There are some pianists who dazzle with their touch and technique....

JOE CHINDAMO
pianist, composer, producer.

WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAID
"There are some pianists who dazzle with their touch and technique. There are others who knock you out with their restless creativity or erudition. Then there are those who seduce you by evoking emotions of vulnerability, joy and rage, playing as if they are telling you a story. What makes Joe Chindamo different is that he is one of the few who can integrate all these qualities." Leon Gettler, The Age "Throughout, his approach is one of unpretentious elegance under-scored by superlative technique." Jack Bowers Cadence Magazine, New York

"He has that Bill Evans knack for bringing unlikely material into his own orbit." Michael Cuscana, Blue Note reissue producer USA "Joe Chindamo is literally in a 'etat de grace' (state of grace) in this recording [live at Umbria Jazz 05] ........he reaches a summit in that he belongs to the realm of jazz piano greats for whom virtuosity is placed at the service of extraordinary musicality and art....... Finally, the choice of songs and their presentation make this recording one of the great releases of 2005. BRAVISSIMO" Yves Sportis Le Jazz Hot ,France.

"Meldau is a great jazz pianist, we all know, but the latest discovery at the Umbria Festival is [a pianist] called Chindamo....He [Chindamo] tranforms and mixes his Tatumesque technique with other ways of thinking about the piano... perfecting a pianism which is rich and delicate, fluid and animated, deconstructed and recomposed with sharp intellegence; all the while, making it relevant to today by aligning itself with modernity" Aldo Gianolio L'unita, Italy

"The tenderness and delicacy of his ballad playing, reinforces my opinion that he has no peer as a balladeer in this country [Australia]" Kevin Jones 2MBS magazine, Aust.

"A virtuoso in the tradition of Peterson (and his idol, Art Tatum), Chindamo demonstrates here that technique isn’t only about speed and accuracy, it’s also to do with touch and expression....It’s a triumphant display that should appeal to any fan of classic piano jazz." Adrian Jackson, Rhythms Magazine and The Bulletin, Aust.

"He has more facility on the piano than you could ever wish for, his energy is boundless, he is forever inventive and never settles for the obvious (unless it's the best). Never ask Joe for an idea unless you are prepared for an avalanche of creativity, every time... The reason Joe Chindamo arrests you when you hear him is his sheer love of what he does, a love that sparkles from every note.” James Morrison

AWARDS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Won the 2002 MO award for Australian Jazz Instrumental Performer of the Year and nominated for the same award in 2003.

Won the 2004 MO award for Australian Jazz Instrumental Performer of the Year.

Awarded chairman's Bell award for outstanding acheivement for 2004.

Won the Bell award for best classic jazz album of 2006. "Live at Umbria Jazz 05".

ABC television documentary made about his life and career, Joe Chindamo - Profile of a Jazz Pianist in 2000.

In 2003 awarded 2 year FELLOWSHIP by Australia Council to compose, perform and study

Won the ABC people's choice award for best jazz album of 1997, Anyone who had a heart (Burt Bacharach song book) and nominated for an ARIA award.

RECORDED AND PRODUCED 15 CDS
The First Take ( aka A brief history of standards time - with US bassist Ray Brown)
Reflected Journey (with Michael and Randy Brecker)
Anyone Who Had A Heart
Good Little Ploy (Joe Chindamo with String Orchestra)
Smokin' gun
Love, Blues and Other Fiction
Paradiso
America!
Joy of Standards, Joy of Standards Vol.2
Tender Is The Night (with Nina Ferro)
Joe Chindamo Live at Umbria Jazz 05
2X2 James Morrison and Joe Chindamo
Answer Me My Love (due for release late 2007)
Duende - The Romantic Project (due for release in September 2007)

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Recorded and performed with Ray Brown, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Ernie Watts, Brian Bromberg, James Morrson, Olivia Newton John, Graeme Lyall and US drummer Billy Cobham, with whom Joe made two CDs as sideman and toured the world 20 times throughout a ten year association. Also performed with Lee Konitz, Shirley Bassey and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Worked as studio pianist on more than 60 film sountracks, including Babe, The Man From Snowy River II, A Cry in the Dark, Warlock, Missing in Action II. Hotel Sorrento and The Sound of One Hand Clapping.

In 2000, began recording for the Sawano record company in Japan. The first release with Sawano, Joy of Standards, reached Number 1 in Japan's HMV Modern Jazz Charts. Other releases also became best sellers in Japan. America – Joe Chindamo Trio plays the Paul Simon Song Book, Joy of Standards Vol.2, Paradiso and Anyone Who Had a Heart.

In 2005, appeared at Umbria Jazz Winter in Orvieto, Italy in January, and Umbria Jazz in Perugia in July, where he joined a distinguished lineup of jazz greats, including Oscar Peterson and Tony Bennett. (Recorded first solo CD, Joe Chindamo, Solo- Live At Umbria Jazz 05 at this festival). In April 2005, performed a series of concerts in India.

In August that year, performed in Taiwan (with James Morrison and vocal group Idea of North) and in November was invited by the Australian/Israeli Cultural Exchange to play in Israel, where he gave a concert in Tel Aviv and a nationally televised solo recital at the Jerusalem Museum. In December, performed at Norfolk Island, with Australian jazz legends Don Burrows and James Morrison.

In late 2005 recorded first collaborative CD with James Morrison called James Morrison and Joe Chindamo 2X2. A performance of an orchestrated version of 2X2 with James and Joe as featured soloists is scheduled for 2008 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Opera House.
In 2005, composed a modern orchestral work, Concerto for Accordion. Orchestra.
In 2006, recorded a live solo DVD in Tokyo entitled Joe Chindamo in Japan. This was released in early 2007.
In 2006, supported jazz singer Dianne Reeves on her Australian tour in a solo set.
In 2007, featured in 4 concerts at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Inivited by one of the world's great concert pianists, Michele Campanella, to perform three concerts in Italy in February 2008. As curator of this piano festival, Michele has invited 10 outstanding classical pianists from all over the world - Joe will be the only improvising pianist to participate in this distinguished series of piano concerts.

