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Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Odds And Ends

February 18, 2012 by Doug Ramsey

Correspondence

Rifftides reader George McCord writes:

..I was wondering..I read that Brubeck put in a contract that whilst Desmond was playing with the group he could not record with another piano player…I find that hard to believe..

Brubeck and Desmond had no written contract. They had a handshake agreement throughout the life of the quartet. As a practical matter, they concluded that if Desmond recorded with another pianist, it would confuse matters. After the quartet disbanded, Desmond recorded with other pianists, including Herbie Hancock, Bob James, Roland Hanna and Kenny Barron.

 

Sympathetic Reaction

This is one of the anecdotes in the current edition of Bill Crow’s The Band Room column in Allegro, the New York American Federation of Musicians Local 802 newspaper.

Tim Wendt used to sub on Bill Holman’s band in Los Angeles. Bill rehearsed at the Local 47 union hall every Thursday. At one rehearsal, jut before counting off the first tune, Bill announced that the band would be taking a few weeks off. “I was at my doctor yesterday for an exam, and I need to get a pacemaker installed because, apparently my heart occasionally skips a beat.”

Pete Christlieb quickly said, “Gee, that’s too bad. Well, guys, let’s play. Ready? Here we go…One, two, FOUR!”

Tim says they couldn’t play for the next ten minutes.

This month, Bill includes a remembrance of his friend Bob Brookmeyer. To read the entire column, go here, click on “Allegro,” and scroll down.

 

Brookmeyer Service

We have had inquiries about memorial services for Brookmeyer. His friend and colleague Bill Kirchner is making arrangements and sent this announcement.

As many of you know, valve trombonist/composer/arranger Bob Brookmeyer died on December 15, 2011, four days short of his 82nd birthday.
A memorial will be held at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (E. 54th St. between 3rd and Lexington Avenues) in New York City on Wednesday, April 11, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. A reception will follow immediately afterward at the church.

That evening, Bob’s music will be played by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (for which he wrote for over 40 years) and a couple of small groups. There will also be a number of distinguished speakers.

I’m the coordinator of this event, so any inquiries can be directed to me: kirch@mindspring.com

 

Weekend Listening Tip From Jim Wilke

Thomas Marriott Quartet on Jazz Northwest, Sunday, February 19. (1 PM on 88.5 KPLU)

Seattle trumpet player and band leader Thomas Marriott has established an international reputation, toured widely, played on dozens of albums and led seven of his own. Several of his Origin CDs have landed in top ten lists and are played by radio stations across the US. His hometown appearances are always popular, too, and this Sunday at 1 PM PST on Jazz Northwest (88.5 KPLU) his quartet can be heard in a performance recorded at Tula’s in Seattle last week.

Joining Thomas Marriott on this program are Bill Anschell, piano, Jeff Johnson, bass and John Bishop on drums. They play three originals composed by Thomas as well as two standards in this performance in front of a capacity audience at Tula’s in Seattle.

Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for 88.5 KPLU. The program airs each Sunday at 1 PM and is available as a podcast from kplu.org.

 

Kolakowski’s Chopin Scherzo Is No Joke

The bright young Polish pianist Mateusz Kolakowski is as devoted to Chopin as he is to jazz. He demonstrates in this performance combining his two loves.

 

Holiday And Basie

There is little film of Count Basie and Billie Holiday together. Here they are in 1950, Basie’s sextet days.

 

Have a good weekend

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Comments

  1. brian turner says

    February 18, 2012 at 11:19 am

    Bill Crow’s “pacemaker” anecdote reminds me how much I miss hanging with jazz musicans, given that I live in an isolated spot. I’m surprised that the band was able to resume playing in such a short time.

  2. Ted O'Reilly says

    February 19, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    Thanks for the Billie / Basie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that clip before. Youtube is something, ain’t it?

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism... [Read More]

Rifftides

A winner of the Blog Of The Year award of the international Jazz Journalists Association. Rifftides is founded on Doug's conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but the blog reaches past... Read More...

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Doug’s Books

Doug's most recent book is a novel, Poodie James. Previously, he published Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. He contributed to The Oxford Companion To Jazz and co-edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? He is at work on another novel in which, as in Poodie James, music is incidental.

