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An insider’s look behind the making of David Bowie’s secretive ‘Blackstar’ album – LA Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-david-bowie-essay-20160110-story.html

** An insider’s look behind the making of David Bowie’s secretive ‘Blackstar’ album
————————————————————
Sasha Frere-Jones (http://www.latimes.com/la-bio-sasha-frere-jones-staff.html#nt=byline) Contact Reporter (mailto:sfj@latimes.com?subject=Regarding:%20%22An%20insider’s%20look%20behind%20the%20making%20of%20David%20Bowie’s%20secretive%20’Blackstar’%20album%22)

David Bowie charts yet another new direction in latest release

David Bowie died Sunday (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-69-has-died-20160110-story.html) , Jan. 10, at the age of 69. The following is a story on the production of the critically acclaimed album he released days before his death.

Tony Visconti was trying to get off the phone. “I have to go in few minutes,” the producer said, speaking from New York. “We have 10 hours of rehearsal today. I’m playing bass. We’re doing ‘The Man Who Sold the World.’ That album was never played live after we finished it. But we have played it live now, about 22 times in the U.K. and Japan, and now we’re bringing our show to New York and the East Coast.”

The “we” was drummer Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy, an all-star gang that was preparing to play the High Line in New York on Friday night. Fronted by singer Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 and led by the drummer David Bowie worked with for a five-year span, including the Ziggy Stardust moment, the band is touring Bowie’s 1970 album, along with a handful of his standards. But the artist is still writing his own history — the new “★” album (“Blackstar” when said out loud), co-produced with Visconti, comes out on the same day as the Holy Holy gig in New York. It is representative of Bowie’s unique place that while he is releasing new music, he also approves of longtime collaborators performing music from his past. Bowie’s present involves his transformation into a character that isn’t even a word.

See more of Entertainment’s top stories on Facebook >> (https://www.facebook.com/latimesent)

As I transcribed Visconti’s conversation, a tweet from a user named @mstcambot appeared on my screen. He wrote: “Sometimes I check to see what David Bowie accomplished by my current age. Never do this.” As Bowie turns 69, this advice applies to us all. What Bowie has accomplished in 50 years of recording dwarfs the work of so many that it is hard to contain Bowie in fewer than 10 separate thoughts or to assign him even a rough identity.
safari-reader://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-bowie-three-sidebar-20160110-story.html

If we drag out the overused “chameleon” tag, it does nothing to address the volume of good songs Bowie’s written and lays a false trail that distracts us from the fact that most pop stars change their styles every few years. The 2006 Kanye sounds and looks little like the 2016 Kanye. (Spread out laterally in any direction, taking Kid Rock, Aphex Twin, Drake, Dixie Chicks and Caribou with you as you go.)

After surgery in 2004 for a blocked artery, Bowie disappeared, or disappeared relative to Bowie’s consistent visibility since the mid-’60s. His last live appearance was a performance of “Changes” at a charity benefit in 2006. The faithful worried about Bowie’s health and intentions until 2013’s “The Next Day,” which he had begun working on in 2011. By contrast, “★” was recorded at light speed, in three sessions that took place in January, February and March 2015.

“Because of the secrecy around ‘The Next Day,’ it sounded like I was out of work for two years. I couldn’t mention it,” Visconti said. “★” took a fraction of the time to record, but both albums reflect a new way of composing for Bowie.
‘Lazarus’ | 2016

“When he was making records in the ’70s and ’80s, he was always on tour and living in hotel rooms, being a father — just too much pressure,” Visconti said. “He’d come into the studio with maybe two or three great songs. I know Nile Rodgers would tell you same thing. Everyone who worked with him had the same experience. This used to frustrate me, as a producer. He comes in with no songs and says, ‘Let’s jam.’ I’d say, ‘Oh, no, how’s this gonna turn out?'”

Pretty well, it turned out.

“‘Blackstar’ and ‘Next Day’ were stress-free, no problems,” Visconti said. “He comes prepared now. This is an old dog with new tricks. Now, by not announcing he’s making a record, he gives himself the time to be creative. Playing saxophone on these demos, bringing in radical guitar parts. He really is making music for himself these days. There’s no fluff about David Bowie anymore. There never was, really.”

Though both meticulously planned, “The Next Day” and “★” share almost no musical commonalities. “The Next Day” revisited some of the louder guitar work Bowie did in the ’90s and spun it, sharpening the mix to foreground lyrics and bending noises outward. “★,” though, is related to Bowie’s catalog in method more than sound.
He really is making music for himself these days. There’s no fluff about David Bowie anymore. There never was, really. – ‘Blackstar’ producer Tony Visconti

“David’s always done hybrids,” said Visconti. “When we did ‘Yassassin’ on ‘Lodger,’ we had a rock band playing their version of reggae. For this record, we had a jazz band but we didn’t make a jazz record. We made a Bowie record.”

That band is largely saxophonist Donny McCaslin’s quartet, featuring drummer Marc Guiliana, keyboard player Jason Lindner and bassist Tim Lefebvre. In spring 2014, Bowie was working with composer Maria Schneider on “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime),” a new song being added to a three-disk omnium gatherum called “Nothing Has Changed,” which was released in November 2014. Unbeknownst to McCaslin, a longtime member of Schneider’s Orchestra, Schneider had given McCaslin’s 2012 album, “Casting For Gravity,” to Bowie, who saw the quartet at the 55 Club on June 1, 2014, and met McCaslin a week later at the rehearsals for the “Sue” recording. But before the recording, Bowie started emailing McCaslin ideas and later demos. By the end of summer, McCaslin was writing out the lead sheets for the “★” sessions that took place in early 2015.

The balance of composition and live playing here is spot-on. McCaslin acknowledged that although the band built out certain passages and added horns to certain parts, “the songs retained the shapes David presented in the demos.”

Working with a predetermined sequence may have allowed Bowie the formal security to interact with the band directly and encourage them.

“We would work from 11 to about 4 at the Magic Shop in SoHo, every day,” McCaslin said by phone from Brooklyn. “He was totally engaged. He came into the main room with us and sang while we played.

“We’d take a break, come back a few days later, and it would be clear that he and Tony had been listening really closely to the recordings. We’d do another version of a song sometimes, but not that many. A lot of what you hear on the album is a first or second take. We rehearsed it and then tried to capture it live. In that way, it’s a traditional record, even if the songs aren’t. This isn’t constructed from pieces. It’s live.”
safari-reader://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-david-bowie-blackstar-review-20160108-story.html

McCaslin recalled how Bowie discussed what he was reading and listening to, which included “the grandeur of Charlie Parker” as well as albums by Kendrick Lamar and D’Angelo.

What came out the other end sounds nothing like Bowie aping any of those people or much of his older work. Only one name popped into my head while listening to “★” — the artist Bowie has been referencing for his entire career as an inspiration: Scott Walker.

The album’s title track stops just short of 10 minutes (to satisfy the iTunes rules for a posted single). It moves in a loose A/B/A form, bracketing the center with a line about “a solitary candle” and “a villa in Ormen.” Within that, Bowie repeats, “in the center of it all, your eyes.” In between all of that, one of Bowie’s voices trades lines about an execution with another voice repeatedly claiming to be a “black star,” not any other kind of star. McCaslin confirmed that early reports of the song being about Islamic State are inaccurate. Bowie’s lyrics recall recent work by Walker, like “Bish Bosch,” where sensible fragments pile up into a less sensible whole. The song is anchored by Guiliana’s remarkably plastic drumming, punctuated by appearances of McCaslin’s saxophone. You want to mention jazz while knowing that’s not quite the right word. The suppleness of jazz is there but the album’s solos are either brief or tucked under the vocals.

The album is a coherent, gutsy triumph where “The Next Day” was a comforting return to form (and to the world). Over the course of 42 minutes, Bowie meets a series of characters, including a woman who punches him “like a dude” with “mad hands,” and a narrator anxiously trying to support an ailing wife. Except for a few stray keyboard sounds, nothing on “★” feels particularly rooted in time.

As a bandleader, Bowie pushes his players toward productive friction. On “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,” as McCaslin moves into his highest register, slipping out of tonality, Guiliana a solid backbeat, unseating anything that feels like a default “jazz” setting.

“★” is, as Visconti described it, a Bowie album, the first one I’ve left on loop since “Scary Monsters.” It is charged and scrupulously edited. There are five more songs from these sessions that have yet to be released. So look forward to next Christmas and hope for a deluxe edition.

Twitter: @sfj (https://twitter.com/sfj)

MORE:

Full coverage: David Bowie’s life and career (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-sg-20160111-storygallery.html)

From the Robert Hilburn archives: David Bowie spends the ’80s convincing us he’s just a normal guy (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-archive-19870419-story.html)

Five songs to prove David Bowie is impossible to capture in five songs (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-five-songs-david-bowie-impossible-to-capture-in-five-songs-20160110-story.html)

Exhibition and book of Mick Rock’s photography looks back on David Bowie (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-photo-exhibition-mick-rock-david-bowie-20151027-story.html)

David Bowie’s wham-bam ‘Where Are We Now’ release shows the artist remains a mystery in Twitter age (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-david-bowie-messes-with-mystery-in-where-are-we-now-20130108-story.html)

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=c15a25e903) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=c15a25e903&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
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USA

An insider’s look behind the making of David Bowie’s secretive ‘Blackstar’ album – LA Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-david-bowie-essay-20160110-story.html

** An insider’s look behind the making of David Bowie’s secretive ‘Blackstar’ album
————————————————————
Sasha Frere-Jones (http://www.latimes.com/la-bio-sasha-frere-jones-staff.html#nt=byline) Contact Reporter (mailto:sfj@latimes.com?subject=Regarding:%20%22An%20insider’s%20look%20behind%20the%20making%20of%20David%20Bowie’s%20secretive%20’Blackstar’%20album%22)

David Bowie charts yet another new direction in latest release

David Bowie died Sunday (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-69-has-died-20160110-story.html) , Jan. 10, at the age of 69. The following is a story on the production of the critically acclaimed album he released days before his death.

Tony Visconti was trying to get off the phone. “I have to go in few minutes,” the producer said, speaking from New York. “We have 10 hours of rehearsal today. I’m playing bass. We’re doing ‘The Man Who Sold the World.’ That album was never played live after we finished it. But we have played it live now, about 22 times in the U.K. and Japan, and now we’re bringing our show to New York and the East Coast.”

The “we” was drummer Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy, an all-star gang that was preparing to play the High Line in New York on Friday night. Fronted by singer Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 and led by the drummer David Bowie worked with for a five-year span, including the Ziggy Stardust moment, the band is touring Bowie’s 1970 album, along with a handful of his standards. But the artist is still writing his own history — the new “★” album (“Blackstar” when said out loud), co-produced with Visconti, comes out on the same day as the Holy Holy gig in New York. It is representative of Bowie’s unique place that while he is releasing new music, he also approves of longtime collaborators performing music from his past. Bowie’s present involves his transformation into a character that isn’t even a word.

See more of Entertainment’s top stories on Facebook >> (https://www.facebook.com/latimesent)

As I transcribed Visconti’s conversation, a tweet from a user named @mstcambot appeared on my screen. He wrote: “Sometimes I check to see what David Bowie accomplished by my current age. Never do this.” As Bowie turns 69, this advice applies to us all. What Bowie has accomplished in 50 years of recording dwarfs the work of so many that it is hard to contain Bowie in fewer than 10 separate thoughts or to assign him even a rough identity.
safari-reader://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-bowie-three-sidebar-20160110-story.html

If we drag out the overused “chameleon” tag, it does nothing to address the volume of good songs Bowie’s written and lays a false trail that distracts us from the fact that most pop stars change their styles every few years. The 2006 Kanye sounds and looks little like the 2016 Kanye. (Spread out laterally in any direction, taking Kid Rock, Aphex Twin, Drake, Dixie Chicks and Caribou with you as you go.)

After surgery in 2004 for a blocked artery, Bowie disappeared, or disappeared relative to Bowie’s consistent visibility since the mid-’60s. His last live appearance was a performance of “Changes” at a charity benefit in 2006. The faithful worried about Bowie’s health and intentions until 2013’s “The Next Day,” which he had begun working on in 2011. By contrast, “★” was recorded at light speed, in three sessions that took place in January, February and March 2015.

“Because of the secrecy around ‘The Next Day,’ it sounded like I was out of work for two years. I couldn’t mention it,” Visconti said. “★” took a fraction of the time to record, but both albums reflect a new way of composing for Bowie.
‘Lazarus’ | 2016

“When he was making records in the ’70s and ’80s, he was always on tour and living in hotel rooms, being a father — just too much pressure,” Visconti said. “He’d come into the studio with maybe two or three great songs. I know Nile Rodgers would tell you same thing. Everyone who worked with him had the same experience. This used to frustrate me, as a producer. He comes in with no songs and says, ‘Let’s jam.’ I’d say, ‘Oh, no, how’s this gonna turn out?'”

Pretty well, it turned out.

“‘Blackstar’ and ‘Next Day’ were stress-free, no problems,” Visconti said. “He comes prepared now. This is an old dog with new tricks. Now, by not announcing he’s making a record, he gives himself the time to be creative. Playing saxophone on these demos, bringing in radical guitar parts. He really is making music for himself these days. There’s no fluff about David Bowie anymore. There never was, really.”

Though both meticulously planned, “The Next Day” and “★” share almost no musical commonalities. “The Next Day” revisited some of the louder guitar work Bowie did in the ’90s and spun it, sharpening the mix to foreground lyrics and bending noises outward. “★,” though, is related to Bowie’s catalog in method more than sound.
He really is making music for himself these days. There’s no fluff about David Bowie anymore. There never was, really. – ‘Blackstar’ producer Tony Visconti

“David’s always done hybrids,” said Visconti. “When we did ‘Yassassin’ on ‘Lodger,’ we had a rock band playing their version of reggae. For this record, we had a jazz band but we didn’t make a jazz record. We made a Bowie record.”

That band is largely saxophonist Donny McCaslin’s quartet, featuring drummer Marc Guiliana, keyboard player Jason Lindner and bassist Tim Lefebvre. In spring 2014, Bowie was working with composer Maria Schneider on “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime),” a new song being added to a three-disk omnium gatherum called “Nothing Has Changed,” which was released in November 2014. Unbeknownst to McCaslin, a longtime member of Schneider’s Orchestra, Schneider had given McCaslin’s 2012 album, “Casting For Gravity,” to Bowie, who saw the quartet at the 55 Club on June 1, 2014, and met McCaslin a week later at the rehearsals for the “Sue” recording. But before the recording, Bowie started emailing McCaslin ideas and later demos. By the end of summer, McCaslin was writing out the lead sheets for the “★” sessions that took place in early 2015.

The balance of composition and live playing here is spot-on. McCaslin acknowledged that although the band built out certain passages and added horns to certain parts, “the songs retained the shapes David presented in the demos.”

Working with a predetermined sequence may have allowed Bowie the formal security to interact with the band directly and encourage them.

“We would work from 11 to about 4 at the Magic Shop in SoHo, every day,” McCaslin said by phone from Brooklyn. “He was totally engaged. He came into the main room with us and sang while we played.

“We’d take a break, come back a few days later, and it would be clear that he and Tony had been listening really closely to the recordings. We’d do another version of a song sometimes, but not that many. A lot of what you hear on the album is a first or second take. We rehearsed it and then tried to capture it live. In that way, it’s a traditional record, even if the songs aren’t. This isn’t constructed from pieces. It’s live.”
safari-reader://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-david-bowie-blackstar-review-20160108-story.html

McCaslin recalled how Bowie discussed what he was reading and listening to, which included “the grandeur of Charlie Parker” as well as albums by Kendrick Lamar and D’Angelo.

What came out the other end sounds nothing like Bowie aping any of those people or much of his older work. Only one name popped into my head while listening to “★” — the artist Bowie has been referencing for his entire career as an inspiration: Scott Walker.

The album’s title track stops just short of 10 minutes (to satisfy the iTunes rules for a posted single). It moves in a loose A/B/A form, bracketing the center with a line about “a solitary candle” and “a villa in Ormen.” Within that, Bowie repeats, “in the center of it all, your eyes.” In between all of that, one of Bowie’s voices trades lines about an execution with another voice repeatedly claiming to be a “black star,” not any other kind of star. McCaslin confirmed that early reports of the song being about Islamic State are inaccurate. Bowie’s lyrics recall recent work by Walker, like “Bish Bosch,” where sensible fragments pile up into a less sensible whole. The song is anchored by Guiliana’s remarkably plastic drumming, punctuated by appearances of McCaslin’s saxophone. You want to mention jazz while knowing that’s not quite the right word. The suppleness of jazz is there but the album’s solos are either brief or tucked under the vocals.

The album is a coherent, gutsy triumph where “The Next Day” was a comforting return to form (and to the world). Over the course of 42 minutes, Bowie meets a series of characters, including a woman who punches him “like a dude” with “mad hands,” and a narrator anxiously trying to support an ailing wife. Except for a few stray keyboard sounds, nothing on “★” feels particularly rooted in time.

As a bandleader, Bowie pushes his players toward productive friction. On “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,” as McCaslin moves into his highest register, slipping out of tonality, Guiliana a solid backbeat, unseating anything that feels like a default “jazz” setting.

“★” is, as Visconti described it, a Bowie album, the first one I’ve left on loop since “Scary Monsters.” It is charged and scrupulously edited. There are five more songs from these sessions that have yet to be released. So look forward to next Christmas and hope for a deluxe edition.

Twitter: @sfj (https://twitter.com/sfj)

MORE:

Full coverage: David Bowie’s life and career (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-sg-20160111-storygallery.html)

From the Robert Hilburn archives: David Bowie spends the ’80s convincing us he’s just a normal guy (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-archive-19870419-story.html)

Five songs to prove David Bowie is impossible to capture in five songs (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-five-songs-david-bowie-impossible-to-capture-in-five-songs-20160110-story.html)

Exhibition and book of Mick Rock’s photography looks back on David Bowie (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-photo-exhibition-mick-rock-david-bowie-20151027-story.html)

David Bowie’s wham-bam ‘Where Are We Now’ release shows the artist remains a mystery in Twitter age (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-david-bowie-messes-with-mystery-in-where-are-we-now-20130108-story.html)

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=c15a25e903) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=c15a25e903&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

An insider’s look behind the making of David Bowie’s secretive ‘Blackstar’ album – LA Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-david-bowie-essay-20160110-story.html

** An insider’s look behind the making of David Bowie’s secretive ‘Blackstar’ album
————————————————————
Sasha Frere-Jones (http://www.latimes.com/la-bio-sasha-frere-jones-staff.html#nt=byline) Contact Reporter (mailto:sfj@latimes.com?subject=Regarding:%20%22An%20insider’s%20look%20behind%20the%20making%20of%20David%20Bowie’s%20secretive%20’Blackstar’%20album%22)

David Bowie charts yet another new direction in latest release

David Bowie died Sunday (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-69-has-died-20160110-story.html) , Jan. 10, at the age of 69. The following is a story on the production of the critically acclaimed album he released days before his death.

Tony Visconti was trying to get off the phone. “I have to go in few minutes,” the producer said, speaking from New York. “We have 10 hours of rehearsal today. I’m playing bass. We’re doing ‘The Man Who Sold the World.’ That album was never played live after we finished it. But we have played it live now, about 22 times in the U.K. and Japan, and now we’re bringing our show to New York and the East Coast.”

The “we” was drummer Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy, an all-star gang that was preparing to play the High Line in New York on Friday night. Fronted by singer Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 and led by the drummer David Bowie worked with for a five-year span, including the Ziggy Stardust moment, the band is touring Bowie’s 1970 album, along with a handful of his standards. But the artist is still writing his own history — the new “★” album (“Blackstar” when said out loud), co-produced with Visconti, comes out on the same day as the Holy Holy gig in New York. It is representative of Bowie’s unique place that while he is releasing new music, he also approves of longtime collaborators performing music from his past. Bowie’s present involves his transformation into a character that isn’t even a word.

See more of Entertainment’s top stories on Facebook >> (https://www.facebook.com/latimesent)

As I transcribed Visconti’s conversation, a tweet from a user named @mstcambot appeared on my screen. He wrote: “Sometimes I check to see what David Bowie accomplished by my current age. Never do this.” As Bowie turns 69, this advice applies to us all. What Bowie has accomplished in 50 years of recording dwarfs the work of so many that it is hard to contain Bowie in fewer than 10 separate thoughts or to assign him even a rough identity.
safari-reader://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-bowie-three-sidebar-20160110-story.html

If we drag out the overused “chameleon” tag, it does nothing to address the volume of good songs Bowie’s written and lays a false trail that distracts us from the fact that most pop stars change their styles every few years. The 2006 Kanye sounds and looks little like the 2016 Kanye. (Spread out laterally in any direction, taking Kid Rock, Aphex Twin, Drake, Dixie Chicks and Caribou with you as you go.)

After surgery in 2004 for a blocked artery, Bowie disappeared, or disappeared relative to Bowie’s consistent visibility since the mid-’60s. His last live appearance was a performance of “Changes” at a charity benefit in 2006. The faithful worried about Bowie’s health and intentions until 2013’s “The Next Day,” which he had begun working on in 2011. By contrast, “★” was recorded at light speed, in three sessions that took place in January, February and March 2015.

“Because of the secrecy around ‘The Next Day,’ it sounded like I was out of work for two years. I couldn’t mention it,” Visconti said. “★” took a fraction of the time to record, but both albums reflect a new way of composing for Bowie.
‘Lazarus’ | 2016

“When he was making records in the ’70s and ’80s, he was always on tour and living in hotel rooms, being a father — just too much pressure,” Visconti said. “He’d come into the studio with maybe two or three great songs. I know Nile Rodgers would tell you same thing. Everyone who worked with him had the same experience. This used to frustrate me, as a producer. He comes in with no songs and says, ‘Let’s jam.’ I’d say, ‘Oh, no, how’s this gonna turn out?'”

Pretty well, it turned out.

“‘Blackstar’ and ‘Next Day’ were stress-free, no problems,” Visconti said. “He comes prepared now. This is an old dog with new tricks. Now, by not announcing he’s making a record, he gives himself the time to be creative. Playing saxophone on these demos, bringing in radical guitar parts. He really is making music for himself these days. There’s no fluff about David Bowie anymore. There never was, really.”

Though both meticulously planned, “The Next Day” and “★” share almost no musical commonalities. “The Next Day” revisited some of the louder guitar work Bowie did in the ’90s and spun it, sharpening the mix to foreground lyrics and bending noises outward. “★,” though, is related to Bowie’s catalog in method more than sound.
He really is making music for himself these days. There’s no fluff about David Bowie anymore. There never was, really. – ‘Blackstar’ producer Tony Visconti

“David’s always done hybrids,” said Visconti. “When we did ‘Yassassin’ on ‘Lodger,’ we had a rock band playing their version of reggae. For this record, we had a jazz band but we didn’t make a jazz record. We made a Bowie record.”

