Carmen Lundy at Ford Amphitheatre

Get ready to enjoy a summit of jazz notables who've won acclaim far and wide — featuring Jazz vocalist Carmen Lundy, violinist Regina Carter, pianist Robert Glasper, trombonist Steve Turre and a dozen more artists — as they open an international tour spotlighting their own compositions. The concert, entitled, "Jazz And The New Songbook Artists, Starring Carmen Lundy, " will be performed on Sunday, September 10th at 7:00 PM at the Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.This all-star event, nationally acclaimed jazz lineup for one night only, and the evening will present new, original and visionary jazz compositions performed by The New Songbook Artists.Joining Lundy onstage are: Robert Glasper, Anthony Wonsey – piano; Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Terri Lyne Carrington – drums; Mayra Casales – percussion; Curtis Lundy, Bob Hurst – bass; Sekou Bunch – electric bass; Steve Turre - trombone, shells; Bobby Watson – alto; Greg Diaz – trumpet; Regina Carter – violin; Lori Andrews – harp; Phil Upchurch – guitar; Krystal Davis Williams – background vocals.Her newest release, "Jazz and The New Songbook-Live at The Madrid, " is Lundy's first live recording and features 16 musicians including Robert Glasper, Nathan East, Phil Upchurch, Steve Turre, Bobby Watson, Curtis Lundy, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Victor Lewis, Mayra Casales and Kenny Davis.Lundy has performed and recorded as a soloist with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and The Vallejo Symphony Orchestra. She has performed and recorded with such musicians as Walter Bishop Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Ray Barretto, Don Pullen, Kenny Barron, John Hicks, Ernie Watts, Mulgrew Miller, Billy Childs, Teri Lynn Carrington, Jimmy Scott, Kip Hanrahan, Courtney Pine, Marian McPartland, Regina Carter, and the late Kenny Kirkland.Her work has been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, as well as numerous foreign publications. Ms. Lundy is also a composer and songwriter whose catalogue numbers about forty published songs. Her compositions have been recorded by such artists as Kenny Barron ("Quiet Times"), Ernie Watts ("At The End Of My Rope"), and Straight Ahead ("Never Gonna Let You Go"), and can also be found on her own recordings Something To Believe In and This Is Carmen Lundy (both for Justin Time), Old Devil Moon (JVC), Self Portrait (JVC), Moment To Moment (Arabesque), Night And Day (CBS/SONY), and Good Morning Kiss (CLR/Justin Time).A native of Miami, Florida, Carmen Lundy's path to being one of today's most talented, respected and sophisticated jazz singers began at age six, with her first piano lessons. Deeply inspired by her mother, Oveida, who was then lead singer in the gospel group The Apostolic Singers, Carmen joined her church's junior choir.Armed with a devoted following and critical kudos, the uncompromising Ms. Lundy continues to make waves, not just in North America, but in Asia and throughout the UK and Europe.Carmen is featured on 3 popular CDs: Geri Allen's "Timeless Portraits and Dreams, " on "Hear Now! Jazz Vocalists, " a Hallmark Production, and on Mayra Casales' new release, "Woman on Fire."

For more information about Carmen Lundy, her music and tour dates, visit: www.carmenlundy.com or www.myspace.com/carmenlundy .

The intimate 1200-seat outdoor amphitheatre of the Ford lends itself to Lundy's artistry. The Ford, nestled in the Hollywood Hills, is just off the 101 (Hollywood Freeway) across from Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal Studios at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. Picnickers welcome, food and beverage available on site. Grounds open two hours before show time for picnicking.This event is part of the Ford Amphitheatre 2006 Season, a multi-disciplinary arts series produced by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission in cooperation with Los Angeles County-based arts organizations.

Diana Krall - From This Moment On

“This album coincides with a happier time in my life. I think it’s very obvious in the music. It reflects how I’m feeling now, the joy that I have in my marriage and family, and hopefully in the future.”

It had only been a few days since singer and pianist Diana Krall publicly announced that she and husband Elvis Costello were expecting their first child. Her remarks may have primarily focused on her upcoming album, but it was easy to discern the rosy glow as she discussed imminent arrivals, and how she came up with the name for one of them.

“I already knew before we went into the studio the title of the record. I definitely knew it was going to be From This Moment On.”

Cole Porter’s romantic ode to great expectations (with its hip, heartening couplet, “No more blue songs/Only whoop-dee-doo songs”) could not be more apt a title track for Krall’s tenth album. From This Moment On is an eleven-song collection that captures the Canadian-born sensation in full swing, in great company, and at the top of her game. It could also be called her strongest, most cohesive release to date.

Krall is the first to admit that the album’s marked, upbeat theme was not originally her intention (“I never try to link tunes together or find songs that work together as a whole. It happens organically in the recording process, or not at all.”) But she does assume credit for knowing the songs she would be recording when she, her quartet and the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra assembled for two weeks in Los Angeles’s famed Capitol Studios this spring.

“I didn’t really sit down with anybody prior to recording it and say, ‘I think I want to do this.’ I knew exactly what I wanted from the get go. I started writing down song titles last summer, but a lot of these tunes I’ve had in my back pocket for years. I’ve been working on ‘How Insensitive’ for about ten years. ‘Day In, Day Out’ I started working on when I was about 24. I mean these are all tunes that finally have found their place.

“Every tune has to have some sort of personal connection. But I didn’t want it all to be too upbeat – like ‘Willow Weep For Me’, which for me is more of a social comment, adds a question mark to that positive feeling.”

In songs, mood and delivery, From This Moment On reveals Krall’s personal ardor for that golden era of song-making, when Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and (especially) Nat “King” Cole were in their prime. It’s musical territory that Krall has often explored, but this album was certainly not a case of simply repeating past formulas: Krall’s A-team of support – producer Tommy LiPuma, engineer Al Schmitt and arranger/bandleader John Clayton – were on hand to ensure that inspiration was kept on an edge, unhindered by the studio environment.

“I’m not exactly working with people who are going to just say, ‘Oh it’s lovely, Diana.’ We never go an automatic pilot, you know? Sometimes I feel incredibly exposed during the recording process but fortunately I have the safety net of people whom I can listen to, and agree or disagree with. There’s nobody hanging over me and saying you have to do this or that. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t surprises and it can be an extraordinarily intense environment. The emotions can run high since people care so passionately about the music and what we are doing.”

Krall – for the few still unknowing – is the 41-year old sensation whose cool, heavy-lidded vocals and strikingly sensitive piano-playing has helped her transcend barriers of genre to become a popular artist of the first order who has carved herself a permanent position at the top of the jazz charts.

The seeds of Krall’s crossover success are firmly rooted in her upbringing. Born in Nanaimo, Canada, to a musical family – her father is a stride-style pianist and serious record collector -- she grew up absorbing music that laid the foundation for her future growth. She attended Berklee College of Music in the early ‘80s, moved to Los Angeles where she continued her studies with the likes of bassist Ray Brown and pianist Jimmy Rowles, who convinced the young pianist to focus on her singing as well. By 1990, Krall relocated to New York City where she began performing on a regular basis with her trio. In 1993, she released her debut album on a small Canadian independent label.

Thirteen years later, she can look back over a stellar career path: in ’99, signed to Verve, her career exploded when When I Look in Your Eyes won a GRAMMY© for best jazz vocal and became the first jazz disc to be nominated for Album of the Year in twenty-five years. In 2002, The Look of Love was a #1 bestseller in the US and a seven-time platinum album in Canada. 2004’s The Girl in the Other Room, was her first to focus on her own songwriting – featuring six tunes co-written with her husband – and last year’s Christmas Songs proved one of the season’s best-sellers.

From This Moment On delivers Krall closer than ever to her musical aspirations and, in many ways, serves as a tribute to her heroes and mentors. One can detect her gratitude in a variety of musical moments.

“There’s a couple of pieces that I put Ray Brown into – like his introduction to Count Basie’s Little Darlin’ on ‘You Can Depend On Me’ -- and a lot of [vocalist/pianist] Shirley Horn was present in ‘Come Dance With Me.’ Our treatment of ‘From This Moment On’ came together after listening to [trumpeter/composer] Kenny Dorham’s version which I really love. I hear [arranger] Billy May especially in ‘Day In Day Out.’

“I have to mention Fred Astaire’s influence on ‘I Was Doing All Right’ – and in fact, all through the album. I listened to a lot of Fred with Oscar Peterson while preparing for this project, as well as watching a lot of his early movies, like Swing Time."

“Do you know that great album with Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra, where he sings ‘Poor Butterfly’? ‘ Isn’t This A Lovely Day’ is very reminiscent of that. John [Clayton] wrote that arrangement at dinner the night before we recorded it. We were all sitting at a restaurant and he’s got a pad of paper. He was laughing and having the conversation and you see the wheels turning at the same time. And I loved playing piano on that. I think that’s my favorite piano work on the whole record – that, and ‘Exactly Like You.’”

Krall’s piano work and her arrangements – particularly on the album’s four quartet performances – are all standouts, as are a number of instrumental solos that she recalls with a marked fondness.

“That’s Gerald Clayton on piano on the title track -- he’s an amazing piano player and I think he played the hell out of that tune. I think Jeff Clayton’s alto sax solo on ‘Isn’t This A Lovely Day’ is a masterpiece -- definitely one of the highlights of the record. And Terrell Stafford played the perfect trumpet solo right after that! He walked in, nailed it in front of the whole band, and I said ‘Terrell, you sound like an old man.’ He’s only in his 30s! I meant it as the best compliment.

Krall is quick to point out that she is happy with everything on the album for different reasons, especially for the collaborative results. “I’m proud of tunes like ‘Exactly Like You’ specifically for every little note that [guitarist] Anthony [Wilson] plays, and simply for how the subtlety can work when we all play together, and how we all play what matters.”

“Playing what matters” could well be the subtitle to From This Moment On. There’s an economy and confidence that speak to the maturity of Krall as a performer, and a recording artist. “I really settled in with this record. I think I’ve let go of trying to prove something, and I wasn’t out to overplay solos. To just settle back into the bench and play those tough tempos and keep the solos simple and melodic and beautiful, and not have to pass a poll of some kind? That’s enough.”

From This Moment On is also a recording that cannot help but expose Krall’s feelings of being a wife and expectant mother. “It’s a reflection of who I am and where I am at this time. So I need to get that album out like now because that’s how I feel now. I don’t know how I’m going to feel six months down the road, so ‘Only whoop-dee-doo songs’? Yeah. Exactly.”

