tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84694266781802879932024-02-08T10:06:31.928-05:00All About JazzImportant news from the web's leading jazz music destination.AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-28452372750769422902011-11-10T06:58:00.003-05:002011-11-10T06:58:57.481-05:00Mike Westbrook: Art Wolf at 75<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/photos/2010/mikewestbrook620x355.jpg width=500>
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Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine a jazz composer who began with Ellington and then moved on through Mingus. He soon encompassed rock music, Kurt Weill, Rossini, the traditions of English church music and the pastoralism of Vaughan Williams and Holst, but still found a place in his music for The Beatles, European political cabaret and The Great American Songbook.
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And what if his inspirations ranged from painters like Paul Nash, Caspar Wolf and J.M.W. Turner to Lorca, William Blake, Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Siegfried Sassoon and Bertolt Brecht, and his subject matter took in war, life and death, the decline and fall of European culture, the Ballet Russes choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, man's fall from grace, the '69 moon landing, the Greek muses and the irresponsible song of the little Sedge Warbler. Now add that he's performed everywhere from street corners, political demonstrations, factory canteens and geriatric hospital wards to circus tents with acrobats and fire-eaters to West End theatres and some of Europe's finest concert halls.
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Doesn't really sound like one guy, does it? Actually, it's two cats but that's two other stories we'll come back to later. But answer me—how does that sound to you? A bit difficult, a bit too much trouble? You need to try harder. Then maybe you're saying to yourself, "That's cool—heavy but cool," and "Who is this guy?" and you don't mind the jazz police coming around taking names. Well, I'm talking about Mike Westbrook and I'm talking about Kate Westbrook, his musical partner of nearly forty years.
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It was fifty years ago today that Sergeant Westbrook taught the band to play—not quite, but not far off either. It was down in Plymouth, in glorious Devon in the early sixties that Westy started his first band. Westbrook turned 75 this year and can look back over a career that began in that miraculous era of British music that saw the creation of some of the finest pop, rock, folk, jazz and contemporary music ever. And his music was right at the cutting edge of British jazz.
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40693">Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-71548305522358220832011-11-09T17:42:00.002-05:002011-11-09T17:42:14.771-05:00Manfred Eicher: Through the Lens<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/photos/2010/ManfredEicher620x355.jpg width=500>
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It begins in silence, always silence. Since the 1990s, all ECM recordings begin with five seconds of silence, and so, too, do directors Norbert Wiedmer and Peter Guyer open their feature film on the heralded German record label and its enigmatic founder, <em> Sounds and Silence: Travels with Manfred Eicher</em>. As longtime ECM recording artist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=7984">Keith Jarrett</a>'s performance of G.I. Gurdjieff's "Reading of Sacred Books," from the pianist's <em>Sacred Hymns</em> (1980), begins in the background, the film fades in on Eicher, sitting on a simple wooden chair beside an equally unadorned table, steeped in thought. Dissolving to the film's title, an impressionistic car ride suddenly leads to a view from an airplane window, one of many that Eicher experiences as producer of the majority of the label's 40-50 recordings each year. A generally introspective man who, nevertheless, shares plenty of warmth when engaged with the artists on the various sessions represented in the film, Eicher leads an itinerant lifestyle that would be a solitary one, were it not for the demands of the professional life he leads, where the music is all about interaction and engagement.</p><p>As a producer, Eicher is a rare entity, an endangered species, in fact, in a time of DIY recordings; he's also unique amongst the vast majority of producers, whose roles are more about ensuring that a recording comes off on-time and on-budget. Eicher makes sure these things happen as well, but his involvement in the music goes beyond mere practical facilitation; he's an <em>active</em> producer, who becomes directly involved in the very creation of the music, from arrangements to track sequencing...even providing the occasional uncredited musical contribution. Originally a double bassist, he rarely plays anymore—though he has been known to pick up a bass, play a little piano or strike a cymbal, every now and then, if it helps him to communicate. Being a musician may not be an absolute prerequisite, but there's little doubt it allows for a common vernacular that's all the more important when mother tongues are, as often as not, different, and when artists from around the world are regularly placed together in new, globe-spanning combinations.</p><p>Providing more than just an objective ear, Eicher tacitly but invariably increases the number of musicians in any given ensemble by one, so collaborative is the nature of his involvement. Eicher's strong interest in film leaks into the oftentimes cinematic nature of his productions, and he considers his role more akin to that of a film director. He has even said, to further that analogy, that he views the responsibilities of recording engineers like Jan Erik Kongshaug, James Farber and Gérard de Haro to be the audio equivalent of the director of photography, bringing technical knowledge and trained ears to bear in order to help the director and actors—Eicher and the musicians—more fully realize their vision.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40655">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-90496171672881708032011-11-04T07:47:00.001-04:002011-11-04T07:48:13.057-04:00Brian Adler: A World of Percussion<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/large/7/f/f/29bc1e31460c5166a751f5bac586b.jpg width=500 border=0>
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Brian Adler is truly both a drummer and a percussionist—in his world, the drum set coexists peacefully with a dizzying array of ethnic percussion instruments as equal partners in a myriad of musical possibilities. His work with vocalist Sunny Kim in the Prana Trio—which also includes a rotating cast of guest artists such as Frank Carlberg, Stomu Takeshi, Carmen Staaf, and Jeremy Udden—is a case in point. His nimble, sensitive approach to the drum set is matched only by his similarly accomplished work on cajon, tablas, and a host of other ethnic percussion instruments. Never getting lost in his own chops, always totally plugged in to his surroundings in the moment, Adler is the sort of player who always makes the musicians he's playing with sound better. As a composer, he exhibits many of the same characteristics—his writing is consistently intriguing but not overly elaborate. His music is not simple, but there's an economy and a sparseness to it that invites listeners in.
