New Year's Eve with dancefloor-jazz @ Bypass! Happy 2008!

Carrefour de l’Etoile 1

1227 Les Acacias

Genève, Suisse

0022 300 6565

"Opus Samba" review - "Estado de Minas"

Review about Fabio Fonseca Trio's "Opus Samba" (produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiro), written by music journalist Kiko Ferreira and originally published on the leading daily newspaper of the State of Minas Gerais, in Brazil, "O Estado de Minas", on December 30, 2007
This story is being reproduced in many websites such as "Divirta-se".
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Estado de Minas - 30/12/07
Caderno "EM Cultura", pag. 8

Novo rumo

Fábio Fonseca, conhecido por seu trabalho com artistas do pop nacional, lança disco dedicado a organistas que marcaram a MPB. Ele construiu estúdio só para gravar o CD

by Kiko Ferreira
O time de "Opus Samba": Arnaldo DeSouteiro, Ithamara Koorax, Pedro Leão, Mac William e Fabio Fonseca

Aos 44 minutos do segundo tempo de 2007, chega às lojas um dos melhores discos instrumentais do ano. "Opus Samba", quinto álbum do tecladista, arranjador e compositor carioca Fábio Fonseca, é um trabalho vibrante em todos os sentidos. Sucessor de "Tudo", de 2002, presta tributo a organistas históricos do país, como Walter Wanderley e Ed Lincoln.

Um estúdio foi construído especialmente para gravar "Opus Samba". O álbum é como um show, em que Fábio se reveza entre três teclados – o órgão Hammond comprado de Lincoln, um piano Fender Rhodes e um piano Wurlitzer. E ainda sobra espaço para o sintetizador Arp Odissey. Tudo gravado “ao vivo”, sem truques digitais, em estúdio com pé direito alto, comparável às grandes salas de gravação dos anos 1960. O som do baixo de Pedro Leão e, principalmente, a bateria de Mac Williams ganham registro que rivaliza com a intensidade dos clássicos de Jimmy Smith e outros discos antológicos de jazz.

Lançado simultaneamente no Brasil e no exterior, o álbum já está esgotado no site americano http://www.dustygroove.com/ e e foi incluído na lista dos mais vendidos da loja HMV japonesa. Autor de Manuel, hit da carreira de Ed Motta, Fábio Fonseca tem trajetória de sucesso como acompanhante, produtor e arranjador de uma legião de artistas, que inclui Seu Jorge, Marina Lima, Lulu Santos, Ithamara Koorax e Paralamas do Sucesso.

Nascido no Rio, em 1961, ele começou como estudante de música clássica, mas já era apaixonado por teclados eletrônicos e sintetizadores. Aos 20 anos, entrou para a Banda Vermelha, que tinha na escalação as futuras estrelas Fernanda Abreu e Leo Jaime. Em 1982, participou da banda Brylho (do hit "Noite do Prazer") e, na seqüência, da Cinema a Dois, do hit "Não me iluda". O primeiro disco individual veio em 1988, antes de se juntar à banda de Ed Motta. "Tradução Simultânea", de 1992, trazia Luiz Melodia e João Donato como atrações especiais.

Mudança

Opus samba sai pelo selo JSR, do jazzista e produtor Arnaldo DeSouteiro. “Neste CD, Fábio mergulha de cabeça na cena instrumental, o que representa uma grande e inesperada mudança de rumo na carreira solo dele. Tanto que, pela primeira vez, ele, um dos melhores produtores do país, se deixou produzir. Inclusive partiu dele a proposta para fazermos o disco nesta linha, pelo meu selo, JSR”, conta DeSouteiro.

O produtor revela que Fábio tem excelente estúdio na casa dele, em Itaipava, interior do Rio de Janeiro. Mas, para obter padrão de som com alcance internacional, decidiu construir outro especialmente para o novo disco, buscando atender as exigências sonoras dos chamados audiófilos. “Fábio comprou a idéia e foi além, chamando arquiteto suíço para construir uma casa, de forma a obter o espaço físico de que precisávamos para gravar o disco ‘ao vivo’ em estúdio”, revela. “Deve ter sido a primeira vez no mundo que alguém construiu uma casa apenas para gravar um disco! Aliás, ela já está à venda.”

Gravado em três dias, em 24 canais, o álbum abre com o dançante "Samba de Nânh 2", eletrizante seqüência do samba de mesmo nome incluído no internacionalmente aclamado "Rhythm Traveller", do percussionista Dom Um Romão. Na seqüência, vem a suingada versão de "Too High", de Stevie Wonder, com solo de piano em homenagem ao de Herbie Hancock na versão de Joe Farrell para a CTI.

Releituras

O disco inclui três releituras do álbum "Tradução Simultânea": a faixa-título, misto de samba e baião que evoca a sonoridade do piano elétrico de Tom Jobim; a climática canção "Dormideira", aqui com percussão extra a cargo do produtor DeSouteiro e da cantora Ithamara Koorax; e "Vida Vira Vida", parceria com Mathilda Kovac, samba com alma de jazz do Beco das Garrafas.

Fonseca mostra sua capacidade de atrevimento ao atualizar o clássico "Cochise", maior sucesso da carreira de Ed Lincoln, que, por sua vez, se inspirou na versão de Tito Puente para o tema de Ray Santos. Ele brinca com a música como se estivesse numa jam session de fim de noite. Composto para o álbum "A trip to Brazil vol. 5: Copa do Mundo 2006", o "Samba da Copa" evoca jogadas de craque. "Cantagalo" é a faixa preferida de Fábio, que procurou se inspirar na visão musical de Ennio Morricone sobre a bossa nova. "A Mulher de 15 Metros" é outra parceria com Matilda Kovac, dividida com a voz de Ithamara Koorax.

