2012 December 11

Other Places (2): Konitz On Bird

December 11, 2012 by Doug Ramsey

On his New England Public Radio blog, Tom Reney's new post on Charlie Parker includes Lee Konitz material for which he credits Rifftides. I thank Tom, but I thank him more for including a clip of Lee Konitz talking about what it was like to work and travel with Bird in their mutual Stan Kenton days of the 1950s. To hear Konitz on Parker, go here. The clip is at the end of the piece. … [Read more...]

Other Places (1): A Brubeck Radio Tribute

December 11, 2012 by Doug Ramsey

Journalist and occasional Rifftides commenter Ken Dryden (pictured) works nationally and lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Among other activities, he conducts a radio program. Mr. Dryden sent an alert to a special edition of his show remembering Dave Brubeck. If you are one of the unfortunate millions who do not live within broadcast earshot of Chattanooga, there’s good news; Ken’s show will be streamed tomorrow evening on the web. Here is his announcement. Please join me for Dziekuje, … [Read more...]

Doug Ramsey on Ahmad Jamal At The Winningstad
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Terence Smith on Surviving In The Book Business: An Authors Fair
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Terence Smith on Ahmad Jamal At The Winningstad
Wish I could have been there, but this article helps me participate a little. Like a million people, my first hearing of Ahmad Jamal was the...
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Don Conner on Surviving In The Book Business: An Authors Fair
I share your feelings about the plight of the book business in this country, knowing that the instrument I'm typing on has been a major...
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Mark Mohr on Surviving In The Book Business: An Authors Fair
Just read your post "Surviving in the Book Business: An Authors Fair" with great interest. Books and independent bookstores are near and dear to...
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CD: Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough, Eulalia (Merry Lane Records)

In addition to endearing vocal performances of several of his best songs, Dorough gives listeners what may come as a surprise to many; his ingenuity as an arranger. The deceptive simplicity of “Eulalia,” the album’s sole instrumental, is one of several instances of his melody lines and the tang of his voicings giving energy and richness to a mid-sized ensemble. Dorough plays piano. Other soloists include alto saxophonist Phil Woods, bassist Steve Gilmore and Dorough’s daughter Aralee, a symphony flutist. Woods is on fire in Dorough’s gospel anthem “A Few Days of Glory” and in the classic “I’ve Got Just About Everything.” When Dorough recorded Eulalia, he was 88. His musicianship and wit were ageless.

CD: Rudy Royston

Rudy Royston, 303 (Greenleaf Music)

In his debut as a leader the young drummer from Denver (area code 303) fronts a septet of his generation’s more adventurous players. The eclecticism of the music encompasses Radiohead’s “High and Dry,” the Mozart motet “Ave Verum Corpus,” a drum feature inspired by Elvin Jones, and homage to Denver trumpeter Ron Miles. Even in “Bownze,” the Jones tribute, Royston refrains from drum exhibitionism. Throughout, he melds his work with the septet, which includes two bassists—Yasushi Nakamura and Mimi Jones, the ingenious saxophonist Jon Irabagon, Australian trumpeter Nadja Noordhuis, pianist Sam Harris and guitarist Nir Felder. Royston’s impressive compositions and arrangements provide ensemble unity.

CD: Alan Broadbent

Alan Broadbent, Heart to Heart (Chilly Bin)

Broadbent’s first solo piano album, recorded in 1991, was a highlight of Concord’s Maybeck series. He has continued to perform with a trio and with Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, but to many he is known primarily as the arranger-conductor for Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, Michael Feinstein and Paul McCartney. Producer George Fendel thought it was time for Broadbent to again record alone on a superb piano before an appreciative audience, so he presented him in the solo series at Portland’s Classic Piano store. From Haden’s “Hello My Lovely” to a blazing conclusion with “Cherokee,” Broadbent reminds us of his formidable command of the instrument, his harmonic chops and the joy he takes and gives in making music.

CD: Frank Wess

Frank Wess, Magic 201 (IPO)

The final track of the great tenor saxophonist and flutist’s final album is a lovely performance of Sammy Cahn’s 1937 standard “If it’s the Last Thing I Do,” giving the CD added poignancy. Wess died in October, 2013, after decades as one of the most respected members of the jazz generation that came to prominence after World War Two. No tempo in the album is above a medium walk, but you don’t go to Frank Wess expecting speed. You expect profundity, and that’s what you get here. As in Magic 101, his colleagues are pianist Kenny Barron, guitarist Russell Malone, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Winard Harper. Wess’s “Embraceable You” duet with Barron is perfection.

Book: Derrick Bang

Derrick Bang, Vince Guaraldi at the Piano (McFarland)

Bang’s 2012 book is less a full-fledged biography than a comprehensive survey of Guaraldi’s career loaded with anecdotes. The pianist was a committed jazz artist who became famous through indelible identification with a major phenomenon of popular culture. Millions know him through his music for the Peanuts television specials. Yet, dedication to his work as an improvising musician lasted until the end of his life in 1976. Bang traces Guaraldi’s progress from early sideman work with Conte Candoli and Cal Tjader through his hit, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” to the success of the Charlie Brown soundtracks. Extensive quotes from colleagues help capture the personality that allowed Guaraldi to be simultaneously endearing and uncompromising.

CD: Jeremy Steig, Featuring Denny Zeitlin

Jeremy Steig, Flute Fever (International Phonograph)

The Rifftides campaign for a reissue of the 1963 debut recording of flutist Jeremy Steig and pianist Denny Zeitlin got underway with this observation in a 2005 post:

On Sonny Rollins’s “Oleo,” each of them solos with ferocious thrust, chutzpah, swing and—one of the most challenging accomplishments in jazz—a feeling of delirious freedom within the discipline of a harmonic structure.

Fifty years after it appeared, Flute Fever remains one of the finest albums of the second half of the twentieth century, regardless of genre. At last, it is a CD, but Columbia ceded the honor to someone else. Kudos to Jonathan Horwich and International Phonograph. The reproduction of sound, packaging and artwork is flawless. This is a basic repertoire item.

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