Famous piano maker Paolo Fazioli has also invited Joe to perform at his celebrated Fazioli Auditorium in Italy in 2008. This will be Joe's first appearance at an event customarily reserved for distinguished classical artists, such as Angela Hewitt and Nicolai Demidenko, who are regularly asked to perform at this venue by Mr. Fazioli.

A native of Dallas, Texas, pianist and composer Michael Weiss....

THE MICHAEL WEISS TRIO PERFORMS AT THE KITANO NEW YORK, OCTOBER 1 & 2

The suave and sophisticated styles of Flanagan and Jones have left an important imprint on Weiss, who considers both pianists to have been mentors. Weiss enjoys a similar relationship with another hero of Detroit, Barry Harris, who, like Flanagan and Jones, shares an affinity for Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and mining a rich trove of neglected standards.

Flanagan thought highly enough of Weiss that that he often attended his younger colleague's performances, including his 1992 Merkin Hall concert entitled "Rediscovered Rarities: Monk, Bud and Bird." When Flanagan was hospitalized briefly at one point, he even sent his wife to Bradley’s, the premiere piano room of the day in New York, to take note of Weiss’ repertoire. Last year Weiss and Jones shared the stage on the European festival circuit.

While Weiss still loves to draw from his unusually deep knowledge of jazz tunes and standards, his repertoire since the mid ‘90s has leaned toward his original compositions, which favor a meticulous attention to detail, rich harmonic schemes, formal ingenuity and imaginative melodic and rhythmic development.

Still, while his writing has become fleshed out with a broader range of ideas and influences, his improvisations have never shed his bop-oriented roots. For this engagement, Weiss will perform a mix of originals, standards and selections by Thad Jones, Hank's  brother and a favorite composer of both Flanagan and Jones.

MORE BACKGROUND:
A native of Dallas, Texas, pianist and composer Michael Weiss’s extensive resume includes work with Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Frank Wess, Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, the Jazztet, Lou Donaldson, Charles McPherson, Von Freeman, George Coleman, Joe Wilder, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra,  Junior Cook and Bill Hardman.

Weiss made his Village Vanguard debut as a leader in 2006 with his quintet. Reviewing the ensemble's performance, New York Times critic Nate Chinen praised Weiss' composing, playing and bandleading skills, noting that "he demonstrated a strong sense of leadership and organization." Chinen also wrote that Weiss was "a confident and sometimes sparkling presence on piano" and that his playing exhibited "sensitivity and logic, along with crisp control."

Groups led by Weiss have performed at the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Stanford Jazz Festival, the Smithsonian Institution, NPR’s "Jazzset," and in New York at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Jazz Standard, Jazz Gallery, Smoke, WNYC and WQXR. In 2000, Weiss was awarded the BMI/Monk Institute Composers Competition grand prize, presented to him by Wayne Shorter for his piece, “El Camino,” which appears on Weiss' latest CD, “Soul Journey.” With influences as varied as Scriabin, Szymanowski and Shorter, Weiss' compositions focus on extended forms, thematic development and attention to detail. In 2003 Weiss was a recipient of the Doris Duke/Chamber Music America New Works grant, for which he wrote the suite “Three Doors.”

Weiss has recorded four albums as a leader, including “Soul Journey” (Sintra), “Milestones” (Steeplechase), “Power Station” (DIW) and “Presenting Michael Weiss” (Criss Cross). He has also recorded widely as a sideman, including four CDs with Johnny Griffin and dates with Charles McPherson, Frank Wess, Ronnie Cuber and others.Pianist and composer Michael Weiss leads a trio in tribute to the late, great Detroit pianists Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan at the Kitano New York.  Joining Weiss are bassist George Mraz, who was a member of trios led by both Jones and Flanagan, and drummer Dennis Mackrel, a former member of Jones' trio.
A prodigious bop-and-beyond pianist and composer.... consummate musicianship and alluring improvisations" – The Star Ledger"An articulate and polished pianist" – New York Times"Shrewd writing and arranging skills as clearly in view as his sleek piano work" – The New Yorker"Weiss has a rich palette of composing devices at his command" – Downbeat"Warmth, integrity and above all, originality" – JazzTimes "Weiss is a vital talent with something important to say" – All About Jazz"Weiss’ compositions take on different shapes, great complexity and fresh perspectives" — Washington Post
For more information about Weiss, please visit http://www.michaelweiss.info

From: Jazz Promo Services
Press Contact: Jim Eigo, jazzpromo@earthlink.net
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/

Actor Tony Curtis dies at Las Vegas-area home

By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 30, 1:50 pm ET

HENDERSON, Nev. – Tony Curtis shaped himself from a 1950s movie heartthrob into a respected actor, showing a determined streak that served him well in such films as "Sweet Smell of Success," "The Defiant Ones" and "Some Like It Hot."

The Oscar-nominated actor died Wednesday evening of cardiac arrest at home in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson, Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said Thursday. He was 85. "He died peacefully here, surrounded by those who love him and have been caring for him," his wife, Jill Curtis, told The Associated Press outside their home. "All Tony ever wanted to be was a movie star. He didn't want to be the most dramatic actor. He wanted to be a movie star, ever since he was a little kid."

Curtis began acting in frivolous movies that exploited his handsome physique and appealing personality then steadily moved to more substantial roles, starting in 1957 in the harrowing show business tale, "Sweet Smell of Success." In 1958, "The Defiant Ones" brought him an Academy Award nomination as best actor for his portrayal of a white racist who escaped from prison handcuffed to a black man played by Sidney Poitier.
The following year, Curtis donned women's clothing and sparred with Marilyn Monroe in one of the most acclaimed film comedies ever, Billy Wilder's "Some Like It Hot."

"He was a fine actor ... I shall miss him," said British actor Roger Moore, who starred alongside Curtis in TV's "The Persuaders." "He was great fun to work with, a great sense of humor and wonderful ad libs," Moore told Sky News. "We had the best of times."