Nancy Wilson- Hollywood - My Way and Broadway My Way

Nancy Wilson- Hollywood - My Way


Hollywood — My Way was Nancy Wilson’s seventh album for Capitol Records in the 1960s, and as the follow-up and companion to Broadway — My Way, was the second album of hers with a thematic program. This CD reissue also marks the first time that this album is released on CD in the U.S. and remastered directly from the original master tapes at the same legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where the music was originally recorded.


These seventeen songs, written between 1936 and 1966, all emanate from the classic repertoire of the movies and feature the works of some of the idiom’s greatest composers and lyricists including Arlen, Mercer, Mancini, Kern, Van Heusen, Cahn, Porter, Bacharach, Mandel, and Legrand. The arrangements here, by Jimmy Jones (first twelve tracks), Billy May, Oliver Nelson, and others, perfectly support Nancy’s brilliant forays in exploring the sound of the cinema.


The bonus tracks (13–17) appear for the first time on CD in the U.S.

Track Listing

1 My Shining Hour
2 The Days of Wine and Roses
3 Moon River
4 Secret Love
5 Dearly Beloved
6 I'll Never Stop Loving You
7 When Did You Leave Heaven
8 Almost in Your Arms (Love song from 'Houseboat')
9 Wild is the Wind
10 The Second Time Around
11 Did I Remember
12 You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
13 Alfie *
14 The Look of Love *
15 More (Theme from 'Mondo Cane') *
16 The Shadow of Your Smile (Love theme from 'The Sandpiper') *
17 Watch What Happens *






Nancy Wilson- Broadway - My Way

Broadway — My Way was Nancy Wilson’s sixth album for Capitol Records in the 1960s and was the first to feature a thematic program. This CD reissue also marks the first time that this album is released on CD in the U.S. and remastered directly from the original master tapes at the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where the music was originally recorded.


These seventeen songs, written between 1944 and 1965, all emanate from the classic repertoire of the Broadway stage and feature the works of some of the idiom’s greatest composers and lyricists, including Berlin, Bernstein, Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Frank Loesser, and Lerner & Loewe. The arrangements here, by Jimmy Jones (first twelve tracks) and others, perfectly support Nancy’s brilliant forays in exploring the music of the Great White Way.


The bonus tracks (13–17) appear for the first time on CD in the U.S.

Track Listing

1 A Lot of Livin' to Do
2 You Can Have Him
3 Tonight
4 Make Someone Happy
5 I Believe in You
6 As Long As He Needs Me
7 Getting to Know You
8 My Ship
9 The Sweetest Sounds
10 Joey, Joey, Joey
11 Loads of Love
12 I'll Know
13 Hello, Young Lovers*
14 If Ever I Would Leave You *
15 I'm All Smiles *
16 Come Back to Me *
17 Don't Rain on My Parade *

DianaKrall.com - NEW ALBUM 'FROM THIS MOMENT ON' OUT SEPT 19TH

NEW ALBUM 'FROM THIS MOMENT ON' OUT SEPT 19TH

“This album coincides with a happier time in my life. I think it’s very obvious in the music. It reflects how I’m feeling now, the joy that I have in my marriage and family, and hopefully in the future.”



It had only been a few days since singer and pianist Diana Krall publicly announced that she and husband Elvis Costello were expecting their first child. Her remarks may have primarily focused on her upcoming album, but it was easy to discern the rosy glow as she discussed imminent arrivals, and how she came up with the name for one of them.

“I already knew before we went into the studio the title of the record. I definitely knew it was going to be From This Moment On.”"

A collage of Ella

  

Ella

  

Ella sings Street of Dreams

Alan Hewitt's 'METROPOLIS'

• New Release! • New Release! • New Release! • New Release!
Alan Hewitt's 'METROPOLIS' Available Now!
On sale for $10 this week at www.215Music.com



(catalog #215-2033)
Alan Hewitt’s new offering Metropolis puts it all together, making it a must have for any contemporary jazz fan, or for that matter any music fan. Picking up where his 2004 classic Noche de Pasion’ left off, Metropolis features Hewitt's unmistakable way with a catchy hook and seductive groove, he brings an intensely urban, neo jazz flow into the mix, balancing the lush ballads with edgier tunes.
Hewitt generates sparks on the opening track 'JoyRide,' cutting loose on the piano with help from Gerald Spike's tenor sax. The great songs just keep coming, each one better than the last. Highlights include Alan's own version of Sly Stone's lengendary 'Hot Fun in the Summertime', 'Swingin' On Sunset' and title track 'Metropolis'.

Track Listing
1. Vibe (intro)
2. JoyRide
3. Velvet Kisses
4. Metropolis
5. Hot Fun in the Summertime
6. Swingin' On Sunset
7. Liquid Blue
8. So In Love (interlude)
9. So In Love
10. Lost In Emotion
11. Indigo
12. Soleil

SPECIAL OFFER!!!
Exclusive FREE Download of Alan Hewitt’s New Single “JOYRIDE”
Only at http://www.215music.com/
• Also on sale this week at www.215music.com: ULTRABLUE • "

Bonnie Bramlett - Roots, Blues & Jazz

Bonnie Bramlett - Roots, Blues & Jazz
Zoho Roots ZM 200604
Bonnie Bramlett, lead & background vocals
Robbie Montgomery and Jessie Lucas (formerly with The Ikettes), background vocals
Bekka Bramlett, Chip Davis, Margie Gates, Steve Willets, Callaway, background vocals

Mr. Groove is:
Tim Smith bass, Roddy Smith guitar, Steve Willets piano, Mark Stallings Hammond organ

Tim Gordon saxes and flute, Donnie Marshall drums and percussion

Special guests: Bobby Ogdin keyboards, Dann Sherrill percussion



Rock and roll scholars depict the Bonnie Bramlett tale as an epic drama, and it most certainly is. But what the cognoscenti sometimes miss is the extent of this towering singer's contribution and her current role as one of America's greatest interpreters of the soul, R&B and jazz songbooks, bar none. In an era of safe singers, when massaging the public consciousness with smooth sounds is a sure way to commercial success, Bonnie Bramlett's joyous and soulfully hard-won vocals reflect a real life fully lived − bruises, beauties, and all. What will surprise anyone who has followed Bonnie's career is that not only does Roots, Blues &b Jazz find hre singing up a storm, but that her vocals are consistently stronger than most nu-soul stars half her age, and astonishingly, she is only getting better.

Between 1969 and 1972, when Bonnie Bramlett was a stage-storming, soul-stirring powerhouse with Delaney & Bonnie, she co-wrote such chart topping hits as "Soul Shake," "Only You Know & I Know," and "Never Ending Song Of Love." A member of rock's conquering elite, Bonnie Bramlett performed with legendary figures Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, George Harrison, Dave Mason, Gram Parsons, and John Lennon. She would go on to pen "Let It Rain" with Clapton, and one of the greatest songs of all time with Russell, "Superstar."
For decades, Bonnie has inspired respect, admiration and love from a wide range of stars. Even those who haven't worked with her, quickly understand her particular talent. "If I wasn't already married," says Keith Richards, "I would marry [her] voice. People have got to hear this, it is just beautiful."
For decades, Bonnie has inspired respect, admiration and love from a wide range of stars. Even those who haven't worked with her, quickly understand her particular talent. "If I wasn't already married," says Keith Richards, "I would marry [her] voice. People have got to hear this, it is just beautiful."

As a teenager, Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell performed in the dangerous dives of St. Louis with local legends Albert King and Little Milton. By 15, already a toughened musician with an amazing delivery, Bonnie became the first white girl to tour with Ike & Tina Turner as one of their Ikettes. Afterwards, she returned to St. Louis to continue her education vocalizing with jazz greats Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, King Curtis, Miles Davis, and Wes Montgomery.
Fate called when in 1967 Bonnie moved to Los Angeles where she met and married Delaney Bramlett. Soon the supercharged southern duo were signed to Stax Records, their gospel inspired rhythm and blues landing them an opening slot with seminal supergroup Blind Faith. The duo's reputation rose like a comet when Eric Clapton left Blind Faith to join Delaney & Bonnie and their crack band on a European tour (heard on the classic Delaney & Bonnie & Friends On Tour). Bonnie had by then grown into a consummate songwriter, her songs eventually interpreted by The Staple Singers, The Everly Brothers, Lester Flatt, The Allman Brothers Band, and Hank Williams, Jr.
Going solo, Bonnie cut three albums for Capricorn Records in the 1970s, and also graced many important recordings as a backup or featured guest vocalist on classic albums by Little Feat, Delbert McClinton, Rita Coolidge, Carly Simon, Dave Mason, and Joe Cocker.
As the industry changed and the '70s became the '80s and the '90s, Bonnie turned her magnetic stage presence to acting, landing parts in Oliver Stone's The Doors and a recurring role in the #1 rated television show, Roseanne. (Bonnie is currently in production for the Kevin Costner thriller, Guardian, playing "the blues singing mama who owns the bar," Bonnie laughs).
After time off for reflection and repose, Bonnie made her way back to the music via Nashville. 2002's I'm Still The Same found Bonnie's trademark tenor howl rising from the grooves like a soaring bird. Blues, Jazz & Roots signals her full scale return to the soul sounds that forged her talent in the fires of St. Louis and Los Angeles, today wiser, smarter, and singing like a soul giant inspired.
So what was the goal for Blues, Roots & Jazz?
"I wanted to grow up into a jazz singer," Bramlett replies. "But I didn't know what that meant anymore. There is not really a Dinah Washington or Billie Holiday anymore is there? What happened to those soulful approaches to songs? That is the kind of singer I wanted to be when I grew up and if I ain't grown up by now I never will be! We rock out on this album too, but I am trying to burn more towards the jazz description of my expression."
Aiding in this expression is her band, Mr. Groove, a Nashville based ensemble who have worked together since the mid-1980s, and founded by the brothers Tim and Roddy Smith. Mr. Groove's cohesion is the bedrock on which Bonnie Bramlett is set free. Mr. Groove's contribution to Roots, Blues & Jazz is multi-faceted. They are expert interpreters of the soul-jazz and R&B idioms, and are also inspired arrangers who - far from replicating cover versions - can re-create familiar songs in a completely fresh and new light. The gospel-tinged "Love the One You're With" and the swinging intro to "No Particular Place to Go" are especially powerful examples.
Bonnie Bramlett, with her daughter Bekka who also contributed background vocals to the recording.
"You know how if you have a little bird in your hand and you throw it up in the air it just takes off?" Bonnie asks. "That is what this band does for me, it is a safety net one minute and it allows me to fly the next."
Blues, Roots & Jazz runs the gamut of Bonnie's history and fulfills her desire to "grow up into a jazz singer." Her joyous spirit fills Steven Still's "Love The One You're With," Chuck Berry's "No Particular Place to Go" and Joe Zawinul's "Mercy Mercy." Bonnie interprets classics like "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "Work Song" with a gritty depth that only comes from a life fully lived, scars worn as badges as of honor. But the true soul of Blues, Roots & Jazz is in Bonnie's original songs and select covers which reflect her soul-drenched heart.
Bonnie's readings of "I'm Confessin'" and "That Lucky Old Sun" are sublime, slow burners where she channels the ghosts of jazz greats long gone. "The blessing is that the minute [pianist] Steve Willets started playing those songs we started singing them," Bonnie recalls. "I was thinking of Louis Armstrong for both songs. I searched the archives of my heart and mind and soul.
"I was a child when I first heard those songs," she continues. "I remember the cotton fields, it being hot at night, and there is still so much work to do. But that lucky old sun he's got nothing to do. I like to slow down a song until it is almost like dialogue. Until I can tell the story and you know what I mean."

