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Acclaimed Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa brings his Afro-Cuban Latin jazz — and view of the world — to our studio. Havana, Cuba, is the hometown of jazz pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa. But his music goes very wide — global — with an African flavor, of course. It's at the heart of so much Cuban music. But then all over: Latin America, France, the America of Thelonious Monk. And into Cuba's own rich musical history. It's beautiful. It's irresistible. This hour On Point, the Afro-Cuban-Latin-and-more jazz of Harold López-Nussa. — Tom Ashbrook
Harold López-Nussa, Cuban jazz pianist. His new album is "El Viaje." Other albums include "New Day," "Herencia," "Sobre el Atelier" and "Canciones."
Felix Contreras, co-host of NPR's Alt.Latino. Part-time percussionist who regularly plays Afro-Cuban music. (@felixatjazz)
Read the full piece from: On Point
The first musician to be recognized with the honor, multiple Grammy® Award-winner McBride has distinguished himself both on the bandstand and off, but according to JazzTimes publisher Lee Mergner, one of the organizers of the conference, it's for the latter achievements that he was selected for the award. "Christian is truly a force of nature and not just as a player," said Mergner. "For the last few decades, he's been a tireless advocate and spokesman for the music, with a unique knowledge and respect for its past, present and future. And as an educator he's been a mentor and inspiration to several generations of young musicians."
Perhaps McBride's first experience as an educator and advocate came in 1997 when he spoke on former President Bill Clinton's town hall meeting "Racism in the Performing Arts." He has since been named Artistic Director of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions (2000), co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem (2005), and the Second Creative Chair for Jazz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (2005). In 1998 he combined roles, composing "The Movement, Revisited," a four-movement suite dedicated to four of the major figures of the civil rights movement: Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The piece was commissioned by the Portland (ME) Arts Society and the National Endowment for the Arts, and performed throughout New England in the fall of 1998 with McBride's quartet and a 30-piece gospel choir.
Currently he hosts and produces "The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian" on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio's "Jazz Night in America," a weekly radio show and multimedia collaboration between WBGO, NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center, showcasing outstanding live jazz from across the country. With his staggering body of work, McBride is the ideal host, drawing on history, experience, and a gift for storytelling to bridge the gap between artist, music, and audience. He brings that same breadth of experience to bear as Artistic Advisor for Jazz Programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and most recently for the Newport Jazz Festival. Completing the circle is his work with Jazz House Kids, the nationally recognized community arts organization founded by his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker.
"I'm very humbled and honored to receive an award that bears the name of one of the most respected and loved visionaries we have ever known, Bruce Lundvall," said McBride. "I wish I could have worked with him more often in my career, but the few times we spent together, I always learned a lot. Mostly I learned just what a great person he was. Just being a great person is always the most important thing."
The 2017 Jazz Connect Conference--co-presented by JazzTimes and Jazz Forward Coalition--brings together the jazz community for a series of panels, workshops and special events, and will be held at Saint Peter's Church at 54th Street & Lexington Avenue in New York City. With a theme of "The Family of Jazz," the conference leads into both the APAP conference and Winter Jazzfest. This past year's conference was attended by over 800 industry professionals and artists and featured a keynote address by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recently named a NEA Jazz Master. The Grammy® Award-winning bandleader/composer/arranger Maria Schneider will give the keynote address at the 2017 Jazz Connect Conference.
Read the full piece from: Bass Player
"Oh yes, the transition from classical studies to playing jazz was very hard for me. I was scared of improvising, scared of not having the written music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart right in front of me. I had always been playing classical music, which was pretty much all that I did until I was 18," Lopez-Nussa said by phone from Paris, a stop on his international promotional tour that includes an encore appearance at Old Lyme's nationally acclaimed Side Door Jazz Club.
"One day my older brother said to me, 'What are you afraid of, Harold? Just sit down and play,'" the pianist recalled of his older brother's pragmatic prescription for conquering his fear of improvising without the safety net of having the written music of the masters right there to read from.
"But today," he added, "I love that challenge. I love the idea that you don't know what's going to happen next. It's very exciting," he said of creating music in the moment. Especially, his robust brand of jazz rooted in Cuba's rich musical traditions, grooving high and free on Afro-Cuban rhythms, an array of various genres and, of course, his own originality and resourcefulness as a performer and composer.
Read the full piece from: WNPR
"It's important to keep music education alive at any age," said Butler. "Music has the power to transcend hardships and generations. It allows the voiceless to create their own song, their own narrative, and it provides a source of solace and inspiration all in one. D'Angelico Guitars are generous in partnering with us to give their incredible instruments to musicians across the country that are committed to music education and preservation."
Recipients of the guitars include the Gospel Music Association's GMA Academy, W.O. Smith Music School, Praise Charts, HBCU school students, and church musicians. The dream guitars will be presented to recipients in October, including at events hosted by Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards on Oct. 11 and the W.O. Smith Music School in Nashville, Tennessee, where Butler is speaking to students.
"Music Education is extremely close to our hearts," says Brenden Cohen, CEO of D'Angelico Guitars. "We are honored to be a part of philanthropic opportunities such as these. Schools that uphold the importance of music education and inspire the youth deserve access to the best resources, and we are proud to provide our instruments."
With a genuine and immense philanthropic heart, Butler actively supports causes he is passionate about including the Still Hope Foundation which equips single mothers with parenting tools that will enable them to become self-sufficient leaders of their households, The Grammy Foundation which cultivates the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture, and initiatives that encourage and equip musicians committed to excellence in their craft.
As a youth growing up in South Africa that followed his dreams and became a worldwide musical success, Butler stands as a beacon of hope of just what can be achieved if you put your mind to it.
Hands-on wherever he happens to be in the world, Butler is as passionate and committed to encouraging musicians to be persistent their craft as he is about his own music. In partnership with D'Angelico Guitars, he will recognize and honor musicians and students across the country that are committed to this same ambition and goal.
Read the full piece from: BreatheCast
Quirky monk
Jazz legend Thelonious Monk was one of a kind – witty, offbeat, dissonant, totally unpredictable. Musicians and singers have been attempting to re-create the singular Monk magic for years to little avail. Enter the fearless and talented pianist/arranger John Beasley, who not only takes on Monk's challenging but rewarding music by doubling up on the quirk, wit, and unpredictability, but orchestrates a 15-piece big band of Los Angeles's finest jazz musicians to pull it off. MONK'estra, Vol. 1 is, as the man himself might say, a gas.
Read the full piece from: News Hub
Alan Gilbert began his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2009 by turning the traditional season-opening gala concert into a strong statement of artistic purpose. Conductors at orchestras everywhere are under institutional pressure to make these gala programs, which also function as fund-raisers for patrons, light and festive. Mr. Gilbert's inaugural challenged this notion.
He began with something festive in mood, but musically feisty: the premiere of Magnus Lindberg's "EXPO," a spiky 10-minute score. Then Renée Fleming was the soloist in an early Messiaen work, "Poèmes Pour Mi," a rapturous 30-minute cycle of love songs. The evening ended with Mr. Gilbert conducting a blazing account of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique."
On Wednesday night at David Geffen Hall, however, Mr. Gilbert, who will step down as the Philharmonic's music director in the spring, began his valedictory season with a gala program that was less ambitious and certainly not challenging. Still, the performances were excellent.
To start, he led the New York premiere of John Corigliano's "STOMP," a breathless, colorful seven-minute piece. The composer adapted this score in 2014 from a solo violin work he wrote as a piece for the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. In this bright, fidgety orchestral version the music hovers somewhere between a perpetual-motion toccata and country-fiddle hoedown, though a pensive middle section alters the mood for a while. True to its title, the orchestra players sometimes had to buttress rhythms in the music by stomping their feet.
Then the acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Aaron Diehl played an animated and uncommonly sensitive account of Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. The New York Symphony Society, which merged with the Philharmonic in 1928, gave the premiere of this concerto in 1925 with Gershwin at the piano, so, officially the orchestra can claim premiership.
Read the full piece from: New York Times
MONTEREY, Calif. — Quincy Jones, who grew up in Seattle in the 1940s, was honored this past weekend at the 59th edition of the Monterey Jazz Festival with a crisp re-creation of a bundle of tunes he recorded on three A&M Records albums in the late '60s and early '70s — "Walking in Space," "Gula Matari" and "Smackwater Jack."
A brass-fortified big band hand-picked by festival artistic director Tim Jackson and the project's musical director, Christian McBride, brought to life such classics as "Gula Matari," "Walkin'" and "Walking in Space," melding jazz, rock, funk and electronics. Jones conducted the infectious last tune, "Killer Joe," which brought the crowd to its feet as a full moon, shining through misty evening cloud cover, visually echoed the silvery mystery of the music.
Read the full piece from: Seattle Times
For some reason, her publicist passed by my name in sending out review copies of her albums, though that's no excuse: I do pay cash money for new records now and then. I might not have gone to the trouble this time because I tend to be dismissive, or skeptical, of jazz singers. My reasoning: you don't have to sound like Charlie Parker or John Coltrane to be a great saxophone player; but if you want to sing standards, there's only so much you can do without inviting comparison with the great ones—Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, June Christy, Betty Carter, Shirley Horn—and few measure up.
Well, I went to see Cecile McLorin Salvant Thursday night at the Village Vanguard, and let me tell you, she more than measures up. She stands with the best of them. She does it all: her blues are bluesy, her swing swings, she spans every octave (from silky highs to growly lows to everything, every shade in between), with the full range of emotion—joy, rage, wit, whimsy, frothy romance, heavy passion—and she does it naturally, without a trace of show-off. She does it with Gershwin, Berlin, Bessie Smith, and—in the set's jaw-drop closer—Kurt Weill & Langston Hughes' "Somehow I Could Never Believe," from their little-known opera, Street Scene, on which she displayed a vast and subtle range of character and mood, suggesting she could hit it big on Broadway (or at City Opera), if she chose. She's a master storyteller as well as a master singer.
Oh, and she's 28 years old.
She was born in Miami, her father a Haitian doctor, her mother the founder of a French immersion school. She took lessons in classical piano from age five, sang in a local choir at eight. At 18, she moved to Aix-en-Provence to study classical and baroque voice at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory (she also made time to study law), then took lessons in improvisation and the songbook repertory. Only at this point, in 2009, at the age of 20, did she try her hand at jazz singing; she drew rave reviews for a gig at Ronnie Scott's in London and kept going.
