Recording News

Black Eyed Peas Tap into New 'Energy'

Source: Billboard Magazine
December 6, 2008

The Black Eyed Peas are planning more of a “music diary" than a conventional album when the group releases “The END" in March. Group leader will.i.am tells Billboard.com that “The END" stands for “The Energy Never Dies," which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle. “It's a diary ... of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it," the artist/producer/songwriter explains. “When it ...

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Concord Records to Release the Soundtrack for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on December 16

Source: All About Jazz
December 6, 2008

The Original Soundtrack is Composed, Conducted, and Produced by Alexandre Desplat. Desplat has received Oscar and BAFTA nominations for The Queen, and the International Film Music Critics Association’s 2007 Composer of the Year and Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science-Fiction film Awards for The Golden Compass. The Paramount Pictures Film Is Directed By David Fincher (Zodiac, Fight Club). The Double Disc Set Includes an entire CD devoted to Desplat’s Score, and a Second to Jazz, Big Band, and ‘50s Classics ...

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The Columbia and OKeh Benny Goodman Orchestra Sessions (#240)

Source: All About Jazz
December 5, 2008

"His quicksilver tone, his insistent drive to swing the music, his ability to execute cleanly the most dramatic filigrees of passages – all these qualities made him one of the most imitated instrumentalists in the world." --Robert J. O'Meally, Dir. of Jazz Studies, Columbia Univ.

The Swinging Sound Of Benny Goodman You see it again and again in music - a new generation rushes the dance floor, pushes their parents to the wall, and suddenly it's ...

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New CD from Pine Leaf Boys, Two-Time Grammy Nominees from Louisiana

Source: conqueroo
December 5, 2008

Young twice Grammy-nominated band, who capture the feel of a Louisiana roadhouse on Saturday night, are the first artist signing to Lionsgate Music label

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The Pine Leaf Boys, the young Cajun band from Louisiana whose last album, Blues de Musicien, was one of the first to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the new Best Cajun/Zydeco Album category, have signed to Lionsgate Music and have completed their new album Homage Au Pass (translated as Homage ...

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Amadou and Mariam New Album

Source: JamBase
December 5, 2008

AMADOU & MARIAM'S NEW ALBUM, WELCOME TO MALI TO BE RELEASED IN THE U.S. MARCH 24 BY BECAUSE MUSIC/NONESUCH RECORDS

Amadou & Mariam The singer Mariam Doumbia and her husband, the guitarist/vocalist Amadou Bagayoko, have been making music together since they first met and fell in love at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako, Mali's capital, three decades ago. Over the last few years, they have achieved remarkable critical and popular acclaim in Europe and North ...

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Soul Messages from Dimona

Source: JamBase
December 5, 2008

By: Eric Liebetrau

In 1966, Chicago steel worker Ben-Ammi Carter founded the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, an offshoot of the Black Hebrew groups that dated to the late 1800s. Emphasizing the foundations of Judaism, the group was powerfully influenced by the rebellious spirit of civil-rights agitators like Marcus Garvey. They also sported a top-notch gospel choir.

Three years later, after a brief period in Liberia, Carter and his followers settled in Dimona, Israel. From these followers emerged three spiritual ...

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Introducing Progressive Afro Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
December 5, 2008

Born in Cameroon, West Africa, Jay Lou Ava first emerged with a spiritual, gospel-influenced sound that was partially inspired by his upbringing. His oldest brother, a brilliant jazz guitarist, turned him onto Duke Ellington and Wes Montgomery, he understood what he wanted to do with his life for the first time. He began starting bands and traveling across the continent. Composer-arranger, collaborating most notably with Donny Elwood in the 90's, playing with the legendary Manu Dibango ...

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Benny Goodman: Columbia Years

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 5, 2008

Benny Goodman, like Duke Ellington, lived nine musical lives. Goodman started recording in 1926 with Ben Pollack, and by the late 1920s was already established as a jazz clarinet virtuoso. In 1929, braced by enormous self-confidence at age 20, Goodman went out on his own as a freelancer. But when he started his first band in 1934, Goodman had trouble gaining traction. The band's “hot" sound, with Gene Krupa on drums and Fletcher Henderson's churning arrangements, wasn't clicking. Dancers favored ...

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