Stan Tracey, the pianist sometimes called the godfather of British jazz, died on December 6. He was 86. Tracey helped to draw international attention to jazz in the United Kingdom and influenced the development of scores of younger players. Through most of the 1960s he was the house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s club in London and frequently accompanied visiting American musicians. Of that period, he told The Guardian’s John Fordam,

…with people like Rahsaan Roland Kirk or Sonny Rollins and Charlie Mariano, you’d make a little statement that embellished or embroidered something they’d done, and you’d feel them taking it up and considering it, and developing it … I couldn’t wait to get to work and pick up from where I was the night before.”

Tracey’s primary influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, as he made clear at the Bull’s Head pub in this 2006 solo on Monk’s “I Mean You.”

For an obltuary of Stan Tracey, go here. For additional videos, go here.

George Buck, whose record labels, radio stations and French Quarter club were devoted to the preservation and proliferation of New Orleans jazz, died last week at 84. Buck maneuvered through New Orleans, his social life and his business world as if he could see. Not infrequently, people he dealt with were astonished to learn that he was blind. His Palm Court Cafe was second only to Preservation Hall as a destination for local listeners as well as tourists in search of traditional jazz. Buck’s GHB, Jazzology and American Music labels recorded Bunk Johnson, Baby Dodds, Danny Barker and dozens of other New Orleans jazz mainstays. For details, see this article by Dominic Massa on the WWL-TV website.

Every year, albums of Christmas music by jazz artists pop up in late October or early November, provide pleasure through the season, then are mostly forgotten. Once in a while, we get lucky with new releases that not only entertain us for the holidays but also leave music of permanent value. Think of Duke Ellington’s and Billy Strayhorn’s adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite (1960), Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas (1964) or Alan Broadbent’s lush arrangements of Christmas songs for Scott Hamilton and strings (1997).

Here are brief impressions of 2013 Christmas CDs with the goods to make lasting contributions.

Ted Rosenthal Trio, Wonderland (Playscape)

Rosenthal’s Christmas album transcends the category. The pianist’s treatments of 10 songs from the holiday repertoire and a composition of his own produce music that will be as rewarding in August as it is when snow is falling. He keeps the listener engaged by way of the melodic invention of his improvisations, the substance and depth of his harmonic resourcefulness, and his teamwork with bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Tim Horner.

A few highlights: intriguing time-play in Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Reed Flutes;” hints at “Blue Monk” in the melody of “Santa Claus” is Coming to Town;” the stately progress and enhanced harmonies of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas;” “Silent Night” as a slow waltz; loping time a la Erroll Garner” in “Let it Snow.” Rosenthal’s one original composition, “Snowscape,” has an indelible melody that could have made it a standard in the days when songs got enough exposure to become standards. This is a delightful album.

Karrin Allyson, Yuletide Hideaway (Kasrecords)

It could be risky to program a Christmas album predominantly with unfamiliar songs. Karrin Allyson shuns risk aversion, and it pays off. Her collection has the expected—“The Christmas Song,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Christmas Time is Here,” et al—but little-known songs like Bill Evans’s “It’s Love, It’s Christmas,” Dave Frishberg’s “Snowbound,” Patty McGovern’s “I Like Snow” and new ones by Chris Caswell and Rod Fleeman help give the album its freshness. The primary ingredient in that regard, though, is the singer’s musicality; her phrasing, her ability to bend a note just enough to color a word’s meaning, judicious scatting firmly based in a song’s harmonies, the blend of knowingness and innocence in her voice, her own piano accompaniments on some pieces. Caswell solos effectively on organ, and there is fine work by guitarist Fleeman, bassist Gerald Spaits and drummer Todd Strait, Allyson associates from her Kansas City days. The boost from Allyson could give Fleeman’s minor-key “Christmas Bells Are Ringing” and Caswell’s “You’re All I Need For Christmas” a push toward becoming holiday perennials.

