Congratulations to George Wein, who will be honored on Thursday with an award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities. The honor comes from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities in recognition of Wein’s stewardship of the Newport Jazz Festival since 1954 and the Newport Folk Festival … [Read more...]

Vacate for a short time, and the postman brings more music than anyone could begin to listen to without abandoning sleep or risking madness. The stack of packages on the left is the accumulation of three days away. In addition, three times that number has piled up since the whaling expedition to … [Read more...]

Around the same time in 1966 that pianist Steve Kuhn made The October Suite with Gary McFarland (see the post two items down), he was one of a more or less impromptu intergenerational group. Kuhn played a college concert with two of his contemporaries, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Marty … [Read more...]

News comes of the death of Oscar Castro-Neves, one of the leading guitarists to emerge from Brazil’s bossa nova movement. As samba music moved north in the 1960s and became a powerful element in US popular music and jazz, Castro-Neves was an important player, coach, producer and catalyst. After … [Read more...]

Happy October. I can think of no better way to welcome my favorite month than to remind you of a splendid recording named for it. Gary McFarland (1933-1971) composed and arranged October Suite for the pianist Steve Kuhn. They recorded it in 1966. Almost immediately, the LP on the Impulse! label went … [Read more...]

Now that we have added pianist George Colligan’s stimulating Jazztruth to the Rifftides blogroll (the blogroll is ‘way down in the right column), the staff found a way to introduce Colligan’s playing to readers who may not be familiar with his vigor and inventiveness. He and alto saxophonist … [Read more...]

Tony Bennett/Dave Brubeck,The White House Sessions Live 1962 (Columbia/RPM/Legacy) Riding on the success of hit records, in August of ’62 Brubeck and Bennett had a good night in the shadow of the Washington Monument. They played in the Sylvan Theater for college students who had interned in the … [Read more...]

Karolina Strassmayer & Drori Mondlak—Klaro, Small Moments (Lilypad) In their third album together, their second as co-leaders, the spaciousness and delicacy of Karolina Strassmayer’s alto saxophone meld with the understated power of her husband Drori Mondlak’s drumming. The results are … [Read more...]

The video below is about the horn played by the great Duke Ellington alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (1906-1970). The voice in the commentary is that of Frank Wess, a major saxophonist of the generation following Hodges who is an active player at the age of 91. Mr. Wess explains that he owns the Vito … [Read more...]

Rifftides has been more or less dormant the past few days, for good reason. You can't blog and herd whales at the same time. Well, truth be told, we weren't herding, just watching. Several Ramseys and other folks from various parts of the world watched orcas, also known as killer whales, off the … [Read more...]

A few jazz musicians who sang on the side became so popular as vocalists that their instrumental careers all but disappeared. The brilliant and influential pianist Nat Cole (pictured left) is the most prominent example. Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae began their professional lives as pianists. Diana … [Read more...]

The new batch of Rifftides recommendations for listening, viewing and reading will appear immediately below until newer posts send them further down the queue. You will also find them under Doug's Picks in the right column. They cover CDs by two vibraphonists—one of whom has also published his … [Read more...]

Almost two years ago I disclosed with some excitement that videotape existed of portions of a television performance of Focus, the classic collaboration between Stan Getz and the brilliant composer and arranger Eddie Sauter. The Rifftides staff tracked down the clip and posted it. I hope that you … [Read more...]

. . .this is my dilemma. I’m a guy who makes things up as I go along, so nothing is ever finished; there are so many layers. So when you solo, yeah, you might get into one thing, but then, hey, everything has implications! You can hear the next level. And that’s how I feel about … [Read more...]

I wanted to be able to write for the symphony orchestra. I wanted to write for the movies. I wanted to write for television. I wanted to be able to do it with great speed, great accuracy, and that’s what I did. Jazz, to me, has to be loose. You can’t be tight. When you get too tight … [Read more...]

Response to the recent Rifftides post about courtesy titles in news stories made it clear that readers care about ethical practices affecting the news reports they read, hear and watch. A post from 2006, in the Pleistocene era of this blog, dealt with journalism ethics at large. Here it is again, … [Read more...]

Yes, yes, I know. Sonny Rollins is 83 today, and Rifftides is joining the celebration late. There is a reason but no excuse. We jump on the birthday bandwagon by bringing you Rollins playing an extended version of a tune his mother remembered from her girlhood in the Virgin Islands. "St. Thomas" has … [Read more...]