Bossa Nova Brasil May 17 - 21 at Birdland

 Starring MARCOS VALLE - Composer / Keyboardist / Vocalist

Special Guest: WANDA SA - Vocalist        

Also Vocalist Patricia Alvi, Jesse Sadoc/ Trumpet, Sergio Brandao/Bass, Renata Massa/Drums   

Direct from Rio ! 

The "Elite" of Brazilian Popular Music and BossaNova

May 17 - 21 at  Birdland

If you are looking for the best of Brazilian popular music, BossaNova style, look no more.  Just come to Birdland to see the creme of the crop, the very talentedComposer/Keyboardist/Vocalist MARCOS VALLE and his very Special Guest WANDA SA at Bossabrasil, Produced by Pat Philips & Ettore Stratta. 

VALLE is without a doubt one of the  major songwriters of Brazilian Popular Music.  Having written over 300 songs recorded byartists SARAH VAUGHN, CHICAGO, DIZZY GILLESPIE, OSCAR PETERSON, RAMSEY LEWIS, DAVE BRUBECK, TOOTS THIELEMANS, JOE PASS, JOHNNY MATHIS, BEBEL GILBERTO, JOE WILLIAMS, ELIANE ELIAS,EUMIR DEODATO, JOAO DONATO and so many more, he is among Brazil's most important talents.  

VALLE has toured the world at major Festivals and concert halls from England to Japan to China, to Australia to packed houses.  He has received numerous awards for his songwriting, one of them from BMI  for his music SAMBA DeVerao, which, in Brazil, only GAROTA DE IPANEMA by TOM JOBIM and VINICIUS DE MORAIS has been so granted.  VALLE's SONGBOOK consisting of two CD's of his biggest successes had singers CAETANO VELOSO,MARIA BETHANIA, CHICO BUARQUE and ROBERTO MENESCAL.  I am a friend and partner in one song of Roberto Menescal , andhe has been my guest in some shows in Australia , Singapore and Japan , but please understand that he is not considered a God , as you have mentioned , as nobody is here ) .

 Valle's new CD "ESTÁTICA" ,   has been released in Japan and Europe by FAROUT RECORDINGS  along with tours , and is soon to be released in Brazil, and it is already considered one of the best of his career.

MARCOS VALLE presents his Special Guest, WANDA SA whose sound has been one of the foundations that sustains and renews universally the "Bossa Nova".    She grew up along with BossaNova, from girl to woman.  Together, it is a brilliant pairing of highly talented musicians who compose and perform, their first engagement together in the US.

WANDA SA, Vocalist and Guitarist, is one of the greatest and most important interpreters of her generation having performed on stage with  ROBERTO MENESCAL,CARLOS LYRA, DONATO, MARCOS VALLE, JOYCE, LUIS CARLOS VINHAS, OS CARIOCAS and more...some of Brazil's most important artists.  In the 60's living in the US, Wanda Sa was part of Brazil '65 with SERGIO MENDES, JORGE BEN, ROSINHA DE VALENÇA,  TIÃO NETO and CHICO BATERA.  She has a brilliant continuing career working alongside the 'elite' musicians/composers of Brazil.  This year with "Power Trio", her musical group, she performed in Tribute to the Maestro Helvius Vilela, and also perfomed with  Danilo Caymmi, Miucha, Emilio Santiago, Carlos Lyra, and Marcos Valle.

VALLE and WANDA SA  are joined by PATRICIA ALVI, also a very talented vocalist, JESSE SADOC on Trumpet and  Fluglehorn, SERGIOBRANDAO on Bass, and RENATO ( MASSA) CALMON on Drums, directfrom Rio ! 

 When it comes to Brazilian popular music and BossaNova style, this is as good as it gets...music 'elegant' , 'hot', 'swinging', 'romantic', 'virtuosic',...a rare treat comes to Birdland, a new home for Brazilian music !  BOSSABRASIL !

"Verizon proudly supports BossaBrasil featuring top Brazilian artists Marcos Valle & Wanda Sa -  Bringing you morechoices, more channels, super fast internet, more amazing features! Verizon FiOS. A Network Ahead."

