Regarding the “Where We Are” item below, Rifftides reader Cyril Moshkow writes

Looks like the info is not exactly complete, as many people read
through RSS aggregation (which does not include logging in.) For
instance, I am reading Rifftides in Moscow, Russia, but almost never
directly — it is aggregated in my blogroll.

That’s a good point, Cyril. Unfortunately the site meter doesn’t calculate RSS deliveries, so we cannot know how many people sign on by that means.
Be sure to visit Mr. Moshkow’s excellent site, Russian Jazz—DR

Rifftides readers are all over the world, more concentrated in some countries than others. We don’t hear much from Cuba or Outer Mongolia, for instance. Here is a list of nations where readers have logged on to Rifftides in the past week.
Australia

Brazil
Canada
China
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Ghana
Iceland
Israel
Japan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Portugal
United Kingdon
United States
By most accounts, there are 195 countries on earth. Sixteen are represented in that list. The Rifftides staff hopes that people in the remaining 179 will join us. Wherever you are, we’re glad to have you along. If you find something here that interests or stimulates you, please send your comments.

Here’s a story from the BBC:

(July 1)
Queen unveils statue of Canadian jazz great Peterson
The Queen has unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson during the latest stage of her visit to the country.She was joined by the musician’s family for the ceremony at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
During his life, Peterson recorded with jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker. He played for the Queen a few years before his death in 2007.The Queen and Prince Philip are on a nine-day visit to Canada.
The sculpture depicts Peterson sitting at his famous piano – which had extra keys added – in a bow tie and waistcoat. There is space on the seat beside him for passers-by to sit down.
His widow Kelly said: “Oscar would be very humbled by it and also very, very pleased to know how much people loved what he did and care about him. And the fact that Her Majesty and Prince Philip are here is an extra special layer – he loved them both.”
Dressed in a turquoise hat and coat, the Queen later visited the Museum of Nature and planted a tree in the governor general’s garden.

Rifftides reader John Fielding writes from Australia:

I am currently reading and enjoying your book about Paul Desmond. I am a lifelong DB and PD follower after seeing them play in Brisbane, Australia, in 1960.
Congratulations on a great contribution to jazz history and the stories and colors of the era of the 50’s.
Amazing that ‘Take Five’ has been so widely recorded. I thought you might be interested to know that I recently heard ‘Take Five’ on a stay in Beijing. There is a very popular group known as the Twelve Girls (actually, there are thirteen of them and I suspect that the band name has something to do with a pun to which all Chinese speakers are addicted). Their forte is playing Western classical and some pop music on Chinese traditional instruments. They also have an extensive Chinese classical repertoire. They do an interesting version of the song. I subsequently found the song on one of their CDs.
I think that Paul would approve – particularly as the twelve (thirteen?) girls are very attractive as well as talented. Interesting that the erhu (one stringed fiddle that looks like a coffee can with a long handle) actually produces a lovely full-bodied cello style note that suits the song very well.

Thank you and all the best from Australia.
John Fielding

You’re welcome, John. And thank you, but wait a minute; four of those 12 (or 13) girls seem to be guys. Could that be the source of the pun?

