Archives for September 2006

The Paul Gonsalves stories keep rolling in. We had them from Germany and the US. Here's one from Canada. The friendship of Clark Terry and Paul continued long after CT's Ellington-time. It was Clark who introduced me to Paul when both were in Toronto, CT as a soloist at the old Colonial Tavern, and … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff is hard at work on that survey of recent recordings. There are so blasted many of them, and things keep intervening. But part 4 is in the works. See the archive (right column) for parts 1, 2 and 3. … [Read more...]

The Video of Paul Gonsalves caught napping attracted the following comments. The Gonsalves clip brings to mind an incident that happened when I was editing Down Beat. Ellington was making one of his regular two-week appearances at Chicago's Blue Note, and on opening niight, in front of a full house … [Read more...]

If you're attending the opening night of the Monterey Jazz Festival, you're not reading this. If, like me, you wish you were there, you will enjoy this feature by Paul Conley of KXJZ radio in Sacramento, California. The closing is priceless. Follow the link and click on "Listen." A year ago I was at … [Read more...]

Paul Gonsalves, the tenor saxophone star of Duke Ellington's band for nearly a quarter of a century, was a wonderfully warm man who had, as the jazz magazines used to euphemistically write, "personal problems." His most obvious personal problem was alcohol. When he had overindulged, it was often … [Read more...]

Not me. Ornette. Brian Wise of WNYC in New York sent an alert that Ornette Coleman will be the guest on Soundcheck tomorrow to talk "about his life and career, touching on some of his classic albums as well as his most recent one, Sound Grammar." Soundcheck airs from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EDT at 93.9 FM … [Read more...]

Thanks for gathering and posting the remarks on the Sudhalter "celebration", for that's what it was, as Dan Levinson and I agreed in L.A. over Labor Day. The timing of your posting is right since the AFJS is having its Washington Conference this coming weekend. I ask your permission to copy and … [Read more...]

The concert for Sudhalter went very well. Good attendance, and the musicians limited themselves to one or two numbers, so the evening moved along just right. Frishberg's "Dear Bix" brought a tear to my eye, and to his, I believe, as well. Marian McPartland, Joe Wilder, Jackie Cain and Steve Kuhn … [Read more...]

How's this for an eclectic playlist? "Fancy" Julia Murney, I'm Not Waiting "Unexpressed" Gavin Creel, John Bucchino, It's Only Life "Travellin'Thru" Dolly Parton, Transamerica "Chasing Cars" Snow Patrol, Eyes Open "Sweet and Lovely" One for All, The Lineup "Butterfly" Corrine Bailey Rae "Die … [Read more...]

I was unable to attend Sunday night's benefit concert for Dick Sudhalter because St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York is 3000 miles from Rifftides world headquarters. Friends who went, some of whom performed, sent reports. By their accounts, the event was a success on all fronts. … [Read more...]

I had lost track of the trumpeter Tim Hagans, whose searching, edgy, extraharmonic improvisational style I admire. I did an internet search and ended up on his modishly designed and constructed website, whose style reflects his adventuresome, but centered, music. Roaming through the site, I found … [Read more...]

Thanks to Terry Teachout for alerting me to the existence on YouTube of video performances by the great early 1960s Sonny Rollins Quartet with Jim Hall. As I lamented in the previous exhibit, that band is absent from Rollins's own web site. The clips are from Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual series on … [Read more...]

Yesterday was Sonny Rollins's 76th birthday. He celebrated it, in part, by installing on his website nine video clips of performances over forty-nine years, beginning in 1957. They comprise a fascinating tour of his career. They will be accessible for six more days. Among the sidemen are Henry … [Read more...]

Let's wrap up the survey of a few of the recent CDs from High Note. Billy Hart, Quartet (High Note). Hart is a 65-year-old drummer prized by Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Dena DeRose, Pharaoh Sanders, Frank Morgan and virtually anyone else who has ever played with or heard … [Read more...]

If you are in the New York City area or can get to it by Sunday evening, please consider attending the concert to benefit Richard Sudhalter. If you don't know about Dick's medical predicament and the staggering bills he faces, you will find details here. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the quality … [Read more...]

Coincidental with the Rifftides review of a new Louis Hayes CD, Mark Stryker of The Detroit Free Press devoted his column to a festival that featured Hayes and others who began their careers in the Motor City. A remarkable chunk of Detroit-bred jazz history reunited on Monday evening at the Detroit … [Read more...]

I spent twenty-four years in television news, fourteen of them in front of the camera and reporting, then managing news operations, so I was compelled to watch the debut of The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric. If the dumbing-down cycle that began thirty years ago when WABC-TV hired Geraldo Rivera … [Read more...]

It was my intention to write mini-reviews of several more High Note CDs for this posting, but other matters intervened (see the previous item). One will have to suffice. Vincent Herring, Ends And Means (High Note). We last encountered Herring ghosting Cannonball Adderley on a new Louis Hayes album. … [Read more...]

The other day, Ashley Foot, the ebullient young host of the internet's Radio Allegro, invited me to be on his program. In the recorded interview, I told him, "There's an incredible outpouring of jazz CDs these days. You'd never know jazz was dying." "It's dying!" he said in alarm, "What are you … [Read more...]