Today’s cycling expedition took me through the upper reaches of apple country where the orchards are in bloom. It was a fairly mild winter around here but there was plenty of snow in the mountains, so there’s a good flow of irrigation water and the blossoms are signaling that there will be a large crop— if the weather cooperates and we don’t get a late freeze.
My search for a new jazz version of the obvious choice of a song about apple blossoms turned up nothing. There is no new version. That’s too bad. The piece has nice harmonic changes; the younger players are missing an opportunity. Therefore we turn, not reluctantly, to Jo Stafford, Dick Hyman and Ruby Braff. Here is Ms. Stafford in 1946 with Nat Cole on piano, nice little solos by trumpeter Ray Lynn and tenor saxophonist Herbie Haymer and the orchestra conducted by Paul Weston. Listen to this woman’s phrasing. She was a wonder.
At their duo concert in New York in 1982, Hyman played a Wurlitzer Theater Organ and Braff played cornet. The concert recording was originally issued on LP and cassette.
Live In Seattle was recorded in a former church on International Jazz Day almost exactly a year ago. Frequent collaborators, pianist Shipp and bassist Bisio give intriguing duo performances of five Shipp compositions and three standards. Shipp pays obeisance to the melody and chords of Rogers & Hart’s “My Funny Valentine†during its first chorus while Bisio, using his bow with speed and vigor, invents eerie countermelodies. As the storm subsides, there is a momentary pause before they launch into “New Fact,†a Shipp D-minor fantasy. The Roberta Flack hit “Where Is The Love?†gets Bisio’s wild bowing treatment while Shipp plays straight-time eighth notes, then the two become downright lyrical—briefly—and morph into “Psychic Counterpart,†with Bisio pizzicato in traditional time-keeping swing—for a while. “Green Dolphin Street“ appears in a game of melodic hide-and-seek, but Shipp’s chords leave little doubt about what they’re playing, and Bisio’s steady ostinato offsets Shipp’s peregrenations.
Guaraldi’s greatest recordings for the label. They are all there; the Charlie Brown Christmas pieces, so familiar to generations of TV kids; “Great Pumpkin Waltzâ€; “Cast Your Fate To The Winds,†“Samba de Orfeu†and the other definitive bossa nova pieces; Guaraldi’s beautiful religious composition “Hymn To Grace;†“Calling Dr. Funk,†the early triumph that circulated his nickname; and a couple of dozen others.
Lederer conglomerates music by the free jazz avatar Albert Ayler with sea shanties that survive from the whaling ship era when Herman Melville had Ahab pursuing Moby Dick. Influenced by Ayler’s haunting, raucous saxophone style, Lederer enlists ten longtime collaborators in combining his hero’s headlong improvisational style with traditional sea songs. Ayler’s “Bells†opens the collection, followed by “Haul Away Joe,†a shanty that sounds as if it could have been written by Ayler. Fellow tenor saxophonist Petr Cancura is part of the proceeding, along with cornetist and slide trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and accordionist Art Bailey. Brian Dye plays blowsy trombone. Matt Wilson’s, Allison Miller’s and Stephen LaRosa’s percussion instruments include drums, ship’s bell, chum bucket and chain. Mary LaRose sings spiritedly on five tracks and ends the album reading a passage from Moby Dick. This unlikely project is a joy.
Bill Crow has played bass with several of of the world’s leading jazz artists, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Marian McPartland and Gerry Mulligan among them. A terrific writer, he has developed a sidebar career as a story teller. His 
the musical chemistry between them produced some wonderful results. One night Dick Bock visited the Haig, the club where they were playing, and asked Gerry if he could sell him a record. Gerry told Bock that the group hadn’t recorded yet, and Bock said, “Well, how much does it cost to make a record?†When he found out that it could be done for just a few hundred dollars, he got the quartet into a recording studio, and the Pacific Jazz label was born. It went on to successfully record many West Coast jazz groups.
“I worked the Nut Club after Juilliard in the early 50’s, with Nick Stabulas (leader), George Syran (piano) and Jon Eardley (trumpet). We mostly played bebop, even for some of the strippers, but ‘Harlem Nocturne’ and ‘Night Train’ were frequent for the three shows a night. (I did not see a woman from the front for three years.)
