Category: performances

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blues jazz music Oklahoma Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame performances tulsa United States

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame honors new members on Wednesday

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s Jazz Depot, Tulsa

The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame (at the historic Jazz Depot, 111 E. First St. in Tulsa, OK) will honor several outstanding musicians at the 2011 Induction Gala and Ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 16.  (Also Oklahoma Statehood Day!)

The Inductees for 2011 are…. 
  • Conductor, musician, composer and writer David Amram will be awarded the Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award and will give a performance.
  • Lou Kerr will be awarded the Spirit of Community Excellence Award for her continuing commitment towards improving Oklahoma and her support of educational and leadership programs.
  • Dorothy “Miss Blues” Ellis of Oklahoma City and Theodore “Rudy” Scott of Tulsa will be inducted in the Blues category;
  • Suzanne Tate, recently retired Director of the Oklahoma Arts Council will be awarded the Spirit of Community Excellence Award for her two decades of tireless work for the arts and her service to the state of Oklahoma. 
  • Donald “Don” Cherry, James “Jim” Pepper, and Charles E. “Pee Wee” Russell will be posthumously inducted in the Jazz category;
  • Dr. Terry Segress of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Dr. Ron Predl of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, and Dr. Kent Kidwell of the University of Central Oklahoma will receive Zelia Breaux Distinguished Jazz Educator Award;  
  • Sharel Cassity, a Juilliard trained, multi-instrumentalist will receive the Legacy Tribute Award.   

  

The reception will begin at 6 p.m. Dinner is at 6:45 p.m., and the Induction Ceremony begins at 7:45 p.m. Tickets are available online at http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=2762&pid=7146600 or call (918) 281-8609. 
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concerts gospel Mary Mary music Oklahoma Oklahoma City performances United States

Oklahoma City chosen among other cities for Mary Mary’s Christmas tour

Black Liberated Arts Center (BLAC) Inc. presents gospel group Mary Mary on Dec. 11 at Frederick A. Douglass High School Auditorium in their first performance in Oklahoma City.
Anita G. Arnold, BLAC Inc. executive director, said the concert is part of an eight-state tour for Mary Mary.  Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m.  The musical group “Committed” will open for Mary Mary.


Ever since siblings Erica Campbell and Tina Campbell broke through in 2000 with pioneering crossover hit “Shackles (Praise You),”  the chart-topping sister act has never waived from defying convention to fulfill its mission: sending uplifting messages through music and words that are relatable to everyone.

“It’s about making music that touches both adults and young people,” says Erica.  Tina adds, “It’s about spreading good news for the world but doing it in the “Mary Mary” way: banging beats and melodies, intertwined voices and messages of hope.”

Now 10 years later, having earned three Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, an NAACP Image Award and a BET Award, the “Mary Mary” way sounds just as fresh and innovative on the duo’s sixth album, Something Big.  Well-known for singles such as “God in Me,” and R&B/hip-hop crossover hit, “Walking,” the sisters strike out anew with a Christmas album that is designed to appeal everyone.



Tickets are on sale online through BLAC Inc.’s website, www.blacinc.org; at BLAC Inc.’s office at 4915 N. Lincoln Blvd. in Oklahoma City; and other locations including Capitol Square Station, Charlie’s Jazz, Rhythm and Blues Store, Hopkins Hair Care, KM66, Learning Tree Toy Store and Urban Roots.


The concert is made possible through funding from the Oklahoma Arts Council.  For more information, call BLAC Inc. at (405) 524-3800.

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contemporary jazz jazz Mack Avenue Records music performances United States vibraphonist Warren Wolf

Vibraphonist Warren Wolf to perform Nov. 16 at “The Checkout: Live From 92YTribeca”

Warren Wolf

Jazz vibraphonist Warren Wolf is set to perform at 92YTribeca in New York City at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16 in support of his new self-titled, debut album (available on Mack Avenue Records). The performance is part of 92YTribeca and WBGO’s new series, The Checkout: Live From 92YTribeca, and is a shared double-bill with guitarist Lage Lund. The new series is syndicated and archived via NPRMusic.org. Joining Wolf on-stage for the evening will be saxophonist Tim Green, pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Kris Funn and drummer John Lamkin. 
It’s no exaggeration to state that the release of Warren Wolf, makes it as apparent to jazz fans as it already is to jazz insiders that the 31-year-old vibraphonist is the next major voice on his instrument. Joined by a unit of authoritative swingers (bassist Christian McBride, pianist Peter Martin, drummer Greg Hutchinson, alto and soprano saxophonist Tim Green, and, on two tracks, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt), Wolf offers a ten-piece program that admirably represents his singular blend of efflorescent chops, muscular attack, lyric sensibility, harmonic acumen, encyclopedic knowledge of hardcore jazz vocabulary, tireless groove and downright musicality.
“I’m trying to bring forth what most cats did back in the day, coming out right at you swinging, nice and hard, not a lot of hard melodies or weird time signatures,” Wolf says in a news release. “I like to play really hard, fast and kind of flashy. I like to take it to a whole other level.”
The Checkout: Live From 92YTribeca is a new music series presented by 92YTribeca and WBGO, and created by WBGO’s Josh Jackson, host of the hour-long jazz radio program, The Checkout. The series pairs some of New York City’s most exciting jazz musicians and brings them to the mainstage at 92YTribeca for a live performance and broadcast on WBGO (as well as the station’s website, WBGO.org). Portions of the recorded performance will also be used for future playback on The Checkout, as well as the show’s podcast, and syndicated and archived via NPRMusic.org. The mainstage at 92YTribeca, 92nd Street Y’s downtown cultural venue, regularly features jazz as part of its eclectic offerings, which also include film, performance, visual art and a huge range of musical genres.   
“Our message is growing, and so are the ways we can deliver it – on a clear and consistent radio signal, on WBGO.org, and on mobile telephony,” says Jackson. We’re excited to work with 92YTribeca to create new opportunities to discover, engage, and build the jazz community.”
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behop jazz Jazz at Lincoln Center modern jazz performances United States Wynton Marsalis

