LAS VEGAS— Former Motown vocalist Richard Allen Street (born October 5, 1942) a member of the Temptations from 1971 to 1993, has died. He was 70. Street’s wife, Cindy, says her husband died early Wednesday at a hospital in Las Vegas after a short illness.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Street was the first member of the Temptations to actually be a native of the city which served as Motown’s namesake and hometown; all of the previous members were born and at least partially raised in the southern United States.

Richard Street sang as a young man with Temptations members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, but didn’t join the famed Motown group until the early 1970s. He later made the move from his native Detroit to Los Angeles with other Motown acts and stayed with the group until the mid-1990s.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but Cindy Street expects services to be held sometime next week in Cypress, Calif.

She says her husband “was a really good person” who should be remembered for his work with the Temptations.

Collection of 14 fiery Gypsy jazz and American Songbook standards
is the Hot Club’s first album
to exclusively celebrate the band’s Left Bank influences.

“It takes considerable bravery to name your band after one of the greatest jazz ensembles of the last century. Hot Club get away with it because they have spirit, originality and skill that would surely have impressed Stephane Grappelli
and Django Reinhardt back in 1930s.”
—The Guardian

AUSTIN, Texas — Hot Club of Cowtown’s new Lloyd Maines-produced release, Rendezvous in Rhythm, out May 28, 2013 on Gold Strike Records, is an exuberant collection of Gypsy songs and American Songbook standards played acoustically and recorded in the hot jazz style of legendary violin and guitar masters Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Recorded last July at the Zone Recording Studio in Dripping Springs, Texas, it’s the Hot Club’s first-ever dedicated foray into the Gypsy jazz and French swing of Paris in the ’30s and features the band’s sparkling spins on standards in the style of Reinhardt and Grappelli including “Crazy Rhythm,” “Minor Swing,” “Dark Eyes,” “The Continental,” “I’m in the Mood for Love,” “Douce Ambiance,” and many more.

You’d think a band from Austin, Texas with the word “Cowtown” in its name spends its time off from touring herding cattle at a West Texas ranch or maybe in Nashville writing songs about whiskey and loose women. Not the Hot Club of Cowtown. “We recently took a band vacation to the Gypsy Festival at St. Maries de la Mer in the South of France,” says the band’s fiddler and vocalist, Elana James. Whit Smith, Hot Club’s guitar player and vocalist, is a regular at the prestigious Djangofest Northwest in Whidbey, Island, Washington, and bass player Jake Erwin has the Hungarian folk band Csokolom in regular rotation on his home stereo.

“Our band is fiddle, guitar, and bass, and they can do anything together. We’ve always played a combination of hot jazz and Western swing, but it’s been really a joy to finally distill part of our essence and serve up a record that is purely jazzy,” says James, who in fact was once a horse wrangler in Colorado, as well as a former student of classical music at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. Says Smith, “Once Elana became aware that in jazz music and swing, you could express yourself more in improvisation, I think that attracted her to it. She still likes classical, and I do too.” Smith grew up hearing his parents play lots of folk music, especially acoustic blues, but as a teenager he naturally rebelled and turned sharply toward hard rock, which still informs his approach to hot jazz and Western swing. The impression that the band is in some way a country act, especially in the current climate of American popular music, is somewhat misleading since the Hot Club’s influences have always been as much the musette music of the smoky bistros of 1930s Paris as they are the hoedowns and Western swing of the mythic American West.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the Hot Club of Cowtown, whose collection of recorded work now stretches to seven studio albums, is finally releasing Rendezvous in Rhythm, a thrilling display of this Texas trio’s breathtaking virtuosity and, for the first time with such focus, its elegant, more European inspirations. “We had lots of people asking us to make a record of standards,” says Smith, “So there you go, here’s a record full of swing standards. We’re not trying to compete with anyone who’s writing the songs. It’s more of a vehicle for one way we really like to play — starting with familiar ground and then improvising from there.” By way of inspiration James adds, “One of the most thrilling nights of my life was when Gheorghe Anghel (the violinist from legendary Romanian Gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks) came over to my house and he and Whit and I jammed on songs like ‘Avalon’ and ‘Exactly Like You’ in my living room ’til four in the morning. And then he asked if he could use my phone to call home to Romania. It was absolutely the coolest thing ever.”

We can all be grateful then, for whatever inspiration an insistent fan base or a visiting Romanian fiddler may have sparked, for Rendezvous in Rhythm is an utterly superb collection of traditional material, by far the Hot Club’s most polished and sophisticated work to date. From the first hypnotic phrases of the lead track “Ochi Chornye” (a Russian folk song also known as “Dark Eyes”), which builds from an atmospheric reverie into a frenzy à la Ravel’s “Bolero,” Rendezvous in Rhythm takes us on a lively, deeply satisfying journey of raw joy and authentic energy. Disarmingly intimate ballads (“If I Had You,” “I’m Confessin’”) give way to instrumental virtuosity in the extreme (“Dark Eyes,” “Minor Swing,” “Douce Ambiance”). Pre-WWII influences abound throughout, as with “Back in Your Own Backyard,” a classic made famous by Billie Holliday, Al Jolson’s “Avalon,” and Fred Loesser’s “Slow Boat to China.” “Crazy Rhythm,” through which James sings and swings with sassy authority — including an obscure verse on fiddling while Rome burns — first appeared in 1928 but sounds as current as any of the band’s original material. “The Continental,” a Reinhardt and Grappelli showpiece, has been intricately rearranged by Smith, whose vocal and hot twin lines warn of the dangers of dancing and the spells it can cast. Smith’s lush treatment of the Fields and McHugh masterpiece “I’m in the Mood for Love” is alone worth the price of admission.

