Yellowjackets, Once Smooth, Are Now a Lot Choppier

Fusion has long been an ugly stepchild in jazz circles; it appears in most official histories as the byproduct of compromise and contamination. That critique has serious flaws, starting with the premise that jazz possessed a fundamental purity in the first place. But it's largely true that fusion, born in the late 1960's as an intrepid hybrid of jazz, rock and soul, produced a glut of music that was bombastic or bathetic, and sometimes both at once.

Yellowjackets, a quartet, occupies a curious place in this lineage. Built at first around the nucleus of the guitarist Robben Ford, the group has spent most of the last 25 years perfecting a guitarless fusion that's much more sinewy than steroidal, with infusions of gospel, funk and rhythm and blues. Often the results have crept in the direction of smooth jazz, a format that Yellowjackets inadvertently helped to create. But the band's standards of musicianship and athleticism have always smacked of something more serious, and lately, more straight-ahead.

That's especially true in performance, as Yellowjackets confirmed at Iridium on Wednesday night. Kicking off a five-night run and what amounts to a six-month tour, the group offered a retrospective sampling of original material, in commemoration of its silver anniversary; the same impulse recently yielded "Twenty-Five" (Heads Up), a live CD and DVD that documents a pair of concerts from last fall.

Two of the original Yellowjackets, the keyboardist Russell Ferrante and the bassist Jimmy Haslip, are still on active duty. The band's other half consists of the tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer, an official member since 1992, and the drummer Marcus Baylor, who joined in 2000. In the five or so years since this lineup was introduced, it has equaled or eclipsed its predecessors.

To a large extent that's because of Mr. Baylor, a powerful drummer who brings a sense of deep-pocket groove to the band's rhythmically convoluted compositions. On "Jacket Town," which closed Wednesday's late set, Mr. Baylor whipped up a double-time gospel backbeat that overrode a 5/4 meter. He was subtler, but no less spirited, on an R & B ballad called "The Hope," featuring vocals by Jean Baylor, his wife.

Mr. Haslip is the other clear powerhouse in the group; his six-stringed electric bass can sound round and meaty or light and nimble. His walking line on "Prayer for Peace" suggested the heft and swing of an upright acoustic player, while his solos were guitarlike, blistering excursions.

Neither Mr. Mintzer nor Mr. Ferrante managed anything quite so flashy, but their rapport was impressive and clearly central to the balance of the group. Each hit a high point on "Greenhouse": Mr. Ferrante demonstrated his solid riff-based style on piano and synthesizer and Mr. Mintzer crafted an effectively imploring closing cadenza.

Performances continue through Sunday at Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street; (212) 582-2121.

Jazz Review
By NATE CHINEN - nytimes.com

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Detroit International Jazz Festival

Detroit International Jazz Festival will welcome a wide spectrum of musical artists on Labor Day weekend, the 27th annual celebration September 1-4.The heart of the festival remains pure Jazz at historic Hart Plaza on the Detroit Riverfront. In addition, it also now swings three blocks north on legendary Woodward Avenue to the new Campus Martius Park, and embraces Blues, Gospel, R&B, Zydeco, and Motown sounds.

More than 100 bands will perform on six stages throughout Jazz Fest weekend. The Detroit International Jazz Festival continues its proud tradition as one of the largest free musical events in North America.

A partial list of headliners for the 2006 Detroit Jazz Festival includes a Friday evening Motown blast off with the Funk Brothers and Temptations Revue starring Dennis Edwards. Other performers will include Brazilian Jazz great Sergio Mendes, premier Jazz vocalist Diane Schuur with the Wayne State University Jazz Big Band, New Orleans icon Dr. John, Jazz legend Ahmad Jamal, and Pop and Roots stars Joan Osborne, Taj Mahal, Richie Havens, Marcia Ball, The Gerald Wilson Big Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Dirty Dozen Brass band, Papa Lou Donaldson, Mose Allison, and BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, among many others.

Other festival features include a Food Network Pavilion, dedicated children's area, tasty fare from Detroit's finest restaurants, New Orleans Brass Band Street Parades daily, Mississippi Queen-style riverboat cruises on the Detroit River and more.

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Music sharing site promises to help artists

Lala.com to allow CD trading for just $1 plus shipping, pledges to give a fifth of sales to all musicians.

A new Web site that aims to transform music industry economics is set to go live Thursday, giving musicians a major cut of the proceeds while largely freezing out record labels and other intermediaries.

Lala.com, which allows fans to trade music discs for just $1, plus shipping, pledges to give a fifth of its sales to all the musicians, including lesser known session studio players, involved in the making of CDs exchanged on its site.

