The Passion Of Lorenzo Tucci

By ROBIN ARENDS, Published: May 30, 2014
Drummer Lorenzo Tucci is an important part of the thriving Italian jazz scene and a musician drawn to experimental settings. He recorded Drumonk (Veneto Jazz, 2007) his tribute to Thelonious Monk without piano, and a piano-trio album, Tranety (Albore Jazz, 2010), dedicated to John Coltrane without a saxophonist. In the 1990s Tucci started his professional carreer in his hometown Rome, playing with Italian and international musicians.

He has collaborated with numerous artists such as Phil Woods, George Cables and Enrico Pieranunzi. He is a man of many styles, one moment he is recording with DJ/producer Nicola Conte, the next he visits the studio to record an album with Brazilian singer Rosalia De Souza or the High Five Quintet, which he cofounded. Recently he released his new album, Drumpet (Via Veneto Jazz, 2014) with Fabrizio Bosso, an uncommon trumpet-drum duo- album, containing acoustic and electrified improvisations on traditional and original themes from folk, rock and jazz music. And Tucci is already full of ideas for 2014 and beyond. 

All About Jazz: Lorenzo, you have been professionally active in music for more than twenty years. When and how did your interest in music start? 

Lorenzo Tucci: Since a very young age I have generally loved music. I liked everything that was music, of all kinds and from a very young age I sang a lot, I also won in a local contest. 

AAJ: What made you choose the drums? 

LT: Before playing the drums I also approached the piano and guitar, and then around the age of twelve I began to play the drums and I haven't left them since. I feel assured when I am able to study and put into practice the things I have in mind, it's not a matter of practice or technique, but a mental thing. You have assurance once you dominate the instrument and therefore the music itself. 

AAJ: How did you discover jazz music? 

LT: I believe that I was illuminated one night whilst listening to the radio, that was transmitting John Coltrane who was playing Giant Steps (Atlantic, 1959), and I said to myself: "this is my music." I was very young. I come from a very beautiful town called Atessa, in Abruzzo. In the 1980s it was not very easy to buy records there. You had to have great passion in jazz music to discover the latest new releases. However, I found the expressive power of John Coltrane absolutely fascinating. I developed an interest in this great artist and began to do research on him.. Many successful drummers played with him and made history in jazz music. As a drummer myself I couldn't do more than listen and learn. This is how you learn jazz, by doing a lot of listening. 

AAJ: And you went on listening and started playing this jazz music... 

LT: My experience has been a kind of evolution that occurred in a small period of time. As a child I was very attracted to music with musicians as soloists. I think from then on I'm attracted by jazz music, although I wasn't fully aware at that point. Only later on I understood that music with solo musicians is called jazz and then I realised I am a jazz musician. Profession and career come naturally if you have the passion and the desire to study. Jazz music is more than a musical genre but the desire to go beyond the rules, breaking them, taking them to an extreme according to your taste and creativity. 

AAJ: Do you regard yourself as part of a common jazz tradition? 

LT: I try to play who I am, in the period in which I live, so therefore I feel I am a witness of the period in which I live, of course. I have listened to so much of what great musicians have done before me and as a result I've learnt a lot from them. I do not feel like a musician who plays at a specific way, I do not feel like a "traditional" musician. I believe that this is my way to play and you can hear that on my records. Jazz is an art that changes with time and jazz musicians should keep pace with the times and witness what surrounds them, being influenced by the places that change, by the people, by modernity.
Read more: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-passion-of-lorenzo-tucci-lorenzo-tucci-by-robin-arends.php#.U4o-kxYSt3g

Abyssinian Jazz Vespers: Steve Kroon Latin Jazz Sextet

Abyssinian Baptist Church
New York, NY
may, 30 2014
Steven Kroon - Steve Kroon was born in Spanish Harlem to parents who had moved to New York City from their native Puerto Rico.  He studied Afro-Cuban percussion with Tommy López, Sr. and later Brazilian rhythms with Dom Um Romão. With such a wealth of knowledge under his belt, it's not surprising that Kroon quickly became a first-call percussionist for recording sessions that required a wide range of talents. Over the years, such diverse artists as Diana Krall, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, The Temptations, Bill Cosby, Kenny G, Ron Carter, Spyro Gyra, Bette Midler, Gary Bartz and Paul Butterfield have tapped Kroon's seemingly endless array of skills for their projects. His two decade-long professional association with R&B crooner Luther Vandross underscores Kroon's reputation as one of the world's most versatile and respected percussionists.
Doors open at 3:30 pm. Concert at 4:00 pm.
Read more: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/536955

Albany jazz now has its own dot com

Photo:  (M. Cheri Bordelon)
By Alexander Stern
Published 2:54 pm, Wednesday, May 28, 2014
It began when Brian Patneaude missed a jazz performance he'd hoped to see.

"My friends and I didn't find out about it until after it was over. I remember thinking, 'There should be something online where people could find out about jazz in the area.' "

It was spring 2002. Saxophonist Patneaude saw a need and, in the spirit of American entrepreneurship, proceeded to fill it. Albanyjazz.com was the happy result.

In the 12 years since the site launched, it has become the go-to Web destination for jazz in the Capital Region. Albanyjazz.com features concert venues, local CD reviews, feature articles, and much more. Patneaude now has a rotating staff of roughly 10 contributors -— writers and photographers — that volunteer their time to provide content.

"I don't get paid. Nobody gets paid," Patneaude says. "It's truly a labor of love."