Though many songs in this collection — some of the finest and most familiar songs in history — have been resuscitated in recent years by well-known artists, Rendezvous in Rhythm is the first release by a major touring act to ignite this material with the danceable, swinging vivaciousness that first put it on the map. In order to capture lightning in a bottle, says Smith, “We went back to our way of having everyone in the room together. We recorded it live, right there next to each other so we could hear each other play. I play acoustic on it — not big news, but usually in the past, I would play a mixture of electric and acoustic and sometimes overdub the electric guitar or vice versa. The majority of this album is the three of us there and playing acoustic. We tried to capture the feel of our live shows as much as possible.”

BACKGROUND
Since its beginnings in the late 1990s, Hot Club of Cowtown’s star has continued to rise as its reputation for jaw-dropping virtuosity and earth-shattering live shows has become the band’s global brand. Lauded for its “down-home melodies and exuberant improvisation” (The Times, London), the trio has always woven a combination of seemingly disparate styles together to its own magical effect, setting up camp “at that crossroads where country meets jazz and chases the blues away” (The Independent), and “conscious always that above all else, the music is for dancing and an old-fashioned good time” (New York Times). The Hot Club’s musical alchemy has been described as “Another breathless journey in the Texas tardis” (The Times, London), while American Songwriter shrewdly observed that “The excellent three players of this band could be doing anything but have chosen to honor the greats of jazz and swing with their sound.” The Belfast Telegraph calls them “a pretty much perfect country trio at the very top of their game,” while the New York Times, reviewing a live performance in New York City in 2011, described the Hot Club as armed with “an arsenal full of technique and joy.”

Along with the Hot Club’s dedicated cult following worldwide — they have toured for the U.S. State Department as musical ambassadors to Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Republic of Georgia and the Sultanate of Oman — certain titans of the industry have also taken notice. Bob Dylan, with whom the band toured and with whom James has toured and recorded, is a continuing inspiration both personally and professionally. The Hot Club has opened several shows for Willie Nelson, toured with Nelson and Dylan during a summer-long stadium tour, and, most recently, opened seven nights of Roxy Music’s sold-out “For Your Pleasure” U.K. stadium tour in early 2011. In the U.K. the Hot Club of Cowtown continues to tour extensively and has been featured at the Glastonbury Festival and has also been a returning guest on Later With Jools Holland, the Cambridge Folk Festival, and BBC Radio 2’s Radcliffe and Maconie and Bob Harris Country shows.

EARLY YEARS & DISCOGRAPHY
In 1994 in New York City, Elana James placed an ad in the music section of the Village Voice looking to join a band, and Whit Smith answered it. Since then the music these two have made has always been a secret brew of energy, joie de vivre, and a respect for tradition that is often imitated but never equaled. By 1997, after spending time in a much larger Western swing orchestra in NYC, they had pared back down to their essential elements and the duo that began as “Whit & Elana” grew — with the addition of a bass player and a lot of optimism and naïveté — into Hot Club of Cowtown. The trio moved to Austin, Texas, and released its first album, Swingin’ Stampede, in 1998 after signing with American roots label HighTone Records. Tall Tales (1999) and Dev’lish Mary (2000) soon followed, but it wasn’t until 2001 that the band’s lineup solidified with the arrival of bassist Jake Erwin, who cemented Hot Club’s larger-than-life, earth-shaking rhythmic foundation. Ghost Train (2002) showcased a significant shift toward original songwriting and Continental Stomp (2003) is a live testament to the thundering authority of the band in concert and proof positive that it remains one of roots music’s most formidable touring acts. In 2008 American label Shout Factory released a 20-track Best Of retrospective, followed by another critically-acclaimed album of largely original material, Wishful Thinking” (2009), and, in 2011, a collection of Western swing standards made famous by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, What Makes Bob Holler (Proper).

With the release of Rendezvous in Rhythm, Hot Club of Cowtown invites us to join in once again on a journey through its musical inspirations, where the campfire is still burning, but this time the lights of Paris twinkle in the distance, the Gypsy caravans are gathered round, and the night air is filled with magic and romance.