Her band is also top-notch. Pianist Aaron Diehl has a supple touch and inventive chops comparable to the great accompanists to jazz singers—say, Tommy Flanagan to Ella or Mal Waldron to Billie. Paul Sikivie plucks a warm insistence on bass. Lawrence Leathers spreads sticks and brushes on the drums with supreme tastiness.
If you can nab one of the small number of seats for sale this weekend (she and her trio play through Sunday, September 11), rush to do so. If not, catch her the next time she's in your city. Meanwhile, I'm going to check out her albums. I'll let you know.
Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/cecile-mclorin-salvant#BcuXKwwb3jmMDUFE.99
Read the full piece from: Stereophile
He lived in a traditional courtyard house in a hutong (alley) for three weeks and walked for hours every day to explore the city where he found there was no jazz.
"But I am pretty sure if I had played jazz then for my neighbors in the hutong they would have understood because the emotions, especially the struggle, expressed in the music is universal," says Garrett, recounting his first trip to Beijing.
The experience inspired him to produce a CD called Beyond the Wall, which earned him a Grammy nomination in 2006.
During the past 10 years, Garrett has returned to China often to perform at music festivals and teach at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
But he didn't expect that jazz - a genre that originated in African-American communities of New Orleans in the late 19th century - to take root and develop in China quite so quickly.
This summer, he returned to the capital and was excited to perform with his quintet at the opening of Blue Note Beijing, the first Chinese branch of the Blue Note Jazz Club, the famous New York establishment, on Thursday.
"We travel around the world and present music to people. So, for me, opening up for Beijing is special. I like Beijing and I want to give back.
"I am excited to be the first one here to introduce jazz, my version of jazz, to Beijing audiences," he says.
The Blue Note was founded in 1981 by Danny Bensusan in New York's Greenwich Village.
Many legendary jazz musicians, including Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck and Herbie Hancock, have performed on the Blue Note stage.
Bensusan is credited with revitalizing jazz in New York.
Read the full piece from: China.org
Read the full piece from: JAZZ WEEKLY
While his contemporaries chased the past glories of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet, Beasley was playing piano in the short-lived band Thelonious, the Los Angeles Monk repertory outfit co-led by veteran bassist Buell Neidlinger and emerging tenor sax master Marty Krystall. But unlike the jacket-and-tie-clad bebop revivalistis, Beasley wasn't learning Monk's greatest hits from his father's Blue Note albums. The Thelonious band vibrantly dug into deeper titles in the Monk canon with contemporary zeal.
At 18 and 19, Beasley also worked with Monk's 1960s bassist Larry Gales, who made his home in L.A. Gales passed along an appropriately opaque bit of Monkian wisdom to the young pianist: "Kid, ya gotta learn how to breathe when ya play."
You couldn't mistake the Thelonious version of "Little Rootie Tootie," with Peter Erskine's peppery eighth-note drum propulsion and Krystall's upper register multiphonics, for the dusty museum pieces routinely rendered on jazz festival stages. And Beasley has carried that spirit with him all these years.
"With Buell," the 55-year old Beasley recalls, "I had to learn a bunch of Monk tunes all at once. And they were all hard to play."
Though most of the Monk numbers had been composed in the '40s and '50s, their idiosyncrasies made them avant-garde to Beasley. "I was listening to Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter's modal stuff," he recalls, "but this was pre-modal jazz. The challenges were not only harmonic, but rhythmic too."
Read the full piece from: LA Weekly
Read the full piece from: Trumpet Magazine
Hundreds of jazz fans gathered at Stanbic Bank Piazza to witness the headline act Jonathan Butler in action alongside local stars. Prior to the event, so much had been said about the U.S based South African singer-songwriter and guitarist but it was time for the words to turn into action.
The first act on the day was a back up and instrumental fusion band called Elect from Zambia. The Afro Jazz group was able to fuse different sounds.
Elect is one of the hottest young bands in their country.
Re Batswana Music Ensemble, which is made up of Nnunu Ramogotsi, Lister Boleseng, Ndingo Johwa, Banjo Mosele and Lekofi Sejeso, soon took over the stage and the result was amazing.
They performed Lister Boleseng's song entitled Ke swa hela from his latest offering Moratiso.
The only lady in the ensemble, Nnunu enhanced everything when she took over the mic from Lister Boleseng.
Read the full piece from: The Monitor
The paucity of jazz vibraphonists may be due in part to the complexity of mastering an instrument that's like a hybrid of drums, percussion and piano. Notwithstanding, one of the instrument's brightest stars is 36 year old Baltimore native Warren Wolf, a rising virtuoso whose form and technical abilities continue the lineage of great vibe players such as Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson and Stefon Harris.
Convergence is outstanding and features Wolf's superb trio with longtime mentor bassist Christian McBride and the dynamic drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts in a diverse mix up-tempo, ballad, and swing compositions. The icing on the cake comes in the guest appearance of jazz luminaries guitarist John Scofield on the funky boogaloo "Soul Sisters" and pianist Brad Mehldau's spacious delivery in the tone poem "Four Stars from Heaven" both which are two of the recordings many highlights.
The cover of late Bobby Hutcherson's "Montara" may be album's most memorable track with a chilled theme that recalls yet another pioneer vibraphonist Roy Ayers. Its motif is simple perfection: a threaded ostinato where Wolf lays down a soulful soliloquy on marimba while McBride and Watts go deep into the rhythmic pocket. It's a fitting ode to the great legacy of Hutcherson who passed on August 15, 2016.
Wolf's appreciation of the history, his suave control, sensitive touch and fierce percussive skills are not the only qualities which resonate. He's also serving up new memories of timeless gem in poignant covers of Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet" and "Stardust / The Minute Waltz" which uniquely combines Hoagy Carmichael's classic "Stardust" with Chopin's "The Minute Waltz." Wolf does it all brilliantly.
Track Listing: Soul Sisters; Four Stars From Heaven; King Of Two Fives; New Beginning; Cell Phone; Montara; Havoc; Tergiversation; Knocks Me Off My Feet; A Prayer For The Christian Man; Stardust / The Minute Waltz.
Personnel: Warren Wolf: vibes, marimba (5, 6, 9, 10, 11), Fender Rhodes (2, 9), piano (9); Christian McBride: bass (1-3, 5-10); Brad Mehldau: piano (1, 2, 4, 5, 7); John Scofield (1, 7); Jeff "Tain" Watts: drums (1, 2, 5-10).
Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Mack Avenue Records | Style: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Read the full piece from: All About Jazz
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Raul Midón is one of music's most distinctive and searching voices. He is "a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus," according to The New York Times. With eight studio albums under his belt, Raul has just wrapped another studio project, slated for a March 2017 release on Mack Avenue Records. In the meantime, Raul has announced a U.S. tour for September that takes him from coast to coast. We can't wait to hear his new music!
Read the full piece from: SoulTracks
"I never really wanted to play the piano — I was not an enthusiastic student! — but my mother kept me at it for 13 years. She's a very strong woman and I'm afraid of her, slightly!" Salvant said backstage shortly after accepting her 2016 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for "For One to Love" (Mack Avenue Records), a 13-song aural gem that shines throughout.
Read the full piece from: San Diego Union-Tribune
Read the full piece from: Bonnie Johnson "Colors of Jazz" WICN.org
Short Stories, Dominick Farinacci (Mack Avenue), finds the 30-something trumpeter fashioning often sophisticated, elaborate versions of tunes culled from the worlds of pop, folk and jazz into distinctive, highly suggestive narrative arcs. The producer is famed pop music auteur Tommy LiPuma who, like the trumpeter, is a native of Cleveland. The production is sleek and lush, recalling the pristine sounds and urbane tastes of mid-20th Century albums from the labels of Creed Taylor, whose CTI brand signaled jazz sophistication.
The rhythm section features not only pianist Larry Goldings, often doubling on organ, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Steve Gadd, but often adds legendary session guitarist Dean Parks and percussionist Jamey Haddad, with Gil Goldstein playing accordion on four of the ten tracks. Six tunes also add a string and woodwind sextet, while two others feature vocals and electronic instruments from Jacob Collier.
A New Orleans R&B vibe infuses the opener, the Gypsy Kings' "Bamboleo," Dominick paying tribute to his Louis Armstrong roots, especially in the stop-time breaks, surrounded by churning rhythm and full ensemble sections and echoed by Mark Mauldin's trombone (in its only appearance). Percussive shakes and rattles add to the south of the border flavor of Horace Silver's "Senor Blues," with multi-vocals from Jacob Collier, and the leader's "Afternoon in Puebla" as well as Dianne Reeves' "Tango." Arabic scales and the muezzin-like vocals of Lebanese singer Mike Massy highlight Dominick's "Doha Blues," inspired by his time in Qatar.
The most lyrical period of Miles Davis and Gil Evans inspires a lush version of Tom Waits' "Soldier's Things," trumpet caressed by the strings and woodwinds. Another outstanding ballad track is the standard "Black Coffee," featuring Dominick's one foray into plunger and muted trumpet. Two songs are appropriated from the pop charts: Cream's early rock hit, "Sunshine of Your Love," riding on the original bass riff jazzily swung; and the 2013 Grammy Record of the Year, "Somebody That I Used to Know," given an electronic treatment and Beach Boys-like vocal harmonies by Jacob. Larry contributes the sly, tongue-in-cheek finale, "Parlour Song."
Read the full piece from: Hot House Jazz
John Beasley, Presents MONK'estra Vol. 1 (Mack Avenue)
The first time I listened to this album in my car, I nearly missed my exit on the expressway. There is so much hep stuff happening in these new big band arrangements of tunes by Thelonious Monk that I was transported to another realm, one where the car seems capable of driving itself. Then it struck me: That's precisely what's happening with these charts and this ensemble of L.A.'s finest musicians and special guests, all under the direction of pianist/conductor/arranger John Beasley. Everything on Presents MONK'estra Vol. 1 feels so natural and inevitable, it's almost as if the material plays itself. And if you enjoy Monk—whether for his undeniable logic, quirky song architecture or innate sense of swing—Beasley's band will leave you rapt. Beasley has been writing big band charts since he was a teenager, and he has long been fascinated by Monk's music (this debut recording by the MONK'estra is actually Beasley's third album of material by the High Priest of Bebop). Beasley's MONK'estra has performed live since 2013, and he has served as musical director for the Monk Institute's Jazz Day gala concerts since 2011 and for International Jazz Day events since 2012. (He has done plenty of commercial work as well, most notably as the lead arranger for TV's American Idol from 2005 to 2016.) Beasley knows his Monk inside and out, and he knows his way around a chart. But, most importantly, this onetime member of groups led by Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis knows how to give his bandmembers—including guest stars Gary Burton on vibes ("Epistrophy") and Grégoire Maret on harmonica ("Ask Me Now")—sufficient freedom to stylize the written passages and improvise with abandon. In applying all of his acquired skills and personal passions to Presents MONK'estra Vol. 1, Beasley brings Monk to life once again for modern-minded listeners.
Read the full piece from: Downbeat
It's classic Cole on "Turn It Up" and "She's The One." His signature sax harmonies and up-beat melodies take over and has just the right snap and sauciness to have you craving more.
"Reverence" slows it down a bit (or one may think). If you listen really carefully you'll hear every note from every instrument; from the acoustical guitar peeping through, to the soft beats and percussion. Then there's Steve coming in strong on sax. One of the things I like about Steve, he can make it sound as soft and sexy as you want (remember "Stay Awhile" from his 1998 debut CD) or he can go strong and blow you away. That takes talent, and talent he has!
Read the full piece from: Smooth Jazz Magazine
