The question is no doubt as old as artistic expression. Imagine a viewer of the first paleolithic paintings in the Great Hall of the Bulls in the Cave of Lascaux: Well, of course Zog is brilliant, but have you seen how he drags his mate around by her hair? It's hard to see how such a rotten guy can make those beautiful pictures. Can you hate Wagner's Teutonic superman beliefs and love "Siegfried Idyll," abhor Ezra Pound's fascist propaganda and admire The Cantos, be appalled by Stan Getz's … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2006
Home
Back home after a warm, sunny nine-day Christmas visit with our son at his house on a Southern California beach, I cleared a path through the snow to reach the house. We rested a day, then piled into the car. Today, we drove south, crossed the mighty Columbia River, rendezvoused for lunch in Oregon with a cousin I hadn't seen in twenty years, then drove the hundred miles back. It was all terrific, but that's enough travel for a while, thank you. I am making my way through the accumlated … [Read more...]
Atzmon: Nature Boy
Gilad Atzmon, the fiery Israeli multi-instrumentalist, is sometimes identified as a purveyor of world music when he is not being attacked or praised for political activity that involves aggressive criticism of Israeli policies. Neither of those facets of his existence is involved in a video clip called to our attention by Rifftides reader Don Emanuel, who posted it on YouTube. Here, Atzmon is a stunning post-bop alto saxophonist with a profound appreciation of John Coltrane. Listen to his … [Read more...]
Other Matters: Two Types
There are two types of people -- those who come into a room and say, "Well, here I am!" and those who come in and say, "Ah, there you are." -- Frederick L. Collins, author (1882-1950) … [Read more...]
Correspondence: On David Berger
Mark Stryker, the music critic for the Detroit Free Press, writes: I really appreciated your post about David Berger - a gifted and underrated musician. Now, guess where he lives - on a street on the Upper West Side named "Duke Ellington Boulevard." It's really 106th Street, but it's also named for Ellington. Berger didn't know this when a real estate agent showed him the apartment. He called his girlfriend at the time and she said, "Take it. It's an omen." The relationship didn't last but, as I … [Read more...]
New Picks
In the right-hand column, you will find a new set of Doug's Picks, none having to do with Christmas or Hanukah but satisfying for holiday listening, viewing or reading. Enjoy. … [Read more...]
CD
Steve Turre, Steve Turre, Keep Searchin' (High Note). The prolific trombonist in the J.J. Johnson tradition in yet another stimulating collection. He features two brilliant soloists, vibraharpist Stefon Harris and pianist Xavier Davis, and the fine drummer Dion Parson. Gerald Cannon and Peter Washington trade bass duties. Turre's "Reconciliation" with its satisfying harmonic resolution, is a highlight, and he proves thatin the hands of an inventive player, there is always room for one more "My … [Read more...]
CD:Kristin Korb
Kristin Korb, Why Can't You Behave (Double K). Korb sings even better than on her previous CD and does it while playing the bass superbly. The Ray Brown protégé's power and note choices would make the late master proud. Her treatment of Cole Porter's title tune is appropriately wry and saucy, her minor key approach to "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" deep and reflective, with a penetratingly bluesy bass solo. Llew Matthews is Korb's spare, harmonically resourceful pianist, Steve Barnes her … [Read more...]
CD
Lee Wiley, West Of The Moon (Mosaic). One of the most tasteful, distinctive and emotionally profound singers of the 1930s and '40s, Wiley was less active in the '50s. By the time she died in 1975, she was all but forgotten by the public. Her admirers never forgot her, though. Fortunately, one of them is Mosaic's Michael Cuscuna, who saw to the reissue of this 1956 masterpiece. Wiley's collaboration with arranger Ralph Burns came fairly late in her career, but it's one of her best albums. There … [Read more...]