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Brian's latest project is something of an anomaly in the jazz world. <i>The Helium Music Project</i> (Circavision Productions, 2011) is an ongoing, download-only compendium of music created with different musicians in different locations all over the globe. So far, just three tracks have been released, with two more to come in October, 2011. As with all of Brian's other projects, the music is soulful, incredibly diverse, and played with passion and virtuosity.
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<b>All About Jazz: </b>Tell us how you got interested in music, and how you decided to make it your profession.
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<b>Brian Adler: </b>I became interested in music at a young age through kirtans, and began taking drum lessons on an Indian drum called a mridung. As far as making it a profession, I am not sure if I had a moment when I decided; it has always been a big part of my life. And I have a very supportive mother who taught me to reach for the stars. When I was a sophomore in high school, my drum teacher asked me if I wanted to pursue music as a career, and I remember being surprised by the question. I guess I thought it was so obvious that I did.
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<b>AAJ: </b>Your early involvement in non-Western music is not a typical pathway to the drum kit—though it provides insight into your uncanny mastery of all sorts of hand percussion. So tell us about kirtans, the mridung, and how you came in contact with them as a youngster?
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<b>BA:</b> Kirtans are Indian devotional chants or mantras that are sung in a call-and-response fashion. They can be performed with several chanters or sometimes with several thousands of people chanting, and there is typically one or two drummers, a harmonium player, and a cymbal player accompanying them.
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I grew up in and around a meditation retreat center where chants like these were performed regularly. It was not uncommon for the kids there to learn how to play the mridung or one of the other instruments.
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40511">Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-79580713333691108442011-11-04T07:33:00.001-04:002011-11-04T07:36:21.997-04:00Contributor News: November 2011We made several <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=88981" target="_blank">refinements and additions</a> to the website in October and we are looking for your feedback and assistance moving forward.
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Newsletter topics include:
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1. Expansion Plans—We Need Your Help<br>
2. Welcome Aboard!<br>
3. CD Reviews Wanted<br>
4. Books to Review<br>
5. Contributor-related Improvements<br>
6. Archiving Older Interviews and Columns<br>
7. Feedback wanted: How are we doing?
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<a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40734">Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-14848154704285710682011-11-02T12:50:00.000-04:002011-11-02T12:50:05.448-04:00CTI Celebrates Kudu Legacy: Lonnie Smith, Johnny Hammond, Hank Crawford, Esther Phillips<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/medium/9/4/e/63e2103c7940461d708a13d502525.jpg width=500 border=1>
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CTI Masterworks' 40th anniversary reissue program has, until now, focused on producer Creed Taylor's primary label. Two multi-disc sets and 24 single discs have made available on CD cherished CTI LPs by artists such as trumpeters Chet Baker and Freddie Hubbard, saxophonists Paul Desmond and Stanley Turrentine, guitarists George Benson and Kenny Burrell, vibraphonist Milt Jackson and pianist Randy Weston (the little known 1972 masterpiece Blue Moses). Classy affairs all, on which, typically, Taylor blended strong material, top drawer (if, mostly, abbreviated) soloists, solid backbeats and lush orchestral backings.
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The final batch of reissues—four discs originally released between 1971 and 1974—turns the spotlight instead on CTI's funkier imprint, Kudu. Here, while Taylor remained the producer (and Rudy Van Gelder the engineer), the aesthetic was more streetwise than CTI itself—even though Taylor and, on some albums, arranger Bob James, continued to stir in their trademark sweeteners. With Kudu, Taylor struck a fine balance between soul jazz and raw, jazz-inflected funk on the one hand, and sophisticated orchestral arrangements, often including string charts, on the other.
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The 40th anniversary's four featured Kudu artists are organists Lonnie Smith (pictured above, more recently) and Johnny Hammond, alto saxophonist Hank Crawford and singer Esther Phillips. Four decades on, their discs still have legs.
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<a href=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40640&recommended=1>Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-69558643502243037792011-11-02T12:46:00.000-04:002011-11-02T12:47:58.257-04:00Pete Townshend: "Rock Music is Junk", iTunes is a "Vampire" and "What's Next is Already Here."<img src=http://www.hypebot.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20154368ea8f0970c-200wi align=right vspace=2 hspace=12 border=1 width=200>
The BBC invited The Who's Pete Townshend to give a lecture in honor of iconic UK broadcaster John Peel. During the wide ranging, smart and often amusing speech, Townsend professed his love of streaming music and called iTunes a vampire. But that was just the start...
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Pete Townsend:
<p> Firstly, I'm honored to have been asked to do this first lecture in the name of John Peel. John and I were never close friends, and I know he was not always an unconditional Who fan, but through his long-time producer John Walters—who was a great friend to me and to Who drummer Keith Moon—I followed John Peel's career with the sense of a family insider. I don't want to kick off this series of annual lectures with any po-faced intellectualism. Nor do I want to talk about pop music as art—hard for me because music as art is my favorite subject. Neither do I wish to try to make this lecture amusing, or light-hearted or even ironic in the tradition of the sixties and post sixties pop era Peely and I shared. I don't want to try to celebrate John Peel, nor make this into any kind of memorial. That's all been done. So what do I want to do?
<p> I have limited time. Looking at what John Peel did with his show on radio for many years is worth looking at. But I must assume that most listeners will know what he did. Annie Nightingale once told me that John was one of the few deejays at Radio 1 who would take home everything left in the in-tray cubbyholes at the end of each week. More than that, he listened to it all. Sometimes he played some records that no one else would ever have played, and that would never be played on radio again. But he listened, and he played a selection of records in the course of each week that his listeners knew—partly because the selection was sometimes so insane—proved he was genuinely engaged in his work as an almost unconditional conduit between creative musicians to the radio audience.
