Thursday, December 31, 2015

Raul Midón


Raul Midón (solo show)
Monday 18th April 2016 - Tuesday 19th April 2016

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Raul Midón has earned renown as one of music's most distinctive and searching voices. He is "a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus," according to The New York Times. Midón has collaborated with such heroes as Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder, along with contributing to recordings by Jason Mraz, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg and the soundtrack to Spike Lee's She Hate Me.

The New Mexico native, blind since birth, has released seven albums since 1999, including the hit studio productions State of Mind (Manhattan/EMI, 2005), A World Within a World (Manhattan/EMI, 2007) and Synthesis (Decca/Universal, 2009). Midón's most recent release is the captivating CD/DVD Invisible Chains – Live from NYC. Attuned listeners can hear the inspirations of Donny Hathaway and Richie Havens in his work, as well as Sting and Paul Simon. But Midón's questing musicality makes him, as the Huffington Post put it, "a free man beyond category."


A vibrant presence on screen, Midón can be seen in the documentary on Hancock's star-studded album Possibilities, and he is featured collaborating with soul icon Bill Withers in the documentary Still Bill. Midón has also demonstrated his progressive techniques by performing for the series of "TED Talks." Ever since being told by some when he was a child that his blindness meant that "you can't do this, you can't do that," Midón has lived a life devoted to shattering stereotypes.

His forthcoming album has the singer-guitarist adding producer-engineer to his portfolio of talents, with special computer software for the blind enabling him to engineer sessions on his own in his home studio. This project – which includes collaborations with Withers, R&B singer-songwriter Lizz Wright, Cameroonian jazz bassist Richard Bona and Grammy-winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves – underscores why People magazine called Midón "an eclectic adventurist."

read more: http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/performances/view/3159-raul-midon-solo-show?utm_source=Emailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=29DEC2015

Natacha Atlas

Natacha Atlas - Myriad Road
Tuesday 9th February 2016 - Wednesday 10th February 2016

Born in Brussels of Anglo-Egyptian parentage, singer and world music star, Natacha Atlas’s multi-cultural background and experiences have helped shape her trademark sound which seamlessly bridges musical and culture divides. Exploding onto the scene in the early 1990s, Atlas rapidly gained widespread recognition for her successful pioneering meld of Western and Eastern music, specifically her use of cutting-edge electronic beats with Arabic melodies and instrumentation.

After several releases and a string of albums fronting the seminal Transglobal Underground, she debuted with Diaspora (1994). Atlas then followed with Gedida (Beggar’s Banquet) which won the Victoire Award; the rest, as they say, is history and she has subsequently worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Sinead O”Connor and Jean-Michel Jarre. Her last two albums, the critically-acclaimed Ana Hina (2007) and Mounqaliba (2010), have represented a radical evolution of Atlas’s artistic horizons.
On both, Atlas combines her hallmark synthesis of Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions and culture with classical and jazz influences and sounds. She appears here playing material from her excellent recent album, Myriad Road, a breathtakingly seamless mixture of contemporary jazz and Arabic vocals that she created with star French trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, She is supported by a superb band featuring pianist Alcyona Mick, bassist Andy Hamill and the brilliant Asaf Sirkis on drums, while Hayden Powell stands in for Maalouf.


Exploding onto the scene in the early 1990s, Atlas rapidly gained widespread recognition for her successful pioneering meld of Western and Eastern musics, specifically, her use of cutting-edge electronic beats with Arabic melodies and instrumentation. After several releases with Nation Records and a string of albums fronting the seminal Transglobal Underground, she debuted with Diaspora (1994). Atlas then followed with Gedida (Beggar’s Banquet) which won the Victoire Award; the rest, as they say, is history.

Her last 2 albums, the critically-acclaimed Ana Hina (2007) and Mounqaliba (2010), have represented a radical evolution of Atlas’s artistic horizons. On both, Atlas combines her hallmark synthesis of Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions and culture with classical and jazz influences and sounds. Indeed, on Mounqaliba, she pushed the boundaries further, producing an album lavishly orchestrated by her long-time collaborator Samy Bishai.
In addition to her own projects, Atlas has worked extensively with an eclectic group of distinguished artists across a wide variety of musical genres including: pop (Peter Gabriel, Sinead O’Connor, Indigo Girls, and Jean-Michel Jarre); classical (Nigel Kennedy, Jocelyn Pook); jazz (Nigel Kennedy); film scores (Danny Elfman, Clint Mansell, David Arnold, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rachel Portman); and world music (Nitin Sawhney, Transglobal Underground, Talvin Singh).

read more: http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/performances/view/3129-natacha-atlas-myriad-road?utm_source=Emailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=29DEC2015

