Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Compatible Quotes: John Coltrane

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My music is the spiritual expression of what I am — my faith, my knowledge, my being...When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups...I want to speak to their souls. Sometimes I wish I … [Read more...]

Other Matters: Those Sibelius Harmonies

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I’ve been listening—over and over—to Jean Sibelius’s “Voces Intimae,” his String Quartet in D-minor. The great Finnish composer (1865-1957) wrote it in 1909 when he was 44 years old. He had completed his Third Symphony and was well on his way out of the romanticism that … [Read more...]

Compatible Quotes: Jean Sibelius

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If I could express the same thing with words as with music, I would, of course, use a verbal expression. Music is something autonomous and much richer. Music begins where the possibilities of language end. That is why I write music. Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has … [Read more...]

We Musn’t Forget Japan

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The jazz community has not forgotten the victims of Japan’s disastrous March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Following a flurry of April concerts to benefit the victims, the efforts continue. Vitello’s, the Los Angeles jazz club, hosts its next installment later this month, with Sue Raney, Tom … [Read more...]

Pre-July 4th Listening Tip: All-American Music

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Tomorrow, as you marinate your hot dogs and chill your beer in preparation for the Fourth of July, you have the opportunity to be entertained by the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra performing classic Americana. Here is the announcement from the SRJO and Jim Wilke: With Bill Ramsay … [Read more...]

Other Matters: Journalism Today

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Journalism is an “other matter” (see the subtitle of the blog) that I think about constantly but write about too seldom. The news business has occupied most of my working life. Seeing it change for the worse is more than a matter of professional interest. The freedom and quality of the flow of … [Read more...]

Lena Horne

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Lena Horne died a little more than a year ago. Yesterday, she would have been 94. Ms. Horne's varied gifts launched her into a career as a massively successful general entertainer. But her jazz roots went deep, and she never forgot where she came from, as she demonstrated in this performance of her … [Read more...]

Listen Up: New Recommendations

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The Rifftides staff has done exhaustive auditioning, winnowing and selecting from among hundreds of CDs, DVDs and books hoping to be chosen. The result: a new batch of recommendations. They are compact discs by a pianist and a trumpeter who love Mingus, musical portraits of the seven deadly sins, a … [Read more...]

From The Archives: Clifford Brown

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Clifford Brown died on this date in 1956. If he had lived, he would be 80. We will never know what glories he would have added to those he had achieved at the age of 26. Here is what I wrote on the 50th anniversary of his death. Fifty years ago today at The Seattle Times, as I ripped copy … [Read more...]

Weekend Extra: Bill Perkins

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Bill Perkins (1924-2003) was the archetype of the creative musician incapable of letting his style freeze in place. To borrow the phrase coined by his initial inspiration Lester Young, Perkins refused to be a “repeater pencil.” He was with Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, Zoot Sims, Richie Kamuca, Al … [Read more...]

The New NEA Jazz Masters

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The National Endowment for the Arts today named the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters. As announced in the NEA's news release, the winners are: Jack DeJohnette, Drummer, Keyboardist, Composer (born in Chicago, IL; lives in Willow, NY) Von Freeman, Saxophonist (born in Chicago, IL; lives in … [Read more...]

Bob Flanigan

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More than one Rifftides reader has taken me to task for posting nothing about the death of Bob Flanigan, the original lead singer of the vocal-instrumental group The Four Freshmen. Flanigan died on May 15 at his home in Las Vegas. He was 84. As if to validate the group, many of his obituaries … [Read more...]

Other Places: Hot Lips Page & A Real Record Store

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HOT LIPS PAGE Speaking of quasi-forgotten trumpeters of the 1930s and ‘40s (see the Benny Carter item in the previous exhibit), in his current post, blogger and frequent Rifftides correspndent Bruno Leicht highlights Hot Lips Page. Here’s some of what he writes about that musician of … [Read more...]

Benny Carter, Trumpeter

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Benny Carter (1907-2003) is indelibly identified as a master of the alto saxophone, to the point where many listeners new to his work don’t know that he was also one of the great trumpet soloists of the 1930s. He gave up the horn for several years, concentrating on alto sax, composing and … [Read more...]

Other Matters: Cycling Shots

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Don Emanuel, David Evans and other Rifftides readers have encouraged me to continue posting photographs made during bicycle expeditions. Okay. Maybe they are a welcome diversion. I tore myself away for a 15-miler this afternoon and paused at the top of a long, steep hill because my legs told me … [Read more...]

Stewart Plays Bryant

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Reaction to the death of Ray Bryant keeps coming in. Dubliner Colm (Red) O’Sullivan writes from Rio de Janeiro, where he is immersing himself in Brazilian music. He alerts us to video of a fellow Irishman, guitarist Louis Stewart, playing a Bryant composition. Stewart has been an important player … [Read more...]

The JJA Awards

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The staff is back at Rifftides world headquarters after joining other Jazz Journalists Association members for the JJA’s 2011 award event. We assembled on Saturday at Egan’s Ballard Jam House in Seattle to watch the ceremony by satellite feed from New York. It was one of several satellite … [Read more...]