Music Industry News

Songs from the Heart of a Marketing Plan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 7, 2009

IN Creator, the rawest track on Santogolds debut and self-titled album, the singer Santi White boasts, Me Im a creator/Thrill is to make it up/The rules I break got me a place up on the radar. Its a bohemian manifesto in a sound bite, brash and endearing, or at least it was for me until it showed up in a beer commercial. And a hair-gel commercial too. It turns out that the insurgent, quirky rule breaker is just another shill. ...

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RAC to be folded into Recording Academy

Source: All About Jazz
January 7, 2009

The Recording Artists' Coalition, founded eight years ago by Don Henley and Sheryl Crow, will be folded into the Recording Academy and become an integral part of the org's Grammy on the Hill initiative. The union of the two groups is to be announced today by Academy president-CEO Neil Portnow and RAC board member Irving Azoff. It is timed to coincide with the start of the new session of Congress and the Obama administration. RAC board member Simon Renshaw and ...

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Cleveland's Ante up Audio Recording Studio Welcomes Classic Steinway Piano

Source: All About Jazz
January 7, 2009

With decades of rich musical history, a classic piano is re-born thanks to a recent purchase made by Cleveland-based recording studio: Ante Up Audio (Cleveland, Ohio, Jan 7,2009)--Ante Up Audio, Cleveland's world-class recording facility, recently welcomed a beautifully maintained 1951 Grand Steinway piano into its musical family. This classic Steinway Model B, which was originally owned by the Cleveland Orchestra, is now housed in Ante Up Audio's SSL Suite.

Steinway pianos are widely revered as the finest in the world ...

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Turtle Island Quartet Has Blended Jazz and Strings for Nearly Quarter of a Century

Source: All About Jazz
January 7, 2009

David Balakrishnan took a leap. Some might call it brave, others dumb luck. Either way, now he looks brilliant. For nearly a quarter century, Balakrishnan has taken two beloved forms of music — string quartets and jazz— and mashed them into something that is both reverential and ground breaking. Since founding the Turtle Island Quartet in 1985, Balakrishnan has led the group on a wild ride of cross-genre mutation that has spawned 14 albums and garnered two Grammy Awards. The ...

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A Heavenly Collaboration: Dizzy Gillespie and Dr. Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
January 7, 2009

In 1993, my friend Dizzy Gillespie invited me to join him on one of the jazz cruises where musicians perform and hang out with jazz-struck passengers. I had interviewed him before, but this would be in a more extensive and varied setting. Suddenly Dizzy canceled the trip, entering New Jersey's Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, where he had previously been a patient. There, dying of pancreatic cancer, Dizzy, who had health insurance, said to Francis Forte, his oncologist, and himself ...

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Blue Note's Birthday

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 7, 2009

Today is the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, and -- what a coincidence -- I have at hand an advance CD by the Blue Note 7. That is the all-star band of Blue Note artists on the verge of a three months tour to celebrate the longevity of a company that has made a difference in music. The tour opens Thursday evening at the Moore Theater in Seattle. Friday, the band will be across the Cascade mountains in Yakima, ...

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Reed Mathis Leaves JFJO

Source: JamBase
January 6, 2009

Reed Mathis Leaves Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

JFJO Following their highest profile year to date, which contained their fourth tour of Europe and performances at Lincoln Center, Newport Jazz Festival, a Guinness Jazz Award, and much more, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is very pleased to announce the band's 2009 lineup. The odyssey continues with Brian Haas on keys, Josh Raymer on drums, and proudly introducing Chris Combs on lap steel and Matt Hayes on upright bass. A supplemented version of ...

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Ramana Vieira Joins Pacific Coast Jazz Label

Source: All About Jazz
January 5, 2009

San Diego-based independent record label, Pacific Coast Jazz, announces the signing of Bay Area-based Portuguese Fado singer, Ramana Vieira. The agreement anticipates the release of their new CD, “Lagrimas De Rainha (Tears Of A Queen), “ slated for a street date of March 24, 2009. “We've been looking for a top quality world artist for our label for quite some time, “ says Donna Nichols, founder and president of Pacific Coast Jazz. “Ramana has solidified her place as an artist ...

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