Tomorrow night, November 13, don't miss Anna Mjöll, the LA-based Icelandic Jazz Princess, back at Herb Alpert's Vibrato superclub in Bel Air.Call 310-474-9400 for reservations.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Herb Alpert's Vibrato Presents Anna Mjoll
Tomorrow night, November 13, don't miss Anna Mjöll, the LA-based Icelandic Jazz Princess, back at Herb Alpert's Vibrato superclub in Bel Air.Call 310-474-9400 for reservations.
EMI sold in pieces to Sony and Universal Music
EMI Group Sold as Two Separate Pieces to Universal Music and Sony
by Alex Pham - Los Angeles Times
November 12, 2011
The century-old EMI Group music company has been split in two and sold for $4.1 billion to Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. The absorption of the music giant leaves only three major record companies in control of an eroding industry.
The deal announced Friday calls for Universal to acquire EMI's recorded music division from EMI parent company Citigroup Inc. for $1.9 billion, and Sony to acquire the smaller but more lucrative music publishing business for $2.2 billion.
The two edged out rival bids from Warner Music Group and BMG Chrysalis. Warner had vied for the recorded music unit whose roster includes Norah Jones and Lady Antebellum, while BMG Chrysalis bid for EMI Publishing, whose catalog includes classics such as "Over the Rainbow" and "New York, New York."
With the deal leaving Warner, BMG and Universal as the only major players, antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe are expected to review the transaction for possible anti-competitive issues.
But the industry is shrinking, mainly because the big houses are struggling to remain profitable and now have to compete with the numerous alternatives that technology and the Internet have given to artists.
Globally, music sales sunk to $18.4 billion last year from $29.4 billion in 2005, according to a report from research firm Enders Analysis.
As a result, the power of record companies to dictate what albums are produced has been diluted, said Mike McGuire, a music analyst with market research firm Gartner Group. "The choke point that labels enjoyed for years because they owned all the recording studios and all the best producers are over," McGuire said.
Artists now have a plethora of ways to distribute and promote their music and are no longer beholden to record labels, he said. "Labels will have to compete on their ability to help artists."
That's a key reason why antitrust regulators may be likely to clear the deal, legal experts said.
"In a different era, a merger between any of those companies would raise major red flags at the antitrust division," said Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School.
Citing Sirius' 2008 merger with satellite radio rival XM, and Live Nation Entertainment's merger with Ticketmaster last year, Lemley said: "They're letting through mergers in even more concentrated markets, and even some that looked like the merger that created monopolies."
In addition, the recording business is not the crown jewel of EMI. It's the publishing business, which holds the rights to 1.4 million songs, including those by David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and many others.
Though smaller in size than its recorded music division, EMI's publishing group punched above its weight when it came to earnings. The group accounted for 29% of the company's revenue in 2010, the last year for which financial results were made available, but it made up 45% of EMI's operating profit.
The deal is a coup for Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer, who has made music a priority for the company at a time when the industry has been ravaged by piracy and plummeting CD sales. In 2008, Stringer spent $1.2 billion to buy out Bertelsmann's 50% share in a joint venture, Sony BMG.
The sale brings to a close EMI's 114-year run. The independent music company was founded in 1895 by Emile Berliner, a Jewish German immigrant to the U.S. who is credited with inventing the gramophone.
It also caps years of financial and corporate turmoil for EMI. British private equity firm Terra Firma bought the company for $4.7 billion in 2007, using mostly borrowed funds. When it became clear early this year that Terra Firma could not service its enormous loans, Citigroup, the company's primary banker, took ownership of EMI. Citigroup wrote off 65% of EMI's debt with the intention of selling the music company by the end of the year.
Citigroup doesn't walk away free and clear from the deal, however. It must continue to shoulder the cost of a pension plan that covers 21,000 EMI employees, estimated to cost from $200 million to $600 million. Citigroup did not announce how Universal and Sony have arranged to deal with EMI's remaining $1.9-billion debt held by Citigroup.
*************
EMI Is Sold for $4.1 Billion in Combined Deals, Consolidating the Music Industry
by Ben Sisario - The New York Times
November 12, 2011
EMI, the venerable music company that is home to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Motown song catalog, has been sold for $4.1 billion through a pair of deals that usher in a new wave of consolidation in the music industry.
In a complex sale brokered by Citigroup, the Universal Music Group, a division of the French conglomerate Vivendi, will absorb EMI's recorded music operations for $1.9 billion, while EMI's music publishing division will be sold for $2.2 billion to a consortium of investors led by Sony, the companies announced on Friday.
Besides the Beatles, music's biggest trophy, EMI's recorded music assets include Pink Floyd, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra's middle period and current stars like Katy Perry and Coldplay. Its labels include Capitol, Virgin and Blue Note.
The sales ended a four-month auction that was slowed by the instability of the international credit markets. Yet prices were higher than many in the music industry and on Wall Street had expected, helping Citi to recoup some of the $5.5 billion it had lent four years ago as part of a disastrous private equity takeover of the label.
The split of EMI completes the biggest shift in music's corporate structure in almost a decade, reducing the number of major record companies from four to three and allowing Sony and Universal, already the biggest forces in music, to become even bigger.
With Universal and Sony now far outweighing the third major, the Warner Music Group, the competitive landscape of the industry is expected to shift. Warner, which was sold for $3.3 billion in May to the Russian-born investor Len Blavatnik, had offered about $1.5 billion for EMI but dropped out of the bidding two weeks ago over a disagreement about the price.
"From a competitive standpoint it would have been better for the industry if Warner and EMI had merged," said Jeffrey Rabhan, the chairman of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and an artist manager. "You want to have three strong players, not two and a half."
Universal and Sony's deals for EMI will be subject to regulatory approvals, and Universal -- which already controls about 30 percent of the music sold around the world -- may face close scrutiny in Europe. EMI's market share for recorded music is about 9 percent.
EMI, a British company with roots dating to 1887, has been in financial turmoil since 2007 when Terra Firma, a private equity firm, bought it for $8.4 billion using the $5.5 billion loan from Citi. The bank seized EMI in February after the label defaulted on the loan.
Lucian Grainge, the chairman of Universal, pledged to preserve the British identity of EMI.
"For me, as an Englishman, EMI was the preeminent music company that I grew up with," Mr. Grainge said in a statement. "Its artists and their music provided the soundtrack to my teenage years. Therefore, U.M.G. is committed to both preserving EMI's cultural heritage and artistic diversity and also investing in its artists and people to grow the company's assets for the future."
In their most recent annual reports, Universal had just under $6 billion in revenue last year, Sony's music operations $5.7 billion and Warner $3 billion. EMI's recorded operations had $1.8 billion in revenue and its publishing side $749 million for the year ended March 2010, the last period for which it reported accounts.
Universal said it would finance the deal with its existing credit lines. In apparent anticipation of antitrust challenges, the company said it would sell $680 million in "non-core assets." When it bought the BMG publishing catalog in 2007, Universal had to sell more than $100 million in assets to secure the approval of the European Commission.
Sony's bid was financed by a hodgepodge of investors including Blackstone's GSO Capital Partners unit; Mubadala, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi; Jynwel Capital, from Malaysia; and the media mogul David Geffen. The group was corralled by Robert Wiesenthal, chief financial officer of the Sony Corporation of America. (Music publishing, separate from recorded music, concerns the copyrights for the music and lyrics that underlie every recording.)
Sony's $325 million investment gives it a minority stake in the venture, which will keep the EMI name. It will be run as an independent unit within Sony by Sony/ATV, the publishing company owned by Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson. "It has been a long process, but something that people have viewed as difficult -- the problems in the financial markets -- ended up accruing to our benefit," Mr. Wiesenthal said. "We found long-term investors, who are not just looking at the short-term returns typical of private equity."
The Sony deal also reunites Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV's chief executive, with EMI's publishing division, which he had built into the industry's leader before he left in 2007. Among the 1.3 million songs controlled by EMI are a catalog of thousands of Motown songs, and it also has deals with many current R&B and pop songwriters like Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
Some analysts said the disruptions in the music business over the last decade mean that the labels must now justify themselves to generations of artists who have learned to do without them.
"Even with the very large catalogs that these two labels will not have big chunks of, it's still going to be an interesting challenge to see how they remake themselves in the 21st century," said Mike McGuire, a media analyst at Gartner. "So many options are available to artists now that the labels are going to have to show, more than ever, their value as this gigantic entity."
by Alex Pham - Los Angeles Times
November 12, 2011
The century-old EMI Group music company has been split in two and sold for $4.1 billion to Universal Music Group and Sony Corp. The absorption of the music giant leaves only three major record companies in control of an eroding industry.
The deal announced Friday calls for Universal to acquire EMI's recorded music division from EMI parent company Citigroup Inc. for $1.9 billion, and Sony to acquire the smaller but more lucrative music publishing business for $2.2 billion.
The two edged out rival bids from Warner Music Group and BMG Chrysalis. Warner had vied for the recorded music unit whose roster includes Norah Jones and Lady Antebellum, while BMG Chrysalis bid for EMI Publishing, whose catalog includes classics such as "Over the Rainbow" and "New York, New York."
With the deal leaving Warner, BMG and Universal as the only major players, antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe are expected to review the transaction for possible anti-competitive issues.
