NOV. 6th 2009 is HAPPY SAXOPHONE DAY!
Origin of Saxophone Day:
We did not find any information on who created Saxophone Day, or when
this special day was first celebrated.
There are numerous references to "Saxophone Day" for schools, bands, or special
events. They are scattered across many different dates.
HOSPITAL HONORS WAYMAN TISDALE WITH COURAGE AWARD
Last month, October 3, basketball and smooth jazz great Wayman Tisdale
was posthumously honored by the Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation Hospital in
Oklahoma City. Tisdale, who died May 15, was given the Courage Award by
the hospital, which provides rehabilitative care for children and
adults with acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputee or
orthopedic conditions.
THE SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES RADIO ROYALTIES FOR PERFORMERSThe Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a bill to
require radio stations to pay royalties to performers when their music
is aired, a top priority for the recording industry.
The Senate committee vote marks the furthest congressional progress
yet for the measure, although it is still far from becoming law.
Broadcast radio stations now pay song royalties to songwriters and
producers, but they don't pay performance fees for playing the artists'
music.
In contrast, cable, satellite and Internet radio pay performance royalties.
Under the bill, large radio companies such as Clear Channel
Communications Inc. and Cox Radio Inc. would be required to pay
negotiated royalties to performers for playing their music on the air.
MONSTER TO LAUNCH MILES DAVIS HEADPHONES
NEW YORK, NY, October 21, 2009
– Monster, renowned for its many advanced consumer electronics
accessories and fast becoming one of the world’s leading manufacturers
of high-performance headphones, is proud to announce the upcoming
introduction of the world’s first audio hardware product to bear the
official name and signature of legendary trumpeter Miles Davis – the
new “Miles Davis Tribute” high-performance in-ear
headphones. Created in conjunction with Miles Davis Properties, LLC,
the new headphones are being offered in a individually numbered limited
edition. Adding value to this limited edition release, purchasers of the Miles Davis Tribute headphones will also be able to enjoy free of charge the official 50th Anniversary boxed set of the artist’s seminal album Kind of Blue, featuring two music CDs, a DVD and a 24-page booklet.
STEVIE WONDER BREAKS DOWN DURING VEGAS TRIBUTE SHOW
Stevie Wonder broke down in
tears as he paid tribute to Michael Jackson at the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame 25th Anniversary concert in New York this past Thursday night.
The
soul star teamed up with R&B singer John Legend to perform the King
of Pop's The Way You Make Me Feel onstage at Madison Square Garden
during the first of two nights in the star-studded extravaganza.
An
emotional Wonder was forced to halt the track to compose himself after
he began sobbing during the chorus - but he finished with the crowd's
help as they chanted, "Long live Michael Jackson!"
BARBARA STREISAND RELEASES JAZZ THEMED ALBUM
Barbra Streisand just debuted at the top of the Billboard album chart with her disc "Love Is the Answer." This jazz-themed album beat out a slew of new offerings for the top spot, including "Angel" from Mariah Carey.
Streisand bettered her Billboard record of at least one No. 1 album in
each decade stretching back to the 1960s. Before "Love Is the Answer,"
she last topped the charts with "Higher Ground" in 1997.
JWR TOURS HAS PUT THE EXCITEMENT BACK INTO CHICAGO JAZZ WITH "THE CHICAGO JAZZ CLUB CRAWL" - ON-GOING JAZZ TOURS
If you plan to visit Chicago anytime in the near future, you may want to check out the new "CHICAGO JAZZ CLUB CRAWL" Jazz Tours.
The
Chicago Jazz Club Crawl combines an old concept “pub crawl” which
started in the 19th century with a 21st century approach. The
"crawl" in pub crawl generally refers to travel on foot from pub to
pub, visiting a certain number of clubs in one evening. The Chicago
Jazz Club Crawl seeks to bring the concept into the 21st century by
offering a trouble free, fun filled night of quality jazz
entertainment and historical enrichment. The "crawl" will involve
luxury buses which will tour up to 3 swinging & cool jazz venues per tour.
PRIVATE TOURS ALSO AVAILABLE!
http://www.chicagojazzclubcrawl.com/
ANOTHER JAZZ STATION GONE! NEWS REPLACES JAZZ MORNING SHOW FORMAT
By Associated Press
10:36 AM CDT, October 20, 2009
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — There is more news and talk on Murfreesboro's public radio station.
WMOT-FM — which has been long been the jazz music mainstay in the
Nashville metropolitan area — has added information programming in
morning and afternoon commuting periods, effective Monday.
The station is licensed to Middle Tennessee State University.
US CONGRESS DROPS SMOOTH JAZZ So long, John Philip Sousa. Hello, Kenny G. That was the
short-lived message House leadership sent to lawmakers over the break,
as the "on-hold" music that so many constituents hear when they call
their congressman was switched from patriotic tunes to smooth jazz
standards -- or, as one lawmaker complained, "elevator music."
The switch was quickly reversed,
though, following complaints and controversy.
A spokesman for House Chief Administrative Officer Daniel Beard,
who reports to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said Tuesday that after a three-week trial period constituents will once again
hear patriotic favorites while on hold.
"The music was changed during recess as a pilot program in an attempt
to offer offices a choice of hold music," said CAO spokesman Jeff Ventura. "But based on the feedback we received, the old
music was preferred and we reactivated it today."
Some of that feedback came from Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who
wrote a blistering letter to Beard on Friday.
"We should proudly embrace our nation's patriotic songs, not callously
shun them for elevator music," Upton fumed.
"Believe me, I was not at all happy with how this matter was handled,"
he wrote, complaining that lawmakers were not told in advance that the patriotic songs would be replaced by smooth jazz.
