Natalie Cole Feeling GreatNatalie Cole is on the mend and “really doing well,” the Grammy-winning singer says. She is feeling “remarkable” thanks to her new kidney, she told People magazine.
“It’s remarkable what a new kidney does to your life. I have no complaints … I’m pretty amazed. I have been working on my stamina.”
Cole, whose transplant surgery took place in May, says, “I just went to the doctor today. He is thrilled. I’m just really, really thankful. I’m thankful to the doctors, I’m thankful to the family that donated the kidney.”
Family and friends helped her through the ordeal. “My sisters who live in Florida, they came out, my son, oodles of friends. I got sick in New York, I wasn’t at home. I didn’t know how many good friends I had until this happened. It was beautiful. I had people come and see me everyday to see me in the hospital for 10 days.”
Cole says, “I only wish for anyone to have to go through this, that they have a circle of friends like I did. I was very blessed.”
When it came to the medical procedure, she says, “It is hard to find a match. A lot of people want to donate a kidney, but they’re not in a position to because they have health issues of their own, and a lot of people need them. That’s why the list is long and it takes a long time.”
“My friend was on dialysis for six years before he got a new kidney. I was on dialysis for eight months. I’m almost not even the typical person who has kidney failure.”
Cole has already announced a comeback performance set for September 9th at the Hollywood Bowl in California.
She does not know who donated the kidney that potentially saved her life. Thankful as she is for the gift, Cole is prevented from knowing who donated the organ. “I don’t know who they are. I have not met them, it’s all anonymous,” Cole says.
One thing she did know, however: the family specifically requested that the organ go to Cole. “That’s what was so awesome, their family basically requested that the kidney go to me,” she says. “We are not sure how they knew.”
Would she like to meet the donor? “Absolutely, are you kidding? I would probably kiss them all over the place.”
The First Annual LA Vida Music Festival starring the legendary Hubert Laws, Pete Escovedo & Louie Cruz Beltran will take place under the stars on Sunday, October 4th at 7:00 PM at the intimate FORD Amphitheater - Hollywood; with special guests Chris Bennett- saluting the women of Latin music, The Robert Kyle Brazilian Band, Chalo Eduardo and the Brazilian Beat, and the spunky Mariachi Ellas Son.
These Internationally renowned, L.A. based performers highlight a wonderful evening of dynamic entertainment with Latin flavor and special salutes of great classics, from Willie Bobo and Cal Tjader to Antonio Carlo Jobim and Eydie Gorme. Proceeds from the event to benefit Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities.
Currently celebrating their 20th anniversary, Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), is a youth baseball and softball program encompassing over 185 cities and over 150,000 girls and boys. Locally over 3,000 kids participate each season, from 46 area schools. RBI uses participation in their programs as a means to overcome academic and social disadvantages most inner city kids face.
Tickets range from $35 dollars, $50 dollars for VIP preferred seating and the $100 dollar VIP package which lets you mix and mingle with the stars. Tickets are available online at www.FordTheaters.org or 323.461.3673 and at The Ford Box Office. Please visit: www.cornicheentertainment.com for additional information.
Calendar Listing:
Don't miss the spicy, vibrant variety of L.A.’s Latin Music scene, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month at The First Annual LA Vida Music Festival starring the legendary Hubert Laws, Pete Escovedo & Louie Cruz Beltran, with special guests Chris Bennett, The Robert Kyle Brazilian Band, Chalo Eduardo and the Brazilian Beat, and Mariachi Ellas Son on Sunday, October 4th at 7:00 PM, under the stars at the intimate Ford Amphitheater - Hollywood. Proceeds to benefit Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, a youth baseball and softball program encompassing over 185 locations. Tickets range from $35 dollars, $50 dollars for VIP preferred seating and the $100 dollar VIP package which lets you mix and mingle with the stars. Tickets are available online at fordtheaters.org or 323.461.3673 and at The Ford Box Office. Please visit: cornicheentertainment.com for additional information.
Les Paul, whose innovations with the electric guitar and studio technology made him one of the most important figures in recorded music, has died, according to a statement from his publicists. Paul was 94.
Paul died in White Plains, New York, from complications of severe pneumonia, according to the statement.
Paul was a guitar and electronics mastermind whose creations -- such as multitrack recording, tape delay and the solid-body guitar that bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul -- helped give rise to modern popular music, including rock 'n' roll. No slouch on the guitar himself, he continued playing at clubs into his 90s despite being hampered by arthritis.
"If you only have two fingers [to work with], you have to think, how will you play that chord?" he told CNN.com in a 2002 phone interview. "So you think of how to replace that chord with several notes, and it gives the illusion of sounding like a chord."
