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Recent Listening: JD Allen
JD Allen, Love Stone (Savant) Tenor saxophonist Allen’s brief liner notes are addressed to “Hello Dearest,” who is not identified. Allen tells the object of his affection, ‘True confession: playing the melody while knowing the lyrics is like drinking champagne alone and laughing at yourself all night long. I figured you would get a kick out ...
Recent Listening: Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman, A Jazzman’s Broadway (Harbinger Records) Cy Coleman’s success as a popular songwriter and a composer for musical theater overshadowed his effectiveness and influence as a jazz pianist. Nonetheless, as this album reminds us, he could be a spirited improviser whose background as a classical prodigy equipped him with impressive technique and a feeling for ...
Ystad 2018
On southern Sweden’s Baltic coast, the venerable town of Ystad is about to launch the 2018 edition of the festival that has made the medieval village, now a town of 29,00, a prime summer music destination in Europe. Officially named the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, it has been notable for a cross-section of top Scandinavian groups ...
Patrick Williams Is Gone
Sorry to learn that composer, arranger and bandleader Patrick Williams died yesterday at 79. Prolific in his work for motion pictures and television, Williams was sometimes taken for granted—but never by fellow members of the arranging fraternity or by the musicians who took part in recordings of his ingenious, often demanding, arrangements. Frank Sinatra chose Williams ...
This Is Your Vinyl Notice
The long-playing 33&1/3 RPM record is far from dead. Following up on the July 12 Rifftides review of Duck Baker’s LP of Thelonious Monk compositions, here are three other relatively recent vinyl albums worthy of your acquaintance. Rudresh Mahanthappa Indo-Pak Coalition, Agrima (Mahanthappa) Nine years following their first album, Apti, alto saxophonist Mahanthappa’s trio further expand ...
Recent Listening In Brief: Black Art Jazz Collective, Lynn Arriale
Black Art Jazz Collective, Armor of Pride (High Note Records) Half of the Collective’s members are leading lights among jazz artists in their forties and early fifties. They include trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and pianist Xavier Davis. The younger trombonist James Burton III, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Jonathan Blake blend into a ...
Duck Baker On Thelonious Monk
Duck Baker Plays Monk (Triple Point Records) Duck Baker (Richard Royal Baker IV) may not be a household name among jazz devotees at large, but in his career of more than four decades he has become a hero to other guitarists. He has led or been involved in dozens of recordings of folk music from all ...
Watrous Plays
Rifftides readers sent so many interesting comments about the passing of Bill Watrous, and about Alexandra Leh’s remembrance the following day, that the staff has voted to reward you all with video of the trombonist in a remarkable ballad performance. It’s from a 1976 television appearance. I have no information about the name of the program. ...
Henry Butler, 1948-2018
The gifted New Orleans pianist Henry Butler has died. He was 69. Noted for virtuosity at the keyboard and soulful depth as a singer, Butler pursued his career primarily in his home city, with frequent tours overseas. Blinded by glaucoma as an infant, he excelled academically at all levels and dazzled other musicians with his skill. ...
Bill Watrous Has Died
Trombonist Bill Watrous died yesterday in Los Angeles at the age of 79. Celebrated for his skill, range and speed, Watrous employed those attributes in a career that began with Billy Butterfield and included work with the big bands of Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson and Johnny Richards. In the early 1970s he recorded with ...
