The International Jazz Day Global Concert 2014

Steve Turre

On April 30, 2014, the Global Concert will be streamed live on JazzDay.com

LIVE FROM OSAKA, JAPAN

New York: 6am | London: 11am | Istanbul: 1pm | Tokyo: 7pm | Sydney: 8pm

The webcast will be available on demand within 4 hours of the original start time

Each year, the All-Star Global Concert brings together acclaimed jazz artists from around the world for a performance spanning styles, cultures, and languages. In the spirit of International Jazz Day, organizers select a venue with rich historical significance, representing jazz’s ability to connect disparate traditions and cultural identities. In 2014, Osaka, Japan’s beautiful Osaka Castle Park will host more than 30 world-renowned performers and an audience of thousands in celebration of the third annual International Jazz Day. Opened in 1931, the park features hundreds of Japan's famous cherry trees and surrounds Osaka Castle, a spectacular example of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The castle was originally commissioned by General Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1583. It served as a symbol of Toyotomi’s power as he continued the military campaign that would effectively unify Japan, ending nearly 200 years of military conflict and socio-political unrest. Damaged, destroyed, and restored repeatedly through the centuries, the castle has come to represent the elegance and indomitable spirit of both the city of Osaka and Japan.

Sheila E

Pete Escovedo

The 2014 All-Star Global Concert will feature internationally renowned artists including pianists: Toshiko Akiyoshi, Kris Bowers, John Beasley, Herbie Hancock and Makoto Ozone; vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jonathan Butler, Roberta Gambarini, Lalah Hathaway, Gregory Porter and Oumou Sangaré; trumpeters Theo Croker, Roy Hargrove, Claudio Roditi and Terumasa Hino; bassists James Genus, Marcus Miller and Esperanza Spalding; drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, and percussionists Pete Escovedo and Sheila E.; saxophonists Kenny Garrett, Courtney Pine, Troy Roberts, Wayne Shorter and Lew Tabackin; trombonist Steve Turre; guitarists Chris Thomas King, Earl Klugh, John Scofield and Joe Louis Walker.

Claudio Roditi

¡¡Viva The Latin Jazz!!

JD Allen CD Release : Bloom

JD Allen " Bloom" Available April 22, 2014 Pre-Order NOW Come see JD Allen and his band at Smoke April 11 & 12, 2014.   Order tickets here Keep up with JD Allen on Facebook! gailboyd@gailboyd.com

Jane Bunnett And Chihiro Yamanaka At The Kennedy Center - NPR

Jane Bunnett aand Candido Camero

Chihiro Yamanaka and Jane Bunnett come to the Kennedy Center from Japan and Canada, respectively, and each has a compelling story.

Jane Bunnett is from Toronto, yet for more than 30 years, she's championed Cuban music and musicians. She's made dozens of trips to the island, studying and working, bringing instruments to schoolchildren, and inviting players to return to Canada with her and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer.

In 1991, Cuban pianist Hilario Duran joined Bunnett's band for Spirits of Havana. Duran already had a high profile in Cuba. He had replacedChucho Valdes in the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, toured with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval for a decade, and co-led Grupo Prospectiva. In 1998, Duran moved to Toronto, where he's currently a professor in the thriving jazz department at Humber College.

Bunnett (on flute and soprano) and Duran invite a Cuban-born guest to join them. He's a 91-year-old NEA Jazz Master. In the 1950s, congueroCandido Camero made his first U.S. recording, "Mambo Inn," with theBilly Taylor Trio. Candido knows a thing or two about show business. Making their entrances together, he tickled Jane Bunnett with the line, "As Jackie Gleason says, 'Here we go!'"

Bunnett and Duran have an album out called Cuban Rhapsody.

Both Yamanaka and her drummer, John Davis, are alumni of Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead training for young musicians at the Kennedy Center, and Yamanaka has performed here with the big band Diva as well. She's someone to see.

