Responses to our 2017 “Catching Up With You†reader survey are rolling in. This is what we asked of you four days ago:
The Rifftides staff is interested in what our readers around the world are listening to. Please take a moment to send a message with your name, location and brief information about the most recent music on your smartphone, CD player, tape deck, 8-track, iPod, wire recorder, turntable or cylinder machine. Many of you listen to a wide range of music that the rest of us would like to know about. Don’t concern yourself with genres or eras; who needs pigeonholes? We will keep track of your responses and compile a report when we have a sizeable list.
Sizeable, indeed. It will require several installments to get all of the responses posted. Here’s the first set, with the names of the Rifftides readers, where they are and what they’re listening to. Where possible, we include links.
Jonah Orlofsky, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Brad Mehldau-Chris Thile
Eddie Palmieri, Sabiduria
Abe Carnow, Los Angeles, California, USA
On the CD player: The Film Music of Ralph Rainger: Thanks for the Memory by the Chuck Berghofer Trio with Jan Lundgren, Joe La Barbera and guest Sue Raney. Wonderful CD. I love movie tunes, and when I hear “Love in Bloom,†I remember my favorite comic, Jack Benny. (Might have heard about this from your blog).
On the record player: Van Morrison Saint Dominic’s Preview, still a great record. Can’t say that rock and roll was ever great, but there are some fine records from that period, and I’m still a big Van Morrison fan. Been listening recently to True Flight, Victor Rendon, Latin jazz, really a fine album. Also, been listening to Stacy Sullivan with Jon Weber, Stranger in a Dream, tribute to the wonderful Marian McPartland. Big fan of Marian McP, like Gene Lees and you, one of my music teachers.
Fran Morris-Rosman, no location specified
The remastered and totally brilliant Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George And Ira Gershwin Songbook, a boxed set from Verve (now Universal Music). I have had my vinyl set since 1978, and this one sounds incredibly fantastic.
Buddy Dearant, Orleans, Massachusetts, USA
I’ve been listening to Stan Getz since I was 14 and over the years have bought everything he recorded. I can’t pick afavorite but if I had to it would be Focus.
Lately I’ve been listening to Warne Marsh meets Gary Foster, a Japanese import from years ago, released on LP only.
Dayna Stephens, Paterson, New Jersey, USA
Kurt Rosenwinkel, Caipi, ending less singable melodies with Kurt”s unique way of harmonically dressing them. One of those records that gets better the more times you hear it.
Jim Northover, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I’m a regular reader of Rifftides. Just purchased from iTunes the Savoy Volume 1 CD. I Listen to WKCR (mainly Phil Schaap) and KUCR on Saturday mornings, WCDB Albany and BBC 3–Jeff Smith’s program. For your interest, I include a link to the Toronto Duke Ellington Society, of which I am a member.
Robert Payne, Â Topeka, Kansas, USA
Listening to jazz from across the shore a lot more these days thanks to downloading and subscribing. Bands and people I love: Phronesis, Michael Wollny, Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Kit Downes, Mammal Hands, Jasper Hoiby, Pablo Held and Nat Birchall That’s just a start. Phronesis especially has become my favorite working group. Check out their Alive and see why.
John Hollenhorst, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
I listen mostly to “mainstream” jazz. I especially love bebop and hard bop, as well as what used to be called West Coast Jazz or Cool Jazz. My heroes? Monk, Trane, Miles, Evans, Duke… of course… and Blakey, Shorter, Chet, Mulligan, Pepper, Stan Getz… all the usual suspects. But I love anyone who dedicates himself or herself to exploring and creating great improvised music that is expressive and melodically inventive. I love hearing a great solo and not knowing who the musician is. Once I hear it, though, I want to know.
Nearly all my listening these days is via on-line streaming. I use a wonderful app called TuneIn Radio—in my iPhone and on my desktop—which allows me to listen to nearly any radio station around the country and around the world. Since my local public radio station abandoned jazz a couple of years ago, I listen now mostly to WUCF in Orlando, Jazz-24 in Seattle-Tacoma, KNTU at North Texas U, Jazz Wyoming and the generally-distributed Jazzworks program heard on many public radio stations. Without public radio I would be lost. I have become a “sustaining” contributor to three public radio stations. And, by the way, thanks for your blog. I find it to be very informative and always interesting.
Alan Matheson, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
I’ve been listening to Joe Marsala’s recordings as collected on the long-gone* “Chronogical Classics” series from France. Chicagoan Marsala shared a liquid and sometimes gritty sound similar to Pee Wee Russell that also reflected Marsala’s love of Jimmie Noone. Marsala’s records as a leader are among the best small band swing and pre-bop recordings of the era (1936-45) with excellent side players including Bobby Hackett, Buddy Rich, Eddie Condon, Dizzy Gillespie and the amazing harpist Adele Girard. I’d read about these records for years but never had then all in one place. Recommended!
*(Not quite long-gone…click here.—DR)
Cha Cha, no last name, no location given
I am listening to the just-released CD, Wild and Free, on High Note. It is a live recording of Mark Murphy’s 1980 gig at the Keystone Korner and includes various songs from throughout his career at that point, as well as a few which, to my knowledge, were never recorded for a studio album. This is Murphy at his strongest artistically: by this time his voice had developed some grit but become a more flexible and expressive instrument. His phrasing and sense of the dramatic is in full evidence during his performance of “Body and Soul,” which I feel is even more compelling than the one he recorded for Muse in the 1970s.
Later:
PS: You can add to my comment re: Wild and Free that my location is Astoria, Queens, New York City, USA. I used “Cha Cha†because my numerous jazz friends, including Mark Murphy, have known me by that nickname for years.
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Stay tuned. There will be more reader reports soon. You may still respond. Include your name and—please—your location; that’s important. To join in, scroll down and use the comment box on the main page.