Most jazz listeners know Hall Overton (1920-1972) for his orchestrations of Thelonious Monk piano solos. Those arrangements are a major factor in the success of Monk’s concert with a 10-piece band at New York’s Town Hall in 1959, preserved in this essential album. Musicians familiar with Overton’s other accomplishments and broad scope respect him for his knowledge of music and his effectiveness in sharing it. During Overton’s time at Juilliard, he learned from great teachers, including … [Read more...]

The tip comes from Jim Wilke in Seattle, a suburb of Port Townsend. Sunday, September 2nd on Jazz Northwest from 88.5 KPLU, the Benny Green Trio with special guest Gary Smulyan on baritone saxophone is heard in concert at Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend. The concert was recorded in McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden on July 28, and consists of original music by Benny Green. Benny Green has been a favorite at Jazz Port Townsend for years. He has been an active professional pianist since … [Read more...]

This is Charlie Parker’s birthday. If he had lived, he would be 92. I wish that he had taken better care of himself. Here’s a segment from Ken Burns’ film Jazz. … [Read more...]

With less than a month of summer to go (in the northern hemisphere), this is timely. If it has been a while since you have heard “Summer Sequence,” the brilliant suite composed by Ralph Burns for Woody Herman—or if you have never heard it—this is your lucky day. Rifftides reader Roger Hunter's comment on our recent Hi-Los post triggered a search for a recording of that timeless piece by Herman's First Herd. To read Mr. Hunter’s comment and hear the music, go here and scroll … [Read more...]

East of the mountains, we live in apple country ——and pear, peach, cherry and hop country. Those dark green areas in the picture above are orchards typical of those that cover the hills and valleys. The orchards were quiet on Sunday during our photo expedition, but before long they will be alive with pickers and the warehouses full of packers preparing fruit for shipping all over the world. The Washington Apple Commission is predicting the second biggest harvest ever, nearly 109 … [Read more...]

Regarding the Singers Unlimited item in the following exhibit, Rifftides reader David Perrine writes: The Singers Unlimited was an updated and expanded (via technology) version of Puerling's previous group the Hi-Lo's (which in a later edition also included Don Shelton as one of the four voices.) While Fischer probably wasn't involved with "In Tune", he did write instrumental arrangements for both groups and one of the Hi-Lo's finest tracks is a Fischer piece called "Summer Sketch" from … [Read more...]

Bill Kirchner sent a description of his next program in the Institute of Jazz Studies “Jazz From The Archives.” He will feature a vocal group with close ties to jazz, that for more than a decade reached a wide audience with its rich series of recordings and continues to amass new fans. Here’s Bill’s announcement. Between 1971 and 1982, The Singers Unlimited (pictured left to right, Bonnie Herman, Len Dresslar Gene Puerling, Don Shelton) recorded fifteen albums, mostly with varied … [Read more...]

Every once in a while, a reader asks how to find items in the Rifftides archive. Rummaging through the blog's seven-year history, you may discover interesting things you missed. Here's a way to get started. Scroll down to the "Older Posts" function at the bottom of the main page. Click on that command and it will take you to the previous 20 posts. Click on it again, you will see another 20, and so on back through the mists of time to the primitive beginnings of this blog in June of 2005. … [Read more...]

The subject line of Scott Weiss’s e-mail was “trumpet stuff.” His message included a link to video Weiss took of Bobby Shew and Carl Saunders. For decades, the trumpeters played together in big bands including those of Buddy Rich, Bill Holman and Bob Florence. On his website, Weiss quotes Shew as saying that he and Saunders have been, “thick as thieves since around 1961.” In a rare combination of talents, each of them is a major improvising soloist also capable of the most demanding … [Read more...]

The death a week ago of Annie Kuebler prompted a flood of tributes from writers, academics and researchers who benefited from her expertise, kindness, unfailing good humor and friendship. Ms. Kuebler was the archivist at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Her name is unfamiliar to most jazz listeners, but they are likely to have learned indirectly from her about the music by way of books, articles, blogs and liner notes written by people she helped. Annie … [Read more...]