In JazzTimes, Giovanni Russonello reviewed Yamanaka's performance at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy: "Opening for the Tribute to Miles band with her trio, the Japanese pianist tore into two originals at the top of her set. Right and left, jaws were dropping." As Bridgewater says from the stage at the end of Yamanaka's set, "I was sitting on the side and just watching how she combines her classical technique with the jazz, and I thought she was going to fly off the stool, didn't you? I've never seen such footwork."

Yamanaka centers her set on an original piece for the people of Fukushima, Japan, where she grew up. Fukushima was the site of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Yamanaka's composition, "It Was a Beautiful Eight Minutes of My Life," begins quietly and builds disquietingly; it will move you. Yamanaka's album, Reminiscence, won the Nissan Presents Jazz Japan Award in 2011.

Chihiro Yamanaka Personnel

• Chihiro Yamanaka, piano
• Yoshi Waki, bass
• John Davis, drums

Chihiro Yamanaka Set List

• "Take Five" (Paul Desmond)
• "It Was A Beautiful Eight Minutes Of My Life" (Yamanaka)
• "Close To You" (Burt Bacharach)

Jane Bunnett Set List

• "Almendra/Almonds"
• "Rosa Mae" (Mary Lou Williams, on-the-spot arrangement)
• "Sherezada" (Frank Emilio)
• "Conga Jam"

Becca Pulliam

New CD: Janice Borla Group "Promises to Burn"

New CD: Janice Borla Group "Promises to Burn" Featuring Janice Borla-voice Scott Robinson -tenor saxophone/flute Art Davis-trumpet/flugelhorn John McLean-guitars Bob Bowman-bass Jack Mouse-drums (Tall Grass Records TG 8281) Street Date March 4, 2014

