Search Results for: Dave Brubeck

Rifftides reader Svetlana Ilicheva (pictured) responded from Moscow to yesterday's post with an account of a later Brubeck Brothers Quartet concert during the band's visit to Russia. In addition to what Chris Brubeck wrote about his first concert at the Igor Butman club in Moscow and his panegyric to the US ambassador in Russia, I would like to add a few words about their concert in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on September 17. I was invited to this concert at the last moment so was a little … [Read more...]

Chris Brubeck reports from Moscow about the Brubeck Brothers Quartet’s Russian tour. He last played there a quarter of a century ago as a member of his father Dave’s quartet, when the country was the Soviet Union. Chris writes on his blog that at the BBQ’s first concert of the current trip, the US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, introduced the band… …in fluent Russian, right before our 2nd set. What he said in essence was that although he was the official Ambassador from … [Read more...]

Iola Brubeck, whom Paul Desmond described as "the incomparable, regal Iola," sent a comment about the Rifftides 2012 Crop Forecast. She included the words of a choral piece by her husband, whose name is Dave. To see her comment, Mr. Brubeck's lyric, photographs of ripening fruit, and to listen to Wayne Shorter and Eric Satie (not together) go here. … [Read more...]

Thomas Cunniffe's Jazz History Online essay, the basis for “Desmond And The Canadians” two items below, contains this paragraph: Pure Desmond isn’t a “pure” example of the Canadian group, but the recording clearly echoes the style that Desmond and the Toronto musicians had worked out at Bourbon Street, featuring moderate tempos, melodic solos and low volume. Yet, the album nearly wasn’t released: Taylor was unhappy with Kay’s drumming and brought in Mel Lewis to dub in a … [Read more...]

Every May 30 of the nearly seven-year history of this web log I have posted an observance of the passing of Paul Desmond. As the staff and I were puzzling over a new approach on this 35th anniversary of his death, Rifftides reader Svetlana Ilicheva wrote from Moscow with her translation of part of a Russian jazz musician and columnist’s appreciation of Desmond. Paul Desmond is well-remembered and highly valued here in Russia by genuine jazz lovers. On the Russian portal Джаз.ру … [Read more...]

In my notes for the final volume of Shelly Manne & His Men At The Blackhawk, I wrote: During my years of labor at KGO-TV in San Francisco, I never passed the parking lot a block away at Turk and Hyde without regretting the injustice of a world that puts more value on the storage of automobiles than on preserving historical landmarks. To be accurate, the Landmark Preservation Commission never actually got around to trying to save the Black Hawk or even mounting a brass plaque at space … [Read more...]

Here is the final round of Rifftides readers’ listening choices. Thanks to all who responded for introducing me—and many others, I’m sure—to music or musicians that I would not have known otherwise. Without this exercise, among other recordings The Mars Volta, cellist Claire Gastinel and the marvelous O Grande Circo Mistico by Edu Lobo and Chico Buarque, would have escaped me. Looking over the playlists of recommended albums by young jazz musicians and sampling their wares, I … [Read more...]

In the Seattle Times, critic Paul deBarros tells of a man named Bill Carter finding in a storage container “a treasure chest from the golden age of jazz.” The unearthing may not equal the importance of the discovery by another Carter—Howard—of King Tut’s tomb, but it is creating excitement among devotees of classic mainstream jazz. deBarros writes: Among the hundreds of tapes Carter retrieved from that container was a recording of a 1956 Seattle concert that featured Ella Fitzgerald, … [Read more...]

This series of brief reviews calls your attention to recordings that captured the Rifftides staff’s interest and may capture yours. Chris Brubeck’s Triple Play: Live At Arthur Zankel Music Center (Blue Forest) As Triple Play, Chris Brubeck, harmonicist Peter Madcat Ruth and guitarist Joel Brown have had fun for more than 20 years. Brubeck plays piano, bass and trombone. They all sing. It’s a jazz band, or a blues band, or a folk group. It’s all of those. In this alternately … [Read more...]

MARSALIS AND CALDERAZZO Parts of Brandford Marsalis’s and Joey Calderazzo’s Sunday concert of saxophone-piano duets suggested the atmosphere of a 19th century recital somewhere in middle Europe. The beauty of Calderazzo’s “La Valse Kendall,” Marsalis’s “The Bard Lachrymose” and the short “Die Trauernde” of Brahms encouraged quiet reflection. These are jazz musicians, however—two of the most adventuresome—and a complete afternoon of stately salon music wasn’t in … [Read more...]

