TRUMPET AT ITS FINEST: IBRAHIM MAALOUF PRESENTS ''ILLUSIONS''!

''Illusions'' is Available Now on iTunes & Amazon

MACK THE KNIFE!

have a peaceful evening!

JAZZY HOLIDAYS!

Have a peaceful Sunday!

I'D RATHER BE BURNED AS A WITCH!

René Marie's new album "I Wanna Be Evil" is now available! Download it on iTunes (US, Europe) or get it on Amazon - (US, UK)!

PAPA CELESTIN'S NEW ORLEANS BAND - MARIE LAVEAU!

jazz it up a little! have a good night! voodoooo

ON THE AIR: HERBIE HANCOCK 'THE IMAGINE PROJECT'!

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer (+ Jazz pioneer, Oscar and Grammy winner, technical wizard, academic, philanthropist, Buddhist). As part of Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace music synthesizers and funk music (characterized by syncopated drum beats). Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year (facing competition from Kanye West, Foo Fighters, Amy Winehouse, and Vince Gill), only the second jazz album ever to win the award, after Getz/Gilberto in 1965.

On July 22, 2011 at a ceremony in Paris, Hancock was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Intercultural Dialogue. Hancock recently joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty as a professor in the UCLA music department where he will teach jazz music.

Herbie has won an Oscar and 14 Grammy so far, besides many other awards!

''The golbalization is here, but we have to think more about the kind of globalization that we want, and not one that's handed down to us.'' - Herbie Hancock

The Imagine Project is an album released on June 22, 2010. The album, which was recorded in many locations throughout the world and features collaborations from various artists, was complemented by a documentary about the recording process. Hancock's interpretations of these songs are cross-cultural. His version of "Imagine" was inspired by the Congolese group Konono N°1. The instruments used on "The Times, They Are A' Changin" combine the West African kora with the Celtic flute, fiddle and Uilleann pipes. It was released in CD, digital download and vinyl.

Track Listing: 
1. Imagine (Featuring Pink, Seal, India Arie & Jeff Beck)  
2. Don t Give Up (Featuring Pink and John Legend)  
3. Tempo De Amor (Featuring Ceu)  
4. Space Captain (Featuring Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks) 
5. The Times, They Are A Changin (Featuring The Chieftains and Lisa Hannigan)  
6. La Tierra (Featuring Juanes)  
7. Tamitant Tilay/Exodus (Featuring K Naan and Los Lobos)  
8. Tomorrow Never Knows (Featuring Dave Matthews)  
9. A Change is Gonna Come (Featuring James Morrison)  
10. The Songs Goes On (Featuring Chaka Khan, Anoushka Shankar and Wayne Shorter)

Enjoy and have a good night!

Follow Herbie Hancock as he travels the world to record his album "The Imagine Project" 

From the studio!

ON THE AIR: IBRAHIM MAALOUF LIVE AT PALÉO FESTIVAL!

Ibrahim Maalouf (Arabic: ابراهيم معلوف‎) is a trumpet player and teacher, composer and arranger. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and now lives in Paris, France.

Maalouf was born into a family of intellectuals and artists; he is the son of trumpeter Nassim Maalouf and pianist Nada Maalouf, nephew of the writer Amin Maalouf and grandson of journalist, poet and musicologist Rushdi Maalouf. He is noted for playing Arabic music with quarter tones on the trumpet, which is a rare skill, pioneered by his father and Don Ellis in the 1960s. Other trumpeters using such microtones include Marko Marković, Dejan Avdić, Demiran Ćerimović and Franz Hautzinger.

Maalouf has also earned prizes in the major classical trumpet competitions in the world. In July 2010, he was awarded the Instrumental Revelation of the Year Victory Prize (Frank Ténot prize) at the “Victoires du Jazz” competition in Juan-les-Pins.