"Among the best, boldest and most innovative vocalists around…Working exclusively with Borla's arrangements, the sextet exercises its fervent cohesion across a marvelously wide-ranging playlist…vocal-based jazz symbiosis rarely reaches such splendor."   Christopher Loudon, Jazz Times "…Her voice is an instrument to be reckoned with.  She is a force of nature." Jack Goodstein, BlogCritics "Superb!  The voice of Janice is a jewel, her group shows that it's a pleasure to play with her."  Serge Warin, Radio Grand Brive, France "…Round and polished performances geared toward showing off Borla's impressive scat and vocalese capabilities…Borla has chops to spare."   C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz "Superb album...One of the best singers in the Chicago area… Her scat singing is quite inventive, revealing a deep knowledge of jazz harmony."   Tom Cunniffe, Jazz History Online "Janice makes clear with her full, rich vocal sound and her superb musicianship that jazz singing is in more than  capable hands."   Bruce Crowther, Jazz Mostly  "While the music challenges preconceptions about this music (and vocal jazz in general), Borla's presentation is quite accessible, and easy to appreciate by any open-minded listeners.  (Her) scatting…is irresistible.  The entire album is wonderful!  Great arrangements." Randy Morse, The Best of Brazil "…Always hipster-cool, literati inventive, and friendly while dancing on the outskirts of traditional forms."   Mark Tucker, AcousticMusic.com "What a quandary…Which track to play from a CD that is perfect?" Tony Soley, 10Radio, United Kingdom There is often a certain element of debate as to what makes someone a jazz singer.  But in the case of the outstanding vocalist Janice Borla that debate will never take place.  From the opening bars of her remarkable new album Promises to Burn on Tall Grass Records, there is no doubt that this is jazz at its purest.             Eschewing the vocalist with accompaniment approach for that of a fully integrated instrumental ensemble, Janice takes on eight challenging compositions, many of which would be unexpected material for a vocalist.  To accomplish this successfully, a clear vision of structure is demanded, and Janice’s formidable arranging artistry is fully up to the task.             Composers like Lennie Tristano, Jack DeJohnette, Bob Mintzer and Bill Evans are generally not names that show up on vocalists’ albums, but they’re all represented here alongside Leonard Bernstein, Tadd Dameron and Joey Calderazzo.  Janice has also assembled an exceptional ensemble of musicians for the project, all of whom play in the conversational style that is ideal for telling the stories that are told in this extraordinary album.  The rapport of all of the musicians is exemplary.  Art Davis on trumpet and flugelhorn, bassist Bob Bowman and Janice’s husband and drummer Jack Mouse have all performed on Janice’s three previous albums.  Guitarist John McLean was on one, and Scott Robinson on tenor sax and flute is recording with Janice for the first time here. The arrangements provide a broad palette of textures and contexts for interaction – harmonized, contrapuntal and improvisational, and with plenty of room for blowing.             Janice’s beautiful, rounded voice and flawless intonation is often in scat mode here, with her wordless lyrics shaped to sound more like a horn.  And like an instrumentalist, when she sings written lyrics, she does so in a manner that states the melodic line to create the framework from which the solo will emerge.             Two beautiful ballads are an exception to this approach, and are offered in a more straightforward and traditional manner.  Bernstein’s Some Other Time – with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green – is given a most tender treatment, dreamlike and serene.  Janice’s lovely understated vocal and a delicate, genteel tenor solo by Robinson slips into a freewheeling guitar/vocal/sax improv with a rubato feel before a lyrical bass solo leads into the closing theme of this enchanting piece. Tadd Dameron’s If You Could See Me Now was composed for Sarah Vaughan and aptly demonstrates its composer’s “above all, it must be beautiful” approach. With just guitar and bass Janice gives Carl Sigman’s poignant lyrics a most sensitive portrayal expressing the essence of the piece in spare, undiluted form.             Another classic ballad receives a most imaginative transformation.  Don Raye and Gene DePaul’s You Don’t Know What Love Is – a song performed by countless jazz vocalists and instrumentalists of all styles – receives a delectable samba-ish treatment here with scintillating interplay between voice and guitar.  Soulful tenor, luminous scatting and lyrical bass solos lead into a closing where the samba feel is embraced and then released as the piece is taken to a powerful emotional climax.             Easy swing – so confident that it almost swaggers – is the mode for Joey Calderazzo’sMidnight Voyage.  Janice gives Christine Helferich’s lyrics a sinuously simmering treatment with strut-walking bass and horns that sound like a vocal chorus.   A mellifluous Art Famer-invoking flugelhorn solo, soul-tinged guitar and a delicious scat solo add to the captivating texture.             An evocative, highly atmospheric mood permeates Jack DeJohnette’s Silver Hollow.  A paean to the sound of Jack’s longtime label ECM Records, the melody is nicely layered with euphonious flute and flugelhorn voicings and infectious call and response with Janice.  Warmly embracing flugelhorn, full-bodied flute, a radiant flute/vocal duo and stirring guitar, all contribute mightily to the evolution of this piece’s richly expressed narrative.             Bill Evans’ Funkallero opens the album on a jaunty note with a wordless, playful bass/voice unison in bouncy syncopation before Janice sings Karen Gallinger’s wry lyrics.  Bowman’s nicely suspended woodiness and Mouse’s brilliant brushwork provides a Latin-ish feel under the guitar, tenor and harmon-muted trumpet solos before a delicious scat/drums duet takes the piece into the closing voice/bass unison theme.             Two scorchers complete this delightful album.  Bob Mintzer’s RunFerYerLife is a smoker with a staccato, heavily syncopated unison theme.  Vivid guitar comping and sprightly walking bass set the framework for a rollicking scat excursion, a highly articulate trumpet solo and an exciting turn on tenor, leading into an ensemble riff-peppered dynamically-charged drum solo by Mouse – whose playing throughout the album is absolutely perfect.             The legendary Lennie Tristano’s Lennie’s Pennies is given a stunning treatment.  His own take on Pennies From Heaven is offered with rapid-fire boppish vocal/guitar unison and closes out with spectacular three-part harmony on the challenging theme.  In between, supported by a deeply-wooded bass line in a briskly complex walk, is a dancing brightly-grooved scat solo, nimble guitar and a fluidly lyrical tenor solo that would make Warne Marsh smile.             Consummate musicianship, astonishing interplay, and a sense of joyfully unfettered creativity that permeates this entire album make Promises to Burn a truly uplifting experience. Upcoming performances April 4    "An Evening with Vocalist Janice Borla"         with Art Davis (trumpet/flugelhorn), John McLean (guitars), Jim Cox (bass) and Jack Mouse (drums)         featuring selections from her new CD Promises to Burn                  Madden Theatre         Wentz Fine Arts Center         North Central College         Naperville, ILL Aug 11-16    Janice Borla Vocal Jazz Camp & Concert Series         with Madeline Eastman & Kate McGarry (vocalists); also Art Davis (trumpet), Brad Stirtz (vibes), Dan Haerle (piano), Bob Bowman (bass) and Jack Mouse (drums)         Birch Creek Music Performance Center         Egg Harbor, WI         920-868-36763         mainoffice@birchcreek.org         http://www.birchcreek.org                 Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services          jim@jazzpromoservices.com

