All About Jazz - News

Jim Dickson, a key architect of the '60s folk-rock sound and the original manager of the Byrds, died of unknown causes April 19 in Costa Mesa, Calif. He was 80. Born in Los Angeles, Dickson worked as a record producer in the early '60s, cutting proto-folk-rock sides by singer-songwriter Hamilton Camp, progressive bluegrass units the Dillards and the Hillmen (which included future Byrds member Chris Hillman) and singer-songwriter David Crosby...

ALAN PAUL at YOUSHI'S, San Francisco on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 2:49 pm, just added. For those folks up in the Bay area, I'll be performing at YOSHI'S in San Francisco on Mother's Day Sunday, May 8th and then again on Tuesday May 10th on a double bill with The New York Voices. Got a great band, my pal Ted Perlman on guitar, Andy Langham on piano, Paul Nowinski on bass and Joel Taylor on drums. It will be a swingin' time so come on over...

Boston, MA&#151This week, Boston's Hynes Convention Center played host to the inaugural Rethink Music: Creativity, Commerce and Policy in the 21st Century, presented by Berklee College of Music and MIDEM, in association with Harvard University's Berkman Center and Business School. The conference brought together 500 attendees including creators, industry experts, policymakers, and academics for high-level deliberation seeking and developing solutions for the unpredictable trajectory of the music industry...

College of the Atlantic (COA) in Bar Harbor, Maine, will once again be the site for the third annual Samba Meets Jazz Workshops program, taking place July 24 through 30, and July 31 through August 6. Under leadership of its Artistic Directors&#151world-class jazz guitarist and educator roni ben-hur and artistic director virtuoso brazilian bassist nilson matta&#151 the faculty is expanding in 2011 to include legendary pianist, composer and educator arturo o'farrill multi-instrument reed player steve wilson (saxophone, flute, clarinet); vocalist and co-founder of the New School's Vocal Jazz program, Amy London (returning for her second year), percussionist Gilad [recognized by Jazziz as "one of the world's great percussionists" and drummer Zack O'Farrill, recently lauded by All About Jazz as one "of the youngest Latin jazz lions to roar onto the scene in quite some time...

Stripped Down African Trio Album by Leni Stern Manages to Create an Epic Austerity, Gets Digital Single Preview via Powerful Track, 'Still Bleeding' 'Sabani' CD to Showcase Guitar, N'goni Ba, Calabash and Tama; Single is First Song Stern Has Ever Written on N'Goni Ba On her upcoming, stripped down African trio EP Sabani, acclaimed Global Music artist Leni Stern creates an epic austerity evocative of U2's powerful ballads such as "One" and "Red Hill Mining Town...

Duncan Cleary, Kevin Strong and Chandler Knapek, Congratulations! You're the lucky winners of the "Anthony Wilson - Campo Belo" giveaway. All About Jazz will contact you about claiming your prize. We'd like to thank everyone who participated in the contest and please visit Anthony Wilson's site for the latest information...

On Friday, May 27th, New York's acclaimed Triad Theatre (158 West 72nd Street) presents a special jazz concert, featuring a solo performance by pianist m: Steve Kuhn and a performance by Saxophonist m: Daniel Bennett and his band. Steve Kuhn will perform selections from his critically acclaimed album, "Mostly Coltrane" on the ECM label. The Daniel Bennett Group will perform selections from their newest album, "Peace and Stability Among Bears." Advance discounted tickets are available for purchase at brownpapertickets.com. Tickets are available at the door for $25. The concert starts at 9:30pm and is an all-ages event...

All About Jazz is celebrating Bing Crosby's birthday today! Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band\'s piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing\'s brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing "I Surrender...Bing Crosby was the fourth of seven children of Tacoma, Washington, brewery bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Kate Harrigan Crosby. He studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the drums and singing with a local band. Bing and the band\'s piano player, Al Rinker, left Spokane for Los Angeles in 1925. In the early 1930s Bing\'s brother Everett sent a record of Bing singing "I Surrender... more...

Mosaic Records founder, renowned reissue producer and overall jazz authority Michael Cuscuna shares his intimate thoughts on the experience of seeing the classic John Coltrane Quartet and he also talks about how the music of Trane has moved him in his life. Excerpts featured in this episode: "Spiritual," "Alabama," "Ascension" and "Transition...

We of course live today in a global village. We take as a matter of course that musical traditions that centuries ago would reach our shores solely in the form of immigrants now can be studied in depth via recordings and live concerts by world-class practitioners from every corner of the globe. We may only be on the edge of what this could mean for music in the world at large, but it is an exciting time for those who wish to reach out and explore what humanity has accomplished with their "second voice" in the widest sense...

