With the Republican nominating convention in the US presidential race underway, a passage in the novel Poodie James comes to mind. The mayor, Torgerson, is trying to drive Poodie, the title character, out of town, claiming that he’s connected with a civic threat from hobos who camp along the railroad tracks. Poodie and one of the hobos are heroes because they recently rescued the engineer from the locomotive of a burning freight train. The publisher of the local newspaper, Winifred Stone, is discussing the situation with her editor and thinking of a recent meeting with an acquaintance of Poodie who may be a madam. The editor says, “What I don’t understand is what he hopes to gain by going after Poodie James.â€
Winifred Stone stood at her office window in The Dispatch watching cars go in and out of the hotel garage on the corner. She thought of her conversation with Angie Karn.
“He seems to have friends all over town, all kinds,†she said. “The mayor thinks he can tar Poodie with the hobo brush. In a funny way, Poodie’s joining the hobo in the rescue might help Torgerson’s cause. It’s hard for me to imagine that people think much about hobos one way or the other around here, but it wouldn’t be the first time a politician was able to get the populace stirred up about an imaginary threat. Demagoguery works.â€
Bassist Bill Crow’s column “The Band Room†is an event New York musicians look forward to each month. It appears in Allegro, the newspaper of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. As readers of 
in the American songbook. He liked to group songs in a set by themes. Sometimes a medley would be all songs about rain, sometimes about happiness, sometimes about a color, or once in a while just songs by the same composer. He would explore each tune harmonically, wandering from stride to bebop to romanticism, and usually making everything swing like mad.
Pianist Don Friedman died of pancreatic cancer at home in New York City on June 30. He was 81. Friedman was treasured by fellow musicians for the subtlety and strength of his support as an accompanist and for the daring ingenuity of his harmonies. He was equally at home with traditionalist Bobby Hackett; modern mainstreamers Clark Terry, Chet Baker and Lee Konitz; and free jazz iconoclasts Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy. This Friedman quotation from my notes for his last album, 
died on June 17 in New York. A London studio musician who moved to the United States in 1973 to work with Maynard Ferguson’s big band, he played with Chet Baker, Buddy DeFranco and the big bands of Bill Watrous and Harry James, among others, before he joined Brubeck. In the Brubeck quartet, he occupied the slot long filled by Joe Morello and, like Morello, specialized in soloing on Paul Desmond’s composition “Take Five.â€
Three days following Jones’s death, pianist Sir Charles Thompson died at the age of 98. As talented as an arranger and leader as he was at the keyboard, Thompson was one of the great mainstream eclectics, bridging the swing and bebop eras. A combo he led and recorded in 1945 included bop saxophonists Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon and swing trumpeter Buck Clayton. Lester Young, dubbed Thompson “Sir’ Charles to give him parity with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Here, he solos with a band led by tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins that also includes Harry “Sweets†Edison on trumpet, Jimmy Woode on bass and Jo Jones on drums.
Hollenbeck’s little band has unity of thought, purpose and execution more often found in long-lived classical ensembles than in jazz. The difference, of course, is improvisation. Yet, Hollenbeck’s skills as composer-arranger, leader and drummer are so finely honed that it is often a challenge to differentiate between his canny orchestration and all-out blowing. Listeners who let Claudia’s music wash over them, pick them up and carry them along are likely to disregard the difference and find the immersion rewarding. “Nightbreak,†Hollenbeck’s drastically slowed adaptation of the 
Charlie Parker has never disappeared from the consciousness of serious jazz listeners. This two-CD collection, due out on Friday, could go a long way toward helping new generations discover the stunning purity and power of Parker’s creativity. Subtitled “The Unissued Takes,†the album brings together 69 unissued tracks and released masters that the alto saxophonist recorded for the Verve label from 1949 to 1952. For close listeners, annoyance at the stop-and-go sequence of takes gives way to wonder at Parker’s genius. The contexts range from quartet to string orchestra. Emerging jazz players will benefit from immersion in a primary source of modern music. A couple of recent articles have acknowledged Parker’s enduring importance while also pointing out that in the culture at large he is no longer recognized as a seminal artist who remade jazz. To read them, go 
His abilities honed by studies at the Eastman School of Music and Juilliard, 29-year-old pianist Chris Ziemba is in demand on the New York scene. His debut recording as a leader discloses a varied compositional sense and a canny choice of sidemen. Ziemba, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Jimmy MacBride are a keenly interactive trio. Michael Thomas joins them on alto saxophone for Ziemba’s evocative “The Road Less Traveled†and his boppish “Little T,†and on bass clarinet in the reflective title tune. “Escher’s Loops†seems to concern itself with symmetrical aspects of the work of the Dutch artist M.C. Escher. Ziemba’s keyboard touch and harmonies support the concept. The only piece not by Ziemba is Harry Warren’s 1945 classic “I Wish I Knew.†Ziemba’s arrangement incorporates a bass line leading to a solo in which Glawischnig is simultaneously incisive and relaxed. 
