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Keep an Ear out for Gadi Lehavi
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
With fairness, it could be charged that Rifftides has been too concerned lately with the old and the dead. Well, certain observances and acknowledgments needed to be made. But let's move on. David Liebman wrote with an antidote. Here's his message:
ok--it's a cliche now that “they" (meaning the kids) get better earlier-check this out--he's already doing classical stuff since he was a babe--jazz for two years--Ravi (Coltrane) turned me on to him before I went to Israel a few ...Continue Reading
Guitarist/Bandleader Chris Jentsch Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
John Coltrane once said, “Let the music speak for itself." The guitarist/composer and band leader Christopher Jentsch adds an interesting twist on that subject by opting to describe himself when asked about the broader subject of how to capture his music in his own words. “I think of myself as a composer/guitarist working with contemporary improvisational forms on the fringe of jazz, but jazz that is inclusive of rock/pop, world music and classical genres. I also strive generally for a ...
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British Post-Jazzers Polar Bear Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
During the six or seven years since its formation, British quintet Polar Bear has garnered extensive praise from critics, fans and fellow musicians. Most famously, perhaps, the band was described by music critic Paul Morley as “dream jazz"--high praise, indeed. The band's second album, Held On The Tips Of Fingers (Babel, 2005), was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. The band has a great reputation as a live act, attracting audience members from the jazz world and beyond. On the ...
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Heard Evan Christopher Yet? (PT. 2)
Source:
The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
Part one of Twin Cities-based writer Pamela Espeland's conversation with the kinetic New Orleans-based clarinetist Evan Christopher left off with the artist commenting on his jazz education in his native California and his earlier leanings towards perhaps--tongue-in-cheek--qualifying for a spot in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.
So now you are known as a New Orleans-style, Creole-style clarinetist. That's how everyone talks about you and how you present yourself. Does that ever feel like a trap?
No, because in 2006 I intentionally ...
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Photostory15: Miles Davis
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
When I first saw this image of Miles Davis playing the tenor saxophone, I had a “what's wrong with this picture" moment. The photo of the trumpeter clearly was taken in the early 1960s, and Davis was never known to have doubled on the instrument. The blurry nature of the image also signified urgency. So I asked the person who sent it to me and was told the image is from Swing, Bop & Free, a magnificent new book available ...
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Mr. Haydn, if You Please, Come Meet Mr. Ellington
Source:
Michael Ricci
Anyone as prolific, pragmatic and busy as Haydn could hardly afford the luxury of dwelling on a project once it was completed. You would assume that once he had delivered The Seven Last Words of Christ, an orchestral work commissioned during the mid-1780s for Good Friday services in Cadiz, Spain, he might have considered his job done and moved on. But this work--a potent sequence of seven adagio movements (called sonatas) framed by a slow introduction and a fiery finale ...
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Interview: Dave Brubeck (Part 4)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1956, the U.S. State Department began sending jazz musicians on world tours as a way to showcase the excitement of American creativity and the spirit of American culture. The move was an attempt to checkmate Soviet influence in vulnerable areas during the Cold War. In 1958 the Dave Brubeck Quartet visited Eastern Europe and the Far East on such a tour. The result for Dave was exposure to a range of new and fascinating cultures. For the group, the ...
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Correspondence: About Mike Wofford
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Rifftides Washington, DC, correspondent John Birchard has rediscovered pianist Mike Wofford and filed this appreciation:
I've been listening lately to Mike Wofford. I first heard his work on an Epic LP titled Strawberry Wine back in the early 60's and was impressed, especially with a couple of his originals, “Strawberry Wine" and “Three For All." In '67, he did another trio LP, Sure Thing, on Discovery, produced by Albert Marx, that I still have on my LP shelf. In '76, ...
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