"Body and Soul" is a popular jazz song featured on Billie Holidays album with the same title. "Body and Soul" was written in New York City for the British actress and singer Gertrude Lawrence. It was first performed in London by her. It was first published in England. Libby Holman introduced it in the U.S. in the 1930 Broadway revue Three's a Crowd. Louis Armstrong was the first jazz musician to record "Body and Soul". The tune grew quickly in popularity, and by the end of 1930 at least eleven groups had recorded it. "Body and Soul" remains a jazz standard, with hundreds of versions performed and recorded by dozens of artists.
Billie's accompanied by Ben Webster (Tenor Sax); Barney Kessel (Guitar); Harry "Sweets" Edison (Trumpet); Jimmy Rowles (Piano); Red Mitchell (Bass); and Larry Bunker (Drums). Recorded January 7th, 1957 (20507-1).
Tony Bennett recorded the classic pop standard Body And Soul, with Amy Winehouse at Abbey Road Studios in London March, 2011. The duet proceeds will be donated to her charity "The Amy Winehouse Foundation."
One of the most famous and influential takes was recorded by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra on October 11, 1939, at their only recording session for Bluebird, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. The recording is unusual in that the song's melody is only hinted at in the recording; Hawkins' two-choruses of improvisation over the tune's chord progression constitute almost the entire take. Because of this, as well as the imaginative use of harmony and break from traditional swing cliches, the recording is recognised as part of the "early tremors of bebop". In 2004, the Library of Congress entered it into the National Recording Registry
To this day, "Body and Soul" is the most recorded jazz standard.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Billie Holiday - Body And Soul (Verve Records 1957)
Farid Ali aka Mr Gambus/ One note samba
Farid Ali concert at the Dewan Philharmonic Petronas April 21st 2008
S'pore jazz guitarist Farid Ali dies in KL
The Sunday Times
Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013
SINGAPORE- Veteran Singapore jazz guitarist Farid Ali died yesterday evening at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, where he has been based since 1993.
Details of the exact cause of his death are unclear, but Farid is said to have had a history of kidney problems and also lost his hearing at one point. He was 50.
Tributes to Farid, who has performed at international music festivals and also fronted progressive blues band Pacific Rim before leaving for Malaysia, were posted on social media platforms.
In a post on his Facebook page yesterday evening, home-grown jazz pianist-composer Jeremy Monteiro called Farid's death "a huge loss to the Singapore and Malaysia music scene".
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Monteiro, who had worked with Farid for 20 years, said: "By 6.45pm, I started getting phone calls and SMSes from people who knew him well.
"I'm still in shock actually."
While attempts to reach Farid's family were unsuccessful, Monteiro said his friend was able to recover only part of his hearing in the last two years after undergoing an operation.
"He was determined to start performing again. That was how dedicated he was to music," he added.
Many in the music industry have fond memories of Farid who, they say, was warm, gracious and deeply passionate about music.
He had done the rounds at jazz festivals in the United States and Europe and picked up several awards along the way, such as the best arranger award in the Curacao International Song Festival in 1988.
Read more: http://news.asiaone.com/news/showbiz/spore-jazz-guitarist-farid-ali-dies-kl
Charles Mingus: Abroad, 1964
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
In the spring of 1964, bassist Charles Mingus was on tour in Belgium, Norway and Sweden with alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy, pianist Jaki Byard, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, drummer Danny Richmond and Johnny Coles on trumpet. Here's Jazz Icons: Charles Mingus Live in '64 (you can buy the DVD here)...
- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/12/charles-mingus-abroad-1964.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.Aw8o9nIK.dpuf
Used with permission by Marc Myers
Balkan Brass Meets Gypsy Jazz Guitar
Take the crossroads encounter behind Devil’s Tale, where the eastern force field of Balkan brass meets Gypsy Jazz guitar, as Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia joins up with Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso. Fanfare Ciocarlia are a 24-legged brass beast whose eastern funk groove has torn up halls and festivals across the planet. Raso is a master guitarist, deeply versed in the French Manouche / Gypsy Jazz stylings of Django Reinhardt. Could a string musician find a way into Fanfare's fierce Balkan brass blast? Could the legends of brass adapt their horns to the fluid eloquence of a jazz guitarist? The answer, as heard on this album, is one of brilliant defiance.
