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.
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.
Someone once called Ed Bickert “the greatest jazz guitarist you’ve never heard”, and rightly so. On Paul Desmond’s Pure Desmond (1975) Ed really shines, and on Oscar Peterson’s Personal Touch he’s also on top of the game.