Archives for October 2006

From time to time, John Birchard of the Voice of America news staff shares with Rifftides his impressions of musical events in the District of Columbia and environs. Can a ghost band make art? For example, does one consider a Glenn Miller Orchestra led by Sam Donahue capable of creating music that stands the test of time? How about the group led by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter that featured Wallace Roney in the role of Miles Davis? Is their collaboration to be considered on the same plane … [Read more...]

Continuing the Adderley theme, a Rifftides reader who identifies himself as El Destiny, sent the following message, which includes a link. This article includes a rare mp3 of Cannonball Adderley jamming with a novelty act of singing squirrels. The article tells the story of jazzman Don Elliott and partner Sascha Burland recording the track in an attempt to compete with Alvin & the Chipmunks. (Who had their own troubles with record labels...!) Within the article are several links, including one … [Read more...]

After reading the Rifftides item about Josef Skvorecky's novel The Bass Saxophone, the British bassist, composer and leader Graham Collier wrote: Some years ago I suggested to BBC radio that they adapt The Bass Saxophone, which they duly did with my music. Art Themen, best known as a tenor sax player, played the bass sax for the occasion. He owned a bass saxphone, which helped, but I asked him for this gig because--as I had seen in other collaborations with him--he had the rare ability to "act … [Read more...]

Any day now could be the last good one of the year for cycling, so I said goodbye to work and took advantage of a late October afternoon so perfect that to have left it out there by itself would have been a shame. Deciding not to pit the road bike against heavy, skitterish Friday traffic, I left it in the shed and headed the mountain bike toward the system of canals that criss-crosses this agricultural valley. I dropped onto the path along a canal a block from my house and entered instant peace … [Read more...]

Jazz expresses a yearning for freedom that survives the worst oppression. In his essay "Red Music," the Czech novelist Josef Skvorecky wrote about an urge that even the most brutal tyranny cannot fully extinguish. Skvorecky grew up under Nazi occupation in World War Two. He was a budding tenor saxophonist in a dance band with other youngsters. They were infected by the "forceful vitality," the "explosive creative energy" of jazz. He and his young friends did not regard themselves as … [Read more...]

The latest DVD recommendation has joined the other new Doug's Picks in the right-hand column. … [Read more...]

. . .this is my dilemma. I'm a guy who makes things up as I go along so nothing is ever finished--there are so many layers. So when you solo, yeah, you might get into one thing, but then, hey, everything has implications! You can hear the next level. And that's how I feel about improvising--there's always another level. --Sonny Rollins … [Read more...]

In the right column under Doug's Picks, you will find three recommended new CDs and a book of photographs to keep you company. Soon to come: a new DVD pick. … [Read more...]

We get a lot of notices about concerts and club appearances. We don't publish them ("post them," in blogese). Rifftides is not, and will not be, a publicity clearinghouse. However, the Rifftides staff is making a one-time exception, partly because Margaret Davis, Henry Grimes' manager and ranking fan, was too clever and resourceful to resist. She even used the old "speaking of" trick. She went all the way back to Dave Frishberg's January 23 guest item about Cecil Taylor and used it as a hook for … [Read more...]

I have long been convinced that one of the predominant reasons listeners took the classic Dave Brubeck Quartet to their hearts was visual. In the late fifties through the sixties, it was hip for jazz musicians to turn their backs--literally or figuratively--on the audience and each other. In contrast, it was obvious that the quartet enjoyed one another's company and music and didn't feel that it was uncool to show it. Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello paid close attention as … [Read more...]

Eric Felten writes: On the "Kelly Blue" post: There's another reason to cherish Wynton Kelly's Kelly Blue. The title cut has what I consider to be Benny Golson's finest solo on record, and one of the great tenor solos of all time. It starts out bluesy and easy-going and builds relentlessly (and logically) into a torrent of out-and-in-and-back-out-again playing. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. The lengthy "Kelly Blue" track, by the way, was clearly cobbled together from at least a couple of … [Read more...]

a href="http://www.arsc-audio.org/"target="_blank">The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the winners of the 2006 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED JAZZ MUSIC Best History: Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, by Doug Ramsey, with discography by Paul Caulfield. (Parkside Publications). Best Discography: Stan Getz: An Annotated Bibliography and Filmography, with Song and Session … [Read more...]