Curtis' first wife was actress Janet Leigh of "Psycho" fame; actress Jamie Lee Curtis is their daughter.
"My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages," Jamie Lee Curtis said in a statement. "He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world."
Complete on  >>  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100930/ap_en_mo/us_obit_tony_curtis

Both Sides of Tony Scott

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Tony Scott's recordings from the 1950s are an acquired taste. Some people find his clarinet playing uneven, making you feel as though the wheels of the train you're aboard aren't firmly hugging the rails. Others find his tone lacking in warmth. Still others insist his approach is too solemn and not swinging enough.

All of these observations have some basis in truth but overlook the work in progress that was known as Tony Scott and the depth of his intent.
A good introduction to Scott is Both Sides of Tony Scott, which was recorded in January 1956 for RCA. The session featured Scott playing six ballads and two up-tempo tunes backed by two different pianoless trios.

Four of the six ballad pieces feature Mundell Lowe [pictured] on guitar, Teddy Kotick on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums. Backing Scott on the album's remaining two ballads as well as the two peppier numbers are guitarist Dick Garcia, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Osie Johnson.

The ballads are absolutely gorgeous and showcase Scott in a highly pensive, patient mode. The torch songs recorded with the first trio are Cry Me a River, My Funny Valentine, Stardust and More Than You Know. The fifth and sixth choices (with the second trio) are Everything Happens to Me and You and I. Each ballad is taken pulse-slow, giving you a chance to truly hear the richness of Scott's thinking and his bluesy feel. Cry Me a River, in particular, comes mighty close to being the definitive instrumental version of this song.

The faster tunes—the so-called "other side" of Scott—are Counterpoint Pleasant and East Coast Westside . The first has a rat-race pace and demonstrates Scott's linear writing. Scott and Garcia play off each other in a fugue feud that has an early free jazz feel. East Coast Westside rambles, swinging in and out of concepts that don't always work, with Garcia playing the foil to Scott's reed.

The ballads here make you realize that Scott was most at home on slower songs and that faster tunes only drew critical comparisons to clarinet contemporary Buddy DeFranco, a contest Scott was never going to win.

JazzWax tracks: Unfortunately, Both Sides of Tony Scott hasn't been re-issued on CD in the U.S. (along with hundreds of other RCA gems that are gathering dust in some vault). However, the material above with Dick Garcia appears on a European import called Tony Scott and the Three Dicks here. But the session's best tracks, Cry Me a River, My Funny Valentine, Stardust and More Than You Know, are available only on a Japanese import here.

Worry not, though. If the tracks exist online buried in some downloadable compilation, someone will likely know about it and let readers know in the Comments section.

JazzWax clip: Here's Tony Scott in 1955 on Scott's Fling, another great RCA album that's out of print. The song is Sunday Scene, with Jimmy Nottingham (tp) Billy Byers (tb) Eddie Wasserman (ts) Danny Bank (bar) Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d)...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Jakob Bro (born April 11, 1978) is a Danish jazz guitarist

Jakob Bro (born April 11, 1978) is a Danish jazz guitarist. Bro has never received any musical training besides short periods spent at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, the Berklee College of Music in Boston and New School University in New York. He is known outside the jazz world for his involvement with bands and artists such as Got You On Tape, Teitur and Steffen Brandt and he has embarked on a successful career as a solo artist.^[1][2] He has recently joined a group formed by Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.

Dicography as a leader:

• Daydreamer – 2003
• Sidetracked – 2005
• Pearl River – 2007
• The Stars Are All New Songs – 2008
• White Rainbow – 2008
• Who Said Gay Paree – 2008
• Balladeering – 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Bro


Jakob Bro, Chris Cheek and Rune Borup playing Jakob's composition 'Chinatown' live at DMA-Jazz 2006.

Libby York/Warren Vache at Metropolitan Room

A duet on "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" from Libby's new CD "Here With You" www.libbyyork.com

Queer Guitarist / Composer Chris Cochrane Re-emerges With a Retrospective

 

QUEER GUITARIST / COMPOSER CHRIS COCHRANE RE-EMERGES WITH A RETROSPECTIVE

 

Friday Oct 8th 7pm
at the New Museum
235 Bowery
http://www.newmuseum.org/
 Sound Check '86

Chris Cochrane will perform songs from the ’80s and beyond with his new trio, Chris Cochrane and the Natalie Merchant featuring Hanna Fox and Mike Duclos. They will be joined by special guests Zeena Parkins, Jim Pugliese, Eszter Balint, Eddie Gormley, and Richard Dworkin

 Sparked by an invitation to form the experimental rock band No Safety, Chris Cochrane began to write songs and music for dance in the mid-1980s. Cochrane’s music, both improvised and composed, has been described as “musical art brut, with its seams showing and its rough spots out in the open” (New York Times). For SOUND CHECK ’86 Chris Cochrane is a guitarist who has been composing and playing music in NYC for 28 years. Cochrane has played with Eszter Balint, Zeena Parkins, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, and many others. He has composed music for John Jasperse, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Jennifer Monson, Circus Amok, and others.

 Sound Check '86 is part of Them and Now

Over the course of an extended rehearsal process at the New Museum, director/choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones revisits the seminal work THEM, an intensely visceral interdisciplinary collaboration with Dennis Cooper (text) and Chris Cochrane (music), originally presented at Performance Space 122 in 1986. The rehearsals at the New Museum culminate in a series of programs collectively titled THEM AND NOW, exploring the artistic impulses that propelled the creation of this “aggressive and vital” (Village Voice) performance work and its reconstruction twenty-five years later. Immediately following the New Museum residency, THEM will have its 2010 premiere at Performance Space 122  October 21–30, 2010.