The album also contains the first recorded collaboration between Bonnie and two original members of the Ikettes, Robbie Montgomery and Jessie Lucas, on August 30, 2005 in Nashville - over 40 years after Bonnie's stint with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue! As expected, this reunion was both emotional and great fun. Equally impressive, the album documents the first recording of Bonnie with her daughter, Bekka Bramlett, whose own career as a singer included a memorable stint with Fleetwood Mac in the 1990's. Not surprisingly, Bekka has inspired Bonnie.
"Carefree," which floats effortlessly over drummer Donnie Marshall's simmering samba rhythm finds Bonnie expressing a simple love of life, and the loved ones in it. "That is me watching my daughter, Bekka, the butterfly. Where is she going? I don't know, maybe in the wind. I remember being like that, I was that butterfly, and now I am watching another one go. It is about that carefree-ness, the freedom that youth and old age brings."
From '70s superstardom to Hollywood glamour to Nashville skyline easy living, Bonnie Bramlett has done it all, seen it all, and lived to tell her tale. At the core of her experience is her incredible spirit-quickening voice, an instrument for the ages. "Every song is a story," Bonnie says. "I am using myself as a vehicle and I surrender to that piece of work. That is why I don't just sing any song. I won't do it for money. I would be a billionaire if I did that, but I just can't do that. I don't know what I have done to deserve these pipes but I sure do appreciate them. I have such a strong thick voice now. It blows my mind away, and I am proud of my work." Ken Micallef
Recorded at The Groovehouse, Nashville and GAT 3 Recording, Charlotte by Jimmy Dulin and Glenn Tabor, from January to September 2005. Additional recording at The Groovehouse, Nashville, Studioeast, Charlotte, and Saxworks, Charlotte by Tim Smith, Roddy Smith, Mark Stallings, Tim Gordon, and Jimmy Dulin. Mixed and mastered by Phil Magnotti at Silvermine Studio, Norwalk, CT, except "No Particular Place to Go" and "Gotcha" mixed by Kevin Ward at Kilowatt Productions, Murfreesboro, TN. Produced by Bonnie Bramlett and Tim Smith. Photography by Thorn Bresh. Package design by 3 and Co., New York. Executive producers: Tim Smith, Roger Davidson & Joachim Becker.
Projected street date is March 2006. "Given Bonnie's unique musical and personal history, we are expecting significant consumer, retailer, media and radio interest in this release : the tastes of many of Bonnie's fans from the 1970's have migrated from Rock to Jazz and Blues, as have Bonnie's", comments Joachim Becker from ZOHO. "Her incredible voice is more expressive than ever, her singing is powerful, instantly recognizable and unforgettable."
Advance publicity for Bonnie's ZOHO release already got a significant head start when TV talk show host Larry King briefly mentioned and displayed the CD cover of "Roots, Blues & Jazz" on CNN in a special "Roseanne" TV sitcom cast reunion show which featured Bonnie Bramlett as a special guest, on October 7, 2005, to a national audience!
Artist Website:www.bonniebramlett.com/ Label Website:www.zohomusic.com/

Personal Publicist to Bonnie Bramlett
Mike Hyland
President
Full Court Press Music Group
352 4th Avenue South # 2
Franklin, TN 37064
Tel: 615 599 9706
Fax :615595 4211
Cell: 615 495 0144
MikeHyland@comcast.net

ZOHO™is distributed by Allegro
Zoho Media contact:
Jim Eigo
Jazz Promo Services
269 S Route 94
Warwick, NY 10990
T: 845-986-1677 / F: 845-986-1699 / E-Mail: iazzpromo@earthlink.net
Web Site: www.iazzpromoservices.com

CAROL MENNIE - I'M NOT A SOMETIME THING

I'M NOT A SOMETIME THING



Carol Mennie makes her maiden voyage as a leader on I'M NOT A SOMETIME THING, a
marvelous mixture of jazz and popular standards and originals with words and music by her producer and long time partner, guitarist/arranger/composer Dom Minasi. Mennie, who made her recording debut last year with a moving rendition of Thelonlous Monk's "Round Midnight" on Minasi's critically acclaimed Time Will Tell cd, here has her mature vocal stylings surrounded by the ggitanst's inventive arrangements which showcase her versatile voice in a variety of settings, accompanied by a superb band featuring Minasi, cellist Tomas Ulrich, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Jay Rosen, with special guests Patience Higglns on saxophones, Valery Portomarev on trumpet and flugel horn and Tom McGrath on percussion.

The opening Jazz, Jazz, Jazz is an appealing anthem written by Minasi specifically for Mennie in the early 9Q's, to supply the singer's songbook with a jazz waltz — the form which, as the lyrics note, had been missing from her repertoire. The introductory verse "I'm a singer of songs/I like to sing my songs whenever I can/It's even better when you have a great band" is a particularly appropriate beginning for the date, spelling out the singer's philosophy and approach to music. Higgins' soprano saxophone and Minasi's guitar jazz things up with nicely as Mennie sings brightly over the swinging rhythm section.

You Don't Know What Love Is, one

of jazz's most recorded standards, is given a unique treatment in this distinctive arrangement that begins with Mennie's intimate reading of the Gene De Paul/Don Ray lyric joined by Minasi's lone acoustic guitar, before moving into a second chorus accompanied by bass and bongo, recalling Peggy Lee's Fever. Higglns soprano saxophone obbligato brings the rhythm section in and the tempo up for a bluesy straight ahead section In which the singer has some fun with the seriousness of the song's words.
Rodgers and Hart's We Was Too Good For Me is a poignant duet by Mennie and Minasi. Mennie's deliberately torpid reading of her remorseful lines ignites a coo! flame of smoldering regret and unfulfilled desire making the burning fire of this archetypal torch song all too painful and real.

Mennie's passionate performance of Ann Ronnell's Willow Weep For Me Is set against the intensity of Minasi's artful string arrangement featuring his own guitar, Filano's bass and Ulrich's cello, driven by Jay Rosen's drums. Mennie's shrieking out chorus matches Minasi's own avant countrified solo in shaking loose the branches on this old chestnut.

Brown Eyes

is a beautiful ballad by Minasi with music composed by the guitarist in the mid eighties and words written a decade later. The song opens ominously with bowed bass and cello, emphasizing the subject's haunting quality, movingly expressed by Mennie's smoky recitation of the lyrics. Valery Ponomarev's muted trumpet solo and obbligati further enhance the tune's moody emotion.Minasi's I'm Not a Sometime Thing title track is a bluesy swinger that Mennie delivers with a finger snapping voice of experience that Is alternately swaggering and coy. Ponomarev is back on trumpet and Higgins switches to tenor to give the band a classic sound, reminiscent of the Jazz Messengers, which pushes the singer to deliver one of her most powerfully pleasing performances of the record.
Mertnie begins In The Wee Small Hours with a sensitive reading of the rarely heard verse of the Bob Hilliard/David Mann romantic ode to nocturnal longing, accompanied only by electric guitar, before launching into the stirring arrangement built around Ulrich's opulent cello and featuring another excellent solo by Mlnasi.
Who Needs YW is a novelty number by Mlnasi offering a bit of comic relief to the serious tone of much of the date's other selections. Starting with this silly samba's first hilarious line of "Who needs another bossa nova?" Mennie places her tongue firmly in her cheek and keeps it there throughout, singing lines like "Who needs another saxophone blowing (n my ear/ The sound of trumpets always there" only to be answered by Higgins' tenor and Ponomarev's ftugel horn on this paean to the partners jazz musicians.
Billy Barnes' sad show song Too Long At The Fair is one of those Broadway standards that has received surprisingly spare attention from jazz vocalists. Mennie's affecting performance, reminiscent of Sarah Vaughn's classic rendition of Send In The Clowns, mines the lyrics for all the distressing Ironies that are further enhanced by Minasi's occasionally satirical narrative arrangement.
Angela Is a serious bossa nova by Minasi, one with a melody written many years ago paired with a recently penned lyric. The composition's mysterious mood makes the music sound as If it might belong to a James Bond movie soundtrack, particularly when Mennie breathily intones the words "her smile, her lips are dangerous," Ulrich and Minasi both complement the singer's stirring performance with their own compelling solos.
Mennie pulls out all the stops for an exciting finale of Lover Man. This uptempo workout on the Ram Ramirez warhorse shows off the singer's swing In a fiery Minasi arrangement that also features fine solos by Higgins, Ponomarev, Stevens and the guitarist at his wildest.
I'M NOT A SOMETIME THING is an impressive debut by a seasoned singer with a distinctive style that is all of her own who isn't afraid to show it off. Hopefully, from now on hearing Carol Mennie sing should be something more of a regular thing.
Russ Musto
Media and Label Contact: Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services
T: 845-986-1677 / F: 845-986-1699 E-Mail: iaj:zpjomo(g>earthlink.net
Distributed by: NorthCountry Distributors, Cadence Building, Redwood, NY 13679 P: 315-287-2852 F: 315-287-2860 northcountry@cadencebuildinQ.com

CARMEN LUNDY - Jazz and the New Songbook - Live at the Madrid Theatre L.A.