DVD
Rufus Reid, Live In Vienna (MVD Visual). With Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer and fellow American John Hollenbeck on drums, Reid steps into the role of leader in this concert at the Vienna club Porgy And Bess. One of the most experienced and dependable sidemen in jazz, Reid demonstrates the musical wisdom and taste he has accumulated in decades with Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis and Freddie Hubbard, among others. Pauer, one of Europe's best jazz musicians, is likely to … [Read more...]
The Berger Guidelines
David Berger, leader of the Sultans of Swing, is an esteemed arranger who might be called a Duke Ellington specialist except that he is expert in all areas of big band jazz. He created The Harlem Nutcracker, incorporating new arrangements of Tchaikovsky pieces that Ellington and Billy Strayhorn didn't get around to in their Nutcracker suite. For the Essentially Ellington project of Jazz At Lincoln Center, Berger wrote a set of guidelines for the playing of Ellington's music. They cover the … [Read more...]
Correspondence: Nica And Monk
Rifftides reader Jim Sofra writes: Excellent topic, enjoyed it immensely! We were recently listening to 'Nicas Dream' and Monk and the stories started coming out about how Nica was devoted to the musicians in her life. Heres a pic of her with Theolonius Monk, one of my favorite pix of him as well. … [Read more...]
Holiday
During the next week or so of travel, family activities and general holiday merriment, the Rifftides staff will post as often as possible, but you may note a diminution of blogtivity. Rifftiders and Rifftidings will be on our minds, and we hope to hear from you by way of the Comments function at the end of each item or the e-mail address in the right-hand column. All the best to each of you for the holidays. … [Read more...]
Compatible Quotes
Count Basie was college, but Duke Ellington was graduate school. --Clark Terry At least one day out of the year all musicans should just put their instruments down, and give thanks to Duke Ellington.--Miles Davis Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.--Duke Ellington … [Read more...]
The Bebop Bentley
The Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter was known for her friendship with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and other leading musicians of the bop and post-bop periods. She was born a Rothschild -- as Jean Bach puts it, a vraie Rothschild -- of the English branch of the lavishly moneyed international banking family. She married into minor royalty, was an ambulance driver in the Free French resistance during World War Two, lived in Mexico for a time and popped up in New York in 1951. Her interest … [Read more...]
Correspondence: Sancton on Davern
Tom Sancton writes from Paris about the death of Kenny Davern: Beautiful piece. I am very saddened by Kenny's death. I met up with him this summer at a JVC concert called "Clarinet Marmalade." Hadn't seen him in a couple of years, but it was a warm, good-humored reunion. I gave him a signed copy of my book, which he appreciated. He played beautifully, and was gracious enough to praise my rendition of "Burgundy Street Blues" with George Wein on piano. It was a memorable occasion and now it's the … [Read more...]
Sound Check
One of the hippest and most eclectic programs dealing with music and other cultural matters is Sound Check on WNYC-FM, New York. Monday, December 18, at 2:15 p.m. EDT I will be with Sound Check's host John Schaefer to discuss the best jazz recordings of 2006. To join us in the New York metropolitan area, go to 93.9 on your radio. Elsewhere, listen on WNYC's streaming internet audio. As we discussed procedure for the broadcast, I told Allison Lichter of the Sound Check staff that my list of … [Read more...]
Storm
The ferocious storm that disabled much of Seattle and other parts of western Washington state last night roared across the Cascades and into our valley, only slightly diminished. It was so powerful that the house shook when the first blast hit. The windows howled for hours as the wind tried to pry them out of their frames. The awning over the doors to the deck flapped like the mainmast of a schooner in a high gale. I expected to find it a tangle of canvas and metal in the next block this … [Read more...]
Ave Kenny Davern
Like virtually everyone who knew him or his music, I was shocked by Kenny Davern's death on Tuesday. A heart attack--sudden and massive--took him at the age of seventy-one. The New York Times obituary by Dennis Hevesi offered the perfect description of Davern: "a radically traditional jazz clarinetist and soprano saxophonist." I listened to and enjoyed Davern for years, but met him only once, introduced in passing by pianist Dick Wellstood, the clarinetist's alter-ego in musical taste and … [Read more...]