October 21-30, 2010
at Performance Space 122
http://www.ps122.org/

 Chris Cochrane (music) in collaboration with Ishmael Houston-Jones (dance) and Dennis Copper (text) reconstruct THEM , an incendiary work addressed some of the many ways men could be with men. After a successful run of the work-in-progress at PS122 in 1985 the creators of THEM felt that the urgency of the AIDS epidemic demanded a presence in this piece about men with men. In the 1986 premier of the full-length version for six male dancers at PS122 Cooper read his own provocative words, and Cochrane played cacophonous electric guitar live; frequently violent and exhausting dance sequences, culminated in a horrific duet between Houston-Jones and an animal carcass on a dusty mattress. The production almost got PS122 shut down.

Through a reconstruction residency at The New Museum, the three creators have recast THEM with a new generation of male performers. Rehearsals of THEM at the New Museum culminate in a series of programs collectively titled THEM AND NOW, exploring the artistic impulses that propelled the creation of this "aggressive and vital" (Village Voice) performance work and its reconstruction 25 years later.

As part of PS122's 30th Anniversary Season, this ground-breaking piece is back and investigating its continuing relevance to dance and to social discourse in 2010.

2010 Cast: Joey Cannizzaro, Felix Cruz, Jeremy Pheiffer, Niall Noel, Jacob Slominski, Arturo Vidich, Enrico D. WeyLighting designer: Joe Levasseur

About Chris Cochrane has performed regularly in bands and improvised with hundreds of players. In addition to his rare solo recordings and work with a number of bands, including the legendary, groundbreaking unit No Safety, which he co-founded with harpist Zeena Parkins and Curlew he has played live and/or recorded with an array of musicians (John Zorn, Fred Frith, Mike Patton, Marc Ribot, Eszter Balint, Kato Hideki, Ikue Mori, Roy Campbell, JD Foster…) visual artists, and choreographers. He is currently working with writer, Dennis Cooper and Choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones to re-work a theater/dance piece entitled “Them” from the mid 80’s

Jazz Education on trial....

by Minim Pro @ 2010-09-27 – 10:54:42

The Case For The Defence
- as made by PlayJazz QC (Quite Contrary)
To play jazz well, to improvise fluently and expressively, a musician must be in total command of his instrument and be able to express the ideas that spring from his musical mind. A lack of technique or facility can force the player to make compromises he didn't really intend; he can be hamstrung by his own technical deficiencies.

It stands to reason that if you can't play the lines you intend to, you will not be capable of communicating effectively with the listener and expressing yourself fully.
This is where jazz education comes in. There are no great names in jazz (like there may be in pop and rock music) who had a rudimentary command of their instruments and a basic knowledge of how the music is put together - this music is too technically demanding for such players to be able to express themselves.

Without developing the theoretical knowledge and instrumental facility to cope with the technical demands of the music, it is impossible to play jazz. It is often quoted that Errol Garner couldn't read music. Maybe not, but I guarantee you he knew what notes would sound consonant or dissonant against a Bb7 chord. This is what jazz education is for.

Jazz education can help emerging players to develop better command of their instruments, a better understanding of the history and structure of the music and provide them with all the tools they need to go forward and put their own stamp on the jazz world. Additionally, it provides a place for musicians to live in a close-knit community with other musicians where they can practice together and learn from each other.

Having said all that, the charges levelled against jazz education are not random nor imagined. There are jazz musicians out there who, whilst great technicians, are failing to connect with many listeners, who value complexity for its own sake and whose musical raison d'etre seems to be to play dissonant angular 16ths note lines in 13/8 at 300bpm without expressing anything.

I'm sure the members of the jury will be personally familiar enough with this phenomenon to preclude me from having to name names.
Furthermore, many of these musicians are currently in, or have recently been through formal jazz education. Nevertheless, I think holding jazz education responsible for a lack of creativity on the part of its students is implying a causality that does not exist.

Is it to be assumed that the kind of musician described above, deprived of his formal education would have gone on to become the next Miles Davis or John Coltrane? Did they possess an innate genius and expressivity that jazz education has somehow eradicated or suppressed?

It must be said that there is an implicit danger, in any genre, that those who study the mechanics of music to a high level are more vulnerable to turning playing into an academic pursuit or a highly skilled craft rather than an art.

This is probably because they concentrate so much on what is idiomatically and stylistically 'correct' that innovation is more difficult. After all, innovation usually comes from breaking away from stylistic conventions - in other words 'doing it wrong'!

However, there is no reason why formal education HAS to cause this kind of paralysis by analysis and I think it's more the case that many players are either incapable or unwilling to depart from the accepted conventions.

I suspect this has long been the case. In the bebop era, for every Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillespie, there were probably hundreds of boring journeymen copying the stylistic conventions of their music and bringing little or nothing of themselves to it.

The fact is that these days, only the great players and communicators from that era are overly familiar to us and it's easy to fool ourselves into believing that there weren't as many vacuous clones and overtly technical stylists as we see around us today. If Jazz Education is guilty of a crime at all, then perhaps it is guilty in presenting the way that things have been done as the way that things must be done: that there are two ways of approaching jazz improvisation the right way and the wrong way.

Nevertheless, as with all art, it is the artist who must ultimately be held responsible for the art he produces. The nature/nurture argument concerning human development is an old one and it is not for me to say whether artists are born or made. However, it is hard for me to imagine that had Miles Davis stayed at Juilliard for example, his career would have been one filled with derivative and unoriginal music.

Could it not be argued that even if there is an approach to jazz taken by students of jazz colleges that is overly technical and more concerned with the desire to impress and show off ability than to facilitate artistic communication, that has more to do with mere precociousness and being surrounded by other musicians than something inherently flawed in the notion of formal jazz education?

In other words, if there are jazz students producing music for other jazz students, doesn't that have more to do with the students themselves?
The purpose of jazz education is to equip a student with the knowledge, facility and understanding to take his music-making in any direction he chooses; to provide a solid technical foundation for his future musical and artistic development; to give him the tools he needs to express whatever it is that he has to say.

Should it turn out in the end that he has nothing to say, it cannot and should not be assumed that is a direct result of his schooling. Finally, finding an original voice and developing your own style is hard and takes time. Trane was 33 when he joined the Miles Davis Quintet and only really at the beginning of working out the approach that would influence a whole generation of players to follow him.

