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film jazz Louis Armstrong movies music United States world Wynton Marsalis

Silent film “Louis” to premiere with five-city tour in late August

                (Actor Anthony Coleman as a young Louis; photo credit: Peter Sorel)


According to a news release, “Louis,” a silent film directed by Dan Pritzker and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Shanti Lowry and Anthony Coleman, will premiere in the U.S. in late August with live musical accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis, renowned pianist Cecile Licad and a 10-piece all-star jazz ensemble, including Sherman Irby, Victor Goines, Marcus Printup, Ted Nash, Kurt Bacher, Vincent Gardner, Wycliffe Gordon, Dan Nimmer, Carlos Henriquez, Ali Jackson, and conductor Andy Farber. 

Marsalis will play a score comprised primarily of his own compositions. Licad will play the music of 19th century American composer L.M. Gottschalk. The group will perform live with the film in a series of special performances in New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit, and Philadelphia on August 25-31. Partial proceeds from the five concerts will benefit Providence Saint Mel School in Chicago, IL, in honor of Paul J. Adams III
 Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, “Louis” is an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and magic for 6-year-old Louis as he navigates the colorful intricacies of life in the city. Young Louis’s dreams of playing the trumpet are interrupted by a chance meeting with a beautiful and vulnerable girl named Grace (Lowry) and her baby, Jasmine. Haley, in a performance reminiscent of the great comic stars of the silent screen, plays the evil Judge Perry who is determined not to let Jasmine’s true heritage derail his candidacy for governor.
 “The idea of accompanying a silent film telling a mythical tale of a young Louis Armstrong was appealing to me,” Marsalis says in a news release.  “Of course, calling it a silent film is a misnomer – there will be plenty of music, and jazz is like a conversation between the players so there’ll be no shortage of dialogue. I look forward to playing with Cecile. The contrast between Gottschalk’s music and jazz can be a revelation to those unfamiliar with Gottschalk’s music and jazz.”  “Louis” is a companion piece to Pritzker’s “Bolden,” starring Anthony Mackie, Wendell Pierce and Lowry. “Bolden” will be released theatrically in 2011.
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Amir Gwirtzman jazz Oklahoma Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame tulsa world world jazz

Amir Gwitzman performs at Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s Jazz Depot on Saturday, May 15, 2010

Israeli jazz musician Amir Gwirtzman will play a veritable “United Nations” of 20 wind instruments in a unique layering format that will amaze attendees at an 8 p.m. show on Saturday, May 15, 2010, at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame (The Jazz Depot), 111 E. First Street (Upper Level), Tulsa, Oklahoma.  This is a special one-man show that you do not want to miss.  
This show is presented by the Schusterman Visiting Artist Program in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of Tulsa. 
General admission is $10 and $5 for students  A few front-row table seats will be available for $20 each.  For more information, call (918) 281-8600 or click here for tickets.


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contemporary jazz jazz Jazz Journalists Association music United States world world jazz

Jazz Journalists Association announces musical lineup for awards

According to a news release, the musical lineup is confirmed for the 14th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards gala to be held from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 14, 2010, at City Winery, 155 Varick St. at Vandam in New York City. 
Bobby Sanabria‘s Big Band, alto saxophonist Tia Fuller‘s Quartet, pianist Marc Cary‘s Focus Trio, Serbian guitarist Rale Micic‘s trio and solo pianist Ayako Shirasaki will perform at the JJA event, which features announcement of Awards winners, “A Team” and “Jazz Hero” honorees followed by a buffet reception. The general public may purchase tickets to either the awards ceremony and the reception ($150, doors open at 3:30 p.m.) or only the reception ($75, doors open at 5 p.m.). Tickets for the Awards, all nominations for JJA 2010 Jazz Awards, information about the JJA and its initiatives and updates about the Awards are available at www.JJAJazzAwards.org. 
The JJA Jazz Awards is the only broad-based international celebration of jazz excellence. It was begun in 1997 as a collaboration between the Jazz Journalists Association and Michael Dorf (then executive director of the Knitting Factory, now director of City Winery) and has been produced annually since 1999 independently by the JJA, a 501 (c) (3) professional organization dedicated to growing the jazz audience by using all available forms of media. 
JJA Jazz Awards are presented in more than 40 categories encompassing jazz music, presentation and documentation. The JJA’s “A Team” honors activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz whose work has had far-reaching implications, and the new “Jazz Heroes” category celebrates jazz people who have had significant effect on their immediate locales. 
 

