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Results for "Rifftides by Doug Ramsey"
Bill Evans, Relaxed and Articulate
Bill Evans had precise intellectual understanding of everything he did in his playing. However, like most superior improvisers, he developed his skill and knowledge to the point where he could set aside concentration on keyboard technique and the elements of musical language in order to achieve an unfettered flow of creativity in the spontaneous act of ...
Recent Listening: Jordan, Longo, Garrett
The Rifftides staff is still catching up with recent CDs, some more recent than others. Sheila Jordan, Winter Sunshine (Justin Time). The first word in the CD's title may refer to Jordan's age, the second to the quality of her singing. She is seventy-nine and sounds thirty. Part of her schtick in this live recording at ...
Other Matters: Obama and the Voa
Murray Fromson has issued the first plea I've seen from a heavyweight journalist to president-elect Obama for a rescue of the Voice of America. Rifftides has often written about that broadcast agency's central role in cultural diplomacy during the Cold War, particularly about the vital part Willis Conover played. I have deplored the Bush administration's attempts to ...
Marvin Stamm and the Russians
Trumpeter and flugelhornist Marvin Stamm just spent a few days at the Brubeck Institute in Stockton, California. While he was there, he worked with jazz musicians visiting the institute from Russia. Rifftides reader Paul Conley of radio station KXJZ in Sacramento (pictured) also visited, He aired a story about the encounter on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. ...
Three Little Bops Mystery Solved?
When Marc Myers at JazzWax.com decides to solve a mystery, he goes into full Sherlock Holmes mode. He has done that in an attempt to track down the complete personnel of the Shorty Rogers combo in the Looney Tunes cartoon Three Little Bops, which ran last week on Rifftides. I agree with critic Larry Kart's conclusion ...
Recent Listening: Sherr, Catherine, Mondlak
David Sherr, OtherWorld Music (Bel Air Jazz). Sherr is a composer and player of reed instruments and flutes. His background includes work with Sonny Criss, the San Francisco Ballet, Nelson Riddle, Lalo Schifrin, Don Ellis, Harry “Sweets" Edison, Frank Zappa, Oliver Nelson, Robert Craft, Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, among several dozen others from assorted fields ...
Other Places: Frank Wess
In today's Washington Post, Matt Schudel writes about Frank Wess. The 86-year-old tenor saxophonist and flutist is still active and about to play in Washington, D.C., where he spent much of his early career. Schudel quotes pianist Billy Taylor, Wess's contemporary, about the saxophonist's influence on him when they were in high school together. ...
Weekend Extra: Toots and Quincy
The You Tube heading for this video clip of Toots Thielemans at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1992 says that it has been viewed 40,422 times. Do yourself a favor and make it 40,423. Quincy Jones was the conductor of the WDR Big Band. He was enamored of Toots's musicality, wit and warmth. Who isn't? ...
Recent Listening: Rollins, Melvoin-Park, Harper, Gonzalez
The Rifftides staff is attempting to keep ahead of the CD tsunami described in this recent post. It's an impossible assignment, but they're a game bunch. Herewith, brief reviews of approximately 0.06% of the accumulated mass of discs. Sonny Rollins, Road Shows, Vol. 1 (Doxy/Emarcy). In some of these previously unreleased concert performances, the tenor saxophonist reaches peaks of ...
One More Time: Three Little Bops
Sometimes comments about Rifftides pieces show up considerably after publication. We just got one from reader Dave Mackey about an animated cartoon we linked to on April 30, 2007. Bless the readers. We wouldn't have known about the cartoon if a reader hadn't sent an alert in the first place. The paragraph immediately below is the ...