But the industry is shrinking, mainly because the big houses are struggling to remain profitable and now have to compete with the numerous alternatives that technology and the Internet have given to artists.
Globally, music sales sunk to $18.4 billion last year from $29.4 billion in 2005, according to a report from research firm Enders Analysis.
As a result, the power of record companies to dictate what albums are produced has been diluted, said Mike McGuire, a music analyst with market research firm Gartner Group. "The choke point that labels enjoyed for years because they owned all the recording studios and all the best producers are over," McGuire said.
Artists now have a plethora of ways to distribute and promote their music and are no longer beholden to record labels, he said. "Labels will have to compete on their ability to help artists."
That's a key reason why antitrust regulators may be likely to clear the deal, legal experts said.
"In a different era, a merger between any of those companies would raise major red flags at the antitrust division," said Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School.
Citing Sirius' 2008 merger with satellite radio rival XM, and Live Nation Entertainment's merger with Ticketmaster last year, Lemley said: "They're letting through mergers in even more concentrated markets, and even some that looked like the merger that created monopolies."
In addition, the recording business is not the crown jewel of EMI. It's the publishing business, which holds the rights to 1.4 million songs, including those by David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and many others.
Though smaller in size than its recorded music division, EMI's publishing group punched above its weight when it came to earnings. The group accounted for 29% of the company's revenue in 2010, the last year for which financial results were made available, but it made up 45% of EMI's operating profit.
The deal is a coup for Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer, who has made music a priority for the company at a time when the industry has been ravaged by piracy and plummeting CD sales. In 2008, Stringer spent $1.2 billion to buy out Bertelsmann's 50% share in a joint venture, Sony BMG.
The sale brings to a close EMI's 114-year run. The independent music company was founded in 1895 by Emile Berliner, a Jewish German immigrant to the U.S. who is credited with inventing the gramophone.
It also caps years of financial and corporate turmoil for EMI. British private equity firm Terra Firma bought the company for $4.7 billion in 2007, using mostly borrowed funds. When it became clear early this year that Terra Firma could not service its enormous loans, Citigroup, the company's primary banker, took ownership of EMI. Citigroup wrote off 65% of EMI's debt with the intention of selling the music company by the end of the year.
Citigroup doesn't walk away free and clear from the deal, however. It must continue to shoulder the cost of a pension plan that covers 21,000 EMI employees, estimated to cost from $200 million to $600 million. Citigroup did not announce how Universal and Sony have arranged to deal with EMI's remaining $1.9-billion debt held by Citigroup.
*************
EMI Is Sold for $4.1 Billion in Combined Deals, Consolidating the Music Industry
by Ben Sisario - The New York Times
November 12, 2011
EMI, the venerable music company that is home to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Motown song catalog, has been sold for $4.1 billion through a pair of deals that usher in a new wave of consolidation in the music industry.
In a complex sale brokered by Citigroup, the Universal Music Group, a division of the French conglomerate Vivendi, will absorb EMI's recorded music operations for $1.9 billion, while EMI's music publishing division will be sold for $2.2 billion to a consortium of investors led by Sony, the companies announced on Friday.
Besides the Beatles, music's biggest trophy, EMI's recorded music assets include Pink Floyd, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra's middle period and current stars like Katy Perry and Coldplay. Its labels include Capitol, Virgin and Blue Note.
The sales ended a four-month auction that was slowed by the instability of the international credit markets. Yet prices were higher than many in the music industry and on Wall Street had expected, helping Citi to recoup some of the $5.5 billion it had lent four years ago as part of a disastrous private equity takeover of the label.
The split of EMI completes the biggest shift in music's corporate structure in almost a decade, reducing the number of major record companies from four to three and allowing Sony and Universal, already the biggest forces in music, to become even bigger.
With Universal and Sony now far outweighing the third major, the Warner Music Group, the competitive landscape of the industry is expected to shift. Warner, which was sold for $3.3 billion in May to the Russian-born investor Len Blavatnik, had offered about $1.5 billion for EMI but dropped out of the bidding two weeks ago over a disagreement about the price.
"From a competitive standpoint it would have been better for the industry if Warner and EMI had merged," said Jeffrey Rabhan, the chairman of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and an artist manager. "You want to have three strong players, not two and a half."
Universal and Sony's deals for EMI will be subject to regulatory approvals, and Universal -- which already controls about 30 percent of the music sold around the world -- may face close scrutiny in Europe. EMI's market share for recorded music is about 9 percent.
EMI, a British company with roots dating to 1887, has been in financial turmoil since 2007 when Terra Firma, a private equity firm, bought it for $8.4 billion using the $5.5 billion loan from Citi. The bank seized EMI in February after the label defaulted on the loan.
Lucian Grainge, the chairman of Universal, pledged to preserve the British identity of EMI.
"For me, as an Englishman, EMI was the preeminent music company that I grew up with," Mr. Grainge said in a statement. "Its artists and their music provided the soundtrack to my teenage years. Therefore, U.M.G. is committed to both preserving EMI's cultural heritage and artistic diversity and also investing in its artists and people to grow the company's assets for the future."
In their most recent annual reports, Universal had just under $6 billion in revenue last year, Sony's music operations $5.7 billion and Warner $3 billion. EMI's recorded operations had $1.8 billion in revenue and its publishing side $749 million for the year ended March 2010, the last period for which it reported accounts.
Universal said it would finance the deal with its existing credit lines. In apparent anticipation of antitrust challenges, the company said it would sell $680 million in "non-core assets." When it bought the BMG publishing catalog in 2007, Universal had to sell more than $100 million in assets to secure the approval of the European Commission.
Sony's bid was financed by a hodgepodge of investors including Blackstone's GSO Capital Partners unit; Mubadala, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi; Jynwel Capital, from Malaysia; and the media mogul David Geffen. The group was corralled by Robert Wiesenthal, chief financial officer of the Sony Corporation of America. (Music publishing, separate from recorded music, concerns the copyrights for the music and lyrics that underlie every recording.)
Sony's $325 million investment gives it a minority stake in the venture, which will keep the EMI name. It will be run as an independent unit within Sony by Sony/ATV, the publishing company owned by Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson. "It has been a long process, but something that people have viewed as difficult -- the problems in the financial markets -- ended up accruing to our benefit," Mr. Wiesenthal said. "We found long-term investors, who are not just looking at the short-term returns typical of private equity."
The Sony deal also reunites Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV's chief executive, with EMI's publishing division, which he had built into the industry's leader before he left in 2007. Among the 1.3 million songs controlled by EMI are a catalog of thousands of Motown songs, and it also has deals with many current R&B and pop songwriters like Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
Some analysts said the disruptions in the music business over the last decade mean that the labels must now justify themselves to generations of artists who have learned to do without them.
"Even with the very large catalogs that these two labels will not have big chunks of, it's still going to be an interesting challenge to see how they remake themselves in the 21st century," said Mike McGuire, a media analyst at Gartner. "So many options are available to artists now that the labels are going to have to show, more than ever, their value as this gigantic entity."
Friday, November 11, 2011
Obama - Victory for Veterans
"Dear Arnaldo DeSouteiro --According to our records, you are currently living, registered and voting in California's 30th Congressional District.
Today is Veterans Day -- and it's a special one.
Yesterday, the Senate passed the President's jobs plan to help veterans find work after returning home. It's a huge victory for the men and women who served with honor and distinction, and in many cases put their lives on the line for us.
So let's join the Senate in honoring veterans today -- write a quick note to say thank you. We'll be sharing some of your words on our blog and social networks this weekend.
This wouldn't have happened without your persistence and the President's refusal to take no for an answer. That's why he insisted on Congress voting on parts of the American Jobs Act -- one by one -- until they finally did the right thing.
The two bills that the Senate passed yesterday, the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits, will give businesses up to $9,600 back for hiring veterans who are out of work or who have service-related disabilities. That's on top of new career resources that the President announced this week to support the more than 850,000 unemployed veterans living here at home, and more than a million returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in the next few months and years.
One of the highest duties we share as Americans is to serve the men and women who've served us. We simply couldn't wait for these commonsense steps to help our veterans. And thanks to Democrats and Republicans in the Senate putting country before party, we won't need to.
I hope you'll join me in saying thank you to our veterans by sending them a personal note this Veterans Day:
http://my.barackobama.com/Thank-Our-Veterans
Of course, the fight for jobs is far from over, but yesterday proved that Congress can still come together to do the right thing when Americans demand it. So let's keep the pressure on.
Thanks,
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager - Obama for America"
Norman Granz' biography reviewed
The Forgotten Man of Jazzby Terry Teachout
Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2011
According to Percy Bysshe Shelley, poets -- and, by extension, artists of all kinds -- are "the unacknowledged legislators of the world." Yet the people who make it possible for artists to make art typically get even less acknowledgment. Agents, managers, editors, patrons, producers, art dealers, even the odd critic: All play pivotal roles in the creation and dissemination of art, but few are known by name save to insiders, and fewer still receive the posthumous credit that they deserve. Yes, Joe Orton's emergence as a major playwright was one of the great theatrical success stories of the 1960s -- but the author of "What the Butler Saw" might never have gotten anywhere if Peggy Ramsay, Orton's agent, hadn't taken him on. Yes, Jasper Johns is now universally acknowledged as a key figure in the history of postwar American art -- but it was Leo Castelli's decision to show Mr. Johns's work at his gallery in 1958 that set the painter on the path to fame.
