Jazz News

Woody Allen's Jazz Band is a Hit in Poland

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

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Andre Previn and Mia Farrow's Daughter Lark Dies at 35

Source: Michael Ricci
December 30, 2008

Lark Previn, a daughter of actress Mia Farrow whose sister Soon-Yi Previn was at the center of Farrow's messy breakup with Woody Allen, has died. She was 35.

The medical examiner's office says Lark Previn died Christmas Day at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn. No cause of death was given. A cremation was held today at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery.

Lark Previn was born in Vietnam in 1973. She was one of three children adopted by Farrow and her ...

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Count Five Singer John Byrne Wrote "Psychotic Reaction" Dies

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

John Byrne, the lead singer of garage-rock band Count Five and the writer of their 1966 hit “Psychotic Reaction" died on December 15th following kidney and liver failure in San Jose, California. He was 61.

Inspired by the Yardbirds “Im a Man",Psychotic Reaction peaked at Number 5 on the Billboard charts and became a radio staple during the Vietnam War era. “Psychotic Reaction" was also listed among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fames 500 Songs That Shaped Rock & ...

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Delmark New Jazz and Blues Releases for 2009

Source: Michael Ricci
December 30, 2008

Shirley Johnson Blues Attack (Delmark DE 798) “Raised in the church but evidently born to sing the blues, Shirley Johnson belts like a spiritual daughter of Koko Taylor, flexing her husky voice on ballads and up-tempo love songs, hitting gravel when she reaches for a higher note or pushes her volume." -Ted Drozdowski, PULSE! from a review of Shirley's first Delmark CD Killer Diller (Delmark 757). Shirley is back with that same blend of traditional good-rockin' Chicago blues, ...

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Willie Oteri's WD-41 Project

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

Improviser/Guitarist/Producer Willie Oteri has teamed with Austin Trumpeter Dave Laczko for an improvisational duo using loops and dueling delays to create aural landscapes and improvisational outings and recordings, which will soon be available as mp3 downloads complete with very special guests. Dave Laczko is a veteran of the Austin Jazz scene from a longtime run with pianist Mel Winters, Fearless Jazz Duo and Austins Barons of Rhythm. Laczko also had a long run as a Jazz Radio DJ at Autins ...

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Sour Note for Jazz Fans

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

JAZZ music fans were left high and dry on Saturday as the much- publicised Stay Alive Jazz Festival was a no-show. According to placards posted around East London the festival, which was sponsored by Amathole District Municipality, Buffalo City Municipality and the Eastern Cape provincial government, was scheduled to start at noon at East London’s Jan Smuts Stadium. The festival was meant to feature high profile musicians such as Letta Mbulu, Caiphus Semenya, Ringo Madlingozi and Siphokazi of Amacala fame. ...

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Theater, Jazz Venues Officially Historic

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

A theater on Baronne Street, an eight-story former telephone company building on Poydras Street and a group of small commercial buildings on South Rampart Street -- structures without a lot in common except that they are New Orleans' newest officially designated landmarks. The Central Business District panel of the Historic District Landmarks Commission voted recently to designate as local landmarks the former Civic Theatre, a former BellSouth building and a group of buildings that played important roles in the early ...

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Trioisms Reviewed by minor7th.com Jan/Feb 2009

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

Dan Arcamone, “Trioisms," 2008 There have been some exceptional trios fronted by jazz guitarists which have eluded the radar of even diehard jazz fans -- Bill Connors' fusion trio on Pathfinder Records in the 1980s, Pat Metheny's trio of 1999/2000 and more recently, Tim Miller (see Minor 7th's review of Tim Miller's “Trio"). The trio format may be rare because it requires a truly inventive and virtuosic guitarist to successfully transform the energy of just three individuals into something much ...

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