Meet the official 2011 Rifftides Halloween jack-o’lantern, designed to scare trick or treaters out of their costumes and away from RT world headquarters. In case that doesn’t work, several pounds of cheap candy are standing by.
It may be that jazz musicians have recorded music with a Halloween theme worth relaying to the Rifftides readership. If so, I couldn’t find it. However, by merest chance, the night before Halloween I came across video of the piano team of Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe. The clip begins with a tour of the Steinway piano factory before we see and hear Anderson and Roe in a four-hands performance of Franz Schubert’s formidable “Der Erlkönig.” Schubert was inspired by the Goethe poem of that name. If you’re not familiar with Goethe’s story, you are encouraged to go here and read it in German or English before you watch the video.
Somehow Anderson and Roe never drop a note or miss a beat despite the horror, the horror…
If I were you, unless you have urgent business there, I’d give the Steinway factory a wide berth.
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
Said the Rifftides reader to Doug Ramsey:
“I Don’t Stand A Ghost Of A Chance Without You”
For my first recording, “BLUE SEAN GREEN” , 1968 released in 1974 , I included a tune I wrote in 1956 titled “HALLOWEEN”. It’s not a scary song, wasn’t meant to be. It’s in the key of f minor and if any of you readers want a copy of the cd and the song, just ask me. It’s gratis for Rifftides readers. Honest Injun!
You could probably download it at cdbaby.com for 99 cents and have immediately.
Please send all requests directly to Mr. Reilly by way of the “contact” function on his website, which you can reach by clicking on his name in the upper left corner of his comment above.