The Subject is Jazz

The Subject is Jazz was a television program that aired on NBC in 1958. Hosted by Gilbert Seldes with the musical direction of Billy Taylor, the show featured prominent jazz performers.
The series of thirteen half-hour shows produced at WNBC in New York. Footage from the show features many interviews and performances of 50s jazz legends Duke Elllington, Billy Taylor, Wilbur de Paris, John Hammond, Aaron Copeland, Willis Conover, Toshiko, Lee Konitz, Cannonbal Adderley, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Dr. Marshall Stearns and others.

Stacey Kent - Under A Blanket Of Blue

trumpeter/vocalist/ composer BRIA SKONBERG

Hailing from Chilliwack, BC, and now living in New York City, award winning trumpeter/vocalist/ composer BRIA SKONBERG is "poised to be one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation."- Wall Street Journal.

In 2013 she earned a Jazz Journalists’ Association nomination for “Up and Coming Jazz Artist of The Year” and is included in DOWNBEAT Magazine’s Rising Star Critics‘ Poll . She has recently been honored with a New York Bistro Award for “Outstanding Jazz Artist”. Her first professional gig was as a big band singer at age sixteen doubling on trumpet and she has since performed as a bandleader and guest artist at over 50 jazz festivals in North America, Europe, China and Japan. Since moving to New York in 2010 she has headlined at Symphony Space, Birdland, The Iridium, Dizzy's and Cafe Carlyle.

She has been featured on Wycliffe Gordon’s projects, recording on the Louis Armstrong tribute “Hello Pops”, performing a Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie at Dizzy’s Jazz Club in New York and as a member of his big band. Bria focuses on innovating while honoring tradition: She has studied with Warren Vache, experimented with fuzz pedals and presented a gig fusing jazz and stand up comedy.

Best known for her knowledge of classic jazz and pursuit of worldwide adventure, she is now creating a style rooted in hot jazz, world percussion, soul, and electronic effects. Her debut US release SO IS THE DAY, peaked at #7 on the US National jazz charts; it features mostly original material and an all-star ensemble including John Pizzarelli, Victor Goines and Wycliffe Gordon. Released on Random Act Records, 10% of all proceeds go to support the Jazz Foundation of America.

She currently tours the world, headlining major clubs and festivals as well as programming music education workshops for all ages. She is an active volunteer at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens and co-producer of the New York Hot Jazz Festival.

Ola Onabule....

Ola's voice is unmistakably gentle and wistful, haunting and heartbreaking, very special and unique.

Ola has shared stages with some of the world's finest soul and jazz artists: Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, Joe Zawinul, Roberta Flack, Natalie Cole, Roy Hargrove, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle.

His emotionally charged performances have taken him to some of the most prestigious festival stages, concert halls and jazz clubs worldwide including the Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Victoria Jazz Festivals as well as European festivals in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey and Cypress and several UK tour dates.

"With a vocal elasticity that touches on four octaves, and original lyrical depth…an obvious ear for both African and American influences, Ola captures a wide appeal and weaves intelligent social commentary into his tunes with a personal intimacy you might expect from folk songwriters." - Edmonton Journal, Canada.

Ola Onabulé is a truly inspiring artist for the 21st Century.

Official Website: http://www.ola-onabule.co.uk/News.html

International Women in Jazz (IWJ)

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN IN JAZZ
PRESENTS
PRE-MOTHER’S DAY JAZZ SHOW
SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014
12 PM - 7 PM
SAINT PETER’S CHURCH
54TH STREET & LEXINGTON AVE NYC

JAM SESSIONS 12 PM
NETWORKING SOCIAL 2:30 PM
CONCERTS 4 PM

HEADLINER - THE KIT McCLURE BAND

FEATURING IWJ PERFORMERS

Charisa The Violin Diva	Natasha Scheuble Youth In Action
Alexis Cole	Yael Acher aka "Kat" Modiano

View Press Release

A letter from FlipSwitchPR.com

Hey Claudio,

Exciting times for the current FlipSwitchPR lineup. Somehow I currently have a variety of African projects (releases and tours) that you might find interesting. East African pop, West African blues, Ethiopian reggae, Central African, South African, and more!

Below is a comprehensive list with links to each press kit. Let me know what sounds interesting!