In a move that is certain to stoke controversy with music promoters, the founder of the Silicon Valley start-up said Lala will circumvent traditional copyright and royalty payment systems to compensate identifiable working musicians.

The site works something like an eBay auction exchange as it encourages consumers who sign up for the service to list all the CDs they may want to exchange as well as ones they would be interested in receiving.

Once an exchange is arranged, the recipient pays $1.49, of which 49 cents pays for shipping the disc, leaving $1 for the company for musicians, administrative costs and its own cut.

Lala said 20 cents of each $1 will go into a charitable fund for the musicians. It is looking to pay the musicians via a charitable organization it has set up called the Z Foundation. It plans on keeping 20-30 cents for itself, with the remainder going on administration.

"We all have this music that sits in our homes - wouldn't it be great if people can exchange those CDs," said founder Bill Nguyen, a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

He's a veteran of start-up companies including Seven, a mobile e-mail rival to Blackberry maker Research in Motion and OneBox, which was sold to Phone.com, which is now known as Openwave.

Lala has been testing the service for several months with nearly 100,000 people and claims to already have another 200,000 people waiting to join the service when it goes live.

The service is bound to raise eyebrows at record companies which have stepped up their anti-piracy drives in the last few years to combat both CD and digital music piracy.

But a spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America said that, "To date we have declined comment on Lala.com - and will hold to that here as well."

Nguyen admits his company has had a mixed reaction from the record companies, with some viewing his plan as a threat along the lines of the pioneering peer-to-peer music file sharing service Napster.

"One label thought it would help them to know their customers for the first time," Nguyen said. "But others' view of us is as the devil, more like peer-to-peer services."

Lala argues that it offering a vibrant new way for consumers to discover new music and that if successful, it will encourage robust sales of new music, unlike the culture of pirated CDs and downloading that followed in Napster's wake.

Nguyen claims that Lala's research shows that for every five CDs exchanged on the server a new CD was bought.

Though Lala is a for-profit business, Nguyen envisages a community of fans and musicians running many key elements of the site with a relatively skeletal paid staff that he plans to keep under 30 employees.

For instance, fans and artists will jointly decide whether a musician who applies for compensation will get paid under the system. Nguyen described the site as having a business model inspired by Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia built from editorial contributions by its users.

Lala has received up to $9 million in venture capital funding, Nguyen said.

Reuters

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Top Ten Smooth Jazz | Week Ended 6/9/06

LW TW Artist Title (Label)
1 - 1 - Brian Culbertson - "Let's Get Started" - (GRP/VMG)
2 - 2 - Philippe Saisse - "Trio Do It Again" (Rendezvous)
3 - 3 - Paul Brown - "Winelight" (GRP/VMG)
4 - 4 - Najee - "2nd 2 None" - (Heads Up International)
7 - 5 - Mindi Abair - "True Blue" (GRP/VMG)
8 - 6 - Ramsey Lewis - "Oh Happy Day" (Narada Jazz/EMI)
6 - 7 - Michael Lington - "Pacifica" (Rendezvous)
5 - 8 - Nils - "Summer Nights" (Baja/TSR)
12 - 9 - Wayman Tisdale - "Get Down On It" (Rendezvous)
11 - 10 - Nick Colionne - "Always Thinking Of You" (Narada Jazz/EMI)


Visit radioandrecords.com to view the latest complete Smooth Jazz ® National Airplay© listings.

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Peter White on "Playin' Favorites"

I had the idea to do another collection of cover songs after going through some old tapes and finding all my original demos for "Reflections", my 1994 collection of covers. Together with those demos were a dozen or so songs that never made it to that CD. I had honestly forgotten that there were any outtakes from those days.

"For The Love Of You" was one of those unused songs that sounded good to me, so I wondered if just maybe there was a whole other album waiting to be made- a sort of follow up to the Reflections" CD. I started putting together tracks based on the arrangements on the tape, but soon I had to go on tour with Richard Elliot, Rick Braun and Jonathan Butler on a tour that we called Jazz Attack. Not missing a beat, I packed up my laptop computer and a microphone and resolved to continue the recording process on the road. I realized that here was a perfect opportunity to record my musician friends in their natural habitat.

I ambushed Richard Elliot backstage at the Carefree Theatre in West Palm Beach, Florida and asked him to play the melody of "You Are Everything" on my improvised laptop studio. He had never played the song before and I tried to reassure him by saying that it was just an experiment, to see what the sax would sound like. His uncertainty about how to play the melody matched perfectly the lack of confidence in the song lyric. I ended up keeping that run through for the final mix. Thanks Richard! I set up another session with Richard backstage at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering Ohio, just half an hour before a Jazz Attack show. We were working away in the dressing room when my road manager came in to tell us that the show was about to begin! Richard kept right on blowing until show time.....the sax intro and rousing solo on that song comes straight from that evening in Ohio. We tried to redo the melody of the 2nd verse that we had originally recorded in W. Palm Beach but the confidence that Richard now had was at odds with the tender, introspective way he had first played it before, so we kept the original performance.

