Teresa Brewer, one of the most popular US pop singers of the 1950s, has died in New York at the age of 76.
Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1931, Brewer topped the charts with such hits as Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now and Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall.
She sang with Tony Bennett and had a burgeoning film career before scaling back her work to raise a family.
She re-emerged in the 1970s to perform with jazz greats Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis.
Her other hits include Ricochet Romance, A Sweet Old-Fashioned Girl and Music Music Music.
'Career was a hobby'
Brewer died on Wednesday at her home in New Rochelle, a New York City suburb, of a neuromuscular disease, her family said.
She is survived by four daughters, four grandsons and five great-grandchildren.
"Her career was always a hobby with her," said family friend Bill Munroe. "Her family always came first."
Over the years Brewer performed on TV with Mel Torme, sang with Tony Bennett and won a national poll to be cast in 1953 film Those Redheads from Seattle.
Apple is lowering the prices of songs it sells online without copy protection to 99 cents from $1.29, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The reduction, which started appearing on songs Tuesday, puts the company’s iTunes store closer in line with its rivals. Amazon, which opened its online music store in September, sells tracks without anticopying software locks for 89 cents to 99 cents.
Separately, Apple announced that its next-generation operating system, the Mac OS X Leopard, would be available Oct. 26 for $129, and Apple’s online store was taking orders.
An Apple spokeswoman, Natalie Kerris, said the price cut at iTunes was not in response to competition. “It’s been very popular with our customers, and we’re now making it available at an even more affordable price,” Ms. Kerris said.
Apple began selling some songs in May without copy protection. The primary benefit of such music is that it can be played on any music player, not just Apple iPods. Apple also charges 99 cents for copy-protected tracks.
Leopard, the new operating system, was originally due in June, but Apple said in April that it needed to divert resources so it could introduce the iPhone on time.
It takes substantial amounts of courage, inner strength, and a laser-like focus to converge and stare down unfavorable odds to emerge victorious in achieving a much cherished goal and vision.
AFTER TONIGHT, Will Downing’s latest musical opus, is clearly a victory in that in spite of being diagnosed with and managing the unique physical challenges associated with the debilitating muscle disorder known as Polymyositis, his upcoming release, AFTER TONIGHT, represents a work of startling beauty and one which is infused with Downing’s indomitable spirit of determination and a fierce faith.
The 10-track album, his first on the independent Peak Records label, a division of Concord Music Group, will be released on Tuesday, October 30th. Downing’s longtime friend and collaborator (this is their 10th project together) Rex Rideout, who has worked with Downing for nearly 15 years, serves as the album’s producer. Rideout also co-wrote six of the 10 tracks with Downing and laces the project with his adept skills on keyboards. AFTER TONIGHT was executive produced by Peak Partners Andi Howard and Mark Wexler.
AFTER TONIGHT kicks off with “Will’s Groove,” which ably showcases Downing’s rich-as-chocolate, smooth trademark baritone. The song was birthed during a telephone conversation between Downing and Rideout. “Will and I were on the phone one evening, and he asked me if I thought I could put music to this groove he came up with, and then he proceeded to just riff for a few minutes and what evolved, organically, was ‘Will’s Groove’,” says Rideout. “I think ‘Will’s Groove’ kinda represents what Will’s fans have always loved about his particular sound in the first place. His voice clearly is his instrument.”
Each song on AFTER TONIGHT is bathed in rose-tinged glow of romance and a velvety sensuality, with Downing’s voice deftly moving between his baritone, tenor and even his falsetto ranges, clearly demonstrating Downing’s vocal versatility and his well-honed musicianship. The sultry and decidedly romantic first single, “After Tonight,” title track will be the first single shipped to radio on August 5th with the label going for adds on with September 24th & 25th.
On “Lover’s Melody,” a track bathed in sensuality and soulfulness and which provides the perfect aural inspiration for a romantic evening, the gifted and iconic vibraphonist Roy Ayers, embellishes the song with his electrifying and nimble playing while Kirk Whalum lends the “voice” of his tenor sax on both “All I Need Is You,” (which also features Audrey Wheeler-Downing on background vocals along with her husband) and the little known Bill Withers’ penned “You Just Can’t Smile It Away.”
