To me, music is entertainment - what else can it be? In fact, it's the only language I know of that's universal. What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room. My version of 'Georgia' became the state song of Georgia. That was a … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="1MnnYxB4LiuDaCbGHN6uqq2Bhr80lXdG"] Yesterday was Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday. Rarely has the centenary of a jazz artist received as much notice. There have been tributes galore, special television and radio reports and long articles in major publications. This … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="S99vrJ0cVK5Kb3jyKGEIvA6sc3MS8c1A"] On her blog, Carol Sloane (pictured above) observes the birthday of Carmen McRae (1920-1994), the woman she calls her, “girl friend, confidant and Sister Singer Superior.” The two singers had a long, rare, honest, sometimes … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="BUtzqNO7PDbS6vNYTAvpJWGdH2BVCix9"] Pianist Bill Mays and trumpeter-flugelhornist Marvin Stamm are just back from a European tour. One of their trip’s highlights was a March 20 concert in Cologne, Germany, with the formidable WDR Big Band. The theme was New York State … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="SN6yrk2ck3nmTVgccX4rpL186fOa8WOW"] Gerry Mulligan would have been 88 years old today. Until a year or so before his death in 1996, Mulligan was playing and writing at the top of his game. To remember him, let’s listen to one of the classic compositions played by his … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="QlBAauLBM0PeZg7ToUetZGOpNaMPr4ch"] Rudresh Mahanthappa, Bird Calls (ACT) Listeners steeped in the music of Charlie Parker may be able to detect clues to the inspirations for Mahanthappa’s new compositions in this stimulating collection. If doing so adds to their … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="UxRvj0k7FmrlgRiptgew9SeuwS2H9wlE"] The bossa nova phenomenon infused jazz and popular music with fresh ways of thinking about rhythm and about story telling through music. It arrived when rock and roll was firmly established, the Beatles were beginning to dominate … [Read more...]

I suppose it figures that on April Fools' Day, something like this would be making the rounds of web pranksters. You may have difficulty finding it in your corner record store or online—unlike this early Monk gem from his Complete Blue Note Recordings. Thelonious Monk, piano; … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="5AXye00P2BTp7BdkIct1VCcxJLktYcIy"] April 2015 is the twelfth observance of National Jazz Appreciation Month. Founded at the Smithsonian Institution in 2002 by the jazz scholar, Duke Ellington biographer and musician John Edward Haase, the celebration is intended, in … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="4FcDec2oTETmAj4V4FCfeigjADhTq5nX"] The master trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader Thad Jones would be 92 if he had lived to celebrate his birthday yesterday. He died in 1986. Fortunately for us, Jones practiced his profession in an age of ubiquitous recording. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="7L1GIH379jXN9DmExTprgG1ltOMFmKCM"] When Stan Kenton was asked where jazz was going next, he said, “Tomorrow night we’ll be in Detroit.” It is in the nature of creative music that the question cannot be answered. Still, it would be less than human for someone who … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="GOfxNe37WBkuH9kfXJz7FXgF5QwDsXhO"] Spike Wilner is a pianist who operates two jazz clubs in New York City with his partners Mitch Borden and Lee Kostrinsky. Smalls and Mezzrow are within a short walk of one another in Greenwich Village. They present familiar artists … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="qq6BLQZ5iAErC2ab2gbwzVw3pU1VjbvS"] Blogging has been slow recently, or some days nonexistent, because I am deep into the writing of notes for a compilation of recordings by pianist Jan Lundgren. The project is less demanding than the annotation for his recent album All … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="mPL18fCbLM1EF2uD0dF9C2Tbiz0lHje7"] In 1990, Concord Records put together a collection of recipes provided by jazz artists, writers and other folks associated with the music. The project came up when I was in the thick of my bread-making phase. There were weeks when I … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="bKmr911toIYUp9iVyZHpXNjlGrF9SWGg"] St. Patrick’s Day arrives bringing a reminder of a record that never was. In the 1960s Paul Desmond and guitarist Jim Hall, frequent collaborators in those days, came up with an idea for an album of Irish music. In their … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="hY7Mx5ayqzAEkSCb5gr6tOpvk5wE6anT"] Jim Wilke keeps producing broadcasts on his Jazz Northwest that are hard to resist, so it’s hard to resist alerting you to them. Here’s his announcement about tomorrow’s program. The poll-winning, critically acclaimed … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="KdI5xkLO92ClLwLXnqdEu3LsdfydbuX6"] The Rifftides staff now and then checks in on alto saxophonist Logan Strosahl and pianist Nick Sanders, intrepid young musicians based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where so many rising jazz artists are headquartered. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="EaBP2fip1Y5nXYPdmNUSG1Hz4j63Foo9"] Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. You've got to learn … [Read more...]