It is as unreasonable and unrealistic to expect students at jazz colleges in their teens and twenties to be producing great music as it is to expect any great artist in any field to be fully formed at such a young age. This doesn't mean that there is no value in formal education, nor does it mean that it will somehow prohibit individuality in a musician's development over the course of a lifetime of music-making.

Formal jazz education as a concept itself is still really in its infancy. Perhaps in a few decades or so we can judge its value to the art form in a more objective and reasonable manner. In closing, I hope I will be forgiven for paraphrasing an old standard when I say 'don't blame it on their heart, blame it on their youth'.
Just don't blame it on their school.
The defence rests.

From: http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2010/09/27/jazz-education-on-trial-9471135/

What's The First John Coltrane Album You Fell In Love With?

by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Michael Katzif

If you like jazz, we're assuming you have one. We want to know what it is. Hit us up in the comments.

Verve Music Group/Universal

For me, it was Live At Birdland. I had all the common starter albums: Blue Train, Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme. I liked them all a lot, in their different ways. Blue Train has those nifty compositions and those amazing blues rundowns.

Giant Steps has those trademark "I am way better than you at saxophone" solos on "Countdown" and "Giant Steps," but also the richly beautiful "Naima." My Favorite Things' title track is all unsettling and ruminative. And A Love Supreme is its own universe, a fortress, an idea greater than we are — it's deep. I was sold by the time I got to Live At Birdland. But this was the record which let me fully see John Coltrane as an actual human being creating human music, and not a detached, mythic freak of nature from canonical history.
 
It had to do somewhat with the live component; three of the songs were actually put to tape in concert at the club Birdland, including the tour de force cadenza on "I Want To Talk About You." These guys weren't a studio phenomenon; they did it night after night for years on end. It also has to do with the band: This is the work of Coltrane's "classic quartet" at full stride (McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones), and it reminds you what it means to have a working unit which knows the language it has created for itself. (The studio version of "My Favorite Things" and this take on "Afro Blue" both feature soprano sax in a waltz feel, but much more how rousingly alive is this group? I mean, Elvin on that, yeesh.)

complete on  >>  http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2010/09/23/130086030/what-s-the-first-john-coltrane-album-you-fell-in-love-with?sc=nl&cc=jn-20100926

Chick Corea to Open South Florida JAZZ 2010-11 Season

South Florida JAZZ, coming off its most successful season, and the principal purveyors of modern jazz in the region since 1991, formally announces its new season schedule. All performances will be held at the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center, 3100 Ray Ferrero, Jr Blvd on the Nova Southeastern University campus in Davie.

The focus of the organization remains steadfastly on presenting artists of national and international repute under the aegis of Artistic Director Ron Weber and gently guided by the world-acclaimed vibraphonist/educator Gary Burton. The artists who have performed for South Florida JAZZ over the years represent an absolute who’s-who of the jazz world. Weber and Burton think this lineup could be the strongest yet, which is a bold assertion following the outstanding artists of the recently concluded season.

Subscriptions and individual tickets to all concerts can be purchased from the Broward Center box office at 954-462-0222; toll-free at 877-311-SHOW, online at southfloridajazz.org or browardcenter.org.

JazzBluesFlorida <Charlie@JazzBluesFlorida.com

Celebrating their 20th Anniversary in 2009, New York Voices is the Grammy Award

Celebrating their 20th Anniversary in 2009, New York Voices is the Grammy Award winning vocal ensemble renowned for their excellence in jazz and the art of group singing. Like the great groups that have come before, such as Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Singers Unlimited, and Manhattan Transfer, they have learned from the best and taken the art form to new levels.

Their interests are rooted in jazz, but often Brazilian, R and B, classical, and pop influences are infused with equal creativity and authenticity.  The group was formed in 1987 by Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Kim Nazarian, Caprice Fox and Sara Krieger. By way of explanation, Darmon, Peter, Kim and Caprice attended Ithaca College in NY and were part of an invitational alumni group formed to tour the European Jazz Festivals in the summer of '86.

As a result of this exciting experience, the idea of forming a professional group was born. In 1989 they would sign their first record deal with GRP Records and release their self titled debut album, New York Voices. The group received rave notices and quickly received domestic and international recognition in the Jazz World. From '89 to '94, they released four total CDs on the GRP Label, Hearts of Fire, What's Inside, and The Collection.

While recording for GRP, they underwent personnel changes. In 1992, Sara Krieger retired her chair, and after auditioning over 60 vocalists from all over the U.S., the group found Lauren Kinhan. There was an immediate chemistry in fit and sound, allowing the group to make a quick transition and become the "new" New York Voices. Lauren's first musical contributions can be heard on NYV's third CD, What's Inside, released in May of 1993. In early 1994, Caprice Fox left the group, forever fixing NYV as the quartet it is today.

Besides their own CDs, NYV has made many guest appearances on recordings and live performances that have earned them critical acclaim and demand in a variety of musical settings. You can find their performances on such CDs as the Grammy Award winning, Count Basie Orchestra with New York Voices, Live at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (MCG Records), the Latin Grammy Award winning, Brazilian Dreams with the great Paqito D'Rivera, the contemporary classical, The Ancient Tower (Robert Lepley - EarthBeat Records), Heirs to Jobim (BMG Records), Don Sebesky's, I Remember Bill (BMG),  Jim Hall's, By Arrangement (Telarc), A Love Affair - the Music of Ivan Lins (TELARC), Irving Berlin's, Louisiana Purchase (DRG), and many more.

They have had the pleasure of performing with a number of influential jazz artists including Ray Brown, Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, The Count Basie Orchestra, George Benson, Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, the Boston Pops, The Metropole Orchestra, Ivan Lins, Paquito D'Rivera, and many more.  In early 1997 they traveled down a different road, paying tribute to a contemporary composer which produced, New York Voices Sing the Songs of Paul Simon.