Carmen Lundy - Jazz and the New Songbook: Live at the Madrid Theatre L.A.

Recorded February 18, 2005

Vocalist Carmen Lundy stands virtually alone today at the top of her profession as a jazz singer who throughout her illustrious thirty year career has composed a considerable portion of the words and music that make up her remarkable repertoire. On Jazz and the New Songbook the seasoned singer/songwriter showcases her vibrant voice and considerable compositional capabilities on a double cd (and live concert DVD recorded in HD) comprised completely of her own works. Recorded live in concert at Los Angeles' Madrid Theater, Lundy is joined by an all-star cast of musicians, many of whom have contributed to the success of her previous six studio sessions. The veteran vocalist's arrangements leave lots of room for the stellar players, Billy Childs, Robert Glasper, David Roitstein, Curtis Lundy, Kenny Davis, Nathan East, Victor Lewis, Man/in "Smitty" Smith, Mayra Casales, Bobby Watson, Mark Shim, Steve Turre, Phil Upchurch, Krystal Davis Williams, and the LA String Quartet, to share the spotlight with her distinctive vocals on this valuable documentation of a very special evening.
Lundy begins the concert with an upbeat version of "In Love Again," shining brightly on this optimistic ode to romance (the opener from her 2003 release Something To Bel/eve In), accompanied ably by pianist Billy Childs, bassist brother Curtis Lundy, drummer Victor Lewis, percussionist Mayra Casales, guitarist Phil Upchurch and the horn section of altoist/arranger Bobby Watson, tenor saxophonist Mark Shim and trombonist Steve Turre. Carmen shows off her range and rhythm, swinging hard, high and low, integrating her voice into an egalitarian group sound in a manner at times reminiscent of the late great Betty Carter.
"One More River To Cross," co-composed by Lundy and Deborah Ash, is dramatically introduced by Billy Childs' orchestral piano and Steve Turre's signature conch shell sounds. The rhythm section, augmented by Robert Glasper's keyboards and Kenny Davis' electric bass (with Man/in "Smitty" Smith replacing Victor Lewis) enters eerily, creating an exotic soulful atmosphere over which Lundy softly intones her words before interpolating Langston Hughes' powerful poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", into the piece. First heard on her album This Is Carmen Lundy, this live rendition is a landmark in African-American concert music.
On the gospel-tinged "Something To Believe In" the rhythm section, featuring Glasper at the piano, Davis and Nathan East on electric basses and Lewis, Smith and Casales on drums and percussion, is joined by the LA String Quartet, providing a lush background to Lundy's emotional vocal. Carmen convincingly conveys the spirituality inherent in the soul stirring words to the song that served as the title track to her last cd.
"Better Days," originally heard on the leader's 1994 Self Portrait album, opens with Curtis Lundy laying down an alluring bass line, anchored by Victor Lewis' drums and nicely complemented by David Roitstein's keyboards, Upchurch's guitar and the string quartet. Carmen reaches high into her upper register to lend an almost childlike eagerness to her uplifting lyric, simply summed up by the lines "Everyday will be much sweeter than the day before/All you have to do is keep on holding on."
Carmen and Curtis Lundy co-composed "Where'd It Go," a swinging love song that first appeared on the bassist's Against All Odds album. The vocalist demonstrates the full range of her beautiful voice on this one, beginning with her full dark moaning bottom and slowing moving her way up the scale, finishing with some high powered upper register pyrotechnics. Glasper and Watson both have persuasive solos on this winning arrangement that recalls the potent lyricism of the altoist's group Horizon.
"Wild Child," written by Lundy, Julie Raynor and producer Elisabeth Oei is another selection originally from Something To Believe In. Carmen presents a passionate performance, her voice impeccably intertwining with Shim's soprano saxophone to tell her story, accompanied by a "double trio" featuring Robert Glasper. Billy Childs, Curtis Lundy, Nathan East, Victor Lewis and Marvin "Smitty" Smith working in perfect harmony.
The newly composed "Afrasia!" from which the release's label takes its name, is an exotically entrancing composition that opens with a Steve Turre conch shell solo. It combines African rhythms and a melodic chorus (featuring Krystal Davis Williams backed by
the string quartet) that hearkens to the Orient, while invoking the myriad names given to God in many different cultures. The refrain leads into Lundy's appealing lyric that speaks of "the language of love and the spirit of one." A truly unique piece in the jazz canon, "Afrasia!" demonstrates Lundy's individuality and strength as a composer and singer.
"Happy New Year" is Lundy's answer to the question "Why are there a million Christmas songs and only one for New Years?" A quietly festive anthem, it's delivered with a hushed delicacy not unlike Shirley Horn's classic "Here's To Life." Bobby Watson is featured with a moving melancholic alto solo, while Upchurch reinforces the mood with some gently supportive comping.
Disc One ends with another new piece, Lundy's "Long Journey Home," a simple soulful outing (from the Curtis Lundy cd Against All Odds) reminiscent of the sugar man Stanley Turrentine. It features a relaxed emotive Carmen vocal, deep bluesy sax solos by Shim and Watson and swinging surefingered backgrounds from Glasper and Upchurch. The enlightened lyric speaks of letting "love guide the way to a higher place."
Disc Two opens with Lundy's poignant lament, "You're Not In Love," a tortuously exquisite expression of the sad truth surrounding a fading love and the ensuing hurt of heartbreak that was a highlight of the singer's Old Devil Moon album. The moody masterpiece features Steve Turre's lyrical muted trombone nicely complementing Carmen's compelling vocal.
"All Day, All Night" is a sexy, celebratory rocking-good-time anthem from This Is Carmen Lundy. This updated rendition has the singer and the band really wailing - digging deep and rhythmically throwing down the kind of sound that says that they mean to get a raucous rollicking party started.
The cleverly titled "Walking Code Blue" is an ominous portrayal of life in the fast lane with a brutally honest, yet humorous cautionary lyric by Lundy in the tradition of the Crusaders' "Street Life." The spare spacious background provided by Childs' keyboards and Upchurch's guitar recalls early electric Miles, and the two solo with inspired abandon over the expansive rhythmic tapestry woven by Smitty and Mayra.
"Send Me Somebody To Love" (from This Is Carmen Lundy) is a lightheaded Latin-tinged line that Carmen swings lightly over the pulsating sound provided by Glasper's piano and Curtis Lundy's bass over Smitty and Mayra's percussion. The singer engages in a bit of humorous repartee with the audience that's good for more than a couple of laughs. ; i
The LA String Quartet and Upchurch are featured on "Old Friend," a bittersweet piece in a Kind Of Blue kind of mood, capably accompanied by Roitstein's piano, Lundy's bass and Smitty's drums, Carmen taking her time with the loving lyric that she debuted on her Self Portrait album.
"I Dream In Living Color" officially closes the program. The funky number from This Is Carmen Lundymwes straight ahead jazz, Latin, fusion and funk rhythms and features the high flying horn section and exciting drum breaks by Casales and Smitty before Lundy introduces the band and lets them take it out.
The disc is completed with a trio of "bonus tracks" -- excellently rendered "monitor mixes" of three popular Lundy pieces, "Firefly", "Vu Ja De" and "Good Morning Kiss", whose "official" 48-track concert recordings were lost due to a power surge. The live sound on stage of Lundy and her band offers a rare intimate opportunity to hear the artists as they hear themselves while performing.
Listening to Carmen Lundy live is indeed a joyous and moving experience. Seeing and hearing her here, on cd and DVD, performing eighteen of her own compositions in the company of compatible accompanists who help bring the music to life for an appreciative audience is surely the next best thing to being there. Certainly enough to convince any astute listener that amongst the growing number of female vocalists singing jazz today, Carmen Lundy stands out as a truly creative, multitalented artist in a class all her own.

Press Contact:
Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services
269 S Route 94 Warwick, NY 10990
T: 845-986-1677 / F: 845-986-1699
E-Mail: jazzpromo@earthlink.net
Web Site: www.jazzpromoservices.com/

"Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events."

Barbara Sfraga & Center Search Quest

Barbara Sfraga & Center Search Quest
Pre-CD Release for Timelessness Frozen in Time &
Book Release for Barbara Sfraga's: Book of Drawings The
Subway Series: A Book of Drawings Sprinkled With Words
Thursday, June 22nd at Makor NYC



Barbara Sfraga and Center Search Quest will be celebrating the upcoming release of their latest CD, Timelessness Frozen in Time (Street Date September 5, 2006), as well as Barbara Sfraga's book The Subway Series: A Book of Drawings Sprinkled With Words at Makor, 35 West 67th Street, 212-601-1000, Thursday, June 22nd, 7:30 PM, $15. cover.
With voicist Barbara Sfraga, bass artisan Christopher Dean Sullivan, soundrhythium Michael T.A. Thompson, pianist/vocalist/songwriter Mala Waldron, and saxophonist Erik Lawrence.
Described as consistently inventive (Billboard), a master of bold interpretation (Jazz Times), jazz singing at its cutting edge best (LA Times), Barbara Sfraga has been on a musical journey that evolved from church organist to rock keyboardist to jazz singer to voicist. Her creativity pours over into the visual arts as well, as evidenced by her work in the book also being celebrated on June 22nd.

In 1989, bass artisan Christopher Dean Sullivan met kindred spirit and soundrhythium Michael T.A. Thompson, and collaborated to form Center Search Quest. Barbara met Sullivan and Thompson in 2002 and has been performing with them ever since in many configurations, including voice/bass/drums, performing some of Barbara's originals as well as their unconventional arrangements of jazz and pop standards. During that time, T.A. made a comment to Barbara that what she needed to do next was an entirely original project. Although she had a few of her originals sprinkled on her previous two recordings (Oh, What a Thrill, Naxos Jazz and Under the Moon, A440 Music Group) she was more known for her unconventional twists on jazz and pop standards (pops-terdizing jazz andjazz-terdizing pop...}
The next year, T.A. and pianist/vocalist/songwriter Mala Waldron began a writing collaboration. Shortly thereafter, they surprised Barbara with material they had written expressly for her, with the invitation to write lyrics to any of the tunes she resonated with. That gift put this present journey into motion. Soon after, the unit began regularly writing together toward what would become the Timelessness project. Mala Waldron officially joined the unit in the summer of 2004, and saxophonist/flautist Alien Won came on board shortly after that. Mala and Alien also lead their own groups and each have releases as leaders; Waldron's Always There (2006) and Won's The Jewel in the Lotus (2004)
Collaborating with these stellar musicians, Sfraga and Center Search Quest are genre-bending their way to a whole new sound. With roots firmly planted in jazz and with the improvizational element always in place, Sfraga and CSQ are on a quest to leave no groove unturned. All five musicians lend their creative - and sometimes their physical -voices to this project in three part harmony, with a little spoken word thrown into the pot. It's music without borders! Sfraga and CSQ's newest recording will be celebrated June 22nd, featuring mostly their original material, as well as a few surprises.

