Jay grew up in Meriden, Connecticut....

Jay grew up in Meriden, Connecticut in a family whose musical diet primarily consisted of Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, The Beatles and every other British rock group. At age seven, Jay began taking trumpet lessons from his dad (along with a few years of piano). At around eleven, he got his hands on a harmony guitar from his dad's music store and gradually made the Jay's Guitarswitch from brass to strings.

After high school, Jay spent a year at the Hartt School Of Music studying classical guitar with Alan Spriestersbach and Dick Provost before movi

ng to Boston and attending the Berklee College Of Music. While in Boston, Jay had the good fortune of studying with Mick Goodrick, Charlie Banacos and Pat Metheny.

After leaving Boston in 1981, Jay moved to New York and entered a multitude of musical settings. His first gig in New York was with violinist Michael Urbaniak, ushering in the next several years of playing fusion music. During this time Jay worked and recorded with Harvie Swartz, and later Spyro Gyra, which earned him a Grammy nomination. In 1989, Jay recorded his first CD as a leader entitled Never Too Late, produced by Teo Macero on Antilles New Directions.

During this time, the versatile guitarist was also working and recording with artists such as Dave Samuels, Kenny Werner, Fred Hersch, Jeff Beal, David Mann, Ron McClure, Herbie Mann, Chuck Mangione, Jerry Bergonzi, Marc Copeland and singers Michael Franks, Donna Summer, The Manhattan Transfer, Carly Simon and Rickie Lee Jones.

In 1995, Jay received a Masters of fine arts degree from the Conservatory Of Music at Purchase, NY. During this time he studied composition with Edgar Grana and began teaching at the Conservatory as well as at Manhattanville College.

In 1997, Jay became a member of the John Patitucci band. This group afforded Jay the opportunity to play more expansive music in the acoustic jazz setting. The groups that John put together for tours were always great, especially the one in Mexico City which included Chris Potter and Adam Nussbaum.

In January of 2000, Jay recorded his second CD entitled Past Tense on Doubletime Records, which included performances by Patitucci, Potter, and Nussbaum, along with pianist Charles Blenzig and singers Jill Azzolina and Julie Eigenberg. This recording of seven original songs was produced by both Azzolina and Patitucci, marking a new period of playing and writing for Jay.

After a busy year of performing, writing and teaching closer to home, Jay's new compositions have been captured on his latest recording, Local Dialect. On this new project for Garagista Music, the celebrated guitarist does something he's never done on any previous release: Rather than concentrate on one particular genre or theme, he decided to open the doors of his imagination and let the music dictate where it would go.

Recorded over the space of a few days at The Cutting Room and Quad Studios in Manhattan, Local Dialect benefits from Janko Radosavljevic's street-smart sonic conception. With his double-barreled background in jazz and hip-hop, the Yugoslavian-born producer invests Azzolina's performances with an urgent, immediate presence.

Also available is Jay Azzolina Live at One Station Plaza, a gig recorded in Peekskill, New York. Adam Nussbaum is featured on drums along with B-3 organist Gary Versace. This recording revisits the classic organ trio with a twist of the unpredictable.

Commenting on his latest recording, Local Dialect, Azzolina states, "This is honest material, it came from me, and it's who I am at this point in my life. That's what matters to me now as a musician, more than anything else."

Are you a coaster or a climber?

 by Minim

There are basically two kinds of musicians, I call them coasters and climbers.

The majority of musicians are coasters. A coaster is somebody who has reached a certain level of proficiency and stays there. At some stage in their lives they put in a tremendous amount of work to get to a certain level and they strived to improve through dedicated practice.

However, somewhere along the line they stopped practising seriously and started to coast on the ability that they already had. It doesn't mean that they gave up music, on the contrary, there are many professional musicians who would fall into this category. A coaster may still play regularly, but he no longer practises.

With this in mind, It's important to define the term 'practice'. Practice is the process by which we learn how to do things that we cannot currently do. If you're not working on something you cannot do, then it's not practice - it's playing.

Coasters may spend time with their instruments when they're not performing, but that time is spent doing the things that they already know how to do. It's also important to realise that coasters may play to a very high standard. Just because they've stopped advancing as musicians, it doesn't mean that the level they have reached is not advanced.

Teachers, and particularly classroom teachers, are often perfect examples of coasters. They will certainly played to a high standard to get their music degree, but the demands of the teaching profession have pushed their own musical development to one side. They may play every day, but the material that they are playing is likely to be well within their musical capabilities. They may have to learn new music from time to time, but again it's unlikely to be of a standard that will stretch them musically, merely unfamiliar. Many teachers reached the zenith of their musical abilities during their college years and will never play to that standard again.

