[contextly_auto_sidebar id="NtxyHrvwq9GTNGZgyF0GobW4Pbi0pb72"] After reading the May 24 Rifftides post about the passing of pianist Frank Strazzeri, producer Dick Bank sent a story from Los Angeles. Frank did a recording with Sonny Stitt in the Eighties at Sage & Sound studio in Hollywood. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="J4LedzqlA95TdVmqLgkyDHBuVBnEJbNq"] On the calendar, summer is nearly three weeks away. In many parts of the United States, thermometers tell us that it is here. Whether you measure summer’s arrival by time or temperature, there are few better ways to greet it than … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="HS1AB3qNK76SofQtHmF3JKaLgtwz6Rle"] As a companion to the Artt Frank-Chet Baker recommendation posted above, let’s listen to something from Baker’s early work. Here’s what I wrote about "Bea's Flat" in the notes for Mosaic’s box set The Complete Pacific Jazz … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="zOZws3IQMaFQlApucnFMTRVEMK1dirI8"] The other day in a National Public Radio story about the Veterans Administration mess and the resignation of its director, NPR correspondent Quil Lawrence (pictured) consistently spoke of “President Obama,” “Mr. Obama” and … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="m9vwjWMjWpTdvRbpZd0JJhkb1ZeolXbB"] Paul Desmond died 37 years ago today. Every year, as the anniversary approaches, my cerebellum senses it and the brain starts dialing up episodes. Playwright Jack Richardson (1934-2012) got it right when he spoke at the memorial … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="B1QBPBZ8YjVUMLjdV7AbzEFCJCaScgkh"] After Herb Jeffries died on Sunday in Los Angeles, headlines around the world remembered him for his career as a singing cowboy in a succession of low budget 1930s Hollywood movies. Herb Jeffries dies at 100; Hollywood's … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ABchPwLgH2K5awTM86q69y3iVphBSdIE"] With hardly a week going by in which we don’t lose a venerable musician, it may be natural to wonder whether the art form will wither. That is unlikely. New players emerge and enrich the music. It is rare, however, that they emerge … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="w78PgBDnDJyWYKXzRQiO0OA1jK4RzSGd"] Reports that the veteran pianist Frank Strazzeri had died began circulating a couple of weeks ago. They were impossible to confirm until now. Strazzeri died at 84 on May 9 in his hometown, Rochester, New York, but he spent most of his … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="lyZMy06LLnBWMNnPKUOLJ9IufBnDOSPn"] Gregory Herbert, one of the most talented saxophonists of his generation, was born in Philadelphia 67 years ago this month. After a brief engagement with Duke Ellington when he was 17, Herbert spent four years as a music major at … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="UQo5fh0SCcdHRNHA8P9jqU46Us4dj7Pb"] This is Bill Holman’s birthday. At 87, the great arranger shows no inclination to sit around basking in the glow of his achievements. He and his band are gearing up for a concert tomorrow night at the Los Angeles Jazz Institute’s … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="GG4cSaJMjbqOMHFSUMzsXv7wGebsuhvE"] Rifftides reader Ted Arenson writes in response to yesterday’s posting about bees and a piece of bee-oriented music: How about Hamp and the Ellingtonians great recording of "Buzzin 'Round with the Bee?" That’s a … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="TT4YMOkk9IbX4RX0PUQWYAhaS34jn2Pb"] This morning a man came to the door, introduced himself as Francisco and said he was cutting the neighbors' lawn. The neighbors were away. “Do you know about bees?” Francisco said. “Let me show you.” We walked over to a tree … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="dDyhSTr79gYGAKCxIhomZBkpUZsmrBzD"] Joe Wilder, admired for his trumpet tone, range, stylistic flexibility and for his elegance as a musician and person, is gone. Wilder died at the age of 92 last Friday in New York. Despite his modesty and disinclination to assert … [Read more...]