Encerram o menu três tributos: "Missing Dom Um", para o percussionista Dom Um Romão; "Mr. Bertrami", para o tecladista do Azymuth, José Roberto Bertrami; e "Pro Renê", dedicado ao professor Renê Terra, que ele próprio admite ter subestimado e que festeja em seu melhor disco.
Opus samba atualiza sonoridades clássicas sem falsos truques e com consistência. Marca a surpreendente guinada na carreira de um músico talentoso que, até recentemente, parecia restrito ao pop.
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This article can be found also here:
http://www.divirta-se2.uai.com.br/agitos/interna_noticias.asp?codigo=2799

David Benoit Trio at the Jazz Bakery, LA

FUND-RAISER FOR
THE JAZZ BAKERY &
THE SYMPHONIC JAZZ ORCHESTRA

LAST TAX DEDUCTION FOR 2007 !

Early or Late Show: $100 / Entire Evening: $150
Early: 8:30pm-Party, 9:15pm-Concert
Late: 10:30pm-Party, 11:15pm-Concert
(wine, champagne, coffee, snacks and sweets)

TO RESERVE TICKETS:
ON-LINE from the SJO site: click here
PHONE : 310-271-9039

Tickets held at door on New Year's Eve.

Seats pre-assigned as reservations are received.

Payment: (Must include phone number & choice of show)
By Visa, MC, or Amex (5% service charge applicable),
* Everything in excess of $25 per ticket is --
TAX DEDUCTIBLE TO THE EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY LAW

IT'S GOING TO BE A DYNAMITE PARTY!
(and tax deductible too)

Celebrate the New Year's Eve with Amanda Carr!

This NEW YEAR'S EVE, make jazz the 'standard' of your Boston "First Night" festivities.

Amanda Carr - voted one of the Top 3 jazz vocalists of the year by this Jazz Station blog, with her fourth album, "Soon", placing among the Top 10 jazz vocal CDs of 2007 - will be singing, tonight, with the Bill Loughlin Trio in the Oak Bar at the prestigious and elegant Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel starting at 9pm.

Reservations required and overnight packages available. Call 617-267-5300 or visit www.fairmont.com/copleyplaza

Ladies and gentlemen...Mr. Eric Mingus!

Peter Aaron introduces Eric Mingus, the bassist's son, a blues singer who worked with rock bands, but also with many jazz colleagues (The Village Voice). He lived in London for a while, then returned to the US to live in West Shokan, teaches in New York and works with musicians such as the guitarist Elliot Sharp, the saxophonist Erik Lawrence and the saxophonist Catherine Sikora.

The fabulous Eric Gravatt

Eric Kamau Gravatt was McCoy Tyner's drummer at the age of 21, then worked for 20 years as a prison guard before playing the drums again with Tyner (The Canadian Press). He also played with jazz greats such as Albert Ayler, Charles Mingus and many others before joining Weather Report in 1971, but decided to take a day job to pay for his family. After retirement he rejoined Tyner who is happy to have him back because he delivers that sensitivity and dynamics he looks for in a percussionist. Gravatt's playing in some of Weather Report's best albums ever influenced drummers from all over the world, including Azymuth's Ivan "Mamão" Conti. My late soul brother Dom Um Romão was another one who considered Gravatt one of the world's best drummers. Btw, their interplay on such WR albums as "Live in Tokyo" (reissued on a 2-CD set in Japan) is quite fabulous. Curiously, when Dom Um signed with Muse Records in 73, to cut his first solo album in the USA, he invited Gravatt to play congas!

Till Bronner @ Casa del Jazz

The Casa del Jazz in Rome used to be a villa owned by a Mafia boss but then was seized by the state and remodeled into a jazz club, recording studio and concert hall, as Ralf Dombrowski reports (Spiegel Online). Rome's mayor Valter Veltroni is a jazz fan and used his power to make the Casa del Jazz into a major performance space. Over Christmas German trumpeter Till Brönner was programmed to play there together with the trombonist Nils Landgren, the vibraphonist Christopher Dell as well as an Italian rhythm section. The concert was moved to the larger auditorium of Rome's Goethe-Institut instead, Germany's cultural institution which started a regular concert series with German jazz at the Casa del Jazz last summer.

Leonard Feather's archives

After his death in 1994, the collection of the legendary jazz historian/writer/composer Leonard Feather (call him a "critic" is a big offense - to Leonard, of course) went to the University of Idaho, as John Miller reports (Los Angeles Times). Among many other things it contained lots of never released audio material by jazz greats. Miller singles out a session with Billie Holiday and Tony Scott at Feather's apartment with the critic himself playing the piano. Copyright law, though, prevents the release of such material for quite some time.

Milcho Leviev honored by the Bulgarian President

The Bulgarian pianist Milcho Leviev has been nominated for the Saints Kiril and Metodii order by the Bulgarian president (The Sofia Echo). Leviev left Bulgaria for political reasons in 1970 and since then lives in California. The first time I heard him was on Airto's "Virgin Land" LP, produced by Billy Cobham for CTI's subsidiary Salvation label, back in 1974. Two Leviev's intriguing tunes, "Peasant Dance" (featuring Eddie Daniels on clarinet) and "Lydian Riff" (with one of those Flora Purim's ultra-sensuous wordless vocals), were among the album highlights, up to now released on CD only in Japan. That same year, he did a splendid performance with Cobham at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In the early 80s we became in touch thanx to Yana Purim, and I was able to give airplay to many of his tracks at the Tupi FM radio station there in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Surprisingly, some of them became very popular among the listeners, being often requested, specially "Air on a Blue String" (Milcho's adaptation of "Air on a G String", from his "Piano Lessons" LP for Dobre Records), "Waltz for Maurice" and "Sad, A Little Bit" (both from his masterpiece orchestral album, "Music for Big Band and Symphony Orchestra", recorded in Sofia and LA for Leviev's indepent label Philippopolis Records). Another superb effort, the piano solo album "Easter Parade - Milcho Leviev Plays the Music of Irving Berlin" was, fortunately, released on CD in 1988 by Albert Marx's Trend/Discovery Records. One of its songs, "Soft Lights and Sweet Music", is one of the best 10 Fender Rhodes tracks ever!

