Monday, November 23, 2009

George V. Higgins : The Friends of Eddie Coyle



A month ago wbur.org published an article on George V. Higgins which you can read here. Be sure to check out the commentary section as well! It makes me realise it's ages ago i saw the film, and check out the book as well again.
Enjoy!

Monday, November 16, 2009

ROIO Of The Week : Imani Winds

Now for something different, after the jazz ROIO's here some actual classical music brought to you by Iamni Winds. They played together with Wayne Shorter at different festivals and concerts and at thisn concert they play a Wayne Shorter composition.
Sit back, relax and enjoy!

More on Imani Winds can be found on their here and on this wiki.




Imani Winds
Perelman Theater
Kimmel Center
Philadelphia
Fresh Ink Series
Friday, October 24, 2008 | 7:30pm
FM>Total Recorder>HD>CD Wave>FLAC Frontend (level 8)

Valerie Coleman, flute
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
Mariam Adam, clarinet
Jeff Scott, French horn
Monica Ellis, bassoon

01. Station ID 0:29
02. Introduction 2:52
03. Call (Toyin Spellman-Diaz) 5:49
04. Announcement 4:08
05. Speech and Canzone (Valerie Coleman) 13:51
06. Announcement 2:40
07. Cane (Jason Moran) 11:15
08. Announcement 1:24
09. Terra Incognita (Wayne Shorter) 10:39
Total Time: 53:09

Performed but not included on this recording:
Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet (Gyorgy Ligeti)
Contrabajissimo (Astor Piazzolla - Arr. Jeff Scott)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Dick Katz R.I.P.

Dick Katz passed away on November 10th.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/arts/music/13katz.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries

November 13, 2009 - NY TIMES - By Ben Ratliff
Dick Katz, 85, Jazzman of Many Gifts Over 6 Decades, Is Dead

Dick Katz, a pianist, record producer, educator and writer whose
knowledge of jazz from the stride-piano era to 1960s modernism made
him a valuable presence on New York’s jazz scene for six decades, died
on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 85.

The cause was lung cancer, said his son Jamie.

Mr. Katz’s piano idols were soloist royalty: Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum,
Fats Waller. But he was a more reserved musician, finding his place
somewhere between accompanist, arranger and subtle improviser.

One of his breakthrough moments was his role as pianist on the
saxophonist and composer Benny Carter’s 1961 album “Further
Definitions,” meshing with a first-class multigenerational crew
including swing-era veterans and younger musicians. Another was his
1965 collaboration with the singer Helen Merrill, “The Feeling Is
Mutual,” an arty, cooled-out album of jazz standards of which he was
co-leader, arranger and producer.

Richard Aaron Katz, born in Baltimore on March 13, 1924, was already
playing in local clubs there as a teenager before he left for the
University of North Carolina to study music. He joined the Navy in
1942 and fought in the battle of Saipan; in 1946 he became a
professional musician in New York.

While working for his father’s advertising agency, he studied at the
Manhattan School of Music, where John Lewis, later of the Modern Jazz
Quartet, was a fellow student. In 1950 he took private lessons with
Wilson. By the early 1950s he was performing regularly with the
clarinetist Tony Scott’s group at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem and
making a string of records with Mr. Scott, including “Music After
Midnight” and “Jazz for G.I.’s.”

For several years in the mid-’50s, Mr. Katz played in the house rhythm
section at the Cafe Bohemia in the West Village with the bassist Oscar
Pettiford and the drummer Kenny Clarke, backing Miles Davis, among
others. He also toured with the popular twin-trombone band led by J.
J. Johnson and Kai Winding and played with the trumpeter Kenny
Dorham’s Jazz Prophets.

His old friend Lewis helped Mr. Katz secure a record deal with
Atlantic in 1958, which resulted in the album “Piano and Pen.” Through
the ’50s and ‘60s he appeared frequently as a sideman, on records by
the vocalist Carmen McRae, the saxophonist Sonny Rollins and others.
Starting in the late ’60s, two of his most frequent collaborators were
the trumpeter Roy Eldridge and the saxophonist Lee Konitz — brilliant
players on opposite chronological sides of bebop, jazz’s great
stylistic divide.

In 1966 Mr. Katz and the veteran record producer Orrin Keepnews
founded the jazz label Milestone. Staying with the company until the
early ’70s, he produced records by Mr. Konitz and others, as well as
“Alone Together,” a highly regarded duet album by the guitarist Jim
Hall and the bassist Ron Carter.

