Archives for 2008

Someone known to me only by the e-mail handle "Bloorondo" pointed out links to a pair of Dave Brubeck video performances new to me and, perhaps, to you. The first, "All The Things You Are," was at a concert in Berlin in 1972 when Gerry Mulligan was the saxophonist in the Brubeck Quartet and Paul … [Read more...]

Welcome to the new, improved, more functional Rifftides. Artsjournal.com commander-in-chief Doug McLennan and his team spiffed us up as the pioneer site (aka guinea pig) in reformatting all of the artsjournal.com blogs. The Rifftides staff thanks them for a dazzling makeover. There is a change in … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader George Finch sent this message in reaction to a ten-year-old article in The Atlantic. There has been so little essential change in jazz since 1997 that The Atlantic piece might have been written last week. It consists mainly of a conversation among authors Tom Piazza, the late … [Read more...]

A frisky spirit makes my trombone sing.--Chris Barber  Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.--Richard Strauss   … [Read more...]

Julian Priester is a musician of uncommon breadth as a composer, leader teacher and--most notably--a highly individual and subtle trombone soloist . Priester is quiet and self-effacing, but he could justifiably boast about having satisfied such contrasting leaders as Duke Ellington and Sun Ra, Cal … [Read more...]

Moscow, Idaho The program bloat that kept some Friday concertgoers in their seats until early Saturday dissipated by Saturday night. The final Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival concert was trim and full of excitement provided by two big bands. The ad hoc performance hall in a field house the size of a … [Read more...]

Snooky Young, whose one solo at the Lionel Hampton Festival was a highlight of the entire week, has been exciting people with his trumpet playing since he was a teenaged member of the Wilberforce Collegians. During the swing era, when it was not unusual for sidemen to become famous, he was one of … [Read more...]

Another independent book store is dying of competition from the internet and chain stores and from the rising cost of big city real estate. This time, the victim is one of the world's great book stores. At the end of April, Dutton's, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, will be no more. That … [Read more...]

Your itinerant correspondent is back from the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, catching his breath, attacking stacks of mail and, generally, taking care of business. We'll have a final installment about the festival in the next posting, probably tomorrow. In the meantime, a diversion. A serious … [Read more...]

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer. -- Richard Strauss I don't conside myself a musician who has achieved perfection and can't develop any further. But I compose my pieces with a formula that I created myself. -- Thelonious Monk … [Read more...]

Artistic director John Clayton has packed the main concerts of the Lionel Hampton festival with so much talent that when the evenings end, the posted 10:30 p.m. closing time is a distant memory. Friday's concert theme was "Masters and Mentors." It wrapped up at 12:45 a.m after an energetic, often … [Read more...]

Playing is my way of thinking, talking, communicating. - Lionel Hampton Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind. - Lionel Hampton … [Read more...]

Tuesday evening's opening event of the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival was in the University of Idaho Auditorium, a hall intriguing for its neo-Gothic architecture and superb acoustics. Called Hamp's Gala, the concert presented students of the Lionel Hampton School of Music. The first … [Read more...]

There is plenty of snow on the ground, but it's melting, skies are blue and spring is on the way in Moscow, Idaho as the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival moves into its second day. Dozens of professionals and more than 10,000 student musicians overflow the town and the University of Idaho campus for … [Read more...]

Moscow is full of jazz this week. Moscow, Idaho, that is, host of the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival. They're not fooling about the international part. This afternoon the little Nuart Theater on Main Street was full of music from this town's namesake. A quartet of Russians mostly in … [Read more...]

Jessica Williams sent a link to a video clip of Garner, one of her piano heroes, with his trio in 1966. The subject line of her message was, "You'll Love This." The message was, "Is this cool or what?" It's cool. Go here to see and hear it. … [Read more...]

This week, I'll be reporting from the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho and the Portland Jazz Festival in Oregon. It will be the first Hampton festival completely under the direction of its new major domo, John Clayton. Because the events overlap, I'll be getting to Portland for only the … [Read more...]