Lester William Polfuss was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on June 9, 1915. Even as a child he showed an aptitude for tinkering, taking apart electric appliances to see what made them tick.
"I had to build it, make it and perfect it," Paul said in 2002. He was nicknamed the "Wizard of Waukesha."
In the 1930s and '40s, he played with several big band singers, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and the Andrews Sisters, as well as with his own Les Paul Trio. In the early 1950s, he had a handful of huge hits with his then-wife, Mary Ford, such as "How High the Moon" and "Vaya Con Dios."
His guitar style, heavily influenced by jazzman Django Reinhardt, featured lightning-quick runs and double-time rhythms. In 1948, after being involved in a severe car accident, he asked the doctor to set his arm permanently in a guitar-playing position.
Paul also credited Crosby for teaching him about timing, phrasing and preparation.
Crosby "didn't say it, he did it -- one time only. Unless he blew the lyrics, he did one take."
Paul never stopped tinkering with electronics, and after Crosby gave him an early audiotape recorder, Paul went to work changing it. It eventually led to multitrack recording; on Paul and Ford's hits, he plays many of the guitar parts, and Ford harmonizes with herself. Multitrack recording is now the industry standard.
But Paul likely will be best remembered for the Gibson Les Paul, a variation on the solid-body guitar he built in the late 1930s and offered to the guitar company.
"For 10 years, I was a laugh," he told CNN in an interview. "[But] kept pounding at them and pounding at them saying hey, here's where it's at. Here's where tomorrow, this is it. You can drown out anybody with it. And you can make all these different sounds that you can't do with a regular guitar."
Gibson, spurred by rival Fender, finally took Paul up on his offer and introduced the model in 1952. It has since become the go-to guitar for such performers as Eric Clapton.
Paul is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Inventors Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He admired the places guitarists and engineers took his inventions, but he said there was nothing to replace good, old-fashioned elbow grease and soul.
"I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one," he said in 2002, "and it will probably whip the guy with 20 notes."
Recorded at Pizza Express Jazz Club. Featuring Jeff Golub (Guitar), Andy Newmark (Drums) & Paul Turner (Bass). For details of upcoming gigs at Pizza Express visit Sky.fm
Veteran jazz guitarist Patrick Yandalls tenth indie release A New Day, delivers the goods once again. It has become commonplace at this point in Yandalls career for him to release a new album of excellent smooth jazz that makes an immediate impact.
As with his previous work the songs of A New Day are filled with Yandalls smooth guitar soloing that goes into different directions. Yandall expertly peppers the new release with elements of traditional jazz, blues, and fusion to create his own distinct sound and style. The new release is highlighted by the chart topping single Urban Flight, which is steadily making its way to the top of the Smooth Jazz Charts.
The 11 tracks of A New Day are frequently enhanced by the talented saxophone and brass playing of Jeff Laakso and the keyboard talents of co-producer Marc Pierucci, both a perfect compliment to Yandall's six-string excellence.
Since the release of A New Day and the hit single Urban Flight several key events have occurred including...
Chartbound (Heading for national & international smooth jazz charts) #1 most added (Most added into 'rotation'' for radio & internet stations) #1 Most increased plays! (Most increase in spins for the week)
A New Day is fresh, strong, energetic, and incredibly appealingthe epitome of captivating Smooth Jazz guitar.” --SmoothJazz.com
A New Day is available through CD Baby, Amazon.com, iTunes, and the Patrick Yandall website.
Dave Koz is moving into a new "location" soon. It's right around the corner from Frank Sinatra. He still can't believe it.
"It's strange to even say it right out," the smooth-jazz saxophone virtuoso said. "But I'm going to get my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It sounds crazy, but it's true. I'm still scratching my head."
Koz, a native of Encino who now lives in the Beverly Hills flatlands, will be moving in next to Bonnie Raitt's star Sept. 22, near the landmark Capitol Records building at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. Sinatra, Dean Martin and the Beatles will be right down the street.
"How did I get in this place?" wondered Koz, who'll be at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys on Sunday with fellow jazz sax man Brian Culbertson and a four-piece band. They're opening for Canadian jazz-pop singer Diana Krall. "I grew up in L.A. with that in my backyard - never, ever thinking my name would ever be there. Sinatra, Martin and the Beatles? As far as company goes, I'll take that."
He's getting it because of his successful 19-year recording career with Capitol and his role as an in-demand session player, smooth-jazz pioneer, radio-show DJ, TV host and charitable activist, among other things.
"Smooth jazz is what it's been called," said Koz, 46. "Some critics call it 'jazz lite.' But within that there are a million different ways to skin the cat. It's dangerous to label any music. If you feel it and you love it, that's really all there is to it."