Things I'd happily eradicate from jazz forever: No.2

by Minin pro

2. Jazz tunes with stupid names

One of the things that I've argued for passionately in the past on this blog is that if jazz wishes to expand its audience, people need to see jazz as relevant to their lives. Another thing that I've argued consistently is that there's got to be more to a jazz performance than technical excellence. It's a given these days that jazz players will be technically advanced and the advent of the digital era means that you can see the best players of all time with the click of a mouse. You're not going to out-technique Tatum or Bird or Buddy Rich, so you'd better have something to say instead.

The jazz convention of The Stupid Tune Name does a lot of great work in making sure that people don't relate to a tune and suggesting that there really is no emotional context to a tune, it's just a vehicle for showing off.

Some artists are worse than others when it comes to this pet peeve of mine. Much as I loved E.S.T. they really were the masters of stupid tune names - Spam-boo-limbo, Spunky Sprawl, The Unstable Table and the Infamous Fable and Like Wash It or Something are compositions that spring to mind.

A random scroll through my iPod throws up more than a few other offenders - including:

• Art House Soft Leg Incident - Andy Sheppard
• Speaking With Wooden Tongues - Bill Bruford
• Teaching Vera to Dance - Bill Bruford
• Tomato Kiss - from the Bill Evans album 'Affinity'
• 34 Skidoo - Bill Evans
• Turtle Shoes - Bobby McFerrin
• Random Abstract (diddle it) - Branford Marsalis
• The Chocolate Nuisance - Cannonball Adderly
• Jammin E. Cricket - Chick Corea
• I've Got to be a Rugcutter - Errol Garner
• Lawn Chairs (and other foreign policy) - Kenny Werner
• Piango, Pay The Man - Michel Petrucciani
• Back Arm & Blackcharge - Pat Metheny

I think that's enough to prove a point...

I'm sure that when musicians give tunes stupid, random names, or name them after some in-joke, they think they're being clever, ironic or iconoclastically post-modern, but to me they're just devaluing their compositions with flippancy.

Of course, not every tune has to be 'about' something - in the same way that paintings don't have to be 'of' something. However, if you want to be taken seriously as an artist (and let's face it, jazz musicians have been desperate to be taken seriously for years) then why would you want to put no thought or effort into the naming of your work?

The problem with stupid names for tunes is that they commit the cardinal sin of all crap jokes - namely that of not being funny. Maybe it was funny for a while when it first began to happen (the Mingus tunes 'All The Things You Could Be By Now if Sigmund Freud's Wife was your Mother' and 'If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole lot of Dead Copycats' are undeniably classic), but trust me, that moment has passed. Nobody will think it's remotely amusing if you call your next composition 'Banana Ice Cream Sewing Convention' or 'Mikey's Faux Pas in the Launderette'.

Classical musicians got round this particular problem years ago by coming up with standard names for certain kinds of compositions - 'Etude', 'Sonata', 'Mazurka', 'Nocturne', 'Romance', 'Bagatelle' and so on. This allowed composers to write music for music's sake without having to come up with a title.

To me this is a more dignified solution than naming some tune you wrote after your producer's cat or something hilarious that happened on the road that nobody other than the band will ever know about. Maybe we could do the same in jazz? Here's few suggestions for standard names for some kinds of jazz compositions I seem to hear a lot these days:

• Cozwecan - A pointless, unmelodic and angular tune performed at 280bpm in 13/8 to show off how hip and clever the musicians are. Usually the first track on the album.
• Autofellatio in Eb (or any other key) - A fragment, rather than an actual tune used purely as preamble for a 18 minute saxophone exploration of how high, loud and shrill a saxophone can be. Popular with sax players.
• Maudlin' - An interminably slow and dull excuse for a ballad written when a pianist likes a set of changes but can't find a decent melody to link them together.
• Noodlin' - Any tune that involves 'So What' changes.
• KopOwt - A tune that starts with a Cozwecan-style head and then switches to 4/4 blues changes for solos.

When it comes to naming tunes, the only time a 'humourous' name is even remotely allowed is if the tune itself is humourous. Or you're Thelonious Monk. If neither of these is the case, then the 'humourous' name is simply cringe-worthy.