"I contribute to the site because of the team's commitment to the music I adore," said writer Randy Treece. "Each [contributor] has a unique perspective and I enjoy adding my point of view to the mix."

"The site is unique because of the one-stop regional focus on jazz," said photographer Rudy Lu. "To my knowledge, this is the only site in a non-major metropolitan area in the U.S. that does this."

Musicians appreciate the site as well.

"I cannot overstate that I believe that albanyjazz.com has had a major influence on jazz in the Capital District," said vibraphonist Michael Benedict. "I would say that, outside of New York City, we have the strongest jazz scene in the state. As a jazz musician in the area, I really appreciate the fact that I know where everyone is playing at any given time. Brian has given us an invaluable resource that I hope that all jazz musicians in the area appreciate."

Patneaude says that he has seen the local jazz scene grow in the last decade.

"There are a lot more musicians, younger musicians, and a lot more people gigging," he said. "There's always a handful of places that host jazz. When one closes down, it seems like another one springs up. That's encouraging, to see it continue."

How do Patneaude and the site's contributors see the future of jazz in the Capital Region?

"I would like to see more major jazz acts perform in the Capital District Region," Treece said. "I would like to see more jazz venues as well."
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Albany-jazz-now-has-its-own-dot-com-5510542.php

René Marie pays homage to Eartha Kitt

Photo: Provided
By Elizabeth Pandolfi @girlseeksstory
May 21, 2014
At 58, René Marie has lived two separate lifetimes. One is her life as a world-renowned jazz vocalist, a saucy, brilliant, no-holds-barred singer who composes and acts. It's a life she started in her 40s, going from a complete unknown to an international award-winning, festival-headlining star in a matter of years.

This life is completely at odds with the one that came before. At age 18, Marie married her high school sweetheart, and they both became Jehovah's Witnesses. She was a mother of two five years later. And singing? That, along with her natural-born brazenness, was something she left behind when she married. "That was the end of the boldness for me," she says. "That lasted almost 25 years. Then I started singing again in the last few years of my marriage. It was the singing that got me in touch with who I was again."

And who she was, it turned out, was emphatically not a Jehovah's Witness. When her husband told her that she either had to quit singing or move out, she chose the latter, and left both him and her religion for good. Then she started singing as much as she could. Within a year, she'd left her day job.

But it took longer than that for her to shake off 23 years of living as a Witness. "For the first 20 years of my adult life I was very submissive," she says. "It took me about five years to come out of that mindset of being submissive to men — to really be able to stand up and own who I was, to change that behavior. After that, I was good to go."

That is an understatement. It's hard to describe just how free, confident, and joyfully herself Marie is. First, there's her look. Tall and fiercely feminine, Marie carries herself like a queen and wears her hair like a rebel, with a shaved head save for one small lock of hair in front. Her voice is a smooth, sleek, perfectly controlled powerhouse that can handle great leaps in pitch and has a huge emotional range. When she speaks, it's with a perfect ease that comes from being truly comfortable in one's own skin. Honesty is paramount, she says, both to her life and to her art. "When I left the Witnesses, one of the things I asked myself and still ask myself is am I being true to myself? I would rather say on my deathbed, 'I'm glad I did' rather than 'I wish I had.' That's like a touchstone for me ... as human beings, we are capable of huge about-faces. The biggest impediment is worrying about disappointing others."
Read more: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/ren-marie-pays-homage-to-eartha-kitt/Content?oid=4924646At 58, René Marie has lived two separate lifetimes. One is her life as a world-renowned jazz vocalist, a saucy, brilliant, no-holds-barred singer who composes and acts. It's a life she started in her 40s, going from a complete unknown to an international award-winning, festival-headlining star in a matter of years.

This life is completely at odds with the one that came before. At age 18, Marie married her high school sweetheart, and they both became Jehovah's Witnesses. She was a mother of two five years later. And singing? That, along with her natural-born brazenness, was something she left behind when she married. "That was the end of the boldness for me," she says. "That lasted almost 25 years. Then I started singing again in the last few years of my marriage. It was the singing that got me in touch with who I was again."

And who she was, it turned out, was emphatically not a Jehovah's Witness. When her husband told her that she either had to quit singing or move out, she chose the latter, and left both him and her religion for good. Then she started singing as much as she could. Within a year, she'd left her day job.

But it took longer than that for her to shake off 23 years of living as a Witness. "For the first 20 years of my adult life I was very submissive," she says. "It took me about five years to come out of that mindset of being submissive to men — to really be able to stand up and own who I was, to change that behavior. After that, I was good to go."

That is an understatement. It's hard to describe just how free, confident, and joyfully herself Marie is. First, there's her look. Tall and fiercely feminine, Marie carries herself like a queen and wears her hair like a rebel, with a shaved head save for one small lock of hair in front. Her voice is a smooth, sleek, perfectly controlled powerhouse that can handle great leaps in pitch and has a huge emotional range. When she speaks, it's with a perfect ease that comes from being truly comfortable in one's own skin. Honesty is paramount, she says, both to her life and to her art. "When I left the Witnesses, one of the things I asked myself and still ask myself is am I being true to myself? I would rather say on my deathbed, 'I'm glad I did' rather than 'I wish I had.' That's like a touchstone for me ... as human beings, we are capable of huge about-faces. The biggest impediment is worrying about disappointing others."
Read more: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/ren-marie-pays-homage-to-eartha-kitt/Content?oid=4924646

Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn create a blessed union of twang

Photo: Provided
By Paul Bowers @ccpnews
May 28, 2014
Leave it to Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, today's first family of the banjo, to make beautiful music with banjos alone.

