Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Weekend Listening Tip

Jim Wilke sent us a weekend listening tip, illustrated:

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Jay Thomas photo by Daniel Sheehan
Seattle Jazz Hero Jay Thomas featured on Jazz Northwest, Sunday April 12
Multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas was named a Seattle Jazz Hero recently by the national Jazz Journalists Association, and will be featured opening this week’s Jazz Northwest with a pair of pieces drawn from Jay’s recent CD “High Crimes and Misdemeanors”.  The Jazz Journalists Association is a national organization of those who are “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz”. This year’s list named 27 individuals in 23 U.S. cities, who in many cases have careers that extend far beyond their local region.  Congratulations also to Portland drummer Ron Steen who was named a Portland Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association.
Also on this week’s show are selections by Jacqueline Tabor, Thomas Marriott, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, and Hadley Caliman and Pete Christlieb among others. Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by host Jim Wilke and airs Sundays at 2 p.m. West Coast Time on 88.5 KNKX.  Listeners may also subscribe to the podcast at KNKX, NPR, Apple, Google or Spotify.

 

Recent Listening: Ernesto Cervini’s Tetrahedron

Canadian drummer Ernesto Cervini’s Tetrahedron manages to meld elements of contemporary electronica with references to developments in the six decades since John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” innovations and Ornette Coleman’s free jazz turned the music in new directions. Cervini enlists electric bassist Rich Brown, the daring New York guitarist Nir Felder and alto saxophonist Luis Deniz. From the album’s one standard, “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise,” through five stirring tunes by Cervini and bassist Brown’s headlong “Forward Motion,” the quartet is driven by the leader’s drumming, which is both sensitive and powerful.

2020 Jazz Heroes: The Complete List

Each year, the Jazz Journalists Association recognizes musicians, writers, broadcasters and others who have made important contributions to the health and success of jazz in their parts of the United States. Here are the new honorees.

For the list of 2020 heroes and their biographical sketches, scroll down and click on the names of the heroes who interest you. You’re likely to find at least one whom you know, or know about.

Congratulations to all of the new jazz heroes and the past winners listed at the bottom of this post.

Ellis Marsalis Is Gone

The death this week of Ellis Marsalis recalls dozens of enounters with him when he was one of New Orleans’ premier jazz musicians. Long before Ellis became famous as the father of Wynton, Branford, Jason and Delfeo, he established himself as a nonpareil pianist and educator. I remember hearing the the young Marsalis when he was  a key member of alto saxophonist Al Belletto’s sextet in the 1960s and being spellbound  by the intricacies he and Belletto wove in their performances together. Marsalis was a powerful influence on the playing and career paths of some of the city’s most talented young jazz artists. He was a mentor not only to his sons, but also to Harry Connick, Jr., Johnny Vidacovich, Richard Payne and many other players in the upper levels  of New Orleans jazz talent. In this video from the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Marsalis and his quartet playing his composition “Twelve’s It.” The members of the group are identified onscreen as the video begins.

Ellis Marsalis, RIP

An Intriguing Trio Album

Asked about his intriguing new album, west coast trumpeter Dick Titterington talked about the project’s genesis at a Christmas party gig. At their bandleaders’s request, each of the musicians wrote a new composition for the occasion.  Titterington says that they enjoyed one another and the resulting interplay so much that they expanded the Christmas encounter into material for an entire album. The CD has emerged on the HeavyWood label as Horn Art Works: 14 Pieces.

It has plenty of counterpoint, humor and lines whose intricacies are closely woven despite the small number of instruments. The three movements of Titterington’s “Russian Blue” emphasize the virtuosic characteristics of all three musicians, from the purity of Tim Jensen’s flute to the muscular, strategically-placed offbeat notes of Lars Campbell’s trombone. Titterington’s trumpet playing is brilliant.

This charming chamber music encounter includes bonus tracks featuring a frequent Titterington collaborator, singer Rebecca Kilgore (it’s okay; they’re married). Those bonus pieces are both titled “No Encore.” They are arranged by Titterington and Kilgore.  This album doesn’t need an encore, and I would be surprised if its rewarding music didn’t inspire frequent replays.

Here is Titterington’s “Russian Blue.”

Dick Titterington’s New Trio Album

Asked about his intriguing new album, west coast trumpeter Dick Titterington talked about the project’s genesis during a Christmas party. Their bandleader had asked each musician to write a new composition for the occasion. Titterington says that the trio enjoyed one another and the resulting interplay so much that they expanded the Christmas encounter into material for an entire album. The CD, Horn Art Works: 14 Pieces, has emerged on the HeavyWood label at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/hornartworks.

It has plenty of counterpoint, humor and lines whose intricacies are closely woven despite the small number of instruments. The three movements of Titterington’s “Russian Blue” emphasize the virtuosic characteristics of all three musicians, from the purity of Tim Jensen’s flute to the muscular, strategically-placed offbeat notes of Lars Campbell’s trombone. Titterington’s trumpet playing is brilliant.