Can we be clear about this? It's not funny, it's not clever, it's not ironic, it's not cool - it's just lame. Lame as a three-legged mule after scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in broken-glass slippers.

http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2011/04/28/things-i-d-happily-eradicate-from-jazz-forever-no-11068699/

Things I'd happily eradicate from jazz forever: No.1

by Minin pro

1. The saxophone cadenza.

The beautiful ballad is drawing to a close. The ballads in the standard repertoire have survived for the best part of a century now on the strength of simply being gorgeous tunes. The solos have been taken, we've heard what saxophone, piano and bass (half a chorus for the bass - it's the law) have to say on this tune and as the final statement of the haunting melody draws near, the audience feels like it's coming home. The band hits the penultimate dominant chord... and are cued to stop by the saxophone player.

He repeats the final phrase of the melody on his own, then again at a faster tempo. From nowhere he launches into an incongruous orgy of arpeggiation, squealing harmonics and note clusters that bear who-knows-what resemblance to the beautiful tale of love and loss that has just been told. Higher and higher, faster and faster, louder and louder he goes - spraying notes around the room like an errant tom cat marking his territory.

The band waits patiently behind him, the pianist holds his hands over the final chord, the bassist holds down the tonic with his left hand; the index finger of his right hovers over the appropriate string. The drummer has had plenty of time to put his brushes away and select a pair of mallets for the final cymbal roll - in fact, he's had time to nip out to the nearest music store to buy a new pair.

And still the saxophone pours out a torrent of notes like water from a burst pipe. Every possible arpeggiation of every chord and every hemisemidemiquaver scale passage is presented with a dynamic marking of FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

The audience has long forgotten the sound of the dominant chord that started this cacophony - more than half of it's members have forgotten what tune was being played in the first place.

Finally, from nowhere the sax player hits and sustains a note. The band twitches nervously, unsure whether he's genuinely finished or is merely girding his loins for another efflux of musical effluence. There's no help from the man himself - he stares straight ahead, proudly presenting the final note to the audience with all the self-satisfaction of a cat leaving a dead sparrow inside the cat flap.

It should go without saying that the note is a sharp eleven, so it's impossible for the band to be sure- any hint of cadences or chord tones are utterly forbidden in saxophone cadenzas.

Each musician concludes it's over at slightly different moments and, after all that, the final chord is flammed. The sax launches into one more superfluous spray of arpeggiation and a mere 45 seconds later, with the advent of the final sharpened ninth, the tune is mercifully over.

Song running time: Head and solos 6:32. Saxophone cadenza 8:58.

From: http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2011/04/14/things-i-d-happily-eradicate-from-jazz-forever-no-11004452/#c15510083

Robert Johnson: Complete Tracks

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

There's something haunting about Robert Johnson's voice. Theblues singer-guitarist sounds at once cock-sure and frightened, giving his recordings the feel of both perspiration and a cold sweat. As I wrote in Friday'sWall Street Journal review (here), Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings(Sony/Legacy) continues to illustrate that given a chance, simplicity and passion will trump technique and quantity every time. I also spoke with Steven Lasker, the new set's engineer. More with Steven in a moment.

Johnson recorded only 29 master tracks, yet he was one of the most powerful influences on jazz, folk and rock of the '40s, '50s and '60s. Why is this the case? After all, there were plenty of blues artists before and since, and many were authentic products of the Mississippi Delta. There are three general reasons, with the first two being less important than the third.

First, the spare number of sides that Johnson recorded helped establish his mystique. Scarcity has a way of concentrating focus and increasing demand. Second, Johnson died young—at age 27. He was poisoned after fooling around with the owner of a juke joint outside Greenwood, Miss., where he was performing. Sudden death and high-risk affairs also work wonders on legacies.

But even more important is the fact that Johnson's recordings are emotionally restless. As you listen to them, they come across like an uncontrollable shiver. His guitar playing is jangly and jarring, as though he's strumming an aluminum instrument with copper wires. Through his wails and low-voice grumbles, we taste the clay dust of the South and smell the thick foliage. In this regard, Johnson's songs have transporting powers.

While all of Johnson's recordings have been available digitally since the '90s, this new set is absolutely free of hiss and pops, and now has a conical depth and warmth that makes Johnson sound even more intimate and contemporary.  You can even hear the guitar strings move and his hands slide down the neck.

Born in 1911, Johnson took an early interest in music. His career began in earnest in 1930, after his wife and child died in childbirth. Restless, Johnson moved steadily from town to town with his guitar, playing for money whenever he could land a job. Unlike his contemporaries, his blues wasn't the stuff of cotton picking or hammering railroad ties. Instead, what we have are stories of love, travels and battling personal demons.

