Author: mitchmuse

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

Mitch’s Travel: LXR Resorts & Hotels in Florida offer kid-friendly winter escape

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 30, 2011

As the chilly weather sets in amid early predictions of a wet and slushy fall/winter season, warm and inviting temperatures await travelers in Florida – where sun-kissed beaches and value-added vacation packages make a winter escape accessible and affordable for everyone.

This year, LXR properties in Florida are giving travelers a reason to ditch their overcoats and enjoy the cold-weather season where the temperature is warm and the sun shines bright with their annual Winter Escape offer, which combines reasonable rates with family-friendly perks from the shores of Miami Beach to the sugary-white sands of Sanibel Island.

Offered at LXR’s Florida properties for travel from Nov. 1, 2011, through April 27, 2012, the Winter Escape offer requires a three-night minimum stay and includes a welcome gift upon check-in as well as a $75 resort credit per room. Travelers who stay four nights or more can enjoy a $100 resort credit. Resort credits can be used towards a variety of resort amenities and activities such as golf, dining, spa treatments, tennis and more. The best part of the offer? Kids 12 years and younger can “stuff their face” with free meals from restaurant children’s menus and buffets, all day, every day during their stay.

Participating LXR Florida properties include:

– Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa in the Walt Disney World Resort (Orlando) from $99 per night

– Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six (Fort Lauderdale) from $99 per night

– Miami Beach Resort (Miami Beach) from $89 per night

– South Seas Island Resort (Captiva) from $179 per night

– Sundial Beach & Golf Resort (Sanibel Island) from $149 per night

– Sanibel Inn (Sanibel Island) from $149 per night

– Sanibel Sunset Beach Resort (Sanibel Island) from $149 per night

– Seaside Inn (Sanibel Island) from $149 per night

– Song of the Sea (Sanibel Island) from $179 per night

For more information and reservations, call (888) 886-5111 or visit Luxuryresorts.com/winterescape.

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Vince Mendoza presents all-star cast for new project “Nights on Earth”

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 29, 2011

After a remarkably productive decade which saw him writing stellar orchestral arrangements for recordings by such popular singers as Bjork, Melody Gardot, Sting and Joni Mitchell (he won two of his six Grammy Awards and 25 nominations for his contributions to her Both Sides Now in 2000 and Travelogue in 2003), Vince Mendoza has shifted focus back to his own compositions for the first time in 13 years. His most personal and compelling project to date, Nights on Earth is yet another crowning achievement in the career of the acclaimed composer-arranger-conductor.

On this eagerly-awaited follow-up to Epiphany (which he recorded in 1997 with the London Symphony Orchestra), Mendoza recruited an all-star cast of longtime collaborators like guitarists John Abercrombie, John Scofield and Nguyen Le, drummer Peter Erskine, percussionist Luis Conte, organist Larry Goldings, steel drummer Andy Narell, pianists Kenny Werner and Alan Pasqua, saxophonists Bob Mintzer and Joe Lovano. He is also joined by such new friends as Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza, Malian kora player and singer Tom Diakite, Argentinian bandoneon master Hector del Curto, Algerian drummer Karim Ziad, French saxophonist Stéphane Guillaume and young American jazz stars in bassist Christian McBride, drummer Greg Hutchinson and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, a winner of recent awards from the Jazz Journalists Association and DownBeat. Along with members of the Metropole Orkest, the Dutch ensemble that Mendoza has presided over as chief conductor for the past six years, they bring to life these evocative pieces that flow directly from the composer’s heart to his pen.

“I always thought that being a musician is about having a community of artists that inspires you,” says Mendoza in a recent news release, “and I think part of the process of the creation of this recording has to do with the people that I have met and learned from along the way. A lot of what this music has to do with is celebrating that community of the musicians from the many traditions that they represent.”

