By tradition and general agreement in the reviewing trade, it is considered unprofessional and tacky to write about a recording to which one has contributed liner notes. Therefore, I have not written about Rebecca Kilgore's and Dave Frishberg's Why Fight The Feeling?, a collection of songs by Frank … [Read more...]
Archives for 2009
David Fathead Newman, 1933-2009
Gentle, soulful David Newman is gone. He died on Monday." "Fathead" was a nickname that became a promotional tag, but those close to him knew him as David. They seemed always to say the name with affection whether they were speaking to or about him. He once told the story of his nickname." I was in … [Read more...]
John Loves Carmen
Rifftides Washington, DC, correspondent John Birchard recently renewed his enthusiasm for a great singer.He checks in with a review." CARMEN MCRAE: AN APPRECIATIONBy John BirchardAccording to Netflix, the DVD Carmen McRae: Live is valued at three stars. Don't believe it. I watched it last night" and … [Read more...]
Poodie James Announcement
The publisher of Poodie James" has good news for you, if not for my royalty statements. He has reduced the price. If you have yet to pick up a copy, be advised that the book is available here and here. From a review:" I'll cut to the chase: Poodie James is a very good book. Not only is it … [Read more...]
Compatible Quotes: American Presidents
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by thebondsman's two" hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until" every drop of blood" drawn with the lash shall be … [Read more...]
Alegria Means Joy
The Gabriel Alegria Sextet enlivened and intrigued the audience at The Seasons Saturday night. The group of five young Peruvians and a South African meld strains from American," Peruvian and African music into a sophisticated hybrid with which they are writing a new chapter in the history of Latin … [Read more...]
Guest Column: 1959, A Good Year
Rifftides reader Gary Alexander has some thoughts about what he sees as a watershed year for jazz back when popular culture had not yet been reshaped by rock and roll. Mr. Alexander broadcasts a jazz program Mondays and Fridays 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. PST, from KLOI on Lopez Island, Washington. If you … [Read more...]
Other Matters: Weather Report
Up here in the interior of the US Pacific Northwest, the floods have receded following the sudden snowmelt of a week ago. In this valley, the snow is gone except for the big piles scooped into the corners of parking lots. We are spared the drastic sub-zero temperatures of the midwest and east. What … [Read more...]
Other Places: Jazz And Civil Rights
The eve of next Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of The United States is also the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, January 19, there" will be a celebration at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C, observing both occasions. The veteran journalist Nat Hentoff … [Read more...]
New Picks
After a prolonged holiday delay, the Rifftides staff has posted new recommendations in three categories. Please see Doug's Picks in the center column. … [Read more...]
CD: Mike Holober
Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Quake (Sunnyside). Pianist-composer-arranger Holober chooses not to call his large congregation a big band. His scoring justifies the term orchestra. Balancing lushness with motion in and through the horn and rhythm sections, he evokes nature; the … [Read more...]
CD: Gene Perla, Elvin Jones
Gene Perla, Bill''s Waltz (PM). Drummer Elvin Jones should get equal billing with Perla. The two laid down basic electric piano-and-drums tracks in 1986. Following Jones' death in 2004, Perla wrote orchetrations for the pieces. With Jones digitally present, he recorded them in 2007 with the NDR … [Read more...]
CD: Brooklyn Undergrounders
Various, Brooklyn Jazz Underground, Volume 3 (BJU). If you have heard that Brooklyn is a hotbed of young jazz artists but haven't the foggiest idea what they are about, this compilation will give you a summary. Twenty-eight musicians in combinations from a duo to a sextet stretch your ears and the … [Read more...]
DVD: Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk Live in '63 & '67 (Jazz Icons). One of eight DVDs in the impressive Jazz Icons third release, this finds Kirk touring Europe with his arsenal of horns. It is fascinating to watch him manage tenor sax, manzello, stritch, clarinet, siren and nose whistle. The forthright music … [Read more...]
Book: Willa Cather
Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop (Vintage Classics). Cather is in a class with A.B. Guthrie, Jr. and Bernard DeVoto in her feeling for the expanse and expansiveness of early America. This tale of two French priests carving their church territory out of a resistant New Mexico is an … [Read more...]
The Blue Note 7: And They’re Off
In the second concert of their 50-stop national tour, the Blue Note 7 drew a full house Friday night at The Seasons Performance Hall in Yakima, Washington. From the opener, Horace Silver's "The Outlaw," to the encore, Bud Powell's "Dance of the Infidels," the all-star band dipped into the vast … [Read more...]
Monk At Town Hall–Fifty Years Later
The unforgettable 1959 Thelonious Monk Orchestra concert at Town Hall will have a 50th anniversary recreation next month at the scene of the event in New York City. Preserved on a famous Riverside album and performed by jazz repertory orchestras everywhere, Monk's" compositions in orchestrations by … [Read more...]
Correspondence: Two Young Pianists
Rifftides reader Peter Myers writes:" In your liner notes from the great Christmas present CD I received, The Art and Soul of Houston Person, you mentioned a gifted 19-year-old jazz musician who plays few standards. I wondered if you were talking about Eldar. I was looking forward to seeing him at … [Read more...]
Those Missing Pictures
Because of a digital malfunction the nature of which I am unequipped to explain, some of the pictures in the recent Rifftides archives have disappeared and been replaced by empty boxes. The artsjournal.com technical hierarchy assures me that the gremlins have been found and summarily executed, but … [Read more...]