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Results for "Rifftides by Doug Ramsey"
Diana Krall, Sellout?
A few years ago, Gene Lees and I fell into serious agreement. It happened in one of our long talks over a glass of wine, or two, at the big table just off the kitchen in his and Janet's house in Ojai. We were kicking around the peculiar effect that popular acceptance of an artist often ...
Sonnenberg Sings Lees
A man named Paul Sonnenberg has posted a medley of songs with Gene Lees' lyrics. If you go here, you'll learn as much about Mr. Sonnenberg as I know. If you watch the video below, you'll see and hear him sing the songs, largely in tune, with a feel for the Brazilian samba idiom and with, ...
Teachout on Lees
Tributes to Gene Lees continue, for good reason. A line from Longfellow applies: “Dead he is not, but departed - for the artist never dies." Terry Teachout remembers Gene in today's Wall Street Journal: Had Gene been born sooner, he would surely have been as famous and successful as the top songwriters of the '30s and ...
Jeff Sultanof on Gene Lees
Since the Rifftides entry about Gene Lees' death on April 22, we have received a flood of comments. They are posted in the comments section at the end of that piece. A couple of days later, Gene's friend Jeff Sultanof sent me a message that he intended as a private communique. I was moved by it ...
Rob McConnell: 1935-2010
Another significant Canadian contributor to jazz is gone. Barely more than a week after Gene Lees died comes news that Rob McConnell lost his long struggle with cancer yesterday in a Toronto hospital. A valve trombonist, arranger, composer and leader, McConnell made his Boss Brass one of the significant big bands of the latter part of ...
Gene Lees, 1928-2010
Gene Lees died today. We lost a writer unsurpassed at illuminating music and the world that musicians inhabit. I lost a cherished colleague whose work inspired me, a dear friend whose companionship brightened my existence. For a formal biography, see his entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia. My remarks are more personal. Gene's books about Oscar Peterson, ...
Correspondence: Stryker on Childs
In response to yesterday's Rifftides post, music critic Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press sent a message that included a column he wrote earlier this year. With his permission, we bring it to you. Very nice piece on Billy Childs' new album. I'm anxious to hear it. Billy just wrote a Violin Concerto that was ...
Recent Listening: Billy Childs
Billy Childs, Autumn In Moving Pictures: Jazz Chamber Music, Vol. 2 (artistShare). There is a long history in jazz of strings in small-group chamber music. In a 1935 concert, Artie Shaw played a piece that he composed for clarinet and string quartet. It brought him attention that helped lead to his first big band. Ralph Burns ...
Announcing New Recommendations
Joe Martin, Not By Chance (Anzic). At the outset, bassist Martin's album has the air of Downtown New York Generic, but the quality of the musicians and the playing soon kicks it into uniqueness. By the time they reach the ballad “A Dream," Martin, saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Marcus Gilmore have the ...
Listen Up: Two Radio Alerts
No doubt there is marvelous jazz being broadcast all over the world this weekend, but here are two instances that we know about. One program is hosted by Jim Wilke on the west coast of the US, the other by Bill Kirchner on the east coast. Both are available to Rifftides listeners through the magic of ...