GENERAL ACCOLADES:

“An arsenal full of technique and joy.”
—Jon Caramanica, The New York Times, 2012

“They’re not only the best at what they do; they’re the only ones [who] can do what they do.”
—Jim Calagiuri, Austin Chronicle, 2011

“The music Hot Club plays is of a certain time, sure, but it’s not outdated. And it’s going create a lot of newfans for this band and their musical predecessors.”
—Rick Allen, Vintage Guitar, 2011

“…Infusing classic pop and jazz tunes with plenty of string-band verve.”
—Mike Joyce, Washington Post

“The excellent three players of this band could be doing anything but have chosen to honor the greats of jazz and swing with their sound.”
—Rick Moore, American Songwriter

EARLY REVIEWS FOR Rendezvous in Rhythm:

“The interplay is as sleek as ever.”
—Clive Davis, The Times (London)

“The timing, swing, and the chemistry of these three virtuoso musicians . . . is a joy to behold”
—Guitarist

“[Elana’s voice] just flows with 1930s wonderment, it has an underlying sexiness that draws the listeners in until each and every one is caught in her musical spell….This is Hot Club at their very best. I absolutely love this album and highly recommend it.”
—David Knowles, Maverick Magazine

“The hot jazz is what Hot Club do best, and this is a staggering return to form for the band I once said I could listen to forever. That still stands.”
—Duncan Warwick, Country Music People

TOUR DATES

Fri., March 1 FORT WORTH, TX Live Oak Music Hall 9 PM
Sat., March 2 BLUE RIDGE, TX Branscombe Hall
Wed., March 6 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Wed., March 13 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Sat., March 16 GRUENE, TX Gruene Hall 1-5 p.m.
Wed., March 20 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Fri.,, March 22 PROVO, UT BYU Department of Dance
Wed., March 27 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Tues., April 9 VIENNA, VA Jammin’ Java
Wed., April 10 WILMINGTON, DE Grand opera house
Thurs., 11 NEW YORK, NY Joe’s Pub
Fri., 12 MARBLEHEAD, MA (BOSTON) Me and Thee Coffeehouse
Sat., April 13 WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT Tupelo Music Hall
Sun., April 14 TRURO, MA Payomet
Fri., April 19 BURBANK, CA (LOS ANGELES) Joe’s Great American
Sat. & Sun., April 20 & 21 SANTA CLARITA, CA Cowboy Festival
Fri., May 3 GENOA, NV Cowboy Poetry Festival
Sat., May 4 RAMONA, CA Ramona Bluegrass and Western Festival
Sun., May 5 SAN DIEGO, CA AMSD
Fri., May 17 EDWARDSVILLE , IL (ST. LOUIS) Wildey Theater
Sat., May 18 KANSAS CITY, MO Knuckleheads
Sun., May 19 IOWA CITY, IA Englert Theater
Tues., May 21 CHICAGO IL City Winery
Wed., May 22 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Dakota Jazz Club
Thurs., May 23 WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI McMillan Memorial Library
Sat., May 25 BLACK FOREST, CO MeadowGrass Music Festival

More dates at http://hotclubofcowtown.com/tour

###

For more information about the Hot Club of Cowtown, please contact Conqueroo:
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com (national)
Julie Arkenstone • (818) 703-5034 • julie@conqueroo.com (tour cities)

“The Rolling Stones are the epitome of rock and roll,” said Greg Harris, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. “This first-ever exhibit gives us an opportunity to tell the story of one of the definitive rock and roll bands. The experience should be on every music fan’s destination list this summer.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum presents Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction will be a comprehensive retrospective exhibit that chronicles the band from the mid-1960s until today. The exhibit, which takes up two-and-a-half floors of the Museum, will celebrate the Rolling Stones’ incredible contribution to popular music from their earliest days playing small clubs, to their era-defining recordings such as “Gimme Shelter,” “Paint It Black,” “Jumping Jack Flash,” “Tumbling Dice,” “It’s Only Rock And Roll” and sold-out global tours. Through the use of artifacts, film, text and interactive technology, generations of music fans will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with rare items from nearly every aspect of the Stones’ astonishing five decades at the top.

Throughout the exhibition’s run, the Museum will host a range of free public programs that explore the significance and legacy of the Rolling Stones, including interviews, films, and special lectures. For more information please visit http://www.RockHall.com.

The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

About the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission both through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.

The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Wednesdays, the Museum is open until 9 p.m. Museum admission is $22 for adults, $17 for seniors (65+), $13 for youth (9-12), $18 for adult residents of Greater Cleveland. Children under 8 and Museum members are free. The Museum is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. When you become a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the world of rock and roll becomes yours to explore. Call 216.515.1939 for information on becoming a member.

Stockton, CA – February 15, 2013

12th Annual Brubeck Festival University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Institute presents the Twelfth Annual Brubeck Festival, titled Dave Brubeck Across Time, honors his legacy as a jazz giant and his Stockton, California roots. The 2013 Festival is a broad-based tribute to his legacy that covers the spectrum of jazz in its fullest expression: live concert performances ranging from jazz legends to local bands (in civic concert halls and college campuses as well as jazz clubs), a documentary film about jazz history, jazz education talks/symposia, the spiritually inspired works of Dave Brubeck, and the integration of street/community-based jazz events, from Monday, March 18, through Saturday, March 23.

