[contextly_auto_sidebar id="wIMB9OgWnh2jEgjeY6hkz7p6zKkCjOep"] I'm back from Europe, too jet lagged for any good use but reluctant to go long without posting. In such situations, trolling the Rifftides archive usually hooks something worthy of another look. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="QF10zeXky7T9KaO0gMfrpISBWXS5bB4p"] The American bassist and singer Kristin Korb has lived in Denmark the past two years. In her Per Helsas GÃ¥rd concert, she included songs from her next album, Finding Home, about the effects of the move and the peace she has found in … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="2XyiH1df9n6qqwq3ah56d74pRCZh8VUG"] The Ystad Jazz Festival was packed with performances so tightly scheduled that time for blogging—and sleeping— was at a premium. Here are impressions of a few of the events. In the splendor of the 19th century Ystad … [Read more...]

“Remember,” guitarist John Scofield said backstage before his performance at the Ystad Jazz Festival, “this is my rock band.” Is it ever. Formally named The John Scofield Ãœber Jam Band, the quartet operates with an array of electronic and digital enhancements that gives it volume and … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="1GWrvXu0jUFe0w2nXbatzCZimkDgHf3y"] Packed to capacity, the 11th century Saint Mary’s Church in the center of Ystad hosted a magnificent performance of music from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts. A citizen who lives nearby told me, “There are more people in … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="V88epGaHCdHf9LJW0Cfb7MvD04AJPkQe"] If you have wondered why Rifftides chose to cover Sweden's Ystad Jazz Festival for the second time, here is one reason—seen from my hotel window overlooking the Baltic Sea. It's summer in Scandinavia, glorious summer, when … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="sLkcFiogw2nEEyQqVOMfP614tbGB85HU"] The Rifftides staff leaves tomorrow morning for Ystad on the southern Baltic coast of Sweden. The ancient seaside town will host the Ystad Jazz Festival in its fifth year. The festival will present such well known musicians as Joshua … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="oqj7POV80m5kZ98FdwmOIFAgSvhiCJun"] Today’s cycling expedition through eastern Washington’s Naches Valley took me where orchard country and cattle country merge for a few miles. Waving above a prosperous looking ranch house was this enormous American flag. A … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="epg8R4WVNQcUnxjxzDV4NbLFpOm4VVpB"] Events in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine and Nigeria—to name the locations of a few of the world's festering sores—make it appropriate to revisit a post from the Rifftides archive. It appeared during the first year of this … [Read more...]

My attitude is never to be satisfied. Never enough. Never. Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it. Critics have their purposes, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="pjcYxULgu13sfw9o0G9NWvGtu2TcW1mW"] Until recently, admirers of the great trumpeter Clifford Brown heard him speak only a few words on the album The Beginning and the End. Recently, however, a YouTube contributor who identifies herself as Nespasisi posted a segment of … [Read more...]

Rudy Royston, 303, (Greenleaf Music) Since his emergence from Denver (area code 303) nearly a decade ago, Royston’s drumming has graced bands led by Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, JD Allen, Tom Harrell and other leaders in 21st century jazz. With 303, Royston becomes a leader himself. As he has … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Z52dmXEHbhNxnSFVVCuajgFVk8itps3o"] The announcement none of us wanted to hear came early this afternoon from Tina Pelikan of ECM Records. It is with deep sorrow that we announce that Charlie Haden, born August 6, 1937 in Shenandoah, Iowa, passed away today at … [Read more...]

While we’re at it, let’s watch the National Endowment for the Arts video made when Haden became a 2012 NEA Jazz Master. … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="tYuaHYfoTcGqPNnyNtfgRTVWwFhlBpZf"] Following the death of Horace Silver on June 18, Bill Kirchner called my attention to trumpeter John McNeil’s remembrance of his time in Silver’s quintet in the late 1970s. It appears on the New Music Box website. McNeil’s essay … [Read more...]