Archives for 2010

Over on JazzWax, Marc Myers has performed a public service by posting a fascinating account of the life of the gifted alto saxophonist Joe Maini (1930-1964). The piece addresses not only Maini's musicianship but also the inaccuracy of lingering reports about how he died. Marc enlists Maini's … [Read more...]

Two more pieces have emerged from the Dutch YouTube contributor who is posting segments of a remarkable Dave Brubeck concert in Rotterdam in 1972. The core unit was the Brubeck trio with bassist Jack Six and drummer Alan Dawson. Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan were the guest saxophonists on the … [Read more...]

Rifftides began life on June 15, 2005 with this item: Launching Rifftides Today is the first day of this new web log about jazz and, as its subtitle proclaims, other matters. At the top of the center column you will find a sort of manifesto, below that information about the proprietor. Farther down … [Read more...]

At the Jazz Journalists Association awards ceremony in New York today, James Moody was honored for his lifetime achievement in jazz. Vijay Iyer was named musician of the year. Joe Lovano won in three categories; record of the year, small ensemble of the year and tenor saxophonist of the year. Maria … [Read more...]

To my surprise, on the rare occasions when I divert from the main topic and post illustrated accounts of cycling excursions, Rifftides readers ask for more. Okay. This morning my Italian friend Vigorelli Bianchi took me 35 miles through farmland, orchard country and high desert. It is difficult with … [Read more...]

The latest Doug's Picks appear in the center column. They are: • CDs by two fiery alto saxophonists and a satisfying singer • A concert DVD by the man who first poured jazz into a tenor sax • A book that considers the shallowness of so much of the news we watch, hear and read—and what … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff is feverishly preparing a new batch of Doug's Picks. (Well, all right, langorously preparing.) In the meantime, part three of that 1972 Brubeck concert in Rotterdam has appeared. If you have missed the previous installments, it's the Brubeck Trio with Jack Six, bass, and Alan … [Read more...]

The YouTube contributor who posted the Dave Brubeck-Paul Desmond-Gerry Mulligan "All The Things You Are" video we brought you last month promised that there would be more. He is as good as his word. The piece that Brubeck announces seems likely to be from his 1972 oratorio Truth Is Fallen, or in … [Read more...]

Manfred Eicher's ECM label, still celebrating the 40th anniversary it observed late last year, has reissued some of its landmark recordings. Many of them are on CD for the first time. Over the decades, ECM has achieved nearly infallible sound reproduction of a broad and eclectic range of musicians … [Read more...]

Steve Wilson, alto saxophone, and Lewis Nash, drums, playing Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania … [Read more...]

With his permission, I occasionally steal from Bill Crow's "Band Room" column of anecdotes in the American Federation of Musicians Union Local 802 newspaper Allegro. The latest theft is below. First, a preamble for those who have been living in a box for several decades: Maynard Ferguson (1928-2006) … [Read more...]

Bill Mays, on tour in Japan, sent a link to a Japanese web log called... Rifftide:後藤 誠のJAZZ and other matters.. What a surprise. The blog seems to be operated by someone identified as Makotogotoh. If you go there—and if you know Japanese—you can read a review of a Mays performance … [Read more...]

When Roger Kellaway isn't performing in a club or concert, or practicing and composing at home, chances are he's out collecting honors. Recently, he picked up two in the city where he grew up, Boston. For one event, he and his friend Quincy Jones dressed in black gowns and medieval hats to receive … [Read more...]

For those still thinking about Paul Desmond, Iola Brubeck sent a lovely comment with a poem. To read it, click here. … [Read more...]