Upton
said during the "pilot program," congressional offices could either
choose "elevator music" or no music at all, even though they had used
patriotic music for years.
"Certainly we
would prefer not to put those who contact our offices on hold; however
with the high volume of calls we receive it is sometimes necessary," he
added. "Callers routinely express their delight in listening to a few
notes of Americana while briefly waiting for their call to go through."
CHECK OUT THIS RECENT ARTICLE. THE TOPIC IS SMOOTH JAZZ & TRADITIONAL JAZZ & THEIR DIFFERENCES ...... WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?
Making a case for smooth jazz
The oft maligned music genre will prove its worth at Camarillo Art and Jazz Festival
By
Erik Hayden
08/27/2009 (Ventura County Reporter)
Why satisfy the purists when the masses already adore you? It’s a
refrain that countless mainstream music acts have uttered as they’ve
watched their long-time, underground fans crumple in disgust as their
newer, poppier sound hits the airwaves and the Internet. Sometimes a
band gets too big for its genre. Recently, Green Day did it to punk,
Coldplay did it to guitar-oriented Brit-pop, and Kenny G did it to
jazz. The artists themselves would simply say they just defy
categorization and transcend genres. Purists, music geeks and hardcore
fans would call it something else: totally selling out.
And if
there is one genre you don’t want to sell out in, it’s jazz.
Traditional jazz evokes memories of improvisational kings — John
Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis —whose work didn’t need to fit
the format of the three-minute, radio-friendly pop song, or even sound
the same every time it was played. Traditional jazz is different; the
music is alive and constantly evolving — within the same song. It’s
this freewheeling, improvisation style that has given jazz its
time-honored reputation as a challenging, intellectual music genre.
So
what happens to jazz when there is no improvisation? Smooth jazz. If
that name conjures up images of bland, doodling waves of coma-inducing,
pop-laden meanderings on FM radio or while on hold with AT&T, well,
that’s not far off. But in reality, the much-maligned genre has made
jazz accessible and fun, by expanding its pop sensibility and fusing
itself to R&B, world beats or ’80s power pop.
It’s also a
hit formula for festivals, including the Camarillo Art and Jazz
Festival, which organizers hope will draw large audiences (purists,
casual jazz fans and more) with eclectic sounds and agreeable beats in
a more than pleasant atmosphere.
The Camarillo festival, which
boasts a lineup of jazz, smooth jazz, and pop artists (and some that
blend all three), is a testament to the complimentary nature of the
different styles. They all certainly combine to create an enjoyable
experience.
But the question remains: Is smooth jazz really
jazz? Of course not. “Purists don’t think smooth jazz is really jazz at
all,” explained entertainment chairman of the Camarillo festival, Roy
Villa. “Smooth jazz is an attempt to present jazz to a broader base of
people. Many songs are remakes of prior pop songs.” The genre was borne
out of the emergence of adult contemporary music, a distillation of
soft rock, melodic pop and easy-listening material tailor-made for
people who used to listen to rock ’n’ roll, but now just want something
easy on the ears.
Mike Nordskog, publisher of Wine and Jazz
magazine put it simply: “I was a Led Zeppelin, Queen, Steppenwolf kind
of guy . . . [but] I began to appreciate the live performance aspect of
the [smooth jazz] genre. It’s very relaxing. Life being so hectic,
these guys are making nice, relaxing, melodic stuff.” It may fill a
niche, but doesn’t it diminish what traditional jazz musicians do?
What's your opinion? email candidjazzads@yahoo.com
Music legends Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder are teaming up to record a new album of duets.
Bosses
at Bennett's record label Columbia have confirmed the iconic pair - who
have 36 Grammys between them - will hit the studio soon to begin
recording to the disc, although they are keeping tight lipped about
song selection, a title, and when the record will be released.
It
won't be the first time 83-year-old Bennett and Wonder, 59, have
recorded together - Wonder appeared on 2001 album Playin' with My
Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues and 2006's Duets: An American Classic.
They even scooped a shared Grammy for their duet of Wonder song For Once in My Life, which appeared on the latter album.
HOW'S THE JAZZ SCENE IN SOUTH AFRICA?
Johannesburg — IT'S CLEAR that jazz in Johannesburg is in something of
a venues crisis. The regular round of gigs -Kippies, the old Melville
Bassline and more -that helped to sustain musicians' livelihoods in
earlier years has evaporated almost without trace.
In its place, we have events at a disparate range of places from
restaurants to bars of very variable quality and very limited
continuity. Only those that are centrally situated are equally
accessible to residents of all suburbs.
Many former Capetonian players are seriously talking about returning to
the Mother City where jam sessions and other regular gigs are far more
frequent -- perhaps the consequence of a tourism industry that puts
more disposable income into circulation? Those for whom Jo'burg is home
are retreating into teaching and corporate gigs; some longstanding Jozi
ensembles have fragmented under the strain. And while the number of
official music occasions is likely to rise temporarily with
celebrations of election victory, and then the Confederations Cup,
neither they nor irregular gigs in obscure locations comprise viable
long-term employment.
So what's left? Wits University (both Theatre and Great Hall) has
become a reliable jazz location, and the upcoming Abdullah Ibrahim
concert on May 8 illustrates the quality Wits is now offering. Ibrahim
will be performing with his New York and touring ensemble, Ekaya,
featuring Jason Marshall, Keith Loftis and Cleave Guyton on reeds,
Andrae Murchison on trombone, Belden Bullock on bass and George Gray on
drums
Chicago Jazz venues feel the recession
Chicago Tribune,......Chicago's jazz presenters have started to feel the pain of the recession, albeit in rather mild doses.
With
audiences down slightly, no one is exactly celebrating. The economy "definitely is affecting audience turnout, yet a sense of
hopefulness runs through the city's robust jazz community.
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