We lost contact in the 90s, but, by the end of that decade, I became aware of his recordings for the Vartan and Elephant labels. During a trip to Brazil, I was caught by surprise to watch him on a TV special during a concert filmed in São Paulo. Where are you now, Milcho?

Havana Carbo @ Saint Peter's Church, NY, this afternoon, Dec 30

Join us today for JAZZ VESPERS at Saint Peter's Church
54th & Lexington Avenue
Sunday, December 30 - 5pm

This afternoon, sublime singer Havana Carbo will be performing songs from her impeccable new album, "Through a windown...like a dream", backed by Cliff Korman (piano), Sean Smith (bass) and Vince Cherico (drums). I hope the setlist will include "Nuages", "Pecado", "Dream Waltz", "Solamente Una Vez". "Invitation" and "La Puerta", among other gems from Carbo's repertoire.

"The Jazz Ministry at Saint Peter's Church was founded in 1965 by the late Reverend John Garcia Gensel who developed its most important form of worship: Jazz Vespers ... featuring a wide range of jazz styles and musicians ... held each Sunday at 5:00 PM. Jazz Vespers is a Worship Service in jazz featuring famous jazz artists"

What critics are saying:
• Best Female Jazz Vocalist of 2007 - "Through A window...Like a Dream" #2 Vocal Jazz CD of 2007

Arnaldo DeSouteiro, "Tribuna da Imprensa", Brasil - Dec. 26 2007, and Jazz Station blog

http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/
• " Carbo is among the world's great singers...master storyteller... impeccable phrasing, a voice to remember."

Sun-Sentinel
"...Carbo infuses traditional Latin ballads with new musical meanings..."

DownBeat
• "Elegant, unhurried, utterly classy...very rich and rewarding album."
New World Music
•"...top notch, pure music...unaffected by fashion or fad. A winner."
www.midwestrecord.com
•"...rare vocalist... with a rare degree of taste...thoroughly delightful CD."
Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
•"...achingly beautiful."

Nate Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• " Like Dietrich, Carbo’s endowed with a remarkable ability to simultaneously sound dreamily passionate and drowning in ennui."

Christopher Loundon, Jazz Times
•"...a master of musical understatement and subtlety..."
Richard Peaslee
•"...Carbo smolders..."
http://www.jazzweekly.com/reviews/hcarbo_through.htm

CD SALES:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/havanacarbo2

DJ Joyce Mercedes tonight at "Bypass"

"Bypass"
Carrefour de l’Etoile 1
1227 Les Acacias
Genève, Switzerland
0022 300 6565

The 28th Annual Jazz Station Poll - The Best Jazz of 2007!

Os melhores do jazz em 2007 - The Best Jazz of 2007!

A seleção dos “melhores do jazz”, feita pelo historiador Arnaldo DeSouteiro chega ao 28º ano. Mark Murphy, Havana Carbo, Michael Brecker, Lelo Nazario e Marc Copland estão entre os artistas que brilharam em 2007

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The 28th Annual Jazz Station Poll results by Brazil-born jazz historian & jazz educator Arnaldo DeSouteiro

Esta é a lista dos que mais se destacaram, em 2007, no panorama jazzístico internacional. Atendendo aos pedidos dos leitores, que desde 1979 acompanham essa votação, incluímos – após o nome do primeiro colocado em cada categoria – o título do disco pelo qual o artista foi avaliado, com base apenas em lançamentos realizados no decorrer deste ano. A queda nas vendas foi violenta em 2007 mas, paradoxalmente, o número de edições e reedições aumentou muito.

(A amável confraternização de Arnaldo DeSouteiro com o cantor Mark Murphy)

Para variar, foram necessárias várias semanas para a preparação de todas estas listas, reouvindo discos, revendo DVDs, checando fichas técnicas e, às vezes, reavaliando opiniões. Tudo isso com o objetivo de fornecer o mais fiel possível retrato do cenário jazzístico em 2007, a partir de bases reais de análise. O que significa, por exemplo, que artistas que não lançaram novos trabalhos este ano, seja como líderes ou sidemen, tornaram-se, por mais geniais que sejam, automaticamente inelegíveis. Tal critério explica a ausência de feras como Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, Ornette Coleman, Al Jarreau, Urbie Green, Jimmy McGriff, Ahmad Jamal e George Benson, que, apesar de terem realizado muitos shows, não lançaram novos trabalhos em 2007. Também ficaram de fora, por óbvia questão de ética, artistas com os quais tive vínculos profissionais este ano (Thiago de Mello, Gazzara, Dexter Payne, José Roberto Bertrami, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Rudy Van Gelder, Peter Scharli etc).

Explicando alguns critérios para melhor compreensão da lista, vale ressaltar que nem sempre um disco no qual certo artista tem uma grande performance (Ron Carter em “Dear Miles”, por exemplo) é um álbum fabuloso. Isto explica porque Ron aparece em primeiro lugar na categoria de “contrabaixo” (ninguém teve uma performance tão fantástica neste instrumento em 2007), embora o disco não mereça figurar entre os melhores CDs. Por outro lado, Miroslav Vitous, embora sem superar o virtuosismo de Carter como instrumentista, nem as expressivas atuações de Gary Peacock nos trios de Marc Copland e Keith Jarrett, lançou um álbum maravilhoso (“Universal syncopations II”) que figura entre os melhores CDs deste ano.