That band is largely saxophonist Donny McCaslin’s quartet, featuring drummer Marc Guiliana, keyboard player Jason Lindner and bassist Tim Lefebvre. In spring 2014, Bowie was working with composer Maria Schneider on “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime),” a new song being added to a three-disk omnium gatherum called “Nothing Has Changed,” which was released in November 2014. Unbeknownst to McCaslin, a longtime member of Schneider’s Orchestra, Schneider had given McCaslin’s 2012 album, “Casting For Gravity,” to Bowie, who saw the quartet at the 55 Club on June 1, 2014, and met McCaslin a week later at the rehearsals for the “Sue” recording. But before the recording, Bowie started emailing McCaslin ideas and later demos. By the end of summer, McCaslin was writing out the lead sheets for the “★” sessions that took place in early 2015.

The balance of composition and live playing here is spot-on. McCaslin acknowledged that although the band built out certain passages and added horns to certain parts, “the songs retained the shapes David presented in the demos.”

Working with a predetermined sequence may have allowed Bowie the formal security to interact with the band directly and encourage them.

“We would work from 11 to about 4 at the Magic Shop in SoHo, every day,” McCaslin said by phone from Brooklyn. “He was totally engaged. He came into the main room with us and sang while we played.

“We’d take a break, come back a few days later, and it would be clear that he and Tony had been listening really closely to the recordings. We’d do another version of a song sometimes, but not that many. A lot of what you hear on the album is a first or second take. We rehearsed it and then tried to capture it live. In that way, it’s a traditional record, even if the songs aren’t. This isn’t constructed from pieces. It’s live.”
safari-reader://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-david-bowie-blackstar-review-20160108-story.html

McCaslin recalled how Bowie discussed what he was reading and listening to, which included “the grandeur of Charlie Parker” as well as albums by Kendrick Lamar and D’Angelo.

What came out the other end sounds nothing like Bowie aping any of those people or much of his older work. Only one name popped into my head while listening to “★” — the artist Bowie has been referencing for his entire career as an inspiration: Scott Walker.

The album’s title track stops just short of 10 minutes (to satisfy the iTunes rules for a posted single). It moves in a loose A/B/A form, bracketing the center with a line about “a solitary candle” and “a villa in Ormen.” Within that, Bowie repeats, “in the center of it all, your eyes.” In between all of that, one of Bowie’s voices trades lines about an execution with another voice repeatedly claiming to be a “black star,” not any other kind of star. McCaslin confirmed that early reports of the song being about Islamic State are inaccurate. Bowie’s lyrics recall recent work by Walker, like “Bish Bosch,” where sensible fragments pile up into a less sensible whole. The song is anchored by Guiliana’s remarkably plastic drumming, punctuated by appearances of McCaslin’s saxophone. You want to mention jazz while knowing that’s not quite the right word. The suppleness of jazz is there but the album’s solos are either brief or tucked under the vocals.

The album is a coherent, gutsy triumph where “The Next Day” was a comforting return to form (and to the world). Over the course of 42 minutes, Bowie meets a series of characters, including a woman who punches him “like a dude” with “mad hands,” and a narrator anxiously trying to support an ailing wife. Except for a few stray keyboard sounds, nothing on “★” feels particularly rooted in time.

As a bandleader, Bowie pushes his players toward productive friction. On “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,” as McCaslin moves into his highest register, slipping out of tonality, Guiliana a solid backbeat, unseating anything that feels like a default “jazz” setting.

“★” is, as Visconti described it, a Bowie album, the first one I’ve left on loop since “Scary Monsters.” It is charged and scrupulously edited. There are five more songs from these sessions that have yet to be released. So look forward to next Christmas and hope for a deluxe edition.

Twitter: @sfj (https://twitter.com/sfj)

MORE:

Full coverage: David Bowie’s life and career (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-sg-20160111-storygallery.html)

From the Robert Hilburn archives: David Bowie spends the ’80s convincing us he’s just a normal guy (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-david-bowie-archive-19870419-story.html)

Five songs to prove David Bowie is impossible to capture in five songs (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-five-songs-david-bowie-impossible-to-capture-in-five-songs-20160110-story.html)

Exhibition and book of Mick Rock’s photography looks back on David Bowie (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-photo-exhibition-mick-rock-david-bowie-20151027-story.html)

David Bowie’s wham-bam ‘Where Are We Now’ release shows the artist remains a mystery in Twitter age (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-david-bowie-messes-with-mystery-in-where-are-we-now-20130108-story.html)

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Billie Allen, Actress Who Bridged a Racial Gap, Dies at 90 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/11/theater/billie-allen-actress-who-bridged-racial-gap-dies-at-90.html?_r=0

** Billie Allen, Actress Who Bridged a Racial Gap, Dies at 90
————————————————————
By BRUCE WEBER (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/bruce_weber/index.html) JAN. 10, 2016

Billie Allen, one of the first black performers with a recurring network TV role, in 1955 on “The Phil Silvers Show,” with from left, Elisabeth Fraser, Barbara Berry, Midge Ware and Fay Morley. CBS Photo Archive, via Getty Images

Billie Allen, an actress who appeared on and off Broadway when New York theater was not especially welcoming to black performers, and who helped integrate network television, making frequent appearances on “The Phil Silvers Show” in the 1950s and in commercials in the 1960s, died on Dec. 29 at her home in Manhattan. She was 90.

Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Carolyn J. Grant.

Though not a marquee name, Ms. Allen was part of a significant theater cohort. She was a longtime friend of Ruby Dee (whom she directed in 2001 in “Saint Lucy’s Eyes,” an Off Broadway drama about abortion). Her second husband was the composer and arranger Luther Henderson, with whom she helped develop “Little Ham,” a musical based on Langston Hughes’s play of the same name about street life in Harlem.

In 1973, with the actor Morgan Freeman and others, she was a founder of the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop in Harlem — a tribute to Silvera, an actor, director and influential teacher who died in 1970 — whose attendees have included Ntozake Shange, Charles Fuller and Samm-Art Williams.

Ms. Allen, whose early performing interest was ballet, arrived in New York City from Virginia in the mid-1940s and danced on Broadway in shows including “Caribbean Carnival,” a 1947 musical revue; a 1952 revival of “Four Saints in Three Acts,” the Virgil Thomson opera with a libretto by Gertrude Stein; and “My Darlin’ Aida,” a 1952 adaptation of Verdi’s opera.

She studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. As an understudy in the landmark production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” (1959), she had occasion to go on as Beneatha Younger, the forward-looking sister of the play’s misguided protagonist.

She played a maid to a theater critic (Henry Fonda) and his playwright wife (Georgann Johnson) in Ira Levin’s comedy “Critic’s Choice” (1960), and had a small part in “Blues for Mr. Charlie,” James Baldwin’s anguishing 1964 civil rights drama drawn from the murder of the black teenager Emmett Till in 1955.

Her final Broadway appearance, in 1969, was in “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours,” a comedy about a Jewish widower whose son falls in love with a black woman. Co-written by and starring the comedian Jackie Mason (Ms. Allen played the young woman’s mother), the show earned Broadway notoriety for its absurdly extended preview period — 97 performances — following which it closed after opening night.

Of Ms. Allen’s many Off Broadway roles, the most prominent was Sarah, the central character of “Funnyhouse of a Negro,” Adrienne Kennedy’s 1964 study of the nightmarish torments of a young black woman.

Ms. Allen was one of the first black performers with a recurring role on a network series, appearing (sometimes uncredited) as a member of the Women’s Army Corps on “The Phil Silvers Show,” the CBS military comedy that starred Silvers as the scheming Sergeant Bilko.

She also grew to be in demand for television ads, appearing in commercials for Pampers diapers and cleaning products like Rinso and Tide.

“Television viewers, at least those who don’t tune out their minds during commercials,” The New York Times reported in a 1968 article that featured Ms. Allen, “are now beginning to learn that Negroes can worry about dentures, dishpan hands and bad breath just as everyone else in TV land seems to.”

Wilhelmina Louise Allen was born in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 13, 1925. Her mother, the former Mamie Wimbush, was a teacher; her father, William Allen, was an actuary.

A ballet and opera devotee, she idolized Marian Anderson and attended her 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing at Constitution Hall. After graduating from high school, she attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) before moving to New York.

Ms. Allen’s other television credits include “Car 54, Where Are You?” in the early 1960s and “Law & Order” in the early 1990s. She appeared in a handful of films as well, including “Black Like Me” (1964) and “The Wiz” (1978).

Ms. Allen’s first marriage, to Duane Grant, an aerospace engineer, ended in divorce. Her marriage to Mr. Henderson ended with his death in 2003. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Duane Grant Jr.; a brother, Edward Allen; a granddaughter; and several stepchildren.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Jazz Promo Services
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Warwick, Ny 10990
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Billie Allen, Actress Who Bridged a Racial Gap, Dies at 90 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/11/theater/billie-allen-actress-who-bridged-racial-gap-dies-at-90.html?_r=0

** Billie Allen, Actress Who Bridged a Racial Gap, Dies at 90
————————————————————
By BRUCE WEBER (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/bruce_weber/index.html) JAN. 10, 2016

Billie Allen, one of the first black performers with a recurring network TV role, in 1955 on “The Phil Silvers Show,” with from left, Elisabeth Fraser, Barbara Berry, Midge Ware and Fay Morley. CBS Photo Archive, via Getty Images

Billie Allen, an actress who appeared on and off Broadway when New York theater was not especially welcoming to black performers, and who helped integrate network television, making frequent appearances on “The Phil Silvers Show” in the 1950s and in commercials in the 1960s, died on Dec. 29 at her home in Manhattan. She was 90.

Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Carolyn J. Grant.

Though not a marquee name, Ms. Allen was part of a significant theater cohort. She was a longtime friend of Ruby Dee (whom she directed in 2001 in “Saint Lucy’s Eyes,” an Off Broadway drama about abortion). Her second husband was the composer and arranger Luther Henderson, with whom she helped develop “Little Ham,” a musical based on Langston Hughes’s play of the same name about street life in Harlem.

In 1973, with the actor Morgan Freeman and others, she was a founder of the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop in Harlem — a tribute to Silvera, an actor, director and influential teacher who died in 1970 — whose attendees have included Ntozake Shange, Charles Fuller and Samm-Art Williams.

Ms. Allen, whose early performing interest was ballet, arrived in New York City from Virginia in the mid-1940s and danced on Broadway in shows including “Caribbean Carnival,” a 1947 musical revue; a 1952 revival of “Four Saints in Three Acts,” the Virgil Thomson opera with a libretto by Gertrude Stein; and “My Darlin’ Aida,” a 1952 adaptation of Verdi’s opera.

She studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. As an understudy in the landmark production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” (1959), she had occasion to go on as Beneatha Younger, the forward-looking sister of the play’s misguided protagonist.

She played a maid to a theater critic (Henry Fonda) and his playwright wife (Georgann Johnson) in Ira Levin’s comedy “Critic’s Choice” (1960), and had a small part in “Blues for Mr. Charlie,” James Baldwin’s anguishing 1964 civil rights drama drawn from the murder of the black teenager Emmett Till in 1955.

Her final Broadway appearance, in 1969, was in “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours,” a comedy about a Jewish widower whose son falls in love with a black woman. Co-written by and starring the comedian Jackie Mason (Ms. Allen played the young woman’s mother), the show earned Broadway notoriety for its absurdly extended preview period — 97 performances — following which it closed after opening night.

Of Ms. Allen’s many Off Broadway roles, the most prominent was Sarah, the central character of “Funnyhouse of a Negro,” Adrienne Kennedy’s 1964 study of the nightmarish torments of a young black woman.

Ms. Allen was one of the first black performers with a recurring role on a network series, appearing (sometimes uncredited) as a member of the Women’s Army Corps on “The Phil Silvers Show,” the CBS military comedy that starred Silvers as the scheming Sergeant Bilko.

She also grew to be in demand for television ads, appearing in commercials for Pampers diapers and cleaning products like Rinso and Tide.

“Television viewers, at least those who don’t tune out their minds during commercials,” The New York Times reported in a 1968 article that featured Ms. Allen, “are now beginning to learn that Negroes can worry about dentures, dishpan hands and bad breath just as everyone else in TV land seems to.”

Wilhelmina Louise Allen was born in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 13, 1925. Her mother, the former Mamie Wimbush, was a teacher; her father, William Allen, was an actuary.

A ballet and opera devotee, she idolized Marian Anderson and attended her 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing at Constitution Hall. After graduating from high school, she attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) before moving to New York.

Ms. Allen’s other television credits include “Car 54, Where Are You?” in the early 1960s and “Law & Order” in the early 1990s. She appeared in a handful of films as well, including “Black Like Me” (1964) and “The Wiz” (1978).

Ms. Allen’s first marriage, to Duane Grant, an aerospace engineer, ended in divorce. Her marriage to Mr. Henderson ended with his death in 2003. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Duane Grant Jr.; a brother, Edward Allen; a granddaughter; and several stepchildren.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Billie Allen, Actress Who Bridged a Racial Gap, Dies at 90 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/11/theater/billie-allen-actress-who-bridged-racial-gap-dies-at-90.html?_r=0

** Billie Allen, Actress Who Bridged a Racial Gap, Dies at 90
————————————————————
By BRUCE WEBER (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/bruce_weber/index.html) JAN. 10, 2016

Billie Allen, one of the first black performers with a recurring network TV role, in 1955 on “The Phil Silvers Show,” with from left, Elisabeth Fraser, Barbara Berry, Midge Ware and Fay Morley. CBS Photo Archive, via Getty Images

Billie Allen, an actress who appeared on and off Broadway when New York theater was not especially welcoming to black performers, and who helped integrate network television, making frequent appearances on “The Phil Silvers Show” in the 1950s and in commercials in the 1960s, died on Dec. 29 at her home in Manhattan. She was 90.

Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Carolyn J. Grant.

Though not a marquee name, Ms. Allen was part of a significant theater cohort. She was a longtime friend of Ruby Dee (whom she directed in 2001 in “Saint Lucy’s Eyes,” an Off Broadway drama about abortion). Her second husband was the composer and arranger Luther Henderson, with whom she helped develop “Little Ham,” a musical based on Langston Hughes’s play of the same name about street life in Harlem.

In 1973, with the actor Morgan Freeman and others, she was a founder of the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop in Harlem — a tribute to Silvera, an actor, director and influential teacher who died in 1970 — whose attendees have included Ntozake Shange, Charles Fuller and Samm-Art Williams.

Ms. Allen, whose early performing interest was ballet, arrived in New York City from Virginia in the mid-1940s and danced on Broadway in shows including “Caribbean Carnival,” a 1947 musical revue; a 1952 revival of “Four Saints in Three Acts,” the Virgil Thomson opera with a libretto by Gertrude Stein; and “My Darlin’ Aida,” a 1952 adaptation of Verdi’s opera.

She studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. As an understudy in the landmark production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” (1959), she had occasion to go on as Beneatha Younger, the forward-looking sister of the play’s misguided protagonist.

She played a maid to a theater critic (Henry Fonda) and his playwright wife (Georgann Johnson) in Ira Levin’s comedy “Critic’s Choice” (1960), and had a small part in “Blues for Mr. Charlie,” James Baldwin’s anguishing 1964 civil rights drama drawn from the murder of the black teenager Emmett Till in 1955.

Her final Broadway appearance, in 1969, was in “A Teaspoon Every Four Hours,” a comedy about a Jewish widower whose son falls in love with a black woman. Co-written by and starring the comedian Jackie Mason (Ms. Allen played the young woman’s mother), the show earned Broadway notoriety for its absurdly extended preview period — 97 performances — following which it closed after opening night.

Of Ms. Allen’s many Off Broadway roles, the most prominent was Sarah, the central character of “Funnyhouse of a Negro,” Adrienne Kennedy’s 1964 study of the nightmarish torments of a young black woman.

Ms. Allen was one of the first black performers with a recurring role on a network series, appearing (sometimes uncredited) as a member of the Women’s Army Corps on “The Phil Silvers Show,” the CBS military comedy that starred Silvers as the scheming Sergeant Bilko.

She also grew to be in demand for television ads, appearing in commercials for Pampers diapers and cleaning products like Rinso and Tide.

“Television viewers, at least those who don’t tune out their minds during commercials,” The New York Times reported in a 1968 article that featured Ms. Allen, “are now beginning to learn that Negroes can worry about dentures, dishpan hands and bad breath just as everyone else in TV land seems to.”

Wilhelmina Louise Allen was born in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 13, 1925. Her mother, the former Mamie Wimbush, was a teacher; her father, William Allen, was an actuary.

A ballet and opera devotee, she idolized Marian Anderson and attended her 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing at Constitution Hall. After graduating from high school, she attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) before moving to New York.

Ms. Allen’s other television credits include “Car 54, Where Are You?” in the early 1960s and “Law & Order” in the early 1990s. She appeared in a handful of films as well, including “Black Like Me” (1964) and “The Wiz” (1978).

Ms. Allen’s first marriage, to Duane Grant, an aerospace engineer, ended in divorce. Her marriage to Mr. Henderson ended with his death in 2003. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Duane Grant Jr.; a brother, Edward Allen; a granddaughter; and several stepchildren.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-dies-at-69.html?

** David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion
————————————————————

By JON PARELES (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/jon_pareles/index.html) JAN. 11, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-1947-2016.html

Ralph Gatti/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-1947-2016.html)
Continue reading the main story

David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Steve Martin, on Monday morning. No other details were provided.

Mr. Bowie had been treated for cancer for the last 18 months, according to a statement on his social-media accounts. “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family,” a post on his Facebook page read.

His last album, “Blackstar (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/arts/music/review-blackstar-david-bowies-emotive-and-cryptic-new-album.html) ,” a collaboration with a jazz quartet that was typically enigmatic and exploratory, was released on Friday — his birthday. He was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall on March 31 featuring the Roots, Cyndi Lauper and the Mountain Goats.

He had also collaborated on an Off Broadway musical, “Lazarus (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/theater/review-david-bowie-songs-and-a-familiar-alien-in-lazarus.html) ,” which was a surreal sequel to his definitive 1976 film role, “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”

Mr. Bowie wrote songs, above all, about being an outsider: an alien, a misfit, a sexual adventurer, a faraway astronaut. His music was always a mutable blend: rock, cabaret, jazz and what he called “plastic soul,” but it was suffused with genuine soul. He also captured the drama and longing of everyday life, enough to give him No. 1 pop hits like “Let’s Dance.”

** David Bowie: In Memoriam
————————————————————

In concerts and videos, Mr. Bowie’s costumes and imagery traversed styles, eras and continents, from German Expressionism to commedia dell’arte to Japanese kimonos to space suits. He set an example, and a challenge, for every arena spectacle in his wake.

If he had an anthem, it was “Changes,” from his 1971 album “Hunky Dory,” which proclaimed:

“Turn and face the strange / Ch-ch-changes / Oh look out now you rock and rollers / Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older.”

Mr. Bowie earned admiration and emulation across the musical spectrum — from rockers, balladeers, punks, hip-hop acts, creators of pop spectacles and even classical composers like Philip Glass, who based two symphonies on Mr. Bowie’s albums “Low” and “ ‘Heroes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g) .’ ”

Mr. Bowie’s constantly morphing persona was a touchstone for performers like Madonna and Lady Gaga; his determination to stay contemporary introduced his fans to Philadelphia funk, Japanese fashion, German electronica and drum-and-bass dance music.

Nirvana chose to sing “The Man Who Sold the World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8) ,” the title song of Mr. Bowie’s 1970 album, in its brief set for the 1993 “MTV Unplugged in New York.” “Under Pressure,” a collaboration with the glam-rock group Queen, supplied a bass line for the 1990 Vanilla Ice hit “Ice Ice Baby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE) .”

Yet throughout Mr. Bowie’s metamorphoses, he was always recognizable. His voice was widely imitated but always his own; his message was that there was always empathy beyond difference.

Angst and apocalypse, media and paranoia, distance and yearning were among Mr. Bowie’s lifelong themes. So was a penchant for transgression coupled with a determination to push cult tastes toward the mainstream.

Mr. Bowie produced albums and wrote songs for some of his idols — Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople — that gave them pop hits without causing them to abandon their individuality. And he collaborated with musicians like Brian Eno in the Berlin years and, in his final recordings, with the jazz musicians Maria Schneider and Donny McCaslin, introducing them to many new listeners.

Mr. Bowie was a person of relentless reinvention. He emerged in the late 1960s with the voice of a rock belter but with the sensibility of a cabaret singer, steeped in the dynamics of stage musicals. He was Major Tom, the lost astronaut in his career-making 1969 hit “Space Oddity.”

He was Ziggy Stardust, the otherworldly pop star at the center of his 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.”

He was the self-destructive Thin White Duke and the minimalist but heartfelt voice of the three albums he recorded in Berlin in the ’70s.

The arrival of MTV in the 1980s was the perfect complement to Mr. Bowie’s sense of theatricality and fashion. “Ashes to Ashes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMThz7eQ6K0) ,” the “Space Oddity” sequel that revealed, “We know Major Tom’s a junkie,” and “Let’s Dance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA) ,” which offered, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” gave him worldwide popularity.

Mr. Bowie was his generation’s standard-bearer for rock as theater: something constructed and inflated yet sincere in its artifice, saying more than naturalism could. With a voice that dipped down to baritone and leapt into falsetto, he was complexly androgynous, an explorer of human impulses that could not be quantified.

He also pushed the limits of “Fashion” and “Fame,” writing songs with those titles and also thinking deeply about the possibilities and strictures of pop renown.

Mr. Bowie was married for more than 20 years to the international model Iman, with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones.

In a post (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) on Twitter, Duncan Jones, the musician’s son from an earlier marriage, with Angela Bowie, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”

David Robert Jones was born in London (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-social-media-tribute.html) on Jan. 8, 1947, where as a youth he soaked up rock ’n’ roll. He took up the saxophone in the 1960s and started leading bands as a teenager, singing the blues in a succession of unsuccessful groups and singles. He suffered a blow in a teenage brawl that caused his left pupil to be permanently dilated.

** Bowie, in the Pages of The Times
————————————————————

In the late 1960s, Lindsay Kemp, a dancer, actor and mime, became a lasting influence on Mr. Bowie, focusing his interest in movement and artifice. Mr. Bowie’s music turned toward folk-rock and psychedelia. The release of “Space Oddity,” shortly before the Apollo 11 mission, gained him a British pop audience and, when it was rereleased in 1973 in the United States, an American one.