"Actually, it is very easy if the players are simpatico and aware," says Fleck, who is also married to Washburn. "You have to consider what the other person is playing and look for things they are not doing, parts of the measures that are free for accents, and you always can ripple along together if both people have a decent sense of time. We find it to be the most natural thing in the world."

Of course, it's only natural to two of the instrument's most virtuosic present-day players. Fleck needs no introduction to fans of the banjo; he has been twanging his way through every imaginable genre of world music since the early '80s. Working with his band the Flecktones, as a solo artist, or in collaboration with groups including the Muwewesu Xylophone Group, Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, and Malian ngoni player Cheick Hamala Diabate, Fleck has amassed 15 Grammy Awards and earned nominations in more categories than any other artist in history.

Washburn is a relative newcomer to the banjo, but she made waves with her debut solo album Song of the Traveling Daughter in 2005 and again with her 2011 record City of Refuge, produced by Tucker Martine (the Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens). An Illinois native, Washburn majored in East Asian Studies in college and lived in China for a while, picking up Chinese playing and singing styles along the way. She nearly entered law school in Beijing but decided to stay in the States, where she threw herself into projects including the old-time Sparrow Quartet and the all-female string band Uncle Earl.

Fittingly, the duo met at a square dance where Fleck was playing, but Fleck says it took him some time to learn that Washburn played the same instrument as he did. "She was hanging out with a musical bunch of people, but I didn't know she sang and played for quite some time," Fleck says. "When I first heard her demo, I started driving so fast that I got pulled over by the police and had to walk the line. I loved her music instantly."

As luck would have it, the two discovered that they had learned complementary playing styles. While Fleck uses the more showy three-finger style popularized by Earl Scruggs, Washburn favors the old-fashioned clawhammer style that Pete Seeger dubbed the "bum-diddy" for its signature strumming sound.


"She tends to groove and play the fundamental parts, and I tend to improvise and paint over the top," Fleck says. "We also meet in the middle. And it only works so well because her beautiful voice sits on top of all the banjos."
Read more: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/bla-fleck-and-abigail-washburn-create-a-blessed-union-of-twang/Content?oid=4927240

Jazz singer Kat Edmonson's time-traveling voice sounds like it comes from another era

By Jon Santiago
Photo: Provided
May 28, 2014
Invariably, the first thing music critics want to discuss about Kat Edmonson is her voice. It's been described as a "honeyed, light-gauge, faintly crinkly singing voice, an instrument of self-containment and reflection" (The New York Times), "a timeless-sounding voice" (NPR), and one that "regularly draws comparisons to Blossom Dearie and Billie Holiday" (Jazz Times).

And while it's tempting to wax poetic in describing her unique vocal capabilities, it's more surprising people haven't noted that mostly she sounds like she's having a blast.

"It's not something I worked terribly hard for. It's a talent that I've always had. It's natural," she explains. So natural in fact she says she's constantly singing, be it in her car, cleaning the house, in the bath tub. She pulls out an analogy that sets her laughing. "It's like a sheepdog has to herd sheep — I have to sing."

Born in Houston, Texas, Edmonson, spent a year at the College of Charleston after being an American Idol contestant on the show's second season. She then moved back to Austin, in pursuit of a musical career. The move paid off. Austin music lovers quickly put Edmonson on their list of favorites.

In 2009, she self-released her first album Take to the Sky which soared into the top 20 on Billboard's jazz charts, and before long she was sharing the stage with fellow Texans Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett. She also appeared on The Tonight Show and toured with Lovett as the opening act.

While on the road with the gangly country crooner, Edmonson wrote some songs, and crowd-funded her next album Way Down Low, released in 2012. The LP brought her recognition on the national level and built on an already blazing ascent. It wasn't long before she found herself packing up and moving to New York. But the reason she gives for that move is less about wanting to take a bite of the Big Apple than it is about pursuing a deeply rooted personal journey. Blame it on growing up watching old black-and-white movies and learning the music of the '30s to '50s inside out.
Read more: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/jazz-singer-kat-edmonsons-time-traveling-voice-sounds-like-it-comes-from-another-era/Content?oid=4927279

Music Review: Harold Mabern - 'Right on Time'

By Jack Goodstein, BLOGCRITICS.ORG
Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Smoke Sessions Records, a new jazz recording label launched by the owners of the New York City jazz club Smoke, is nothing short of a godsend for jazz lovers-make that music lovers. While originally intended to focus on live performances of musicians associated with the club, not a bad idea given that Smoke features the cream of an elite crop, the success of the first releases may well argue for tweaking that original intention.

The first of the albums, pianist Harold Mabern's Right on Time, is as good an advertisement for the series as anyone could want. Recorded in March of 2013 during the weekend of his 77th birthday, Mabern (working with bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth) plows through an energetic set mixing classic jazz tunes, an original or two, and even a couple of unusual choices. It is a lively, foot-tapping set filled with performance gems. Mabern is at the top of his game. His solos are rich and filled with wit. Webber and Farnsworth are the perfect complement.

Whether they are transforming "Dance With Me," the disco piece that opens the album, theLaverne and Shirley theme, "Making Our Dreams Come True," or .....