Jae Sinnett

Jae Sinnett
Drummer, Composer, Music Educator, Radio Personality
Jae Sinnett is the musician's drummer.  Incredibly musical, swinging, soulful, sensitive and possesses power with virtuoso technical skills.  He's also a prolific composer...penning over 250 compositions!  On his latest release, Zero to 60, his 14th as a band leader, Sinnett has perhaps written his best, most swinging, visionary and memorable compositions to date.  Beautifully melodic, balanced with breathtaking improvisation and technical virtuosity.  There are nine new songs with one arranged standard, Never Let Me Go.  Each piece reflects the seasoned maturity and versatility of a musical veteran with 60 years of life's experiences.  The all-star supporting cast of saxophonist Ralph Bowen, pianist Allen Farnham and bassist Hans Glawischnig, is stellar.  Simply, a smokin quartet!!!  Each plays with incredible energy, soul and perfect musical vision that brings each composition to life.  Sinnett decided to come full circle back to all straight up jazz in the classic quartet setting.  Zero to 60 is a powerful and profoundly artistic work.  We sincerely hope you enjoy the music.

Jae invites you to review his EPK and to critique Zero to 60.  For an interview, please contact him by email at jaejazz@yahoo.com.

Click here to view the entire EPK.

***IF PAGE 2 DOESN'T APPEAR, PRESS YOUR SECURITY CONTROL BUTTON OR CLICK TO VIEW THE MOVIE THE MAKING OF ZERO TO 60.




Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Jazz Singer Celine Rudolph


Uploaded on Jan 31, 2011
Celine Rudolph mixes bossa nova with jazz, but her compositions are also influenced by African music. The singer is profiting from Germans growing interest in World Music. In 2010 Rudolph won the Echo Jazz award as Best German Female Vocalist of the Year for her album Metamorflores .We find out how she manages to successfully combine so many different musical styles and what advice she gives to her pupils, as a professor of vocal jazz.

34. Jazztage Leipzig


Uploaded on Oct 1, 2010
34. Jazztage Leipzig in der Oper Leipzig
Till Brönner / Günter "Baby" Sommer Duo

Philip Clouts

Pianist Philip Clouts tours England and Scotland with his quartet in October to mark the release of a new album, Umoya, one of the first releases on the new jazz imprint of American classical label Odradek.
Oct 6, 2015 - by Rob Adams
It’s an album that confirms the Cape Town-born Clouts’ ongoing love affair with South African music but also with rhythms and melodies from around the world. Influences including Sufi music, Nigerian dance rhythms and folk music from Romania and Southern Italy, as well as gospel music all figure, in his latest compositions.

“Jazz and world music have been important to me throughout my musical life,” says the now Dorset-based Clouts who emerged on the London jazz scene during the 1980s and became a key member of popular world jazz ensemble Zubop before moving to the Jurassic coast in 2006. “I’m inspired by both the freedom of jazz and the rootedness of world music with its sense of dance, community and spirituality. Listening to both genres always reveals a variety of approaches to rhythm, harmony and melody.”

Although he came over to the UK from Cape Town with his family as a young child in the early 1960s, Clouts grew up hearing the music of his homeland as his parents – his father, Sydney Clouts, was a poet whose work captured the South African landscape – had brought their favourite records with them.

After his two older brothers began taking piano lessons, he impressed the family by picking up what his siblings were playing by ear. He found himself drawn to improvising, and hearing the great British pianist Stan Tracey on a television programme when he was twelve attracted him to jazz and inspired him to take the instrument more seriously.

read more: http://www.jazzineurope.com

Bonnie Hayes

American tunesmith Bonnie Hayes comes to Israel to audition Rimon School of Music students for the Berklee School of Music.


AMERICAN SONGSMITH Bonnie Hayes seen here with an Israeli music student at the Rimon School of Music in Hod Hasharon.. (photo credit:Courtesy)

Rhyming “moon” and “June” in song lyrics may not be that different from coupling “yeladim” (children) and “ketanim” (little ones). The key to penning a successful song, whether in English or Hebrew, is to be emotionally invested, according to storied American songsmith Bonnie Hayes.

And she should know. The veteran Californian has struck gold with songs for artists ranging from Bette Midler and Cher to David Crosby and Bonnie Raitt (she penned two songs for Raitt’s Grammy-winning album Nick of Time – “Have a Heart” and “Love Letter.”) Hayes was in Israel earlier this month auditioning Israeli music students at the Rimon School of Music in Ramat Hasharon in her position as chair of the Songwriting Department at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Rimon and Berklee have a longstanding partnership that has expanded into the songwriting sphere for the first time.

Rimon students who have finished two years of studies can complete their degree at the Berklee campus in Boston, and Hayes was in town to scout for the next Ivry Liders and Keren Peleses, two luminary Rimon graduates.

“There’s no objective criterion that always insures a good song,” Hayes said in a phone interview during a break from meeting with the Rimon students and holding master classes. “I’ve had very vivid disagreements with people over whether a song is good or not. Good is not a good word. For me, a song has to work emotionally and yet also impart an idea. I like being engaged on both planes.”