Koz has been doing that on his summer tour with Cul-bertson. They're taking a break from their 21-show schedule to open for Krall.
"Each year, it's like, 'Here I go again,' " Koz said of his Side by Side tour with Culbertson, 36, from Decatur, Ill. "Why do another new show every time? But Brian kind of kicks me in the you-know-where every night. He's 10 years younger than me and reminds me of the way I was."
Unlike similar pairings, Koz and Culbertson perform together, backed by a four-piece group and emphasizing tunes from Koz's "At the Movies" (2007) and "Greatest Hits" (2008) albums and Culbertson's "Bringing Back the Funk" (2008).
"It's two artists coming together and complementing each other," said Koz, who has toured with Culbertson before. "It's high energy. A great, great time. This is really a collaboration start to finish: two artists playing a wide variety of different stuff."
Krall, 44, from Nanaimo, British Columbia, possesses a similar vocal and piano palette. The Grammy Award-winning artist's sultry style has sold millions of albums since 1990, including her current "Quiet Nights."
"She's one of my favorite artists," Koz said of Krall, who's married to Elvis Costello, a British pop-rock singer-songwriter. "She's such an incredible talent. Diana? That's who I'm listening to on a Sunday afternoon."
Maybe with a glass of wine.
Koz excitedly said his own - Koz Wine, in sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and Red Alto from Napa Vium Cellars - went on sale last week at Southern California Whole Foods stores. Northern California is next.
"It's good news," Koz said. "Why I'm so excited is wine and jazz go together so well - and it's a good way to raise a lot of money for my pet charity."
That's the Starlight Children's Foundation, which assists young people and their families during extended hospitalization and treatment for serious illnesses.
"You can drink good and do good at the same time," said Koz, who's supported the cause for 17 years. "To see smiles on the families' faces, not just the kids', is so great."
It was the saxophone that put a confident smile on the teenage Koz's face. He'd tried piano and drums and wanted to join his brother Jeff's band. It was saxophone or bust.
"It's funny, but I never had, like, an 'ah-ha' moment," Koz said. "I picked up a sax in seventh grade and will admit it felt very natural in my hand.
"It was really my best friend. I was very awkward and shy and didn't know how to express myself. The sax gave me a real important tool of social education. If music wasn't there in school, I don't know what would have happened."
Even while majoring in communications at UCLA, Koz "never thought I'd be a professional musician. I had an opportunity after college, and the next thing I knew I was signed to Capitol Records."
He quickly succeeded as a recording artist, composer and session musician. After he and his brother wrote the theme song for ABC's "General Hospital," in a "bit of a Hollywood story," he met cast member Emma Samms and became involved with the Starlight Children's Foundation.
He's also one of few musicians with two simultaneous, syndicated smooth-jazz radio shows - and "Frequency," a TV interview show on Fast Forward. Because of modern technology, he can do the radio shows "from a hotel room anywhere."
He's working on a new album (due out next spring) and will unwrap the Smooth Jazz Christmas tour in 2009 with the original lineup from 1990: Brenda Russell, Peter White, David Benoit and Rick Braun.
"Whatever happens, happens," Koz said. "It's just good to be out there working. Whatever people want to say, my music comes from the heart and is absolutely authentic.
"At the end of the day, if people are feeling something from the music, then I've done my job."