Manhattan Brass, Holiday (MB)

In this stunning album, five of the world’s leading brass virtuosos play Christmas music arranged by two of the world’s leading writing virtuosos. The pieces range from the “I Got Rhythm” felicities of Thelonious Monk’s “Stuffy Turkey” to the “Siciliana” from Ottorino Respighi’s Ancient Airs And Dances, both transformed by Jack Walrath for the apparently limitless capabilities of the quintet. Carla Bley arranged “The Christmas Song,” “O Tannebaum” and “Jingle Bells,” among others. Her writing is occasionally wry, more often just plain gorgeous, The trumpeters are Lew Soloff and Wayne du Maine, the trombonists Michael Seltzer and David Taylor. RJ Kelley and Ann Ellsworth alternate on French horn. The brass artists negotiate the challenges set by Walrath and Bley not just with aplomb but with irresistible élan and wit. Meticulously arranged, the music nonetheless opens up for individual interpretation. It is a shortcoming of the liner notes that there is no track-by-track identification of the soloists, but seasoned Soloff listeners should have no problem pegging his sound and style.

Tim Warfield’s JazzyChristmas (Undaunted Music)

The youngish tenor and soprano saxophone veteran brings together like-minded players of his generation to find the improvisational possibilities in Christmas songs. They find them, aided by Warfield’s functional arrangements. The leader’s playing on both horns is impressive, as is the work of vibraharpist Stefon Harris and trumpeter Terell Stafford. Stafford, a scene stealer, makes “Little Drummer Boy” a show piece. Summoning the spirit of Dexter Gordon, Warfield shines on tenor in “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” On soprano, he is daring as he stretches the form of Claude Thornhill’s “Snowfall.” As usual, Harris is fluid in his lines and full of harmonic ingenuity. Cyrus Chestnut and Neil Podgurski alternate on piano, Podgurski holding more than even with the better-known Chestnut. Bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Clarence Penn play throughout, sturdy in support and with occasional solo touches. Joanna Pascale sings on three tracks, Jamie Davis on one. The vocals are not the album’s high points.

The cover photo of the out-of-print 1981 album to the left appears to show Jack Sheldon playing his trumpet left-handed. Whether someone reversed the picture by mistake or as an ironic turn on the album title is beside the point. It turned out to be prophetic.

Left-handed is the only way Sheldon can play now. His ability to do so is a testament to his courage in fighting his way back following a stroke that deprived him of the use of his right arm. He was forced to retool or stop playing. Nor has he let misfortune dissuade him from the singing that brought him as much fame as his trumpet and his comedy. Doug McIntyre’s Los Angeles Daily News story about the 82-year-old Sheldon’s comeback makes it plain that the stroke left the trumpeter-singer’s comic wit undamaged.

After 60 years on stage Sheldon vanished behind the gates of his Hollywood Hills home. Rumors of Jack sightings occasionally circulated though the jazz world, with the “Jazz Times” magazine erroneously reporting Sheldon’s death in 2012.

“I’m only slightly dead,” Sheldon said when told of his demise.

To read all of McIntyre’s report, go here.

Here is the title track from Playin’ It Straight, Sheldon doing just that with Alan Broadbent, piano; Pete Christlieb, baritone saxophone; Tommy Newsom, alto sax; Mundell Lowe, guitar; Joel DiBartolo, bass and Ed Shaugnessy, drums. The piece was included in a compilation album at the dawn of the CD era in the early 1980s.

While we’re at it, in case you’ve forgotten how good Sheldon was at 25, here he is with bassist Curtis Counce’s Quintet in 1956. Harold Land is the tenor saxophonist, Carl Perkins the pianist, Frank Butler the drummer. Land’s composition is the title track from the first of the band’s several albums for the Contemporary label. Concord, the custodian of the Contemporary catalog, seems to have let the CD go out of print, but the album is available as an MP3 download.

Best wishes to Jack Sheldon as he recovers.

In millions of ways, the world tonight is remembering Nelson Mandela. Music is one way. I have found no more powerful expression of what Mandela fought for and against in South Africa all of his life than this performance by Hugh Masakela. It was at a festival on Clapham Common south of London in 1986, four years before Mandela’s 27-year prison sentence ended.

Eight years later, Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected black president, changing his nation and in many ways, the world.

1. Today, a year following Dave Brubeck’s death, a new website celebrates his life and music.

2. We relay an announcement that one of the finest jazz repertory orchestras will broadcast a program of Brubeck compositions.