Johnson also offered the listener enormous variation. His guitar playing switched from rhythmic swing to twangy lines, often within the same song. There's also an economical purity to his playing. Johnson never tries to show off but instead is merely concerned with a solid rhythmic accompaniment and textured interchanges with his voice.

Adding to his aura was Johnson's claim that his guitar-playing prowess was the result of a chance midnight encounter with the devil at the intersection of several roads. Johnson certainly understood the value of being mystified by one's own genius and the drama of  of summoning Mephistopheles.

Unfortunately, Johnson's recording success swelled his head, leading him to think of himself as invincible. Which is yet another reason why '60s British guitar rockers found his blues so endearing and his story so compelling. What's '60s rock without demons?

Johnson died in August 1938—just months before being discovered on a national level. As Stephen C. LaVere writes in the the new set's liner-notes bio:

"In late 1938, [producer] John Hammond began recruitingtalent for his first From Spirituals to Swingconcert. He called Don Law in Dallas and asked him if he could round up Robert Johnson and get him to New York for his presentation at Carnegie Hall. Hammond thought Johnson the greatest of all the country blues players and wanted him to fill one of the opening slots in his show.

"Law got the word to [record company owner] Ernie Oertle, who set out to locate Johnson. It had been more than a year since Oertle had been in contact with Johnson, and it took some digging before he learned the truth and got it back to Law—Johnson had died recently under uncertain circumstances...

"Johnson's failure to appear at From Spirituals to Swing was a great disappointment to Hammond, and he never stopped pondering what it could have meant to Johnson had he been able to make it."

Johnson remains a ghostly figure, his songs being the only evidence we have of a bluesman who seemed to have visited the future and was merely reporting back in song.

JazzWax note: If you already own earlier issues of RobertJohnson's recordings from the '90s and are wondering whether the new set sounds good enough to replace yours, I would say there's no comparison in terms of clarity, warmth and detail.

How good is it? I reached out to Steven Lasker, the Johnson project's engineer, for a little detail. Here's what he said:

"Hi Marc. The hiss was reduced, and most of the clicks and crackle were removed, by a single pass of CEDAR CAMBRIDGE. Then the 24-bit tapes went to Seth Winner, who spent some 50 hours intensively removing what clicks and crackle remained with CEDAR retouch, along with considerable 120-cycle hum that came off of the original recording equipment in Dallas in 1937. Seth also miraculously fixed the engineer's 'duck and recover' at the end ofMalted Milk. He is the only person ever to fix this problem, which is found on the original 78-rpm and all other issues.

"I have something like 100 different styli to select from, and a proper fit gives best sound. Then, too, I use a stylus with a sensitive cantilever which picks up lots of musical information—and lots of non-musical extraneous vibrations, which is why most transfer engineers settle for a stylus with a stiffer cantilever.

"I've also figured out how to tame the non-musical vibrations with a tonearm stabilizer, a device of my own invention. This allows the stylus to consistently track down the very center of a lateral groove, which is where the small fractals are found. It allows me to track at a far lighter tracking force.

"This is important, because with a heavier tracking force, separation is lessened. The equation is the greater theseparation, the less mud in a transfer. (The theory behind all this was first, at least to my knowledge, explained in an article in the September 1939 issue of Fortune magazine, which, among other things, attempted to explain why there was so much greater separation and higher fidelity on vertical recordings as opposed to lateral ones.)

"Better mechanical playback technique results in higher fidelity sound, it's that simple. Bythe way, there was next to no equalization applied to these transfers other than turnover eq.

"Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts about a subject I'm passionate about: how to get the best sound out of a 78-rpm coarse groove."

JazzWax tracks: Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings(Sony/Legacy) comes in two different packages. The first is a two-CD set that holds Johnson's master and alternate takes from his San Antonio and Dallas sessions in 1936 and 1937, respectively. You'll find this two-CD set here.

Sony also is issuing aCentennial Edition with five 78-rpm replicas that spin at 45-rpm. The set includes the two CDs of Johnson's recordings plus a CD of blues recordings that influenced Johnson and a CD of other artists who recorded on the same days as Johnson and in the same studios. The final disc is a DVD of The Life And Music Of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear The Wind Howl. You'll find the set here.

