Observe, please, that in the right-hand column is a new set of Doug's Picks: two CDs, a DVD and an enchanting novel. … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2006
CD
Marc Johnson, Shades of Jade (ECM). The cast of musicians--Johnson, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Eliane Elias, Joey Baron--might lead you to believe that it's an all-star jam session. But it's an hour of salon music, carefully conceived, beautifully executed, relaxed with an outré tinge, in the ECM … [Read more...]
Anniversary
Yesterday, Rifftides was one year old. Thanks to all of you for keeping me interested. It has been a rewarding and broadening experience. DR … [Read more...]
Django Seen And Heard
When I wrote about Django Reinhardt on his birthday, I didn't know about a classic piece of film showing him and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Earl Minor sent this from Portland, Oregon: This one literally made me cry tears of joy. I hope you enjoy it. It's amazing how wonderfully he … [Read more...]
On Monk
Peter Levin writes from New York: While (unlike, it appears, Jimmy Knepper) I love Monk's music, Knepper was right about the childlike quality of a lot of Monk tunes. When one of our sons was three, Monk was his favorite composer. When we asked him why, he said it was because Monk's music … [Read more...]
Swing ‘n Jazz: A Listener’s Journal
The Commission Project's Swing 'n Jazz event in Rochester, New York, raises money to commission compositions, produce workshops and fund composer-in-residence programs in public schools across the United States. The four days of TCP's ninth edition of Swing 'n Jazz overflowed with music, most of … [Read more...]
Rochester: The Tourist Angle
While I was in Rochester, New York, I kept busy in The Commission Project's official Swing 'n Jazz schedule of concerts and workshops, and the unofficial one of eating and drinking well and hanging out. Still, I managed to absorb a bit of the atmosphere of a city with remarkable historical and … [Read more...]
Comment: Monk and Jimmy Knepper
Eric Felten writes from Washington, DC: I enjoyed the Monk posts, and it reminded me of a gig I did years ago with Jimmy Knepper. He was an incredibly distinctive musician, and as quirky, interesting, and difficult as a person as was his trombone playing. Before this particular gig with Jimmy I … [Read more...]
A Jazz ‘n Swing Workshop
When Paul Desmond made his observation that jazz can be learned but not taught, he had in mind the core jazz skill of improvisation, rather than the ability of musicians to be effective in large aggregations. Marvin Stamm, the musical director of this year's Swing 'n Jazz, recalled that he taught … [Read more...]
Report from Rochester
This is my first visit to Rochester, New York, in more than twenty years. I thought in the 1980s that it was an agreeable place, slightly down at the heels in some districts but riding in comfort on the economic updraft of its biggest corporate anchors, Eastman Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb. … [Read more...]
Monk Is Tough
He has to be, to withstand the abuse he's taking. From the right, a pianist identified as Hans Groiner--who may actually be someone named Hans Groiner--castrates Monk, with results that make John Tesh sound like Arnold Schoenberg. Groiner, or the Groiner simulacrum, writes on the Myspace website, … [Read more...]