Mzungu Kichaa - Tanzanian Transplant; Mzungu Kichaa with East African EP - 05/16/2014 - Release 
Mzungu Kichaa, or ‘crazy white man’, a caucasian making Tanzanian music. Kichaa’s heritage can be confusing when his lyrics are in Swahili, but most of the artists he is surrounded by are natives from African countries. This implies no contradiction as his efforts show what is truly essential to making music, shown on 'Relax'

The New Mastersounds - The New Mastersounds Bring Therapy to the Dancefloor; Vinyl out 5/20 - 05/20/2014 - Release (ON TOUR)
Ask any DJ and they’ll recite the Golden Rule: don’t lose the dancefloor. It’s a lesson the New Mastersounds learned when they were starting out 15 years ago, playing live between DJ. And it’s been the driving force behind their eight previous releases, and it powers their new album, Therapy released April 19, 2014

Baka Beyond - The Original Afro-Celtic Danceband is Back; Baka Beyond with new release - 05/21/2014 - Release 
It has been 21 years since Baka Beyond’s debut CD “Spirit of the Forest” was released helping to define the genre “World Music”. They have been constantly touring and releasing new albums since then, although their last release, “Beyond the Forest” was nearly 5 years ago. Now they are back with '  

Noura Mint Seymali - Mauritanian Blues; Noura Mint Seymali New Release and Tour - 06/20/2014 - Release (ON TOUR)
Noura Mint Seymali, from Mauritania, comes from an ancient family of griots, and she has a commanding, wide-open voice…the pentatonic melodies of her songs had something in common with the blues. But her fusion was particular and selective…She only meets American music on her own terms. +++New York Times, January 13th, 2014 

Zvuloon Dub System - Anbessa Dub - To Be Announced. No release date set, but this is Ethiopian reggae. Will be on major U.S. summer tour.

Coming Soon -
Wired for Sound (South African community project)
 

Thank you,
Garrett Baker
Garrett @ FlipSwitchPR.com
www.flipswitchpr.com

NPR Music - You Must Hear This

First Listen: Lykke Li, 'I Never Learn'

The Swedish singer's third album forms the final installment in a conceptual trilogy — and it's extraordinary as both a collection of songs and a tactical re-wiring of her genre's circuit board.

Stream the album FAVORITE SESSIONS KEXP Presents: The Afghan Whigs Greg Dulli waited 16 years to release a new album as head of The Afghan Whigs, but the band lost none of its swagger in the interim. Watch the reunited group perform "The Lottery" on KEXP. Watch the video METROPOLIS Metropolis: Lancelot, Disclosure, Fleetwood Mac This week's mix from KCRW's Jason Bentley features new remixes of Blood Orange and Fleetwood Mac, plus new music from Disclosure, Lancelot and Factory Floor. Hear the mix

Leon Sash: 'I Remember Newport'

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Arguments over which jazz accordionists are best is pointless. For one, there were too many great ones in the post-war period, so ranking them is like splitting hairs. For another, any accordionist who swings sounds great, making further discussion moot. With that said, one of the greats was Leon Sash, despite the fact that he recorded only a handful of albums. 

Born in 1922, Sash lost his sight at age 11. He took up the accordion in his early teens and began working professionally at age 16. His first recordings were a series of 78s for EmArcy gathered on an LP in 1954 called The Master (EmArcy), which won praise at the time from critics Nat Hentoff and Barry Ulanov. An album for the Storyville label followed in 1956—This is the Jazz Accordion! His appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 marked a first for the instrument, and the audience gave him a thunderous ovation. An album appeared soon after with his festival performance on one side of a Verve release and pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi and her trio on the other.

In 1962 Sash was recorded at the Velvet Heart Club in Chicago, and there was Columbia's Hi-Fi Holiday for Accordion: Twin Accordions of Leon Sash. But that was about it until 1967, when he recorded I Remember Newport(Delmark) in the studio with his trio—Lee Morgan on bass and Ed Uhlig on drums. Sadly, it's the only Sash album that's still in print today as a CD. Sash spent the rest of his life playing club gigs and died in 1979. 

I Remember Newport shows off Sash's chugging chord attack as well as his fleet improvisational technique. What made Sash exceptional was his complete jazz command of the instrument, operating from a place of seriousness rather than novelty or pop inflection. In addition, when Sash plays, you can hear the words to the songs in your head, which tells you he was a student of the lyrics rather than just the melody. Hopefully we'll see the other Sash albums in print soon—at least as downloads.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find the Leon Sash Trio's I Remember Newport (Delmark)here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Leon Sash playing Aren't You Glad You're You...

