Archives for January 2020

The last thing any of us at Rifftides wants is for our endeavor to become an obituary service. Life goes on, however, as does its opposite. So we continue to note the passing of musicians who have enriched listeners around the world. Recently, we lost American saxophonist, bandleader and composer Jimmy Heath (pictured left) and Brazil’s Claudio Roditi, (pictured right, below), perhaps the most influential trumpet and flugelhorn soloist to emerge from his country in the second half of the last century. Heath was 93, Roditi 73. In addition to his soloing on tenor and in later years, soprano, saxophone, Heath made a lasting mark as the composer who gave us the jazz standards “CTA” and “Gingerbread Boy,” in addition to such major works as “Afro-American Suite of Evolution” and “Sweet Jazzmobile.” After gaining fame for his compositions and playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee and Gil Evans, among others, Heath and his brothers Percy (bass) and Albert (AKA “Tootie”) combined as the Heath Brothers) in one of the most successful combos of the 1970s and ’80s.

Born in Rio de Janeiro to a father who played violin and guitar, Roditi studied in his native land and Austria before entering the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to New York City in the early 1980s and soon found work with a variety of musicians including Gillespie’s big band, Bob Mover, Charlie Rouse, Herbie Mann and Paquito D’Rivera. He was noted for his ability to meld Brazilian tradtions and quickly became sought after for his adaptability and his understanding of the compatibility of the idioms in which he specialized. Here, he plays rotary valve flugelhorn on his “Bossa pra Donato.”

Jimmy Heath and Claudio Roditi, RIP

Yelena Eckemoff, Nocturnal Animals (L&H Productions)

Russian-born pianist and composer Eckemoff, long a New York resident, collaborates with a superb rhythm section of Scandinavian musicians. They are inspired by creatures that populate the world’s forests of the night.  Eckemoff’s animals range from those we humans seldom see…cicadas, scorpions, fireflies, walkingsticks…to those familiar from daily life and folklore…wolves, bats, owls, grizzly bears, snakes. She and her collaborators are anchored by the stentorian Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and include percussionists Jon Christensen and Thomas Strønen. Her compositions tend toward the lyrical, as in this one inspired by the fox she painted for the album cover.

Come see us again tomorrow as we continue to play catchup. Interesting music has shown up at Rifftides headquarters.

Dear Readers,

 

The past four days at Rifftides world headquarters have been a blogger’s nightmare, but thanks to the brilliance of Apple’s superb technical staff and the aid of computer maven Geoff Blechschmidt, it appears that we have defeated the gremlins and the attack is over. We are back in the ballgame. If you have attempted to sign in recently, thank you for your patience. Please bear with us as we return to a normal posting routine.

Doug Ramsey

Here’s an item purloined (with his permission) from bassist Bill Crow’s column “The Band Room” in Allegro, the publication of New York Local 802 of the American Federation Of Musicians.

Zoot Sims was one of the many tenor saxophonists who took Lester Young’s style as a starting point for their own development. But Zoot also idolized Coleman Hawkins (pictured left). He once told me, “Hawk never played a wrong note in his life.” Zoot had a classic Volvo that he was very fond of. He had it completely overhauled, had it painted red, and polished up the chrome. He was showing it to Hawkins (pictured left) one day, and when Hawk turned the handle on the passenger door, the handle came off. He handed it to Zoot, who went around to the driver’s side and opened the door for Hawk, and then put the handle in the glove compartment. Because the door handle had come off in the hand of his idol, Zoot never had it repaired. The handle remained in Zoot’s glove compartment for the rest of his life.

If Bill’s story put you in a mood to listen to Zoot, you’re in luck. Here he is at the Cannes Jazz Festival in 1958 with Walter Davis, Jr., piano; Arthur Taylor, drums; and Doug Watkins, bass. They play, “I’ll Remember April.”

Franco Ambrosetti Quintet, Long Waves (Unit)

The Swiss trumpeter and flugelhornist assembles a group of contemporaries to play his compositions and a couple of cherished standard songs. Ambrosetti’s fluid improvisations, sometimes with a Miles Davis bent, are consistently impressive. So, too, is the work of the star-filled rhythm section of pianist Uri Caine, guitarist John Scofield, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Among the highlights are Ambrosetti’s “Silli’s Waltz,” named for his wife. Although one may usually think of Scofield as an earthy player, his solo on the piece discloses that he can be downright lilting and lyrical in 3/4 time. Caine gives Willard Robison’s classic “Old Folks” a delicate introduction that inspires Ambrosetti to a solo with touches that may trigger remembrances of Charlie Parker’s unforgettable recording of the piece half a century ago.

Son of the pioneering Swiss saxophonist Flavio Ambrosetti and father of one in a new generation, Gianluca, Franco Ambrosetti continues as one of his country’s finest musicians. In the company of a remarkable rhythm section, he reminds us that at its international best, jazz is the world’s music.

Chet Baker devotees may be intrigued to learn that some of the best music of his last few years has been released as a superb set of LPs. The box is titled Chet Baker: The Legendary Riverside Albums. It contains five LPs that Baker recorded in New York in the late 1950s. Among the giants of the era who accompany him are Philly Joe Jones, Bill Evans, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Sam Jones, Johnny Griffin, Zoot Sims and Kenny Drew. I was honored that producer Nick Phillips asked me to write the liner essay for the album. That piece includes a reference to a television interview I did with Baker as he was about to open at the Half Note club in Manhattan in 1974, following a long layoff. Here is an excerpt:

“Jeez,” he fretted before we began filming, “what if nobody comes?”

He needn’t have worried. People came–not only those who remembered his first brush with fame in Gerry Mulligan’s group, but also fans who had followed his playing and singing ever since through dozens of albums for a variety of record labels. There were also young listeners intrigued by the opportunity to hear in person for the first time a famous and controversial celebrity.

Recorded a decade before Baker’s murder or accidental death in Amsterdam in 1988 (the case has never been solved), this collection has some of the best playing and singing of his New York period. The box also contains one LP of outtakes and alernates.

It is sad to report that the great trumpeter Jack Sheldon has died at the age of 88. Sheldon sang with spirit, style, phrasing and good humor that paralleled his trumpet playing. This video is from his 1984 appearance at Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall in the New Orleans French Quarter. The other members of his band were Dave Frishberg, piano; John Pisano, guitar; and Dave Stone, bass. Reader Peter Levin’s comment is correct; the drummer is Frankie Capp. The tune is Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

For more about Sheldon’s multi-faceted career, see this Don Heckman article in The Los Angeles Times.

Jack Sheldon, RIP