Booking Contact:
Lorraine Tucci
New Sound Ideas
(01) 212-426-9518
newsoundideas@earthlink.net

Publicity:
Jim Eigo
Jazz Promo Services
269 Route 94 Warwick, NY 10990 T: 845-986-1677 / F: 845-986-1699

E-Mail: jazzpromo@earthlink.net
Web Site: www.jazzpromoservices.com

"Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events."

NEW ON CD-R - Jane Morgan "Jane in Spain"

Hi this album is not available on CD. This CD-R was transferred and restored from the original reel-tape issue. The reel tape edition carries a bonus track also...so you'll get a special treat! Just email me for details on how to get it: chico75pi@gmail.com

NEW ON CD-R - Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 "Stillness"

Hi this album is not available on CD. This CD-R was transferred and restored from the original reel-tape issue. The reel tape edition carries a bonus track also...so you'll get a special treat! Just email me for details on how to get it: chico75pi@gmail.com

NEW ON CD-R - Bud Shank & Chet Backer "Michelle"

Hi
this album is not available on CD. This CD-R was transferred and restored from the original reel-tape issue. The reel tape edition carries a bonus track also...so you'll get a special treat!
Just email me for details on how to get it: chico75pi@gmail.com

Ella and Frank singing "Going Out of My Head"

Jazz Spotlight featuring Benita Hill - I'll See You In My Song on Benita Hill @ jazzreview.com

New Release Spotlight Featuring: Benita Hill

CD Title: I'll See You In My Song
Year: 2006
Record Label: Benita Hill
Style: Jazz Vocals

Musicians: Kevin Madil (piano), Jim Ferguson (bass), Bob Mater (drums). Kirk Whalum (saxophone), Michael Ripoll (guitar)

Tracks:
Love Came On Stealthy Fingers
Go Slow
Sausalito In The Summertime
I Knew Him In New York
I'll See You In My Song
Born To Be Blue
You've Ruined It For Me
I Go To Extremes
Besame Mucho
The London I Remember
Here's That Rainy Day
I Can Dream Can't I
That's For Me
I Don't Have A Care In The World



Listen to track(s): Go Slow / Sausalito In The Summertime / I'll See You In My Song

Purchase CD: At www.cdbaby.com or At www.itunes.com

Tune into the Helen Merrill Birthday Broadcast

Tune into the Helen Merrill Birthday Broadcast

Tonight, July 21, 2006
Friday, 8p-midnight

Steve Schwartz
Jazz From Studio Four
Friday, 8p-midnight
WGBH, 89.7FM, Boston

Tune In On The Internet
http://www.wgbh.org/jazz/

A fine singer with a warm, expressive voice, Helen Merrill's infrequent recordings tend to be quite special with plenty of surprises and chance-taking. She started singing in public in 1944 and was with the Reggie Childs Orchestra during 1946-1947. Merrill, who was married for a period to clarinetist Aaron Sachs, had opportunities to sit in with some of the top modernists of the time, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Bud Powell. She was with Earl Hines in 1952 and started recording regularly for EmArcy in 1954. Her collaboration with Clifford Brown was her first classic. She made several notable EmArcy albums during 1954-1958 (including one in 1956 that helped bring Gil Evans out of retirement); all have been reissued in a large box. After recording for Atco and Metrojazz in 1959, she moved to Italy for the next four years, touring often in Europe and Japan. Back in the U.S., Merrill teamed with pianist/arranger Dick Katz for a pair of notable and unpredictable Milestone dates (1967-1968) and then moved to Japan where she was quite popular. Helen Merrill returned to the United States in the mid-'70s and has since recorded for Inner City, Owl, EmArcy (including a reunion date with Gil Evans) Antilles, and Verve, which released her 2000 album Jelena Ana Milcetic a.k.a. Helen Merrill. by Scott Yanow

For More Info About Helen Merrill Visit: http://www.helenmerrill.com/

CORNELIA STREET CAFÉ

CORNELIA STREET CAFÉ
29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York 212-989-9319
www.corneliastreetcafe.com
between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village
1,9 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, F to West 4th St.

Contact: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services, 845-986-1677, jazzpromo@earthlink.net





This Weekend At Cornelia Street Cafe


Fri Jul 21
THE SONGWRITER'S BEAT FESTIVAL

(Sal Casabianca; Anna Dagmar; KP Devlin; Bill Grady; Albert Del Rio)

The Songwriter's Beat Festival presents 25 of NY's best songwriters in 5 days, including a reunion of the original Songwriter's Exchange.

All proceeds to benefit The World Foundation for Music and Healing .

Now in its 6th year, The Songwriter's Beat is New York’s most popular acoustic songwriter’s series, where songwriters are encouraged to perform new material in a supportive and intimate atmosphere.

Curated / hosted by Valerie Ghent, The Songwriter’s Beat features top up-and-coming songwriters. Each month four songwriters of varying musical styles perform original songs and are encouraged to try out their newest material and arrangements.

Founded in 2000 by Valerie Ghent, The Songwriter's Beat has presented over 200 (hailing from all over the globe: from the US, UK, Australia, South Africa and Japan!) and keeps growing!

The Songwriter's Beat welcomes songwriters from around the world, so if you are planning your trip to New York, allow time for The Songwriter's Beat!
9:00PM Valerie Ghent, host. Cover $10 songwritersbeat.com

Sat Jul 22
THE SONGWRITER'S BEAT FESTIVAL
(Thea Hopkins; Kelli Sae; Mark Vodery; Robin Macatangay; Elizabeth Withers)

The Songwriter's Beat Festival presents 25 of NY's best songwriters in 5 days, including a reunion of the original Songwriter's Exchange.

All proceeds to benefit The World Foundation for Music and Healing.

Now in its 6th year, The Songwriter's Beat is New York’s most popular acoustic songwriter’s series, where songwriters are encouraged to perform new material in a supportive and intimate atmosphere.

Curated / hosted by Valerie Ghent, The Songwriter’s Beat features top up-and-coming songwriters. Each month four songwriters of varying musical styles perform original songs and are encouraged to try out their newest material and arrangements.

Founded in 2000 by Valerie Ghent, The Songwriter's Beat has presented over 200 (hailing from all over the globe: from the US, UK, Australia, South Africa and Japan!) and keeps growing!

The Songwriter's Beat welcomes songwriters from around the world, so if you are planning your trip to New York, allow time for The Songwriter's Beat!
9:00PM Valerie Ghent, host. Cover $10 songwritersbeat.com

Sun Jul 23
TRIOS DAVID HANEY FEATURING JULIAN PRIESTER
(David Haney, piano; Julian Priester, trombone; Adam Lane, bass)
Pianist David Haney with TROMBONE LEGEND JULIAN PRIESTER!!! ONLY 2006 NYC APPEARANCE

Two CDs released The Music-The David Haney Trio (C.I.M.P.) For Sale, Five Million Cash- David Haney and Julian Priester (Cadence Jazz Records)

Four composers, four instrumentalists, four conversationists. Four unique voices, one special date. The Legendary Julian Priester has been a driving force in creating the jazz landscape. For fifty years Julian has been at the forefront of music creativity and his contributions are many. He has worked with an vast array of artists from Ray Charles and Diana Washington to Max Roach, Dave Holland, Herbie Hancock, etc., etc. etc. In 1999 Julian began touring and recording with pianist David Haney. They have toured throughout the U.S. and Europe and have three new CDs together for Cadence Jazz Records and C.I.M.P. Come see what the excitement is all about!

"an amazing depth of sound and texture... of echoing notes and subtle haunting effects. At times, Haney's dexterity can sound like piano for four hands, or more accurately music for piano and percussion, though never in overwhelming fashion; he frequently takes momentary pauses like a saxophonist's breath connecting short runs of notes. This is modern music in the minimalist vein, rarely swinging but proving that swing-ing is certainly not as essential as the improvising element to be a qualifier for jazz." Laurence Donohue-Greene, All About Jazz, New York
8:30PM Cover $12 www.davidhaney.org
Mon Jul 24
VIBES: TOM BECKHAM GROUP
(Tom Beckham, vibraphone; Chris Cheek, saxophones; Bryn Roberts, piano; Gary Wang, bass; Diego Voglino, drums)

8:30PM www.tombeckham.net
Tue Jul 25
SOLO PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL

HONKY TONK PADRE
(Roger Fawcett)
ROGER FAWCETT has a long theatrical history. He made his debut as a teenager with the legendary William Bendix in The Gazebo and appeared in numerous other tours and productions from the 60's to the 80's on Broadway, Off Broadway and around the country. In mid-course, he entered a little seminary in Brooklyn and was ordained a priest in 1986. HONKY TONK PADRE is the story of an actor battling familiar and unfamiliar demons and his remarkable journey through alcohol, drugs, doubt and faith.
6:00PM Cover $6

SOUL OF THE BLUES FESTIVAL
(Roosevelt & Ira Lee; Julia Joseph; Oli Rockberger)
World-Class Summer Blues Festival to Return to Blues-Deprived Big Apple

Local promoter Bagel & Rat Entertainment is teaming with the Long Island-based Downstate New York Blues Association and Cornelia Street Cafe to stage New York City's second annual Soul of the Blues Festival this summer.

Julia Joseph (NYC) "balances delicate introspection with the raw energy of solid blues and soul." Traces of her heroes – Nina Simone, Phoebe Snow, Janis Joplin - inform a "voice that could awaken the dead and lull the living to sleep." Julia was named "Best Female Jazz Solo Artist" at the New York International Independent Music Festival in 2004.

Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Brooklyn) makes its debut tonight. This new project brings together the talents of legendary Williamsburg bluesman and poet Preacher Boy, Soul of the Blues veteran Will Scott, and Capitol Records/ Astralwerks recording artist Joe Magistro (aka Prophet Omega) on drums (currently in the studio with The Black Crowes). "The swampiest, nastiest, funkiest, thrumpiest blues trash out there..."

