Bob Porter, Soul Jazz: Jazz In The Black Community, 1945-1975, Xlibris
Sometimes it’s good to get back to the basics. Bob Porter’s new book guides you there. For decades, Porter has disseminated the jazz basics by way of records he has produced, liner notes he has written, and radio programs he has hosted. He is active today on WBGO, a leading jazz station. Among the many artists he has brought to public attention are Gene Ammons, Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff, Horace Silver, Harold Mabern, David “Fathead†Newman and Houston Person. An example from among the extensive list of Porter’s productions is the 1969 Person album Goodness, which included the soul hit, “Jamilah.†(You can listen to “Jamilah” here). Porter writes clearly and comprehensively, incorporating his vast knowledge of leading soul jazz musicians and personal experience with them.
The news of Robert Osborne’s passing was a bad way to start the day. We were friends from the day that our Delta Upsilon fraternity at the University of Washington assigned him to be my “big brother†and roommate. A fellow journalism major, Bob was confidant and adviser to this green freshman. Not long after his graduation, he took his love for the movies to Hollywood. For a time he pursued acting with Lucille Ball as his mentor (they are pictured together above). He became a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, was an expert on the Academy Awards and literally 
For more than half a century the German piano virtuoso Joachim Kühn has made it all but impossible to categorize his music. He, bassist Chris Jennings and drummer Eric Schaefer begin his eclectic new album with Ornette Coleman’s title composition and end with Gil Evans’ 1957 masterpiece “Blues For Pablo.” In the course of the program Kühn plays The Doors’ “Riders On The Storm” and “The End,†Gershwin’s “Summertime,” Kryzyszstof Komeda’s brooding
“Sleep Safe And Warm†from the score of Rosemary’s Baby and “Sleep On It†by the techno-digital-reggae-new-wave band Stand High Patrol. Kühn the composer contributes three pieces, including “Machineria,†which is not as mechanical as its title suggests. Indeed, his keyboard touch and interaction with Jennings and Schaefer give it the warmth of a slow boil. For a review of this trio in live performance, 
Monday Recommendations appear in the right column under the heading Doug’s Picks. A fairly recent artsjournal.com format change means that readers see only the first few lines of the recommendation. To see the whole thing, move your cursor to the headline of the Pick you want to read and click on it. Hope that helps. Thanks. 
Today is Lou Levy’s birthday. Until his death at 72, the great second-generation bop pianist (1928-2001) played with Boyd Raeburn, Woody Herman’s Second Herd, Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie, Flip Phillips, Dizzy Gillespie and Shorty Rogers, among dozens of other major jazz artists. He was a treasured accompanist to singers including Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O’Day and his longtime companion Pinky Winters.
Faced with stacks of albums begging to be noticed, the reviewer must make choices. Inevitably, the result is that a few albums spin in the CD player or on the turntable while others—possibly of equal value—languish. The incoming albums that pack my big mailbox several times a week belie frequent claims in the press and on the air that jazz is dying.
pieces that make his third ECM album a gripping experience. The music has subtle interaction among Taborn, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Chris Speed, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Dave King of The Bad Plus. It also has intensity and rhythmic complexity that reflect influences going back to Taborn’s initiation into jazz in Minneapolis as a pre-teenager. Those influences include free jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, whose “Jamaican Farewell†is a highlight of the album. The other eight compositions are by Taborn. From the vigorous opening track “The Shining One†to the mysterious closer, “Phantom Ratio,†the music glistens with surprise, vitality and a self-renewing sense of discovery. There is no way of knowing what the rest of 2017 will bring, but with its freshness and deep thought, Daylight Ghosts seems bound to be considered one of the best albums of the year.
