Music Industry News

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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Jimmy Buffett is Cashing in on Margaritaville

Source: All About Jazz
January 5, 2009

Singers fortune expands thanks to numerous products, marketing deals. Jimmy Buffett, who turned 62 on Christmas Day, has long been an icon of certain baby boomers, who tapped into his tropical party vibe as they toiled in cubicles and offices. But in the past decade this chronicler of Margaritaville has really cashed in on his image.

LAS VEGAS - It's like the world's biggest beach party, hosted by the world's richest beach bum. The 15,000 fans packing the sold-out MGM ...

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The Culture of Scarcity

Source: Michael Ricci
January 4, 2009

Will the current economic crisis lead us to embrace restraint and disdain excess?

We shopped. Then we dropped. Then we started making culture again -- dancing on the rubble of our own excesses, stitching together art from the ragbag of our desires. Every generation or so, throughout modern American history, the culture of hardship has followed hard on the heels of the culture of consumption and prosperity. The financial shifts and shafts of the late 1800s spurred Mark Twain's skeptical ...

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B.J. Jansen Joins Red Holloway, Donald Harrison, James Carter and Azar Lawrence as an International Woodwind Artist

Source: JM Creative
January 4, 2009

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