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Rifftides

Voted 2010 blog of the year by the international membership of the Jazz Journalists Association.
This blog is founded on Doug’s conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but it reaches past…

…the fashions, trends and commercial facets of the jazz scene of the moment, month or year. It considers current artists, performances and recordings not because they are current, but because they have value. It examines the broad history and universal aspects of the jazz mother lode that enriches not only music but also culture and life in general for millions of people. This blog is dedicated to taking music seriously, but itself with only enough seriousness to maintain reasonable dignity.

02/26/11 12:28 PM | filed under: |

Doug’s Picks

CD: Jimmy Owens

Jimmy Owens, The Monk Project (IPO)

In this Thelonious Monk tribute, trumpeter Owens’ septet includes pianist Kenny Barron, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland and low-register specialist Howard Johnson on tuba and baritone sax. Kenny Davis is the bassist, Winard Harper the drummer. There are good solos throughout, but the stars of the album are Owens’ conceptions of the tunes, and his arrangements. He brings freshness through textures and tempos. Among the surprises: a Latin approach to “Well You Needn’t,” “Let’s Cool One” as a waltz and “Brilliant Corners” alternating between a crawl and a blues-inflected march

CD: Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette, Sound Travels (e one)

DeJohnette leads small ensembles in seven of his compositions. He plays both drums and piano on several. His sidepersons include Ambrose Akinmusire, Tim Ries, Jason Moran, Lionel Loueke, percussionist Luisito Quintero and vocalists Bobby McFerrin, Bruce Hornsby and Esperanza Spaulding. Spaulding also plays bass. The personnel list may suggest random eclecticism, but within its stylistic diversity the album has unity and a beguiling sense of relaxation. DeJohnette opens and closes with unaccompanied piano performances, reminding us that despite his fame and influence as a drummer, he plays his first instrument with a fine touch and harmonic sensibility.

CD: Wesla Whitfield

Wesla Whitfield, Mike Greensill Trio, The Best Things In Life

Wesla Whitfield plugs her current of understated energy into a diverse collection that encompasses “The Best Things in Life Are Free” from 1927, “Bein’ Green” from Sesame Street, and “Walkin’ After Midnight” from the Patsy Cline hit parade. There are also standards by Loesser, LeGrand, Arlen and Frishberg, among others. Whitfield is often billed as a cabaret singer, but with the rhythm section of pianist Mike Greensill, bassist John Witala and drummer Vince Lateano supporting her time sense, phrasing and inflection, the fuzzy border between cabaret and jazz disappears. Nat Cole’s “Errand Girl For Rhythm” is a case in point.

DVD: Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz with Dan Tepfer (Jazz Heaven)

Designed as a master class, the DVD provides fascinating listening and viewing for anyone curious about the creative process of making jazz. In conversation with his frequent collaborator, pianist Tepfer, Konitz discusses and demonstrates the wisdom he has accumulated in his nearly 85 years. In the hour-and-a-half conversation, he frequently picks up his alto saxophone to demonstrate a concept or a point and brings Tepfer into the spoken and played discussion. It is a Socratic dialogue, with the teacher and student occasionally reversing roles. An easily accessible menu makes browsing possible. The audio and video quality are superb.

Book: Clark Terry

Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry (UC Press)

The great trumpeter, flugelhornist and mumbler writes with joy about the good times in his long life and with frankness about the rough patches. His humor and generous spirit are intact whether he is telling of his love for Basie and Ellington, his triumphs as a performer, his legions of friends, or encounters with racists and bottom feeders in and out of the jazz world. Terry’s ear, eye and memory for detail provide insights into not only his remarkable career but also the trajectory and development of jazz as an art form and a social force during his many decades in music.

CD: Corea, Gomez, Motian

Chick Corea, Eddie Gomez, Paul Motian, Further Explorations (Concord)

The two-CD album is described in the notes as a “template,” a “tabula rasa,” rather than a tribute to Bill Evans. Nonetheless, Corea’s encounter with two great Evans sidemen underlines Evans’s profound influence on the development of the jazz piano trio and on Corea’s own playing. Released less than a month following Motian’s death at 80, the live recording from New York’s Blue Note beautifully captures the drummer’s freedom, swing and interaction. In pieces from Evans’s repertoire and others by members of the trio, there is a spirit of adventure and, in Evans’s newly found “Song No. 1,” the challenge of discovery.

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Rifftides

02/26/11 12:28 PM | filed under: |

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Doug’s Picks

CD: Jimmy Owens

CD: Jack DeJohnette

CD: Wesla Whitfield

DVD: Lee Konitz

Book: Clark Terry

CD: Corea, Gomez, Motian

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