Here's Sash on Pennies From Heaven. Dig the attack and solo work...
Used with permission by Marc Myers

NPR Music - JAZZ

A BLOG SUPREME The History Of Jazz Piano In 11 Minutes Even today's musicians know that jazz has a rapidly changing, living, breathing history. In a new video, young gun Kris Bowers takes a YouTube tour from ragtime and stride through the present day. Read this story

A BLOG SUPREME 13 Jazz Artists Awarded Over $1.7 Million The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has announced recipients of its 2014 performing arts grants. Noted composers such as Roscoe Mitchell, Oliver Lake and Randy Weston received a first tier award. Read this story

emailed sent by: NPR, 1111 N. Capitol St. NE, Washington, D.C., 20002. Privacy Policy. This message was sent to cavalcanticlaudio@yahoo.com based on your NPR.org email subscriptions.

Grammy Foundation Awards Grant....

Grammy Foundation Awards Grant to the Creative Music Foundation To Restore, Preserve and Digitize the CMS Archive

From: Jazz Promo Services
www.jazzpromoservices.com
Woodstock, NY, April 28, 2014
The Grammy Foundation awarded a grant to the nonprofit Creative Music Foundation to help it restore, preserve and digitize the CMS Archive, over 500 concerts conducted at the Creative Music Studio in the 1970s and 1980s.  CMF was one of only 16 organizations to receive the prestigious grant.  The grant, for $11,600, will help CMF digitize the remainder of the CMS Archive, which is being archived at Columbia University’s Library.

"Over the course of its history, our GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program has awarded more than $6 million to more than 300 worthwhile initiatives," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Foundation. "Our grantees are noteworthy for the range and ambition of their endeavors, and this year's group includes such varied initiatives as the preservation of 400 recordings of innovative performances by pioneer composers and performers of jazz, world music and new music to a project that will be the first to identify how music can facilitate stroke patients' abilities to understand everyday speech. We are proud that the GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program can be a philanthropic leader in the areas of archiving, preservation and scientific research."

Generously funded by The Recording Academy, the Grant Program provides funding annually to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the recorded sound heritage of the Americas for future generations, as well as research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition. In 2008, the Grant Program expanded its categories to include assistance grants for individuals and small- to mid-sized organizations to aid collections held by individuals and organizations that may not have access to the expertise needed to create a preservation plan. The assistance planning process, which may include inventorying and stabilizing a collection, articulates the steps to be taken to ultimately archive recorded sound materials for future generations.

“The credibility of this prestigious grant cannot be overstated,” said Rob Saffer, CMF executive director. “Along with our association with Columbia University, receiving a Grammy grant will help elevate the importance of the CMS Archive Project and will fuel fundraising for the remainder of tapes that require restoration and preservation.  We are grateful to the Grammy Foundation for its support of this important and timely work.”  

In a statement, the Grammy Foundation said, “The goal of the CMS Archive Project is to finalize the restoration of historically and artistically important audiotapes from the Creative Music Studio's archive of more than 400 recordings of innovative performances by pioneer composers/performers of jazz, world music and new music. The CMS Archive of recordings is unique in its artistic breadth and depth. The archive is being housed at the Columbia University Library in New York City for research and educational purposes.”
Read more: http://www.creativemusicstudio.org

BASKET RONDO is a unique creative ....

Eric Salzman

Jukebox in the Tavern of Love

A Modern Madrigal

Libretto: Valeria Vasilevski

Street Date April 29 2014

MEREDITH MONK AND ERIC SALZMAN JOIN FORCES WITH THE WESTERN WIND AND VALERIA VASILEVSKI TO PRODUCE TWO CONTEMPORARY MASTERPIECES ON LABOR RECORDS.


Monk’s BASKET RONDO and the Salzman/Vasilevski madrigal comedy JUKEBOX IN THE TAVERN OF LOVE, both created for The Western Wind, are now paired in a new recording by the celebrated New York vocal ensemble.
Read more: http://www.laborrecords.com/home.html

NPR Music - You Must Hear This ....

ALT.LATINO Chicken Soup For The Ears: New Music To Cure What Ails You Co-host Felix Contreras plays soothing new music for his ailing co-host, Jasmine Garsd. Hear the show

FAVORITE SESSIONS KEXP Presents: Temples The young U.K. band has been touted by Britpop luminaries like Johnny Marr and Noel Gallagher, who've both fallen for Temples' shimmering and nostalgia-inducing debut, Sun Structures. Watch the video

STUDIO SESSIONS Rufus Wainwright Shares Songs, And A Few Stories Wainwright creates music that is theatrical, emotional and operatic. He stopped by NPR's studios to perform a few of his hits. Read this story

TINY DESK CONCERTS Federico Aubele: Tiny Desk Concert The Argentine singer-songwriter uses his dark, husky voice to produce a specific effect in the songs he performs at the NPR music offices: Together, they jell into one impressionistic midtempo ballad. Watch the video

And All That Madness - a Casey McKie mystery

When the New York Jazz Society acquires a fifty-year old letter from Georgia Valentine, questions arise over the legendary vocalist’s death. 

