Category: world

Categories
jazz Oklahoma Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame performances tulsa United States world

Pianist Eldar Djangirov performs in Oklahoma on Sunday, April 17, 2011

EldarJazz pianist Eldar Djangirov will give a solo piano concert at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s Jazz Depot (111 E. First St. – Upper Level in Tulsa, OK) at 5 p.m. Sunday, April. 17, 2011.   He will perform jazz standards, classical music and original compositions from his new CD “Three Stories.” 
The Grammy-nominee has worked with the late Dr. Billy Taylor, Marian McPartland, Dave Brubeck, Michael Brecker, Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock. Doors will open at 4 p.m. General admission is $15 and reserved table setting is $20. Tickets may be bought online at http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=2762&pid=6950618. For more information, call (918) 281-8609.

Categories
contemporary jazz jazz releases United States Vijay Iyer world

Vijay Iyer introduces new band and album Tirtha on March 8, 2011

(Left to right: Nitin Mitta, Vijay Iyer, Prasanna)               Photo credit: Alan Nahigian       

Vijay Iyer, 2011 Grammy nominee & JJA Musician of the Year, Chennai (formerly Madras)-born guitarist-composer Prasanna, and Hyderabad native and tabla player Nitin Mitta have achieved a fully realized, deeply thoughtful, and truly innovative collaboration called Tirthia. 
Tirthia, to be released on March 8, 2011, combines the elemental directness of rock, the chamber-like intimacy of raga, and bebop’s hard, angular drive, and achieves a profound interplay of melody and rhythm that characterizes jazz.
“Tirtha (the band) formed in response to an invitation,” said Iyer in a news release. “In 2007, I was asked to put together a concert celebrating 60 years of Indian independence. Normally I’ve steered clear of fusion experiments that attempt to mix styles – to “create something,” as John Coltrane famously admonished, “more with labels, you see, than true evolution.” For this event, I hoped to avoid those pitfalls, and offer something personal.
“I invited along Prasanna and Nitin Mitta, two outstanding musicians from India who have settled in the States. None of us had collaborated previously, but at our first rehearsal we felt a jolt of recognition. There was no question of “fusion,” no compromise, no attempt to sound more or less “Indian”; just a fluid musical conversation among three individuals, an atmosphere of camaraderie, a sense of beginning.”
Composer-pianist Iyer is one of today’s most acclaimed and respected young American jazz artists. He received the Musician of the Year Award in the 2010 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, the 2010 Echo Award (the “German Grammy”) for best international ensemble with his trio, and the Downbeat Critics Poll for rising star jazz group of the year. His latest recordings on the ACT label include Solo (2010) and the trio album Historicity (2009). Historicity subsequently received a Grammy Nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.




Categories
contemporary jazz jazz music releases United States world yellowjackets

The Yellowjackets mark 30th anniversary with new Mack Records release on March 15

The Yellowjackets will release Timeline on March 15 on Mack Records. Spearheaded by keyboardist Russell Ferrante and bassist Jimmy Haslip, The Yellowjackets offer fans its 21st official recording, not including special side projects and guest spots. The band’s background gleams with various honors, including 17 Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards to show for their efforts.

“We get extremely engaged with every project and we try to elevate and open things up,” Haslip said in a news release. That’s always the goal with every project. I’m not saying we always succeed. But the focus is to always try to do something that is hopefully engaging. And being that Russell, myself and the guys in the band have a certain chemistry. It’s not easy to accomplish this after 30 years.”
The band moves forward with a new relationship with respected jazz label Mack Avenue Records, and the first new album with an important alumnus back in the ranks, the dynamic and flexible drummer Will Kennedy. Kennedy, who worked with the group for 10 years and appeared on half its discography to date, returns to the ranks after a dozen years away. He fits seamlessly into the band, alongside Ferrante, Haslip and the multi-talented saxophonist-composer Bob Mintzer, whose critical role in helping define the group’s current sound goes back to 1991.
Timeline is described as characteristically diverse but also cohesive, melodically accessible and also experimental, in keeping with the Jackets’ concept for three decades. Beautiful balladry, such as Ferrante’s “Indivisible” and Mintzer’s “My Soliloquy,” intertwine with modern-day variations on traditional swing themes, on Mintzer’s “Like Elvin” (also one of the songs featuring a new sound for the band, guest trumpeter John Diversa) and Ferrante’s “Numerology.” Kennedy’s one composition, “Rosemary,” explores an inventive rhythmic-melodic feel, with its lyrical balladic melody laying atop an exotic drum groove.


Categories
Mother Teresa reflections religion United States world

Mitch’s Reflection: Mother Teresa’s “Do It Anyway”

I noticed the following poem on the wall at an office one day, and it brought many things into perspective. This poem has circulated throughout the world. I hope that the following words may be a blessing for you, too.

