Jazz News

Trumpeter Vinnie Cutro & New York City Soundscape Release "Sakura"

Source: All About Jazz
March 18, 2009

On Sakura, his 4th album as a leader, trumpeter Vinnie Cutro presents a set of straight ahead mainstream jazz that extends the legacy of such hard-driving bands as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and the 1950s quintets led by Horace Silver and Miles Davis. Cutro contributes 6 originals and a haunting arrangement of the familiar traditional Japanese melody “Sakura," the CD's title track. The band--including master drummer Billy Hart and the acclaimed saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi--also delivers a suitably wistful ...

Continue Reading

Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder to Help Celebrate Pete Seegers 90th

Source: All About Jazz
March 18, 2009

Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, Tom Morello and dozens of other musicians will help Pete Seeger celebrate his 90th birthday May 3rd, during a concert at Madison Square Garden. The concert — which will also feature performances of the folk icon’s songs by Warren Haynes, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson — will benefit the Clearwater organization, organizers announced this morning.

“It’s a huge honor,” Seeger told Rolling Stone. “Normally, I don’t ever go in for ...

Continue Reading

David Carradine @ Screening 'Bound for Glory' Tonight

Source: All About Jazz
March 18, 2009

Continue Reading

NPR How the West Was Lost

Source: Michael Ricci
March 18, 2009

'Day to Day's' end severs NPR's strongest tie to the West. Back East, they circle the wagons. Out West, Brand's voice and more are lost.

Faux-Westerners tend to give themselves away. They drive with their convertible tops down on frigid winter days. They write lyrically about night air filled with the pungent smell of (scentless) bougainvillea. And, when times get tough, they revert to their Eastern roots.

National Public Radio feels like a slightly tone-deaf interloper this week, as it ...

Continue Reading

New iPhone 3.0 Update Cures Headaches

Source: Michael Ricci
March 18, 2009

Users will finally be able to cut and paste, handle MMS texts and more. (Did we mention cut and paste?)

Reporting from San Francisco -- Apple Inc. finally plans to fix some big shortcomings that have troubled iPhone users since the device was released in June 2007.

The company said Tuesday that it was adding the abilities to copy and paste, to send and receive the multimedia text messages known as MMS, and to turn the iPhone sideways for typing ...

Continue Reading

Seamus Blake Quartet Release Double CD Set Live in Italy

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
March 18, 2009

Hailing from the hotbed of New York City’s jazz scene can never hurt the chances of a musician getting some attention, especially if that musician plays like Seamus Blake. Blake is recognized as one of the finest and most creative young players in jazz and with the release of the double album set Live in Italy, Blake and his quartet are positioned to stake a claim to their own slice of jazz history.

John Scofield calls him “extraordinary, a total ...

Continue Reading

Anne Brown, Soprano Who Was Gershwin's Bess, is Dead at 96

Source: Michael Ricci
March 18, 2009

Anne Brown, a penetratingly pure soprano who literally put the Bess in “Porgy and Bess” by inspiring George Gershwin to expand the character’s part in a folk opera that was originally to be called “Porgy,” died Friday in Oslo. She was 96.

Her daughter Paula Schjelderup announced the death.

“Porgy and Bess” burst onto the American scene in 1935 as a sophisticated musical treatment of poor blacks. Critics could not make out whether it was a musical comedy, a jazz ...

Continue Reading

Dave Stapleton Quintet Invites Fans to Get Involved in the Production of Their New CD

Source: All About Jazz
March 18, 2009

Dave Stapleton Quintet gives fans a unique opportunity to be involved in their highly anticipated third album When Dave Stapleton and Tim Dickeson set up Edition Records in 2008, they could hardly have hoped for a better start. In tough economic times, this ambitious label has gone from strength to strength. The label’s success has come from a positive response to its ethos of quality and integrity. Everything about an EDITION RECORD – from the music and production to the ...

Continue Reading