Nancy Wilson's 70th birthday party at NYC jazz festival

"This year, you can count on two weeks of outstanding music featuring some of the best of traditional, straight-ahead, contemporary, Big Band, Second Line, R&B, Latin, world music and more"

A belated swinging 70th birthday party with an all-star guest list is planned for pop-jazz songstress Nancy Wilson at this year's JVC Jazz Festival.

Wilson, who turned 70 on Feb. 20, won her third Grammy earlier this year in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Album for 'Turned to Blue,' an album drawing on her experiences in a five-decade career as an entertainer.

At the June 29 Carnegie Hall concert, Wilson and her trio will be joined by special guests, including jazz vocalists Nnenna Freelon, Dianne Reeves and Kurt Elling; pianists Herbie Hancock and Ramsey Lewis; and violinist Regina Carter. Read more

Gladys Knight To Receive ELLA Award

LOS ANGELES, Apr. 17, 2007

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(AP)

(AP) Gladys Knight will receive the 16th annual ELLA Award from the Society of Singers. The honor, named after its first recipient, jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, salutes entertainers for their musical successes and dedication to charitable and humanitarian causes.

"It is a truly awesome feeling to be receiving this honor. Ella was the sweetest and most beautiful person as a talent and as a human being," Knight said Tuesday.

Knight will receive the award Sept. 10. Past winners include Elton John, Frank Sinatra and Celine Dion.

"Gladys Knight has one of the greatest and most distinctive voices of our time," said Jerry F. Sharell, the Society of Singers' president and chief executive officer. (The Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization offers services to meet the emergency financial needs of professional singers worldwide.)

Knight, 62, has won seven Grammys in her career, with hits including "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)."

Dianne Reeves at the Gem: Celebrating Her 'Good Luck'

"I did one concert with Rosemary and a lot of other singers many, many years ago"

Dianne Reeves was already an established top-of-the-line jazz singer when another breakthrough came in 2005.

Her appearance in the film 'Good Night, and Good Luck' provided a career boost that's 'been pretty amazing,' she says. 'It just gave me a broader audience.

'A lot of people who were fans of George Clooney saw me in the film and started coming to my concerts' -- like the one she'll give Saturday at the Gem Theater, rounding out the Jammin' at the Gem season.

Reeves has been one of the strongest singers in jazz for quite a few years. Her music-making is driven by taste, intelligence and imagination. And she's strong enough to be more respectful of the words and melodies of songs than most of the others working today. Read more

3/21/07 - NY Daily News - Hank Jones & Abbey Lincoln (Both Hospitalized)

Dr. Sandhya Balaram (standing far l.) and Dr. Daniel Swistel, both heart surgeons at St. Luke's Hospital, join their recovering patients Abbey Lincoln Moseka and Hank Jones.

 

3/21/07 - NY Daily News - Hank Jones & Abbey Lincoln (Both Hospitalized)

Subject: Hank Jones & Abbey Lincoln  Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:29:07 -0700 Finding harmony together The unexpected reunion of two New York jazz legends BY JULIAN KESNER / Daily News Posted Monday, March 19th 2007, 12:26 AM Dr. Sandhya Balaram (standing far l.) and Dr. Daniel Swistel, both heart surgeons at St. Luke's Hospital, join their recovering patients Abbey Lincoln Moseka and Hank Jones. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The jazz pianist and jazz singer sat side by side talking softly and exchanging memories. It had been 10 years since they last saw each other, and 15 since they recorded a full-length album together. Occasionally, the singer would break into song, and the pianist would pick up the tune and sing along. But there was no piano present, nor a recording studio. The only background music was the beeping of a heart monitor machine, and air moving through an artificial respirator down the hall. Their managers and producers were nowhere to be seen - only doctors and nurses, who from afar kept an eye on the pair and the reporter sitting beside them. It was an unlikely reunion in the most unlikely of places for Hank Jones and Abbey Lincoln Moseka, two jazz legends whose paths crossed again last Tuesday at St. Luke's Hospital. Jones, 88, has been playing the piano for over 60 years. He recorded with Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald, among others, and played for "The Ed Sullivan Show" for many years. The 77-year-old Lincoln Moseka grew up in Chicago as Anna Marie Wooldridge (a former manager gave her the stage name Abbey Lincoln). She came to New York in her 20s and sang at the Village Vanguard, later marrying jazz and bebop composer Max Roach (they divorced in the 1960s) and starring in several films. Producer Jean-Philippe Allard jump-started Lincoln Moseka's career in the early 1990s, culminating with the 1992 album "When There Is Love" - recorded with none other than jazz pianist Hank Jones over three or four days. The duo have also performed on tracks for other albums. Jones came to New York City in February after a few months in Japan, where he performed "a few concerts in Kobe" and spent time relaxing. Two weeks after arriving here, the problems began. "It felt like indigestion," he recalled last Tuesday, seated in Lincoln Moseka's hospital room at St. Luke's, wrapped in a thick bathrobe. "I didn't feel any pain." In reality, Jones had suffered a massive heart attack. St. Luke's cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Sandhya Balaram performed bypass surgery on Jones on Feb. 28, and he's recovering well. "He said the only thing wrong with his room was there was no piano," said Balaram. Lincoln Moseka was rushed to St. Luke's on March 3, not breathing and suffering heart failure and pulmonary edema (during which the lungs fill with fluid). St. Luke's cardiothoracic surgery chief, Dr. Daniel Swistel performed aortic valve replacement and bypass surgery and Lincoln Moseka has been in the ICU since. "Her recuperation will be a bit slower. She's got more to recover," said Swistel. Jones and Lincoln Moseka had no idea they were in the same hospital at the same time, but while Googling their respective album histories, Balaram and Swistel realized their patients' connection and arranged for the reunion. Jones is expected to be at St. Luke's a couple more weeks, continuing physical therapy after being discharged. Lincoln Moseka's recovery is more unsure; she may still be in the hospital when her new album, "Abbey Sings Abbey," is released later this year. Regardless, within minutes of seeing each other again, Jones, Lincoln Moseka and their healing hearts seemed to relax. "Old friends should never get separated. A lot of years have gone by," said Jones, adding to Lincoln Moseka, "We should record together!" "He always makes me feel special,"said Lincoln  Moseka, visibly weak but  smiling nonetheless. "It's wonderful to see him."

