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Watercolors celebrates Jazz Appreciation Month with an amazing lineup of contemporary jazz talent! This week, GRAMMY award-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum teams up with vocalist (and brother) Kevin Whalum as your celeb DJs sharing stories about recreating the 1968 John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman duet recording, influential songs and what jazz means to them.
On-Air Time:4/26, 12 Noon-2 p.m. Eastern
Rebroadcast:4/28, 10 a.m.-12 Noon Eastern
Duration: 2 hours (while you’re having lunch (EST) or breakfast (PST) !)
The painting by Edward LaRose that graces the cover of The Duality Perspective, drummer/composer Ralph Peterson‘s new release and 16th as a leader, is a dynamic illustration of the album’s driving principles. The yin yang symbol in the background represents the balance between the two ensembles that appear on the record, the young, next-generation Fo’tet and the more established Sextet. The names of the members of each group are spelled out on the branches of a tree, the Sextet side fully flowering while the Fo’tet side is still budding; the tree’s roots are inscribed with the names of elders and mentors including Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Bill Fielder.
At the center of all of this is a portrait of Peterson himself, the locus of the enterprise both musically and spiritually. It is Peterson that nurtures this living, growing entity so that buds will bloom, branches will grow and thrive, and roots will delve ever deeper and stronger.
The Duality Perspective thus embodies youth and maturity, past; past, present and future; and diverse stylistic approaches based on a common language. In a bit of word association, Peterson characterizes the young, hungry Fo’tet as “dry ice, so cold it’ll burn you,” and the all-star Sextet as “richly rooted, one foot in the tradition, the other foot in tomorrow.” But as he acknowledges, “Each has a distinct sound and approach, yet they have a commonality at the core.”
Of course, as Peterson is quick to point out, there are more than two sides to his musical identity. (“Later on there might be a record called The Multiplicity Perspective,” he muses.) Besides his incomparable talent behind the drumkit, which has led to collaborations with the likes of Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Roy Hargrove, Jon Faddis, Michael Brecker, Steve Coleman and Betty Carter over a nearly thirty-year career – not to mention being hand-picked by Art Blakey as the second drummer in the legendary bandleader’s Jazz Messenger Big Band until Blakey’s 1990 death – Peterson is an agile trumpeter and a respected educator.
Celebrating Peterson’s 50th birthday, The Duality Perspective is the veteran drummer’s 16th album as a leader and the second release on his own Onyx Music label, following last year’s acclaimed Outer Reaches. Turning 50, Peterson says, has been accompanied by some positive adjustments in his lifestyle.
“These changes helped me to be the best person I can be,” he says in a news release, “and the best person will always produce the best music. I think this is one of my best records because it very much says where I am right now.”
The importance of unifying distinct elements into a distinctive whole springs directly from Peterson’s martial arts training. A third-degree black belt and Buddhist, Peterson has studied tae kwon do on and off for more than two decades.
“As I continue my martial arts training,” he says, “Asian philosophical concepts like yin and yang become more important to me and I’m able to fuse them back into my other artistry, my music art. It also helps me stay physically fit, so I can play with the vigor of my youth but add to it the maturity and wisdom I’ve gotten through my experiences.”
The growth and replenishment of the album cover’s family tree is vividly evidenced by the current membership of Peterson’s Sextet, most of whom were in the budding stage themselves when Peterson began working with them. Trumpeter Sean Jones was a student at Rutgers University, who then introduced Peterson to saxophonist Tia Fuller; saxophonist Walter Smith III was a student in one of Peterson’s clinics at Berklee prior to his professorship; the drummer taught bassist Luques Curtis and played in the senior recital of his brother, pianist Zaccai Curtis.
According to a recent news release, ACT Music announces the release of 301, a full album of previously unheard material by e.s.t. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio), available on May 8. The album is a follow up to e.s.t.‘s 2008 effort, Leucocyte, and is the group’s second album following pianist Esbjörn Svensson‘s tragic death (prior to Leucocyte‘s release). Heralded as one of the most exciting jazz bands of the decade, the seven-track album features Svensson with his longtime band mates, drummer Magnus Öström and bassist Dan Berglund.