As John Bolger’s Dave Brubeck Jazz.com debuts, the Irish Brubeck maven has unveiled an impressive site. In the “About” section, he outlines his ambitious goal:

The primary purpose was to detail the entire catalogue of Dave‘s music, recorded over eight decades, so that fans, music lovers, collectors, musicians and historians would have a database of all of his music, in one site.

The secondary purpose was to complement the Brubeck Collection, Holt Atherton Collections, at The University Of The Pacific, by providing biographical, image, media, video and memorabilia databases outlining Dave’s musical life, based on what was in my own collection and those gathered from other sources. I also hoped to highlight Dave Brubeck the person, who was intolerant of prejudice and used his music to advocate for civil rights and racial unity.

The site has extensive sections of Brubeck biography, news, photographs and links to blogs, books, academic collections and interviews. I found in browsing the sections devoted to recordings and videos, that a great deal more time had passed that I planned to spend. Consider yourself warned—or encouraged.

Bolger offers assurance that his is not the official Brubeck website, which can be found here.

As for that broadcast of Brubeck’s music, it will feature the consistently impressive Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra and be streamed live on the web this coming Sunday. Here is the announcement from Jim Wilke:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet was one of the primary groups moving jazz from the dance hall to the concert hall in the 50s. The cooler, more intellectual style of music found great success on college campuses and music departments (which previously discouraged it) started adding jazz to the curriculum.

The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, co-directed by Clarence Acox and Michael Brockman recently presented a concert of big-band arrangements of music by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond and highlights from that concert will air on Jazz Northwest on Sunday, December 8 at 2 PM (Pacific). Music includes

In Your Own Sweet Way,
Three to Get Ready
Take Five
A Paul Desmond tribute medley featuring all five saxophonists from the SRJO
Blue Rondo a la Turk
The Duke
Theme from Mr.Broadway
plus an encore tribute to the late Frank Wess

Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for 88.5 KPLU. The program airs on Sundays at 2 PM Pacific Standard Time and is available as a podcast at kplu.org following the broadcast.

The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra’s next performance will be the 25th annual presentation of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music Concert at Seattle’s Town Hall on December 28.

Chico Hamilton’s drumming with the original Gerry Mulligan Quartet and his own small groups helped introduce many young listeners to jazz in the 1950s. His death last week in New York brought a reaction from Don Conner that may strike a chord with other Rifftides readers.

R.I.P.Chico Hamilton! Chico died recently at 92. This was meaningful to me as Chico’s group was the first live band I’d ever heard. I was 18 and L.A. was dark and mysterious. I was in the military. Needless to say, my naiveté was off the charts. I had never heard of Chico or his sidemen, whom I later found out consisted of Buddy Collete on reeds, Fred Katz on cello and probably jim Hall on guitar. Ah a little history and nostalgia.

Hamilton’s popularity, already high, broadened in 1958 after Bert Stern captured his quintet at the Newport Jazz Festival as part of the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day. In this edition of the band, Hamilton’s sidemen were Eric Dolphy, flute; John Pisano, guitar; Nat Gershman, cello; and Hal Gaylor, bass. In Buddy Collette’s composition “Blue Sands,” the main feature is Hamilton’s skill with mallets.

In addition to providing early exposure for Dolphy and guitaritsts Jim Hall, Larry Coryell and Gabor Szabo, Hamilton’s quintets were launching pads for bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Charles Lloyd, among other developing jazz artists. Hamilton worked steadily, as well as teaching at New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He recorded his last album, Revelation, in 2011.

It’s December and the gentleman to the left is calling your attention to the new Rifftides batch of things that we recommend you hear, watch and read. The CD suggestions include an indispensable collaboration finally being reissued after half a century, a mainstream trio and a decidedly un-mainstream quartet. The DVD catches Thelonious Monk concertizing in Paris. The book is a biography of one of the most public and most elusive of major jazz artists. The notices will appear under Doug’s Picks in the right-hand column until the next batch shows up and, for the immediate future, immediately below.

In the wake of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s recent programs about Bill Evans, Rifftides reader Brenton Plourde notifies us of a new BBC series to be streamed on the internet. Beginning tomorrow, Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz on BBC Radio 3 will air a weeklong series about Paul Desmond and his music. The BBC’s preview page does not make clear whether the shows will be available to web listeners outside the United Kingdom. For an advance look at the program rundown, go here.

