Music Industry News

Elvis Costello Teams with T Bone Burnett for New Acoustic Record

Source: Billboard Magazine
March 24, 2009

Elvis Costello's newest album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," sees the prolific singer-songwriter-composer returning to acoustic American roots music for the first time since his 1986 album “King of America." “Sugarcane" will be released June 2 on Hear Music. “Sugarcane" was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded during a three-day session at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio. Costello and Burnett have previously collaborated on “King of America" and “Spike." Costello's band for the project includes such Bluegrass and traditional country musicians ...

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Prosecutor: Spector Played 'Russian Roulette with the Lives of Women'

Source: Michael Ricci
March 23, 2009

Urging jurors to convict Phil Spector of murder Monday.

Prosecutor said the fatal shooting of an actress was the inevitable result of the legendary music producer’s “history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women.”

Referring to a string of women who testified, Deputy Dist. Atty. Truc Do said Spector had terrorized them with guns in the three decades leading up to the 2003 death of Lana Clarkson. “By the grace of God," she said, “five other women got ...

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George Avakian is 90

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
March 23, 2009

George Avakian has produced recordings by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Erroll Garner, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, among others. With the 78 rpm albums of Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens that he oversaw for Columbia Records in the 1940s, he invented the jazz reissue.

George turned 90 this week, and there was a huge party for him at Birdland in New York City. A wide cross-section of the jazz community turned out for the celebration. ...

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Phil Spector's Second Murder Trial Winds Down as Jurors Allowed to Consider Lesser Charges

Source: All About Jazz
March 22, 2009

Six years after actress Lana Clarkson died of a gunshot wound at Phil Spector's hilltop mansion, lawyers will once again deliver final arguments to a jury in the legendary music producer's murder trial.

The question hanging over these proceedings is whether this jury, unlike the one at Spector's first trial 18 months ago, will be able to reach an unanimous verdict. The first panel deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction.

When closing arguments in Spector's retrial begin Monday, prosecutors will ...

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Jazz Bakery Loses Lease Seeks New Site

Source: Michael Ricci
March 21, 2009

May 31 will be the club's last day at Helms Bakery complex. A fall reopening is planned.

Wistful notes continue to flow at the Jazz Bakery. But their spontaneous and tuneful cadence will soon be idle as the club, one of L.A.'s most venerable jazz institutions, prepares to close its Culver City location May 31.

“The one sure thing is that we're definitely reopening in the fall," Ruth Price, proprietor of the nonprofit club and a former jazz vocalist, told ...

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Making Music with Less

Source: Michael Ricci
March 21, 2009

LIKE many musicians who play for the handful of small professional orchestras outside of New York City these days, Gabriel Schaff, a violinist, is struggling to cobble together a living. Mr. Schaff, 49, has contracts that guarantee work with four orchestras, including the Stamford Symphony Orchestra and Long Island Philharmonic. He substitutes in others, including the Westfield Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey. And he takes side work, like Broadway shows, in between.

But side work has grown scarcer as Broadway ...

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Cheers Bartender Laid Off

Source: All About Jazz
March 21, 2009

Eddie Doyle considered a Boston institution

Everyone may know his name but not everyone is willing to pay him. Eddie Doyle, the famous bartender at Boston pub Cheers -- the inspiration behind the hit show -- is losing his post after nearly 35 years due to the economy.

According to the Boston Globe, many public figures are shocked by the news, with former Boston mayor Raymond Flynn saying that the city has lost an institution and calling Doyle “as important ...

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Seattle Times: For Branford Marsalis, It's All About the Group

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
March 18, 2009

from The Seattle Times: Branford Marsalis is one of the biggest names in jazz, a midcareer master who’s maintained an enviable level of visibility for nearly three decades. But the sardonic tenor and soprano saxophonist isn’t much impressed by personal accolades. As a musician, he’s devoted to a group concept that puts a premium on free-flowing interaction, a powerfully kinetic sound marked by breakneck tempo shifts and odd meters. It’s the kind of approach that can only be developed through ...

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