Author: mitchmuse

Global communicator, Journalism, Entrepreneur, Web editor, Blogger, Freelance writer, Jazz enthusiast

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 16, 2012

The only indigenous people in the EU area, the Sámi, are getting their own cultural centre in Inari, Finnish Lapland. Opening on January 2 2012, Sami Cultural Centre Sajos, which opened on January 2, will become the headquarters for Sámi culture and administration.

The purpose of Sajos is to preserve and develop Sámi culture and the variety of Sámi languages, to create better possibilities for Sámi business ventures and to manage their cultural self-government.

Sajos is the new home of the Finnish Sámi Parliament and a bastion of multiculturalism. The Centre aims to actively communicate on all issues concerning the Sámi.
Sámi traditions run deep in their native area, which covers largely the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. Traditional sources of livelihood include reindeer herding, hunting, fishing and handicraft.

Trivia: The Sámi are known for their mythical tales and a belief in everything having a soul. Sámi shamanism is a well-known concept in Finland. According to Sámi legend, the Northern Lights are caused by a Fox running across the Arctic fells and lighting up the sky with sparks flying from its tail whirling up the snow. The modern Finnish term “revontulet” meaning “the fox’s fires”, derives from this myth.

Jazz vocalist Kathy Kosins debuts “To the Ladies of Cool” on Resonance Records in March

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 13, 2012

Jazz vocalist Kathy Kosins doesn’t take anything for granted. Since 2010, Kosins has adapted to the changing needs of the music industry, and specifically her fans, by releasing a regular series of digital singles.

The new album, her fifth, is titled To the Ladies of Cool, and the songs all derive from the repertoires of four canonical female singers of the 1950s: Anita O’Day, June Christy, Chris Connor, and Julie London. This is her first album for Resonance Records (which will release CD on March 13), owned and operated by George Klabin, whom she describes as, “this generation’s Bob Thiele, Norman Granz, and Creed Taylor.”

From this vast pool of hundreds of titles, she says in a recent news release, “I selected 20 songs that were of interest to me. On some occasions, I was intrigued by the title of a song I had never heard of. A few of my choices were rather obscure – others were quite famous at one time, although I might not have known them.”

In one instance, Kosins took Johnny Mandel’s famous instrumental “Hershey Bar,” a melody that had been scatted wordlessly by O’Day, and, with the composer’s express permission, added her own lyric to it and created “Hershey’s Kisses.” Thus, she made “Hershey Bar” into something else entirely.

Kosins stresses that To the Ladies of Cool shouldn’t be mistaken for a tribute album, in which a contemporary artist will simply “cover” the works of a canonical performer; it is even less a set of imitations.

She also made a point to record the sessions in Los Angeles – then, as always, ground zero for the “Cool School” associated with these ladies. Even more importantly, this gave Kosins the chance to work with such outstanding members of the L.A. local scene as the superlative pianist and musical director Tamir Hendelman (who was responsible for all of the album’s arrangements), guitarist Graham Dechter, multiple reed player Steve Wilkerson, and percussionist Bob Leatherbarrow.

Kosins is a singer, composer, songwriter (words and music), arranger, educator, and painter. Born in Highland Park, Mich. (a city surrounded by the larger city of Detroit), she grew up in Detroit’s internationally known jazz and R&B scene. Kosins was initially known as a singer of soul, rock, and funk, having worked extensively with the celebrated band Was (Not Was) as well as Michael Henderson. For the last 15 years or so, however, she has become famous as one of the most successful jazz singers of the contemporary era. As an instructor in this field, she has conducted master classes at over 100 colleges and universities. She also continues to work as part of a project called Detroit Memphis Experience.

Kosins has also maintained a second career as a visual artist, primarily as a painter of abstract original canvases – and has enjoyed gallery showings of her works throughout North and South America.

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Black Liberated Arts Center presents “Sing-Off” Season 2 winners Committed in concert

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 12, 2012

Committed

Black Liberated Arts Center (BLAC) Inc., in conjunction with members of the Oklahoma Conference of Seventh Day Adventist, will present Sony Music recording artists Committed in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Frederick Douglass High School Auditorium, 900 Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City.

