Music Industry News

Other Places: A Bud Shank Profile

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 27, 2009

The current offering on Steve Cerra's Jazz Profiles web log is part one of an extensive examination of the career and music of alto saxophonist Bud Shank. It incorporates most of the contents of the booklet I wrote for the Mosaic Records boxed set The Pacific Jazz Bud Shank Studio Sessions (1956-1961), long out of print. As he always does, Steve includes personal recollections and lots of photographs. Here is a short excerpt from the Mosaic notes, Shank talking about ...

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Veteran Drummer Bill Bruford Retires from Public Performance

Source: All About Jazz
January 26, 2009

After 41 years spent first in the art rock arena with everyone from Yes and King Crimson to Genesis, in addition to his own inestimable forays into fusion with his critically and popularly praised '70s group Bruford, then turning to things more jazzy from the '80 onwards with various incarnations of his much- heralded Earthworks group and his equally acclaimed improvising duet with pianist Michiel Borstlap, veteran drummer Bill Bruford has announced he's hanging up his sticks and and retiring ...

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Obama's Secret Record Collection

Source: All About Jazz
January 25, 2009

Rolling Stone has already told you what’s on Barack Obama’s iPod — but he’s got another wicked record collection literally under him. The official White House Record Library is stored in the mansion’s basement and includes several hundred landmark LPs (many of which appears on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, in fact). So what’s this collection about, how did it start and what’s it in?

When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he ...

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Rocking Cincinnatis R&B Cradle

Source: Michael Ricci
January 25, 2009

King Records employees in the labels shipping department in the 1950s, early on were proof King adopted an integration policy, and some management positions were occupied by African-Americans.

Among the artists on the King roster were the Stanley Brothers, top; James Brown, center, who cut Papas Got a New Bag for the label; and the saxophonist Earl Bostic, above right, with Kings owner, Syd Nathan.

King started as a so-called hillbilly label in 1943; moved into race music the onetime ...

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The Band on Bruce: The Springsteen They Know

Source: All About Jazz
January 25, 2009

A candid look at the legend from his “greatest friends" - the E Street Band. The E Street Band are the people who know Bruce Springsteen best, and in his own words, “They are my greatest friendships, my deepest friendships irreplaceable things."

Springsteen started the band in 1972, gave it its official name two years later and recorded some of his most iconic albums Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Born in the U.S.A. with ...

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Weekend Extra: Why Fight?

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 25, 2009

By tradition and general agreement in the reviewing trade, it is considered unprofessional and tacky to write about a recording to which one has contributed liner notes. Therefore, I have not written about Rebecca Kilgore's and Dave Frishberg's Why Fight The Feeling?, a collection of songs by Frank Loesser. However, I have no qualms about alerting you to the welcome fact that Carol Sloane has switched on her blog after a month of reticence. She posts a number of items, ...

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Numero Group Label/Vinyl

Source: JamBase
January 24, 2009

THE NUMERO GROUP ANNOUNCES NEW LABEL SERIES AND VINYL ONLY IMPRINT

In addition to their critically acclaimed Eccentric Soul, Cult Cargo and Wayfaring Strangers series, the Numero Group is set to launch Local Customs - a series of releases highlighting the lost sounds of mid-America from the 60s and 70s. Under the Numero Group, the Numerophon vinyl-only imprint joins the family (in good company with sister imprint, Asterisk) with its debut release this spring.

LOCAL CUSTOMS SERIES

If Harry Smith's ...

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Billie Holiday: Lady in Satin

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 24, 2009

I've always had mixed feelings about Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin. I love the February 1958 recording, but I have to be in a certain mood to hear it. Billie is in the twilight of her career, and while her voice isn't quite as shattered as it would be on her final studio recording in March 1959, her voice is already frayed and fragile. While Ray Ellis' arrangements are lushly embracing, I've found them a bit too rich and syrupy ...

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