Jazz News

Joza Karas Musician Revived Compositions by Jews in Concentration Camp

Source: Michael Ricci
December 26, 2008

Joza Karas, a Czechoslovakian-born violin teacher who spent decades tracking down and reviving musical compositions written by Jews in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt, died Nov. 28 at his home in Bloomfield, Conn. He was 82 and had congestive heart failure.

Karas spent more than 50 years teaching violin at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music and performing with the Hartford Symphony.

His second career of discovering lost music began in the summer of 1970 after reading an ...

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Harold Pinter Influential Playwright and Nobel Winner Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
December 26, 2008

Harold Pinter: master of menace. The English dramatist's original style changed the face of 20th century theater. As he wrote about oppression and censorship for the stage, he also lobbied for justice as a political activist.

Harold Pinter, the Nobel Prize-winning British playwright who addressed the isolation, fear and brutality of life in an original style that changed the face of 20th century theater, has died. He was 78. Pinter, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2005, ...

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Lenore Raphael Tours Florida in January

Source: LenMar Promotions
December 26, 2008

With the release of her new CD “Class Act" recorded live at Steinway Hall, Ms Raphael will take to the road again in January. As a Steinway Artist, she often performs at the Steinway piano venues and in Florida will play a concert Friday, January 16th at the Steinway piano gallery in Coral Gables, Florida. A CD signing will follow the event. On Saturday, Lenore will do a live interview at WDNA in Miami and then Sunday, January 18th She ...

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Jammin' Reviews

Source: All About Jazz
December 26, 2008

Trombonist Jay T. Vonada from Aaronsburg, Pennsylvania makes an elegant entrance into the world of recorded music with an audacious debut release of Jammin, just the kind of stuff that one needs to get noticed.

Without a star-studded cast of players Vonada crafts a very fine first effort using local talent producing a nice result. His quartet includes Adam Kurland on keyboards, Jacob Hibel on bass and John Sullivan manning the drums.

The album features eight boppish originals ranging from ...

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Singing the Blues About Gap in Honors

Source: Michael Ricci
December 25, 2008

Why have so few blues artists received the Kennedy Center Honors? Because their music isn't uplifting, which the awards prize.

The celebration of a famous life always poses a dilemma for storytellers because it means having to decide what is relevant and what can be left on the editing floor. For those who received the Kennedy Center Honors this month, their lives are examined through their creative triumphs and they are given a national pat on the back for their ...

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Eartha Kit Seductive Singer Crooned "Santa Baby" Dies on Christmas

Source: Michael Ricci
December 25, 2008

Eartha Kitt, who purred and pounced her way across Broadway stages, recordings and movie and television screens in a show-business career that lasted more than six decades, died on Thursday. She was 81 and lived in Connecticut. Ms. Kitt, who began performing as a dancer in New York in the late 40s, went on to achieve success and acclaim on Broadway, recordings, film and television, long before other entertainment multitaskers like Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler. With her ...

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Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout Releases the Knickerbocker 7"

Source: All About Jazz
December 25, 2008

The Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout has released a brand new, 2 song, 7" vinyl only album. “The Knickerbocker 7"" is available only on vinyl or via digital download. Side A features Leah Siegel singing the classic “I Got Loaded" with killer solos from special guest J Walter Hawkes on trombone and Andrew Sherman's B3. Side B is a raucous blues shuffle, “The F**kin' Knicks" which features a chorus each by Chris Cheek on bari, Andrew Sherman, and Steve Walsh on “Yngvie ...

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Page Cavanaugh Pianist-Singer Led Southland Jazz Trio Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2008

Page Cavanaugh, a veteran pianist-singer whose trio was a popular nightclub and recording group in the late 1940s and '50s and who became one of Southern California's most enduring lounge jazz artists, has died. He was 86.

Cavanaugh, who also was a composer and arranger during his more than 60-year career, died Friday morning of kidney failure at a skilled nursing facility in Granada Hills, said Phil Mallory, Cavanaugh's bass player for 18 years. During the early days with his ...

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