The concert will benefit the Douglass High School Band. The group – Maurice Staple, Geston Pierre, Alain “Tommy” Gervais, Theron “Therry” Thomas Jr., Robert Pressley Jr., and Dennis Baptiste Jr. – initially started as a quartet 2003 at Forest Lake Academy outside Orlando, Fla., and evolved with the addition of new members over time. With a sound reminiscent of their greatest musical influence, Take 6, the group stole the hearts of America when they walked away as the grand prize winners of the “The Sing-Off” Season 2.

The group earned a contract with Epic Records and a $100,000 cash prize. “The Sing-Off” ranked No. 1 in its timeslot, and Committed received a record number of votes, sold more than 110,000 tracks, garnered 25,000 Facebook friends and 7,000 followers on Twitter.

For more information, call BLAC Inc. at (405) 524-3800.

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“When Country Meets Dixie” marks historic meeting of DUKES of Dixieland, the Oak Ridge Boys

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 12, 2012

With legendary country music producer James Stroud at the helm, the DUKES of Dixieland (trumpeter Kevin Clark, trombonist Ben Smith, clarinetist/saxophonist Ryan Burrage, pianist Scott Obenschain, bassist Alan Broome and drummer JJ Juliano) and the Grammy Award-winning Oak Ridge Boys (Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, Richard Sterban and William Lee Golden) went into the studio earlier this year, and history was made. When Country Meets Dixie (Sony/RED Distribution) was born and will be released on February 28. They recorded four songs together, including a remake of The Oak Ridge Boys’ platinum-selling hit single from 1981, “Elvira,” with an irresistibly funky, N’awlins second line groove fueling the proceedings. The Oak Ridge Boys, who started out as a gospel quartet in their native Tennessee, contribute their distinctive four-part vocal harmonies to a freewheeling Dixie-fied rendition of “Little Talk with Jesus” and a Professor Longhair-influenced rhumba-boogie interpretation of their 1982 hit single “Bobbie Sue,” along with an authentic N’awlins street beat take on the gospel country tune “Unclouded Day.”

When Country Meets Dixie is rounded out by stellar performances from two country music veterans and two up-and-comers on the Nashville scene. Wesley Probst, a deep-voiced singer-songwriter from Missouri who has been working in Music City since the ’70s, appears on the Tennessee Ernie Ford novelty number “Fatback Louisiana” and also belts out an upbeat rendition of Ernest Tubb’s “Nails in My Coffin.”

Oklahoma native Bobby John Henry, who started out as a country singer in the ’50s and now is a 73-year-old bread artisan in Nashville with his All-American Redneck Bread Factory, contributes a soulful performance on the mellow ballad “Back in New Orleans.” Callaway McCord, a 20-year-old firecracker who joined Vince Vance and the Valiants at age 12 and has been singing with soulman Sam Moore since she was 14 years old, kicks up the energy level a few notches on a rowdy, hard-driving medley of Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya,” Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin'” and Rockin’ Sidney’s zydeco classic “Don’t Mess with My Toot Toot.” Lathan Moore, a new face in Nashville who grew up in a mining community in Ohio Valley, lends his appealing baritone voice to the anthemic “Are You from Dixie” (a tune originally written in 1915 and since covered by everyone from the Blue Sky Boys to Jerry Reed, Jimmy Dean and Grandpa Jones). Moore, who grew up singing in gospel groups in Ohio, also turns in a moving rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” (which prominently features the DUKES’ ace clarinetist Ryan Burrage) and a tender reading of “I Can’t Fight the Moonlight.” Nashville session ace David Spires is also featured on pedal steel guitar throughout. The DUKES’ pianist Richard Scott Obenschain also contributes spirited vocals on the opener, “That’s What I Like About the South,” a tune composed in 1937 by Fats Waller’s writing partner Andy Razaf and popularized in the early ’40s by Phil Harris and His Orchestra and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.

