Bob Dietsche, Tatum’s Town (Bobson Press)
Most Art Tatum devotees know that Toledo, Ohio, was his hometown. It was where his genius became evident when he was a teenaged Fats Waller disciple. Many Tatum fans may not know that Toledo’s active jazz community in the 1920s and ‘30s included a number of musicians destined to become important jazz artists. Among them were trombonist Jimmy Harrison, guitarist Arv Garrison, Count Basie saxophonist Candy Johnson and, later, younger musicians like vocalist Jon Hendricks and pianist Stanley Cowell. Dietsche traces the development of jazz in his hometown and does for Toledo what he did for Portland, Oregon, in his 2005 book Jumptown. Tatum’s Town is slightly marred by indexing confusion and lax copy editing, but it is packed with anecdotes and information about a jazz scene that thrived before, during and after the swing-to-bop transition and produced Tatum, one of the music’s pivotal figures.
A Los Angeles native now in New York, pianist Gould debuts as a leader in an album showcasing him and an impressive collection of established musicians. He apprenticed as a sideman with, among other leader, Vincent Herring, Wallace Roney and Ralph Peterson. As a composer and arranger Gould works in a wide instrumental spectrum. His pieces range from the fleet “Sir Carter†in a trio with E.J. Strickland and bassist Ben Williams, to compositions for a sextet augmented with strings, Anne Drummond’s flute and the Latin percussion of Pedrito Martinez. Saxophonists Myron Walden and Godwin Louis and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt are important as soloists and in ensembles. Influences detectable in Gould’s writing include those of John Coltrane in “Apostle John†and Wayne Shorter in Shorter’s modern classic “Nefertiti.†However, in his concept, playing and—notably—his writing, Gould seems poised to make his mark as an original. He has surrounded himself here with a cadre of consequential twenty-, thirty- and forty-something New York peers.
concert is a free download on Bill’s website at 
The simplicity of the Rigby Trio’s cover design matches the uncomplicated instrumentation—saxophone, bass and drums. It is a configuration used to great effect by Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman in classic recordings when they were at the height of their powers. Whether the 42-year-old Rigby has reached that stage in his career remains to be heard, but in this 2016 album he affirms his skill as an improviser on tenor and soprano saxes. Indeed, although he wrote five pieces for the album, they are springboards for his explorations and those of bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Gerald Cleaver and do not disclose the sophistication of his arranging in earlier albums like 
original compositions. Now a New Yorker, the Russian-born Eckemoff includes, along with Cleaver on drums, three more of the city’s most prominent jazz artists; saxophonist/flutist Chris Potter, guitarist Adam Rogers and bassist Drew Gress. As in 
Sometimes, you just want to hear a good old-fashioned unadulterated blues. And sometimes—fairly often, actually—the members of Savoy Brown feel like playing one. Here they are in 2013 on the Clocktower stage at the Kitchener, Ontario, Blues Festival. Since it was founded in 1965 the band has gone through almost too many personnel changes to keep track of, although that is possible if you go to 
Demanding to be heard, now and then one of the LPs in the surviving Rifftides collection of vinyl records sends vibes—appropriately in this case. The album called Sunstroke appeared in 1979 on the Muse label with Charlie Shoemake on vibraharp in his first album as a leader. His stellar rhythm section had Kenny Barron on piano, Cecil McBee on bass and Al Foster playing drums, with David Schnitter on tenor saxophone. For the occasion, Shoemake wrote a piece commemorating how jazz transformed as the music moved from swing to bebop. He called it “42nd Street Changes.†In the sense of “changes†as harmonic progressions, the tune provided challenges to the musicians and—to the rest of us—exhilarating listening.
because of his close relationship with the late singer and actress Monica Zetterlund, who was honored at the festival. Carlsson was 80.
The most recent visit to Sweden stays with me more than three weeks after my return. In great part, that is because music I heard at the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival refuses to leave my head. A piece played in Ystad by more than one group hangs on persistently and delightfully. It is “De Sålde Sina Hemman,†also known in Sweden as “Imigrantvisa.†It is a traditional song associated with Swedish people who joined the migration to The United States from the late 19th century into the 1920s—well more than a million of them. Here we see a section of The Emigrants by the popular artist S. V. Helander (1839–1901) showing a young farmer bidding a sober farewell to friends and relatives.
Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer co-led one of the great small bands of the last half of the twentieth century. In the group Terry (1920-2015) concentrated on the flugelhorn, which he played—as he did the trumpet—with fluency, feeling, technique and humor that make him to this day a model and inspiration for brass players. Brookmeyer (1929-2011) had equal
eminence as a valve trombonist, beginning as he rose to prominence in the early 1950s with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Jimmy Giuffre, among others.
John Abercrombie, a guitarist of stylistic flexibility and uncompromising musical vision, died today in a hospital in New York’s Hudson River Valley. He was 72. Abercrombie suffered a stroke early this year and succumbed to heart failure. For an extensive obituary that incorporates videos and a lengthy transcribed interview, see Peter Hum’s article in the <em>
Bea Wain, who achieved popularity in the late 1930s when she sang with Larry Clinton’s band, died today in Los Angeles. She was 100. Wain had a succession of hit records that began when she recorded a swing adaptation of Debussy’s “Reverie.†As “My Reverie,†it became a best-seller. For more, 
Fifty years ago in the aftermath of John Coltrane’s death, it would have seemed unlikely that a definitive tribute to the saxophone master would someday come from a Scottish tenor player. Yet, so universal is Coltrane’s presence in jazz and so deeply has Tommy Smith absorbed and incorporated his lessons that Smith’s tribute album is an important achievement and a moving listening experience. His rhythm section perfectly conforms to Smith’s conception of Coltrane’s
legacy. Young Peter Johnstone is the pianist, with bassist Calum Gourlay and the veteran drummer Sebastiaan de Krom. This is a first, a Rifftides Monday Recommendation with video, but it is unusual to have video of such quality as this from the BBC’s Glasgow studio, The Quay. Here are Smith and his quartet on BBC television with four pieces from Embodying The Light,—Smith’s “Transformation,†Coltrane’s “Dear Lord,†Gershwin’s “Summertime†and “Coltrane’s “Naima.â€