Surfin' = Ernest Ranglin & Monty Alexander= Reggae Jazz

For us the Reggae Jazz is part of the great family of Latin Jazz. Just as the Flamenco Jazz, ChaCha Jazz, Mambo Jazz, Bolero Jazz, Salsa Jazz.

Great Reggae performers this rate, the original large cultor Bob Marley, mixed with the Jazz are Mr. Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin. Them in their piano and guitar have made ​​multiple presentations and CDs.

Today we bring to enjoy "Surfin '" also with two important additions to give more pace as Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

In this blog -www.jazzglobalbeat.blogspot.com- dated September 23, 2013 we published "Jazz A with Jamaican Accent" where you will find more information on these two characters Reggae Jazz.

Now Your enjoy thing special!

¡¡Viva The Latin Jazz!!

Guitarist Perry Beekman with a show at The Metropolitan Room, next March 28, release "Bewitched" sings and plays Rodgers and Hart

Bewitched: Perry Beekman Sings and Plays Rodgers and Hart" @ The Metropolitan Room Friday, March 28th 9:30 PM Featuring Perry Beekman - Vocals & Guitar Peter Tomlinson – Piano Lou Pappas - Bass    T​he Metropolitan Room 3​4 West 22nd Street (Btw. 5th and 6th Aves.)  New York, NY 10010 212-206-0440

"As a vocalist, Perry Beekman can hold his own with any of his contemporaries. As a guitarist, Perry adds a bit of the New York panache that elevates these classics to a new rarefied level of excellence... Perry Beekman raises his game and with that moves to the very top of the pack in the traditional jazz setting. Bewitched is about as close to perfect as you can find." -Brent Black Critical Jazz Guitarist, vocalist Perry Beekman is pleased to announce his new project, "Bewitched: Perry Beekman Sings and Plays Rodgers and Hart" @ The Metropolitan Room Friday, March 28th 9:30 PM. "Bewitched" is the follow up to Perry’s 2013 debut release "So in Love: Perry Beekman  Sings And Plays Cole Porter." Here's what Perry has to say about his new project: The collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart was an unlikely one. Rodgers was organized and businesslike, while Hart was a notoriously unreliable alcoholic. Yet in spite of their divergent personalities, their collaboration produced some of the most beloved entries in the Great American Songbook. I leave it to their contemporaries to elaborate further: Tuneful and tasty, schmaltzy and smart. Music by Rodgers, lyrics by Hart.” – Irving Berlin It’s smooth! It’s smart! It’s Rodgers! It’s Hart!” – Cole Porter The meticulously crafted music of Rodgers combined with Hart’s dazzling lyrics to produce over five hundred songs, populating twenty-eight theatrical productions and nine movies. This recording contains fifteen of my favorites, and I hope some of yours too. The music on this CD is a combination of carefully planned, well-rehearsed arrangements, along with some good old fashioned “blowing.” (As we jazz folk like to call improvisation.) My goal has been to create a setting for each tune that helps express its essential nature. Here are some examples of what I mean: - The enormously clever lyrical phrases of “I Wish I Were in Love Again” come one after another at an alarming rate. They have a percussive quality that led me to the vamp style introduction and accompaniment of the arrangement. In the instrumental break, I tried to mimic the phrasing musically with the guitar and piano. - I find the melody of “Wait Till You See Her” to be extremely powerful in its simple beauty. So, for the instrumental section, I decided to showcase the melody with Lou’s artful bowing over a re-harmonized background provided by Peter and myself. - I selected the bare bones guitar/voice treatment of “It Never Entered My Mind” to enhance the quality of the song’s deeply personal reckoning of love gone wrong. - My semi-classical, instrumental treatment of “Blue Room” was inspired by the carefully measured intervallic steps of its melody. I envisioned the arrangement as collaboration between Richard Rodgers and J.S. Bach! As I continue to explore the guitar, piano, bass trio format, new possibilities manifest themselves. I’ve come to think of my trio as a little big band, and have been trying to expand the palette of musical textures and colors available to explore the great beauty of the timeless classics that we play. (Including, but not limited to using my guitar as a bongo drum!) Still, let there be no mistake; our goals here are to share the bountiful riches of the extraordinary Rodgers and Hart, swing hard, and to get you tapping your feet and smiling. Once again, I have the privilege of recording with my working trio, featuring Peter Tomlinson on piano and Lou Pappas on bass. As always, I am greatly indebted to them for their inestimable contributions and commitment. I am “Bewitched” with this music. I hope that you will be too. The Selections: 1     I Wish I were in Love Again (2:51) 2     Mountain Greenery (3:33) 3     Wait Till You See Her (2:42) 4     Have you Met Miss Jones (3:39) Instr. 5     Bewitched (5:08) 6     Thou Swell (3:30) 7     It Never Entered My Mind (4:35) Instr./Vocal 8     My Heart Stood Still (3:41) 9     There’s a Small Hotel (3:20) 10    Spring is Here (2:58) 11    This Can’t be Love (4:21) 12    Blue Room (3:13) Instr. 13    This Funny World (2:51) 14    Falling in Love with Love (3:33) 15    The Lady is a Tramp (5:00) Artist Website: www.perrybeekman.com Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services  jim@jazzpromoservices.com http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/