Nowadays the name of Norman Granz, who died in 2001, is known only to gray-headed jazz buffs, but there's a fair chance that you own at least one of the hundreds of albums that he produced for Verve, the record label that he founded in 1956. The "songbook" albums in which Ella Fitzgerald recorded her interpretations of the collected works of such classic songwriters as Harold Arlen, George Gershwin and Johnny Mercer were Granz's idea. So were the 14 albums taped at a series of marathon sessions in 1954 and 1955 in which Art Tatum, the greatest of all jazz pianists, recorded 120 stupendously virtuosic solo performances -- nearly the whole of his working repertoire. So was Jazz at the Philharmonic, the now-legendary series of concert tours in which Granz brought together such illustrious artists as Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich and Lester Young.
Granz is now the subject of a much-needed biography by Tad Hershorn called "Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice" (University of California Press). The title may sound a bit sober-sided, but it serves as a useful reminder of what Granz thought to be his most important achievement: A passionate opponent of racial segregation, he insisted as early as the '40s that all Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts be open to mixed-race audiences, and he went well out of his way to ensure that the many musicians who worked for him, be they black or white, were generously paid and properly treated wherever they went, even in the Deep South. "I insisted that my musicians were to be treated with the same respect as Leonard Bernstein or Jascha Heifetz because they were just as good, both as men and musicians," Granz said.
He wasn't kidding. All Jazz at the Philharmonic contracts contained ironclad antisegregation clauses, and Granz would cancel a show whenever those clauses were violated, no matter what it cost him at the box office. Moreover, he was equally respectful of his artists in the recording studio. A hands-off producer, he believed in letting the musicians whom he admired play whatever they wanted to play, and his concert tours were so lucrative that he was able to release albums that had no chance of turning a profit, simply because he thought that the music on them deserved to be heard.
Though Granz goes unmentioned in the standard histories of the civil-rights movement, his contribution to the cause of racial justice in America was considerable. That said, it seems likely that he will be remembered longest for his work as a record producer. It's extraordinary in retrospect how many of the albums he released on Clef, Norgran, Pablo and Verve, the four jazz labels he ran at various times between 1947 and 1987, have proved to be of permanent interest. "The Art Tatum-Ben Webster Quartet," "The Astaire Story," "Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings," "Ella and Louis," "The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival," "Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson at the Opera House": All of these records, and many more like them, exist because of Norman Granz.
Granz was notorious in the world of jazz for his arrogance. He was the kind of man who never hesitated to say that he knew better than you, even when he didn't. But when it came to the musicians he admired, he was genuinely modest. "He looks upon himself as a kind of conduit down which the music has flowed, that's all," one of his close friends said. "In that sense, he has no ego at all." That's why he was reluctant to cooperate with the many scholars who sought to chronicle his achievements. "I don't care about posterity," he told Mr. Hershorn. "I don't care about what I accomplished, if anything." Maybe he didn't -- but posterity will.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Dee Cassella back @ Somethin' Jazz Club
After a successful appearance last October 28, jazz singer Dee Cassella will be back @ Somethin' Jazz Club this next Saturday, November 19. SJC is located at 212 East 52nd Street, between 2nd &3rd Avenues, 3rd floor, in New York. From 7pm to 8:30pm. $19 ($17 student w/ ID) including one drink & snacks. A new jazz club with a great listening room with nice sound.Besides special guest Michael Coppola on 9-string guitar, Dee will be backed by Jimmy Lopez (percussion), Nick Wright (drums), Daniel Lipsitz (sax/flute) & Benjamin Servenaym (bass).
Dan Gabel and the Abletones featuring Amanda Carr, Nov. 12
A Big Band Dance and ConcertSaturday, November 12th, 6:30-10:30pm
"Dan Gabel and The Abletones"
Live at Memorial Hall in Melrose, MA
featuring Rob Zappulla, singer for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and special guest Amanda Carr
Hosted by Ed Gardella, on-air personality WICN 90.5
NET PROCEEDS benefit the AMERICAN BIG BAND PRESERVATION SOCIETY for their 'in-school' programs, passing this music to our next generation
General Admission Tickets still available only $15
FOR MORE INFO and TICKET SALES VISIT www.AmericanBigBand.org
or call Band Manager Bill Doyle at 508-963-6232
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Mark Murphy live @ Yoshi's Oakland, Nov. 14!
(Arnaldo DeSouteiro & Mark Murphy, in the past century, celebrating their peaceful friendship in Rio)Third Annual "Celebrating Mark Murphy!"
A Salute to the Eternal Influence of the Perennial Hipster
Monday,November 14th, 8pm @ Yoshi's in Oakland
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, California, 94607
ph: (510) 238-9200
$25 / $15 students
Buy tickets here:
http://yoshis.inticketing.com/events/165304
Featuring, the man himself!
Mark Murphy, my personal favorite male jazz vocalist ever, with very special guests Laurie Antonioli, Ann Dyer, Madeline Eastman & Kitty Margolis
Introducing last year's Mark Murphy Scholarship Recipient: Andrea Claburn
With Very Special Guest and Master of Ceremonies: Bob Parlocha
For the third consecutive year, jazz vocal icon Mark Murphy will be celebrated at a fundraiser for the Jazzschool Institute's vocal scholarship named in his honor.
Proceeds of the night go to The Jazzschool Institute's "Mark Murphy Vocal Scholarship"
The Jazzschool is an innovative music school dedicated to the study and performance of America's indigenous art form - jazz, and related styles of music from around the world.
This year's scholarship winner will be announced at the concert!
For the third consecutive year, jazz vocal icon Mark Murphy will be celebrated at a fundraiser for the Jazzschool Institute’s vocal scholarship named in his honor. One of the most gifted and original male jazz vocalists of the last 50 years, the six-time Grammy nominee has inspired generations of jazz singers - Kurt Elling, among them.The benefit concert will feature, among others, four Murphy protégées who have gone on to establish themselves as innovators in their own right – Kitty Margolis, Madeline Eastman, Ann Dyer and Laurie Antonioli.
Mark Murphy's two latest albums for Verve, the magnificent "Once To Every Heart" (2005) and the sublime "Love Is What Stays" (2007), both produced by trumpet master Till Bronner with made-in-heaven orchestral paintings by LA-based genius arranger Nan Schwartz, were praised here in this blog, placing Mark and his collaborators in the top of our annual Jazz Station Poll. However, those superb CDs were shamelessly "un-publicized" & "un-promoted" by Verve here in the USA and, consequently, ignored by the American jazz press. But they can still be purchased through www.amazon.com or www.gemm.comIn Europe, "Love Is What Stays" was properly celebrated as a masterpiece and even yielded a best-selling EP with a dance remix (Nicola Conte prefers to call it a "re-work") of the album centerpiece, Oliver Nelson's jazz classic "Stolen Moments," previously recorded as the title track of one of Mark Murphy's best albums from his Muse years.
"I am sincerely grateful about the concerts and the scholarship in my name," Murphy says. "It proves that my work is seminal and enjoys a permanent place in the jazz pantheon.” And he has a new self-produced album coming out, "Never Let Me Go," recorded last year with a trio comprised of Misha Piatigorsky (piano), Danton Boller (bass) & Chris Wabich (drums), including impressive renditions of the ballads "Detour Ahead" and "Turn Out the Stars", Jobim's classics "Inútil Paisagem" and "Fotografia," plus the long-awaited recording of one his concert's highlights, Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Laurie Antonioli, head of the groundbreaking Jazzschool Institute Vocal Program, now in its third year, is thrilled that Murphy will be there. "There are just a handful of the vocal masters left," she says, "and Mark is one of them. He has it all -- the devastatingly beautiful ballads, the burning scat singing, the embodiment of swing, bossa nova, and modern jazz feels. We love Mark, and it's going to be an amazing night as we pay tribute and listen to him sing as well. It will be an historic evening of vocal jazz, and I hope that everyone who knows Mark and has been influenced by him comes to the show and also hangs out afterwards to say hello."
(Joyce Cooling, Kitty Margolis, Bobbe Norris, Laurie Antonioli, Ann Dyer & Madeline Eastman on the first "Celebrating Mark Murphy" concert in 2009)
Mark Murphy's workshop @ Jazzschool in Berkeley, CA, next Tuesday
Now it's official. Mark Murphy is doing a workshop open to 10 lucky vocalists. This next Tuesday, November 15th, Noon-3pm. Call 510-845-5373 if the online tickets sell out. The spots are filling up fast for this very rare opportunity to work with Mark Murphy. There are also "auditor" spots available -- for $25. The super creative Ben Flint is playing piano for the workshop.Besides the great musical and personal moments I have shared with Mark during our three decades of friendship (attending ALL nights of his two-week engagement at 150 Night Club during the heyday of Maksoud Plaza in São Paulo back in 1987, always hanging out with him, Tania Maria, José Pimentel de Pinho and Pery Ribeiro after the concerts; having the honor to have him and his band - Vince Lateano, Jeff Carney, Bill Mays - spending some days at my house in Rio; taking all the guys to a radio show at JB-AM station; the even bigger honor to sight-seeing through San Francisco with Mark as a driver & tourist guide after a visit to his lovely apartment @ 2344 Van Ness Avenue, and later dining with him, Joyce Cooling and Jeff Linsky; and so many other unforgettable moments), I'll never forget our meeting at the 1992 IAJE -- International Association of Jazz Educators -- Convention in Miami.
