Departure for Sweden is delayed a day. Let's use the pause to mention some of what I'm looking forward to at the Ystad Jazz Festival, in addition to the charming medieval town itself. We don't have time for more than a couple of mentions and preview videos, but I must tell you that I'm anticipating my first live performance by the Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson. The video was made of part of her quartet gig aboard a boat, the s/s Blidösund. We're not told the name of the body of water or the … [Read more...]
Two Pianists, Miwa And Reitan
Recent Listening In Brief Preparing to leave for Sweden to report on the Ystad Jazz Festival, we call your attention to two of the dozens of piano trio recordings that have appeared fairly recently. Yoko Miwa Trio, Keep Talkin' (Ocean Blue Tear Music) A professor at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, pianist Miwa has become a featured performer in Boston and New York clubs. Her playing and composing reflect influences in the post-bop and hard-bop milieus of the 1950s and later, but … [Read more...]
Coming Back
The time-consuming non-Rifftides project we told you about earlier this month has wrapped up and we are moving on to other matters. When certain permissions have been approved, that project's overseers will announce it. I think it's safe to predict that many of you will be pleased to know about it. Among impending commitments: we will be covering the 2019 Ystad Jazz Festival in Sweden. It has been a couple of years since Rifftides has been to Ystad, which hosts one of Europe's most … [Read more...]
Recent Listening In Brief
Bob Sheppard, The Fine Line (Challenge) The veteran saxophonist and flutist Bob Sheppard has worked with a cross-section of other major jazz artists including Freddie Hubbard, Billy Childs and the Akiyoshi-Tabackin big band. He has also been a major player in the film and television studios of Los Angeles. All of that activity may account for Sheppard's not having achieved greater fan recognition. The Fine Line could change that. Sheppard's alto, soprano and--particularly--the fluidity and … [Read more...]
In The Meantime…
Rifftides is taking a break because the staff is at work on an extensive freelance writing assignment. The assigner is awaiting clearances of various kinds, so I cannot disclose the nature of the project. Suffice it to say that many readers are likely to find it of interest. When final permissions are granted, the silence will break. In the meantime, thanks to a friendly alert from the proprietor of Jazz On The Tube, let's enjoy Clark Terry and an all-star band at the 1977 Montreux Jazz … [Read more...]
Joao Gilberto Is Gone At 88
The man often called the founding father of bossa nova, died today at home in Rio de Janeiro. Joao Gilberto was 88. Along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto pioneered the form that became a phenomenon of popular music in the early 1960s. With varying degrees of authenticity, bossa nova was adapted by performers around the world. It sprang from traditions of Brazilian music that reached far into Brazil's history and reflected aspects of American music that in the fifties and sixties was often … [Read more...]
Recent Listening In Brief: George Cables Is All Smiles
George Cables, I'm All Smiles (High Note) When George Cables was the pianist in the late saxophonist Art Pepper's quartet, Pepper gave him a nickname that has endured: "Mr. Beautiful." Anyone coming to Cables for the first time by way of this superb trio album will have no difficulty understanding what inspired Pepper's choice of words. Whether in his unaccompanied version of Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Mood," or waltzing through the title tune, Cables is at the top of his optimistic game. He … [Read more...]
Recent Listening In Brief (Very Brief)
New jazz albums seem to appear every hour on the hour, and the best a struggling young blog can do is notify you when something catches the ears of the staff. We'll mention a couple of new releases, realizing that it's impossible to hear…much less review…everything the postman and the delivery service leave at the Rifftides door. Peter Furlan Project, Between The Lines (Beany Bops Music) Furlan is a New York area saxophonist who leads a mid-sized band of experienced players. Their years of … [Read more...]
Help For Dave Frishberg
Pianist, singer and songwriter Dave Frishberg has suffered medical setbacks that have led him and his wife April to seek help in meeting his long-term health care needs. We cannot provide details about his condition but, now in his mid-eighties, Frishberg has had more than his share of problems in recent years. A fund-raising system has been set up for Frishberg admirers who would like to come to his aid. You will find details at this web address. If you are able to pitch in, remember that … [Read more...]
Greta Matassa In L.A.
