As nearly everyone in the United States knows, the New York Giants just beat the New England Patriots in the 
Super Bowl. The score was 21 to 17. Rifftides readers elsewhere may not understand why that is significant. The Super Bowl is the culmination of the professional football season. American football is not to be confused with what most of the world calls football, which is soccer or rugby. Here in the US, a great deal is made of this ultimate contest in the sport. This was the 46th such game. It was billed as Super Bowl XLVI, played in Indianapolis, Indiana, and carried by satellite to television viewers around the world. The halftime show featured an entertainer named Madonna and 3,247 other people on a stage that, amazingly, was twice the size of the stadium in which the show took place.
I don’t know whether the New York Giants have theme music, but this can serve as their victory song.
What music would I have used if the Patriots had won? Sauter-Finegan’s “Doodletown Fifers,” perhaps.
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.
My Aussie friends call our football ‘Gridiron’, as in: ‘Hey Mate, why do you use all that equipment in gridiron?!’
How about the theme from ‘The Brady Bunch’, if there is such a thing, for Tom Brady’s Patriots? Great game.
I will say, in Madonna’s defense (NEVER thought I’d say that!) that the “World Peace’ ending was a nice touch. Super.