Did she give herself a fatal dose of heroin, as the original investigators ruled, or did someone kill her? And if it was murder, what was the motive?

Casey moves her operation from San Francisco to New York to investigate the cold case, interviewing Georgia’s musician friends, her widower, a drug dealer, a Broadway actress, a mafia boss and the authorities who declared the death a suicide.

This quest takes Casey to New York’s most venerable jazz clubs, a Harlem nursing home, a mob-owned Italian restaurant, a lesbian bar and the NYPD. She joins forces 
with an attractive detective from the Organized Crime unit, and, as the case progresses, so does their relationship. 

With no shortage of suspects, Casey ultimately uncovers evidence revealing a surprising killer.
Read more: http://www.joanmerrill.com/MADNESS.htm

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Live At The Missouri Theater

In this clip from www.artistshousemusic.org - This is a 2 hour concert featuring the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra live at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Missouri.
The concert includes an appearance by late Bob Brookmeyer and the world premier of his new music "Suite for Three." Dan Morgenstern is the host of the event.
The VGO plays the music of Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Jim McNeely, and Bob Brookmeyer.

The Art Of Cool: 5 Bands At The Borders Of Jazz

by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON
April 25, 2014 9:03 AM ET
Alyssa Tumino/Courtesy of the artist
This weekend in central North Carolina, an adventurous music festival will pursue an explicit goal: to get more people to listen to jazz.

The event is easily the biggest production to date from the Art of Cool Project, a small concert-promotion outfit based in Durham. Encouraged by the highly educated populace of the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle region, a concentration of successful venues and a history of African-American music, Art of Cool planned a two-day festival this Friday and Saturday throughout its hometown. And it's doing so by spotlighting many acts at the borders jazz shares with hip-hop, R&B and other similar styles.

"Our thing is expanding the audience for jazz," Art of Cool co-founder Cicely Mitchell says in a phone interview. She says she found her way into classic jazz via neo-soul and R&B herself. "We believe this festival could be a gateway festival, or a gateway presentation, to turn people on to jazz."

The most prevalent bookings feature groups who freely traverse or ignore jazz's boundaries: James Brown and Parliament saxophonist Maceo Parker, jazz-trained neo-soul vocalist Bilal, singing bassist Thundercat, eclectic and proggy guitarist/composer Rafiq Bhatia and the adventurous groove veterans in Kneebody — among many others. Here's a look at five more acts playing this weekend's Art of Cool Festival.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

Artist: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Album: Live In Los Angeles
Song: Drips/Take Notice

The second of this weekend's two headliners, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a musician you've probably heard but perhaps never heard of. As a studio musician (viola, among other instruments) and composer/arranger, he's worked with Ray Charles and Barry Manilow, Dr. Dre and Christina Aguilera, John Williams and Flying Lotus. Jazz is one of his chief passions, and he often works in settings which enable improvisers. At the AOC Festival, he'll be the musical director of Carolina Soul, a tribute to North Carolina-born legends Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Roberta Flack. Here's a taste of a performance with his own ensemble.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2014/04/25/306593465/the-art-of-cool-5-bands-at-the-borders-of-jazz?ft=1&f=10002

Gary LeFebvre: Ghost Great

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

One of the finest saxophonists with the fewest number of jazz recordings was Gary LeFebvre. The San Diego musician died at age 74 last August, leaving behind a king-size reputation among musicians but only two leadership albums and just a handful of others. LeFebvre got his start in 1956 at age 17 playing with the San Diego Symphony and soon relocated to Los Angeels. But by the time he pivoted to jazz in the late 1950s and early '60s, there were more gig and sideman opportunities than recording sessions as a leader, and that's where LeFebvre spent much of his career—on bandstands or anonymous solo spots on other people's recordings. It's a mystery why he recorded so little and a tragedy, considering his immense talents. Had LeFebvre been born five years earlier, the story might have been different.

What little there is of LeFebvre captures a smooth, dynamic player who knew his way around a reed instrument. He also was a swift, well-balanced improviser on both uptempo songs and ballads. Obits say he played with Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kenton, Judy Garland, Tony Bennett and the Supremes, which I suspect meant live concerts in the Los Angeles area when local bands were assembled for events. To give you a sense of how tough the '60s and '70s were, one obit included Mrs. Miller in the list of performers LeFebvre accompanied.

