Jazz News

Minnesota sur Seine Music Festival Brings Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Celtic, Old-World and More to the Twin Cities May 15 through 25, 2008

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

St. Paul, MN - The fourth installment of the Minnesota sur Seine music festival is coming to various Twin Cities locations from May 15 through May 25, 2008. The 2008 lineup features collaborations between Twin Cities and international musicians performing improvisational jazz, Celtic, hip hop, World Music, spoken word, rock and more. Minnesota sur Seine, which debuted in the Fall of 2004, has grown in scope from its Twin Cities-meets-Paris jazz beginnings to become a sweeping showcase of musical styles ...

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Detroit Blues Society to Host Fundraiser on May 25th

Source: Just Roots PR
April 28, 2008

Detroit Blues Society announces that due to declining economic conditions in the Metro Detroit area, they will be hosting a fundraiser to help bolster their coffers and to help them achieve their membership goals for 2008. This fundraiser will help, in large measure, to allow them in the continuing efforts toward presenting their unique musical programming to the masses. The aforementioned programming is entirely based around Blues Education and encompasses live performances, teaching, history, and the promotion of this uniquely ...

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Interest Soars in Alison Burns as Sky Previews the New Album "1:AM"

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

Recording has been completed for the highly anticipated album from Grammy Award winning guitarist Martin Taylor and rising star, Scottish singer, Alison Burns. The album, entitled 1:AM, is strongly influenced in concept by the legendary Joe Pass/Ella Fitzgerald albums of the 70s. Alison and Martin have been recording in Scotland and sources close to the project have revealed that one of the songs is the first collaboration in writing by the two artists and is a tribute to Alison's brother ...

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Jimmy Giuffre, Jazz Clarinetist and Composer, Dies at 86

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

Jimmy Giuffre, the adventurous clarinetist, composer and arranger whose 50-year journey through jazz led him from writing the Woody Herman anthem “Four Brothers" through minimalist, drummerless trios to striking experimental orchestral works, died on Thursday in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was 86. The cause was pneumonia, brought about by complications of Parkinson's disease, said his wife of 46 years, Juanita, who is his only survivor. Among the half-dozen instruments he played, from bass flute to soprano saxophone, it was the clarinet ...

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Jimmy Giuffre; Infused Jazz with Blues, Classical Notes

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

Jimmy Giuffre, a jazz musician who composed a popular big-band anthem of the 1940s and became an innovator of a minimalist form of classically inspired jazz, died April 24 at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Mass. He had Parkinson's disease and would have turned 87 today. Mr. Giuffre (pronounced JOO-free) had his greatest early fame as the composer of “Four Brothers," a popular instrumental hit for Woody Herman's big band in 1947. Later, after a stint in the saxophone section ...

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Clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre Dead at 86

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

Pioneering jazz performer and composer Jimmy Giuffre, whose distinctive avant-garde clarinet style drove a lengthy career that included working with legend Woody Herman, has died at age 86, US media reported. Giuffre, a central figure in West Coast jazz best known for penning the big band classic “Four Brothers" with Herman in 1947, died Thursday in Pittsfield in the northeast state of Massachusetts, according to JazzTimes.com. He died of pneumonia and complications from Parkinson's disease, it said. A musician with ...

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Russ Nolan Appearing at the Kitano Friday & Saturday, May 2 & 3

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

WHO: Saxophonist/Composer Russ Nolan with: Kenny Werner (piano) Johannes Weidenmueller (bass) Ronen Itzik (drums)

WHEN: May 2nd & 3rd 8 & 10 PM

WHERE: The Kitano 66 Park Ave. (at E 38th St.) Tel: 212.885.7000 kitano.com

COST: $25 cover, $15 minimum

WHY: In Support & Celebration of With You In Mind

“From the opening seconds of 'Kilson's Groove' ...

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July 20 Buddy Guy Tribute Concert in Chicago's Millennium Park

Source: All About Jazz
April 28, 2008

Blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan will headline a special tribute concert on July 20 honoring Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy during the Great Performers of Illinois festival in Millennium Park. Guy, an internationally acclaimed blues guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, will receive the first Great Performer of Illinois award for his outstanding contributions to popular music and American culture.

The free concert, which will begin at 8 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park, ...

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