By then, with the albums “Hunky Dory,” “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” and “Aladdin Sane,” Mr. Bowie had become a pioneer of glam rock and a major star in Britain, playing up an androgynous image. But he also had difficulties separating his onstage personas from real life and succumbed to drug problems, particularly cocaine use. In 1973, he abruptly announced his retirement — though it was the retirement of Ziggy Stardust, not of Mr. Bowie.

He moved to the United States in 1974 and made “Diamond Dogs,” which included the hit “Rebel Rebel.” In 1975, he turned toward funk with the album “Young Americans,” recorded primarily in Philadelphia with collaborators, including a young Luther Vandross; John Lennon joined Mr. Bowie in writing and singing the hit “Fame.” Mr. Bowie’s 1976 album “Station to Station” yielded more hits, but drug problems were making Mr. Bowie increasingly unstable; in interviews, he made pro-fascist pronouncements that he would soon disown.

For a far-reaching change of environment, and to get away from drugs, Mr. Bowie moved in 1976 to Switzerland and then to West Berlin, part of a divided city with a sound that fascinated him: the Krautrock of Kraftwerk, Can, Neu! and other groups. Mr. Bowie shared a Berlin apartment with Iggy Pop, and he helped produce and write songs for two Iggy Pop albums, “The Idiot” and “Lust for Life.”

He also made what is usually called his Berlin trilogy — “Low,” “ ‘Heroes’ ” and “Lodger” — working with Mr. Eno and Mr. Bowie’s collaborator over decades, the producer Tony Visconti. They used electronics and experimental methods, like having musicians play unfamiliar instruments, yet songs like “ ‘Heroes’ ” conveyed romance against the bleakest odds.

As the 1980s began, Mr. Bowie turned to live theater, performing in multiple cities (including a Broadway run) in the demanding title role of “The Elephant Man.” Yet he would also reach his peak as a mainstream pop musician in that decade — particularly with his 1983 album “Let’s Dance,” which he produced with Nile Rodgers of Chic; the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan also performed on the album. But by 1989, Mr. Bowie was determined to change again; he recorded, without top billing, as a member of the rock band Tin Machine.

His experiments continued in the 1990s. In 1995, he reconnected with Mr. Eno on an album, “1. Outside,” — influenced by science fiction and film noir — that was intended to be the start of a trilogy. Mr. Bowie toured with Nine Inch Nails in an innovative concert that had his band and Nine Inch Nails merging partway through. Mr. Bowie’s 1997 album, “Earthling,” turned toward the era’s electronic dance music.

By the 21st century, Mr. Bowie was an elder statesman. He had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2001, he sang “ ‘Heroes’ ” at the Concert for New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks. His last tour, after the release of his album “Reality,” ended when he experienced heart problems in 2004. But he continued to lend his imprimatur to newer bands like Arcade Fire, joining them onstage, and TV on the Radio, adding backup vocals in the studio.

In 2006, he performed three songs in public for what would be the final time (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-david-bowie-sings-changes-at-his-final-public-performance-20140826) , at the Keep a Child Alive Black Ball fund-raiser at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

His final albums were a glance back and a new excursion. “The Next Day,” released in 2013, returned to something like the glam-rock sound of his 1970s guitar bands, for new songs suffused with bitter thoughts of mortality. And “Blackstar,” released two days before his death, had him backed by a volatile jazz-based quartet, in songs that contemplated fame, spirituality, lust, death and, as always, startling transformations.
Correction: January 11, 2016

An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to the group Mr. Bowie collaborated with on “Blackstar.” It is a jazz quartet, not quintet.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-dies-at-69.html?

** David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion
————————————————————

By JON PARELES (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/jon_pareles/index.html) JAN. 11, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-1947-2016.html

Ralph Gatti/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-1947-2016.html)
Continue reading the main story

David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Steve Martin, on Monday morning. No other details were provided.

Mr. Bowie had been treated for cancer for the last 18 months, according to a statement on his social-media accounts. “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family,” a post on his Facebook page read.

His last album, “Blackstar (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/arts/music/review-blackstar-david-bowies-emotive-and-cryptic-new-album.html) ,” a collaboration with a jazz quartet that was typically enigmatic and exploratory, was released on Friday — his birthday. He was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall on March 31 featuring the Roots, Cyndi Lauper and the Mountain Goats.

He had also collaborated on an Off Broadway musical, “Lazarus (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/theater/review-david-bowie-songs-and-a-familiar-alien-in-lazarus.html) ,” which was a surreal sequel to his definitive 1976 film role, “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”

Mr. Bowie wrote songs, above all, about being an outsider: an alien, a misfit, a sexual adventurer, a faraway astronaut. His music was always a mutable blend: rock, cabaret, jazz and what he called “plastic soul,” but it was suffused with genuine soul. He also captured the drama and longing of everyday life, enough to give him No. 1 pop hits like “Let’s Dance.”

** David Bowie: In Memoriam
————————————————————

In concerts and videos, Mr. Bowie’s costumes and imagery traversed styles, eras and continents, from German Expressionism to commedia dell’arte to Japanese kimonos to space suits. He set an example, and a challenge, for every arena spectacle in his wake.

If he had an anthem, it was “Changes,” from his 1971 album “Hunky Dory,” which proclaimed:

“Turn and face the strange / Ch-ch-changes / Oh look out now you rock and rollers / Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older.”

Mr. Bowie earned admiration and emulation across the musical spectrum — from rockers, balladeers, punks, hip-hop acts, creators of pop spectacles and even classical composers like Philip Glass, who based two symphonies on Mr. Bowie’s albums “Low” and “ ‘Heroes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g) .’ ”

Mr. Bowie’s constantly morphing persona was a touchstone for performers like Madonna and Lady Gaga; his determination to stay contemporary introduced his fans to Philadelphia funk, Japanese fashion, German electronica and drum-and-bass dance music.

Nirvana chose to sing “The Man Who Sold the World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8) ,” the title song of Mr. Bowie’s 1970 album, in its brief set for the 1993 “MTV Unplugged in New York.” “Under Pressure,” a collaboration with the glam-rock group Queen, supplied a bass line for the 1990 Vanilla Ice hit “Ice Ice Baby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE) .”

Yet throughout Mr. Bowie’s metamorphoses, he was always recognizable. His voice was widely imitated but always his own; his message was that there was always empathy beyond difference.

Angst and apocalypse, media and paranoia, distance and yearning were among Mr. Bowie’s lifelong themes. So was a penchant for transgression coupled with a determination to push cult tastes toward the mainstream.

Mr. Bowie produced albums and wrote songs for some of his idols — Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople — that gave them pop hits without causing them to abandon their individuality. And he collaborated with musicians like Brian Eno in the Berlin years and, in his final recordings, with the jazz musicians Maria Schneider and Donny McCaslin, introducing them to many new listeners.

Mr. Bowie was a person of relentless reinvention. He emerged in the late 1960s with the voice of a rock belter but with the sensibility of a cabaret singer, steeped in the dynamics of stage musicals. He was Major Tom, the lost astronaut in his career-making 1969 hit “Space Oddity.”

He was Ziggy Stardust, the otherworldly pop star at the center of his 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.”

He was the self-destructive Thin White Duke and the minimalist but heartfelt voice of the three albums he recorded in Berlin in the ’70s.

The arrival of MTV in the 1980s was the perfect complement to Mr. Bowie’s sense of theatricality and fashion. “Ashes to Ashes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMThz7eQ6K0) ,” the “Space Oddity” sequel that revealed, “We know Major Tom’s a junkie,” and “Let’s Dance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA) ,” which offered, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” gave him worldwide popularity.

Mr. Bowie was his generation’s standard-bearer for rock as theater: something constructed and inflated yet sincere in its artifice, saying more than naturalism could. With a voice that dipped down to baritone and leapt into falsetto, he was complexly androgynous, an explorer of human impulses that could not be quantified.

He also pushed the limits of “Fashion” and “Fame,” writing songs with those titles and also thinking deeply about the possibilities and strictures of pop renown.

Mr. Bowie was married for more than 20 years to the international model Iman, with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones.

In a post (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) on Twitter, Duncan Jones, the musician’s son from an earlier marriage, with Angela Bowie, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”

David Robert Jones was born in London (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-social-media-tribute.html) on Jan. 8, 1947, where as a youth he soaked up rock ’n’ roll. He took up the saxophone in the 1960s and started leading bands as a teenager, singing the blues in a succession of unsuccessful groups and singles. He suffered a blow in a teenage brawl that caused his left pupil to be permanently dilated.

** Bowie, in the Pages of The Times
————————————————————

In the late 1960s, Lindsay Kemp, a dancer, actor and mime, became a lasting influence on Mr. Bowie, focusing his interest in movement and artifice. Mr. Bowie’s music turned toward folk-rock and psychedelia. The release of “Space Oddity,” shortly before the Apollo 11 mission, gained him a British pop audience and, when it was rereleased in 1973 in the United States, an American one.

By then, with the albums “Hunky Dory,” “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” and “Aladdin Sane,” Mr. Bowie had become a pioneer of glam rock and a major star in Britain, playing up an androgynous image. But he also had difficulties separating his onstage personas from real life and succumbed to drug problems, particularly cocaine use. In 1973, he abruptly announced his retirement — though it was the retirement of Ziggy Stardust, not of Mr. Bowie.

He moved to the United States in 1974 and made “Diamond Dogs,” which included the hit “Rebel Rebel.” In 1975, he turned toward funk with the album “Young Americans,” recorded primarily in Philadelphia with collaborators, including a young Luther Vandross; John Lennon joined Mr. Bowie in writing and singing the hit “Fame.” Mr. Bowie’s 1976 album “Station to Station” yielded more hits, but drug problems were making Mr. Bowie increasingly unstable; in interviews, he made pro-fascist pronouncements that he would soon disown.

For a far-reaching change of environment, and to get away from drugs, Mr. Bowie moved in 1976 to Switzerland and then to West Berlin, part of a divided city with a sound that fascinated him: the Krautrock of Kraftwerk, Can, Neu! and other groups. Mr. Bowie shared a Berlin apartment with Iggy Pop, and he helped produce and write songs for two Iggy Pop albums, “The Idiot” and “Lust for Life.”

He also made what is usually called his Berlin trilogy — “Low,” “ ‘Heroes’ ” and “Lodger” — working with Mr. Eno and Mr. Bowie’s collaborator over decades, the producer Tony Visconti. They used electronics and experimental methods, like having musicians play unfamiliar instruments, yet songs like “ ‘Heroes’ ” conveyed romance against the bleakest odds.

As the 1980s began, Mr. Bowie turned to live theater, performing in multiple cities (including a Broadway run) in the demanding title role of “The Elephant Man.” Yet he would also reach his peak as a mainstream pop musician in that decade — particularly with his 1983 album “Let’s Dance,” which he produced with Nile Rodgers of Chic; the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan also performed on the album. But by 1989, Mr. Bowie was determined to change again; he recorded, without top billing, as a member of the rock band Tin Machine.

His experiments continued in the 1990s. In 1995, he reconnected with Mr. Eno on an album, “1. Outside,” — influenced by science fiction and film noir — that was intended to be the start of a trilogy. Mr. Bowie toured with Nine Inch Nails in an innovative concert that had his band and Nine Inch Nails merging partway through. Mr. Bowie’s 1997 album, “Earthling,” turned toward the era’s electronic dance music.

By the 21st century, Mr. Bowie was an elder statesman. He had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2001, he sang “ ‘Heroes’ ” at the Concert for New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks. His last tour, after the release of his album “Reality,” ended when he experienced heart problems in 2004. But he continued to lend his imprimatur to newer bands like Arcade Fire, joining them onstage, and TV on the Radio, adding backup vocals in the studio.

In 2006, he performed three songs in public for what would be the final time (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-david-bowie-sings-changes-at-his-final-public-performance-20140826) , at the Keep a Child Alive Black Ball fund-raiser at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

His final albums were a glance back and a new excursion. “The Next Day,” released in 2013, returned to something like the glam-rock sound of his 1970s guitar bands, for new songs suffused with bitter thoughts of mortality. And “Blackstar,” released two days before his death, had him backed by a volatile jazz-based quartet, in songs that contemplated fame, spirituality, lust, death and, as always, startling transformations.
Correction: January 11, 2016

An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to the group Mr. Bowie collaborated with on “Blackstar.” It is a jazz quartet, not quintet.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-dies-at-69.html?

** David Bowie Dies at 69; He Transcended Music, Art and Fashion
————————————————————

By JON PARELES (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/jon_pareles/index.html) JAN. 11, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-1947-2016.html

Ralph Gatti/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-1947-2016.html)
Continue reading the main story

David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Steve Martin, on Monday morning. No other details were provided.

Mr. Bowie had been treated for cancer for the last 18 months, according to a statement on his social-media accounts. “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family,” a post on his Facebook page read.

His last album, “Blackstar (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/arts/music/review-blackstar-david-bowies-emotive-and-cryptic-new-album.html) ,” a collaboration with a jazz quartet that was typically enigmatic and exploratory, was released on Friday — his birthday. He was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall on March 31 featuring the Roots, Cyndi Lauper and the Mountain Goats.

He had also collaborated on an Off Broadway musical, “Lazarus (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/theater/review-david-bowie-songs-and-a-familiar-alien-in-lazarus.html) ,” which was a surreal sequel to his definitive 1976 film role, “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”

Mr. Bowie wrote songs, above all, about being an outsider: an alien, a misfit, a sexual adventurer, a faraway astronaut. His music was always a mutable blend: rock, cabaret, jazz and what he called “plastic soul,” but it was suffused with genuine soul. He also captured the drama and longing of everyday life, enough to give him No. 1 pop hits like “Let’s Dance.”

** David Bowie: In Memoriam
————————————————————

In concerts and videos, Mr. Bowie’s costumes and imagery traversed styles, eras and continents, from German Expressionism to commedia dell’arte to Japanese kimonos to space suits. He set an example, and a challenge, for every arena spectacle in his wake.

If he had an anthem, it was “Changes,” from his 1971 album “Hunky Dory,” which proclaimed:

“Turn and face the strange / Ch-ch-changes / Oh look out now you rock and rollers / Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older.”

Mr. Bowie earned admiration and emulation across the musical spectrum — from rockers, balladeers, punks, hip-hop acts, creators of pop spectacles and even classical composers like Philip Glass, who based two symphonies on Mr. Bowie’s albums “Low” and “ ‘Heroes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g) .’ ”

Mr. Bowie’s constantly morphing persona was a touchstone for performers like Madonna and Lady Gaga; his determination to stay contemporary introduced his fans to Philadelphia funk, Japanese fashion, German electronica and drum-and-bass dance music.

Nirvana chose to sing “The Man Who Sold the World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8) ,” the title song of Mr. Bowie’s 1970 album, in its brief set for the 1993 “MTV Unplugged in New York.” “Under Pressure,” a collaboration with the glam-rock group Queen, supplied a bass line for the 1990 Vanilla Ice hit “Ice Ice Baby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE) .”

Yet throughout Mr. Bowie’s metamorphoses, he was always recognizable. His voice was widely imitated but always his own; his message was that there was always empathy beyond difference.

Angst and apocalypse, media and paranoia, distance and yearning were among Mr. Bowie’s lifelong themes. So was a penchant for transgression coupled with a determination to push cult tastes toward the mainstream.

Mr. Bowie produced albums and wrote songs for some of his idols — Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople — that gave them pop hits without causing them to abandon their individuality. And he collaborated with musicians like Brian Eno in the Berlin years and, in his final recordings, with the jazz musicians Maria Schneider and Donny McCaslin, introducing them to many new listeners.

Mr. Bowie was a person of relentless reinvention. He emerged in the late 1960s with the voice of a rock belter but with the sensibility of a cabaret singer, steeped in the dynamics of stage musicals. He was Major Tom, the lost astronaut in his career-making 1969 hit “Space Oddity.”

He was Ziggy Stardust, the otherworldly pop star at the center of his 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.”

He was the self-destructive Thin White Duke and the minimalist but heartfelt voice of the three albums he recorded in Berlin in the ’70s.

The arrival of MTV in the 1980s was the perfect complement to Mr. Bowie’s sense of theatricality and fashion. “Ashes to Ashes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMThz7eQ6K0) ,” the “Space Oddity” sequel that revealed, “We know Major Tom’s a junkie,” and “Let’s Dance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA) ,” which offered, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” gave him worldwide popularity.

Mr. Bowie was his generation’s standard-bearer for rock as theater: something constructed and inflated yet sincere in its artifice, saying more than naturalism could. With a voice that dipped down to baritone and leapt into falsetto, he was complexly androgynous, an explorer of human impulses that could not be quantified.

He also pushed the limits of “Fashion” and “Fame,” writing songs with those titles and also thinking deeply about the possibilities and strictures of pop renown.

Mr. Bowie was married for more than 20 years to the international model Iman, with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones.

In a post (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) on Twitter, Duncan Jones, the musician’s son from an earlier marriage, with Angela Bowie, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”

David Robert Jones was born in London (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-social-media-tribute.html) on Jan. 8, 1947, where as a youth he soaked up rock ’n’ roll. He took up the saxophone in the 1960s and started leading bands as a teenager, singing the blues in a succession of unsuccessful groups and singles. He suffered a blow in a teenage brawl that caused his left pupil to be permanently dilated.

** Bowie, in the Pages of The Times
————————————————————

In the late 1960s, Lindsay Kemp, a dancer, actor and mime, became a lasting influence on Mr. Bowie, focusing his interest in movement and artifice. Mr. Bowie’s music turned toward folk-rock and psychedelia. The release of “Space Oddity,” shortly before the Apollo 11 mission, gained him a British pop audience and, when it was rereleased in 1973 in the United States, an American one.

By then, with the albums “Hunky Dory,” “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” and “Aladdin Sane,” Mr. Bowie had become a pioneer of glam rock and a major star in Britain, playing up an androgynous image. But he also had difficulties separating his onstage personas from real life and succumbed to drug problems, particularly cocaine use. In 1973, he abruptly announced his retirement — though it was the retirement of Ziggy Stardust, not of Mr. Bowie.

He moved to the United States in 1974 and made “Diamond Dogs,” which included the hit “Rebel Rebel.” In 1975, he turned toward funk with the album “Young Americans,” recorded primarily in Philadelphia with collaborators, including a young Luther Vandross; John Lennon joined Mr. Bowie in writing and singing the hit “Fame.” Mr. Bowie’s 1976 album “Station to Station” yielded more hits, but drug problems were making Mr. Bowie increasingly unstable; in interviews, he made pro-fascist pronouncements that he would soon disown.

For a far-reaching change of environment, and to get away from drugs, Mr. Bowie moved in 1976 to Switzerland and then to West Berlin, part of a divided city with a sound that fascinated him: the Krautrock of Kraftwerk, Can, Neu! and other groups. Mr. Bowie shared a Berlin apartment with Iggy Pop, and he helped produce and write songs for two Iggy Pop albums, “The Idiot” and “Lust for Life.”

He also made what is usually called his Berlin trilogy — “Low,” “ ‘Heroes’ ” and “Lodger” — working with Mr. Eno and Mr. Bowie’s collaborator over decades, the producer Tony Visconti. They used electronics and experimental methods, like having musicians play unfamiliar instruments, yet songs like “ ‘Heroes’ ” conveyed romance against the bleakest odds.

As the 1980s began, Mr. Bowie turned to live theater, performing in multiple cities (including a Broadway run) in the demanding title role of “The Elephant Man.” Yet he would also reach his peak as a mainstream pop musician in that decade — particularly with his 1983 album “Let’s Dance,” which he produced with Nile Rodgers of Chic; the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan also performed on the album. But by 1989, Mr. Bowie was determined to change again; he recorded, without top billing, as a member of the rock band Tin Machine.

His experiments continued in the 1990s. In 1995, he reconnected with Mr. Eno on an album, “1. Outside,” — influenced by science fiction and film noir — that was intended to be the start of a trilogy. Mr. Bowie toured with Nine Inch Nails in an innovative concert that had his band and Nine Inch Nails merging partway through. Mr. Bowie’s 1997 album, “Earthling,” turned toward the era’s electronic dance music.

By the 21st century, Mr. Bowie was an elder statesman. He had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2001, he sang “ ‘Heroes’ ” at the Concert for New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks. His last tour, after the release of his album “Reality,” ended when he experienced heart problems in 2004. But he continued to lend his imprimatur to newer bands like Arcade Fire, joining them onstage, and TV on the Radio, adding backup vocals in the studio.

In 2006, he performed three songs in public for what would be the final time (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-david-bowie-sings-changes-at-his-final-public-performance-20140826) , at the Keep a Child Alive Black Ball fund-raiser at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

His final albums were a glance back and a new excursion. “The Next Day,” released in 2013, returned to something like the glam-rock sound of his 1970s guitar bands, for new songs suffused with bitter thoughts of mortality. And “Blackstar,” released two days before his death, had him backed by a volatile jazz-based quartet, in songs that contemplated fame, spirituality, lust, death and, as always, startling transformations.
Correction: January 11, 2016

An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to the group Mr. Bowie collaborated with on “Blackstar.” It is a jazz quartet, not quintet.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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David Bowie dies of cancer at 69 | Music | The Guardian

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-dies-at-the-age-of-69#_=_

** David Bowie dies of cancer at 69
————————————————————

Caroline Davies in London and Edward Helmore in New York

David Bowie (http://www.theguardian.com/music/davidbowie) , the iconic rock star whose career spanned more than half a century and whose influence transcended music, fashion and sexuality, has died aged 69.

The singer’s death was confirmed in a Facebook post on his official page: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”

Writing on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) , Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, 44, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.” The news came as a shock to some, who were initially sceptical, but Bowie’s publicist, Steve Martin, told the Reuters news agency: “It’s not a hoax.”

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 11, 2016 (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992)

Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all. pic.twitter.com/Kh2fq3tf9m (https://t.co/Kh2fq3tf9m)

Bowie’s 25 albums produced a string of hits including Changes, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. He was known for experimenting across diverse musical genres, and for his alter egos Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. He also had a notable acting career.

His latest album, Blackstar, was released last week (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/07/david-bowie-blackstar-review-a-spellbinding-break-with-his-past) to coincide with his 69th birthday, and had received widespread critical acclaim.

Blackstar was the first Bowie release not to feature a picture of him on the cover: instead, a stylised black star heralded a darker work. On re-examination, there is much in Blackstar to suggest Bowie was saying goodbye, particularly in Lazarus, and the video for the title track, which opens with the image of a dead spaceman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw) .

Lazarus video from Blackstar album (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/lazarus-david-bowie-blackstar-video)

Tributes were paid on social media. In a heartfelt Facebook post, Tony Visconti, (https://www.facebook.com/tony.visconti1/posts/10208522003550232?fref=nf) who produced a series of Bowie’s albums, including Young Americans and his seminal Berlin trilogy, Low, Heroes and Lodger, wrote: “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of art.

