Dave Brubeck's new pacemaker seems to be working. Here's a headline from this morning's Worcester (MA) Telegram-Gazette: Brubeck makes up-tempo return Ticker repaired, pianist keeps beat To read a review of Friday night's concert in Worcester, go here. We have found no explanation of why Chris Smith … [Read more...]

Pianist Jack Reilly's recital at the Johns Hopkins Medicine Center in Baltimore on November 9 paid musical tribute to the memory of the doctor who saved his life. The concert of Reilly's original work was recorded. To see and hear it, click here. Thanks to the folks at Johns Hopkins for providing … [Read more...]

Dave Brubeck's 90th birthday is on December 6. Observances are beginning. This weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra under music director William Schrickel will play a celebratory concert with three pieces by Brubeck. They include one of his first extended orchestral … [Read more...]

Correspondence from Bill Kirchner, saxophonist, composer, arranger, teacher, author, broadcaster (does this guy sleep?): Recently, I taped my next one-hour show for the "Jazz From The Archives" series. Presented by the Institute of Jazz Studies, the series runs every Sunday on WBGO-FM (88.3). After … [Read more...]

It happens now and then: I am tied up on deadline for an article that demands extensive research. The Rifftides staff reports that there is no stash of shelf material, a serious breach of preparedness. They will be reprimanded. In a life misspent in journalism I have been conditioned to find dead … [Read more...]

This is neither the anniversary of Danny Barker's birth (January 13, 1909) nor of his death (March 13, 1994). I need no special occasion to write about Danny. He was born in New Orleans, where I served with him on the board of the original New Orleans JazzFest and was lucky enough to become his … [Read more...]

A couple of days ago, I called a company for technical support. A well-spoken young woman answered. She did not put me on hold, dump me into voice-mail hell, pass me along to a robot or connect me with someone in Bangladesh. In about three minutes, she analyzed the problem and provided a solution. … [Read more...]

I should have long since added Chris Albertson's Stomp Off blog to the Personal Jazz Sites roll under Other Places at the of the middle column. It is hereby added. For your first Albertson fix, I recommend that you take in his latest entry. It has to do with a jam session he recorded in Copenhagen … [Read more...]

Bob McChesney writes: I put up a little video of me demonstrating the first trombone part to "I Love You" live. To hear, and read along with, McChesney playing that line and three harmony parts, go to this Rifftides archive post. … [Read more...]

Jazz as an academic discipline has made huge strides in colleges and universities, even in high schools and middle schools. Students can major in jazz studies in music departments where 40 years ago they would have been suspended for jamming in practice rooms. The University of North Texas, Indiana … [Read more...]

Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.—Oscar Wilde Jazz is like writing. It can be learned but not taught.—Paul Desmond … [Read more...]

An Occasional Series Jenney is famous for eight-bars of trombone improvisation on Artie Shaw's 1940 recording of "Stardust." Several months earlier with his own band, he played a full-length solo on this little-known version of Hoagy Carmichael's classic song. … [Read more...]

Recommendations in the center column, under Doug's Picks: CDs by a trumpeter, a bassist and an arranger A DVD documenting the birth of a piano A book of stories about a brass phenomenon … [Read more...]

Pianist Jack Reilly will be at the Johns Hopkins Medicine Center in Baltimore today to pay musical tribute to the memory of the doctor who saved his life. For details, go here. … [Read more...]

Rifftides reader Don Frese recommended this item from Bill Crow's "The Band Room" column in Allegro, the newspaper of New York Local 802 of the American Federation of musicians. The late British tenor man and club owner Ronnie Scott once told me that he was standing one day on the platform of a tube … [Read more...]

The November 4 post below and coverage elsewhere about James Moody's illness generated so much concern that it has created a problem in the Moody household. Here is part of a message from Moody's wife Linda. Would you mind posting that people should leave Moody messages on Facebook? Our computers … [Read more...]

The news about James Moody is not good. He has been aware of it for some time, but kept it private until this week. No one who knows him will be surprised that he is at peace with the decision he has made. Here is the first paragraph of George Varga's story in The San Diego Union Tribune. Jazz … [Read more...]

As noted in a Rifftides review last week, record companies from abroad often come to the United States to make CDs of American musicians. Conversely, it is not unusual for Americans to record when they are touring overseas. Either way, some of the best work of US artists is done for labels that … [Read more...]

At 7:45 pm PDT, 97 trick-or-treaters—and counting. Boo From Pennies From Heaven (1936) … [Read more...]