For reasons involving the configuration of the new publishing platform, Rifftides had to put off posting a new batch of Doug’s Picks. The crack artsjournal.com technical team has eliminated the barrier and in the right-hand column you will find the staff’s recommendations of new CDs by a pianist … [Read more...]
Archives for April 22, 2011
CD: Orrin Evans
Orrin Evans, Captain Black Big Band (Positone). On last year’s Tarbaby: The End of Fear, Evans was the intrepid pianist in an adventurous trio. Here, he is at the helm of a 16-piece band staffed by New Yorkers and Philadelphians, some of them up-and-comers, a few semi-grizzled veterans, all full … [Read more...]
CD: Jessica Williams
Jessica Williams, Freedom Trane (Origin). The pianist has concentrated on solo performance lately but returns to the trio format by way of this paean to John Coltrane. Accompanied by bassist Dave Captein and drummer Mel Brown, Williams explores four pieces by Coltrane and four of her own that pay … [Read more...]
CD: Stan Getz
Stan Getz Quintets: The Clef & Norgran Studio Albums (Verve). This beautifully packaged and remastered box set has the nonpareil Getz 1953-1955 quintet sides with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and pianist John Williams. It also contains the two rarities with trumpeter Tony Fruscella subbing for … [Read more...]
DVD: Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner Live in ’63 & ’64 (Jazz Icons). Garner’s lingering image is of an imp, an elf who smiled and bounced his way into the public’s hearts at the end of an era when “jazz†and “popular†still appeared in the same sentences in Billboard and Variety. Lest we forget: he was a … [Read more...]
Book: Telegraph Style Guide
Simon Heffer, Philip Reynolds, The Telegraph Style Guide (Aurum). Whenever Rifftides has posted an Other Matters entry about language, our readers, a literate lot, have responded. This book, designed to keep the staff of the UK’s Telegraph newspapers on their toes, will appeal to those interested … [Read more...]