Besides three major concerts — by trumpeter Tom Harrell’s quintet at San Joaquin Delta College on Thursday, March 21; by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (below), under the direction of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, at the Bob Hope Theatre on Friday, March 22; and by the Brubeck Brothers Quartet at the University’s Faye Spanos Concert Hall on Saturday, March 23 — the Festival will feature nightly performances at the Take 5 Jazz Club; talks by Marsalis, jazz composer and historian Gunther Schuller, and his son George Schuller; and a screening of the rarely seen film Music Inn. Pre-festival activities have included outreach to over 7500 Stockton schoolchildren in the form of concerts and competitions.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

On March 19, George Schuller will present Music Inn, a documentary film he co-produced about the School of Jazz at the Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, where his father was on the faculty, John Lewis served as artistic director, and such jazz greats as the Modern Jazz Quartet and Sonny Rollins performed during the late 1950s. On the following day, George’s father Gunther Schuller will talk about Birth of the Cool, a series of 1949-1950 Miles Davis recordings on which Gunther Schuller played French horn, and host a performance of the album’s compositions played by the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet and others. Both he and Marsalis will speak at the symposium “Jazz Leadership Across Time” the next day.

Tom Harrell Frequent DownBeat and JazzTimes poll-winner Tom Harrell will make his Cestival debut on March 21 at San Joaquin Delta College’s Warren Atherton Auditorium. He is widely recognized as one of the most creative and uncompromising trumpeters and composers of our time. Harrell began leading his own group in 1989 after working as a sideman with Woody Herman, Horace Silver, Phil Woods, and others. Number Five, his latest recording for HighNote Records, is the fifth quintet CD featuring his current lineup of tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and drummer Johnathan Blake.

Wynton Marsalis Trumpeter-composer Wynton Marsalis, a member of the celebrated New Orleans jazz family that also includes his father Ellis and older brother Branford, stepped onto the international jazz stage at age 19 in 1980 as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers before launching his own quintet two years later. Since 1988, he also has led New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, a 15-member big band honoring the rich heritage of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong while also debuting commissions by such modern-day jazz greats as Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, and, of course, Marsalis himself. Like his late friend Dave Brubeck, Marsalis has been deeply involved in jazz education throughout his career. The orchestra will make its Brubeck Festival debut on March 22 at the Bob Hope Theatre.

Brubeck Bros. Trombonist-bassist Chris Brubeck and drummer Dan Brubeck tip their hats to their dad on LifeTimes, the latest CD by the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, with vibrant new arrangements of his compositions “The Duke,” “Jazzanians,” “Kathy’s Waltz,” and “My One Bad Habit,” as well as his biggest hit, the Paul Desmond-penned “Take Five.” The disc was one of the top 10 most-played jazz recordings on national radio in 2012. The group, rounded out by guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb, will perform in University of the Pacific’s Faye Spanos Concert Hall on March 23. Chris and his father were nominated for a 2013 Grammy for the Temple University Symphony Orchestra’s recording of their composition Ansel Adams: America, which was premiered by the Stockton Symphony in 2009. The quartet’s concert will be preceded by a performance of a sacred choral music composed by Dave Brubeck, with his longtime manager Russell Gloyd conducting the San Francisco Choral Artists.

Other Festival events include “The French Quarter,” a New Orleans-inspired street fair on the afternoon of March 22 in front of the Bob Hope Theatre that will feature live music, jugglers, fortune-tellers, food, and the unveiling of a semi-permanent display of winning art in the Downtown Stockton Alliance’s “Brubeck’s Music Inspires My Imagination” contest, and the next afternoon’s Jazz on the Green on the University of the Pacific campus. Among the activities at that family event will be performances by Brubeck Institute musicians, an instrument “petting zoo” at which children will be able to both touch and play a variety of musical instruments, and tours of the Brubeck Collection, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections from a contemporary musician.

Just two weeks before his death, the legendary pianist-composer and his wife Iola hosted a gathering at their Connecticut home that was attended by Marsalis, Brubeck Institute executive director Simon Rowe, the Brubecks’ sons Chris and Darius, and their wives Tish and Cathy. The main topic of conversation included Festival planning all the way to a Jazz at Lincoln Center celebration of Brubeck’s music slated for the spring of 2014.

The Brubeck Institute is proudly continuing the legacy of Dave Brubeck through programs and partnerships impacting society through the arts. Housed at University of the Pacific, the Institute maintains the Brubeck Collection — one of the largest archives of its kind. Founded ten years ago, it has built nationally preeminent arts education jazz programs, and is now creating partnerships with local organizations such as San Joaquin Delta College and the City of Stockton, and national affiliations with organizations including Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Meridian Center. Please visit the Institute at Brubeckinstitute.org for more information and Festival tickets.

2013 BRUBECK FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

3/18 Brian Kendrick Big Band with Janiece Jaffe, 7 p.m., T5JC

3/18 Simon Rowe Trio with Janiece Jaffe, 10 p.m., T5JC

3/19 Music Inn showing, 7:30 p.m., JLT, George Schuller Q and A to follow.

