Martin Wind, Light Blue (Laika) Martin Wind gathers a coterie of distinguished colleagues and demonstrates why for two decades he has been a mainstay bassist in the US and Europe. In settings that range from a piece inspired by “Sweet Georgia Brown” to the edge of free jazz in “Power … [Read more...]

Now that the powerful tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb has moved from Los Angeles to the Pacific Northwest, he frequently collaborates with elite Seattle-area jazz musicians. One who recently asked him to join her for an engagement is the increasingly impressive vibraharpist Susan Pascal. They … [Read more...]

Rob Clearfield, Wherever You’re Starting From (Woolgathering Records) The Chicago pianist’s low-key approach to solo piano might lead to wool-gathering that would justify the name of his label. But he bolsters the album’s harmonic depth and melodic originality by including Johannes … [Read more...]

It is a Rifftides custom to post on Presidents Day the following item, which does not change from year to year—regardless of who currently occupies the White House. # In the United States, this is Presidents Day. It falls between the birthdays of two of our greatest leaders, Abraham Lincoln … [Read more...]

Norma Winstone, Descansado: Songs For Films (ECM) In an album striking for its quietness and its daring, British vocalist Norma Winstone and her augmented trio interpret music from motion pictures. The augmentation is important; Mario Brunello’s cello and Helge Klaus Norbakken’s percussion … [Read more...]

The young veteran Washington, D.C., jazz critic Mike (aka Michael J.) West took to Facebook today to make an announcement: I am beyond thrilled to present the premiere installment of CRESCENDO IN BLUE, my new monthly jazz column for Washington City Paper. You know what deserves a dedicated column? … [Read more...]

Frequent Rifftides correspondent Svetlana Ilicheva writes from Moscow: I wonder if it is a well-known thing that Oscar Peterson sang? It was a great surprise to find this recording, not only for me but for some of my Facebook</em friends.   Nat Cole was one of Peterson’s primary … [Read more...]

Continuing to roam through Jeff Sultanof’s new book on big band jazz I am appreciating, almost as if for the first time, pieces of music that I’ve listened to for years. For instance, Sultanof’s narrative road map to Claude Thornill’s “Robbins’ Nest” emphasizes the uncanny empathy of … [Read more...]

The remarkable Woody Herman big band of the mid-1940s never made a studio recording of the roaring blues called “Red Top.” As the swing era was losing ground to bebop, the Herman First Herd blended the best of both genres. Today’s edition of Mosaic Records’ Gazette includes “Red Top” … [Read more...]

Bassist Bren Plummer’s live radio broadcast a couple of days ago (scroll down two items) prompted me to check out the KNKX-FM website. There, I found a post about another Pacific Northwest jazz luminary, alto saxophonist Brent Jensen, who was recently video-recorded in one of the station’s live … [Read more...]

Wesla Whitfield, a singer of uncommon talent, taste, musicianship and courage, died yesterday in St. Helena, California. Her husband and accompanist of more than three decades, the pianist Mike Greensill, announced her passing. She had been under treatment for bladder cancer and was recently in … [Read more...]

Short notice: I’ve learned that Seattle bassist Bren Plummer will do a live broadcast today with his quintet. At 12:15 pm PST, they will play music from Plummer’s album Moldy Figs. The band will include the prominent trumpeter Jay Thomas, vibraphonist Susan Pascal, alto saxophonist Stuart … [Read more...]

In their tour of the Czech Republic, last weekend Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra teamed with the eminent Czech pianist and composer Emil Viklický. Viklický crafted an arrangement of one of the most famous pieces by Antonin Dvo"ák (1841-1904). After Bed"ich Smetana, … [Read more...]

In the 1950s when UCLA football coach Red Sanders (pictured left) said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing,” he could not have known that his sports philosophy would be adapted to virtually every human endeavor. Being number one is the overriding aim not only in sports, but also … [Read more...]

MPS, the German label headquartered for years in the Black Forest continues its valuable reissue program with three albums from the 1960s and ‘70s, when the label attracted established artists as well as those whose renown was rising. In Tune: Oscar Peterson Trio + The Singers Unlimited … [Read more...]