I was backstage at the North Fork Theatre in Westbury, Long Island and seeing my friend Rick Braun with a flugelhorn in his hand, invited him into my make-shift dressing room studio. The song was "One On One" and what he played in a few moments was so hauntingly beautiful that I used it for the second verse of that song. We recorded the rest of his performance a few days later in my hotel room in Milwaukee.

After the Jazz Attack tour ended I called my good friend and producer Paul Brown to help me finish the album and he came up with a lot of suggestions that took the album away from my rough arrangements and into something far more polished. He suggested I record "What Does It Take", the Jr. Walker song, enlisting the help of Sam Riney on sax, who I had not seen since he had played on the Reflections CD 12 years earlier! ("What Does It Take" became the first single from the album).
To all my friends- My new CD is finished (with the help of long time friend and producer Paul Brown) and it is scheduled for release on June 27th. The title is "Playin' Favorites" and features some of my good friends- Boney James, Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler, Richard Elliot, Jeffrey Osborne and Bob James. The first single release is "What Does It Take"- my remake of the old Jr. Walker song. All the songs on the CD are old songs that I have redone in my own way.
Meanwhile I am enjoying being part of the "Guitars and Saxes" 2006 Tour, which also features Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright and Jeff Golub. Details on this tour and other shows are on the Tour page. And check out the two cruises I will be on- you can scroll down to the links at the bottom of this page. I'll see you all out there! PW.

Having been on tour with the irrepressible Jonathan Butler in "Jazz Attack" it seemed natural to have him sing on the Bill Withers song "Lovely Day". Paul also asked Jeffrey Osborne to add vocals to "You Are Everything", already featuring the sax of Richard Elliot (recorded on tour), turning it into a romantic Tour de Force! (That's means something of a high point, I think!) I had already finished the songs "Deja Vu" and "Mr. Magic" to my satisfaction when PB got hold of them, and when he added Boney James on the first and Bob James on the second as well as pumping up the beat, I realized that these songs were now really complete. Thanks, Paul for taking what I started and making it sparkle!

All these songs represent something to me from my adolescence. Romantic, exciting, soothing- they all have stayed with me through the years. Who over the age of 30 can say that the hauntingly beautiful "Look Of Love" hasn't touched them at some point? I hope my rendition does the song justice, (with a lovely horn arrangement by Jerry Hey). And the song that started this whole ball rolling, "For The Love Of You". I eschewed the romanticism of the Isley's version for straight down and dirty groove. Funny thing is, I did the opposite on my version of "Who's That Lady", (from my Glow CD) substituting the Isleys frantic all-out rock and roll blitz-krieg for a much gentler approach. This approach- to take a well-known song and do it in a unique and different way, was my purpose on this album. Only exception is "What Does It Take", where we couldn't really find any other way to do it than to faithfully copy the original groove. Then again, the Jr. Walker saxophone lines on this song have never to my knowledge been played on acoustic guitar! Finally, Paul Brown came up with the title for the CD "Playing Favorites". I favoured the English spelling of "Favourites" but I was outvoted by the entire staff of Sony Music/ Legacy. Any way you spell it, it really does say everything about what this CD represents to me.

These are some of my favourite things!

Peter White: Playin' Favorites

1. WHAT DOES IT TAKE (TO WIN YOUR LOVE) featuring Sam Riney on Saxophone
2. THE LOOK OF LOVE
3. DEJA VU featuring Boney James on Saxophone
4. MISTER MAGIC featuring Bob James on Fender Rhodes
5. LOVELY DAY featuring Jonathan Butler on vocal
6. CRAZY LOVE (Van Morrison's)
7. SUNNY
8. FOR THE LOVE OF YOU
9. HIT THE ROAD JACK
10. YOU ARE EVERYTHING featuring Jeffrey Osborne on vocal and Richard Elliot on saxophone
11. ONE ON ONE featuring Rick Braun on flugelhorn

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Jazz Pianist Hilton Ruiz Dies at 54

Pianist Hilton Ruiz, who had been in a coma since he was injured in a fall last month, died yesterday, his agent told the Associated Press. He was 54.

Ruiz was found unconscious on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early on the morning of May 19, bleeding badly and with fractures of the skull and face.