Adrian Raso has dreamt of this project for years. The gifted guitarist possesses a vast musical vocabulary rooted in Gypsy Jazz yet, in his fleet fingers, capable of referencing metal, Latin, funk and his family's Italian tarantella roots. Raso built his virtuoso reputation playing Toronto's toughest clubs as a teenager. More than two decades later he remains on a musical quest that demands he challenge himself. The quest lead to him reaching out to Fanfare Ciocarlia - the Romany Gypsy orchestra from the "invisible" village of Zece Prajini in north eastern Romania - who blast a fierce, very individual brand of Balkan brass. Both Raso and Fanfare share a love of Django and big band jazz but initial concerns surrounded whether their very different backgrounds would allow for a common musical dialogue to ensure.
"Meeting the band was a great experience," says Raso. "We bonded instantly. We joked about being separated brothers as it really did feel like that. Musically we understood each other from the get go."
Fanfare Ciocarlia are the world's greatest Balkan brass band. When a band is at the top, the undisputed heavyweight champion, they have two options: either get lazy and repeat themselves or seek out new challenges. Fanfare Ciocarlia are hungry men and, having seen too many Balkan brass bands descend into the farce of playing-standards-too-fast or allowing tone deaf DJs to exploit them as decoration over a lame electronic beat, they chose to broaden Balkan brass's vocabulary. Meeting Adrian Raso gave Fanfare the perfect musical foil.
Across several chilly Toronto days the Romanians and the Canadian came together. Raso called in several heavy friends to contribute to sessions. These included legendary guitarists John Jorgenson and Rodrigo (of Rodrigo & Gabriela) and rock drummer Kevin Figueiredo (of Extreme). This album - reaching down to New Orleans, across the Atlantic to Paris, deep into the Balkans and back through decaying Detroit to Toronto's grandeur - is the result. Raso's guitar sets off on a fluid journey, caressing and cajoling the horns who tell tales of a music that has ancestors in Africa and India, one shaped in old Europe and young America.
Spread the word - here is magic that might charm even jaded old Mephistopheles!
Read more: https://www.storyamp.com/dispatch/5232/9NBloqWFV_ud81-exbeu2A?storyamp_track=1032
Adam Smale is one of the serious devotees…
“Standing strong in the field of “Jazz”… Adam Smale is one of the serious devotees… an exciting new voice on the scene …take notice!” – Pat Martino
For guitarist/composer Adam Smale, the pursuit of musical expression began at the tender age of seven years old. Today, four decades later, that journey has reached a new peak with the release of his new quartet CD, Out of the Blue, which clearly demonstrates the extraordinary results spawned from the various twists and turns of all of those years of development.
Born in 1967 in a small working class community in Northern Ontario, Adam’s musical roots were first set in Country and Bluegrass. Too small at seven to handle the 5-string banjo that was his desire, he took up the guitar, immediately forming a lifelong bond and personal commitment to the instrument. By the time he was 12, he was performing professionally with local groups and by the time he was 14, he was an experienced professional, performing in clubs, bars, community events, weddings and private parties.
During these formative years, the young guitarist immersed himself in a wide variety of musical influences. But it wasn’t until his years at Humber College that he discovered jazz, and his path took a profound turn. “Jazz felt completely natural. I was always improvising, even when I was very young. Being somewhat naive, I thought everyone improvised all the time. Jazz was the perfect vehicle to express this natural propensity that I seemed to have.” Rather than abandoning his roots – or his earlier influences like Chet Atkins, Albert Lee, Eddie Van Halen, Flatt & Scruggs – Adam began to forge a new direction for himself in the classic tradition of true jazz expression. Discovering a goldmine of jazz guitar masters, including Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, and John Scofield, along with Charlie Parker and Bill Evans, a new world of possibilities opened up for him.
But it was the music of the legendary Lenny Beau that had the greatest impact, not only in the direction of his music, but in the physical means by which he would choose to express it. Returning to the thumb-pick of his early years to employ a fingerstyle technique, Adam found his sound. “It was stepping back and moving forward at the same time. I can coax more nuances from the guitar with a fingerstyle technique. It’s a softer approach at times but it’s more sexy.” To complete the process, Adam designed his own 7-string guitars and now primarily uses his specially-built electric and classical guitar as his two instruments of choice.