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: The Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1955-1967 Dave Brubeck turns 91 tomorrow, December 6, and Columbia Records is releasing a CD box containing all 19 of the Columbia albums that his quartet recorded in the studio. The earliest, Brubeck Time, was released in 1955 but recorded in the fall of 1954, three years after Brubeck and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond formed the quartet. The last, Anything Goes: Brubeck Plays Cole Porter, was released in 1967 a few months … [Read more...]

Referring to the “Going Like 80 (+)” post of November 23, Rifftides reader Ned Corman writes: And, of course, Paul would have been 87, if I have it right. Yes, he was born on Thanksgiving, November 25, 1924. It has become a Rifftides tradition to observe the occasion. Lamenting Paul’s absence, one of Desmond’s favorite playing and socializing partners, Jim Hall, once said that he would have been a great old man. That makes sense; he was a great young man. Dave Brubeck said, … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Mark Mohr writes: Sad about Motian, he was definitely one of a kind. Who else is still playing at 80? Off the top of my head (more or less): Phil Woods (80) Ira Sullivan (80) Ornette Coleman (81) Richard Davis (81) Jim Hall (81) Bill Henderson (81) Annie Ross (81) Frank Strazzeri (81 Barry Harris (82) Ernestine Anderson (83) Junior Mance (83) Bill Crow (84) Dick Hyman (84) Lee Konitz (84) Martial Solal (84) Jimmy Heath (85) Med Flory (85) Bill … [Read more...]

In his Jazz Profiles blog, Steve Cerra’s stock in trade is—logically enough— profiles of musicians. He copiously illustrates them with photographs, album covers and sound clips and often adds personal reflections or anecdotes to enrich the mix. The lead story that Steve put up today is about the late tenor and soprano saxophonist Lucky Thompson. Thompson worked in the 1940s and ‘50s in Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet and with the big bands of Billy Eckstine, Tom Talbert and Count … [Read more...]

Shortly after Pete Rugolo died this week, Jeff Sultanof offered to contribute a piece putting Rugolo’s work in perspective. I was delighted to accept and flattered that he considered Rifftides the proper place for his essay. Jeff is a native of New York City, where he lives and works. He is a composer, orchestrator, editor, educator and researcher greatly admired in the community of professional musicians, critics and academics. He has analyzed, studied, edited and taught the music of … [Read more...]

SONNY, PLEASED Terri Hinte provides this piece of news: Sonny Rollins is one of five individuals who have been selected to receive the Kennedy Center Honors of 2011, it was announced today by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. These individuals' "collective artistry has contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world," said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein.

 Along with fellow recipients singer Barbara Cook, singer and … [Read more...]

You never know who’s listening. Skipping around in Jeffrey Lyons’ entertaining new book about his father Leonard, the prolific New York Post columnist, I came across this item in the Sophia Loren section: In 1961, she was back in Spain filming El Cid, and after finishing the day’s shooting of that medieval epic, Loren would always turn on Dave Brubeck and Dizzy Gillespie records. “It’s the best way to snap back into the twentieth century,” she explained. It’s worth … [Read more...]

After the American Red Cross acknowledged the millions of dollars Paul Desmond left the organization (see this recent item), it also named a training room after him. The facility is in the national Red Cross headquarters in Washington, DC. We're working on getting a picture of the training room and what goes on in it. In the meantime, Rifftides reader Frank Roellinger (thank you, sir) persuaded someone at the ARC to get a photograph of the plaque outside the room. Desmond died on Memorial … [Read more...]

Chris Brubeck writes about the death of jazz film producer and director Bruce Ricker: The entire Brubeck family shares in the sorrow and shock of Bruce's death. We were aware of his hospitalization but felt comforted that modern medicine would triumph as usual. This time it didn't and I think Bruce Ricker's passing is a huge loss for his family, friends and also for the entire jazz community. Bruce had incredibly unique passions and talents which he poured into his film projects. There … [Read more...]

Bruce Ricker, the producer-director of a series of documentaries about American musicians, has died. He succumbed to pneumonia on Friday, May 13, at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 68. Ricker’s most recent release was last year’s Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way. Among his other films were the stories of Jim Hall, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mercer and Thelonious Monk. He also produced the 1997 TV special Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall.   Born in Staten … [Read more...]