Beginning in the middle ‘80s Mr. Katz worked with the American Jazz
Orchestra, a repertory ensemble directed by Lewis, and the saxophonist
Loren Schoenberg’s big band. From the ’80s onward he taught at the New
School, the Manhattan School of Music and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Mr. Katz was also among a select group of jazz musicians who wrote
well about their art. His astute essays about Davis and Tatum in The
Jazz Review, published in 1959 and 1960, led to other writings, for
books and album liner notes. He received Grammy Award nominations for
the notes he wrote for “Jazz Piano: A Smithsonian Collection” (1990)
and “The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio” (1993).

Mr. Katz’s first marriage, to the former Edith Shapiro, ended in
divorce. He is survived by his wife, the former Joan Seifer, as well
as four sons — Jamie and Frank, of Manhattan; Jeffrey, of Washington;
and Ivan, of Brooklyn — and two grandchildren.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Spending a night with Miles : Yes we can!


This night from 23.30 on you have the opportunity to spend a night with Miles. Look at the marvelous program here.

Having connected my radio and my pc i must be able to record it all in FM quality.... I'll try to post the different parts the coming days - weeks as MP3.

Have fun!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Sonny Rollins to Perform Benefit Concert for Pete Seeger's Clearwate

Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and his band will perform a special benefit concert for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater on Sunday, December 6, 2009 at the Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, NY. The concert will begin at 2:00 pm.

Rollins's performance in Tarrytown on behalf of Pete Seeger's Clearwater will mark the first time the renowned environmental organization has ever hosted a benefit concert dedicated solely to jazz, and is also the first time that the saxophonist has performed a fund-raiser for any cause. The concert, to be presented by Jazz Forum Arts, is Rollins's only 2009 New York area appearance.

Performing with Sonny Rollins will be his working band: Clifton Anderson, trombone; Bobby Broom, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Kobie Watkins, drums; and Victor See-Yuen, percussion. Tickets for the concert range from $75 to $100; a limited number of premium tickets (which include a reception with Rollins) are also available. For information and ticket purchases, visit www.tarrytownmusichall.org or call 877-840-0457. The theater is located at 13 Main Street, Tarrytown.

In 1998 Sonny Rollins, for years an ardent environmentalist, released an album called Global Warming, which included songs such as "Echo-Side Blue," "Mother Nature's Blues," "Clear-Cut Boogie," and the title track, which he frequently performs to this day. The CD package contained a poem by Rollins, reading in part: "We got to stop assumin' / We can just go on consumin' . . . Live light on the planet, sister and brother / 'Cause if we kill it, there ain't no other / Not that much time left neither."

"My views have changed a little bit since then," says Rollins. "I still agree that people should be more aware of the environment and their own personal habits--like throwing stuff out of the window. Overall I see the environmental crisis less as 'us versus them' and more as part of the big picture. It's okay in a way. But people still have to take action. It doesn't affect what we should be doing. It's more of a moral question. Being against the environment is being against yourself and your neighbor."

Rollins has resided since 1972 in an old farmhouse in Columbia County, New York, in the Hudson River Valley. He eagerly accepted the opportunity to lend his talents for an organization founded in 1969 by another Hudson Valley musical icon and environmentalist. "Pete Seeger and I have the same heroes and beliefs," says Rollins. "We are in the same family. He is my brother."

Presently in the midst of an eight-city European tour--which takes in Groningen, Toulouse, Paris, Milan, Zagreb, Salzburg, Rome, and London--Rollins is also scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on 12/2. While in Salzburg (11/8), he will be awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class. The award is one of Austria's highest honors, given to leading international figures for distinguished achievements. The only other American artists who have received this recognition are Frank Sinatra and Jessye Norman.

Friday, November 6, 2009

John Le Carré

John Le Carré left his publisher Hodder. Read more about it in John Sutherlands article for The Guardian.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Saint-Exupéry

Le Figaro publishes today in his 'Livres'annex an article and a preview of a book on the heritage of the famous writer.You can read it here and here.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

RIP Stacey Rowles

Got this from another list :

"Stacey Rowles, daughter of another jazz giant - pianist Jimmy Rowles - passed away yfriday october 30th at the age of 54. To me she was a highly underrated musician and a very original and entertaining singer to boot. RIP Lady Stacey."

Further information i got says she was victim of a head on car accident.