Jazz News

32nd Annual Playboy Jazz Festival

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

Your Guide to the Playboy Jazz Festival 2010, Saturday and Sunday June 12 and 13 at The Hollywood Bowl. Presented in Cooperation with The L.A. Philharmonic Association

The 32nd annual Playboy Jazz Festival is just around the corner! This landmark event continues its rich tradition of featuring the biggest names in jazz, along with future jazz headliners delivering an exciting mix of everything from standards and blues to Latin beats and world fusion. This years roster includes the legendary George ...

Continue Reading

Today Facebook, Tomorrow the World

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

With a dizzying array of announcements this week, it seems almost inevitable that the web will become, at least for the near future, an extension of Facebook. Like it or not. In some ways it's a great development, making it simpler to connect what you read, watch and listen to. But there's a nagging suspicion that when Facebook says it's simply reacting to changing norms about how public we want our lives to be, that it's actually forging that condition, ...

Continue Reading

Muslim Extremist Can't Take a Joke, Post Death Threats Against "South Park" Creators

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

Threat against South Park creators highlights dilemma for media companies. Comedy Central bleeped out all references to the prophet Muhammad in the show after he was depicted dressed as a bear. The shows creators disagreed strongly with the decision. In its 200 shows, the irreverent animated program “South Park" has mercilessly satirized Christianity, Buddhism, Scientology, the blind and disabled, gay people, Hollywood celebrities and politicians of all persuasions, weathering the resulting protests and threats of boycotts. But this week, after ...

Continue Reading

Update: Anne Mironchik Pre-Release Sales Now at CD Baby

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

Anne Mironchik's tasty album of original tunes is now available at CDBaby. Whether you're a fan of traditional swing, funk, Latin or smooth jazz you'll love this album. Anne's mix of toe-tappin' and touching jazzy original, crowd-pleasing and critically acclaimed songs will touch your heart and soul. With roots in rock, blues, R&B and country, think of her like “Carole King with extra swing!" Between now and July 4th, Independence Day, Anne is offering limited copies of this independently produced ...

Continue Reading

Sharon Jones from Jameson to Fela Kuti, Preshow Rites of a Soul Band

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

SHARON JONES is, as the saying goes, the real deal. A 5-foot-1 vocal powerhouse who has been nicknamed the Queen of Funk, Ms. Jones, 53, grew up singing at home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in church and in local bands.

But professional success in music eluded her; for a time she worked as a prison guard at Rikers Island, where the inmates would sometimes make requests. Now, as the leader of the Dap-Kings, the house band of the Brooklyn record label ...

Continue Reading

Woody Allen: Have I Mentioned I Love Paris?

Source: Michael Ricci
April 26, 2010

Woody Allen has been saying for years that he's happy to explore new means of financing -- er, urban backdrops -- and has pretty much backed up that promise/flexibility by jumping between England and Spain for his past half-dozen films (including one detour to his native New York). The director hasn't stopped off in Paris yet, but that will change with the movie he's getting ready to make, whose title he revealed Thursday as “Midnight In Paris" and which he'll ...

Continue Reading

Download the NPR Music Jazz Fest Podcast

Source: Michael Ricci
April 25, 2010

NPR Music's A Blog Supreme is in New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage Festival. WBGO's Josh Jackson will be there too: together, they are photographing, interviewing, seafood-eating and blogging their way through the first weekend of festivities. Check A Blog Supreme for reviews, photos and podcasts of everything you missed, including coverage of My Morning Jacket and Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Jesse McBride And The Next Generation, June Gardner, The Monk Institute Combo, Davell Crawford, Treme Brass Band, The ...

Continue Reading

Southland Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2010

Playboy Jazz Festival Hollywood Bowl 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood The 32nd annual summer music party at the bowl returns, with performances by Chick Corea, George Benson, the Manhattan Transfer, Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling, Cuban salsa greats Los Van Van, and fusion guitarist Marcus Miller with young trumpeter Christian Scott, who together have been exploring the music of Miles Davis' 1986 album “Tutu." June 12th 2:30 p.m. June 13th 2:00 ...

Continue Reading