Says Shoup of this meeting of the two musical worlds, “We’re introducing a new genre on this album. Nobody’s ever done it before, but I always felt like country music and Dixieland music go together. And it worked so well. To me, it’s like a perfect marriage.”

“Initially, we wanted to have this little get-together to see if it worked musically,” said Stroud, former head for Giant and Dreamworks Records, current CEO of R&J Records and producer of Tim McGraw, Toby Keith and Chris Young, among many others, in a news release. “We wanted to incorporate some of the sounds the DUKES brought from New Orleans and combine it with what the Oak Ridge Boys bring with their history and successes in gospel and country. The project wound up creating its own sound, its own brand. When Country Meets Dixie is the result of two great American art forms colliding. It’s the most unique thing that we may hear musically for a long time.”

For the DUKES of Dixieland, who have been active on the New Orleans scene and internationally since 1974, When Country Meets Dixie is a crowning achievement in their expansive discography and follows their successful collaboration with R&B singer Luther Kent on 2006’s New Orleans Mardi Gras and their Grammy nominated Gloryland with Moses Hogan’s New Orleans Gospel Choir in 2000.

Annie Ellicott Denny Morouse jazz Jazz Depot music Oklahoma Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame Olivia Duhon performances Scott McQuade Scott McQuade Trio Tavis Minner Thea Hill tulsa United States

Scott McQuade, others hightlight Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s 2012 Winter-Spring concert series

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 9, 2012

Scott McQuade

According to a recent news release, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame presents the first installment in our 2012 Winter-Spring concert series at the Jazz Depot, 111 E. First St. (Upper Level) in Tulsa, OK. On Sunday, Jan.14 at 5:00 p.m., the Scott McQuade Trio takes the stage at the Jazz Depot alongside vocalists Tavis Minner and Thea Hill. As a fixture on the Oklahoma jazz scene, pianist Scott McQuade is known for his stellar piano stylings. But that’s not all that’s going on at the Depot …

For jazz enthusiasts in need of a musical fix earlier in the week, there is the option of Depot Jams on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Every Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:30, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame presents soulful jazz by our talented local musicians.
On Wednesday, Jan. 11, fans can enjoy live music and lunch at the weekly Jazzwich Wednesday. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., feel free to grab a tasty “jazzwich” as 7Blue performs.

On Sunday, Jan. 22 at 5 p.m., the Depot welcomes saxophonist Denny Morouse and his band accompanied by the amazing vocalist Annie Ellicott. Then on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m., vocalist Olivia Duhon – called “Tulsa’s next shining star” by Urban Tulsa – is set to give another stand out performance at the Depot.

General admission tickets are $15, and reserved table seating tickets are available for $20. Seniors, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame members and college students can see the shows for $10, and high school and junior high students attend for only $5 each.

For more information and/or to obtain tickets to any of the events, call Bettie Downing at (918) 281-8609.

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Stellar Award winner Stephen Hurd to release “O That Men Would Worship” in February

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 8, 2012

Over the last decade, Stephen Hurd has distinguished himself as one of the leading voices in urban praise and worship music. His songs “Undignified” and “Lead Me to the Rock” are sung at faith gatherings around the globe. Now, he’s preparing to release his most ambitious project yet – O That Men Would Worship, his sixth CD and the first on his own Hurd The Word recording label. He’s designed the new CD as a tool to inspire men to take on a greater leadership role in church worship services. Recorded live at The First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, Md., where Hurd is the minister of music, the collection is scheduled to hit retail stores on February 21, 2012, via a distribution deal with Central South Distribution Inc.

“My goal is to get men and especially men of color to realize that worship is not a feminine sport,” Hurd says in a news release. “In this season, I feel we should come together and lift up a sound that has the power to change families and strengthen communities and help brothers to get a glimpse of what real worship is. I think when men see other men worship it gives them freedom to worship without feeling emasculated.”