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-Harold-Mabern-Right-on-Time-5508495.php

NPR Music - You Must Hear This

FIRST LISTEN First Listen: Parquet Courts, 'Sunbathing Animal' The Brooklyn rock band still wind-sprints with deadly efficiency. But the slower moments onSunbathing Animal locate the essence of heartache in unexpected ways. Stream the album

MUSIC INTERVIEWS Owen Pallett: The Consummate Musician, In Conflict Last year, Owen Pallett played on Arcade Fire'sReflektor and picked up an Oscar nomination for his score for Her. The songwriter explains the tensions at work on his highly personal new solo album. Read this story

FAVORITE SESSIONS KEXP Presents: Lykke Li The Swedish star recently performed a gorgeous live session at KEXP's studio in Seattle. Watch a moving version of "I Never Learn," from her new album of the same name. Watch the video

ALT.LATINO No Sleep 'Til Puerto Rico: Guest DJ With AJ Davila Puerto Rico is known for salsa and reggaeton, but it also has a strong rock and rap scene. Boricua rocker AJ Davila joins Alt.Latino for one of the show's most fun and raucous Guest DJ sets yet. Hear the show

Cecile McLorin Salvant

Vocal superstar-in the making Cecile McLorin Salvant's sold out show on Wednesday 28th May is to be broadcast live to a potential audience of millions around the world. Thanks to the power of the internet, a world-wide audience will be given an unparalleled opportunity to experience the famed ambience of one of the world's most iconic venues, swinging to one of jazz's best modern exponents, all in stunning HD.

Access to the broadcast is free. Viewers will simply need to go to the club's website www.ronniescotts.co.uk at 9pm on Wednesday 28th May 2014.

Jazz man happy as Larry

STEELY DETERMINATION: "You can't plan on magic – and when it happens you've got to stand back and say 'I'm sure glad I was along for that ride'," says guitarist Larry Carlton.

TOM CARDY

Last updated 05:00 27/05/2014

Even if you're not a fan of jazz or don't recognise Larry Carlton's name, chances are you've heard him play.

That's because the four-time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist has played on big-selling albums – and the theme to the popular television drama Hill Street Blues. And it's not just simply being a session man. Carlton's distinctive playing style, usually on his signature Gibson ES-335 guitar, has been essential to the music.

One of the best known is Michael Jackson's She's Out of My Life, from Off the Wall in 1979, both produced by Quincy Jones. But Carlton, who for a time was doing session work up to 500 times a year, says it was a fluke. "When Quincy was doing Off the Wall I had already discontinued doing session work. Tom Bahler, who works with [Jones], wrote the song. Tom called personally. He said, 'Larry, we've got this one tune for Michael and Quincy and we both looked at each other and said it's gotta be Carlton'.

"So I went in and did She's Out of My Life – and that's the only tune I played on the album."

Elsewhere, Carlton's played across whole albums. It's him on guitar on Joni Mitchell's acclaimed 1973 release Court and Spark, when Mitchell was moving away from folk roots to rock and jazz.

Among the many other artists he's worked with are Sammy Davis Jr, Paul Anka, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Carole King, Dolly Parton, Billy Joel and the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia.

Talk of Garcia reminds Carlton that at one point he was playing on so many albums, he'd have to be reminded what he'd played on.

"The [Garcia] album was in the can and unreleased for I don't know how long. So when it came out and I was doing interviews people would say, 'you're on the Jerry Garcia album' – and I had no idea. It was too long ago.


"There are songs that are still surfacing that I've forgotten that I've played on. I go, 'wow! I did play that'."
Read more: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/10086044/Jazz-man-happy-as-Larry

Video: Shirley Scott, 1996

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Sadly, video of organist Shirley Scott is rare. I found this clip yesterday and thought I'd share. It features Scott in San Francisco in November 1996 with saxophonist Scott Petersen and drummer Eddie Marshall. The first song is On Green Dolphin Street and then the video is badly edited, morphing into another tune. Scott, who died in 2002, remains among the very finest and most soulful organists in a field crowded with Hammond giants...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Hard Rain - The songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen

Kristalyn Records KLCD1
Distributed by Absolute via Universal
CD & Download release Date: 24th March 2014

1. Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan)2. Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson)3. Who By Fire (Leonard Cohen)4. Hard Rain (Bob Dylan)5. First We Take Manhattan (Leonard Cohen)6. Masters Of War (Bob Dylan)7. It’s Alright Ma (Bob Dylan)8. 1000 Kisses Deep (Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson)9. Gotta Serve Somebody (Bob Dylan)10. Land Of Plenty (Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson)11. Chimes Of Freedom (Bob Dylan)

Produced by Simon WallaceRecorded and mixed at Underhill Studios by Simon WallaceTracks 4 + 7 mixed by Simon Wallace and Richie StevensArranged by Simon Wallace and Barb JungrMastered by Dick Beetham at 3670 Mastering

Bass: Neville Malcolm
Bass on tracks 1, 3, 8 + 10: Steve Watts
Percussion: Gary Hammond
Shakuhachi: Clive Bell
Talking drum and additional percussion: Richard Oletunde Baker
Piano, hammond organ and synthesisers: Simon Wallace
Vocal: Barb Jungr

Artwork photography and design: Steve Ullathorne
Hair: Jason Welch at Eleven
Executive Produer: Independent Voices

Paul Whiteman's Orchestra was....