While names such as Abercrombie, Scofield, Lovano, Werner, Mintzer and Erskine represent the jazzier side of Mendoza’s community of artists (they appeared on his 1990 Blue Note album Start Here and his 1991 follow-up for the label, Instructions Inside), musicians like Souza, del Curto, Diakite and Ziad represent his adventurous explorations into world music (as on 1992’s Jazzpana and more recently on 2009’s Viento: The Garcia Lorca Project).

“I have an affinity with these musicians and their music, as they also have with my writing,” says Mendoza. “I wanted to incorporate them into my compositions, to frame their voice in an interesting way. And I thought they would have a connection to my writing style in their improvisations.”

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Shirley Murdock interview with Tavis Smiley airs this weekend

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 28, 2011

According to a recent news release, vocalist Shirley Murdock recently sat down for an interview and talked about her journey through life and music with media personality Tavis Smiley on Public Radio International’s “The Tavis Smiley Show.” The interview airs on Public Radio International (PRI) from Friday, Oct. 28 through Friday, Nov. 4. Local stations can be found at www.tavissmileyradio.com/where.html.

The Dayton, Ohio-based singer is best known for her top 10 ’80s era R&B hits “As We Lay,” “Go on Without You,” “Husband” and “In Your Eyes.” However, in recent years, she’s become equally known for her gospel and inspirational tunes such as 2007’s “I Love Me Better than That.”

Murdock talked with Smiley about her transition from R&B to gospel and all the twists and turns in between. She also discussed her new, first live CD “Live: The Journey” and its companion music DVD.
The 17-track collection was produced by Grammy Award winner Cedric Thompson (who’s produced Yolanda Adams and Marvin Sapp) and recorded live at The Broadcast Group Complex in Charlotte, NC. R&B singers Kelly Price and Regina Belle as well as gospel singer Beverly Crawford each performed a song with Murdock and did one song as a foursome. The “Live: The Journey” (Tyscot Records) CD has debuted at #24 on Billboard’s top Gospel Albums chart while the “Live: The Journey” (Tyscot Records) music DVD debuted at #40 on Billboard’s top Music Videos chart where it shares rank alongside projects such as Taylor Swift’s “Journey to Fearless” and the band Journey’s “Live in Manila.”

Meanwhile, Murdock’s current inspirational/gospel radio single “Dream” is moving up the gospel radio playlists around the country. It’s receiving heavy substantive rotation on Sirius XM satellite’s Praise Channel 64 and Murdock was also recently a guest in the VIP Lounge with DJ Cayman Kelly on Sirius’s XM’s Heart & Soul Channel 48. Murdock also recently sang the song on The National Mall during the recent Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Unveiling ceremony where President Barack Obama spoke about Dr. King’s legacy.

“The song is anointed because it’s full of the word,” Murdock says of the inspiring ballad of hope and perseverance. “It’s like the voice of God speaking directly to your spirit, reminding you, that He’s not a man that He should lie … if He spoke it, will He not do it? This song will stir up and rekindle that word, that’s been spoken into your spirit and remind you that your dream can not…will not die.” For more information on Shirley Murdock, go to www.tyscot.com or http://twitter.com/#!/ShirleyMurdock

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Curtis Brothers team with musical mentors on sophomore release “Completion of Proof”

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 27, 2011

Brothers Luques (bass) and Zaccai Curtis (piano) follow in the rich family tradition of jazz. Jazz music has frequently been the family tie that binds. And as with the Curtis Brothers, those are also siblings that recorded and performed together. Based on the brilliance of Completion of Proof, clearly Luques and Zaccai Curtis have joined that auspicious tradition.

Significant clues to the Curtis Brothers desire for self-determination can be found in not only the declarative title of this date – Completion of Proof, but also in the bold moniker they’ve chosen for their record label, Truth Revolution. There is an obvious sense of the Curtis Brothers on a quest for artistic truth, and in the case of their label they’re just as obviously seeking freewill in the business side of their recorded life as well. In this time of artists eschewing the tired, old pie-in-the-sky sense of waiting for a mythical record “deal,” Luques and Zaccai have clearly set out on a path of autonomy on the recorded side of their respective and collective careers.

