Thanks to fellow artsjournal.com traveler Terry Teachout for mentioning a blog of which I was unaware until ten minutes ago. It is witty, quiet and touching, and I can't help wondering if that's how the anonymous blogger known as The Hotel Pianist plays. Here are samples of her writing: As I've … [Read more...]

An accomplished pianist in New York, not famous but not obscure, told me about her attempts to find work. They were discouraging. There seemed to be no work. Then, the owner of an Italian restaurant made her an offer. She could play in the restaurant, but only Italian songs or those associated with … [Read more...]

The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne --Geoffrey Chaucer A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it --Samuel Johnson No writer ever truly succeeds. The disparity between the work conceived and the work completed is always too great and the writer merely achieves an … [Read more...]

I have just wrapped up a project that gave me enormous pleasure, writing the notes for Jessica Williams' next CD, recorded in a solo concert at The Seasons. I'll let you know when it is available. Talking with Jessica, I learned that her music and her life are changing and that another remarkable … [Read more...]

Too many valuable people are dying. Now, Molly Ivins is gone. In my journalism career, I encountered Molly now and then. I was once on a panel with her, discussing journalism ethics. It was around the time of the O.J. Simpson trial. Molly, naturally, found the circus atmosphere surrounding the trial … [Read more...]

This announcement will be of interest to many in the New York area. MICHAEL BRECKER MEMORIAL Tuesday, February 20th Town Hall 123 West 43rd Street 6:00-7:30 pm General Admission Public Invited Doors open at 5.15pm … [Read more...]

If you have sent Rifftides a comment in the past 24 hours, please send it again...unless you are one of the spammers who caused a wipeout that erased all pending comments. We apologize for the inconvenience. … [Read more...]

Whitney Balliett Writing about jazz generally takes one of two paths, analysis or appreciation. Whitney Balliett was not a musicologist, but one of the field's most gifted appreciators. His descriptions of what he heard, saw and felt in music are among the best twentieth century English prose in … [Read more...]

The second half of a remarkable concert I told you about last October is going to hit the airwaves and cyberspace this weekend. Here is the announcement from Jim Wilke: Jazz meets classical music in Part 2 of a concert by The Bill Mays Trio and members of Finisterra on Jazz Northwest on Sunday … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff is awash in deadline assignments that yield even more than this blog pays, so we're bound to keep at them. When the waters subside, my plan is to begin surveying some of the CDs that have come in on the tide recently (is this aquarian metaphor getting out hand?). For now, please … [Read more...]

Mark Stryker, the jazz columnist of the Detroit Free Press, read the Clifford Brown posting and wrote: Given Soupy's Detroit connections, I once wrote a story about Soupy and the Clifford tape not long after it first surfaced in 1996. There's no link but I've copied some details below, as well as … [Read more...]

For years, I have heard reports that when the great trumpeter Clfford Brown appeared on a Detroit television program hosted by the comedian Soupy Sales, his performance was recorded. A kinescope has surfaced to confirm the reports. The guest shot with Sales produced what seems to be the only film or … [Read more...]

Barry Finnerty, a guitarist who worked with Michael Brecker in the Brecker Brothers band of the late 1970s, has posted a lengthy reminiscence about his friend. It includes this paragraph: He used to take his humility to extremes sometimes... he would complain to me that he hated his own playing, was … [Read more...]

They're asking for ludicrous, ridiculous kinds of tunes. It could be "Johnson Rag," or "Don't you have any Russ Morgan pieces?" or they're always getting your tunes mixed up with someone else's, so you get requests for "Green Eyes" or "Frenesi" or "In The Mood." And they get some very terse replies … [Read more...]

Please adjourn to the exhibit in the right-hand column under the sign reading Doug's Picks for the Rifftides staff's latest recommendations. The Louis Armstrong book is a holdover because no one on the staff has had time to read a new book. Hey, it was the holidays. … [Read more...]