Rifftides readers asked if it would ever be available, so Bill Mays and I offer a performance of our History Of Jazz Piano project at no charge. Following a good deal of attention to technical detail and a thorough audio remastering, the 
concert is a free download on Bill’s website at this internet address (that link will take you there if you click on it).
We have performed the History three times in various parts of the world and plan to do further versions of it at festivals. The photograph shows Bill and me accepting roses following the performance at last year’s Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. For now, the 2015 presentation lives as a digital presence on the web. Again, go here to see Bill’s announcement and get instructions for downloading both halves of the two-hour concert, free of charge. This project is close to our hearts. We hope that you will enjoy hearing it as much as we enjoyed doing it.
The simplicity of the Rigby Trio’s cover design matches the uncomplicated instrumentation—saxophone, bass and drums. It is a configuration used to great effect by Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman in classic recordings when they were at the height of their powers. Whether the 42-year-old Rigby has reached that stage in his career remains to be heard, but in this 2016 album he affirms his skill as an improviser on tenor and soprano saxes. Indeed, although he wrote five pieces for the album, they are springboards for his explorations and those of bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Gerald Cleaver and do not disclose the sophistication of his arranging in earlier albums like 
original compositions. Now a New Yorker, the Russian-born Eckemoff includes, along with Cleaver on drums, three more of the city’s most prominent jazz artists; saxophonist/flutist Chris Potter, guitarist Adam Rogers and bassist Drew Gress. As in 
Sometimes, you just want to hear a good old-fashioned unadulterated blues. And sometimes—fairly often, actually—the members of Savoy Brown feel like playing one. Here they are in 2013 on the Clocktower stage at the Kitchener, Ontario, Blues Festival. Since it was founded in 1965 the band has gone through almost too many personnel changes to keep track of, although that is possible if you go to 
because of his close relationship with the late singer and actress Monica Zetterlund, who was honored at the festival. Carlsson was 80.
There are several jazz pieces called “Eclipse.†Tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, the Japanese group called Kyoto Jazz Massive, and the Mexican singer Bere Contreras, among others, have performed or recorded compositions with that name.
by blogger, Rifftides reader and tune-detective-first-class Tarik Townsend. Mr. Townsend (pictured) writes that he has found a recording of one of the most elusive quotes that Paul Desmond ever worked into a solo. As evidence, his story incorporates three videos, one of which has the quote itself. It’s a valuable and entertaining discovery. I congratulate Mr. Townsend for his diligent pursuit of a piece of Desmond ephemera that might have remained obscure but for the Townsend determination. To read his report and hear the music, 
In the Townsend piece, you heard Dave Brubeck voicing his enthusiasm for his partner’s wit. The appreciation the two had for one another’s work was frequently on display. They did not hold back their admiration for humor and harmonic resourcefulness. When the enthusiasm surfaced it was one of the factors that drew audiences in and helped make them—as Brubeck put it—the fifth member of the quartet.
In this collection of her compositions, Ms. de Prophetis melds a clear voice and solid musicianship with a sense of daring. The title song begins as a straightforward ballad with a story-telling lyric. A beguiling section of Ron Horton’s flugelhorn and Frank Kimbrough’s piano follows. When the singer re-enters, her lyric becomes abstract, but not as abstract as other songs with wordless vocals that also provide settings for Horton’s and Kimbrough’s improvisations. Drummer Satoshi Takeishi contributes patterns that reinforce and reflect the firmness or gentleness of Ms. de Prophetis’s singing and the bold, often witty, musings of the instrumentalists.
versatility that made him well known on television during his years as music director of the Tonight Show band. The album presents him with all-star quintets, one recorded in New York, the other in Los Angeles. His collective sidemen include trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Dave Holland, tenor saxophonist Bill Pierce, drummers Marvin “Smitty†Smith and Jeff “Tain†Watts. Eubanks wrote all of the music for the New York band. In L.A. he drew on compositions by Duke Ellington, Chick Corea, Ray Bryant and Marvin Gaye, plus the standard “My One and Only Love.†Eubanks restructures Bryant’s “Cubano Chant,†giving it an intriguing slinky feeling. Payton has a superbly contained solo on the opening “Time Line†and another in “Something About Nothing.†Pierce and Eubanks share the melody to great effect in “My One and Only Love.†Throughout, Eubanks is, in turn, relaxed and incisive. It’s a comfortable album.
Expanding her band to eight musicians, guitarist Halvorson assembles young New York players whose esthetic matches hers. Their leanings toward unfettered expression are balanced by exacting musicianship. Ms. Halvorson’s writing here underlines the craftsmanship of her composing, arranging and improvising. I can imagine Igor Stravinsky smiling at the audacity of her ensemble constructions in the opening piece, “Spirit Splitter.†Pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn not only generates contrasts between her and Halvorson, as in the title tune, but also emphasizes how they complement one another, as in the piece called “Fog
Bank.†Alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon, trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, trombonist Jacob Garchik and the vigorous tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock are splendid in the ensemble and in solo. Bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith are a formidable rhythm team. This album further establishes Mary Halvorson at the forefront of today’s avant garde.
that he do it at home. The session with son Gerry, pianist John Campbell and the rising young bassist Mike Gurrola finds the vibraphonist playing with energy, speed and ebullience that has amazed his listeners and colleagues for seventy years. In a session that ran four days, Gibbs called tunes as he thought of them. The quartet recorded them as first—and only—takes and came up with an album that is enjoyable from beginning to end. Campbell is in great form, particularly impressive nailing “Donna Lee†in counterpoint at high speed as Gibbs and company finish a romping “Back Home Again in Indiana.†Among the 14 tunes “Yardbird Suite,†“Take The ‘A’ Train†“Imagination†and “All the Things You Are.†The old man sounds young on all of them.