There was a period back in the 1970s or so, when rock supergroups were all the rage with the likes of Cream, Traffic, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young among others. Jazz never quite went in that direction apart from the unintended exception of The Quintet ( which came together for one performance only at Massey Hall, Toronto in 1953, and the historic recording that followed) and perhaps VSOP. One never quite thought of the classic Bill Evans Trio or Oscar Peterson Trio or the original Miles Davis Quintet along those lines although it would have been possible to do so. The Warren Wolf release Convergence has combined star power and individuality, and thus has all the attributes of a supergroup. Thankfully no such promotional efforts have detracted from the breadth and scope of the originality of the music coming from this band.
With a judicious mix of original material and covers of popular music, Wolf and his cohorts bring their 'A' game to the recording studio under the practiced ear of producer Christian McBride. "Soul Sister" is a perfect opener with its Latin/funky groove, that serves as a feature for Scofield's wickedly bluesy guitar, followed by Wolf's sonorous vibes, as Watts pushes the band forward with his pulsating beat.
Read the full piece from: Audiophile Audition
Asa performing artist, I'm fortunate to travel all over the globe. Through the years, music has gone from something that was just fun to do to as much a part of my life as breathing. It's become increasingly clear to me that it has the power to bring people of different walks of life together, to help foster a deeper understanding of each other, to bring comfort to those going through a difficult time, and to shine a light on an important topic. These experiences are the culmination of a new series called Short Stories — bringing together music and real life stories to encourage dialogue around an important message in our society.
Read the full piece from: medium.com - Dominick Farinacci
I have a confession to make: Kenny Garrett is the first musician that has ever made me cry during a live performance. I'll never forget it. Kenny has a way of speaking through his saxophone in such a way that it does something to your spirit…..and you find your soul talking back. And yes, dancing is something I've also done to Kenny's music, and something I found myself doing to this new album from the very start.
Read the full piece from: WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM
A jazz musician who listens — that's trumpeter, composer, and humanitarian Dominick Farinacci, 33. His debut album on Mack Avenue Records employs an all-star, all-you-desire global cast all over short stories in lovely, empathic musical snippets, with and without vocals. Designed to uplift the human race through shared emotional upheavals and walks in someone else's shoes, Farinacci's Short Stories succeeds where other recordings fail.
With Farinacci's singular trumpet action woven throughout glimpses into the lives of the familiar and the exotic, Short Stories drips with human emotion, whether it's the feeling you get when love ripples through like a thunder storm, or a visit to a foreign place of the ancient and the modern (Qatar).
Unlike most jazz recordings, Farinacci pinpoints feelings of pure ecstasy, wonder, and immaculate inception over love, spirituality, the despair of war with eerie accuracy, and immense empathy.
The musicians on Farinacci's album of empirical empathy are the best ones for the job of fleshing out the wounds and banners of the indomitable, surprising human spirit. They include Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride, Modern Drummer Hall of Fame inductee Steve Gadd, prolific keyboard composer Larry Goldings, Lebanese hand drummer Jamey Haddad, London hip mixologist Jacob Collier, and multi-Grammy-winning producer Tommy LiPuma (Paul McCartney, Miles Davis, Barbra Streisand, Diana Krall, George Benson, Natalie Cole).
This isn't just a one-off recording, either. Farinacci's understanding of human suffering and the art of redemption goes much, much deeper into effective activism. Together with LiPuma, 79, he's built substantial solutions to the problem of lack in this world. They helped conceive and build the Cuyahoga Community College's Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts in Cleveland, Ohio, where both artists are from. They and the recording band conducted workshop sessions for the students and filmed the entire process with GoPro cameras.
Read the full piece from: AXS.com
He's celebrating the release of "Short Stories," an album whose personnel includes the pianist Larry Goldings, the bassist Christian McBride and the drummer Steve Gadd. (His band won't have quite the same star power here.) At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, 212-258-9595, jazz.org. (Chinen)
Read the full piece from: NY Times
The chemistry between McBride and Marsalis, who first met when McBride was still in high school and Marsalis, in his 20s, was already a rising star. Marsalis recognized McBride's talent, saying how he knew when he saw McBride play that he was going to be amazing talent because no one else was playing bass like McBride. The mutual respect and admiration the two had was poignant as was Marsalis' sharing of his own musical journey, including experiences growing up and some of the obstacles he encountered (as well as some funny anecdotes about Marsalis' mother).
Marsalis shared what it was like growing up in New Orleans and how he decided to leave to attend Juilliard. "I didn't like all the racism," says Marsalis of coming up in New Orleans. "I grew up in segregation and I didn't like to be messed with or disrespected on any level. The disrespect was too much."
Read the full piece from: Baristanet.com
Grammy-winning vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant is gaining renown in Europe and the US for her interpretations of classic jazz standards. Radio France describes her voice as "disarmingly musical" with "the class of Sarah Vaughn, the instinct of Betty Carter and the dark lows of Carmen McCrae." In 2010, she won the Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington, DC. At this year's Spoleto Festival, she'll perform original songs from her 2015 album, For One to Love. Cecile McLorin Salvant performs Friday, June 3rd at 9pm at the College of Charleston Cistern Yard.
Read the full piece from: South Carolina Public Radio
The first actually involves Bromberg's back. Full Circle marks Bromberg's return to recording and full-on playing since suffering a debilitating spinal injury several years ago. Always a chops-meister, Bromberg truly projects the sheer joy of music-making throughout. Cutting loose seems like a great thing to do, as Bromberg could barely hold his instruments, let alone play them, even after months of physical therapy and rehabilitation. Now returned to his former strength, Full Circle is also Bromberg's first "true jazz" album. There is obviously some risk involved in such a move, as Bromberg has been, first and foremost, a high-energy jazz-rock fusion artist. Though fans of Bromberg's previous albums may find Full Circle to be a little... um... disorienting, they will certainly be pleased by the virtuosic super-tight playing throughout, guest shots by high-profile artists such as Arturo Sandoval, Kirk Whalum, Mitchel Forman, and Bob Sheppard, and the album's ultra-high-gloss production values.
Backstories two and three are Bromberg's return to drumming after forty-odd years, and the dedication of Full Circle to his dad, Howard Bromberg. It turns out that Brian Bromberg's first instrument was the drum set, on which he modeled himself after his father. Bromberg père was an aspiring bebop drummer who was on the brink of a jazz career when military service took him to Tucson, AZ where he married and started a family. Howard kept his sticks at the ready, playing frequently on the local scene. He taught his sons how to play the drums, as well. Brian, however, fell in love with the bass and the rest—as they say—is history. The album is bookended by two recordings Howard Bromberg made with his Tucson-based band about 65 years ago. Using 21st Century technology Brian was able to isolate his father's drum track, along with the trumpet and trombone of Jimmy Saunders and Phil Washburn, and accompany the trio—via overdubbing—on two classic Dixieland pieces. These tracks stand as a sweet and heartfelt tribute, and they are quite enjoyable.
Read the full piece from: All About Jazz
Not that the Havana native has abandoned his roots: the Tocororo is the national bird of Cuba, and the album opens with a deft exploration of Compay Segundo's Chan Chan, which also opens the all-conquering Buena Vista Social Club album.
His collaborations with Indian vocalist Ganavaya Doraiswamy, French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and, especially, the great Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona, take the Cuban virtues of rhythmic precision and heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism in new and unorthodox directions.
Read the full piece from: Irish Times
Brian Bromberg is one of those consummate bass players around. A highly respected studio stud, he's released some amazing albums ranging from "smooth" jazz to Hendrix tributes. Here, he picks, plucks strums and even hits just about everything, as he's on acoustic bass, electic bass, piccolo bass and even drums along with a mix and match team and attitude with Randy Waldman/p and a horn section that changes partners like Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti.
The jazz styles actually do run as the title of the album suggests, with a full circle of swing, starting and ending with some fantastic jive on "Jazz Me Blues" and "Washington and Lee Swing" that could be mistaken for a broadcast from the Roseland Ballroom as Phil Washburn/tb and Jimmy Saunders wail for the Lindy Hoppers. In other instances, you might feel like you're sitting in on a Wes Montgomery Riverside studio session in Hackensack NJ, as Mitch Forman's B3 grooves out to Bromberg's guitar like bass on "Sneaky Pete" and some tight sounds sizzle on trio work with Doug Webb's beefy sax on "Boomerang" and "Bernie's Bop." You even get some sweaty salsa as Arturo Sandoval smokes like a Romeo & Juliet on "Havana Nights" and even better is the Crescent City two stepping on "Naw'lins" with Kirk Whalum preaching from the pulpit.
Some day, people are going to look back on Bromberg's catalogue and wonder why they didn't appreciate him back 'in the day.' This is the day to start!
Read the full piece from: JazzWeekly.com
Cyrillic Aimée (Let's Get Lost): Actually, I love having my personal moment to put on makeup before the show. It relaxes me and concentrates me. Plus, I get to have a moment without the boys, and sometimes, while I put on my makeup, I listen to a podcast (RadioLab), or to some comedy (Louis CK). I really enjoy putting it on more than I enjoy wearing it!
I used to never wear makeup, on- or off-stage, and one summer, I went on tour with a very popular electro-swing band called Caravan Palace, and we were playing in front of huge audiences of thousands of people, and when I would see the photos of the concert, I couldn't see my eyes in any of them! I realized that onstage is not like in real life. You have to wear makeup, because of the spotlights and the fact that the audience can be far away. So I bought some makeup and started learning and realized I liked doing it.
Read the full piece from: AXS.com
The Caribbean island of Cuba has been in the news a lot lately, mostly in conjunction with the "thawing" of relationships between the nation and the United States, something that will allow for a greater cultural exchange between the two countries. Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez left the island quite some time ago and is now enjoying a life in the US where he works with vaunted musician and producer Quincy Jones. The most recent fruit of their combined labors is Rodriguez's new album, Tocororo. Rodriguez is currently on tour in the US and he'll also be appearing with Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in July.
We had a chance to speak by email with Rodriguez, who talked about working with Jones and why the album is called Tocororo while also speaking candidly about making the difficult decision to leave Cuba. His insights below are given exclusively to AXS.com.
Read the full piece from: AXS.com
All of this comes as he settles into his new role as Newport's artistic director, succeeding the festival's legendary cofounder, George Wein.
McBride was already juggling assorted off-stage roles — most prominently hosting National Public Radio's "Jazz Night in America" — when Wein announced in March that he was handing over the artistic director gig, and promoting Danny Melnick to producer. But McBride knew all along he would remain an active musician.
Read the full piece from: Boston Globe
Russell Ferrante and Bob Mintzer are still around, with Dane Alderson/b and William Kennedy/dr-synth being the newest members since Haslip and Bailey have moved on. The team still sounds together, comfortable in the mix of acoustic and electric on this latest album.
The band can still churn out exciting new material, such as "Golden State" which sounds like the hustle and bustle of LA traffic with Ferrante's hectic piano and Mintzer's lane changing tenor. Newer members Kennedy's ride cymbal pushes the jagged edges and mysterious piano on "Guarded Optimism" and Alderson's bass work around Ferrante's fingers on "Anticipation" is warm and deft.
The quartet also does some respectful tributes to tenor players of the past; Eddie Harris is felt on the soulful and funky "Eddie's in the House" with an irresistible soul groove, and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" is reworked with some draping strings, reharmonization and countermelody to give it a more cerebral celebration. Hints of Weather Report are delivered on the playful "Fran's Dance" while the traditional American tune "Shanendoah" spotlights Mintzer's glowing tenor.
