Corina Bartra, Afro Peruvian JAzz pioneer

A sophisticated jazz and contemporary world singer from Peru? -Yes, Peru. In the last 100 years jazz has spread to every section of the globe, bringing forth fine Latin jazz musicians from New York, Cuba and Brazil. And if you haven't already heard about her, Corina Bartra from Peru....

Corina was the first vocalist to blend Afro Peruvian music & Jazz. She also pioneered subtle and exciting instrumental textures in her compositions and her arrangements. She writes extensive intros, interludes, and solos filled with inventive rhythms and beautiful harmonies. She also guides her musicians to do so. With this approach, she adds an instrumental section to her unique & historic projects.

Corina Bartra has degrees in jazz percussion from (name schools) and a Master in vocal performance. Like so many jazz masters before her, Corina Bartra resides in the New York area (when she is not in Peru) where she not only plays but can study the works of all those artists who came before her, building the international sound of jazz to what it is today. And making her award - Corina was the recipient of the prestigious Queens Council on the Arts award in 2008. Her vocal winner Bambu Sun stand apart from the crowd. Her music has frequent airplay nationwide and topped the charts in some radio stations. She also got ear play in Europe and Peru were she is an influential artist.

In her new BAMBU SUN she once again dives into the Afro Peruvian sonorities and other Latin undercurrents. She has pioneered a ground-breaking fusion of jazz and afro Latin music with her releases: CORINA BARTRA QUARTET, Son Zumbon, and Travelog, when for the first time one could hear the incorporation of the cajon (Peruvian percussive box) and the festejo groove blended with jazz. Corina's new CD “Afro Peruvian Jazz Celebration,” was Fox News Entertainment favorite CD of the week of July 13, 2009.

Old Cats, New Lions Celebrate Woody Shaw

by Becca Pulliam, JazzSet
December 24, 2009 from WBGO - Concert Pick: Woody Shaw (1944-1989) was legally blind. When he worked onstage with reedman Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Kirk, also blind, once said, "Let's keep playing and walk out in the audience." Shaw declined, but Kirk walked. Later, Shaw composed "Rahsaan's Run," which the group Woody Shaw Legacy Ensemble: Brass Knights takes on at a swift tempo.

Taking On An Innovator
In September 2008, the Festival of New Trumpet Music staged a major retrospective of Woody Shaw's compositions at the Jazz Standard in New York. There, a pair of Shaw's one-time bandmates, Mulgrew Miller on piano and Victor Lewis on drums, backed three young-lion horn players with chops. The result is an intense musical experience. The young lions are trumpeters Sean Jones, Ezana Edwards and Nick Roseboro. Jones is featured on all the pieces, while Edwards and Roseboro divide the rest of the solos, beginning with Jones and Roseboro on "Joshua C." — named for Joshua C. Whiting, Shaw's tai-chi instructor. In the 1970s, Shaw practiced Chinese martial arts to help increase his focus and discipline in music.

More About Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw Jr. was born on Dec. 24, 1944, in North Carolina. His father, Woody Shaw Sr., was a member of the Diamond Jubilee Singers. In Newark, N.J., Shaw's high-school trumpet teacher believed that Shaw could play in the New York Philharmonic someday. Listening to Shaw's recordings, it's not hard to hear why. But hearing trumpeter Clifford Brown changed Shaw's direction. The very month Brown died, Shaw had started playing the trumpet in 1955.

Saxophonist Eric Dolphy encouraged Shaw to develop his own style. And he did, setting himself apart by playing new post-Coltrane harmony on the trumpet, with wide leaps and brilliant riptides in his solos. Shaw's innovations are highly appreciated throughout jazz — and, most tellingly, by trumpeters. When newcomer Wynton Marsalis first came to New York, Marsalis received a grant to study formally with an artist of his choice, and his choice was Woody Shaw.

Shaw's compositions advanced the curve. They are pushing, urgent and musical, difficult but logical, rewarding and enjoyable. They stick around in your head. To follow up, there's more about the creator at the official Woody Shaw Web site.

Credits
Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III produced the live show. The director of the Festival of New Trumpet Music is Dave Douglas. Thanks to the Jazz Standard's artistic director, Seth Abramson. Music mix by Duke Markos with Yujin Cha and Josh Webb at WBGO Jazz 88.
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"Fire in velvet. A fitting description of Joshua Breakstone's jazz guitar," wrote Paul Weidman

"Fire in velvet. A fitting description of Joshua Breakstone's jazz guitar," wrote Paul Weidman in The Sante Fe New Mexican. "His flowing lines on up-tempo cookers are impeccably clean and fiery, bearing the mark of a first-rate improviser, while his chordal work on heartbreaker ballads is the final word in finesse," has raved Guitar Player magazine. Japan's Jazz Hihyo (aka Jazz Critique) recognizes that "The style in which Joshua develops his fluid single-note solos used to be thought of as the Grant Green school, but now this man leads the school." Downbeat also has written that "There is no shortage of young, knock-out jazz guitarists about us these days. And Joshua Breakstone is among the best of them."