3/19 Nick Fryer Trio, 10 p.m., T5JC

3/20 Gunther Schuller preshow talk, 6:30 p.m., FSCH

3/20 Birth of the Cool performance, 7:30 p.m., FSCH

3/20 Schulldogs, 10 p.m., T5JC

3/21 Delta Gala VIP Reception, 5 p.m., LHHJG

3/21 Tom Harrell Quintet, 7:30 p.m., WAA

3/21 Patrick Langham Group with Janiece Jaffe, 10 p.m, T5JC

3/22 Symposium “Jazz Leadership Across Time” with Gunther Schuller and Wynton Marsalis, 12 noon-2:30 pm. FSCH

3/22 French Quarter Street Fair, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., in front of BHT

3/22 Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, 8 p.m.,BHT

3/23 Jazz on the Green family day, 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., UOPC

3/23 Brubeck Finale Concert featuring the Brothers Quartet and San Francisco Choral Artists 7:30 pm, FSCH

3/23 Joe Gilman with the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet, 10 p.m., T5JC

KEY TO VENUES (all in Stockton):
BHP = Bob Hope Theatre, 242 E. Main St.

FSCH = Faye Spanos Concert Hall, University of the Pacific, 3511 Pacific Ave.

JLT = Janet Leigh Theatre, University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Ave.

LHHJG = L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College, 5151 Pacific Ave.

T5JC = Take 5 Jazz Club, 157 W. Adams St.

UOPC = University of the Pacific campus, 3601 Pacific Ave.

WAA = Warren Atherton Auditorium, San Joaquin Delta College, 5151 Pacific Ave.

Web Site:
http://www.brubeckinstitute.org

At 6 feet five inches and 240 pounds, with lightning fast hands, you might think James ‘Buddy’ Rogers was a contender for the Heavyweight Crown. And in fact he is, but not in any boxing ring. The hard-hitting Canadian-born blues guitarist is scoring a string of knockouts with his latest CD release “My Guitar’s My Only Friend” (Blue Wave Records).

Released mid-September 2012, the album has steadily climbed music charts around the world. Of nearly 3 million artists on ReverbNation Blues Charts he is currently #1 in British Columbia, #2 in Canada and #2 Globally. In all genres he is #21 and still climbing. Rogers entered the Living Blues Radio Chart for January 2013 at #21, and his rock inflected blues tunes are receiving extensive airplay in Canada, the US and Europe on over 500 stations including many US syndicated National Public Radio programs.

As his summer touring schedule begins to fill with some of the largest blues festivals in the country he seems a shoe-in as a top contender for the WBA (World Blues Association) Heavyweight Crown.

http://www.jamesbuddyrogers.com

“In addition to the fine lyrics, the guitar playing is top notch modern blues. The whole band is strong, but this is Rogers’ album and he is the star musically. He stretches out his playing on several cuts, only one song is less than three minutes and it is the best showcase of his playing, “Buddy’s Walk.”
– Charlie DuMez, Blues Rock Review

“Choosing favourite songs off of this CD is like trying to pick a favourite child.”
– Richard Amery, L.A. Beat

“”My Guitar’s My Only Friend” was my first intro to James “Buddy” Rogers, and what a great intro is was, one that truly had me not only becoming an instant fan but also has me really looking forward to more of his music in the future, but for now, I am pretty glad I have this little treasure to listen to.”
– John Vermilyea, Blues Underground Network

Media contact:

Sarah French Publicity
sarah@sarahfrenchpublicity.com

Produced by Keystone Impresario Todd Barkan &
Resonance General Manager Zev Feldman,
The Music Is Available as Deluxe CD Package, Digital Download, &
Limited Edition 2-LP Set

Two titans of jazz piano are captured in flight on the new Resonance Records album, Tommy Flanagan/Jaki Byard: The Magic of 2. Scheduled for April 9 release as a CD with 24-page booklet, a digital download with digital booklet, and a deluxe limited edition 2-LP set, The Magic of 2 presents a 1980 concert recorded at San Francisco’s celebrated Keystone Korner and the second entry in Resonance’s Keystone Discoveries series.

“It’s a revelation, how well they played together,” says Keystone’s owner Todd Barkan, who co-produced the CD with Resonance Records’ Executive Vice President and General Manager Zev Feldman. “They had quite disparate styles, but they share such an incredibly large vocabulary and frame of reference that it makes their language coherent. They’re both referring to the same knowledge and experience of the history of jazz piano.”

The music is a “gift [from the past that] is both unique and stupendous,” says jazz historian Dan Morgenstern, one of seven annotators in the CD package’s 24-page illustrated booklet. ” . . . Alone and especially together, Tommy and Jaki show us what spontaneous creation is all about.”

Jaki Byard and Tommy Flanagan When Resonance started working with Barkan, says Feldman, on the lauded 2011 release of Pinnacle, a magnificent 1980 performance by Freddie Hubbard and the first Keystone Discoveries title, “We became aware that the Flanagan-Byard session was something Todd was absolutely passionate about.”

Over the past few years, Resonance has established itself as a home for such notable rediscoveries through acclaimed releases like Hubbard’s Pinnacle, Bill Evans’s Live at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, and Wes Montgomery’s Echoes of Indiana Avenue. Each of these releases has boasted vivid sound quality and an attention to detail that attests to the label’s respect and admiration for the musicians.