One of AFTER TONIGHT’S many standouts is “God Is So Amazing,” a simple yet profound song of praise and gratitude that Downing sings with such a pure intention and an emotional innocence, his voice dipping and weaving yet remaining smooth and focused as he sings with a heartfelt sincerity: “Imagine someone who can change everything in your life/Someone who can take all of your wrongs and make them right …”. With “God Is So Amazing,” Downing stakes his claim as a man of immense faith and fortitude.
Downing has used the challenge of his illness to create a project which is a testament to his artistry, vision, and inner resolve and because of this, AFTER TONIGHT is all the more a richer and profoundly moving listening experience.
AFTER TONIGHT is Downing’s invitation to his fans to enjoy his latest musical offering because as he says,“… the Love it took to make it is powerful and sincere.”
Downing plans to resume his concert touring as his health continues to improve some time in 2008.
AFTER TONIGHT [PKD-30221] in stores October 30th on CD.
All of Universal's jockeying with iTunes may make sense now: the label may be planning a subscription music service of its own with other big record companies. But will the labels' own service be used simply to retain a stranglehold on the market rather than giving consumers more choice?
Universal has its own catalog, and is apparently taking to Warner Music Group about putting that label's music on the service. It has reportedly already signed up Sony BMG. Business Week reported Friday that the move is aimed at taking more control over the distribution of digital music, which Apple has a near stranglehold on.
Together, the three labels would control about 3 out of every 4 music tracks sold in the US. Universal Music's chief Doug Morris also has hope that the service, dubbed "Total Music," would lift up competitors to the iPod, such as Microsoft's Zune.
If the rumors are correct, users would shell out money only for the Total Music player itself. The roughly $5 per month fee to download music would be absorbed by hardware makers and cellular carriers. However, it is not clear how that would affect the price of the player itself.
Such a setup would be drastically different from what is currently available, which has some industry watchers questioning the speculation. iTunes users not only shell out anywhere from $79 to $249 -- or even more -- for the player, but 99 cents for each track that they download over that.
Insiders figure that the cost per player would run around $90 for the subscription service, figuring that most digital music player owners keep their devices for about 18 months. It is quite possible that the Total Music players could be quite a bit more expensive initially to recoup some of that cost. Such a strategy might hinder sales, especially since customers would essentially lose their music collections if they lose their player, or if it breaks.
But the next day, he realized the message had an attachment from the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group that is coordinating legal efforts by record companies to crack down on Internet piracy. The attachment told Mr. McCune he faced a lawsuit with potential fines of $750 to $150,000 for every illegally downloaded song.
Since his emergence onto the jazz scene in the mid-1990s, Parisian-born guitarist Marc Antoine has left his mark with his classical soul vibe. He is revered for both his impressive expertise on the guitar, and the European influence infused throughout his music. He has become a fixture in the smooth jazz community throughout the years and continues onward to success. Hi-Lo Split (Peak Records, 2007), is an energizing release from Antoine Showcasing percussive Latin and Brazilian harmonies, R&B, and acoustic melodies, it's sure to appeal to a broad audience.
AAJ contributor Katrina-Kasey Wheeler spoke with Antoine about Hi-Lo Split and his future plans.
