Jazz News

Baked Potato Jazz Club Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2010

The world-famous The Baked Potato Jazz Club, a Los Angeles music institution, is celebrating its 40th Anniversary with an epic, one-of-a-kind jazz festival.

Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23, 2010 at the magical Anson Ford Amphitheater.

The festival will showcase many of the bands and artists that got their start at The Baked Potato.

The phenomenal line-up includes Larry Carlton, Yellowjackets, Steve Lukather, Lee Ritenour, The Jazz Ministry, The Michael Landau Group, Don Randi, owner of The Baked Potato, ...

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Recording Academy Readies Benefit

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2010

The Recording Academy takes up some of its most important work on Friday when it mounts its annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit, which provides money for addiction treatment and sober living resources in the music community. This year's benefit at Club Nokia salutes former first lady Betty Ford, whose own battle with addiction led her to found the Betty Ford Center. Her daughter Susan Ford Bales, chair of the Ford Center, will accept on her behalf. The femme-skewed evening will ...

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Columbus Jazz Orchestra and Cleveland Jazz Orchestra Face off in NEA Jazz Masters Live "Battle of the Bands"

Source: Michael Ricci
May 4, 2010

COLUMBUS JAZZ ORCHESTRA AND CLEVELAND JAZZ ORCHESTRA FACE OFF IN NEA JAZZ MASTERS LIVE BATTLE OF THE BANDS Columbus, OH The Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) will present the Columbus Jazz Orchestra in an NEA Jazz Masters Live battle royale match against the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Saturday, June 5, in two performances at the historic Lincoln Theatre. Both orchestras will duke it out by performing a commissioned work by NEA Jazz Master and Grammy Award-winner Frank Foster in each ...

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The Changing Typography of the Web

Source: Michael Ricci
May 4, 2010

Since the World Wide Webs earliest days, whether you were shopping on Amazon or researching on Google or catching up on news at latimes.com, chances are you were looking at just one of four typefaces -- Arial, Verdana, Georgia or Times -- each formulated for computer monitors and trusted by web designers to display properly on your screen. In other words, a seventh-grader writing a book report on Microsoft Word had more font choices than the person designing Esquire Magazine's ...

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Noise-Canceling Earbuds Have Got Your Concha Covered

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2010

Yamaha EPH-50 Headphones. For avid earbud users (and abusers) the entire concept of “noise-canceling" is a feature that just never seems to work correctly. No matter how snug the bud, there's just no way to eliminate the clamor of the outside world (especially for those of us who work in places as rowdy as Wired). Yamaha's EPH-50 headphones may not change any minds about this, but their slick albeit slightly goofy design offers hope. The EPH-50s are fairly standard in-ear ...

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Drummer Mike Reed Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2010

There is not a name yet for what Mike Reed does on drums. Elvin Jones created polyrhythmics; Rashied Ali, multi-directionalism. Reed is delivering something related but distinct. It has as much to do with tonal complexity as with keeping the beat, but the complexity goes beyond that, into a recombination of the many drumming styles of jazz history. “Pan-tonalism" might characterize it, but it doesn't roll off the tongue the way his sticks roll off his heads.

AAJ Contributor Gordon ...

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Dave Pell & Med Flory Quintet @ Henri's

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2010

One of the legendary originators of the West Coast Jazz Sound, Dave Pell plays The Back Room at Henri's with the Med FLory Quintet.

FRIDAY, MAY 14 SHOWS 7 pm and 9 pm

DAVE PELL Tenor MED FLORY Alto RICHARD SIMON Bass FRANK STRAZZERI Piano FRANK CAPP Drums Featuring Young Tenor Star CHLOE FEORANZO

The Back Room at Henri's 21601 Sherman Way Canoga Park, ...

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What is a Jam Session?

Source: Dave Douglas / Greenleaf Music
May 4, 2010

They announced I was leading it so I asked, and got blank stares in return. It was clearly the wrong question, so I followed up: Is it Standards? Is it Free Improvisation? Is it a reading of original compositions? Is it preformed groups getting up to play? It is musicians who don't normally play together ad libbing music of some sort. 'Jam' connotes enjoyment. 'Session' points toward informality. In the event, we began by reading some fun and simple originals. ...

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