Rifftides

Recent Listening: Lundgren Trio, Rollins

Doug Ramsey — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:24:55 +0000

I voted for these albums in the recent Rhapsody jazz critics poll and wrote a feature story about one of them, but have not previously reviewed them. Jan Lundgren, Chuck Berghofer, Joe La Barbera: Together Again…At The Jazz Bakery (Fresh Sound) In a recent Wall Street Journal article, I concentrated on the surprise discovery and [...]

The Oak Room Farewell

Doug Ramsey — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:41:34 +0000

Visits to New York won’t be the same now that the Algonquin Hotel has closed the Oak Room. Since Ben Bodne sold the hotel in 1987, it has changed hands several times and is now operated by the Marriott chain as one of its high-end properties. With each change, another layer of the Algonquin’s mystique [...]

Giants Step On Patriots

Doug Ramsey — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:02:05 +0000

As nearly everyone in the United States knows, the New York Giants just beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The score was 21 to 17. Rifftides readers elsewhere may not understand why that is significant. The Super Bowl is the culmination of the professional football season. American football is not to be [...]

When Saindon Met Locke

Doug Ramsey — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:32:22 +0000

Toward the end of last summer, vibraphonist Ed Saindon sent a message alerting me to video of a duo concert he and fellow vibist Joe Locke had just played at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Saindon has been a professor at Berklee since 1975. I made a mental note to post one of [...]

Gehry Has Designs On The Jazz Bakery

Doug Ramsey — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:10:51 +0000

There is good news today for a premier west coast jazz listening establishment. Architect Frank Gehry, creator of some of the most dramatic buildings in the world, is donating his services to the Jazz Bakery. The Los Angeles performance hall lost its lease in 2009 and has functioned in an assortment of rented or donated [...]

Meredith d’Ambrosio: A Plug—And A Protest

Doug Ramsey — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:28:06 +0000

This is the official release date for By Myself, Meredith d’Ambrosio’s new CD of songs by Arthur Schwartz, which has been a long time coming. She accompanies herself at the piano and does so beautifully. Full disclosure: I wrote the notes for the album and will abstain from reviewing it except to say that the [...]

Paul Blair Service

Doug Ramsey — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:52:07 +0000

A memorial service for broadcaster, editor and jazz historian Paul Blair will be held this evening, January 30 at St Peter’s Church in Manhattan. Thanks to Jim Eigo, here is full information: Paul’s family and friends from elementary school, college, Peace Corps in Malawi, Voice of America, the New York Jazz community, are remembering Paul [...]

Radio Days & Jim Brown’s Web Page

Doug Ramsey — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:28 +0000

The Rifftides post about radio has taken on a life of its own with a chain of reader comments. To catch up with them, go here, and feel free to add yours. One of those commenters, the veteran audio engineer (and discriminating listener) Jim Brown, has launched an internet page. He intially designed it as [...]

Remembering Clare Fischer

Doug Ramsey — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:58:33 +0000

After Gary Foster informed me of Clare Fischer’s death at 83 on Friday, I went to the LP shelves, got out Dizzy Gillespie’s 1960 recording A Portrait of Duke Ellington and listened to all of it. For perhaps the hundredth time, I was moved by the originality that Fischer brought to the daunting task of [...]

Recent Listening: Jerry Gonzalez

Doug Ramsey — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:02:13 +0000

Jerry Gonzalez Y El Comando de la Clave (Sunnyside) Since Jerry Gonzalez changed his base of operations from New York to Madrid a decade ago, the trumpeter and congero has worked with many musicians while seeking a satisfactory combination of players for his own band. In Los Comandos de la Clave, he seems to have [...]