Following the recent Rifftides review of Gretta Matassa's new album, I came across a video that she made when she was in Los Angeles for an engagement. Her longtime bassist, the Seattle veteran Clipper Anderson, was on board. Her other sidemen for the occasion were pianist Mike Garson and drummer Bob Leatherbarrow, stalwarts of the Southern California jazz community. The Riffides staff thought that you would enjoy Ms. Matassa and friends in their medley of songs written by George and Ira … [Read more...]
Weekend Extra: Something New From Greta Matassa
Greta Matassa, Portrait (Origin) Greta Matassa has never stopped performing extensively or touring with her widely admired quintet, but it has been years since she has made a new recording. The singer's first album since 2011 is a reminder of the rare depth of her musicianship and her ability to fnd the essence of a song. The longtime colleagues with her on Portrait are veterans of the vital Pacific Northwest jazz community. Matassa selects thirteen songs that are among the finest of the past … [Read more...]
The Eka Trio: O
The young Scandinavians of the Eka Trio combine the relaxed sensuosity of trends in Nordic music with their underlying commitment to the adventurousness that goes to the heart of jazz. In the album that they call "O," the trio and two guest artists craft a collection of fourteen pieces that thrive on certain major-minor key relationships often found in music of Sweden, Norway and Finland, as well as on interaction among guitarist Tomas Hornberg, bassist Anne Marte Eggen and drummer … [Read more...]
Weekend Extra: Desmond Alert
Thomas Cunniffe's excellent weblog Jazz History Online has managed to find the performance by Paul Desmond and his Canadian quartet originally broadcast in 1975 by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. That is good news for listeners who continue to follow the alto saxophonist's career after the dissolution of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, in which he starred with Brubeck for seventeen years. Cunniffe also presents the complete interview of Desmond by the CBC's Mary Lou Finlay, with enthusiastic, … [Read more...]
Samantha Boshnack’s Seismic Belt
During her years in Seattle, trumpeter Samantha Boshnack developed impressively as a player eager to take musical chances. At the same time, she often hiked the Pacific Northwest's mountains, many of them volcanoes with explosions in their pasts, in the case of Mount St. Helens, a spectacular eruption in 1980. That is recent, in geological terms. Boshnack became intrigued not only with volcanoes but with the overall seismic behavior that continues to be a major and often disruptive … [Read more...]
Bud Powell
Occasionally, Rifftides presents something from the blog's archive. The staff got together to discuss Bud Powell and agreed that if there is even a slight chance that someone, somewhere, has yet to hear Powell, we have a responsibility to correct that. To begin, then, let's go back nearly a decade to an archive post: Compatible Quotes: On Bud Powell First Posted on January 21, 2010 No one could play like Bud; too difficult, too quick, incredible! –Thelonious Monk Bud is a genius. –Charlie … [Read more...]
Fats Waller, Just Because…
...just because it's Saturday night. You want to feel good as you fall asleep and even better when you wake up on Sunday morning. Fats will help. He always does https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upKXARXcsWg The tap dancer was Mary Lee. Later, she made several films with Gene Autry. Gene Autry! The other dancers were a bunch of guys named Joe. Hope you're having a good weekend. … [Read more...]
Review: Alan Broadbent’s New York Notes
Since he moved from California to New York several years ago, Alan Broadbent has expanded his multifaceted ways as pianist, composer and conductor-arranger for major singers including Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, Sheila Jordan and the British discovery Georgia Mancio. New York Notes finds Broadbent leading a trio. That is the setting that brought him to the attention of audiences and critics early in his career. His associations with Woody Herman, John Klemmer and Charlie Haden's Quartet West were … [Read more...]
It’s June. Bust Out.
A jazz version of "June Is Busting Out All Over"? you might ask. Who would think of such a thing? Finding the right tempo might be possible, but how about those Richard Rodgers harmonies? Well, Bill Holman-or maybe it was Stan Kenton-thought it would work. From the period, presumably in the mid-1950s, when Holman was doing a good deal of arranging for Kenton's band, let's listen to his arrangement of the tune that has been welcoming this month since the song debuted in the Broadway musical … [Read more...]
Do You Know What It Means?
No sooner had I started to idly wonder what's happening in one of my favorite former hometowns than Terri Hinte sent a message reminding me of a new album by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The CD is a tribute to one of the city's most beloved musical heroes, the late Allen Toussaint, composer of "Southern Nights," "Java" and innumerable other hits. The members of the orchestra are from across the city and a variety of musical disciplines. When the band is at full strength, it numbers more than … [Read more...]