Read the full piece from: JazzWeekly.com
The record is beautiful and Aimée's voice is light and limpid, though not without metal. Her roles as the character in these narratives are almost soubrette-ish. Her diction is truly exceptional throughout and impressive in both English and French – and it would seem nearly as good in Spanish too. And there is evidence of real imagination behind her programmes and her interpretations.
This is a bright and chirpy album. Both her last two albums are just so. Her singing is deeply expressive, yet she is far too intelligent a musician ever to be for a moment self-indulgent or self-conscious.
Read the full piece from: LatinJazzNet.com
Salvant has a unique way of turning a song from a simple melody with rhythm into a audible painting, creating intricate textures not unlike a Monet as she goes from a swinging bop feel on "Nothing Like You" but yet twist and turn it into a taffy pull. Her talent for dynamics made her throw out lyrics like a slingshot on "Let's Face The Music and Dance" whereas the pop 60s hit "Wives and Lovers" mixed prismatic harmonics with kinetic undercurrents by the rhythm team, with the opposing tensions creating an agonizingly glorious contrast.
Read the full piece from: JazzWeekly.com
Prior to recording the album, the band had road-tested the new tunes during a European tour, including an extended run in London.
For the 11 p.m. set, attendance was strong, particularly for a Tuesday night. With the band's current lineup—Bob Mintzer on saxophones and EWI, Russell Ferrante on keyboards, Will Kennedy on drums and Australian Dane Alderson, a new addition, on bass (replacing Felix Pastorius)—a more straightahead character is evident, with a lesser degree of fusion bite.
The opening number, "Spirit Of The West" (from 1998's Club Nocturne), held a guileless cheerfulness, romping with pan-piping synth sounds and warbly bass. Even less than a decade ago, this band had a harder sound, which now seems diluted to a pastoral lightness.
Read the full piece from: DownBeat.com
"As a toddler, my uncles [saxophonist] David Lastie, [trumpeter] Melvin Lastie and [drummer] Walter Lastie had a band, the Lastie Brothers Combo. They would rehearse at my grandparents' house and with me being there, I got to hear the music. I heard 'Moanin'' and 'Sister Sadie.' So music was always a part of me."
Riley's uncles and grandfather, who played drums in the church, were his first influences in his upward-spiraling career of over 40 years. At 59, Riley is considered one of the finest and most unique jazz drummers in the world and stands strongly in New Orleans' impressive drum lineage, one that includes Ed Blackwell, James Black, Earl Palmer, Smokey Johnson, Idris Muhammad and more. Those legends too were influential in his development.
Read the full piece from: OffBeat Magazine
With great spirit and animation he travels the African diaspora from Congo Square to his Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, to New York and beyond. Riley celebrates his strikingly good album New Direction with the guys who joined him in its making – pianist Emmet Cohen, bassist Russell Hall, trumpeter Bruce Harris and saxophonist Godwin Louis. You want the best, you got the best.
Read the full piece from: Louisiana Weekly
Julian Lage, Arclight (March 11, Mack Avenue Records)
The album starts with a slightly modified rock beat ("Fortune Teller"), and digs in from there -- an emphasis on melody and a lack of politeness set help Lage set himself apart from jazz guitar's often florid tradition. Notes of prog stay "jazzy" with the sparse ensemble, while Lage's lyric gift leaves the listener with melodies likely to endure even after just one listen. Even "Nocturne," though gentle, won't necessarily lull you to sleep (though it's not out of the question the song could end up alongside Ed Sheeran on some tactical Spotify playlist). Lage's inventive arrangements will engage even the most intimidated of jazz listeners, and his omnivorous, memorable flights will keep them on the hook.
Read the full piece from: Billboard.com
Barack Obama and wife Michelle have announced plans to hold a concert next month, featuring a string of musical legends including Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau, Sting and Herbie Hancock.
Other performers on the day will include Joey Alexander, Terence Blanchard, Kris Bowers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Till Brönner, Terri Lyne Carrington, Chick Corea, Jamie Cullum, Kurt Elling, Robert Glasper, Buddy Guy, Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain, Diana Krall, Lionel Loueke, Hugh Masekela, Christian McBride, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, James Morrison, Danilo Pérez, Rebirth Brass Band, Dianne Reeves, Lee Ritenour, David Sánchez, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Trombone Shorty, Chucho Valdés, Bobby Watson and Ben Williams. John Beasley is overall musical director.
Read the full piece from: The Guardian
Ever since he returned to perform in his war-torn homeland in the 1980s, he's seen the potential for jazz to be a vehicle for social change, and spent much of his time offstage seeding this vision in the form of youth music education programs. The Panama Jazz Festival he founded, for instance, doesn't just feature major international acts — it brings students from all sorts of backgrounds to share the stage, and funnels profits back to them.
Read the full piece from: NPR.org
In this release New Direction, he heads a band of young whipper-snappers, who dive into a set list of mostly Herlin Riley originals that run the gamut of styles, but are still jazz-oriented.
The title track "New Direction" kicks things off in exemplary fashion with Riley laying down a rhythmic direction that signifies his inventiveness, with pianist Cohen offering an inspired solo, and guitarist Mark Whitfield demonstrating why he was included in this session. "Spring Fantasy" is a Latin infused number with a bluesy feel, that has some stellar alto work by Godwin Louis. Pianist Cohen also shows some smart single-note playing.
Read the full piece from: Audiophile Audition
A scaled-down quintet version of the ensemble appears in Seattle next week, with bassist Christian McBride at the helm, plus two saxophonists: Kirk Whalum, playing tenor in a muscular, straight-ahead style that might surprise his smooth-jazz fans, and husky-toned altoist Tia Fuller, who has burning bebop chops. The group, which writes its own tunes and arrangements, is rounded out by Carl Allen (drums) and McBride's regular trio pianist, Christian Sands.
Read the full piece from: Seattle Times
Not just any electric guitar, mind you, but a Fender Telecaster, which brings out a welcome country twang in Lage's formerly suave, sophisticated melodic imagination. The mood veers from tender to raucous, with echoes of Bill Frisell and particularly Jim Hall, whose erstwhile colleagues, bass player Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollensen, make up the sensitive, ever-responsive rhythm section.
Read the full piece from: The Irish Times
Like the Arclight of the title, this is jazz that glows with a simple intensity that throws light on what's possible with six strings and an unlimited imagination. Released on 11 March, Arclight is Lage's first release with the Mack Avenue label and also his debut electric guitar album. However, unlike Dylan's decision to go electric, Lage's selection of electric guitar - specifically, a Fender Telecaster, "the most refined embodiment of the modern guitar" as Lage puts its - seems a sensible choice for a guitarist looking for the next step in his development as an artist.
Read the full piece from: LondonJazz News
Tocororo is equal parts sophistication and sincerity. It's the sound of a prodigiously talented Cuban embracing the wider world of music. Best of all, the album resonates with the possibility of all the other new music we'll discover as Cuba itself opens up to the world.
Read the full piece from: NPR All Things Considered
The end result is a brisk but bracing affair, with few cuts lasting over four minutes. Lage and company spin minor variations on each of the catchy numbers' melodic, harmonic and rhythmic foundations without undue extrapolation—an approach suggested by producer and singer-songwriter Jesse Harris, who wisely encouraged the trio to stick with first takes, capturing the spontaneous energy of their initial renditions.
Read the full piece from: All About Jazz
Pianist Alfredo Rodriguez is living up to the promise that producer/discoverer Quincy Jones initially saw in the Cuban exile a number of years ago. Each album has had its own personality and has shown growth in terms of style and composing skills...Each song has a lyrical simplicity, yet with enough richness in delivery and tecnnique to make you come back for more. Bravo.
Read the full piece from: Jazz Weekly
On stage and in the studio, Ray did it all -- jazz, R&B, rock and roll, pop. He even helped bring the country music he loved to a broader audience. But whatever genre of music he was playing, there was no mistaking his singular sound –- that virtuoso piano playing that matched that one-of-a-kind voice. Even as a young man, he had the rich, raw honey tone of an old soul. No matter the feeling -– whether it was love, longing, or loss -– Ray Charles had the rare ability to collapse our weightiest emotions into a single note. And from the tiny clubs in which he started out to the arenas that he eventually filled, Ray was an electrifying performer. He couldn't see us, but we couldn't take our eyes off of him.
Read the full piece from: The White House
It's kind of a continuation of my last album, It's A Good Day. It's the same band, and if It's A Good Day was the sun, Let's Get Lost is the moon. The band was created in the studio for the last album, and I had the band in my head before that, and the idea of having these two completely different sounding guitars come together on it. I had no idea how it was going to sound, and Michael, the electric guitar player, lives in Brooklyn and we worked on arranging and he had a great guitar view of the arrangements in a way where one wouldn't stomp on the other's toes.
Read the full piece from: New York Observer
Mr. Riley, who just turned 59, has been a shining exemplar of New Orleans rhythm — as a cultural study, a living language and a model of hybridity — since emerging on the national scene in the 1980s. Working first with the pianist Ahmad Jamal, and then the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, he established a reputation for his commanding yet ebullient groove. That irresistible force provides the foundation for "New Direction," but not as an end unto itself.
Read the full piece from: New York Times
Bassist Christian McBride (also) won the Grammy Award for best improvised solo for his work on "Cherokee" from his trio album "Live at the Village Vanguard," which bested work from Alexander as well as Joshua Redman, John Scofield and saxophonist Donny McCaslin.
Read the full piece from: the LA Times
Aimée showcased her linguistic and musical range by covering a rarely performed Edith Piaf ballad, "T'es Beau Tu Sais," then singing "Estrellitas Y Duendes," written by the Dominican pop star Juan Luis Guerra. The combination reflected the musical influences of her French father and her mother's Dominican heritage. Valeanu and Danor added a bolero feel to the Piaf tune, and Moignard and Valeanu seamlessly traded bright guitar riffs on the Guerra song.
Read the full piece from: DownBeat
The bulk of the set consisted of a composition apiece by each musician. Fuller's challenging "Decisive Steps," she said, is a distillation of what she always advises students about "moving forward in faith and not fear," and she practiced what she preaches on her roaring alto solo. McBride's "Paint Brushes" came next, Burton supplying an intro and the bassist wrapping up the soloing with one of his own. Jones's "Gretchen" was written as Christmas approached, for Mack Avenue founder Gretchen Valade, and he joked that "Contrary to popular belief, trumpet players can write pretty songs" — his lovely waltz proving the point, greatly aided by his own gorgeous flugelhorn solo.
Read the full piece from: Boston Globe
The familiarity returns once this ensemble begins to play because whether the SuperBand reinterprets standards, contemporary pop and gospel tunes or plays their own originals, the virtues that distinguish previous Live From the Detroit Jazz Festival albums are manifestly present on this effort. Jazz, perhaps more than all other genres, is best appreciated when heard live because that's when the notes on those charts become three dimensional, as the musicians engage in instrumental conversation and use the notes written on the page as a runway for creative flight.
Read the full piece from: SoulTracks
This iteration of the "Superband" fulfils all the promise that the names attached to the project impart. With the exception of "Test Of Time" by Makoto Ozone, the remaining numbers were all composed by members of the band, starting with "Preach Hank!" by tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum. In a nod to the great R&B saxophonist Hank Crawford, the band gives soulful reading of the number, with the composer Whalum rocking out his solo and trumpeter Freddie Hendrix filling the air with his high notes. All of the band members take a piece of the action with exuberance.
