The latest selection of Doug's Picks is posted in the center column, featuring a treasured vocal-piano collaboration, a new young trumpeter, an old free jazz band, a bassist at the helm of an exciting quartet, and a book that recaptures a special place at the end of New York's last golden age of … [Read more...]
Archives for 2010
CD: Helen Merrill-Dick Katz
The Helen Merrill-Dick Katz Sessions (Mosaic). The bewitching singer and the late master of piano harmony and touch collaborated in 1965 and 1969 on two classic Milestone LPs. Mosaic's reissue of both on one CD is a genuine event. In addition to Merrill's incomparable singing and Katz's playing, we … [Read more...]
CD: Ian Carey
Ian Carey Quntet, Contextualizin' (Kabocha). Carey's self-deprecation in his liner notes would have you believe that he's not much of a trumpet player. It depends on what you mean by playing. True, there's not a double high C anywhere on the album and no jet-speed series of gee-whiz chord … [Read more...]
CD: New York Art Quartet
New York Art Quartet, Old Stuff (Cuneiform). As brash, iconoclastic and good-natured as the day it was born, the NYAQ comes roaring out of 1965. Trombonist Roswell Rudd, alto saxophonist John Tchicai, bassist Finn von Eyben and drummer Louis Moholo affirm that if free jazz is going to jettison … [Read more...]
DVD: Martin Wind
Martin Wind New York Quartet, Live At Jazz Baltica (Jazz Baltica). Bassist Wind returned to his native land in 2008 for Germany's Jazz Baltica Festival in Schleswig-Holstein. With the addition of the astonishing multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson, the Bill Mays Trio with Wind and drummer Matt … [Read more...]
Book: Jazz Loft
Sam Stephenson, The Jazz Loft Project (Knopf). In the late 1950s and early '60s, a loft on New York's Sixth Avenue was headquarters for master photographer W. Eugene Smith and hangout for dozens of musicians including companions as various as Zoot Sims, Pee Wee Russell, Thelonious Monk and Bud … [Read more...]
Other Matters: Language Followup
If you are a fan (sic) of the kind of language misuse eloquently exposed by the poet Taylor Mali in this recent Rifftides piece, you may enjoy the following video, a commercial for accountants. Thanks to Bill McBirnie for calling that to our attention. … [Read more...]
The Portland Jazz Festival
I was unable to cover the Portland Jazz Festival this year, to my regret. For reasons of economy, the festival came in compact form; one week instead of two. Jack Berry of Oregon Music News tells me he thinks that smaller was better. Berry wrote about two of the festival artists. This is some of … [Read more...]
Correspondence: Breitenfelds
As a young adult, Paul Breitenfeld adopted the last name Desmond. Over the years, to amuse himself and confound others, he concocted several reasons for the change. He sometimes said he did it because he thought that in the event that he ever made records, the shorter name would fit better on 78 rpm … [Read more...]
Weekend Extra: Desmond Speaks
After three years of keeping his alto saxophone in the closet, in 1974 Paul Desmond finally succumbed to the exhortations of the Canterino family and agreed for the first time in a quarter of a century to play a club date as leader. The Canterino's club, the Half Note, had moved from lower Manhattan … [Read more...]
Other Matters: Language, Ya Know?
The Rifftides Department Of Language Reform (DOLR) has been neglecting its duties. Its members claim that their failure to stop the misuse of "absolutely" and "no problem" (see this archives post) discouraged them. At a staff meeting on the subject, the DOLRers moaned that they despair of succeeding … [Read more...]
Compatible Quotes: Language
The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words. -- George Eliot But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. -- George Orwell What words say does not last. The words last. Because words are always the same, and what they say is never the same. -- Antonio … [Read more...]
A Make-Good
In April of 2009, a Rifftides review of a Daryl Sherman CD failed to mention the album's lead song, "S'Mardis Gras." It also perpetuated the tray card's mis-naming of the bass player. Correcting those shortcomings is a fine excuse to again call attention to a CD that deserves more of it. Daryl … [Read more...]
A Sound Decision For Abbey Road
It seems there's a new development every day in the saga of London's Abbey Road Studios. Today, the building is off the block - if it was ever on - saved by designation as a part of history. The Los Angeles Times has the story with a splendid recent photograph of the building and the crosswalk the … [Read more...]
The Village Vanguard At 75
The Village Vanguard is observing its 75th anniversary this week. Joe Lovano and the band he calls Us Five are playing there through Sunday. I wish that I could attend. But I shouldn't be greedy; in my New York years, I was fortunate to be in the club often. I heard music there that echoes in my … [Read more...]
Abbey Road Safe?
According to Norman Lebrecht, the proprietor of artsjournal.com's Slipped Disc, financial tap dancing led to reports that Abbey Road studios was--or might be--for sale. That does not invalidate the sonic issues raised in this February 21 Rifftides post. It may relieve the anxieties of audiophiles … [Read more...]
Montmartre Redivivus
Unexpected and welcome news from a Danish web site: Denmark's once legendary jazz club Montmartre re-opens in May 2010 in its original premises in Copenhagen. During the 1960's and 70's the club served as a European home for American giants like Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Kenny Drew and … [Read more...]
Ertegun Hall of Fame Winners
Jazz At Lincoln Center has just announced the artists posthumously inducted into its Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame for 2010. They are Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Billy Strayhorn and Sarah Vaughan. Those honored are chosen by vote of a panel of experts from 17 countries. Jazz at Lincoln Center will … [Read more...]
Art Van Damme, Pete Barbutti & The Cordeen
In the right hands, the accordion can be a wonderfully evocative instrument. To name a few jazz masters of the accordion: George Shearing, Joe Mooney, Eddie Monteiro, Pete Jolly, Ernie Felice, Angelo DiPippo, Tommy Gumina, and Sivuca, whose harmonic and rhythmic use of the accordion enhanced so much … [Read more...]
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