Jazz isn't fair. It's impossibly hard and those who excel at it are extraordinary in many ways. But as exciting as jazz is, it's rarely rewarding. In all, Tom Lord's Jazz Discography lists only nine record dates for LeFebvre—just a few more than the number of instruments he doubled on. Adding insult to injurty, most of the recordings are hard to come by. I have only two of them—his 1962 date with Shorty Rogers for the Studio West label and Another Time, Another Place in 1985 on the Figueroa label, featuring Jeff Elliot (flhrn), Gary LeFebvre (ts,sop), Kei Akagi (p), John Patitucci (b), Tom Brechtlein (d), Ruben Estrada, Henry Estrada, Paul Rico, Jr., Tino Cardona (perc). On YouTube, there are scattered clips of recordings and LeFebvre's magnificent TV performance with Shorty Rogers on Oscar Brown Jr.'s Jazz Scene USA in 1962.

LeFebvre's work on both of the recording sessions I have is superb and the ones at YouTube are terrific as well. His fluidity and taut attack reflect an intense artist in full comand of the jazz idiom and determined to create his own sound. He just didn't have a champion in the recording studios or just didn't want to bother. Either way, the loss is ours.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Gary LeFabvre with Shorty Rogers in 1962 on The Shorty Rogers Quintet here (tracks 2 through 8 are with LeFabvre; the balance feature saxophonist Harold Land). You'll find LeFabvre's leadership date Another Time, Another Place here.

JazzWax clip: Here's Gary LeFabvre with Shorty Rogers (flh), Lou Levy (p), Gary Peacock (b) and Larry Bunker (d)...

- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2014/04/gary-lefebvre-ghost-great.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.rNMW7U2u.dpuf

Used with permission by Marc Myers

WDR Big Band (Germany) plays "Happy Music"

Lester Young: September 1958

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.comToday is Presidents Day in the U.S., a holiday, so naturally around these parts we celebrate the life and art of Lester "Prez" Young. Here's Prez on Art Ford's televised Jazz Party series in 1958...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

A rare Lester Young performance of "Mean To Me" on "Art Ford's Jazz Party", September 25, 1958. Broadcast by Danmarks Radio.
Sound portion originally released as Enigma 301

Three Generations of Swing Guitar ....

At The Cutting Room 

Fri, May 2, 2014 

Doors: 6:30 pm / Show: 8:00 pm 

Three Generations of Swing Guitar featuring Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo – A simply dazzling show featuring three of the top swing guitarists in the world today. Hailing from three different generations, Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo create a lively program with a mix of the expert musicianship of swing guitar and the delightfulness of vaudeville. It’s a sizzling experience that will knock your socks off!

 

Bucky Pizzarelli is a legendary guitarist who has been a fixture on the jazz scene since the early 1950’s. Pizzarelli is a former member of “The Tonight Show Band” of “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and frequently collaborated with the likes of Les Paul, Stephane Grappelli and Benny Goodman. As patriarch of a musical family, Pizzarelli is the father of jazz musicians Martin and John Pizzarelli.

 

Frank Vignola, from his debut album in 1993 with the Concord Jazz label, Vignola has become one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. Playing along such names as Madonna, Ringo Starr, Tommy Emmanuel, Wynton Marsalis and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitar List” for the Wall Street Journal.

 

Vinny Raniolo exploded on to the music world in the 2000’s as part of a duo with Frank Vignola. Still in his twenties, Raniolo has already toured 14 different countries and performed with such notable names as David Grisman and Tommy Emmanuel, establishing himself as one of the best new guitarists on the scene.

Special Guest Ed Laub is a locally renowned guitarist and vocalist whose style has been compared to a blend of Kenny Rankin, Chet Baker and James Taylor all being accompanied by Bucky Pizzarelli.  Ed says, “ that’s not bad company to be associated with. They were amongst the artists to whom I listened to and was most influenced by.  I guess I would say I am honored with that comparison”
Because of Ed’s talent as an accompanist and the fact that he is one of the more accomplished 7 String guitarists, he is sought after by many of the top guitarists in the NYC metropolitan area to back them up and adds a pianistic style that makes a duo sound more like a trio.  Focusing mostly on the American Songbook genre Ed also loves to perform the great Brazilian classics using a nylon 7 string guitar.

From: Jazz Promo Services

www.jazzpromoservices.com

The Cal Tjader - Stan Getz Sextet

by Steven Cerra.
Although the title of this feature is very formal, in reality, the Cal Tjader - Stan Getz quartet was never a working group.

