On June 16, Michael Buble released a brand new CD/DVD titled Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden. The bonus footage includes a trip down memory lane to a jazz club in New York that once gave the man his start - you guessed it - at The Blue Note. Buble even says himself that playing the Blue Note was harder than playing Madison Square Garden (which he would do just days after shooting the footage). Here's hoping that he'll decide to return to the Blue Note some time soon to play a week (or more)...
Monday, June 29, 2009
MICHAEL BUBLE'S SENTIMENTAL RETURN TO THE BLUE NOTE
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Blue Note Monday Conversations: OMER KLEIN CD RELEASE FOR HEART BEATS, MARCH 2009
Jazz pianist Omer Klein was interviewed by the Blue Note Blogger for his Monday Night CD Release show for Heart Beats, a solo piano effort that shows the young pianist wise beyond his years. JazzTimes recently wrote that "Klein has the potential to achieve something much rarer for a jazz musician: popularity. What he plays is exotic yet accessible and makes you feel fully alive." Here, he talks about growing up listening to jazz, how he developed his unique melodic sense, and recording Heart Beats in the studio. To close the interview, Klein played a brand new, never before heard piece that he is currently working on. His band that night comprised of the bassist Omer Avital and percussionist Ziv Ravitz. For more information on the Monday Coversations at the Blue Note, visit our blog at www.bluenotejazz.com/blog. Visit www.omerklein.com for more details about Omer and his music.
Blue Note Monday Conversatons: LONNIE PLAXICO Talks About The Jazz Life
Lonnie Plaxico is best known for his work as a sideman with the likes of Cassandra Wilson, Art Blakey, Jack DeJohnette and so many more, but he' a fantastic bandleader and a prolific composer in his own right. Here he talks about his upbringing in the jazz world and his new CD, Ancestral Devotion. For more information on the Blue Note Jazz Club and our projects, go to www.bluenotejazz.com/blog.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
New Sounds: Brian Blade "Mama Rosa"
Probably the greatest influence on this generation of jazz drummers, Brian Blade's newest album features none of his drumming...and no jazz. Blade's most recent excursion is a testament to his folk and blues influences. Featuring his compositions, his singing, and his guitar playing, "Mama Rosa" is a phenomenal album of a very unique music.
This video is a very special sneak peak into this great album. For more info, visit www.brianblade.com, and if you're in the New York are, be sure not to miss Blade's show at the Highline Ballroom tomorrow, June 24.
Blast From The Past: Bill Evans & Lee Konitz
Searching through the vast collection of jazz videos on YouTube, I stumbled upon this gem. While certainly an enjoyable video and recording, this rare video is invaluable for quite a few reasons as well.
For one, this video provides a rare glimpse into one of the most interesting partnerships in jazz; one that is documented (not nearly enough) on recordings, but one that is very rarely - if at all - documented on video; this partnership is the one of Bill Evans and Lee Konitz.
It is interesting to watch and hear Bill Evans in a non trio setting, especially in this non trio setting. Those familiar with Evans' music know that the bassist in his trio plays a very interactive role; he rarely walks a bass line. Instead of keeping a pulse for Evans to play on top of, he and Evans play off one another, responding to each other in a very communicative fashion. Rarely do we get to hear Bill Evans playing with a bassist playing in a hard swinging style a la Ray Brown; we do here. It is interesting to hear Evans in this fashion; playing on top of such a bass player, we really get to hear the strong influence Bud Powell had on his playing. We hear the flowing eight note lines of a phenomenal bebop pianist as well as the natural rhythmic syncopation of an extremely hard swinger. It is interesting to hear these sides of Evans' playing.
Another interesting aspect of this video is the song choice. While both Evans and Konitz make use of many of the tunes from the Great American Songbook, "My Melancholy Baby," is a tune that, in many ways, never left the swing era. While very popular during the 1930's, it never became a tune that the beboppers of the 1940's took with them into the modern era. It is interesting to hear these post-bop modernists take on a swing era standard. One of the reasons it is so interesting is because the players here - while obviously inflecting their own personalities into the music - more or less adapt their styles to that of the song - instead of adapting the song to their more known styles. These players have enormous flexibility and this video is a testament to that; that these masterful musicians do not need to play in a certain style to make the music all their own.
Enjoy!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Blue Note June Vocal Festival Begins Tonight!
Some of music's greatest and most unique vocalists will be gracing our stage in the coming weeks. Beginning tonight (6/15) with Sophie Milman, and continuing on with Jane Monheit (6/16-21), Spencer Day (6/22), Bilal (6/23-24), and Rachelle Ferrell (June 25-28), this year's vocal festival should be quite a thrill.