“Do It Anyway”

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

– Mother Teresa
Categories
arts education JAZZ ROOTS music United States world

Three groups form strategic alliance with JAZZ ROOTS: A Larry Rosen Jazz Series

JAZZ ROOTS: A Larry Rosen Jazz Series, one of America’s leading performing arts and education programs announces the formation of a new alliance with three strategic partners: IMG Artists, Sony Masterworks and The Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium.

The alliance was made official when JAZZ ROOTS signed an exclusive worldwide representation agreement with IMG Artists, one of the world’s premier talent management and presenting organizations.
“The JAZZ ROOTS brand and unique presentations provides an opportunity to bring this powerful music genre to fans across all demographic and territorial boundaries,” said IMG Artists’ President, Jeff Fuhrman in a recent news release. “We are extremely excited to offer our global resources to help take JAZZ ROOTS to audiences around the world.”
The six-part JAZZ ROOTS series offers a complete 360° experience from concerts and educational programs at performing arts centers across America, to touring theme based shows at concert halls and festivals around the world, to CD packages, television, video and radio productions (including an award-winning National Public Radio program) and iPad Apps.
Launched in 2008 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami- Dade County, JAZZ ROOTS, has the distinction of selling out every one of its concerts in the 2000 seat James L. Knight concert hall from inception to date and is now also being presented at the Winspear Opera House, located in the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, TX, and the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Ind.
Joining forces is Sony Masterworks, who announced an agreement to produce JAZZ ROOTS products, starting with a branded two disc compilation package (targeted for April 2011 release) tracing the story of the “Drums from Africa” and their effect on the musical DNA of the America.
“JAZZ ROOTS presents the music of the Americas in a most compelling fashion,” said Alex Miller, President, Sony Masterworks. “Larry Rosen’s long career in the music business from musician to producer to entrepreneur has a track record of very successful enterprises, and we are honored to play a role to celebrate JAZZ ROOTS and the amazing musical legacy of the music of the Americas.”
Legendary artist/producer Quincy Jones joins the alliance with a plan to implement his Quincy Jones American Popular Music Curriculum, which will be presented in schools across the country in collaboration with the JAZZ ROOTS education program. The JAZZ ROOTS education and outreach components are designed to reinforce audience development, targeting area middle and high schools as well as adults within respective communities. The series provides an opportunity for schools to bring their students to sound checks and performances, with artist conversation (pre and post show), as well as pre-concert workshops for adults. These initiatives organically connect to local community groups, art centers, and the local board of education.
“Larry Rosen’s JAZZ ROOTS is the most important new concert and educational Jazz series in America,” Jones said. “It’s so important that Americans and particularly our children learn about their culture. This series is simply imperative. You can’t know we’re you’re going unless you know where you’ve come from.”
Categories
arts Danilo Pérez jazz music United States world

Danilo Pérez obtains 2010 ASICOM International Award

According to a recent news release, Panamanian pianist, educator and social activist Danilo Pérez has been awarded the 2010 ASICOM International Award by the (ASICOM) and the University of Oviedo (Principality of Asturias). ASICOM gives this prize each year to individuals who have made or are making significant contributions in IBEROAMERICA, helping to build and rebuild that historical region through their work and vision.
 “It is encouraging and a tremendous honor to be considered for such an important award,” said Pérez, who will be honored along with four other prominent individuals at 7 p.m. Oct. 8, 2010 at the University of Oviedo in Spain.
 His annual Panama Jazz Festival has brought world-renowned musicians to the country for the last seven years, not only to perform but also to work closely with local youth.  That mission is carried on yearlong by the Fundación Danilo Pérez, which offers musical and cultural education to disadvantaged young people in Panama City.  In the United States, Pérez serves as artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston, which offers music students an opportunity to explore creativity, advance the social power of music, and connect music with the restoration of ecology and humanity.
Pérez released his Mack Avenue records debut, Providencia, on August 31. He made his first U.S. performance in support of the album on Labor Day weekend at the 2010 Detroit International Jazz Festival.

Categories
Berklee College of Music education Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez jazz music United States world world jazz

Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez to receive honorary degree from Berklee College of Music

