Word from Canada is that the CBC program honoring Ed Bickert is online and available for listening. Bickert celebrates his 80th birthday today. The venerable guitarist is a veteran of decades with Rob McConnell, Moe Kauffman, Phil Nimmons, Paul Desmond and hundreds of studio hours. For details about his career—and videos, see this Rifftides post.
Here’s a paragraph from the page that contains the link to the broadcast:
Bickert could “combine in his solos the logic of a mathematician and the grace of an angel,†as Jack Batten said in the Globe and Mail in 1976. And according to bassist Steve Wallace, who frequently played with Bickert, he served as the “aesthetic compass and edit button on the Canadian jazz scene, a kind of jazz bullshit antidote.”
Bickert retired a few years ago and no longer plays. Many of his admiring fellow musicians assembled to pay tribute to him.To hear the concert, go here and click on “Listen to Ed Bickert At 80: A Jazz Celebration.†Thanks again to Ted O’Reilly for keeping us up to date on this important occasion.