<p>So he listened. And he took chances with what he played.
<p>And he is gone.
<p>Why was John Peel's system important? Why is listening important? Why is being ready to give space to less polished music important? Will John Peelism survive the internet? Or is John Peelism thriving on the internet without many of us realizing it?
<p>So we have John Peel. The BBC. And—for the purposes of this lecture—iTunes. All enormous icons in music.
<p>Let me introduce you briefly to my inner artist, then I will put him back in his box.
<p><a href=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=89103&recommended=1>Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-46792878547329247352011-10-31T12:18:00.002-04:002011-10-31T12:19:25.242-04:00All About Jazz Improvements: October 2011<img src= http://www.allaboutjazz.com/photos/news/Continuous_Improvement_Icon.gif align=right vspace=2 hspace=12 border=0 width=200>
We've made several improvements to All About Jazz over the last four weeks. Here are just a few:<br><br><strong>Scrollable archive on all landing pages</strong><br><br>We've made it easy to access the archives from our <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article_center.php">article</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review_center.php">CD reviews</a>, <a href="/php/news_center.php">news announcement</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownloads.php">MP3 download</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/calendar/calendar.php">calendar</a>, <a href="/php/album_center.php">upcoming album releases</a>, and <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzguides.php?type=7">guides</a> pages. Just scroll to the bottom of any of our landing pages and look for the numbered scroll bar. You can scroll to page 731 on our CD review landing page in an instant!<br><br><strong>Hot CD Reviews</strong><br><br>We identify our top read <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review_center.php">CD reviews</a> in the last seven days with a flame icon.<br><br><strong>New member profile page</strong><br><br>We improved the appearance and have plans for added features and functionality soon. <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/profile_edit.php">Please make sure your profile is complete</a>.<br><br><strong>Improved Private Message functionality (PM)</strong><br><br>We now include the reply message on the reply form.<br><br><strong>Improved MY AAJ page</strong><br><br><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/profile_edit.php">Update your member profile</a> with your zip code (and city), your favorite jazz genres, your favorite writers, your favorite article types and follow musicians from their profile pages. Setting your preferences will determine what appears on your <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/my.php">MY AAJ page</a>.<br><br><strong>Improved content readability and page performance</strong><br><br>You should notice that pages are loading faster and are more readable thanks the new template we are implementing.<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=8898">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-4065562403624243212011-10-27T18:11:00.000-04:002011-10-31T12:16:10.150-04:00Alice Coltrane and The Flowering of Astral Jazz<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/photos/2010/alicecoltrane620x355.jpg width=500>
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The launch of Impulse! Records' 2-on-1 reissue series—which packages two original LPs on one CD—includes six key albums from the glorious first flowering of the astral jazz forged by pianist and harpist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5848">Alice Coltrane</a> and saxophonist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=4045">Pharoah Sanders</a> on Impulse! towards the end of the 1960s. </p><p> The style emerged following saxophonist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5851">John Coltrane</a>'s passing in 1967, when Alice Coltrane and Sanders—both members of John Coltrane's later groups—repositioned at center stage the African and Indian percussion instruments and song forms with which John Coltrane had colored his music during his final years. They married these with hummable melodies, trance music-informed ostinatos, ambient-rich improvisations and, on Alice's albums, harp. The Indian drone instrument, the tamboura, a stripped-down version of the sitar, was emblematic, as were chanted, often wordless, vocals. </p><p> Astral jazz continued in full bloom until the mid-1970s, when, in hands other than those of Coltrane and Sanders, it degenerated into cliché and, ultimately, into a blissed-out sub-genre of the fusion movement. </p><p> The 2-on-1 reissues are Coltrane's <em>Huntingdon Ashram Monastery</em> (1969), <em>Universal Consciousness</em> (1971), <em>World Galaxy</em> (1972) and <em>Lord Of Lords</em> (1972), and Sanders' <em>Wisdom Through Music</em> (1972) and <em>Village Of The Pharoahs</em> (1973). All these albums have previously been rereleased, but their availability has been patchy and often on relatively expensive, limited editions. </p><p> Unlike some of the tackily produced reissues which have been visited on the Impulse! catalogue by a succession of corporate owners since the 1970s, the 2-on-1 series has been put together with care. The LPs' original gatefold sleeves are not used, but they are reproduced in their entirety in the 12-page booklets included with the discs. You may need a magnifying glass to read the original, lengthy liner notes for the Coltrane discs, but read them you can (and it is worth the trouble). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40624">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-84149542277808618832011-10-27T18:10:00.000-04:002011-10-27T18:13:43.499-04:00Alice Coltrane's Divine Ferocity<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/alicecoltrane_divineferocity_jk.jpg width=500>
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Alice Coltrane's death in 2007 did not bring about the critical reassessment her work deserves. Nothing less than a trailblazer in free and spiritual jazz, the pianist and harpist was a deeply sensitive blues player and top-rate composer. Working in the shadow of her husband, saxophonist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5851">John Coltrane</a>, through his controversial, late-period work and her erratic recording career later in her own life have not helped her legacy but Alice Coltrane's work is Important with a capital "I." If you are making CDs from this two-hour playlist, tracks 1 and 3 make up disc one with the remainder on disc two.