Read the full piece from: - Audiophile Audition
Jazz saxophonist Jimmy Greene is a double Grammy nominee for an album that pays tribute to his daughter. Two years after Ana was killed in the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the musician released "Beautiful Life" -- his first album since the tragedy, reports "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King. Greene described music as "the language that kicks in when words don't suffice."
Read the full piece from: CBS News
The 12-track gem includes guitarists Adrien Moignard and Michael Valeanu, bassist Sam Anning, and Raj Jayaweera on the kit — the same ensemble that was featured at the helm on It's A Good Day. In preparation for Let's Get Lost's January 22nd release, we are excited to premiere Aimée's fun up-tempo rendition of Harry Ruby's classic standard, "Three Little Words." Opening at a blistering tempo, you can't help but admire Jayaweera's impressive brush work underneath Moignard and Valeanu's light yet assertive guitar comping.
Read the full piece from: Revive-Music
For her unblinking cover of "Wives and Lovers" — a curdled artifact from the early 1960s, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David — the jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant devised an ingeniously simple visual concept. This clip has a blank backdrop, a blood-red filter (also as in red flag, red light, flashing sirens) and just two human figures: Ms. Salvant and Storyboard P, the brilliant flex dancer, who turns the song's distressingly sexist message nearly inside out.
Read the full piece from: the New York Times
Cécile McLorin Salvant Jazz Standard, Aug. 25: It's not just deep mastery of a historical tradition that sets Ms. Salvant apart as a jazz singer. As she showed in this coolly intoxicating set, she's also working with a rare set of critical tools, and the ability to make a roomful of listeners feel like sly accomplices.
Read the full piece from: the New York Times
Beyond consensus, however, these groups include a significant spectrum of women — nearly half of the total — in both traditional and transgressive roles. Not just Adele, now in a class by herself, but new stars Kacey Musgraves (country), Courtney Barnett (indie rock), Cecile McLorin Salvant (jazz), Elle King (rock 'n' soul) and Rhiannon Giddens (neo-folk roots)...
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you from all of us at Mack Avenue!
On the guitar + singing front, Chris Eldridge and I were thrilled to finally come out to the west coast this fall to perform, finishing our year at the Fretboard Summit alongside our fellow guitar lovers. Chris and I have entered the proverbial "bat cave" with an eye on a project we are very excited to share when the time is right!
2015 also saw the beginning of a new collaboration with John Zorn, in the form of performing his Bagatelles with one of my favorite guitarists, Gyan Riley. This is music that (for the time being) only exists in the live format: either at The Stone or on the road, so we hope to see you at one of our shows soon!
Finally, this year represented the beginning of my newly formed trio, featuring Scott Colley and Kenny Wollesen, a project I have been fantasizing about ever since I was very young. We have some exciting news to share in the new year. in the meantime, I want to thank you all so dearly for coming out, your support and amazing energy! I cannot wait to see on the road you soon!
- Julian
2016 Touring
Nels Cline + Julian Lage European Tour:
16 Feb - Ljubljana, SI - Cankarjev Dom Ticket Info TBD
17 Feb - Warsaw, PL - Pardon To TuTicket Info TBD19 Feb - Wels, AT - Alter Schlachtof Wels
20 Feb - Ferrara, IT - Jazz Club Ferrara
21 Feb - Muri, CH - Pflegidach - Pflegi MuriTicket Info TBD23 Feb - Bremen, DE - MOMENTS
24 Feb - Milano, IT - Blue Note MilanoTicket Info TBD26 Feb - Groningen, NL - Grand Theatre GroningenTickets
29 Feb - Bozen, IT - Bozar
2 Mar - Brussels, BE - TBDTicket Info TBD3 Mar - Amsterdam, NL - BimhuisTicket Info TBD
Julian Lage (Trio Configuration):
3/ 6 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim (Two Shows)
Early Show: Tickets
Late Show: Tickets
3/8 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
3/10 - New York, NY - Rockwood #2
4/6 - Savannah, GA - Savannah Music Festival
4/23 - Morrow, GA - Spivey Hall
4/24 - Chattanooga, TN - Jazzanooga Festival
4/25 - Athens, GA - The Foundry
4/30 - Madison, WI - The Frequency
5/1 - Evanston, IL - SPACE
5/2 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
Tickets *on sale 12/19
5/5 - Vienna, VA - Barns at Wolftrap
5/6 - Fairfield, CT - StageOne
5/7 - Northampton, MA - Parlor Room
5/8 - Portland, ME - One Longfellow Square
5/ 9 - Burlington, VT - Signal Kitchen
On Sale TBD
5/11 - Brooklyn, NY - The Hall at MP
Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge:3/22 - Johnson City, TN - Downhome
3/23 - Richmond, VA - Modlin Center
3/24 - Roanoke, VA - Jefferson Center
3/25 - Danville, KY - Norton Center
4/3 - San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theatre
4/21 - Denver, CO - Gates Concert Hall
When Tyner closed his mini-set with "Blues on the Corner," from his album "The Real McCoy," he achieved his most dynamic playing of the evening, even if its opening passages proved a bit messy. The pianist quickly regained his footing, however, generating excitement with crisply delivered repeated notes and achieving a blues-swing sensibility with his trio.
Read the full piece from: Chicago Tribune
"Jazz is not seen as an alternative music, it's seen as a dusty, old thing," says McLorin Salvant. "There are so many instances of people saying, 'Jazz is dead.'" Yet for her, it is full of life. "I think most of those songs have this timeless quality to them; there is no real reference to time," she says. Now it is up to the audience to embrace the new voices and faces of jazz as they revive and reinvent that golden age, because if we're going to bring back jazz, it's going to take someone like McLorin Salvant to make it happen.
Read the full piece from: The Last Magazine
Cécile McLorin Salvant, 26, brings much of her touring set list to the Grammy-nominated jazz vocal album, For One To Love on Mack Avenue Records, released on September 4, 2015. Nothing about the songs on this album, or this young artist, says meek, mild, or clean — unless it's the efficient way Salvant cuts through the crap down to the meat of the bare bone of the covers and originals she takes on.
Read the full piece from: Examiner.com
...the pianist and composer shares music from his own recording Space Time Continuum (Mack Avenue) and music featuring rising star singer Cecile McLorin Salvant.
Read the full piece from: WBGO: The Checkout
I always wanted to have kind of a certain natural quality to my voice, and I wish it were more rough than it is, but I would listen to a lot of blues singers and sort of try to go more towards that. I had a hole in my voice. I still do...But I realized that in jazz, I could take advantage of that.
Read the full piece from: NPR Fresh Air
Salvant's aesthetic idiosyncrasies immediately mark her apart, even within the space of "jazz singing." She's long had a predilection for finding rowdy songs from the dawn of the music to grow into — not exactly common for a twentysomething jazz musician — and that continues here...
Read the full piece from: NPR First Listen
A lot of jazz groups tend to lose themselves in the thematic structures and far-out concepts of the artistic leader of the album. Not this group. Ever since they got together, pianist Pérez, bassist Patitucci, and drummer Blade knew they spoke the same cinematic language..."For us, it was like writing the soundtracks of our own lives. It was about using music to paint a scene, using the sounds to tell a story," Pérez added.
Read the full piece from: AXS
"When you look at this particular lineup, there are a wide range of styles represented: from the Django-influenced guitar approach of Evan Perri to the soulful/gospel leanings of tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum, and when you consider the other players, you can find just about everything in between."
Read the full piece from: DownBeat Magazine
Mr. Diehl has taken a winding road to jazz. As a child, he played mostly classical music and learned a few jazz standards from his grandfather, who plays trombone and piano and introduced Mr. Diehl to the virtuoso pianist Art Tatum. Mr. Diehl was obsessed with aviation—his father, a funeral director, owned a plane—and he wanted to become an airline pilot. He took his first flying lesson at age 13 and recently flew a single-propeller plane from Columbus, where his parents still live, to gigs in Michigan.
Read the full piece from: Wall Street Journal
The trio is featured on "Santa Maria", a commissioned work beginning with bowed bass singing over rhapsodic piano and sprawling malleted tom toms and cymbals before moving into a Spanish-tinged interlude that introduces a brightly swinging melody. The trio ratchets things up several notches on Diehl's "Broadway Boogie Woogie", a fiercely bebopping tour de force taken at a demonic tempo. (Page 31)
Read the full piece from: The New York City Jazz Record
The DVD captures the Chapter IV concert at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York. Live performance segments are interspersed with conversations with Whalum on a variety of subjects, from being a musician to the spirit of improvisation.
Read the full piece from: Journal of Gospel Music
The Gospel According To Jazz: Chapter IV - by Kirk Whalum on Rendezvous/Mackavenue closes the week at number one on the Billboard Jazz Chart.
Read the full piece from: Mack Avenue Twitter Feed!
Rick Braun on his new album: "It's R&B and jazz mixed together, whereas with straight-ahead jazz there is more of a swing...
Mr. Jones, 36, was born and raised in northeast Ohio, and while he made his name in New York City — notably during his six years as...Mr. Jones, 36, was born and raised in northeast Ohio, and while he made his name in New York City — notably during his six years as...Mr. Jones, 36, was born and raised in northeast Ohio, and while he made his name in New York City — notably during his six years as...
Ms. Payne's disc, "Come Back to Me Love" (Artistry/Mack Avenue), is a collection of standards and originals done with opulent big-band arrangements; it's the sort of recording that offers an authentic alternative to the trend of pop stars doing classic repertoire with orchestral backing.
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I'm not quite sure why anyone is paying attention to polls about the Iowa caucuses.
Caucusing is not like voting. If you're lucky, at voting time you spend a few minutes waiting in line, a few minutes voting and then you're done. Not too much of a time drain on your day.
But agreeing to show up for the caucus in Iowa is a commitment of hours. So it's harder to predict who will make that time commitment this far out.
There's discussion, there's debate, there's back and forth. And when the time comes to "vote," if a candidate doesn't get 15% of the support of the voters in attendance to move on to the next phase, it's back to the debate to see who can be a consensus candidate.
A tad inscrutable, if you ask me. So, who can really know what's going on in the minds of Iowans at this stage of the game? As I learned in college, you can get just about any result you want out of a poll, depending on the question and how you ask it.
My gut says that a lot of Iowans are like my dad, a small family farmer in Pennsylvania.
My dad may tell you he's going to do one thing, but if he senses that you're trying to play him or dissect this thoughts in a way he doesn't like, he's going keep his cards close to his coveralls (I've never seen him wear a vest!)
I am sensing from what's happened in past elections that long-time Iowa caucus-goers are the same way. Sure, they might tell a pollster who they think they'll support today, but the caucuses are six-weeks away — an eternity in this election season.
And things change. Minds change. Or maybe they just don't think the pollsters should be privy to their thoughts on the candidates until they're really done hearing from all the candidates.
So I'm pretty skeptical about where things are trending in Iowa at the moment, even though many are proclaiming a new direction. I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of talk about the candidates around the turkey this week when Iowa families are together. I wouldn't be surprised to see yet another shift in the polls next week after a little Turkey Day pre-caucus action!
One question I read in the most recent The Washington Post/ABC News poll, in a story titled For Democrats, Iowa Still Up for Grabs, may deserve some attention and be a bit more reflective of where things really stand in Iowa at the moment.
When those who have participated in the caucuses in the past (so are believed to be more likely to participate this January than people who haven't) were asked who they thought they would support:
Obama — 27%
Edwards — 26%
Clinton — 21%
Looks a little different than some of the other results, doesn't it?
So I say even though we're creeping up to the end of November, it's still too early to count anyone out or in for Iowa.
But whoever wins, just promise me no screaming!

