James Moody, 4B (IPO). According to the evidence on this CD due for release in early August, Moody at 85 is undiminished in energy, endurance, chops and harmonic imagination. In the companion to last year's 4A, the winner of the JJA's 2010 lifetime achievement award moves at deliberate speed— … [Read more...]

Fred Anderson, who exemplified the Chicago avant garde as a tenor saxophonist and as a club owner gave it work, has died at 81. The Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich followed Anderson's career. He writes in the newspaper: His was a rigorous, demanding brand of jazz improvisation that bridged the bebop … [Read more...]

Tom Varner, Heaven and Hell (Omnitone). When Varner moved from New York to Seattle in 2005, he left behind none of his French horn virtuosity, compositional skill or avant-garde daring. Heaven and Hell is his meditation on changes in the world and in his life since the 9/11 attack, and on the … [Read more...]

The following news release arrived late yesterday: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today announced the recipients of the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award--the nation's highest honor in this distinctly American music. For the first time in the program's 29-year history, in addition to four … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Deborah Hendrick e-mailed the following question: I have noticed that when talking about Louis Armstrong, musician Wynton Marsalis carefully, almost deliberately, pronounces "Louis" as Lou-iss, not Lou-ee, which is how I usually hear the name. How did Armstong pronounce his name? He … [Read more...]

Fellow artsjournal.com blogger Larry Blumenfeld is in The Wall Street Journal with a piece about Herbie Hancock. His article addresses the pianist and composer's latest excursion into the arena of popular music in which he won a Grammy a couple of years ago. In fame and societal impact, Hancock has … [Read more...]

As long as the YouTube benefactor in Holland keeps posting new segments from that 1972 Dave Brubeck concert in Rotterdam, Rifftides will keep bringing them to you. The piece that just popped up, "Someday My Prince Will Come," was a staple in the classic Brubeck quartet's repertoire before it … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff could think of no more appropriate way to observe the holiday than with Earl "Fathah" Hines (1903-1983). Here he is at the Berlin Piano Jazz Workshop in 1965 with Niels Henning Ørsted-Pedersen on bass and an unidentified drummer who looks like Alan Dawson. The piece is Eubie … [Read more...]

The Rifftides blogroll, known as Other Places, has been a hodge-podge. The staff finally slumped into action and arranged it into categories. We added a few entries and deleted some that died or became inactive. It's a work in progress, but at least it's easier to navigate now. Oh, you want to know … [Read more...]

Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes, Double Portrait (Blue Note). When Charlap and Rosnes married in 2007, it was logical to expect that an album of duets would follow. Now, it's here, the collaboration of two of the most complete pianists in any genre of music. Considerations of domestic compatibility … [Read more...]

Over on JazzWax, Marc Myers has performed a public service by posting a fascinating account of the life of the gifted alto saxophonist Joe Maini (1930-1964). The piece addresses not only Maini's musicianship but also the inaccuracy of lingering reports about how he died. Marc enlists Maini's … [Read more...]

Two more pieces have emerged from the Dutch YouTube contributor who is posting segments of a remarkable Dave Brubeck concert in Rotterdam in 1972. The core unit was the Brubeck trio with bassist Jack Six and drummer Alan Dawson. Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan were the guest saxophonists on the … [Read more...]

Rifftides began life on June 15, 2005 with this item: Launching Rifftides Today is the first day of this new web log about jazz and, as its subtitle proclaims, other matters. At the top of the center column you will find a sort of manifesto, below that information about the proprietor. Farther down … [Read more...]

At the Jazz Journalists Association awards ceremony in New York today, James Moody was honored for his lifetime achievement in jazz. Vijay Iyer was named musician of the year. Joe Lovano won in three categories; record of the year, small ensemble of the year and tenor saxophonist of the year. Maria … [Read more...]

To my surprise, on the rare occasions when I divert from the main topic and post illustrated accounts of cycling excursions, Rifftides readers ask for more. Okay. This morning my Italian friend Vigorelli Bianchi took me 35 miles through farmland, orchard country and high desert. It is difficult with … [Read more...]

The latest Doug's Picks appear in the center column. They are: • CDs by two fiery alto saxophonists and a satisfying singer • A concert DVD by the man who first poured jazz into a tenor sax • A book that considers the shallowness of so much of the news we watch, hear and read—and what … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff is feverishly preparing a new batch of Doug's Picks. (Well, all right, langorously preparing.) In the meantime, part three of that 1972 Brubeck concert in Rotterdam has appeared. If you have missed the previous installments, it's the Brubeck Trio with Jack Six, bass, and Alan … [Read more...]

The YouTube contributor who posted the Dave Brubeck-Paul Desmond-Gerry Mulligan "All The Things You Are" video we brought you last month promised that there would be more. He is as good as his word. The piece that Brubeck announces seems likely to be from his 1972 oratorio Truth Is Fallen, or in … [Read more...]

Manfred Eicher's ECM label, still celebrating the 40th anniversary it observed late last year, has reissued some of its landmark recordings. Many of them are on CD for the first time. Over the decades, ECM has achieved nearly infallible sound reproduction of a broad and eclectic range of musicians … [Read more...]