From his American Indian grandfather, tenor saxophonist Jim Pepper (pictured) learned “Witchi-Tai-To,†a peyote healing chant of the Native American Church. It became a part of the repertoires of several bands including Oregon, the group that brought guitarist Ralph Towner to wide attention in the 1970s. The Scandinavian musicians Jan Garbarek and Bobo Stenson and the duo of Brewer and Shipley also made enduring recordings of the Indian chant that Pepper transformed into a song that spent weeks on jazz and pop charts.
Towner and bassist Gary Peacock played a duo version of “Witchi-Tai-To†at a jazz festival in Germany in 1997.
After years of unavailability, the 1971 album that introduced Jim Pepper’s “Wichi-Tai-To†has been reissued.
Tom Harrell, 
The many obituaries of Chess Records co-founder Phil Chess correctly note his importance in the record company that that brought attention to blues artists who went on to became famous. Chess died yesterday at 95. The Chicago company owned by Chess and his brother Leonard had on its roster Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Etta James, Bo Didley and Howlin’ Wolf, among other blues stars. Leonard shepherded the label’s blues operations. He died in 1969.
Cyrille, a dancer on drums, teams with the intrepid tenor saxophonist McHenry in a succession of duets. Their close listening to one another results in empathy that sustains remarkable quietness, considering that one of the partners is a percussionist. They express their shared sense of jazz rhythm even when—as on “Seasonsâ€â€”McHenry applies lyricism and tone akin to that of classical saxophonists. Over the subtle insistence of Cyrille’s mallets in “Bedouin Woman,†McHenry contributes to a mood of mystery that sustains through the fade ending. “Drum Song For Leadbelly†is a succession of drum-tenor exchanges on a rhythmic idea. In spirit, symmetry and repetition it, indeed, grows into a performance reminiscent of the great folk and blues artist. Some of Leadbelly’s 1940 recordings with the Golden Gate Quartet (“Pick a Bale of Cotton,†“Yellow Galâ€) come to mind. In “Aquatics,†Cyrille plays brushes so softly under McHenry’s ruminations, that the saxophonist evidently feels the suitable response is to blow pure air through his horn. It is remarkably effective. Of the 12 tracks, none runs much over five minutes. The last one—five seconds long—is Cyrille saying, “To be continued.†Good idea.
the Cyrille-McHenry album, percussion plays a principal role without overwhelming the proceedings. Drummer and marimbist Pawel Czubatka and pianist Jochen Pfister are hand-in-glove with Ms. Effenberg throughout. In “So ist das,†Pfister, and Czubatka on drums, stir up a crescendo that contrasts with the reserve of much of the rest of the album. Ms. Effenberg’s “Meaning of Life†is reassuringly peaceful and bluesy. IZA seems to be available in the US only as a download but widely available in Europe as a CD.
Collaborators since their student days at the New England Conservatory nearly a decade ago, pianist Sanders and saxophonist Strosahl are dedicated to tradition and improvisation. Making the two qualities inseparable, they take listeners on an excursion through music as old as the dance rhythm of the Allemande, as new as the adventurism of Strosahl’s genre-busting title tune and as familiar as “Stardust.†It makes programming and musical sense when they go from their daring “Be-Bop Tune†to the 14th century composer Guillame Machaut, then to the quintessential 20th century composer Olivier Messiaen. Strosahl’s “Mazurka†leads into lilt and lyricism in Willard Robison’s “Old Folks,†with echoes of Charlie Parker. Sanders’ nostalgic “R.P.D.†finds the two mostly in sober unison and in a plaintive minor ending. With his two faces, the ancient Roman god Janus looked back and ahead—as does this intriguing namesake album.
Nick Sanders and Logan Strosahl, now and then put up a video on their YouTube channel. Their recent album is the new Rifftides Monday Recommendation (see the previous post). Here is a standard song not included on that CD. Mr. Strosahl makes the introduction—and a pitch.
names ballads that he believes don’t get enough attention, he also presents them in performance. The extent to which some of his song choices are generally ignored may be in the ear of the behearer—as Dewey Redman might have said (in fact, did say 
Cecil Payne & Duke Jordan, 
Still, Effenberg’s ensemble does not float through one boreal mood after another in the manner of many ECM ventures. Indeed, there are passages of mutual improvisation and complexity that suggest Twentieth Century pioneers of modern music such as Charles Ives and Bela Bartók. The quirky opening track, “Dings Bums,†contains allusions to John Coltrane and Horace Silver— just two of the album’s quick side trips into witty allusions that often verge on the subliminal. 