Joshua Breakstone was born July 22, 1955 in Elizabeth, NJ. Through his music loving parents he was exposed to Broadway shows, Broadway show cast recordings, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Through his older sisters he was exposed to all kinds of other music- including jazz and rock and roll. "My sister Jill worked for the light show at The Fillmore East where I could hear all the bands regularly, especially my then-favorites Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa."

"I picked up the guitar around the time I was 14 and began playing with an interesting high school group called Moon Unit which consisted of guitar, bass, drums, organ, and flute. It wasn't your typical late sixties rock and roll instrumentation. I was exposed to jazz regularly as a kid, but it never caught my ear until I heard Lee Morgan. Lee's sound was exciting and made me want to hear more jazz. The first jazz people who turned me on were trumpet players, then I heard Charlie Parker."

"The fire of Lee Morgan played with grabbed me immediately," he says, "and the way both he and Clifford Brown fully articulated each note has been an ideal toward which I work with regard to the sound I try and get on the guitar. When I heard Bird, I knew I wanted to play like him in the sense of playing things which are meaningful, emotional, and, more than anything else, irresistibly beautiful. The guitar is a real challenge because it tends to be a very visual instrument and lends itself to patterns. In a way, I try and get away from the guitar and into the world where music exists in and of itself, where ideas, articulation and sound exist apart and away from the instrument."

At that same time Joshua began studying in Manhattan with Sal Salvador. "Sal was a great teacher, a great person, and eventually became a great friend. He exposed me to a broad range of music and helped me accomplish a lot on the instrument in a relatively short time."

In 1972, Breakstone entered New College of the University of South Florida (Sarasota, Florida), where he graduated in three years - including two terms at Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts)- in 1975 with a degree in jazz studies. After graduation Joshua spent several months in Brazil, then moved back to New York where he taught and performed while taking graduate courses at NYU. In 1979 he made his recording debut on Canadian reedman Glen Hall's Book of the Heart (Sonora Records 101), with JoAnne Brackeen, Cecil McBee, and Billy Hart. During the period leading up to his first recording as a leader in 1983, Wonderful! (Sonora Records 222 with Barry Harris, Earl Sauls, and Leroy Williams), he was residing in New York, performing with people like Vinnie Burke, Warne Marsh, Emily Remler, Dave Schnitter, and Aaron Bell, teaching both privately and at the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music (Providence, Rhode Island). The following year he recorded again for Sonora Records, 4/4=1, with Kenny Barron.

In 1986 Breakstone began a four year contract for four recordings with Fantasy Records' Contemporary label. First was Echoes, with Pepper Adams, Kenny Barron, Dennis Irwin, and Keith Copeland, followed by Evening Star the following year with Jimmy Knepper, Tommy Flanagan, Dave Shapiro and Keith Copeland. Self Portrait in Swing followed in early 1989, followed by 1990's Nine By Three, Breakstone's first trio recording, with Dennis Irwin and Kenny Washington. Josh has written, "During the course of my four short years with Contemporary, I spanned two eras in the recording industry in that my first two recordings were released only on LP, my third was released as both LP and CD, and my last, Nine By Three, was released only on CD."

1986 was the year of Joshua's first Japanese tour. Since that time he has toured throughout Japan usually twice a year both with his own groups as well as with the groups of such noted Japanese musicians as Terumasa Hino, "Monkey" Kobayashi, and Eiji Nakamura. In 1991 Joshua began recording for the Japanese King Record label, an association that led to four recordings. Walk Don't Run was followed by I Want To Hold Your Hand and Oh! Darling - two CDs of Beatles compositions rearranged and adapted to Breakstone's musical point of view. On all three are heard the formidable rhythm section of pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Dennis Irwin, and drummer Kenny Washington. The subsequent Remembering Grant Green features Grant Green bandmates, organist Jack McDuff and drummer Al Harewood. Kenny Barron returns as well on two tracks, this time with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Keith Copeland.