In an impressive display of her talent as a singer and songwriter, the daughter of prominent Swedish musicians Anders Bergcrantz and Anna-Lena Laurin debuts as a leader, with her parents as members of the band. Iris Bergcrantz’s voice is notable for its sweep from low chest tones to the top of the soprano range and for her flexibility in applying it in a milieu that embraces jazz and aspects of the most adventurous contemporary classical music. 
The title belies the pain of the loss that inspired Matt Wilson’s essentially jovial—even jocular—album. The drummer assembled a dozen of his musical colleagues to celebrate his wife Felicia, who died of leukemia two years ago. “Flowers For Felicia†and “July Hymn,†are instances of quiet remembrance amid 17 tracks that embrace the keen musicianship, spontaneity and humor (often raucous) that are core elements of Wilson’s musical and personal style. Pieces like “No Outerwear†and “25 Years Of Rootabagas†match Wilson’s disciplined, outré approach to life and work. The enthusiasm and abandon of his solo on “Schoolboy Thug†typify a philosophy embraced throughout the album by trumpeter Terrell Stafford, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, saxophonists Joel Frahm and Jeff Lederer, bassist Martin Wind and accordionist Gary Versace, among others. In his brief notes, Wilson writes that, “Felica …was all about love.†So is this album. 
of drummer Mel Lewis’s Jazz Orchestra—originally the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. When I wasn’t playing, I would often stop in to hear their weekly Monday-night gigs at NYC’s famed Village Vanguard. (A tradition that the band, now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, continues to this day, after over fifty years.)
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 that blocked normal vocal development. The voice made him an object of ridicule and abuse, and for years a callous label owner blocked his recording career. Yet, Scott managed to wrap the anguish of discrimination and mistreatment into his artistry. He adapted his unusual voice to a style that late in his life attracted a wide audience. His admirers included Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and the soul singer Marvin Gaye, who was heavily influenced by Scott.
confirmed days after the fact.
Opposite the contents page of this concise book is a quote from Duke Ellington: “Listening is the most important thing in music.†It seems an obvious truth, yet the idea eludes many people who claim that they wish they understood jazz. Gioia marshals his skills as an accomplished musician, clear thinker and gifted writer, inspiring readers to want to listen. He stresses that fear of technical matters is no reason to shy away from the music. “In fact,†he writes, “the deepest aspect of jazz music has absolutely nothing to do with music theory. Zero. Zilch.†He stresses that records are not enough, that hearing jazz live is essential. The appendix naming 150 important contemporary jazz musicians is helpful. Gioia’s chapters dealing with rhythm, structure, origins of jazz, and evolution of styles are invaluable aids to understanding—for newcomers and experienced listeners alike. 
The trumpet’s tubing is elongated and relatively straight until it reaches the flare of the bell. That gives the instrument volume and brilliance. The cornet’s tubing is tightly wound compared to that of the trumpet, resulting in more air resistance when the player blows into the horn. Its tubing is conical, growing bigger around as it approaches the bell. Taken together, those two factors give the cornet a mellower, softer sound than the trumpet’s. Trumpets predominate these days in orchestras and bands, but through the last half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, the cornet was king. It was developed by the Frenchman 
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 on PBS in April, 1968. We bring you the entire program.