Aaron Choulai - Ranu (Sunny Side ) Agustin Barreto - Between My Walls (Blending Fusion Music) Alvin Acorn - At The Swing Club With The Bovisa Jazz Band (GHB ) Alvin Acorn - At the Swing Club (GHB ) Alvin Alcorn - Southland Sessions (American Music ) Alvin Alcorn - At The Swing Club (GHB Records/City Hall ) Alvin Alcorn - Southland and Sessions (American Music Rec. ) Alvin with The Bovisa Jazz Band - At The Swing Club (GHB ) American All Stars / Lino Patruno - It Had To Be You (Jazzology ) Andrew Neu - Try Something Neu (Warlock ) Barry Brown - King Jammy Presents Barry Brown (Black Arrow ) Big 18 - Legendary Swiing Sessions (Phantom ) Blue Note Plays Sting - Blue Note Plays Sting (Emd Int'L ) Bob Greene - St. Peter Street Strutters (Delmark ) Brother Joh Sellers - Paris 1957 (Sackville ) Brother John Sellers - Paris 1957 (Sackville ) Carl Maguire's Floriculture - Sided Silver Solid (Firehouse 12 ) Carol Duboc - Burt Bacharach Songbook (Gold Note Music ) Cecil Brooks III - Hot Dog (Savant ) Charlie Ventura - High On An Open Mike (Progressive (PRG) ) Chicago Loopers - Live:1987 (Jazzology ) Clarinet: New Orleans Style - Clarinet: New Orleans Style (GHB ) Claudine Longet - Sugar Me (Lilith ) Connie Haines - Heart And Soul Of Connie (Audiophile ) Connie Haines - The Heart and Soul of Connie (Audiophile ) Count Basie - Basie Swings Standards (Fantasy ) Count Basie - Basie Big Band (Universal Japan/Zoom ) Count Basie - Prime Time (Universal Japan/Zoom ) Count Basie - Montreux 77 (Universal Japan/Zoom ) Count Basie - On The Road (Universal Japan/Zoom ) Courtney Fortune - Speak Love (Origin ) Dan Siegel - Sphere (Disques Montaigne ) Dee Brown - Little Elbow Room (Warlock ) Dee Brown - Little Elbowroom (Nu Groove ) Delaney - Out-Of-Towners (GHB ) Dick Hyman - In Concert At The Old Mill Inn (Sackville ) Doc Souchon & The L - Doc Souchon & The Lakefront Loungers (GHB Records/City Hall ) Duke Of Elegant: Gems From The Duke Ellington - Duke Of Elegant: Gems From The Duke Ellington (Highnote ) Ella Fitzgerald - Classy Pair (Universal Japan/Zoom ) Eric Alexander / Cyrus Chestnut / Jackie Ryan - Doozy (Openart ) Frank Chace / Chicago Loopers - Live: 1987 (Jazzology ) Gene Krupa - Live From The London House (Mr. Music ) Gene Krupa Quartet - Live From The London House (Mr. Music ) George Brunies - Out Of Towners (GHB Records/City Hall ) George Brunies / Jack Delaney / Eddie Miller - Out-Of-Towners (GHB ) George Brunies / Jack Delaney / Eddie Miller - The Out-of-Towners (GHB ) Gino Robair - Blips And Ifs (Rastascan ) Happy Six - Dance O Mania:1919-1923 Harry Yerkes (Rivermont ) Happy Six - Dance-O-Mania: 1919-1923 Harry Yerkes & Dawn Of (Rivermont ) Happy Six - The Happy Six: Dance-O-Mania, 1919-1923 (Rivermont ) Harry Yerkes & The Dawn of the - Happy Six: Dance-O-Mania, 1919-1923 (Rivermont ) Herb Alpert - Anything Goes (Concord Jazz ) Hiroshima - Upcoming Release (Heads Up ) Hiroshima - Legacy (Heads Up ) His Cubs / Ray Skjelbred - Greetings From Chicago (Jazzology ) Jazzy Tone Club - Jazzy Tone Club (Phantom ) Jessica Williams - Art Of The Piano (Origin ) Jessica Williams - The Art of the Piano (Origin ) Jim Snidero - Crossfire (Savant ) John Hebert - Byzantine Monkey (Firehouse 12 ) John Hollenbeck - Eternal Interlude (Sunny Side ) Johnny Frigo - Johnny Frigo (Jump ) Joshua Breakstone - No One New (Capri ) Julie London - Julie Is Her Name (Boxstar Records ) Keith Oxman - Doing All Right (Capri ) Kind Of Blue: Revisited Miles Davis Songbook - Kind Of Blue: Revisited Miles Davis Songbook (Highnote ) Lakefront Loungers Milneberg Bo - Doc Souchon & The Lakefront Loungers (GHB ) Ledisi - Turn Me Loose (Verve Forecast ) Leila Adu - Truth In The Abstract Blues (Rai Trade/City Hall ) Lino Patruno - It Had To Be You (Jazzology ) Lou Donaldson - Here Tis (EMI Japan ) Louis Armstrong - Recorded Together For The First Time (Classic ) Makana - Venus & The Sky Turns To Clay: The Instrumental (Punahele Productions ) Malachi Thompson - The Jazz Life (Delmark ) Mark Lockheart - In Deep (Edition Records/City Hall ) Marlene Ver Planck - Once There Was A Moon (Audiophile ) Marlene Verplanck - Once There Was A Moon (Audiophile ) Modern Jazz Quartet - Savoy Recordings (Phantom ) Movits - Appelknyckarjazz (Universal International ) Ray And H Skjelbred - Greetings From Chicago (Jazzology ) Ray Anthony & His O - Let's Go To Town V2 (Sounds Of Yesteryear ) Ray Anthony & His Orchestra - Let's Go To Town 2 (Sounds Of Yesteryear ) Ray Ronnei - Salty Bubble (Merry Makers ) Ray Ronnie - Salty Bubble (Merry Makers ) Roaring 20S: Rare Original 1920S Recordings - Roaring 20S: Rare Original 1920S Recordings (Vintage Music Prod. ) Roaring 20S: Rare Original 1920S Recordings - The Roaring 20s: Rare Original 1920s Recordings (Vintage Music Prod. ) Robair / Ulher - Blips & Ifs (Rastascan ) Robair / Ulher - Ulher: Blips and Ifs (Rastascan ) Robert Wyatt - Radio Experiment Rome February 1981 (Rai Trade ) Rufus Harley - Bagpipes Of The World (Transparency ) Sammy Rimington - New Orleans Reunion (GHB ) Stan Kenton - Live From Canada (Mr. Music ) Steve Smith - Best Of Steve Smith: The Tone Center Collection (Tone Center ) Terence Blanchard - Choices (Concord ) Tex Beneke - Duel Of The Dance Bands (Sounds Of Yesteryear ) Tex Beneke / Ralph Flanagan - Duel Of The Dance Bands (Sounds Of Yesteryear ) Three Sounds - Bottom's Up (Analogue Prod. ) Troyka - Troyka (Edition Records/City Hall ) Ulher - Ulher: Blips And Ifs (Rastascan ) Wayne Krantz - Krantz Carlock Lefebvre (Abstract Logix/City Hall ) Wendell Brunious - New Orleans Reunion (GHB Records/City Hall ) Wendell Brunious / Sammy Rimington - New Orleans Reunion (GHB ) When Radio Was King: The Big Band Years - When Radio Was King: The Big Band Years (Fuel 2000 ) Wild Bill Davison Centennial Concert - The Wild Bill Davison Centennial Concert (Jazzology ) Woody Herman - Live With The First And Second Herds (Mr. Music ) Woody Herman - Live With The First & Second Herds (Mr. Music ) Zoot Sims - Four Classic Albums (Phantom )
Reissues Bill Evans - Moon Beams (Pid ) Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else (Pid ) Grant Green - Green Street (Pid ) John Coltrane - Blue Train (Phantom Sound & Vision ) Lou Donaldson - Here 'Tis (Blue Note Records (USA) ) Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain (Columbia/L ) Sergio Mendes - Best Of (Pid )
At the 50th anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival, held in September 2007, bassist Dave Holland, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, saxophonist Chris Potter, and drummer Eric Harland performed the music you hear on this CD twice-first on the main stage, then again at Dizzy's Den, a smaller, more intimate hall on the festival grounds. The main stage premiere thrilled the crowd, to be sure, but something downright magical happened the second time the band played.
"There was really an electric atmosphere from the audience," recalls Holland. "There was an energy we all felt, that kind of circular energy that goes on between the musicians and the audience. It's a very powerful thing when it really takes off."
From the first urgent notes of Harland's "Treachery," you can feel a special situation unfolding. We are fortunate that tape was rolling.
Over its 52-year history, the Monterey Jazz Festival has done well at capturing such moments. You probably already know about Charles Mingus' extraordinary 1964 performance of Meditations on Integration, the debut of the John Handy Quintet the following year and Charles Lloyd's Forest Flower the year after that.
Though all four players come from vastly different backgrounds, they share at least three important characteristics, not the least of which is a penchant for rhythmic complexity (and the dexterity to deal with it). Anyone familiar with Holland's work knows that his ability to swing with locomotive momentum through odd time signatures (or combinations thereof, within a single piece), jagged patterns and polyrhythmic jungles is legendary. Rubalcaba, for his part, has internalized a host of traditional Latin American rhythms, but rather than manifesting them in a folkloric way, he extends them into the modern idiom. Fans of Eric Harland-who may know his work with Blanchard-has recently made a pronounced move toward the world rhythms, as well.
"I'm more influenced by Zakir Hussain these days," says Eric, who has been working with the Indian tabla player in a trio with Charles Lloyd, on the album Sangam. "His consciousness of rhythm opens up a realm for us to communicate on so many polyrhythmic levels, as well as the discovery of different sounds and textures."
"We've all been working on how to work within different meters and not have it sound like an academic exercise, but make it sound like music," says Potter, whose mastery of odd time signatures is evident in his work with Holland as well as on his own.
All four of these players also privilege the idea of jazz as a conversation (as opposed to oration or, God forbid, soliloquy), which means they are all keen listeners as well as speakers. They can turn on a dime when someone else tosses in a dollar, remaining open to the flow of the music as it manifests itself.
Finally, these players also share a third, more elusive quality, one the Andalusian poet Garcia Lorca called duende, and which might best be translated as soulfulness. There is never a moment on this album when-like the bullfighter and bull in the ring-you feel the music is being played for stakes any lower than life and death. This is the real deal.
