Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
Trumpeter, baritone horn player, vocalist, broadcaster and blogger Steve Provizer turns his attention this afternoon to Burt Bacharach on the songwriter’s 90th birthday. Provizer’s DuPlex program will present performances of Bachrach tunes by Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and other jazz artists.
Duplex streams live from 5 to 6 PM Eastern time at WZBC.ORG, 90.3 FM.
Todd Strait, There’ll Be Some Changes Made (Todd Strait)
Drummer Todd Strait has spent significant stretches of his career in New York and Portland and freelanced with a cross-section of world-class musicians. Having toured extensively, Strait is back in his Kansas City home territory. His first album as a leader demonstrates not only the flexibility and power of his drumming, but also the connections he has established over the years. The veteran pianist Bill Mays worked hand in glove with Strait on impressive arrangements of pieces by composers that include Beethoven (“Für Elise”), Thad Jones (“Kids Are Pretty Peopleâ€) and Wayne Shorter (“Infant Eyesâ€). Strait sings “Old Folks†in memory of his father. Mays, bassist Bob Bowman and guitarist Danny Embrey are a superb rhythm section. There are bonus contributions from guest pianist Laura Caviani and—via a charming tape recording—Strait’s daughter Naomi singing “What A Wonderful World†when she was 7.
Listen to Thomas Waller: Whatever’s bothering you, don’t let it.
Hope you’re having a happy Sunday.
Following our April 24 remembrance of Duke Ellington’s 70thbirthday party at the White House, be aware that Jim Wilke has prepared a special Ellington broadcast on his Jazz Northwest. Here is part of the Jazz Northwest alert and instructions for listening:
These unique performances combine excerpts from Shakespeare’s plays with Duke Ellington’s musical portraits of the featured characters. The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra is conducted by Michael Brockman with guest actors from The Seattle Shakespeare Company, Darragh Kennan and Hana Lass (pictured below with SRJO pianist Randy Halberstadt).
“Such Sweet Thunder” was commissioned by the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, and premiered at Town Hall in New York City in 1957. It was recorded the same year by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. To the best of our knowledge, it has never been performed with actors except by The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and Seattle Shakespeare Company, who first joined in this production in 2014.These performances were recorded at Kirkland Performance Center and Edmonds Center for the Arts on April 22 and 23, 2018.  Because of the length of the suite and the readings, highlights from the two concerts will be broadcast in two parts, May 6 and 13.  Jazz Northwest airs Sundays at 2 PM Pacific on 88.5 KNKX, and streams at knkx.org.  The concerts were recorded and produced for KNKX by host Jim Wilke.  Special thanks to the actors and to George Mount of Seattle Shakespeare for his participation and assistance.
This is the birthday of two men who had significant effects on jazz and popular music. Bing Crosby was born on May 3, 1903 in Spokane, Washington, John Lewis seventeen years later in LaGrange, Illinois shortly before his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he grew up.
Crosby became the world’s best-selling recording artist, a title he holds 40 years after his death. According to his Wikipedia biography, Crosby has sold around the world more than one billion records, tapes, CDs and digital downloads. More important, his relaxed musicianship and charm…and his movie stardom…made him him one of the most influential performers during the period when jazz and American popular music were developing more or less in tandem.
Pianist Lewis came under the influence of an aunt who exposed him to her collection of jazz
recordings. He went on to major in music and anthropology at the University of New Mexico. During Army service in World War Two, drummer Kenny Clarke, a fellow soldier, convinced Lewis to move to New York when the war ended. Both men joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1945, and Lewis later recorded with vibraharpist Milt Jackson, Clarke and bassist Ray Brown when Jackson formed his own quartet. After Percy Heath replaced Brown on bass, the group changed its name to the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Crosby and Lewis no doubt recorded many of the same songs in various contexts. Happily for our little birthday observance, the  pieces include one of the Gershwin brothers’ most charming, durable and adaptable creations.
The Crosby recording is available as part of that classic Decca Gershwin Songbook album. The Modern Jazz Quartet’s version of “But Not For Me†is on their 1953/54 Django album remastered in 2006 by the late Rudy Van Gelder.
…because of a family celebration, there will be no Monday Recommendation this week. Please accept this springtime view facing south down the Rifftides World Headquarters side street. We’re in bloom around here. (That’s Ahtanum Ridge in the background.)