“Resonance is trying to become a leader in historical jazz recordings and this totally fits the bill,” Feldman says. “We’re putting out this music because we really believe in it — we believe in Jaki Byard, we believe in Tommy Flanagan, and we want to celebrate both of these artists for their contributions to this music. And we also want to celebrate Todd Barkan’s vision.”

Five of the eleven tracks find Flanagan and Byard melding their encyclopedic knowledge of jazz piano history in festive fashion: “Scrapple from the Apple,” “Just One of Those Things,” “Satin Doll,” “Our Delight,” and “The Theme.” The disc also features six solo pieces, split evenly between the two pianists. All three of Flanagan’s three unaccompanied contributions come from the pen of Billy Strayhorn (“Something to Live For,” “Chelsea Bridge,” “All Day Long”). Byard leads with Stevie Wonder’s “Send One Your Love,” and also places his stamp on the Jule Styne standard “Sunday” and Chuck Mangione’s “Land of Make Believe.”

The Magic of 2 brings the listener back to that night through the loving sound restoration of label president George Klabin and Resonance’s engineer Fran Gala (from cassette tapes, no less). The CD comes with a 24-page booklet annotated by Barkan, Feldman, and Morgenstern as well as jazz critic Howard Mandel, pianists Renee Rosnes and Bill Charlap, and Jaki’s daughter Diane Byard. Iconic images from the archive of Keystone staff photographer Tom Copi, some being published for the first time, illustrate the booklet, along with work by photographers Brian McMillen and Kathy Sloane.

The new album is also available as a digital download with digital booklet (where available), and as a limited edition 2-LP set pressed on 180-gram vinyl at 45-RPM by audiophile leaders R.T.I., with a deluxe gatefold, hard-stock jacket by Stoughton Press. Art direction and design was handled by industry veteran Burton Yount (Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall; Wes Montgomery/Echoes of Indiana Avenue).

Additionally, in the LP edition only is a special commemorative set of Keystone Korner postcards by Tom Copi, along with a retro reproduction of a Keystone Korner punch card (which regular patrons used when attending the club). The LP edition was mastered by Bernie Grundman (Sonny Rollins/Way Out West; Michael Jackson’s Thriller).

All in support of the “dynamic piano duo” of Flanagan and Byard, Barkan writes, which is “heard here in psychedelic terpsichore, evoking the chemistry of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.”

Tommy Flanagan Tommy Flanagan

b. March 16, 1930, Detroit, MI

d. Nov. 16, 2001, New York, NY

Jaki Byard Jaki Byard

b. June 15, 1922, Worcester, MA

d. Feb. 11, 1999, New York, NY

Web Site:
http://www.resonancerecords.org

Follow Resonance Records: Follow us on Twitter

New fan-financed album by veteran rocker
and “songwriter’s songwriter”
coming on April 30 — with or without a label!

NEW YORK, N.Y. — When Willie Nile recently sought help in underwriting his new album American Ride — out on April 30, 2013 on his own River House Records — with a fundraising campaign on pledgemusic.com, his fans turned out in huge numbers, reaching his goal amount in a mere four days and ultimately exceeding it.

Anyone who’s familiar with the New York-bred singer-songwriter’s large and impressive body of work will have no trouble understanding why he commands such devotion and loyalty from his fan base. And anyone who’s paid attention to his recent output knows that Nile is currently in the midst of a creative renaissance that’s produced some of the most compelling music he’s ever made.

The timeless qualities of melodic craft, lyrical insight and emotional engagement that have endeared Nile to listeners around the world are prominent on American Ride, which ranks among the most powerful and personally charged work of his three-and-a-half-decade recording career.

“It’s pretty rockin’ overall, but there are some left turns and right turns along the way,” Nile says of the album. “There are songs about the rights of man, songs about freedom, songs about love and hate, songs about loss, songs about God and the absence of God, and songs about standing up for your fellow man. It’s upbeat and full of life. I’m thrilled with how it came out.”

American Ride offers a bracing set of 11 original compositions, and one well-chosen cover, that rank with the catchiest and most vivid music that Nile’s ever delivered. From the everyday wisdom of “Life on Bleecker Street” and “Sunrise in New York City” to the broader observations of “This Is Our Time” and “Holy War” to the rock ’n’ roll abandon of “Say Hey” and the road-tripping title track, the album consistently lives up to the artist’s reputation for writing songs that are as impassioned as they are infectious, and performing them with the fervor of a true believer. Several of American Ride’s recurring themes come into focus on the last two songs, “The Crossing” and “There’s No Place Like Home,” which end the album on a note of humanistic uplift. Another highlight is a fiery reading of Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died,” recorded as a tribute to both Carroll, who passed away in 2009, and to Nile’s late brother John.

American Ride features backup from Nile’s live band — guitarist Matt Hogan, bassist Johnny Pisano, drummer Alex Alexander, and Nile on guitar and piano — along with guest appearances by Eagles/Rosanne Cash guitarist Steuart Smith and New York singer-songwriters James Maddock and Leslie Mendelson. Nile also worked with some notable songwriting collaborators, including Eric Bazilian of The Hooters, who co-wrote “God Laughs”; The Alarm’s Mike Peters, who contributed to the title number; and Nile’s frequent writing partner Frankie Lee, who co-wrote four tracks. The release was produced by the team of Grammy-winner Stewart Lerman (who has worked with Nile since the ’90s), and Nile himself. Additional production by Pisano and Alexander.

