When I wrote about Django Reinhardt on his birthday, I didn't know about a classic piece of film showing him and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Earl Minor sent this from Portland, Oregon: This one literally made me cry tears of joy. I hope you enjoy it. It's amazing how wonderfully he … [Read more...]

Peter Levin writes from New York: While (unlike, it appears, Jimmy Knepper) I love Monk's music, Knepper was right about the childlike quality of a lot of Monk tunes. When one of our sons was three, Monk was his favorite composer. When we asked him why, he said it was because Monk's music … [Read more...]

The Commission Project's Swing 'n Jazz event in Rochester, New York, raises money to commission compositions, produce workshops and fund composer-in-residence programs in public schools across the United States. The four days of TCP's ninth edition of Swing 'n Jazz overflowed with music, most of … [Read more...]

While I was in Rochester, New York, I kept busy in The Commission Project's official Swing 'n Jazz schedule of concerts and workshops, and the unofficial one of eating and drinking well and hanging out. Still, I managed to absorb a bit of the atmosphere of a city with remarkable historical and … [Read more...]

Eric Felten writes from Washington, DC: I enjoyed the Monk posts, and it reminded me of a gig I did years ago with Jimmy Knepper. He was an incredibly distinctive musician, and as quirky, interesting, and difficult as a person as was his trombone playing. Before this particular gig with Jimmy I … [Read more...]

When Paul Desmond made his observation that jazz can be learned but not taught, he had in mind the core jazz skill of improvisation, rather than the ability of musicians to be effective in large aggregations. Marvin Stamm, the musical director of this year's Swing 'n Jazz, recalled that he taught … [Read more...]

This is my first visit to Rochester, New York, in more than twenty years. I thought in the 1980s that it was an agreeable place, slightly down at the heels in some districts but riding in comfort on the economic updraft of its biggest corporate anchors, Eastman Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb. … [Read more...]

He has to be, to withstand the abuse he's taking. From the right, a pianist identified as Hans Groiner--who may actually be someone named Hans Groiner--castrates Monk, with results that make John Tesh sound like Arnold Schoenberg. Groiner, or the Groiner simulacrum, writes on the Myspace website, … [Read more...]

Later in the week, I'll be posting from Rochester, New York, and the ninth annual Swing 'n Jazz, an event supporting The Commission Project's music education of young people. In this context, "Swing" refers to both music and golf. A tournament on Sunday raises money for the education. Workshops … [Read more...]

Following the posting about Paul Desmond playing "Take Five" in a youtube.com video, Rifftides reader Jon Naylor wrote from Seattle: In regards to youtube.com, they have a great piece of history with Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie being presented a Down Beat music award by Leonard Feather and … [Read more...]

It is a truth so commonplace that it has become a cliché: You needn't be American to be a first-rate jazz musician. The United States of America brought together and mixed the elements that made jazz. But it is not, after all, something in the water, the genes or the sociology of The United States … [Read more...]

Here are more recommended CDs by jazz artists not from the United States. Gilad Atzmon, Musik: Rearranging the 20th Century (Enja). It is unlikely that Atzmon can separate himself from Israeli-Palestinian politics--or that he wishes to--but this CD is more about music and less about ideologies than, … [Read more...]

Just as the music is everywhere, so are Rifftides readers. A recent check of the site meter shows you in these places, among others: Australia Melbourne Canberra Austria Vienna Canada Guelph, Ontario Belleville, Ontario Toronto, Ontario China Shanghai Beijing Czech … [Read more...]

Twenty-nine years ago this weekend, Paul Desmond bid his girlfriend goodbye as she set off for London, urging her to have a good holiday. That was on Friday. He would be fine, he told her; he had friends coming the next day. But his only companion was the lung cancer that had ravaged him during the … [Read more...]

Like, dig! I'm in step. When it was hip to be hep, I was hep. I don't blow but I'm a fan. Look at me swing. Ring a ding ding. I even call my girlfriend "man," 'cuz I'm hip… —Dave Frishberg, “I’m Hip,”1965 It has been well said that ‘the arch-flatterer with whom all the petty flatterers … [Read more...]

Terry Teachout's ecstatic review of pianist Roger Kellaway's new drummerless trio makes me want to hop a plane to New York. Kellaway has lived in California for years. He is back in The Apple for an engagement at the Jazz Standard. The three men opened the set with a super-sly version of Benny … [Read more...]

The Before & After test I did with Miguel Zenon at the Portland Jazz Festival appears in the June issue of Jazz Times, now on news stands. Here's a sample of his acute hearing and assessments: 3. Gonzalo Rubalcaba “Los Buyes” (from Paseo, Blue Note). Rubalcaba, piano; Luis Felipe Lamoglia, … [Read more...]

The ambitious multiple blogger Jerry Bowles has put together blognoggle, a clearinghouse for several blogs. In a message to Rifftides, he writes: I started blognoggle pages on new music, business and politics because I realized that only a small fraction of internet users now bother with RSS readers … [Read more...]

The distinguished audio expert Jim Brown saw the Rifftides piece on the possible demise of the last jazz radio station in Los Angeles and sent this reminder that the music is threatened at stations across the nation. Although I've just completed a move to Santa Cruz, I did learn during a recent … [Read more...]