New Orleans is mourning the death on Friday of Charles Neville, saxophonist and ever-smiling presence in the Neville Brothers band from 1977 to 2015. Charles was a focal point with his brothers Cyril, Art and Aaron in the family band that became one of the city’s most successful and celebrated musical groups. For years, they were a fixture of the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival. Neville died at home in Huntington, Massachusetts.He moved to New England in the 1990s, returning frequently to his hometown for performances and family reunions. In a 2011 concert at Angel Park in Williamsburg, MA, he and bassist Tyler Heydolph played Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father.â€
The close attention Neville paid to Heydolph’s solo was typical of his bandstand relationships. For more about his life and music, see New England Public Radio’s obituary.
Charles Neville, RIP.
In the aftermath of Bob Dorough’s death on Monday, increased attention is going to his extensive body of songs. Among Dorough’s greatest admirers is the Swedish trumpet player and singer Mårten Lundgren. With bassist and vocalist Helle Marstrand, pianist Sven-Erik Lundequist and drummer Espen Laub von Lillienskjod, Lundgren recorded an album of Dorough’s music and made a video version of “But For Now,†one of Dorough’s loveliest songs.
The memory of Bob Dorough is alive in Sweden.
Howard Mandel, president of the Jazz Journalists Association, just sent this welcome news:
Rifftides has been nominated for Blog of the Year in the 2018 (23rd annual) JJA Jazz Awards. Congratulations! People are reading!
Other nominees in that category are Jazz Wax by Marc Myers, Do the Math by Ethan Iverson, and Jazz Lives by Michael Steinman. Voting for the one winner (yes, a convention) is going on now — the “winner” will be announced May 7. You can see all nominees in 39 categories at JJA Jazz Awards. A Jazz Awards party is being planned for June 12 at New School Jazz premises in New York City, 4 to 7 pm.
If you are a JJA voting member, please keep us in mind.
Forty-nine years ago this evening at the White House in Washington, DC, the president of the United States hosted a party honoring Duke Ellington on his 70th birthday and presenting him with the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. The United States Information Agency produced a short film about the occasion. The soundtrack of the film is a sort of collage incorporating bits of the evening’s music. The narrator is Willis Conover of the Voice Of America, who played an essential role in putting the evening together.
It was my good fortune to be invited to the Ellington party, along with fellow writers Leonard Feather and Dan Morgenstern. I later contributed liner notes to the Blue Note album containing music played by an all-star tribute band that serenaded Ellington with many of his compositions. In the band were trumpeters Bill Berry and Clark Terry; trombonists Urbie Green and J.J. Johnson; saxophonists Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan; and the rhythm section of pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Louie Bellson. The singers were Joe Williams and Mary Mayo. From the liner notes:
Sitting behind Ellington, I heard him remark to Cab Calloway as Hinton appeared, “Look, there’s your bass player.“ Hinton hadn’t been in Calloway’s band in twenty years. When Desmond did a perfect Johnny Hodges impression during “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be,†Ellington sat bolt upright and looked astonished, a reaction that pleased Desmond when I described it. Hank Jones, Billy Taylor and Dave Brubeck played beautifully, but the hands-down winner in the piano category was the 65-year-old Earl “Fathah†Hines, who in two daring minutes of “Perdido†tapped the essence of jazz. Ellington stood up and blew him kisses. Later, Billy Eckstine, who sang with Hines’s band before he had his own, walked up to his old boss and gave him an accolade: “You dirty old man.â€
The Nixons retired after the ceremony, but the party, which included dancing, lasted until nearly 3 a.m. No one who was at the White House that night is likely to forget it.
Word has arrived that Bob Dorough died today at his home in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. He was 94.
Dorough’s greatest fame in popular culture stemmed from his central role in the enormously successful television series Schoolhouse Rock. The program informed and entertained children, and many adults, from 1973 to 1985.
Within the jazz community, Dorough was a beloved singer of literate and witty songs that he wrote and performed, usually accompanying himself as a skilled and harmonically adept pianist. In addition to his solo work, Dorough often shared appearances with Dave Frishberg. Despite their distinct personalities, the two might be considered alter-egos as pianists, composers and creators of original, sophisticated songs. Dorough had a similar relationship with Blossom Dearie. The three might be considered the New York triumvirate of hip, inside, singer-songwriters in the second half of the 1950s. Dorough’s “Comin’ Home Baby,†written with bassist Ben Tucker, was a Top-40 hit for Mel Tormé in 1962. More than two-dozen Dorough albums are in circulation. Dorough had the distinction of being one of the few singers, if not the only one, to record with trumpeter Miles Davis. His “Blue Xmas†and “Nothing Like You†were on Davis albums in the early 1960s.