Having launched his recording career at the height of the major-label era, and never comfortable with the baggage that comes along with being a major-label commodity, Nile has in recent years embraced the autonomy and freedom of his current indie status. To bring American Ride to fruition, he decided to take his case directly to the fans, financing the album’s recording, manufacturing and promotion via the aforementioned pledgemusic.com campaign.

“The record business is completely changed from what it was when I started,” he observes. “Artists can be independent now and make music on their own terms, and I love the freedom of that. I’ve been very fortunate in that fans and friends have been getting behind the work I’ve been doing, and it’s amazing and heartening to get that kind of support.”

Willie Nile’s fans include Bruce Springsteen, with whom he’s guested onstage on multiple occasions, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on the Who’s 1982 U.S. tour. Other avowed Nile admirers include Bono, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim Jarmusch, Adam Duritz, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who once remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in this world, I’d be opening up for him instead of him for me.”

Born into a large Irish Catholic family in Buffalo, N.Y., Willie began writing songs in his early teens. After graduating from the University at Buffalo with a B.A. in Philosophy, he moved to Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. During his first winter there, he was sidelined by pneumonia. While spending nearly a year recuperating, he concentrated on honing his songwriting skills. After his recovery, Nile became a popular fixture in the Village’s folk clubs, while drawing inspiration from the emerging downtown punk scene. His budding career received a major boost from a high-profile New York Times piece by legendary critic Robert Palmer, who called Nile “an exceptional talent” and “one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.”

The local buzz stoked by the Times story led to a deal with Arista Records, for which Nile recorded Willie Nile and Golden Down, released in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Those albums won a sizable audience and generated reams of press raves, with one critic likening Nile to a “one-man Clash,” and another calling his debut effort “one of the most thrilling post-Byrds folk-rock albums of all time.” But his progress ground to a halt after legal disputes with his label caused Nile to walk away from the music business, beginning a recording hiatus that lasted for nearly a decade.

Although he continued to write new material, Nile maintained a discreet distance from the spotlight until 1991, when he reemerged with a new deal with Columbia Records and a new album, Places I Have Never Been, which restored the artist to prominence with fans and critics. The following year, he went the independent route with the four-song EP Hard Times in America. Willie Nile — Archive Alive, a vintage document of a 1980 performance in New York’s Central Park, was released in 1997. In 1998, Nile lent his unmistakable voice to the all-star concept album Largo.

In 1999, Nile released Beautiful Wreck of the World, which marked the start of an exciting new chapter in his career, one in which he’s wholeheartedly embraced his new indie status to create and distribute his music free from corporate agendas. His new approach yielded substantial results, with Beautiful Wreck of the World chosen as one of the year’s Top Ten Albums by critics at Billboard, The Village Voice and Stereo Review. During this period, Nile substantially stepped up his touring activities in Europe, where he’s since built a large and enthusiastic following.

The well-received Streets of New York, from 2006, ushered in the most productive and prolific period of Nile’s musical life. The CD Live From the Turning Point and the DVD Live From the Streets of New York followed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, as did another widely celebrated new studio album, House of a Thousand Guitars, and 2011’s The Innocent Ones, which won some of the most enthusiastic notices Nile’s ever received.

The BBC called The Innocent Ones “stunning . . . THE rock ’n’ roll album of the year,” and Rolling Stone included it in its “Top Ten Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011.” USA Today named the album’s anthemic lead track “One Guitar” as the number-one song in the nation. It was also one of five songs chosen to be played on Occupy Wall Street’s 1000-guitar march, alongside Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

“It’s been a great time,” Nile says of his recent activities. “I’ve been touring more in the last two years than in my entire career up until then. I’m in Europe four months a year and we’ve really built something solid over there. The fans are so great, so vocal, so supportive, and I’m deeply grateful to each and every one of them.”

With American Ride now a reality thanks to his — and his fans’ — efforts, Willie Nile is moving with the unmistakable momentum of a deeply accomplished artist who’s just hitting his stride.

“People who’ve heard this album say it’s as good a record as I’ve ever made, and I don’t disagree,” he states, adding, “I definitely think it’s as good a collection of songs as I’ve put together. I’m still learning as I go, and it gets easier every time in. I still love what I do and I’m probably feeling more inspired now than I ever have. I really do feel like I’m just getting started.”
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For more information about Willie Nile, please contact Conqueroo:
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com

CLEVELAND (February 10, 2012) – This February, as part of Black History Month, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will celebrate Cleveland’s rich musical legacy, highlighting great moments in the city’s rhythm and blues and soul music history. On Friday, February 22, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will welcome 2009 Inductee and Cleveland native Bobby Womack for a Hall of Fame Series interview and live concert.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Bobby Womack is a stalwart soul and gospel figurehead whose resume includes significant contributions across the decades as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 2012, Womack returned with The Bravest Man in the Universe – his first album in twelve years – which earned rave reviews.