In this second volume of trumpeter Carl Saunders’ compositions he again produces, does not play and gives another horn player top billing. Volume 1 featured the late flutist Sam Most. This time, trombonist Scott Whitfield is the putative leader and primary soloist. He applies his virtuosity to a dozen of Saunders’ tunes, most of them original from the ground up, a few based on the chord structures of familiar jazz compositions or the blues. Experienced listeners will have no difficultly recognizing, for instance, the inspirations for “Another Tune For Bernie†or “Big Darlin’,†though most of Saunders’ compositions demonstrate originality and harmonic ingenuity.
tightest-knit bands in jazz, in 1964 the Dave Brubeck Quartet played a series of concerts in Europe that included the Kongresshaus in Zurich. This version of the group came to be known as the Classic Brubeck Quartet with Brubeck, piano; Paul Desmond, alto saxophone; Eugene Wright, bass; and Joe Morello, drums. Beautifully recorded by Swiss Radio’s Edith Nüesch, the album includes a version of Desmond’s “Take Five†that has brilliant solos by the composer, Brubeck and—in one of his most breathtaking recorded excursions on the piece—Morello concentrating on exquisite brush work augmented by his lightning fast use of the bass drum pedal. Morello is again at the top of his game in his display piece “Shimwa,†again concentrating on brushwork. There are lengthy takes on two of Brubeck’s and Desmond’s longtime favorites dating back to quartet performances of the 1950s, “You Go To My Head†and “Pennies From Heaven.†Brubeck and Desmond execute a return to their celebrated practice of counterpoint as “Pennies From Heaven†winds down, but it is all too brief. Brubeck’s frequent claim that Desmond was one of the most lyrical of all jazz soloists is borne out in two blues, “Audrey,†which opens the album, and “Koto Song.†The concert closes with “Thank You,†Brubeck’s homage to Chopin. With sustained applause, the audience returns his thanks. This album is a welcome addition to the quartet’s extensive discography.
More than a year ago, I reported on Bruce Spiegel’s film about the life and music of Evans (1929-1980), the pianist who played a seminal role in changing jazz in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At the time, the film was showing only in screenings at selected theaters in the United States. Now, it is being made available on a website evidently developed for that purpose. To go there, see a trailer and learn how to acquire the DVD, click on the film title above.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the first recording of the music we call jazz. The Original Dixieland Jass Band went to New York and recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company on February 26, 1917. Not long into the 1920s, the preferred spelling became â€jazz.†By the end of the twenties another young New Orleanian, Louis Armstrong, moved to Chicago and the music rapidly developed sophistication as a soloist’s art. Nonetheless, and regardless of arguments over the quality of the their music, the ODJB were the first jazz performers whose efforts were preserved on wax. Cornetist Nick LRocca was the leader, with Eddie Edwards, trombone; Larry Shields, clarinet; Henry Ragas, piano; and Ton Sbarbaro, drums. Their first record released had “Livery Stable Blues” on side A and “The Original Dixieland Jass Band One Step†on Side B.
PDX Portland Jazz Festival is that it taps into the deep reservoir of talent in the Pacific Northwest. Two cases in point: the Mile 22 Octet led by pianist, composer and arranger Mike Van Liew (pictured right) and Ezra Weiss’s Monday Night Big Band.
players met the demands of the 9/8 time signature and Van Liew’s intersecting lines. The Klezmer piece and others featured notable work from Dick Titterington (pictured left), one of a cluster of first-rate trumpeters who grew up in Portland or moved here over the past few years. In the course of the
afternoon everyone on the band soloed impressively. We see Mary Sue Tobin holding an alto saxophone in the photograph to the right, but in the Art Bar concert her muscular soloing and voluminous sound were on tenor sax. The other members of the octet were Tim Jensen, alto saxophone; Tom Hill, trombone; John Butler, guitar; Mark Schneider, bass; and Jason Palmer, drums.