Hayes, who joined the Berklee faculty in 2013, comes from a musical family (one brother, Chris, was lead guitarist for Huey Lewis and the News and another, Kevin, was Robert Cray’s drummer for decades).

“I attended one of the first community music schools in the US – Blue Bear – and that’s how I found my life,” said Hayes. “I had taken piano lessons my whole childhood but my dad, who was also a piano player, wanted me to be a doctor.”

Hayes made her first splash in the music business as a performer back in the spiky new-wave days of the early 1980s, when two of her songs that she performed with her Bay Area band The Wild Combo were featured in the 1983 Nicolas Cage cult classic film Valley Girl.

“When you first find a groove and start to write songs that people respond to, it’s one of the most thrilling and powerful things that can happen to a human being,” said Hayes. “I remember that period with a great deal of fondness, and I still like the music, but maybe not the production. I think those songs stand the test of time.”

Hayes concentrated on her musicianship, eventually joining the touring bands of artists like Belinda Carlisle and Billy Idol.

However, with her success with Raitt and her rising name as a hit songwriter, the performing side of the music business gradually took a back seat to the behind-thescenes songwriting side – a development that Hayes embraced.

read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/She-writes-the-songs-438768

The John di Martino Quartet


The Music of Billy Strayhdorn with The John di Martino Quartet
Friday, Jan. 15 at 8:00 pm
 
Billy Strayhorn was one of the most accomplished composers in American music, the creator of such standards as "Take the 'A' Train,” “Lush Life” and “Something To Live For”. Yet all his life he was overshadowed by his friend and collaboratorDuke Ellington, with whom he worked as the Ellington Orchestra’s ace song writer and arranger.

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter", for his creativity across musical genres. Don't miss this night of unforgettable Jazz standards

Robert Campbell in Film

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
RobertJamesCampbell_forphotographers_thephotolife_004
Several weeks ago I posted about Jessica Ferber's haunting new book on the photos of Robert Campbell, who died homeless in Vermont in 2002. Jessica rescued boxes of his images and negatives from the shelter and just published a book of Campbell's work (go here), which features jazz musicians, folk artists and Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. I wrote the book's forward. Late last week, Jessica wrote to tell me about discovering Campbell (below, right) in the film, Goodbye, Columbus, a 1969 adaptation of Philip Roth's novel: 
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"As you know, figuring out Bob Campbell has been an ongoing pursuit for that past 13 years, and still I don't really know who he was. Recently I connected with someone who knew him in Vermont in the 1990's, before he was homeless. In our hour-long conversation, I learned a little more about Bob's character than I knew before. Each little tidbit, large or small, has been a piece of an evolving puzzle. Just before we hung up, the person asked if I knew that Bob played a cameo role in the 1969 film, Goodbye, Columbus,starring Ali MacGraw (below) and Richard Benjamin. Apparently Bob was friends with director, Larry Peerce, and during the filming Peerce asked Bob to stand in as a fashion photographer in a five-second scene. While you can only see the side of him, it brought a piece of him to life. I'd recognize that photo stance from a mile away."
Ali+MacGraw+Goodbye,+Columbus
JazzWax clip:
 Campbell appears twice in the movie's trailer.
Go here and advance the time bar to 1:27 and 3:41. You'll see Campbell on the right...
MI0001600351
JazzWax tracks:
 The Association recorded four nifty songs for the movie's soundtrack to give it a youthful feel. Here'stheir main theme and instrumentals...
JazzWax pages: You'll find Jess's book on Robert Campbell, Rebirth of the Coolhere.
Used with permission by Marc Myers

Bob McChesney

"This supremely gifted and, indeed, gentle musician is as technically proficient and musically inventive as anyone on the scene." - Richard Hague (All About Jazz.com)

Bob McChesney was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and began playing the trombone in the fourth grade as part of his public school music program. He has since evolved into a world-renowned trombone soloist and an authority on trombone pedagogy. Bob McChesney's trademark as a trombonist is the beauty of his sound, a lightening-fast technique, and his emotional connection to the music. With complete mastery of the instrument and extensive knowledge of jazz harmony, McChesney has distinguished himself as one of the pre-eminent soloists in the world, not only in the realm of jazz and improvisation, but as an interpreter of the most difficult and highly technical Classical repertoire, as well.


Primarily self-taught, at a young age, Bob discovered a unique way of articulating on the slide trombone, called "doodle tonguing". He has since authored what is considered to be the definitive treatise on the subject, called, "Doodle Studies and Etudes". The method book has been critically acclaimed and endorsed by trombonists and music educators all over the world.

A resident of Los Angeles, Bob is a fixture in the recording studios, where he has enjoyed a long career with studio orchestras scoring hundreds of films and television shows. He can also be heard on CDs for Barbra Streisand, Shakira, Michael Buble', Natalie Cole, Rod Stewart, Chicago, Michael Bolton, and the following Grammy-winning CDs: "Ray Charles: Genius Loves Company", Diana Krall's "When I Look in Your Eyes", and most recently, Arturo Sandoval's "Dear Diz", where he was a featured soloist. Legendary composer and conductor Lalo Schifrin exclaimed, "Bob McChesney is a virtuoso and has the gift to bring us the joy of music at the highest level."