JazzWax clip: Here's Robert Johnson's Sweet Home Chicagowith terrific scenes of what I assume is Chicago in the '30s...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Singer/songwriter/guitarist John Martyn was born Iain David McGeachy...

Biography by Brett Hartenbach & Thom Jurek

Singer/songwriter/guitarist John Martyn was born Iain David McGeachy on September 11, 1948, in New Malden, Surrey, and raised in Glasgow by his grandmother. He began his innovative and expansive career at the age of 17 with a style influenced by American blues artists such as Robert Johnson and Skip James, the traditional music of his homeland, and the eclectic folk of Davey Graham (Graham remained an influence and idol of Martyn's throughout his career).

With the aid of his mentor, traditional singer Hamish Imlach, Martyn began to make a name for himself and eventually moved to London, where he became a fixture at Cousins, the center for the local folk scene that spawned the likes of Bert Jansch, Ralph McTell, and Al Stewart. Soon after, he caught the attention of Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who made him the first white solo act to join the roster of his reggae-based label.

The subsequent album, London Conversation (February 1968), only hinted at what was to come in Martyn's career. Although it contained touches of blues along with Martyn's rhythmic playing and distinctive voice, it was for the most part a fairly straightforward British folk record. With his follow-up later that same year, the Al Stewart-produced The Tumbler, Martyn began to slowly test other waters, employing backup musicians such as jazz reedman Harold McNair, to flesh out his sound. His voice also started to take on a jazzier quality as he began to experiment musically.

While on the road, Martyn continued to experiment with his sound, adding various effects to his electrified acoustic. One such effect, the Echoplex, allowed him to play off of the tape loops of his own guitar, enveloping himself in his own playing while continuing to play leads over the swelling sound. This would become an integral part of his recordings and stage performances in the coming years.

He also met Beverley Kutner, a singer from Coventry who later became his wife and musical partner. The duo released two records in 1970, Stormbringer and The Road to Ruin, the former recorded in Woodstock, N.Y. with American musicians including members of the Band.

For one track on their second album, John and Bev hired Pentangle double bassist Danny Thompson, who remained a constant in John's career throughout the better part of the '70s, on-stage and in the studio. John planned his third solo album when Beverley retired to take care of the couple's children, although there was supposedly pressure from Island for him to record on his own.

The next couple of years saw Martyn continuing to expand on his unique blend of folk music, drawing on folk, blues, rock, and jazz as well as music from the Middle East, South America, and Jamaica. His voice continued to transform with each album while his playing became more aggressive, yet without losing its gentler side.

Bless the Weather (1971) and Solid Air (1973) which helped form the foundation of Martyn's fan base, featured some of his most mature and enduring songs: "Solid Air," written for close friend Nick Drake, "May You Never" (recorded by Eric Clapton), and "Head and Heart" (recorded by America). By the time of 1973's Inside Out, Martyn's use of the Echoplex had taken on a life of its own while his vocals became more of an instrument: deeper and bluesier, with words slithering into one another, barely decipherable.

During this period, Martyn's well-publicized bouts with alcoholism came to the forefront and began to affect his career somewhat. He became an erratic and at times self-destructive performer. He might perform an evening of electronic guitar experiments for a crowd of folkies or a set of traditional, acoustic ballads when playing to a rock audience. His shows would also range from the odd night of falling over drunk to sheer brilliance, as captured on the independently released Live at Leeds (1975).

Following Sunday's Child (1974), the live record, and a 1977 best-of collection, Martyn, for the most part, abandoned his acoustic guitar on record for a sort of rock, world, and jazz fusion. Although his style was moving away from its folk roots, his songs retained the passion and structure of his best early work. Grace and Danger (1980), his first release since 1977's One World, painfully and honestly depicted the crumbling of John and Beverley's marriage in some of his most powerful material in years.

It also seemed to garner interest in Martyn's sagging career. With this new momentum and the help of friend Phil Collins, Martyn signed to WEA, where he recorded two records, Glorious Fool (1981) and Well Kept Secret (1982). Glorious Fool, a superb effort, produced by Collins and featuring Eric Clapton on guitar and Collins on drums, piano, and vocals, looked to be his best shot at mainstream success, but failed to extend his cult status.