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arts BareBones International Independent Film and Music Festival festivals movies Muskogee Oklahoma United States world

BareBones International Film and Music Festival continues through April 25, 2010, in Muskogee, OK

The 11th annual BareBones International Independent Film and Music Festival, is setting an historical milestone as it continues through to April 25, 2010, in Muskogee OK. The 11-day festival has welcomed its 1,000 independent film producer to Oklahoma. 
According to a news release, no other Oklahoma film festival comes close to that record.
The grassroots cultural festival, inaugurated in 1999,  has seen steady growth in attendance and quality of films despite its aversion to court major studios and celebrities. 
“We have nothing against Hollywood stars or movies, we have just chosen to focus our attention on the next generation of stars and star makers, and on helping to grow independent film makers in the state as we help to grow the industry here,” said ShIronbutterfly Ray, executive director and founder of the film festival in a news release.
While the festival is well-attended by working actors, directors, cinematographers and screenwriters from both coasts, it typically hosts film makers from all over the world who are making their first foray into moviemaking. “Some of the film makers have been in the industry for years as actors, or screenwriters, or stunt people, or cinematographers who decided they wanted to take their engagement in the industry to the next level and then others are novices or students who had an idea for a movie and decided they would make it, pretty much by any means necessary,” said Oscar Ray, festival marketing director and independent film producer. 
The festival will exhibit more than 170 films from 35 cities and 13 foreign countries, conduct workshops on acting, screenwriting and independent motion picture production while welcoming to Oklahoma and Muskogee more than 200 actors, screenwriters, directors and producers. The event is open to the public, and advanced tickets can be purchased online. For more information, go to www.barebonesfilmfestivals.org.
Even without courting celebrities, many have attended the festival and have shared in impromptu settings their wisdom and knowledge about the industry and moviemaking. Oklahoman Ryan Merriman (“Final Destination II,” “Lonesome Dove, “Comanche Moon”), Tonya York of York International, along with television producers, soap stars and successful screenwriters have given a nod to this one-of-a-kind film showcasing event. The festival has been twice named by Movie Maker magazine as one of the “top 20 film festivals in the U.S. to attend.”

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jazz music New York releases United States world Yotam

Israeli Guitarist Yotam to release “Resonance” on May 4

Israeli guitarist-composer Yotam (full name Yotam Silberstein) swings hard with an all-star cast for his debut compact disc, “Resonance” (to be released on  Jazz Legacy Productions).
The New York-based guitarist is joined by the stellar rhythm section of Christian McBride on bass, Aaron Goldberg on piano and Greg Hutchinson on drums. Special guest trumpeter Roy Hargrove also appears on faithful recreations of Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud” and Joe Henderson’s “Mamacita.”  
“Aaron, Christian, Greg and Roy, in my opinion, are a few of the giants of their generation,” Yotam says in a news release. “I was very honored to have them on the record. We have have forged a special chemistry together. And I think you can hear that on the album.”
Yotam is known for his unusual musical blend of bebop, Brazilian music, American blues, Jamaican reggae and Israeli folk songs. According to his bio, he was born and raised in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and started playing guitar at the age of 10, focusing mostly on rock and blues.
In August 2005, Yotam  received a scholarship to further his jazz studies at the New School in New York City. Less than a month later, he was selected as one of 10 top guitar players to participate in the semi-finals of the distinguished 2005 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition. In 2009, in addition to releasing his second release, he toured with the Sam Yahel Trio, opening for Steely Dan in major concert halls. 
Since then, he has played in many of the city’s great venues with great jazz artists like James Moody, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Junior Mance, James Spaulding, Pat Martino, Antonio Hart, Slide Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars to name a few.

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jazz music releases Resonance Records straight-ahead jazz world

Trumpet/flugelhorn player Claudio Roditi releases “Simpatico” on Feb. 9

Grammy-nominated trumpet/flugelhorn player Claudio Roditi is set to offer his latest release “Simpatico” on the Resonance record label in February.
According to a news release, “Simpatico” showcases Roditi’s playing and composing talents. Accompanying him on several songs are drummer Duduka Da Fonseca, pianist Helio Alves, electric bass guitarist John Lee, trombonist Michael Dease and guitarist Romero Lubambo. 
“To me,” Roditi says in the release, “the main difference of this album from everything else I have done is that for the very first time these are all my compositions, all twelve of them. There are some new pieces, some a little older, but these are mostly things I haven’t recorded, and some of them I haven’t played live.”
Roditi is best known for his patented blend of Brazilian samba and bossa nova with straight-ahead jazz. In 1989, Roditi became a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra, and since then he has toured and recorded with The JazzMasters and The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, Gillespie tribute groups led by musical director Slide Hampton. He has received a Grammy nomination for his 2009 release “Brazilliance x 4.”