subset: commoncrawl


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Good Friday morning. This is Kalamazoo This Weekend, your guide to events happening the weekend of July 12 to July 14. Here is what's on tap this weekend:
Singin' the Blues: The Kalamazoo Blues Festival continues Friday and Saturday at Arcadia Creek Festival Place with more than 20 bands. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. Friday and 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Check out the full schedule of music.
Lunchtime parties in Bronson Park: The city of Kalamazoo will unveil a new kind of party in Bronson Park Friday. The first "Lunchtime Live" begins at 11:30 a.m. and goes to 1:30 p.m. City officials plan to offer live entertainment from local acts, street performers and pop-up retail shops. The north lane of South Street in front of Kalamazoo City Hall will be shut down to allow food vendors to gather.
Kindleberger Festival: The 2013 Kindleberger Festival continues through Monday. Activities scheduled for Saturday include a pancake breakfast, 5K run, fun run, parade, railroad and classic car show and more. Two plays, "Keeper of the Tales" and "Bye-Bye Birdie," run every night of the festival with the kids show at 5:30 p.m. and the musical at 7 p.m. Most Kindleberger events are free.
Cry if I want to: Fontana Chamber Arts will hold the first of its three Crybaby Concerts, designed to provide children 45 minutes of free live music. Screaming and crying babies are no problem at the concert, which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Epic Theater downtown. Coffee is provided for adults and snacks are available for children.
Skiing in July: Timber Ridge will host World champion free skier and reggae musician Tanner Hall for a music event from 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Timber Ridge in Gobles. The event will feature a synthetic snow rail jam. Cost is $15 at the door.
Bargain shopper's paradise: Kalamazoo College's annual furniture sale continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday in the Crissey/Severn parking lot at Kalamazoo College.


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The Columbia River Fisheries Management Workgroup, composed of three representatives each from states, began meeting in September to consider moving non-tribal gill netts off the mainstem of the river. Gov. John Kitzhaber convened the group in advance of a November Oregon ballot measure to ban gillnets in parts of the Columbia.
The workgroup's recommendations must be approved by each state. In addition to moving gill netts to select off-channel areas by 2017, the suggestions also include: a transition to alternative gear such as beach and purse seines; an increased hatchery production of coho and spring and fall chinook in the select areas to offset loss of mainstem fisheries; and a license surcharge.
A final version of the all the recommendations will be posted at as soon as it is available.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider the recommendations at its Dec. 7 meeting in Portland. On Dec. 14, its Washington counterparts are scheduled to consider the recommendations.
– The Oregonian


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At UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we will finally get to see the rematch between Yushin "Thunder" Okami and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Okami is the last man to beat Silva, albeit by DQ.
Recently, UFC president Dana White made some bold claims about Okami to MMAfighting.com.
"In my opinion, Yushin Okami is the best fighter ever to come out of Japan," White said. "This guy didn't fight cans and get this built up, mythological record."
You can argue that White has a valid point.
Okami is 10-2 in the UFC with his only losses coming to former middleweight champion Rich Franklin and Chael Sonnen. Out of his six total losses, Okami has only been stopped once.
If Okami can pick up a convincing win against Silva, he should be looked at as the best fighter out of Japan, and could start to make his mark on becoming the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA today.
Given his UFC record, Okami has had more success outside of Japan than just about any Japanese fighter in MMA.
The first name that usually comes to mind with that title goes to Kazushi Sakuraba.
Sakuraba was known as the "the Gracie Hunter" for his wins over Royler, Renzo, Ryan and Royce Gracie. The latter of which was a 90-minute fight.
Sakuraba also holds wins over former UFC champions Ken Shamrock, Kevin Randleman, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Carlos Newton and Vitor Belfort.
Although Sakuraba never won a title in Pride, he was looked at as the face of the company as well as Japanese MMA. Sakuraba only fought in the UFC twice, winning the UFC Japan tournament after two fights with Marcus Silveria in the same night.
Two other names that can be brought into the debate are Takanori Gomi and Shinya Aoki.
In his prime, Gomi was looked at as the best lightweight in the world. Gomi was the first and only Pride lightweight champion and holds the record for the quickest KO in Pride history.
Gomi has also never been knocked out.
Who is the greatest MMA fighter from Japan?
Aoki, on the other hand, is 28-5 (1) with a five-fight winning streak. Aoki is known for his submissions that can come out of nowhere and holds wins over Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez as well as UFC vets Rich Clementi, Caol Uno and George Sotiropoulos.
Despite Aoki having some great wins, he has never fought in the UFC.
In terms of UFC success, Okami is without a doubt the most successful Japanese fighter. But greatest ever could be an understatement.
Of course, a second win over Anderson Silva could change that.
Do you think Okami is the greatest fighter out of Japan? Share your thoughts!


