Rifftides reader David Chilver wrote from Great Britain to alert us to a program that recently ran on BBC Radio 4 about the life, frustration, courage and ultimate success of the singer Jimmy Scott. Scott died in 2014 at the age of 88. His high contralto resulted from a childhood hormonal condition … [Read more...]

“Hurry,” my wife said a few minutes ago, “there’s a rainbow.” Boy, was there ever a rainbow, a double. It crossed the sky wider than my wide-angle lens could handle. Over there behind Ahtanum Ridge is" the end with the pot of gold As you enjoy it, here" are" Dave Brubeck and Paul … [Read more...]

Flutist Jeremy Steig died on April 13 at his home in Japan. He was 73. His death was confirmed days after the fact. “He didn’t like to read about musicians’ deaths in newspaper obituaries,” his wife Asako told The New York Times. “He wanted me to delay the announcement of his death, so … [Read more...]

Because of circumstances too complicated and mundane to relate, there will be no Monday Recommendation today. Stuff happens. Maybe there will be a Tuesday Recommendation tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a Rifftides post that appeared nearly ten years ago. Possibly you had forgotten about it. The … [Read more...]

I realize that in many time zones outside the US, the weekend is over. But what the heck; this is about Monk. You may have wondered about the circumstances of the cover photograph for Thelonious Monk’s 1968 album Underground. As you might imagine, when the recording came out, the cover … [Read more...]

In case you’ve forgotten what joy a big band can generate at its peak of performance, here is the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra on Ralph J. Gleason’s Jazz Casual telecast on public television. The set list is "Just Blues," "St. Louis Blues" and "Kids Are Pretty People." This was broadcast … [Read more...]

Rob Clearfield, Islands (ears & eyes records) Pianist and composer Rob Clearfield is a member of Chicago’s under-30 jazz community, admired for work as a sideman with bassist Matt Ulery and pianist-singer Patricia Barber, among others. He debuts as a leader with a trio album due out June 3 … [Read more...]

A video of The Modern Jazz Quartet has been getting wide viewership on the internet. The YouTube presentation does not disclose that the group we see and hear is the MJQ’s predecessor, the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie’s big band from 1946 to the early fifties. To give his brass section … [Read more...]

Paul Desmond died 39 years ago today. Ten previous Rifftides observances of the anniversary have included passages from my biography of Paul and Desmond stories from an assortment of people who knew him. If you’ve a mind to, you can find all of our posts about Desmond by entering his name in the … [Read more...]

Sonny Rollins, Holding The Stage: Road Shows, Vol. 4 (Doxy) This Rollins collection validates yet again the magisterial status conferred on him in the title of a 1956 album: Saxophone Colossus. In concert performances recorded over more than three decades and never before released, Rollins’s … [Read more...]

Miles Davis (1926-1991) would have turned 90 today. He apprenticed with Charlie Parker when he was 19 and quickly became a soloist whose signature style was recognizable even as he was still refining it. Davis is frequently quoted as claiming that he changed music five or six times. The … [Read more...]

Occasionally, Rifftides reposts something from the past that still has relevance. Charles Mingus is relevant. From August 24, 2007 2007 is turning out to be a bonanza year for a Charles Mingus sextet that existed for a few months forty-three years ago. All of the band's members are dead. Its … [Read more...]

When he was a member of the Ray Charles band in the 1950s, saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman was frequently the featured soloist on Paul Mitchell’s and George V. Johnson’s “Hard Times.” It became a musical signature that Newman made indelibly his own. He featured the piece for the rest … [Read more...]

Karolina Strassmayer & Drori Mondlak—Klaro!, Of Mystery and Beauty (Lilypad) From the drama of the album’s opening cymbal splashes to the fading piano notes at its end, alto saxophonist and flutist Strassmayer and drummer Mondlak reaffirm their mastery of small group music that is as … [Read more...]

A cycling expedition this morning found me in cattle country. As I pulled over to enjoy the bucolic scene, who should pop into my mind but Kenny Dorham. A native Texan who spent considerably more time with his trumpet than with cows, Dorham recorded a piece with a title that allowed him, by … [Read more...]

Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke (ECM) Pianist Vijay Iyer’s new collaboration with the ceaselessly adventurous trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith stems from the closeness they developed when Iyer was a member of Smith’s Golden Quartet late in the late 1990s. In his … [Read more...]

This begins a survey of a few of the albums that have arrived lately and in a few cases, not so lately. There are still observers who claim—against massive evidence to the contrary—that jazz is a dying genre, but even if a reviewer went without sleep and lived to be 135, he would have no chance … [Read more...]