In January 2007, e.s.t. was on tour in Asia and Australia performing shows in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Jakarta, Perth and Sydney. It was their third tour of Japan and their second time on the continent; and the venues and audiences had become noticeably bigger. Only a few weeks before, they had finished their triumphant tour of Germany, including a legendary performance in Hamberg which resulted in Live in Hamburg (ACT, 2007), awarded “Album of the Decade” by the London Times. It was undoubtedly the prime time for the style-defining jazz band of the 2000s.
The group decided to rent the famous “Studio 301” in Sydney for their off-days in the middle of the Australian tour and jammed for two consecutive days to develop new songs and material. Altogether, they recorded nine hours of music. Leucocyte became the first release from these sessions and has been praised by critics and fans alike as a ground-breaking work that leads into a new musical universe. Very soon after the recording, Svensson had edited much of the material down to two albums. And so the plan at the time was to release either a double album or two consecutive albums from this recording. Svensson’s tragic passing on June 14, 2008, (as a result of a scuba diving accident) disrupted this undertaking, and only one of the albums, Leucocyte (ACT, 2008), was released at the time.
Three years later, in October and November 2011, Berglund and Öström revisited the material from that recording session and together, with the band’s regular sound engineer Ake Linton, made their own edit for an album which is now called 301, on the basis of the name of the studio where the album was recorded.
For more information on e.s.t., visit est-music.com. For more information on The ACT Company, visit actmusic.com.
Keith Williams, EPM Music Group recording artist and senior vice president, has left his post as director of Music and Arts at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor at the height of the ’60s Civil Rights Movement. His final service there took place on Easter Sunday.
“This was not a sudden decision,” says Williams in a news release, who will continue to live and work in the Atlanta area. “We’ve been planning this transition for months so that I can focus on my new duties as an executive with EPM Music Group and also so that I can finish my CD and fulfill the call I have to the national musical arena.”
Williams has been juggling many roles over the past year with his church duties, helping push Earnest Pugh’s smash hit “I Need Your Glory” to No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Chart and signing music veteran Chrystal Rucker as the first artist on EPM Music Group. At the same time, Williams has been sorting through songs and writing tunes for his August 14 sophomore CD release “Introducing Keith Williams.”
Williams is a classically trained pianist and vocalist. He’s spent the last two decades as a worship leader at prestigious churches across the United States such as Ebenezer A.M.E. Church in Fort Washington, Maryland, and the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Williams’ style is a cross between the legendary Douglas Miller’s nearly operatic baritone and John Stoddard’s polished notes. Over the years, Williams has written songs for Jennifer Holliday, Dottie Peoples, Vanessa Armstrong and Earnest Pugh. His debut CD, “…& Again I Say Rejoice,” appeared in 2008. For more information, go to www.epmmusicgroup.com
Gospel singer Vickie Winans has added another element to her career. “The Comedianna” (her trademarked definition of a hilarious story-telling Queen), is hitting the road to promote two newly recorded comedy DVDs, entitled, “Hilarious and Unplugged” Vol. 1 and 2. The stand-up comedy projects will be available in stores, on her website and at every stop along the projected 40-city tour that will take the charismatic singer into churches, theaters, and other venues. The tour has kicked off on April 8 at the House of Hope/Salem Baptist Church Worship Center in Chicago, where the Rev. James Meeks is the pastor, and will continue throughout the summer. Both DVDs were recorded on Dec. 7, 2011, to multiple standing-room-only audiences at Detroit’s Upper Room Complex. During nearly four hours of stage time, Winans told one sidesplitting story after another, from her life’s experiences to growing up with 11 siblings. During the evening, Winans performed a live version of her smash hits, “Shake Yourself Loose” and “How I Got Over” with her nephew Tim Bowman Jr., and she also shot a live music video of her son Mario Winans’ “Overcomer” remix. These songs are included on the DVDs.
A unique element to the tour is that Winans has purchased a luxury Sprinter van to transport the homeless in each city to be her special guests at each comedy show. The singer is in pre-production for the starring role as “Grace Avery” in an uplifting feature film surrounding the issue of homelessness entitled, “Amazing Grace,” which has heightened her sensitivity to the topic so much so that Winans has a newly formed foundation to help decrease homelessness in America.