This is not meant to denigrate teachers in any way. The skills required to be a great teacher are not necessarily the same as those required to be a great player and given the amount of time a dedicated teacher devotes to his/her students, it's not surprising that personal practice is less of a priority. I am merely using them as an example of musicians who play to a high standard, but are not improving.

There are also many seasoned professional players who fall into this category; they may not touch their instruments from one gig to the next and if they're not playing in public, they're not playing at all. Again, they may play to a high standard, but they're not going to get any better.

It's not hard to find coasters if you want examples. Think about your local jazz scene - and particularly some of the guys who've been on that scene for a while. Are they getting better? Can you hear new things in their playing or are they essentially producing the same sounds over and again? I'll lay odds the majority are coasters.

By contrast, climbers are on a path of continuous development. They are never content to rest on their laurels and strive through dedicated practice to evolve as players and musicians. No matter how good they may be, there are always things that they are working on and areas that they are actively trying to improve.

Sonny Rollins is a great example of a climber. Despite that fact that he had already recorded Saxophone Colossus, Tenor Madness and Way out West by the end of the sixties, Sonny felt that he wasn't musically where he wanted to be. As a result, he went into seclusion and for two years he did little else but practise and study musical theory and composition. Throughout his musical career he has played bebop, free jazz, fusion and anything else that has taken his musical imagination. He has continued to evolve and learn. As he pointed out in an interview with George Goodman in Atlantic Monthly:

"There are people who want to hear the way I sounded on Saxophone Colossus. You don't go back over the same ground and stay creative."

Sonny Rollins will be 81 this year and still personifies the passion and dedication to his art that has characterised his career. In the same interview he sums up his attitude to life and music as he enters his ninth decade.

"I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't have hobbies, because music is everything for the remaining time I have on this earth."

Climbers like Rollins are the exception rather than the norm in music. Many musicians look at players like Sonny and John Coltrane and Charlie Parker and turn into coasters because they are intimidated by tales of them practising 8-10 hours a day.

Incidentally, I heard a great anecdote about John Coltrane's dedication to practice yesterday. Apparently musicians who knew him used to say if you walked past his apartment and the lights were on, it meant he was practising: If the lights were off, it meant he had a gig!

It's pretty easy to be intimidated by the greats, and it's also pretty easy to fall into the trap of thinking that unless you can do 8 hours of practice every day then you're not going to get anywhere. However, it's important to realise that you don't have to be putting in hours and hours every day if you want to improve. It's not about how long you practice, but how often.

The first step in improving as a player is deciding that you're going to. Once you decide you're going to be a climber for the rest of your musical life then the actions are obvious. You might only get 15 minutes a day to practice, but if you spend those 15 minutes working on something you can't do, and stick with it for as long as it takes until you can do it, every day you'll go to bed a better player than you were when you woke up.

It's so easy to fall into coasting, especially if you've already reached a certain level of musical competence. The challenge we all face as musicians is continuously to push ourselves to become more. Some of us will accept that challenge but most of us won't and that's OK. The world is going to carry on spinning either way.

http://playjazz.blog.co.uk/2011/06/23/are-you-a-coaster-or-a-climber-11363688/

Ratzo Harris is considered an innovative bassist....

A 1984 National Endowment for the Arts recipient, 1995 Thelonius Monk Competition Semi-finalist and past contributing columnist for Bass Player magazine; Ratzo Harris is considered an innovative bassist who has worked with some of the greatest musicians of our time.

John Handy, Charles Lloyd, Joey Lovano, Jon Hendricks, Ted Curson, Tim Berne, Betty Carter, Helen Merrill, Les Paul, Joanne Brackeen, Joe Henderson, Jim Pepper and Betty Buckley are just a few of the artists who have repeatedly called on his services for concerts, tours and collaborations.

“Ratzo…defies musical gravity as he explores, wanders and expounds upon the outer reaches of his instrument.” — Peter La Barbera, The Jazz Zine

This video is the Bruce Arnold Trio with Ratzo B. Harris and Tony Moreno performing at the NYU Summer Guitar Intensive in 2005. The composition is called Factorial which is a serial composition based on 027 026 and 027 026. It is a algorithmic composition in that an algorithm was used with the computer program SuperCollider to create the melody.