Martyn released his second independent live record, the magnificent Philentropy, before returning to Island Records for two studio releases, a live album and a 12" single which featured a version of Bob Dylan's "Tight Connection to My Heart." He was dropped by the label in 1988.

Continuing to battle his alcoholism, Martyn resumed his career in 1990 withThe Apprentice and 1992's Cooltide. He also released an album of his classic songs re-recorded with an all-star cast featuring Phil Collins, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Levon Helm of the Band, as well as various compilations and live recordings.

After a four-year layoff, Martyn issued And, an album with strong jazz, trip-hop, and funk overtones, followed in 1998 byThe Church with One Bell, a collection of diverse covers. In 1999 he also released a live double album which documented a classic concert at London's Shaw Theatre in 1990 entitled Dirty, Down & Live.

Martyn recorded a surprise studio comeback effort called Glasgow Walker at the turn of the century that was very well received, and had his entire Island catalog remastered and reissued -- two of his albums, One World, and Grace and Danger, were given the Universal "deluxe" treatment with bonus discs. In 2003, a cyst burst in Martyn's leg due to septicemia brought on by diabetes.

The end result was an amputation, but he continued to tour the world with the same tireless energy and restlessness, performing with his band from a wheelchair. Martyn, shrugged it all off, typified by this infamous quote: " "I've been mugged in New York and luckily I fought my way out of it. I've been shot a couple of times as well but I just lay down and pretended to be dead."

In 2007 two DVDs appeared, a Live at the BBC set recorded in the 1970s, and Voiceprint's The Man Upstairs documentary. 2008 saw Martyn's name surface once more with some real regularity due to a flurry of activity by the man and his touring schedule, but also because of new releases. His One World label issued a pair of catalogued live dates, the best of these beingSimmer Dim, and, in December, Universal/Island released a four-disc retrospective box entitled Ain't No Saint.

In January, 2009 Martyn was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) -- an irony since he was the most rebellious of Scotsmen. Martyn's health, however, was in real decline as a result of a lifetime of substance abuse issues; in the early morning hours of January 29, 2009, he passed away at the age of 60 after a third bout with pneumonia.

With his characteristic backslap acoustic guitar playing, his effects-driven experimental journeys, or his catalog of excellent songs, as well as his jazz-inflected singing style, John Martyn will remain an important and influential figure in both British folk and rock.

http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.bio/project_id/561.cfm

James Newton (Composer/Flutist) is one of the world’s true flute virtuosos....

James Newton (Composer/Flutist) is one of the world’s true flute virtuosos in numerous musical idioms. His compositions and performances encompass chamber, symphonic, and electronic music genres, compositions for ballet and modern dance, and numerous jazz and world music contexts.


Mr. Newton has been the recipient of many awards, fellowships and grants, including Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships, Montreux Grande Prix Du Disque and Downbeat International Critics Jazz Album of the Year, as well as being voted the top flutist for a record-breaking 23 consecutive years in Downbeat Magazine’s International Critics Poll. 


Described as a musician’s renaissance man, Newton has performed with and composed for many notable artists in the jazz and classical fields, including Mingus Dynasty, Buddy Collette, the New York Philharmonic, Anthony Davis, David Murray, Aurèle Nicolet, Donald Mc Kayle, Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi, Sir Roland Hanna, Jose Limon Dance Company, Bennie Maupin, Cecil Taylor, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, John Carter, Andrew Cyrille, Wu Man, Red Callender, Southwest Chamber Music, Bobby Hutcherson, Dino Saluzzi, Zakir Hussain, San Francisco Ballet, Jon Jang, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Frank Wess, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group.


Newton currently holds a professorship at the University of California at Los Angeles in the Department of Ethnomusicology. He has also held professorships at University of California at Irvine, California Institute of the Arts and Cal State University Los Angeles. In May of 2005 Newton was awarded a Doctor of Arts Degree, Honoris Causa, from California Institute of the Arts.

Projects

I am sincerely grateful for a fruitful summer 2010, which combined very productive compositional work, rewarding family time and rest. 

I received a residency award from the Alpert Foundation, which enabled me to travel to the Ucross Foundation in rural Wyoming, to finally begin work on a St. Matthew Passion. The Ucross Ranch is an amazing environment.  I worked in a wooden cabin that had a Yamaha grand and an inspirational view of a lovely creek with grazing deer.