Joining Hurd are Verity Gospel Music Group recording artist Jason Nelson, Christian pop artist Anthony Evans and Min. Deonte Gray who is a member of the 7 Sons of Soul vocal group. Hurd created an all-male sextet of singers to back certain songs and a coed group called Extol to back the CD as a whole. Aside from co-writing most of the songs, Hurd produced the 15-track set alongside up-and-coming producers Kenny Shelton and Anthony Brown. Celebrated producer Steve Ford, who’s worked with acts ranging from Phyllis Hyman to Richard Smallwood, created the lush string arrangements while the in-demand Phil Lassiter (John P. Kee, Marvin Sapp) delivered the hearty horn arrangements.

Although Hurd began recording albums in the late 1990s, his first national CD release was 2004’s A Call to Worship (Integrity Music) that featured the Caribbean-styled radio smash, “Undignified.” The 2006 My Destiny (Integrity Music) CD featured the hit singles “Great Praise (The War Cry)” and “Destiny” while his 2008 Top 10 Stellar Award winning CD Times of Refreshing (Integrity Music), featured the radio single, “Amazing.” For more information, visit www.hurdthewordmusic.com.

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Mitch’s Travel: DWTS champion Karina Smirnoff to headline ‘Cruising with the Stars’ in June

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 8, 2012

Karina Smirnoff

Karina Smirnoff, “Dancing with the Stars” celebrity dance pro and Season 13 champion, will join Cruising with the Stars, a new dance-focused fan cruise that launches June 3-10, 2012, from Los Angeles for a 7-day excursion to the Mexican Riviera, aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s ship The Splendor. Ports of call are Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta.

It’s truly a red carpet affair for this inaugural cruise from Cruising with the Stars, which headlines Smirnoff, who will be offering all levels of dance and fitness classes on board the ship and inviting both dancers and fans to join her for a full week of celebration following the upcoming DWTS Season 14 – including nightly CWTS cocktail and dance parties, personal Q&A and celeb photo sessions, excursions on shore, all culminating with a spectacular professional dance show.

On Cruising with the Stars, Smirnoff joins six of America’s champion professional dance instructors and performers such as Sharon Savoy and Mike Tuttle, Jamie Bayard and Bonnie Marie, and Enio Cordoba and Terryl Jones.

“Cruising with the Stars will set a new standard in dance cruise excursions. Add the rare opportunity to join one of America’s hottest dance celebrities – DWTS’s Karina Smirnoff – for a full week of unmatched dance instruction and exhilarating performances, and it’s a formula for success,” said event organizer and hosts Sharon Savoy and Mike Tuttle in a news release.

Smirnoff is especially looking forward to the time off to meet fans personally and work with dancers. In addition to the unprecedented nearly 60 hours of dance instruction offered on board ship, there will be a limited opportunity to take private lessons with Smirnoff, as well as the other master level instructors.

Cruising with the Stars is open to the general public, but cruisers should make reservations right away since the block of cabins are expected to book quickly. Both dancer and non-dancer rates are available. To participate in the CWTS program and activities, all cabin reservations must be made through official travel agent Travel Themes And Dreams of Hallandale, Fla., at toll-free (800) 706-0049, at (786) 393-5854 for those outside of the USA, or online at www.cruisingwiththestars.net.

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Sami the Great kicks off 2012 with sell-out CD release party

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 4, 2012

Sami the Great

Indie-pop songstress Sami the Great celebrates the New Year with her new album at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. Alongside Sami will be fellow New Yorkers, Tony Castles, Slowdance, The Sanctuaries and many more. The show is sold out. The anticipated, self-titled CD is Sami’s first full length project.

Sami Akbari, known musically as sami.the.great, is driven by her overwhelming desire to write and play music. She frequented open mic nights in college, often taking home cash prizes for her highly anticipated performances. She moved to New York City two weeks after receiving her degree in 2005, and quickly began landing gigs at local venues, including The Living Room, Joe’s Pub and Mercury Lounge as well as other venues around the country.

Her latest EP, “Nothing Left to See,” features five original songs written by Sami and a cover of Sting’s “Roxanne.” The disc not only reveals the trajectory of Sami’s songwriting career, but also her deft combination of emotion and wit, of melancholy and humor. Like her live show, the album reflects the notion that great things come in small packages and showcases a small-framed singer whose impassioned voice fills the spaces and lives around her.

