Archives for July 25, 2012

In a few days the Rifftides staff flies to Europe to report from the Ystad Jazz Festival on the southern coast of Sweden. Organized by pianist Jan Lundgren in 2010, the festival has developed into one of Europe’s most important music events. Among the US contingent August 2-5 will be Benny Green, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eliane Elias and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Billy Harper and Victor Lewis will play with Swedish trumpeter Anders Bergcrantz. Dozens of Europe’s brightest stars will perform, including Bengt Hallberg, the dean of modern Swedish jazz pianists, in a two-piano concert with Lundgren. Tomasz Stanko, Richard Galliano, Paolo Fresu, Arild Anderson, Tommy Smith and Claire Martin are among other major artists set for the festival.

Ystad is one of Sweden’s best known small cities because of its beauty, its long history and, in modern times, because it is the headquarters of Kurt Wallander, a fictional detective who to millions has become real through novels and a successful BBC television series. If I catch a glimpse of Wallander, I’ll try to get a picture.

Quincy Jones is the festival’s guest of honor. His long involvement with Sweden dates back to classic recordings he produced and arranged in 1953 with Clifford Brown, Art Farmer and a group of Swedish all-stars, including Bengt Hallberg. Lundgren and the festival organizers have asked me to appear with Mr. Jones in a one-hour conversation at the Ystad Konstmuseum on August 4—something to which I look forward. To see the festival rundown and roster of artists, go here and click on “Programme.”

An e-mail announcement from the trumpeter Brad Goode:

This Thursday, July 26th:
THE BRAD GOODE JAZZ TRIO
Brad Goode trumpet
Bijoux Barbosa bass
Todd Reid drums
6:30 -9:30 pm
TREPPEDA’S ITALIAN RISTORANTE
300 2nd Avenue
Niwot, CO 80544
303.652.1606

I realize that few Rifftides readers will find themselves in the tiny Boulder, Colorado, suburb of Niwot tomorrow. If you are in that area of the Rocky Mountains, however, and make it to Trepedda’s Italian Ristorante, hearing Brad Goode will be worth the trip even if you have to drive all the way from Boulder or Denver.

But that’s not the point. The point is that Goode’s bass player is named Bijoux Barbosa. I’m always intrigued by euphonious appellations, as Cuthbert J. Twillie called fine-sounding names. But, I wondered, who is Bijoux Barbosa—and can he play? A web search answered the first question. He’s Brazilian. His real first name is Eduardo. He studied in his hometown of São Paulo, has been in Colorado for 15 years and has worked with Herbie Mann, Brian Lynch, Ron Blake, Jaleel Shaw and Ron Miles, among others.

Whether he can play, you may judge from this brief duet with tenor saxophonist Eric Trujillo at the Mi Vida Strings shop in Denver. The piece is Chucho Valdez’s “Mambo Influenciado.”

Given the list of performance credits above, it is clear that Bijoux Barbosa is far from unknown, but he was new to me. Perhaps he is to you. I’ll be keeping an ear out for him.