London-born jazz/gospel/R&B pianist, vocalist and songwriter Oli Rockberger brought down the house at Soul of the Blues back in February and we're delighted to have him and his band back. Oli combines astounding musicianship with soulful high spirits - truly a "scary talent."

From July 25-29, some of the most exciting and accomplished local, regional and even international blues and soul artists will tramp down the stairs to the legendary Cornelia Street Cafe stage. In that welcoming, intimate setting, New York audiences will get to experience the kind of great music the city's blues clubs used to present - before they almost all, in recent years, closed down or switched formats.

"We're really excited to be working with Downstate again on the Festival," says Bagel & Rat's Paul Cruz. "The [blues] scene on Long Island is hopping, but here in the city blues fans don't have much opportunity to experience this kind of live music any more... Downstate coming in with their great bands is just such a shot in the arm for the scene." Over one third of the bands at the Festival were booked through the Downstate NY Blues Association. This summer's festival will feature a broad range of talent, from the rhythmic country blues of Roosevelt & Ira Lee to the sweet soul sounds of Sam "Magic Man" Waymon (brother of the late Nina Simone); from New York's celebrated blues queen Pat Cisarano to the genre-smashing soul-jazz of British import Oli Rockberger; from the rough blues-rock of Andre & the Night Hounds and Sonny Hudson's wailing harmonica to the honeyed stylings of songstress Julia Joseph and the thumping Chicago blues of Breakaway. Altogether seventeen acts will perform over five days. (See http://souloftheblues.com for the full schedule.)
8:30PM Jon Sobel, host.
Wed Jul 26
SOLO PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL

OVID’S METAMORPHOSES
(Todd Conner, playwright/performer)
Todd Conner performs his new translation and solo adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Storytelling stripped to the bare essentials, Conner’s Metamorphoses returns audiences to the very well-springs of the Western storytelling tradition. Conceiving, translating and adapting from Ovid, Conner reaches even further back than his ancient Roman source material to explore the poetic/bardic tradition from which Ovid drew his inspiration. With only his voice, body, a few props, a minimum of light, and a harp (learned specifically for this piece, for which he also composed accompaniment), Conner’s performance is a reminder that in our age of relentless over-mediation and mass-entertainment, it is the individual human being who must remain the essential medium of artistic expression.

Todd Conner, in addition to being a performer, is an award-winning playwright and accomplished director.

$10 for adults, $6 for students.
6:00PM Cover $10 www.mayasphereproject.com

SOUL OF THE BLUES FESTIVAL
(Tony Gallo Group; Tommy Keys; My Friend Ben)
World-Class Summer Blues Festival to Return to Blues-Deprived Big Apple

Local promoter Bagel & Rat Entertainment is teaming with the Long Island-based Downstate New York Blues Association and Cornelia Street Cafe to stage New York City's second annual Soul of the Blues Festival this summer.

From July 25-29, some of the most exciting and accomplished local, regional and even international blues and soul artists will tramp down the stairs to the legendary Cornelia Street Cafe stage. In that welcoming, intimate setting, New York audiences will get to experience the kind of great music the city's blues clubs used to present - before they almost all, in recent years, closed down or switched formats.

"We're really excited to be working with Downstate again on the Festival," says Bagel & Rat's Paul Cruz. "The [blues] scene on Long Island is hopping, but here in the city blues fans don't have much opportunity to experience this kind of live music any more... Downstate coming in with their great bands is just such a shot in the arm for the scene." Over one third of the bands at the Festival were booked through the Downstate NY Blues Association. This summer's festival will feature a broad range of talent, from the rhythmic country blues of Roosevelt & Ira Lee to the sweet soul sounds of Sam "Magic Man" Waymon (brother of the late Nina Simone); from New York's celebrated blues queen Pat Cisarano to the genre-smashing soul-jazz of British import Oli Rockberger; from the rough blues-rock of Andre & the Night Hounds and Sonny Hudson's wailing harmonica to the honeyed stylings of songstress Julia Joseph and the thumping Chicago blues of Breakaway. Altogether seventeen acts will perform over five days. (See http://souloftheblues.com for the full schedule.)
8:30PM Jon Sobel, host.
Thu Jul 27
SOLO PERFORMANCE

CONFESS\CONFUSE

FOUR MICRO-MUSIC-THEATRE-WORKS
(Margaret Benczak, soprano; Mary Kay McGarvey, soprano; Raymond Sage, baritone; Natalia Paruz, musical saw; Mat Fieldes, string bass; Bruce Trinkley, piano)

Three solo operas (and a fourth for all three singers) music by BRUCE TRINKLEY, words by JASON CHARNESKY, directed by RICHARD EDELMAN

Three singers, four confessions, and the confusion of the heart's passions laid open. Margaret Benczak, last seen as Carmilla in La Mama's breakthrough production; Broadway's Raymond Sage; and Brooklyn Queens Conservatory of Music's Mary Kay McGarvey present four dramatic scenes of characters haunted by ghosts and baffled by passion. These performers present a musical, dramatic tour de force as they create an array of unforgettable characters: a chat-room stalker, a lonely farmer's wife, the richest woman in America, and two British tourists lost in Greece Think of a five act opera compressed to fifteen minutes of intense revelation, times four. Richard Edelman directs. "If Puccini had a night job in the jazz cabarets of Berlin he might have written pieces as funky and lyrical as Bruce Trinkley's micro-music-theatre works."
6:00PM

SOUL OF THE BLUES FESTIVAL
(The One 2 Many Band; Halley DeVestern; Joe Vicino and the Smokedaddys)
World-Class Summer Blues Festival to Return to Blues-Deprived Big Apple

Local promoter Bagel & Rat Entertainment is teaming with the Long Island-based Downstate New York Blues Association and Cornelia Street Cafe to stage New York City's second annual Soul of the Blues Festival this summer.

From July 25-29, some of the most exciting and accomplished local, regional and even international blues and soul artists will tramp down the stairs to the legendary Cornelia Street Cafe stage. In that welcoming, intimate setting, New York audiences will get to experience the kind of great music the city's blues clubs used to present - before they almost all, in recent years, closed down or switched formats.

"We're really excited to be working with Downstate again on the Festival," says Bagel & Rat's Paul Cruz. "The [blues] scene on Long Island is hopping, but here in the city blues fans don't have much opportunity to experience this kind of live music any more... Downstate coming in with their great bands is just such a shot in the arm for the scene." Over one third of the bands at the Festival were booked through the Downstate NY Blues Association. This summer's festival will feature a broad range of talent, from the rhythmic country blues of Roosevelt & Ira Lee to the sweet soul sounds of Sam "Magic Man" Waymon (brother of the late Nina Simone); from New York's celebrated blues queen Pat Cisarano to the genre-smashing soul-jazz of British import Oli Rockberger; from the rough blues-rock of Andre & the Night Hounds and Sonny Hudson's wailing harmonica to the honeyed stylings of songstress Julia Joseph and the thumping Chicago blues of Breakaway. Altogether seventeen acts will perform over five days. (See http://souloftheblues.com for the full schedule.)
8:30PM Jon Sobel, host.
Fri Jul 28
SOUL OF THE BLUES FESTIVAL
(Sam Magic Man Waymon and the; Sonny Hudson and the Essential; Pat Cisarano; Dare Ya Blues Band)
World-Class Summer Blues Festival to Return to Blues-Deprived Big Apple

Local promoter Bagel & Rat Entertainment is teaming with the Long Island-based Downstate New York Blues Association and Cornelia Street Cafe to stage New York City's second annual Soul of the Blues Festival this summer.

From July 25-29, some of the most exciting and accomplished local, regional and even international blues and soul artists will tramp down the stairs to the legendary Cornelia Street Cafe stage. In that welcoming, intimate setting, New York audiences will get to experience the kind of great music the city's blues clubs used to present - before they almost all, in recent years, closed down or switched formats.

"We're really excited to be working with Downstate again on the Festival," says Bagel & Rat's Paul Cruz. "The [blues] scene on Long Island is hopping, but here in the city blues fans don't have much opportunity to experience this kind of live music any more... Downstate coming in with their great bands is just such a shot in the arm for the scene." Over one third of the bands at the Festival were booked through the Downstate NY Blues Association. This summer's festival will feature a broad range of talent, from the rhythmic country blues of Roosevelt & Ira Lee to the sweet soul sounds of Sam "Magic Man" Waymon (brother of the late Nina Simone); from New York's celebrated blues queen Pat Cisarano to the genre-smashing soul-jazz of British import Oli Rockberger; from the rough blues-rock of Andre & the Night Hounds and Sonny Hudson's wailing harmonica to the honeyed stylings of songstress Julia Joseph and the thumping Chicago blues of Breakaway. Altogether seventeen acts will perform over five days. (See http://souloftheblues.com for the full schedule.)
9:00PM Jon Sobel, host.
Sat Jul 29
SOUL OF THE BLUES FESTIVAL
(Jon Short; Breakaway; Andre and the Night Hounds; Pam Betti and the Bluebloods)
World-Class Summer Blues Festival to Return to Blues-Deprived Big Apple

Local promoter Bagel & Rat Entertainment is teaming with the Long Island-based Downstate New York Blues Association and Cornelia Street Cafe to stage New York City's second annual Soul of the Blues Festival this summer.

From July 25-29, some of the most exciting and accomplished local, regional and even international blues and soul artists will tramp down the stairs to the legendary Cornelia Street Cafe stage. In that welcoming, intimate setting, New York audiences will get to experience the kind of great music the city's blues clubs used to present - before they almost all, in recent years, closed down or switched formats.