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Jazz vocalist Theo Bleckmann takes on Kate Bush in project “Hello Earth!”

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date January 4, 2012

After tackling American maverick composer Charles Ives and receiving a Grammy nomination for it, jazz vocalist Theo Bleckmann now takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop recluse Kate Bush in the project “Hello Earth!.” The CD will be released in the U.S. on March 13.

This project goes beyond merely re-creating Kate’s Bush music, taking it into other realms of sound and interpretation. Her use of British and Irish myths, her references to psychology, literature and film, her meticulously multi-layered productions and her unusually high voice make her idiosyncratic body of work challenging for other artists to interpret.

Joining Bleckmann in this venture are long-time collaborators percussionist John Hollenbeck and electric bassist Skúli Sverrisson, and keyboardist Henry Hey and violinist/guitarist/vocalist Caleb Burhans, who can also be heard on Bleckmann’s “Berlin” CD.

“When I set out to do this, I knew right away that these were the perfect musicians for this kind of project,” said Bleckmann in a recent news release.

Hollenbeck, a brilliant composer and arranger of his own, contributed his vast orchestrational palette and ideas to the music, including the use of crotales which greatly shaped the sound of this record. Sverrisson and Bleckmann also go back many years and have worked together in various configurations (including Laurie Anderson’s band). Sverrisson’s profound sense of sound and layering and his compositional instincts became essential to the music. Keyboard wizard (and newly appointed musical director for George Michael)

Henry Hey, whom Bleckmann worken with here for the first time, contributed a vast array of sounds and possibilities, transforming and bringing to life Bleckmann’s initial ideas. Caleb Burhans is perhaps one of the most sought after young musician/composers on the New York downtown scene today.

“I wanted someone who could play many different instruments, loop, improvise and sing, which pretty much eliminated everyone but Caleb,” Bleckmann said. “For the recording, I chose to overdub myself and add more harmonies, but in performance Henry Hey and Caleb Burhans play AND sing.”

A Grammy nominated and ECHO award recipient, Bleckmann has additionally collaborated with musicians and composers, including Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, John Hollenbeck, Sheila Jordan, Phil Kline, David Lang, Kirk Nurock, Ben Monder, Michael Tilson Thomas, Julia Wolfe, Kenny Wheeler, John Zorn, the Bang on a Can All-stars, and, most prominently, Meredith Monk, with whom Bleckmann worked as a core ensemble member for fifteen years. He has been interview by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and recently performed with Laurie Anderson on The David Letterman show.

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Jamie Lynn Hart releases “Anticipate”

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date December 30, 2011

For her fans, topping their 2012 “Let’s dance!” playlist is sure to be Jamie Lynn Hart’s latest CD. But unlike the other pop songs on iTunes, the aptly named “Anticipate” is driven not only by catchy riffs and powerhouse vocals, but also by soul baring lyrics.

After releasing two EPs, Jamie Lynn Hart (2007) and Contract Called Love (2009), the full length “Anticipate” truly flexes Hart’s musical muscles, showing her fans what she’s really made of.

“By opting for a full length release, I was able to open the window of who I really am so much wider,” said Hart in a news release. “Both of my EPs are definitely expressions of who I am, but ‘Anticipate’ examines my personal and artistic growth in a more complete view.”

The album plants its roots in Hart’s lyrical pop voice and a steady rock groove, sprouting in sounds ranging from retro-blues and pop melodies to soulful acoustic ballads while maintaining a consistent direction. Heavily influenced by her personal experiences, her songs are relatable stories that shine brightly with an authentic light.

“It’s important that my lyrics strike a balance of originality and accessibility,” Hart said. To reach a bona fide level of storytelling, Jamie Lynn Hart collaborated with band members Kevin Eldridge, Steve Belleville, Eric Finland, and Attis Jerrell Clopton and produced the album with Zach McNees (The Gregory Brothers, Coldplay, Björk).