Archives for January 2006

For the uninitiated: Pee Wee Marquette was a fixture at the old Birdland, known to the club’s audiences for his elecutionary introductions when he left his doorman’s post to be the MC, and to musicians as an extortionist. His nickname derived from his stature; he was under four feet tall. For a … [Read more...]

Saturday night, Jessica Williams is going to play a solo piano concert at The Seasons, which is developing into quite the performance hall. Word is getting around among musicians about the magical acoustics, the hip audiences, and the good treatment and respect players receive there. I will have the … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Jim Brown writes from Chicago: I've made it a habit to visit your blog daily when I'm near an internet connection and not totally overwhelmed by my own endeavors, and have been disappointed on days when there's nothing new. I've finally learned that periods of silence usually … [Read more...]

Ted O'Reilly writes from Toronto: Before Christmas (Dec. 22) you had some Plato and Aristotle observations on music. How about adding some good ol' W. Shakespeare? Lorenzo: The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and … [Read more...]

Bill De Arango, the guitarist who died at eighty-five the day after Christmas, might have become famous. While his colleagues Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie invited audiences into the new territory they had all opened together, he left New York in 1948 and went home to Cleveland. The next … [Read more...]