Paul Whiteman's Orchestra was the most popular band of the 1920s. They are also the most controversial to Jazz historians because Whiteman billed himself as "The King Of Jazz". The Paul Whiteman Orchestra rarely played what is considered real Jazz today, despite having some of the great White Jazz soloists of the 1920s in his band. For the most part Whiteman played commercial dance music and semi-classical works.

Jazz critics almost universally dislike his music, but he had his moments. Whiteman started as classical viola player. He played with the San Francisco Symphony and he led a band for the Navy during World War One. After the war, he formed the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at the Fairmont Hotel (corner of California and Mason Streets in San Francisco). He moved to New York in 1920 and made his first recordWhispering / The Japanese Sandman which sold over two million copies and made Whiteman a star.

In 1924 he secured his place in history when he commissioned and introduced George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue. The song became the band's signature tune. Whiteman hired a virtual who's who of White Jazz musicians of the 1920s for his orchestra, such as Red Nichols, Tommy Dorsey, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti,Eddie Lang, and in 1927, Bix Beiderbecke. Bix left the bandin 1929 after having a nervous breakdown. Singer Bing Crosby got his start with Whiteman's vocal trio the Rhythm Boys.

In 1930 Whiteman starred in the movie "King Of Jazz". Whiteman paid his musicians the highest salaries in the business and was generally well liked by them. In the 1930s the orchestra featured Bunny Berigan, Trumbauerand Jack Teagarden, but as the decade wore on Whiteman's popularity declined. During the 1940s and 1950s, Whiteman worked as musical director for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but reformed his orchestra from time to time during those decades. In the early Sixties Whiteman played in Las Vegas before retiring.

Read more: http://www.redhotjazz.com/whiteman.html

Eastman School Of Music Jazz Concerts Get Encores On WGMC

Published: 2014-05-15
A weekly radio series featuring Eastman School of Music jazz performances through the years premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 4, on Jazz90.1 WGMC.

Titled Jazz@Eastman: Past, Present, and Future, the programs will feature performances as well as works by Eastman faculty, students, and alumni. The series is a collaboration between Eastman and Jazz 90.1 and is underwritten in part by RG&E. 

Each hour-long program is hosted and co-produced by saxophonist Alexa Tarantino ‘14, who majored in jazz saxophone performance and music education at Eastman. Jazz@Eastman: Past, Present, and Future has been curated by Jeff Campbell, chair of the Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Department, who selected archived recordings of Eastman jazz concerts and other works for the broadcasts. 

“The Eastman Jazz Department is thrilled to partner with WGMC and RG&E as we launch this new radio program,” said Campbell. “This opportunity affords our Eastman students, faculty, and alumni a format to share our music and to further the legacy of great jazz performance originating right here in Rochester.”

“Jazz90.1 is pleased to be a partner with the Eastman School of Music to bring our listeners this series. We strive each day to provide programming to our listeners not found anywhere else on the radio dial,” said Rob Linton, station manager of Jazz90.1 WGMC. “It’s a natural fit for an institution in jazz radio to join forces with an internationally recognized music school like the Eastman School of Music.”

The premiere on June 4 gives listeners an inside look at Eastman’s jazz department with Campbell. Pianist Harold Danko, a professor at Eastman, pays tribute to Marian McPartland on the June 11 program. On June 18, conductor/composer Ryan Truesdell talks about The Gil Evans Project, his research into Evans’s original manuscripts which resulted in the 2012 CD, Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans. The June 25 program features a faculty spotlight on trumpeter Clay Jenkins and his recent album release Joy, with guitarist Gene Bertoncini and bassist Ike Sturm. 

Subsequent programs will focus on composer/arranger and Eastman jazz department founder Ray Wright; Grammy Award-winning composer and Eastman alumna Maria Schneider; works written or arranged by multiple-Grammy nominee and Eastman alumnus John Hollenbeck; and concerts by faculty members Bill Dobbins, piano, and Bob Sneider, guitar. Each of the 26 programs in the series will be repeated to create a year-long season of broadcasts. 

“RG&E has a long tradition of supporting music and the arts and is pleased to partner with the Eastman School of Music on this exciting jazz series,” said Mark S. Lynch, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “The Eastman School is our neighbor in downtown Rochester, and we're delighted to help bring these top-notch performances to the region.”
Read more: http://news.allaboutjazz.com/eastman-school-of-music-jazz-concerts-get-encores-on-wgmc.php#.U4H-9xYSt3g

The 7th annual Red Hook Jazz Festival

The 7th annual Red Hook Jazz Festival will take place once again in Brooklyn's Urban Meadow on two consecutive Sundays, June 8 and 15, 2014 from 1-6 PM. 

As part of its continuing grassroots tradition, the RHJF is a 100% volunteer-run event that receives no major corporate sponsorship beyond in-kind donations from local businesses, nor any major grants this year. It remains committed to being uniquely artist- and community-focused, dedicated to the support of the great music of jazz, the great musicians who perform it and to bringing new individuals to the singular community-run resource that is the Urban Meadow. This dedication is clearly shared by those audiences who have come from around the world over the last six years to the Waterfront District of Red Hook, Brooklyn to hear exceptional artistry performed in a comfortable, unpretentious and beautiful urban ecological education center and botanical oasis near the docks along the East River. 