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40651">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-58050790309564051882011-10-25T08:22:00.001-04:002011-10-25T08:22:26.645-04:00Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D. (2011)<img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/juliushemphill_dogonad_tc.jpg" alt="Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D." title="Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D." align="right" border="1" hspace="12" vspace="2" width="200">
<em>Dogon A.D.</em> has long been revered as a classic among jazz connoisseurs; Julius Hemphill's relatively obscure but highly influential debut is widely considered the missing link between the avant-garde and populist forms such as blues, funk and soul. The 1972 recording session for this historic masterpiece originally produced four unique compositions, but Hemphill only issued three on his Mbari Records imprint due to time constraints. Arista/Freedom Records eventually bought the master tapes, using the fourth cut, "The Hard Blues," as the lead-off track to the saxophonist's 1975 LP, <em>'Coon Bid'ness</em>, before reissuing the Mbari set two years later. Long out of print, this limited edition CD reunites the original four tracks for the very first time, packaged in a deluxe mini-replica of the Arista/Freedom jacket.</p><p></p><p>Hemphill, like many of his peers in the aftermath of the 1960s, attempted to reconcile the aesthetic differences between the innovations of the New Thing and the proverbial "music of the people." Critical success was often fleeting for most jazz musicians in this regard, especially those operating in the then nascent fusion scene. This spartan date bears the distinction of being one of the first records to capture an artist of Hemphill's caliber successfully transposing the emotional candor of popular African-American musical traditions—from the sacred to the secular—into the rarefied language of free jazz, without compromising the unique characteristics of either idiom.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40608">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-42008859526261507252011-10-24T10:14:00.001-04:002011-10-24T10:14:17.789-04:00Graham Collier, 1937-2011<img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/medium/d/5/6/4566c8ae62a9f764bc753f327244d.jpg" alt="Graham Collier" title="Graham Collier" width="500">
<p>Composer, bassist and bandleader Graham Collier left town on Friday, September 9,, 2011. He was holidaying with his partner, John, in Crete, when a sudden heart failure took his final breath. It was quick, relatively painless but unexpected. We all felt sure Graham had too much sparkle, too much music in him to go so soon.<br><br>His career, indeed his life, was shaped by music. Collier grew up in Luton, Bedfordshire—reason enough to leave home at 16 to join the army and become a band boy. In his early twenties, he won a scholarship to Berklee School becoming its first British graduate in 1963. His fellow students at the time included Rhodesian-born trombonist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=22697">Mike Gibbs</a> and a precocious vibraphonist by the name of <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5485">Gary Burton</a>, while the school's <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=10353">Herb Pomeroy</a> was an important early influence.<br><br>Collier remained in the States post-graduation but suffered injury in a car crash whilst on tour in Wyoming with the <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=6369">Tommy Dorsey</a> ghost band. Returning to Britain in the mid-sixties, Collier formed his own band and by the early seventies had released a handful of records that remain amongst the finest examples of small group jazz. <em>Songs For My Father</em>, with <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=4385">Alan Skidmore</a> on tenor and <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=12577">Phil Lee</a> on guitar, comes highly recommended, but <em>Mosaics</em> is even greater, revealing an approach to composition and performance that Graham would continue to develop and refine for the rest of his life.<br><br>Reissued recently by BGO records, these albums reveal a rare talent able to fuse a British pastoral compositional sensibility with something far more rambunctiously funky that stemmed from an admiration for <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=9429">Charles Mingus</a>. Even more importantly, BGO included amongst the reissues an alternative and very different recording of <em>Mosaics</em>, as well as a stereo version of <em>Deep Dark Blue Centre</em>. The first two BGO sets are indispensable, while the third is perhaps merely necessary.<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=88675">Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-856932933467297002011-10-23T12:32:00.002-04:002011-10-23T12:34:16.120-04:00Discover Jazz: Andreas Ulvo and Jeremy Udden<a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6981" title="Download "Choral" free jazz mp3"><img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/andreasulvo_lightandloneliness_mr.jpg" alt="Download "Choral" free jazz mp3"height="80" width="80" align="left" vspace="2" hspace="12"></a><br>2011-10-21<br><strong> <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6981" title="Download "Choral" free jazz mp3">Choral</a></strong> (01:51)<br>Andreas Ulvo <br>From: <em>Light and Loneliness</em> (Atterklang)
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<a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6975" title="Download "Bovina" free jazz mp3"><img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/jeremyudden_plainville_ifthepastseemssobright_tc.jpg" alt="Download "Bovina" free jazz mp3" height="80" width="80" align="left" vspace="2" hspace="12"></a><br> Featured: 2011-10-20 <br><strong><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6975" title="Download "Bovina" free jazz mp3">Bovina</a></strong> (03:27)<br>Jeremy Udden<br>From: <em>If The Past Seems So Bright</em> (Sunnyside Records)
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<p>Jeremy Udden is one of those outstanding working musicians on the scene in Brooklyn. A saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, he is—like so many musicians of his generation—influenced by a variety of things outside what is known as jazz, and his music reflects that. He's developed a band called Plainville that offers a different sound and feel. A different tapestry on which musicians can subtly embroider their improvisations. A different mosaic.</p><p>Out of the New England Conservatory, he cut his teeth in bands like the <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=6507">Either/Orchestra</a> and stayed in that organization for about seven years. He eventually landed himself in New York City, but he spent time in China and thought of staying there. This year, moving to Stockholm was on his mind. But all the while, he's pushing new projects and is excited about his distinctive band—sax, electric keyboards including organ, banjo, bass and drums—that produces music with an almost-folk quality.</p><p>"The band is called Plainville because that's the name of the small town that I grew up in, in Massachusetts," says Udden. The band's previous album was also titled <em>Plainville</em> (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2009). "It continues to be a reflection of getting in touch with that, which is definitely a quieter time in my life, a more peaceful time in my life. Also, it's a reflection of the different music I've been into over those years."</p><p><em>If the Past Seems So Bright</em> (Sunnyside Records, 2011) is Udden's third album as a leader. It shows his compositional skills as well as his abilities on saxophone. There are also things beneath the surface, like how he melds the instrumentation and allows his band mates to have a personal say.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40448">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-82020765611308916342011-10-20T07:50:00.002-04:002011-10-20T07:50:29.754-04:00<img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/jacopastorius_60thanniversarycollection_jk.jpg" border="0" width="385" height="300">
