[contextly_auto_sidebar id="1GWrvXu0jUFe0w2nXbatzCZimkDgHf3y"] Packed to capacity, the 11th century Saint Mary’s Church in the center of Ystad hosted a magnificent performance of music from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts. A citizen who lives nearby told me, “There are more people in … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="V88epGaHCdHf9LJW0Cfb7MvD04AJPkQe"] If you have wondered why Rifftides chose to cover Sweden's Ystad Jazz Festival for the second time, here is one reason—seen from my hotel window overlooking the Baltic Sea. It's summer in Scandinavia, glorious summer, when … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="sLkcFiogw2nEEyQqVOMfP614tbGB85HU"] The Rifftides staff leaves tomorrow morning for Ystad on the southern Baltic coast of Sweden. The ancient seaside town will host the Ystad Jazz Festival in its fifth year. The festival will present such well known musicians as Joshua … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="oqj7POV80m5kZ98FdwmOIFAgSvhiCJun"] Today’s cycling expedition through eastern Washington’s Naches Valley took me where orchard country and cattle country merge for a few miles. Waving above a prosperous looking ranch house was this enormous American flag. A … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="epg8R4WVNQcUnxjxzDV4NbLFpOm4VVpB"] Events in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine and Nigeria—to name the locations of a few of the world's festering sores—make it appropriate to revisit a post from the Rifftides archive. It appeared during the first year of this … [Read more...]

My attitude is never to be satisfied. Never enough. Never. Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it. Critics have their purposes, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="pjcYxULgu13sfw9o0G9NWvGtu2TcW1mW"] Until recently, admirers of the great trumpeter Clifford Brown heard him speak only a few words on the album The Beginning and the End. Recently, however, a YouTube contributor who identifies herself as Nespasisi posted a segment of … [Read more...]

Rudy Royston, 303, (Greenleaf Music) Since his emergence from Denver (area code 303) nearly a decade ago, Royston’s drumming has graced bands led by Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, JD Allen, Tom Harrell and other leaders in 21st century jazz. With 303, Royston becomes a leader himself. As he has … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Z52dmXEHbhNxnSFVVCuajgFVk8itps3o"] The announcement none of us wanted to hear came early this afternoon from Tina Pelikan of ECM Records. It is with deep sorrow that we announce that Charlie Haden, born August 6, 1937 in Shenandoah, Iowa, passed away today at … [Read more...]

While we’re at it, let’s watch the National Endowment for the Arts video made when Haden became a 2012 NEA Jazz Master. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="tYuaHYfoTcGqPNnyNtfgRTVWwFhlBpZf"] Following the death of Horace Silver on June 18, Bill Kirchner called my attention to trumpeter John McNeil’s remembrance of his time in Silver’s quintet in the late 1970s. It appears on the New Music Box website. McNeil’s essay … [Read more...]

The latest post on Steve Cerra’s Jazz Profiles blog is about S. Duncan Reid’s biography of Cal Tjader (1925-1982). The subtitle of Reid’s book identifies Tjader as “The Man Who Revolutionized Latin Jazz.” There may be those who assert that Dizzy Gillespie, Machito and Tito Puente should … [Read more...]

On his Jazz Northwest program this Sunday, Jim Wilke (pictured) will play highlights of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra’s recent concert of the music of Stan Kenton and Gerry Mulligan. Jim put on his beret of a skilled audio engineer and recorded the June 22 concert. From Jim’s Jazz … [Read more...]

Today, the United States of America is celebrating the 238th anniversary of its independence. Rifftides observes the 4th of July with two versions of the song that many Americans wish was the national anthem. Pianist Clare Fischer arranged the first for his 1967 album Songs For Rainy Day Lovers. The … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="7xohJPeerAUc44TbIxoKzpCXMUsz1V1R"] Now that wilting temperatures are here—at least in much of the northern hemisphere—Rifftides reader Larry Peterson suggests that Sonny Clark’s “Cool Struttin’” can bring welcome relief. Clark was a pianist who in a … [Read more...]