 

The Red Hook Jazz Festival was started in 2008 by co-directors Mike Golub, Tamar Smith-Golub and Paul Delucia  -- in 2013, longtime festival volunteer James Keepnews replaced Delucia. It was conceived as an opportunity to present artists who lived locally and to bring new attention to the work of the Urban Meadow, which had been reclaimed from an abandoned lot down the street from the Smith-Golub home. Over the course of subsequent years, the Red Hook Jazz Festival has established itself as a major annual event for jazz listeners globally, recognized for its relaxed vibe, family-friendly environment -- children may attend every festival for free -- and consistent presentation of the greatest jazz artists at work today. In June 2012, then Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz declared one day of the RHJF "Red Hook Jazz Festival Day" in Brooklyn. 

 

2014 promises to be the most exciting year yet for the Red Hook Jazz Festival, featuring ten remarkable ensembles, all representing the incredible variety and history of this great American music. The lineups for this year's RHJF will be:

June 8, 2014

Azares

Jean Carla Rodea - vocals

Ryan Ferreira - guitar

Joe Morris - guitar

Pascal Niggenkemper - bass

Gerald Cleaver - drums

 

Ralph Alessi Trio

Ralph Alessi - trumpet

Drew Gress - bass

Mark Ferber - drums

 

Amanda Monaco's Deathblow

Amanda Monaco - guitar

Michael Attias - alto saxophone

Sean Conly - bass

Satoshi Takeishi - drums

 

Harris Eisenstadt's Aberikula

Curtis Hasselbring - trombone

Sara Serpa - voice

Chris Washburne - bass trombone

Nate Wooley - trumpet

Harris Eisenstadt - drums, arrangements

 

International Brass & Membrane Corps 

Ted Daniel - trumpet, cornet

Jospeh Daley - tuba

Charles Burnham - violin

Newman Taylor Baker - drums
 

Richi Debonis' Nowtet 

Adam Kolker - tenor and soprano saxophones

Greg Gisbert trumpet, flugelhorn

David Bryant - keyboard

Carlo DeRosa - bass

Richi "RVZ" Debonis - drums, compositions, arrangements

 

June 15, 2014

The Museum Band of Teeth and Respect

Josh Rutner - tenor saxophone

Red Wierenga - keyboard

Dan Loomis - bass

Jared Schonig - drums

 

Welf Dorr Unit

Welf Dorr - alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Dave Ross - guitar

Dmitry Ishenko - bass

Joe Hertenstein - drums

 

George Coleman and The Rivington Project

George Coleman - drums

Brian Charette - organ

Mike DiRubbo - alto saxophone

Louis Armstrong’s Birthday Party

Just Announced: Louis Armstrong’s Birthday Party 

Kicks Off Hot Jazz / Cool Garden Summer Concert Series

 

NYC’s summer concert season just got very cool with the Hot Jazz / Cool Garden 2014. Three hot NYC jazz bands will play in Louis’s Garden this summer: Emily Asher’s Garden Party on Friday, July 4th - Louis Armstrong’s birthday, Bria Skonberg Quartet on Saturday, July 19th and Gordon Au & the Grand Street Stompers on Saturday, August 16th.  In true party tradition, concerts include complimentary red beans n’ rice based on Louis’s favorite recipe & sweet tea. And, since Louis always celebrated his birthday on July 4th birthday cake will be served during the Fourth of July concert! Hot Jazz / Cool Garden, now in its 8th year, is a highlight to the Louis Armstrong House Museum’s Summer with Satchmo season.

 

Meet the Bands:

 

Emily Asher’s Garden Party – Friday, July 4th @ 2:00 pm

Led by Asher’s tenacious trombone and sweet vocals, this band of All-stars from New York’s vibrant early jazz scene draws on a diverse repertoire of American standards and originals. From Louis Armstrong’s Enchanting Hot Fives and Duke Ellington’s sophisticated melodies to the funky and soulful music of New Orleans brass bands.  Garden Party plays regularly in New York, Boston, Pennsylvania, has three West Coast Tours under their belt and was a featured band at The 2013 Super Jazz Ashdod international Jazz Festival in Israel.  The Wall Street Journal calls Garden Party “a deliberately prosaic name deviously calculated to describe a very exciting combo” and named their recent EP, “Carnival of Joy” a “superior album.” Louis Armstrong biographer, Ricky Riccardi raves that Garden Party is ”simply extraordinary hot jazz played by some of the finest young musicians devoted to keeping this music alive today.”

 

Bria Skonberg Quartet – Saturday, July 19th @ 2:00 pm

The Bria Skonberg Quartet is a powerhouse combination of emerging talent in the New York jazz scene. Leader Bria Skonberg is "poised to be one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation" compliments the Wall Street Journal. This year she earned a Jazz Journalists’ Association nomination for “Up and Coming Jazz Artist of The Year”, is included in Downbeat Magazine’s Rising Star Critics‘ Poll, and was honored a NY Bistro Award for "Outstanding Jazz Artist". Best known for her knowledge of classic jazz and instigative nature, she has created a style rooted in hot jazz, world percussion, soul and modern effects for her new album "Into Your Own" (Random Act Records 2014).  Bria brings with her Bassist Sean Cronin, a free spirited musical mastermind, Pianist Dalton Ridenhour who has been a featured artist at ragtime festivals since his early teens and Darrian Douglas on drums who moved to New Orleans in 2008 where he took over the drum chair in the Ellis Marsalis' Quartet for the next four years.