“The very best of Diana Krall”, apesar de ser uma compilação, entrou na lista dos melhores discos vocais por conter três faixas inéditas (entre elas, uma sublime releitura de “Only the lonely”, que havia sobrado do CD “The look of love”). Mas nenhuma das faixas foi gravada este ano, impedindo a Diana concorrer como “cantora do ano” – categoria vencida pela notável Havana Carbo (uma versão latin-tinged de Helen Merrill, uma das minhas eternas favoritas, mas que não lança um novo trabalho desde 2004). Michael Brecker, falecido em janeiro, teve forças para, em agosto de 2006, no meio do calvário, gravar o CD “Pilgrimage”, lançado postumamente em maio de 2007; um dos mais belos e eloqüentes álbuns de toda a sua brilhante carreira. Aí estão os resultados completos:
(Mr. and Mrs. Marc Copland with Arnaldo DeSouteiro)

Piano Acústico/Acoustic Piano: 1º Marc Copland (“New York trio recordings vol. 2: Voices” – Pirouet); 2º Keith Jarrett; 3º Oriente Lopez

Piano Elétrico/Electric Piano: 1º Lelo Nazario (“Africasiamerica” - Editio Princeps); 2º Chick Corea; 3º Gary Husband

Órgão/Organ: 1º Barbara Dennerlein (“Change of pace” - Bebab); 2º Joey DeFrancesco; 3º Chris Foreman

Teclados/Keyboards: 1° Joe Zawinul (“Brown Street” – Heads Up); 2º Lelo Nazario; 3º Jim Beard
(Ron Carter & Arnaldo DeSouteiro)

Contrabaixo/Acoustic Bass: 1º Ron Carter (“Dear Miles” – Blue Note); 2º Gary Peacock; 3º Miroslav Vitous
Baixo elétrico/Electric Bass: 1º Stanley Clarke (“Night school” – Heads Up DVD); 2º Steve Swallow; 3º Mark Egan
Bateria/Drums: 1º Jack DeJohnette (“Pilgrimage” with Michael Brecker – Heads Up); 2º Fredy Studer; 3º Paul Motian
Percussão/Percussion: 1º Airto Moreira (“Birdwatcher” w/ Michel Portal - EmArcy); 2º Mickey Hart; 3º Sammy Figueroa
Vibrafone/Vibes: 1º Bobby Hutcherson (“For sentimental reasons” – Kind of Blue); 2 Joe Locke; 3º Mike Mainieri
Diversos/Miscellaneous Instruments: 1°Bela Fleck - banjo (“The Enchantment” w/ Chick Corea – Concord”); 2º Michael Brecker – EWI; 3º Erik Friedlander – cello

Violão/Acoustic Guitar: 1º Gene Bertoncini (“Floating on the silence" - w/ Tom Wolfe - Summit); 2º Larry Coryell; 3º Al DiMeola
Guitarra/Electric Guitar: 1º Larry Coryell (“A retrospective” – InAkustic DVD); 2° Pat Metheny; 3º Kenny Burrell
Violino/Violin: 1º Jean-Luc Ponty (“The Atacama experience” – Koch); 2º Didier Lockwood; 3º Billy Bang
Flauta/Flute: 1° Hubert Laws (“Monterey moods” w/ Gerald Wilson Orchestra – Mack Avenue); 2º Frank Wess; 3º Mel Martin
Clarinete-Clarone/Clarinet-Bass Clarinet: 1º Michel Portal (“Birdwatcher” – EmArcy); 2° Silke Eberhard; 3º Ben Goldberg
Trompete/Trumpet: 1º Randy Brecker (“Some skunk funk” – BHM DVD); 2º Arturo Sandoval; 3° Carl Saunders
Flugelhorn: 1º Marvin Stamm (“Alone together” – JazzedMedia); 2º Till Bronner; 3º Tom Harrell
Trombone: 1º Raul de Souza (“Jazzmim" - Biscoito Fino); 2º Jim Pugh; 3º Bob Brookmeyer
Sax soprano: 1º Dave Liebman (“Back on the corner” – Tone Center); 2º Wayne Shorter: 3º Theo Travis
Sax alto: 1º Lee Konitz (“Ashiya” with Walter Lang – Pirouet); 2º Phil Woods; 3º Loren Stillman
Sax tenor: 1º Michael Brecker (“Pilgrimage” – Heads Up); 2º Sonny Rollins; 3º Yusef Lateef
Sax barítono: 1º Joe Temperley (“Cocktails for two” – Sackville); 2º Ronnie Cuber; 3º Roger Rosenberg

Mark Murphy and Havana Carbo: the best jazz singers in 2007!

Cantor/Male Singer: 1º Mark Murphy (“Love is what stays” – Verve); 2º Andy Bey; 3º Ed Reed
Cantora/Female Singer: 1º Havana Carbo (“Through a window...like a dream” – MODL); 2º Diane Hubka; 3º Amanda Carr
Grupo/Group: 1º Manhattan Jazz Quintet (“Someday my prince will come” - VAM); 2º Marc Copland Trio; 3º Soft Machine Legacy
Banda/Big Band: 1º Phil Kelly & The SW Santa Ana Winds (“My Museum” – Origin); 2º Gerald Wilson Orchestra; 3º WDR Big Band
Compositor/Composer: 1º Michael Brecker (“Pilgrimage” – Heads Up); 2º Miroslav Vitous; 3º Walter Lang
Arranjador/Arranger: 1º Nan Schwartz (“Love is what stays” w/ Mark Murphy – Verve); 2º Phil Kelly; 3º Vince Mendoza
Engenheiro de som/Recording & Mix Engineer: 1º Jason Seizer (“The New York trio recordings vol. 2” w/ Marc Copland – Pirouet); 2º Randy Crafton; 3º Sandy Solomon
Produtor/Producer: 1º Till Bronner ("Love is what stays" w/ Mark Murphy); 2º David Matthews; 3º Tommy LiPuma

(The multi-talented couple Hermeto Pascoal & Aline Morena)

Revelação/New Talent: 1º Aline Morena – vocal/percussão/viola caipira (“Chimarrão com rapadura” – DVD); 2º Henning Sieverts – compositor/contrabaixo; 3º Matheus Barbosa - guitarra
Artista do ano/Artist of the Year: Hermeto Pascoal – por colocar em prática a “música universal”. Valeu, campeão!
(Joe Zawinul)

