Jazz News

Paul McCartney at Coachella That's Huge!

Source: Michael Ricci
January 30, 2009

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival got famous by presenting the sounds of today and tomorrow. But this year California's most celebrated live-music event is gambling on Paul McCartney and the music of “Yesterday."

Booking the former Beatle, who is listed in the record books as the most successful musician in pop history, would be the safest choice imaginable for most music festivals.

But the internationally respected Coachella festival, which is set for April 17-19, has been pulling in ...

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Bruce Springsteen the Rock Laureate and the Super Bowl

Source: Michael Ricci
January 30, 2009

AT 9 o’clock on a recent morning Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were already half an hour into a rehearsal at the rock club Terminal 5 in Manhattan.

As N.F.L. executives and a television production team watched, they were tightening their miniset of four songs — dropping verses, streamlining segues — to fit their 12-minute slot as the halftime entertainment Sunday at Super Bowl XLIII, expected to reach tens of millions of viewers.

“My take on the Super ...

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Jimmy Webb at Largo at the Coronet

Source: Michael Ricci
January 30, 2009

It requires a fair amount of chutzpah for any singer to take on songs that have been definitively recorded by Frank Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Art Garfunkel and James Taylor -- even if that singer happens to have written those songs.

Fortunately, songwriter extraordinaire Jimmy Webb showed no deficit of nerve Wednesday night at Largo at the Coronet as he ran through nearly two hours' worth of some of the most elegantly crafted compositions of the last ...

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Enter the Arabesque Jazz TEN CD Giveaway Contest

Source: All About Jazz
January 30, 2009

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Arabesque Jazz TEN CD giveaway contest starting today. We'll select THREE lucky winners at the conclusion of the contest on March 2nd.

Click here to enter the contest

(Following Tim Collins at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

The Steve Wiest Big Band - Excalibur - AJ0180 Tim Collins - Valcour - AJ0181 Radam Schwartz - Magic Tales - AJ0182 Norberto Tamburrino - Prisoner ...

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Grady Nichols Releases "Take Me with You"

Source: All About Jazz
January 30, 2009

Contemporary jazz saxophonist Grady Nichols released his fifth CD, Take Me With You. Produced by Zac Maloy (founder and front man of the MCA Records' modern rock band, The Nixons), the CD features 13 songs including 4 vocal tunes. Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer added her vocals on a cover of “Every Kind of People." Nichols also covered “Can't Get You Out Of My Head," a song made famous by Kylie Minogue. For a fun twist, Grady recruited ...

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Where Your Favorite Actress Could End up Next: Youtube

Source: Michael Ricci
January 30, 2009

Hollywood talent agency William Morris is in talks for a deal that would funnel the talent agency's clients into videos created for the Internet giant.

Hollywood talent agencies pride themselves on placing their star clients into the biggest movies and TV shows.

Now, add YouTube to the list.

William Morris Agency, one of the largest talent firms, is in talks for a deal that would funnel its clients -- both actors and consumer brands -- into videos created for the ...

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Michael Wolff' Joe's Strut Has Feel of Radio Hit, out 2/10

Source: Seth Cohen PR
January 30, 2009

Joe's Strut Recalls Instrumental Jazz/Pop Radio Hits of Decades Past Audio Sample Pianist Michael Wolff's upcoming Joe's Strut; features a catchy title track with a jazz/pop sensibility that recalls radio hits of decades past' Wolffs original, instrumental song recalls an era when Chuck Mangione, Herbie Hancock, Cannonball Adderley, Les McCann and Eddie Harris, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis and others found popularity with songs that reached beyond straight-ahead jazz to embrace an expansive range of listeners. Wrong Records' February 10th release ...

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Funk Cubano, Cumbia Glitch, and Afrobeat Mayhem

Source: All About Jazz
January 30, 2009

Funk Cubano, Cumbia Glitch, and Afrobeat Mayhem: Miami's Heineken TransAtlantic Festival Shows the New Generation of Global Sounds

While the era of the mash-up only hit mainstream ears in recent years, unabashed hybrids have been the norm in Miami for decades. It's the hotbed of a young, club-crazy art scene. It's the playground of the East, perched provocatively on the Atlantic Rim, where centuries of commerce and migration have formed a crossroads that unites Africa, Western Europe, the Caribbean, and ...

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