Born in New York, Ruiz was a child prodigy who performed at Carnegie Hall at the age of eight and studied with Mary Lou Williams. While still a teenager, he played with saxophonists Frank Foster and Joe Henderson and trumpeters Cal Massey and Freddie Hubbard.

In the 1970s, he spent time in the bands of saxophonists Rahsaan Roland Kirk and George Coleman. He also led his own groups and played with Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charles Mingus.

Ruiz was one of the few musicians with equal facility in straight-ahead jazz and Latin jazz. "There's a lot of people who dabble with both worlds," trombonist Steve Turre told the AP last month. "But very few can authentically deal with both."


Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Billy Preston dies at 59

Electrifying keyboard player Billy Preston, who was dubbed the "fifth Beatle" for his work on some of the band's most storied projects, died Tuesday at age 59. Preston, who had such hits as Will It Go Round in Circles, Outa-Space and Nothing from Nothing in the '70s, was considered one of the world's greatest organists for the way he'd make his Hammond B-3 sing whether he was playing rock, soul, blues or gospel.

AUDIO: Listen to some of his music

Preston had battled chronic kidney failure and had been in a coma since November. He had received a kidney transplant in 2002. He was taken to a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital Saturday, after his condition deteriorated, according to his manager, Joyce Moore.

The musician — instantly recognizable with his huge Afro and gap-toothed smile — toured with Ray Charles and Little Richard in the early 1960s before hooking up with the Beatles, who had opened for Little Richard. He backed them on the albums Let It Be, Abbey Road and the White Album. He also appeared in films with the band and continued playing and touring with individual members after the band broke up.

The Houston-born Preston also collaborated with the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Sly Stone, Sam Cooke, Quincy Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., the Jackson 5, Barbra Streisand and others. He was a child prodigy who played with gospel greats Mahalia Jackson and the Rev. James Cleveland when he was 10. Two years later, he played blues great W.C. Handy as a child in the 1958 film St. Louis Blues. In addition to touring and recording in the '60s, he was a regular on the pioneering live TV rock show Shindig. His early albums included The Most Exciting Organ Ever and Wildest Organ in Town.

Preston's solo breakthrough came in 1972 with the I Wrote a Simple Song album, which included the Grammy-winning Outa-Space. Later that year he put out Music Is My Life, featuring his signature, Will It Go Round in Circles. He also won another Grammy in 1973 for his participation in the George Harrison-led Concert for Bangla Desh album.

Starting in 1974, he and his band the God Squad spent three years opening for the Rolling Stones. Members of the God Squad would later form Rufus and the Brothers Johnson. He played on such Stones albums as Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street and Bridges to Babylon.

He also thrived as a songwriter, penning Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful and scoring a huge hit with his duet with Syreeta,
With You I'm Born Again. He wrote theme songs for such films as In the Heat of the Night and Slaughter.

By Steve Jones, USA TODAY

Upcoming Jazz Releases - 6/5/06 - 6/9/06

Mon 05-Jun-2006

Annie Ross - Live in London (Harkit)
Blake Wilner Quartet - Interloper (Ant Jazz)
Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher/A Chicken Ain't Nothing (Unidisc)
Duke Ellington - Vol. 10 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 1 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 3 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 4 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 5 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 6 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 9 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Herbie Hancock - Jazz to Funk (Aim) - Reissue - 2+ CDs
Pee Wee Hunt - Twelfth Street Rag (Living Era) - Reissue
Roy Eldridge Sextet/ / Ella Fitzgerald - Live (Lonehill) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Alternating Currents (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Carnaval (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Freetime (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Morning Dance (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Spyro Gyra (Unidisc) - Reissue