Jazz Vocalist Dakota Staton, 76, Dies

by Nate Guidry
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 12, 2007

Dakota Staton, an iconic Pittsburgh jazz vocalist who achieved international fame, died Tuesday at Isabella Geriatric Center in New York after a lengthy illness. Ms. Staton was 76.

Sharynn Harper, a spokesperson for Ms. Staton's brother, Fred Staton, said Ms. Staton had been in declining health after suffering a triple aneurysm several years ago.

Ms. Staton's last major performance in Pittsburgh was in 1996 when she performed at the Hill House Auditorium as part of the Mellon Jazz Festival.

Born and raised in Homewood, Ms. Staton attended Westinghouse High School and was a member of the famed Kadets, a swing band that played music ranging from "String of Pearls" to Coleman Hawkins' "Body and Soul."

After cutting her teeth working with the Joe Westry Orchestra at several of the bigger nightclubs in the Hill District, Ms. Staton moved to Detroit in search of other musical opportunities.

In 1954, Ms. Staton recorded a single for Capitol Records and began a series of highly visible concerts on the East Coast. Two years later, she was named "the most promising jazz vocalist of the year" by the critics at Downbeat Magazine. When her first album, "Late Late Show," appeared the following year, it was hailed a classic.

In the mid 1960s, Ms. Staton moved to England.

"From England I ventured all around the world," Ms. Staton told the Post-Gazette in a 1996 interview. "Most of the venues I played there were for international audiences that spoke and understood English, like the Intercontinental hotel chains and other places I worked. Many of those people had never heard the blues, and I was an oasis for them. I imagine some of them have never heard it since."

Dave Brubeck in Durham, CT

May 19, 2007 at Coginchaug Regional High School, Durham, CT, jazz legend Dave Brubeck celebrates the birth of a new children's charity - Jazz'd 4 Life, with hosts Dr. Mel from News Channel 8 and actor, author, producer, Chris Lemmon. Jazz'd4Life reaches children from our backyards in Connecticut's inner cities to our most impoverished neighbors around the world. This concert's proceeds supports Connecticut's AmeriCares, New Haven and Middlefield's Camp Farnam, as well as the B.E.M. School in Les Cayes, Haiti. Event festivities kick off Saturday evening with the Jazz'd4 Life Inaugural Fund-raising Concert with Mr. Dave Brubeck Following the concert, will be a VIP Reception including full dinner, drinks and a celebrity jam at the picturesque Lyman Homestead. This will be an evening of great food, fun and music in an intimate setting, with the performers and other special guests.

Dave Brubeck in Durham, CT

May 19, 2007 at Coginchaug Regional High School, Durham, CT, jazz legend Dave Brubeck celebrates the birth of a new children's charity - Jazz'd 4 Life, with hosts Dr. Mel from News Channel 8 and actor, author, producer, Chris Lemmon. Jazz'd4Life reaches children from our backyards in Connecticut's inner cities to our most impoverished neighbors around the world. This concert's proceeds supports Connecticut's AmeriCares, New Haven and Middlefield's Camp Farnam, as well as the B.E.M. School in Les Cayes, Haiti.

Event festivities kick off Saturday evening with the Jazz'd4 Life Inaugural Fund-raising Concert with Mr. Dave Brubeck Following the concert, will be a VIP Reception including full dinner, drinks and a celebrity jam at the picturesque Lyman Homestead. This will be an evening of great food, fun and music in an intimate setting, with the performers and other special guests.