Jazz News

Blues Legend James Cotton Plays Miri International Jazz Festival, 14 - 15 May

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

CELEBRATING THE 5th MIRI INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL: MAY 14-15

The Miri International Jazz Festival (MIJF) 2010 promises to deliver another exciting event with a wide range of jazz genres lined up to entertain an expected eight thousand visitors to this town in the beautiful region of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Organised by the Sarawak Tourism Board the festival will be held at the Pavilion of Parkcity Everly Hotel in Miri on May 14 and 15, 2010. Festival goers will be treated to ...

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Ozomatli's 'Fire Away'

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

Not many L.A. bands can boast of having a piece of the calendar named in their honor.

But April 23 was recently designated by the city as Ozomatli Day to give props to the artistically mongrel ensemble that for 15 years has been burning holes in local dance floors that is, when they're not playing gala gigs for Barack and Michelle Obama, or touring as official State Department cultural ambassadors, preaching peace, love and kick-butt hip-hop/salsa beats in Myanmar, China ...

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Joni Mitchell: Bob Dylan a 'Plagiarist' And 'Fake'

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

Mitchell: “Dylan's a fake. Bob is a deception." Don't compare Joni Mitchell to Bob Dylan! The musician shared some strong opinions when the L.A. Times talked to her about him. Joni Mitchell is having trouble seeing both sides now when it comes to Bob Dylan. Most music fans consider the twosome among the most influential and seminal artists of the last 50 years, and place Dylan at the absolute pinnacle of the singer/songwriter pantheon. Mitchell does not hold him in ...

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3-D Hollywoods Latest Hot Trend

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

On a recent afternoon, a dozen cinematographers, directors and camera assistants huddled inside a sound stage on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, wearing black plastic glasses as they watched a monitor. The object of their gaze: the body movements of a USC acting student sitting at a kitchen table on a set a few yards away. “Hold up one finger,” bellowed the instructor, cinematographer David Drzewiecki. The student obliged as a technician several yards away used a remote-control ...

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Los Angeles Times Book Festival at UCLA Weekend

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

Authors and publishers address the biggest issues facing the print medium in the age of technology.

In an age when economic downturns and new technology pose huge challenges to the publishing world, public events like the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend at UCLA offer a different type of interactivity than can be found either on the page or screen. The book business has taken a beating in the national recession, and the latest figures from the Assn. ...

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Furious Exchange on Futures Trading

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

Proponents of two proposed film futures exchanges defended their proposals on Capitol Hill Thursday amid an increasingly onerous political environment and skepticism among lawmakers about the viability of trading in weekend box office receipts.

But the teams behind the exchanges got a boost from an endorsement by Lionsgate's vice chairman Michael Burns, who argued in a letter to a House Agriculture subcommittee that the market in domestic box office receipts “would substantially widen the number and breadth of financing sources ...

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More Pols Back Peformance Rights Act

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have joined the ranks of supporters of the Performance Rights Act, which would ensure that artists, musicians and rights holders are compensated when their music is played on broadcast radio stations.

Currently, AM and FM radio stations don't pay royalties to performers, which go to music writers and publishers. Opponents of the bill argue it could hurt smaller radio stations and cause further loss of employment in the ...

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In New Orleans, Jazz Fans Get Their Groove on Despite Rain

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

Nature gave the 2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival torrents of rain and fields of mud on Friday's opening day, but that made it easier for the undaunted faithful to dig deeply into the roots of American popular music. More than 60 acts representing the best of the region's and the nation's jazz, blues, country, Cajun, gospel, rock, brass band and zydeco traditions held their own against the natural thunder on a dozen stages as the 41st Fest began ...

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