After receiving an Associate Degree in Popular Music (Guitar) from Humber College in 1992, Smale’s public career began in earnest. Covering all genres from Country to Latin, Jazz to World, over the next 15 years Adam performed all over the globe, including South America, India and the Middle East, as well as numerous cross-Canadian tours. With Toronto as his home base, he performed consistently with his own trio and quartet and was a regular presence at the acclaimed Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, and was also featured at the prestigious Grand Prix du Jazz at the 2002 Montreal Jazz Festival. Outstanding Canadian musicians performed in his groups, sometimes including top names like bassist Don Thompson and drummer Terry Clarke (both members of the groundbreaking John Handy Quintet which was wildly popular during the 1960s).
Digging into his wide range of influences and musical interests, in 1996 Adam co-founded the experimental ensemble Camarillo, which blended a full spectrum of genres, incorporating World music, electronic and free improvisation into a whirling mix of freewheeling adventure. They performed together until 2007, when Adam left for Western Michigan University where he received his Masters Degree in Jazz Performance in 2009. At that point Adam decided to move to the Jazz Mecca, New York City, where he continues to reside.
In addition to his Masters Degree, the educational realm has been an important part of Adam’s focus. He has conducted master classes and seminars throughout the U.S. and Canada for Guitar Workshop Plus and the National Guitar Workshop while also teaching several students privately. Adam has also written and published the book New Approach to Scales for Guitarists: A Practical Modern Direction, that he feels will change the way guitarists organize, and how they think and implement music scales on guitar.
Adam’s debut CD, Fun City was released in Canada in 2000 to extensive radio play and critical acclaim. Out of the Blue – his first U.S. CD – will be released in January of 2014. Demonstrating his enormous versatility and virtuosic artistry on guitar, the album also showcases Adam’s remarkable compositional skills, weaving intricate and compelling stories in the classic jazz tradition of the masters. Adam is focusing primarily on his quartet and is currently arranging to tour behind the new release, ready to establish his own place in the forefront of today’s guitar masters.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Jazz Musician of the Day: Danilo Perez
All About Jazz is celebrating Danilo Perez's birthday today!
Grammy award winner Danilo Pérez is among the most influential and dynamic musicians of our time. In just over a decade, his distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz (covering the music of the Americas, folkloric and world music) has attracted critical acclaim and loyal audiences. Danilo’s abundant talents and joyous enthusiasm make his concerts both memorable and inspiring... Read more: http://news.allaboutjazz.com/news.php?id=107807#.UsIEL3nnb9s
Jazz Images ....
Woody Allen And His New Orleans Jazz Band Performs At The Royce Hall More
Teaching Democracy Through Jazz, Perfecting Party Playlists
by NPR STAFF
December 27, 2013 6:07 PM
The online magazine Ozy covers people, places and trends on the horizon. Co-founder Carlos Watson joins All Things Considered regularly to tell us about the site's latest feature stories.
This week, Watson tells host Arun Rath about a teacher using jazz to educate young students about democracy and a site that could spruce up the playlist for New Year's Eve parties this year.
The Jazzy Side Of Government
"Dr. Wes Watkins grew up in Oakland. There was good music all around him, but he was never a musician himself. [He] made his way to Stanford and Oxford, ultimately got a Ph.D. in music education. And along the way ... he realized that the structure and the improv nature of jazz was not dissimilar from democracy and that in fact you needed both. ... He realized that there was an opportunity to teach junior high school and elementary school students who normally got bored at talk of things like democracy more about it by using principles of jazz."
Read 'America the Bebop' On Ozy.com
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2013/12/28/257672489/teaching-democracy-through-jazz-perfecting-party-playlists?ft=1&f=1049
2014 preview: Art, music and dance travel in from Buffalo, Boise and beyond
By Ray Mark Rinaldi
The Denver Post Fine Arts Critic
Local and visiting talent bring a generous slate of music, dance and visual arts to the area to light up (and enlighten) the grays of winter.
