Archives for May 2008

Chet Baker's life of beauty and pain ended twenty years ago tonight on an Amsterdam sidewalk. He may have killed himself. That is unlikely, in my opinion. He may have fallen from his hotel window. He may have been thrown or pushed. Either way, as hard as Baker was on nearly everyone else in his … [Read more...]

If I had the speed and fluidity of, say, Terry Teachout, I might have finished a spate of non-Rifftides writing assignments sooner--and a book or two on the side. As it is, there's a good chance that I'll return to blogging this very week.   Learn to write well, or not to write at all.--John … [Read more...]

Nine years ago, the clarinetist, improvisational whistler and musical educator Brad Terry hosted in the United States three young musicians he had worked with in Poland. I mean young. Mateusz Kolakowski, the pianist, was thirteen. In this picture from that period, we see him with Terry. Bassist … [Read more...]

One of the pleasures of my trips to New York has been to drop in to the Waldorf-Astoria during the cocktail hour to hear Daryl Sherman. She has perfect taste in songs, seems to know every good one ever written, plays the piano with a repertoire of satisfying and often surprising chord changes, and … [Read more...]

While the staff at Rifftides world headquarters labors over outside writing obligations, Washington, DC correspondent John Birchard fills the gap with his impressions of a concert by a major pianist and his new trio. KENNY BARRON TRIO AT THE KENNEDY CENTER May 3, 2008 Review by John Birchard Any … [Read more...]

Mrs. Rifftides and I spent her birthday far from the madding crowd--and from blogging. We arrived at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat just after a hundred or so conferees had checked out. The sixty-seven enchanted acres on Icicle Creek in the foothills of the Cascades were almost exclusively ours … [Read more...]

Silence is a source of great strength.--Lao Tzu One of the greatest sounds of them all - and to me it is a sound - is utter, complete silence.--Andre Kostelanetz Choose silence of all virtues, for by it you hear other men's imperfections, and conceal your own. --George Bernard Shaw … [Read more...]