It's not touring that's important, it's HOW you're touring. And according to some of the most successful managers and artist development executives, the secret is to really sink your teeth into the territory. That means NOT passing through, saying 'hi-bye' and expecting an impact. "You won't be in the fabric," Glassnote Entertainment founder Daniel Glass warned an audience at MusExpo in Hollywood on Monday. The Glassnote roster includes Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, Temper Trap, and Two Door Cinema Club, success stories that required patience and strategizing. "The world is flat if you put the time into it and have the right strategy...

While we've talked about a lot of fusion guitarists over the last five years, this is about a new album by the first one. That's right, though John McLaughlin is widely regarded as the guy who shaped and defined jazz-rock guitar, no one was successfully reconciling the two elements into a coherent, identifiable playing style before Larry Coryell. While only about 21 years old in 1966, he joined the proto-fusion group The Free Spirits (a group drummer Bob Moses was also in). A little later, Coryell was part of a classic Gary Burton's quartet with Steve Swallow and Moses in 1967-8 that was arguably the first real fusion group, largely because of Coryell himself. As a leader, he made some very fascinating records of his own in the late 60's and early 70s that got submerged in the tidal wave of rock-jazz started by Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. Coryell's best known fusion work came from his '72-'75 Eleventh House unit that was ironically seen as a follower of Davis and Davis alumni Chick Corea (Return To Forever), Herbie Hancock (Headhunters) and McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra). So, Coryell kind of got the short shrift in recognition of his contributions to this hybrid genre...

The Headhunters have completed an ambitious new jazz release&#151one that continues to push the edges of fusion, incorporating hip hop and funk with the presence of Snoop Dogg and George Clinton, yet still retains the band's fonky core sound. That's perhaps nowhere better heard than on this standout track from Platinum, to be issued by the Owl Studios label on June 14...

Next week, our friends at NARM are holding their annual Music Business Convention out in Los Angeles. The Convention, which runs from May 9-13 at the Regency Hyatt and features a murderer's row of guest speakers and panelists, is an unmissable opportunity for people at almost every level of the industry food chain...

The Tamo Bar and Terrace at Seaport Boston Hotel is welcoming the Lance Houston Jazz Quartet to perform Tuesday nights on the Terrace throughout the summer, starting on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. Overlooking Boston's waterfront in the Seaport District, Tamo is an upscale, popular spot for local residents and visitors, with a menu created by renowned chef Rachel Klein. It's located in the Seaport Boston Hotel, one of the city's finest hotels, right next to the World Trade Center...

Classic jazz group Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble is performing at the Sherborn Inn on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Led by pianist Robin Vedier and featuring clarinetist Craig Ball, Monte Carlo plays the music of Irving Berlin, Jelly Roll Morton and others from the early days of jazz...

The John Payne Quartet is reuniting with the 35-member John Payne Saxophone Choir for a special reunion concert on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Show time is 8:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online. Payne is renowned in the Boston area as a performer (flute, soprano,alto and tenor sax) and as an educator. He was a studio musician on Van Morrison's seminal album, Astral Week, and played on many other albums...

Last week Amazon began selling more that half the songs in its Top 100 for 69 cents. Industry observers speculated then that the internet giant cut prices (and according to our sources continues to pay labels regular wholesale) to grab market share from iTune's . But their strategy is more complex, according to Craig Pape, the director of Amazon Music...

Music streaming services like MOG, Rdio and Spotify may be the talk of theA industry, but digital radio from Pandora to Sirius XM surpassed them in royaltiesA paid to musicians and rightsholders for the first time last year.A According to RIAA numbers, performance royalties from digital radio services grew 60% from $155.5 million to $249.2 million in 2010. Paid music subscription plans revenue fell 5% from $213 million to $200.9 million million despite subscriber growth from 1.2 million to 1.5 million...

By Dennis Cook Miles apart, though the miles can't measure distance Worlds apart on a rainy afternoon But the road gets dirty and it offers no resistance So turn your amp up and play your lonesome tune Paul Simon is not a big guy. I knew this before walking into The Fillmore but the initial sight of him as the lights dimmed and he joined his band was striking. To look at him he's not the kind of dude that commands the attention of a boisterous throng, but Simon wielded a forceful, guiding hand on the room, capturing all but a few pockets of numbnuts chatting about their workday or Facebook postings while he plied his craft. Given that the man has commanded the attention of a Central Park sized mob it shouldn't have come as any surprise how masterfully he worked The Fillmore, but the force and authority of this performance were something to behold&#151a master and his masterful compatriots in complete control of every aspect of an emotional, expert performance that ranged thoughtfully through an amazing catalogue...