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Jaco Pastorius<br> <em>The 60th Anniversary Collection</em><br> <a href="http://wmg.jp" target="_blank">Warner Music Japan</a><br> 2011</p><p>It's hard to believe that it's been nearly a quarter century since Jaco Pastorius died at the outrageously young age of 35. At a time when other electric bassists like <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5737">Stanley Clarke</a> were redefining the role of the instrument—no longer playing only a supporting role, but becoming a front-line partner—Pastorius still managed to shake an already fusion-quaked world with the one-two-three punch of his debut as a leader, <em>Jaco</em> (Epic), his first appearances with fusion supergroup <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=11224">Weather Report</a> on <em>Black Market</em> (Columbia), and his stunningly lyrical work for singer/songwriter <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=9460">Joni Mitchell</a> on <em>Hejira</em> (Elektra/Asylum), all in 1976. Three views of a secret, indeed.</p><p>Sixty years after his birth in Norristown, Pennsylvania—though his parents ultimately relocated to Florida shortly after his birth, a move that would color his music from a very early age—Warner Music Japan has put together the sumptuous <em> The 60th Anniversary Collection</em>, a six-CD box that, if collected together with his 1976 debut, represents the best music Pastorius made as a leader during his relatively brief time on the planet. He may have lept to fame and relative fortune for his seven-year stint with Weather Report—tracks like the knotty "Teen Town," from the group's bestselling <em>Heavy Weather</em> (Columbia, 1977) remaining required 'shedding grist for aspiring electric bassists—and there's no doubt that group's string of Columbia albums, beginning with <em>Black Market</em>, where Pastorius appeared on just two transitional but nevertheless earth-shattering tracks, through to WR's self-titled 1982 swan song, remain vastly influential. But the <em>60th Anniversary</em>'s six albums, starting with 1981's completely unexpected <em>Word of Mouth</em>, not only confirmed Pastorius' inestimable innovations as a performer on fretless electric bass, but clarified his position in the jazz canon, as a composer of considerable weight if not prolificacy—and an arranger whose ear for large ensemble work was, in many ways, a big surprise for those only familiar with his first album and the Weather Report discography.</p><p><a href=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40566>Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-71397074757459167532011-10-18T21:04:00.001-04:002011-10-18T21:04:24.400-04:00Bill Frisell and Bill Morrison's The Great Flood in Select Markets<img src="http://www.krannertcenter.com/images/img.ashx?width=235&img=/images/cm/2011511153925496128174106178/frisell.jpg" align="right" vspace="2" hspace="12" width="170">
<strong>THE GREAT FLOOD<br><br>BILL FRISELL + BILL MORRISON COLLABORATE ON MULTIMEDIA WORK INSPIRED BY THE 1927 MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOODS</strong><br><br>The Great Flood Comes to Select Markets Throughout the U.S.<br><br>Grammy Award-winning guitarist and composer Bill Frisell and Obie-winning experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison recently premiered “The Great Flood,"—an electrifying, soulful, and thought provoking 75-minute multimedia work of original music and film inspired by the 1927 Mississippi River floods. Now, Frisell and Morrison take The Great Flood on the road, stopping at select University and public venues across the country. The complete list of dates is listed below.<br><br>The Great Flood premiered last month at ELLNORA | The Guitar Festival at the University of Illinois' Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and received a standing ovation for its stirring, contemporary perspective on this natural disaster and the ensuing transformation of American society and music. In the spring of 1927, the Mississippi River broke out of its banks in 145 places and inundated 27,000 square miles to a depth of up to 30 feet. Part of its enduring legacy was the mass exodus of displaced sharecroppers. Musically, the Great Migration of rural southern blacks to Northern cities saw the Delta Blues electrified and reinterpreted as the Chicago blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll.<br><br>Members of the Illinois Emerging Digital Research and Education in Arts Media Institute (eDream) and the Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with Morrison on the film, creating data-driven visualizations of the Mississippi River Valley showing the extent of the destructive floodwaters. “This was a novel collaboration between an inspired artist and data-visualization experts," said Donna Cox, director of eDream and AVL.<br><br><strong>The Great Flood is currently confirmed to stop in the following places:</strong><br><br>2011<br><br>Thursday, November 3—Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH <br>Friday, November 4—Zankel Hall, New York, NY <br>Saturday, November 5—Duke University, Durham, NC<br><br>2012<br><br>Saturday, March 31—Wexner Center, Columbus, OH <br>Thursday, April 19—UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA <br>Saturday, April 21—SF Jazz, San Francisco, CA<br><br>Additional dates to be announced.AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-24556997177966622582011-10-18T21:02:00.002-04:002011-10-18T21:02:59.379-04:00Jazz Arts Group of Columbus Releases National Data for Regenerating Jazz Audiences<img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/large/0/0/5/8b219d2e2b470a24915dfc5fea6fb.jpg" align="right" vspace="2" hspace="12" width="170">
The Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) has released findings from a 21-month research project focused on current and potential jazz ticket buyers across the U.S. and in Central Ohio. Funded in part by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) with a $200,000 grant, the Jazz Audiences Initiative (JAI), is a first-of-its-kind study designed to explore how and why people engage with jazz. The main goal was to learn new ways for engaging audiences, and infusing the art form with new energy.<br><br><strong>Jazz Audience Initiative Key Findings:</strong> </p><p></p><blockquote><ol><li>Tastes in music are socially transmitted.</li><li>Across western-based art forms, jazz still draws a relatively diverse audience.</li><li>Consumption of jazz is artist-driven.</li><li>Music preferences are shaped by local programming.</li><li>Younger buyers have categorically more eclectic tastes in music.</li><li>There are many musical pathways into jazz.</li><li>Jazz buyers strongly prefer informal settings.</li></ol></blockquote> <p> “This research provides deep insights into the ways contemporary audiences are choosing to participate in and engage with the arts, and specifically creative forms of music, such as jazz," expressed Robert Breithaupt, Executive Director of the Jazz Arts Group. “From the beginning, we worked collaboratively with our national research partners to share information and new ideas. We're now turning our attention to putting this research into practice and considering the implications of this important data for our organization. We hope other organizations will join us in this work to strengthen the field."<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=88383">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-23488908279310582612011-10-18T21:00:00.003-04:002011-10-18T21:00:47.511-04:00Tom Everett: Jazz at Harvard<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/large/6/5/4/448537352ff81cee0a43324af7f3d.jpg width=500 border=0>