He honored me with his presence, alongside Clare Fischer, Billy Taylor, Rick Condit and Matt Pierson, to name a few, in my clinic "Jazz & Brazilian Music: Interaction Along the Years" presented at the Miami Hall of the Hyatt Regency. And, after Mark's superb concert backed by Red Mitchell, Carl Allen & Tom Ferguson, he invited me to attend his clinic "Vocal Techniques for the Jazz Singer." Oh boy, oh boy. I'm not a singer, but I learned a lot that day, and became even more fascinated by Mark's complete dedication to his art. So, if u are in the California area, don't miss this workshop. It's a transcendental experience!
Noon - 3pm, $50
Jazzschool
2087 Addison Street
Berkeley, CA
US 94704
http://jazzschool.inhousetickets.com/events/178501
The Jazzschool Vocal Department is happy to announce that Jazz Master, Mark Murphy, will be teaching at Jazzschool. After over fifty years of working with developing vocalists, he is able to pin point the essential areas necessary for an authentic jazz performance. His concise critique is invaluable for singers of all levels. Please bring one or two songs to choose from, in the right key, in a proper chart for the accompanist (Melody, Chords and Lyrics) so time is used for the performance rather than sorting through the lead sheet. This is a rare opportunity and it's sure to be a memorable experience for all. Limit 10.
Event Information:
510-845-5373
Jerry Costanzo Trio & Mark Sherman @ Feinstein's Jazz Series, Nov. 16
Feinstein's Jazz Series Continues!Nov. 16: Vocalist Jerry Costanzo Trio Plus Special Guest Vibraphonist Mark Sherman
FREE copy of Jerry's latest CD release "Can't We Be Friends?" for the first 10 jazz fans in the door!
On November 16th at 10:30PM, Mark Sherman, joins Jerry and His Trio at Feinstein's Night Club @ Loews Regency ( 540 Park Avenue - at 61st Street - New York, NY; ph: 212-339-4095) http://feinsteinsattheregency.com/performance.php?id=554.
The performance continues the Wednesday night jazz series, which runs on the third Wednesday each month. Performances feature singer Jerry Costanzo with his trio - Tedd Firth on piano, Jennifer Vincent on bass, and the great Jimmy Madison on drums - with special guest artists each month.
Mark Sherman has performed around the world, including six tours throughout Europe, Russia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia and North America. He was named a winner in Downbeat Magazine’s 2007-2010 Critics Poll for his musical prowess, and has conducted master classes in more than a dozen nations. Sherman is a faculty member of The Juilliard School and New Jersey City University. http://www.markshermanmusic.com/
$20.00 + tax 1 drink minimumFor more information visit (http://www.jerrycostanzo.com) or call (646)449-9027
Ad Agency Needs Song or Instrumental Tune for TV Spot
Below is a special opportunity that we wanted to give you a heads up about. Just got the word about this project today, and need the music by 5:00PM (PST) Friday, November 11th, 2011. You can find this listing under the Instrumental (Film & TV) genre in the Submit Music section of your TAXImusic.com hosting site.Huge NY Ad Agency URGENTLY needs a CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL TRACK (possibly with vocals - see below) that, (quoting the agency here): "...tips its hat to classic/vintage sounds. Hybrids [of contemporary and classic styles/sounds] can work too. This is for a TV spot for a GLOBAL brand with a deep heritage. Tracks should exude CONFIDENCE and ATTITUDE while being OPTIMISTIC. They're NOT looking for angry, noisy, thrashy, or anything that sounds dark.
Tracks SHOULD be MID-to-UP TEMPO, have a looser quality to them, and breathe a bit (not too dense or cluttered). We're ultimately looking for something that doesn't take itself too seriously. Genres they'd be interested in hearing likely include, but submissions SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED TO: BLUES, BLUES-BASED ROCK, ROCK, INDIE, AMERICANA, SOUL, ROOTS COUNTRY, ALT COUNTRY, etc.
Firstly they need the right sound/style. The track should work as an instrumental FIRST. IF THERE ARE LYRICS, they should NOT be dense and subject matter could include or be related to: Being the right thing, the things that matter, and/or Uniqueness and Individuality." TAXI TIP: Read that entire section through at LEAST one more time! It was ALL quoted from the agency, and it's a TAD disjointed, but if you read it a couple of times, it will become clear.
SUMMARY: They URGENTLY need INSTRUMENTAL TRACKS or SONGS that are mid-to-up-tempo, positive (not dark or too edgy or intense) that feel kind of loose and freewheeling and have a classic feel/texture, but wrapped in a CONTEMPORARY package. We'd recommend that your submissions are at LEAST two-minutes in length. IF you submit SONGS with lyrics, PLEASE follow their instruction and make sure they're not too densely packed. We'd put our bets on the agency ultimately choosing an instrumental track. Our ESTIMATE on the fee for this is $10,000-$25,000 based on other listings they've run with us, but that is ONLY an educated GUESS. Give your SONG a title that makes them think you're a cool Indie artist. DO NOT title it like you would for a music library pitch. Faded endings are recommended for this.
This is DIRECT-to-the-Agency, so you'll KEEP 100% of this deal with NO publisher splits! Broadcast Quality is needed (excellent home recordings are fine). You must own or control 100% of the Master and Composition rights. Please include LYRICS if you submit a SONG! If you ARE chosen for this TV spot, the Ad Agency will contact you DIRECTLY. Please submit one to three INSTRUMENTALS or SONGS online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS. NO FULL CRITIQUES FROM TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11th at 5PM, (PST). TAXI Listing #Y111111AD
Monday, November 7, 2011
Malene Mortensen @ Sønderborg Jazzklub
This next Saturday, November 12, my favorite Danish singer-composer, the stunning Malene Mortensen will be performing at the Sønderborg Jazzklub, from 3 to 5pm, backed by Carl Mörner Ringström (guitars), Daniel Johansson (drums), Paul Hinz (bass) & Oscar Johansson (piano).For more details, please check:
www.sønderborgjazzclub.dk
If she goes without singing for five days, she becomes a bit cranky, the very beautiful Danish jazz singer & songwriter Malene Mortensen once told Signe Damkjaer in ScandAsia. Danes know the singer mostly because she won the Danish Eurovision song contest in 2002; among jazz fans she is also known for having worked with such masters as keyboardist Niels Lan Doky (who has recently toured with the CTI All-Stars band), the late virtuoso bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Alex Riel, famous for his association with Bill Evans. Her father was a trumpeter, her mother was a drummer, and her boyfriend is the guitarist in her current band. Perhaps she cannot save the world through her music, but if she succeeds that people feel good through her music, that's a good start.
"When I was a little girl my mother told me how to make the music swing, and I love been into music ever since," Malene says. "My heart belongs to music. That is my main goal in life. I love to play and create music with other musicians. Music is the language of the soul. It’s a beautiful and spiritual thing and it brings so much joy - among performers, among the listeners - and between the band and the audience. For me this interaction is one of the most important things. I often ask myself: Why do I get on stage, what do I want to give? For me that’s a very important question. Every time I go up there, I feel grateful for the opportunity to be standing there and to be able to give and share my songs and my emotions."
Uimodståelige Malene Mortensen er en sangerinde med både hjerte og følelse i jazzen. Hendes sødmefyldte og overbevisende stemme og musikalske talent har grebet og betaget ikke blot herhjemme, men verden over. Karrieren har haft kometagtig form for den fascinerende sangerinde, der allerede har 5 udgivelser i eget navn på CV'et. Malene Mortensens sange blander jazz, rock, pop og folk. Hun har selv skrevet al tekst og musik. Besætningen er; Carl Mörner Ringström (guitar), Paul Hinz (bas), Oscar Johansson (klaver) og Daniel Johansson (trommer)Upcoming gigs:
November 12, 2011 Sønderborg Jazzclub 15:00-17:00
MM Group (Carl Mörner Ringström; guitar, Daniel Johansson; drums, Paul Hinz; bass, Oscar Johansson; piano)
November 20, 2011 Mindekoncert for Jens Winther
DR Bigband, solist Malene Malene Mortensen
November 22, 2011 Det Kongelige Bibliotek 20:00
Diamant Ensemblets koncert: Blue Notes med Jørgen Emborg og Malene Mortensen
December 6, 2011 Huset i Magstræde 20:00
Malene Mortensen
December 7, 2011 Assens Harmoniorkesters Julekoncert 20:00
(www.assensharmoniorkester.dk)
Solist Malene Mortensen, Michael Carøe
December 9, 2011 Awardshow Michael Carøe konferencier (14:00-17:00)
Solist Malene Mortensen, Michael Carøe
Location TBA
December 18, 2011 Hillerød Storcenter 12:00-14:00
Malene Mortensen trio (Carl Mörner Ringström, Paul Hinz)
December 22-23, 2011 Duc Des Lombards, Paris
www.ducdeslombards.com
Malene Mortensen Group (Carl Mörner Ringström; guitar, Daniel Johansson; drums, Paul Hinz; bass, Oscar Johansson; piano)
Obama is toast?
