Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Quote of the day from 'New Face of Jazz'


I LOVE the below quote from Sonny Rollins and wanted to put it in some form or another on Twitter. It is from the upcoming book The New Face of Jazz by Cicily Janus and Ned Radinsky.

(I love the quote, and since Janus is in Colorado as we speak, I'm letting this squeak its way into a Local Music item.)

The quote I LOVE from Mr. Rollins ...

"I’d like to see people feel more optimistic so young musicians can come along and feel they have a platform. Be encouraging. They should feel optimism around them. It’s good to be encouraged and to know your music means something."

Here's what Janus has said, via an email list, about her interview with Mr. Rollins:

"As one of the most esteemed musicians of our time, I felt quite honored to take time with him and was granted a small look into his ideas and philosophies. We did not talk equipment, or specific dates in clubs or tunes, we did not speak of rumors or criticisms of his past performances. It's pointless when he's been interviewed hundreds of times on those subjects, as I don't think I would have touched upon anything new or particularly revealing. You can find that information on dozens of websites and magazines throughout the past few decades. Also, I think it is more important to learn life lessons from someone who has endured the ages and changes this music has brought about in his lifetime, and most of which he has played a role in. I believe we need a connection to this music. We need to be able to establish a common ground that was once a large part of the music industry. That can only be achieved by bringing out the humanity in this music. The human experience is something we all have, whether musicians or not, in common."

You can pre-order The New Face of Jazz via Amazon. Janus and Radinsky will be making their way around the country for signings and like events beginning in July.

If you'd like to schedule a talk or join the mailing list, email Janus directly at newfaceofjazz@gmail.com. You can follow her on Twitter at jazzwriterchick.

For jazz lovers, Janus recommends sites such as www.nineteen-eight.com and www.maxxjazz.com for great buys.

Here are a few of her recommendations:

Ted Nase: The Mancini Project
Noah Preminger: Dry Bridge Road
Sean Jones: Roots
Chanda Rule: I Too Speak of a River
Melody Gardot: My One and Only Thrill
Miles Okazaki: Generations
Mike Moreno: Between the Lines
Ken Hatfield: String Theory
Aaron Parks: Invisible Cinema
David Weiss: The Mirror
Marcus Strickland: Of Song
EJ Strickland: In This Day
Marcus Miller: Marcus
Wynton Marsalis: Standards and Ballads
Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Vol. 1
Arturo Sandoval: Trumpet Evolution
Carli Munoz: Maverick
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines
Tom Harrell: Wise Children

Both the cover of The New Face of Jazz, shown here, and the quotes are used with permission of the authors.

Click here for the link for the book on Amazon.com ...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Jones and Raine cometh ....

That's right. Julie Jones and Brain Raine of Jones and Raine will come out to do an intimate solo show for Parker Library's Live Local Music Series.

Mark your calendars!

Parker Library's Live Local Music Series presents Julie Jones & Brian Raine of Jones & Raine at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30, in Room A at Parker Library.

Come out to enjoy an hour of the best live country music in the Rocky Mountain West!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

LOVE Hometown for the Holidays ...

I love Hometown for the Holidays on KTCL 93.3.

At what other juncture -- beside shows like KTCL's Locals Only -- can you hear, on corporate radio, bands like The Epilogues?

The Heyday?

Love.45?

Reno Divorce?

Vices I Admire?

DB & The Catastrophe?

(Uh-huh. Just sayin'!)

I myself LOVE DB & The Catastrophe and was waiting for the review copy I sent to cataloging to come back to us so patrons could check it out.

Lo and behold, the copy is AWOL. Too bad because I gave them a great review.

We'll have to figure out what happened to the disc. Meanwhile, here's the review I wrote for Colorado Music Buzz back in July when the CD first landed in my lap.

Stay tuned on the missing copy and be sure to get yourself on the list for this one. Hopefully it will land itself back in our arms!

Rock: Dylan Busby -- DB and The Catastrophe [EP]
http://www.ColoradoMusicBuzz.com/Index.asp?LinkTo=A240

This is going to sound like such a weak, weak cliche, but I swear this is the best way to put this: The first track of this self-titled EP is appropriately titled -– the CD knocked me out. (Eek. That was bad, huh? Sorry.) Really though, as far as
Post-Punk Punk goes, this is the stuff of dreams. And while "Knocked Out" knocks out folks like me, Dylan Busby and his buddies -- he enlisted Tyler McGoffin, Ricky Brown and Diego Valenzuala -- will also have mass appeal with lovers of Ska and the whole Alt-whatever (fill in the blank) mob. DB and The Catastrophe offers up four very energetic and well-produced singles -- and big brownie points for the fabulously hip and earth-friendly packaging. (Note to other artists: If you’re going to go hard copy, please, please, please: enough with the jewel cases. A sleeve with some cool artwork -– like what DB and The Catastrophe having going on -- is just so much more now.)

MySpace.com/DylanBusby