“My ultimate goal is to build homes and more shelters for the homeless,” says Winans in a news release, “but until then, as many as the bus will hold will be my special guest VIPs for a night of laughter, food and a gift bag!”
Winans entered the gospel music scene in 1985 with her signature smash “We Shall Behold Him.” She’s remained one of gospel music’s Top 10 artists. She has appeared on the cover of Jet magazine, served as celebrity spokesperson for Daimler-Chrysler, McDonald’s and Quaker Oats. Other hits include “As Long as I Got King Jesus,” “Shake Yourself Loose” and “The Rainbow.” For more information, visit www.vickiewinans.com.
It’s been nearly three years since the last BryanScary release. If this is the first times new fans will hear of Scary, then get ready: his new album, Daffy’s Elixir, is about to flood your ears with grandiose 70’s inspired experimental indie pop.
Having recently played Daffy’s Elixir in its entirety at NYC’s (le) Poisson Rouge venue and now plotting an Off-Broadway theatre work centered around the record, Scary is awing existing fans all-the-while quickly attracting new ones with this bold new project.
Scary‘s previous records garnered critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, SPIN, Stereogum, USA Today, iTunes, Daytrotter, Perez Hilton, RCRD LBL, Paste, Filter, IFC, NY Post and endless others. But we believe BryanScary is at his peak with Daffy’s Elixir, a 70-minute opus two years in the making.
For fans lucky enough to be biting from the Big Apple, Scary will be playing a couple key shows in the coming months. He’ll be playing at Joe’s Pub (with fellow label-mates Little Tybee) on April 11, and the Daffy’s Elixir record release show on April 24 at Brooklyn Bowl.
Over the past decade, Stephen Hurd has distinguished himself as one of the leading voices in urban praise and worship music and 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 available in retail stores this week 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 for this manly worship experience are Verity Records artist Jason Nelson, Christian pop artist Anthony Evans and Minister 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 horn arrangements.
“It was the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” Hurd says of the recording. “There was no drama. Everybody was excited to be there and came with the attitude of ‘What can I do to make this impact?’”
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.
On her 10th recording, vocalist Carol Welsman invites her followers to tag along on a spirited yet intimate adventure. The vocalist explores 14 classic songs on Journey (Justin Time Records), all inspired by her lifelong love of traveling.
While jaunting from city to city can be somewhat draining for most people, Welsman enjoys the same sense of happy wanderlust that she had the first time she flew to Boston from her hometown of Toronto to attend the Berklee College of Music as a piano performance major. Since then, she has jazzed thousands of fans everywhere from Tokyo and New York to Italy and Brazil; lived for years in France, Italy and Los Angeles; and continues to be an iconic figure in her home country of Canada, where she has received five Juno nominations over the course of her 15-year recording career.
While her rich discography includes numerous acclaimed recordings showcasing her powerful skills as a songwriter, Journey follows in the tradition of Welsman’s previous thematic excursions, including Swing Ladies Swing! A Tribute to Singers of the Swing Era (1999), What’cha Got Cookin’, a set of jazzed up country standards produced by Pierre and Mary Cossette (2005), the Japan-released Benny Goodman tribute Memories of You (2008) and Welsman’s the tour de force I Like Men, Reflections of Miss Peggy Lee, which earned the singer her fifth Juno nod for Best Jazz Vocal Album of the Year in Canada and was named one of USA Today’s Top 5 albums of the year (alongside Barbra Streisand and Mark Knopfler) and #3 album of the year in Jazz Times.
Produced by Welsman’s longtime band members, guitarist Pierre Coté and drummer/percussionist Jimmy Branly, Journey also features Marc Rogers on bass and a guest spot by trumpeter Ron Di Lauroon “You Came a Long Way from St. Louis.” Though most songs are sung in her native English, she draws on her fluency in French for “Volons Vers La Lune” (an exuberant, coolly swinging adaptation of “Fly Me to the Moon”) and the hauntingly eloquent “Si J’étais Un Homme,” and sings Portuguese throughout the first part of a spirited romp through Jobim’s “Samba De Avião.”