A pre-eminent jazz educator and clinician, Bob has been a welcomed guest artist all over the US and Canada. Bob has been featured twice with his Quartet at the International Association of Jazz Educators convention, and The International Trombone Festival, where he has spoken and performed for audiences as large as 5000 in attendance of his demonstrations, workshops and performances.


Bob is thrilled to have worked with legendary composer and entertainer Steve Allen before his death in 2000. McChesney and Allen co-produced what would be the last CD from Allen's prolific songbook, resulting in the highly acclaimed and perennial favorite on Top Ten Jazz CD Lists, "No Laughing Matter - The Bob McChesney Quartet plays Steve Allen".

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Swingin' the New Year!

SWINGIN' THE NEW YEAR in Grand Style in St. Petersburg FL! It's not too late to have the time of your life!

Swingin' the New Year!
GRAND NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATION FOR ALL AGES
Thursday, December 31st, 2015
at the  ST PETERSBURG COLISEUM featuring  MITCH WOODS & HIS ROCKET 88'S!


Swingin' the New Year proudly presents...boogie-woogie piano legend, Mitch Woods, who's traveling all the way from California to rock the house LIVE on grand piano at the spectacular St. Petersburg Coliseum!  Mitch is joined by his band of swinging rhythm section and horns, the Rocket 88's, who will kick the Coliseum Ballroom into high gear, as they jump & boogie, rock & swing the place like you've never seen!  From swingin' New Orleans rhythm & blues dance grooves (in the style of Fats Domino and others), to soulful ballads, to rockin' high-energy originals, Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88's deliver music that'll make you want to jump up and dance!

From Jazz At Lincoln Center

Dear friend, 
Like you, jazz (and blues) is an important part of my life. For me, it started with Les Paul, my godfather, who taught me my first chords at five years of age, and set me on a path in the music that has taken me to places I couldn’t have imagined. Recently, the journey took a wonderful turn as I learned I would join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 2016 class. It is humbling to be there with many of my heroes, people I knew and loved, incredible artists like T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Reed, and Howlin’ Wolf. 
I joined the Board of Jazz at Lincoln Center because I believe the work this organization does across performance, education, and advocacy is musically, culturally, and socially important. I hope you’ll join me and support Jazz at Lincoln Center, too. Wynton Marsalis and I are working on a set of blues and American root music initiatives and we’re excited to bring them into the world over the next several years. Stay tuned for more! You can get a taste of it this April, when I present special concerts in The Appel Room and Rose Theater. And, mark your calendars for the webcast, if you can’t come in person! 
As a director and also as an artist and musician, I want to thank you personally for supporting our organization, catching our concerts at The House of Swing or through our webcasts, and being part of our many education programs. Your support makes our important work possible. Quite literally, we can’t do it without you. 
As 2015 draws to a close, I hope you will join me and make a year-end gift to JALC, to help us do what we do. Please make a fully tax-deductible contribution at www.jazz.org/donate
Best wishes for a warm, swinging, soulful New Year.
Steve Miller

The Death of Hideo Shiraki

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Screen Shot 2015-12-27 at 9.03.26 PM
Last week, I posted on Japanese drummer Hideo Shiraki, who died in 1972 at age 39. In 1962, Shiraki recorded two terrific albums, most notably Plays Horace Silver and Plays Bossa Nova. His other jazz albums are equally fabulous. Yet little is known about Shiraki in the States, since most information about him and his early death has appeared in Japan. In my post, I asked my Japanese readers for information on Shiraki. I received the following information:

