Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

On Not Learning To Say No

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In a moment of enthusiasm or weakness, I agreed to give a speech. The deadline is looming, and if I don't set aside other things and prepare, a large roomful of listeners will be hearing me read my driver's license. Blogging will have to slow for a while. As it turns out, this isn't a bad time for … [Read more...]

Correspondence: Russell Followup

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Marc Myers writes. Wonderful post on George Russell. Hal McKusick told me a great story re: where he found Russell in the mid-1950s and how he brought him back onto the scene. "Not long afterward I walked into a drugstore in Greenwich Village. There, behind the counter working was George Russell. I … [Read more...]

George Russell And Billy The Kid

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In 1966 on Jazz Review on WDSU-FM in New Orleans, I devoted five programs to a survey of George Russell's music. It opened with these words: Over the next few weeks we're going to consider the recorded work of George Russell, not only because Russell's music is interesting, absorbing listening, but … [Read more...]

February Picks

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Next door -- that is, in the right-hand column -- you will find recommended new listening, viewing and reading under the heading Doug's Picks. Your comments are always welcome. For now, please use the e-mail address, also in the right-hand column, under Contact. … [Read more...]

CD: Herbie Hancock

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Herbie Hancock, River, The Joni Letters (Verve). Without its cadre of vocalists, Hancock's tribute to Joni Mitchell would not have received a Grammy nomination or widespread critical attention. In varying degrees, Mitchell, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Luciana Souza and Corinne Bailey Rae do justice to … [Read more...]

CD: Gambarini And Jones

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Roberta Gambarini and Hank Jones, Lush Life (55 Records). With a new collaboration of the Italian singer and the American pianist about to be released, it is past time to tell you about this one. Gambarini and Jones are all but flawless in this collection of classic songs and two jazz standards, … [Read more...]

CD: Stu Pletcher

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Stu Pletcher, The Story Of Stewart Pletcher (Jazz Oracle). Stu Pletcher is not a household name. Even in the 1920s and '30s when he played in popular bands led by Ben Pollack, Smith Ballew and Red Norvo, he was not a household name. Nonetheless, he was a splendid cornet and trumpet soloist who … [Read more...]

DVD: Benny Carter

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Benny Carter, Symphony In Riffs (Rhapsody Films). This documentary was made several years before the death in 2003 of the great saxophonist, trumpeter, clarinetist, arranger, composer and occasional vocalist. It tells Carter's story from early development as a prodigy through his crucial … [Read more...]

Book: Gary Giddins

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Gary Giddins, Weather Bird: Jazz At The Dawn Of Its Second Century (Oxford). I take my time getting through Giddins's big compilations of his columns, reviews and essays. This one was beside my bed for a couple of years. I savored it a piece at a time, enjoying insights like this about Erroll … [Read more...]

The Bruno Letters, Part 2

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From time to time I'll be posting parts of letters I wrote to Jack Brownlow over a period of twenty-five years or so. To my surprise, after his death a collection of them showed up among his effects. I had forgotten much of what I wrote him in our correspondence. This excerpt from New Orleans was on … [Read more...]

Comment Procedure

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There is a temporary change in the method of posting comments to Rifftides. Until further notice, please send your comments in the form of e-mail to the contact address in the right hand column. For months the Rifftides comments function has been invaded by spammers. Some days we have been assaulted … [Read more...]

Weekend Extra: Jazz Before Lincoln Center

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Decades before there was Lincoln Center, much less Jazz At Lincoln Center, the midtown Manhattan area encompassing Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill was a jazz incubator. New York Times reporter John Strausbaugh's video report on that piece of cultural history includes cameos by JALC curator Phil … [Read more...]

Compatible Quotes

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I object to background music no matter how good it is. Composers want people to listen to their music, they don't want them doing something else while their music is on. I'd like to get the guy who sold all those big businessmen the idea of putting music in the elevators, for he was really clever. … [Read more...]

Lambert, Evans and Bird

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Mr. Jazz Wax has a two-part conversation with Hal McKusick about Charlie Parker's 1953 recording with Dave Lambert's vocal group and a chamber ensemble put together by Gil Evans. McKusick played clarinet. The project turned out to be a bit of a mess but, as McKusick explains, not because of … [Read more...]

CDs: Recent Listening

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Joel Miller, Tantramar (ArtistShare). The Canadian saxophonist and composer, summoning up scenes from his New Brunswick boyhood, pulls off the neat trick of creating pleasant sketches that have depth. The swagger of Miller's tenor sax soloing and the complexity of the intertwining sextet lines he … [Read more...]

Dennis Irwin Needs Help

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Dennis Irwin, the stalwart bassist of The Vanguard Orchestra and hundreds of recordings, has cancer and no medical insurance. Irwin is fifty-six years old. Friends and admirers are organizing a series of benefits for him, beginning next Sunday following the Super Bowl. It will begin at 10 pm at the … [Read more...]

Correspondence: Jazz Poetry

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The Rifftides discussion earlier this month about jazz and poetry brought this response from Angela J. Elliott in England. Jazz poetry is not dead and it doesn't smell funny either. Well, at least it seems that way in the USA. There appears to still be an interest in it beyond the hip hop and rap … [Read more...]

The Bruno Letters, Part 1

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A favorite story about Al Cohn: A friend who hadn't seen him for a long time ran into Cohn on the street in New York and said, "Hey, Al, where are you living these days?" "Oh," Al said, "I'm living in the past." I've been having a couple of Al Cohn days. As executor of the estate of Jack Brownlow, … [Read more...]