"We're really excited to be working with Downstate again on the Festival," says Bagel & Rat's Paul Cruz. "The [blues] scene on Long Island is hopping, but here in the city blues fans don't have much opportunity to experience this kind of live music any more... Downstate coming in with their great bands is just such a shot in the arm for the scene." Over one third of the bands at the Festival were booked through the Downstate NY Blues Association. This summer's festival will feature a broad range of talent, from the rhythmic country blues of Roosevelt & Ira Lee to the sweet soul sounds of Sam "Magic Man" Waymon (brother of the late Nina Simone); from New York's celebrated blues queen Pat Cisarano to the genre-smashing soul-jazz of British import Oli Rockberger; from the rough blues-rock of Andre & the Night Hounds and Sonny Hudson's wailing harmonica to the honeyed stylings of songstress Julia Joseph and the thumping Chicago blues of Breakaway. Altogether seventeen acts will perform over five days. (See http://souloftheblues.com for the full schedule.)
9:00PM Jon Sobel, host.
Sun Jul 30
ERICA VON KLEIST AND PROJECT E
(Donny McCaslin, tenor saxophone; Jesse Stacken, piano; Dan Loomis, bass; Jeremy Noller, drums; Erica von Kleist, alto & soprano saxophones, flute)
As a member of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and the Chris Potter Tentet, Erica von Kleisthas begun to make her mark on New York’s jazz scene with her quintet, performing her funky original compositions and arrangements at jazz clubs throughout the area. Project E will be performing music from Erica’s new CD to be released in the summer of 2006, and is comprised of some of New York’s best talent.
6:00PM Cover $7 www.ericavonkleist.com

TRIOS: MICHAEL KANAN
(Michael Kanan, piano; Joseph Lepore, bass; Jeff Williams, drums)
Pianist Michael Kanan has been part of the New York Jazz Scene since 1991. He is widely known as a gifted vocal accompanist, having spent the last 10 years recording and performing with singers like Annie Ross, Jimmy Scott, and Jane Monheit (with whom he's been touring for the last 5 years). Through his work with vocalists, Kanan combines his deep appreciation for melody with rhythmic clarity, and harmonic freedom. In this rare trio appearance, Kanan will perform some seldom heard gems from the Great American Songbook, some compositions from Monk, Bud Powell, and Lennie Tristano, as well as some originals. He will be joined by legendary drummer Jeff Williams, and bassist Joseph Lepore.

Kanan does not dote on the styles of Tristano and Monk, electing to go his own way, and properly so. Simple lines and melodic musings are the hallmark of this fine player. His original tunes are methodically beautiful. His interpretation of the compositions of others may linger momentarily in appreciation of their legacy, but he wisely follows his own dictates and methods. The message is clear in performance..."Swing For The People" and this is done with clarity and overall excellence.
-- John Gilbert, Jazz Review.com
8:30PM Cover $8
Mon Jul 31
VIBES: TIM COLLINS
(Tim Collins, vibraphone; Erik Deutsch, keyboards; Matt Clohesy, bass; Simon Lott, drums)
Everything from hard-edged bass lines to haunting melodies are staples in vibraphonist Tim Collins' band. His original music draws upon hip-hop, electronica, jazz, and classical influences to create a driving, powerful sound.

“An exceptionally bright and brisk live jazz album featuring vivid jazz vibes, lighting up a full-spectrum sound. Incorporating influences from Funk, Rock and Latin styles with sassy backbeats and forthright piano punctuation, this east coast group is one that jazz connoisseurs will be talking about. With outstanding compositional integrity, this is truly a meeting of voices, a group performance with one, cohesive vision. Highly recommended.”
-- CDBaby review of Tim Collins Quartet - Live In Concert
8:30PM www.timcollinsmusic.com

JULY Spoken Word

Fri Jul 21
PINK PONY POETRY
Jackie Sheeler's open mic poetry series. Arrive before 6 pm to sign up. Tonight's featured reader is jaxx electronica.
6:00PM Jackie Sheeler. Cover $6
Fri Jul 28
PINK PONY POETRY
Jackie Sheeler's open mic poetry series. Arrive before 6 pm to sign up. Tonight's featured reader is Omaha Rising.
6:00PM Jackie Sheeler. Cover $6
Sat Jul 29
GUITAR & PEN
"Guitar & Pen" performance. Chris will be reading new fiction & playing new tunes
6:00PM Chris Belden, host. Cover $6

JULY User Added



Mon Jul 24
MINDY'S MONDAY
Over the years, Mindy has performed in professional regional theatre, on cruise ships and with several bands. She has produced and written three one woman shows. The current production is entitled, "Strong Enough for a Man, But Made for a Woman", which she performs at various venues throughout New York City. Mindy was featured in a high profile ASCAP Showcase at "The Sidewalk Cafe." Recently, she has brought music back to, The Two Boots "Den of Cin" with the successful premiere of Mindy's Mondays "The Kitchen Sink."
6:00PM Mindy Cassle, host. Cover $10
Mon Jul 31
SHAKESPEARE ANYONE?
Actors perform monologues scenes poems of The Bard.
6:00PM Jonathan Escobio, host. Cover $6

Ella and Ray in Paris

Jazz News: Monterey Jazz Festival Announces 2006 MJF County High School All-Star Band

Jazz News: Monterey Jazz Festival Announces 2006 MJF County High School All-Star Band: "Monterey Jazz Festival Announces 2006 MJF County High School All-Star Band
Posted: 2006-07-20


MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2006 MJF COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL ALL-STAR BAND
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS, CULTURAL EXCHANGES AND PERFORMANCES HIGHLIGHT TWO-WEEK TOUR OF JAPAN, JULY 25 - AUGUST 7
TOUR STARTS WITH PERFORMANCE AT THE NATIONAL STEINBECK CENTER IN SALINAS, JULY 24
Monterey, California; Since its inception in 1958, the Monterey Jazz Festival has invested its proceeds in education, providing a series of innovative music programs for young people. Over $500,000 is invested annually in the MJF's year-round jazz education programs, funded through a combination of Festival ticket revenue, grants, corporate sponsorship and individual contributions. The MJF investment in jazz education has paid off handsomely--recognizing, rewarding and nurturing the best and brightest young jazz musicians in the country.
In addition to the Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (which performed at the Jazz Standard in New York City, the International Music Festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy from July 9-16, and will appear at the 49th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival) the Monterey Jazz Festival has announced the members of the 2006 MJF County High School All-Star Band, the best and brightest student musicians from the Festival's home county.
Directed by renowned saxophonist and flautist Mr. Paul Contos, the 21-member MJF County High School All-Star Band features the finest young jazz musicians from high schools throughout Monterey County. Participants in the 2006 MJF County High School All-Star Band hail from the Monterey, Gonzales, Carmel, Everett Alvarez, Pacific Grove"

Rare Concerts Bring 'Jazz Icons' To Life

Rare Concerts Bring 'Jazz Icons' To Life: "Rare Concerts Bring 'Jazz Icons' To Life
Louis Armstrong

July 18, 2006, 2:15 PM ET

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Rare concerts from jazz legends Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich and Louis Armstrong will be released for the first time on DVD Sept. 26 via Reeling in the Years Productions and TDK Recording Media Europe S.A.

The shows were filmed in Europe between 1957-1978 both in TV studios and traditional concert venues, and in many cases, have never been broadcast, even in excerpts. They are being issued under the heading 'Jazz Icons,' with distribution by Naxos of America.



Among the highlights of the first batch of titles are a 1958 show with Blakey and a lineup of his Jazz Messengers that only played together for six months, Fitzgerald concerts from 1957 in Belgium and 1963 in Sweden, Monk shows in Norway and Denmark from 1966 and two Jones concerts from 1960, featuring an 18-piece band.

Baker is featured in a 1964 performance for Belgian television and a 1979 performance in Norway, while the 1959 Armstrong show is one of his only known complete filmed performances from this era."

"From an educational standpoint this series is a gift to our culture," Jones says. "I'm honored to be a featured part of it, but I'm more thrilled just to sit down and watch it with my grandkids."

Jazz News :: ’Jazz Icons’ on DVD

Jazz News :: ’Jazz Icons’ on DVD: "’Jazz Icons’ on DVD

A major event is about to take place in the world of Jazz - the release of the Jazz Icons DVD Series featuring filmed concerts by the most pivotal and influential jazz artists of the 20th century. Filmed in Europe between 1957 and 1978, the Jazz Icons DVDs feature the greatest legends of jazz captured in their prime and accompanied by some of the most legendary side-musicians of the day.

Lost in the vaults of European television studios (in some cases for nearly 50 years!), Reelin' In The Years Productions and TDK Recording Media Europe S.A. are proud to announce the September 26, 2006 release of the first nine titles of the illustrious series featuring 60-90 minute performances by Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Buddy Rich and Chet Baker. All nine Jazz Icons DVD titles are distributed by Naxos Of America and sold separately.

Each of the nine Jazz Icons DVDs features one or more concerts filmed live in television studios and concert halls throughout Europe during one of the most creative periods in jazz history (the majority of the material being filmed between 1957 and 1966). None of these performances has ever been officially released, and in many cases, the material was never originally broadcast. In addition, every performance in the Jazz Icons DVD series has been re-transferred and re-mastered from the best-quality original masters yielding excellent sound and video. As with last year's phenomenal discovery of the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall concert, which went on to sell over 200, 000 CDs, this series is also a major find and treasure to the world of recorded and filmed jazz music. To quote n"

Andrea Wolper Calendar

Aug 16, 2006 7:00 PM 55 Bar New York, NY

7-9 pm
W/ Ron Affif & Ken Filiano
No cover charge.
55 Christopher St.
1 train to Christopher St.
http://www.55Bar.com

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Aug 17, 2006 7:00 PM Summer Nights at the Jewish Museum New York, NY

So glad to be back in this lovely series!
W/ Michael Howell & Ken Filiano
1109 Fifth Ave. @ 92nd St.
1st set: 7 - 7:45
2nd set: 8 - 8:45
Prior to the music:
SCREENING: SITCOM SAMPLER
Get Smart
The Flying Nun
The Partridge Family
Sanford and Son
http://snipurl.com/rtmd

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Aug 27, 2006 11:00 AM Brighton Beach Jubilee Brooklyn, NY

Art Lillard's Heavenly Big Band: Original music (+ a few standards)
11 am - 3 pm
Brighton Beach Ave.
http://www.ArtLillard.com

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Oct 7, 2006 7:00 PM Spoke the Hub Brooklyn, NY

Art Lillard's Heavenly Big Band: Original music (+ a few standards)
The Gowanus Arts Building:
295 Douglass St.
Dance Party! 7 - 11 pm
http://www.ArtLillard.com
http://www.SpoketheHub.org

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Oct 28, 2006 6:00 PM 55 Bar New York, NY

6-9 pm
No cover charge.
55 Christopher St.
1 train to Christopher St.
http://www.55Bar.com

Playboy After Dark

In 1959 Hugh Hefner produced Playboy's Penthouse TV show, which proved to be the first of its kind. The format was modeled on a hip, swinging bachelor party, and the guests included the kings and queens of the world of entertainment, who were all gathered in an impromptu-style party.

There was Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Cy Coleman rubbing shoulders with Lenny Bruce, Sammy Davis Jr. and a host of party-goers. These TV shows were produced in black and white, lasted two seasons, and made history!