 It was a “one off” that came together to produce a February 1958 Fantasy LP with the same title as this piece [Fantasy F-3266/OJCCD-275-2].

 In today’s terms, the sextet on The Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet was a hybrid made up of two players from vibraphonist Cal Tjader’s regular working group at the time - pianist Vince Guaraldi and guitarist Eddie Duran - and two musicians from the quartet then on tour with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz - bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Billy Higgins.

 Ralph J. Gleason offers this background as to how the LP came about in his insert notes to the recording:

 “WHEN STAN GETZ played the Black Hawk in San Francisco ..., the time was ripe for the recording of an album that had been under discussion for a long, long time.

 Cal Tjader had been an admirer of Stan Getz ever since the latter first shot to national jazz fame as the tenor saxophone star of the Woody Herman band and Stan had heard Cal and played with him at various sessions since Cal first went out as a member of the Dave Brubeck Trio. However, recording Stan with the Tjader group wasn't easy. They never seemed to be in the same part of the country at the same time. It wasn't until Stan came to the Black Hawk to fulfill a short engagement, during a period when Cal was laying off prior to reforming his group, that it was possible to work it out.

 Getz' group at the Black Hawk featured two young jazz players who were totally unknown then: bassist Scotty LaFaro and drummer Billy Higgins. But they gassed Tjader as they had gassed everyone who heard them in the club. And it was decided to use them on the date along with Vince Guaraldi, Tjader's regular pianist, and Eddie Duran, the wonderful young guitarist who has been growing in stature in recent years for his in-person appearances and his work on his Fantasy albums.
Read more: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com.br

A Tribute to Chico Hamilton

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm 

New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance Space, Arnhold Hall

Chico Hamilton was one of the finest jazz drummers of the post-war era, a bandleader with a sharp eye for new talent, an actor, and a beloved teacher. A co-founder of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, his death at age 92 was keenly felt by his many colleagues, friends, and generations of devoted students at the New School.

This special concert will celebrate his music and legacy with a performance led by saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Evan Schwam, a graduate of the New School and permanent member of Chico Hamilton's main group, Euphoria, since 2000. Joining Schwam will be many special guests and musical friends of Chico. 

Evan Schwam* - saxophones, flute, piccolo
Mayu Saeki - flute
Nick Demopoulos - guitar
Paul Ramsey - bass
Jeremy Carlstedt* - drums

with special guest Jimmy Owens† - trumpet and Eric Person, saxophone; Sasha Dobson*, vocals; Erik Lawrence, saxophone
Read more: http://events.newschool.edu/event/jazz_presents_a_tribute_to_chico_hamilton_led_by_evan_schwam_wspecial_guests_8pm#.U1mLQF4tN3h

Sharon Marie Cline and The Bad Boyz of Jazz

Sharon Marie is quickly becoming a favorite in LA's jazz club scene and performs with the finest jazz musicians and in the most exclusive rooms on the west coast and across the country. She’s performed on the same stage as such jazz greats as Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett and Chris Botti.

Hailing from Jacksonville, Florida, Sharon Marie is an extraordinary vocalist who brings a unique & distinguished sense of jazz history to her song stylings. Her approach to standards, show tunes and classic jazz is charming and refreshing… she often employs rhythmic and tempo variations that breathe enjoyable new life into familiar standards. Her brilliant interpretations and her smooth mellifluous sound leave a lasting impression on her listeners that is truly unforgettable! She is backed up by a swingin’ trio :Rich Eames (piano), and Luther Hughes (bass), and Jon Stuart (drums),. Together the group has been fondly dubbed “The Bad Boyz of Jazz.”

She is exciting, sexy, fun and mesmerizing. Her style is reminiscent of a time gone by, yet is distinctively contemporary. Sit back and enjoy the romantic swingin’ melodies of Sharon Marie Cline and The Bad Boyz of Jazz.

ARTIST WEBSITE: http://www.thesmcexperience.com

Live in Accra Festival jazz festival

Alliance Française Accra launches the first edition of Live in Accra Festival, from 25th April to 3rd May

Live in Accra, from Friday 25th April to Saturday 3rd May 2014, Alliance Française Accra will launch the first and highly expected edition of Jazz and Fusion Festival: Live in Accra! A ten day festival with live music and workshops, master classes, visual art exhibitions, movie screening and literary events taking place in different venues in Accra. A closely-knitted collaboration among embassies, as well as foreign and Ghanaian artists has been developed to make this event an international one.