This is a national holiday in the United States, important ever since the newly arrived Pilgrims and the native Wampanoag gave thanks in 1621.

To Americans observing it, the Rifftides staff sends wishes for a happy Thanksgiving. To readers in the US and around the world: thank you for your interest, readership and comments.

Every November 25th since Rifftides debuted in 2005, we observe Paul Desmond’s birthday. He was born in San Francisco on this date in 1924, which, that year, was Thanksgiving. To the left, we see Desmond six months before he died in May of 1977. He’s watching Jim Hall carve the turkey that Jim’s daughter Devra prepared when she hosted her parents and Paul for a 1976 Thanksgiving dinner at her New York apartment. Longtime recording partners, Desmond and Hall were close friends. One of their rare experiences playing together outside a studio came in 1969 when President Richard Nixon celebrated Duke Ellington’s 70th birthday with a lavish tribute at the White House.

The Voice Of America’s Willis Conover put together the band for the tribute. Below you see its members rehearsing in the East Room the afternoon of the party, April 29, 1969. From left to right: Hank Jones, Jim Hall, Milt Hinton, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond, Louie Bellson, Clark Terry, J.J. Johnson, Bill Berry, Urbie Green. Guest artists included Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, Earl Hines and the singers Joe Williams and Mary Mayo.

Mulligan and Desmond rehearsed Mulligan’s intricate arrangement of “Prelude to a Kiss.” The performance is included in a recording of that night’s music, finally released in 2002. From the Desmond biography, here is some of the description of that evening’s concert and aftermath:

It lasted an hour and a half and consisted of twenty-seven Ellington or Strayhorn pieces, several of them worked into medleys. Solos were distributed so that all of the musicians were featured. I was in the audience directly behind Cab Calloway, who was sitting next to Ellington. Duke had been lounging comfortably as he listened. He sat bolt upright when, on “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” with Brubeck at the piano, Desmond played a stunningly accurate impression of Johnny Hodges, Ellington’s star alto player of forty-one years. “Hey,” Duke said, and turned to Calloway with a grin, a reaction that pleased Desmond enormously when I described it.

Desmond was not happy about a medley that featured him on Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge.” When they came to the song’s middle section, the bassist, Milt Hinton, forgot the complicated harmonic changes and went into an unrelated pattern. Desmond managed to keep his composure and preserve the melody line. It is unlikely that non-musicians in the audience knew anything had gone wrong, but Paul was convinced that it had been a disaster. After the concert, he headed for the open bar and stayed near it the rest of the night, which turned out to be long. The Nixons headed for bed, but the President urged everyone to stay and have a good time. White House staffers sprang into action and cleared the East Room for dancing, and a jam session ensued. Desmond’s mood lightened eventually, though he rejected all entreaties to play. I hung out at the bar with him and Urbie Green, but went on to other conversations after the Dewars competition moved out of my league. When the party broke up between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m., I wished Paul and Urbie a good night as they helped one another, unsteadily, through the entrance hall, down the White House steps and into a taxi. Later, Desmond was able to see humor in the “Chelsea Bridge” incident, but that night he worked at forgetting it.

In conclusion, I quote, not for the first time, what Brubeck told me years after Desmond’s death: “Boy, I sure miss Paul Desmond.”

Nearly all Americans who were alive when President Kennedy was murdered remember how and where they got the news. In announcing her revitalized blog, Carol Sloane asked her contacts to recall what they were doing on November 22, 1963. This is what I sent her:

My camera crew and I were in the ballroom of the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon, interviewing Denise Tourover, the national head of Hadassah. Mrs. Tourover was from Washington DC. She was a friend of the Kennedys. I had just asked her about the importance of Mr. Kennedy’s trip to Dallas when Richard Ross, the anchor at a competing station, burst into the room and announced that the President had been shot. It was soon confirmed that he was dead. KATU-TV had just been named the ABC affiliate in Portland, but the contract allowing us to carry the network’s coverage had not gone into effect. For the first several hours, until ABC made arrangements to hook us into the network, our news department carried the load of reporting about the assassination, depending on wire services and whatever guest experts we could round up. I persuaded Mrs. Tourover to come to the studio and go live with us. She became an invaluable source and a connection to other Kennedy contacts across the country. I did not leave the studio, or the air, for nearly 24 of the most demanding and emotional hours of my life.