Columbia Records recording artist, singer and pianist Harry Connick Jr., just barely out of his thirties, has released 24 albums under his own name, which have sold 25 million copies around the world. Although he has recorded various genres of music, from traditional pop to instrumental jazz to funk and blues, he has shown a deep and abiding affection for The Great American Songbook (and his own songs written in that classic style).
Connick's newest Columbia album, Your Songs, to be released on vinyl on August 25 and on CD September 22, both extends this tradition and compliments it. Like his best-selling Only You of 2004, Your Songs consists of Connick singing familiar songs with a full jazz big band and string orchestra, and, as with nearly all of Harry's previous albums, he wrote each of the orchestrations himself. (He also recruited two of his lifelong friends from New Orleans, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, as well as bluegrass guitar virtuoso Bryan Sutton, for guest appearances). On most of his albums, Connick is a virtual one-man band. "My usual pattern is I either write the songs or pick the songs," he says. "Depending on the configuration I arrange, orchestrate, conduct, sing, and then oversee the mixing and mastering. You might say that I'm very hands on."
However, what makes Your Songs different from all of Connick's previous projects is that this album represents the first occasion in which he has teamed up with a record company producer, the legendary Clive Davis. For nearly 50 years, Davis has been one of the leading lights of the music industry and more recently was promoted to Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at Sony Music Entertainment after heading the BMG Label Group.
Your Songs is a genuine collaborative effort in which Clive picked most of the songs, Harry arranged and orchestrated them, and then turned the reins in the studio over to his long time friend and producer, Tracey Freeman. "Clive expressed an interest in working with me," he recalls, "but I didn't know what that meant because I had never done a collaboration before."
Davis' concept was to put together a program of classic songs that were both as familiar and as contemporary as possible. Both by accident and design, the selections are skewed towards signature songs for iconic performers: Elvis Presley's "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You," Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa," Tony Bennett's "Who Can I Turn To?," Frank Sinatra's "All The Way," Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are" and nine others. "Songs that everybody knows," was how Davis put it, rendered with what he describes as "accessible arrangements."
When Davis first approached him, Harry's initial idea was to bring in a famous arranger but Davis suggested that Harry write the charts himself. Even so, the finished results would reflect the producer's own strong pop sensibilities.
The opener "All The Way" is more intimate and lighter than we're used to hearing, with a beautiful tenor saxophone solo by Branford Marsalis. "And I Love Her" uses a hint of a bolero underpinning to make the Lennon-McCartney classic seem even more romantic than when sung by The Beatles. "The Way You Look Tonight" has been heard for most of the last 70 years as an uptempo swinger, but Harry brings it back to its original status as a slow and intimate love song. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was originally written by Ewan MacColl in the style of an Olde English folk song, then it was reborn as a 70s pop hit, but Connick sings it as a classic Broadway style love song, very emotionally direct, with his heart right on his sleeve. Elton John's "Your Song" is herewith given a finger-snapping beat.
For Burt Bacharach's "Close to You," which features the brilliant New Orleans trumpeter Leroy Jones, Connick notes, "I went in the studio, and I just started playing, and I wound up giving it a whole different groove. I kept the tempo, and I had a guitar play the famous intro vamp, and overall we gave 'Close To You' more of a Gospel feeling." Likewise, he added more of a jazz beat to Billy Joel's all-time classic, "Just The Way You Are."
The immortal Mexican love song "Besame Mucho" was done at the suggestion of Harry's father. "Mona Lisa" is treated more like a dance number than is customarily heard, while "Smile," which is usually done as a minor key lament, is also much more cheerful and upbeat. Harry starred in the acclaimed ABC TV film of South Pacific, but the show's great love song, "Some Enchanted Evening," was the property of another character; Harry makes up for that here by romping through a solid-four reading of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.
"Who Can I Turn To" is dedicated to the song's composer, the late, great British singer-songwriter Anthony Newley. Don McLean's "And I Love You So," is unique in the annals of American pop in that it was a big number for both Perry Como and Elvis Presley; Connick sings it with a straightforward sincerity. Connick recruited Wynton Marsalis to play on "Can't Help Falling In Love." "I asked him to play the melody on an Elvis Presley tune. And he said, 'I get it! No problem.' But it wasn't a waste of his time because he played it perfectly, in a way that a lesser musician couldn't have done."
When Harry talks about the beauty of playing or singing a melody as simply and beautifully as possible, he's getting to the essential truth of what makes this album special. To be able to take familiar songs and make something fresh out of them - without eviscerating the qualities that make them great to begin with - is truly a rare gift. And it's a gift that Harry Connick, Jr. displays in abundance on Your Songs, making it one of the extraordinary efforts of his career.
For Soul on Ten, his fourth and latest album for the Concord Music Group, five-time Grammy nominee Robben Ford is definitely ‘on ten,' playing with the kind of skill and experience that had Musician magazine dubbing him one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century."