Tue 06-Jun-2006

Al Green - 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection (Hip-O) - Reissue
Alain Caron - Live: Cabaret de Mon (Disques Norac) - DVD-Video
Alan Hewitt - Metropolis (215)
Albert Ayler - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Alice Coltrane - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Andrew Hill - Pax (Blue Note) - Reissue
Antonio Carlos Jobim - The Unknown (Drg) - Reissue
Archie Shepp - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Art Blakey - Holiday for Skins (Blue Note) - Reissue
Blind Faith - London Hyde Park 1969 (Sony Music Video) - DVD-Video
Bob James - Heads (Tappan Zee) - Reissue
Bob James - Lucky Seven (Tappan Zee) - Reissue
Charles Mingus - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Charlie Parker - At Jrayr Zorthian's Ranch (Rlr) - Reissue
Chet Baker - Lost Holland Concert September 18 1955 (Featuring Dick Twardzik) (Rlr)
Coleman Hawkins - Body & Soul (The Complete Victor Recordings 1939-1956) (Definitive) - Reissue
Coleman Hawkins - In the Hush of the Night (Unidisc) - Reissue
Diane Schuur - Live in London (GR2 Classics)
Doc Severinson & The Tonight Show Band - Once More....With Feeling (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 2 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Duke Ellington - Vol. 8 - Private Collection (Unidisc) - Reissue
Earl Hines - Piano Man (Definitive) - Reissue
Eric Dolphy - In Euroipe 1961-64 (Improjazz)
Erik Truffaz - Mask (Blue Note) - Reissue
Fox Trot 8 - Fox Trot 8 (Unidisc) - Reissue
Fred Wesley & Swing 'n Jazz Allstars - It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing (Sons of Sound)
Gato Barbieri - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
George Shearing - Latin Affair (Virgin) - Reissue
George Shearing - Latin Lace (Virgin) - Reissue
Gil Evans - Complete Pacific Jazz (Blue Note) - Reissue
Gladys Knight - Before Me (Verve)
Greg Burk - The Way In (482 Music)
Harry Edison Quartet / Coleman Hawkins - London Concert 1964 (Improjazz)
Heernt - Locked in a Basement (Sunnyside)
Hirman Bullock - Too Funky 2 Ignore (BHM)
Jack Costanzo - Latin Fever (Virgin) - Reissue
Jackalope - Born 4 (Universal (Canada))
Jackie McLean - It's Time (Blue Note) - Reissue
Jazz Crusaders - Chile Con Soul (Virgin) - Reissue
Jesse Green - Nice & Slow (Unidisc) - Reissue
Jimmy Scott - Milestone Profiles (Fantasy) - Reissue
Jimmy Smith - Milestone Profiles (Fantasy) - Reissue
Joe Henderson - Milestone Profiles (Fantasy) - Reissue
John Coltrane - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
John Coltrane - First Giant Steps (Rlr) - Reissue
John Hammond - New Morning Paris Concert (Music Video Dist) - DVD-Video
Jon Faddis - Teranga (Koch)
Keith Jarrett - Tokyo Solo (ECM) - DVD-Video
Keith Jarrett - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Kieran Hebden - The Exchange Session Vol. 2 (Domino)
Lennie Niehaus - Complete Fifties Recordings V.2. (Octet & Quintet) (Lonehill) - Reissue
Lionel Hampton - 50th Anniversary Concert (Unidisc) - Reissue
Logg - Logg (Unidisc) - Reissue
Lou Blackburn - Complete Imperial Sessions (EMI/Blue Note) - Reissue
Lou Rawls - The Very Best of Lou Rawls: You'll Never Find (Capitol) - Reissue
Machito - Kenya (Virgin) - Reissue
Marcos Valle - Jet Samba (Planet Rhythm)
Maxine Sullivan - My Memories of You (Empire) - Reissue
McCoy Tyner - Milestone Profiles (Fantasy) - Reissue
McCoy Tyner - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Melody - Today is Someday (VRT)
Melvin Sparks - Texas Twister '75 (Beat Goes Public) - Reissue
Metropolitan Jazz Affair - MJA (Le Maquis) - Reissue
Miles Davis - The Early Years Vol. 2 (United States of Distribution) - Reissue - 2+ CDs
Miles Davis - Walkin' With Miles (Fanrtasy) - Reissue
Milton Nascimento - Milagre DOS Peixes (Water Music) - Reissue
Milton Nascimento - Minas (Water Music) - Reissue
Mint Condition - 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection (Hip-O) - Reissue
Nacho de Paz - Charlie (Unidisc) - Reissue
Nancy Kelly - Born to Swing (Amherst)
Nils Petter Molvaer - An American Compilation (Thirsty Ear)
Perry Joslin - Perry Joslin Project (VRT)
Peter Brotzmann - Alarms (Atavistic)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - In Europe 1962-67 (Improjazz)
Richard "Groove" Holmes - Star Wars/Close Encounters (Unidisc) - Reissue
Rio Conexio / Vittor Santos - Voce So Danca Com Ele (Universal)
Roberta Gambarini - Easy to Love (Now Forward)
Rogerio Duprat - Saturday Night Fever (`Unidisc) - Reissue
Shifts - Headboppin (Artizen)
Soft Machine Legacy - New Morning: The Paris Concert (Music Video Distributors) - DVD-Video
Solomon Ilori - African High Life (Blue Note)
Sonny Rollins - Milestone Profiles (Fantasy) - Reissue
Sonny Rollins - The Impulse Story (Impulse!) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Access All Areas (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Best Of (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Breakout (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Catching the Sun (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - City Kids (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Incognito (Unidisc) - Reissue
Spyrogyra - Stories Without Words (Unidisc) - Reissue
Susanne Abbuehl - Compass (ECM)
Trio Beyond - DeJohnette / Scofield / Goldings - Saudades (ECM) - 2+ CDs
Various Artists - Jazz Shots: East coast Vol. 1 (Music Video Dist) - DVD-Video
Various Artists - Jazz Shots: West coast Vol. 1 (Music Video Dist) - DVD-Video
Various Artists - Jazz Voice: The Ladies Sing Jazz Vol. 1 (Music Video Dist) - DVD-Video
Various Artists - Jazz Voice: The Ladies Sing Jazz Vol. 2 (Music Video Dist) - DVD-Video
Various Artists - The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records (Impulse) - 2+ CDs
Various Artists - Legends & Lions: Swingin' (Mack Avenue) - Reissue
Will Downing - 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection (Hip-O) - Reissue