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The Muppet Christmas Carol
- Directed by Brian Henson
===Story=== Brian Henson directs his late father's creations in the Charles Dickens classic, the best known (and most oft-filmed) Christmas story of all time. Michael Caine plays the old miser Scrooge with Kermit as his long-suffering but ever-hopeful employee Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Cratchit's wife, and a host of Muppets (including the Great Gonzo as an unlikely Charles Dickens) taking other primary roles in this bright, playful adaptation of the somber tale. Or at least it starts brightly enough--the anarchic humor soon settles into mirthful memories and a sense of melancholy as the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future take Scrooge on a journey of his lonely, wasted life. Michael Caine makes a wonderful Scrooge, delightfully rediscovering the meaning of life as fantastic creations from Henson's Creature Shop (developed specially for this film) take the reins as the three ghosts. While the odd mix of offbeat humor and somber drama undercuts the power of Dickens's drama, this kid-friendly retelling makes an excellent family drama that adults and children alike can enjoy. ''--Sean Axmaker'' ===DVD Features=== * Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) * Commentary by: director Brian HensonUnknown Format * Frogs, Pigs & Humbug: Unwrapping a New Holiday Classic * Christmas Around the World * On the Set
|Michael Caine
|Ebenezer Scrooge
|Dave Goelz
|The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens/Robert Marley/Dr. Bunsen Honeydew/Betina Cratchit/Rat/Zoot
|Steve Whitmire
|Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit/Rizzo the Rat/Beaker/Bean Bunny/Belinda Cratchit/Beetle/Lips/Pig Gentleman
|Jerry Nelson
|Tiny Tim/Jacob Marley/Ghost of Christmas Present/Lew Zealand/Ma Bear/Mouse/Mr. Applegate/Penguin/Pig Gentleman/Pops/Rat
|Frank Oz
|Miss Piggy as Emily Cratchit/Fozzie Bear as Fozziewig/Sam the Eagle as Headmaster of Junior High Graduates/Animal/George the Janitor/Horse and Carriage Driver/Vegetable Salesman
|David Rudman
|Rat/Peter Cratchit/Old Joe/Swedish Chef
|Jessica Fox
|Ghost of Christmas Past
|Steven Mackintosh
Recent threads
lotrwolf06 and 4 others own The Muppet Christmas Carol
lotrwolf06 and 2 others watched The Muppet Christmas Carol
Sep 16, 07 6:17pm
There goes Mr Skinflint, there goes Mr Grim...
Perhaps if I were not raised on Jim Henson's classic Labyrinth, I'd find the idea of a...
- Genre: Family Movies
- Theme(s): Fantasy, Satire/Parody/Comedy, Children's
- Director: Brian Henson
- Producer: Buena Vista
- Length: 85 min
- Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical Release North America Dec 11, 1992 Europe Dec 18, 1992 Japan Nov 27, 1993 Australia Dec 11, 1992
Ratings North America PG Europe U Australia G
DVD Release North America Nov 29, 2005


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Results tagged ' Valverde '
Worried about Valverde? You bet I am.
It's never a good sign when the closer is limping around the mound while attempting to close out a game. Valverde logged the save Sunday but then hobbled into the clubhouse, hobbled toward his locker and did everything in his power not to put any pressure on that bum leg. Not good.
Then, when I asked him how he was feeling, he said, "I'm not ready yet. I don't feel 100 percent, but I have to support my team."
This is alarming, because Valverde is the type of pitcher who will play through anything and swear up and down, left and right that he's totally fine, because the competitor in him is telling him he's fine even if he's not totally fine. For him to come right out and say, in essence, "I'm not fine" is worrisome. He must be in some kind of pain.
So we'll see what happens this week in Cincinnati. The bullpen is beat up after throwing 10 innings in the last two days, so not having a fully healthy Valverde could be a big, big problem this week.
Russ Ortiz has to be more efficient if he's going to be a part of this rotation. He threw 97 pitches on Sunday and got through only five innings. That's not good enough, and he's fully aware of that.
"There were times today where I made pitches early in the count and they swung and got out in three or four pitches," he said after the win over the Brewers. "That was the whole goal — get some outs as soon as possible — obviously, not throwing pitches right down the middle of the plate — but making quality pitches early and that was the goal. These [Brewers] hitters, I think they know me, that I'm going to throw a lot of pitches and they're laying off some pretty close pitches. I just keep plugging away and I'm not going to change anything. Certain hitters, I need to do a better job of getting ahead early."
That said, Ortiz understood the importance of winning that final game with the Brewers. The homestand was already a disappointment, but a sweep by the Brewers would have been brutal.
"I think everybody in this clubhouse knew we had to win," Ortiz said. "It was a must-win game today. Those are games I love to pitch in, because I've always felt like I want to be a go-to guy. I want to be a guy that can stop something or that can keep something going. I want these guys to know that when I'm going out, we have a really good shot at winning. Today, I knew it was an important game. That's what Pudge and I talked about. We needed to win this game."


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Eames Century Modern Catalog
Ninety-plus pages of Eames Century Modern await your request!
When Andy Cruz starts a sentence with "I hate to say it but…," there's quite a bit of eye rolling and hand wringing in the studio because it probably means lots more work, missed "deadlines" and more money. But it's hard to argue with a guy who's willing check every form for 40 straight hours while catching a few winks on a dusty conference room couch. Then go back a few days later and hang out with the bindery guys for another eight hours to make sure their interpretation of "commercially acceptable" is the same as ours.
And nobody squeezes the most out of lithographic substrates like Andy. "Oh, the cover is printing eight up? I hate to say it but we really should design eight different covers." Or "Wait, 50# newsprint is much lighter than cheap coated offset and we can create a bigger book without going over the new weight threshold for USPS standard automated mail? I hate to say it but we need to add about 32 more pages." Or "At our quantities, it will cost the same to preprint then convert mailing envelopes and they print six-up? I hate to say it but we need to do six different layouts."
If you've purchased something from us in the past, you will most likely receive one of these in the mail in the next few weeks assuming that the envelope conversion house lines things up as we envisioned. That too long of a wait? You can see what you'll get at the Eames microsite. And lastly, if you've moved, changed jobs, become redundant after a major corporate merger or quit your job to start a blog that posts TSA full body x-ray images, please drop us an email at email@example.com so we can keep up with you.
Posted by Rich Roat on April 2, 2010


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The Miami-Ohio women's basketball team buried Western Michigan under its largest first-half deficit of the year on Sunday afternoon at Millett Hall.
Courtney Osborn did most of the shoveling.
The RedHawk's junior guard nearly outpaced the entire Broncos squad in the first half with 21 of her game-high 34 points as Miami downed WMU 82-67 in its first game of Mid-American Conference cross-divisional play.
Osborn ignited the RedHawks (15-4, 5-1) from behind the 3-point line, going 5-for-5 in the first half, where Miami took a 46-26 advantage at the break. She finished 6-for-7 from 3-point range.
Osborn has been on a tear this season, setting a MAC record for single-game scoring with 48 points against Akron on Jan. 4.
The Broncos (5-14, 2-4) were able to find a partial answer to the sharp shooter with Julia Henson. The freshman guard found her stroke from long range, where she was 6-for-10, leading to all of her team-high 18 points.
Henson's performance tied her for third in the school record books for most 3-balls in a game. The last time a Bronco sank six 3-pointers was Casey Rost in 2006.
Maria Iaquaniello added 15 points for the Broncos and Corie Buchanan had 10.
The Broncos went toe-to-toe with Miami in the first 10 minutes of the game. A.J. Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer with 10:32 to knot the game at 17-all. The RedHawks used the remainder of the half to mount a crushing 29-9 run, Osborn contributing with 18 points in that stretch.
Western Michigan kicked off the MAC season with a pair of wins, but have since lost four-straight. The Broncos return home for a three-game home stand. They will face Kent State on Wednesday.


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It's the big Memorial Day weekend and no one should be around to read this admission that I fumbled the ball in a mid-week website post that discussed Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack's Fellini-like political rally Tuesday for 33rd Legislative District candidates.
Inside the packed, hot and loud Schuetzen Park in North Bergen, Stack started shouting about those pols in attendance and the people running for office. I mixed the two and could have sworn there was a someone who looks like Sean Connors near the stage after Stack shouted his name.
Jersey City's Connors, 42, is running for an Assembly seat in the 33rd with incumbent Assemblyman Ruben Ramos and Stack. But, Sean was not at Schuetzen Park.
So I called him and asked "Why?" In his "Aw, schucks" Sgt. York voice, he said that he is on a tight schedule of campaigning.
C'mon, even Othello wouldn't believe that one.
I asked him if he thought those people at the event were potential voters in his district. There was a half-believable reply but I already knew the answer. I had talked to some people who know Sean and they say he is embarrassed and did not want to go. A few said Connors, a 21-year police vet, told them he was never invited.
Stack's people insist that they rarely privately invite anyone. "It's an open public event and they just come," said one Stack administration official. This has always been true of everyone in West New York. Former West New York mayor Sal Vega would just show up. New Mayor Dr. Felix Roque just appeared at this week's rally and has done so in the past.
Why the reluctance to go? It's because of the circumstance of how Connors became a candidate in the 33rd on the Hudson County Democratic Organization line. Essentially, when redistricting pushed Stack further down into Jersey City, Heights resident Connors was forced on Stack by the HCDeadO, and to avoid a costly party civil war, the Union City mayor agreed.
Stack has decided when the HCDeadO tries to oust him at the end of his two-year term, Hannibal will cross the Alps and the Rubicon with new funding and soldiers. And you can count on the 33rd District senator having a say in the 2013 Jersey City election — a bit of "You Asked For It" programming.
Connors has to be sensitive about all this and the fact some are saying he will be the centurion the HCDeadO throws against Stack in June 2013 — if they survive the May Jersey City local race.
"Do you talk to your running mates?" I asked the Assembly candidate.
"Sure. I just talked to Ruben the other day," Connors replied. "I've talked to Ruben several times."
When was the last time he talked to Stack? After speaking glowingly of the senator's work ethic, Connors said he had asked about an Easter Egg hunt at a Union City school. Well, I guess Easter was late this year.
"So the next time you'll probably talk to him will be at your swearing in (in Trenton, January)," I said.
He laughed — finally.
Insider Notes are at NJ.com/Hudson/voices.