Jan. 7
French Quartets, Dazzle Classical Music Series
The new classical series at Denver's top jazz club is an exciting turn for folks who want their music high-end, intimate and close to downtown. The programming is full of adventure, kicking off 2013 with a concert weird enough to couple Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" with Eugene Bozza's "Nuages" saxophone quartet. Four gigs follow through May 7. 303-839-5100 or dazzlejazz.com
Jan. 17-18
"Return to Paris," Colorado Symphony Orchestra
The CSO has built its best programming of the season around the Denver Art Museum's "Passport to Paris" exhibits, and this looks to be a highlight. Talented, young and watchable Jan Lisiecki solos on Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, inside a program that includes Ravel's sublime orchestral poem "La Valse." Jeffrey Kahane conducts. 303-623-7876 or coloradosymphony.org
Jan. 17-April 30
Ian Fisher and Joel Swanson at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
The MCA is offering a power-packed twofer with separate exhibitions from a pair of Denver's most admired artists. Swanson works with language, abstracting keen observations from text-based material. Fisher paints grand skyscapes, playing with images and colors and guiding viewers through irresistible atmospheric wonders. These are important shows for artists on the edge. 303-298-7554 or mcadenver.org
Jan. 25
Dianne Reeves with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra
We love to describe Dianne Reeves as a "Denver native and East High School graduate" because we're so proud to call her our own. She sings well with her hometown orchestra, and this time there is the added bonus of hearing new material. Reeves plans to premiere six songs she worked up for the event. 303-623-7876 or coloradosymphony.org
Jan. 31
Trey McIntyre Project, Newman Center for the Performing Arts
This is the dance company we've all been waiting to see. TMP makes its home in the West — Boise, Idaho, to put it on the map — but travels its contemporary moves around the world. A recent Los Angeles Times review described McIntyre as "a bright light, a brainy ballet choreographer whose best works fuse visceral physicality with a deep and true humanism." One night only. 303-871-772 or newmantix.com
Feb. 14-June 8
"Modern Masters: 20th Century Icons from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery," Denver Art Museum.
and
"The Albright-Knox Art Gallery Exhibition Re-created," at the Clyfford Still Museum
DAM and CSM show what next-door neighbors can do, teaming up for a rich look at abstract expressionism. DAM borrows Picasso, Dalí, Kahlo and Warhol and other names from the mighty Albright-Knox, the toast of Buffalo. CSM seizes the moment, re-creating Clyfford Still's landmark exhibition — one of the few in his lifetime — that the Albright-Knox put together in 1959. 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.
Read more: 2014 preview: Art, music and dance travel in from Buffalo, Boise and beyond - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_24798421/2014-arts-preview-music-dance#ixzz2owjwRkEhFollow us: @Denverpost on Twitter | Denverpost on Facebook
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Billy May in 'Nightmare' (1956)
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Normally you find a Weekend Wax Bits in this space. Today, something a little different: a link sent along by reader John Cooper. It's Nightmare, a film noir with Edward G. Robinson and Kevin McCarthy. The music is by bandleader-arranger Billy May, with an on-screen cameo by Meade Lux Lewis on piano and May on trumpet and several lines by May about "lousy progressive arrangements." Get out the popcorn...
- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/12/billy-may-in-nightmare-1956.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.Qy4rjCxd.dpuf
Used with permission by Marc Myers
NPR Music
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A BLOG SUPREMEA History Of Phone Calls With Yusef Lateef
The late jazz multi-instrumentalist, a bluesy experimentalist, was known for his soulful, internationally flavored music. He died Monday at 93. For one struggling photographer, he was also close counsel for more than a decade.
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MARIAN MCPARTLAND'S PIANO JAZZGerald Wilson On Piano Jazz
Wilson is a bandleader dedicated to the infinite possibilities of jazz. Hear a 2006 session.
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MUSIC INTERVIEWS'Together Again' With Wynton Marsalis, 20 Years Later
Celebrated jazz pianist Marcus Roberts is releasing three albums simultaneously. One is a 12-movement suite titled From Rags to Rhythm. The other two are collaborations with the now-famous trumpeter who helped launch his career.
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MUSIC REVIEWSMichele Rosewoman Goes Back To Afro-Cuban Jazz's Future
You could look at Rosewoman's New Yor-Uba band as reuniting cousins who've drifted apart: jazz and folkloric Cuban music with its own family ties to the slave coast of West Africa.