"Dear Arnaldo DeSouteiro:You are receiving this message beacuse, according to our files, you are currently registered and living in California's 30th Congressional District, having joined "Obama for America" four years ago.
This weekend, The New York Times Magazine ran a long analysis of the 2012 election headlined, "Is Obama toast?" It uses a mathematical formula to conclude who will win this race.
In other words, it says neither you nor Barack Obama has a role to play in this election, because the outcome is essentially predetermined. We disagree.
The outcome will depend on what we do every single day between now and November 6th, 2012. And I want to give you an idea of how we know that.
Our Republican opponents, from Mitt Romney and Herman Cain to Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, have endorsed the same set of Tea Party policies that drive the Republicans in Washington: letting Wall Street write its own rules again and giving special treatment to millionaires and billionaires while asking seniors and middle-class families to pay for it.
All of them would return to the failed economic policies that led us into recession.
Yet the Times piece assigns each of them a score on an ideological scale, ignoring the obvious reality that there has been virtually no difference among the GOP candidates -- or between them and the Republican congressional leaders who refuse to do anything to restore economic security for the middle class.
Whoever wins the nomination will no doubt try to appear more "moderate" as they compete for undecided voters in the general election. But they have all made their positions clear. And we will hold them accountable for that.
The only true difference in this race is between their agenda and President Obama's. Facing historic challenges when he came into office, he has fought every day for a fairer economy where everybody who does their fair share gets a fair shake.
He's stood up to credit card companies to ensure they can't target consumers with hidden fees. He's stood up to insurance companies, who can no longer deny health care coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition. He's stood up to Wall Street to end taxpayer bailouts and rein in the kind of risky financial behavior that nearly toppled our economy.
These dramatic differences between the Republican nominee and President Obama will be crystal clear to Americans as the 2012 election approaches, because our grassroots organization in all 50 states will be having conversations every single day with their friends, families, co-workers, and neighbors.
That grassroots organizational advantage is a critical factor in this election that the Times' "formula" doesn't consider at all.
More than 1 million people have already taken ownership of this campaign. Millions more are organizing their communities on behalf of the President, online and off. This weekend, we had our single biggest day of action of the campaign -- more than 2,000 volunteer events took place across the country, and more than 10,000 volunteers participated.
This work is already having an impact across the country.
We expanded the electoral map in the last election, fighting hard for -- and winning -- states like North Carolina, Colorado, and Virginia so that the entire election didn't hinge on the results in a single state, as it had in 2000 and 2004.
We have no intention of returning to the old electoral map. And the organizing you're doing means we won't have to. Today, we are showing signs of strength in states we didn't win even in the watershed election of 2008 -- states like Georgia and Arizona, where a recent poll had President Obama beating every potential Republican nominee.
The map isn't as friendly to our opponents, who won't be able to compete in traditionally Democratic states because their organization won't compare to ours. Whether you measure donors giving or doors knocked, there's grassroots enthusiasm for President Obama that the other side can't match -- but that the Times doesn't consider relevant.
The truth is this isn't the first time you've been written out of the story by many in Washington and the media -- and it's not the first time they've been completely wrong about that.
In the 2007 and 2008 campaign, almost everyone in professional politics said it wasn't Barack Obama's "turn" to be president. But millions of people like you took responsibility for the campaign -- knocking on doors, making phone calls, and donating whenever you could.
You proved everyone wrong -- not just about who was going to win the election, but about the ability of everyday Americans to come together and change the course of history.
The entire premise of the Times article is that you won't -- and can't -- do it in 2012.
The election is now less than one year away. No one thinks it will be easy. But there can be no doubt its outcome depends on how hard you and I work over the next 364 days. Right now, we're opening field offices in key states, hiring organizers, recruiting volunteers, registering voters, and getting ready for what's going to be one hell of a fight.
So, is Obama toast? It's up to you.
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager - Obama for America"
P.S. -- Want to show the cynics that this election is in your hands? Donate $3 or more today.
Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible.
Andy Williams says he has bladder cancer
Singer Andy Williams told the crowd at his Christmas show Saturday night that he has bladder cancer.Associated Press - November 6, 2011
The Tri-Lakes News reports the 83-year-old Williams appeared early in the show at the Moon River Theatre and vowed to return next year to celebrate his 75th year in show business.
"I do have cancer of the bladder," Williams said. "But that is no longer a death sentence. People with cancer are getting through this thing. They're kicking it, and they're winning more and more every year. And I'm going to be one of them."
The silver-haired "Moon River" singer missed planned performances this fall with an undisclosed medical condition and the theater announced recently that he would likely miss his holiday schedule as well because of the condition. The newspaper reported he has not started treatment, though it did not identify the person who provided that information.
Williams' appearance Saturday was a surprise and brought a standing ovation from a nearly full house. The golden-voiced singer had a string of hits in the 1950s and '60s, including "Can't Get Used to Losing You" and "Butterfly," but he is best known for his version of "Moon River." He earned 18 gold and three platinum albums in his career.
Williams hosted annual Christmas specials on television and performed Christmas shows on the road for many years. His 1963 recording, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," is a Christmas standard.
The Iowa native also hosted an Emmy-winning variety television program "The Andy Williams Show," from 1962-71. He published an autobiography, "Moon River and Me: A Memoir," in 2009.
Williams sang "The Christmas Song" (known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") at the theater he started in 1992 and said he would be back next September and October to celebrate.
"I'm going to do the shows I've planned to do," he said.
R.I.P.: Gordon Beck
One of my favorite European jazz pianists, Gordon James Beck was born in London, England on September 16, 1935. And he passed away yesterday, November 6, also in London.Gordon was a self-taught musician who also studied classical piano for four years before deciding to become an aero-engineer and going to live in Canada. At the age of 24 he left the engineering world to become a professional musician and spent two months working in Monte Carlo with Tony Crombie where he met Tenor Saxophonist, Don Byas. Upon returning to England he joined the Vic Ash/Harry Klein Quartet before joining Tubby Hayes Quintet in 1962. During this time Gordon made his first appearance on record on the Tubby Hayes album, "Late Spot At Scott's", released on the Fontana record label. Gordon would later record two more albums with Tubby Hayes.
He also worked with the Tony Kinsey Quintet and Annie Ross before forming his own trio. Gordon's trio was the house band at Ronnie Scott's Club in England in the late 1960's, and in 1967 Gordon began recording albums under his own name, the first of three albums for the Major Minor Records label entitled, "Dr. Dolittle Loves Jazz". During this time he also contributed to the soundtracks of several films, working with composers such as Lalo Schifrin, Benny Golson, and Gary McFarland.
During the years 1969 through 1972 he was a member of the Phil Woods European Rhythm Machine. The European Rhythm Machine toured America in 1971, and Gordon left the following year to start another band, Gyroscope, and also reform his trio. The Gordon Beck Trio consisted of Gordon, Ron Mathewson, and Daniel Humair. The trio recorded an album titled, "All In The Morning", released in 1972 on Gordon's own record label, Jaguar Records. He was part of the group Piano Conclave in the early 1970's, in addition to recording with trumpeter Ian Carr's group Nucleus from 1972 through 1974.
He became a busy session musician from 1974 on, working with major artists like Lena Horne, Gary Burton, Clark Terry, George Gruntz, Charles Tolliver and Phil Woods again. He also got involved in education, becoming co-organizer of the Treforest Summer School in 1978. During that same year Gordon began his association with JMS Records. Released in 1978, "The French Connection" was the first of many recordings that Gordon would record for JMS Records. On the 1979 JMS recording "Sunbird", Gordon began working with British guitarist Allan Holdsworth. The following year Gordon and Allan released "The Things You See", an album of piano and guitar duets.
During that same year (1979), Gordon, along with Ron Mathewson, Tony Oxley, Stan Sulzmann, and Kenny Wheeler recorded the critically acclaimed "Seven Steps To Evans" for MPS, an album dedicated to one of Gordon's favorite pianists, Bill Evans. Sometime later, the same group, except for bassist Dieter Ilg replacing Ron Matthewson, was filmed "Live at the Brewhouse" series and released by Image Entertainment in 1991 on a LaserDisc simply titled "Tribute to Bill Evans," which was reissued on DVD by Eagle Vision in 1999.
In 1982 Gordon recorded "The French Connection 2", the followup to his first JMS Records release. This was followed by a solo piano recording called "Reasons". Released in 1983, "Reasons" remains one of Gordon's strongest works to date. 1984 found Gordon collaborating with vocalist Helen Merrill on their duet album "No Tears, No Goodbyes" released on the Owl Record label.
In addition to releasing "Celebration Suite", a live Quintet recording, again on the JMS label, Gordon also worked with violinist Didier Lockwood during 1985. Following more work with Helen Merrill in 1986, Gordon reunited with guitarist Allan Holdsworth once again to record "With A Heart In My Song" in 1988. Gordon would later contribute to several other Allan Holdsworth projects. 1995 saw the release of "One For The Road", an album of solo keyboards all played by Gordon released by JMS Records. In 1996 Gordon teamed up with Phil Woods again for a live concert of duets at the Wigmore Hall in London, England which, fortunately for the rest of us, was released as a two CD set on JMS Records entitled, "The Complete Concert". In 1997 Gordon released "Once Is Never Enough", on FMR Records. Gordon is joined by saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, bassist Chris Laurence, and drummer Paul Clarvis. In 1999 JMS Records released "November Song" featuring Gordon on piano & synthesizer, Gene Calderazzo on drums, Stan Sulzmann on tenor & soprano saxophones & flute, and Steve Watts on bass.