Maxresdefault
Paraphrased from an email from T
akafumi Hirano in Osaka..
According to an obit of Shiraki that was published in Japan in 1972 by Asahi Shimun, the cause of Shiraki's death based on his autopsy was an overdose of a tranquilizer. Which leads one to assume this was a suicide. According to the autobiography of his ex-wife, Yoshie Mizutani, a film actress still active today, Shiraki traveled to New York in 1962 where he was introduced to Art Blakey, who invited Shiarki to participate in a Gretsch Drum Night contest performance at Birdland. After the event, Blakey urged Shiraki to relocate to New York. Shiraki thought about Blakey's suggestion over the next few days but decided against the move. He said to Ms. Mizutani that there was too much to lose by leaving Japan. As the top jazz drummer there, he was considered a star, and leaving would present great risks to his career and status.  
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Hiroyuki Iwaki, a famous symphonic conductor in Japan who died in 2006, noted that despite jazz's popularity in the early 1960s, its appeal began to wane. Shiraki did not enjoy playing pop and other non-jazz jobs, which he felt were beneath his abilities. In addition, during the 1960s, jazz began to shift in Japan away from hard bop, much to Shiraki's dismay. Iwaki noted that Shiarki's downfall following his performances at the 1965 Berlin Jazz Festival, when younger members of his band left for more lucrative opportunities. Soon after, trumpeter Terumasa Hino, a member of Shiraki's quintet, became one of Japan's top jazz stars. Based on the writings of Ms. Mizutani and Iwaki, Shiraki seemed to regret not taking Blakey up on his offer and relocating to the States.
Screen Shot 2015-12-27 at 9.06.06 PM
Paraphrased from an email from Masayuki Hatta, assistant professor of economics and management at Surugadai University in Hanno City, Japan...
Shiraki was a great jazz musician but a troubled soul. His narcotic addiction was well known among his peers, and his working behavior became increasingly erratic as the years progressed. The pinnacle of his career was his appearance at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1965. After that, Shiraki lost most of his brilliant sidemen, and his popularity quickly faded. The Watanabe Production talent agency released him in 1968. After the break, he left the music business and lived in relative seclusion until his death in 1972. Much of this information was reported in Asahi Shimbun's obit.
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Paraphrased from an email from reader Hiroshi Itsuno of 55 Records in Tokyo...
Hideo Shiraki was addicted to sleeping pills and was found dead in his apartment, the victim of an overdose. He was considered a superstar drummer, not only in jazz but also in the TV and movie industries. He was married to Japanese actress Yosie Mizutani from 1959 to 1963 and played at the 1965 Berlin Jazz Festival with his quintet, which included trumpeter Terumasa Hino, who became a jazz star in his own right.
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Throughout its history, jazz has rewarded its musicians with brief periods of spectacular stardom, blinding many artists into thinking that the music and the market would always recognize their talents. Sadly, many exceptional musicians became victims of jazz's shifting styles and never overcame the psychological shock of evaporating fame and earning power. For those committed to the music, declining opportunities and status were rationalized as personal failures rather than the natural trajectory of a movement dependent on market tastes. Shiraki was one of those unsuspecting victims. Perhaps an American, European or Japanese label will issue a complete collection of Shiraki's jazz recordings along with a robust set of liner notes in Japanese and English. He should be remembered.
JazzWax clips:
Here's drummer Hideo Shiraki on a fascinating album called Fiesta in 1961...
Here's Shiraki with his quintet playing A Night in Tunisia in 1958...
Here's Shiraki on Alone, Alone and Alone in 1965...
Used with permission by Marc Myers

Sanctuary Concerts

Sanctuary Concerts Presents Frank and Friends: Reuniting the Les Paul Trio
Sat., Jan. 2, 8pm 
The Sanctuary Concerts
At the Presbyterian Church - 240 Southern Boulevard, Chatham, NJ 07928
www.sanctuaryconcerts.org

Lou Pallo - Guitar
Frank Vignola - Guitar
Vinny Ranxiolo - Guitar
Nicki Parrott - Bass
And Special Guests

Each Monday for more than a decade, three musicians made magic on Broadway creating the sound behind legendary guitar wizard Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club. Sanctuary friend Frank Vignola was a member of that trio, and he and his bandmates Lou Pallo on rhythm guitar and bassist Nicki Parrott are coming to The Sanctuary. 

In 2015 Les Paul turned 100, and this show is the first time that the Trio has played together to honor Les Paul since passing in 2009. In the tradition of the Les Paul shows at the Iridium, we will have some surprise musicians joining Frank on stage. Les dipped into all kinds of music at his shows, so we'll hear everything from folk to rock, jazz to Django while having a lot of laughs along the way.

Frank Vignola has a funny and dynamic personality on stage, and each of his performances is a show to remember. Last year his concert with us filled the room with great guitar chops. The Les Paul shows were the best kept secret in New York City for more than a decade. In Chatham on New Years' weekend, the secret is out.

http://frankvignola.com
http://www.loupallo.com
http://www.nickiparrott.com

E-Mail Is Being Sent by:
Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services 
E-Mail: jim@jazzpromoservices.com
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/

2nd Annual Sea of JazzFest

2nd Annual Sea of JazzFest in Pompano Beach, FL - Epic lineup of Grammy winners and jazz icons.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Terence Blanchard

"Terence Blanchard has always been forward thinking, but with E-Collective he shoots straight into tomorrow adding all sorts of different types of electricity and attitude to a new set of tunes.  The concept is still right now with a more modern edge and sound, vocals and all, but it’s still the tough but tender, timeless but vital unique tone that marks Terence’s horn as one of the truly great and classic jazzmen". - David Kunian, Downbeat

CD: Terence Blanchard / Breathless
UPC # 00602547269393 
Release Date: 05/26/2015
Label (p)© 2015 Blue Note Records

Samuel Dockery, 86; Philadelphia jazz pianist

Posted: Monday, December 28, 2015, 1:08 AM

Samuel "Sam" Dockery, a pianist whose performances and recordings with prominent musicians made him an icon of Philadelphia's jazz scene, died Dec. 23 at the Burlington Woods health-care facility in Burlington, N.J., from Alzheimer's disease. He was 86.