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Saturday, December 28, 2013
June Fest lineup: Diana Krall, Steve Winwood, Tony Bennett and Trombone Shorty
Stewart Oksenhorn
stewart@aspentimes.com
December 27, 2013
Last summer, Jazz Aspen Snowmass wowed music fans with the lineup for its 23rd annual June Festival. The program featured headliners Jackson Browne, the Tedeschi-Trucks Band and the duo of Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite. Many pointed out that the roster of acts was more in line with Jazz Aspen’s Labor Day Festival, which tends toward styles of music with mass appeal. Just as many pointed out that the June Festival didn’t offer a whole lot of jazz.
This June, Jazz Aspen seems likely to wow listeners again — this time with sounds that are a lot closer to jazz. The headliners include Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and Trombone Shorty, all acts firmly rooted in jazz. Rounding out the lineup is Steve Winwood, the keyboardist and singer who came out of British classic rock.
The main portion of the June Festival is set for June 19 through 21, with headline shows in the Benedict Music Tent and two additional music stages as part of the free lawn party outside the tent. Bennett will perform June 28 in the tent in a show co-presented by the Aspen Music Festival. There also will be a series of small-venue performances at the JAS Cafe in the Little Nell hotel.
Tickets for the June Festival will go on sale Jan. 6 through the Jazz Aspen box office and the Belly Up box office. Tickets for Bennett will go on sale Jan. 6 at the Aspen Music Festival box office.
The festival opens June 19 with Trombone Shorty, who played on the main stage at the Labor Day Festival in 2012. The band is led by Troy Andrews, a trombonist and trumpeter who got his start playing in street brass bands in his hometown of New Orleans. In recent years, Trombone Shorty and his band, Orleans Avenue, have added funk, rock and hip-hop to their sound; guests on his past few records include Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, the Meters and Jeff Beck.
Krall will make her first Aspen appearance since 2006 on June 20. In past shows in Aspen, dating back to her local debut in 1999 in a Snowmass Village club, the singer-pianist has given her take on the traditional jazz piano combo. Her new show is built around the 2012 album “Glad Rag Doll,” which had Krall experimenting with new sounds and arrangements as she interpreted songs from the 1920s and ’30s.
Read more: http://www.aspentimes.com/news/ticker/9496790-113/june-jazz-aspen-festival
Mis-education at 'twerk: Where shall we go?
Anthony Tidd at The Kimmel Center. Photo by Colin Kerrigan/Philly.com.
Anthony Tidd , Creative Music Program Director at Kimmel Center
Posted: Thursday, December 26, 2013, 5:05 PM
After spending (some would say wasting) seven years working in the music industry as a music producer for a variety of well-known artists and record labels, I reached a breaking point. The years of I - IV - V triadic harmony, the hundreds of hours spent correcting vocals (by singers who could not sing) in Pro Tools via Auto-Tune, Melodyne and Vocalign, and the endless studio days spent demoing songs for A&R’s (who could not hear) had taken their toll. Music was dead for me. I was not alone in this depressing epiphany. There were many other music producers (friends of mine who shall remain anonymous) who felt the same way.Though some of us had made a lot of money producing pop (more were owed money), over time we developed a phobia, which has made it extremely painful to even participate in the creation of the songs/drivel that we were then expected to produce for record companies. Additionally, music had also reached a plateau of simplicity, which allowed a moderately talented 15-year-old child to produce the same results. This meant that we were now competing with a few hundred 15-year-olds who would sign any contract and produce any song for $1,000!
I remember talking with my friend, who is a well-known producer, at great length concerning the direction that things were headed and deciding that something had to be done. Like the Titanic, the industry desperately needed a change in direction.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) shortly after this conversation the entire music industry imploded, which made the choice of finding an alternative much easier. Many blamed this implosion on mp3s and song sharing, but I to this day hold the incessant pedaling of an inferior product to the public responsible. You can only tell somebody that the turd in their hand is actually gold for so long…
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/Mis-education_at_twerk_Where_shall_we_go_.html#emMX8DbCXqUdrSM3.99
Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau Band
- You Got It
- Caravan
- Sweet Baba Suite
- It Don't Mean A Thing
Maynard Ferguson - trumpet, flugelhorn, leader
Scott Englebright - trumpet
Carl Fischer - trumpet
John Roberts - trumpet
Tom Garling - trombone
Matt Wallace - saxophone
Chris Farr - saxophone
Mike Willmers - piano
Phil Palombi - bass
Phil Maturano - drums
10. Internationale Jazzfestival Viersen, Germany, September 9, 1996
Early Stan Kenton on Film
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Back in the 1940s, when radio, record company and movie studio efforts began to merge, shorts were viewed as a highly strategic way to promote bands in movie theaters before feature films came on. Here's a series of short films made with Stan Kenton...