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I had a great time hanging out with Matt Giraud this afternoon at Cornerstone Church in Caledonia. I could not stay for his two sold out solo shows, which were the official beginning of his solo career. But he was gracious enough to give us a few minutes after a round of TV interviews.
The "American Idol" Top 5 finalist talked about his dedicated fans, trying out new songs, his anticipation of debut albums by Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta, and how much his fans mean to him.
The Kalamazoo piano player also talked about his upcoming Jan. 29 concert at the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center. Tickets are still available.
Here is my interview:


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Home » Essay » Bad Family Relationships
A good place to look for examples of these kinds of families might be the Disney Channel.
In a society where evolution has stopped there must be ways to filter out the bad genes, in our case the breakdown of families with said genes are a good start...Showed first 250 characters
Functioning families have a greater chance of producing offspring that will continue their superior genes, while families who do not provide for each other are destined to fail. The relationship between members of a family are what make us different from other species of animalsShowed next 250 characters
For your convenience Manyessays provide you with custom writing service. All papers are written from scratch by only certified and experienced writers.
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Please contact our custom service if you have any questions concerning our service.


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State police at Schuylkill Haven are investigating a fatal crash that happened near a shopping center Wednesday afternoon.
It happened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Route 61 and the Cressona Mall in North Manheim Twp., Schuylkill County.
Police said 65-year-old James Gorski of Pottsville was killed when he tried turning onto Seven Stars Road, but crossed into the path of a pickup truck.
The driver of the truck -- 38-year-old Thomas Salvadora of Shenandoah -- was not injured.
Salvadora's truck hit Gorski's car on the passenger side and both vehicles traveled about 100 feet before stopping in the northbound lanes of Route 61, police said.
Gorski was pronounced dead at the scene.


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SUNBURY — An 18-year-old Snyder County woman is charged with murdering a man she met on Craigslist and dumping his body in Sunbury before joining her husband to celebrate his birthday in Harrisburg.
Miranda Barbour of Selinsgrove was arrested Tuesday after voluntarily appearing at the state police barracks near the borough. She was jailed without bail on charges of criminal homicide, aggravated and simple assault and possession of an instrument of crime.
She is accused of killing Troy LaFerrara, 22, of Port Trevorton, on Nov. 11. Determining Barbour was the last person to call LaFerrara on his cellphone helped break the case, police said.
Barbour, who recently moved to Selinsgrove from North Carolina with her husband Elytte and her young daughter, is alleged to have told investigators she sometimes met men seeking companionship through Craigslist.
She admitted arranging to meet a man Nov. 11 with whom she had texted and spoken to several times. She initially claimed she backed out of the meeting in the parking lot of the Susquehanna Valley Mall north of Selinsgrove, police said.
LeFerrara's truck was found in the mall parking lot Nov. 13, the day after his body was found near an alley behind Catawissa Avenue in Sunbury.
This is what police reported occurred based on statements given by Barbour and their investigation:
Barbour drove LaFerrara to Sunbury where, after parking, he began groping her and he put his hands around her throat. She grabbed a knife she routinely kept in the car and stabbed him multiple times, police said in court documents. An autopsy revealed he was stabbed approximately 20 times.
She told police she drove around Sunbury and then into an alley behind Catawissa Avenue, two blocks from a home LaFrerrara owned.
When she opened the passenger side door, he fell out, she lifted his foot out of the car. She told police he was choking and gasping for air when she drove off.
En route home, she bought garbage bags, carpet cleaner, paper towels and seat covers and went to a secluded spot to try to remove the blood stains, police say in the affidavit.
She is alleged to have covered the blood stains she could not remove. Then she drove home and she and her husband went to Harrisburg to celebrate his birthday, police said.
Barbour told police she kept the knife for five days before throwing it in the Susquehanna River along Routes 11/15, south of Selinsgrove, the affidavit states.


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Aiken loves retirees if they have money, and senior housing can be had for big bucks; but how about more options for those retirees who dont have big bucks and can no longer manage a house and yard? The old county building was said to be too far gone to revamp, but is that true? I doubt it. If Aiken truly had character and cared, youd think someone would be working on a way to get federal funds like they did to build new homes in Toole Hill and make a varied income senior living facility out of the wonderful old brick building.
Belief in God
Someone keeps submitting TalkBacks that mention a God as if a deity or the belief in one can be responsible for how humans relate to each other. Thats like being good for Santa to get your reward of gifts until you find out that Santa isnt real. Given the chaos driven by the belief in deities, one would think that the pre-Christian do unto others would be the standard by which civilized humans lived. The Code of Hammurabi, circa 1772 BC, that consisted of 282 laws, is another example of where laws with a sense of moral values really came from. If you need to believe in the invisible, then the belief that all living things are connected and should be respected is there for you to contemplate.
If our government would lower the tax rate or place high tariffs on the Chinese imports, we could eventually have more manufacturing jobs than workers to fill them. This could also eliminate unemployment and welfare. Its an absolute disgrace when almost everything is imported from China. If everybody has an income, there will be less crime everywhere. Unfortunately, for the investors and the wealthy (which include most of our politicians), the middle and lower classes are essentially out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Everybody should know that.
Be accountable
Parents need to be more accountable for their children, rather than failing them by eliminating the no-fault divorce law and have all couples attend premarital counseling. If a divorce occurs, make it illegal for either parent to remarry until all children are 18. If you are a mother who cant support your children, you should be prevented from having another baby (courtesy of the state) before receiving your state benefits. If you are a father who falls behind on child support, you should be vasectomized (courtesy of the state) or sit in jail until you agree to do so. If you are a proven adulterer, you should be fined up to $500 and/or imprisoned up to a year as defined in the S.C. Code of Law 16-15-60.


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Connect with Us
Forced vaccine on the horizon
The Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 (S1873 and HR 3970) takes away your right to know what you have been injected with (no disclosure, no Freedom of Information Act suits, none!), and your right to be compensated if that vaccination harms you or a loved one. These also set the stage for compulsory vaccination. This is an immediate threat to our heath and our liberty!
Some folks might still believe vaccines are a good thing. However, the fact that a secret agency is being set up which would operate without public oversight to create and compel the use of vaccines whose composition, side effects and hazards are not only unknown, but would be kept permanently hidden from the public, and that we the people would have absolutely no right to call the drug companies accountable if there is a major problem, should raise a red flag to even those who somehow manage to still believe that our federal government is good.
Bird flu vaccines cannot exist for some 6 to 18 months. Whatever you are vaccinated with will be experimental and therefore dangerous. With no liability to deter them, the vaccine makers can try anything they want and you will have no right to compensation for any harm done. Vaccines are often made of live viruses and have contained other toxins like stealth viruses, Squalene (a major threat to life and health as many a Gulf War veteran knows), mercury, formaldehyde, and aluminum.
Please learn more about why vaccines are no longer viewed as good public health policy by many scientists and physicians. Go to Vaccine Info and Choice network www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or National Vaccine Info: www.909shot.com. And please take action now! Call the White House and Congress and let them know these two bills are unjust and unacceptable. For more info: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/resources/newsletters/liberty.shtml.
Laurie Keith
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STARmeterSEE RANK
Up 43,220 this week
Paulo Autran (1922–2007)
Paulo Autran was born on September 7, 1922 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as Paulo Paquet Autran. He was an actor, known for The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006), The Machine (2005) and Entranced Earth (1967). He was married to Karin Rodrigues. He died on October 12, 2007 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. See full bio »
Died:(age 85) in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil


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"When the car left the highway and plunged down onto the tracks ... it did major damage to the overhead wire system," said TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt. "TriMet will be seeking restitution from the driver."
After just slipping past a Beaverton police officer who clocked him going 83 mph on westbound U.S. 26, 27-year-old Jeff John Roberton of Beaverton drove off the cloverleaf interchange connecting to Oregon 217 and landed on the eastbound MAX tracks about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Roberton faces DUII, reckless driving and criminal mischief charges in connection with the crash.
The incident knocked out light-rail service for thousands of riders through the Wednesday morning commute. Blue and Red line service was restored just minutes before the evening commute started.
Altstadt commended maintenance crews that repaired the electrical lines and the patience of MAX riders. "Many riders expressed their understanding and their appreciation to our customer service staff and ride guides," she said.
-- Joseph Rose
Follow @pdxcommute


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BRP History
1960 In Brief
The decade that witnessed the invention of the first Sea-Doo watercraft, the initial public offering of Bombardier and the introduction of Rotax engines in Ski-Doo snowmobiles.
1962 The Ski-Doo snowmobile gets even better
The Ski-Doo snowmobile undergoes modifications with a new fiberglass hood. Kohler and JLO engines are replaced by Rotax engines made in Austria.
1968 The first Sea-Doo PWC is launched
Launch of the first Sea-Doo watercraft. Production of the Terrain Master, a multi-purpose, multi-terrain tracked vehicle begins.
1969 Bombardier goes public
Bombardier's stock is listed on the Montreal and Toronto Stock Exchanges, where two million shares are publicly offered.
2014 BRP accelerates its growth in China with the creation of a joint venture
BRP and its long-time distributor in China, Smooth Marine Equipment Ltd ("Smooth Marine"), will pursue together the growth of BRP's business in China through a joint venture structure.


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Given that gun abuse and gun control will be significant issues this year, let me suggest that you facilitate the establishment of a working committee made up of parole officers, prosecutors and judges which would address the gun control issue. You might be able to provide editorial support and in some instances research assistance as the committee develops affirmative action projects designed to deter gun usage by felons recently returning to Cuyahoga County.
Periodic progress reports and human interest success stories could be inspirational and actually increase the odds for successful outcomes.
Marcus T. Wells North Ridgeville


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AUTSIN, Texas -- Texas has fired defensive coordinator Manny Diaz a day after one of the worst defensive performances in the history of the program.
Longhorns coach Mack Brown announced the move in a statement Sunday, and says that former Longhorns defensive coordinator and Syracuse coach Greg Robinson will replace Diaz.
Diaz was a former defensive coordinator at Mississippi State.
Brown says: "Our performance on defense last night was unacceptable, and we need to change that."
BYU ran for 550 yards, the most ever allowed by Texas, in a 40-21 victory against the Longhorns on Saturday night.


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Baja Racing Team
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we could never do what we do without the generous contributions from all of our sponsors.
Let us know whats on your mind. We respond asap.