With eight of the ten tracks recorded live over two nights at The Independent in San Francisco last April-just across town from the Fillmore, where the north California native grew up hearing the likes of B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Albert King, Jimmy Page, Michael Bloomfield and Elvis Bishop-Soul on Ten captures Ford's unique style, one that combines, yet transcends, his roots in jazz, fusion, blues, soul and rock, distilling the past into the moment, with an eye on the future.
"I wanted to capture that experience of playing live," says Ford of the album, which follows his three other Concord Music Group releases, Blue Moon (2002), Keep on Running (2003) and Truth (2007). "I find it has a lot more impact than a studio recording. Music is a living, breathing thing. Real art is timeless. It doesn't have a beginning and an end. It's all about the present moment."
The album features Robben's road-tested band of the last few years. Athens-born drummer Toss Panos is a musicologist, a student of African percussion and Greek music, who has also played the blues in South Central L.A., bringing a world music perspective to the mix, while L.A.-born bassist Travis Carlton is the 26-year-old son of jazz great Larry Carlton, with whom Ford also played. Organist Neal Evans provides the distinctive B3 on five of the tracks.
The material ranges from the title track and "Nothin' to Nobody," his collaboration with Michael McDonald, from 1999's Blue Thumb album, Supernatural, and "Indianola," his B.B. King tribute, from 2002's Blue Moon, to "There's Never Be Another You" and "How Deep in the Blues (Do You Want to Go)," from 2007's Truth. There are also three brand-new Robben Ford compositions in "Earthquake" and a pair of studio recordings, "Don't Worry About Me" and "Thoughtless," as well as covers of classic Chicago blues numbers in Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" and Elmore James' "Please Set a Date."
"This was about the live experience of playing and hearing music," he explains. "What music is really about is what happens when it's played in front of people. That's when you really understand it. That's what I wanted to capture."
And capture is he does, in only the way Robben Ford can.
"Supernatural" starts with a wah-wah psychedelic guitar interlude before slipping into an evocative jazz-like riff, all of which contributes to the difficulty of pigeonholding Ford's music into a single category.
"What we do isn't constrained by the past, it's informed by the past," insists Robben. "When we play, it's not about what happened before. It's about what's going to happen next."
It's no wonder Ford doesn't want to be pigeonholed. His background is similarly eclectic, having started out touring with blues legends like Chicago harp player Charlie Musselwhite and singer Jimmy Witherspoon, then going on to play with Joni Mitchell as part of Tom Scott's L.A. Express, George Harrison on his ‘70s Dark Horse tour, jazz icon Miles Davis and fusionists the Yellowjackets, as well as rockers Greg Allman and Phil Lesh.
His version of "There'll Never Be Another You" includes an elongated improvisation that touches on Miles Davis at his most spacious, with a Panos drum solo that eventually involves the entire band.
As for his version of Dixon's classic "Spoonful," Robben says: "That's something I've wanted to play for a long time, but I never found quite the right band or arrangement to feel good about it, but it finally came together with this group. It takes a lot of nerve to do a song that was originally done by Howlin' Wolf and then a classic version by Cream. So I did my own thing. I didn't try to imitate anybody."
"Nothin' to Nobody" mutates from R&B to jazz, with a featured bass solo by Carlton and Evans' gurgling B3 organ part.
In tackling Elmore James' "Please Set a Date," Ford combined the song with Jimmy Reed's "You Don't Have to Go" to come up with a hybrid mutation. "I rarely play a straight-ahead 12-bar blues like I did here," he reveals. "I didn't want to cover something everyone's heard. I found the Jeames on a three-volume set from Chess, Chicago: The Blues Today that also included songs by James Cotton and Otis Rush. I just really like this song, but it's half-written. He's faking the lyrics on most of it, so to make it a whole song, I combined it with the Reed song."
About his love for the Chicago blues, Ford says: "There's a lot of creativity, a great variety within that context, a lot of different kinds of songwriting-great drum, bass, rhythm section stuff. For me, these things can't quite be pinned down. There are surprises within the format, if you look for them, which I do."
"Earthquake" is a new song which Ford describes as "a black comedy about the difficulties in maintaining relationships with the demands of a touring musician forced to be away from home much of the time. "I've traveled miles to find you waiting/Waiting for someone I've never been," he sings. "Being a musician's really hard work, debilitating, and pretty awful sometimes."
It's a subject he returns to in "Thoughtless," one of two studio recordings that mark his continued emergence as a singer/songwriter alongside his recognized ability as a guitarist. On these two songs, Ford is joined by keyboardist Larry Goldings, Sheryl Crow bassist Jon Button and sax player Karl Denson.