Here he is peforming “Better Than Anything†with Doug Smith, his frequent bassist in later years.
Bob Dorough, RIP.
Jim McNeely, The Frankfurt Radio Big Band, Barefoot Dances and Other Visions (Planet Arts)
McNeely fortifies his position in the upper echelon of jazz arrangers in this set of new pieces for the formidable Frankfurt Radio Big Band. The album begins with his tribute to the late Bob Brookmeyer, “Bob’s Here.†Despite the dedication to the iconic player of the instrument, Christian Jaksjö manages to be himself on valve trombone. Indeed, all of the Frankfurt BB soloists—too many to name in a brief recommendation—are top-flight. Wait, I must mention the tag-team tenor saxophone work of Tony Lakatos and Steffen Weber in “Falling Upwards.†McNeely pays tribute to the arranging pioneer Don Redman, incorporating the classic Redman device of clarinet trios into “Redman Rides Again,†a piece that otherwise does not evoke the 1920s. In four other new compositions, McNeely’s writing is notable for its textures, intersecting lines across the horn sections and ingenious use of time relationships.
CATCHING UP
When albums come out of the mailbox in batches of five, six, eight a day—or more—it is possible to overlook, set aside or misplace some that are worthy of mention. Here are recommendations of a few that have languished on the shelf, some briefly, others for a while.
Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Sound Prints, Scandal (Greenleaf Music)
Years of playing together have refined the compatibility that saxophonist Lovano and trumpeter Douglas have displayed since their initial collaboration in the San Francisco Jazz Collective in 2004. Their fascination with the music of Wayne Shorter is evident in Sound Prints not only in their arrangements of two of Shorter’s best-known compositions, “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum†and “Juju,†but also in original pieces by the co-leaders. Bluesy, riff-like repeats in Douglas’s “Ups and Downs†constitute one example of Shorter’s influence. Two others are Lovano’s reflective “Full Moon†with its entwining horn lines, and the skittering energies in his short “High Noon,†a track whose solos would be welcome at greater length. Douglas’s “Libra†opens with the harmonic riches of Lawrence Field’s piano chorus. Douglas and Lovano achieve an album high point in their rich unison ensemble in that piece. Bassist Linda Han Oh and drummer Joey Baron round out the quintet. They and Fields constitute a tight rhythm section, abetted in Lovano’s “Full Sun†by Baron’s stick work and joyous cymbal splashes, Douglas’s rising swoops of high notes and Linda Oh’s crisply intoned bass solo.
Allen Toussaint, American Tunes (Nonesuch)
The late paragon of New Orleans music (1938-2015) recorded this album shortly before he died. The
playlist includes two of his pieces, including the celebrated “Southern Nights.†It also has his piano performances of compositions by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Fats Waller, Earl Hines and—perhaps to the surprise of some listeners—Bill Evans’ “Waltz For Debby.†Toussaint’s appreciation ran a wide gamut. Sidemen here can be surprising, among them guitarist Bill Frisell, saxophonist Charles Lloyd and lap steel guitarist Greg Leisz. On 19th Century New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “Danza,†Amy Shulman is at the harp. In his playing, Toussaint gives his chords a flow akin to running water. He sings one song, Paul Simon’s 1973 “American Tune.†It remains as moving as when Simon did it.
Idrees Sulieman Quartet, The 4 American Jazz Men In Tangier (Sunnyside)
Sulieman (1923-2002) was a distinctive early bebop trumpet player. His experience as a young man included McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, the Earl Hines big band, Sid Catlett and Cab Calloway. His range and flexibility allowed him later to be featured with Thelonious Monk, the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland band and Gerry Mulligan’s Concert Band. Sulieman was notable for his fluency, a kind of edgy lyricism, and the cavernous sound he achieved with a cup mute. This double CD album was recorded in Algeria at a Tangiers radio station and in a New York City studio. It features the little-recognized pianist Oscar Dennard, bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Buster Smith. Dennard’s harmonic gift triumphs over a piano that it would be kind to call adequate, but his solos are so interesting that the unfortunate instrument barely matters. Sulieman and company are particularly incisive in Charlie Parker’s “Visa.†This is a good way for anyone unfamiliar with Sulieman to learn what he was all about.
