Bill Mays and I have frequently been asked whether our History Of Jazz Piano project would ever be available to the public. After a good deal of discussion, attention to detail and audio remastering, the answer is yes. The concert is now a free download on Bill’s website. We have performed … [Read more...]

There are several jazz pieces called “Eclipse.” Tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, the Japanese group called Kyoto Jazz Massive, and the Mexican singer Bere Contreras, among others, have performed or recorded compositions with that name. The best known “Eclipse,” though, remains the one … [Read more...]

It is an open secret long acknowledged nearly everywhere: the best jazz musicians in other parts of the world are in a league with top players from the United States. Evidence of that excellence—if further evidence was needed—surfaced this summer in Prague when visiting American trumpeters … [Read more...]

The Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival ran six days and was packed with so much music that there was no chance of hearing it all. Here are brief impressions of a few more performances. Gilbert Holmström New Sextet In the Per Helsas Gard courtyard, the 80-year-old tenor saxophonist led five younger … [Read more...]

At the Ystads Konstmuseum, the Carsten Dahl Experience was, indeed, an experience. After launching his career as a drummer, Dahl taught himself piano in the early 1980s and quickly developed formidable technique that was on full display with his quartet of fellow Danes. At the beginning of … [Read more...]

Catching up is a noble ambition, but the quantity of music at the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival and the tight scheduling make it all but impossible to be comprehensive. My notebook is overflowing with impressions. Here are brief reports on a few performances. The festival’s opening concert was by … [Read more...]

Joy In An Ancient Ystad Church Swedish bassist Hans Backenroth and Danish guitarist Jacob Fischer played in the 11th century Klosterkyrkan, not far from Ystad’s center. Among the most experienced European jazz artists, they found ways of dealing with the acoustical challenge created by the … [Read more...]

At the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, the American trumpeter Bobby Medina led a big band in a program that drew on his bebop credentials and his Latin American heritage. Claus Sörenson’s XL Big Band of musicians from throughout southern Sweden was impressive in its versatility as it negotiated … [Read more...]

The 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival launched with a tribute to Monica Zetterlund (1937-2005). The singer’s legacy in her homeland seems to steadily expand, and the attendance reflected her continued presence in Sweden’s cultural life. The concert, “Monica Z—Forever and Ever,” attracted … [Read more...]

Following flights across the United States and the Atlantic Ocean and a gorgeous car ride from Copenhagen to Ystad, the Rifftides staff is looking out the window of our room in the storied Saltsjöbad hotel (opened in 1897) on southern Sweden’s Baltic shore. The customary collection of summer … [Read more...]

I am running soon for a plane headed to Sweden. But first: I must tell you about a discovery by blogger, Rifftides reader and tune-detective-first-class Tarik Townsend. Mr. Townsend (pictured) writes that he has found a recording of one of the most elusive quotes that Paul Desmond ever worked into a … [Read more...]

It is impossible to review even a smattering of the dozens of albums that land in the Rifftides mailbox. With the Sweden trip looming, time allows for mentions of a few relatively recent releases that have caught the staff’s attention.   Maryanne de Prophetis, Tell A Star … [Read more...]

Roscoe Mitchell, Bells For The South Side (ECM) If you have followed Mitchell’s searching music over the past 50 years, Bells For The South Side will reassure you that the septuagenarian composer, saxophonist and tireless avant-garde inspiration continues to innovate. Mitchell’s music makes … [Read more...]

On July 12 we lost Joe Fields. During his long career Fields was the guiding spirit of record labels committed to unalloyed jazz. He started the Cobblestone label and later changed its name to Muse. Among the dozens of musicians he recorded on Muse over three decades were Woody Shaw, Houston Person, … [Read more...]

Before long, the Rifftides staff will be flying to Europe for the 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. As always, the festival lineup will include prominent visiting American artists. Among them are tenor saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and Joshua Redman, trumpeter Tim Hagans, drummer Al Foster and … [Read more...]

Today’s early morning cycling expedition took me past a magnificent pear orchard in the hills west of town. Here is the orchard… …and here are pears taking on color and that lovely pear shape. Apples are the principal cash crop in this area of Eastern Washington State, but in a good … [Read more...]

Our" Rifftides Russian correspondent, Svetlana Ilicheva, writes that one of her favorite listening spots in Moscow is the Zhurfac café. Not far from the Kropotkinskaya metro stop on Gogol Boulevard, the Zhurfac is in a neighborhood of major cultural interest because of the State Art Museum named … [Read more...]