Altemar Dutra - O Trovador (BMG (Brazil) ) Amy London - When I Look In Your Eyes (Motema ) Angie Stone - The Art of Love & War (Stax ) Angie Stone - Art of Love & War (Fantasy Records (USA) ) Band Of 5 Names - Empty Gardens ( ) Ben Webster - Dig Ben! (Storyville ) Blablabus - Zut (Naive ) Byrd / Gryce - Vol. 3-Complete Jazz Lab Studio Sessions (Lonehill J ) Chat Noir - Decoupage (Emarcy ) Claus Raible - Don't Blame Me (Pirouet Records ) Clifford Brown - Live At The Bee Hive (Lone Hill Jazz (France) ) Coral Egan - Magnify (Justin Time Records ) Dario Marianelli - Brave One (Varese Sar ) Darren Rahn - Once in a Lifetime (Side 2) Dee Brown - No Time To Waste (NuGroove Records ) Dori Caymmi - Dori Caymmi (EMI Records (Brazil) ) Eric Marienthal - Just Around The Corner (Peak Records ) Gipsy Kings / Los Ninos De Sara - Gipsy Kings & Los Ninos De Sara ( ) Grupo Fundo De Quintal - E Convidados (RGE ) Hiroko Kokufu - Autumn Collection (JVC Victor ) Jack DeJohnette / Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock - My Foolish Heart (Ecm Records ) Jacqui Dankworth - Detour Ahead (Candid Records ) Jazz From Poland - Jazz From Poland ( ) Joyce - Bis Bossa Nova (EMI Records (Brazil) ) Julie Anne - "Hey, Daddy!" Keith Jarrett - My Foolish Heart (Universal ) Leo Ferre - Poete Vos Papiers! (Le Chant D ) Liane Carroll - Slow Down (Splash Point ) Marcos Valle - Bis Bossa Nova (EMI Records (Brazil) ) Maria Bethania - Bis (EMI Records (Brazil) ) Marty Paich - Modern Touch (Lone Hill Jazz (Spain) ) Michael Kaeshammer - Days Like These (Alert Canada ) Milton Nascimento - Anima (Verve (USA) ) Nana Vasconcelos - Storytelling (IRS ) Peter Grant - Traditional (Universal ) Rosa Passos - Eu E Meu Coracao (Sony Music Distribution (Brazil) ) Ryan Cohan - One Sky (Motema/Redeye ) Sergio Mendes - Minha Historia (Uni ) Showa 44 - Ormus (Kimnara ) Slater Quartet, Phil - Thousands (Kimnara ) Soul Jazz Records Singles 2006 - 7 - Soul Jazz Records Singles 2006 - 7 (Soul Jazz ) Stacey Kent - Boy Next Door (Candid Records ) Stanley Clarke - Toys Of Men (Telarc ) Susie Ibarra - Drum Sketches (Innova Records ) Terri England - Tones of the Tropics (Inglaterra Musica) Tim Cunningham - Manchester Rd. (B-dub ) Tok Tok Tok - Reach Out And Sway Your Booty (Bhm ) Tony Gorman & Bobby Singh - As Wide As The Sky (Birdland R ) Various Artists - History Of Jazz: From Basin Street To Bebop (Primo ) Woody Guthrie - Dig Ben! (Storyville Records/Red ) Wouter Vandenabeele - Chansons Sans Paroles (Home.Be )
Bill HolmanOriginal Big Band - Complete Recordings (Lonehill J ) Charlie Parker - Now's the Time (Savoy) Elis Regina - Elis (Verve (USA) ) Elis Regina - Falso Brilhante (Verve (USA) ) Gerald Albright - Very Best Of Gerald Albright / Ocrd (Rhino / Wea ) Gerald Albright - The Very Best Of Gerald Albright (Rhino / Wea ) Gilberto Gil - E-Collection (Warner Elektra Atlantic Corp. (Braz ) Gilberto Gil - Series em Limite (Universal Records (Brazil) ) Grover Washington Jr. - Anthology Of Grover Washington JR / Ocrd (Rhino / Wea ) Grover Washington Jr. - Anthology (Elektra) (Rhino / Wea ) History Of Jazz: From Basin Street To Bebop - History Of Jazz: From Basin Street To Bebop (Primo ) James Taylor - Don't Mess With Mr. T: James Taylor Quartet Plays Motown (Dome Records (USA) ) Jimmy Smith - Vol. 3 - At The Organ (Blue Note Records ) Johnny Hodges - Three Shades Of Blue (Aal/Bmg He ) Joki Freund - At The 1957 Sopot Jazz Festival (Harkit ) Joki Freund - At The Sopot Jazz Festival 1957 (Harkit ) Louis Prima - Just A Gigolo Anthologie (Magic ) Louis Prima - Just A Gigalo Anthologie (Magic Records France ) Luiz Bonfa - Bossa Nova (Universal) Luiz Bonfa - Recado Novo (Odeon 100 Anos) (EMI ) Matt Mcmahon - Ellipsis (Kimnara ) Matt Mcmahon - Paths & Streams (Kimnara ) Maysa - Canecao Apresenta Maysa (EMI ) Maysa - Demais (SMG ) Maysa - Maysa Por Ela Mesma (Som ) Maysa - Tom Jobim Por Maysa (Som ) Michel Legrand - Rca Years (BMG Entertainment ) Michel Legrand - Warner Years (Warner Music ) Michel Legrand - Parisien Blue (Sony ) Michel Legrand - Autumn In Paris (Sony ) Miles Davis - Forever Miles Davis (Madacy Special Mkts ) Miles Davis - Essential Collection Nat King Cole - Collection Box Set Volume 1 (Collectors' Choice ) Stephane Grapelli / Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt-Stephane Grappelli Toninho - Toninho Horta (EMI Records (Brazil) )
Randy Scott is a consummate producer, composer and musician; he has performed and recorded with numerous luminaries including, Anita Baker, Patti Labelle and Randy Crawford.