Fri 09-Jun-2006

Franc O'Shea - Alkimia (Azulah)



Information provided by allaboutjazz.com

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

This Week's Releases

DJ Logic, Zen of Logic [Ropeadope Records]
Shilts, Headboppin [ARTizen Music Group]
Hiram Bullock - Too Funky 2 Ignore [BHM Productions]
Alan Hewitt - Metropolis [215 Records 2033]
Jack McDuff - Honeydripper [Prestige Records]
Ollabelle, TBD [Verve Forecast]
Various Artists, Baby Loves Jazz [Verve]
Gato Barbieri, The Impulse Story [Impulse]
Keith Jarrett, The Impulse Story [Impulse]
Charles Mingus, The Impulse Story [Impulse]
Sonny Rollins, The Impulse Story [Impulse]
Pharoah Sanders, The Impulse Story [Impulse]
McCoy Tyner, The Impulse Story [Impulse]
Various Artists, The House that Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records [Impulse]
Susanne Abbuehl, Compass
Peter Brotzmann, Alarm
Will Downing, 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection
Roberta Gambarini, Easy To Love
Jon Faddis, Teranga
Shaken Not Stirred Jazz, Shaken Not Stirred Jazz
Alan Hewitt, Metropolis [ 215 Records]
Solomon Ilori, African High Life
Diane Schuur, Live in London
Jazz Crusaders, Chile Con Soul "Japan"
Bob James, Lucky Seven
Bob James, Heads
Fred Wesley & The Swing N Jazz
Metropolitan Jazz Affair, MJA
Marcos Valle, Jet-Samba

Information provided by contemporaryjazz.com

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Dr. John Album Debuts on Billboard Jazz Chart

Mercernary, the latest album from legendary New Orleans pianist Dr. John, debuted on the Billboard jazz chart this week at number six.

The album, a tribute to Johnny Mercer, includes such Mercer classics as "Blues in the Night," "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," and "That Old Black Magic." Michael Bublé's It's Time continued its long run at number one, where it has spent 57 of the last 68 weeks; The Very Best of Nat 'King' Cole remained at number two.

The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions, a box set collecting Miles Davis's great 1955-56 recordings with John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, and Paul Chambers, debuted at number 15; other new entries included vocalist Anjani's Blue Alert at number 16 and the Yellowjacket's Twenty-Five at number 21.

Saxophonist Everette Harp's In the Moment debuted at number one on the classical-crossover chart, nudging Herbie Hancock's Possibilities to number two. Also new to the chart was saxophonist Marion Meadow's Dressed to Chill, at number six.

By Ben Mattison - playbillarts.com

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Avishai Cohen - Continuo

No bassist on the contemporary jazz scene is more technically able than Avishai Cohen, nor more immediately recognizable on a recording: his muscular, singing tone and richly melodic lines are unique. He’s also got one of the tightest trios on earth, and the countless gigs pianist Sam Barsh and drummer Mark Guiliana have played with Cohen are immediately audible on Continuo.

Cohen’s 2005 album At Home suffered from too many disparate styles and too many extra musicians augmenting the trio--it felt more like a Cohen compilation than a unified musical statement. There’s no lack of stylistic unity on Continuo, however, and only one extra musician is featured here: oud player Amos Hoffman, who appears on five on the ten tracks.

To his credit, Cohen’s attempting something altogether new on Continuo: a stylistic blend of western classical, Middle Eastern music (hence the presence of Hoffman’s oud), and improvisational jazz. “Nu Nu” epitomizes the concept with its stop-on-a-dime time changes, unison bass/piano lines, epic theme and virtuosic soloing (in this case by Cohen and Hoffman). The execution is above reproach--here and everywhere on the CD, the band plays with breathtaking precision.