Sittin' On The Thing With Ming, his 1993 debut recording for Capri Records, consists mostly (except for one selection) of Joshua's original compositions. " In live settings I tend to play a mix of originals and standards, I'm always writing new things. After four CDs of theme recordings for King, I had amassed quite a lot of original material which ended up seeing the light of day - in terms of being recorded for the first time - on Sittin' On The Thing With Ming." This was followed by his 2001 recording, Tomorrow's Hours, a tribute to the compositions of Wes Montgomery and 2003's A Jamais (Forever). "A Jamais was recorded in the south of France with French musicians, the first time I've recorded outside the US. It also consists, as does Sittin' On The Thing With Ming, almost entirely of my own originals, some of which had been previously recorded, others being recorded here for the first time."

1996's Let's Call This Monk, with bassist Dennis Irwin and drummer Mickey Roker marks Breakstone's debut for the Double-Time label. In 2000 he recorded a subsequent tribute to another of the great jazz pianists with his The Music of Bud Powell. Sandwiched in between on Double-Time was his 1999 This Just In.

There is one additional and very unique item of interest in Joshua's discography as a leader, Japanese Songs. "As it says in the liner notes, it all began with the gift. When I was touring Japan in the spring of 1999, I was given an extraordinary present by Junko Noda, an opera singer, pianist and teacher - a handmade book of Japanese songs. From this gift sprang the Japanese Songs CD, which is self produced- a limited edition of only 1000 copies, each one hand signed and numbered. I'm really proud of this very special project."

What does the future hold for Joshua? "We may do another recording in France, possibly a duo with the brilliant Louis Petrucciani who plays so fabulously on A Jamais. We're also discussing doing a recording in Japan with Japanese musicians. I'm leaving a few days free to visit studios on my next trip there, in April." "I'm basically trying to do what I do better and better. I'm trying to keep writing, constantly learning new tunes and being exposed to players who are new to me - I feel that my travel and performance schedule contributes a lot to my growth, and hopefully the recordings will document that."

"In teaching, either in clinics or individually, I describe to students the progression we make as jazz musicians, starting with learning to improvise, to negotiate any harmonic terrain, which could be a lifetime of work right there. But when we take a step back and consider, to become an improviser is not really to have accomplished anything at all- the goal in jazz is one of self expression- to become a unique voice, to say something in our own way, with our own voice. It's only in the taking of this leap- from someone who improvises to someone who communicates- that we go from being musicians, craftsmen, to becoming artists. I don't worry about trying to be this thing or that other thing, my idea has always been to try and say something straight from my heart. It's always been my conviction that if you say something unique, in your own way, and honestly, that there will always be an audience there for you, you'll always be all right."

The best of the year 2009, Jazz and Bossa Magazine

Reneé Olstead - Skylark

Gretchen Parlato - In a Dream

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette - Yesterdays
Mariana Aydar - Peixes Pássaros Pessoas
Bebo e Chucho Valdes - Juntos Para Siempre
Chick Corea & Hiromi - Duet
Miguel Zenón - Esta Plena
Magos Herrera - Distancia
Joe Beck & Laura Theodore - Golden Earrings
Brenda Hopkins Miranda - Memoirs from Granada
Liza Lee - Anima

Swinging "What's My Line?"

From JazzWax.com
What's My Line? appeared on TV from 1950 to 1967. For those unfamiliar with the show, the format was brilliant: Four panelists tried to guess the identity of a mystery guest by taking turns asking questions, with the guest answering merely "yes" or "no." The high point was the celebrity-guest segment, during which panelists wore blindfolds and the superstar answered in a disguised voice. If the panelists wound up stumped when time or the question allotment ended, the VIP won. No cash prize, just a little crow to eat. Most of the time, however, the erudite panelists figured out who the big shot was—helped in part by their vast knowledge of show business. The intensity of the live audience's applause when the star guest emerged to sign the chalkboard helped quite a bit, too. (That's Julie London's hip signature above.)

Most of the time, guests were leading movie stars, comedians and entertainers. But occasionally, the show would feature jazz greats and pop singers. Not sure what sort of present to get so many of you for the holidays, I simply decided to cull 11 of these jazz-pop appearances below. Enjoy—and Merry Christmas!
(c) Marc Myers and JazzWax.com/Reprinted by permission
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Carri Bella’s exquisite voice calls to mind the whimsy of Annie Ross....

Carri Bella’s exquisite voice calls to mind the whimsy of Annie Ross in one moment and the sultry stylings of Julie London in the next. While much of her repertoire is comprised of standards from the Great American Songbook, she steers clear of tired old stand-bys, instead opting for the quirkier side of Cole Porter or the Mancini tune that is rarely sung. Carri’s passion for story-telling with a twist also leads her to explore instrumental tunes with words added by clever lyricists. In fact, she has even penned a few of those herself. Some of those tunes will appear on her first CD (see blog for updates). In the meantime, you might catch her performing at a club, restaurant, winery or special event in the Pacific Northwest with any of the area’s top jazz instrumentalists. The Carri Bella Combo typically includes guitar or piano along with bass, drums or more intruments depending upon what the scene calls for.

