Music Industry News

Charlie Haden: All That Political Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
September 22, 2008

Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra leans left, but carries a message of patriotism and hope. Despite its seemingly combative title, “Not in Our Name," by jazz bassist Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, is a surprisingly gentle and hopeful musical document. There are occasional dissonant undercurrents and dense, sophisticated interplay among the 12 orchestra members. But the dominant attitude on this program of all-American music -- which ranges from a section of Dvorak's “New World Symphony" and a reggae treatment of ...

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Why We Should Be Clear About What Trad Jazz Means

Source: All About Jazz
September 22, 2008

Sorry to return to the Mercury prize for a second week, but this is only a passing spin-off from that much-discussed event. Observer music critic Kitty Empire, one of the Mercury judges, described the shortlisting process in a recent article and included among the difficulties the challenge of comparing “the merits of Empirical's trad jazz against Benga's dubstep". The collective snort of derision about this in the jazz world has made a trombone section sound like a solo flute, and ...

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Former Councilman Was Shot in Apparent Robbery at Jazz Club

Source: All About Jazz
September 22, 2008

Harris' killing stuns residents, colleagues By Gus G. Sentementes In his eight years on the City Council, Kenneth N. Harris Sr. worked diligently to make parts of North and Northeast Baltimore safer from crime, including the Northwood Plaza, an aging strip mall that some say had its heyday in the 1960s. But Harris, who lost his bid for City Council president last year and left public life, died after falling victim to crime at that shopping center early yesterday. Harris, ...

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Back Stage Pass with Sinatra

Source: All About Jazz
September 21, 2008

In May 1998, one of the greatest singers of the Twentieth Century, Frank Sinatra, passed away. In tribute to Frank Sinatra, we thought it would be fitting to offer up remembrances of the singer, by some of the people who knew and worked with him.

Murray Garrett is one such person. A professional photographer, Mr Garrett first met Frank Sinatra in the mid 1940's in New York City. He photographed Sinatra at charity events, recording sessions, radio and ...

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Frank Zappa's Widow Protects His Legacy

Source: Michael Ricci
September 21, 2008

For Gail Zappa, that means making sure that her late husband 'has the last word in terms of anybody's idea of who he is. And his actual last word is his music.'

WHOEVER devised the slipknot contract clause “into perpetuity" hadn't conceived a Gail Zappa. She's made it her job to parse the music industry's dense legalese, close contractual loopholes and, most significantly, end what she sees as its iron grip on an artist's past, present and future.

Let me ...

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How Companies Pay Artists to Include Brands in Lyrics

Source: All About Jazz
September 21, 2008

Yes, you read that right: things have gotten so weird in the music business that high-profile acts are inserting ads into their song lyrics.

The next time you hear a brand mentioned in a song, it could be due to a paid product placement. And unlike magazines, songs are not required to point out which words are part of an advertisement.

Songs that refer to products and brands have been with us for years, from Simon and Garfunkel singing “Mama ...

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"Peanuts" Whalum Featured in Cincinnati Enquirer

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
September 21, 2008

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Natalie Cole Hospitalized, Postpones Concert Tour

Source: Michael Ricci
September 20, 2008

Singer Natalie Cole, whos been battling Hepatitis C since being diagnosed in July with the liver disease, is in the hospital.

The combination of the treatment shes been undergoing and the heavy promotional schedule for her new album took its toll. Her doctors decided they needed to put her in the hospital. They expect her to be there for a few days, then shell be on a month of bed rest. Cole's publicist Maureen OConnor.

She said this ...

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