“He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”

An hour after the news broke, fans began to gather near his apartment on Lafayette Street in the Soho district of New York. The first, Kate Corman, left a candle and flowers. “First Lou Reed, now David Bowie. It’s so sad. Unbelievable. New York is really over now,” she said.

‎At Puckfair, a bar across the street from Bowie’s apartment andfrequented by the singer, the barman played a string of his hits – Jean Genie, Let’s Dance and Heroes. “It’s hard to put into words what he gave us in his songs,” said late-night drinker Bill Marlborough. “If you don’t feel it, I can’t explain.”

Flowers and tributes were also laid at a mural on a wall in Brixton, south London, where the singer was born, and a candle was placed outside a property in Stansfield Road, thought to be his childhood home.

Bowie had been absent from public view for a decade. After a heart attack while touring in 2004 there were only a few low-key live appearances – his last at a charity show in New York in 2006 when he performed alongside Alicia Keys – and an acting role in the film The Prestige the same year.

He was said to sit quietly in his apartment, or at the house in upstate New York near Woodstock, which he purchased with the supermodel Iman, whom he married in 1992 and with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria, 15.

Paul Trynka, his biographer, told the Press Association the decade between his 23^rdalbum Reality in 2003 and The Next Day in 2013 gave Bowie time to be “a family man”. “He walked Lexi [his daughter] to school every day – something he had missed with Duncan [his son] which was something he deeply regretted”.

Ricky Gervais, the comedian and actor who convinced the famously private Bowie to star as himself in an episode of the 2006 sitcom Extras, wrote: “I just lost a hero. RIP David Bowie (https://mobile.twitter.com/rickygervais/status/686444063869026304?p=p) ”.

Bowie in his own words: highlights from his TV interviews (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-television-interviews-video)

The rock guitarist Joel Madden, quoting Changes, wrote simply: “Turn and face the strange (https://twitter.com/JoelMadden/status/686445570873950209) ”.

The rapper Kanye West said (https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686449257767776256) : “David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime.”

Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis recalled the singer’s first appearance in the Somerset field in 1971. “He had lovely long flowing hair, a right hippie-looking lad. Fantastically beautiful he looked, actually,” Eavis told the BBC. “Nobody knew who he was, he played at 4 in the morning at sunrise, song’e we’d never heard before.”

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase.

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase. Photograph: Michael Ochs/Corbis

Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, south London, to mother Margaret “Peggy”, a waitnress, and charity worker Haywood “John” Jones. His older brother’s record collection introduced him to rock music at an early age.

The family moved to south-east London and he graduated from Bromley technical high school at 16, when he was busy forming a number of bands and leading a group. He called himself Davy Jones, later changing his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees. The name was reportedly inspired by a knife developed by the 19^th century American pioneer Jim Bowie.

He released three singles as a solo artist for Pye Records, and a debut album David Bowie, but did not achieve huge success and retreated to a Buddhist monastery in Scotland in 1967.

After returning to London he started the arts troupe Feathers in 1968, then helped organise the Free Festival, a day-long free music event in Beckenham, southeast London, in 1969. That same year he released Space Oddity, which went on to be his first UK No 1. The release the following year of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars made him an international star, and he conquered the US with his theatrical stage show.
David Bowie pictured in 1976.

David Bowie pictured in 1976. Photograph: Steve Schapiro/Corbis

He produced albums for Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, as well as writing All the Young Dudes, which he gave to Mott The Hoople who had a massive hit with it. In the late 1970s he produced a three-album collaboration with Brian Eno, known as the Berlin trilogy.

Bowie combined his rock career with appearances in films. His acting career took off with his performance in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, followed by roles in films such as Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ and Absolute Beginners. More recently, he appeared as himself in the film Zoolander.

Bowie officially retired Ziggy Stardust in 1973, making the announcement during a London gig. But the hits kept coming, with albums including Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs and Pin Ups.
David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973

David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973. Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

He changed direction with the soul-inspired Young Americans. His first US No 1 was a collaboration with John Lennon on Fame, which topped the charts in 1975.

He continued to sell millions of albums and pack out stadiums with the rise of the New Romantic scene in 1980s Britain. He embraced pop, finding chart success with songs such as Let’s Dance and Queen collaboration Under Pressure.

Friend and collaborator Iggy Pop described him on social media as “the light of my life”, while singer Madonna tweeted: “Talented. Unique. Genius. Game Changer”.

The Rolling Stones hailed his as “an extraordinary artist and a true original”. The rock group Queen, with whom he collaborated on Under Pressure, tweeted a link to the video of the song, with the words: “This is our last dance….”

Prime minister David Cameron, speaking on an engagement in north London, said: “Musically, creatively, artistically David Bowie was a genius”.

Bowie once said that he was bisexual, although he later suggested that his sexual interactions with men should be seen in the context of his wider cultural experimentation. “I was always a closet heterosexual,” he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1993.

In 1970 he married Angie Bowie, and the couple had a son named Zowie Bowie, now known as Duncan Jones. They split in 1980. He settled in New York one year after marrying Iman.

Bowie continued to record and tour until 2003, when he released Reality, his 23^rdalbum, which many assumed to be his last.
Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners.

Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners. Photograph: Alamy

“I am not a natural performer,” Bowie said in a rare interview in 2002. “I don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But, five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back to the studio.”

In the same interview, he said: “My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety, all of the high points of one’s life.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=6cba192314) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=6cba192314&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

David Bowie dies of cancer at 69 | Music | The Guardian

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-dies-at-the-age-of-69#_=_

** David Bowie dies of cancer at 69
————————————————————

Caroline Davies in London and Edward Helmore in New York

David Bowie (http://www.theguardian.com/music/davidbowie) , the iconic rock star whose career spanned more than half a century and whose influence transcended music, fashion and sexuality, has died aged 69.

The singer’s death was confirmed in a Facebook post on his official page: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”

Writing on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) , Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, 44, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.” The news came as a shock to some, who were initially sceptical, but Bowie’s publicist, Steve Martin, told the Reuters news agency: “It’s not a hoax.”

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 11, 2016 (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992)

Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all. pic.twitter.com/Kh2fq3tf9m (https://t.co/Kh2fq3tf9m)

Bowie’s 25 albums produced a string of hits including Changes, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. He was known for experimenting across diverse musical genres, and for his alter egos Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. He also had a notable acting career.

His latest album, Blackstar, was released last week (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/07/david-bowie-blackstar-review-a-spellbinding-break-with-his-past) to coincide with his 69th birthday, and had received widespread critical acclaim.

Blackstar was the first Bowie release not to feature a picture of him on the cover: instead, a stylised black star heralded a darker work. On re-examination, there is much in Blackstar to suggest Bowie was saying goodbye, particularly in Lazarus, and the video for the title track, which opens with the image of a dead spaceman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw) .

Lazarus video from Blackstar album (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/lazarus-david-bowie-blackstar-video)

Tributes were paid on social media. In a heartfelt Facebook post, Tony Visconti, (https://www.facebook.com/tony.visconti1/posts/10208522003550232?fref=nf) who produced a series of Bowie’s albums, including Young Americans and his seminal Berlin trilogy, Low, Heroes and Lodger, wrote: “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of art.

“He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”

An hour after the news broke, fans began to gather near his apartment on Lafayette Street in the Soho district of New York. The first, Kate Corman, left a candle and flowers. “First Lou Reed, now David Bowie. It’s so sad. Unbelievable. New York is really over now,” she said.

‎At Puckfair, a bar across the street from Bowie’s apartment andfrequented by the singer, the barman played a string of his hits – Jean Genie, Let’s Dance and Heroes. “It’s hard to put into words what he gave us in his songs,” said late-night drinker Bill Marlborough. “If you don’t feel it, I can’t explain.”

Flowers and tributes were also laid at a mural on a wall in Brixton, south London, where the singer was born, and a candle was placed outside a property in Stansfield Road, thought to be his childhood home.

Bowie had been absent from public view for a decade. After a heart attack while touring in 2004 there were only a few low-key live appearances – his last at a charity show in New York in 2006 when he performed alongside Alicia Keys – and an acting role in the film The Prestige the same year.

He was said to sit quietly in his apartment, or at the house in upstate New York near Woodstock, which he purchased with the supermodel Iman, whom he married in 1992 and with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria, 15.

Paul Trynka, his biographer, told the Press Association the decade between his 23^rdalbum Reality in 2003 and The Next Day in 2013 gave Bowie time to be “a family man”. “He walked Lexi [his daughter] to school every day – something he had missed with Duncan [his son] which was something he deeply regretted”.

Ricky Gervais, the comedian and actor who convinced the famously private Bowie to star as himself in an episode of the 2006 sitcom Extras, wrote: “I just lost a hero. RIP David Bowie (https://mobile.twitter.com/rickygervais/status/686444063869026304?p=p) ”.

Bowie in his own words: highlights from his TV interviews (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-television-interviews-video)

The rock guitarist Joel Madden, quoting Changes, wrote simply: “Turn and face the strange (https://twitter.com/JoelMadden/status/686445570873950209) ”.

The rapper Kanye West said (https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686449257767776256) : “David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime.”

Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis recalled the singer’s first appearance in the Somerset field in 1971. “He had lovely long flowing hair, a right hippie-looking lad. Fantastically beautiful he looked, actually,” Eavis told the BBC. “Nobody knew who he was, he played at 4 in the morning at sunrise, song’e we’d never heard before.”

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase.

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase. Photograph: Michael Ochs/Corbis

Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, south London, to mother Margaret “Peggy”, a waitnress, and charity worker Haywood “John” Jones. His older brother’s record collection introduced him to rock music at an early age.

The family moved to south-east London and he graduated from Bromley technical high school at 16, when he was busy forming a number of bands and leading a group. He called himself Davy Jones, later changing his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees. The name was reportedly inspired by a knife developed by the 19^th century American pioneer Jim Bowie.

He released three singles as a solo artist for Pye Records, and a debut album David Bowie, but did not achieve huge success and retreated to a Buddhist monastery in Scotland in 1967.

After returning to London he started the arts troupe Feathers in 1968, then helped organise the Free Festival, a day-long free music event in Beckenham, southeast London, in 1969. That same year he released Space Oddity, which went on to be his first UK No 1. The release the following year of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars made him an international star, and he conquered the US with his theatrical stage show.
David Bowie pictured in 1976.

David Bowie pictured in 1976. Photograph: Steve Schapiro/Corbis

He produced albums for Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, as well as writing All the Young Dudes, which he gave to Mott The Hoople who had a massive hit with it. In the late 1970s he produced a three-album collaboration with Brian Eno, known as the Berlin trilogy.

Bowie combined his rock career with appearances in films. His acting career took off with his performance in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, followed by roles in films such as Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ and Absolute Beginners. More recently, he appeared as himself in the film Zoolander.

Bowie officially retired Ziggy Stardust in 1973, making the announcement during a London gig. But the hits kept coming, with albums including Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs and Pin Ups.
David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973

David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973. Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

He changed direction with the soul-inspired Young Americans. His first US No 1 was a collaboration with John Lennon on Fame, which topped the charts in 1975.

He continued to sell millions of albums and pack out stadiums with the rise of the New Romantic scene in 1980s Britain. He embraced pop, finding chart success with songs such as Let’s Dance and Queen collaboration Under Pressure.

Friend and collaborator Iggy Pop described him on social media as “the light of my life”, while singer Madonna tweeted: “Talented. Unique. Genius. Game Changer”.

The Rolling Stones hailed his as “an extraordinary artist and a true original”. The rock group Queen, with whom he collaborated on Under Pressure, tweeted a link to the video of the song, with the words: “This is our last dance….”

Prime minister David Cameron, speaking on an engagement in north London, said: “Musically, creatively, artistically David Bowie was a genius”.

Bowie once said that he was bisexual, although he later suggested that his sexual interactions with men should be seen in the context of his wider cultural experimentation. “I was always a closet heterosexual,” he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1993.

In 1970 he married Angie Bowie, and the couple had a son named Zowie Bowie, now known as Duncan Jones. They split in 1980. He settled in New York one year after marrying Iman.

Bowie continued to record and tour until 2003, when he released Reality, his 23^rdalbum, which many assumed to be his last.
Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners.

Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners. Photograph: Alamy

“I am not a natural performer,” Bowie said in a rare interview in 2002. “I don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But, five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back to the studio.”

In the same interview, he said: “My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety, all of the high points of one’s life.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=6cba192314) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=6cba192314&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

David Bowie dies of cancer at 69 | Music | The Guardian

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-dies-at-the-age-of-69#_=_

** David Bowie dies of cancer at 69
————————————————————

Caroline Davies in London and Edward Helmore in New York

David Bowie (http://www.theguardian.com/music/davidbowie) , the iconic rock star whose career spanned more than half a century and whose influence transcended music, fashion and sexuality, has died aged 69.

The singer’s death was confirmed in a Facebook post on his official page: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”

Writing on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) , Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, 44, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.” The news came as a shock to some, who were initially sceptical, but Bowie’s publicist, Steve Martin, told the Reuters news agency: “It’s not a hoax.”

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 11, 2016 (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992)

Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all. pic.twitter.com/Kh2fq3tf9m (https://t.co/Kh2fq3tf9m)

Bowie’s 25 albums produced a string of hits including Changes, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. He was known for experimenting across diverse musical genres, and for his alter egos Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. He also had a notable acting career.

His latest album, Blackstar, was released last week (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/07/david-bowie-blackstar-review-a-spellbinding-break-with-his-past) to coincide with his 69th birthday, and had received widespread critical acclaim.

Blackstar was the first Bowie release not to feature a picture of him on the cover: instead, a stylised black star heralded a darker work. On re-examination, there is much in Blackstar to suggest Bowie was saying goodbye, particularly in Lazarus, and the video for the title track, which opens with the image of a dead spaceman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw) .

Lazarus video from Blackstar album (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/lazarus-david-bowie-blackstar-video)

Tributes were paid on social media. In a heartfelt Facebook post, Tony Visconti, (https://www.facebook.com/tony.visconti1/posts/10208522003550232?fref=nf) who produced a series of Bowie’s albums, including Young Americans and his seminal Berlin trilogy, Low, Heroes and Lodger, wrote: “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of art.

“He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”

An hour after the news broke, fans began to gather near his apartment on Lafayette Street in the Soho district of New York. The first, Kate Corman, left a candle and flowers. “First Lou Reed, now David Bowie. It’s so sad. Unbelievable. New York is really over now,” she said.

‎At Puckfair, a bar across the street from Bowie’s apartment andfrequented by the singer, the barman played a string of his hits – Jean Genie, Let’s Dance and Heroes. “It’s hard to put into words what he gave us in his songs,” said late-night drinker Bill Marlborough. “If you don’t feel it, I can’t explain.”

Flowers and tributes were also laid at a mural on a wall in Brixton, south London, where the singer was born, and a candle was placed outside a property in Stansfield Road, thought to be his childhood home.

Bowie had been absent from public view for a decade. After a heart attack while touring in 2004 there were only a few low-key live appearances – his last at a charity show in New York in 2006 when he performed alongside Alicia Keys – and an acting role in the film The Prestige the same year.

He was said to sit quietly in his apartment, or at the house in upstate New York near Woodstock, which he purchased with the supermodel Iman, whom he married in 1992 and with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria, 15.

Paul Trynka, his biographer, told the Press Association the decade between his 23^rdalbum Reality in 2003 and The Next Day in 2013 gave Bowie time to be “a family man”. “He walked Lexi [his daughter] to school every day – something he had missed with Duncan [his son] which was something he deeply regretted”.

Ricky Gervais, the comedian and actor who convinced the famously private Bowie to star as himself in an episode of the 2006 sitcom Extras, wrote: “I just lost a hero. RIP David Bowie (https://mobile.twitter.com/rickygervais/status/686444063869026304?p=p) ”.

Bowie in his own words: highlights from his TV interviews (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-television-interviews-video)

The rock guitarist Joel Madden, quoting Changes, wrote simply: “Turn and face the strange (https://twitter.com/JoelMadden/status/686445570873950209) ”.

The rapper Kanye West said (https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686449257767776256) : “David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime.”

Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis recalled the singer’s first appearance in the Somerset field in 1971. “He had lovely long flowing hair, a right hippie-looking lad. Fantastically beautiful he looked, actually,” Eavis told the BBC. “Nobody knew who he was, he played at 4 in the morning at sunrise, song’e we’d never heard before.”

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase.

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase. Photograph: Michael Ochs/Corbis

Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, south London, to mother Margaret “Peggy”, a waitnress, and charity worker Haywood “John” Jones. His older brother’s record collection introduced him to rock music at an early age.

The family moved to south-east London and he graduated from Bromley technical high school at 16, when he was busy forming a number of bands and leading a group. He called himself Davy Jones, later changing his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees. The name was reportedly inspired by a knife developed by the 19^th century American pioneer Jim Bowie.

He released three singles as a solo artist for Pye Records, and a debut album David Bowie, but did not achieve huge success and retreated to a Buddhist monastery in Scotland in 1967.

After returning to London he started the arts troupe Feathers in 1968, then helped organise the Free Festival, a day-long free music event in Beckenham, southeast London, in 1969. That same year he released Space Oddity, which went on to be his first UK No 1. The release the following year of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars made him an international star, and he conquered the US with his theatrical stage show.
David Bowie pictured in 1976.

David Bowie pictured in 1976. Photograph: Steve Schapiro/Corbis

He produced albums for Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, as well as writing All the Young Dudes, which he gave to Mott The Hoople who had a massive hit with it. In the late 1970s he produced a three-album collaboration with Brian Eno, known as the Berlin trilogy.

Bowie combined his rock career with appearances in films. His acting career took off with his performance in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, followed by roles in films such as Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ and Absolute Beginners. More recently, he appeared as himself in the film Zoolander.

Bowie officially retired Ziggy Stardust in 1973, making the announcement during a London gig. But the hits kept coming, with albums including Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs and Pin Ups.
David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973

David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973. Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

He changed direction with the soul-inspired Young Americans. His first US No 1 was a collaboration with John Lennon on Fame, which topped the charts in 1975.

He continued to sell millions of albums and pack out stadiums with the rise of the New Romantic scene in 1980s Britain. He embraced pop, finding chart success with songs such as Let’s Dance and Queen collaboration Under Pressure.

Friend and collaborator Iggy Pop described him on social media as “the light of my life”, while singer Madonna tweeted: “Talented. Unique. Genius. Game Changer”.

The Rolling Stones hailed his as “an extraordinary artist and a true original”. The rock group Queen, with whom he collaborated on Under Pressure, tweeted a link to the video of the song, with the words: “This is our last dance….”

Prime minister David Cameron, speaking on an engagement in north London, said: “Musically, creatively, artistically David Bowie was a genius”.

Bowie once said that he was bisexual, although he later suggested that his sexual interactions with men should be seen in the context of his wider cultural experimentation. “I was always a closet heterosexual,” he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1993.

In 1970 he married Angie Bowie, and the couple had a son named Zowie Bowie, now known as Duncan Jones. They split in 1980. He settled in New York one year after marrying Iman.

Bowie continued to record and tour until 2003, when he released Reality, his 23^rdalbum, which many assumed to be his last.
Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners.

Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners. Photograph: Alamy

“I am not a natural performer,” Bowie said in a rare interview in 2002. “I don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But, five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back to the studio.”

In the same interview, he said: “My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety, all of the high points of one’s life.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=6cba192314) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=6cba192314&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

David Bowie dies of cancer at 69 | Music | The Guardian

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-dies-at-the-age-of-69#_=_

** David Bowie dies of cancer at 69
————————————————————

Caroline Davies in London and Edward Helmore in New York

David Bowie (http://www.theguardian.com/music/davidbowie) , the iconic rock star whose career spanned more than half a century and whose influence transcended music, fashion and sexuality, has died aged 69.

The singer’s death was confirmed in a Facebook post on his official page: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”

Writing on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992) , Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, 44, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.” The news came as a shock to some, who were initially sceptical, but Bowie’s publicist, Steve Martin, told the Reuters news agency: “It’s not a hoax.”

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 11, 2016 (https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/686441083648212992)

Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all. pic.twitter.com/Kh2fq3tf9m (https://t.co/Kh2fq3tf9m)

Bowie’s 25 albums produced a string of hits including Changes, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. He was known for experimenting across diverse musical genres, and for his alter egos Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. He also had a notable acting career.

His latest album, Blackstar, was released last week (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/07/david-bowie-blackstar-review-a-spellbinding-break-with-his-past) to coincide with his 69th birthday, and had received widespread critical acclaim.

Blackstar was the first Bowie release not to feature a picture of him on the cover: instead, a stylised black star heralded a darker work. On re-examination, there is much in Blackstar to suggest Bowie was saying goodbye, particularly in Lazarus, and the video for the title track, which opens with the image of a dead spaceman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw) .

Lazarus video from Blackstar album (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/lazarus-david-bowie-blackstar-video)

Tributes were paid on social media. In a heartfelt Facebook post, Tony Visconti, (https://www.facebook.com/tony.visconti1/posts/10208522003550232?fref=nf) who produced a series of Bowie’s albums, including Young Americans and his seminal Berlin trilogy, Low, Heroes and Lodger, wrote: “He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of art.

“He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”

An hour after the news broke, fans began to gather near his apartment on Lafayette Street in the Soho district of New York. The first, Kate Corman, left a candle and flowers. “First Lou Reed, now David Bowie. It’s so sad. Unbelievable. New York is really over now,” she said.

‎At Puckfair, a bar across the street from Bowie’s apartment andfrequented by the singer, the barman played a string of his hits – Jean Genie, Let’s Dance and Heroes. “It’s hard to put into words what he gave us in his songs,” said late-night drinker Bill Marlborough. “If you don’t feel it, I can’t explain.”

Flowers and tributes were also laid at a mural on a wall in Brixton, south London, where the singer was born, and a candle was placed outside a property in Stansfield Road, thought to be his childhood home.

Bowie had been absent from public view for a decade. After a heart attack while touring in 2004 there were only a few low-key live appearances – his last at a charity show in New York in 2006 when he performed alongside Alicia Keys – and an acting role in the film The Prestige the same year.

He was said to sit quietly in his apartment, or at the house in upstate New York near Woodstock, which he purchased with the supermodel Iman, whom he married in 1992 and with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria, 15.

Paul Trynka, his biographer, told the Press Association the decade between his 23^rdalbum Reality in 2003 and The Next Day in 2013 gave Bowie time to be “a family man”. “He walked Lexi [his daughter] to school every day – something he had missed with Duncan [his son] which was something he deeply regretted”.