In her first album for a major label, Bria Skonberg achieves consistency that in the past she sometimes obscured in forced vocal mannerisms. Her trumpet work, based in traditional jazz and swing, includes surprising bebop touches. She has unfailing agility and good tone. With and without a mute, her growl and wa-wa work shows familiarity with Bubber Miley, Rex Stewart and the Ellington brass tradition, nowhere more than in Sidney Bechet’s “Egyptian Fantasy.†Pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Ali Jackson are the first-class rhythm section, joined occasionally by vibraharpist Stefon Harris. Like Skonberg, Evan Amtzen is a native of British Columbia transplanted to New York. He enriches the proceedings with his tenor saxophone and clarinet solos and ensemble work. Of Skonberg’s five original songs, crossover potential of the 16-bar “Wear and Tear,†could take it a long way. 
 to solo on Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss.†The video allows us an opportunity—far too rare—to see and hear the elegance of a guitarist whose vast experience includes playing with Charlie Parker, Cal Tjader, Stan Getz, Vince Guaraldi, Red Norvo, Earl Hines and George Shearing. Yet, Duran (born in 1925) spent most of his career in and around his native San Francisco and has never received recognition commensurate with his talent.
It came as a shock to realize how quickly that sizeable amount of time has passed; and a comfort to know that a major creative musician, recognized in a casual comment, is a part of the fabric of the nation’s, and the world’s, culture. Ms. Montagne’s reference to Davis’s best-known album suggests that listening to it again is always a good idea. Whether you are about to have lunch in Shanghai or get out of bed in Copenhagen, here is the complete 1959 Kind Of Blue with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Wynton Kellly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.
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After sideman work, then membership in cooperative groups with Cyrille Neville, Devon Allman and others, in 2012 the St. Louis blues guitarist and singer Mike Zito formed his band, The Wheel. Few dedicated jazz listeners also keep up with developments in the music that grows out of country blues pioneers like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson and Tampa Red—and such later urban performers as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Big Bill Broonzy. Over the past century, hundreds of blues artists in Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago and dozens of other places have forged personal blues styles. Zito is helping to extend the tradition. Here, he and The Wheel play “Bad News Is Coming.†The sidemen are Jimmy Carpenter, tenor saxophone; Scott Sutherland, bass; and Rob Lee, drums.
There are so many options that it is difficult to know what to bring you today to observe the great saxophonist John Coltrane’s (1926-1967) 90th birthday. Among Coltrane’s hundreds of recordings and videos, no doubt everyone who listens to him has at least one favorite. The Rifftides staff has chosen two. In the spring of 1957 Miles Davis had fired Coltrane from his quintet because his heroin habit was causing problems on and off the bandstand. A month or so later, Coltrane stopped using heroin. By March of 1958, he was back with Davis and into what critic Ira Gitler indelibly labeled his “sheets of sounds†period.
Despite a playlist that seems to represent a grab bag of music, there is nothing scattershot about Ken Peplowski’s eclecticism. The clarinetist and tenor saxophonist with the capacious tone and imagination brings together Duke Ellington’s early-1940s “The Flaming Sword,†Lennon and Ono’s 1970s “Oh, My Love,†Fats Waller’s “Willow Tree,†a twelve tone piece by drummer Peter Erskine, and music from Bernard Hermann’s score for the Hitchcock film Vertigo. There are other songs by Harry Warren, Barry Manilow, Noël Coward, Leslie Bricusse, and the title tune by the daring 1950s pianist and composer Herbie Nichols. Peplowski brings this all together in a program united by his musicianship and humor and his superb rhythm section—pianist Ehud Asherie, bassist Martin Wind and drummer Matt Wilson. You may find yourself going back to Peplowski’s irrepressible clarinet solo in “The Flaming Sword.†It’s addictive. 
Monk. Dizzy brought him over and introduced us. Monk stood staring into my eyes, expressionless. I remember thinking how big he was. Time passed, maybe a minute that seemed like five. Still no expression. Gillespie stood by, grinning. Then Monk put his hand out and shook mine. It was like something out of a Tuesday Rotary Club meeting. He broke into a grin and said, “I’m very pleased to meet you.†That’s what we should have filmed. Later, Diz told me, “I’ve never seen him do that before.†For at least a few minutes, he wasn’t the Thelonious described by Lewis Lapham in a lovely piece for The Saturday Evening Post in 1964.