Womack has written songs recorded by Wilson Pickett (“I’m a Midnight Mover”), George Benson (“Breezin’”), Janis Joplin (“Trust Me”) and others. Pickett alone recorded 17 of Womack’s compositions. A solid guitarist who worked on the Memphis session scene for a period in the Sixties, Womack played on sessions for Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Joe Tex, King Curtis, Dusty Springfield and other soul and R&B artists. He cut an album with jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo, too.

From 1970 to 1990, Womack was popular and prolific, charting 36 singles. These include such major R&B hits as “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha” (#2), “Woman’s Gotta Have It” (#1) and “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” (#3). Womack topped the R&B chart with his 1974 re-recording of “Lookin’ for a Love,” while his contemporary update of a blues classic, “Nobody Wants to Know You When You’re Down and Out,” made it to #2. He was a hitmaking machine in the mid-Seventies, perennially present in the Top Ten with such numbers as 1974’s “You’re Welcome, Stop On By,” 1975’s “Check It Out” and 1976’s “Daylight.”

Friday, February 22 at 5:30 p.m.

Hall of Fame Series with Bobby Womack

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Foster Theater

Womack will be interviewed in front of a live audience in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater as part of the Museum’s ongoing Hall of Fame series, which offers audiences rare and unique access to Hall of Famers in an intimate setting. Tickets are $15. VIP Packages are also available at $125 and include access to the Hall of Fame Series interview, a premium seat at the live concert at 8 p.m., a CD signing with Bobby Womack that includes a free copy of the CD The Bravest Man in the Universe, and a complementary beverage ticket. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, February 13 at 10 a.m. EST. Visit http://tickets.rockhall.com or the Rock Hall Box Office.

The Hall of Fame interview will also be streamed live on rockhall.com.

Friday, February 22 8 p.m.

Bobby Womack Live in Concert

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Main Stage

Womack will perform with his band on the Rock Hall’s Main Stage. Doors open at 7 p.m. and show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for standing room and $50 for general admission seating, and also include touring access to the Museum during the evening. VIP Packages are also available at $125 and include a premium seat at the concert, access to the Hall of Fame Series interview at 5:30pm, a CD signing with Bobby Womack that includes a free copy of the CD The Bravest Man in the Universe, and a complementary beverage ticket. Tickets go on sale to Rock Hall Members on Monday, February 11 at 10 a.m. EST and the general public on Wednesday, February 13 at 10 a.m. EST. Visit http://tickets.rockhall.com or the Rock Hall Box Office.

Visit rockhall.com/events/black-history-month for the complete schedule of events.

About the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission both through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.

The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Wednesdays, the Museum is open until 9 p.m. Museum admission is $22 for adults, $17 for seniors (65+), $13 for youth (9-12), $18 for adult residents of Greater Cleveland. Children under 8 and Museum members are free. The Museum is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. When you become a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the world of rock and roll becomes yours to explore. Call 216.515.1939 for information on becoming a member.

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Legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd’s death has been confirmed. Although he died earlier this week, February 4 at the age of 80 , family members for an unexplained reason other were trying to keep the news of his death private.

“I have no more patience for this unnecessary shroud of secrecy placed over his death by certain members of his immediate family,” wrote Bugnon.

Born in Detroit December 9, 1932, Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II was an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a pop artist.

Already an accomplished trumpeter by the time he finished high school, he later went on to play in a military band during his term in the United States Air Force, and then obtained a bachelor’s degree in music from Wayne State University and a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. His career began when he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as a replacement for Clifford Brown, in the 1950s

Moving away from the hard-bop jazz idiom, Byrd began to record jazz fusion and rhythm and blues. He teamed up with the Mizell Brothers (producer-writers Larry and Fonce) for Black Byrd in 1973. It was highly successful and became Blue Note Records’ highest-ever selling album. The title track climbed to No. 19 on Billboard′s R&B chart and reached the Hot 100 pop chart, peaking at No. 88. The Mizell brothers’ follow-up albums for Byrd, Street Lady, Places and Spaces and Stepping into Tomorrow, were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for acid jazz artists such as Us3. Most of the material for the albums was written by Larry Mizell.

In 1973, Byrd created The Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of his best students. They scored several major hits including “Happy Music” (No. 3 R&B, No. 19 pop), “Walking In Rhythm” (No. 4 R&B, No. 6 pop) and “Rock Creek Park”.

During his tenure at North Carolina Central University during the 1980’s, he formed a group which included students from the college called, Donald Byrd & the 125th St NYC Band. He taught at Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, North Carolina Central University and Delaware State University. In addition to his master’s from Manhattan School of Music, Byrd had two master’s degrees from Columbia University. He received a law degree in 1976, and his doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College in 1982.

According to his nephew Amoeba, Byrd was a “one of a kind trumpeter,” who was known not just for his work in jazz, but also in R&B, soul and funk music, and it was his ability to transcend time and genre and remain relevant that sets his work apart from others.

Byrd lived in Teaneck, New Jersey until his death on February 4, 2013 at the age of 80 The cause of death has yet to be released.

John Stein/WCS

Stein Leads the Way
Guitarist and Quartet Up Their Game on the vibrant new Bing Bang Boom!

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