Guests such as Nicolas Genest, a famous French trumpeter who collaborated with Femi Kuti, Alpha Blondy, Jacques Higelin, the award winning Ghanaian poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes, the talented flutist Dela Botri, the Franco-Congolese quintet Franco Na Bisso and many other artists will be part of this festival to spread the good vibes of Jazz in Accra.

In the 60?s, Ghana was bustling with live music and Jazz tunes all over the city almost every night. The idea of this jazz festival was born with the wish to rekindle a small part of this and bring Jazz back to Accra!

Read more: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=307087

Nina Simone: Exactly Like You

"Exactly Like You" by Nina Simone
Recording session: Live, December 18, 1997 in Warsaw at Kongresowa Hall

Creative Music Foundation News

First Creative Music Studio Archive Selections Recordings Now Available — Rare Small Group, Orchestral and World Music Recordings

The rejuvenated Creative Music Foundation has just released the first compilation CD set comprised of music from the CMS Archive Project, nearly 500 concerts that took place at Woodstock’s legendary Creative Music Studio between 1973 and 1984. The 3-CD set, Creative Music Studio Archive Selections Vol. 1, featuring Ed Blackwell, Charles Brackeen, Olu Dara, David Izenson, Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, Ursula Oppens, Frederic Rzewski, Musa Suso, Nana Vasconcelos and many others, is being distributed by the American Composers Forum/Innova Recordings. It is full of rare recordings and musical combinations divided into Small Ensemble, Orchestral and World music performances.

more details

Joe Lovano, Henry Threadgill, and Tyshawn Sorey Named Guiding Artists for CMS Spring 2014 Workshop

The Creative Music Studio continues its resurgence, offering the first of two four-day workshops in 2014 at the well-appointed Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY. Master musicians/educators Joe Lovano, Henry Threadgill, Tyshawn Sorey, Marilyn Crispell, Peter Apfelbaum, Warren Smith and Judi Silvano will join CMS Artistic Directors Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso as Guiding Artists for the CMS Spring workshop intensive, June 9 – 13. Registration deadline for is May 19, 2014.

more details

Karl Berger's Improvisers Orchestra Announces Spring Performances at Shapeshifter Lab and El Taller

Karl Berger's Improvisers Orchestra starts its new season at Brooklyn’s Shapeshifter Lab and at El Taller on New York’s Upper West Side, beginning April 3. Founded in 2011, KBIO has performed over 60 times with a revolving cast of nearly 75 professional musicians. Each show features an open workshop/rehearsal, followed by a full performance.

more details

Music Literacy Project Update – Notes from Guinea, West Africa

CMS alumnus Sylvain Leroux (flutist & saxophonist, etc.) is in Guinea, West Africa, launching a music literacy project he created and funded through a Kickstarter campaign. His project aims to develop a pedagogic music literacy method based on the use of his recently patented invention, the “chromatic tambin.” Sylvain wrote to us with an update from Guinea on how the project is progressing .

more details

CMS Archive Project CD Selections In Production

The first volume of the Creative Music Studio Archive Selections Series is in production. Preserved through digitization and re-mastering, the audio files and package designs were sent to Innova, the recording label of the American Composers Forum, in late January. CD box sets, containing rare material by Charles Brackeen, Ed Blackwell, Oliver Lake, Nana Vasconcelos, Ursula Oppens and others, will hit retail shelves in April.

more details

CMF Reaches HatchFund Goal – Campaign Extended to February 28

The Creative Music Foundation’s crowd-sourcing campaign with the HatchFund, the nonprofit crowd-sourcing organization dedicated to the arts, met its minimum goal of $4,000 to support the CMS Archive Project. Due to this success, HatchFund is extending the campaign to February 28 with the aim of helping CMF reach its maximum goal of $11,000. CMF’s relationship with the nonprofit American Composers Forum enabled it to work with HatchFund. The campaign will help CMF restore, digitize and preserve rare recordings from over 500 concerts that took place at the Creative Music Studio between 1973 and 1984. Artists include: Jimmy Giuffre, Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Oliver Lake, Olu Dara, Colin Walcott and Cecil Taylor, among hundreds of others.

more details

Read more: http://www.creativemusicfoundation.org

7 CD Discoveries of the Week

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Terrific new CDs crossed my desk last week from all forms of music—from historic R&B and 1920s jazz to fusion and prog rock. In fact, there were so many I could only deal with seven here. More to follow. Here are my most recent favorites...

