In all honesty, I think I just played what I felt was right for me. And I think I would have done the same thing, even if I'd been born later, when Charlie Parker was influencing everybody. The truth is, I never gave it much thought. I just played what I had to play. At my age, I realize that my … [Read more...]

Four times a year, Mr. JazzWax, Marc Myers, posts ten select items from his blogs of the previous quarter. This time, two of the ten are excerpts from the discussion he and I had about Paul Desmond. To see the winners in the JazzWax sweepstakes, click here. … [Read more...]

It was a lucky break that The Philadelphia Inquirer's Dan DeLuca did a column about a new CD in tribute to the pioneering guitarist Lonnie Johnson. Here is some of the piece: "I honestly do not think there was anyone else who crossed the line between being an idiomatic blues musician who was able … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Debra Kinzler writes: I would like to let you know about a concert to take place at New York's Manhattan School of Music. On April 1 Bobby Sanabria, the MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz orchestra and Candido Camero will be giving the first-ever live performance of Machito & The … [Read more...]

Sam McManis, The Sacramento Bee's arts blogger, recently posted an item about an interview with violinist Regina Carter. His piece is a tip of the hat to public radio producer Paul Conley, who frequently does stories about jazz musicians. To read a lovely story about Carter's reaction to winning a … [Read more...]

Patti Bown died last Friday in a Pennsylvania nursing home, little known not only to the general public but also to many jazz listeners. Despite her talent as a pianist, Miss Bown never became celebrated to the degree that she might have. That was for reasons at least partly to do with her … [Read more...]

The virtuoso percussionist Paoli Mejias and his quintet erupted Saturday night in the sedate surroundings of The Seasons. No one was hurt in the explosion; quite the opposite, we all left feeling better. Most of the repertoire was from Mejias's CD Transcend, which features Latin stars Miguel Zenón, … [Read more...]

ROD LEVITT, in Solid Ground (RCA Victor), toots his trombone at the head of a lively seven-man band in a parade of his own compositions...The band irreverently slices "Rio Rita" into a jazzy jigsaw puzzle.--TIME, June 3, 1966 I liked his playing and his writing, and always appreciated his sunny … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Charles Landy wrote:  Enjoy your blog immensely. Bought 3 Rod Levitt LPs on e-bay recently and found them (especially Insight) just as rewarding as you suggested. Have some Billy Byers and some other perhaps (to many jazz fans of recent vintage) lesser known musicians like … [Read more...]

Newscaster on CNN, covering the fallen crane in New York City:   Since it was Saturday, there was less people in the streets. … [Read more...]

I raved from the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival about a performance of a solo piano piece written by Frederic Rzewski.    Darcy James Argue (seen here), on his blog Secret Society, also raves about Rzewski. Here are the first two sentences from his review of a recital of Rzewski's music. … [Read more...]

Just wanted you to know that FINALLY we have a website. It's still in formation and we welcome any suggestions. It was created by Brian Chauley, former Fellow at Brubeck Institute and now assistant to the Exec. Director. We hope to do more by the addition of a newsletter and more photographs, and … [Read more...]

Well, English usage fans, you are not alone. Our item the other day on needless, overused or just plain annoying words and phrases encouraged a torrent of them from you. To revisit the original piece and see the responses so far, click here. You'll have to scroll up to get to the … [Read more...]

There has been a lot of attention the past few days to a study at Johns Hopkins Medicine on what happens in the brain when jazz musicians improvise. One of the conclusions by Dr. Charles Limb, one of the researchers, who is also a saxophonist: Jazz is often described as being an extremely … [Read more...]

If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes. -- Pablo Picasso I never sit down and write. I just sorta let things form in my brain. -- Mose Allison … [Read more...]

Friends who loved Dennis Irwin and listeners who admired him came forward with help when his cancer and lack of health insurance became known in January. But the bassist died in New York City Monday shortly before the biggest of several benefits for him. He was fifty-six. Details of Irwin's life and … [Read more...]

What with remaking Rifftides, traveling, speechifying, spring planting and taking out the garbage (boy, I miss Lennie Bruce), new picks have had to wait. No more. There they are, in the middle column. … [Read more...]

From the second section of Strunk and White's English usage bible The Elements Of Style:   Omit needless words. Harold Ross, the founding editor of The New Yorker, wrote in a memo to his staff, "The next writer around here who uses 'upcoming' will be outgoing." That's a good word to put … [Read more...]

And then when I went to Chicago, that's when I had these outer space experiences and went to the other planets. -- Sonny Blount (Sun Ra) ...even if this story is revisionist autobiography ... Sonny was pulling together several strains of his life. He was both prophesying his future and explaining … [Read more...]