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It's no accident that forty years of jazz at Harvard coincides with forty years of Tom Everett at the esteemed university. Everett founded Harvard University's first student jazz band, taught its first jazz history course and welcomed the campus' first visiting jazz artist. He now leads two jazz bands at the prestigious university, continues to teach jazz history courses and welcomes a different visiting jazz artist each year, working with and commissioning works from Anthony Braxton, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, J.J. Johnson, Steve Lacy and many others. In April 2011, Harvard celebrated "Forty Years of Jazz at Harvard" with an exhibition of manuscripts and memorabilia, a discussion about the history of jazz at Harvard, moderated by Everett and Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music Ingrid Monson, and a star-studded concert at Harvard's Sanders Theater.
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Yet Everett's accomplishments at Harvard are just one part of a long career as a performer, educator and musical advocate. Everett has played with established big bands and premiered over thirty works for bass trombone in the world of classical music. Through it all, he's combined the resourcefulness and imagination of an improviser with the tireless devotion of a teacher.
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<a href=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40494>Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-2146076479708100232011-10-14T06:37:00.001-04:002011-10-14T06:38:38.938-04:00Michael Kaeshammer: Kaeshammer (2011)<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/michaelkaeshammer_kaeshammer_cmb.jpg align=right vspace=2 hspace=12 border=1 width=200 height=200>
It doesn't take a Charles Darwin to realize that the true evolutionary inheritors of <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=4364">Frank Sinatra</a>'s and <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=8659">Peggy Lee</a>'s brand of "popular" music were <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=17745">Elton John</a> and Billy Joel, and not <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5876">Harry Connick, Jr.</a> or <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=11909">Michael Buble</a>, the latter being more keepers of the flame than the former innovators. Had popular music not dissembled into the current confused concoction of country, rock and hip-hop, where might it have ended up? At the door of German/Canadian Michael Kaeshammer, that's where. </p><p> Kaeshammer debuted with <em>Blue Keys</em> (Alma Records) in 1996. Since that time, he has released six more recordings, including this eponymous release. The staggering reality of <em>Kaeshammer</em> is the fact that so much talent—composing, singing, instrumental chops, and arranging—comes so densely packed in a single person. It seems inconceivable that with such a discography, including <em>Kaeshammer</em> in particular, the singer is not more widely known. Because this is music more infectious than the flu. </p><p> Kaeshammer's stylistic range is as deep as it is wide, ranging from the stride piano of the 1930s <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=4460">Willie "The Lion" Smith</a> ("Tightrope") to the Fender Rhodes of the Faces' Ian McLagan ("Kisses in Zanzibar") and singing from 1920's show tunes (an inspired and revamped "Love Me or Leave Me") to the Christopher Cross-meets-Bruce Hornsby style on "Remedy." <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5648">Ray Charles</a>, Leon Russell, Lindsey Buckingham, Elton John, Don Henley, and so on are all here in a sound that can only be called Kaeshammer's own. </p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40516">Continue...</a></p>
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<b>Download a Free MP3</b>
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<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/michaelkaeshammer_kaeshammer_cmb.jpg align=left vspace=2 hspace=12 border=1 width=60 height=60>
<strong><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6904">Love Me Or Leave Me</a></strong><br>
Michael Kaeshammer<br>
<em>Kaeshammer</em><br>
02:51AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-62153212322040271992011-10-13T09:29:00.001-04:002011-10-13T09:29:13.686-04:00Music Matters: The Blue Note Reissue Series<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/photos/2010/BlueNoteTeam620x355.jpg width=500>
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<p>Music Matters has been reissuing classic Blue Note jazz records since 2007. It has dug deep into the catalog, remastering lesser known, infrequently heard titles, and done so with passionate attention to presenting the highest possible sound quality. Offering an analog solution in a digital age, this exceptional series is available on 45rpm vinyl records only. It is an extraordinary collection of music.</p><p>With some of the Blue Note recordings now pushing 60 years old, it's wholly appropriate to release a first-rate reissue series, but to do it right requires people who are fanatics about these titles and who bleed enthusiasm for the music. It also helps to have folks with the attention to detail necessary to worry about the weight of the vinyl and the type of ink used in the jackets. It requires folks who are a little crazy about making the best possible pressings, and are willing to go to any length to make it happen. Ron Rambach (far left above), owner of Music Matters, and his friend and co-conspirator, Joe Harley (second left, with Steve Hoffman, second right, Kevin Gray, far right), have personally overseen every element of the reissue series since its inception. They're both a little nuts about classic Blue Note records, and they've channeled their madness into an exceptional collection.</p><p>Rambach and Harley are music fans first and foremost, and they approached reissuing the Blue Note catalog as an extension of their dedication to the label. Original 33rpm Blue Note albums are scarce and outrageously expensive. Many collectors have at least one original Blue Note that they just had to buy, even though the vinyl had clearly been used for target practice. The label has so much cache that some folks will pay a premium for a scratchy, damaged Blue Note record just to have it, even when a CD of the same performance may be readily available. Rambach, a long time dealer in collectible vinyl, was concerned that people would only ever hear poor quality copies, and that they'd overlook lesser known titles: "I didn't know how the next generation was going to hear this music. It's the music that needs to be discovered. It's about bringing these guys back." Both men had a deep knowledge of the label's catalog through their own collections and felt strongly that, handled properly, a reissue could offer something new to enthusiasts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40477">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-79112979918802177792011-10-11T06:54:00.001-04:002011-10-11T06:54:30.257-04:00Tierney Sutton: In Union There is Strength<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/photos/2010/TierneySutton620x355.jpg width=500>
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Bands come in all shapes, sizes and dynamics. Some thrive on the tensions, while others fall apart too soon due to creative differences or inflated egos. None of these challenges seem to present themselves to the group of musicians that takes its name from the vocalist Tierney Sutton. With nine albums under its collective belt, complemented by three Grammy nominations, the Tierney Sutton Band is about to tour again in support of its American Road release (BMF Jazz, 2011).