Because of work and family commitments, I had never before accepted any summer residency opportunities.  It is something that I am looking forward to doing more in the future. In addition, I could not have asked for a better group of fellow artists to spend time with during the residency. Our discussions inspired each of us to take that extra step to push our art to higher areas. 

The Passion has continued to pour out since its initial stimulation during the Ucross residency. I am working on producing enough material to seek grants, other sources of funding and some opportunities for workshops. The Passion forces are composed for a quintet of soloists mainly singing spirituals, classical vocal soloists, chamber choir, a small chamber orchestra and rhythm section. 

Prior to the Ucross residency, in July my wife, Jo Ann, and I, our children and my mother visited Aubrey and Little Rock, Arkansas to attend a family reunion. We also visited the Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street in Memphis and the Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

I found myself so deeply moved, reflecting on the dignity and resolve of the Civil Rights Movement and the eloquence and elegance of its leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have found myself once again listening to many of his speeches over and over and pouring through his writings.

All of these elements are helping to make The Passion burn inside of me like no other composition. It brings together Spirituals (recreated with new arrangements), Contemporary Classical, Jazz and World Music elements in new ways.  One of my mentors, the great visual artist Sam Gilliam, states that it is in times like the ones that we are currently experiencing that we must take our biggest risks as artists.

The St. Matthew Passion is my humble offering back to Jesus for all he has given to us. In these times when so much hate is being spewed out in the name of Christianity, one has to combat myopic, dangerous and false representations of Christianity. In the Passion I want the music to voice Christ’s love for the world and His giving of the ultimate gift of love by the exchange of His life for our sins.  His Way is open to all so the music has to incorporate many languages, representing the diversity of cultures within the Faith. 

I have also been increasingly touched by the power of the dialogue between the Old and New Testaments (I refer to this as the Ultimate Call and Response) and how that power inspires many to learn to love in greater degrees.

My trip to Jerusalem further enlightened this feeling of love when Gethsemane, The Wailing Wall, the Upper Room and David’s place of burial profoundly touched every part of me. I have also found great inspiration in the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Thomas Merton, Howard Thurman and Robert Alter.

As a warm up for the Passion, in June and early July I composed “Revelation Diptych” for solo piano. The two movements within the Diptych are entitled, “The Sixth Seal” and “St. John Consumes The Little Book”.  I am increasingly finding that the piano is an excellent vehicle for working out new expansions and discoveries within my compositional language. In each of the last four years I have gone to this medium to produce a new work. I pray that I may continue on this path.

On the 28th of September, pianist Gloria Cheng premiered my solo piano work, “Looking Above, The Faith of Joseph” at Zipper Hall in Los Angeles as part of the Piano Spheres series. On October 20th there was a concert of my chamber music at Conrad Prebys Hall, at University of California, San Diego.

In the coming months there will be two very important concerts at Disney Hall. On May 22, I will co-conduct with Grant Gershon the sacred music of Duke Ellington and on November 13 the American premiere of my Mass will be conducted by my dear friend, Grant Gershon, and performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

 In March 2011, a new recording of my Sacred Works will be released on New World Records. It features my “Mass” conducted by Grant Gershon, “Between The Cherubim” for solo piano played by Gloria Cheng, and a solo Cantata for Soprano, Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano featuring soprano Elissa Johnston.

God bless you all,

James Newton

Musicians

Elissa Johnston, soprano; Tracy Van Fleet, mezzo-soprano; Daniel Chaney, tenor; Abdiel Gonzales, bass-baritone; Gary Woodward, flute; Gary Bovyer, clarinet; RalphMorrison, violin; Kazi Pitelka, viola; Cécilia Tsan, cello; David Young, bass; Vicki Ray, piano; Lynn Vartan, percussion; Gloria Cheng, piano; Julie Feves, bassoon; Mark Menzies, piano; Grant Gershon, conductor

The centerpiece of the new CD Sacred Works is the Mass. James Newton’s desire to compose a Mass was greatly impacted by two concerts performed in the last decade. In these performances at Disney Hall, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the LuckmanJazz Orchestra surveyed the sacred music of Mary Lou Williams and Duke Ellington.

