The problems that took the Rifftides computer out of action a few days ago were resolved when I replaced it with a newer model. Then, attempts to post new items derailed in an onslaught of password problems involving the publishing platform. That has been fixed, too——I think. Perhaps any … [Read more...]

Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dee Dee’s Feathers (Okeh) Dee Dee Bridgewater is strong medicine, fully a match for the powerful New Orleans repertoire she performs here. Slinking and seducing her way through Harry Connick, Jr.’s “One Fine Thing,” finding joy and irony in “Saint James … [Read more...]

Mark Murphy died last night in his sleep following a long illness. He was 83. Murphy’s eagerness to take artistic chances combined with his innate musicianship to make him one of the most interesting singers in jazz. He died at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Born in … [Read more...]

This may come a tad late as news but not too late—I trust—for enjoyment. Last spring, Sullivan Fortner won the Cole Porter Fellow In Jazz award of the American Pianists Association. Fortner is a 28-year-old New Orleanian who attracted favorable notice as the pianist in trumpeter Roy … [Read more...]

Today was chock-full of interviewing, transcribing, researching and, in general, preparing to write liner notes for a new Don Friedman trio album. The research included diving into books, rummaging through the web for additional information and—best of all—listening to Friedman play the … [Read more...]

The nearly infinite flexibility of English makes the language universally useful and often confusing. Seeing the word for the first time, who would know how to pronounce “Arkansas?” Imagine that you had never heard “colonel,” “sword” or “Wednesday.” How would you say them? The … [Read more...]

On Yahoo’s Dave Brubeck listserve, John Bolger called attention to an unsual version of Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo ala Turk.” It is by the Dutch ensemble Fuse—five string players and a percussionist. According to the group’s website, like many young bands today they play in a variety of … [Read more...]

Last weekend, pianist Bill Mays wrapped up a tour of the west with his Inventions Trio, which includes trumpeter and flugelhornist Marvin Stamm and cellist Alisa Horn. Longtime collaborators in several projects, Mays and Stamm also played a duo concert in The Seattle Art Museum’s Art of Jazz … [Read more...]

This seems to be the season for a new round of films based, more or less, on the lives of jazz trumpet players. See the October 11 Rifftides post about Don Cheadle as Miles Davis. The latest entry in the category is Born To Be Blue, which was screened yesterday and today in special presentations at … [Read more...]

Miles Ahead, the movie, opened today at the New York Film Festival. Veteran actor Don Cheadle directed the film, which stars him in the title role (pictured). Since it became known months ago that the motion picture was in the works, speculation has been rampant about its faithfulness to Davis’s … [Read more...]

Bill Kirchner, An Evening Of Indigos (JazzHeads) Soprano saxophonist and composer Kirchner’s concert in New York a year ago has appeared in its entirety as an album. Kirchner overcame daunting physical problems to be able to play the concert—indeed, to be able to play at all. Throughout … [Read more...]

This weekend, The Seasons Performance Hall in Yakima, Washington, marks its 10th anniversary with two concerts by pianist Bill Mays, the hall’s first performer. In its early years the decommissioned Christian Science Church, an acoustic marvel, was dedicated to presenting classical music and jazz. … [Read more...]

Returning from a weekend reunion of classmates, I drove through the Cascade Mountains as the deciduous trees on Blewett Pass were beginning their glorious fall display… …which inspired thoughts of this: Now Comes The Recommendation, A Twofer Out of the mountains, headed east … [Read more...]

At last count, there were 5,276 jazz tunes based on the harmonic structure of “I Got Rhythm.” Like so many statistics, that one is invented; I have no idea how many “Rhythm” knockoffs there are. They started coming not long after George and Ira Gershwin (pictured) wrote the song for the 1930 … [Read more...]

Phil Woods died today, less than a month after he announced his retirement from playing. He was 83. Woods’ longtime drummer Bill Goodwin told me this afternoon that the veteran alto saxophonist “went out on his own terms,” electing to stop treatment for the emphysema that for years … [Read more...]

Here it is nearly the close of Bud Powell’s birthday and I’ve had my nose too close to the grindstone to take note of it. He would have been 91 today. If I had to choose one recording by Powell to celebrate all that he bequeathed us, it might be “Un Poco Loco” from 1951, with Curley Russell … [Read more...]

The Seasons performance hall in Yakima, Washington, kicked off its new jazz series last night with drummer Louis Hayes and his Cannonball Adderley Legacy band. The Hayes quintet is dedicated to interpreting the music of Adderley (1928-1975 ) and his cornetist brother Nat (1931-2000). Alto … [Read more...]

Blogging has slowed a bit while I work on a few writing projects. One of them involves notes for an album by the veteran Czech pianist Emil Viklický. It’s a collection of duets with a countryman, the young trumpeter, composer and arranger Miroslav Hloucal. Hloucal is little known outside of the … [Read more...]

This is the last day of summer. It would be wrong to let the season get away without a proper sendoff. There are, of course, countless recorded versions of the George Gershwin song from Porgy & Bess that gave summer its own anthem. The recording unanimously chosen by the Rifftides staff is from a … [Read more...]