The "5" Royales—Soul & Swagger: 1951-1967 (Rockbeat). The history of R&B and rock and roll would be incomplete without a careful analysis of the "5 Royales. The Winston-Salem, N.C., group neatly merged gospel, jump blues and vocal harmony in a flurry of hits between 1952 and 1953 that set the stage for just about everything that followed. Many of their hits in the 1950s and '60s came from the talented pen of guitarist Lowman "Pete" Pauling. A good number (including Dedicated to the One I Love and Think) were covered by other artists years later. Finally, here's the group's complete singles on a five-CD box. Sample Baby Don't Do It and Crazy, Crazy, Crazy and hear how this vocal group smoothed out R&B and set the stage for its transformation into rock and roll.

Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne (Music Road). Jackson Browne has long been one of the most respected folk-rock songwriters in the business. The singer-songwriter joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the mid-1960s and contributed to Chelsea Girls, singer Nico's debut album in 1967, playing guitar on several tracks. Leadership albums followed and Browne's songs quickly became iconic—splendid stories set to smart music. The brainstorm of Kelcy Warren of Music Road Records, this album unites a range of leading artists from Don Henley and Lyle Lovett to Bruce Spingsteen and JD Souther who record favorite Browne songs. This is a double-CD, and every track is a must-listen.

Ian Anderson—Homo Erraticus (Kscope). Jethro Tull is widely considered one of the first successful progressive rock bands. Back in the early 1970s, the group took rock and infused it with early English music, turning songs into earthy rock symphonies laced with flute, organ and guitar solos. Recently, Ian Anderson—Jethro Tull's co-founder, songwriter and lead singer— announced that the band would cease to be, deciding instead to move forward with a solo career. This album is an expression of the new sound, which is sort of like the older one he created—only updated. The result is a breath of fresh air compared to the techno-metal-synth stuff so dominant today. Acoustic and electric guitars, a flute and vocals you can understand. How radical. 

Gene Ludwig-Pat Martino Trio—Young Guns (High Note). The Hammond organ had its heyday in the late 1960s and early '70s, thanks largely to Prestige Records, which had been featuring the instrument on small-group sessions since the early '60s. One of Prestige's most incendiary recording artists at the time was guitarist Pat Martino, especially when teamed with a knockout organist. He found his match in organist Gene Ludwig. Both artists were cookers and seemed to have an unlimited amount of blistering ideas. Fortunately, Martino made tapes of his gigs and one of those reels has just been released, featuring Ludwig and drummer Randy Gelispie in 1968 and '69. Ludwig isn't too well known today, since he spent much of his time gigging in Pennsylvania and Ohio instead of recording. But if you dig the '60s guitar-organ sound, you'll flip for this one. Dig Who Can I Turn To, Sam Sack and Watch What Happens. Fried funk meets groovy grease.

The Puppeteers (Puppet's). This quartet features Arturo O'Farrill on piano, Bill Ware on vibes, Alex Blake on bass and Jamie Affoumado on drums. All four are veterans of Brooklyn's now-defunct Puppet's Jazz club and together throw off enormous heat. The sound is Modern Jazz Quartet but a lot less chamber and much more fusion sizzle. Teamed up, Ware and O'Farrill stir enormous heat, and their drive on songs like On the Spot and In Whom is tremendously exciting.  Even on Peaceful Moment, the album's sole ballad, there's an intensity reminscent of Chick Corea and Gary Burton.

The Fat Babies—18th & Racine (Delmark). This septet pays tribute to jazz of the 1920s and '30s so effectively that they conjure up images of car running boards and bootleg booze. The band features Andy Schumm on cornet and alto sax, John Otto on clarinet and alto sax, Dave Bock on trombone, Paul Asaro on piano, Beau Sample on string bass, Jake Sanders on tenor banjo and Alex Hall on drums, with most arrangements handled by Schumm. The pre-Swing Era syncopation was hard labor but these guys make it all sound easy and appealing. Sample any of the tracks for the addictive flapper sound. 

Carlene Carter—Carter Girl (Rounder). Carter, 58, is daughter of June Carter and her first husband, Carl Smith, and she was married to British New Waver Nick Lowe. Carter has had her ups and downs (Wikipedia can fill you in) and you can hear plenty of anguish in her pistol-packin' country voice, which is spectacular here. But it's her conviction and beacon-like tone that touched my soul and make this album both tender and forceful. Most of the songs were written by Carter Family founder A.P. Carter and other family members. Sample I'll Be All Smiles Tonight and Gold Watch and Chain. Music for driving South in the summer.

- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2014/04/seven-cd-discoveries-of-the-week.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.LaMuk7hv.dpuf

Used with permission by Marc Myers