He is a three-time winner of It's Showtime At The Apollo, Winner of The Hennesy Jazz Search and protg of his friend and mentor, the late Grover Washington, Jr. He is a dedicated teacher to middle school students and assists them on their musical journey and most importantly--he does everything from the heart. His career is ever-flourishing and the best is yet to come.
AAJ Contributor Katrina-Kasey Wheeler spoke with Scott about his release, Breathe (MegaWave Records, 2007), and his dedication to his students.
Commentary By Tony Long - wired.com If I were a big-shot L.A. music mogul, Jammie Thomas would not be my ideal poster child as the face of illegal file sharing.
Thomas, you'll recall, was convicted last week in a Duluth, Minnesota, court for violating copyright law by making a couple of dozen songs available to the multitudes. For this she was ordered to pay the recording industry $222,000 in damages, and she could lose even more to court costs and appeals.
All because she was among the 26,000 people sued by those Brioni suits known collectively as the Recording Industry Association of America, and hers was the first case to actually reach trial. The RIAA, faced with plummeting CD sales and increasingly restive artists, wanted to "send a message" to all the lowlifes out there who download music for free and undercut their profit margins.
The message, apparently, is this: "We're idiots."
The RIAA, after all, is the guardian of an industry so antiquated and oppressive that having sympathy for these guys is a little like feeling sorry for a Georgia slaveholder after watching Sherman's troops fire his mansion and scatter his livestock.
So when their first victim, Thomas, turns out to be a single American Indian mother of two making a measly $36,000 a year -- latte money for the RIAA boys -- you have a hard time picturing these guys nailed to a cross. But that's the image the RIAA has tried hard to foster since some pimply-faced intern first explained to them what file sharing was. All of a sudden it was, oh, boo-hoo. Poor us.
Cry me a river.
Here's an industry so bloated with executives and middlemen, all of them greedily slurping up profit like bluepoint oysters, that the people who actually write the songs and play the music -- the "talent" -- are getting royally screwed in the royalty department. It's been like that for years. The Dylans and the Stones of the world might be able to rise above it and name their price, but for the rank and file it's "Dance to our tune, or go back and rot in that crummy little club."
The usurious nature of the business is the main reason that the average CD, which at most costs a couple of bucks to produce, routinely sells for upwards of $20. Sometimes the songwriter makes out all right (forget about the singer or the musicians), but licensing and contracts have been sufficiently rigged by the boys in legal to ensure that the lion's share of the carcass goes to people who have absolutely nothing to do with the actual music.
If there's an industry where the Marxist exhortation for the workers to control the means of production makes sense, this is it.
Some artists are beginning to wise up to this. Thanks to technology (and when have you ever heard the Luddite say that?) bands are discovering that they can, in effect, become their own publishers, cut out the middleman and go directly to their audiences.
Radiohead is the latest band to offer an album's worth of music online, for free. Fans are being asked to pay what they feel is fair, and my guess is that most people will kick in something. Given the chance to be reasonable, we usually will.
The record companies are greedy, not reasonable, which is why it's hard to get worked up at the thought of people sharing "their" music for free. Thieves stealing from thieves? So what?
It's this new artist-to-audience business model, though, that poses the real threat to the long-term survival of the traditional music companies. If you're among those who consider corporations and conglomerates to be evil incarnate, you'll be rooting hard for this new model to take hold. Not just for the sake of the little guy in the music world, but for the sake of little guys everywhere.