They explored and used a variety of styles to express new turns on this singer/songwriter's rich songbook.  Says All Music Guide, "The arrangements are brighter and brassier than Simon's originals, but there's a real charm to the performances that makes it a thoroughly entertaining experience."In 2001, New York Voices released their sixth CD entitled Sing, Sing, Sing.

After many years of performing with the Count Basie Orchestra, the group wanted to address the great Big Band song book and offer their own spin. With Darmon doing the lion's share of the vocal and big band arrangements, they hired the producing talents of Elliot Scheiner (Manhattan Transfer, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac) to capture the music and mix it with his exquisite precision and care. Other guest big band arrangers are the great Micheal Abene and Rob Mounsey.

As reviewed by Don Heckman of the LA times, "The title track quickly lays down what to expect from the balance of the program: complex, interwoven vocal lines, interactive improvising and brisk ensemble accompaniment. And revivalist swing fans - both players and listeners - would do well to check out the Voices' capacity to bring a contemporary quality to classic material without sacrificing the essence of either."

In recent years, they have been called upon by the Boston Pops to bring a new edge to the Pops Orchestra circuit.  They have a full program of Big Band arrangements which they have toured with the Boston Pops and many other prominent Orchestras all over the United States.  Says Jannelle Gelfand of The Cincinnati Enquirer, "The group's incomparable blend, hip delivery and great arrangements resulted in one swinging party.

Their four-part harmonizing was so close, it was hard to tell where one voice ended and another began."  They also have a program of music from the Baby Boomer period.  In this program, you'll likely hear music from the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, the Mammas and the Papas and the Carpenters, to name a few.



In 2005 they created a spectacular Christmas program with the Boston Pops and did an extensive tour throughout the U.S.  The Boston Pops continues to call on New York Voices for new works and guest appearances. 2007 marks the release of their 7th studio CD, A Day Like This. They went back to their tradition of mixing things up; Brazilian influences, swinging trio numbers and a couple Big Band romps.  They also included a handful of original songs from the members, a particular strong suit for this multi-talented ensemble.

Says All About Jazz LA, "a sumptuous collection of vocal harmonic heavenǠthe vocals are a Whitman's Sampler of various flavors and tastes, richer than a dark chocolate bon bon."NYV has traveled the globe with their elegant music, amazing audiences the world over with their impeccable voices and stunning arrangements.

"Live, they're just as impressive to witness," says Mathew Lurrie of Time Out Chicago. "We dare say there may be no better way to understand the wit and wink of jazz harmony than via these Voices."  They have appeared on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note (Japan, NYC), The Austria Opera House, The Zurich Opera House, and the list goes on.

They have been seen at the many jazz festivals including the North Sea Jazz Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Blues Heritage Festival.  Along with their extensive concert performances and recording dates, NYV also works in the field of education, giving workshops and clinics to high school and college music students. They debuted the first annual New York Voices Vocal Jazz Camp in the summer of 2009, partnering with Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

The camp was attended by people from 8 countries around the globe and ages ranging from 13 to well into their 50's.  The four singers each direct their own choir, while offering a wide array of classes during the 6 day intensive.  To find out more about the camp, visit BGSUJazz.com.  Individually, the four members are involved in a variety of projects including solo performances, recordings, teaching, writing and arranging.  To learn more about them visit their bio pages at NYV.com and their websites Kim, Darmon, Peter and Lauren.

Program:
October 4 - The New York Voices Festival, The Peter Eldridge and Lauren Kinhan Performance and Master ClassThe Master Class: "The Orginal Song - The New Standard," 5:30-6:45 PM. The Double Bill, 8 PMRose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square, New York, NY;

October 11 - The New York Voices Festival New York Voices Performance and Master ClassMaster Class:  "Meet the New York Voices," 5:30-6:45 PMThe Performance:  8PM. The Great Hall,7 East, 7th Street, New York, NY;

October 16 - NYV with Trio Apollo Theater Siegen, 7 PM. Siegen, Germany;

October 18 - NYV with Trio Graf-Zeppelin-Haus, 8 PM. Friedrichshafen, Germany;

October 21 - NYV with Trio Mestsky Dům. Prerov, CZ;

October 22 - NYV with TrioVatroslav Lisinski, Small Hall Zagreb, Croatia.

The Garden of Sonic Delights: Paul Winter Consort Finds a Resonant Paradise in a Japanese Architectural Treasure

Paradise began as an enclosed garden but morphed into Shangri-la, a valley concealed and shimmering with peach blossoms. Now it echoes in a peaceable kingdom inside a mountain top, filled with resonant chambers and great treasures: the I. M. Pei-designed Miho Museum in the Shigaraki Mountains of Japan.

This unique setting has inspired the  Paul Winter Consort’s latest exploration of sound, spirit and space, Miho: Journey to the Mountain (Living Music; October 19, 2010). There the Consort conjured the resonant frequencies of paradise with a tapestry of the Earth’s voices:  sarangi and sax, taiko drums and rumbling elephants, Heckelphone and Japanese bush warbler.

Winter first rose to musical prominence in the early 1960s with an award-winning jazz sextet. A sojourn in Brazil, however, taught him that their brash bebop could be complemented by the gentle and soulful esthetic he found in the music there. Soon afterward in 1968, Winter founded the Consort, as a forum for all the voices, music, and sounds he had come to love. The Consort embraced natural sounds as music, and explored many of the planet’s musical cultures before the dawn of “world music.”

To describe his often unclassifiable, genre-crossing work in a more accurate and satisfying way, Winter refers to it as “Earth Music.” The name reflects the source of the Consort’s inspiration and their “aspiration to celebrate the cultures and creatures of the whole Earth,” Winter explains.