The joy of co-conducting with Grant Gershon was a truly unforgettable experience for him. Though non-improvising classical ensembles commissioned the majority of this music the music is infused with the language of James’ experiences as a composer/improviser. The Credo was commissioned by Southwest Chamber Music with the support of Meet The Composer’s/ Commissioning Music USA.

After the premiere of the Credo, the Metastasio Festival in Prato, Italy commissioned the completion of the Mass. The World premiere of the full Mass took place on February 4, 2007 at the Chiesa di San Francesco in Prato, Italy.

In the late summer of 2009 Grant Gershon assembled a wonderful group of Los Angeles-based singers and instrumentalists from the Los Angeles Opera and the Los Angeles Master Chorale and recorded the Mass in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. In December 2009 In A Moment, In The Twinkling of An Eye was recorded.

It is a work for soprano voice, clarinet, bassoon and piano inspired by both John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Olivier Messiaen’s Quatour Pour La Fin Du Temps. During February 2010 pianist Gloria Cheng recorded Between The Cherubim, a work for solo piano in three movements. Each of the movements is dedicated to pianists Jason Moran, Don Pullen and Emanuele Torquati.

The Mass was influenced by the fact that it is celebrated at different times on the Sabbath by a huge diversity of cultures across the world. Imagine that as the day progresses through different time zones others echo this worship through their unique culturalresonances. A priest once described how the rooftops of different churches open up and the Glory of God pours in for the holy celebration. This cultural plurality, holy infusion and movement of time intone the journey of bringing together a work that reflects the colorful rainbow of God’s creation.

An important mission of the music was to combine diverse musical languages to create and define new common ground that reflects our challenges, aspirations and dialogue with the God of God.  James Newton endeavored to adapt his experiences as a composer/flutist and conductor, who has worked in Jazz, Classical and World Music, to the music just as God has connected diverse people for His glory.

For Newton the Credo is the centerpiece of the Mass. It is the profession of one’s faith, one’s belief in the Holy Trinity and the radiance of the Light of Christ shining through the luminescence of eternity. It acknowledges His perfect sacrifice and the inimitable gift of all gifts that Christ has given his believers and it invites all to accept Him as Savior.

In the process of composing the Mass, Newton was deeply touched by the writings and speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as the writings of Thomas Merton. The quiet beauty of his family’s surroundings in Corrales, New Mexico, also enthused the nine-month journey of completing this humble offering of faith.

When you wish upon a star - Manhattan Jazz Orchestra

The Manhattan Jazz Orchestra was formed in 1979 by famed Tokyo based record producer Shigeyuki Kawashima and New York arranger extraordinaire Dave Matthews as an expansion of the award winning Manhattan Jazz Quintet (MJQ).


In 2002 and 2003 Swing Journal’s Readers Poll has voted Manhattan Jazz Orchestra the number one big band. In 1995, David and his co producer Shigeyuki Kawashima received the Swing Journal Critic's Award for producing the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra CD “Get It On”.


Members of the MJO have included Lew Soloff, Ryan Kisor, Scott Wendholt, Jim Pugh, John Fedchock, Andy Snitzer, Bill Evans, Chip Jackson, and Terry Silverlight.

Young woman who studies music protect brain in old age.....

The many hours devoted to learning music has benefits over the long term, shows a study published in the online version of the journal Neuropsychology, the American Psychological Association.

Research indicates that those who played musical instruments for many years seem to form a natural protection against cognitive losses that often occur during old age.

Even if these people have dropped the instrument at some point in their lives, the mind is still sharp in old age shows when compared to those who never learned music.

A group of 70 musicians aged between 60 and 83 years underwent various tests of memory and ability to capture new information, among other situations.

The result is that fared better in trials who played music for nine and ten. This suggests that the more people play, the more benefits will in the future.

The piano was as the most popular among musicians, followed by the woodwinds. All were amateurs and they had in common started music lessons at around ten years.

The study also considered the physical condition and educational level of participants.And what caught our attention, that there is also the relationship between cognitive ability and years of musical activity or if the volunteers were not involved with music today.

The discovery shows that brain function can be changed and the music can be a subject for future considerations because it involves a combination of motor skills, reading, hearing and repetitive actions.


http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ciencia/906945-jovem-que-estuda-musica-protege-cerebro-em-idade-avancada.shtml