2007 is turning out to be a bonanza year for a Charles Mingus sextet that existed for a few months forty-three years ago. All of the band's members are dead. Its music is gloriously alive. The high point so far is a remarkable two-CD set capturing a performance that might have been forgotten except … [Read more...]

Coming soon: meditations on Charles Mingus, who is proliferating posthumously this year. I had hoped to finish the piece tonight, but it is demanding more than I had intended to give it and night is rapidly heading toward morning. To borrow Dave Frishberg's line, I gotta get me some Zzzzs. Stay … [Read more...]

Al Haig and Gene DiNovi came out of their teens into the excitement of bebop as the music was discovering itself in the early 1940s. They played piano with some of the most important musicians of the era, had periods of relative obscurity, then re-emerged -- Haig briefly. DiNovi is still enjoying a … [Read more...]

Record producer, writer and all-'round musician Bill Kirchner writes: In 1995, I programmed and did the liner notes for Harry James: Verve Jazz Masters 55, a CD compilation of James' MGM recordings from 1959 to '64. These recordings are among James' best from a jazz standpoint; the CD is still … [Read more...]

In case you've forgotten or never knew, Harry James was a terrific leader who had some great bands. If that seems obvious to you, then you are a better listener than many of the critics who knocked James for what they decided was showy trumpet playing without much musical merit. There are many … [Read more...]

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world -- Albert Einstein The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can … [Read more...]

Curiosity overtook me today about Carl Payne, the San Francisco cable car bell-ringer who collaborated with the great drummer Max Roach. I found Payne by telephone and added the story of what he's been up to since he sat in with Max in 1981. To read it at the end of the original posting, go here. … [Read more...]

The passing of Herb Pomeroy on August 11 leaves jazz education in New England without one of its most skilled teachers and the music absent an improviser and bandleader of rare originality. Pomeroy was a trumpeter who grew into a major arranger, leader and inspiration to hundreds of students at the … [Read more...]

Max Roach died early this morning at the age of eighty-three. Phone calls and e-mail messages announcing his passing and commenting on his importance have been pouring in all day. Max Roach As a teenager, Roach began developing a way of drumming that grew out of the bop pioneer Kenny Clarke and … [Read more...]

It may seem that jazz gets less coverage in the general press than it deserves, but don't blame the Associated Press or the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle frequently runs substantial AP stories and pieces by its own staffers about major musicians and important developments in jazz. Bassist … [Read more...]

The Rifftides Lead Of The Week Award goes to Steve Greenlee of the Boston Globe for this entry: NEWPORT, R.I. -- News bulletin: Major theft this weekend at Fort Adams State Park during the JVC Jazz Festival. Description of subject: Elderly gentleman, white hair, thick glasses, walks and speaks … [Read more...]

In response to last week's Rifftides posting on free press issues, DevraDowrite brings up the Bush administration's relationship to press freedom and journalistic responsibility, particularly in regard to the Joseph Wilson-Valerie Plame episode. As I would have if I'd had the presence of mind to … [Read more...]

Speaking--er, writing--of Benny Carter, as we did in this Rifftides posting and others that followed, there's a lot of Carter in the air this year of his centennial. The polymath saxophonist, arranger composer, bandleader, author and broacaster (whew) Bill Kirchner joins the celebration. Here's his … [Read more...]

A year and a half ago, Rifftides reported to you about an extraordinary concert the Maria Schneider Orchestra played at Jazz Alley in Seattle. Schneider was two days away from her Los Angeles premier of a new work commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, so in Seattle she kept … [Read more...]

No, this isn't about Lester Young. It's about journalism and, ultimately, your right to know. In her blog, Christine Tatum, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, kindly links to Rifftides. The Rifftides staff is happy to reciprocate. Tatum tackles free press issues. Her present … [Read more...]

One of my happiest assignments in recent months was writing the liner essay for a new CD by the New York composer, arranger and pianist Joan Stiles. She rounded up an all-star group of sidemen--Steve Wilson, Joel Frahm, Peter Washington, Jeremy Pelt and Lewis Nash--for Hurly-Burly. Her writing and … [Read more...]

The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.-- Anthony Kennedy, US Supreme Court justice The dominant purpose of the First Amendment was to prohibit the widespread practice of government … [Read more...]

For further appreciation of Benny Carter (see the next exhibit), here are links to three video performances of the alto saxophonist among his peers. The first two are from a Copenhagen night club in 1985 with Carter's contemporary Red Norvo on vibraharp, pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Jesper … [Read more...]

Benny Carter was born in New York City on August 8, 1907. He died in 2003 less than a month before his 96th birthday. Observances of Carter's centennial include a Hollywood Bowl concert on his birthday and the release of two new CDs. Welcome and deserved as they may be, those events are slight … [Read more...]