Jazz News

I'm with the Band! Oscars Stage Design Revealed

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

Architect going for ‘immersive environment evocative of an intimate club.

Now when the Oscars musicians play winners offstage, they might get the chance to glare a little bit, too.

Renderings of this year’s Academy Awards set show an onstage bandstand, situated behind a circular ministage that juts into the audience. The whole thing is surrounded by a glittering circle of cascading white lights and flanked by enormous chandeliers.

The images were released by the firm of architect David Rockwell, the ...

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Cameraman Robert Ulland Dies

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

Operator worked on Fugitive, Batman Forever

Steadicam operator-cameraman Robert Ulland died Feb. 15 in an accident on his boat in Florida. He was 58. The accident was likely related to his lifelong battle with diabetes.

Ulland's work was seen in films including The Fugitive, Batman Forever, The Horse Whisperer, What Women Want, Domestic Disturbance, and The Guardian. In television, he worked on The West Wing, which was noted for its Steadicam sequences. He was considered one of the pioneers in ...

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Prosecution Baffled by Pirate Bay's Anarchic Structure

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

STOCKHOLM — Defendant Fredrik Neij took the stand as the landmark trial of Pirate Bay continued Thursday, and left the prosecutor scratching his head over who is in charge of the BitTorrent site.

Three young computer geeks and one businessman face civil and criminal charges here for alleged contributory copyright infringement. The three geeks — Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde — are often referred to as “the good, the bad and the ugly." Neij is the bad ...

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Joni Mitchell Hopes to Spread "Fiddle"

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

With The Fiddle and the Drum, her collaboration with the Alberta Ballet, recently documented on DVD, Joni Mitchell is looking forward to spreading the piece worldwide.

“The whole thing in a certain way is out of my hands," Mitchell tells Billboard.com. “It's going to be featured at the (2010) Winter Olympics in Vancouver. We've had a request from Alabama, of all places, to play. It depends on money and a lot of things.

“My art dealer spoke to someone who ...

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Is Genius Born or Can It Be Learned?

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2009

Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes?

How to produce genius is a very old question, one that has occupied philosophers since antiquity. In the modern era, Immanuel Kant and Darwin's cousin Francis Galton wrote extensively about how genius occurs. Last year, pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell addressed the subject in his book Outliers: The ...

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WRTI Remembers Legendary Jazz Host Harrison Ridley, Jr.

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

Philadelphia, PA - February 20, 2009 - A Philadelphia jazz icon has been lost. WRTI's beloved and long-time jazz host Harrison Alexander Ridley, Jr. passed away on Thursday, February 19th after a brief illness. Harrison Ridley Jr. was 70 years old and dedicated 32 years of his life as a jazz broadcaster on WRTI. Harrison Ridley, Jr. was the host of WRTI's award-winning program, The Historical Approach to the Positive Music. Fans from all over the world who wanted to ...

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Leonard Cohen Gets L.A. Date

Source: Michael Ricci
February 20, 2009

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Pirate Bay Prosecutor Probes Site's Bad Attitude

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

STOCKHOLM -- As the landmark trial of The Pirate Bay wrapped up its first week Friday, the prosecutor fought to tie the last two defendants to the daily operation of the world's most notorious filesharing site.

Four defendants in all are accused of contributory copyright infringement for allegedly deliberately facilitating the making available of copyrighted works to the public. Establishing intent is crucial for a crime to have been committed under Swedish law, and the prosecutor and civil plaintiffs have ...

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