Music Industry News

Music Industry

After Vegging Out, Guitar God Jeff Beck Takes a Sharp Turn

Source: All About Jazz
April 13, 2010

What a tabloid headline it would have made: “Guitar god felled by mutant carrot!" And it would have been no Spinal Tap-ish joke. The incident occurred last fall as Jeff Beck, five-time Grammy winner, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and one-of-a-kind six-string wizard, was prepping for a dinner party at his home outside London. “We had these massively long carrots," he says. “For some stupid reason, I started slicing them lengthwise. I got a bit lazy, and ...

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Music Industry

Patti LaBelle to Get Honorary Degree in Philly

Source: All About Jazz
April 13, 2010

Veteran R&B diva Patti LaBelle is getting an honorary degree from Temple University in her hometown of Philadelphia. The university will present LaBelle with the doctorate in humane letters at its May 13 commencement ceremony. LaBelle's singing career has spanned more than four decades and includes several hit records and two Grammy Awards. She has also written four books, two of which are cookbooks. LaBelle served as a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association after being diagnosed with the condition. ...

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Music Industry

Full Text of Amazon's Scott Ambrose Reilly's Farewell Letter to the Music Industry

Source: HypeBot
April 13, 2010

Scott Ambrose Reilly, Amazon's Sr. Manager of Digital Music is shifting gears to the company's Kindle team. On Friday, he sent this email to his peers in the record label community. (Also: Did Amazon Music Just Loose It's Soul?)

Subject: Sad Eyes

Dear friends and music business colleagues, On Monday I start a new position running business development for Periodicals for the Amazon Kindle team. It is an exciting opportunity to be on ...

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Music Industry

Nimbit Names New CEO as Competition Heats Up

Source: HypeBot
April 13, 2010

Direct to fan music marketing and sales platform Nimbit has brought in Bob Cramer as CEO. He's served on Nimbit's board of directors for 3 years, and will also continue to serve as its chairman. Co-founders Patrick Faucher and Phil Antoniades remain with the company with Faucher moving from CEO to the Chief Technology Officer slot.

The move comes at a time of increased competition for Nimbit as Topspin, Bandcamp and dozens of others line up to offer ...

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Music Industry

Hear Ella, Stuff, and Ben in 1937!

Source: Jazz Lives by Michael Steinman
April 13, 2010

Ella Fitzgerald, Stuff Smith, and Ben Webster recorded together in the late Fifties for a Norman Granz project Ella Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook.  But they had been captured on disc twenty years before in what are much more fascinating circumstances.

The good news is that the CD that is so delighting me is available and intensely rewarding--musically, not simply for its rarity.  Anticipation over a long period rarely pays off.  If you wait twenty years for something to appear, often ...

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Music Industry

Helping Here, Helping There

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes
April 13, 2010

It's time to open your wallets, jazz fans, for two great, intertwined causes.The Jazz Foundation of America is getting ready to present its 9th annual “A Great Night in Harlem" gala concert May 9 at The Apollo Theater to benefit the organization's amazing Jazz Musicians Emergency Fund. The concert is a principal fundraiser for JEMF, run by jazz angel Wendy Oxenhorn, the JFA's executive director, who year after year finds innovative ways to help with medical bills, eviction threats, ...

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Music Industry

JFJO Welcome Jeff Harshbarger as New Bassist

Source: JamBase
April 13, 2010

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Music Industry

Icon Hank Williams Receives Pulitzer Citation

Source: All About Jazz
April 13, 2010

Hank Williams, the country pioneer who is among the most influential singer- songwriters in music, was given a special Pulitzer Prize citation. The Pulitzer board awarded the late singer for his lifetime achievement, based on a confidential survey of experts in popular music. “I don't think any country artist cast a longer shadow than he does, both as a songwriter and a performer," Jay Orr, vice president of museum programs at the Country Music Hall of Fame, said Monday. (A ...

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