His music and his trumpet playing are strongly inspired by his Arabic culture, but the instruments around him (bass, electric guitar, drums, Arabic percussion and vibraphones) and the musicians with whom he performs give a more contemporary rock, electro and Jazz-funk flavor to his music. His concerts are generally built around stimulating music that makes people want to get up and dance. But there is always a short, more contemplative, mystical interlude during his concerts, which he calls "a collective universal prayer". Maalouf gets a lot of his inspiration from his culture of origin. This subject has been explored in the documentary Souffle! (Blow), directed by Christophe Trahand and produced by Cocottes Minutes between 2005 and 2006. Christophe Trahand followed Ibrahim for several months in pursuit of the key to his inspiration and to explore his relationship with his native country and the distance that separates him from it. This documentary was broadcast by TV5 MONDE and is available on DVD in the collection Docnet Films.

Studio Discography: 2007 Diasporas, 2009 Diachronism, 2011 Diagnostic, 2012 Wind

There's an amazing moment happening somewhere around min 20:00. Enjoy and have a good night!

IBRAHIM MAALOUF!

1. Questions and answers 2. Surprises. From 2012 'Wind' album.

ON THE AIR: THE COMPLETE IN A SILENT WAY SESSION!

Mr. Miles Davis needs no introduction at all (I hope!).

The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions is a three-disc box set, featuring recordings from the sessions that would produce his 1969 album In A Silent Way, as well as transitional pieces from the era. 

It is notable since it includes several previously unreleased tracks on CD, namely "Splashdown", "The Ghetto Walk" and "Early Minor", plus a longer and different version of "Shhh/Peaceful" and two "In a Silent Way" alternate takes.

Session One:
1. Mademoiselle Mabry (00:00)
2. Frelon Brun (16:28)
3. Two Faced (22:03)
4. Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process (39:58)
5. Splash: Interlude 1/Interlude 2/Interlude 3 (53:14)
6. Splashdown: Interlude 1/Interlude 2 (1:03:14)

Session Two:
1. Ascent (1:11:10)
2. Directions, I (1:26:00)
3. Directions, II (1:32:41)
4. Shhh/Peaceful (1:37:30)
5. In A Silent Way [Rehearsal] (1:56:35)
6. In A Silent Way (2:01:54)
7. It's About That Time (2:06:01)

Session Three:
1. The Ghetto Walk (2:17:23)
2. Early Minor (2:44:07)

Original 1969 LP Release:
A Side: Shhh/Peaceful/Shhh (2:51:04)
B Side In A Silent Way/It's About That Time/In A Silent Way (3:09:18)

Musicians (click on the names for more info):

• Miles Davis – trumpet
• Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone (Disc 1: All), soprano saxophone
• John McLaughlin – electric guitar (Disc 2: Tracks 4-7; Disc 3: All)
• Chick Corea – electric piano
• Herbie Hancock – electric piano
• Joe Zawinul – organ (Disc 2; Disc 3)
• Dave Holland – double bass
• Tony Williams – drums
• Jack DeJohnette – drums (Disc 2: Tracks 1-3)
• Joe Chambers – drums (Disc 3: Tracks 1 and 2)

And my personal all-time favourite gig: Miles Davis Group Live at Jazz Fest, New Orleans 1991! 

WHAT IF HE DIDN'T DIE?

Few months ago, 12 previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix recordings from 1968 and 1969 were made available as People, Hell and Angels. The legendary guitarist was experimenting with new sounds and musical directions for First Rays of the New Rising Sun, the planned double-album follow-up to Electric Ladyland, and on "Somewhere," Hendrix sits down with Buddy Miles on drums and Stephen Stills on bass for a far-reaching psychedelic blues jam. Recorded in 1968, "Somewhere" rides signature Hendrix wails, long exploratory solos and free-flowing wordplay. Rolling Stone's Greatest Guitarist of All Time shows why he's earned that title with unparalleled skill and eternally innovative sounds, but "Somewhere" suggests his most complex work may have only been ahead of him..