Hal Galper Quartet Featuring Jerry Bergonzi, Cubist (Origin)
In his album notes, pianist Galper writes that he was unaware of what “an interesting and unique
composer†his longtime bass-playing associate Jeff Johnson is. The three pieces that Johnson contributed to Cubist leave no doubt about his writing ability. The title tune plus “Kiwi,†“Artists†and “Scene West†give Galper, Johnson and drummer John Bishop plenty of challenging material. They make the most of it. Galper’s post-bop credentials with Cannonball Adderly, Chet Baker and Phil Woods, among others, are part of his solid history. A few years ago he began to explore the challenges and charms of time-play, rubato, bypassing strict tempo—â€stealing time,†as the Italians sometimes put it. The approach requires that all hands feel the time or non-time at the same intensity, with the same flexibility. Galper, Johnson, Bishop and tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi feel it together. “Scene West†is thirteen minutes of slowly building intensity capped by a bear-growling Johnson bass solo. Galper rounds out the album with compatible pieces not written by Johnson; Miles Davis’s “Solar,†Johnny Carisi’s “Israel,†a relaxed Ellington “In A Sentimental Mood†with another superb Johnson solo and laid-back, adventurous Bergonzi, and Galper’s own “Scufflin’,†which has stretches of Bishop in strict time that is not entirely unwelcome.
Cubist is a stimulating experience throughout.
Until the past couple of days, spring around here was a date on the calendar and a rumor. But now there are tulips in front of the house. 
And magnolia blossoms 15 feet from the kitchen window.
Next on the list was azaleas, but during my cycling expedition, there was not an azalea to be found. Then, I remembered this one:
The enlightened regular Rifftides audience doesn’t need IDs, but just in case someone new dropped by, these were the players: Louis Armstrong, trumpet and voice; Duke Ellington, piano, with drummer Danny Barcelona and bassist Mort Herbert from Armstrong’s rhythm section in 1961, when that was recorded. The album has been reissued.
Here’s a bonus, azaleas pirated from the internet.
Lilian Terry, Dizzy Duke Brother Ray And Friends (Illinois)
Lilian Terry’s book is full of anecdotes about her friendships with the musicians mentioned in the title—and dozens of others. Enjoying modest renown in Europe for her singing, Ms. Terry has also been involved in radio and television broadcasting and is a cofounder of the European Jazz Federation. Her activities brought her in close contact with Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. She conducted extensive interviews with Ray Charles, who is quoted at length on musical and racial matters. Gillespie’s roguish personality comes through clearly, as does the sincerity that shone through the graciousness with which Ellington could seem to be parodying himself. She tells a touching story of Strayhorn providing her a lyric to his “Star Crossed Lovers,†which she later sang, managing to recall Johnny Hodges’ alto saxophone solos on the piece with the Ellington band. The word “I†is prominent throughout—justifiably.
Danny GreenTrio Plus Strings, One Day It Will (OA2)
Pianist Green’s earlier album Altered Narratives put strings with his trio on three tracks. The melding with a string quartet worked nicely. One Day It Will carries the idea to album length, with excellent arrangements by Green and smooth interaction among a string quartet and the trio featuring bassist Justin Grinnell and drummer Julien Cantelm. Among many highlights: the evocative languor of Green’s “October Ballad,†Cantelm’s accents amounting to commentary behind Green’s dancing solo on “As The Parrot Flies,†Grinell’s solo on the waltz “Lemon Avenue,†the richness of Kate Hatmaker’s violin on “As The Parrot Flies.†Sound quality is superb.
Jeremy Pelt, Noir en Rouge Live In Paris (High Note)
The trumpeter and his quintet recorded Noir en Rouge in Paris during a heat wave last summer.
They were hot in more than one sense. Pelt, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Vicente Archer, drummer Jonathan Barber and percussionist Jacuelene Acevedo had established their unity and fire in the earlier Make Noise! for High Note. Now they refined their togetherness before the famously knowledgeable and appreciative audience at the Sunset-Sunside club. Pelt long since established himself as a great trumpeter, continually refining his inheritance of the Lee Morgan-Freddie Hubbard-Woody Shaw tradition. His mastery of harmonic language, trumpet technique, phrasing and the art of knowing what to leave out make his continuing artistic growth worth following. In Paris, the quintet concentrated on Pelt compositions with the exception of a slow, deeply felt performance of Parisian Michel LeGrand’s “I Will Wait For You†from the film The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. One can almost hear the audience listening. Their second or two of silence following Pelt’s final note is as much a tribute as the applause and cheers that follow.
