as the Jazz Couriers, and jammed a lot with Gary Williamson, Clayton Johnson and Bill Collins. I was saddened by the death of John Norris who I knew quite well during that time. I was thinking back to the first club I went to to hear jazz and it was Slide Hampton, I think at the Towne Tavern in Toronto in 1960 or 1961. Does anyone have an idea who might have been playing with him? He was playing around that time in NYC with George Coleman, Jay Cameron, Larry Ridley and Pete LaRoca, but I forget who he brought to Toronto. Maybe it was even a local band. Thanks for your help.