GUITAR HEROES: GEORGE BENSON!

George Benson is one of the greatest Jazz Guitarists in history and a ten-time Grammy Award-winning. He began his professional career at twenty-one, first caming to prominence in the 1960s, playing soul jazz with Jack McDuff and others. 'Take five' is a cover of Dave Brubeck.

3 X FLOU REGE!

Flou Rege (probably the best ro rapper at the moment), Chimie (2nd best) & Dj. Al*bu (undoubtedly the best dj) will perform live in London this Friday. ''Three Romanian underground cats who do it like no one else. Chimie, part of experimental Hip Hop group Specii, Flou Rege and DJ Al*bu. You haven't heard Hip Hop like this since the 80's y'all. Heavy beats influenced by Jazz and traditional Romanian music, explosive live performances and scratches to leave you wanting more.'' More info here!

CLICK CLICK CLICK FOR MORE!!!

AUTUMN LEAVES!

Choose your favourite. I'll go for Chet Baker this morning! Just feels better with my kind of latte.

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET - MERCY, MERCY, MERCY!

' You know, sometimes we're not prepared for adversity. When it happens sometimes we're caught short. We don't know exactly how to handle it when it comes up. Sometimes we don't know just what to do when adversity takes over. And I have advice for all of us. I got it from my pianist Joe Zawinul, who wrote this tune, and it sounds like what you're supposed to say when you have that kind of problem. It's called 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy'. ' - Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley

CHET BAKER: LET'S GET LOST!

''When Charlie Parker first heard Chet play he called Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie and said: 'this little white cat out here is gonna give you guys a lot of trouble'''

Travelling with the elusive jazz vocalist and trumpeter Chet Baker, Bruce Weber weaves together the life story of a jazz great. The film uses excerpts from Italian B movies, rare performance footage, and candid interviews with Baker, musicians, friends, battling ex-wives and his children in what turned out to be the last year of his life. Winner of the 1989 Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award, Let's Get Lost has become an important document in the career of the filmmaker on the life of a jazz legend. Since its release in 1989 Let's Get Lost has introduced a whole new generation of jazz enthusiasts to the timeless talent of the late Chet Baker.

Sadly, like most jazz musicians, Chet's legacy is completely lost on today's youth culture...

WATCH THE FULL DOCUMENTARY AFTER THE BREAK!!!

JAZZ MAESTRI!

Lester Young with Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker & Miles Davis! 

Have a jazzy Friday night!

BANK HOLIDAY RECOMMENDATION: SWING KIDS (1993)!

The story of a close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US. 
Soon dancing and fun leads to more difficult choices as the Nazis begin.

Stars: Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley.

EUBIE BLAKE - THE CHARLESTON RAG!

James Hubert Blake (1887 – 1983) better known as Eubie Blake, was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as, "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find A Way", "Memories of You", and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The musical Eubie! featured the works of Blake and opened on Broadway in 1978.

If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. ” — Eubie Blake

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, BEYOND GATSBY!

Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald by Zelda Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Through his alcoholism and her mental illness, his career lows and her institutional confinement, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's devotion to each other endured for over twenty-two years. Now, for the first time, we have the story of their love in the couple's own letters. Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda consists of more than 75 percent previously unpublished or out-of-print letters as well as extensive narrative on the Fitzgeralds' marriage by Fitzgerald scholars Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks. The book features black-and-white and color photographs, and a candid introduction by Eleanor Lanahan, the Fitzgeralds' granddaughter.

Don't forget to check out this awesome blog dedicated to F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, the enigmatic couple who epitomized the Jazz Age: http://scottandzeldafitzgerald.tumblr.com/

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GHETTO ORGAN!

Jackie Mittoo (1948 – 1990) was a Jamaican keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a founding member of The Skatalites and was a mentor to many younger performers, primarily through his work as musical director for the Studio One record label.