In 1969 Hugh Hefner was back on television with Playboy After Dark, this time in living color. The Penthouse shows featured jazz, but this time Playboy After Dark added rock 'n' roll and the cream of the crop in the world of entertainment. It was one swinging 60's-style party featuring Linda Rondstadt, Joe Cocker, Mort Sahl, Sid Ceasar, Sonny and Cher, Canned Heat, Ike and Tina Turner, Jerry Lewis, Larry Storch and a host of celebrities and party-goers.

The 12-page booklet was written by Bill Zehme, and the cover of the booklet features one-of-a-kind artwork by Leroy Neiman.


This will be a 3-DVD Box Collection featuring the television shows from the '50s and '60s. Every show has been remastered to bring back the glorious quality of its original flavor. Each DVD will contain 2 complete shows capturing a party only Hugh Hefner could have thrown. This time...you are invited

Morada Vision and Playboy Enterprises will release this collection of 2 classic TV shows on July 25th, just in a few weeks! The cost is $39.95 SRP, for a 3-disc set. Contents include a brand-new 45-minute interview with Hugh Hefner, and 51 musical performances and 6 full shows. There is also a 7-minute promo disc featuring highlights from each of the six shows in the box set, plus a 12-page collectable booklet.

Annie Ross at The Metropolitan Room

Annie Ross will be at The Metropolitan Room, West 22nd Street, NYC on Tuesdays beginning August 1st at 7:00 PM.

Julie Hardy at Cornelia Street Cafe, Tuesday, July 11th

On Tuesday, July 11th, sets at 8:30 & 10:00pm, Brooklyn-based vocalist and composer, Julie Hardy brings her quintet to Cornelia Street Cafe as a part of the Gnu Vox Music Festival. Hardy is preparing to record her second CD with the recording label Fresh Sound New Talent out of Barcelona, Spain and is currently the only American singer on this label. This evening she will present new pieces including original music and covers of old standards and pop songs. The vocalist will be accompanied by a band of up and coming New York jazz artists; Sam Sadigursky, tenor and soprano saxophone; Randy Ingram on piano, Matt Clohesy on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums.



As the only American vocalist currently signed to Fresh Sound New Talent records, Julie Hardy is well on her way to becoming one of the most important voices of the modern jazz scene. Hardy's debut CD, "A Moment's Glance" was released in April 2005 to critical acclaim. This innovative record combines fresh interpretations of standards and pop classics with sophisticated original compositions, and showcases Hardy's diverse talents as an improviser and an interpreter of lyrics. She is joined by Rob Stillman, tenor saxophone and Randy Ingram, piano. Ben Street, bass, and Adam Cruz, drums (of the Danilo Perez trio) round out the ensemble.

Last year Hardy released "A Moment's Glance" to a full house at the Jazz Standard in New York City. She was also selected to perform at the Diet Coke Women in Jazz Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Hardy grew up in Fremont, New Hampshire and holds a Masters degree in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. In 2002 Hardy was one of two vocalists in the nation invited to participate in the Jazz Academy Snowmass in Aspen, CO directed by Christian McBride. The following year Hardy was chosen to attend the Betty carter Jazz ahead program where she performed her original composition at the Kennedy center in Washington, D.C.

This year Hardy has been acknowledged for her talent as a composer by receiving the 2006 ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award for her composition "No Turning Back" which is featured on her recent Fresh Sound release.

Oscar Peterson live 1956

Ronnie Scott's will open its vaults!

Jazz goldmine unearthed at Ronnie Scott's

Saturday July 1, 2006

Famous London jazz venue Ronnie Scott's is set to sign a recording
deal that would bring previously unreleased live recordings from its
archives to a new generation.

The jazz club, which reopened this week after a ?2.5 million ($7.6
million) refurbishment by its new management, is in talks with
Universal Music Group on setting up a label to make its vast archive
of sessions available on CD and to download.

A few live performances recorded at the venue by the biggest names
in jazz have been released before.

Everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker to
Miles Davis and Count Basie has played there.

The finds following the refurbishment have yet to be catalogued and
some of the labels have peeled off the tapes so the full extent of
the discovery will not be clear until experts listen to the haul and
report back.

A spokesman for the club said: "Everyone has played there but very
little has been released before. Half of it was never even released
on 78, let alone 33. There was stuff in different rooms, different
lock-ups, different places all over the country. When they bought
it, they found all this stuff. It's like finding a goldmine."

The club was founded by Ronnie Scott and business partner Pete King
in Gerrard Street, London, and moved to Frith Street in 1965.

Scott died in 1996 and King struggled on running the venue until
last year when it was bought by theatre impresario Sally Greene, who
had previously rescued the Old Vic theatre.

She took Kevin Spacey, the Hollywood star who is artistic director
of the Old Vic and a jazz fan, with her to convince Pete King she
was the person he should sell to. The ploy worked.

But while keeping key aspects of the old club, notably the low
ceiling which was widely regarded as vital for the excellent
acoustics, she has embarked on major modernisation.

The venue now has a proper restaurant, a chill-out bar and up-to-
date recording facilities and a mixing desk for the preservation of
sessions in future - whenever artists agree.

The club is also initiating regular podcasts via its website, in
conjunction with iTunes, to make jazz more accessible to modern
listeners. However, dim red lamps, red velvet banquettes and a
similar shade of nicotine-effect khaki on the walls recalls its
glory days.

One of the headaches of capitalising on the old recordings will be
tracking down who owns what rights. That will take time but should
prove lucrative for the venue once achieved.

The new club manager and booker is Leo Green, son of the bandleader
Benny and himself a former musician who has played with the likes of
Van Morrison and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The 250-seat club reopened with the Monty Alexander Trio and
forthcoming appearances include Wynton Marsalis and Chick Corea.

It has been claimed that Spacey, who has sung in a movie about Bobby
Darin, may perform there.

Ella Sings "Can't Buy Me Love"

Ella, Dean and Gordon McRae

Ella in Amsterdam 1962

  

Ella in Amsterdam february 18th 1961 

Ella in Amsterdam 1961

 

 

Thanks to Daan Peters.

Ella sings Hard Hearted Hannah

New reissue. Ella Fitzgerald Live in Stockholm 1957

Live In Stockholm 1957
Ella Fitzgerald with the Roy Eldridge Sextet
Featuring: Oscar Peterson (p), Herb Ellis (g), Ray Brown (b), Jo Jones (d), Stuff Smith (vl), Donald Abney (p)




Billed as a Jazz at the Philharmonic performance, this concert consists of two intimate sets: the first showcases Roy Eldridge leading an All Star sextet, while the second part of the concert is the long Ella Fitzgerald set, with just a rhythm section.

Highlights include her powerful renditions of such classics as "Angel Eyes", "Lullaby of Birdland" and "Love for Sale".

The final number, a vigorous version of "It Don't Mean a Thing", brings Roy Eldridge and Stuff Smith back on stage. Stuff Smith, Don Abney, Herb Ellis and Roy Eldridge perform solos.

Tracklisting:

1. Announcement
2. Undecided
3. Embraceable You
4. School Days
5. Lester Leaps In
6. Moonlight In Vermont
7. Bugle Call Rag
8. Announcement
9. You Got Me Singing The Blues
10. Angel Eyes
11. Lullaby Of Birdland
12. Tenderly
13. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
14. April In Paris
15. I Can't Give You Anything
16. Love For Sale
17. It Don't Mean A Thing
18. Final Announcement

Recorded at the Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden, April 28, 1957.

Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis is this year's Ella Award recipient from Society of
Singers, Sept. 12 at the Beverly Hilton.

Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled debut album entered the U.K. album chart at #1

Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled debut album entered the U.K. album chart at #1 in March. She made chart history as the first female British artist to do so with a debut album of original songs. Corinne Bailey Rae is currently certified double Platinum there, and Gold in numerous other countries, with worldwide sales already well over one million. Now Bailey Rae is poised to take North America, launching the album with performances on "Good Morning America" (June 19th, the day before the album's release) and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (June 27th) as well as a series of sold-out shows in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. While in the States, Bailey Rae will also tape appearances on PBS' "The Tavis Smiley Show" and A&E's "Breakfast with the Arts." Dates are being finalized for a full North American summer tour.

Early reaction has been astounding with Starbucks signing on to carry Corinne Bailey Rae at its Company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada, a cross-platform "You Oughta Know" campaign at VH1, VH1 Soul and VH1.com and a BET award nomination. And this week iTunes is featuring an acoustic version of lead single "Put Your Records On" as Single of the Week. "Rae's music sticks in your mind like a pleasant scent you wish would linger, " said Blender while Entertainment Weekly said, "Corinne Bailey Rae is so 5 minutes from now ... Think a warm, sultry blend of Norah Jones Cool and Macy Gray Soul, with songwriting that shows flashes of Fiona Apple."

"Put Your Records On" spent three weeks atop the U.K. Airplay chart and is now climbing the charts at Smooth Jazz and AAA radio in the States. The accompanying video has already been added by VH1 Soul, where it was recently the #1 most played video. Now it's going into rotation at VH1 and Bailey Rae will be the focus of a massive cross-platform (VH1, VH1 Soul, vh1.com) "You Oughta Know" campaign beginning June 5th, which will include coverage on VH1 News, live performances, a VH1 Soul Listening Party and an appearance on VH1's Top 20 Countdown. Bailey Rae will also play her favorite videos in a Top 10 Countdown on VH1 Soul. "Put Your Records On" has been bumped up to "Very Cool" rotation at BETJ and has already earned her a nomination for the "BETJ Cool Like That" award. The BET awards will take place on June 27th.

Bailey Rae is one of six new emerging artists hand-picked by AOL Music for its innovative "Breakers" program. The four-month series of promotions includes an "AOL Sessions" performance, prime placements throughout the network and heavy rotation on AOL Radio. Clear Channel has also singled out Bailey Rae as one of today's most notable new artists, tapping her for its Spring 2006 "NEW!" program, which features three rising artists from five formats on its stations' websites.

In addition to carrying the album in its Company-operated stores in the U.S. and Canada, Starbucks' customers will be introduced to Corinne Bailey Rae with overhead in-store play; web site promotion (http://www.hearmusic.com/); programming and promotional spots on Hear Music(TM) Channel 75 on XM Satellite Radio; and a special contest in which Starbucks Hear Music, XM Satellite Radio and Capitol Records are offering the chance to win a trip for two to see one of Corinne's performances on her European tour.