Jessica Williams played a magnificent solo concert Saturday night at The Seasons. A tall, luminous presence in dark tones and silver, she began with her new-agey composition called “Love and Hate” and followed it with an explanation that it was “the sort of thing you’d hear on top-forty … [Read more...]

New Rifftides reader John B. an estimable blogger, comments on the apparently endless fascination of Rifftiders with the phenomenon of applause. I know this is an old post of yours, but I excuse this by saying that I've just learned of your blog and so "it's new to me." Apologies in advance for … [Read more...]

Jack Tracy writes concerning Pee Wee Marquette: PeeWee also was noted for garbling some names, as when he announced the in-house presence one night of "Marlo Brandon." My favorite, however, was when bassist Teddy Kotick inevitably became "Teddy Kotex." … [Read more...]

John Levy, who is about to receive his award as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, appeared this week on the Tavis Smiley Show on Public Radio International. The former bassist, active at ninety-three as a respected artist manager, discussed his life, career and thoughts about what is … [Read more...]

In that excellent Canadian newspaper, The Globe And Mail, J.D. Considine had a column this week that dealt with changes in the way people listen to music. One of his conclusions is that the more music people hear in more places, the less it registers. That development undoubtedly relates to the … [Read more...]

At more or less the last minute, I have decided to attend the conference of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) next week in New York. It is a massive gathering—at least 7-thousand educators, musicians and people from every nook and cranny of jazz as an art and jazz as a … [Read more...]

The Voice of America’s John Birchard writes: Your Philly Joe material reminded me of an evening back in the early 60s, a Monday Night at Birdland. Joe had brought a quintet into the club. Following the obligatory oratory by PeeWee Marquette, Jones—very clean in a hip three-piece Ivy League … [Read more...]

For the uninitiated: Pee Wee Marquette was a fixture at the old Birdland, known to the club’s audiences for his elecutionary introductions when he left his doorman’s post to be the MC, and to musicians as an extortionist. His nickname derived from his stature; he was under four feet tall. For a … [Read more...]

Saturday night, Jessica Williams is going to play a solo piano concert at The Seasons, which is developing into quite the performance hall. Word is getting around among musicians about the magical acoustics, the hip audiences, and the good treatment and respect players receive there. I will have the … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Jim Brown writes from Chicago: I've made it a habit to visit your blog daily when I'm near an internet connection and not totally overwhelmed by my own endeavors, and have been disappointed on days when there's nothing new. I've finally learned that periods of silence usually … [Read more...]

Ted O'Reilly writes from Toronto: Before Christmas (Dec. 22) you had some Plato and Aristotle observations on music. How about adding some good ol' W. Shakespeare? Lorenzo: The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems and … [Read more...]

Bill De Arango, the guitarist who died at eighty-five the day after Christmas, might have become famous. While his colleagues Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie invited audiences into the new territory they had all opened together, he left New York in 1948 and went home to Cleveland. The next … [Read more...]

In the right column, under Doug's Picks, you will find three recommended CDs, a DVD and a book. You will notice that Jim Hall is involved in two of the picks. And why not? He had a birthday this month. … [Read more...]

Quick, before it's over, let's wish the stalwart bassist and jazz anecdotist Bill Crow a happy birthday, his 78th. After he saw the lingual postings below, Bill wrote to say: And a happy Saturnalia to all! Then he followed up on the recent Rifftides ski postings (here) and (here) to reminisce about … [Read more...]

A Rifftides reader named Hatta writes from Russia about the multi-lingual Christmas greeting posted early today: Well, you should wish that for Russian readers too :-) We don't generally celebrate Christmas on December, 24, -- in Russia it is celebrated on January, 7, so you could wish us a Happy … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff wishes you a Merry Christmas, a splendid holiday season and good listening. … [Read more...]

A most satisfying encounter in the flurry of interviews at mid-year about Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond was with Al Vuona of WICN-FM in Worcester, Massachusetts. The station has revived the program as part of its series The Public Eye. It is archived here and available for … [Read more...]

If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience —John Cage … [Read more...]

Well, the ski trip was sogged out. When we were five minutes from the lodge at White Pass, the skies opened. If it had been a few degrees colder, we'd have had a glorious snowfall. At 36 degrees, we got what my old Oklahoma chum Charlie Manwarring called a toad stabber. We looked up at the runs and … [Read more...]