Music Industry News

The Value of What We Do

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
January 29, 2009

Over the coming weeks we are going to run a series of posts relating to the value of live music, jazz, culture and the importance of what we as musicians do and how it effects others. This has been something that SJS has been thinking about doing for a while and we are not entirely sure where it will go, but we invite you the reader to ponder these questions as well. Better yet, if you have some comments to ...

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Armstrong Park Redivivus

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 29, 2009

As New Orleans makes its slow way back from the devastation of hurricane Katrina and the fumbling federal and state crisis response, there are rays of hope on the cultural front. The jazz journalist Larry Blumenfeld, who has become a semi-permanent New Orleans resident, writes about it in The Wall Street Journal.Once alight with bulbs that spelled out “Armstrong," the large steel archway above North Rampart Street, across from the venerable Donna's Bar & Grill, was dark much of ...

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Bernard/Medeski/Hess/Moore

Source: JamBase
January 29, 2009

Will Bernard with John Medeski, Andy Hess, Stanton Moore Tour

Will Bernard Currently touring in support of his latest Palmetto release, Blue Plate Special, two-time Grammy nominated guitarist and composer, Will Bernard is joined by John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood) on keyboards, Andy Hess (Gov't Mule, John Scofield) on bass and Stanton Moore (Galactic) on drums.

Will Bernard follows up his Grammy-nominated album Party Hats with the Palmetto Records release Blue Plate Special. The collective experience of the band ...

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Signed Guitar by the Dead from Obama Inauguration

Source: JamBase
January 28, 2009

HeadCount Auction: Signed Les Paul By The Dead from Obama Inauguration

Bid now for a truly one-of-a-kind historic item!

As The Dead descended on Washington to appear at the historic Mid-Atlantic Inauguration Ball, they signed a black Gibson Les Paul guitar on behalf of HeadCount, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that registered over 100,000 voters last year.

Marking the unique occasion, the guitar was also signed by DC-Deadheads like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Barack Obama's transition team Co-Chair (and former ...

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Seattle Times: At Tula's, the Last Stand of the Jazz Open Jam

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
January 28, 2009

About six months ago, Mack Waldron had the contract in his hand. Sign it and the club he had owned for 15 years, Tula’s, would belong to someone else. All he had to do was sign his name. His lease was ending. His rent was going up. He was 67. His knees and his feet ached (that was the gout and the arthritis). Still, he’d always told himself he could do any of the jobs in his club if he ...

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More on the St. Louis Jazz Cafe

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
January 28, 2009

Following up on a story from last month, there was an interesting comment this past week on the December 26 post about the St. Louis Jazz Cafe, a new music venue scheduled to open in March at 1501 Locust downtown.Responding to the original Post-Dispatch story as well as an earlier commenter here at StLJN, “Anonymous" wrote:“I have it from a source close to the owners of The St Louis Jazz Cafe, that 1) The mention of streaming ...

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Rocky Week Ahead for Music Stocks

Source: HypeBot
January 27, 2009

Wall Street analysts are predicting a very rocky week in the markets with an unusual number of economic reports scheduled for release. With virtually all indexes offering only bad news, stock traders are readying for a wild ride.

That's bad news for the battered music sector and its publicly traded companies, many of whom are trading at or near all time lows. WMG stock has fallen 23% in the last month to near a low of $2.13. The Orchard is ...

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Conte Candoli: Best from the West

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 27, 2009

Some of the finest West Coast jazz combo playing of late 1954 appears on Best From the West: Modern Sounds from California (Vols. 1 and 2). These albums were issued by Blue Note as a pair of 10-inch LPs. Frankly, there isn't a drop of filler here, and the playing and compositions, many of which are by Shorty Rogers, swing with a special richness and aggression. As Leonard Feather writes in the original album's liner notes, “this is a wailing ...

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