This charming chamber music encounter includes bonus tracks featuring a frequent Titterington collaborator, singer Rebecca Kilgore (it’s okay; they’re married). Those pieces are both entitled “No Encore.” They are arranged by Titterington and Kilgore.  Welcome as they are, this album doesn’t need an encore. I would be surprised if its intricate sense of fun didn’t inspire frequent replays.

Here is Titterington’s “Russian Blue.”

Want To Feel Better? This May Help.

Rifftides has been inactive for a few days. None of the reasons for that…thank goodness…have to do with a virus. The staff are healthy and keeping our distance from other humans, as instructed. We hope that you are doing the same. I’m not positive what music is best to share with readers and listeners as this worrisome infection sweeps the world, but I’m convinced that it must make us  feel better. These two classic recordings should be a good start.

Please be well and stay safe.

Fred Hersch Addresses The Virus Threat

Concerned about the advance of the coronoavirus in many parts of the world, pianist Fred Hersch has announced his approach to providing, if not relief from the threat, a way to get it off your mind for a while. Below is the message from Hersch’s web page. We realize that his message consumes more space than the average Rifftides post and trust that its size won’t cause you a problem.

 

Mini Concert Every Day

I hope everybody is safe and healthy and will remain that way. This is an unprecedented challenge to everyone on the planet and we all need resilience and resourcefulness going forward.

Starting this Sunday, every day at 1pm EST,10am PST, 7pm in Europe I will do a live mini concert of piano music from my home.

You can see and hear the concert here:

https://www.facebook.com/fredherschmusic

You don’t have to “be” on Facebook or sign in to anything to access the concert. Just click the image below. And if you “like” the page you will be notified each day.
Wishing you all strength and much love,
Fred

Fred’s Web Page

A Brent Jensen Desmond Reissue

Curious about the unannounced and unpromoted reissue of a Brent Jensen album eighteen years after its debut, I asked Origin Records chief John Bishop in Seattle about its reappearance. The CD is Jensen’s The Sound Of A Dry Martini: Remembering Paul Desmond, first issued in 2002.  Mr. Bishop replied:

“That record has been popular since it came out, with steady sales and a lot of action on Pandora still happening. Since Brent moved to Seattle, and Jamie Findlay’s up here now too, he’s made it a regular performance thing again. We did a reprint awhile back and were just thinking the (roughly) 20th anniversary is something to marvel at, and thought about all the radio people who weren’t around back then. That was the main push, just seeing how radio would respond and let people know it’s still relevant. It could have easily been a nice little project that then got shelved, but that little pup has legs!”

From the liner notes I wrote for the Jensen album all those years ago, here’s a brief segment about Desmond and Jensen:

“Over the years, Paul created verbal camouflage intended to obscure the fact that he was a master of the instrument. He claimed to have won a special award for quietness. He called himself the John P. Marquand of the alto saxophone. He told me that during his reemergence in the l970s, he tried practicing for a while but ended up playing too fast. None of these evasions fooled Brent Jensen for a minute. He knows what Desmond was made of. In this homage, Jensen succeeds uncannily in marshalling many of Desmond’s essential qualities.”

Here, Jensen demonstrates his grasp of the Desmond essentials by way of his reading of Mercer Ellington’s “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be.”

Brent Jensen, alto saxophone; Jamie Findlay, guitar; Zac Matthews, bass; Dean Koba, drums. Origin Records, recorded at The Bakery in North Hollywood, California, in March, 2001.

 

 

Bill Smith And McCoy Tyner Are Gone

James Moody told me that his Georgia-born grandmother said one morning while looking through the newspaper, “Folks is dyin’ what ain’t never died befo’.” The trend continues, as It always has and, if human suscsceptibility is a guide, always will.  Recently, the parade of departures resumed when the jazz world lost two giants in their nineties, McCoy Tyner and William O. Smith. Smith (pictured left) a clarinetist, composer, teacher and formidable arranger, was 93.

Encouraged by the classical composer Darius Milhaud when he studied with Milhaud at Mills College, Smith formed an octet with Dave Brubeck in the early 1950s. In recent decades he was a professor of music at the University of Washington.

From late in their careers, here are Smith, Brubeck and the Montreal Festival Orchestra playing one of Brubeck’s most beloved compositions, “Blue Rondo ala Turk.”

For a thorough obituary of Bill Smith, see Paul de Barros in The Seattle Times.

McCoy Tyner attracted significant attention when he emerged from Philadelphia as the pianist in Art Farmer’s and Benny Golson’s Jazztet in 1959. He achieved widespread fame after he became a member of John Coltrane’s quartet the following year.  His rich harmonies and mastery of demanding rhythms were at the core of what made Coltrane’s group one of the most successful in all of music during Tyner’s five years as a member.

Tyner died at 81 at his home in New Jersey.  Here he is in concert on the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2002 with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Charnett Moffet on bass and Eric Harland playing drums. The composition is one of Tyner’s most famous, “Naima.”

McCoy Tyner, RIP.