Ricky Gervais, the comedian and actor who convinced the famously private Bowie to star as himself in an episode of the 2006 sitcom Extras, wrote: “I just lost a hero. RIP David Bowie (https://mobile.twitter.com/rickygervais/status/686444063869026304?p=p) ”.

Bowie in his own words: highlights from his TV interviews (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-television-interviews-video)

The rock guitarist Joel Madden, quoting Changes, wrote simply: “Turn and face the strange (https://twitter.com/JoelMadden/status/686445570873950209) ”.

The rapper Kanye West said (https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686449257767776256) : “David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime.”

Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis recalled the singer’s first appearance in the Somerset field in 1971. “He had lovely long flowing hair, a right hippie-looking lad. Fantastically beautiful he looked, actually,” Eavis told the BBC. “Nobody knew who he was, he played at 4 in the morning at sunrise, song’e we’d never heard before.”

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase.

David Bowie pictured with a fan in the 1970s, in his Ziggy Stardust phase. Photograph: Michael Ochs/Corbis

Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, south London, to mother Margaret “Peggy”, a waitnress, and charity worker Haywood “John” Jones. His older brother’s record collection introduced him to rock music at an early age.

The family moved to south-east London and he graduated from Bromley technical high school at 16, when he was busy forming a number of bands and leading a group. He called himself Davy Jones, later changing his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees. The name was reportedly inspired by a knife developed by the 19^th century American pioneer Jim Bowie.

He released three singles as a solo artist for Pye Records, and a debut album David Bowie, but did not achieve huge success and retreated to a Buddhist monastery in Scotland in 1967.

After returning to London he started the arts troupe Feathers in 1968, then helped organise the Free Festival, a day-long free music event in Beckenham, southeast London, in 1969. That same year he released Space Oddity, which went on to be his first UK No 1. The release the following year of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars made him an international star, and he conquered the US with his theatrical stage show.
David Bowie pictured in 1976.

David Bowie pictured in 1976. Photograph: Steve Schapiro/Corbis

He produced albums for Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, as well as writing All the Young Dudes, which he gave to Mott The Hoople who had a massive hit with it. In the late 1970s he produced a three-album collaboration with Brian Eno, known as the Berlin trilogy.

Bowie combined his rock career with appearances in films. His acting career took off with his performance in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, followed by roles in films such as Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ and Absolute Beginners. More recently, he appeared as himself in the film Zoolander.

Bowie officially retired Ziggy Stardust in 1973, making the announcement during a London gig. But the hits kept coming, with albums including Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs and Pin Ups.
David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973

David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at Radio City Music Hall in February 1973. Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

He changed direction with the soul-inspired Young Americans. His first US No 1 was a collaboration with John Lennon on Fame, which topped the charts in 1975.

He continued to sell millions of albums and pack out stadiums with the rise of the New Romantic scene in 1980s Britain. He embraced pop, finding chart success with songs such as Let’s Dance and Queen collaboration Under Pressure.

Friend and collaborator Iggy Pop described him on social media as “the light of my life”, while singer Madonna tweeted: “Talented. Unique. Genius. Game Changer”.

The Rolling Stones hailed his as “an extraordinary artist and a true original”. The rock group Queen, with whom he collaborated on Under Pressure, tweeted a link to the video of the song, with the words: “This is our last dance….”

Prime minister David Cameron, speaking on an engagement in north London, said: “Musically, creatively, artistically David Bowie was a genius”.

Bowie once said that he was bisexual, although he later suggested that his sexual interactions with men should be seen in the context of his wider cultural experimentation. “I was always a closet heterosexual,” he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1993.

In 1970 he married Angie Bowie, and the couple had a son named Zowie Bowie, now known as Duncan Jones. They split in 1980. He settled in New York one year after marrying Iman.

Bowie continued to record and tour until 2003, when he released Reality, his 23^rdalbum, which many assumed to be his last.
Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners.

Bowie in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners. Photograph: Alamy

“I am not a natural performer,” Bowie said in a rare interview in 2002. “I don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But, five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back to the studio.”

In the same interview, he said: “My entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety, all of the high points of one’s life.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=6cba192314) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=6cba192314&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Columbia’s WKCR Goes Silent Online – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/columbias-wkcr-goes-silent-online.html?_r=0

** Columbia’s WKCR Goes Silent Online
————————————————————

By ANDREW R. CHOW and BEN SISARIO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ben_sisario/index.html) JAN. 7, 2016

Streaming audio is more essential to the music industry (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/business/media/adele-album-resists-the-trends-in-music-sales.html) than ever before, but last week WKCR-FM (89.9), the radio station of Columbia University, abruptly shut its online simulcast, cutting off the eclectic station from listeners outside the reach of its broadcast signal.

“It’s a devastating setback,” said Phil Schaap (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/preserving-the-fading-pages-of-a-walking-encyclopedia-of-jazz/) , the host and jazz historian who has been a fixture on WKCR for 46 years.

The station said it was working on restoring its online service, but it is unclear why it pulled the plug. A note announcing the suspension of the online feed was posted (https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/important-update-about-online-streaming) on the station’s website at the end of December, and over the last week, complaints have poured in from inside and outside of the organization. One sore spot: the lack of a stream for Mr. Schaap’s memorial for the pianist Paul Bley (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html) on Jan. 5. (“We have some excellent stations for classical and jazz in NoCal, but nothing as good as ’KCR,” one Facebook commenter wrote (https://www.facebook.com/wkcrfm/posts/10153190793366513?comment_id=10153190910826513&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R8%22%7D) .)

A Columbia representative said that the problem was not the cost of royalties but contractual terms with the station’s “provider” and that negotiations were underway.

To use sound recordings online, most radio stations deal with SoundExchange, a nonprofit agency that handles licensing on behalf of record companies and processes payments from the stations. Under federal copyright law, online stations face stricter terms than their broadcast counterparts when it comes to programming. Online stations face limits of how many songs by any particular artist — or even from a single album — can be played in a given period of time.

Mr. Schaap, whose shows often involve lengthy surveys of a particular artist’s work, said he believed this restriction may be part of the problem for WKCR.

“It’s not just a financial burden,” Mr. Schaap said. “It’s the encumberment of the creative process.”

On Wednesday, Philip Masciantonio, WKCR’s director of broadcasting and operations, released a short statement, saying, “We are currently reassessing our approach to streaming audio.”

The suspension of WKCR’s streams appear to be one sign of confusion in the radio and streaming world since a ruling last month by the Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of federal judges who set licensing rates for Internet radio and other types of services. Some online stations have expressed concerns (http://rainnews.com/mid-size-and-small-webcaster-reaction-to-new-crb-rates/) about the effect of the new rates on small stations.

But the decision by the copyright board (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/business/media/streaming-royalties-rise-but-not-as-high-as-music-industry-wanted.html) was for commercial webcasters like Pandora, Live365 and iHeartMedia, said David Oxenford, a lawyer who represents broadcasters and has covered the royalty board hearings extensively on his Broadcast Law Blog (http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2015/12/articles/webcasting-royalty-decision-developments-revised-rates-and-terms-from-the-crb-issues-about-performance-complement-and-small-webcasters/) .

“There have not been changes in the rules that govern the types of performances for noncommercial webcasters,” Mr. Oxenford said in an email.

Adding to the tumult at WKCR are technical difficulties — Mr. Schaap was unable to broadcast much of his Bley memorial program — and a brand-new student board that took over at the end of December.

Many students and alumni have been outspoken about the university’s apparent lack of support for the station, which was recently in the news over the release of a documentary celebrating Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/movies/stretch-armstrong-and-bobbito-hip-hop-heralds-are-saluted-in-a-film.html) , who hosted an influential hip-hop show there for eight years.

“To Columbia, KCR is more a nuisance than the bearer of a great cultural legacy,” said Eric Ingram, a current D.J. and former program director.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

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Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Columbia’s WKCR Goes Silent Online – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/columbias-wkcr-goes-silent-online.html?_r=0

** Columbia’s WKCR Goes Silent Online
————————————————————

By ANDREW R. CHOW and BEN SISARIO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ben_sisario/index.html) JAN. 7, 2016

Streaming audio is more essential to the music industry (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/business/media/adele-album-resists-the-trends-in-music-sales.html) than ever before, but last week WKCR-FM (89.9), the radio station of Columbia University, abruptly shut its online simulcast, cutting off the eclectic station from listeners outside the reach of its broadcast signal.

“It’s a devastating setback,” said Phil Schaap (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/preserving-the-fading-pages-of-a-walking-encyclopedia-of-jazz/) , the host and jazz historian who has been a fixture on WKCR for 46 years.

The station said it was working on restoring its online service, but it is unclear why it pulled the plug. A note announcing the suspension of the online feed was posted (https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/important-update-about-online-streaming) on the station’s website at the end of December, and over the last week, complaints have poured in from inside and outside of the organization. One sore spot: the lack of a stream for Mr. Schaap’s memorial for the pianist Paul Bley (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html) on Jan. 5. (“We have some excellent stations for classical and jazz in NoCal, but nothing as good as ’KCR,” one Facebook commenter wrote (https://www.facebook.com/wkcrfm/posts/10153190793366513?comment_id=10153190910826513&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R8%22%7D) .)

A Columbia representative said that the problem was not the cost of royalties but contractual terms with the station’s “provider” and that negotiations were underway.

To use sound recordings online, most radio stations deal with SoundExchange, a nonprofit agency that handles licensing on behalf of record companies and processes payments from the stations. Under federal copyright law, online stations face stricter terms than their broadcast counterparts when it comes to programming. Online stations face limits of how many songs by any particular artist — or even from a single album — can be played in a given period of time.

Mr. Schaap, whose shows often involve lengthy surveys of a particular artist’s work, said he believed this restriction may be part of the problem for WKCR.

“It’s not just a financial burden,” Mr. Schaap said. “It’s the encumberment of the creative process.”

On Wednesday, Philip Masciantonio, WKCR’s director of broadcasting and operations, released a short statement, saying, “We are currently reassessing our approach to streaming audio.”

The suspension of WKCR’s streams appear to be one sign of confusion in the radio and streaming world since a ruling last month by the Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of federal judges who set licensing rates for Internet radio and other types of services. Some online stations have expressed concerns (http://rainnews.com/mid-size-and-small-webcaster-reaction-to-new-crb-rates/) about the effect of the new rates on small stations.

But the decision by the copyright board (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/business/media/streaming-royalties-rise-but-not-as-high-as-music-industry-wanted.html) was for commercial webcasters like Pandora, Live365 and iHeartMedia, said David Oxenford, a lawyer who represents broadcasters and has covered the royalty board hearings extensively on his Broadcast Law Blog (http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2015/12/articles/webcasting-royalty-decision-developments-revised-rates-and-terms-from-the-crb-issues-about-performance-complement-and-small-webcasters/) .

“There have not been changes in the rules that govern the types of performances for noncommercial webcasters,” Mr. Oxenford said in an email.

Adding to the tumult at WKCR are technical difficulties — Mr. Schaap was unable to broadcast much of his Bley memorial program — and a brand-new student board that took over at the end of December.

Many students and alumni have been outspoken about the university’s apparent lack of support for the station, which was recently in the news over the release of a documentary celebrating Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/movies/stretch-armstrong-and-bobbito-hip-hop-heralds-are-saluted-in-a-film.html) , who hosted an influential hip-hop show there for eight years.

“To Columbia, KCR is more a nuisance than the bearer of a great cultural legacy,” said Eric Ingram, a current D.J. and former program director.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

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USA

Columbia’s WKCR Goes Silent Online – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/columbias-wkcr-goes-silent-online.html?_r=0

** Columbia’s WKCR Goes Silent Online
————————————————————

By ANDREW R. CHOW and BEN SISARIO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ben_sisario/index.html) JAN. 7, 2016

Streaming audio is more essential to the music industry (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/business/media/adele-album-resists-the-trends-in-music-sales.html) than ever before, but last week WKCR-FM (89.9), the radio station of Columbia University, abruptly shut its online simulcast, cutting off the eclectic station from listeners outside the reach of its broadcast signal.

“It’s a devastating setback,” said Phil Schaap (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/preserving-the-fading-pages-of-a-walking-encyclopedia-of-jazz/) , the host and jazz historian who has been a fixture on WKCR for 46 years.

The station said it was working on restoring its online service, but it is unclear why it pulled the plug. A note announcing the suspension of the online feed was posted (https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/important-update-about-online-streaming) on the station’s website at the end of December, and over the last week, complaints have poured in from inside and outside of the organization. One sore spot: the lack of a stream for Mr. Schaap’s memorial for the pianist Paul Bley (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html) on Jan. 5. (“We have some excellent stations for classical and jazz in NoCal, but nothing as good as ’KCR,” one Facebook commenter wrote (https://www.facebook.com/wkcrfm/posts/10153190793366513?comment_id=10153190910826513&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R8%22%7D) .)

A Columbia representative said that the problem was not the cost of royalties but contractual terms with the station’s “provider” and that negotiations were underway.

To use sound recordings online, most radio stations deal with SoundExchange, a nonprofit agency that handles licensing on behalf of record companies and processes payments from the stations. Under federal copyright law, online stations face stricter terms than their broadcast counterparts when it comes to programming. Online stations face limits of how many songs by any particular artist — or even from a single album — can be played in a given period of time.

Mr. Schaap, whose shows often involve lengthy surveys of a particular artist’s work, said he believed this restriction may be part of the problem for WKCR.

“It’s not just a financial burden,” Mr. Schaap said. “It’s the encumberment of the creative process.”

On Wednesday, Philip Masciantonio, WKCR’s director of broadcasting and operations, released a short statement, saying, “We are currently reassessing our approach to streaming audio.”

The suspension of WKCR’s streams appear to be one sign of confusion in the radio and streaming world since a ruling last month by the Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of federal judges who set licensing rates for Internet radio and other types of services. Some online stations have expressed concerns (http://rainnews.com/mid-size-and-small-webcaster-reaction-to-new-crb-rates/) about the effect of the new rates on small stations.

But the decision by the copyright board (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/business/media/streaming-royalties-rise-but-not-as-high-as-music-industry-wanted.html) was for commercial webcasters like Pandora, Live365 and iHeartMedia, said David Oxenford, a lawyer who represents broadcasters and has covered the royalty board hearings extensively on his Broadcast Law Blog (http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2015/12/articles/webcasting-royalty-decision-developments-revised-rates-and-terms-from-the-crb-issues-about-performance-complement-and-small-webcasters/) .

“There have not been changes in the rules that govern the types of performances for noncommercial webcasters,” Mr. Oxenford said in an email.

Adding to the tumult at WKCR are technical difficulties — Mr. Schaap was unable to broadcast much of his Bley memorial program — and a brand-new student board that took over at the end of December.

Many students and alumni have been outspoken about the university’s apparent lack of support for the station, which was recently in the news over the release of a documentary celebrating Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/movies/stretch-armstrong-and-bobbito-hip-hop-heralds-are-saluted-in-a-film.html) , who hosted an influential hip-hop show there for eight years.

“To Columbia, KCR is more a nuisance than the bearer of a great cultural legacy,” said Eric Ingram, a current D.J. and former program director.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=b9cff5eac7) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=b9cff5eac7&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark’s First Lady of Jazz – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/nyregion/dorthaan-kirk-is-newarks-first-lady-of-jazz-without-playing-a-note.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160109

** Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark’s First Lady of Jazz
————————————————————
By TAMMY La GORCEJAN. 9, 2016

Dorthaan Kirk has been a mainstay of WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station, for years. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Dorthaan Kirk answers to a lot of names.

“Whenever I’m in Home Depot or the supermarket, somebody always recognizes me. Sometimes I’m the lady from ’BGO. Sometimes I’m the lady from Bethany,” said Ms. Kirk, of East Orange, from a red velvet-cushioned pew at Bethany Baptist Church (http://www.bethany-newark.org/) in Newark, recently.

The trumpeter Jon Faddis (http://www.terangajazz.com/) , her friend, was in the sanctuary with her, on a nearby stage. “Sometimes somebody will see me and say, ‘There’s Iris’s grandmother,’” she continued. “A few people have called me First Lady.”

That last title was bestowed upon her a few years ago by John Schreiber, president and chief executive of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (http://www.njpac.org/) . It is short for “Newark’s First Lady of Jazz,” and it explains why Ms. Kirk’s name is so frequently attached to jazz events in the city, including a Jan. 24 concert featuring the Rufus Reid Trio (http://rufusreid.com/) at Dorthaan’s Place, a jazz brunch series held at the performing arts center.

Ms. Kirk, 77, is the widow of Rahsaan Roland Kirk (http://www.wbgo.org/blog/celebrating-rahsaan-roland-kirk) , the blind multi-instrumentalist with a reputation for fierce musicianship and daring improvisation. Though he played with Charles Mingus (http://mingusmingusmingus.com/) and recorded with Quincy Jones (http://www.quincyjones.com/) , Mr. Kirk more frequently led his own bands, often dazzling his audiences by playing multiple saxophones at the same time. He died in 1977, but not before Ms. Kirk had a chance to absorb the culture of jazz and befriend its top players.

By 1978, when she was hired by WBGO (https://www.wbgo.org/) , Newark’s public jazz station, she had immersed herself in the scene. “I knew record company people, I knew producers, I knew stuff that jazz people understood I knew but I didn’t fully know I knew,” Ms. Kirk said.

She was the third person hired at WBGO, New Jersey’s first public radio station, when it was on the fourth floor of Central High School (the space had previously been owned by the Newark Public Schools system). Since then, through decades of accomplishments that include helping her friend Alina Bloomgarden start Jazz at Lincoln Center (http://www.jazz.org/) in 1987, she has been a fixture at the station.

And WBGO, the only full-time jazz format station broadcast in New York and New Jersey, has benefited from her connections.

“It’s not just her contacts that make her so valuable,” said Gary Walker, WBGO’s music director. “Many people in jazz like to drop names. But Dorthaan has relationships that are genuine and deep, and they go way back,” he said. “She gets world class players to come to our programs.” Those players include Regina Carter (http://reginacarter.com/) and Joe Locke (http://pendulum.joelocke.com/) , who have performed at WBGO’s Kids Jazz Concert Series in recent years.

She is also involved with a jazz series at Bethany Baptist Church. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Ms. Kirk, now the station’s special events and community relations coordinator, is also the curator of the station’s art gallery, which is open to the public. She convinced Chuck Stewart (http://108.166.172.170/~stewartph/) and Leroy Campbell (http://www.leroycampbelloriginals.com/) to show their work there. “Without her we wouldn’t have a chance of having them involved with us,” Mr. Walker said.

Other Newark institutions have benefited from her influence, too. One is Bethany Baptist, where Ms. Kirk coordinates a free monthly Jazz Vespers series (http://www.bethany-newark.org/jazz) that has featured entertainers like the Grammy Award (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/grammy_awards/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) -winning vocalist Gregory Porter (http://www.gregoryporter.com/) .

The series, which was started in 2000 by the church’s recently retired pastor, the Rev. Dr. M. William Howard Jr., runs each year from October to June; the next concert is scheduled for Feb. 6 and will feature the Courtney Bryan Quartet with the harpist Brandee Younger (http://www.brandeeyounger.com/) . Coming acts include the Vincent Herring Quartet (http://www.vincentherring.com/) and the singer Dee Daniels (http://www.deedaniels.com/home.html) .

“Dr. Howard is a No. 1 jazz fan, that’s why he started it,” said Ms. Kirk. But like Bob Ottenhoff, WBGO’s founder, who hired her in 1978, he counted on Ms. Kirk’s affiliations to elevate the program. In addition to Mr. Porter, she has attracted the saxophonist Jimmy Heath (http://www.jimmyheath.com/) and the pianist Randy Weston (http://www.randyweston.info/) .

“I’ve known Dorthaan probably 40 years,” Mr. Faddis said from the Bethany stage on a Saturday in December, before playing for a packed Vespers audience of 500. Mr. Faddis, of Teaneck, played in Lionel Hampton’s band and is a Dizzy Gillespie (http://www.dizzygillespie.com/) sound-alike; he is the former director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. “She’s what brought me.”

Each Vespers show is followed by a reception, with food provided by the Jazz Vespers committee. “And they don’t shop at the lesser stores,” said Ms. Kirk, an avid home cook whose five grown grandchildren, most of them local, frequently show up at her doorstep bearing Tupperware containers (Ms. Kirk is the mother of two daughters; one daughter died in 2001). “It’s high quality food they’re putting out. So it’s been a great place for the community to come to get some great jazz, some great spiritualism and some great food.”

Her friend Jon Faddis, before a recent performance. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

The same, minus the spiritualism, could be said about Dorthaan’s Place, the monthly brunch series at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Nico Kitchen & Bar (http://www.nicokitchenbar.com/) . The series, for which Ms. Kirk recruits talent and acts as M.C., was started in 2012 “as a way to make us among the pre-eminent jazz presenters in the region,” said David Rodriguez, the center’s vice president and executive producer. “Due to Dorthaan’s history with the music,” he said, “we wanted her name on it.” In addition to the Rufus Reid Trio, coming performances include the Freddy Cole Trio (http://freddycolemusic.com/) , which will close the series for the season on April 10.

Dorthaan’s Place differs from Jazz Vespers “because it’s the middle of the day on a Sunday, and you can have bacon and eggs or brunch food and champagne,” Ms. Kirk said. “Also, you have to pay” ($45 for adults, including brunch, and $15 for children). But the high caliber of artists is generally the same.

After a rising Mr. Porter came for Jazz Vespers in 2012, Ms. Kirk enthusiastically pursued booking him at Dorthaan’s Place for its premiere season. But the timing did not work out.

“Everybody loved him at Vespers, and I knew he was going to be huge,” Ms. Kirk said.

She was right: Mr. Porter’s Grammy-winning 2013 album, “Liquid Spirit,” went on to commercial success rarely seen among jazz records, selling more than 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

In addition to her instinct for talent, Ms. Kirk stands firmly behind another notion of what makes a Dorthaan’s Place brunch worth attending.

“It’s the bacon,” she said. When the series first started, “they didn’t have it right. Then I started badgering them. Now it’s the best damn bacon I’ve ever had.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=79f0ba4127) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=79f0ba4127&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark’s First Lady of Jazz – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/nyregion/dorthaan-kirk-is-newarks-first-lady-of-jazz-without-playing-a-note.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160109

** Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark’s First Lady of Jazz
————————————————————
By TAMMY La GORCEJAN. 9, 2016

Dorthaan Kirk has been a mainstay of WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station, for years. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Dorthaan Kirk answers to a lot of names.

“Whenever I’m in Home Depot or the supermarket, somebody always recognizes me. Sometimes I’m the lady from ’BGO. Sometimes I’m the lady from Bethany,” said Ms. Kirk, of East Orange, from a red velvet-cushioned pew at Bethany Baptist Church (http://www.bethany-newark.org/) in Newark, recently.