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

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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concerts GBX hMAG music Music Fest 2011 New Jersey performances United States

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

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.

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jazz Kyle Eastwood performances releases Rendezvous Music world

Bassist Kyle Eastwood to release “Songs from the Chateau” on Aug. 30 on

These days, Kyle Eastwood is less and less known as the son of Clint Eastwood and more of a universally respected musician and leader in his own right. A virtuoso bassist on electric and upright, as well as a talented composer with a keen ear for great tunes and the subtleties of modern jazz, he is right at the forefront of the contemporary scene, having chosen to immerse himself in the music he loves. Dynamic and pulsing, full of swing, great rhythms and memorable melodies, Songs from the Chateau is Eastwood’s fourth U.S. effort on Rendezvous Music (licensed from Candid Records – one of the leading independent jazz labels in the UK). 


When he is not on tour, Eastwood spends much of his time between Paris, where he has lived on and off for five years, and Los Angeles and is very much at home in France; Eastwood’s preceding release on Rendezvous, Metropolitain, was also recorded in France, so it was natural to look there for an ideal place where he and his musicians could relax for a few days and allow their creative juices to flow. Such a place turned out to be the fabulous 15th Century Couronneau in Ligueux, deep in classic Bordeaux country, and Songs from the Chateau was born. To capture the authentic sound of the all-star band Eastwood has on display, producer Crofton Orr and the engineering of Simone Griva were enlisted. Also on board was long time collaborator Michael Stevens (cowriter with Eastwood on the scores for films including “Changeling” and “Gran Torino”).

Although it was recorded in Bordeaux, most of the record was written on the road and at rehearsals while Eastwood and his band were on tour in the spring and summer of 2010. As the tour progressed, so did arrangements and concepts for the album. By the time they got to recording at Chateau Couronneau, the band was already very comfortable with the music and was free to let the beautiful setting inspire them.

Eastwood said in a news release, “The whole idea of the project was to have a little break after the tour was over and take our time and record in a very relaxed way. We went in and recorded the way we would usually play a gig and I think this album really captures the way this band plays and interacts musically in a live setting.”

There’s a simple explanation as to why this group meshes so well together. Eastwood has been carefully developing this band for years; the most recent addition to the group has already been with the band for four years. “Some of my favorite albums in jazz were made by musicians who stayed together and developed this kind of group feeling and that is something that has always been important to me,” he said.

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Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame performances swing tulsa United States western

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame presents “A Salute to Curly Lewis: Texas Western Swing Reunion” on July 21

Curly Lewis

The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 111 E. First St. (Upper Level) in Tulsa, OK, will play a tribute at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 21, 2011, to Curly Lewis, the only sideman immortalized on the Cain’s Ballroom Walk of Fame.
Lewis lent his fiddle and vocal talent to many of the greatest western-swing bands in history, including Hank Thompson, Leon McAuliffe, Bob Wills, and Tulsa’s own Johnnie Lee Wills.
In 1936, Lewis beat all the competition — both kids and adults — in a fiddling contest sponsored by Bob at Tulsa’s Avery Coliseum. He was only 11 then, but his career path had been set. After playing local radio shows (and bars for tips) during his teen years, Lewis joined Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys, who’d taken over Bob Wills’ daily broadcasts at the Cain’s.
The tribute concert, led by trombonist Steve Ham, will feature songs made famous by the bands Lewis graced, along with a few surprises.  Many of the musicians in this first-class tribute group, assembled byHam, have known and played with Lewis for many years.
Tickets are $15 and can be obtained by calling (918) 281-8609 or go online to http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=2762&pid=7071478.

