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Liberace, Las Vegas and Me
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On Friday, at the crack of dawn, I was on a Delta flight from New York to Las Vegas. The Liberace Museum had just announced it was closing in October, and I was on assignment for the Wall Street Journal. Mind you, I have never been a fan of Liberace's music. I didn't dislike him when he was alive or his brand of classical music “with the boring parts left out," as he used to say. Like you, his music ...
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An Interview with IMSTA President Ray Williams
Source:
We All Make Music
This Saturday, September 25, the International Music Software Technology Association, or IMSTA, will hold its third annual IMSTA Festa at the School of Audio Engineering in New York. Whether it takes place in Tokyo, Berlin, or New York, each Festa gives the world's top audio software companies the chance to offer their wares, in some cases for free (all attendees get $100 worth of free software), and discuss the changing industry they work in. In addition to the free goodies, ...
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"Track Your Favorite Bands and Never Miss Them Live." an Interview with Michelle You of Songkick
Source:
HypeBot
(Part 1 of 2) Recently, I spoke with Michelle You, who is cofounder and Head of Product at Songkick; the live music database and concert alert system. In this interview, You talks about the challenges of raising awareness about her company and it's services, how they're making it easier for people to keep up on your favorite live shows, and the tribal aspects of concert goers. Kyle Bylin: To this day, I still remember my first concert; it was Ozzy ...
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Kora and Oud Explorer Kane Mathis Interviewed at All About Jazz
Source:
John Kelman
Seattle's Kane Mathis is one of the world's leading performers on the kora, the distinctive (usually) 21-stringed West African harp instrument that is the major instrument of the Mandinka people of Mali; the Malian equivalent of the Western keyboard. Mathis has studied the instrument since the age of twenty, making several trips to The Gambia to learn from the hereditary musicians of the area. Now, he is the kora instrumentalist in Seattle's The Kora Band, a five piece jazz group ...
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Bassist/Vocalist Esperanza Spalding Interviewed at All About Jazz
Source:
Big Hassle
Fans of classical music and jazz have argued about music for years. If Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Duke Ellington had ever met, they may have looked at each other in awe—right before debating about bars and notes and solos ... and, perhaps, the music would have been flowing just as easy as words. Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society (Concord Records, 2010) has found the perfect shelter for both classical and jazz music. There is something about the delicate sound of ...
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Legendary Cuban Pianist Chucho Valdes Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!
Source:
Lip Service Media
For his first album in seven years, Chuco Valdés returns to the group format, expanding his longstanding quartet to an even more powerful septet. The legendary Cuban pianist and founding member of Irakere has been touring the world in support of Chucho's Steps (World Village, 2010), and will welcome Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra to Cuba next month, where Valdés will premiere a new version of Misa Negra, with new trumpet parts written especially for Marsalis.
To ...
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Together for 10 Years and Still Totally Committed
Source:
AAJ Staff
Ten years ago the Bad Plus came together in a warm rush of camaraderie and with a clear grasp of novelty. Here was a jazz piano trio with the heart and gall of a stadium rock band, grappling wryly but directly with anthemic covers and its own scarcely less anthemic originals. The group was brash and clever, its crooked sincerity often mistaken for smug acidity. A debate arose in jazz circles over the entitlements of such a group, what it ...
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Latin Jazz Conversations: Danilo Perez (Part 5)
Source:
The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
Pianist Danilo Pérez has spent his life making a difference in a variety of ways that have touched countless people around the world. As a performer, Pérez has applied enthusiastic creativity and smart musicality consistently, raising the artistic bar wherever he performs. From his younger days performing on Panama's lively music scene to later Stateside gigs with vocalist Jon Hendricks and saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, Pérez's artistic vision has changed the state of each context that he visits. His bold musicianship ...
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