There are indications that the economy is slowly improving. There are few signs that it is improving for musicians. Times are also hard for dining and drinking establishments, so some of them try to better a lose-lose situation by persuading musicians to perform for nothing. The usual enticement is the argument that it’s an opportunity for self-promotion. The following fishing expedition and reply are lifted, with permission, from Bill Crow’s “Band Room” column in the April issue of Allegro, the magazine of New York AFM Local 802.

Here’s a Craigslist ad that was sent to me by several people including Ian Royle, Jim Emerson and Scott Robinson:

We are a small & casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More Jazz, Rock & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.

Here is Howie Smith’s reply:

Happy new year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restaurateur to promote their restaurant and come to my house to make dinner for my friends and me. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals and mixed Ethnic Fusion cuisine. Are you interested to promote your restaurant? Please reply back ASAP.

After he saw the Gerry Mulligan birthday post below, Jack Reilly sent the following update on that day at Newport in 1958.

I played after the Mulligan set, with the John LaPorta Quartet: Dick Carter, bass; Charlie Perry; drums; me, piano; and LaPorta, alto sax. Jimmy Giuffre’s new pianoless trio also played that same day, but after our set,

We played 2 of my tunes, DECIDED and SEARCHING, and one of John’s originals, THE MOST MINOR and the standard DARN THAT DREAM. Unfortunately we were left out of the film. However, we went into the recording studios in December, 1958, and recorded the above set of tunes plus 4 more. It was released on Everest Records. You may find the CD reissue on Amazon or in a Japanese record store.

John was an amazing musician, arranger and improvisor and later becameBerklee College of Music’s superstar teacher. His biography, Playing It By Ear, is a good read with lots of insights into the jazz world. There’s a special chapter devoted only to the quartet. John was proud of the quartet as I was for being chosen for the piano chair.

At 26, this was my official debut into the jazz world. I wasn’t nervous at all!!

DIck Carter, blind by age nine, was our harmonic foundation. I’m sure Bill Crow remembers him and his huge, warm, booming bass sound. Charlie Perry was a flawless technician and time-keeper. He cooked like mad!

Maybe Bert Stern has a private video of our set?

The LaPorta album, titled The Most Minor, is on a Fresh Sound CD reissue. Here is one track from it.

John LaPorta was a member of Woody Herman’s First Herd and recorded with Lennie Tristano, Charles Mingus and Helen Merrill. He soloed on clarinet on Herman’s recording of Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto and was jazz soloist for the New York Philharmonic’s 1958 performance of Teo Macero’s Fusion. He died in 2004 at the age of 84.

Thanks to Rifftides reader Hal Strack for the reminder that this is Gerry Mulligan’s birthday. Mulligan would be 85. Here is the baritone saxophonist, composer, arranger and pianist at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 with a great edition of his quartet: Art Farmer, trumpet; Bill Crow, bass; Dave Bailey drums. They played Mulligan’s “As Catch Can.” The video is a clip from Bert Stern’s film Jazz On A Summer’s Day.

The closing announcement was by the Voice Of America’s Willis Conover.

Gerry Mulligan died in January of 1996.

Gene Lees died two years ago this month, on April 22. That day I wrote, “We lost a writer unsurpassed at illuminating music and the world that musicians inhabit. I lost a cherished colleague whose work inspired me, a dear friend whose companionship brightened my existence.”

The Portland, Oregon, broadcaster, poet and visual essayist Lynn Darroch was another of Gene’s friends and admirers, although, he said in a message, “It wasn’t a smooth ride.” There were no smooth rides with Gene. There were lots of rewarding ones. With Lynn’s permission, here is the video remembrance he posted this week. Piano is by Tom Grant, audio mixing and mastering by Jonathan Swanson.

For more of Lynn Darroch’s work, visit this page. To read my musings on that sad day in 2010—and the outpouring of comments from Rifftides readers—go here.

Don’t be alarmed by the symbol. The Rifftides staff merely wants to call your attention to the new batch of suggested things to listen to, watch and read. You will find brief items about CDs by a trailblazing harmonicat, a piano/flute couple and a pianist who keeps you guessing—and entertained. We’re holding onto a Lee Konitz DVD a while longer, and telling you about a book by an expert who doesn’t buy the idea that mental instability must accompany genius. The recommendations are under Doug’s Picks in the right column and, for a time, directly below this alert.

Rifftides reader Jack Greenberg writes:

Although your site is not specifically a West Coast jazz site, I was surprised that none of the jazz blogs I regularly read mentioned the recent passing of top LA trumpet player Warren Luening. As a trumpet player myself, I greatly admired Warren’s playing, and his reputation within the LA jazz community was such that I thought his passing wouild generate more notice than it did.

