Jazz News

Midnite Disturbers: Jazz Fest's Mystery Masters

Source: All About Jazz
May 2, 2009

At the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, some of the best music happens miles from the Fairgrounds, hours after the crowds have gone and the last of the crawfish bread has been consumed.

It happens with the arrival of Midnite.

At 1:18 a.m., Bonerama -- a brass-funk rock band lead by three trombones -- has just finished a 90-minute set that started with a soulful, passionate original tune written by bandleader Mark Mullins, and concluded with a cover of ...

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Threadheads Jazz Lovers Give Up-and-Coming Musicians a Boost

Source: Michael Ricci
May 2, 2009

The music lovers have evolved from an online chat room group into a nonprofit record label.

Reporting from New Orleans -- Like a lot of out-of-towners who came to New Orleans in the years after the levees failed, Chris Joseph found that the singers John Boutte and Paul Sanchez spoke to the city's post-Katrina trauma better than almost any other artists.

Like his fellow visitors, Joseph felt frustrated that he couldn't buy a CD of the cathartic songs the duo ...

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New Orleans' Ponderosa Stomp: Bringing Music History to Life

Source: Michael Ricci
May 2, 2009

Before Kansas City was recorded by everyone from the Beatles to Peggy Lee, the song was first released in 1952 as K.C. Loving by an obscure Houston pianist named Little Willie Littlefield.

The single became a regional hit in the Los Angeles area, where Littlefield was recording for Federal Records, but it would be up to Wilbert Harrison, Trini Lopez, James Brown and Hank Ballard to turn Kansas City into a top 25 hit on the national pop and R&B ...

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Guitar Market Strikes a Nostalgic Chord

Source: Michael Ricci
May 2, 2009

In one upside to a down economy, collectors are finding there's a string of vintage options on the market -- and some lower prices

Signature guitars of the rock 'n' roll era -- candy-colored Fender Stratocasters, slab-bodied Fender Telecasters, flame-topped Gibson Les Pauls and voluptuously shaped Gretsch hollow bodies -- are symbols of a uniquely American pop culture that continues to excite guitar enthusiasts. But aside from their nostalgia value, they've proved to be good investments.

A Gibson Les ...

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French Pols Reconsider Piracy Bill

Source: All About Jazz
May 2, 2009

French legislators reconsidered a bill Wednesday that would punish people who illegally download music and films by cutting off their Internet connections.

The bill was rejected in a surprise move earlier this month. Record labels and film companies had looked to the measure to boost ever-shrinking profits in the face of online file-sharing, which lets people swap music files without paying.

But they couldn't rally the needed support for the vote earlier this month, and it was rejected in a ...

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Charlie Porter Quintet Live at the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium, NYC 5/5

Source: All About Jazz
May 2, 2009

The Charlie Porter Quintet will be performing on May 5th at the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium in New York City this coming Tuesday, May 5th at 8pm and 9:30pm. The concert will feature new original works by Charlie Porter and the band. The Band will feature: Charlie Porter - Trumpet Arun Luthra - Saxes Dan Kaufman - Piano Aidan O'Donnell - Bass Jon Wikan - Drums Admission for the show ...

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1959--Jazz's Greatest Year - Columbia/Legacy Celebrates 50th Anniversary of "Time Out, "Sketches of Spain," and "Mingus Ah Um"

Source: All About Jazz
May 1, 2009

Genre-defining albums by Columbia artists Miles Davis (Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain), Dave Brubeck (Time Out) and Charles Mingus (Mingus Ah Um) all celebrate their 50th anniversaries in 2009, alongside John Coltrane's Giant Steps and Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz To Come

Following the release of Kind of Blue: Legacy Edition in January, Columbia/Legacy announces three more multi-disc 1959 commemorative sets:

Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet (Double-CD + DVD) Sketches of Spain ...

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Acclaimed Trumpeter Terell Stafford and Friends Headline “Jazz Night” at Michener Art Museum on May 2

Source: All About Jazz
May 1, 2009

DOYLESTOWN, PA -- Terell Stafford has been hailed “one of the great players of our time” by piano legend McCoy Tyner. The critically-acclaimed trumpeter and friends perform for Jazz Night at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on Saturday, May 2. Held in the Museum’s Ann and Herman Silverman Pavilion, Jazz Night features an hors d’oeuvre reception and access to myriad art exhibitions on view in the galleries. Stafford is known for performances with Benny Golson’s Sextet, ...

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