Meanwhile, I think Jammie Thomas is going to turn out to be a public-relations nightmare for the RIAA. Crucifying someone who falls into about five demographically challenged categories to "send a message" hardly represents sound battle tactics for an entity already perceived as arrogant and overweening.
With almost seven decades in show business behind jazz ambassador/pianist/educator/radio personality Marian McPartland, an NEA Jazz Master, it’s hard to imagine additional milestones left to achieve in such an illustrious and celebrated career. But this November, McPartland will be inducted into the prestigious National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.
The ceremony takes place on Nov. 3 and honors McPartland for almost 30 years at the helm of National Public Radio's popular program “Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz.” Also being inducted are sports commentator Jerry Coleman, singer/comedian Jimmy Durante, groundbreaking African-American writer/producer Richard Durham and rock radio pioneer Dan Ingram.
“Piano Jazz,” the Peabody-award winning broadcast, is produced by South Carolina ETV and Radio and is heard by over a quarter-million listeners on NPR each week. McPartland's encyclopedic knowledge of the jazz repertoire; warm, witty rapport; and ability to adapt on the fly to the many styles and personalities of her over 500 guests have made this educational, entertaining and sublimely musical program the longest-running jazz program on NPR.
Additionally, the 89-year-old legend will premiere a new piece she composed in honor of the influential environmentalist author of “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson. The orchestral piece will be performed by McPartland and the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra in Columbia, S.C., on Nov. 15 as part of a special program conducted by Dr. Donald Portnoy.
Long an admirer of Carson's book and a staunch environmentalist herself, McPartland penned the tribute and collaborated with renowned jazz and film pianist/arranger Alan Broadbent, who sculpted the orchestrations around McPartland's piano-based compositions.
The Cable Channel Says the CD Is 'Nowhere Near Elevator Music'
Cool isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Weather Channel. Informative? Yes. Convenient? Most definitely. But for years, dedicated viewers have insisted that the Weather Channel rocks, literally. Now, thanks to a new CD called "The Weather Channel Presents: The Best of Smooth Jazz," the first in a series of albums the cable channel is producing, you, too, can discover the hip beats of the Weather Channel.
While this music may sound more like "muzak" to some, Weather Channel representatives insist that for years the songs it plays during its "Local on the 8s" segment have garnered a surprising amount of viewer attention.
"Music has been a signature core piece of the Weather Channel for years," said Shari Pace, the vice president of licensing and merchandising for the Weather Channel.
The music is such a core component to the channel's appeal that many viewers admit they watch the station just for the tunes. More than the meteorologists or even the weather, these tunes are what keep many people tuned in, and Weather Channel executives have taken notice.
The songs of the Weather Channel have even generated a sort of cult following. There are videos of children dancing to their music posted on YouTube, and even a video with Pink Floyd's "One of These Days" playing in the background to prove that the Weather Channel is more than just elevator music.
"Elevator music? Are you kidding me?" said Pace. "It's nowhere near elevator music."
Viewers even call in or e-mail the cable channel asking to know what song they just heard. So many people inquire about the music that the Weather Channel has created a separate Web page on its Web site where viewers can find a complete month-by-month play list dating back to 1998.
"We get instant feedback [on the music]," said Pace. "And when I tell you instant, I mean instant. If they don't like it, we know right away."
Now, the cable channel is looking to capitalize on its faithful listeners. They hope this latest venture will turn these warm, soothing tunes into cold hard cash. While this isn't the Weather Channel's first foray into the realm of corporate merchandise, it has previously sold items ranging from apparel to umbrellas to weather radios, "The Best of Smooth Jazz" signals the first time consumers can purchase a licensed-entertainment product from the cable channel.
Weather Channel aficionados can purchase their favorite weather-watching tunes starting today at bookstores, music retailers and online. The CD features a selection of songs from popular jazz artists, such as David Koz and Chick Corea.
But why, many ask, does the Weather Channel, with more than 35 million visitors to its Web site every month and an at-home audience of 93 million viewers, feel the need to branch out into the music field? Executives from the cable channel say, like Starbucks, selling CDs is all about expanding a brand and finding new sources of revenue. If it works, the Weather Channel says, even more CDs are in the forecast.
Teresa Brewer, one of the most popular US pop singers of the 1950s, has died in New York at the age of 76. 