(Max Roach)

In memoriam: Joe Zawinul, Michael Brecker, Marcio Montarroyos, Oscar Peterson, Burt Collins, Max Roach, Joel Dorn, Cecil Payne, Alice Coltrane, Frank Morgan, Jon Lucien, Carlos Conde, Carlos “Patato” Valdes, Johnny Frigo, Carla White, Andrew Hill, Bill Barber, Alvin Batiste, Esmond Edwards, Whitney Balliett, Gunter Noris, Elaine Lorillard, Paul Burwell, Jay Duke, Paul deLay, Hilton Felton, Tony Scott, Al Viola, Ian Wallace, Ronnie-Wells Elliston, Bill Fetsch, John Thow, Peggy Gilbert, Betty Hutton, Tyrone Hill, Bobby Rosengarden, Russ Long, Mark Spoelstra, Leroy Jenkins, Mary Kaye, Phil Bates, Alan Cooper, Bobby Byrd, Johnny Fourie, Evelyn Blakey, Herb Pomeroy, Mario Rivera, Doug Riley, Jumma Santos, Aldemaro Romero, Leon Merian, Wilson Turbinton, Masahiko Togashi, Mike Osborne, Specs Powell, Durval Ferreira, Derek Simpson, Jim Smale, Arnvid Meyer, Sal Mosca, Eddie Bigham, Manny Green, Al Hendrickson, Paul Rutherford, Bill Perry, Earl Turbinton, Art Davis, Earl Watkins, Tom Walker, Earl Watkins, Boots Randolph, Roy Pritts, Steve Bagby, Vince Giantomasi, Don Mumford, Joan Steele, Buddy Childers, Take Joriyama, Dick Allen, Tim Eyermann, Herman Riley, Tommy Newsom, Dakota Staton, Tom Tobias, Danny Barcelona, Bea Abbott, Hans Nagel-Heyer, Frankie Laine, Jimmy Cheatham, Doug Richardson, Alan Nash, Peter Muller, Teresa Brewer, Cees Slinger, Kitty Grime, Adriano de Oliveira, Generoso Jiminez, Doc Paulin, Diane Middlebrooks, Wiley Hitchcock, Willie Tee, Ike Turner, Thomas Audley Jr.

(Oscar Peterson)

(Marcio Montarroyos)

(Michael Brecker)

(Burt Collins)

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Os 10 melhores CDs instrumentais - The Best 10 Jazz Instrumental CDs
Marc Copland: “New York trio recordings vol.2: voices” (Pirouet)
Michael Brecker: “Pilgrimage” (Heads Up)
Lelo Nazario: Africasiamerica” (Editio Princeps)
Miroslav Vitous: “Universal syncopations II” (ECM)
Walter Lang & Lee Konitz: “Ashiya” (Pirouet)
David Berger & The Sultans of Swing: “Hindustan” (SST)
Soft Machine Legacy: “Steam” (Moonjune)
Quartet San Francisco: “Whirled chamber music” (VJ)
Mike Longo Trio: “Float like a butterfly” (CAP)
Phil Kelly & The SW Santa Ana Winds: “My museum” (Origin)

Lelo Nazario: um gênio em mais uma ousada criação

“Pilgrimage”: disco póstumo de Michael Brecker, falecido em janeiro, é um dos mais eloqüentes de sua carreira
Marc Copland lidera um trio imbatível em requinte e sutileza

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Os 10 melhores CDs vocais - The Best 10 Vocal Jazz CDs
Mark Murphy: “Love is what stays” (Verve)
Havana Carbo: “Through a window...like a dream” (MODL)
Ed Reed: “Sings love stories” (Blue Shorts)
Amanda Carr: “Soon” (OMS)
Diane Hubka: “Goes to the movies” (18th & Vine)
Andy Bey: “Ain’t necessarily so” (12th Street)
Dee Dee Bridgewater: “Red earth” (EmArcy)
Vários: “We all love Ella” (Verve)
Rebecca Parris: “You don’t know me” (Saying It With Jazz)
Diana Krall: “The very best of” (Verve)

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Os 10 melhores DVDs - The Best 10 Jazz DVDs
Weather Report: “Live at Montreux 1976” (ST2)
Friedrich Gulda: “So what?” (DG/Universal)
Santana: “Hymns for peace” (ST2)
The Heath Brothers: “Brotherly jazz” (DanSun)
Randy Brecker: “Some skunk funk” (BHM)
Miles Davis: “At Hammerstein Odeon” (JazzDoor)
Hermeto Pascoal & Aline Morena: “Chimarrão com rapadura” (HPAM)
Michael Brecker: “Live in Tokyo” (JazzDoor)
Duke Ellington: “Ralph J. Gleason celebrates…” (ST2)
Friedrich Gulda: “Mozart no end” (Kultur/Sony BMG)

O DVD “Brotherly jazz” apresenta emocionante resumo da trajetória dos Heath Brothers

Carlos Santana comanda um timaço de all-stars em Montreux
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Projetos Especiais/Caixas/Reedições - Special Projects/Box Sets/Reissues
Art Pepper: “Unreleased Art, Vol. II: The last concert” (Widow’s Taste)
Eugen Cicero: “Swinging the classics on MPS” (MPS)
Miles Davis: “The complete on the corner sessions” (Legacy)
Art van Damme: “Swinging the accordion on MPS” (MPS)
Yusef Lateef: “At the Bottom Line” (YAL)
Steve Kuhn: “The early 70’s” (Columbia)
Kip Hanrahan: “Coup de tête” (EWE SACD)
Elton Dean & The Wrong Object: “The unbelievable truth” (Moonjune)
John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius & Tony Williams: “Trio of doom” (Legacy)
Harry Lookofsky: “Stringsville” (Collectables)

