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Interview: Anthony Ortega (Part 4)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Personalities don't come much sunnier than Anthony Ortega's and his wife Mona's. Every time I call, I'm welcomed by enormous warmth and kindness. But their dispositions go way beyond words. You can hear an orange glow in the sound of their voices, how happy they are to be with each other and how grateful they are for everything. It's the joy of living, something that has been forgotten over the past five years. [Pictured top: Anthony Ortega conducting, courtesy of ...
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Interview: Anthony Ortega (Part 2)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Before I launch into the remaining two parts of my Q&A conversation with saxophonist Anthony Ortega, I want to present you with The Street We Took (2007), a 15-minute documentary on Anthony and his wife Mona by filmmaker Andrew Rubin. Andrew generously made his short film available on YouTube after we spoke about its poetry and grace, and fans' need to see it... JazzWax note: To see a trailer for Andrew's next documentary project, Riding with Larry (to be released ...
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Ian Rogers Unveils New Haircut ...And Interviews Rhapsody President John Irwin
Source:
HypeBot
Topspin CEO Ian Rogers is starting 2012 off with a new haircut. At the risk of sounding like there's some kind of man crush going on, Rogers has long been known for long hair (before photo to left) that made him look like a skateboarder (which he also is) rather than a CEO and father of a daughter about to graduate from MIT. Of course, the real reason for this new episode of ThisWeekInMusic is an informative interview with the ...
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Interview: Anthony Ortega (Part 1)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
If you're a student of liner notes from the 1950s, the name Anthony Ortega should ring a bell. Anthony played saxophone on a range of well-known recordings during jazz's golden decade, including sessions led by Gigi Gryce, Art Farmer, Quincy Jones, Sonny Stitt, Dinah Washington, Billy Taylor, Nat Pierce, Maynard Ferguson and others. Anthony also led many fabulous recording sessions from the 1950s onward. [Top: Anthony Ortega in high school in the early 1940s, courtesy of Anthony Ortega] Interestingly, Anthony ...
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NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette Week Begins at All About Jazz with Extensive Interview and More!
Source:
All About Jazz
Approaching 70 later this year makes 2012 a special time for Jack DeJohnette. One of five artists to receive the 2012 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Fellowship only makes it more so for the veteran drummer/pianist, who has appeared on hundreds of recordings over the past 45 years, including landmark sessions with artists including trumpeters Miles Davis and Kenny Wheeler, saxophonists Charles Lloyd and Joe Henderson, guitarists Pat Metheny and John Abercrombie, and pianists Bill Evans and ...
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Dorothy Ashby: Jazz Harpist
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
With the introduction of the 33 1/3 LP in the late 1940s and very early 1950s, harpists began appearing with greater regularity on jazz albums. At first, harpists were tag-alongs on record dates—the whipped cream on the sundae known as “with strings." But as jazz arrangers grew more and more ambitious later in the decade, and the jazz and pop markets began to overlap, harpists who had been chained to symphony orchestras found themselves being called regularly for jazz dates. Except, ...
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Interview: Sheila Jordan (Part 3)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Sheila Jordan isn't a trained singer. But she is a passionate singer whose roots date back to Charlie Parker and other bebop musicians of the late '40s and early '50s whom she knew and sang with as a teen. Sheila also is an example of an artist who had a very rough early life but used her love for music as a way to keep her spirits high and positive through it all. When Sheila walks into a room, everyone ...
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Interview: Sheila Jordan (Part 2)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
There aren't too many musicians today who have truly lived the jazz life in the '40s and '50s. To live the jazz life back then, you had to be completely committed to the music and at one with the artists. Creativity was currency, and the music you heard coming from musicians' instruments often said more about humanity than the written and spoken word. You also had to see integration as normal way of life at a time when much of society and ...
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