Jazz News

This Month Upstairs at Vitello's

Source: All About Jazz
August 16, 2009

New Jazz Venue: Upstairs at Vitello's is a custom-built listening room over Vitello's Italian Restaurant in Studio City; it is called the Upstairs Room.

Like a Vegas lounge, with great sound, lights and stage and there is not a bad seat in the house. Vocalist April Williams

Local musicians say this room is reminiscent of the clubs of Dante's and Shellys Manhole.

Voted Best Live Entertainment by Los Angeles Magazine Best of the Best of LA ...

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FCC Seeks Comments on musicFIRST Petition

Source: Just Roots PR
August 16, 2009

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comments on the petition filed by the musicFIRST Coalition. The petition details how radio stations across the country refuse to air musicFIRST ads, threaten artists who support the effort to create a fair performance right on radio and continue to run misleading ads produced by the National Association of Broadcasters – all in an effort to further their own private commercial interests at the expense of their public interest obligations.

“We are pleased that ...

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Ringtone Sales Fizzling

Source: Just Roots PR
August 16, 2009

Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), an organization that collects royalties for song writers and publishers, is forecasting that overall ringtone sales in the US will fall 7 percent in 2008 to approximately $510 million.

“The ringtone market continues to decline as the novelty phase wears off,” said Richard Conlon, BMI’s vice president of new media and development.

Major music companies have been counting on sales of digital products – ringtones included – to offset sinking CD sales.

Album sales, including downloadable ...

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digimusicbids.com Ushers in Music Industry First Online Marketplace

Source: Just Roots PR
August 16, 2009

DigiMusicBids.com, the music industries first online marketplace and auction site, now gives independent musicians and music industry professionals these same benefits and opportunities to purchase high-quality goods, plus professional services, such as music lessons and studio time.

Additionally, DigiMusicBids.com’s robust platform helps musicians and industry professionals connect, network and collaborate to advance the careers of independent musicians, producers and labels, and help them effectively compete with major corporations.

In recent years, many musicians and music industry professionals have utilized sites ...

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Nathanael West and the Writing of 'The Day of the Locust'

Source: Michael Ricci
August 16, 2009

The year 1939, when Europe was going up in flames and America clung to the hope that it need not become part of a world at war, turned out to be a miracle moment for Los Angeles fiction.

The publication of “The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler, John Fante's “Ask The Dust," and “The Day of the Locust" by Nathanael West (the latter just reissued in a new edition, along with “Miss Lonelyhearts," by New Directions, $11.95), three books that ...

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Review: Commotion's CD Release Draws Portland Indie Jazz Stars

Source: Michael Ricci
August 16, 2009

Commotion's CD release at Someday Lounge on Friday night was apparently more than your average such event. So highly anticipated was this performance that many of Portland's young indie jazz stars showed up just to watch and listen. David Ornette Cherry was there, and Drew Shoals, Damian Erskine, Jason DuMars, Liv Warfield, Dusty York as well as several others. The band did not disappoint, but this happy occasion also marked the final performance for guitarist Chris Mosely with this group. ...

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Very Early: Bill Evans 1956-58

Source: Michael Ricci
August 16, 2009

In the mid-1950s pianist Bill Evans was still a relative unknown, not yet the jazz-piano giant he’d become on the strength of recordings like Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Conversations With Myself. Evans had a strong influence on post-1960s jazz pianists—an influence some have found fault with, for certainly Evans had what’s been called a “pastoral-romanticist” bent and a nearly cult-like following, and his later recordings sometimes have a sort of lyrical-stasis quality to them. As a young pianist ...

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Live Jazz with the Cory S. Thompson Quartet @ Bistrouge, August 22nd Sunday

Source: Michael Ricci
August 16, 2009

After a short summer break, the Cory S. Thompson Quartet is back and ready to perform. The evening will be filled with some old favorites and newly composed pieces--featuring some of Jeremy Lenz's original works and a newly composed vocalese by Mr. Thompson. Come out to BistrOuge in the East Village, 432 E. 13th Street between 1st and Ave. A on August 22nd from 9PM-12AM. No cover, two drink minimum. For more information or to make a reservation, contact us ...

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