For more information on the artists please visit their websites:
Sophie Milman - http://www.linusentertainment.com/sophiemilman2006/
Jane Monheit - http://janemonheitonline.com/
Spencer Day - http://www.spencerday.com/
Bilal - http://www.bilal-the-man.com/
Rachelle Ferrell - http://www.rachelleferrell.com/
To purchase tickets please follow this link: http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/index.shtml
Jazz Survival 101
Eugene Marlow posted a very interesting and thought-provoking article on jazz.com yesterday. We have posted it below and are very interested to see what your thoughts are. Please feel free to comment and discuss!
Jazz Survival 101
by Eugene Marlow
As of early June 2009 there are plenty of indications that the American economy, let alone the global economy, is still mired in what many are calling the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. We see rising unemployment—predicted to top 10% before it’s over—an increasing number of failing banks, bankrupted car manufacturers (once the jewels in the crown of America’s economic prowess), still rising residential foreclosures, lower tax revenues on the federal, state, and local levels, and expanding deficits.
Reports of the commercial and residential real estate market indicate contradicting trends; clearly, though, the commercial market is overbuilt while the residential market might be coming to a plateau and some price stability. Consumers are saving more (a good thing in the long run), but spending less (not good for retailers in the short run). Foreign companies are buying parts of American companies (not necessarily a new trend), and China, in particular, owns a significant portion of this country’s debt. This also is not a new trend. In 1980 right before the start of the first Reagan administration, the United States was the world’s creditor nation. Today, we are the world’s debtor nation. What a difference almost 30 years makes!
All in all, it’s not a pretty economic picture.
On a more local level with respect to the music world, the picture is also spotty. On a recent visit to Swing 46 on New York City’s restaurant row, owner/manager “John” indicated to me they were holding their own. That night George Gee and his nonet were performing. The dance floor was virtually packed. It was noisy and festive. But John also indicated that, appearances to the contrary, financially it was not great, but he was still in business. Birdland, Blue Note, and The Jazz Standard all seem to be on a solvent economic keel, but there are rumors and anecdotal reports that Jazz At Lincoln Center is, to put it diplomatically, “having money problems.” So, too, the Metropolitan Opera. Not surprising really. The fallout from the Bernie Madoff debacle notwithstanding, many corporations and foundations have dramatically reduced their contributions to deserving organizations. Some have ceased funding altogether.
Further, in New York several “venues” have closed, for example, the ill-fated Brazilian-oriented club Cachaça that I wrote about several months ago, and Lola’s, the soul-food club, that hopes to reopen in another location. Sweet Rhythm has reported low audience attendance. And “non-club” venues have closed or are about to: Manny’s on New York City’s 48th Street “music row” shuttered on May 31 because Sam Ash Music stated “it wasn’t carrying its [economic] weight.” And then there’s Patelson’s right across the street from Carnegie Hall’s stage door. While Patelson’s is not a jazz-oriented music shop, it nonetheless represents an important aspect of the music world: printed classical music. It was one of “the” key places to go in New York City to find almost anything printed when it came to classical music. Its fate is representative. All over New York you see “Available For Rent” signs where once were thriving retail outlets of all kinds. Even when retail outlets associated with music and entertainment, such as restaurants, are doing business, they are rarely reaching capacity.
Let’s bring this down to the jazz world, and more specifically, the jazz musician. I recall listening to a talk a few years ago by an executive of Local 802 who was in involved in negotiating film-recording contracts. He reported that at one time New York’s musician local had over 40,000 members. As of a few years ago it had fallen to around 10,000. It’s well documented that CD sales of all genres are down, way down. Today, a CD is more often than not, a musical resume, rather than a product for profit. At the same time, the cost of attending a live jazz concert, regardless of venue, is out of reach for many, especially young people and those of limited economic means—the very same folks who need to hear the music to understand and appreciate its cultural relevance. Meanwhile, academic jazz programs all over the country are turning out highly skilled young musicians with little or no business training and fewer places to play, giving rise to an apparent growing number of non-traditional venues for performance purposes. At the same time the economic value of a musician’s skills seem, for most, to be in decline.
Jazz radio is shrinking. The Boston jazz station just shut down. And all over the country, arts editors, let alone jazz or classical music reviewers, are losing their jobs. Local newspapers, often a source of promotion and support for local arts, are ceasing to exist. There are exceptions, of course, but everyone, everywhere seems to be feeling the economic pinch.
This current, deep recession is exacerbating a much longer trend: the diminution of the social and economic value of the arts, let alone jazz, in the United States. Yes, there is recognition of the arts as a contributor to the economy. In a recent issue of Chamber Music, the official publication of arts organization Chamber Music America, Margaret M. Lioi, reports in her editorial that $50 million for the arts was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill. These funds went directly to the National Endowment for the Arts.
When the House voted on the final bill, Democratic Congressman David Obey, who sponsored the bill, explained why he thought it was important to retain NEA funding in the stimulus package: “There are five million people who work in the arts industry. And right now they have 12.5% unemployment—or are you suggesting that somehow if you work in that field, it isn’t real when you lose your job, your mortgage or your health insurance? We’re trying to treat people who work in the arts the same way as anybody else.”
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