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Marian McPartland, RIP
Two days following Cedar Walton’s passing, we have lost another splendid pianist, one of the world’s best known and best loved jazz artists. Marian McPartland died in her sleep just before midnight Tuesday in her home on Long Island, New York. A message from family members reports that she passed away, “smiling,knowing that she was surrounded ...
Cedar Walton, 1934-2013
Cedar Walton died this morning at his home in Brooklyn at the age of 79. Family members confirmed his passing but have not announced the cause of death. A pianist admired for his adaptability and thorough musicianship, Walton wrote tunes that became jazz standards, among them “Firm Roots," “Bolivia," “Ugetsu," “Midnight Waltz" and “Something in [...]Cedar ...
Sandoval, Gillespie and the Medal
Now that the White House has announced President Obama’s Medal of Freedom winners for 2013, the sniping begins over his choices. Here is my snipe. Whatever Arturo Sandoval’s merits as a musician, they are put in perspective by his biography in the White House announcement, which notes that the trumpeter and pianist was a protégé of ...
Lionel Ferbos in His Second Century
On July 17 Lionel Ferbos broke his own record as the world’s oldest working jazz musician. The New Orleans trumpeter is now 102. Ferbos celebrated by playing a gig at the Palm Court, where he has performed for a substantial number of his ten decades. This shot of Ferbos recently won Skip Bolen the Jazz Journalists ...
Two Losses, One Gain
This week, jazz lost two artists who made substantial contributions to the music. The vibraharpist Peter Appleyard was one of Canada’s best known jazz musicians. Laurie Frink was a New York jazz community insider, honored as a masterly lead trumpeter, revered as a teacher. Born in England in 1928, Appleyard moved to Canada in his early ...
Bengt Hallberg RIP
Bengt Hallberg, honored as one of the finest pianists in modern jazz, died today in Uppsala, Sweden, of congestive heart failure. He was 80 years old. Hallberg’s keyboard touch and harmonic inventiveness came to the attention of musicians and listeners outside his native Sweden on Stan Getz’s 1951 recording of the traditional song “Ack Värmeland du ...
Paul Smith, 1922-3013
Another pianist, primarily noted for his impeccable accompaniment of singers but who was also a soloist of wide ranging abilities, died today. Paul Smith was 91. He was probably best known for his work with Ella Fitzgerald. He also played for Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan and Doris Day, among others. Early in his career, he worked ...
Weekend Extra: Dizzy Gillespie and Red Mitchell
The image to the left captures a moment in a short, happy period in thehistories of two major figures in the jazz of the late twentieth century. In 1970 bassist Red Mitchell joined Dizzy Gillespie’s quintet for a European tour that included concerts in Holland and France. When I recently visited Mike Longo in New York, ...
2014 NEA Jazz Masters
Jamey Aebersold Educator, Saxophonist, Pianist, Bassist, Banjo player Born in and currently resides in New Albany, Indiana Jamey Aebersold is the recipient of the 2014 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, which is bestowed upon an individual who has contributed significantly to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the ...
Sam Most, Johnny Smith...Gone
Risking the appearance of Rifftides becoming an obituary service, I must note the deaths in the past week of two supreme artists of the bebop era, flutist Sam Most and guitarist Johnny Smith. Each of them blazed trails on his instrument and was a major influence on generations of players who followed him. Sam Most From ...