The adventurous trumpeter has succeeded in the past few years with various applications of electronics. Here, however, he and his band are all acoustic. Whatever the loss in trendiness, there’s a gain in clarity and accessibility. Pelt’s command of the instrument is in clear relief in a set that also gives his sidemen plenty of exposure. Percussionist Jaquelene Acevedo introduces the opening track with a prelude on congas that sets up the title tune. She is a driving source of energy on several pieces, including the Latin-spirited “Bodega Social.†The rhythm section of pianist Victor Gould, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Jonathan Barber are impressively attuned to one another. An individualist from the time of his first album, Pelt nonetheless is straightforward in acknowledging his heroes, as he does Miles Davis by way of tone and phrasing in “Prince,†a reflective piece that the liner notes emphasize has nothing to do with the late rock musician.
If you have followed Mitchell’s searching music over the past 50 years, Bells For The South Side will reassure you that the septuagenarian composer, saxophonist and tireless avant-garde inspiration continues to innovate. Mitchell’s music makes demands on listeners—and rewards them for their attention.
dedicated to ceaseless artistic growth. This is how he concludes a paragraph of notes for his latest collaboration with drummer-percussionist George Marsh,
Nat Cole was of a musical generation that did not consider whether it was cool to be entertaining. He welcomed it as an obligation passed along by musicians who included Louis Armstrong and Cole’s hero and role model Earl “Fathah†Hines. This album in the invaluable TCB series of rescued live recordings is from the end of the period when Cole had established himself as a singer but still considered the piano his main instrument. His piano playing here will remind anyone who may have forgotten that with his keyboard touch and refined harmonic sense, Cole was one of the major influences on players of the instrument. Directly or indirectly, he touched every modern jazz pianist who emerged during and after the 1940s. Yet, his fame as a popular singer was so great that it is not unusual for someone to exclaim, as I heard recently, “Oh, he played the piano too?â€
On July 12 we lost Joe Fields. During his long career Fields was the guiding spirit of record labels committed to unalloyed jazz. He started the Cobblestone label and later changed its name to Muse. Among the dozens of musicians he recorded on Muse over three decades were Woody Shaw, Houston Person, Grant Green and Pat Martino.
Before long, the Rifftides staff will be flying to Europe for the 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival. As always, the festival lineup will include prominent visiting American artists. Among them are tenor saxophonists Jerry Bergonzi and Joshua Redman, trumpeter Tim Hagans, drummer Al Foster and guitarist Al Di Meola.
For years, it was thought that drummer Jack DeJohnette’s only recorded appearance with the Bill Evans trio was at the 1968 
From his emergence in the 1990s, Rosenwinkel has been a relaxed guitar improviser even when negotiating the complex pieces that make him one of the most interesting composers at work today. He retains his leisurely approach to soloing in this collection, which is redolent with feelings and flavors of modern Brazilian music.
on her original songs, performed in flawless English. “Airplane,†as an example, is a love song consisting of a vocal chorus by Ms. Gunnarsson that, in a minimalist achievement, tells a complete story. At the piano she then pursues an emphatic duet with the increasingly impressive soprano saxophonist Karolina Almgren.
Broadbent’s title composition is in concerto form, although it is not described as a concerto. His piece combines jazz and classical sensibilities in a flow that evolves with logic rarely achieved when genres are blended. Broadbent’s booklet notes identify the orchestral beginning as a “forte introduction.†Robustly, it lives up to the promise of strength before a flute, then an oboe, quietly state a five-note theme and Broadbent’s piano begins telling the story promised by the title.
of six classic compositions from the bebop era forward, beginning with the 1946 Tadd Dameron ballad “If You Could See Me Now.†The arrangement has resourceful uses of flutes and horns, a few seconds of delicious piano counterpoint and a lovely bass statement from Harvie S over the closing chords. French horns and tympani announce John Coltrane’s “Naima†before Broadbent’s arpeggiated solo piano statement of the melody. The arrangement has a trumpet fanfare, a section of fanciful dancing woodwinds and—following a peaceful interlude—one massive orchestral chord leaving no doubt that the piece has ended. Broadbent gives Miles Davis’s “Blue In Green†a full orchestration accompanying his piano, a section of unaccompanied solo piano and the quietest imaginable conclusion.
Geri Allen died today of cancer. She was 60. Ms. Allen was a pianist of uncommon technical achievement and fluency and inspired a generation of younger pianists. Recently a resident of Pittsburgh, Ms. Allen grew up in Detroit, where she began piano lessons at age seven. While at Cass Technical High School she studied with the trumpeter and Detroit jazz mentor Marcus Belgrave. One of her early trios included bassist Anthony Cox and drummer Andrew Cyrille. In the course of her career she collaborated with major musicians, among them Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Ornette Coleman and Terri Lyne Carrington.