I mention this phenomenon because Saturday April 16 is not only Eggs Benedict Day but also—perhaps of more importance to Rifftides readers— Record Store Day. Its website (no kidding, the day has a website) gives its history:
Early this year I had the privilege of writing notes for Forrest Westbrook’s only album as a leader. The CD was released five-and-a-half decades after it was recorded and two years after the pianist’s death at 86. The album is bringing overdue notice to Westbrook, a quiet, almost secretive figure in the southern California jazz movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Standard journalism practice is for a writer never to promote a project in which he has been involved. So, report me to the Journalism Police, but it’s important that serious listeners know about Westbrook’s work. Therefore, my clever surreptitious ploy is to let fellow blogger Marc Myers carry the ball. With his customary accuracy, Marc describes Westbrook as remarkable. To see his coverage of the pianist’s album, go to his 
The scores of photos, illustrations and reproductions of documents make this book a valuable supplement to the growing stack of Ellington biographies: Bennett’s watercolor painting of Ellington, the 10-piece 1920s band looking bemusedly at the camera, Ellington peering over the feathered headdresses of Cotton Club chorus girls, President Eisenhower’s note of appreciation, Duke playing a piano duet with actor Jimmy Stewart. Some material is seen for the first time. In the essays, Mercedes Ellington’s remembrance of her relationship with her grandfather illuminates the fragmented nature of his personal life. Co-author Brower contributes an invaluable 16-page timeline that traces the high points of Ellington’s life and career. Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Dan Morgenstern, Jon Batiste and Dave Brubeck discuss what Ellington means to them. Lack of IDs for many photos is a flaw that should be fixed before the next print run.
Beginning in 2012, the Detroit Jazz Festival has teamed players of varied backgrounds in all-star bands. At the 2015 festival, thorough preparation resulted not in a typical festival jam session, but a program of new music by participants who played with zeal and combined into a genuine unit. The sophisticated vibraharpist Gary Burton and the smooth-jazz tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum may seem unlikely colleagues, but this album shows that combining them with hard-core, hard-bop members of younger jazz generations was a fine idea. Trumpeter Freddie Hendrix and pianist Christian Sands inject youthful surges of adrenalin that the veteran drummer Carl Allen and bassist Christian McBride match. In an impressive example of her mature style, soprano saxophonist Tia Fuller’s solo on her composition “Decisive Steps†stirs the festival audience to full-cry response. Hendrix nearly matches her passion, and Allen explodes with drum power on the out-chorus. 
No vacation can deflect the march of time. I am sad to learn of the death yesterday at 84 of the trombonist, cellist, composer and music educator David Baker. He is pictured here, on the right, with Dizzy Gillespie. Baker founded Indiana University’s Jazz Studies program and taught at IU for decades. Dozens of his students went on to distinguished jazz careers. He was a trombonist with the Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson and Quincy Jones bands and then with George Russell’s quintet. Baker had to give up the instrument after his jaw was injured in a car crash. Eventually, he switched to cello but achieved his greatest renown and acclaim as a teacher and theorist. His instruction books include the influential 
I’m still on vacation, but I took time to check out Steve Cerra’s Jazz Profiles blog. Today, Steve republishes Gene Lees’ 2005 JazzLetter piece on the late alto saxophonist Herb Geller. It includes Geller’s reminiscences about the young Stan Getz, one of his early mentors, and about his lifelong admiration for Benny Carter. To read it, 
Whether or not the river runs green where you live, this is the special day when the whole world is Irish. We bring you two versions of what may well be the most loved of all Irish songs. The first is a concert performance by Renee Flemming, the second a piano solo by Bill Evans from his 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
    
coincidentally with his recent Portland Jazz Festival appearance, Lloyd released a new album, 
Quincy Jones turns 83 today. His story has had many chapters since his early days in Seattle and his apprenticeship in Lionel Hampton’s trumpet section. Jones went on to lead an important big band, score motion pictures, become one of the most successful producers in pop music and be named an NEA Jazz Master. As I wrote a few years ago in reviewing a box set of 
Ernestine Anderson died on Thursday at the age of 87 at a retirement home in Seattle. The singer’s career of more than six decades began in that city when she was a teenager. She went on to be featured with the big bands of Johnny Otis and Lionel Hampton, record the classic album Hot Cargo and receive Grammy nominations and rave reviews for recordings she made after a comeback in the 1970s. For an extensive account of Ms. Anderson’s life, see Paul deBarros’s article in 
For your weekend listening pleasure, let’s follow up on the previous post’s review of organist Larry Young’s album of recently discovered Paris recordings. Here is “Paris Eyes†(a coincidental title) from Young’s Blue Note album 
guitar; Bill Leslie, tenor saxophone; and Jimmie Smith, drums. Young shows what he could do with—or for—a Great American Songbook classic. This was also recorded by Van Gelder (pictured).