Archives for March 2009

The SF Jazz Collective rolls into town next week to play at the world class nonprofit performance hall we have here in an acoustically blessed former church. The local newspaper asked me to write an advancer. YAKIMA, Wash. -- For a few weeks each year, seven of the busiest musicians in jazz suspend … [Read more...]

The recession seems to be doing little to stem the flood of CDs. This posting and others to follow constitute one man's attempt to deal with the rising tide. The quick hits below are not full-fledged reviews, far from it. They are acknowledgements of a few releases worth investigating. Many of them, … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Jim Eigo followed up on yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece about Denny Zeitlin by sending this photograph. He took it last night at Zeitlin's gig at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York. From left to right, Buster Williams, Zeitlin, drummer Matt Wilson, fully involved." Photo" "© … [Read more...]

In today's Wall Street Journal, I write about Denny Zeitlin. The piece is pegged to the simultaneous releases of his new trio CD on the Sunnyside label and a Mosaic box set with nearly all of Zeitlin's Columbia trio recordings. The article begins: In October 1963, a 25-year-old Johns Hopkins medical … [Read more...]

Music was probably born of the natural rhythms of life. So it shouldn't come as a surprise when people who dedicate themselves to life science release their creative energy in music. - Karen Schmidt in the journal Yale Medicine, 1998 ...music is my heritage, I cannot help it - Albert Schweitzer I … [Read more...]

Regarding Lou Levy's Lunarcy CD reviewed on March 5 (scroll down), a Rifftides reader who identifies himself as Fergus wrote: You might ask Universal why Lunarcy isn't available on iTunes in the US as it is elsewhere. The Rifftides staff passed that suggestion on to Universal publicist Regina … [Read more...]

Sam Stephenson of the Jazz Loft Project at Duke University shepherded the Thelonious Monk Town Hall 50th anniversary concerts at the end of February. See this post for a link to a review of the events. Mr. Stephenson sent a few post-concert anecdotes for our amusement. The Rifftides staff found them … [Read more...]

Dena De Rose and Marvin Stamm, The Nearness Of Two (Teatro Della Muse). On the heels of De Rose's splendid new trio CD comes the stealth release of the pianist and singer's impromptu partnership with Stamm. She and the trumpeter found themselves in the ancient town of Ancona on Italy's Adriatic … [Read more...]

Trying to keep up with new releases, I often get sidetracked by old favorites. It happens that my recent listening coincides with the birthday of two of the listenees. Lou Levy, Lunarcy (Verve). Levy would have been 81 today. He died in January of 2001. From his post-World War Two beginnings with … [Read more...]

If you have wondered how those concerts turned out that celebrated the 50th anniversary of Thelonious Monk's Town Hall concert, Will Friedwald reported on them for The Wall Street Journal. As we mentioned last week in this Rifftides post, the bands were led by Charles Tolliver and Jason Moran. … [Read more...]

Don't play what's there. Play what's not there.--Miles Davis Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.--Frederic Chopin Rests always … [Read more...]

Fifty years ago today, the Miles Davis Sextet began recording for Columbia Records the music that ultimately made up the album called Kind Of Blue. To observe the occasion, Jan Stevens of The Bill Evans Web Pages commissioned an essay about that imperishable recording and its most recent CD reissue. … [Read more...]