Jammin' in the Panoram (1942), with Howard Rumsey on bass...
Reed Rapture (1942)...
Eager Beaver (1945)...
It's Been a Long, Long Time with June Christy (1945)...
Friday, December 27, 2013
A Jazz Pianist Gets His Big Break — At Age 85
December 09, 2011 3:59 PM
Photo:Brendan Bannon
Back in the 1930s, Boyd Lee Dunlop taught himself to play music on a broken piano left out on the streets of Buffalo, N.Y. Only half the keys worked.
He also taught his little brother Frank to play the drums while they were growing up. Frankie Dunlop went on to record with Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus, among other jazz greats. Boyd Lee Dunlop went to work in the steel mills and rail yards of Buffalo, occasionally playing piano at local clubs.
Another chance encounter with a busted piano has now led Boyd Lee Dunlop to record and release his first album, at the age of 85. Brendon Bannon, a documentary photographer by trade, is the album's producer.
"We met when I went into the nursing home where Boyd's living, in Buffalo, to talk to the doctors there about doing a photo project. Boyd was sitting down in the waiting area also, and we struck up a conversation really quickly," Bannon says. "He told me about his piano playing and invited me down to the cafeteria to listen to him play. I looked at the piano, and there were keys broken off of it ... It didn't look well. But Boyd was wrestling some beautiful sounds out of it."
Here, Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon speaks with Bannon and Dunlop about Dunlop's debut album, Boyd's Blues.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/10/143388964/a-jazz-pianist-gets-his-big-break-at-age-85
film by Jon R. Hand -- 1st two songs from The Boyd Lee Dunlop Concert, 12.10.11, Buffalo NY // The Boyd Lee Dunlop Trio - Boyd Dunlop (piano), Sabu Adeyola (bass), and Virgil Day (drums).
Wallace Roney and His Mission to Record and Perform Wayne Shorter's Long-Lost "Universe"
"It's like the Holy Grail of music that was written specifically for Miles and that band. —Wallace Roney"
Wayne Shorter is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest composers in the history of jazz, which is the history of American music. His compositions are played by instrumentalists in cramped and crowded nightclubs wherever on earth jazz music is performed. It's hard to imagine a jazz festival where at least few of his works don't cascade upon the ears at some point. Vocalists have added lyrics to some of his songs so they, too, can get involved in their interpretation.
"He's an absolute jazz master, one of the greatest composers in jazz and, in my opinion, in modern music," says Joshua Redman, who has made his own mark as one of the finest saxophonists of his generation.
Shorter is prolific. He writes often and in different forms. He has pieces of music written many years ago that he occasionally gets back to and brings out in some fashion. "Finishes" isn't really a term he prefers. "When people say something is finished, that's like a consensus," he says, proudly. "That's just an opinion. 'That's the end of that song.' No. the song's just sitting there. That's not a law."
Lately, there is some special music sitting in Shorter's vault that is finding its way out, albeit slowly, to be finally heard. It's being done by the extraordinary trumpet player Wallace Roney, who obtained the music in 2012 from Shorter, his close friend. Until about a year ago, when Roney formed a band that played it in concert, all but one piece had never been performed before.
These are extended scores for 23 musicians, written around 1968 by Shorter specifically for Miles Davis to play with his great quintet of that time, Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams at the core.
"I've got to get it out there so people can hear it," says Roney. "It's like the Holy Grail of music that was written specifically for Miles and that band."
But Roney met resistance all throughout 2013 and is still baffled at the situation. His goal in 2014 is to get the music heard more live, and also get into a studio to document it "because the music demands it. That's important to be said. The music demands it. Not for any other goal except that the music demands to be recorded and put out there."