Art of Life Records, a new independent Jazz record label based in the United States, has reissued The Gordon Beck Quartet's "Experiments With Pops" on CD. Originally released in 1968 on Major Minor Records, this recording features John McLaughlin, Jeff Clyne, and Tony Oxley. Also available from Art of Life Records is the Gordon Beck Trio-"Gyroscope" recording. Originally released in 1969 on Morgan Records in the U.K. this recording features Jeff Clyne and Tony Oxley. To order a copy of this CD please visit the website www.artofliferecords.com
CD of the Week - "Rahsaan Barber: Everyday Magic"
CD of the WeekRahsaan Barber: "Everyday Magic" (Jazz Music City) 2011
Rating:
***** (musical performance)
**** (sonic quality)
Produced & Arranged by Rahsaan Barber
Recorded July 9-11, 2010 by Adam Engelhart @ Sony Tree Studios in Nashville, TN
Mixed by Rhasaan Barber & Adam Engelhart
Mastered by Mike Haynes
Photos: Rusty Russell
Graphic Design: Nancy Terzian
Total Time: 59m
An impassioned sax player & a great composer, Barber leads his new ensemble through the nine amazing tracks of "Everyday Magic," his second solo project. There's an astonishing variety of material, moods & directions, but the "focus" is always there. After the frenetic opener, "Jubilee" and the "Lost and Found" theme that serves as an elegant intro to track #3, electric guitarist Adam Agati steals the show with splendid rock-ish solos on "Floodsong" and the haunting gospel-ballad "Manhattan Grace." The next goose bumps come with the appearance of trombonist Roland Barber, soloing superbly (mixing influences of J.J. Johnson, Roswell Rudd and Ray Anderson) on the in-the-pocket mid-tempo of "Why So Blue?" (unexpectedly using the plunge with great effect during the conversation with Rahsaan's vigorous tenor in the tag) as well as on "Memphis Soul," a funky-latin number that reminds me of Raul de Souza's collaborations with Cannonball Adderley ("Colors") and Sonny Rollins ("Nucleus") in the '70s. On this latter track, percussionist Giovanni Rodriguez adds an extra rhythmic spice, and Agati uses pedal effects with creativity.
The leader moves to the flute on the introspective "Adagio" (Agati's backing functions as an organ, confirming that this guy is a creative monster, while drummer Jackson uses mallets) and to the soprano sax on "Innocence," on which Agati sounds like a mix of John Scofield and Pat Metheny - please take it as a compliment - and pianist Jody Nardone also stands out, propelled by the energetic approach of drummer Nioshi Jackson & acoustic bassist Jerry Navarro. A highly impressive CD guided by Rahsaan Barber's fascinating multiple talents. And that's my vision of real "contemporary jazz." Amen.
********
The dynamic saxophonist and flutist Barber has emerged as a musical force in his hometown of Nashville, and now he's reaching for a wider audience with his terrific new CD, "Everyday Magic." The album debuts his powerhouse band, also called Everyday Magic. Besides Barber on tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones and flute, the ensemble is comprised of four top Nashville musicians: Adam Agati, Jody Nardone, Jerry Navarro & Nioshi Jackson. Trombonist Roland Barber, Rahsaan's twin brother, is a guest on two tracks, as is percussionist Giovanni Rodriguez (co-leader, with Rahsaan, of the Latin-jazz septet El Movimiento).
"When I tell my New York friends there are all these fantastic jazz musicians in Nashville, they say, come on, really?" says the 31-year-old saxophonist, active in the Music City's scene as a performer, studio musician, and educator. "I'm really hoping to help bring more attention to them."
In fact, Barber has formed a new label, Jazz Music City Records, with that goal in mind. "Everyday Magic" is the enterprise's first release, with future projects planned for El Movimiento, pianist Bruce Dudley, vocalist Stephanie Adlington, and a hip-hop brass band called the Megaphones.
"Everyday Magic" is a formidable outing for the versatile artist and his ambitious label. Barber reveals his substantial tenor saxophone chops on the uptempo groover, "Jubilee"; the sweet, gospel-tinged love song, "Manhattan Grace," displays yet another aspect of the leader's expansive compositional bent, and spotlights his warm alto saxophone style. "Adagio" is a showcase for Barber's flute sensibilities, and "Innocence," a deftly constructed, appealing waltz, allows his soprano saxophone to shine.
Rahsaan Barber and his brother Roland -- named after famed jazz reed artist and composer Rahsaan Roland Kirk -- were born in Nashville on April 2, 1980 into a musical family that includes another brother, saxophonist Robert; their mother, a singer; and their grandmother, a pianist.
As a youth Rahsaan heard a variety of music from gospel and country to blues and jazz, and his exposure greatly expanded when he went to Indiana University to study music under the esteemed educator David Baker. "His model of work ethic, passion for music, detailed and patient educational offerings and soulfulness have continued to show their influence in my own approach to music," says Barber.
The Barber Brothers debuted on record with "Twinnovation," in 2001, and Rahsaan's first album under his own name was 2005's "TrioSoul," featuring B-3 organist Moe Denham and drummer Robert Bond. Last year came "The Movement" by El Movimiento, which Rahsaan co-leads with percussionist Giovanni Rodriguez and trumpeter Imer Santiago.
The saxophonist, who has taught at Nashville's Belmont University, is among the many distinguished artists who have played with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra; he's also performed at the community-based Nashville Jazz Workshop. "There are so many different strands of music here in Nashville," said Barber. "There's a unique opportunity here to build a sound."
Hermeto Pascoal live in London, Nov 20
Universal music genius Hermeto Pascoal, charismatic & iconoclastic composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and musical visionary returns to Europe this month with his wife, Aline Morena (pictured above), a superb singer and also a multi-instrumentalist herself. In England, they will be performing @ Barbican (London) with a superband, in celebration of his 75th birthday (he was born on June 22, 1936).Hermeto Pascoal
20 November 2011, 8pm
Barbican Hall @ Barbican Centre
Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
London, UK
Ph: (44) 207.638.8891
Tickets: £15 - 30
Described by Miles Davis as “one of the most important musicians on the planet” and nicknamed the ‘Sorcerer’, he is as likely to produce a piece for kitchen utensils as improvised solos on keyboard or flute - or leading his long established, infectiously swinging Brazilian band in partnership with the all star British band formed back in the 90s to play his exhilarating big band music.
For more details, please check:
http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=12615
(Ndugu, Alphonso Johnson, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Orrin Keepnews, George Duke, Hermeto Pascoal)
(George Duke, Ndugu, Alphonso Johnson, Flora Purim, David Amaro, Hermeto Pascoal & Airto in California, during the sessions for Flora's "Open Your Eyes You Can Fly" album in 1976)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
WSJ - "The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun"
"The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun." By Robert Greenfield (Simon and Schuster, 440 pages, $30)Reviewed by David Kirby
Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2011
The night he heard Duke Ellington play live, Ahmet Ertegun started down the path that ended in his becoming one of the greatest recording executives in music history. "It was nothing like hearing the records," he said later. "The engineers at the time were afraid that too much bass or too much drums would crack the grooves on the 78s, so they recorded them very low. And when you heard these bands in person, it was explosive.... I'd never heard music with that kind of strength."
Well, not yet, at least, considering he was only 10 years old at the time. The year was 1933; Ellington was playing at the London Palladium, and Ahmet's older brother, Nesuhi, took him to the show. (Their diplomat father was Turkish ambassador to the Court of St. James.) Then again, young or old, Ahmet Ertegun seemed to be out late every night. The genius that led him to sign such artists as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and the Rolling Stones doesn't seem to be a matter of being in the right place at the right time but of being everywhere all the time. A variation on such phrases as "Ahmet stayed out all night again" or "he changed out of the suit he'd worn to the clubs and went right to the board meeting" occur countless times in Robert Greenfield's almost diary-like account of the glitzy life that Ertegun led before the founder of Atlantic Records died in 2006.
Mr. Greenfield is the author of a number of notable rock biographies, including ones of the rock impresario Bill Graham and the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, as well as the deliciously drug-addled "Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell With the Rolling Stones," Mr. Greenfield's account of life in Villa Nellcote in the south of France during the summer of 1971, when the band made some of its best music amid excesses that were extravagant even by the Rolling Stones' own debauched standards.
If "The Last Sultan" doesn't titillate as much (it doesn't titillate at all, really), that's because the guys who made the music and the guy who recorded it lived rather different lives. Ertegun drank as much as any other club-goer and bounced a number of women other than his wife, Mica, on his knee, but he never let fun get in the way of business.
Ertegun founded Atlantic Records in 1947 with his friend and fellow jazz and blues lover Herb Abramson, though the major shareholder was the Ertegun family dentist, Vahdi Sabit. On the original three-page contract, the name "Horizon Records, Inc." is crossed out and replaced by "Atlantic Recording Corporation." Ertegun explained: "The name Atlantic was probably about our eightieth choice, because every name we came up with... had already been taken.... It wasn't a name we were crazy about -- it was so generic. There are so many Atlantics, A&P and all that, but finally we said, who cares what we call it?"