"‘Thoughtless' is a song about separation and being on the road, with the person you left back home wondering where you are and why you're gone," he says. "It's a lonely road being a musician. But this is what I do. I have to do it."
"Don't Worry About Me" continues the socio-political bent of his last album, Truth, as it points out society's ills, while also acknowledging the urge to disengage: "It's not so bad to be alone/I got nobody bending my ear."
"The war is still going on, and these guys will keep it going as long as they can make money on it," he says of the song's abrupt shift in attitude. "The song says ‘I'm cool, I get the picture, but
don't kid yourself. There are some real horrendous things happening on this planet. There's a monster rearing its head.' "
The title to the new album perfectly describes Robben Ford's commitment to his muse. He's at maximum capacity and there's no holding him back.
"I'm still inspired," he says.
One listen to Soul on Ten makes you realize Robben Ford means it.
Berklee College of Music presents its 16th annual Berklee City Music Blowout Concert, Tuesday, August 11, 7:30 p.m., at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA. The concert will feature rock, pop, jazz, inspirational music, and r&b performances by talented urban teens from the Boston area and City Music Network sites around the country. The evening will culminate in the awarding of full-tuition scholarships to attend Berklee beginning this fall. Recipients have auditioned for the scholarships, but the winners won't be revealed until the night of the concert.
Tickets to the Berklee City Music Blowout are $5 for the public, $1 with a Berklee ID or a student ID from ANY school. This year, the Blowout is a benefit concert with proceeds supporting City Music Scholarships. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or in person at the Berklee Performance Center Box Office, Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. For more information, please call 617-747-2261 or visit Berkleebpc.com.
The City Music Festival, August 8-10, presents FREE concerts of jazz, inspirational, Latin, and rock by City Music students at Berklee venues, culminating with the Blowout Concert August 11. A full schedule is below.
The Blowout Concert will feature 72 teen musicians and vocalists – 26 of whom are vying for full-tuition Berklee scholarships – representing Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Revere, and Lawrence, MA, and City Music Network sites in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Wilmington, Delaware. All are attending Berklee's Five-Week Summer Performance Program through the City Music Summer Scholarship.
Berklee City Music is the collegeʼs strategic educational initiative that uses contemporary music to reach underserved 4th to 12th graders. Programming includes instruction by expert faculty, individualized mentoring, after-school classes, Saturday schooling, summer study, and full-tuition scholarships to attend Berklee at no cost to the students or their families. City Music has provided educational and mentoring opportunities to more than 1, 000 local teens from urban areas since 1991.
Three years ago, Berklee launched the City Music Network, a national partnership with community organizations that actively share the goal of changing teenage lives with contemporary music education. Students experiences are life-changing from the performance and mentoring opportunities, and the online music theory, ear training, and performance curriculum focusing on popular r&b, rock, hip-hop, and jazz songs.
City Music Festival, events are FREE and open to the public:
Sunday, August 9, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m., at David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston St.
George Russell, Jr. Ensemble, with spotlight guest City Music Choir under the direction of Nichelle Mungo.
Monday, August 10, 4:30 - 6:00 p.m., at Berk Recital Hall, 1140 Boylston St.
Victor Mendoza's Latin Jazz Ensemble, with spotlight guest Marty Walsh Ensemble.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over 60 years, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.
Paved Earth Music and theConspiracy, LLC have released a jazz industry first! This is the first iPhone application created specifically for Mark Rapp providing a hip and effective way to communicate directly with fans while providing a unique platform to distribute engaging content. The Mark Rapp iPhone App can be downloaded for free at the iTunes App Store. It features a streaming music player with purchase options; watch latest videos; photo gallery, pulls Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, News feeds and more; artist bio; external links and more.
Paved Earth Music, whose tag line reads Creative American Music, was created in 2003 as an all-digital label, a concept ahead of its time even then, and from its inception has been offering music downloads via a myriad of outlets from the now popular "download cards" to various other online and creative means.The Mark Rapp iPhone App is powered by the Appetite::forMusic platform. Appetite is at the core of Paved Earth's application driven distribution system. theConspiracy has a client roster that includes everyone from Remy Martin to Korn and is building social media and mobile applications for EMI, Blue Note, Depeche Mode and Def Jam.
Mark Rapp says of the app, "I'm thrilled we have this iPhone app - it's an awesome way to stay in touch with you. And the cool thing is, as it grows and develops, the updates are automatic - from new features in the app itself to releasing new music, videos, photos, news and more. And it's a cool honor knowing this is the first of its kind in the jazz community."
Natalie Cole Feeling GreatNatalie Cole is on the mend and “really doing well,” the Grammy-winning singer says. She is feeling “remarkable” thanks to her new kidney, she told People magazine.