In response to readers' requests, Rifftides has added a way to subscribe by e-mail. Scroll down to the third item in the right column and follow the easy instruction. … [Read more...]

First of all, I never strive for identity. That's something that just has happened automatically as a result, I think, of just putting things together, tearing things apart and putting it together my own way, and somehow I guess the individual comes through eventually. Words are the children of reason and, therefore, can't explain it. They really can't translate feeling because they're not part of it. That's why it bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It's … [Read more...]

Before the 83rd anniversary of Bill Evans’ birth fades away, at least in this time zone, let’s listen together to “Gloria’s Step,” a masterpiece from his 1961 Sunday At The Village Vanguard album. The trio, of course, was Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Evans died on September 15, 1980. … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Red Sullivan (pictured), who is Irish, plays the flute and lives in Rio de Janeiro, wrote a comment and question about the Swedish folk song cum jazz standard mentioned in the review of the recent Quincy Jones celebration at the Ystad festival. Others may be interested in the music that prompted his curiosity. The comment and reply are posted with the Jones item four exhibits down. For those who might otherwise miss them, here they are: And Miles very wonderfully and … [Read more...]

Von Freeman had everything it took to be a world-famous tenor saxophonist. He chose, instead, to remain in his native Chicago for his entire career. Appearances at a few jazz festivals in the US and abroad were the main exceptions. Freeman’s death on August 11 was announced today. He would have been 89 on October 3. Freeman shared many of the influences that affected such contemporary Chicago tenor artists as Gene Ammons, Johnny Griffin, Eddie Harris and Fred Anderson. Like theirs, his … [Read more...]

Video has shown up on YouTube of the last two minutes of the Quincy Jones tribute at the Ystad Jazz Festival in Sweden. (See the item below for details). The celebration ended with the audience joining the musicians and vocalists on stage in singing “We are the World” and Jones thanking everyone, in English and idiomatic Swedish. … [Read more...]

...that was the name of the Ystad Jazz Festival's concluding event recognizing the career and achievements of its guest of honor. Quincy Jones spent a week in Ystad, listening to music, meeting the press, being wined and dined and reuniting with friends, some of whom he first knew in Sweden 60 years ago. Earlier on August 5, Mr. Jones and I chatted before an audience at the Ystad Museum about his career, going back to the early 1950s. That's when he first made his mark, writing arrangements for … [Read more...]

More from the Ystad, Sweden, Jazz Festival, as the week wound down. BENNY GREEN Benny Green’s Ystad Theater concert previewed music the pianist is preparing for his next record. His trio played some of Green’s new pieces for the first time, giving the set an air of discovery and, occasionally, of a rehearsal. A few seconds into a fast tune titled “Flying Saucer,” Green declared a false start, called a halt, counted off a new tempo and started over. Following the opening melody … [Read more...]

Back from Sweden jet-lagged but unbowed after 10 time zones and 16 hours in the air, the Rifftides staff is alternating work and naps, some voluntary. (Pictured: above the Baltic Sea.) Over the next couple of days, I’ll give you brief impressions of performances in the final days of the Ystad Jazz Festival. An economy-size pianist with massive technique, Hiromi Uehara performs using only her given name, a la Eldar or Madonna. With skill that evidently knows no limitations of speed or … [Read more...]

TOMASZ STANKO Resplendent in houndstooth jacket, tight jeans and two-tone buckle shoes,Tomasz Stanko took to the stage and attached a wireless microphone to his trumpet. He offered a half smile to the welcoming audience, nodded to his colleagues and launched into the first of four unannounced pieces that took the Ystad Jazz Festival into the rarified atmosphere of Stankoland, where adventure is the rule. Inspired by free jazz, Stanko achieves creative independence within musical forms, … [Read more...]