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Recording

Alt-Arab Quintet Shusmo Releases New Album June 23

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.
June 9, 2011

Whacha-maqam-it: Shusmo Gets Mumtastic with Classical Arabic Funk Shusmo is a secret passageway that winds past all the barriers dividing Arabic maqam from down-and-dirty funk, Latin spark, and swinging jazz. Headed by Palestinian pianist and buzuq player Tareq Abboushi, the quintet leads you to a little underground club where pensive classical forms meet dance floor-friendly vibes, where folk tunes open up into gritty jams. “Shusmo" roughly translates as “whatchamacallit" in Arabic, and, like its name, the group is hard to ...

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Recording

International Singer/Songwriter Amana Melome Channels Jazz Legacy with "Phoenix Rising"

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
June 9, 2011

While maintaining her natural elegance, combined with her American and European heritage and cosmopolitan influences, Amana Melome's latest album Phoenix Rising is a refreshing voyage of world music, floating between neo-soul, funk, jazz, folk and reggae. The new album was available on iTunes May 21st. Amana Melome is an international singer and songwriter who was raised in Italy. Her sound is akin to such contemporary artists as Sade, Erykah Badu, Les Nubians and Esperanza Spalding. Growing up on a world ...

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Recording

New CD From Tony Award-Winning Actress and Singer Lea Salonga Set For Release August 9th

Source: Muse Media
June 9, 2011

VETERAN BROADWAY AND TONY AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS LEA SALONGA TO RELEASE LIVE CD, THE JOURNEY SO FAR Recorded at New York's Café Carlyle, “The Journey So Far" features favorite tracks from throughout Lea's career; a mix of Broadway, jazz, pop and cabaret standards Los Angeles, CA. “The Journey So Far," the new live CD from veteran Broadway and Tony Award-winning actress Lea Salonga, is set for release by LML Music/Allegro Distribution August 9th, 2011. Salonga, the Filipina singer and actress who ...

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Recording

Drummer-Composer Harris Eisenstadt and His "Canada Day II"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
June 9, 2011

Drummers aren't usually jazz composers. It has to do with devoting a lifetime to the drums. It can take you away from the rest of the notes that are possible, horizontally and vertically. There have been exceptions. Denzil Best wrote or co-wrote a classic bop tune. Help me out here. I forget what it was. Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette wrote some great music for their groups. Jack continues to do so. And there have been some more in later ...

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Recording

One Track Mind: Wadada Leo Smith's Organic - "Don Cherry's Electric Sonic Garden" (2011)

Source: Something Else!
June 9, 2011

The music of Wadada Leo Smith, no matter the setting, is spiritual, mesmerizing, purposeful and often dense. We found out back toward the end of '09 just how dense his music can be when this innovative trumpet player debuted his Organic ensemble on disc 2 of the Spiritual Dimensions. That group sported four ... four! ... electric guitarists, as well as two bassists, a cello and drums. That group performed just four tracks, live at New Haven, CT's Firehouse 12 ...

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Recording

Dawn Harden - A Lifetime (2011)

Source: Something Else!
June 9, 2011

There is this deeply personal texture to A Lifetime, a redemptive 10-track journey through love's rocky terrain. French jazz-pop singer-songwriter Dawn Harden wrote or co-wrote, with pianist Patrick Pernet, all but one of the songs, giving the record a lasting resonance. She starts with “Traces," a lovelorn tale of a lost passion presented in a trembling, almost confidential way. It's like Harden is whispering these memories, each more difficult to enunciate than the last, into your ear. Singing over a ...

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Recording

Mike Metheny's "Old Wine/New Bossa: Selected Tracks" - 2011 Compilation

Source: Mike Metheny
June 8, 2011

Trumpeter Mike Metheny's tenth solo album is a compilation of previously released recordings covering a 20-year period and a wide range of styles. Also included is a fresh version of a track first recorded in 2001. Mike, who favors the flugelhorn and EVI (electronic valve instrument), grew up near Kansas City, Missouri, where he now lives. For 13 years in the 1970s and '80s he was based in Boston. Featured on this sampler are some of the best jazz musicians ...

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Recording

Grover Washington Jr. - Grover Live (2010)

Source: Something Else!
June 8, 2011

By Mark Saleski I'm not one to quote Wikipedia, but this time around it makes perfect sense: “Smooth jazz is a sub-genre of jazz which is heavily influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination)." This is an interesting definition because it highlights the point of contention: Is smooth jazz actually jazz? For the most part, the question has never really bothered me all that much. Oh sure, I used to be in the ...

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