Mr. Dockery, who spent most of his life in and around Philadelphia, worked steadily from the 1950s through the 1990s, playing on dozens of albums and touring with such nationally recognized artists as Buddy Rich and Betty Carter. He played hard bop, a subgenre of jazz that incorporates influences from rhythm and blues as well as gospel music.

Born in Camden, Mr. Dockery was the oldest of eight siblings raised by a single mother who taught her children how to play piano, said his sister Dolly Roth, of Mount Laurel. Two of his brothers also became musicians: Lemuel, a drummer, who died in 2008; and Wayne, a jazz bassist.

Mr. Dockery's passion for the piano started early, Roth said.

"I never knew him not to play," she said. "He played from the time he was born, almost."

Mr. Dockery's skills drew attention from teachers, and he started working as a full-time musician shortly after graduating from Camden High School, Roth said.


In 1953, Mr. Dockery became the regular pianist at Music City, a store on Chestnut Street where local musicians played with visiting jazz celebrities. After members of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers played there, they recommended Mr. Dockery to Blakey, who hired him to go on tour. Over about two years, he recorded 11 albums with the group.

In addition to touring with Rich and Carter, Mr. Dockery went on the road with the Roy Haynes Band and free-lanced with visiting musicians who played the Showboat jazz club in Philadelphia.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20151228_Samuel_Dockery__86__Philadelphia_jazz_pianist.html#2F7hBaA535JQb0Gk.99

Jerry Cigler

Quite simply, Jerry Cigler is perhaps one of the finest jazz musician. In music, much comes down to taste, as technique can be found amongst all the top players. Jerry's abilities transcend those of anyone else alive. His ability to perform 5 part blocks using just his right hand on the piano accordion, coupled with his unparalleled use of the free bass in a jazz context, enable him to render sounds impossible by any other player alive today.

His use of substitute chords, open harmony, counter-point, blistering fast single note runs, complex chordal structures on the left hand (including using his thumb), and sophisticated arrangements, make him stand out amongst the crowd. Jerry was born in Cleveland, Ohio and studied with a few teachers before meeting the great Johnny Sulin. Sulin was quite famous in Cleveland and was an amazing talent. Johnny is remembered for his unrivalled technique and incredible arrangements, many improvised on the spot.


Jerry's repertoire included classical as well as popular standards and by his late teen years, he was established as a professional musician performing at many local places. Jerry then began tutelage under the amazing Leon Sash of Chicago, where Jerry eventually moved. Under Leon, Jerry began his deep study of jazz as it relates to the accordion. Jerry went on to record with Leon as well as releasing his own album in the 70's.


from: http://jazzaccordionmasters.blogspot.com.br

‘Kansas Smitty’s’

London’s Most Diverse And Innovative Jazz Ensemble Release Debut Album.
October 2015 marks the release of ‘Kansas Smitty’s’, the eponymous debut album from the Kansas Smitty’s House Band. Formed in London, the Kansas Smitty’s House Band are eight of the capital’s finest young musicians who are revolutionizing the way the public enjoys jazz music

Driven by a plethora of styles and disciplines, combined with a need to free their art from the constraints of many of London’s live music venues, the band pioneered performances in everything from underground tunnels to East-end warehouses. In the year that this album was recorded and while maintaining an active performance schedule (including Ronnie Scott’s and Wilderness Festival), the band opened its own bar in the heart of East London’s Broadway Market. This album is a glimpse into a burgeoning musical movement, united by the    ’s unpretentious portrayal of jazz music across its full spectrum.

Their debut album is an expertly crafted blend of Kansas City jazz, New Orleans funk, trad and swing, with a touch of improv. It is a dynamic body of work that seamlessly fuses these genres, staying true to the original spirit of their influences, but adding a unique take that could only be created by each individual bringing their particular skills and passions to the table. ‘Kansas Smitty’s’ is a refreshing new offering for the jazz community, adding an innovative perspective to big band and swing music, distinctly modernising this sound for a 21st century audience.

read more: http://www.jazzineurope.com

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Denise King

Denise King sings it her way in the Hot Jazz series
Denise King. (photo credit:PR)

As a female jazz vocalist, you could do a lot worse than model yourself on the performance, style and unrepentant gall of Sarah Vaughan. During her four-plus decade career, the late great diva, who died in 1990 at the age of 66, earned herself a bunch of sobriquets. Her peerless musicality and delivery led critics and fans alike to call the Divine One, while her sense of mischief and sexy stage demeanor spawned the epithet “sassy.”

Denise King certainly sounds like she also fits the latter nickname as audiences in Ganei Tikva, Jerusalem, Herzliya, Modi’in, Tel Aviv and Haifa will discover when the sexagenarian American singer struts her stuff as the next guest artist in this year’s Hot Jazz series. All told, King will give eight performances here between December 19 and 26.