Somehow, though, the aforementioned musical influences combine here to produce a strange and rather disagreeable hybrid that in its bombastic, grandiose themes resembles nothing so much as the worst sorts of instrumental Europop. This impression is heightened by arrangements that feature Barsh’s busy, mock-classical piano, an overuse of pomp-and-circumstance unison bass/piano accents (lots of dramatic, echoing “booms” in song after song), and the recording's hot, loud, no-dynamics mastering.

“One For Mark” is an uptempo piece that’s flawlessly played and ultimately pretty meaningless; with plenty of oud-strangling from Hoffman over Guiliana’s torrential drum cascades and wildly florid piano from Barsh, there’s no dearth of sound coming out of the speakers, but it’s all more precious than profound. Cohen’s solo here has a marvelous rhythmic buoyancy, but it can’t save the song. Unfortunately, “One For Mark” is no anomaly; it's perfectly typical of the tunes on Continuo.

“Samuel” is somewhat better. Its piano introduction has a practice-book sterility and it’s marred by more of those overdramatic bass/piano accents, but Cohen and Barsh are particularly sympathetically fused here and its final snare-roll groove is irresistible. The title track--which unfortunately appears last--is by far the best song, fuelled as it is by a propulsive and joyous Middle Eastern rhythmic structure of drums, percussion and hand claps. It’s more fun and less self-consciously important than anything that precedes it. The absence of Barsh’s piano on the song--despite the enormous, prowling presence here of Cohen’s electric six-string Marco--gives it a spaciousness that’s sadly missing elsewhere.

To their credit, the musicians play every song on Continuo with complete commitment and telepathic connectedness. If the results are gratingly soulless, it’s not due to a lack of sincerity on the part of the artists.

Track Listing: Nu Nu; Elli; One For Mark; Ani Maamin; Samuel; Emotional Storm; Calm; Arava; Smash; Continuo.

Personnel: Avishai Cohen: acoustic and electric bass; Sam Barsh: piano (1-9), electric keyboard (#9); Mark Guiliana: drums, percussion; Amos Hoffman: oud (1,3,6,9-10).

By Paul Olson - allaboutjazz.com


Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Top Ten Smooth Jazz | Week Ended 6/2/06

LW TW Artist Title (Label)
3 - 1 - Brian Culbertson - "Let's Get Started" - (GRP/VMG)
2 - 2 - Philippe Saisse - "Trio Do It Again" (Rendezvous)
1 - 3 - Paul Brown - "Winelight" (GRP/VMG)
5 - 4 - Najee - "2nd 2 None" - (Heads Up International)
4 - 5 - Nils - "Summer Nights" (Baja/TSR)
6 - 6 - Michael Lington - "Pacifica" (Rendezvous)
7 - 7 - Mindi Abair - "True Blue" (GRP/VMG)
9 - 8 - Ramsey Lewis - "Oh Happy Day" (Narada Jazz/EMI)
8 - 9 - Kim Waters - "Steppin' Out" (Shanachie)
12 - 10 - David Pack - "Biggest Part Of Me" (Peak/Concord)





Visit radioandrecords.com to view the latest complete Smooth Jazz ® National Airplay© listings.

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Upcoming Jazz Releases | 5/29/06 - 6/2/06

