Every fall season, it’s the same problem; whose version of “Autumn Leaves” to use with this year’s photograph. Perhaps it’s not surprising how often the winner turns out to be Bill Evans with Scott LaFaro, bass, and Paul Motian, drums, in this 1959 recording. That's from the Bill … [Read more...]

Rudy Royston, Flatbed Buggy (Greenleaf Music) Blends of accordion, cello, reeds and bowed bass sometimes swell the music of drummer Royston’s album nearly to orchestral proportions. But the collection also has simple qualities akin to cowboy songs and folk music, except when it’s more or less … [Read more...]

Recent Listening In Brief Annie Chen Octet, Secret Treetop (Shanghai Audio&Video Ltd) Chen is a singer and composer born in China who lives in New York and has an eclectic musical palette with colors from sources as disparate as Turkey, Taiwan and Mongolia. With a rhythm section augmented by … [Read more...]

Jon De Lucia Octet + Ted Brown Live At The Drawing Room (Gut String Records) Alto saxophonist De Lucia is committed to music that springs from Lennie Tristano. He also draws on the examples of Lee Konitz, Jimmy Giuffre, Gerry Mulligan and other musicians who became important in the late 1940s … [Read more...]

It’s a bit late in the day, but not too late to say happy birthday to Dizzy Gillespie fans and millions of listeners who may not be aware that much of their favorite music would not exist if John Birks Gillespie hadn’t helped bring it out of the swing era. His spirit and example, and his … [Read more...]

Bruno RÃ¥berg Trio, Tailwind (Red Piano Records) RÃ¥berg’s bass—at once relaxed and penetrating—is at the heart of a collection of his compositions. The sole piece written by someone else is Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Here’s That Rainy Day,” a feature for the leader’s seductive bowing. … [Read more...]

Michael Stephans, David Liebman, Marc Copland, Drew Gress: Quartette Oblique (Sunnyside) Opening the album, Liebman launches the familiar opening phrases of “Nardis” from his tenor saxophone, toying with them, letting each note fall away. The rhythm section soon joins him. Within seconds the … [Read more...]

The Rifftides computer has escaped days of incarceration by digital gremlins and is back at work. Thanks to the readers who sent expressions of concern. … [Read more...]

The latest problem with the Rifftides computer does not involve explosions, but it is serious enough to interfere with posting. The technical staff is working on a solution. Please bear with them. In the meantime, let's dive into the archive for something to tide us over. This choice seems … [Read more...]

It is sad to hear of the death of Jerry González, the extraordinary bandleader, trumpeter and Latin percussionist. He died of heart failure at 69 after being overcome by smoke in a fire in his home in Madrid, Spain on Monday. He had lived in Madrid since 2000. In the late 1970s, González and … [Read more...]

Petra van Nuis & Dennis Luxion, Because We’re Night People (Petra Sings) Singer van Nuis and pianist Luxion may not be household names outside of Chicago, but their taste and wide range of musicianship have them perennially in demand in the Windy City. In thirteen ballads dealing with … [Read more...]

Why? Because he was Ray Bryant (1931-2011), and a short piece from his 1956 album Ray Bryant Trio, (now retitled Cry Me A River) has been rising out of the past and repeating in my head for days. Fair warning: It may repeat in your head, too. Ray Bryant, piano; Wyatt Reuther, bass; Osie Johnson, … [Read more...]

Our blogging pace will abate for a while. I am researching and writing liner notes for Scott Robinson’s next album. In it, he returns to his first love, the tenor saxophone, leaving behind the approximately 327 other instruments that he houses on his farm. Robinson tells me that he sometimes meets … [Read more...]

This is the birthday of Monica Zetterlund (1937-2005). It may have been too long since you have seen the Swedish singer performing one of Bill Evans’ most beloved songs. We can help. She was taped in Copenhagen almost exactly 52 years ago when the Bill Evans Trio included bassist Eddie Gomez and … [Read more...]

  Ira Sabin has died at the age of 90. In 1970 he was a Washington, D.C. record store owner and former drummer who started a tabloid-sized publication called Radio Free Jazz. The tabloid grew, ten years later evolved into the magazine Jazz Times and became a major publication covering jazz … [Read more...]

The Pacific Northwest is home to a dozens of superior jazz musicians. By no means are all of them of them in Seattle and Portland, the attention-getting large cities of western Washington and Oregon. Dozens manage to find work playing in Spokane, Eugene, Bend, Yakima—and increasingly in the … [Read more...]

Rafal Sarnecki, Climbing Trees (Outside In Music) A native of Warsaw, guitarist Sarnecki moved to New York City in 2005. An adventurous—even daring—composer, he heads a sextet whose members have similar inclinations. His ten compositions here range from the agitated pointillism and serene … [Read more...]