Home » Jazz News
Music Industry News
Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, concert series, special events, job postings, crowdfunding campaigns and more. You can find more news by searching our website, viewing our news stream, seeing what's trending or reading our blog posts. Subscribe to our news RSS feed and/or embed AAJ news content on your website or blog. Learn about our news service here. Submit news here.
Backgrounder: Paul Quinichette: Moods, 1954
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Mercury Records began as a Chicago R&B label in 1945, shortly after the first musicians union recording ban was settled. As the LP business took off in the early 1950s, Mercury became a mainstream pop label, launching EmArcy to handle its jazz business. Run by Bob Shad, EmArcy began production in 1954 by recording Dinah Washington's Dinah Jams; Erroll Garner's Contrasts; and Clifford Brown, Maynard Ferguson and Clark Terry's Jam Session. EmArcy's fourth album of 1954 was Moods, by Paul ...
Continue Reading
Les McCann: Live From Coast to Coast, 1966-1967
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Prior to the 1969 release of pianist Les McCann's hit live album Swiss Movement, I was never much of a fan. In the 1960s, on studio LPs, he seemed a melange of pianists I liked better, including Red Garland, Gene Harris and Billy Taylor. The percussive, soul-jazz approach he favored seemed better articulated in the hands of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. For me, McCann always sounded more dynamic live. In performance recordings, he came across as freer and spiritually present, ...
Continue Reading
Pianist Joshua Bowlus Spreads Christmas Cheer With New Music
Source:
Joshua Bowlus
With a long overdue follow-up to his debut album in 2014 (What a Wonderful World), Joshua Bowlus collaborates again with vocalist Linda Cole to create a fresh offering of Christmas classics. This time, about half of the tracks feature Linda while the rest are instrumentals. The album cover showcases Joshua sitting at a grand piano full of wrapped gifts, as if the piano itself was a sleigh and the gifts contain the joyous music which will abound. Joshua has surrounded ...
Continue Reading
Documentary: The Long Night of Lady Day (1984)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
How bad did Billie Holiday have it? You have no idea. Coming up in the 1930s, she faced raw racism and sexism head on, but the challenges and injustices the singular vocalist endured took a toll and led to a life of alcohol and drug abuse. The origins of her blues, why she started wearing gardenias in her hair, how she first became addicted to heroin are revealed in The Long Night of Lady Day, a fine 1984 documentary by ...
Continue Reading
Singer/Songwriter Kristen Lee Sergeant Gives Museumgoers a Soundtrack for Manet
Source:
All About Jazz
An “unauthorized" audio guide is shaking things up for art goers at Metropolitan Museum in New York City, centered around an exhibit that features an artist who was no stranger to scandal himself. Kristen Lee Sergeant, an NYC based singer/songwriter, had been writing songs inspired by Manet's artwork since seeing an exhibit at the Getty years ago. When the Met announced the arrival of the “Manet/Degas" exhibit this fall, she recorded demos of the songs that corresponded to the paintings ...
Continue Reading
Mike Barone: Live in Los Angeles in 1967
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trombonist Mike Barone is a composer, arranger and leader of smashing big bands. As a sideman, he recorded on albums that include Supersax Plays Bird (1973), Oliver Nelson's Sound Pieces (1966) on Impulse, Johnny Hartman's Unforgettable Songs (1966) and I Love Everybody (1967), and Shelly Manne's My Fair Lady with the Un-original Cast (1964). On the side, Mike arranged and led touring big bands that knocked out audiences. His band was a well-kept secret, especially in Los Angeles. The first ...
Continue Reading
Berklee Alumnus Adds Jazz To Agatha Christie’s Murder Mystery Secrets
Source:
All About Jazz
Prominent Indian composer and music director Salil Bhayani credits his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston for instilling in him a lifelong love for jazz. The 34 year-old Mumbai native who had graduated with honors from Berklee and then relocated to Los Angeles and is considered one of the most inspiring Indian composers in the post-A.R Rahman’s generation, has been acclaimed for skillfully adorning his compositions with the blues scale. One of the leading composers at illustrious TED-Ed ...
Continue Reading
Single Review: British-Jamaican Artist Alexia Gardner Impresses On The Cover Of Jazz Track ‘Great Day’
Source:
Jazz UK
Jazz artist Alexia Gardner has shared her newest release, ‘Great Day,’ taken from her electrifying new album Feeling the Love, Songs of My Mother, Songs of My Father. The singer has maintained her place as one of the most high-profile jazz singers in the UK throughout the last two decades. Having started her career as a teenager performing with her younger sister, Paula Gardner, Alexia developed a solo music career as an adult, becoming a highly sought-after jazz singer. Her ...
Continue Reading