According to a recent news release, multi-Grammy Award winning drummer and composer Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, will be awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music on Thursday, July 15, 2010, in recognition of his extraordinary musicianship and many career achievements. The honorary degree will be presented on the main stage of the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, by Berklee’s vice president, Larry Monroe.
El Negro has been the power behind the most popular and influential Latin music of the past decade. Since leaving Cuba and arriving in New York, he’s driven the efforts of Grammy Award-winners Listen Here (Eddie Palmieri), Live at the Blue Note (Michel Camilo), Supernatural (Carlos Santana), No Es Lo Mismo (Alejandro Sanz), and Crisol (Roy Hargrove). El Negro has also recorded with Chucho Valdes, Paquito D’Rivera, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Robbie Ameen, among others. His performance Live at the Modern Drummer Festival 2000 (Hudson Music), with Allman Brothers’ percussionist Marc Quiñones and late saxophone great Michael Brecker, lives on explosive video footage.
 As a follow up to their last recording, Italuba II (Cacao Musica), El Negro’s band will be releasing Italuba III, a double album melding World Jazz with the legacy of Latin Music. The first disc will present Italuba celebrating the Afro-Cuban big band legacy, as the quartet performs both stateside with the Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and in Rome, Italy with the Parco Della Musica Jazz Orchestra, turning in big band arrangements of Italuba and Italuba II repertoire. The second disc will offer new material performed by the original Italuba quartet, with each track featuring a different percussion maestro of El Negro’s generation: Marc Quiñones, Luis Conte, Karl Perazzo, Luisito Quintero, Richie Flores, and Giovanni Hidalgo. The album, produced under his own record label, “El Negro and Reusing Records Inc.”, will hit the streets in late 2010.
 El Negro has appeared as the cover of over fourteen of the major percussion publications worldwide in countries that include the United States, Brazil, China, South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Japan, Italy, and more.

Categories
music Oklahoma Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame performances tulsa United States world

Barron Ryan pays tribute to fathers at Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame

Barron Ryan, a Tulsa native, an OU music grad and half of the exquisite Ryan and Ryan piano duo (with his father, Oklahoma Jazz Hall inductee Donald Ryan), will take center stage to showcase his amazing piano talent at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 20, 2010, at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 111 E. First St. in Tulsa, OK. General admission is $15 or $10 for seniors and students. Table seating is available for $20 per person. For more information, call (918) 281-8600 or go to http://www.okjazz.org/.


Click here for tickets or call us at 918-281-8600. You can also buy tickets at the door the night of the event. Doors will open at 2pm.
Categories
jazz Jazz Journalists Association music United States world

Jazz Journalists Association announces 2010 Jazz Award winners

According to a news release, the Jazz Journalists Association announced winners of the 2010 Jazz Awards at the City Winery in New York City on Monday, June 14, 2010, honoring honoring more than 40 musicians, presenters, jazz supporters and jazz journalists for the 14th year. Recipients of the Jazz Awards receive engraved statuettes from the international organization of some 450 writers, broadcasters, photographers and new media producers.
Highest honors went to saxophonist and flutist James Moody, for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, and to veteran music journalist Don Heckman, for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism. Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer was named Musician of the Year, while multiple Awards were received by Joe Lovano (Record of the Year for Folk Art, Small Group of the Year for the band Us Five, and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year), Maria Schneider (Composer of the Year, Arranger of the Year) and Darcy James Argue, as Up and Coming Artist of the Year and for the Large Ensemble of the Year, his big band Secret Society. An entire list of the winners and other information can be seen at www.JJAJazzAwards.org. 

Categories
arts festivals Italy jazz Tuscia in Jazz Festival world

Tuscia in Jazz Festival 2010 expands programming

Organizers announce in a news release, in the Viterbo region of Italy (about 43 miles from Rome), the countryside town of Soriano nel Cimino and city of Nepi will host the ninth edition of the Tuscia in Jazz Festival from July 8 through Aug. 14, 2010.
For the past eight years, Tuscia in Jazz has been considered one of the most important international jazz festivals, as well as an important vehicle to promote the beautiful region with its Etruscan roots, Roman history, medieval hill towns and unspoiled lakes and forests. Tuscia in Jazz has extended its branches significantly: with a record label to release recordings of its unique live performances, by adding workshops with world-renown pianist Kenny Barron and rising-star drummer Francisco Mela, and incorporating the annual Jimmy Woode Award for bass playing.
The festival has been strongly supported by the local administration of Soriano and it now returns to the squares of the centro storico and thanks to their continued support, all the concerts are free.
The Tuscia in Jazz Masterclass workshops provide an opportunity for young musicians to learn from the masters. This year’s teachers-in-residence include: Dave Liebman, Flavio Boltro, Antonio Sanchez, Shawnn Monteiro, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Eddie Gomez, Tony Monaco, Dado Moroni, Giorgio Rosciglione, Gege Munari, and Karl Potter.
Aside from the townspeople, who volunteer their time and energy, a number of sponsors have lent their financial support to keep every performance at Tuscia in Jazz free. Festival sponsors include Ministero dei Bene Culturali Regione Lazio, Fondazione Carivit, Provincia di Viterbo, and Camera di Commercio e Comunità Montana dei Cimini, and international sponsors MSC Crociere, Warsteiner Beer, and finance organizations like Carivit.
For more information, go to http://www.tusciainjazz.it.