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Doug’s Picks

Monday Book Recommendation: Lilian Terry’s Jazz Friends

Lilian Terry, Dizzy Duke Brother Ray And Friends (Illinois) Lilian Terry’s book is full of anecdotes about her friendships with the musicians mentioned in the title—and dozens of others. Enjoying modest renown in Europe for her singing, Ms. Terry has also been involved in radio and television broadcasting and is a cofounder of the European […]

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Monday Recommendation: Oscar Peterson Plays 10 Composers

Oscar Peterson Plays (Verve) In this five-CD reissue, the formidable pianist plays pieces by ten composers who dominated American popular music for decades. Peterson had bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Barney Kessel, succeeded by Herb Ellis. It’s the trio that made Peterson famous with Jazz At The Philharmonic and–by way of the 10 albums reproduced […]

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Monday Recommendation: DIVA At 25

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra 25th Anniversary Project (ArtistShare) It has been a quarter of a century since Buddy Rich’s manager and relief drummer Stanley Kay found himself conducting a band whose drummer was young Sherrie Maricle. Intrigued by her playing, Kay set out to find whether there were other women jazz musicians of comparable talent. […]

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Monday Recommendation, Keith Jarrett Trio: After The Fall

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, After The Fall (ECM) In 1998 Keith Jarrett was emerging from a siege of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that had sidelined him for two years. As he felt better, he was uncertain how completely his piano skill and endurance had returned. He decided to test himself. He gathered his longtime […]

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Monday Recommendation: Gerard Kubik, Jazz Transatlantic

Gerhard Kubik, Jazz Transatlantic, Vol. I and Vol. II (University Press of Mississippi) The first volume of Kubik’s work is subtitled, “The African Undercurrent in Twentieth–Century Jazz Culture;” the second, “Jazz Derivatives and Developments in Twentieth-Century Africa.” The descriptions indicate the depth and scope of the Austrian ethnomusicologist’s research, which has taken him to Africa […]

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Monday Recommendation: Magris In Miami

Roberto Magris Sextet Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery (J Mood) Widely experienced and recorded in Europe, pianist Magris demonstrates in this club date that he knows how to reach an American audience steeped in Latin and Caribbean music. The front line has trumpeter Brian Lynch at his fieriest, and the imaginative young […]

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More Doug's Picks

Blogroll

All About Jazz
JerryJazzMusician
Carol Sloane: SloaneView
Jazz Beyond Jazz: Howard Mandel
The Gig: Nate Chinen
Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong
Don Heckman: The International Review Of Music
Ted Panken: Today is The Question
George Colligan: jazztruth
Brilliant Corners
Jazz Music Blog: Tom Reney
Brubeck Institute
Darcy James Argue
Jazz Profiles: Steve Cerra
Notes On Jazz: Ralph Miriello
Bob Porter: Jazz Etc.
be.jazz
Marc Myers: Jazz Wax
Night Lights
Jason Crane:The Jazz Session
JazzCorner
I Witness
ArtistShare
Jazzportraits
John Robert Brown
Night After Night
Do The Math/The Bad Plus
Prague Jazz
Russian Jazz
Jazz Quotes
Jazz History Online
Lubricity

Personal Jazz Sites
Chris Albertson: Stomp Off
Armin Buettner: Crownpropeller’s Blog
Cyber Jazz Today, John Birchard
Dick Carr’s Big Bands, Ballads & Blues
Donald Clarke’s Music Box
Noal Cohen’s Jazz History
Bill Crow
Easy Does It: Fernando Ortiz de Urbana
Bill Evans Web Pages
Dave Frishberg
Ronan Guilfoyle: Mostly Music
Bill Kirchner
Mike Longo
Jan Lundgren (Friends of)
Willard Jenkins/The Independent Ear
Ken Joslin: Jazz Paintings
Bruno Leicht
Earl MacDonald
Books and CDs: Bill Reed
Marvin Stamm

Tarik Townsend: It’s A Raggy Waltz
Steve Wallace: Jazz, Baseball, Life and Other Ephemera
Jim Wilke’s Jazz Northwest
Jessica Williams

Other Culture Blogs
Terry Teachout
DevraDoWrite
Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
On An Overgrown Path

Journalism
PressThink: Jay Rosen
Second Draft, Tim Porter
Poynter Online

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