Mon 29-May-2006
Harvey Mason - Marching in the Street (BMG / Arista) - Reissue


Tue 30-May-2006
Alfonzo Blackwell - Never Let You Go (Utopia Records)
Ammon Contact - With Voices (Ninja Tune)
Artificial Memory/Brume - 1st Encounter (AlienB)
Attila Zoller / Bob Cooper / Albert Manelsdorff / Bud Shank / Gary Peacock - European Tour '57 (Lonehill) - Reissue
Bill Evans - Ballads & More (RCA) - Reissue
Bill Evans - Vol. 1-Modern Jazz Giants (Victor Rec) - Reissue
Bob Cooper / Claude Williamson / Bud Shank - European Tour '58 (Lonehill) - Reissue
Bob Cooper / Joe Zawinul / Bud Shank - European Tour '57 (Lonehill) - Reissue
Buddy Guy - Live: The Real Deal with G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band (Jive Aces) - DVD-Video
Chet Baker - Vol. 5-Modern Jazz Masters (Victor Rec) - Reissue
Clovers - Smiling at the Broken Bottle (Sony/Columbia) - Reissue
Cordovan - Highway 10 Blues (Reincarnate)
Dave Mullen - Maghoney's Way (Sumthing Else)
David Kristian - Kristian Shalabi St-Onge (Alien8)
Donald Harrison - The Survivor (Nagel Heyer)
Eldar - Daily Living: Live at the Blue Note (Sony Classical)
Eric Dolphy Quintet / Herbie Hancock - Left Alone (Fruit Tree) - Reissue
Gilbert Castellanos - Underground (Seedling Records)
Jill Jenson - Jill Jenson (Independent)
John Coltrane - Ballad & More (Victor) - Reissue
John Coltrane - Ballads (Victor) - Reissue
John Coltrane - Stardust (Victor Rec) - Reissue
John Coltrane - Vol. 2 - Modern Jazz Giants (Victor Rec) - Reissue
Laurindo Almeida - Girl From Ipanema (Toshiba / EMI) - Reissue
Lennie Niehaus - Complete Fifties Recordings V.3. (Sextet, Quintet & Octet) (Lonehill) - Reissue
Lennie Niehaus - Complete Fifties Recordings V.4. (Octet - I Swing for You) (Lonehill) - Reissue
Marcos Valle - O COmpositor E O Cantor (Toshiba / EMI) - Reissue
Marilyn Scott - Innocent of Nothing (Prana)
Marzell Keefe - Drawn Windows (Comin' Atcha)
Merzbow - Door Open at 8a.m. (Alien8)
Miles Davis - Ballads & More (RCA) - Reissue
Miles Davis - Best (RCA) - Reissue
Miles Davis - Mute (Victor) - Reissue
Milton Banana Trio - Milton Banana Trio (Virgin)
Milton Nascimento - Milagre DOS Peixes (Water Music) - Reissue
Milton Nascimento - Minas (Water Music) - Reissue
Modern Jazz Quartet - Vol. 4-Modern Jazz Giants (Victor Rec) - Reissue
Oscar Peterson - London Concert 1964 (Improjazz)
PLatypus Ensemble - Satsang (Albatross)
Quem E QUem - Joao Donato (Toshiba / EMI) - Reissue
Ralph Stanley - Distant Land to Roam (Sony)
Ralph Stanley - A Distant Land to Roam: Ralph Stanley Sings Songs of the Carter Family (DMZ)
Reptet - Do This! (Monktail Records)
Rob White - Let It Ride (Orpheus)
Rory Gallagher - Live at Montreux (RED) - DVD-Video
Sadao / Richard Bona - One for You: Sadao & Richard Bona Live (JVC Victor)
Sam Shalabi - On Hashish (Alien8)
Sonny Rollins - Vol. 3-Modern Jazz Masters (Victor Rec) - Reissue
Stevie Holland - More Than Words Can Say (150 Music)
Tear Gas - Piggy Go Getter (Phantom Records)
Tied & Tickled Trio - A.R.C. (Morr)
Tony Horowitz - Paz Y Amor (Rhombus)
Wanda de Sa - Softly (Toshiba / EMI)
Wes Montgomery - In Europe 1965 (Improjazz)
Zona Sul - Beira (Nagel Heyer)


Wed 31-May-2006
Lynne Fiddmont - Flow (MidLife Records)
Tony Pacini - Piano A La Carte (Saphu Records)


Fri 02-Jun-2006
Harry Miller's Ispingo - Which Way Now (Cuneiform)


Information provided by allaboutjazz.com

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

This Week's Releases

Harvey Mason, Marching In The Street "GERMANY"
Jill Jenson, Jill Jenson
Keefe Marzell, Drawn Windows
United Future Organization, Ufos For Real: Scene 1 U
Rob White, Let It Ride
Milton Nascimento, Milagre Dos Peixes (1973)
Milton Nascimento, Minas (1976) -
Ann Hampton Callaway, Blues Night [Telarc]
Frank Kimbrough, Play [Palmetto]
John Lee Hooker, Cold As Ice [Telarc]
Marilyn Scott, Innocent Of Nothing [Prana Ent.]

Information provided by contemporaryjazz.com

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music

Hilton Ruiz Suffered Injuries in Fall, Not Attack

The head injuries that have left jazz pianist Hilton Ruiz in a coma resulted from a fall, not an attack, the Associated Press reports.

An attorney for Ruiz's family told the AP that it appeared that Ruiz, who was found with broken bones in his skull and face on Bourbon Street in New Orleans last week, had fallen and hit his face on the curb. Ruiz's agent had previously said that his injuries made it seem as if he had been attacked.

Ruiz also suffered a heart attack in the ambulance on the way to the hospital after the incident, which is believed to have occurred at about 5 a.m. on May 19.

A native of New York, the 53-year-old Ruiz studied with Mary Lou Williams and has played with Freddie Hubbard and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, as well as leading his own bebop and Latin jazz groups.

Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music