For Completion of Proof, the Curtis Brothers have enlisted a powerhouse crew of musicians – many of whom serve as mentors to the Curtis Brothers – including drummer Ralph Peterson, Jr., Brian Lynch on trumpet, and their Artist Collective mentor, Jimmy Greene on saxophones. The date also includes alto saxophonist “Big Chief” Donald Harrison. It was Harrison who gave the Brothers their first touring band experience.

“He really showed us how to act, play, and what not to do on the road,” says Zaccai. The underrated fire-breathing saxophonist Joe Ford “has always been an influence from a very early age.” The brothers play in Lynch’s band and alongside Ford with Jerry González Fort Apache Band as occasional subs for Andy González and Larry Willis. Percussionists Rogerio Boccato, Pedro Martinez, and Reinaldo De Jesus help bring further folkloric Pan African flavor to the date.

In developing this venture the brothers had this group of mentors in mind. “We wrote all the music to fit this band,” says Zaccai in a news release. “We thought of the sound of each band member and tried to feature each one in the music. We set a date and nailed the music at the studio; no rehearsals and all within 1 or 2 takes! These guys are really the best jazz musicians alive, and we are honored to be blessed with their presence on this recording.”

Asked how their background and upbringing influenced the sundry aspects of Completion of Proof, Zaccai referred to the date as “American Classical Music in every way. Jazz is an interesting study to me. It is a science in all respects, but “soul” is the base. We named the CD Completion of Proof or in Latin Q.E.D. – quod erat demonstrandum – because this is how scientists indicated that they have proved their theory correct.”

For the Curtis Brothers, Completion of Proof is an affirmation of the basic root sources of jazz. Their music is rife with the blues, swing rhythms in recognition of the Africa-Caribbean-New Orleans lineage, and the basic core elements that make the music such a spicy, hard bop melting pot. In many ways, the music on Completion of Proof is for the Curtis Brothers a refutation of what they view from some of their peers as a denial or dismissal of those root sources.

“Fast forward to today’s modern jazz, and you are lucky to hear just one of those elements come from a performance or recording,” Zaccai said. “Blues harmonies seem to be replaced with simplified classical harmonies. Drums and rhythms have been mixed down in the modern recording so you can barely hear them! Swing has been ripped from the music. In most cases there are no elements of the jazz language… never mind bebop!

“This CD is a response to this modern, swing-less, no-language – ‘jazz’ – that the labels are pushing, just like the Hard Bop response to Cool Jazz in the ’50s and ’60s.”

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Bassist Christian McBride teams up with others on CD “Conversations with Christian”

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 23, 2011

On his eight CDs that precede Conversations With Christian, bassist Christian McBride has framed himself in ensemble contexts, most recently on the widely lauded 2009 Mack Avenue release Kind of Brown, which showcases the Inside Straight quintet (his return to the acoustic jazz format as a leader) and The Good Feeling, released in September, comprising a suite of well-wrought charts for an A-list 17-piece big band.

Although McBride’s leader and sideman c.v. includes no small number of pungent duos with various game-changers — to name two, McCoy Tyner and Jim Hall — he has heretofore refrained from devoting an entire recording to the genre. That discographical gap is now rectified with Conversations with Christian, on which the 39-year-old maestro places himself in the forefront of the flow on a duet apiece with “13 of my closest musical friends and cohorts”– singers Angélique Kidjo, Sting and Dee Dee Bridgewater; pianists George Duke, Eddie Palmieri and Chick Corea, as well as Dr. Billy Taylor and Hank Jones (who both passed away in 2010); violinist Regina Carter; trumpeter Roy Hargrove; guitarist Russell Malone; tenor saxophonist Ron Blake; and actress Gina Gershon. In the process, McBride unleashes the full measure of his already legendary skills, crafting as complete a portrait of his diverse interests-different vibrations of the blues and African-American church experience, bebop, the American Songbook, the Latin Tinge, the Freedom Principle, even comedy-as he has ever presented.