There are five extended pieces, "Legends," "Universe," "Twin Dragon," "Utopia" and "5/4." Roney struggled to get opportunities for the music to be played. He had some rehearsals, but no one was willing to book a performance. But in January of 2013 he finally got a chance to play publicly at a club called Drom in New York City. "Nobody got paid, because they weren't paying anything," says Roney. "It was a showcase. Everybody came out and there was a buzz all over the place for a moment. Because the music was that great," but nothing happened. A few months later, in a May conversation, Roney was still scratching his head. "I can't get nobody. Let me give you a capital N, capital O, capital B, capital O, capital D, capital Y. NOBODY. They're interested when they first hear. But I've gotten resistance so much it's incredible. You've got to be kidding me. No one wants to hear this? It's like when I was with VSOP and nobody would book us. It's the same thing."
Read more: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=46127#.Ur2AD3nnb9s
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Renowned Czech jazz critic dies at 89
PRAGUE (AP) — Lubomir Doruzka, a renowned Czech music critic who led his readers through the world of jazz in the turbulent 20th century, has died. He was 89.
Doruzka's son Petr confirmed his Monday's death to Czech public radio, where Doruzka had a regular jazz show.
Born March 18, 1924, Doruzka first wrote about jazz for an underground magazine during World War II when Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi troops and jazz coming from the American enemy was banned.
After 1948 Communist takeover, Doruzka gave Czechs a chance to read the literature of the Jazz Age with his translations of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
He published a number of jazz and pop music books and helped create Prague's International Jazz Festival and International Jazz Federation.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/renowned-czech-jazz-critic-dies-89-164601477.html
Gerry Gibbs releases new jazz album
Drummer Gerry Gibbs named his band Thrasher Dream Trio and often refers to the trio as his dream band. The band also includes Rob Carter and Kenny Barron.
Dreams did come true when it comes to Gibbs, he is living his life playing music with his good friends and making hit albums that jazz fans love. Following their passion and success the band is back with another release.
Gibbs has just released their latest album, Thrasher Dream. The album features a variety of jazz covers which include, pianist Herbie Hancock's "The Eye of the Hurricane," Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy" and "The Shadow of Your Smile."
These covers are standout tracks off of Thrasher Dream.
Read more at http://thecelebritycafe.com/reviews/2013/12/gerry-gibbs-releases-new-jazz-album#TQJPtWBCpEVIolUG.99
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
How TV Sabotaged Racism
Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Radio's greatest achievement in the late 1940s and early 1950s may have been its ability to narrow America's racial divide. As independent radio stations flourished after World War II and the wattage of radio towers grew more powerful, young listeners had access to all types of music. Favorite records weren't chosen based on the race of musicians but whether or not the music knocked them out. With the rise of R&B during these years—an offshoot of jazz that filled the dance vacuum that bebop, cool and hard bop left unfilled—teens found an exciting form that suited their energy levels and drove their parents nuts. [Pictured above: Johnny Maestro and the Crests]
In the 1950s, television picked up where radio had left off, subversively educating a national audience on the extraordinary gifts of black and Latino musicians and further erasing the lines between blacks and whites. TV didn't set out to liberate American minds but, over time, TV did play a significant role in loosening the country's racial knot. The more Americans saw blacks, Latinos and whites interacting on TV—laughing, performing and acting together—the more likely they were to challenge segregation's place in society and oppose racial injustice.
While TV didn't operate in this capacity with a plan or a manifesto, white musicians along with white actors, writers and producers did begin a conscious effort to accelerate the frustratingly slow pace of desegregation by creating opportunities for black performers and exposing audiences to what they already believed—that all artists should be judged by the quality of their contributions, not their race.
I was thinking about TV's role the other day while riding a crosstown bus in New York. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered whether it was possible to create a list of TV shows and performers who did the most to chip away at America's way of racial thinking in the 1950s and '60s. These would be '50s shows I had heard about as a kid and the shows I actually watched in the 1960s that influenced my own thinking as I grew up.
Let me give it a shot...
The Beulah Show (1950-1952)—This ABC comedy was the first to star a black actress. While many of the laughs relied on Beulah's folksy way of putting things, the housekeeper was the person all members of the white family turned to for common-sense solutions, casting her in a smart, leadership role. Here's the show in 1952 with Hattie McDaniel as Beulah...