The trumpeter Jon Faddis (http://www.terangajazz.com/) , her friend, was in the sanctuary with her, on a nearby stage. “Sometimes somebody will see me and say, ‘There’s Iris’s grandmother,’” she continued. “A few people have called me First Lady.”

That last title was bestowed upon her a few years ago by John Schreiber, president and chief executive of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (http://www.njpac.org/) . It is short for “Newark’s First Lady of Jazz,” and it explains why Ms. Kirk’s name is so frequently attached to jazz events in the city, including a Jan. 24 concert featuring the Rufus Reid Trio (http://rufusreid.com/) at Dorthaan’s Place, a jazz brunch series held at the performing arts center.

Ms. Kirk, 77, is the widow of Rahsaan Roland Kirk (http://www.wbgo.org/blog/celebrating-rahsaan-roland-kirk) , the blind multi-instrumentalist with a reputation for fierce musicianship and daring improvisation. Though he played with Charles Mingus (http://mingusmingusmingus.com/) and recorded with Quincy Jones (http://www.quincyjones.com/) , Mr. Kirk more frequently led his own bands, often dazzling his audiences by playing multiple saxophones at the same time. He died in 1977, but not before Ms. Kirk had a chance to absorb the culture of jazz and befriend its top players.

By 1978, when she was hired by WBGO (https://www.wbgo.org/) , Newark’s public jazz station, she had immersed herself in the scene. “I knew record company people, I knew producers, I knew stuff that jazz people understood I knew but I didn’t fully know I knew,” Ms. Kirk said.

She was the third person hired at WBGO, New Jersey’s first public radio station, when it was on the fourth floor of Central High School (the space had previously been owned by the Newark Public Schools system). Since then, through decades of accomplishments that include helping her friend Alina Bloomgarden start Jazz at Lincoln Center (http://www.jazz.org/) in 1987, she has been a fixture at the station.

And WBGO, the only full-time jazz format station broadcast in New York and New Jersey, has benefited from her connections.

“It’s not just her contacts that make her so valuable,” said Gary Walker, WBGO’s music director. “Many people in jazz like to drop names. But Dorthaan has relationships that are genuine and deep, and they go way back,” he said. “She gets world class players to come to our programs.” Those players include Regina Carter (http://reginacarter.com/) and Joe Locke (http://pendulum.joelocke.com/) , who have performed at WBGO’s Kids Jazz Concert Series in recent years.

She is also involved with a jazz series at Bethany Baptist Church. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Ms. Kirk, now the station’s special events and community relations coordinator, is also the curator of the station’s art gallery, which is open to the public. She convinced Chuck Stewart (http://108.166.172.170/~stewartph/) and Leroy Campbell (http://www.leroycampbelloriginals.com/) to show their work there. “Without her we wouldn’t have a chance of having them involved with us,” Mr. Walker said.

Other Newark institutions have benefited from her influence, too. One is Bethany Baptist, where Ms. Kirk coordinates a free monthly Jazz Vespers series (http://www.bethany-newark.org/jazz) that has featured entertainers like the Grammy Award (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/grammy_awards/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) -winning vocalist Gregory Porter (http://www.gregoryporter.com/) .

The series, which was started in 2000 by the church’s recently retired pastor, the Rev. Dr. M. William Howard Jr., runs each year from October to June; the next concert is scheduled for Feb. 6 and will feature the Courtney Bryan Quartet with the harpist Brandee Younger (http://www.brandeeyounger.com/) . Coming acts include the Vincent Herring Quartet (http://www.vincentherring.com/) and the singer Dee Daniels (http://www.deedaniels.com/home.html) .

“Dr. Howard is a No. 1 jazz fan, that’s why he started it,” said Ms. Kirk. But like Bob Ottenhoff, WBGO’s founder, who hired her in 1978, he counted on Ms. Kirk’s affiliations to elevate the program. In addition to Mr. Porter, she has attracted the saxophonist Jimmy Heath (http://www.jimmyheath.com/) and the pianist Randy Weston (http://www.randyweston.info/) .

“I’ve known Dorthaan probably 40 years,” Mr. Faddis said from the Bethany stage on a Saturday in December, before playing for a packed Vespers audience of 500. Mr. Faddis, of Teaneck, played in Lionel Hampton’s band and is a Dizzy Gillespie (http://www.dizzygillespie.com/) sound-alike; he is the former director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. “She’s what brought me.”

Each Vespers show is followed by a reception, with food provided by the Jazz Vespers committee. “And they don’t shop at the lesser stores,” said Ms. Kirk, an avid home cook whose five grown grandchildren, most of them local, frequently show up at her doorstep bearing Tupperware containers (Ms. Kirk is the mother of two daughters; one daughter died in 2001). “It’s high quality food they’re putting out. So it’s been a great place for the community to come to get some great jazz, some great spiritualism and some great food.”

Her friend Jon Faddis, before a recent performance. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

The same, minus the spiritualism, could be said about Dorthaan’s Place, the monthly brunch series at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Nico Kitchen & Bar (http://www.nicokitchenbar.com/) . The series, for which Ms. Kirk recruits talent and acts as M.C., was started in 2012 “as a way to make us among the pre-eminent jazz presenters in the region,” said David Rodriguez, the center’s vice president and executive producer. “Due to Dorthaan’s history with the music,” he said, “we wanted her name on it.” In addition to the Rufus Reid Trio, coming performances include the Freddy Cole Trio (http://freddycolemusic.com/) , which will close the series for the season on April 10.

Dorthaan’s Place differs from Jazz Vespers “because it’s the middle of the day on a Sunday, and you can have bacon and eggs or brunch food and champagne,” Ms. Kirk said. “Also, you have to pay” ($45 for adults, including brunch, and $15 for children). But the high caliber of artists is generally the same.

After a rising Mr. Porter came for Jazz Vespers in 2012, Ms. Kirk enthusiastically pursued booking him at Dorthaan’s Place for its premiere season. But the timing did not work out.

“Everybody loved him at Vespers, and I knew he was going to be huge,” Ms. Kirk said.

She was right: Mr. Porter’s Grammy-winning 2013 album, “Liquid Spirit,” went on to commercial success rarely seen among jazz records, selling more than 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

In addition to her instinct for talent, Ms. Kirk stands firmly behind another notion of what makes a Dorthaan’s Place brunch worth attending.

“It’s the bacon,” she said. When the series first started, “they didn’t have it right. Then I started badgering them. Now it’s the best damn bacon I’ve ever had.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

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Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark’s First Lady of Jazz – The New York Times

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/nyregion/dorthaan-kirk-is-newarks-first-lady-of-jazz-without-playing-a-note.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160109

** Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark’s First Lady of Jazz
————————————————————
By TAMMY La GORCEJAN. 9, 2016

Dorthaan Kirk has been a mainstay of WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station, for years. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Dorthaan Kirk answers to a lot of names.

“Whenever I’m in Home Depot or the supermarket, somebody always recognizes me. Sometimes I’m the lady from ’BGO. Sometimes I’m the lady from Bethany,” said Ms. Kirk, of East Orange, from a red velvet-cushioned pew at Bethany Baptist Church (http://www.bethany-newark.org/) in Newark, recently.

The trumpeter Jon Faddis (http://www.terangajazz.com/) , her friend, was in the sanctuary with her, on a nearby stage. “Sometimes somebody will see me and say, ‘There’s Iris’s grandmother,’” she continued. “A few people have called me First Lady.”

That last title was bestowed upon her a few years ago by John Schreiber, president and chief executive of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (http://www.njpac.org/) . It is short for “Newark’s First Lady of Jazz,” and it explains why Ms. Kirk’s name is so frequently attached to jazz events in the city, including a Jan. 24 concert featuring the Rufus Reid Trio (http://rufusreid.com/) at Dorthaan’s Place, a jazz brunch series held at the performing arts center.

Ms. Kirk, 77, is the widow of Rahsaan Roland Kirk (http://www.wbgo.org/blog/celebrating-rahsaan-roland-kirk) , the blind multi-instrumentalist with a reputation for fierce musicianship and daring improvisation. Though he played with Charles Mingus (http://mingusmingusmingus.com/) and recorded with Quincy Jones (http://www.quincyjones.com/) , Mr. Kirk more frequently led his own bands, often dazzling his audiences by playing multiple saxophones at the same time. He died in 1977, but not before Ms. Kirk had a chance to absorb the culture of jazz and befriend its top players.

By 1978, when she was hired by WBGO (https://www.wbgo.org/) , Newark’s public jazz station, she had immersed herself in the scene. “I knew record company people, I knew producers, I knew stuff that jazz people understood I knew but I didn’t fully know I knew,” Ms. Kirk said.

She was the third person hired at WBGO, New Jersey’s first public radio station, when it was on the fourth floor of Central High School (the space had previously been owned by the Newark Public Schools system). Since then, through decades of accomplishments that include helping her friend Alina Bloomgarden start Jazz at Lincoln Center (http://www.jazz.org/) in 1987, she has been a fixture at the station.

And WBGO, the only full-time jazz format station broadcast in New York and New Jersey, has benefited from her connections.

“It’s not just her contacts that make her so valuable,” said Gary Walker, WBGO’s music director. “Many people in jazz like to drop names. But Dorthaan has relationships that are genuine and deep, and they go way back,” he said. “She gets world class players to come to our programs.” Those players include Regina Carter (http://reginacarter.com/) and Joe Locke (http://pendulum.joelocke.com/) , who have performed at WBGO’s Kids Jazz Concert Series in recent years.

She is also involved with a jazz series at Bethany Baptist Church. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Ms. Kirk, now the station’s special events and community relations coordinator, is also the curator of the station’s art gallery, which is open to the public. She convinced Chuck Stewart (http://108.166.172.170/~stewartph/) and Leroy Campbell (http://www.leroycampbelloriginals.com/) to show their work there. “Without her we wouldn’t have a chance of having them involved with us,” Mr. Walker said.

Other Newark institutions have benefited from her influence, too. One is Bethany Baptist, where Ms. Kirk coordinates a free monthly Jazz Vespers series (http://www.bethany-newark.org/jazz) that has featured entertainers like the Grammy Award (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/grammy_awards/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) -winning vocalist Gregory Porter (http://www.gregoryporter.com/) .

The series, which was started in 2000 by the church’s recently retired pastor, the Rev. Dr. M. William Howard Jr., runs each year from October to June; the next concert is scheduled for Feb. 6 and will feature the Courtney Bryan Quartet with the harpist Brandee Younger (http://www.brandeeyounger.com/) . Coming acts include the Vincent Herring Quartet (http://www.vincentherring.com/) and the singer Dee Daniels (http://www.deedaniels.com/home.html) .

“Dr. Howard is a No. 1 jazz fan, that’s why he started it,” said Ms. Kirk. But like Bob Ottenhoff, WBGO’s founder, who hired her in 1978, he counted on Ms. Kirk’s affiliations to elevate the program. In addition to Mr. Porter, she has attracted the saxophonist Jimmy Heath (http://www.jimmyheath.com/) and the pianist Randy Weston (http://www.randyweston.info/) .

“I’ve known Dorthaan probably 40 years,” Mr. Faddis said from the Bethany stage on a Saturday in December, before playing for a packed Vespers audience of 500. Mr. Faddis, of Teaneck, played in Lionel Hampton’s band and is a Dizzy Gillespie (http://www.dizzygillespie.com/) sound-alike; he is the former director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. “She’s what brought me.”

Each Vespers show is followed by a reception, with food provided by the Jazz Vespers committee. “And they don’t shop at the lesser stores,” said Ms. Kirk, an avid home cook whose five grown grandchildren, most of them local, frequently show up at her doorstep bearing Tupperware containers (Ms. Kirk is the mother of two daughters; one daughter died in 2001). “It’s high quality food they’re putting out. So it’s been a great place for the community to come to get some great jazz, some great spiritualism and some great food.”

Her friend Jon Faddis, before a recent performance. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

The same, minus the spiritualism, could be said about Dorthaan’s Place, the monthly brunch series at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Nico Kitchen & Bar (http://www.nicokitchenbar.com/) . The series, for which Ms. Kirk recruits talent and acts as M.C., was started in 2012 “as a way to make us among the pre-eminent jazz presenters in the region,” said David Rodriguez, the center’s vice president and executive producer. “Due to Dorthaan’s history with the music,” he said, “we wanted her name on it.” In addition to the Rufus Reid Trio, coming performances include the Freddy Cole Trio (http://freddycolemusic.com/) , which will close the series for the season on April 10.

Dorthaan’s Place differs from Jazz Vespers “because it’s the middle of the day on a Sunday, and you can have bacon and eggs or brunch food and champagne,” Ms. Kirk said. “Also, you have to pay” ($45 for adults, including brunch, and $15 for children). But the high caliber of artists is generally the same.

After a rising Mr. Porter came for Jazz Vespers in 2012, Ms. Kirk enthusiastically pursued booking him at Dorthaan’s Place for its premiere season. But the timing did not work out.

“Everybody loved him at Vespers, and I knew he was going to be huge,” Ms. Kirk said.

She was right: Mr. Porter’s Grammy-winning 2013 album, “Liquid Spirit,” went on to commercial success rarely seen among jazz records, selling more than 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

In addition to her instinct for talent, Ms. Kirk stands firmly behind another notion of what makes a Dorthaan’s Place brunch worth attending.

“It’s the bacon,” she said. When the series first started, “they didn’t have it right. Then I started badgering them. Now it’s the best damn bacon I’ve ever had.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Don’t Touch Me Nylon – Marie Bryant and Jackie Brown’s Claypso Kings [10 inch] – YouTube

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Don’t Touch Me Nylon – Marie Bryant and Jackie Brown’s Claypso Kings [10 inch] – YouTube

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Kitty Kallen, Big Band Singer of ‘Bésame Mucho,’ Dies at 94 – The New York Times

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/kitty-kallen-big-band-singer-of-besame-mucho-dies-at-94.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4

** Kitty Kallen, Big Band Singer of ‘Bésame Mucho,’ Dies at 94
————————————————————
By DENISE GRADY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/denise_grady/index.html) JAN. 7, 2016

Kitty Kallen, who sang with top bandleaders including Harry James and Artie Shaw, in an undated photograph.via Photofest

Kitty Kallen, her voice sweet and clear, welcomed the troops home from World War II, singing: “Kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again. It’s been a long, long time. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9nElRrtl70) ” She turned out hits like “Bésame Mucho,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8mpbJ_YYI0) “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP7RsdiiHWA) “In the Chapel in the Moonlight” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz6N-J_M8SA) and “Little Things Mean a Lot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMj1ihn-ey8) ” — many reaching the Top 10.

And after singing with many of her era’s top bandleaders — Artie Shaw, Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden — she outlasted their era. Her last hit, “My Coloring Book,” was in 1962. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN9sUuZuqTU)

Ms. Kallen died on Thursday at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She was 94. Her son, Jonathan Granoff (http://gsinstitute.org/who-we-are) , who confirmed her death, said she had been living year-round in Mexico, where she had long had a vacation home while spending most of her adult life in Englewood, N.J.

Ms. Kallen arrived on the scene as a teenager in the late 1930s. She fit the classic image of that musical era: a gorgeous girl with a big smile, a perfect figure in a strapless gown, a string of pearls, a flower in her hair, swaying to the sound of a muted horn.

Sweet but not too sweet, her voice conveyed romance without irony at a time when there was still mystery between the sexes and no embarrassment in being moved by a song about lovers’ dreams or the magic of a kiss.

She had no formal training in music, but her pitch was flawless, her phrasing disciplined and her diction crisp in a natural, unforced way. Every word she sang was clear.

Though she was born and raised in Philadelphia, Ms. Kallen, unlike her siblings, had no local accent in her singing or her speaking, Mr. Granoff said, adding, “How she did that I have no idea.”

She was born Katie Kallen on May 25, 1921, in South Philadelphia to Sam Kallen, a barber, and the former Fanny Kaplan. The family name was misspelled Kellam on her birth certificate, her son said. Her mother died when she was 8, and her father remarried. She had three brothers, two sisters and a stepbrother from her stepmother’s previous marriage.

Ms. Kallen began singing as a child on “The Children’s Hour,” a radio show sponsored by Horn & Hardart, which owned the Automat restaurants in New York and Philadelphia. She soon had her own radio show in Philadelphia, and by age 15 she was singing with big bands — “bringing home the bacon for her family,” her son said.

Her first marriage, to Clint Garvin, a clarinetist in Teagarden’s band, was annulled. In 1947, at the Copacabana in New York, Frank Sinatra’s first wife, Nancy, introduced Ms. Kallen to Budd Granoff, a press agent who represented Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Doris Day and many other entertainers. Mr. Granoff was instantly smitten and told a companion that he had just met the girl he would marry.

Ms. Kallen in 1944. Metronome, via Getty Images

They did marry, in 1948, and Mr. Granoff soon gave up his other clients to manage Ms. Kallen’s career full time.

The couple and Jonathan, their only child, lived most of the time in Englewood, except for a few years in the Los Angeles area, when Mr. Granoff worked in television. Jonathan Granoff said he was 12 or so before he realized that not everyone’s mother sang on “The Ed Sullivan Show” or had strange, loud, funny friends like Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel.

In 1955, Ms. Kallen’s throat began to seize up, and she could not sing before a live audience. But she could still record, which convinced her that the problem was psychological, not physical.

She went on to spend five “lost” years “in the clutches of psychoanalysts,” she told The American Weekly in 1960. One therapist urged divorce (she refused) and dragged her back through painful childhood memories of her mother’s death and of being called homely and nicknamed Monkey.

Another therapist, she said, thought everything was based on sex and had an office full of “strange contraptions.” Expected to undress for psychotherapy sessions, she quit. Yet another talked mostly about himself but also counseled divorce, she said. A fourth hypnotized her.

Finally, in 1959, she began to recover — no thanks, she said, to her therapists. The turning point came when her son, then 11, found her weeping over her mother-in-law’s death and tried to comfort her by saying that everything was in God’s hands. It was what she needed to hear, she said. Those words inspired a new degree of religious faith and enabled her to return to work. She retired in the mid-1960s.

At some point after retirement, her son said, several women in different parts of the country tried to pass themselves off as Kitty Kallen, showing up to sing at retirement homes and other places. His father, he said, would call them and say: “Stop it. You’re crazy,” but they were incorrigible.

In 1978, Ms. Kallen and her family were startled to hear reports of her death. One of her impersonators had checked into a hospital in a Los Angeles suburb and died there. The hospital announced Kitty Kallen’s death, and the news spread.

Frank Sinatra called to offer his condolences, Mr. Granoff recalled. His father said: “She’s here. She’s just sleeping.” But Sinatra would not desist until his father finally put Ms. Kallen on the phone.

Budd Granoff (http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/01/arts/budd-granoff-is-dead-at-77-a-show-business-innovator.html) died in 1996. Besides her son, now president of the Global Security Institute, Ms. Kallen is survived by her companion, Sonny Shiell, and three grandsons.

In 2012, Mr. Granoff said, mariachis were summoned to the house in Mexico to serenade his mother. They sang “Bésame Mucho.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Kitty Kallen, Big Band Singer of ‘Bésame Mucho,’ Dies at 94 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/kitty-kallen-big-band-singer-of-besame-mucho-dies-at-94.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4

** Kitty Kallen, Big Band Singer of ‘Bésame Mucho,’ Dies at 94
————————————————————
By DENISE GRADY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/denise_grady/index.html) JAN. 7, 2016

Kitty Kallen, who sang with top bandleaders including Harry James and Artie Shaw, in an undated photograph.via Photofest

Kitty Kallen, her voice sweet and clear, welcomed the troops home from World War II, singing: “Kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again. It’s been a long, long time. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9nElRrtl70) ” She turned out hits like “Bésame Mucho,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8mpbJ_YYI0) “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP7RsdiiHWA) “In the Chapel in the Moonlight” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz6N-J_M8SA) and “Little Things Mean a Lot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMj1ihn-ey8) ” — many reaching the Top 10.

And after singing with many of her era’s top bandleaders — Artie Shaw, Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden — she outlasted their era. Her last hit, “My Coloring Book,” was in 1962. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN9sUuZuqTU)

Ms. Kallen died on Thursday at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She was 94. Her son, Jonathan Granoff (http://gsinstitute.org/who-we-are) , who confirmed her death, said she had been living year-round in Mexico, where she had long had a vacation home while spending most of her adult life in Englewood, N.J.

Ms. Kallen arrived on the scene as a teenager in the late 1930s. She fit the classic image of that musical era: a gorgeous girl with a big smile, a perfect figure in a strapless gown, a string of pearls, a flower in her hair, swaying to the sound of a muted horn.

Sweet but not too sweet, her voice conveyed romance without irony at a time when there was still mystery between the sexes and no embarrassment in being moved by a song about lovers’ dreams or the magic of a kiss.

She had no formal training in music, but her pitch was flawless, her phrasing disciplined and her diction crisp in a natural, unforced way. Every word she sang was clear.

Though she was born and raised in Philadelphia, Ms. Kallen, unlike her siblings, had no local accent in her singing or her speaking, Mr. Granoff said, adding, “How she did that I have no idea.”

She was born Katie Kallen on May 25, 1921, in South Philadelphia to Sam Kallen, a barber, and the former Fanny Kaplan. The family name was misspelled Kellam on her birth certificate, her son said. Her mother died when she was 8, and her father remarried. She had three brothers, two sisters and a stepbrother from her stepmother’s previous marriage.

Ms. Kallen began singing as a child on “The Children’s Hour,” a radio show sponsored by Horn & Hardart, which owned the Automat restaurants in New York and Philadelphia. She soon had her own radio show in Philadelphia, and by age 15 she was singing with big bands — “bringing home the bacon for her family,” her son said.

Her first marriage, to Clint Garvin, a clarinetist in Teagarden’s band, was annulled. In 1947, at the Copacabana in New York, Frank Sinatra’s first wife, Nancy, introduced Ms. Kallen to Budd Granoff, a press agent who represented Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Doris Day and many other entertainers. Mr. Granoff was instantly smitten and told a companion that he had just met the girl he would marry.

Ms. Kallen in 1944. Metronome, via Getty Images

They did marry, in 1948, and Mr. Granoff soon gave up his other clients to manage Ms. Kallen’s career full time.

The couple and Jonathan, their only child, lived most of the time in Englewood, except for a few years in the Los Angeles area, when Mr. Granoff worked in television. Jonathan Granoff said he was 12 or so before he realized that not everyone’s mother sang on “The Ed Sullivan Show” or had strange, loud, funny friends like Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel.