“I love and appreciate so many different styles and cultures,” he said in a news release. “Changing hats, going from one project to another, from a straight-ahead session to an R&B session to a pop session, has always fueled my activity. I try to put all those different sounds into one pot and make it a coherent, jazz-inflected sound.”

McBride first considered a proposal to do a duet project during the latter ’90s, when he was signed to Verve. “At the time,” he recalls, “I didn’t feel I was ready, or that it was the project I wanted to do. I had other things in mind. But as time progressed, I got to do other projects-putting together the Christian McBride Band and experimenting with a lot of different sounds and layers-and my focus returned to the duets idea.”

This renewed interest coincided with McBride’s involvement with the National Jazz Museum In Harlem (he is co-director), where he launched a still ongoing series of public talks and interviews. “My manager, Andre Guess, and my wife, Melissa Walker, noticed that I had a good rapport with almost everyone I interviewed,” recalls McBride, whose warmth comes through as palpably in conversation as in notes and tones. “They both suggested that it might be time.”

In conjunction with the project, McBride conducted videotaped interviews with each participant. Available as discrete podcasts since 2009, this series eventually led to the popular Sirius-XM radio show, The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian.

“I think the duet is a logical extension of the nature of the bass itself,” McBride says. “It’s the root. Joe Zawinul once stated that the drums are the father of all music, and the bass is the mother. I had a hard time disagreeing. The bass has the rhythm and the pulse, and also the notes and harmonies. That would seem to make it the ideal instrument for any sort of duet.”

The operative principle throughout is McBride’s dictum, “Most of what I enjoy doing is based in, around, and upon the groove; I want to hold down the fort, but have the ability to visit the roof if I want.” Conversations With Christian will assume its place as a masterpiece of the duo idiom.

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Academy of Country Music honor Gordon Mote with 2011 ACM Award

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 20, 2011

Gordon Mote accepts his second Academy of Country Music Honor for Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year with wife Kimberly. (Photo courtesy of ACM)

Gordon Mote was honored with the 2011 Academy of Country Music’s Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year Award at the recent annual ACM Honors ceremony held at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. Gordon, a seven-time nominee, was also honored with the coveted award in 2009.
Long recognized by the industry as one of Nashville’s most talented studio musicians who seemingly knows no limits in effortlessly crossing musical styles and genres, Mote’s talents can be heard on the recordings of some of the nation’s premier performers, including Bill & Gloria Gaither and the Homecoming Friends, Billy Ray Cyrus, Blake Shelton, Scotty McCreery, Elvis Presley, The Hoppers,Brad Paisley, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, George Jones, The Isaacs, Josh Turner, Alan Jackson,Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Jason Crabb, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Alison Krauss, just to name a few.
Since releasing his debut Southern gospel recording in 2004, the talented singer and musician has enjoyed much success, including numerous Top 40 hits in multiple music genres and numerous Fan Award nominations. Mote’s video release, “The Best of Gordon Mote,” made its debut at No. 7 on the Billboard Music Video Chart in 2008. Mote’s travels on tour are global – include stops in the United States, Canada and Europe. He is a featured artist on the stage sharing his vocal and keyboard performances with music legend Bill Gaither and his Grammy Award winning Gaither Vocal Band and the Homecoming Friends.
The fifth annual ACM Honors represents an evening of musical tribute performances and special presentations celebrating the special honorees and non-televised category winners from the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, held earlier this year.