Luening died of cancer on March 18. He was 70. The New Orleans native was a professional from his early teens, playing in Bourbon Street clubs with established musicians and other emerging Crescent City stars including drummer Johnny Vidacovich and trombonist Jack Delaney. Not long after he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s, he became a member of Lawrence Welk’s orchestra, and in short order was one of the most versatile trumpeters in Hollywood’s film and television studios. Luening had a deep feeling for melody, was a valuable lead player and, when he had the opportunity, a fine improviser. There is little improvising in this feature with Welk, but his mature mastery of his instrument is apparent at a young age. Cracks about Welk’s businessman’s bounce rhythm aside, this 1959 performance is also a reminder of the level of musicianship in his band.

Fifty-one years later, Patrick Williams featured Luening in a big band concert of Williams arrangements. This video montage gathers several of his solos from the evening. Yes, that is trombonist Bill Watrous standing by but not heard in the video, and it looks like saxophonist Tom Scott next to Luening, and Luening’s close colleague Wayne Bergeron second from the left in the trumpet section.

Cat could play.

Warren Luening, RIP.

Following the recent post about plunger mutes, Rifftides reader Deborah Hendrick sent a reqest:

Would you give us a history lesson sometime, on the origin of mutes. “Jazz” seems to be played with muted brass more often than not. I’ve always wondered why, and how the practice began.

Aside from the plunger, mutes for brass instruments are not primarily specific to jazz, and they go back much further. I can give you no better history of mutes than this brief one on a website devoted to them.

As an appendix to that document, here is the brilliant cornetist Warren Vaché demonstrating a raft of mutes to his student Laura Telman.

For more of Vaché on the cornet and trumpet, go to his ArtistHouse page.

Sonny Igoe, who played drums with a succession of prominent leaders, died this week at the age of 88. In 1939 when Igoe was 16, he won the first Gene Krupa drum competition. After four years in the United States Marine Corps in World War Two, he worked briefly in a band of former Marines, then began a career that included work with Les Elgart, Ina Ray Hutton, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Chuck Wayne and Charlie Ventura. Herman’s featuring Igoe on “New Golden Wedding” in 1951 brought the drummer considerable attention. Two years earlier, his drive energized Benny Goodman’s big band and sextet. You can feel the swing intensify when Igoe switches from brushes to sticks on cymbals behind Wardell Gray’s tenor saxophone solo on “Blue Lou.” The other players are trumpeter Doug Mettome, pianist Buddy Greco, bassist Clyde Lombardi, rhythm guitarist Francis Beecher and Goodman on clarinet.

In recent years, Igoe co-led a big band with saxophonist Dick Meldonian, another musician respected among his peers but not widely known to the public. In this concert performance of “Just in Time,” Meldonian gives his partner the tempo assignment.

Sonny Igoe, RIP

Rifftides reader Larry Peterson suggested that while two days of March remain, it would be a good idea to revisit an Antonio Carlos Jobim classic. It is, of course, “Águas de Marco.” March is the rainiest time of year in Rio de Janeiro. Jobim fashioned the progress of the music and the Portuguese lyric to suggest the storm waters’ relentless flow toward the sea. The words, in Portuguese and in his English version, constitute a paen to “the promise of life.” A 2001 poll of Brazilian musicians and journalists concluded that it was the best of all Brazilian songs.

Jobim performed “The Waters of March” often with his friend the nonpareil singer Elis Regina. This 1974 version from a television show has attracted 2,155,406 YouTube viewers. No wonder.

To see Jobim’s lyrics in Portuguese and English—side by side&#151click here.

We still get questions about whether there will be a service in memory of Bob Brookmeyer, who died in December. The answer is yes. This is the updated information from Bob’s friend and colleague Bill Kirchner:

Here’s a reminder about the memorial for valve trombonist/composer/arranger Bob Brookmeyer (December 19,1929-December 15, 2011).

It will be held at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (E. 54th St. between 3rd and Lexington Avenues) in New York City on Wednesday, April 11, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. A reception will follow immediately afterward at the church.

That evening, Bob’s music will be played by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (for which he wrote for over forty years) and two specially-assembled smaller groups. There will also be a number of distinguished speakers: (in alphabetical order) Darcy James Argue, Greg Bahora, Dave Bailey, Bill Crow, Ed Dix, Jim Hall, Bill Kirchner, Jim McNeely, Dick Oatts, Jimmy Owens, John Snyder, Michael Stephans, and Terry Teachout. In addition, there will be an audio tribute by Clark Terry, and a video presentation by Maria Schneider, Ryan Truesdell, and Marie Le Claire.

I’m the coordinator of this event, so any inquiries can be directed to me: kirch@mindspring.com