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National Endowment for the Arts Announces the 2014 NEA Jazz Masters, Nation’s Highest Honor in Jazz
June 27, 2013 / No CommentsThe National Endowment for the Arts has announced its 2014 Jazz Masters, the nation’s highest honors in jazz. The four recipients chosen for the honor are musician/educator Jamey Aebersold, saxophonist and instructor Anthony Braxton, bassist/ educator Richard Davis and composer/pianist ...
David Ake – Bridges
June 25, 2013 / No Comments / Tags: Bridges, David Ake, Mark Ferber, Peter Epstein, Positone, ravi coltrane, Scott Colley, thejazzpage.com(Positone) Pianist and composer David Ake paints a diverse musical landscape on his latest recording, Bridges. The project presents a nice multi-layered snapshot of Ake, who wrote all of the tunes on the project. The music goes from melodic, introspective, into a grinding swing or into a ...
Cecil Taylor Receives Japan’s Kyoto Prize
June 21, 2013 / No Comments / Tags: cecil taylor(June 21, 2013) Today, venerable pianist and composer Cecil Taylor was named a Kyoto Prize laureate by the the Inamori Foundation. The annual award is presented for excellence in the areas of the arts, philosophy, science and technology. The prize includes a cash gift of 50 million yen ...
Steve Heckman- Born To Be Blue
June 21, 2013 / No Comments / Tags: akira tana, Marcus Shelby, Steve Heckman(Jazzed Media) Saxophonist Steve Heckman’s latest finds him joining forces with a tremendous lineup of musical talents for one outstanding recording. On Born to Be Blue, Heckman is joined by guitar great Howard Alden, drummer Akira Tana, bassist Marcus Shelby and pianist Matt Clark. The ...
Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck Recording Discovered 50 Years Later
June 19, 2013 / No CommentsNEW YORK — Tony Bennett never forgot the first time he performed with Dave Brubeck more than half a century ago. But the tape of that memorable collaboration between two American jazz masters lay forgotten in a record label’s vaults until its discovery by an archivist just weeks after Brubeck’s ...
2013 Playboy Jazz Festival: LA Times Review
June 18, 2013 / No CommentsChris Barton, Los Angeles Times Jazz Critic June 16, 2013 There was a moment at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday night when a question came to mind that felt a little like a Zen koan: If you hear a guitar solo but can’t see a guitar, did the solo really happen? It’s the sort of […]
Harry Connick Jr. releases “Love Wins” in honor of Ana Grace Marquez-Greene
June 14, 2013 / No CommentsNEWTOWN, Conn. — Harry Connick Jr. has written a song in honor of a 6-year-old girl killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. Connick this week released the song “Love Wins,” dedicated to Ana Grace Marquez-Greene. He says proceeds will go to the Ana Grace Fund set up to help ...
Chucho Valdes – Jazz Great Carries On Tradition
June 4, 2013 / No Comments / Tags: chucho valdesFamily dynasties are the backbone of Cuba’s rich musical history. Big bands that were formed during the golden age of Cuban music – the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – are still performing today, with the son of the founder at the helm (and sometimes the original bandleader as well). Latin-jazz ...
Pianist Mulgrew Miller Dies at 57
May 30, 2013 / No Comments / Tags: mulgrew millerNATE CHINEN (New York Times) Mulgrew Miller, a jazz pianist whose soulful erudition, clarity of touch and rhythmic aplomb made him a fixture in the postbop mainstream for more than 30 years, died on Wednesday in Allentown, Pa. He was 57. The cause was a stroke, said his longtime manager, Mark ...
Seattle-Born Jazz Singer Sara Gazarek Comes Home To Give Back
May 21, 2013 / No CommentsHanna Brooks Olsen (KOMOnews.com) SEATTLE — Singer Sara Gazarek didn’t grow up with a lot of exposure to jazz — after all, Seattle is really known more for grunge (and, recently, hip-hop) than for crooning voices and downtown piano bars. But when she joined the jazz choir in ...
