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Interview

Interview: Kat Anderson

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 25, 2011

The week of December 11 will mark a special day in Motown history. Fifty years ago, the two-year-old label had its first No. 1 Billboard pop hit. Earlier in 1961, Smokey Robinson had the label's first No. 1 hit on the R&B chart. But a No. 1 pop hit was a big deal, showing that Motown could crossover and connectwith white teens. The group that pulled off that landmark recording was the Marvelettes and the song was Please Mr. Postman. ...

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Interview

Youth and Grace

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
November 25, 2011

The past few days, Rifftides has been unavoidably concerned with deaths and with musicians aged 80 or older. Am I the only one ready for an infusion of youth? Grace Kelly, born in 1992, may not be an elected representative of the talented teenagers in jazz, but she gets the nod here because for several years she has been playing well and developing steadily, and I just saw her new video, and it made me feel good. See if it ...

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Interview

The String Cheese Incident: Back on the Road Again

Source: JamBase
November 25, 2011

By Dennis Cook To say there's been a pent-up desire for The String Cheese Incident to return to active duty would be a fairly gross understatement. For the SCI faithful, nothing else fills the hole this singular Colorado institution fits. A great American band in the broad, positive sense, String Cheese throws together elements no other band would put in the same mixing bowl, and then proceeds to make them tasty, sometimes against all expectations. The sustained appetite for this ...

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Interview

Interview: Dick Hafer (Part 3)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 17, 2011

After tenor saxophonist Dick Hafer left Woody Herman's band in 1955, he spent eight years recording top-shelf albums as a sideman on other musicians' dates. From 1964 on, Dick played in the orchestras of Broadway musicals and television shows. What's interesting about his 1956-63 period is that all of the albums all terrific. Not a dud among them. What's more, the breadth of his work during this period ranged from big bands and Dixieland to small-group swing and the music of ...

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Interview

Jazz Face: Sue Orfield

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
November 16, 2011

She was once known as “Seattle's Best Horn," but tenor saxophonist Sue Orfield, now based in Eau Claire, WI, should have recognition far beyond either locale. Playing this past weekend at the Artists Quarter with an organ trio already known for its playful, zesty firepower—the Tuesday Night Band—Orfield turned up the heat beyond boil. The TNB+1 didn't sizzle, they nearly vaporized. If there was a grin meter to measure artist satisfaction, then B-3 man Bill Brown, guitarist Billy Franze and ...

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Interview

Interview: Dick Hafer (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 16, 2011

When you speak with tenor saxophonist Dick Hafer, you notice that his voice is as cool and easy-going as his horn. It's a gentle voice, a voice that has a mellifluous sound that makes you want to keep him talking just to hear it. Because his voice putsyou at ease. Like many tenor saxophonists who came up in the late 40s, Dick was deeply influenced by Lester Young's linear, swinging style. Which made Dick an ideal section player, especially as ...

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Interview

The Granz Memory

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
November 16, 2011

Tadd Hershorn's biography of Norman Granz (see below) is full of instances of the mentalacuity and toughness that helped see the promoter and record executive through countless challenging situations as he presented jazz and fought discrimination. He had a memory that was legendary among the musicians he worked with. Here is a story not in Hershorn's book. When I was a college student in Seattle in the 1950s, I became acquainted with Percy Heath, the bassist of the Modern Jazz ...

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Interview

Interview: Dick Hafer (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 15, 2011

Starting in the late 1940s, Dick Hafer (pronounced HAY-fer)was one of the finest big-band tenor saxophonists and soloists. Dick's sound rested somewhere between Lester Young's smooth linear delivery and Wardell Gray's eely bop attack. [Pictured: Dick Hafer in Woody Herman's 1952 band] As a result, Dick wound up in the sax sections of some of the finest bands ofthe period—Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Nat Pierce, Larry Sonn, Tommy Dorsey, Urbie Green and Benny Goodman. On small group sessions, Dick was featured ...

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