Influences
In college, I was crazy for vocal harmonies, so I idolized Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Manhatten Transfer, The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshman and other groups of that ilk. At the same time, I listened to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Lena Horne, Carmen McRae, Flora Purim, Sarah Vaughan and early Al Jarreau. Somewhat later I discovered many of the superlative singers of the 50s and 60s such as Chet Baker, Nancy Wilson, Astrud Gilberto, Mark Murphy, Julie London, and the oh-so-hip sound of Sergio Mendes. I still listen to all those folks, but nowadays I also love many contemporary jazz vocalists. Two of my favorites hail from across the pond: Ian Shaw and Claire Martin.

Other favorite vocalists include DeeDee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Holly Cole, J.D. Walter, the amazing Kurt Elling and the unparalleled Nancy King. I’m fortunate to live in Portland, so I can see and hear Nancy frequently! My love for vocal jazz remains undimmed, so of course, I am a big fan of New York Voices as well. It’s impossible to be unaffected by any of these vocalists, so they have all influenced me in some way.

However, some of my biggest idols are Jon Hendricks for being one of the most clever lyricists to walk the planet, Kurt Elling for teaching me to be what I would call a “thinking person’s vocalist,” Nancy King for inspiring me to take bigger improvisational risks, and Al Jarreau for being able to make the most unbelievable sounds to come out of anybody’s mouth. He’s the one cat I would absolutely have to take with me if I knew I would be stranded on a deserted island. :-)

Sara Tavares - Album: Xinti

Merry Christmas.....

Maybe light blogging ahead. It's hard to tell. I am on my way down south to see my favorite hero of the Republic, my father. Here is a sample from an album I tried to find years ago and failed. Kenny Burrell's Stormy Monday. All things considered, Burrell is probably my favorite jazz guitar player.

This is Burrell's version of a recently featured song. Burrell is less interested in the mood of the song and more in it's musical architecture than Wes Montgomery was. Enjoy the comparison.
Kenny Burrell/One for my baby/Stormy Monday
From the All Music Guide:
[Burrell is] joined by pianist Richard Wyands, bassist John Heard, and drummer Lenny McBrowne

Barney Kessel Kenny Burrel Grant Green _Blue mist
Enviado por dugudu75. - Videos de musica, clipes, entrevista das artistas, shows e muito mais.

PhotoStory: Miles Davis

From JazzWax.com
I've always loved this Herb Snitzer image of Miles Davis. The trumpeter isn't posing or glaring at the camera. Instead, he's caught in motion, looking back at someone who has caught his eye. There's velocity here and a perspicacious flash, like a star athlete captured in mid-air making a split decision. Interestingly, Davis' restless, caged expression is similar to Frank Sinatra's. Both were fully aware of their living-legend status, happy to be the center of attention but always in control.

Is Davis smiling? Why do we see just one eye? How was the photograph taken? And when? I asked photographer Herb Snitzer to explain: "I took this image of Miles Davis backstage at the Apollo Theater in 1960. It was taken soon after the release of Kind of Blue, so Miles was flying high. It was my first encounter with the trumpeter, who was a rather open and relaxed guy back then. I didn’t speak with him that night, but I do recall he was easy-going and messing around with his band members"

I went to the Apollo on my own to photograph Miles and his group. There were no writers with me. I was on staff with Metronome at the time, but this wasn’t an assignment. I was just curious, and I'd often go out on my own to photograph jazz musicians.

"In the image, the blur in front of Miles is actually an out-of-focus Philly Joe Jones. I like this one-eye view of Miles. Believe it or not, the image wasn't accident. I had planned to capture just a part of Miles as a way of saying that I didn’t really know this person, only a part of him—his background, his music and so on. In addition to Philly Joe, Miles’ entire group was backstage, along with disc jockey Symphony Sid.

"I was using my Nikon SP Rangefinder 35 mm camera without a flash, just high-resolution Tri-X film. Backstage wasn’t the most ideal place to photograph by available light, and going forward I learned real fast to bring a small flash unit with me. "I was relatively new both to photography and to the jazz world, and when I look back on what I was able to accomplish in the seven years I lived in New York, I feel blessed.

"I saw Miles from time to time over the years, including in 1988, 1989 and finally at Newport, RI, in 1990. By then he was, emotionally, a far different person than the person I photographed 30 years earlier."
—Herb Sni
...(c) Marc Myers and JazzWax.com/Reprinted by permission
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