In 1955, Ms. Kallen’s throat began to seize up, and she could not sing before a live audience. But she could still record, which convinced her that the problem was psychological, not physical.

She went on to spend five “lost” years “in the clutches of psychoanalysts,” she told The American Weekly in 1960. One therapist urged divorce (she refused) and dragged her back through painful childhood memories of her mother’s death and of being called homely and nicknamed Monkey.

Another therapist, she said, thought everything was based on sex and had an office full of “strange contraptions.” Expected to undress for psychotherapy sessions, she quit. Yet another talked mostly about himself but also counseled divorce, she said. A fourth hypnotized her.

Finally, in 1959, she began to recover — no thanks, she said, to her therapists. The turning point came when her son, then 11, found her weeping over her mother-in-law’s death and tried to comfort her by saying that everything was in God’s hands. It was what she needed to hear, she said. Those words inspired a new degree of religious faith and enabled her to return to work. She retired in the mid-1960s.

At some point after retirement, her son said, several women in different parts of the country tried to pass themselves off as Kitty Kallen, showing up to sing at retirement homes and other places. His father, he said, would call them and say: “Stop it. You’re crazy,” but they were incorrigible.

In 1978, Ms. Kallen and her family were startled to hear reports of her death. One of her impersonators had checked into a hospital in a Los Angeles suburb and died there. The hospital announced Kitty Kallen’s death, and the news spread.

Frank Sinatra called to offer his condolences, Mr. Granoff recalled. His father said: “She’s here. She’s just sleeping.” But Sinatra would not desist until his father finally put Ms. Kallen on the phone.

Budd Granoff (http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/01/arts/budd-granoff-is-dead-at-77-a-show-business-innovator.html) died in 1996. Besides her son, now president of the Global Security Institute, Ms. Kallen is survived by her companion, Sonny Shiell, and three grandsons.

In 2012, Mr. Granoff said, mariachis were summoned to the house in Mexico to serenade his mother. They sang “Bésame Mucho.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Kitty Kallen, Big Band Singer of ‘Bésame Mucho,’ Dies at 94 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/kitty-kallen-big-band-singer-of-besame-mucho-dies-at-94.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4

** Kitty Kallen, Big Band Singer of ‘Bésame Mucho,’ Dies at 94
————————————————————
By DENISE GRADY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/denise_grady/index.html) JAN. 7, 2016

Kitty Kallen, who sang with top bandleaders including Harry James and Artie Shaw, in an undated photograph.via Photofest

Kitty Kallen, her voice sweet and clear, welcomed the troops home from World War II, singing: “Kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again. It’s been a long, long time. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9nElRrtl70) ” She turned out hits like “Bésame Mucho,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8mpbJ_YYI0) “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP7RsdiiHWA) “In the Chapel in the Moonlight” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz6N-J_M8SA) and “Little Things Mean a Lot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMj1ihn-ey8) ” — many reaching the Top 10.

And after singing with many of her era’s top bandleaders — Artie Shaw, Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden — she outlasted their era. Her last hit, “My Coloring Book,” was in 1962. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN9sUuZuqTU)

Ms. Kallen died on Thursday at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She was 94. Her son, Jonathan Granoff (http://gsinstitute.org/who-we-are) , who confirmed her death, said she had been living year-round in Mexico, where she had long had a vacation home while spending most of her adult life in Englewood, N.J.

Ms. Kallen arrived on the scene as a teenager in the late 1930s. She fit the classic image of that musical era: a gorgeous girl with a big smile, a perfect figure in a strapless gown, a string of pearls, a flower in her hair, swaying to the sound of a muted horn.

Sweet but not too sweet, her voice conveyed romance without irony at a time when there was still mystery between the sexes and no embarrassment in being moved by a song about lovers’ dreams or the magic of a kiss.

She had no formal training in music, but her pitch was flawless, her phrasing disciplined and her diction crisp in a natural, unforced way. Every word she sang was clear.

Though she was born and raised in Philadelphia, Ms. Kallen, unlike her siblings, had no local accent in her singing or her speaking, Mr. Granoff said, adding, “How she did that I have no idea.”

She was born Katie Kallen on May 25, 1921, in South Philadelphia to Sam Kallen, a barber, and the former Fanny Kaplan. The family name was misspelled Kellam on her birth certificate, her son said. Her mother died when she was 8, and her father remarried. She had three brothers, two sisters and a stepbrother from her stepmother’s previous marriage.

Ms. Kallen began singing as a child on “The Children’s Hour,” a radio show sponsored by Horn & Hardart, which owned the Automat restaurants in New York and Philadelphia. She soon had her own radio show in Philadelphia, and by age 15 she was singing with big bands — “bringing home the bacon for her family,” her son said.

Her first marriage, to Clint Garvin, a clarinetist in Teagarden’s band, was annulled. In 1947, at the Copacabana in New York, Frank Sinatra’s first wife, Nancy, introduced Ms. Kallen to Budd Granoff, a press agent who represented Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Doris Day and many other entertainers. Mr. Granoff was instantly smitten and told a companion that he had just met the girl he would marry.

Ms. Kallen in 1944. Metronome, via Getty Images

They did marry, in 1948, and Mr. Granoff soon gave up his other clients to manage Ms. Kallen’s career full time.

The couple and Jonathan, their only child, lived most of the time in Englewood, except for a few years in the Los Angeles area, when Mr. Granoff worked in television. Jonathan Granoff said he was 12 or so before he realized that not everyone’s mother sang on “The Ed Sullivan Show” or had strange, loud, funny friends like Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel.

In 1955, Ms. Kallen’s throat began to seize up, and she could not sing before a live audience. But she could still record, which convinced her that the problem was psychological, not physical.

She went on to spend five “lost” years “in the clutches of psychoanalysts,” she told The American Weekly in 1960. One therapist urged divorce (she refused) and dragged her back through painful childhood memories of her mother’s death and of being called homely and nicknamed Monkey.

Another therapist, she said, thought everything was based on sex and had an office full of “strange contraptions.” Expected to undress for psychotherapy sessions, she quit. Yet another talked mostly about himself but also counseled divorce, she said. A fourth hypnotized her.

Finally, in 1959, she began to recover — no thanks, she said, to her therapists. The turning point came when her son, then 11, found her weeping over her mother-in-law’s death and tried to comfort her by saying that everything was in God’s hands. It was what she needed to hear, she said. Those words inspired a new degree of religious faith and enabled her to return to work. She retired in the mid-1960s.

At some point after retirement, her son said, several women in different parts of the country tried to pass themselves off as Kitty Kallen, showing up to sing at retirement homes and other places. His father, he said, would call them and say: “Stop it. You’re crazy,” but they were incorrigible.

In 1978, Ms. Kallen and her family were startled to hear reports of her death. One of her impersonators had checked into a hospital in a Los Angeles suburb and died there. The hospital announced Kitty Kallen’s death, and the news spread.

Frank Sinatra called to offer his condolences, Mr. Granoff recalled. His father said: “She’s here. She’s just sleeping.” But Sinatra would not desist until his father finally put Ms. Kallen on the phone.

Budd Granoff (http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/01/arts/budd-granoff-is-dead-at-77-a-show-business-innovator.html) died in 1996. Besides her son, now president of the Global Security Institute, Ms. Kallen is survived by her companion, Sonny Shiell, and three grandsons.

In 2012, Mr. Granoff said, mariachis were summoned to the house in Mexico to serenade his mother. They sang “Bésame Mucho.”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Percy Hughes, 93, excelled at playing jazz and teaching tennis – StarTribune.com

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.startribune.com/percy-hughes-93-excelled-at-playing-jazz-and-teaching-tennis/364580701/

** Percy Hughes, 93, excelled at playing jazz and teaching tennis
————————————————————

By Jon Bream (http://www.startribune.com/jon-bream/10644496/) Star Tribune

JANUARY 7, 2016 — 5:48PM
Whether he was conducting the session with his saxophone or a tennis racquet, Percy Hughes was a gentle, knowledgable leader.
Saxophonist Dave Karr recalls when he landed in Hughes’ 13-piece band at the Flame nightclub in Minneapolis in 1954, fresh out of the Korean War, and he played a wrong note during a performance of Gershwin’s “S’Wonderful.”
“He knew all about harmonies and he said: ‘You should maybe use this chord,’ ” Karr recalled. “He had the approach to be a mentor.”
Hughes, a figure on the Twin Cities jazz scene since the 1940s and a much-awarded tennis instructor of seniors, died Dec. 30 of natural causes. He was 93.
“His first love was music,” said his son, Percy Hughes III, of Maplewood. “Then tennis. And he loved fishing. We went to Lake Mille Lacs so much that he would call it Percy Mille Lacs.”
At age 11, Percy got a clarinet. Three years later, he started saxophone lessons as well. A family friend introduced him to tennis when Hughes was a student at Minneapolis Central High School.
While in the Army in Kansas in the mid-1940s, Hughes played infield on the regiment baseball team against pros from the Negro leagues including Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. But he turned down a chance to pursue baseball because of racism he’d experienced in the South.
The military afforded him a chance to play in a jazz band with musicians who’d worked with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. When Hughes returned home in 1946, he formed his first jazz ensemble in the Twin Cities and studied at the Minneapolis College of Music.
Hughes led a group at the Flame for six years, then at the Point Supper Club in Golden Valley for 17 years and next at the Ambassador Motor Lodge for a decade. In the 1980s, he joined Echoes of Ellington, a Twin Cities combo featuring that jazz great’s music.
“He had a sweet, warm sax sound, a very classic style,” said Lowell Pickett, proprietor of the Dakota Jazz Club.
But Hughes couldn’t support his family as a musician so he also worked as a mail carrier for 27 years, starting in 1955.
In 1960, he discovered there was no tennis program for employees so he started a tennis league and took lessons. A few years later, he became a volunteer and eventually certified instructor for the Seniors Tennis Players Club and for Inner City Tennis program.
“He called me his mentor but he was my mentor,” said Roger Boyer, former executive director of Inner City Tennis. “I taught him about tennis, and he taught me about handling people.”
Marcia Bach, former executive director of United States Tennis Association/Northern, knew Hughes since she was a child and he delivered mail to her family’s south Minneapolis home. “My mom and dad used to go dancing to his group,” Bach said. “He was so genuine and kind. He played [saxophone] to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding 11 or 12 years ago. She was so touched that he would take the time to learn the song and he wouldn’t let me pay him.”
Hughes received awards for his work in tennis and he was inducted into two Minnesota music halls of fame. He recorded a couple of albums, including “I Remember Judy,” dedicated to his late wife, singer Judy Perkins, who died of cancer in 1975. He was the subject of a 2011 book, “Sports and All That Jazz: The Percy Hughes Story” (which included a music CD) by Twin Cities writer Jim Swanson.
Even though he had hip replacements, Hughes continued to play tennis and music until about three years ago, his son said.
Hughes is survived by his third wife, Dolores, of Richfield; five children, 21 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 14 at Cremation Society of Minnesota in Edina.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=0015403053) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=0015403053&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Percy Hughes, 93, excelled at playing jazz and teaching tennis – StarTribune.com

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.startribune.com/percy-hughes-93-excelled-at-playing-jazz-and-teaching-tennis/364580701/

** Percy Hughes, 93, excelled at playing jazz and teaching tennis
————————————————————

By Jon Bream (http://www.startribune.com/jon-bream/10644496/) Star Tribune

JANUARY 7, 2016 — 5:48PM
Whether he was conducting the session with his saxophone or a tennis racquet, Percy Hughes was a gentle, knowledgable leader.
Saxophonist Dave Karr recalls when he landed in Hughes’ 13-piece band at the Flame nightclub in Minneapolis in 1954, fresh out of the Korean War, and he played a wrong note during a performance of Gershwin’s “S’Wonderful.”
“He knew all about harmonies and he said: ‘You should maybe use this chord,’ ” Karr recalled. “He had the approach to be a mentor.”
Hughes, a figure on the Twin Cities jazz scene since the 1940s and a much-awarded tennis instructor of seniors, died Dec. 30 of natural causes. He was 93.
“His first love was music,” said his son, Percy Hughes III, of Maplewood. “Then tennis. And he loved fishing. We went to Lake Mille Lacs so much that he would call it Percy Mille Lacs.”
At age 11, Percy got a clarinet. Three years later, he started saxophone lessons as well. A family friend introduced him to tennis when Hughes was a student at Minneapolis Central High School.
While in the Army in Kansas in the mid-1940s, Hughes played infield on the regiment baseball team against pros from the Negro leagues including Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. But he turned down a chance to pursue baseball because of racism he’d experienced in the South.
The military afforded him a chance to play in a jazz band with musicians who’d worked with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. When Hughes returned home in 1946, he formed his first jazz ensemble in the Twin Cities and studied at the Minneapolis College of Music.
Hughes led a group at the Flame for six years, then at the Point Supper Club in Golden Valley for 17 years and next at the Ambassador Motor Lodge for a decade. In the 1980s, he joined Echoes of Ellington, a Twin Cities combo featuring that jazz great’s music.
“He had a sweet, warm sax sound, a very classic style,” said Lowell Pickett, proprietor of the Dakota Jazz Club.
But Hughes couldn’t support his family as a musician so he also worked as a mail carrier for 27 years, starting in 1955.
In 1960, he discovered there was no tennis program for employees so he started a tennis league and took lessons. A few years later, he became a volunteer and eventually certified instructor for the Seniors Tennis Players Club and for Inner City Tennis program.
“He called me his mentor but he was my mentor,” said Roger Boyer, former executive director of Inner City Tennis. “I taught him about tennis, and he taught me about handling people.”
Marcia Bach, former executive director of United States Tennis Association/Northern, knew Hughes since she was a child and he delivered mail to her family’s south Minneapolis home. “My mom and dad used to go dancing to his group,” Bach said. “He was so genuine and kind. He played [saxophone] to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding 11 or 12 years ago. She was so touched that he would take the time to learn the song and he wouldn’t let me pay him.”
Hughes received awards for his work in tennis and he was inducted into two Minnesota music halls of fame. He recorded a couple of albums, including “I Remember Judy,” dedicated to his late wife, singer Judy Perkins, who died of cancer in 1975. He was the subject of a 2011 book, “Sports and All That Jazz: The Percy Hughes Story” (which included a music CD) by Twin Cities writer Jim Swanson.
Even though he had hip replacements, Hughes continued to play tennis and music until about three years ago, his son said.
Hughes is survived by his third wife, Dolores, of Richfield; five children, 21 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 14 at Cremation Society of Minnesota in Edina.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=0015403053) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=0015403053&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Percy Hughes, 93, excelled at playing jazz and teaching tennis – StarTribune.com

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.startribune.com/percy-hughes-93-excelled-at-playing-jazz-and-teaching-tennis/364580701/

** Percy Hughes, 93, excelled at playing jazz and teaching tennis
————————————————————

By Jon Bream (http://www.startribune.com/jon-bream/10644496/) Star Tribune

JANUARY 7, 2016 — 5:48PM
Whether he was conducting the session with his saxophone or a tennis racquet, Percy Hughes was a gentle, knowledgable leader.
Saxophonist Dave Karr recalls when he landed in Hughes’ 13-piece band at the Flame nightclub in Minneapolis in 1954, fresh out of the Korean War, and he played a wrong note during a performance of Gershwin’s “S’Wonderful.”
“He knew all about harmonies and he said: ‘You should maybe use this chord,’ ” Karr recalled. “He had the approach to be a mentor.”
Hughes, a figure on the Twin Cities jazz scene since the 1940s and a much-awarded tennis instructor of seniors, died Dec. 30 of natural causes. He was 93.
“His first love was music,” said his son, Percy Hughes III, of Maplewood. “Then tennis. And he loved fishing. We went to Lake Mille Lacs so much that he would call it Percy Mille Lacs.”
At age 11, Percy got a clarinet. Three years later, he started saxophone lessons as well. A family friend introduced him to tennis when Hughes was a student at Minneapolis Central High School.
While in the Army in Kansas in the mid-1940s, Hughes played infield on the regiment baseball team against pros from the Negro leagues including Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. But he turned down a chance to pursue baseball because of racism he’d experienced in the South.
The military afforded him a chance to play in a jazz band with musicians who’d worked with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. When Hughes returned home in 1946, he formed his first jazz ensemble in the Twin Cities and studied at the Minneapolis College of Music.
Hughes led a group at the Flame for six years, then at the Point Supper Club in Golden Valley for 17 years and next at the Ambassador Motor Lodge for a decade. In the 1980s, he joined Echoes of Ellington, a Twin Cities combo featuring that jazz great’s music.
“He had a sweet, warm sax sound, a very classic style,” said Lowell Pickett, proprietor of the Dakota Jazz Club.
But Hughes couldn’t support his family as a musician so he also worked as a mail carrier for 27 years, starting in 1955.
In 1960, he discovered there was no tennis program for employees so he started a tennis league and took lessons. A few years later, he became a volunteer and eventually certified instructor for the Seniors Tennis Players Club and for Inner City Tennis program.
“He called me his mentor but he was my mentor,” said Roger Boyer, former executive director of Inner City Tennis. “I taught him about tennis, and he taught me about handling people.”
Marcia Bach, former executive director of United States Tennis Association/Northern, knew Hughes since she was a child and he delivered mail to her family’s south Minneapolis home. “My mom and dad used to go dancing to his group,” Bach said. “He was so genuine and kind. He played [saxophone] to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding 11 or 12 years ago. She was so touched that he would take the time to learn the song and he wouldn’t let me pay him.”
Hughes received awards for his work in tennis and he was inducted into two Minnesota music halls of fame. He recorded a couple of albums, including “I Remember Judy,” dedicated to his late wife, singer Judy Perkins, who died of cancer in 1975. He was the subject of a 2011 book, “Sports and All That Jazz: The Percy Hughes Story” (which included a music CD) by Twin Cities writer Jim Swanson.
Even though he had hip replacements, Hughes continued to play tennis and music until about three years ago, his son said.
Hughes is survived by his third wife, Dolores, of Richfield; five children, 21 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 14 at Cremation Society of Minnesota in Edina.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

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Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros 4/4/28 — 1/6/2016

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For immediate release: 1/6/2016
Contact Aurora Flores, 212.876.1936

Alfredo “Chocolate”Armenteros
A Sweet Life
4/4/28 — 1/6/2016
By Aurora Flores
On the day of the kings, the king of the Afro-Cuban trumpet, Cho-co-la-te Armenteros, passed into eternity the morning of January 6, 2016 at North Westchester Rehab near Peekskill, New York from complications of prostate cancer.
Playing his horn through seven decades of musical trends, Chocolate’s dynamically rich and lyrically vibrant tenor defined the early days of the Cuban conjunto trumpet solo style as much as his charismatically cackling laugh punctuated his many stories. With two fingers holding onto a stogy, Chocolate’s tales took him from the Tropicana Nightclub where he backed Nat King Cole to the many stages he shared with names like Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, and Oscar Brown Jr. at the Apollo Theater. A popular you.tube video features him schooling Wynton Marsalis on the art of Afro-Cuban improvisation. He’s recorded with the Palmieris, Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Ismael Rivera and the Estefans. He’s lived in Spain and France, traveled the world, performed on film with Andy Garcia and it was Chocolate’s horn that hailed from the horizon of an Infinity car commercial over national television. He answered his phone animatedly asking the caller to dimelo cantando, sing it to me, baby.
An old school dapper dresser who disliked jeans and sneakers his was a happy outlook on a life filled with jokes, adventures, pranks, love, romance, children, and many good times. A bon vivant who enjoyed his cognac, good cigar and great music he nonetheless had strict standards not only with dress codes but life in general; he did not tolerate tardiness, tastelessness or gibberish. He did not suffer fools. Always with an eye on and out for beauty and beauties, Chocolate’s love for life mirrored the passion of his muse; reckless, free spirited and bold.
“I approach my trumpet as I approach a woman,” he would say slyly. “I take my time with her. I ask if she wants to play with me. I respect her so she’ll respect me.” Then he’ll pick up his horn and mouth off a free wheeling, uninhibited aggressive kick-ass solo that oozes with creative cunning while rapturous in its brilliantly lyrical color; the color of Chocolate.
Born Teodolo Alfredo Armenteros he described his childhood on the farm in Ranchuelo, Santa Clara the Cuban province of Las Villas as fortunate and blessed. His father Lazaro Alfredo Armenteros had acres of land and a big house and grocery store passed down from his father, Lt. Coronel José Maria Armenteros, right hand to Coronel Antonio Maceo Grajales, leader of the ten year war against Spain and the fight for the abolition of slavery through the mambi army. Cuba was the last Island to free slaves, a freedom hard to enforce.
His father was a trombone player before he married Angelina Abreu. He retired from the musicians’ life by the time Alfredo was born on April 4, 1928, and dedicated himself to his wife, family, and Villa Ranchuelo, their farming estate before his untimely death when the young Alfredo was twelve years old; but not before instilling a sense of moral commitment and work ethic into his son’s talent and stand up character. A family’s legacy shapes the identity of the clan.
Chocolate’s was the first hand raised when his friend Richard Egües’ father asked for students interested in being part of a local band at school. Richard went on to become Orq. Aragon’s greatest flute player while Chocolate went on to Havana where he played with Septeto Habanero before his first recording with the great René Alvarez in 1949. The 78 recording sat center stage in Chocolate’s living room, a spotlight on his extensive and exciting career that went the next level with Arsenio, El Cieguito Maravilloso who gave form and substance to the Cuban conjunto style.
The blind Cuban tres (guitar) player who led the most popular conjunto of the 1940s is generally considered the father of modern conjunto and a significant influence on what is now known as salsa music; a cosmopolitan update of the son ensemble. Influenced by the Island’s legendary “laughing” horn approach honed by Felix Chapotin, an original member of Arsenio’s crew,Chocolate studied him closely until “El Cieguito Marvilloso,” the blind marvel, offered Chocolate work with his newly formed conjunto alongside Chapotin and Enrique “Florecita” Velazco.
Arsenio’s innovation of adding a piano to play across his tres, upgraded the “septets” of the time anchoring the sound around the inclusion of the forbidden conga drums that kept the groove deep and tight. With Chocolate taking center stage in the brass line-up, a shape-shifting chapter of musical history tumbled out. Harmonized horn lines mocked Eurocentric convention, sparring with each other like boxers, gyrating like dancers, and at some points, crying with each other like sympathetic, jilted lovers.
Chocolate had arrived. Mistaken in bars for Cuban Featherweight World Boxing Champ Kid Chocolate, he retained the “Chocolate” moniker before he began playing with Sonora Matancera.
He backed vocalist Nat King Cole at Cuba’s famous Tropicana Nightclub and performed on his subsequent recording, “Cole Español” while Choco was an in-demand radio and recording session player. During this time, Chocolate became the musical director and lead trumpet for Benny Moré before going on tour with Cuban flautist, José Fajardo. Later, Chocolate joined Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York opening an international door to Latin music and jazz trumpet improvisation.
Since that auspicious beginning, Chocolate has played with Cesar Concepción, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Ismael Rivera, Joe Cotto, Moncho Leña, Cachao, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Mongo Santamaria with La Lupe, the Alegre All-Stars, Dianne Carroll and so many more. He bested Bill Cosby at Tito Puente’s 75^th birthday party displaying his comedic as well as musical antics on stage. He won the Latin New York category for Best Trumpet of the Year in 1977 for his improvisations on Tipica Novel’s recording of “With a Touch of Brass.” Chocolate has nine albums to his name complimented by countless recordings with virtually every major Latin music artist in the business.