Jason Moran, Ten (Blue Note)
It is possible that Jason Moran is the messianic paragon that the tide of jump-on-the-Bandwagon critical enthusiasm proclaims him. I am willing to cede that judgment to the leavening passage of time. It is no abandonment of restraint, however, to agree that Moran is an original thinker and a hell of a piano player. If there were no other reason to make that concession, I would be convinced by his treatment of the late Jaki Byard’s “To Bob Vatel of Paris.” Byard recorded the variation on “I Got Rhythm” changes in his breath-taking 1972 solo LP There’ll Be Some Changes Made. The album was briefly reissued on CD as Empirical. Then, absurdly, it was allowed to go out of print and is now available only at outrageous collectors prices.
In his tenth CD on Blue Note, Moran takes his cue for “Vatel” from Byard, with whom he studied. He begins alone, parahrasing and bending the stride style Byard used in the piece. Then, Moran and his longtime sidemen, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer, Nasheet Waits work their way into the kind of swirling, nearly aharmonic improvisation of which Byard was a master. Standard metric time all but goes out the window for a while, but swing does not. When they have wrapped up the tune six minutes later, they have run it through a kaleidoscope of shifting shapes and colors.
There is much else in the CD to enjoy or wonder at. Moran manages to combine his loves of hip-hop and Thelonious Monk in “Crepuscle With Nellie.” He expands on the spirit, energy and blues core of Leonard Bernstein’s “Big Stuff,” and melds it into the next track, “Play to Live,” which Moran wrote with the late Andrew Hill, another of his teachers. “Pas de Deux,” an unaccompanied piece with the mystery and solemnity of a nocturne, is from a ballet for which Moran wrote the music. There are fast and slow versions of “Study No. 6,” one of the eccentric composer Conlon Nancarrow’s pieces for player piano. “The Subtle One” lives up to its title with reflective piano and bass musings and finely etched brush and cymbal work by Waits.
“Gangsterism Over 10 Years,” bluesy and packed with references to pop dance idioms, is the latest iteration of a theme sketch that the trio, known as The Bandwagon, has been developing since its founding. The bonus track, hidden at the end and not included in the CD’s play list, is “Nobody,” the signature song of Bert Williams, a hero of black vaudeville memorialized in 1940 by Duke Ellington in “A Portrait of Bert Williams.” Moran, Mateen and Waits handle it with the mixture of tenderness, exuberance and irony that characterized Williams’ own approach to the song.
“Nobody” is not all that’s hidden. There is no clue to the musical value of embedding samples of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix’s feedback behind the trio’s lovely musings in the track called “Feedback Pt. 2.” They don’t do a “Feedback Pt. 1.” That’s okay.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.—Benjamin Franklin

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. —Abraham Lincoln

In New Orleans, street musicians in the French Quarter are a tourist attraction. According to city law, they are also a nuisance. The contradiction has roots in jazz history and city tradition. It puts police and the administration of the new mayor, Mitch Landrieu, between residents of the Quarter who want to get some sleep and musicians like these outside Jackson Square who want to make a living or, at least, pick up a few bucks.On the web site truthdig, Artsjournal.com blogger Larry Blumenfeld posted an exhaustive report about the controversy. He connects it to situations portrayed in the hot new cable television series Treme. Here is an excerpt that grew out of his conversation with a civil rights lawyer named Mary Howell.

Section 66-205 could be construed to prohibit a lone guitarist strumming on a corner or someone playing harmonica to no one in particular in the street. Same for Section 30-1456, which, curiously, pertains to a stretch of Bourbon Street filled mostly with bars that blast recorded music well into the night. Add to this, Howell explains, that in 1974 the city passed a zoning ordinance that actually prohibits live entertainment in New Orleans, save for spots that are either grandfathered in or specially designated as exceptions. Those interior shots in “Treme” faithfully depicting the vibe at Donna’s Bar & Grill and Bullet’s Sports Bar? Grandfathered in, or they’d be technically illegal. Current zoning restrictions could, without much of a stretch, be construed to prohibit band rehearsals, parties with musical entertainment, even poetry readings. “It’s a draconian ordinance,” says Howell, “and a blanket over the city.” The very idea is mind-boggling to those who live outside New Orleans: a city whose image is largely derived from its live musical entertainment essentially outlawing public performance through noise, quality-of-life, and zoning ordinances.

To read Blumenfeld’s entire piece, go here.

Vincent Herring & Earth Jazz, Morning Star (Challenge). The rhythm section known as Earth Jazz is electrified, funkified and synthesized. Collaborating with them, Herring looks back to the heyday of ’60s and ’70s soul, with stylistic references to Herbie Hancock, early Weather Report and tinges of Azymuth and The Crusaders. His customary power and tonal perfection on alto and soprano saxophones are intact, even as he adheres to the limitations of the setting. The title tune eases up on the back beat, allowing Herring the balladry at which he excels. It’s a welcome break from the funk formula, as are his echoes of Hank Crawford, and Anthony Wonsey’s acoustic piano work in the concluding “You Got Soul.”

In its entirety, this is an item from “The Reliable Source” blog in The Washington Post this week:

Medvedev goes for the record: Jazz and rock music, that is

While Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was in Washington with President Obama on official business, his staff went on a more personal quest: music for his vinyl collection.
Two Russian women who said they worked for Medvedev walked into Som Records on 14th Street Thursday looking for Duke Ellington, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix recordings — Medvedev, 44, is a big jazz and rock fan and collects rare records. Owner Neal Becton told us he was out of Ellington discs, but sold the women three Hendrix records, two by King, plus music by Gil Evans, Blossom Dearie and Mark Murphy. The women, who got instructions from someone via cellphone, paid the $150 tab in cash — two $100 bills.