Mr. Farnham is active in the recording industry,,,

Allen Farnham has been active in the New York City jazz scene as a pianist, composer/arranger, producer and teacher since the early 1980's.  He has performed and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Eddie Henderson, Frank Wess, Tom Harrell, Arthur Blythe, Special EFX, the John Fedchock NY Big Band, and Charlie Byrd.  He has also accompanied a wide range of vocalists, including Mel Torme, Ernestine Anderson, Mark Murphy, Liza Minnelli, Susannah McCorkle, Roseanna Vitro, and Helen Merrill.

Mr. Farnham is active in the recording industry, having recorded extensively as both a leader and side musician, and has worked as a staff producer and arranger for the west coast based jazz label, Concord Records.  He has also served as that company's director of national radio promotion.

As a producer, he has produced over 50 albums for such artists as Charlie Byrd, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Lew Tabackin, Chris Potter, Buddy DeFranco and Jack McDuff.  Mr. Farnham's arranging credits include recordings by Eden Atwood, Susannah McCorkle, Veronica Martell, Jesse Davis, and Monty Alexander, as well as his own albums.

A 1997 release by Concord Records, "Allen Farnham Meets The RIAS Big Band," features his original compositions and arrangements for the renowned RIAS Big Band of Berlin, Germany.

A graduate of the Oberlin Music Conservatory, Mr. Farnham has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment For The Arts and the Meet The Composer Foundation.

He also holds a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging from William Paterson University and  has been commissioned to write works for the CUG Orchestra (Nagoya, Japan), NPO Glovill (Tokyo), the RIAS Big Band, and the Englewinds Chamber Ensemble.  He is presently an adjunct faculty member of the jazz department at New Jersey City University, Jersey City, New Jersey.

Mark Sherman-Vibes
Allen Farnham-Piano
Phil Palombi-Bass
Tim Horner-Drums

Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Ricky Riccardi's much anticipated What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years (Pantheon) is out today. Ricky is an Armstrong scholar and archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, N.Y. He also writes the terrific blog The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong. [Pictured: Ricky Riccardi]

Here's a taste from Ricky's new book:

Armstrong's longtime physician Alexander Schiff agreed that the engagement [at the Waldorf-Astoria in March 1971] should have been canceled. "Even at the end, when his last date was at the Waldorf-Astoria here in New York City, we wanted to cancel that contract," Schiff said. "But he said, 'Oh, you can't do that to me. This is the first big engagement I have in New York City at the best hotel, and I'm gonna finish that contract.' "He was very, very sick at that time, and he had lost so much weight that people didn't even recognize him."

Writing about the performance a few months later, RichardMeryman inferred Armstrong probably saw it as too important of a gig to cancel. "He had to be helped on and off the stage," Meryman recounted. "To Louis, no doubt, that date—his first at the Waldorf—was a kind of pinnacle, a very specific measurement of the distance from squalid James Alley. For that—and for him—I am much more happy than sad."

As the Waldorf run continued, Armstrong's trumpet playing suffered. "His playing the trumpet was—I wouldn't say 'shameful,' but it wasn't Louie" Schiff said. "It was a different person playing that trumpet."[Clarinetist] Joe Muranyi, too, remembered Armstrong's chops deserting him on a recorded version ofIndiana. "He plays Indianaand he's got no chops at all, he's physically in terrible shape," he says about the tape. "And the old man, I cried when I heard it a couple of times and I couldn't play it anymore. He plays Indianawith all the mistakes, and he tries to make something happen with the mistakes. And it's, you know, he wouldn't give up."

Armstrong was so determined to keep playing [at the Waldorf]that he focused all of his offstage time on resting... Nothing would stop Armstrong, as he lived to perform. If he couldn't entertain, he couldn't be happy. His health already had kept him from doing what he loved for almost two years, and it had depressed him tremendously. Now back onstage, he was determined to stay there, even it it killed him.

Armstrong died on July 6, 1971, less than four months after the Waldorf-Astoria gig, his last performance appearance.

JazzWax pages: You'll find Ricky Riccardi's What a WonderfulWorld: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years(Pantheon) here.

JazzWax clip: Here's Louis Armstrong on comedian Flip Wilson's TV variety show in 1970...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

A Second Chance

A letter from Christina Duren

Hi Claudio

Hope all is well! I wanted to contact you because I have another artist that I feel would be a great fit for your site, Erin Dickins. After a decade plus hiatus from the music business, jazz vocalist Erin Dickins is back with a new album and a new attitude.

A founding member of the original jazz vocal group Manhattan Transfer, Dickins’ latest CD Nice Girls is a collection of beautifully recorded, exquisitely performed and brilliantly chosen gems - from cool sultry ballads to swinging arrangements. The release is the perfect soundtrack to Dickins’ comeback.