The company's first records were not big sellers, largely because the partners had no idea of their potential audience. The discs include a recording of "This Is My Beloved," a book of slightly erotic poetry that was popular with soldiers during World War II but a dud to veterans who had apparently returned to all the romance they could handle. Atlantic recorded Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," thinking "every university would buy at least one copy," in Ertegun's words, but "they were not interested in buying any." The company also tried a set of "trick-track children's records" that allowed a phonograph to randomly select tracks so that a set of four sides could tell 256 different stories, but that tanked, too. (Ertegun and Abramson must not have read kids to sleep at night or they would have known that children like to hear the same story over and over.)
Eventually, Atlantic found its niche with such bluesy pieces as "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee, which went to No. 2 on the Juke Box chart in April 1949, and anything by Ruth Brown, who cut nearly 100 sides for the label between 1949 and 1961, making it possible for Atlantic to borrow Yankee Stadium's nickname and become "The House That Ruth Built." Blind Willie McTell was signed, and so was Professor Longhair.
Then, in 1952, Ertegun and Abramson signed their greatest artist ever, a man born Ray Charles Robinson but known to posterity as "The Father of Soul" and "The High Priest" and to millions simply as Ray Charles. Within six months, Atlantic released two songs that would change music forever: Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll," one of the first rock 'n' roll songs, and Charles's "I Got a Woman," a chart topper that established soul.
The shift in the Atlantic sound was due in part to the arrival of Jerry Wexler, filling the spot left when Herb Abramson, who had completed his dental studies on the government's nickel, was called to serve in the Army Dental Corps in Germany. (Who knew that early rock 'n' roll was so tightly connected with dentistry?) Brilliant and self-educated, Wexler was a cub reporter for Billboard when that magazine decided to change the name of its Race Records chart and Wexler proposed "rhythm and blues." The name stuck, but it wasn't long before Wexler decided that he would rather make records than write about them.
Wexler became the perfect partner for Ahmet Ertegun because the two were so different. Rock duos are notoriously opposed: Lennon was acid to McCartney's honey, and Jagger and Richards don't get along to this day, though they somehow keep making millions together. In Mr. Greenfield's terse summary, Wexler, who died in 2008, was a hipster, and Ertegun was hip. A self-described child of the Depression, Wexler was fearful, angry, liable to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. Ertegun was born with a sense of entitlement; he had nothing to prove, and, as Mr. Greenfield said, he was "always cool."
Was he ever. Ertegun could play plenty of angles, but his primary occupation was simply being out and about. David Geffen, the record executive and film producer, recalls asking Ertegun how to make money in music only to have the older man stand up and shuffle across the floor. After Mr. Geffen says twice that he doesn't get it, Ertegun finally says: "If you're lucky, you bump into a genius and that makes you rich in the music business!"
No mention is made here of the thousands of non-starters that Ertegun must have encountered in his nightly prowls. His focus was on the geniuses, and once he found them he gave them free rein. Rather than try to shape his artists' work to meet the desires of some perceived audience, as other executives did, Ertegun trusted the instincts of his artists as he trusted his own. The most forceful he may have been was when he advised Mick Jagger to break with the heroin-addicted Marianne Faithfull, but even here he sounds more like a wise uncle than a boss: "I've seen a lot of heartbreak with junkies. Believe me, old friend, it wrecks the lives of everyone around them as well."
It didn't hurt that Ertegun had a commanding presence. As Graham Nash recalls: "This guy could make wallpaper turn around and look at him. Every time he walked into a room, it didn't matter who else was there. Elvis could have been there and everyone would have been looking at Ahmet." To Robert Plant he was "this absolutely elite gentleman, the master of serenity, as much at home with the backstage cavorting of Led Zeppelin as he was with the politesse of high society.... He was, to me, an oasis and a model -- how to be settled in the midst of all this madness, how to know when to get excited and when not."
Mr. Plant also said: "We had some memorable nights together; I wish I could remember them." And that brings up one startling aspect of this book, which is how little it startles. Late in the book, there is a reference to Ertegun's "always unbridled sexual appetites," but in an age of tell-all biographies, this one tells very little. Just before the end, there are a couple of pages on Ertegun's fondness for putting his hands up women's skirts, but his wife says, "I couldn't care less." Apparently Mr. Greenfield figures that if she doesn't care, why should we? Like its subject, "The Last Sultan" is all business.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Myriam Bouk Moun & Alexis Tcholakian Duo @ Swan Jazz Bar, tomorrow
If you happen to be in Paris this Saturday, November 5, don't miss the meeting ("récital improvisé" like they say) of songstress Myriam Bouk Moun with pianist Alexis Tcholakian @ Swan jazz bar (165 Boulevard du Montparnasse). For more info, please visit:
http://myspace.com/myriamquichante
http://myspace.com/alexistcholakian
Three years ago right now
"Dear Arnaldo --Three years ago, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States with your support.
And right around this time, he stepped onstage in Chicago to address the American people for the first time as President-elect.
A lot has happened since that night in Grant Park.
But to win in 2012, we'll need a grassroots campaign that's even stronger than the last, and we can't afford to wait to get started.
Watch the video we put together highlighting election night 2008 and the last three years, and then commit to be a volunteer for 2012.
Here's what the President said three years ago tonight:
"Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime. ... The road ahead will be long; our climb will be steep; we may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there. ... but there's so much more to do."
Everyone should be proud of what we've accomplished since then, but as the President said, there's so much more to do. What happens on November 6th, 2012, is up to us.
Commit to volunteer:
http://my.barackobama.com/Commit-to-Volunteer-for-2012
Thanks,
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager - Obama for America"
Quincy Jones presents the Tomorrow/Bokra Project and Alfredo Rodriguez's European Tour
Quincy Jones and his partner Badr Jafar have been working with Music Producer RedOne and Film Director/Producer Malek Akkad on the Tomorrow/Bokra project for over a year. The song and music video will be launched one week from today on 11/11/11 and aims to be a beacon of solidarity and peace for the Arab world at a crucial time in the region's history. Stay tuned to www.tomorrowbokra.org for the launch of the video on 11/11/11!Tomorrow/Bokra is a project of Q's joint venture, Global Gumbo Group.
For more info, visit www.globalgumbogroup.com
In the meantime, Quincy is supporting upcoming Alfredo Rodriguez concerts in Paris, Istanbul, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Zurich, Tokyo and Kawasaki.
Visit www.alfredomusic.com for more details.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Scot Alberton Trio live in NY, tonight
After a thrilling concert last October 24, with guitarist Freddie Bryant & reedman Sedric Shukroom, Scot Albertson returns tonight, November 3, to Tomi Jazz with two other great musicians: Keith Ingham (piano) and Arthur Lipner, the great vibes player who shines on Albertson's latest CD "Vibination."Tomi Jazz is located @ 239 East 53rd Street, between 2nd & 3rd Avenues.
2 sets. $10 cover charge, $10 food & drink minimum.
For reservations, please call (646) 497-1254.
João Gilberto's 80th Birthday Tour postponed...
Last June 10, when Gilberto celebrated his 80th Birthday, a tour was announced and originally scheduled to start in September 2011, with dates booked in São Paulo (at Tom Brasil) and Rio de Janeiro (Vivo Rio). But those concerts were cancelled and the tour postponed to November.'Till yesterday, the following dates were still valid:
November 5 @ Via Funchal (São Paulo)
November 15 @ Teatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro)
November 19 @ Centro de Convenções Ulysses Guimarães (Brasília)
November 25 @ Teatro do SESI (Porto Alegre)
However, as expected by many, the tour was once again postponed. New concerts will be scheduled for December. Maybe.
João Gilberto's latest (last?) tour happened in 2008, in Brazil. After that occasion, he cancelled tours in Japan, Spain, Italy, his appearance in a Guitar Festival organized by Eric Clapton, and even a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall in 2010.
More details:
http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2010/06/joao-gilbertos-concert-carnegie-hall-is.html
Those who purchased tix for the concerts of João Gilberto's 2011 Tour "80 Anos - Uma Vida Bossa Nova," can request to be refunded through the links below:
http://www.ingresso.com.br/br/compra/ingresso/configuracao.asp?Compra=1&T_SETOR=00003436&T_SESSAO=16704247&T_IDCIDADE=00000002
or
www.viafunchal.com.br
CD of the Day - "Christiane Legrand: Of Smiles and Tears"
CD of the DayChristiane Legrand: "Of Smiles and Tears" (Philips/Universal)
My personal favorite solo album by Christiane Legrand, who sings 11 Brazilian songs, with French lyrics provided mostly by Eddy Marnay. Among them, one of Antonio Carlos Jobim's gems from his soundtrack to "The Adventurers": "Children's Games" (a.k.a. "Double Rainbow" and "Chovendo na Roseira'), here retitled "Rome" (yes, the lyrics are about the Italian city). Six songs are by Milton Nascimento, from the "Courage" era of his creative heyday: "Canção do Sal" (La Riziere), "Travessia" (Ta Maison N'Est Plus La Mienne), "Outubro" (Tant des Gens), "Maria Minha Fé" (Marie Endormie), "Morro Velho" (Deux Camarades) and "Catavento." There's also an inspired rendintion of Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes' afro-samba classic "Canto de Ossanha" and the collaboration of Fred Falcão and Arnoldo Medeiros on "Shirley Sexy," wrongly credited on this CD reissue to samba master Elton Medeiros.
