River Liver Productions

05/27/2025

What a gift it is to have known these two great men, three if you count Carl.

02/19/2025

01/04/2025

Remembering Roy.....

11/13/2024

Who remembers 22 West?

05/23/2024

Please Help me in saying Happy Birthday to the Love of my Life. Our Anniversary is coming up so You'll see more of those pics. soon. Love you KENNY with all my heart. What a great guy.

03/20/2024

Happy heavenly birthday to the legendary Memphis-born pianist, Harold Mabern.

Iconic Harlem Trumpeter, Danny Moore had hired his buddy Harold to do this birthday party for Percy Sutton at the Schomburg......it's a good thing that the f...

03/12/2024

Could someone please explain to me why the garlic in my gravy comes from The People's Republic of China?
Am I missing something, or wouldn't it be fresher and cheaper if if was locally sourced from The Garden State?

01/15/2024

The Village of Croton on Hudson held the second in a series of four shows presented by its Arts and Humanities Council chaired by yours truly, in association with the Croton Free Library.
Singer, Gillian Margot brought her Grammy Award-winning pianist husband, Geoff Keezer to the Library yesterday, and they did not disappoint.
Ms Margot, a native of Canada studied with the legendary Oscar Peterson and has an astounding take on the American Songbook.
Geoffrey, a veteran of the vaunted Art Blakey and Ray Brown bands, and now a well-established innovator on the NY scene; he picked up his Grammy recently at the 65th awards ceremony for original composition https://lydialiebman.com/index.php/2023/02/08/grammy-news-geoffrey-keezer-wins-at-the-65th-grammy-awards-for-best-instrumental-composition-refuge/
Geoff leads an incendiary trio consisting of Alex Claffly on bass and Ryan Sands on drums.
The ensemble was joined on several tunes by the series' Musical Director, Croton resident and saxophonist extraordinaire, Andy Farber.
Who is next? I'm not tellin'!!

01/03/2024

Freddie FreeLoader

01/02/2024

One of my favorite moments of this past year came when Robin Bell Stevens of Jazzmobile invited me to interview one of the organization's former executive directors, Mr Dave Bailey.
I had come to know him a bit during the mid-eighties, when I basically followed the Jazzmobile around all summer each year, logging in around 40 shows per summer......Art, Betty, Clark Diz, Eddie,Frank you name 'em, if he or she was a Jazz legend, Dave Bailey brought them to the people!

At the time, I knew him as a program director, but learned years later that he was also a gifted drummer who had shared the stage with the best in the business. He played with Gerry Mulligan for about a dozen years, during which time he also served as his paymaster.

But to get the full measure of this guy, you have to realize that during WW2 he was a flyer with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, subsequently becoming a certified flight instructor in Westchester County. A chance encounter with Attorney F. Lee Bailey led to Dave taking on a five-year stint as the celebrity attorney's personal pilot.

It was in that capacity that he was serving when the legendary pianist and Jazzmobile founder Dr. Billy Taylor tapped him to run the fledgling nonprofit.

He served the organization for several decades. At the time of our interview last spring, the 97-year-old proudly proclaimed that he had produced more Jazz concerts than any living producer. (George Wein having recently passed away).

Immediately after our interview when I returned home, I placed his name in nomination for the NEA Jazz Master Award. Sadly, we will never know if Mr. Bailey passed muster. RIP Dave!!
https://youtu.be/clODhUiGBnU?si=b3ggCn6a3pjELLum

12/07/2023

Riverview Jazz is a Croton thing, and will hopefully find a lasting partnership with the splendid Croton Free Library. Our first show featured the legendary bassist, Bill Crow who is proof positive that age ain't nothin' but a number.
At 96, Crow, who has played with everyone from Bird to Mulligan is easily 75 years older than the band's junior member, the very gifted Ms. Leonicke Streuble on piano. Her dad Nick on drums and a firey Jon Sneider on trumpet rounded things out nicely for our first hit. As always, Andy Farber "brought it" on sax. I am loving the Ottinger room acoustics!! Thanks to Gwen Glazer and Mayor Brian Pugh, Croton on Hudson Who's next???? I'm not tellin' yet!

The Village of Croton has partnered with the Croton Free Library to present the Manny Albam Riverview Jazz Concert Series. The inaugural concert featured a p...