arranging scene.†At the Portland festival, Weiss led his Monday Night Big Band in the cozy confines of Lola’s Room, a listening space in the building that also houses Portland’s venerable Crystal Ballroom. Weiss, who teaches music at Portland State University, concentrated on conducting and left the piano playing to the talented young Dan Gaynor. The trumpet section was made up of four players who, like Titterington, choose to remain in Portland despite gifts that would keep them busy in New York or Los Angeles. Tom Barber’s solo on the opening number, whose title I didn’t hear, established that, as did Derek Sims, Conte Bennett and Charlie Porter in later solos. Tenor saxophonist Renato Caranto followed with the first of several solo spots that he filled with passion and evident satisfaction in taking chances.
in which he manages to be almost outrageously unorthodox at the same time that he’s being lyrical. To this point in the Weiss concert, I had been longing to hear the band settle into a 4/4 groove but broken time—not necessarily a bad thing—had seemed to be the rule. Then, with alto saxophonist John Nastos moving straight ahead in Weiss’s “The Promise,†the band was swinging in the foot-tapping sense, even though bassist Eric Gruber maintained an uneven line. Weiss made a medley of his arrangement of the Hebrew hymn “We Limit Not The Wrath Of God†and his own “Fanfare For a Newborn.†Following another John Gross tenor sax adventure in the medley, Weiss brought the band to an abrupt and surprising halt that made a few listeners gasp. Using his dramatic conducting style, he immediately cranked the band up again, and people laughed.
dramatic version of the folk classic “Wayfaring Stranger.†Her section of vocalese improvisation included an astonishing sequence of high notes. Weiss’s arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints†featured Nastos on soprano saxophone, then a trumpet solo in which Charlie Porter invented harmonies so unorthodox and sophisticated that the musicians around him were shaking their heads.
Bruggeman. Her huge baritone saxophone sound had anchored the band all evening. She soloed as if to relieve tension that built while she waited for her shot at self-expression. The audience reaction let her know that it was worth waiting for. As I headed for the door in order to catch the last streetcar back to my hotel, Weiss announced a piece whose title sounded like “Koom Len Getit,†I was compelled to pause and listen to trombonist John Moak deliver the final solo word. It’s always a pleasure to hear Moak. It had been a satisfying concert.
by high school pupils approach professional quality. Now that the program is becoming solidly established in Portland, Maita (pictured left) and his colleagues—all of them volunteers—are working to encourage other cities to follow suit. Such efforts have the potential to revive interest in America’s principal contribution to the world’s arts and culture.
Guitarist Larry Coryell died over the weekend in New York City. He was 73. A pioneer of jazz-rock and fusion, throughout his career Coryell was capable of delicacy and softness in guitar lines that had roots in mainstream jazz. Nonetheless, his earliest notice came as a result of his recorded work with drummer Chico Hamilton in which he generated a huge sound that verged on distortion. Coryell died in his sleep at a hotel shortly after weekend appearances at New York’s Iridium jazz club.
don’t act or sound their ages. For their concert at the Portland Jazz Festival, the Heath Brothers were billed as paying tribute to Dizzy Gillespie in the 100th anniversary year of his birth. Indeed, they played in the bebop tradition that Gillespie and Charlie Parker pioneered, but most of the pieces were Jimmy Heath compositions. He told the audience that his tune “Winter Sleeves†is based on the harmonies of the standard song “Autumn Leaves.†“That way,†he said, “I’m the one who gets the royalties.â€
Tootie continues as an incisive soloist and one of the most effective drum accompanists in jazz. He melded with bassist Michael Karn and pianist Jeb Patton to form a rhythm section that supported the elder Heath impressively and responded to Jimmy’s every solo turn. The power and story-telling aspects of Patton’s own improvisations stimulated bursts of applause, notably when he soloed in Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight†and Jimmy Heath’s jazz standard “Gingerbread Boy.â€
opened with “One By One,†a staple of the Blakey repertoire. (Jackson photo by Mark Sheldon.) In that piece and in Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation,†the group achieved enormous momentum. Long solos were the order of the evening with Harrison indulging himself in an unaccompanied coda to “Misty†that went on several bars longer than its content justified. Jackson dedicated his “Mr. Sanders†to the saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders. In his lengthy solo he incorporated passages that may have been inspired by Sanders’s free-jazz rambles. Following an incisive Corcoran bass introduction, Jackson brought out his lyrical side for “When I Fall in Love,†a mid-1950s ballad hit for Nat Cole. Toward the end of the concert’s second hour, Jimmy Heath joined Jackson and Harrison for a guest turn on Heath’s “(There’s) A Time And a Place,†a tune frequently covered by other jazz players. It was a strong ending to a concert that was stimulating and—thanks to the voluble leaders Heath and Jackson—entertaining.
