[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8JqqMr36LVbCNZI0yEJPAuePVvUr9BCl"] The clock says it’s still the weekend (barely) way out west. John Marshall, the American expatriate who is the longtime principal trumpet of the WDR Big Band in Germany, sent links to performances from his recent quintet tour in … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="628fOEJJ2F4uG9Ykhb4UjCFCajpJJp5V"] Kristin Korb, Finding Home (Double K) Korb, whose singing matches the high quality of her bass playing, releases Finding Home after previewing some of its pieces this summer at the Ystad Jazz Festival in Sweden. The nine songs she … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="WVclwNI4VXqxwLh6vYkG48kpYvPaKAD7"] Joshua Redman, Trios Live (Nonesuch) Redman opens with an unaccompanied tenor saxophone introduction to “Mack the Knife.” The fluidity, power and quixotic imagination of his playing prepare his listeners for the album’s hour … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="FNodHY2VybSrXw8qt6LdYGX13rZ8flGk"] Of the dozens of young tenor saxophonists inspired by Lester Young (see the previous post), Zoot Sims (1925-1985) may have reached prominence at the youngest age. His 19th birthday was five months ahead of him when he recorded with … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="N3eGTU2upG3WofFktMzNoHEsmFl43ZeT"] Michael Cuscuna alerted us to a video on the Mosaic Records site in which Wayne Shorter tells about his only meeting with Lester Young. It was in the late 1950s, most likely 1958. Shorter had played briefly with Horace Silver before … [Read more...]

Fats Waller, piano and vocal; Gene Sedric, tenor saxophone; Heman Autrey, trumpet; Al Casey, guitar; Charles Turner, bass; Yank Porter, drums. April 8, 1936. RCA Records. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="wnRQ87WQFi6XlaR36IExVoEtZmHhb1fc"] Greg Curtis, author, former editor of Texas Monthly, former TIME magazine special correspondent, knowledgeable jazz listener and occasional Rifftides reader, writes about meeting Dexter Gordon. He encountered Gordon at a used record … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="bjLng2oAKY7tnPmLMXjbRsWIpNah37ve"] If you were not one of the four- or five-hundred people who attended pianist Benny Green’s concert at the Oregon Coast Jazz Party last weekend—or perhaps especially if you were—here’s a Rifftides listening tip. Jim … [Read more...]

This morning's cycling expedition took me through a part of the countryside I don't often explore. Now that I've found attractions like this, I'll head out there more often. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="uh2QN8YyqF5K8OZH50amMC1jDyYxelP4"] Eight years ago, when Rifftides was young, I posted this item from New York following one of the last conventions of the lamented International Association of Jazz Educators. January 19, 2006 It is impossible to predict the course … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="G2j0F1vak8QIY9AV7SshvsCy3myq4GTV"] The" Oregon Coast Jazz Party titled one segment “Saturday Morning Chamber Jazz.” In the event, most of the" weekend celebration had the character and intimacy of a chamber music festival. The proceedings began with flutist Holly … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="zYpf3EzuT61f0H275OzbnjIZYh0VCA2d"] For those in or planning to be in New York City next week, here’s a live listening tip from soprano saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and jazz educator Bill Kirchner. He writes, On Tuesday, October 7, at 8 p.m., I'll … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="rmQFoeCk1UYWMOTOOr0OStdMXM9xcikV"] In a few hours, the Rifftides staff will be hitting the road—a lot of roads—to the Oregon shore of the Pacific Ocean. The occasion is our first visit in a couple of years to the Oregon Coast Jazz Party. The compact weekend … [Read more...]

Charles Llloyd, Arrows Into Infinity (ECM) Charles Lloyd, Manhattan Stories (Resonance) The steadfastly independent saxophonist and flutist Charles Lloyd stepped out of the limelight more than once, but even when he was inactive his recordings remained in demand. Lloyd is drawing renewed … [Read more...]

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.—John Donne, The Autumnal But then fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have … [Read more...]

In most of the Northern Hemisphere, this is officially the first day of fall. In a weblog devoted primarily to jazz, it seems fitting to welcome the advent of the new season with music. The pleasant problem is that there are so many wonderful recordings of songs with autumn themes, it’s impossible … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="4dY9MWCUJx2hVkKp17XAOLYbCLBq7Rf5"] Anne Braithwaite alerted me to Kenny Wheeler’s account of how he prepared when he was searching for inspiration. The trumpeter and composer died this week. See yesterday’s Rifftides post for details. The story came from Ken … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="3h16qsoi29nhGo0KHDo5c6BrUrZd2qlK"] Kenny Wheeler, a Canadian who became a towering figure in British music and an icon of jazz musicians around the world, has succumbed to a long illness. He was in a London nursing home for several months and was moved recently to the … [Read more...]