Interview News

Chanting, Jazzy, Beachy, Funky, Lonely Sounds

Source: Michael Ricci
August 30, 2009

Robert Glasper The pianist Robert Glasper draws some of his notions of live jazz from J Dilla’s form-bending hip-hop records, and some of his notions of hip-hop from jazz’s subtle group interactions, and he’s starting to resemble a strong force in jazz right now. “Double-Booked,” his new album on Blue Note, advances both halves of his musical life: the Robert Glasper Trio, with the bassist Vicente Archer and the drummer Chris Dave, and what he calls the Robert Glasper Experiment, ...

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Correspondence: Bruno and the Singer

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 30, 2009

Jack Brownlow has been dead nearly two years, but stories about him keep surfacing. Among his other attributes, the pianist was admired for his harmonic ingenuity, chord placement, taste and timing in accompanying instrumentalists and vocalists. At Brownlow's memorial service in the fall of 2007, drummer Phil Snyder told several stories about his musical adventures with the man known to his friends as Bruno. He forgot to tell one, though, and sent it to share with Rifftides readers.

Photostory8: Sammy Davis Jr.

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 30, 2009

Photos of Sammy Davis Jr. in action have always grabbed me. The energy, the enthusiasm and the wham. Always the wham. Davis continues to be highly underrated as a jazz and pop singer, probably because he sadly recorded so much junk. But Davis' gems are priceless. Which is why Herb Snitzer's photo of Davis here knocks me out. When I asked Herb what was going on when he took this image, here's what he told me:

Charlie Parker's Birthday

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 30, 2009

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City on this date in 1920. The Rifftides staff debated whether to observe the occasion by publishing a 5000-word essay tracing Parker's musical heritage, analyzing the components of his style and evaluating his influence on several generations of musicians. You'll be happy to know that we decided instead to take Bird's advice in the film below and let his music speak for itself.

This is the only known clip of Parker actually playing. In ...

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Prez, Continued

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 29, 2009

If I had known of Ethan Iverson's conversation with Lee Konitz about Lester Young, I would have included a link to it in the previous exhibit. On his blog, Do The Math, Iverson, the pianist and polymath of The Bad Plus, posts what amounts to a Prez master class with Konitz. The alto saxophonist has been intimately familiar for more than sixty years with Young's early work, so familiar--it turns out--that as he and Iverson listened to the recordings, he ...

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Mad About Thad...Thad Jones and Ralph Lalama

Source: From Riches to Ragtime: Peter Cobb
August 29, 2009

Jazz is a story of continuity, that of one generation passing on its knowledge to the next. Like the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," one can trace the lineage of one great player to another, whether through direct artistic influence or simple opportunities for exposure. Some great musicians take it upon themselves to actively mentor other young players so as to preserve and extend the future of the music. There are well-publicized examples, like that of Art Blakey and his ...

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Bill Frisell: Keep Your Eyes Open

Source: JamBase
August 28, 2009

By: Dennis Cook

Bill Frisell by Michael Wilson The first time you hear Bill Frisell play will change the way you hear guitar forevermore. His approach is so textured, nuanced and wholly individual that it stands the instrument on its head and makes one rethink all of their preconceptions. While generally tucked into the jazz section, Frisell actually draws on the gusto of Western swing, African modal exploration, Sonic ...

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The Prez Centennial

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 28, 2009

Lester Young was born 100 years ago today and died in his 49th year in March, 1959. Billie Holiday called him the president of the tenor saxophonists. His nickname became Prez, and he called nearly everyone else Prez. There is an endless list of musicians who played as they did mostly because of Young. It includes soloists as various as Parker, Artie Shaw, Paul Quinichette, Paul Desmond, Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon and Brew Moore, to name a few of hundreds. ...

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