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Since Sutton formed the group in 1994, she has exerted what appears to be a healthy and positive influence over the band's structure and modus operandi, based on her religion. Her adoption of the Baha'i faith, at the age of 18, has led her to incorporate its fundamental principle of collective evolution in the creation and nurturing of the Tierney Sutton Band. Along with Sutton, the band comprises up to four additional members: Christian Jacob (piano), Trey Henry and/or Kevin Axt (bass) and Ray Brinker (drums). The decisions the band makes are holistic, and are focused on providing an effective conduit between the music and the audience—stretching the talents and improvisational skills of each band member, yet seeking to engage and resonate with the listener.
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<b>All About Jazz: </b>What were your earliest musical influences?
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<b>Tierney Sutton:</b> Early on, I had no conscious exposure to jazz, whatsoever. I grew up in Milwaukee, a Midwest town. My parents didn't have many records and didn't listen to music much at home. My mother had a nice voice and some musical tendencies, but they didn't take me to concerts or have records. I showed an interest in music early on and, like many singers I know, could sing before I could talk.
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<b>AAJ: </b>Ah, something you share with Johnny Mercer— his aunt told him he was humming music when he was six months old. As a child, were you encouraged to take up an instrument?
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<b>TS: </b>I took piano lessons and sang in children's choirs. When I was only five years old, I had the lead in a school musical of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. But I didn't really feel passionate about it and want to do it for a living until at college, when I became exposed to jazz for the first time.
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40427">Continue...</a>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-8954012456626083702011-10-11T06:44:00.000-04:002011-10-11T06:56:21.394-04:00Discover Jazz: Ancestral Tales by Anthony BrankerDownload this free MP3 from composer/trumpeter Anthony Branker...
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<font color="#999999">Featured: 2011-10-10</font>
<br><b><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com//php/jazzdownload.php?id=6837">Download Ancestral Tales</a></b> (5:35)
<br>Anthony Branker
<br>From: <i>Dialogic</i><br>Origin Records
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<b>About Anthony Branker</b>
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Dr. Anthony D.J. Branker holds the endowed chair of the <em>Anthony H.P Lee ’79 Senior Lecturer in Jazz Studies</em>, is Founder and Director of the Program in Jazz Studies, and serves as Associate Director of the Program in Musical Performance at Princeton University, where he directs an extensive list of ensembles and teaches courses in jazz theory through improvisation & composition, jazz performance practice in historical and cultural context, jazz composition, and the evolution of jazz styles. He has served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia and has also been a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, Hunter College of the City University of New York, Ursinus College, and the New Jersey Summer Arts Institute. Professor Branker was visiting composer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany and for the Socrates/Erasmus Intensive Programme in cooperation with the European Union, the Association of Baltic Academies of Music, and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. He has been honored by the United States Department of Education with a Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award, the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education Distinguished Teaching Award, the International Association of Jazz Educators Award for Outstanding Service to Jazz Education, and was the recipient of the 2004 Alumni Award presented by the Association of Black Princeton Alumni. Recently, the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education honored Dr. Branker at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark by presenting him with the 2009 Jazz Education Achievement Award for “Outstanding Accomplishment in the Field of Jazz Studies and Continued Dedication to the New Jersey Jazz Education Community.” </p>
<p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=18217">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-47599466421262852622011-10-10T11:55:00.002-04:002011-10-10T11:55:44.083-04:00Miguel Zenon: Jazz Sherpa<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/medium/5/6/e/0d257bd10bde5fd97545bab755b6e.jpg width=500>
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At the dawn of the second decade of his career, saxophonist Miguel Zenón has established himself as one of the most sophisticated and stylish players of the new millennium. In a very short time, Zenón has made his mark as a composer, band leader, educator, and jazz advocate. He has performed and recorded with scores of the scene's most prominent musicians as leader, side man and member of the groundbreaking <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=13975">SFJAZZ Collective</a>, where he is the sole founding member remaining with the group.</p><p>Zenón has taken jazz awareness and education to new levels through his work as a Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassador to West Africa, a guest lecturer and teacher at Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory of Music and elsewhere, as well as with his founding of Caravana Cultural, a quarterly series of concerts and talks aimed at bringing jazz music "to the people" in his native Puerto Rico.</p><p>Zenón's work as an educator extends to his creative endeavors as well. His latest release, <em>Alma Adentro</em> (Marsalis Music, 2011), is his third so far to examine and interpret a musical form from his homeland, in this case songs from the Puerto Rican popular songbook of the mid-20th century.</p><p>All of this work—and much more—earned Zenón a prestigious MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 2008. With its $500,000 prize allocated over five annual installments, the award not only recognizes Zenón's growing impact in the world of music but has afforded him the resources to continue to pursue his passions with vigor.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40414">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-83023130301562961162011-10-07T06:53:00.002-04:002011-10-07T06:53:35.555-04:00MoonJune Records: A Decade of Progressive Rock Documentation<img src=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/medium/4/f/c/29b47c66900744ee1ebdde58723af.jpg width=500>