R.I.P.: Christiane Legrand
(born August 21, 1930 in Paris, France;died November 1, 2011 in Paris, France)
The daughter of Raymond Legrand, and sister of Michel Legrand, Christiane was discovered by jazz historian and composer André Hodeir, who, coincidently, also passed away on November 1st. Christiane became the lead singer in the most famous French jazz vocal groups of all time: Les Double Six (who recorded several best-selling albums such as "Jazz Sebastian Bach" and "Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris featuring Bud Powell") and Swingle Singers. Later on, in 1976, she formed Quire.
Besides solo albums (my personal favorite being "Le Brésil de Christiane Legrand," later retitled "Of Smiles and Tears"), she also recorded many soundtracks composed by his brother Michel for such movies as "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," "The Young Girls of Rochefort," and "Peau d'Ane."
Christiane did many musical collaborations that ranged from Modern Jazz Quartet ("Place Vendome") to rock group Procol Harum, being featured on the track "Fires (Which Burn Brightly)" from an album titled "Grand Hotel"; she also recorded with Yves Montand, Serge Gainsbourg, Gilbert Bécaud, Francis Lai.
http://www.culturopoing.com/Musique/Mort+de+la+chanteuse+Christiane+Legrand-4416
Mort de la chanteuse Christiane Legrand
Posté par Cyril Cossardeaux le 2011-11-03
(Avec son frère Michel au piano lors d'un concert à Marseille le 26 juin 2010 (photo : Krikor Amirzayan)Le monde tourne mal chantait il y a déjà presque vingt ans la chanteuse crypto-communiste Axelle Red et ce n’est pas nous qui allons feindre de vous apprendre que ça s’est arrangé depuis… Malgré toutes les catastrophes qui nous entourent et celles que l’on nous promet pour les mois et années à venir, il est des nouvelles qui font moins de bruit que d’autres et nous serrent pourtant le cœur infimiment plus fort. Celle de la disparition de Christiane Legrand, morte le 1er novembre 2011 à l’âge de 81 ans, est de celles-là.
Christiane Legrand n’était pratiquement qu’une voix et on n’est pas certain qu’on aurait su reconnaître sa photo ; mais quelle voix ! A la fois l’une de celles des Double Six et des Swingle Singers, groupes de jazz vocal fondés à Paris respectivement par Mimi Perrin en 1959 et Ward Single en 1963, mais évidemment aussi celle des délicieuses mélopées composées par son frère cadet Michel, en particulier pour les films enchantés de Jacques Demy. Car la Madame Emery des Parapluies de Cherbourg ou la Fée des Lilas de Peau d’âne, c’était évidemment Anne Vernon et Delphine Seyrig mais presque tout autant Christiane Legrand, qui leur prêtait sa voix pour les parties chantées (cela signifie donc qu’on n’entend jamais la voix d’Anne Vernon dans Les Parapluies…).
Christiane Legrand avait également participé à la bande originale des Demoiselles de Rochefort (mais dans un plus petit rôle, celle de l’une des amoureuses des marins marrants), donné sa voix à la version française de Mary Poppins en doublant Julie Andrews et était même apparu dans Adieu Philippine de Jacques Rozier.
Les cinéphiles mélomanes se souviendront aussi d’elle pour sa merveilleuse voix de sirène qui magnifiait la déjà pourtant sublime musique de François de Roubaix pour l’excellent film de Robert Enrico, Les Aventuriers, et faisait de l’enterrement sous-marin de la belle Joanna Shimkus une scène particulièrement envoûtante.
Fille du compositeur et chef d’orchestre Raymond Legrand (qui travailla notamment au cinéma pour André Cayatte, Marcel Pagnol ou Henri Verneuil), dont elle participa à quelques enregistrements, Christiane Legrand avait été très tôt à excellente école. Sa très solide formation musicale ne la destina d’ailleurs pas seulement au jazz, à la musique de film, à la pop (elle chante sur Fires, chanson de Procol Harum en 1973) ou à la musique brésilienne (l’une de ses grandes passions et à laquelle elle consacra un bel hommage de reprises en français de compositions de Baden Powell, Tom Jobim ou Milton Nascimento au début des années 1970, Le Brésil de Christiane Legrand), mais également à interpréter des musiciens comme Berio, Varèse ou Constant… et à faire merveille sur les versions swinguées de Bach.
Elle était par ailleurs la tante de Victoria Legrand, chanteuse et moitié du groupe Beach House.
The Chip White Ensemble returns to Gillespie Auditorium, in NYC, next Tuesday
On Tuesday November 8, the Chip White Ensemble will be playing in the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium at the New York City Baha'i Center, 53 East 11th Street (between University Place and Broadway). Sets are at 8 and 9:30 PM, and your can buy tickets at the door or reserve them by calling 212-222-5159.Chip will be playing with Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Bruce Williams (reeds), Waldron Ricks (trumpet and flugelhorn), Cecilia Coleman (piano), and Tim Givens (bass). The ensemble will be playing original compositions from Chip's newest recording, "Personal Dedications & Percussive Tributes," as well as from earlier recordings, and standards.
As always, you can find out more about Chip's gigs, music, poetry, and recordings on www.chipwhitejazz.com, and you can purchase Chip's CDs at the gig or online from CDBaby at www.cdbaby.com/artist/chipwhite
Admission is 15.00, $10.00 for students.
Tickets will be sold at the door, or call 212-222-5159 for advanced tickets or information.
The John Birks Gillespie Auditorium is located in the heart of Greenwich Village within the Baha'i Center:
53 E. 11th St. (Between B'way and University Place)
New York, NY 10003
Chip White was born on December 21, 1946 in New York City. He began studying percussion and music with his father at the age of nine, and studied theory and harmony with Vincent Corzine while in high school. Chip then continued his formal education at Ithaca College and later at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied with Alan Dawson, Charlie Marino, and Herb Pomeroy. He also studied privately with Freddie Buda of the Boston Symphony. Later, he studied orchestration and arranging with Frank Foster.
Since moving back to New York City in 1970, Chip has performed and/or recorded with a variety of artists, including Carman McCrae, Jaki Byard, the Jazzmobile CETA Big Band, Candido, John Abercrombie, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Frank Vicari, John Faddis, Chet Baker, Bill Hardman, Junior Cook, Claudio Roditi, Dave Liebman, James Moody, Tom Waits, Kim & Marion, Enrico Rava, Jimmy McGriff, Mulgrew Miller, Gary Bartz, John Hicks, Don Braden, Walter Bishop Jr., Ronnie Matthews, Al Grey, Benny Powell, Teddy Edwards, Craig Handy, Klaus Ignatzek, Houston Person and Etta Jones, Irene Reid, and Savion Glover. In 1990, Chip co-wrote and produced the jazz musical "Manhattan Moments" with choreographer Kathy Sanson.
Chip recorded "Harlem Sunset," his first CD as a leader, with Gary Bartz, Robin Eubanks, Claudio Roditi, Steve Nelson, and Buster Williams. The recording features six of Chip's original compositions. Mr. White’s second CD, "Music and Lyrics," was released in September 2005. He wrote, arranged, and produced all the compositions on this CD. It features Gail Allen, Houston Person, Lafayette Harris, and George Kaye.
In the past several years, years, Mr. White has appeared on Houston Person’s albums "In a Sentimental Mood," "Social Call," and "To Etta With Love"; Etta Jones’ "Easy Living" and the Grammy-nominated "Etta Jones Sings Lady Day"; and Teddy Edwards’ "Ladies Man" and "Smooth Sailing," all on the High Note record label. His composition “Time Stood Still” is featured on Houston Person’s "All Soul."
Chip recently reinvigorated the Chip White Ensemble with gigs at Dizzy’s Coca Cola/Jazz at Lincoln Center, Sweet Rhythm, and the Lenox Lounge in New York City, Cecil’s in Orange, NJ, and the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium at the Bahá’í Center in New York City. Chip has also written a book of poems about jazz musicians entitled "I’m Just the Drummer in the Band."
In 2008, Chip released "Double Dedication," a two-disc set. Disc 1 includes his original compositions written for famous jazz masters such as Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Billy Strayhorn – thirteen in all. The musicians are Steve Wilson, Randy Brecker, Wycliffe Gordon, Kenny Barron, Ray Drummond, Gail Allen, and Chip. On, the second, shorter disc, Chip reads poems from I’m Just the Drummer in the Band for each of the thirteen musicians, in the same order as the compositions on the first disc, with the music sequenced underneath. This unique and exciting recording was on the JazzWeek Jazz Album radio charts for six weeks, reaching number 27.
Chip's latest recording, "More Dedications," is Volume II of the project begun with Double Dedication. Released in May 2009, it features original compositions (Disc 1) and poems (Disc 2) for nine more jazz giants, including Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, and Tony Williams. The musicians are Mulgrew Miller, Steve Nelson, Wycliffe Gordon, Peter Washington, Duane Eubanks, Patience Higgins, and Chip White. More Dedications received four stars in Downbeat, and was on the JazzWeek Jazz Album radio charts for 11 weeks, and reached number 21.
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