Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Archives for 2008

Herb Geller At 80

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Herb Geller is eighty years old today. The alto saxophonist was the performing guest of honor tonight in a tribute concert by the NDR (North German Radio) Big Band. From 1965 to 1993, Geller was a star soloist of the NDR, one of the best large jazz aggregations in the world. The concert was in the … [Read more...]

Studs Terkel, Giant

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There is little or no mention of it in his obituaries, but Studs Terkel's first book was about jazz. The oral historian, broadcaster and master interviewer died yesterday in Chicago at ninety-six. Terkel won the Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling 1985 book The Good War: An Oral History Of World War … [Read more...]

Compatible Quotes: Halloween

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'Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world. -- William Shakespeare   One need not be a chamber to be haunted;One need not be a house;The brain has corridors surpassingMaterial place.   -- Emily … [Read more...]

Generations Of Tough Guys

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Here's a paragraph from the chapter titled "A Common Language" in my book Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers: Like every art form, jazz has a fund of devices unique to it and universally employed by those who play it. Among the resources of the jazz tradition available to … [Read more...]

Correspondence: A Grammy Plea

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Not all of the campaigning this month is political. It is not unusual at this time of year to receive from recording musicians suggestions that they be nominated for awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. As part of his quest to win a Grammy nomination, the British film … [Read more...]

New Doug’s Picks

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The new Picks in the center column concern three pianists, two alto saxophonists, one photographer and a rare Rifftides classical recommendation. … [Read more...]

CD: Roger Kellaway

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 Roger Kellaway, Live at the Jazz Standard (IPO). For the pianist's stand at the New York club, he continues his drumerless ways of recent years but, as usual, has plenty of rhythm. He is abetted by guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Jay Leonhart. Vibraharpist Stefon Harris is also aboard, … [Read more...]

CD: Grace Kelly, Lee Konitz

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Grace Kelly, Lee Konitz, GracefulLee (Pazz). Alto saxophonists, one fifteen, the other eighty, on the same wavelength, enjoying one another's company. As I wrote near the time this was being recorded, Ms.Kelly is a phenomenon -- not a precociously talented child, but a complete improvising musician. … [Read more...]

CD: András Schiff

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András Schiff, Ludwig van Beethoven: The Piano Sonatas, Vol. VII and Vol. VIII (ECM). With" these CDs, the pianist completes his recording of the cycle of thirty-two Beethoven onatas written from 1795 to 1822. How Schiff's approach to the sonatas compares with the " Beethoven visions of Arthur … [Read more...]

DVD: Bill Evans

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Bill Evans, Live '64-'75 (Jazz Icons). We see and hear the most influential jazz pianist after Bud Powell with four versions of his trio in concerts or television appearances in Scandinavia and France. In a slightly disjointed encounter, Lee Konitz is the guest on one tune. Otherwise, Evans is deep … [Read more...]

Book: William Claxton

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William Claxton, Photographic Memory (Powerhouse). This generous volume has the great" photographer's pictures of a few jazz people, including shots of Chet Baker that helped make both of them famous. But" here we have full-range Claxton; portraits of personalities as varied in time and occupation … [Read more...]

Levinson On Harry James

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Although still in his late teens, James was already six-foot-one and weighed 150 pounds. He had a thin waist, no hips, and long skinny legs. To go along with his slinky frame, he had a large, oval-shaped head, a long nose and prominent ears, dark wavy hair, and a pencil-thin moustache. Perhaps his … [Read more...]

Compatible Quotes: Harry James

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This very thin guy with swept back hair...climbed on the stage. He'd sung only eight bars of "Night and Day" when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rising.--on first hearing the unknown young singer Frank Sinatra I was the only member in the band to be silly enough to put some of those … [Read more...]

Oops

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I wrote that I was looking forward to again hearing Tierney Sutton sing "What'll I Do?" when her next CD comes out. Rifftides reader Ted Lowry, ever alert, points out that I don't have to wait. The song is on her Dancing In The Dark album. I regret the error. Thanks, Ted. … [Read more...]

Peter Levinson, 1934-2008

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Peter Levinson, the publicist with a parallel career as a biographer of music and show business figures, died yesterday in a fall in his house in Malibu, California. He was seventy-four. Levinson had been suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, which robbed him of his voice but did not leave him … [Read more...]

The Seasons Fall Festival: Second Report

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Wednesday, October 15: Having seen Ernestine Anderson falter and appear confused in a performance a few years ago, I was concerned about this festival appearance. She was now a couple of weeks short of her eightieth birthday. She had just been through a crisis in which she came close to being … [Read more...]

The Seasons Fall Festival: First Report

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The Seasons Fall Festival ended on Saturday night -- nine days of concerts interspersed with music education for young people. Visiting world-class artists conducted clinics and workshops for more than 1,200 school children from grade school through college. Subtitled "Side-by-Side," the festival … [Read more...]