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On a moon of this past June, appropriately enough, Leonardo Pavkovic, owner of the progressive jazz label MoonJune Records, gave All About Jazz an interview at the label's office in Union Square, New York City. The name MoonJune Records, which Pavkovic started back in 2001, is taken from the title of a song, "Moon In June," that appeared on the Canterbury jazz-rock group, <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=15399">Soft Machine</a>'s 1970 album, <em>Third</em> (CBS). MoonJune Records aims to provide jazz and progressive rock musicians from different continents and different cultural backgrounds with a very personal, hands-on relationship with a label.</p><p>At the time of the interview, MoonJune Records had just hit its 10-year mark. Pavkovic was optimistic about the label's future, and provided details on how he works with musicians and remains responsive to his customers.</p><p>The MoonJune office is a working shrine to some of the best jazz and progressive rock artists, past to present—from Pavkovic's own CDs waiting to be mailed out, to extensive video and book libraries and stacks of trade publications and music magazines. One wall is covered with posters and stickers going back to the late 1960s and English bands such as <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5845">Colosseum</a>, and up to the recent past with Indonesian groups such as <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=29197">Tohpati Ethnomission</a>.</p><p>There is no shortage of interest for a visitor to feast eyes on in this office—and from the way Pavkovic jubilantly blasts music out of his sound system, it is obvious he is a man who loves what he does.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40136">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-85427982544890705942011-10-07T06:50:00.003-04:002011-10-07T06:50:36.224-04:00Grand Union Orchestra: If Paradise<img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/grandunionorchestra_ifparadise_cm.jpg" align="left" border="1" hspace="12" vspace="2" width="200">Grand Union Orchestra <br><em>If Paradise</em> <br><a href="http://www.grandunion.org.uk" target="_blank">Red Gold</a> <br>2011</p><p><em>If Paradise</em>, the biggest jewel in British composer, keyboardist and trombonist Tony Haynes' recording career to date, joins a handful of orchestral albums which have not so much crossed genre and cultural boundaries as rendered them meaningless. Off-piste singularities may exclude these discs from mainstream jazz history, but their exalted singularity make them artifacts to be treasured. Other high-carat items are pianist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=8504">Joachim Kühn</a> and arranger <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=7024">Michael Gibbs</a>'s <em>Europeana</em> (ACT, 1995) and pianist <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=11286">Randy Weston</a>'s <em>Blue Moses</em> (CTI, 1972).</p><p>With "If Paradise," a raga-based suite in eight sections, Haynes and his 19-piece <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=18169">Grand Union Orchestra</a>—formed in 1982 as a vehicle for jazz-based, cross-cultural experiment—blend the music and instruments of Bangladesh and India with the jazz tradition to extraordinary effect. Haynes' genius here, as elsewhere in his corpus of work, has been not merely to bolt colorful ethnic exoticisms onto the exterior bodywork of the jazz tradition; instead, he creates a truly syncretic blend in which, much of the time, it is impossible to say where one culture stops and another starts. Listening to it is like looking through a kaleidoscope with a headful of the finest charas.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=40473">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8469426678180287993.post-34497205758824342902011-10-05T08:03:00.000-04:002011-10-05T08:11:33.996-04:00Discover Jazz: Chora Baiao by Antonio AdolfoDownload this free MP3 from pianist Antonio Adolfo...
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<a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6911"><img src="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coverart/2010/antonioadolfo_chorabaiao_eb.jpg" align="left" border="1" height="90" hspace="12" vspace="2" width="100"></a>
<font color="#999999">Featured: 2011-10-05</font>
<br><strong><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=6911">Download Chora Baiao</a></strong>
(5:11)
<br>Antonio Adolfo
<br>From: <i>Chora Baiao</i><br>AAM Music
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<b>About Antonio Adolfo</b>
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Antonio Adolfo is an important composer, having written
songs recorded by Nara Leao, Marisa Gata Mansa,
Angela Ro Ro, Wilson Simonal, Ivete Sangalo, Leci
Brandao, Emilio Santiago, Beth Carvalho, Sergio
Mendes & Brasil '66, Stevie Wonder and Herb Alpert
among others. Adolfo also had a noted role in the
process of making important music available through
independent production, through the creation of the
pioneer independent label Artezanal. His recordings of
important and almost-forgotten composers of the belle
epoque, like Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazareth and
Joao Pernambuco, are noted cultural initiatives. As an
arranger, he worked for Leci Brandao, Angela Ro Ro,
Elizeth Cardoso, Emilio Santiago, Fatima Guedes,
Marcos Valle, Mongol, Nara Leao, O Grupo, Ruy Maurity
(his brother), Sueli Costa, Vinicius Cantuaria, Rita Lee,
Zeze Motta, and others.</p><p><a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=3277">Continue...</a></p>AllAboutJazz.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14021230403221759712noreply@blogger.com0