Music Industry News

The Chicago Jazz Ensemble Announces Staff Promotions

Source: All About Jazz
November 11, 2008

The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Jon Faddis, named Dana Hall as its Music Director and Darius Hampton as Education Director, it was announced by J. Richard Dunscomb, CJE Executive Director. In addition to their new roles, Hall will maintain his seat as drummer for the CJE and Hampton will continue as Music Librarian. “We are pleased to celebrate the expanded roles of these two exceptional jazz aficionados, “ said Dunscomb. “Dana is as talented on the ...

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Bird and Diz: Spotlite Mystery Solved

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 11, 2008

As a jazz journalist and historian, there's nothing I love more than a good jazz mystery. Tell me there's a story that has missing facts or hasn't been resolved, and I'm off to the races. Yesterday, when I spoke with legendary jazz writer Ira Gitler about his fabulous liner notes to the new CD, Dizzy Gillespie Big Band: Showtime at the Spotlite (52d Street, New York City, June 1946), something Ira said got me going.

When I asked Ira [pictured] ...

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Jay Blakesberg: Waiting For That Moment

Source: JamBase
November 11, 2008

Words by: Dennis Cook | All images by: Jay Blakesberg

Jerry Garcia Photographers, particularly music photographers, aren't often viewed as artists by a fair number of people. The influx of inexpensive digital gear and the too-easy proliferation of images on the Internet have contributed to this artistic slide, or at least helped fuel the perception that any asshole with a camera can be a photographer. Jay Blakesberg knows different. A veteran of more than three decades in the pit, he ...

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The Chicago Jazz Ensemble Announces Staff Promotions

Source: Carolyn McClair Public Relations
November 10, 2008

Dana Hall Named Music Director and Darius Hampton Tapped as Education Director CHICAGO, IL - The Chicago Jazz Ensemble (CJE), under the artistic direction of Jon Faddis, named Dana Hall as its Music Director and Darius Hampton as Education Director, it was announced by J. Richard Dunscomb, CJE Executive Director. In addition to their new roles, Hall will maintain his seat as drummer for the CJE and Hampton will continue as Music Librarian. We are pleased to celebrate the expanded ...

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Alton Amphitheater Almost Finished, but Not yet Named

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
November 10, 2008

Although work on the new outdoor amphitheater in Riverfront Park in Alton, Illinois is almost complete, a proposal to name it after legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis apparently has stalled, according to an article in Saturday's Alton Telegraph:“In recent months, there was a drive by some people to have the city name the amphitheater after the late jazz musician (Miles) Davis, who was born in Alton. Publicity about that idea spawned other people to suggest other names, from tying ...

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The Arrival of Victor Feldman

Source: Night Lights Classic Jazz
November 10, 2008

Multi-instrumentalist Victor Feldman was a musical prodigy who sat in on drums with Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force Band at the age of 10 and was hailed by the English press as “Kid Krupa.” After continuing his rise to fame in the 1950s British jazz world, Feldman moved to America and eventually made his way to the West Coast jazz scene. We’ll hear the records he made both as a sideman and a leader, playing piano and vibes with Cannonball ...

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Hollywood Sheet Music Faces the Music

Source: Michael Ricci
November 9, 2008

LEDE-IN: The Internet imperils the survival of the low-tech but beloved Sunset Boulevard store.

Early last month, behind the facades of Gower Gulch, that Old West town of Baskin-Robbins, Rite Aid and a Denny's restaurant facing Sunset Boulevard, some 46 vocalists and one showgirl poured into Hollywood Studio Bar and Grill, banding together for a cause the only way they know how -- by unleashing, for more than four hours, tunes about ducks that samba and personalizing the lyrics of ...

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Jazz at the Bistro, Scott Joplin House Named in Article on "Nine Great Jazz Joints"

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
November 9, 2008

St. Louis' Jazz at the Bistro and the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site are among the music venues cited in “Nine Great Jazz Joints," an article appearing in the current issue of Budget Travel magazine and online at CNN.com. The magazine asked six musicians to name some of their favorite spots to hear jazz, and St. Louis native and multi-reedman J.D. Parran nominated the Bistro and the Joplin house. The article also offers the recommendations of baritone ...

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