Saxophonist Tim Hegarty's "Tribute" with Kenny Barron, Mark Sherman, Rufus Reid and Carl Allen

Released January 21 via Miles High Records, Tribute showcases Hegarty's band in a set mixing originals with choice standards in a program of hard-driving, straight-ahead music that juxtaposes intense, spontaneous conversation with pensive introspection.

The CD has climbed to #9 on the jazz radio charts and is earning great reviews:

"Hegarty is a fine player who delivers solo statements that are clear, precise, concise and always to the point of the music. You'll hear a lot of technical fluidity here and not an ounce of aimless searching for powerful musical ideas that will never come... He calls it the easiest flowing date he's ever done. With a band like this, of course it was." - The Buffalo News, Jeff Simon

"Hegarty is one of those players who come up on you from left field and leave you saying, 'Where have you been all my life?' This is class tenor (and soprano) playing in the best Dexter early Trane tradition..." - Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here.

With the first month of 2014 barely in the books, Tim Hegarty has dropped a truly old school recording with a blues infused riff on what improvisational music is all about, the blues of course. Sounds like? Tim Hegarty of course but artistic comparisons are inevitable so think Dexter Gordon meets Stanley Turrentine and you may be getting close. There is a hard lyrical edge to the swing of Hegarty complimented by two masters of harmony subtly in pianist Kenny Barron and Bassist Rufus Reid. Toss in vibraphone player Mark Sherman and drummer Carl Allen and You have as solid quintet as one could hope for.

Dr. Luis Raul Montell, President of Jazz Global Beat and Jazz Caribe with Kenny Barron

Jimmy Heath tunes such as "A New Blue" and "Ineffable" dominate the session while the Thelonius Monk tune "Panonica" (see "Monk in Paris '69" in this Blog-October 19, 2013) and Joe Henderson tune "Inner Edge" keep harmonic direction fresh and vibrant. The classic sound of los years '70. Being all that hard these days these five gentlemen achieved a great deal.

Hegarty put dynamics in his CD "Tribute" and this will be a great year for him and his friends ... let's hear it!!

Ann Braithwaite
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
ann@bkmusicpr.com