given him an audience. Tall, dressed dramatically in a white suit, seated on a piano bench facing a semicircle of speakers and amplifying equipment, Ulmer gave his listeners ninety minutes of blues, semi-blues and quasi-blues.
Gil Evans. It featured extended work from alto saxophonist Steve Wilson and another round of Versace’s accordion wizardry. This orchestra of gifted soloists has empathy that puts it in a category with the camaraderie of Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, Claude Thornhill and—going back even more decades— Fletcher Henderson in the late 1920s and Duke Ellington’s 1940-41 band.
The powerhouse drummer Ralph Peterson took his trio, Triangular, into the Winningstad Theater. To their credit, his sidemen were not submerged by Peterson’s waves of energy—and to his credit, he adjusted his volume and enthusiasm to accommodate brothers Zaccai Curtis, a pianist, and his bassist brother
Luques. The Curtises have lyrical tendencies and although they have become adept at playing Peterson’s games of strength and rhythmic complexity, their best moments of the pieces I heard were quieter ones. Scheduling circumstances meant that I had to leave before the concert was over. As I tiptoed out, they were massaging a Latin groove and building excitement into it. I was sorry that I had to leave it behind.
right). That will be on Friday, February 17 at 4:30 p.m. at the Art Bar in the lobby of the Portland Art Center, which houses the Newmark and Winningstad Theatres, the festival’s primary stages for major events. Jackson shares a bill the next night at the Newmark with brothers Jimmy and Tootie Heath. Among other musicians the festival will feature are the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Branford Marsalis and Kurt Elling together, drummer Ralph Peterson featuring the Curtis Brothers, the Yellowjackets and guitarist Mike Stern, and a parade of prominent pianists including Bill Mays, Craig Taborn, Aaron Parks, Amina Claudine Myers and the Russian Andrei Kitayev—in separate gigs.
In addition, there will be appearances by many of the Pacific Northwest’s most prominent musicians. The veteran drummer Mel Brown (pictured left) will lead his big band with trumpeter Jon Faddis as a guest soloist. Pianist Ezra Weiss
will head his Monday Night Big Band. Trumpeter Dick Titterington (pictured right) and pianist Randy Porter will appear with their John Birks Society. Not to be outdone, trumpeter Thomas Barber will present his quintet in a concert billed as “Barber Does Dizzy.†To scroll through the PDX Festival’s full calendar of events, 
Going through the Rifftides archive to see what we did on Valentine’s Days back to 2005, I discovered that links to several versions of “My Funny Valentine†have been taken down for copyright reasons. So far, the 
Diplomats, politicians and business people have taken to salting their language with “going forward,†as if it means something. That useless phrase has crept out of official gobbledygook into general use, so that people work it into ordinary conversation, as if they were secretaries of state or CEOS. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred (statistic from a Rifftides staff study), the phrase adds no meaning, no understanding.
I came in not long ago from shoveling four inches of new snow off the front sidewalk and the driveway. We’re expecting up to seven inches more tonight. Naturally, I thought of the most appropriate piece of music by which to recover from the shoveling and prepare for the next onslaught. What else but Woody Herman’s 1945 recording of “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,†with one of Herman’s best and—regardless of his disclaimer below—most popular vocals. Correspondingly, the arrangement is one of Neal Hefti’s most brilliant. Quoted in the notes for the Columbia album 