Though she began recording Nice Girls in 2009, one could say that the opus has been in the making for the better part of the last two decades. Having recorded with a virtual who’s who of musical geniuses— from James Brown and James Taylor to Leonard Cohen and Talking Heads.

Please take a second to check out Erin's music, full bio, tracks, and more on her Virtual Press Kit: http://cyberpr.biz/clients/2895

Check out her video "Nice Girls" on YouTube as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUYoWUFUCEM&feature=player_embedded

I am wondering if you might have an interest in interviewing her or Q&A. It was recorded in New York with Rob Mounsey, David Finck, Ray Marchica, among others. I think it is kind of a fresh take and you may enjoy it!.

Look forward to your feedback.

Thanks,
Christina Duren

Sara will become the next Official State Musician of Texas

Let's start with May 2010
Sara will become the next Official State Musician of Texas, following in the footsteps of the legendary Willie Nelson, and she plans on using this title to help families create together and bring art programs into public schools.

But, at the very beginning...
Age 7: Sara got a guitar. She named it Martha.
Age 8: Sara wrote/performed her first song on stage, winning first place from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

As a child in Houston
With a fiber artist mother, a painter for a dad, a soccer playing sister, Sara's world was full of interactive creativity: writing, painting, wild art parties thrown by her parents on occasional weekends, with interesting women in fur coats and long cigarettes, collegiate art students around the piano, everyone singing "Girl From Ipanema," Sara in pajamas, eyes full of enthusiasm.

Teen Years
Sara attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts, studying vocals and beginning to perform at bank openings, weddings, in psychiatric units, and even at a pizza parlor. She also started getting involved in bands.

College Years
Graduated w/a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of North Texas/Denton. Set to become an art director, she switched plans when she moved to Dallas, creating her first album, Equal Scary People with Brave Combo founder, Carl Finch, who had seen her on a cable access show.

Multiple awards were won from the Dallas Observer, so Sara landed a deal with Windham Hill, then Elektra. Sara began touring, playing festivals, appearing on VH1, singing on the Tonight Show.

Then... Crash!
Elektra decided to shelve Sara's next project and drop the album. Sara's fans rallied together to help her raise $50,000 to buy the album back. It was a moving testimony to the power of the people.

Sara does a world of good. She's raised hundreds of thousands of $'s for: the Dallas Dance for Life; House the Homeless; Bryan's House; AAIM; PETA; Amnesty International; homeless shelters, SPCA, Mothers' Milk Bank, TCADP; visited Romania to deliver clothing, money and supplies to orphans; and personally raised more than $50,000 for the Hill Country Youth Ranch in Ingram, Texas, a safe haven for severely abused children.

The HCYR then opened the Sara Hickman Childrens' Fund, which accepts matching grants and buys musical instruments, dance shoes, and art supplies for the children of the ranch. Sara's involvement in music and art therapy continued through ARTS (Artistic and Recreational Therapies), leading her to perform for children in burn units, AIDS and stroke victims, and in psychiatric units, where she utilized her talents and love to help with the healing process.

Lastly, in 2004, Sara was the National Ambassador for Half Price Books visiting hospitals and schools across the U.S., helping to promote literacy where she performed and read to children.

Sara produced, directed, and filmed her first video, Joy, winning first place in the USA Film Festival; started a side project, Domestic Science Club, a three-part girl group best described as "the Andrews Sisters meet the Roches." This group released two CDs, Domestic Science Club and Three Women.

Sara's toured with Billy Bragg, Nanci Griffith and Dan Fogelberg. Opened for everyone from Lucinda Williams to John Hiatt to the Decemberists.

As an actress Kat is compelling and authentic....

Her entire life, Kat has been soul-searching and exploring the world with her ear tuned to music in the air. She has traveled and worked widely – Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Europe, North America and the Atlantic – and continues to seek influences and audiences abroad.

As an actress Kat is compelling and authentic, visually engaging and emotionally sensitive. With the professional conservatory training received at Tisch’s unique network of studios, she brings depth to characters from Sondheim to Chekov to Rogers and Hart. Kat has a profound understanding of theatrical studies ranging from avant-garde to Broadway; from classical texts to modern American drama.

Kat’s voice, a four octave instrument, comes from a place deep within that touches love, loneliness, longing, and wonder. Revealing the superb vocal finesse and agility for which she is known, Kat can sound vulnerable, omnipotent, saucy, or madly in love.

Listen for the intensity in her whispers, the power behind her belts, and her playfulness with words and melodies. Fall in love with her incomparable voice, her vivacious spirit, and her exceptional music.