R.I.P.: Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson
(b: 15.Aug.1925, Montreal, Quebec/Candad; d: 24.Dec.2007, Mississauga, Ontario/Canada)

Jazz # 1 virtuoso pianist EVER, Oscar Peterson has died at his home in Mississauga, Canada, on December 24th at the age of 82 of kidney failure. Peterson played in Canada in the 1940s then became famous when Norman Granz engaged him for a Jazz at the Philharmonic Carnegie Hall concert in 1949. He worked in several trio settings with musicians such as Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen, but regularly also with Jazz at the Philharmonic and with many famous jazz musicians from Louis Armstrong to Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and many others. His big influences were Teddy Wilson and Nat King Cole, but also Art Tatum, whom he often has been compared to because of his immense technique. During most of his recording career Peterson recorded for several Granz labels, but in the 60s also for the German MPS label based in the Black Forest. Obituaries: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Washington Post (I); Washington Post (II); Washington Post (III); Washington Post (IV); Los Angeles Times; San Francisco Chronicle; Guardian; The Independent;Die Welt; die tageszeitung; Wall Street Journal; The Boston Globe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/arts/25petersoncnd.html?th&emc=th

Yuri Daniel joins Jan Garbarek's group

Jan Garbarek talks about his new group, on which bassist Eberhard Weber had to be replaced by Yuri Daniel, a Brazilian living in Portgual (Kieler Nachrichten). Weber had a stroke in May and is still recuperating. Classifying his music says more about those who classify it than about the music itself, says Garbarek. If people hear his music as dreamy, it's probably because they like to dream; the melancholy qualities will be felt by those who tend to be melancholy and so on. His collaboration with the record label ECM since 1970 has been a big stroke of luck - for both parties.

R.I.P.: Wiley Hitchcock

H. Wiley Hitchcock
(b: 28.Sep.1923, Detroit/MI; d: 5.Dec.2007, New York)

The musicologist H. Wiley Hitchcock died December 5th from prostrate cancer. Hitchcock founded the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College in 1971 and directed it through 1993. He was on the board of (and actually presided) many musical organizations and was co-editor of the "New Grove Dictionary of American Music". In this scholarly encyclopedia he included vernacular idioms so far not found in similar books, such as pop music, jazz, country, rock and Native American Indian music. The New York Times obituary quotes from a 1986 interview about how as editor of the Ameri-Grove he handled disputed terms like the word "jazz" which many jazz musicians had found patronizing. Hitchcock: “Schoenberg didn’t like the word ‘atonality’ either, and Philip Glass doesn’t like ‘minimalism.’ That’s tough!”

Israeli Musicians in the Big Apple

Many Israeli jazz musicians live and work in New York, reports Alexander Gelfand (Haaretz). The bassist Omer Avital was one of the first, arriving in New York in 1992 and soon working with the bassist Avishai Cohen and the trombonist Avi Leibovitch. The Greenwich Village club Smalls became a favorite hangout, and the label Smalls Records released a number of records by Israeli musicians. In the early 1990s there was practically no Israeli jazz scene. Then came several strong jazz education programs plus musicians studying jazz in the United States before either returning or staying in New York. Apart from referring to traditional Middle Eastern music, Israeli musicians prove to be quite eclectic, Leibovitch working with the Chilean singer Claudia Acuna, or Anat Cohen leading her own Brazilian choro outfit. Israel is an immigrant country, explains Cohen, so it's no wonder Israeli musicians are open to world music.

R.I.P.: Günter Noris

The pianist and band leader Günter Noris died November 27th in Kerpen, near Cologne, Germany, at the age of 72. Noris played with the Helmut Brandt Combo in the late 1950s, worked as an arranger for German Radio in the 60s as well as accompanying the singer Hildegard Knef. In 1971 he formed and led the Big Band der Bundeswehr (Army Big Band), a job he quit in 1983 after being dissatisfied with the army's bureaucracy. He then formed his own Gala Big Band playing dance music. Obituaries: Bunte, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

R.I.P.: Diane Middlebrooks

Diane Middlebrooks
(b: 1939, Pontacello/ID; d: 15.Dec.2007)

The biographer Diane Middlebrooks died December 15th at the age of 68 from cancer. Middlebrooks is best known for her biographies on Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plathz, but also for her 1998 book "Suits Me. The Double Life of Billy Tipton" about a female jazz musician who lived as a man. Obituary: San Francisco Chronicle, Guardian.

Christmas Concert with Alexa Weber Morales

St. John's in the Mission: No-cost concert December 23, 7 pm

If you'd like an infusion of Christmas spirit, we'd love to see you at this no-cost (to you!) Christmas Concert and Sing-Along!

WHERE WHEN WHAT WHO WHY:
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 - 7:00-8:00 PM Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist
1661 Fifteenth Street at Julian Avenue (one block up from Mission)
San Francisco, CA 94103-3511
(415) 861-1436

Please join us for this GRATIS Christmas concert and JOIN IN by singing some of your favorite carols.

Alexa Weber Morales will be performing solo (O Holy Night in French, Gounod's Ave Maria, I'll Be Home For Christmas, among others), duo with Charles Rus, and with YOU.

Charles Rus, concert co-conspirator, will enchant you with Christmas organ favorites and his gorgeously pure tenor voice.

Charles, organist for the San Francisco Symphony, is a genuinely cool San Francisco character who enjoys painted VW bugs, his new dog and frequent kayak trips under the Golden Gate bridge.

Together we invite you to celebrate and contemplate the season in a gorgeous setting: St. John's, a gem in the heart of San Francisco's historic Mission district.

Come and feel the spirit in song!

R.I.P.: Frank Morgan

Frank Morgan (alto saxophone)

(b: 23.Dec.1933, Minneapolis/MN; d: 14.Dec.2007, Minneapolis/MN)

The alto saxophonist Frank Morgan died December 14th in Minneapolis at the age of 73. Morgan was a protégé of Charlie Parker and for a couple of nights even sat in with Duke Ellington's band. He worked with Lionel Hampton's band and made his first recordings in the early 1950s with Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke and Wardell Gray. He then spent 30 years in prison for narcotic offences. Only in 1985 his career really took off when he had left his drug habit behind and signed a new contract with Fantasy Records (through the revived Contemporary label).