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benefit Black Academy of Arts and Letters gospel performances releases Texas United States

“Medicine – Live at The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Star-Studded Project” hits stores July 26, 2011, and will benefit The Black Academy

Black Academy of Arts and Letters

Dallas, TX – In October 2010, several renowned stars came to celebrate and help raise operating revenue for the Black Academy of Arts and Letters that was founded by Curtis King 34 years ago.
“In a bad economy the first thing that gets cut is arts funding,” says King, whose 250,000 square foot complex is adjacent to the Dallas City Hall, in a news release. “However, it’s the plays, concerts, poetry readings and other inspiring programming we offer that helps people get through rough times like these. So, we’re thrilled that these artists came together to make a CD that will raise money to help keep these programs going.”
The majority of the songs on the 13-track, Medicine – Live At The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (MCG Records/ $13.99 SRLP), were written or co-written by Sam “Shake” Anderson, a veteran bassist who has toured with the likes of Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield and Bruce Hornsby. It was recorded live at The Black Academy.  Backed by the 80-voice Black Academy Choir, American Idol champion Ruben Studdard performed two of the album’s highlights. “Medicine For Someone Else” has a bluesy feel and shows off a raspier tone for Studdard, while the ballad “Teach Me to Love” boasts an unplugged groove.
The album is not a typical gospel set. On it, the songs range from a brash critique of parasite preachers on “PTYHOMP (Please Take Your Hands Out My Pocket)” to the bloody waters of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Jasmine Guy’s spoken-word recitation of Curtis King’s “My Language” poem.  Ann Nesby (former lead singer for The Sounds of Blackness) wraps her big voice around the poignant anthem, “What Would You Have Me Do?” Yarbrough & Peoples, best known for their 1981 #1 R&B smash “Don’t Stop the Music,” deliver the funk on the percolating street jam, “Jump Til’ You Feel Something.” Tommie Young West, who recorded classic R&B sides for Louisiana’s Soul Power label in the early ’70s, rocks the house on the pulsating “Won’t Have to Worry” while Brenda Ellis’ full alto pulverizes the paean, “Bask (In the Presence of the Lord).”
“I look back on my days of the handling of such mega superstars as Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire, Leon Patillo of Santana, Helen Baylor, Shirley Caesar, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Denise Williams, and the incredible Al Green,” says James Bullard, president and CEO of Majestic Communications Group (MCG). “This project, in my opinion, is comparable to those superstars. My blood is pumping like never before. This is going to be a big project and is destine to go all the way to the top.  I am excited beyond words about this project.”
Although, The Black Academy has been a fixture on Dallas’ local arts scene for over three decades, the organization also has a national standing. Its 1987 fundraising CD by Eartha Kitt entitled, My Way: Musical Tribute to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Caravan of Dreams) sold over 250,000 copies. The Academy later funded national touring productions of “Black Music and the Civil Rights Movement,” “Symphony with the Divas,” and the musical, “Blues Bar.” For more information, go to www.tbaal.org.

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Emtro Gospel Records gospel performances releases Tony Sneed United States

Tony Sneed’s single “My Heart Says Yes” climbs to #2 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart

According to a recent news release, Grammy Award nominated recording artist and producer Troy Sneed’s latest radio smash, “My Heart Says Yes” is continuing to hold steady at #2 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart for the second consecutive week. This summer, Sneed makes his first TV appearances in years on BET’s “Bobby Jones Gospel” and TCT’s “Dorinda Clark Cole Show.”

The public probably first noticed Sneed as a choir member in the film “The Preacher’s Wife.” He also coached the Georgia Mass Choir for the Whitney Houston soundtrack. He later recorded solo albums for Savoy Records before launching his own Emtro Gospel Records label in 2005. Ever since, the label has placed 18 songs by various artists on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart, including a half dozen by Sneed such as “Work It Out,” “The Struggle is Over” (#1 for 12 weeks) and ”Hallelujah.”  His new Top 10 CD “My Heart Says Yes” is in stores now. For more info on Sneed, visit www.troysneed.net, www.Facebook.com/emtrogospel or www.Twitter.com/TroySneed.


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classic jazz jazz Mitch Winehouse performances releases swing United Kingdom world

United Kingdom jazz vocalist Mitch Winehouse releases debut “Rush of Love”

At age 60, United Kingdom jazz vocalist Mitch Winehouse is turning a life-long ambition into reality, showcasing his in-depth knowledge and sheer passion for jazz and swing music with a 11-track debut called “Rush of Love,” featuring a host of rarely uncovered classics as well as four brand-new tracks.


“We love singing in our family” Winehouse said in a recent news release, “I was always singing at home. But this is a dream come true and musically, it’s a great album.” Despite his own undeniable music talent, Mitch is also realistic about the assumptions that will be made about his newfound career choice: “If Amy wasn’t my daughter I wouldn’t be given this opportunity. I’m not stupid, I know that. But if I couldn’t sing I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity either.”

Teaming up with old family friend Tony Hiller, writer of ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’ and hundreds of other jazz and pop standards, was another logical step for Mitch who has, quite obviously, had the time of his life researching and compiling his music debut. “I had such a good time making this album,” Winehouse said. “We tried 40 songs we loved and worked through them with a pianist. If it didn’t work for us, we moved on, but just reliving them was enough.”

The album features the 1931 Bing Crosby classic ‘I Apologize’, and ‘Day by Day’, also later recorded by Crosby in 1946 as well as by Doris Day in the same year. ‘You Go To My Head’ has been re-worked by such fans ranging from Billie Holiday to Rod Stewart. Finally, the popular ‘April In Paris,’ taken from the 1932 Broadway musical ‘Walk A Little Faster’ and later performed by the likes of Louis Armstrong, is given the Mitch makeover.