 

Gordon Au & the Grand Street Stompers - Saturday, Aug. 16th @ 2:00 pm

With one foot stomping in vintage tradition and the other in modern style, the Stompers featuring Gordon Au, trumpet; Matt Koza, clarinet; Jake Handelman, trombone; Nick Russo, banjo/guitar and Rob Adkins, bass delight audiences with everything from Louis Armstrong hits and New Orleans favorites to exciting originals, covers of famous classical themes, and even their own joyous adaptations of Disney, TV, film, and pop music. Their appeal to both young and old – to both swing dancers and sit-down music lovers, has earned them a devoted and diverse following in their hometown of New York City. The Stompers have been featured at the famed Cafe Carlyle, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Jazz Festival, the DIY Bushwick Music Festival, the New York Hot Jazz Festival; The Salon, Wit's End, Shanghai Mermaid, Bobo's Halloween Masquerade Ball, New Jersey Swing, along with other swanky, cool venues.

Sutton Foster + John Mayall

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

In today's Wall Street Journal, I interview Tony-nominated actress Sutton Foster on her country home near Greenwood Lake about an hour northwest of New York City. In the weekend edition, I interview British blues legend John Mayall on his favorite song—a boogie-woogie by Albert Ammons. Both interviews are up on the web for free, here and here. [Photo of Sutton Foster above by Peter Ross for The Wall Street Journal]

Sutton is currently staring on Broadway in Violet, a musical about a young woman with a ghastly facial scar who travels by bus from North Carolina to Oklahoma in the '60s to see an evangelist with hopes that his powers will make her beautiful and desirable. Sutton won Tonys for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes. When I saw her in Violetseveral weeks ago, I was astonished at the long list of songs Sutton had to sing. There seemed to be about only five minutes of speaking lines in the entire show.

The thing about Sutton is she's down to earth, emotionally open and refreshingly honest. She described herself to me as a "country gal," and in many respects she is just that. I found Sutton to be a calm soul—polite, relaxed and passionate about the theater. Born in Georgia, Sutton's home is in Los Angeles now, but she works in New York, which means she lives in a corporate apartment in Midtown Manhattan near the theater. Her country home on Greenwood Lake gives her much-needed tranquility and a welcome reminder of her grandfather's house in rural North Carolina. While she says she finds New York a bit much, she confessed to having difficulty sleeping in the absolute quiet of the country. Accustomed to the sirens and nighttime clatter outside, she sleeps in the country with a sound machine set to white noise. That's New York for you.

John Mayall [above], of course, is one of the early architects of the British blues movement of the early 1960s. Britain didn't have radio the way we did here. Instead, the BBC offered just a few adult-themed stations and that was it, forcing British kids in the '50 to listen to phonograph records rather than disc jockeys. Many pre-teens gravitated to the records of American jazz and blues artists, because they were the most exciting and were an honest, energetic counterbalance to treacly British pop on the radio. John listened to Albert Ammons and fell in love with boogie-woogie. He was swept away by the pianist's sly, rambunctious attack, rhythmic drive and seamless style. As John said, there was tempo, swing and impossible execution all in one artist, which motivated him to become a blues artist. That's jazz for you.

JazzWax tracks: Here's Sutton Foster in a Violet promo...

Here's John Mayall on lead vocals, Hammond organ, guitar and harmonica with the Blues Breakers, featuring Eric Clapton...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

NPR Music - JAZZ

A BLOG SUPREME In Memoriam: Jazz Elegies Around 1945, jazz's traditional funeral rites manifested in a more modern form of tribute. Now, some of the music's most powerful tunes are written in memory of late colleagues. Hear five examples. Read this story

MUSIC NEWS How Do You Wring Sound From Sculpture? It Takes A 'Quiet Pride' Jazz bassist Rufus Reid has played with just about everybody in the mainstream jazz world, but his latest project is a work exploring the intersection of music and the visual arts. Read this story

MUSIC Heir To A Jazz Legacy, A Trumpeter Finds His Own Way Theo Croker is a descendant of old-school New Orleans jazz royalty, but his fusion of different genres is anything but traditional. Read this story

MUSIC NEWS Saturn Still Swings: Celebrating Sun Ra At 100 "In my music I speak of unknown things, impossible things, ancient things, potential things," the influential and eccentric jazz musician once said. "No two songs tell the same story." Read this story

Hotseat: Don Horn

May 8th, 2014
by LAURA HANSON Arts & Books | Posted In: Theater
Jim Pepper was a Native American saxophonist who grew up in Oregon, producing music that fused jazz, pop and traditional Native music. Some of his songs found mainstream success—1969’s “Witchi Tai To” is the only song in the history of the Billboard charts to feature a Native chant—but Pepper died from cancer in 1992 at the age of 40.

Don Horn, who founded Triangle Productions 30 years ago and has been writing plays for nearly that long, is no stranger to theater that touches on local history or social issues—he’s produced plays about AIDS, the once-glamorous Hoyt Hotel and Gracie Hansen, an entertainer and eventual politician who was the queen of Portland’s nightlife in the 1960s. When he stumbled upon Pepper's story, he turned it into The Jim Pepper Project, an original show that explores how Pepper managed to meld musical styles that features a Native American cast, local stomp dancers and, of course, plenty of Pepper’s songs.
Read more: http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-31594-hotseat_don_horn.html

Olivia Ong ....

