Jazz News

Michael Jackson Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
June 25, 2009

We've just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

[Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.]

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

A source ...

Continue Reading

Michael Jackson -- Cardiac Arrest

Source: Michael Ricci
June 25, 2009

Pop star Michael Jackson was rushed to a hospital this afternoon by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics.

[Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.]

[Updated at 2:46 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson is in a coma and his family is arriving at his bedside, a law enforcement source told The Times.]

Capt. Steve Ruda said ...

Continue Reading

Michael Jackson's Death: The Talent and the Tragedy

Source: All About Jazz
June 25, 2009

The tragedy of Michael Jackson's death at age 50, reportedly from cardiac arrest, pales in comparison to the tragedy of his life.

To understand all that Jackson had and lost requires wiping away three decades of plastic surgeries that deformed him, erratic behavior that made his name synonymous with the warping powers of fame, and a 2005 trial for sexually abusing a child that, even though he was spared of any finding of wrongdoing, made him a pariah to all ...

Continue Reading

Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival, September 22-26, 2009

Source: All About Jazz
June 25, 2009

Now in its ninth year, the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival—Boston's largest and most popular outdoor festival—has expanded to five days and seven stages at locations in Boston and Cambridge, and has named world-renowned drummer and Berklee professor Terri Lyne Carrington its new artistic director. From September 22 to 26, superstars and local artists will come together in free and ticketed offerings that have drawn upwards of 70,000 people of all ages from every neighborhood in Boston and all over New ...

Continue Reading

Composer Joseph Brooks Faces Trial for 11 Rapes

Source: Michael Ricci
June 24, 2009

The Oscar-winning composer and director behind “You Light Up My Life" raped 11 women he lured to his apartment with the promise of a starring role in a movie, prosecutors said at his arraignment in New York on Tuesday.

Joseph Brooks, 71, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, where he was arraigned on a 91-count indictment. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of first-degree rape.

Brooks won the Oscar for best original song for ...

Continue Reading

Phil Spector Will Be Allowed Jam Sessions with Fellow Prisoners

Source: Michael Ricci
June 24, 2009

Phil Spectors permanent assignment in the state prison system is a massive Central Valley penitentiary with special accommodations for older and disabled inmates. And even behind bars, the man credited with inventing the “Wall of Sound" will still be allowed to create music.

The 69-year-old record producer, serving at least 19 years for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, arrived Monday at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, corrections officials said.

A prison spokesman said ...

Continue Reading

35,000-Year-Old Flute is Oldest Known Musical Instrument

Source: Michael Ricci
June 24, 2009

The discovery, reported in the journal Nature, suggests that the first humans to occupy Europe had a fairly sophisticated culture. The instrument was excavated from a cave in Germany.

The wing bone of a griffon vulture with five precisely drilled holes in it is the oldest known musical instrument, a 35,000-year-old relic of an early human society that drank beer, played flute and drums and danced around the campfire on cold winter evenings, researchers said today.

Excavated from a cave ...

Continue Reading

Harris-Stowe State University Presents "A Night of Jazz Greats"

Source: All About Jazz
June 24, 2009

Harris-Stowe State University, home of the Don and Heide Wolff Jazz Institute, will host a benefit concert of jazz greats on Saturday, August 29, 2009, at 7 p.m., in the Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Administration Buildings Main Auditorium. Atty. Don Wolff will serve as the emcee.

The concert will feature the sounds of drummer and vibraphone player Chuck Redd; trumpeter Randy Sandke; trombonist Wycliffe Gordon; jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer Houston Person; pianist Rossano Sportiello; bassist Nicki Parrot; drummer ...

Continue Reading