My personal favorites are the CDs "Double Image" (a haunting duo set from 1986, with pianist George Cables, which includes Ivan Lins/Gilson Peranzzetta's "Love Dance") and "Major Changes", the fantastic result of a meeting with the McCoy Tyner Trio, produced by Richard Bock in 1987. Frank Morgan also collaborated with such artists as Abbey Lincoln, Terry Gibbs, Wynton Marsalis and Buster Williams. He was featured (alongside Azymuth and Claudio Roditi) on Mark Murphy's "Night Mood - The Music of Ivan Lins", arranged by keyboard wiz José Roberto Bertrami in 1986. Obituary: Bloomberg.com, The Independent, Washington Post, New York Sun, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle.

Sadao Watanabe interviewed

Christopher Toh talks to the Japanese alto saxophonist Sadao Watanabe who at 74 still rehearses every day (Channel News Asia). Watanabe started playing in the 1950s, attended Boston's Berklee College of Music in 1962 and performed with musicians such as Gary McFarland and Chico Hamilton. Back in Japan he formed his own band and played with some of the top musicians from all over the world ever since. His current band consists of young musicians in their 30s and 40s, but he also works with school children at concerts and educational projects.

R.I.P.: Elaine Lorillard

Elaine Lorillard (festival sponsor)
(b: 11.Oct.1914, Tremont/ME; d: 25.Nov.2007, Newport/RI)

Elaine Lorillard who was one of the founders of the Newport Jazz Festival died November 25th at a nursing home in Newport, Rhode Island, at the age of 93. Together with her former husband, Louis, she had hired George Wein to stage the first festival in 1954. Later she complained that her and her husband's role in the festival were mostly downplayed with jazz history books and the press whereas Wein usually was considered the sole founder. The fact that the festival was held in Newport gave jazz "an aura of social distinction" that it never had before, explains Dan Morgenstern in the New York Times. Elaine Lorillard was a lifelong jazz fan and could be seen at concerts and in clubs up to just a few years ago. Obituaries: New York Times, The Providence Journal.

Welcome to the Terrordome

The Recording Academy’s® New York Chapter
in conjunction with BMI and Creamwerks, invites you to join
Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Professor Griff
for a private industry screening of the documentary film
Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome.

Friday, December 21, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30, screening begins at 7:00 p.m.

Director’s Guild of America
110 West 57th Street (bet. 6th & 7th Ave.)

Please join us following the film for a special interactive conversation with
Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Professor Griff.

Admission is free for Recording Academy Members,
$25 for member guests and non-members.

Seating is limited and on a first-come-first-served-basis.
Reservations are required.
To purchase tickets call 212.245.5440.

Management changes at Ronnie Scott's

London's legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott's lost its artistic director, Leo Green, after "a blazing row with Sally Greene, who bought the London venue two years ago", as Amol Rajan reports (The Independent). Green attacked other co-workers "for their musical ignorance", citing members of the management who had no idea who McCoy Tyner was. Green has firm jazz roots himself, being the son of Benny Green, a saxophonist, broadcaster and friend of the club's founder. Criticism of the club's program had been loud since it's re-opening, the jazz community being unhappy about soaring ticket prices and pop-star bookings. The club denied "reports of a rift between Mr Green and Ms Greene", even though just a month ago Green spoke publicly of "artistic differences".

R.I.P.: Joel Dorn

Joel Dorn (producer)

(b: 1942, Philadelphia/PA; d: 17.Dec.2007, New York)

The celebrated Grammy-winning record producer Joel Dorn died on December 17th in New York of a heart attack. He was 65 years old. Dorn had worked for Atlantic Records (as a protegé of the brothers Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun) between 1967 and 1974 producing acclaimed jazz albums by musicians such as Hubert Laws, Gary Burton, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Mann, Max Roach, Les McCann, Mose Allison, Ron Carter, Joe Zawinul, Eddie Harris, Joe Chambers, Woody Shaw, Sonny Stitt, Yusef Lateef and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

He also produced best-selling records by Bette Middler and Roberta Flack, including the million-selling "Killing Me Softly". Later on, he formed his own production company The Masked Announcer, founded the Night Records, Label M, 32Jazz and Hyena labels, and supervised reissues of classic jazz albums for Columbia, Rhino and Universal. In the early 2000s, Dorn was hired by N-Coded A&R man, Carl Griffin, to "prepare a new singer": Jane Monheit. Then, he produced her first three controversial albums: "Never Never Land," "Come Dream With Me," and "In The Sun". Something similar to Arif Mardin's signing to produce Norah Jones' debut album for EMI/Blue Note, at Bruce Lundvall's request to give it some "respectability". Obituaries: Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post.

One of the world's top ten producers ever, Joel Dorn worked in the early 70s with the Brazilian musicians Eumir Deodato and Dom Um Romão, hiring them for some important projects he produced.

Dorn and Deodato collaborated on albums by Ray Bryant, Donal Leace and, most notbaly, Roberta Flack. Dorn introduced Deodato to Mrs. Flack and got her approval to have the Rio-born arranger scoring songs on Roberta's second solo album, "Chapter Two" (1970), for which Deodato added the additional strings & horns orchestrations to the rhythm arrangemnets created by Donny Hatthaway. For her follow-up project produced by Dorn, Deodato contributed only to one track, "Bridge Over Troubled Water", writing the scores for a cello section & background voices.

