Rifftides

Aperturistic Trio At Tsaritsino

Doug Ramsey — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:30:17 +0000

From time to time, Rifftides reader Svetlana Ilyicheva (pictured) reports about music she hears in Moscow. Here are her impressions of the June 12 concert by the visiting American group known as the Aperturistic Trio and their guest, the trumpeter Eddie Henderson. They played at a royal estate that is a splendid reminder of Russia’s [...]

Happy Fatha’s Day

Doug Ramsey — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:21:15 +0000

Earl “Fatha” Hines, Berlin, 1965, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, bass; and Alan Dawson, drums.

A Bert Wilson Broadcast

Doug Ramsey — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 06:31:29 +0000

Bert Wilson was an undersung musician and an extraordinary man who died earlier this month. An underground hero of saxophonists far beyond the Pacific Northwest where he lived, he was so unusual and so little recognized that Rifftides is departing from our policy of not publishing verbatim announcements from elsewhere. Here is Jim Wilke’s alert [...]

This And That

Doug Ramsey — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:17:13 +0000

Ben Tucker, RIP There has been a civic outpouring of affection for bassist Ben Tucker, who died on June 4 in his adopted hometown, Savannah, Georgia. Tucker was killed when a car smashed into his golf cart. He was 82. He moved to Georgia four decades ago after establishing himself as a valuable sideman in [...]

Herb Geller, Darmstädters And “Django”

Doug Ramsey — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:19:30 +0000

Herb Geller is at home in Hamburg, Germany, recovering from a health setback. Until fairly recently, the octogenarian alto saxophonist’s demanding schedule had him in clubs and at festivals throughout Europe. One of those events was the Darmstädter Big Band’s Kentomania tour featuring music written for Stan Kenton’s band by Bill Holman, Gerry Mulligan, Bob [...]

Compatible Quotes: Woody Herman

Doug Ramsey — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 04:10:43 +0000

The singing was something I got from my father. There were a lot of times where there was a great deal of fodder recorded and played, because there was a market for it – just as there is today. And there were more bad bands than there were good bands – I think that should [...]

A Pinto Pony

Doug Ramsey — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 22:15:18 +0000

My early morning cycling expedition took me nowhere near the Alamo or a Navajo, but I stopped to look at this fella looking at me… …and, naturally, I remembered a recording. That song with words and music by Joe Greene was a big hit in 1947 not only for Woody Herman but also for the [...]

Recent Listening: Terence Blanchard

Doug Ramsey — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 06:34:34 +0000

Terence Blanchard, Magnetic (Blue Note) Even in tracks orchestrated with layers of electronic mysteries, a fine sense of chance-taking permeates Blanchard’s return to the Blue Note label. “Don’t Run,” the piece with the least contrivance, is to a considerable degree the album’s most daring. Built on a stuttering unison melodic line, it is just short [...]

Václav Klaus, Impresario

Doug Ramsey — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:58:55 +0000

Imagine the president of the United States regularly presenting jazz in the East Room of the White House; that is the level of recognition Václav Klaus gave the music. President of the Czech Republic from 2003 to March of this year, Klaus succeeded the Republic’s first president, Václav Havel. He hosted 90 monthly concerts known [...]

Recent Listening: Joel Miller, Wallace Roney

Doug Ramsey — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:32:07 +0000

The story goes that a friend who hadn’t seen the great tenor saxophonist Al Cohn in a long time encountered him on the street in New York and said, “Hey, Al, where are you living these days?” “Oh,” Al said, “I’m living in the past.” Looking over a string of recent posts, it is clear [...]