As critics have pointed out, predominantly with great enthusiasm, over the years Vaughan had an almost inborn tendency to mold numbers to her own spirit.

She would take standards and take a flight of fancy betwixt the notes and tempos in the sheet music. Even when she was just an aspiring teenager, when she might have been expected to be in awe of the more senior members of the ensemble she was fronting and, to toe the line, she would invariably do the number in question as per the chart until close to the end, and then she’d slip in some sonic or rhythmic departure.

“She almost never sang anything straight,” notes King. “Every one once in a while she would, but she was always adding her own special twist to everything.”

That suits King to a tee.

“I tend to take liberties,” she admits. “There are, of course, times when I sing a song straight down, but I often try to make the song my own. I always try to add a different flavor to it.”

Early on in her career, Vaughan was frequently berated for her individualistic take which, if you consider the definitively improvisational nature of jazz, is really anathema to the very core of the discipline. King says highlights events movies television radio dining that she, too, has taken her fair share of flak for charting her own course through a work.

read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Naturally-sassy-436894

Beijing bebop

Beijing bebop: Once scorned, jazz is suddenly thriving in the Chinese capital

Frode Stavanger

FRODE GJERSTAD was born in Stavanger, Norway, 24-03- 1948. He started trying to play improvised music as a trumpeter in 1968. When he moved to Lund in Sweden (1971 to 1975) he got a chance to meet, talk and play with musicians interested in this music. He had at that time started playing tenor saxophone (1969).
After he came back to Stavanger in 1975 he started collaborating with keyboardist Eivin One Pedersen. Together, they explored many different aspects of improvised music, as a duo or with others, but it was not until 1981, when they first played with John Stevens, that he had a real chance to feel what a dedicated musicians can do to the music-making.
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Adam Pieronczyk

One of the most outstanding and creative Polish jazz musicians, as well as “one of the greatest innovators in Polish jazz”, according to Gazeta Wyborcza.The distinguished German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung went even further, calling him “a ray of light on the East-European jazz scene”. Adam Pieronczyk performs in all parts of the world, and has won numerous awards. In 2015 he was named, for the eleventh consecutive year, as Jazz Forum magazine's “Best Soprano Saxophonist”.


In 2011 he was nominated for Poland's “Fryderyk” award (Polish Grammy) in five categories, winning the two most important statuettes - “Jazz Musician of The Year” and “Jazz Album of The Year”. He served as Artistic Director for the Jazz aux Oudayas festival in Rabat, Morocco in 2004-2005, and is currently Artistic Director of the Sopot Jazz Festival in Poland (since 2011). For the past six years, he has been associated with the esteemed record label Jazzwerkstatt Berlin. He also composes music for theater productions. Read more 

Branford Marsalis and Kurt Elling

By Howard Mandel, for Jazz Beyond Jazz
December 15th, 2015

Saxophonist Branford Marsalis's quartet and singer Kurt Elling prepared for their upcoming recording in a rare four-night stand at Snug Harbor in New Orleans last week, and photo-journalist extraordinaire Marc PoKempner went each night, enthralled.

"It was sort of an open rehearsal for the recording, so the set list was the same every night," PoKempner reported by phone, "but it changed a lot, too. The first night Kurt asked the crowd, 'Does anyone here speak Portuguese? If so, you're going to want to leave now,' because he sang a lyric in Portuguese, reading it phonetically off some paper, and slaughtered the language. But by the fourth night, he had it down."

PoKempner knows Elling from Chicago, but he says in NOLA, Kurt learned he had to almost holler for attention. "He isn't known here, he doesn't perform here. People had come to hear Branford, who'd start out each night with what I gather was the Tonight Show theme.

He's got a very energetic, swinging, fun band [Joey Calderazzo, piano; Eric Revis, bass; Justin Faulkner, drums] and though he himself isn't the most physically expressive, he blows his ass off, has a very strong tone, and gets up to play. He blew some very abstract stuff, even like something Fred Anderson would have played — but always brought those breaks back to the swinging, melodic hook. Branford's band did a couple of songs before Kurt came out.

read more: http://kurtelling.com/news/press_article_978.php

Saturday, December 26, 2015

A blue plaque for Freddy Randall

A blue plaque has been erected at the house on Old Church Road, Chingford, London E4 where the great British jazz trumpeter Freddy Randall lived in the 1950s, as part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest’s scheme to celebrate local history and cultural heritage.

Digby Fairweather, jazz trumpeter, writer and broadcaster, and founder of the National Jazz Archive, said:
Freddy was an inspiration to a whole generation of young jazz trumpeters and fans and was a wonderful musician and band leader. I’m delighted that we can pay tribute to him and his great contribution to British jazz through unveiling this plaque on his Chingford home.”