Beyond the compelling song list and Welsman’s unique interpretations, another fascinating element of this Journey is the fact that every tune was recorded in one or two takes, with the band recording 16 tracks in four days. Welsman prepared for the sessions with pre-production demos and, embodying the true essence of jazz, was open to changing course and improvising when the spirit of the song led the band in a different direction during the rehearsal session before recording. Her idea to drop the drums from “Route 66,” for instance, happened during the first run through the song in the recording studio.
“That’s the great thing about jazz, being open to making last-minute changes to make every song and arrangement flow just right,” says Welsman in a news release. “I wanted to play with the intimacy of the music, which means there could be a sudden change of attitude, as in ‘Never Make Your Move too Soon,’ which started out as a straight blues but seemed too forced that way. The result was that we were able to have a nice palette of colors with which to present this special array of songs. One of the key things was vibe. I didn’t want to be too over the top, but more on the quiet side so that you could put it on during dinner and then later it would lend itself to more detailed listening. Because we were drawing from so many sources and influences, I was amazed at the end that everything had an organic feel and was totally cohesive. All the themes connected as if we had somehow planned it that way. Dropping an instrument here and there definitely was part of the balanced approach we took.”
Berkleemusic.com, the online school of Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music, is launching Rock History, an online course that chronicles the evolution of one of the greatest periods of music. Rock History takes an in-depth look at the highs and lows of rock over the past 60 years; the key heroes and villains, the movers and shakers from the studio and the concert stage, and a behind-the-scenes look at the managers, industry executives, promoters, and cultural trends that shaped it. The course launches April 2, 2012.
Berkleemusic has tapped Steve Morse to author and teach Rock History. Morse brings a lifetime of real-world experience to the material. Steve was the senior rock writer at the Boston Globe for over three decades, and has contributed to other top-tier press outlets such as Billboard and Rolling Stone. He has also served on the nominating committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Steve has a rich background in rock history, having interviewed and developed strong, decades-long ties with dozens of the most important artists and bands in rock, including the Rolling Stones (first seeing them in 1966), U2, Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Metallica, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Tom Petty, and others.
“The new Rock History online course from Berklee is a comprehensive, interactive, and immersive way to experience the most important and interesting time ever in the music industry,” says Dave Kusek, CEO at Berkleemusic.com in a news release. “Steve Morse has such a wealth of knowledge and insight into what actually happened behind the scenes and the way the course is crafted, it is simply the most unique and exciting way to learn about this incredible time in the history of music. You will not find a better way to learn about and appreciate the classic albums and live shows that were created by the true legends of rock and roll, as the music industry ignited.”
Throughout the course, students will view exclusive, never-before-seen Berkleemusic video interviews with rock luminaries including: Joe Perry of Aerosmith; Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead; Mike Mills of R.E.M.; Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers; George Clinton of P-Funk; producer Jack Douglas (who has worked with Aerosmith, Patti Smith, and John Lennon); promoter Don Law; Amanda Palmer; Hugo Burnham of Gang of Four; Duke Levine (who has played with the J. Geils Band and Aimee Mann); and English super-session drummer Dave Mattacks. Berkleemusic has also partnered with Wolfgang’s Vault to provide additional rare audio, video, and other forms of historical rock media presented in an educational context for the very first time.
“I have known Steve Morse for over twenty years,” concludes Aerosmith’s Joe Perry. “Steve is a musicologist and his love of music makes him a very enthusiastic teacher. Steve has an undying love of music and a proven ability to be one of music’s finest critics and writers.”
Berkleemusic will host a free live Rock History event in Berkleemusic’s studio Thursday, March 8 at 4 p.m. EST: an exclusive conversation between Rock History’s Morse, and Boston DJ John Laurenti. Laurenti joins Morse in the Pantheon of the Boston music scene. John is a DJ at Boston’s #1 classic rock station in Boston, WZLX is the music director at University of Massachusetts’ radio station, WUMB. Laurenti has also hosted a number of historical music documentaries shown on WGBH in Boston. To register, sign up at https://www.berkleemusic.com/openhouse-signup/.
