Music Industry News

The Birth of the Cool Songbook

Source: All About Jazz
June 9, 2008

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News from Romania

Source: All About Jazz
June 9, 2008

Every once in a while, news appears to remind us of the extent to which jazz has become an international art form and field of study. For example:

The third annual Romanian Jazz Education Summit will begin July 5, and last until July 10, 2008. All jazz music educators and most Romanian jazz students will attend. As always, the purpose of this summit is to provide intensive/detailed instruction of American jazz education techniques for Romanian educators and students ...

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Return of the New Thing - Alchemia (Not Two, 2008) ****a1/2

Source: All About Jazz
June 8, 2008

If you like creative, genre-bending, fully improvised, expansive and energetic free jazz, then you will surely enjoy this. The British-French quartet, consisting of Dan Warburton on piano and violin, Jean-Luc Guionnet on alto sax, Francois Fuchs on bass and Edward Perraud on drums, has a real take-no-prisoners approach. The three long tracks (approx. 29, 24 and 17 minutes, aptly titled 29:09, 24:41 and 17:20), are a pure powerhouse of full-speed intensity and unrelenting energy. Once in a while the wall ...

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Happy Birthday Prince!

Source: All About Jazz
June 8, 2008

THE 5' 2" FATHER OF “PUNK FUNK" TURNS 50!

Five decades ago Prince Rogers Nelson (or unpronounceable symbol to some) popped out of his mama and slapped his own ass before letting out a cry that made the delivery room get down. Or at least that's how some of us imagine his entry into the world. Looking unnaturally youthful and still rockin' down massive crowds (who else played at Coachella this year?), Prince hits the big 5-0 ...

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Sat Eye Candy: Stan Getz

Source: All About Jazz
June 8, 2008

MORE TO EXTRAORDINARY TENOR SAXOPHONIST THAN A GIRL FROM IPANEMA

Yesterday marked the 17th anniversary of jazz giant Stan Getz's passing, lost to liver cancer at age 64 in 1991. Though best known for popularizing Brazilian music with mainstream America with 1961's No. 1 selling Jazz Samba and especially 1964's “The Girl From Ipanema" with Astrud Gilberto, there were tremendous depths to this hugely influential musician. Unabashedly romantic, Getz took swing into the bedroom long before cats were ...

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The Cosmosamatics - Free Within the Law (Not Two, 2008) ***

Source: All About Jazz
June 8, 2008

Sonny Simmons is a musician with ups and downs. Sometimes great, sometimes uneventful. And so are the Cosmosamatics. Although the musicianship is good on most albums, I often wonder what their story is about. They have no clear musical positioning. It's nice, it's sometimes adventurous, but then again, I often think I've heard it so many times before. So far, I find “Zetrons" to be among their best albums. This CD shows them from both angles : the first part, ...

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Correspondence: Strayhorn and Finegan

Source: All About Jazz
June 8, 2008

Rifftides reader Ian Bradley writes:

I have been meaning to write for a while to say how much I enjoy reading Rifftides. I was prompted to write following your two most recent posts on Bill Finegan and Billy Strayhorn. Whilst Glenn Miller's music is often denigrated in jazz circles - criticised for something it never set out to be - I always thought there was lot in there to listen for.

I was fascinated to read - in ...

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Dr John's New Orleans

Source: Michael Ricci
June 7, 2008

He Still Loves New Orleans, and Now He's Mad. Mac Rebennack, the 67-year-old New Orleans pianist, guitarist and songwriter better known as Dr. John, carries the city's lore in his fingers, his scratchy voice and his memory.

He has lived in New York City and on Long Island since the 1980s, but when he revisits his birthplace it's as if he never left. New Orleans culture, he said in his ever-surprising vocabulary, has “wacknosity" -- things only New Orleanians do. ...

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