In the late 1940s the place for north London jazz fans to be on a Sunday night was the Cleveland Rhythm Club at Cooks Ferry Inn, Edmonton. This was the venue that featured the great British trumpeter, Freddy Randall, and his band.

Freddy was born in Clapton, east London but lived for some years in Chingford, and so is now being commemorated through the Waltham Forest’s Blue Plaque scheme.
For several years, the National Jazz Archive, located in Loughton Library, Essex has been working with Waltham Forest to identify the residences of jazz musicians in the Borough, which covers Leyton, Leytonstone, Walthamstow and Chingford. This project is part of the telling of the Story of British Jazz that the Archive began during the three-year period of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund 2011–14.

read more: http://www.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/news?id=476

Nederlands Jazz Archief (Dutch Jazz Archive)

The Dutch Jazz Archive is a (non-profit) cultural heritage organization with activist tendencies. Founded in 1982, the archive merged into Music Centre The Netherlands (MCN) in 2007. After the liquidation of MCN at the end of 2012, a number of stubborn enthusiasts decided to continue the archive and its activities under the original name.

Our aim is to bring the history of jazzmusic alive through publications, concerts, presentations and continuous education of audiences. We feel that jazz is a continuum passed forward from one generation of musicians to the next. Through the practice of today we make connections with this history by making links with important historic styles, personal stories of leading musicians and various archives. We collaborate actively with media-partners and presenters to reach out to audiences. One of our goals is to create an app that will provide audiences with instant contextual information on performing musicians during concerts. 

ADDRESS:

Piet Heinkade 5, 1019 BR Amsterdam - Netherlands
Phone: +3120 5191816 or +316 54 321239
52° 22' 41.3148" N4° 54' 46.3968" E

Email: info@jazzarchief.nl
Web: http://www.jazzarchief.nl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jazzarchief

See more at: http://www.europejazz.net/nederlands-jazz-archief-dutch-jazz-archive#sthash.j5VgoEcr.dpuf

Rony Verbiest honors accordionist Johnny Meijer

By Peter Beije | Photo’s by  Eddy Westveer

Johnny Meijer was a man of the swinging standards, which are also on the CD, such as “Sweet Loraine”, “Body and Soul’’, “Lady be Good” and “You do not know what love is’’. The songs are all played nicely and that reveals the great strength of Rony Verbiest as a musician. Whether it be songs from the repertoire of Brubeck , Monk or Meijer it’s all very musical.

Johnny Meijer (1912-1992) did not like to travel. He preferred to stay in Amsterdam and has therefore not become world famous. In 1953 and 1954 he went abroad to participate in the world championship for accordionists, winning both times. In his eyes, he didn’t have to work hard for it yet Johnny Meijer is best known as a musician who accompanied Amsterdam singers, there was good money to earn.

Father Michel Verbiest was a celebrated accordionist in Flanders and his son Rony started playing the instrument at a young age. “In the mid-60s , when the accordion was exchanged for the saxophone, I went with my parents on a city trip to Amsterdam.” A concert of Johnny Meijer was also on the program. And that made a great impression on Rony . “Once back in Belgium , I could have just one sound and one way of playing the accordion i.e. Johnny Meijer’s way of playing . This remains until the present day.”

The series of three CD’S began in spring 2012 with the recording of the Brubeck album. Rony Verbiest feels kinship with the American pianist and composer, who had studied under the classis composer Darius Milhaud. In the liner notes he stated: “Having enjoyed a classical education myself the time Measures from Bartok, Stravinsky or Dave Brubeck were never far away.”

read more: http://www.jazzineurope.com

Three days of pianists

ANDY FELDBAU. (photo credit:LEON LE)

The third annual Pianos will take place at the Jerusalem Theatre on December 23 to 25. The festival, directed by composer and music life organizer Michael Wolpe, will host about 300 pianists who work in various genres of music, from classical and pop to jazz and Hebrew songs.

The festival will also serve as a meeting place for artists who will perform together in special programs.

Israeli classical pianist Andy Feldbau, 32, is among the participants. At the festival, he will perform with composer/pianist Shlomo Gronich in a program dedicated to Earl Wild’s arrangements of George Gershwin’s songs, such as “The Man I Love,” “I Got Rhythm” and “Embraceable You.”

Unlike many Israeli musicians of international caliber, Feldbau returned to Israel last year after completing his education abroad.

“This is my home,” he says simply.

“This is where my family and my friends live; this is where my colleagues teach at the Academy of Music, and this is where my audience is. I feel more secure here in many ways, and I feel more excited performing in a modest hall in Tel Aviv than, say, performing with the Jewish Orchestra of Los Angeles in front of 3,000 people – with all due respect to the attentive and devoted American audience.”

Born in Tel Aviv, Feldbau is the first professional artist in his family.


“I am a weird bird among my relatives,” he says. “Although there are no artists in my family, I was exposed to classical music from an early age, and I am grateful to my parents who recognized my gift for music and supported me.”

read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Three-days-of-pianists-437488