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arts jazz music releases United States world

Pianist/Composer Greg Burk takes fans to “Many Worlds” on Jan. 26

Pianist/composer Greg Burk returns to the spotlight on Jan. 26 with his fourth release “Many Worlds” on 428 Music.
The project marks the first recording of a quartet featuring Burk, Henry Cook on woodwinds, bassist Ron Seguin and drummer Michel Lambert. According to a news release, Burk and Cook’s collaborations date back to their time with Boston’s Either/Orchestra, and Burk, Cook and Seguin have a performing history in Rome, Burk’s home since 2004. 
Nevertheless, to Burk, “Many Worlds was inspired by the mysterious lives and folk dances of electrons, quarks, neutrinos, protons, neurons and the like.”  His diverse interests which include the innovations of John Coltrane, studies with Yusef Lateef, Archie Shepp and Paul Bley help conjure his involvement in the rhythmically flexible group concept which pervades much of the quartet interplay on “Many Worlds.”

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arts jazz media music United States world

Pianist Marian McPartland receives order by Queen Elizabeth II

Legendary jazz pianist and National Public Radio host Marian McPartland, 91, was awarded the prestigious “Officer of the Order of the British Empire” honor by Queen Elizabeth II.

McPartland, one of two honorees with New York ties, received the citation (the highest honor other than “Dame”) for services to jazz and for aspiring young musicians in the United States.

“I am thrilled and proud to have received this great honor bestowed on me by Queen Elizabeth,” said McPartland in a news release. “I am truly grateful.”

The Order of the British Empire recognizes distinguished service to the arts and sciences, public services outside the Civil Service and work with charitable and welfare organizations of all kinds.


McPartland continues to showcase the world’s top musicians on NPR’s longest-running and most widely carried jazz program, “Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz,” which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary on-air.

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Antonio Ciacca jazz Jazz at Lincoln Center music releases world

Just a touch of “Lagos Blues” with pianist Antonio Ciacca and saxophonist Steve Grossman on Jan. 12

Internationally acclaimed jazz pianist Antonio Ciacca teams with renowned saxophonist Steve Grossman in a new project “Lagos Blues,”  to be released by Motéma Music in the U.S. on Jan. 12. Joining them is Ciacca’s  regular quartet – saxophonist Stacy Dillard, bassist Kengo Nakamura and drummer Ulysses Owens – who contribute a picturesque image on the broader story of jazz.


Born in Germany, raised in Italy, Ciacca plays with a rare blend of earthiness, fire and intellect, with elements of Wynton Kelly, Red Garland and Bobby Timmons. He is the director of Programming for Jazz at Lincoln Center.


According to a news release, Ciacca began his studies at the Bologna Conservatory. At the time, he played only classical repertoire, the effects of which led him to consider switching his energies to sports and becoming a professional soccer player. This all changed when his future Lincoln Center compatriot Wynton Marsalis came to Bologna give a concert.

“What impressed me was the relationships between the musicians,” Ciacca says. “They were all proud and accomplished and dignified. They were just perfect.”

Speaking with Marsalis after the concert, Ciacca took to heart the trumpeter’s advice: “Try to swing as hard as you can and you’re going to be good.” That mission began when he sought out Grossman, whose lessons laid a solid foundation for the young pianist. After three years, at Grossman’s suggestion, he left for the States in 1993 to immerse himself fully in jazz culture, working first in Detroit and then in New York.

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Fahir Atakoglu fusion jazz music releases world

Fahir Atakoglu set to release “Faces & Places” on Jan. 5

World-jazz pianist-composer-arranger Fahir Atakoglu enlists a host of friends for his upcoming Jan.5 release, “Faces & Places.” Joining him are trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Wayne Krantz,Yellowjackets’ saxophonist Bob Mintzer, Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist John Patitucci and Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez on drums. 


According to a news release, “Faces & Places” is a follow-up to the 2008 fusion project “Istanbul in Blue,” which reached #1 on the JazzWeek World Music Albums chart and featured guitarists Mike Stern and Wayne Krantz, tenor saxophonist Bob Franchesini, bassist Anthony Jackson, and Hernandez on drums.


Atakoglu dedicates “Faces & Places” project “to all musicians who have come to the United States from all corners of the world: Those who follow their dreams and touch people’s hearts, lives and souls with their music.” A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Atakoglu has recorded 18 albums that have sold more than two million copies in 17 countries including the United States. Atakoglu continues to compose film scores, ballet music, operas and other symphonic works while also performing solo and trio concerts around the world.