Photo: http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/oliviaong/
Artist Biography by Jason Birchmeier
Olivia Ong is a Singaporean singer who found success in Japan with English-language renditions of bossa nova classics. Born on October 2, 1985, the multilingual singer began her career at age 15 after winning a singing contest and being awarded a recording contract in Japan in 2001. Initially, she performed as a member of the J-pop group Mirai. Several years later, she made her solo debut at age 19 with the album A Girl Meets Bossa Nova (2005), an English-language collection of bossa nova classics intended for the Japanese market. While Ong performed other music in later years, her bossa novas proved especially popular, warranting the release of A Girl Meets Bossa Nova, Vol. 2 (2006).
Read more: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/olivia-ong-mn0001532076

7 New CD Discoveries

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

This week—two new rock boxes, a compilation by a jazz arranger, a bluegrass beauty, one of the finest jazz albums of the year thus far, a powerful jazz pianist from Italy and a singer whose voice will remind you of Boz Scaggs and Jon Hendricks [portrait above by Rainer Magold]

What's interesting about the Allman Brothers Band is that they've always been as good on stage as they are in the studio. Best of all, they don't speed-up live, so their concert recordings tend to be solid, unhurried rock-blues adventures. That's certainly true of the newly released double-CD Play All Night: Live at the Beacon Theatre 1992 (Sony) and the DVD Live at Great Woods 1991.Recent news that two original band members called it quits and that the band will stop touring at the end of this year ends a four-decade run that introduced the blues to millions of rock-minded suburban teens. The Beacon Theatre in New York has always been a much-anticipated extended stay for the band, and the Allman Brothers sound muscular and full of snap on the live CD set. From Statesboro Blues andJessica to You Don't Love Me and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, the recording is as sassy as At Fillmore East (1971)—only better recorded. The DVD serves up the band's wailing sizzle in color during a Mansfield, Mass. concert.

Mike Bloomfield is a legendary rock-blues guitarist most people know from conversations rather than actual listening. With the release of the four-disc career-spanning box (three CDs and one DVD documentary) Michael Bloomfield: From His Head to His Heart to His Hands (Sony), we finally get a robust sense of Bloomfield's chops and contribution. Bloomfield died in 1981 of a drug overdose, but he was steps ahead of many of his white peers early on when it came to recognizing the Chicago blues' value to rock and integrating it neatly. Bloomfield backed Bob Dylan when he performed on electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and introduced Johnny Winter at the Fillmore East three years later. Unlike many of his blues-rock contemporaries, Bloomfield didn't embrace feedback for effect but instead played the electric blues straight up, a relief in retrospect. His early Columbia recordings are here as well as work with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Dylan, Electric Flag, Janis Joplin, Al Kooper and others. Included are hugely informative liner notes.

Shortly after my post last month on arranger Johnny Carisi's unreleased Jazz Workshop album of 1956, Jordi Pujol of Fresh Sound emailed to let me know that he had just finished producing Israel: The Music of Johnny Carisi. The new CD is a survey of Carisi's work that includes all of the Jazz Workshop material and tracks with Al Cohn, Tony Scott, Urbie Green and Gerry Mulligan. Included are tracks from Gil Evans: Into the Hot from 1961, which was actually a Carisi album. The sound is terrific and the 20-page booklet features super notes and photos provided by the family.

Tony Trischka is an exceptional five-string bluegrass banjo player. His latest CD is Great Big World (New Rounder) and it's a work of sublime perfection. The list of musicians who appear with him on the album is extensive, and no two songs sound alike. What all of the songs have in common is rural spirit—the sound of walking barefoot along a wooded trail to a swimming hole or driving along a country road in the late afternoon, when everything looks sunny-lazy and lemonade-like. When I put on this CD, I couldn't take it off—it's that engaging and evocative of modern life catching its breath. Sample The Danny Thomas. If you want an extensive taste, go here.

Saxophonist Sly5thAve's first album Akuma (Truth Revolution) is a revelation. Peppered with the artist's Nigerian heritage and American soul-modernism, Akumatakes you on a journey through the instrumental brush and offers fresh cultural themes and references. Born in Texas and a graduate of the University of North Texas, Sly5thAve (Sylvester Uzoma Onyejiaka) has created a large colorful canvas brimming with lyrical funk-jazz intensity. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year thus far and one of the most promising new jazz artists I've encountered on disc. For more on Sly5thAve, go here. Remember, you heard about him here first.

Pianist Roberto Magris is out with a followup—One Night In With Hope and More Vol. 2 (J-Mood). Roberto is from Trieste, Italy, and plays like a strong cup of coffee. His takes on Herbie Nichols' Third World and Randy Weston's Little Susan are robust and rich, but he also can be dramatically tender—as on the standard Young and Foolish, his ownBurbank Turnaround and Tadd Dameron's Whatever Possessed Me. Roberto is joined by bassist Elisa Pruett and Brian Steever and Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums.

Dig Boz Scaggs' jazzy, soulful vocal sound and Jon Hendricks' smooth hip tone? Push them together and you get vocalist Sean Sullivan. On his new album Hereafter(Megaforce), there are vocal shades of Scaggs on Sullivan'sDon't Get Me Started and Hendricks on Gimme That Wine. The southern-born Sullivan lives in New York. His mother was born in West Virginia of French and Cherokee descent while her father was a Nazarene minister and her grandfather was a bible‐toting preacher. Long story short, Sullivan has plenty of earthiness in his background and fine jazz phrasing. His voice can ache like a soprano sax, but Sullivan also knows how to swing a tune. For more on the artist, go here.

Used with permission by Marc Myers