Dinah Shore and Ray Charles (1963)—This one from reader Bob Stumpel features Shore resting her hand on Ray Charles' shoulder, which triggered headlines at the time...
- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/12/how-tv-sabotaged-racism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.sPW3bfJ5.dpuf
Used with permission by Marc Myers
Yusef Lateef dies at 93; Grammy winner blended jazz, world music
Intellectually curious and later disdainful of the label 'jazz' for his sound, Yusef Lateef incorporated an array of instruments and world styles as a performer and educator.
Photo: luc verpoortBy Don Heckman, Special to the Los Angeles Times
December 24, 2013, 7:27 a.m.
Yusef Lateef, a Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator who brought the sounds of world music to jazz and became one of the first jazz musicians to convert to the teachings of Islam, has died. He was 93.
Lateef died Monday at his home in Shutesbury, Mass., his family announced.
Lateef initially was best known as a dynamic tenor saxophonist with a big tone and a strong sense of swing. But his persistent creative and intellectual curiosity led him to the discovery of an array of other instruments as well as a fascination with various international forms of music.
He was an early advocate for the flute as a credible jazz voice. And his performances on the oboe as early as the '50s and '60s were definitive – and rarely matched – displays of the instrument's jazz capabilities. He searched the globe for more exotic instruments, while mastering, among others, the bamboo flute, the Indian shenai, the Arabic arghul, the Hebrew shofar and the West African Fulani flute.
Tall and shaven-headed, his powerful presence offset by a calm demeanor and the quiet, articulate speaking style of a scholar, Lateef combined thoughtfulness and a probing intellectual curiosity with impressive musical skills. Early in his career, he established his role as a pathfinder in blending elements from a multiplicity of different sources.
His first recordings under his own leadership, released on the Savoy label in the mid-'50s, already revealed a fascination with unusual instruments: In addition to tenor saxophone and the flute, he also plays the arghul. Several of Lateef's original compositions on those early albums also integrated rhythms and melodic styles from numerous global musical forms.
"In any given composition," wrote Leonard Feather in The Times in 1975, "there may be long passages that involve classical influences, impressionism, a Middle Eastern flavor, or rhythmic references to Latin America."
Like a number of musicians – from Duke Ellington to his contemporaries, Max Roach and Sonny Rollins – Lateef objected to the use of the word "jazz" to describe his work. He preferred, instead, the phrase, "autophysiopsychic music," which he defined as "music which comes from one's physical, mental and spiritual self."
He also acknowledged the importance of the blues, in his music and elsewhere.
"The blues," he said in an NPR interview in 2003, "is a very elegant musical form which has given birth to wonderful compositions. I recognize the blues. In fact, if the African had not been brought to America as a slave, the blues would never have been born."
http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-yusef-lateef-20131225,0,7549278.story#ixzz2oUjrFwWC
Jazz Singer Kate Ross Releases Debut CD
Jazz singer Kate Ross is launching her debut CD, titled People Make the World Go Round, on January 4, 2014 at the Sidebar Restaurant. “Releasing the CD is the fulfillment of a dream for me,” says Ross, whose distinctive contralto voice has been a feature of the Columbus, OH Jazz scene for about three decades. “I’m also realizing another dream, – making my songwriting debut. I’ve co-written the track, Kate’s Song, which tells the story of my life.”
Ross has led an eventful life. Diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) in the 1970s, she has battled pain and occasional depression throughout her career. Her indomitable spirit has helped Ross rise above the disease to work, sing and successfully raise her two daughters as a single mother.
I thought my singing career was over, but four years later I'm still singing jazz, not singing the blues
Working on the CD has been very therapeutic for Ross, who hopes that other people coping with physical and mental challenges will find the same solace in music she has. “I’ve always seen music as magical and enchanting; I just didn’t know how healing it would be,” she says. “I hope to share that gift with others through my CD.”
Ross’s fans will recognize the CD’s title track as her signature tune. It was originally performed by the Stylistics and was written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed. One of the reasons for including it is to honor the contribution of the many friends and family members who have helped her achieve her dream. “No-one achieves anything alone,” she says.
Read more: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/12/prweb11436022.htm
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