Once in a while it is necessary to take a day off and listen for the pleasure of the music, ignoring assignments and deadlines, including those that are self-imposed. Randomness is the key, letting one piece of music lead to the next. Sometimes the results are a surprise. I took a day off. Here's what I heard, in more or less this order. Only the Bill Evans was in the line of duty. (See the next item.) Branford Marsalis, "Hope" (from Braggtown) (Marsalis Music) Jack Teagarden, "Think Well of … [Read more...]

A couple of faithful Rifftides readers comment on the posting about the Bill Evans- Kenny Burrell video on YouTube. Ted O'Reilly counters my supposition that Evans and Burrell recorded together only one other time. He writes: Bill and Kenny are both sidemen with Chet Baker on Chet -- The Lyrical Trumpet of Chet Baker, Riverside OJC CD-087-2. I had forgotten that. Thanks for the reminder. Mel Narunsky writes: Listening to Bill Evans and Kenny Burrell brings to mind a probably highly contentious … [Read more...]

As far as I knew until today, Bill Evans and guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded together only once, on Evans' 1976 Quintessence session, which also included tenor saxophonist Harold Land, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Philly Joe Jones. The resourceful Jan Stevens of The Bill Evans Web Pages has pointed the way to another collaboration between Evans and Burrell, at the 1978 Montreux Jazz Festival. They played Thad Jones' "A Child is Born," one of the tunes from Quintessence. Evans was rarely caught … [Read more...]

The conventional web widsom is that the possibilities of the internet are infinite. Fellow blogger DevraDoWrite, aka Devra Hall, seems determined to prove the theory. She has launched a new multifaceted venture in addition to her blog. It's called SnapSizzleBop! The exclamation point is part of the title, and no wonder. She says the site is destined for expansion, but the beta version is already a house of many mansions. You can check it out by going first to DevraDoWrite or see it directly by … [Read more...]

ASCAP (American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers) has formally announced the winners of its 39th annual Deems Taylor Awards. As promised earlier, when I learned that Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond is a winner, here is the alphabetical list of authors and publishers to be honored at the December 7 ceremony at Lincoln Center in New York City. · Julia Blackburn for With Billie, published by Pantheon Books · Anna Marie Busse Berger for Medieval Music and the Art … [Read more...]

Johnnie Taylor, the blues singer, called me up one day and said I ought to play some rock and roll. No. No way. The blues, yes, that's my heart. And let me play some Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, good standards, improvise on those. But play rock and roll? No, sir, that just isn't music to me. I'd wash dishes first. --Red Garland, pianist, quoted in Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. … [Read more...]

It was not for nothing that Dinah Washington was called, or called herself, The Queen of The Blues. Whatever she sang was infected with the blues. While YouTube still exists, or before it is transformed by new ownership or copyright suits, do not miss the opportunity to see and hear a pertinent example of her alchemy, at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Among the accompanists are Terry Gibbs, who shares his vibes solo with Dinah; trombonist Urbie Green; and drummer Max Roach. The audience shots … [Read more...]

I actually tried to get a sound as big as Adrian Rollini, who was playing bass sax at that time . . . so I suppose whatever sound I get goes back to that.--Harry Carney No baritone player should be afraid of the noise it makes. Harry Carney isn't.--Pepper Adams … [Read more...]

Dan Nimmer's tale of talent and a lucky break resembles the story line of a feel-good movie. An accomplished twenty-one-year-old pianist, he moved from his native Milwaukee to New York City in early 2004. Wynton Marsalis heard him and was so impressed that when the piano chair in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra became vacant, Marsalis put Nimmer in it. The pianist also tours as a member of Marsalis's quartet, catapulted virtually overnight into the upper echelons of the world's jazz capital. … [Read more...]