Archives for April 2007

Bobby Broom, Song And Dance (Origin). Accompanied by bass and drums, the Sonny Rollins and Dr. John guitarist plays a relaxed program of his compositions and others by Schwartz & Dietz, The Beatles, Charlie Chaplin and Jimmy Webb. A highlight: Broom's harmonic adventuring in an extended cadenza in … [Read more...]

In an attempt to keep my head above the rising tide of incoming CDs, in the next few posts I will offer impressions of a few recent arrivals. Not all recent arrivals are new. Graham Collier's Deep Dark Blue Centre (disconforme) has been around for forty years, but it is as fresh as last week. A … [Read more...]

The May issue of Jazz Times has a Before & After listening test to which the pianist Jessica Williams subjected herself at my request. She was forthright, smart and funny in her comments on ten recordings. This is some of what she said about Fats Waller's "Smashing Thirds," recorded in 1929. It's … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff offers a belated welcome to Larry Blumenfeld, a new artsjournal.com blogger who recently launched Listen Good: Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and other sounds. Blumenfeld, a New Yorker, has established a three-months residency in New Orleans. He is covering efforts of the jazz … [Read more...]

It was not my intention today to serve as a referral service to other peoples' work, but the two blogs mentioned in the above item deserved referral. The next recommendation demands it. Gene Weingarten wrote the story for last Sunday's Washington Post. It is about the classical violinist Joshua … [Read more...]

Thanks to Rifftides reader Jon Foley for alerting us, in the wake of Tony Scott's death, to what is evidently the colorful clarinetist's final recording. Information about Scott's CD/DVD is at this web site. Scroll down and if you wait for a video sample to load--slowly--you will be able to view a … [Read more...]

Porno spammers continue to invade the Rifftides comments sector. You don't don't see what they send. Nor will you. The staff is redoubling efforts to combat the flood and taking additional steps to segregate the slime from your comments. There is evidence that some legitimate comments have been … [Read more...]

I was curious about the tunes in guitarist John Stowell's CD Swan Tones, Volume 1. so I asked him about those that he based on the harmonic structures of standard songs. Here is his reply: "Wiil We Be One?" is based on "You and The Night and the Music" (second line of the lyric) "Hot Flash" is an … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Hans Christian Dörrscheidt writes from Germany: Having listened to Barnet's various bands from the 30s-60s a lot recently, I'd agree with Cannonball's description. While Barnet probably won't be counted among the great innovators of jazz saxophone playing, he certainly was a very … [Read more...]

With the blazingly honest message heading, "Terrible Pun," Rifftides reader Don Frese writes from the University of Maryland: As part of my last duties as a librarian before retirement, I am wading through Garrison & Morton's Medical Bibliography to identify which historically important books we … [Read more...]

Charlie Barnet was one of the first guys I thought was unique. I can tell you step-wise how the alto players got to me. The first one I knew played alto was Jimmy Dorsey. Then Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter and Willie Smith. Then when I first heard Charlie Paker I heard something different, really … [Read more...]

Tony Scott's death at eighty-five in Rome on March 28 set off a flurry of remembering by people who may not have thought about him for years. A clarinetist with a large sense of daring, a massive sound and nearly supernatural upper range, Scott was an important player in the New York bebop milieu of … [Read more...]

My internet service provider, Charter Communications (remember that name) is providing internet service hit or miss today. Mostly miss. When it gets on an even keel, Rifftides will resume posting. Mostly hit. Thank you for your patience. … [Read more...]

The Spoleto Festival USA chamber group is on tour in the Pacific Northwest under the direction of the festival's founding director, the venerable and irrepressible Charles Wadsworth. Friday night in the Spoletinians' (new word) concert at The Seasons, Cellist Andres Diaz and violinist Chee-Yun … [Read more...]

There seems to be concern among its competitors in internet technology that YouTube will rule the world. I suppose that no one is in favor of universal domination--except, possibly, YouTube--but when they come up with clips like this one from the 1983 Aurex Jazz Festival in Japan, they deserve … [Read more...]

allaboutjazz.com is out with its annual April 1st collection of reviews covering previously undiscovered jazz albums. It contains several surprising disclosures, including this one from Ken Dryden's review of Paul Desmond's Autumn Leaves: The Lost Vocal Session. It was recorded during the making of … [Read more...]