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Mitch’s Book Review: “Gamification by Design” by Gabe Zichermann and Christopher Cunningham

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 17, 2011

Gamification by Design (O’Reilly Media, $24.99) provides the design strategy and tactics the reader needs to integrate game mechanics into any kind of consumer-facing website or mobile app. For example, learn how to use core game concepts, design patterns, and meaningful code samples to create a fun and captivating social environment.
“Gamification is fundamentally changing the way we design products, consumer interactions, and marketing strategies,” says expert author Gabe Zichermann in a news release. “Harness the power of Foursquare, Farmville, Nike+, and hundreds of other apps and games with the proven methodologies in Gamification by Design.”
The author presents examples that are well-written and easy to understand. It does a good job of presenting the key ideas of Gamification. The use of real world examples showing what people have done is great. There’s even some real code showing how a forum being enhanced with Gamification. The code examples and examples of interactions with gamification services complete a good book.
As great as this book seems, it would be more intriguing to game designers versus an ordinary reader just wanting to understand what gamification means in the marketplace today.

NOTE: Review copy was provided to Mitch’s Muse by O’Reilly Media Inc.

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Mitch’s Book Review: “A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves, and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, 1835-1868, America’s Original Superstar” by Michael Foster and Barbara Foster

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 17, 2011

Michael Foster, author of the novel Freedom’s Thunder, and Barbara Foster, an associate professor at the City University of New York who specializes in women’s studies, have written an interesting account on actress and poet Adah Isaacs Menken.
A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves, and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, 1835-1868, America’s Original Superstar details the life of Menken, who was born in New Orleans to a Jewish, “woman of color” and a father whose identity is debated.

Menken eventually moved to the Midwest, where she became an outspoken protégé of the rabbi who founded Reform Judaism. In New York City, she became Walt Whitman’s disciple. During the Civil War, she was arrested as a Confederate agent — and became America’s first pin-up superstar. Menken married and left five husbands. Ultimately, she paid dearly for success — she mysteriously died at age 33.
The authors have done a remarkable job of chronicling Menken’s life with information generated from special collections in the United States, London and Paris, books, periodicals, and photography. It was mentioned that Menken, until her death in 1868, was the prime suspect of the first celebrity photography, Napoleon Sarony.
The authors show that her star power inspired poets like Walt Whitman and writers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used Menken as the basis for the classic Sherlock Holmes supporting character of Irene Adler. Her popularity was fueled by a new advent of the period, mass circulation newspapers. Their reporters couldn’t wait to write about her latest adventure, according to biographers Michael and Barbara Foster, who call her the originator of the modern celebrity femme fatale.
A Dangerous Woman is an interesting read for those interested in women’s history, the roots of modern-day American Judaism, and African-American history.

NOTE: Review copy was provided to Mitch’s Muse by News and Experts.

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Tonight: Live stream of Wynton Marsalis’ 50th birthday celebration

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 13, 2011

According to a news release, at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, viewers can join Wynton Marsalis’s 50th Birthday Celebration live at wyntonmarsalis.org/live. Watch the live stream of the concert from Jazz at Lincoln Center with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton, Marcus Roberts, Jared Grimes, Gregory Porter, Mark O’Connor, Damien Sneed and Chorale Le Chateau, and Yacub Addy and Odadaa! The video stream is made possible by PBS and Live from Lincoln Center.

Wynton Marsalis is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, educator and a leading advocate of American culture. He is the world’s first jazz artist to perform and compose across the full jazz spectrum from its New Orleans roots to bebop to modern jazz.

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hMAG’s free second annual Music Fest 2011 convenes Sunday, Oct. 16

Post author By mitchmuse
Post date October 12, 2011

hMAG’s second annual Music Fest 2011, sponsored by GBX, is happening from noon to 10 p.m. Sunday, October 16, 2011, at Pier A Park in Hoboken, New Jersey.

This all-day free music event is featuring six local bands and two headliners with a mix of indie, rock, punk, R&B and pop along with local vendors and giveaways throughout the day. For more information, go to http://www.h-mag.com/musicfest.