Tad Hershorn of the Institute Of Jazz Studies notifies us that IJS will hold a two-day symposium March 24 and 25 to celebrate the life and 100th anniversary of the birth of Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996). Hershorn will be among those honoring Ms. Fitzgerald along with longtime IJS leader Dan … [Read more...]

Sixty-three years ago—almost to the day—Shorty Rogers included “Infinity Promenade” in his classic Short Stops album. Let’s hear it again. The introductory cymbals magic is by Shelly Manne. Soloists are alto saxophonist Art Pepper, Rogers on trumpet, and pianist Marty Paich. However, what … [Read more...]

The news of Robert Osborne’s passing was a bad way to start the day. We were friends from the day that our Delta Upsilon fraternity at the University of Washington assigned him to be my “big brother” and roommate. A fellow journalism major, Bob was confidant and adviser to this green freshman. … [Read more...]

Monday Recommendations appear in the right column under the heading Doug’s Picks. A fairly recent artsjournal.com format change means that readers see only the first few lines of the recommendation. To see the whole thing, move your cursor to the headline of the Pick you want to read and click on … [Read more...]

Today is Lou Levy’s birthday. Until his death at 72, the great second-generation bop pianist (1928-2001) played with Boyd Raeburn, Woody Herman’s Second Herd, Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie, Flip Phillips, Dizzy Gillespie and Shorty Rogers, among dozens of other major jazz artists. He was a … [Read more...]

In Ella Fitzgerald’s centennial year, the great singer is being honored around the world. The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra began the celebration with a pair of tribute concerts ahead of The First Lady of Song’s April 25 birth date. The one that Jim Wilke recorded at the Kirkland Performance … [Read more...]

Faced with stacks of albums begging to be noticed, the reviewer must make choices. Inevitably, the result is that a few albums spin in the CD player or on the turntable while others—possibly of equal value—languish. The incoming albums that pack my big mailbox several times a week … [Read more...]

Today is the 100th anniversary of the first recording of the music we call jazz. The Original Dixieland Jass Band went to New York and recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company on February 26, 1917. Not long into the 1920s, the preferred spelling became ”jazz.” By the end of the twenties … [Read more...]

In addition to presenting big national names, an appealing aspect of the PDX Portland Jazz Festival is that it taps into the deep reservoir of talent in the Pacific Northwest. Two cases in point: the Mile 22 Octet led by pianist, composer and arranger Mike Van Liew (pictured right) and Ezra … [Read more...]

In the windows of a Target store on a busy street corner in downtown Portland is a display of art inspired by jazz. Scattered among classic album covers, the paintings are by students who learn about the music in a program developed by Joe Maita, the president of the PDX Jazz board of directors. You … [Read more...]

Guitarist Larry Coryell died over the weekend in New York City. He was 73. A pioneer of jazz-rock and fusion, throughout his career Coryell was capable of delicacy and softness in guitar lines that had roots in mainstream jazz. Nonetheless, his earliest notice came as a result of his recorded work … [Read more...]

Jimmy Heath is 90 years old. His kid brother Albert (Tootie) is 80. They don’t act" or sound" their ages. For their concert at the Portland Jazz Festival, the Heath Brothers were billed as paying tribute to Dizzy Gillespie in the 100th anniversary year of his birth. Indeed, they played in the … [Read more...]

The Branford Marsalis Quartet and singer Kurt Elling combined in the first major concert of the 2017 Portland, Oregon PDX Jazz Festival. A packed audience in the capacious Newmark Theater heard a performance that drew upon their recent album Upward Spiral. The principals listened intently to one … [Read more...]

The Rifftides staff will soon be crossing the Cascade Mountains and heading west through the Columbia River Gorge to report on the Portland Jazz Festival. To be accurate, the reports will cover some of the festival. It runs eleven days in large and small halls, intimate clubs, a university lecture … [Read more...]

Going through the Rifftides archive to see what we did on Valentine’s Days back to 2005, I discovered that links to several versions of “My Funny Valentine” have been taken down for copyright reasons. So far, the Jim Hall-Bob Brookmeyer version from the 1979 North Sea Jazz Festival has … [Read more...]

Diplomats, politicians and business people have taken to salting their language with “going forward,” as if it means something. That useless phrase has crept out of official gobbledygook into general use, so that people work it into ordinary conversation, as if they were secretaries of state or … [Read more...]

I came in not long ago from shoveling four inches of new snow off the front sidewalk and the driveway. We’re expecting up to seven inches more tonight. Naturally, I thought of the most appropriate piece of music by which to recover from the shoveling and prepare for the next onslaught. What else … [Read more...]

Svend Asmussen, the Danish violinist who thrived in eight decades of stardom, died yesterday—three weeks short of his 101st birthday. He was one of the handful of violinists who in the 1930s proved the instrument" capable of swing and emotional expression at the highest jazz level. He may well … [Read more...]