Jazz Articles about Jim Ridl

Jim Ridl: Opening Doors in the Big Apple

by Victor L. Schermer
August 16, 2016

Something fresh and vital is in the air when a truly creative musician is about to release a new album. Jim Ridl's Door in a Field: Volume II: Songs of the Green River, an independent release, is full of surprises and rich in musical ideas. The album is set to be released in early Fall, and the music will be premiered live in a celebration at the 55 Bar in New York on September 18, 2016. In a ...

Jim Ridl: Blue Corn Enchilada Dreams

by Victor L. Schermer
December 9, 2011

Jim Ridl Blue Corn Enchilada Dreams Jim Ridl Records2011Jim Ridl is one of our most creative and versatile jazz pianists, an acknowledged master often called upon by his peers for their recordings and live performances. Whether he works along with saxophonists Dave Liebman and Charles Pillow, or flugelhornist Anthony Branker, or vocalist JD Walter, or in a duet context with guitarist Pat Martino, Ridl always adds something special to the mix, conjuring ...

JD Walter: Live in Portugal

by Victor L. Schermer
March 6, 2009

J.D. Walter Live In Portugal JWAL Records 2008

J.D. Walter may be the most avant-garde vocalist in jazz today. He uses a broad range of musical and linguistic approaches to create haunting atmospheres, rapid scat runs, and emotionally engaging interpretations of both standards and his own compositions. On this double CD set, recorded live at the Lagoa Jazz Festival in Portugal, he takes scat to a new expressive level. The word scat ...

Jim Ridl: Your Cheatin' Heart and Other Works

by George Kanzler
October 13, 2006

Jim Ridl, who's been with Pat Martino's bands for years, deserves to be better known. Not only is he a personal, forceful pianist, he's also a first-rate composer and arranger who knows how to put together a band and how to make thoroughly engaging albums like this one. Country songs like Hank Williams' title opus and “Tennessee Waltz are not the usual fare of jazz musicians (exception: saxophonist Benny Wallace). In trio with bassist Steve Varner and drummer Jim Miller, ...

Jim Ridl Quintet at the Deerhead Inn

by Victor L. Schermer
September 13, 2005

Jim Ridl Quintet Deerhead Inn Delaware Water Gap, PA September 3, 2005

Pianist Jim Ridl's new CD, Your Cheatin' Heart, is a jazz take on some country and western classics along with some standards and original compositions. It is rich with novel ideas and textures and is bound to attract attention. So I was excited to attend one of two CD release performances, this one at the Deerhead Inn, and the other to take ...

Jim Ridl: Your Cheatin' Heart

by Victor L. Schermer
September 12, 2005

Jim Ridl Your Cheatin' Heart Dreambox Media DMJ-1080 2005In addition to being a highly skilled and accomplished jazz pianist, Jim Ridl is a creative and resourceful musician, composer, and arranger who draws on a rich legacy of musical and personal resources to develop a wide range of musical ideas and concepts unified by his deep grasp of the blues and its endless potential to be reborn in new forms. Each of his ...

Jim Ridl Performs Dave Brubeck's "Hold Fast to Dreams"

by Victor L. Schermer
February 17, 2005

The Jim Ridl Jazz Quartet Performing Dave Brubeck's “Hold Fast to Dreams" Set to the poems of Langston Hughes Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton Saturday, February 12, 2005

Sometimes we need to be reminded who we are and what's important in life. The essentials are easily forgotten in the rush of daily activities. When a musical event serves as such a reminder, it's noteworthy indeed. That's what this stellar performance of Dave Brubeck's ...