Archives for 2007

There is a joke from a category of jazz humor labeled the chick singer file. I hasten to add that there are plenty of non-chick singers to whom the sentiment of the story applies. A woman asks to sit in with a band. The leader suggests "My Funny Valentine." She agrees, but confesses that she's a bit … [Read more...]

It's amazing; YouTube can cosponsor presidential debates and still find time to put new music on the internet. In the past few days, up popped two clips of vibraharpist Charlie Shoemake playing and his wife Sandi singing with the Bill Holman Orchestra. Charlie Shoemake Bill … [Read more...]

No, that is not the name of an obscure Mississippi Delta blues man. It's the title of my forthcoming novel, which has nothing to do with the Delta or the blues, except, perhaps, the kind we all have. A few Rifftides readers have expressed interest. On its web site, the publisher provides an excerpt … [Read more...]

In the right-hand column under Doug's Picks, you will find new recommendations for your aural, visual and mental pleasure. Please use them responsibly. … [Read more...]

When I arrived home after a post-concert hang late Saturday night, I found this message from a musician friend: Has there ever been a better concert at the Seasons than the Ingrid Jensen one this evening? No. I have attended most of the jazz and classical events at The Seasons in its nearly two … [Read more...]

For two years, the Doug's Books section of the right-hand column has ended with this forecast: His next book is a novel that has almost nothing to do with music. That is about to change. The target date for publication is next month. Am I relieved, breathing easier? Yes. Am I excited? You bet. … [Read more...]

Singular They By way of suggesting that I was misguided when I railed against the use of "they" with singular antecedents, Rifftides reader David Seidman directed me to a web log called Language Log. Language Log summons up the Bible and Shakespeare to make the case that "everyone" and "themselves" … [Read more...]

Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae. --Kurt Vonnegut Jr One should not be too severe on English novels; they are the only relaxation of the intellectually unemployed. --Oscar … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Marc Myers writes: Among the most underrated and barely celebrated pianists from the 1950s has to be Lorraine Geller, the late wife of alto saxophonist Herb Geller, who today lives in Germany. Stylistically, Lorraine was a funky bop cross between Bud Powell and Horace Silver. She … [Read more...]

In the steady dumbing-down of the English language, there is little dumber than the convoluting fandango that began about twenty years ago to achieve political correctness by avoiding gender. Today's Wall Street Journal story about efforts to protect the pre-publication sanctity of the new Harry … [Read more...]

He has been gone for fifteen years, but interest in the American Indian tenor saxophonist Jim Pepper seems to be building. Pepper's music, full of vigor and allusions to his cultural background, has received attention akin to cultism in parts of Europe and seems headed toward at least a modest … [Read more...]

The artsjournal.com family of blogs becomes richer by one today. Howard Mandel (accent on the first syllable) debuts his Jazz Beyond Jazz with a manifesto that begins: What if there's more to jazz than you suppose? What if jazz demolishes suppositions and breaks all bounds? What if jazz - and the … [Read more...]

John Coltrane Not long after John Coltrane died forty years ago this week, Cannonball Adderley was the guest on Jazz Review, a radio program I did in New Orleans. He and Coltrane had forged a bond in the late 1950s as members of the Miles Davis Sextet. I wrote about their relationsip in a profile of … [Read more...]

From San Francisco comes word that Earl Watkins died early this month at the age of eighty-seven. Elegant, softspoken and full of knowledge, Watkins was a key figure in Bay Area jazz as a drummer and a historian of the music. He played with bands as varied as Bob Scobey's traditional revival outfit … [Read more...]