As a part of Earth Music, Winter and his ensemble have honed their appreciation of resonance, and for making music in spaces of great reverberation. They have discovered these sonic temples by rafting into the Grand Canyon, playing in the world’s largest cathedral as artists-in-residence at St. John the Divine in New York, or methodically searching for the sweet spots around an alpine lake at 12,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado. The results garnered half a dozen Grammys™. Miho: Journey to the Mountain is another adventure in the lineage of Winter’s landmark albums: Icarus (1972), Common Ground (1978); Canyon (1986); Concert for the Earth (Live at the UN) (1984); EarthBeat (1988); Celtic Solstice (1997); Journey with the Sun (2001); Crestone (2007).
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Lizz Wright: Faith Against Long Odds

Photo: Vincent Soyez

Lizz Wright invigorates "God Specializes" with timeless fervor by channeling her pedigree in Hahira, Ga.

Lizz Wright invigorates "God Specializes" with timeless fervor by channeling her pedigree in Hahira, Ga.

Lizz Wright began her solo career as a wide-eyed jazz singer, but has since evolved into a pop chanteuse. No matter what genre she sings, though, her gospel roots remain intact. On her fourth disc, Fellowship, she brings her church upbringing to the fore, as evidenced by her rapturous rendition of Gloria Griffin's 1958 classic, "God Specializes."

Kenny Banks begins the song with solemn piano chords, laying the foundation for Wright's humid contralto as she testifies about the power of faith in a higher power amid long odds. Soon afterward, the rhythm section underscores her with a shuffling waltz while background singers reinforce the message by repeating the song's title.

Wright steers clear of the cloying "old-school" route, and she doesn't gussy it up with melismatic mayhem, either. Instead, she invigorates the song with timeless fervor by channeling her pedigree in Hahira, Ga., where she grew up in a strict home with parents who were both ministers. Wright relies on the emotional immediacy of her voice and the hopeful directness of Griffin's lyrics, and the result is one of the most galvanizing performances of her still-evolving career.

Complete on  >>  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130213202&sc=nl&cc=sod-20100929

Linda Kosut is a San Francisco-based vocalist and nightclub entertainer...

2008 BackStage Magazine Bistro Award – THE BMI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING RECORDING
  

2008 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs - 2008 Double Nominee – FEMALE JAZZ VOCALIST & JAZZ RECORDING

2008 MEMBERS' CHOICE AWARD - TOP 10 CD OF THE YEAR, Cabaret Hotline

Octavia Lounge, SF. Photo: Greg Habiby

Linda Kosut is a San Francisco-based vocalist and nightclub entertainer whose eclectic repertoire covers jazz to pop to cabaret, deftly and effortlessly moving from one influence to the other. “Beyond Category.” Her voice is distinctive with its warm, dark sound and that rare talent to tell a story through a song's poetic images. Combined with her smart wit, Linda is both entertaining and moving. She has been known to hold her audience spellbound with her passionate and compelling vocal interpretations, sometimes to laughter and sometimes to tears. Linda makes any tune distinctly her own.

One of Linda’s full-length nightclub shows, Long as You're Living, a tribute to jazz great Oscar Brown Jr. and the accompanying CD released in 2007, has been presented at venues around the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, receiving national recognition and press.

Linda, a native New Yorker, grew up in a musical family and studied dance and piano as a young girl. After graduating college, she turned to the business world for her living while continuing to study both voice and acting. In the late 90's, several years after her move to San Francisco, Linda began singing again publicly, and by 2003, had released her highly acknowledged debut CD, Life is But a Dream – a mix of jazz standards and pop tunes. The CD was selected as one of the 2003 top female vocalist recordings by Cabaret Hotline, New York.

She toured with her first one-woman show in 2005, playing New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She's performed at many venues across the San Francisco Bay Area including sell-out performances at the Empire Plush Room and Jazz at Pearl's.

Linda co-founded the San Francisco vocal trio, The Kitchenettes, known for their swinging jazz renditions of food & lust related songs. Before their break-up to pursue solo careers, the group performed throughout California, in Italy, and in 2003, produced & recorded their CD Dining at the Banquet.

Linda teaches performance technique & lyric interpretation, produces showcases for emerging vocal performers, as well as doing CD & promo material design. She currently lives in San Francisco with her fiancé, their 3 dogs, 2 chickens, 2 turtles, a rabbit and 40 aquariums!
 

REVIEWS

“The singer hits all the right notes on her ‘Long as You’re Living’ tribute...an illuminating view into the complex byways of Brown’s imagination...Kosut tackled it all with splendid results... [the show] deserved a far longer run." Los Angeles Times
 

“It takes as fine an actor as Brown to do proper justice to his songs. So, it seems altogether fitting that a female cabaret performer … particularly one as gutsy as Linda Kosut, should pay album-length tribute to Brown.” Jazz Times

 

“This album is almost like a collaboration. Linda’s voice is definitely one of the stars of the show, yet Oscar’s personality is ever present. His lyrical intent is never lost or buried even as Linda manages to artistically sit by his side. She is a singer of great ability.” Jazz Review

“Holding the audience spellbound for an evening of largely unfamiliar and challenging material is no easy task, but that’s what Kosut did.” "She swings, she’s bluesy, dramatic and playful paying homage to Brown’s thought- provoking material; bringing her own subtlety and emotion to the stage." "She brings this timeless material to life for a new generation of listeners." Cabaret Scenes Magazine

"Her voice...silky and sinuous … a smoky plaintiveness with an edge.” San Francisco Bay Times

“Bang in the groove ... slinky and sly in unraveling the blues.” All About Jazz

“A welcome reminder of the multi-faceted work of the man who proudly defied being categorized or pigeon-holed by one kind of music. Linda Kosut doesn't seem to have much interest in being labeled either.” Cabaret Exchange

Influences:

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross; Oscar Brown Jr.; Judy Collins; Ella Fitzgerald; my mom & dad; Leonard Cohen; Marc Cohn; Craig Carnelia; Judy Garland; Bob Dylan; Rock 'n Roll from the late 50s.

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She has been universally praised for her interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs

Known world-wide for her prodigious gifts as an actress, singer, dancer and unique recording artist; Ute Lemper has a chameleon-like presence which has entranced audiences with her stage performances (including Broadway and Londons' West End) as well as on the screen and in the concert hall for more than a decade.