Kairos Sextet, Transition (Dafnison Music)
The Kairos Sextet are protégés of the superb Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto, who assembled them from among his students at Miami’s Frost School of Music after he came to the US a decade ago. The group has been in demand for work supporting major players including Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano, but in Transition, they are on their own, gloriously so. Prieto’s guidance may have been essential in the band’s formation, but trumpeter Sam Neufeld, saxophonists Sean Johnson and Tom Kelley, pianist Nick Lamb, bassist Jon Dadurka and drummer Johnathan Hulett have evolved into an ensemble whose solo abilities and big collective sound put them in the first rank of contemporary groups. The pieces are original compositions by the members, except for Victor Schertzinger’s classic “I Remember You.†Kelley gives it a stirring arrangement with minor-key flavors.
The Three Sounds, Groovin’ Hard, Live At The Penthouse 1964-1968 (Resonance)
There is no excuse for my having let this album languish on the shelf all these months. It is what
upscale music magazines used to call a basic repertoire item. The Three Sounds thrived for a few years under the leadership of pianist Gene Harris. For most of the group’s existence, Andy Simpkins was the bassist and Bill Dowdy the drummer. Engineer and celebrated on-air host Jim Wilke recorded the group when he presented them in live broadcasts that became steady fare for Seattle-area listeners. The trio has sometimes been described as representative of jazz-rock, but their music was deeper and broader than the term suggests, as this album’s “Yours Is My Heart Alone,†“The Night Has A Thousand Eyes†and “The Shadow Of Your Smile†attest. It’s not just a question of repertoire, but of musicianship and the blues feeling with which Harris, Simpkins and Dowdy infused everything they played. That includes Ray Brown’s “A.M. Blues,†Toots Thielemans’ “Bluesette†and Three Sounds specialties like “Rat Down Front†and “The Boogaloo.†Kalil Madi or Carl Burnett substitute on drums for Dowdy on a few tracks and carry the torch splendidly. Resonance Records and Wilke deserve praise for preserving the music and finally releasing this album. Warning: It could make you decide to dust off your 1960s boogaloo moves.
Leave it to readers to keep the Rifftides staff up to date. Otherwise, it might have skipped my attention that this is Denny Zeitlin’s 80th birthday. As you will momentarily see and hear, Zeitlin has retained the vigor and style that have helped keep him one of the most consistently interesting pianists of his generation; indeed, of any generation. In one of his recent annual concerts at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, California, Zeitlin featured works of Thelonious Monk. Here, he introduces one of Monk’s best-known compositions and explains its geneology.
Happy birthday, Dr. Zeitlin.
Dr? Yes, he is a psychiatrist. Ripostes about that conjunction of professions probably won’t be new, but all comments will be considered.
Thanks to Bret Primack for the video.
Oscar Peterson Plays (Verve)
In this five-CD reissue, the formidable pianist plays pieces by ten composers who dominated American popular music for decades. Peterson had bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Barney Kessel, succeeded by Herb Ellis. It’s the trio that made Peterson famous with Jazz At The Philharmonic and–by way of the 10 albums reproduced here–on juke boxes and radio stations everywhere, when jazz was popular music. Among the songwriters are Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans and Richard Rogers. Peterson’s playing is exquisite, his support by Brown, Kessel and Ellis impeccable, the melodies precious to generations. The tracks tend to average three minutes or so. To single out just two performances, “Blue Skies†from the Berlin collection is impossibly fast and impossibly relaxed, Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady†is a tribute to a Peterson idol that verges on prayerfulness.
There is only one reason to bring you Manny Albam’s “Poor Dr. Millmossâ€â€”it is a delight. It’s
from the first of two Jazz Greats Of Our Time sessions that the prolific composer and arranger (pictured) recorded in the 1950s—one with star east coast musicians, the other with some of the most prominent west coast players. Albam made the east coast “Millmoss†in New York in 1957 with Gerry Mulligan, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, Nick Travis, Art Farmer, Osie Johnson, Milt Hinton and Hank Jones. In the video, the soloists are identified by name, for which Erlendur Svavarsson, who posted the track, deserves great credit. (Photo: Monk Rowe)
Manny Albam was a fan of James Thurber’s work in general and, in particular, of what may be Thurber’s most famous New Yorker cartoon. If you weren’t around in 1934, or you don’t know about Dr. Millmoss, or the name James Thurber means nothing to you, click here.
A Spanish company has put both of Albam’s Jazz Greats recordings on CD. I haven’t heard the reissue and cannot comment on the remastering quality. The sound of the original Coral LPs was excellent.