Then came the multi-platinum selling album "Killing Me Softly", the biggest hit for both Roberta and Joel ever! All tracks were produced by Joel Dorn and arranged by Roberta Flack herself, who also played acoustic & electric pianos in the eight songs. The LP reached # 3 in the Billboard "Pop" chart and # 2 in the "Black" chart of the same magazine, while the opening tune, "Killing Me Softly With His Song" became a Number One hit in the Billboard "Pop Singles" chart in the historic week of March 31, 1973 (Curiously, the # 2 single on the chart at that same week was Deodato's "Also Sprach Zarathustra/2001").

It's also worth to mention that the single (not the album) won three Grammy awards for "record of the year" (credited to both Roberta and Dorn), "song of the year" (to the composers Norman Gimbel & Charles Fox), and "best female pop vocal performance". Roberta also had received a nomination as "best arranger", having recorded the track backed only by a small group consisting of Ron Carter, Idris Muhammad, Eric Gale and Ralph MacDonald, with no orchestra. "Killing Me Softly" was, actually, the last song added to the album, included in the repertoire in the very last minute, because Dorn felt there was no potential radio hit among the other tracks already recorded (on another studio, the Regent Sound, by another engineer) for the album. "The other songs were great, but we needed a hit, so I convinced Roberta to give a chance to the song that Gimbel had sent me. I did a urgent request to Nesuhi for a couple of studio hours at Atlantic's own studio in NY and everything worked perfectly. It was a first-take hit, with no need of a string overdub," Joel once told me. "We mixed the track in three works, pressed some promo singles and shipped them to the radios. The rest is history."

The other songs in the "Killing Me Softly" album included two tracks (Janis Ian's "Jesse" and Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne") for which Dorn had asked Eumir Deodato to overdub subtle strings arrangements. Joel also invited other arrangers such as Don Sebesky (lovely strings & horns added to "Conversation Love"), Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (famous for his work with James Brown and Esther Philips), Kermit Moore (a cello virtuoso), and William Eaton, who scored "River" and the Ralph MacDonald-penned "When You Smile", to which he added a delighful brass section.

Dom Um Romão's always was Joel Dorn's favorite percussionist. His services were often requested, but most of the time Dom Um was unavailable, on the road, touring with Weather Report. After leaving the fusion supergroup, Romão resumed his studio activities and contributed to such Dorn-produced albums as David Newman's "Mr. Fathead" and Yusef Lateef's "The Doctor Is In...And Out", both from 1976. The following year they reunited once again on Harold Vick's "After The Dance" and Dory Previn's masterpiece "We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx", recently reissued on CD. It was also Dorn who produced, back in 1999, for his independent label 32Jazz, the CD compilation "Dom Um Romão: The Complete Muse Recordings," which brought together the two albums that Romão recorded for Joe Field's Muse label in 1973.

Manfred Schoof & GEMA

The trumpeter Manfred Schoof talks to Martin Hufner about the importance of a good copyright organization such as the German GEMA on the board of which he serves since some years (Neue Musik Zeitung). He was among those who achieved a better standing of jazz as a predominantly improvised music in the distribution formula of royalties which is based mostly on compositions. Schoof defends the politics of the GEMA even though the society is not precisely loved by many club owners or backed by musicians who actually benefit from it.

R.I.P.: Theomar Ferreira

Brazilian drummer Theomar Ferreira (born March 15, 1942, in Rio de Janeiro), died December 19, 2007, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A "musician's musician", he studied with the legendary Professor Roosevelt and was heavily influenced by Edson Machado. Theomar played with such artists as Paulinho Trompete, Roberto Marques, Zerró Santos, Paulo Russo, Osmar Milito, Edson Lobo, Nelson Henrique and many others. He was a member of the quartet No Olho da Rua (with Paulo Rego, Roberto Alves and Fernando Rosa), recording two albums ("No Olho da Rua" in 1999 and "O Feijão da Brê" in 2001) released by the Ethos Brasil label. Theomar was also featured on the debut solo album by saxophonist Ion Muniz, "Um Amor Eterno" (Kalimba, 2003). A couple of weeks ago, he did many recording sessions as a leader, leaving enough material for at least three albums, according to his friends. We all hope these tracks will come out in a near future.

Marcio Montarroyos, take 4

Marcio Montarroyos (on flugelhorn) and Luiz Bonfá recording a haunting and totally improvised version of "Manhã de Carnaval" - the love theme from "Black Orpheus" - for "The Bonfá Magic" album, produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiro in April 1991 and released worldwide by Milestone (USA), JVC (Japan), Zyx (Europe) and Caju/PolyGram (Brazil).

Marcio Montarroyos is featured in Pascoal Meirelles' CD compilation "Considerações", produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiro, who also did the digital remastering in Los Angeles in August 1992. Released by JHO Music in 1995.

Clockwise: Donald Harrison, Dori Caymmi, Marcio Montarroyos (seated in front of Romero Lubambo), in Salvador, during the recording sessions for Larry Coryell's "Live from Bahia" project, produced by Creed Taylor for CTI in November 1991. Released in 1992.

Marcio Montarroyos' pics

Marcio Montarroyos & Arnaldo DeSouteiro in 1980.

Marcio Montarroyos (left) with Azymuth's bassist Alex Malheiros in a party at Arnaldo DeSouteiro's house in February, 1980

From left to right: Pascoal Meirelles, Yes' keyboardist Patrick Moraz, Marcio Montarroyos & Alex Malheiros

I'll take this opportunity to post more pics from that same party (February 1980), in my home, to celebrate the Brazilian release of Azymuth's album "Light As A Feather". All pictures by Delza Agricola

Pictured above & below: Vania Bertrami & Denise Bernstein

Azymuth (Ivan Conti, José Roberto Bertrami, Alex Malheiros) & rock singer Sergio Vid

Myriam Rezende (Top Tape Record's publicist), jazz historian Paulo Brandão, jazz writer and historian Roberto Muggiati (then chief editor of "Manchete" magazine) & wis hife, photographer Lena Muggiati

French record producer Joel B. Leibovitz, assistant producer George Leibowitz (both working for the Top Tape label at that time), and journalist Roberto Muggiati