She has been universally praised for her interpretations of Berlin cabaret songs, the works of Kurt Weill and French chanson.... (She is) sultry, sexy, haughty, innocent, comedic, introspective, seductive and perceptive....Ute Lemper's magnetic stage presence and powerful sexual allure had critics feverish... and audiences queued around the block.

Ute Lemper herself is a phenomenon. She is worldwide recognized as the real Cabaret Diva who differentiates and distinguishes herself from other Divas and torch singers by her highly refined style, class, intellect, renaissance and world culture background, plus theatrical stardom which is based upon a mysteriously and enigmatically “Femina Persona” which for generations was the exclusive monopoly of the one and only Marlene Dietrich her compatriot.
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Clare Teal hails from a tiny village near Skipton in Yorkshire

Clare Teal hails from a tiny village near Skipton in Yorkshire, and was born 34 years ago to a mother and father with a box full of 78s, and an attic in which to play them. She came to singing early, ridiculously so, and by three could hold a note and make it flutter, although she did so in the privacy of her bedroom. By her teens, she was proving curiously impervious to the many joys of 1980s pop music - unmoved by the pleadings of Nik Kershaw, resistant to the charms of Simon Le Bon - instead turning her attentions to musical styles long since consigned to history.

"I was obsessed with the singers of the 30s, the 40s and 50s," she says, eyes wide with enthusiasm, "and just fascinated by voices. I would often retreat upstairs into the attic with my grandmother's' 78s, and lose myself in them. Really, I was like the girl from the film Little Voice, a geek - though obviously an entirely adorable one. But then there was nothing else to do with my days. Our village was tiny, nothing ever happened there. I remember we had a party once, the day they built a bypass through it. It gave us something to look at..."


By 15, she was still singing in the attic and had become rather a good mimic, "which was a fun thing to be able to do," she notes, "but on the downside, I wasn't able to find my own voice until I was 27 years old!"

A student of the organ, piano and clarinet, she went on to study music at the University of Wolverhampton, and upon graduation entered a national competition to find the country's best Billie Holiday soundalike: "Don't ask me why they wanted to find a soundalike when the original still sounded perfectly good to me," she says, "but I came second."


Her near victory didn't land her an automatic deal, however, and after a bout of unemployment, she landed a job writing jingles. "I'd write these jingles, and then sing them in the manner of Julie Andrews, Madonna, my old favourite Billie Holiday and, well, anybody, really," she recalls. "They were singing telegrams, effectively, and it was actually a lot of fun. I could also do Tina Turner, you know, albeit rather terribly, but then times were hard. You did what you could."

There next followed a stint selling advertising space on the phone, a career path Clare found herself singularly unqualified for. Not the job itself, but rather its clock-in/clock-out restrictions. "I could never get my head around that whole 9-5 thing," she says. "It wasn't for me."

At 27, fate then stepped in. A pianist she'd met years earlier during her Billie Holiday episode called, requiring a singer to perform alongside him for one night only and wondering whether Clare would be interested. Yes, she said, she would, jumping in the car and heading straight for the venue, "shedding at least two stone in weight along the way with anxiety". It proved to be the night of her life, where everything suddenly felt natural and right and good.

"This was my toe in the door of the industry," she says, "and I was going to make the very best of it." This entailed making a selection of demos paid for by partner Muddy, guesting with various jazz bands, playing locally and losing a lot of money. But she was nevertheless gradually making a name for herself, and people were beginning to take notice. In 2001, she inked a deal with independent label Candid, for whom she wrote and recorded three albums.

By 2004, she had signed with the Sony Jazz label, which spawned what would become her breakthrough album, "Don't Talk", an exquisite record of tender jazz that perfectly exemplified just what a talent she was. Critical acclaim poured in from the broadsheets and, if you will, jazz mags, and most persuasively from Michael Parkinson, who gave her heavy rotation on his Radio 2 programme, and invited her to perform on his ITV chat show. "Don't Talk" topped the British jazz charts and cracked the UK Top 20, shipping 60,000 copies and winning several awards, among them "British Jazz Vocalist of the year 2005" and "BBC Jazz Vocalist of the year 2006" not to mention the "Marlborough Jazz Festival's Best Live Performer" which she won two years running. At last, she was on her way.

2007 saw a move towards more mainstream pop music with the release of Clare's fifth studio album "Paradisi Carousel" whilst Clare further strengthened her relationship with Radio 2 presenting the Big Band Special series and Clare Teal's Jazz Divas. In September she was awarded Jazz Vocalist Of The Year 2007 at the British Jazz Awards.

In January Clare is presenting a series on Radio 2 profiling 1930s singer Al Bowlly and, if further evidence of her multi-faceted talents were needed, Clare also has a weekly lifestyle column in the Yorkshire Post.

Newly signed to the Universal imprint W14 Music, Clare is embracing a return to her first love – jazz - with the release in February 2008 of a brand new album "Get Happy".

Reviews of Clare Teal's album "Get Happy".

"Wonderful. Worth raving about."
Sir Michael Parkinson. January 2008

"Please go out and buy Clare Teal’s record!”
Michael Bublé. January 2008

"Music to melt to.”
Jamie Cullum. January 2008

"Clare Teal is one of my favourite artists.”
Paul Gambaccini. January 2008

Program:

Brindley Theatre Chester, -, UNITED KINGDOM

1 Oct, 2010

Brindley Theatre Chester, -, UNITED KINGDOM

4 Oct 2010

Ronnie Scotts London (Soho), n/a, UNITED KINGDOM

9 Oct 2010

THE FLAVEL ARTS CENTRE, Flavel Place, Dartmouth. Dartmouth, Devon, UNITED KINGDOM

15 Oct 2010

The Sands Venue, (sister venue to Gainsborough) Blackpool, UNITED KINGDOM

22 Oct 2010

Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham, UK, UNITED KINGDOM

24 Oct 2010

Cambridge Arts Theatre Cambridge, -, UNITED KINGDOM

13 Nov 2010

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