For two days, indispensable functions of my computer have been performing erratically, requiring constant attention and consuming so much of my time and thought that further postings are going to have to wait. I trust that denizens of the digital world will understand. See you soon, I hope. … [Read more...]

Not that we're trying to be Johnny Mandel completists, but Rifftides reader Russell Chase wrote to remind me of the 1956 Fantasy LP Elliot Lawrence Plays Tiny Kahn and Johnny Mandel Arrangements. Terri Hinte of Fantasy discloses that the music in that album is now included in an OJC CD titled The … [Read more...]

In the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal, artsjournal.com’s commander in chief, Doug McLennan, asked serious questions about the viability of the nonprofit business model for arts organizations—questions that will resonate with many jazz societies, and not just the big ones. What to do? … [Read more...]

NOTICE TO RIFFTIDES READERS: THIS ITEM IS UPDATED WITH INFORMATION ADDED SINCE THE ORIGINAL POSTING. A Rifftides reader asks: Can you point us to recordings of the Mandel arrangements you mentioned in your recent posting? (I'm having trouble locating “TNT”, “Keester Parade” and some of the … [Read more...]

In the Rifftides posting about Joe Locke, I used poetic license in suggesting that without electricity the vibraharp, or vibraphone, amounts to a metallic marimba. Two readers who know what they’re talking about make it clear that my poetic license should not be renewed. The first is Charlie … [Read more...]

It is well that there is no one without a fault; for he would not have a friend in the world. —William Hazlitt … [Read more...]

I'm heading home after a Southern California week split between Jazz West Coast 3 and decompressing. The Santa Ana winds came back and it was 72 degrees at the beach at 10 o'clock last night. Somehow, I don't think it will be that way in the Pacific Northwest. It is unlikely that I will post again … [Read more...]

The final session at the L.A. Jazz Institute’s Jazz West Coast 3 festival was an event so rare that musicians and attendees were buzzing about it from the moment they arrived. It was the appearance of Johnny Mandel leading a big band in a concert of his compositions and arrangements. Mandel has … [Read more...]

Eleven years after the first of impresario Ken Poston’s Jazz West Coast extravaganzas, I spent the weekend at the Los Angeles Jazz Institute’s Jazz West Coast 3, subtitled Legends Of The West. The attendees were fewer and grayer than eleven years ago. The music to which they remain devoted was … [Read more...]

The energetic, and possibly sleepless, Washington, DC trombonist, singer and bandleader Eric Felten writes: I read the Fud Livingston post with interest, because in my endless searches for vintage big band music I have acquired a number of Fud Livingston charts. But I can't remember ever actually … [Read more...]

Old friend Bob Godfrey, retired drummer and retail record entrepeneur, was prompted by Freddie Schreiber's silly names to observe: You may have opened up a can of worms. Then, he proves it. Todd L. Entown Wynn Abaygo Rick O'Shay Dick Tatorial Unretired vibraharpist and concert entrepeneur Charlie … [Read more...]

One of the things I like about Joe Locke’s new CD, Rev-elation, is that Bob Cranshaw plays acoustic bass on it. Sonny Rollins, for reasons unclear to me, prefers the electric instrument over what I irritate some of my bassist acquaintances by calling the real bass. Cranshaw uses the electric bass … [Read more...]

Friday, I leave for Los Angeles to take part in one of Ken Poston’s Los Angeles Jazz Institute extravaganzas, which are packed with music, films about music, discussions of music and a good deal of laughter. This one is called Jazz West Coast 3: Legends of the West. It gets underway this morning … [Read more...]

Ted O’Reilly, the Toronto broadcaster, answered my flippant question in yesterday’s posting: “Why won’t these broadcast people stay put?” Station owners—all have risen from the sales department, or got their money the old-fashioned way, inheritance—won't let them. An ever-deepening … [Read more...]

Responding to the Rifftides posting about the humor of the late bassist Freddie Schreiber, Alan Broadbent relayed a few names that Schreiber invented. Alan was a collaborator with and friend of the wonderful singer Irene Kraal. She is also, regrettably, among the departed. When she was working with … [Read more...]

Cal Tjader, Schreiber's boss, was a major fan of his bass playing and of his word play. The drummer and radio host Dick McGarvin sent this recollection. One of the people fond of quoting Freddie Schreiber's classic lines was Cal himself. And it was from him that I first heard them. I met Cal in … [Read more...]

In the right-hand column, under Doug's Picks, you will find our latest recommendations for your listening, viewing and reading pleasure. Enjoy. Your eating pleasure is another matter. We're a little behind in that area, but thinking; always thinking, searching and testing. … [Read more...]

A number of musicians I have known felt a connection with J.D. Salinger's character Holden Caulfield. This is from my … [Read more...]

Just back from Monterey by way of Seattle, I am ready to crash for—oh, I don’t know, two or three days—but first, I must second what DevraDoWrite posted about the Tower Records staff who made our book signings an agreeable experience at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Here's a little of what … [Read more...]