In fact, “the maturation of the solo trumpet style remains the most significant contribution by Rodríguez and his trumpet stars to the Cuban brass performing legacy,” states musician and educator Rick Davis in a published dissertation. The three-trumpet “sonora” format set them apart from their predecessors by dint of their unique improvisational styles sown from earlier septeto experience.
Arsenio was the first to bring the “tumbadora” (conga drum) into the conjunto showcasing the trumpet while dressing up the guaguanco beat. Arsenio revolutionized the instrumentation spotlighting three trumpets, adding a piano to the tres guitar, bass, bongo and three voices. Chocolate, being the youngest, decided to fit right into the center of these two senior trumpet mentors complementing rather than copying them. However, as Professor Rick Davies describes in his dissertation, in the harmonic voicing on one of Arsenio’s memorable numbers, No Puedo Comer Vistagacho, Armenteros’ instrumental virtuosity surpasses that of his older colleagues. His is a fluid linear style containing a high percentage of sixteenth-note figures as well as a mastery of an impressive trumpet range. Armenteros’ first solo in this piece includes a high C# (concert), a major third higher than any note in the Velazco solos and an augmented fourth higher than Chapotin’s highest notes
in Dundunbanza. With a rhythmic subtlety akin to Velazco, Armenteros’ playing defies notational representation and belies the youth of the twenty-one year old.”

Havana Nights

Chocolate began a freelance career working with Julio Gutierrez before joining La Sonora Matancera on radio and television. He quickly became a sought-after session and recording sideman. He toured all of Latin America with La Sonora recording the hit Burundanga with Celia Cruz. He was touring with Cuban flautist José Fajardo (percussionist Tata Güines was in the band as well) in Mexico when Machito first asked him to join the Afro-Cubans in New York. But Chocolate had another calling back home. His first cousin, Benny Moré asked Chocolate to help him organize and lead a dance band that would cater to the native Cuban dancer. The band was a hit. From 1953 until ’59 Chocolate continued his steady stream of freelance work recording and performing with Chico O’Farrill and Bebo Valdés.
Next, Chocolate recorded on the album “Salsa” with Cheo Marquetti y Los Salseros. He went on to record with Joseito Fernández who composed the Cuban classic, Guantanamera that Chocolate later recorded on his own. During this time, American vocalist Nat King Cole arrives in Cuba to record an album in Spanish. Chocolate performs on this recording.
But it was in New York where his “fruit becomes ripened” as he put it. It was in the City where he finally sired a son, Alfredo, after leaving six daughters behind in Cuba. Here he records nine albums on the advice of Machito who warned him that “creating a style, being accepted, and then being liked by the public are three distinctly different things very hard to achieve.”
After realizing his two lifelong dreams of playing with Arsenio and organizing the most popular dance band in Cuba with Benny Moré, Chocolate took Machito up on his offer and come to New York. Palladium promoter Catalino Rolon booked him a month earlier pairing him with the Puerto Rican big band of Cesar Concepción prior to becoming Machito’s first trumpet for eight years and traveling throughout the world. This opened doors to a variety of Afro-Caribbean musical genres as well as directly exposing Chocolate to the New York jazz scene.
Chocolate, with Machito and his Afro-Cubans traveled uptown to the Apollo for the shows produced by radio hosts Symphony Syd and Dick “Ricardo” Sugar. There he would accompany performers such as Oscar Brown Junior, Hazel Scott, Philly Joe Jones, Miriam Makeba, Diane Carroll and others. While having after gig drinks several of the black artists would invite Choco to scat jazz with them to which he would reply that his trumpet spoke Spanish and improv.

The Art of Improvisation

“From the charismatic spark of a moment improvisation is born,” noted the master trumpet player. “You may see it in the face of a fan, the feel of the ambiance, the interaction of the group you’re playing with. All these things influence improvisation; it is born from the feeling of any moment. It can happen without control or will.”
Chocolate’s trumpet solos competed with a young La Lupe’s kinetic vocals over Mongo Santamaria’s debut recording of her fresh style to New York audiences andit was the brilliant color of his trumpet’s sequential lyricism that rides thetop of Ismael Rivera’s band in the recording of El Nazareno. From here, Choco soared once more inspiring the now rare cult recordings of the Alegre All-Stars. His recording over the album With A Touch of Brass for Tipica Novel won Armenteros’ a Latin New York Magazine Award in 1974 while the following year found him at music collector René Lopez’ Bronx home at a weekly experimental retreat where he and brothers Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, percussionists Milton Cardona, Marcial Reyes, Nicky Marrero, vocalist Willie Garcia, and an array of folk and local artists were “looking for a sound” in a mixture of Afro-Caribbean structures with a funky Nuyorican backbeat.” They were “guapeando” (ballsy) at its New York best.
“Freelancing and working with so many other bands and musical groups is what keeps the improvisation fresh and creative.” He underscored. I don’t stay in one band for too long; it becomes mechanical, stagnate. Playing with others expands not only the repertoire but the creative imagination to a point that it can never go back to what it was.”
“The music is always looking for something new and the American influence and young styles of expression continue to create different sounds,” Chocolate pointed out. “In reality, we’ve done it all before. I recorded a Cuban version of Mack the Knife in guaguancó time. I’ve jammed with Los Van Van and Arturo Sandoval. I love jazz, but I bring my own Cuban improvisational style within that genre as well. When Cedar Walton asked me to record on his Eastern Rebellion jazz album, he asked me to share my inspiration with his jazz style. That’s different from playing straight up jazz. I don’t play that.”
The trumpet he plays has played a major role in the instrumental make up of the Latin music sound. Since the Cuban comparsas at the turn of the last century featuring one trumpet as a principle force amid massive drumming, the trumpet lends a colorfully bright and inspirational melodic phrasing to the music different from other instruments.
Up until the summer of 2015, Chocolate Armenteros didn’t miss a beat since he first raised his hand to learn the trumpet. Whether recording an educational jazz series with Wynton Marsalles or playing his flugelhorn with a symphony, Chocolate Armenteros performed, recorded and toured the world returning to his beloved New York Barrio where he lived among the memorabilia of a glorious career. He toured the French Caribbean of Martinique and Guadalupe with Zon del Barrio, celebrated his 85^th birthday in Central Park where he received a proclamation from the City of New York from Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and could be seen every Sunday at the Julia de Burgos danzettes performing and enjoying the good life.

Chocolate worked with the most significant Latin music bandleaders of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Indeed through every musical milestone from the septeto to the conjunto, the big dance bands to the Latin jazz ensembles and on to his arrival in New York, Chocolate and his liltingly dynamic trumpet solo style were at the cutting edge of the Latin music Diaspora. So when he’d say there’s nothing new in music unless you add a sixth line to the musical staff, he’s wasn’t kidding. He’s lived enough for ten lives and has heard and done it all. In his memory, the family wishes that fans remember his zest for life, his love of music, his passion and most of all, his happy laugh.

Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros is survived by his son Alfredo and his wife Diane G.; and their daughters Diavana G.; and Amanda D. Armenteros. Chocolate also has six daughter he left behind in Cuba however, due to the embargo, the family only has contact with the youngest, Ana Catalina Armenteros who was two years old when Chocolate left for New York.
There will be a memorial celebrating his life on April 4, 2016 what would’ve been his 88^th birthday.

###

Highlights of A Sweet Life:
Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros

Compiled by Aurora Flores

April 4, 1928:Born to Lazaro Alfredo Armenteros, a trombone player and plantation farm owner and Angelina Abreu in Ranchuelo, Santa Clara the Cuban province of Las Villas.

1940: Recruited by Eduardo Egües for a local children’s musical group.

Mid-40s: Played with Los Hermanos Valladares, in local comparsas and with Melodias de Ironbeer (a popular drink in Cuba back in the day) and Comparsa Jardinera.

1948: Moved to the City of Havana to begin playing with the legendary Septeto Habanero led by Gerardo Martinez.

May 18, 1949:First recording with René Alvarez y Los Astros featuring the now standard for Afro-Cuban style soloing, Para las Niñas y Para las Señoras the title name of the recording.

1949: Joins the conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez. Performs with Julio Gutierrez.

1951: Begins a long career of freelancing playing with the famous Sonora Matancera and others while a member of the studio orchestra of the Cuban radio and television station CMQ and as a recording session man.

1953 – 1956: Organizes his cousin Benny Moré’s first dance big band for the public in Cuba.

1954 –1959: Records and works with Chico O’Farrill, Bebo Valdés, recorded Cole Español featuring Nat King Cole. Works with José Fajardo, records “Salsa” with Cheo Marquetti y sus Salseros in 1954 and later with Joseito Fernández composer of the standard, Guantanamera covered two decades later on Armenteros’ Chocolate y Amigos. Goes to New York in 1957 with a contract to play with the Machito and his Afro-Cubans Orchestra. He arrives a month prior to his starting date with Machito to work with Puerto Rican bandleader Cesar Concepción at the Palladium.

1960: Relocates permanently to New York City to continue a long-standing work relationship with Machito as he begins to play with other orquestras and in other venues. Early ‘60s: Performs at the Apollo with the Machito Orchestra accompanying Philly Joe Jones, Miriam Makeba, Oscar Brown Junior, Hazel Scott, Diane Carroll and other acts produced by jazz radio hosts Symphony Syd and Dick Ricardo Sugar.

‘60s ‘70s: Works with every major bandleader including Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez. Works with Joe Cotto, Moncho Leña and Mon Rivera. Continues to freelance and perform with every “salsa” bandleader in New York including Johnny Pacheco, Alegre All-Stars, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, Ray Baretto, Mongo Santamaria, Ismael Rivera, La Lupe, Celia Cruz, Bobby Capo, Sonora Ponceña, Orlando Marin, Roberto Torres, and many, many more.

1974: Records With a Touch of Brass for Tipica Novel that won Chocolate a Latin New York Award for Best Trumpet.

1975: Records on the two volumes of critically acclaimed and groundbreaking recordings by a workshop group of musicians produced by music producer, René López: Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorquino. Kicks off his career as a bandleader and recording artist with Chocolate Aquí on the Carib Music label.

Late ‘70s Chocolate traveled the world with La Sonora Matancera during the late 1970s.

’80: Records Chocolate Caliente and Juntos a collaboration with Roberto Torres on the Salsoul label. Releases Chocolate En El Rincon featuring Manny Oquendo and Andy Gonzalez in 1976 on Salsoul; followed by Prefiero El Son and Sigo Con Mi Son and Chocolate Dice over the SAR label in the early ‘1980s. Prefiero El Son and Sigo Con Mi Son were re-released on CD as Lo Mejor de Chocolate, Volumes 1 and 2.

1983 – 1984: On the Caiman label Chocolate records, Chocolate en Sexteto; ¡Rompiendo Hielo! and Chocolate y Amigos.

Chocolate continues his intermittent relationship with the Machito Orchestra recording three albums between 1982 and 1983 while appearing with the band in London. He appears with an American jazz group on pianist Cedar Walton’s Eastern Rebellion 4 featuring jazz trombonist Curtis Fuller. He also continues recording with Caiman Records as a featured sideman with a notable performance on Super All-Star ’84 featuring Tito Puente and Paquito D’Rivera. He records on Pionero Del Son with Alfredo Valdés, Sr., in 1984 and on Con Tumbao with Los Guaracheros de Oriente.

Late ‘80s 90s: Recorded with the legendary Cuban bassist Israel Cachao López in a two volume Grammy award-winning CD set: Master Session, 1 and II in 1995 and in the documentary produced by actor Andy Garcia, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos, creating an Afro-Cuban renaissance. Receives a certificate of recognition along with John Santos and the Machito Ensemble for Jazz from the City Festival, David Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California.

Oct. 1990: Receives three awards from Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana, Discos Terrazo and Discoteca Kristal in recognition of Chocolate’s work.

1991: Colombia Club in New Jersey recognizes the lifetime achievements of Chocolate Armenteros.

1992: Records with Paquito D’Rivera on 40 Years of Cuban Jam Sessions.

1994: Recognition from the City of New Orleans.

1995: Recorded on Descarga in New York (Estrellas Caiman) featuring Armenteros’ version of the Kurt Weill standard Mack the Knifepreviously recorded on his own ¡Rompiendo Hielo!

1996: Records Descarga del Milenio (Estrellas Caiman).Receives recognition from the New York City Council.

1997: Records his own Chocolate and His Latin Soul on the Caiman label and was later featured on trombonist Jimmy Bosch’s first recording as a leader, Soneando Trombón released on the Ryko-Latino label. Receives a star “Walk of Fame” from Willie’s Steak House in the Bronx, New York.

1998: Plays a comedic solo beside Bill Cosby at Tito Puente’s 75th Birthday on April 20 at a private party attended by Lionel Hampton, Isaac Hayes and other celebrities. Received the New York ACE Award on March 21.

1999: Records Heart of A Legend with Chico O’Farrell. Receives recognition from the Smithsonian Associates for Lifetime Dedication to the Enrichment and Diffusion of Latin Music on February 27th.

2000: Recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis on his educational jazz music series for Lincoln Center.

2002: Honored by the Caribbean Cultural Center as one of the most important and influential trumpet players in the history of Cuban music.

August 10, 2002: Celebrated with the big band orchestra of Ray Santos and tresero Nelson Gonzalez’ septeto conjunto at Prospect Park for the Celebrate Brooklyn festival. Historian Henry Medina’s vintage films danced across a bigs creen showcasing highlights of Chocolate’s intense and exciting musical career.

2010 – 2015: Recording, performing and touring with Zon del Barrio

August, 2013: Proclamation from the City of New York

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros 4/4/28 — 1/6/2016

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/

For immediate release: 1/6/2016
Contact Aurora Flores, 212.876.1936

Alfredo “Chocolate”Armenteros
A Sweet Life
4/4/28 — 1/6/2016
By Aurora Flores
On the day of the kings, the king of the Afro-Cuban trumpet, Cho-co-la-te Armenteros, passed into eternity the morning of January 6, 2016 at North Westchester Rehab near Peekskill, New York from complications of prostate cancer.
Playing his horn through seven decades of musical trends, Chocolate’s dynamically rich and lyrically vibrant tenor defined the early days of the Cuban conjunto trumpet solo style as much as his charismatically cackling laugh punctuated his many stories. With two fingers holding onto a stogy, Chocolate’s tales took him from the Tropicana Nightclub where he backed Nat King Cole to the many stages he shared with names like Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, and Oscar Brown Jr. at the Apollo Theater. A popular you.tube video features him schooling Wynton Marsalis on the art of Afro-Cuban improvisation. He’s recorded with the Palmieris, Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Ismael Rivera and the Estefans. He’s lived in Spain and France, traveled the world, performed on film with Andy Garcia and it was Chocolate’s horn that hailed from the horizon of an Infinity car commercial over national television. He answered his phone animatedly asking the caller to dimelo cantando, sing it to me, baby.
An old school dapper dresser who disliked jeans and sneakers his was a happy outlook on a life filled with jokes, adventures, pranks, love, romance, children, and many good times. A bon vivant who enjoyed his cognac, good cigar and great music he nonetheless had strict standards not only with dress codes but life in general; he did not tolerate tardiness, tastelessness or gibberish. He did not suffer fools. Always with an eye on and out for beauty and beauties, Chocolate’s love for life mirrored the passion of his muse; reckless, free spirited and bold.
“I approach my trumpet as I approach a woman,” he would say slyly. “I take my time with her. I ask if she wants to play with me. I respect her so she’ll respect me.” Then he’ll pick up his horn and mouth off a free wheeling, uninhibited aggressive kick-ass solo that oozes with creative cunning while rapturous in its brilliantly lyrical color; the color of Chocolate.
Born Teodolo Alfredo Armenteros he described his childhood on the farm in Ranchuelo, Santa Clara the Cuban province of Las Villas as fortunate and blessed. His father Lazaro Alfredo Armenteros had acres of land and a big house and grocery store passed down from his father, Lt. Coronel José Maria Armenteros, right hand to Coronel Antonio Maceo Grajales, leader of the ten year war against Spain and the fight for the abolition of slavery through the mambi army. Cuba was the last Island to free slaves, a freedom hard to enforce.
His father was a trombone player before he married Angelina Abreu. He retired from the musicians’ life by the time Alfredo was born on April 4, 1928, and dedicated himself to his wife, family, and Villa Ranchuelo, their farming estate before his untimely death when the young Alfredo was twelve years old; but not before instilling a sense of moral commitment and work ethic into his son’s talent and stand up character. A family’s legacy shapes the identity of the clan.
Chocolate’s was the first hand raised when his friend Richard Egües’ father asked for students interested in being part of a local band at school. Richard went on to become Orq. Aragon’s greatest flute player while Chocolate went on to Havana where he played with Septeto Habanero before his first recording with the great René Alvarez in 1949. The 78 recording sat center stage in Chocolate’s living room, a spotlight on his extensive and exciting career that went the next level with Arsenio, El Cieguito Maravilloso who gave form and substance to the Cuban conjunto style.
The blind Cuban tres (guitar) player who led the most popular conjunto of the 1940s is generally considered the father of modern conjunto and a significant influence on what is now known as salsa music; a cosmopolitan update of the son ensemble. Influenced by the Island’s legendary “laughing” horn approach honed by Felix Chapotin, an original member of Arsenio’s crew,Chocolate studied him closely until “El Cieguito Marvilloso,” the blind marvel, offered Chocolate work with his newly formed conjunto alongside Chapotin and Enrique “Florecita” Velazco.
Arsenio’s innovation of adding a piano to play across his tres, upgraded the “septets” of the time anchoring the sound around the inclusion of the forbidden conga drums that kept the groove deep and tight. With Chocolate taking center stage in the brass line-up, a shape-shifting chapter of musical history tumbled out. Harmonized horn lines mocked Eurocentric convention, sparring with each other like boxers, gyrating like dancers, and at some points, crying with each other like sympathetic, jilted lovers.
Chocolate had arrived. Mistaken in bars for Cuban Featherweight World Boxing Champ Kid Chocolate, he retained the “Chocolate” moniker before he began playing with Sonora Matancera.
He backed vocalist Nat King Cole at Cuba’s famous Tropicana Nightclub and performed on his subsequent recording, “Cole Español” while Choco was an in-demand radio and recording session player. During this time, Chocolate became the musical director and lead trumpet for Benny Moré before going on tour with Cuban flautist, José Fajardo. Later, Chocolate joined Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York opening an international door to Latin music and jazz trumpet improvisation.
Since that auspicious beginning, Chocolate has played with Cesar Concepción, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Ismael Rivera, Joe Cotto, Moncho Leña, Cachao, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Mongo Santamaria with La Lupe, the Alegre All-Stars, Dianne Carroll and so many more. He bested Bill Cosby at Tito Puente’s 75^th birthday party displaying his comedic as well as musical antics on stage. He won the Latin New York category for Best Trumpet of the Year in 1977 for his improvisations on Tipica Novel’s recording of “With a Touch of Brass.” Chocolate has nine albums to his name complimented by countless recordings with virtually every major Latin music artist in the business.

In fact, “the maturation of the solo trumpet style remains the most significant contribution by Rodríguez and his trumpet stars to the Cuban brass performing legacy,” states musician and educator Rick Davis in a published dissertation. The three-trumpet “sonora” format set them apart from their predecessors by dint of their unique improvisational styles sown from earlier septeto experience.
Arsenio was the first to bring the “tumbadora” (conga drum) into the conjunto showcasing the trumpet while dressing up the guaguanco beat. Arsenio revolutionized the instrumentation spotlighting three trumpets, adding a piano to the tres guitar, bass, bongo and three voices. Chocolate, being the youngest, decided to fit right into the center of these two senior trumpet mentors complementing rather than copying them. However, as Professor Rick Davies describes in his dissertation, in the harmonic voicing on one of Arsenio’s memorable numbers, No Puedo Comer Vistagacho, Armenteros’ instrumental virtuosity surpasses that of his older colleagues. His is a fluid linear style containing a high percentage of sixteenth-note figures as well as a mastery of an impressive trumpet range. Armenteros’ first solo in this piece includes a high C# (concert), a major third higher than any note in the Velazco solos and an augmented fourth higher than Chapotin’s highest notes
in Dundunbanza. With a rhythmic subtlety akin to Velazco, Armenteros’ playing defies notational representation and belies the youth of the twenty-one year old.”

Havana Nights

Chocolate began a freelance career working with Julio Gutierrez before joining La Sonora Matancera on radio and television. He quickly became a sought-after session and recording sideman. He toured all of Latin America with La Sonora recording the hit Burundanga with Celia Cruz. He was touring with Cuban flautist José Fajardo (percussionist Tata Güines was in the band as well) in Mexico when Machito first asked him to join the Afro-Cubans in New York. But Chocolate had another calling back home. His first cousin, Benny Moré asked Chocolate to help him organize and lead a dance band that would cater to the native Cuban dancer. The band was a hit. From 1953 until ’59 Chocolate continued his steady stream of freelance work recording and performing with Chico O’Farrill and Bebo Valdés.
Next, Chocolate recorded on the album “Salsa” with Cheo Marquetti y Los Salseros. He went on to record with Joseito Fernández who composed the Cuban classic, Guantanamera that Chocolate later recorded on his own. During this time, American vocalist Nat King Cole arrives in Cuba to record an album in Spanish. Chocolate performs on this recording.
But it was in New York where his “fruit becomes ripened” as he put it. It was in the City where he finally sired a son, Alfredo, after leaving six daughters behind in Cuba. Here he records nine albums on the advice of Machito who warned him that “creating a style, being accepted, and then being liked by the public are three distinctly different things very hard to achieve.”
After realizing his two lifelong dreams of playing with Arsenio and organizing the most popular dance band in Cuba with Benny Moré, Chocolate took Machito up on his offer and come to New York. Palladium promoter Catalino Rolon booked him a month earlier pairing him with the Puerto Rican big band of Cesar Concepción prior to becoming Machito’s first trumpet for eight years and traveling throughout the world. This opened doors to a variety of Afro-Caribbean musical genres as well as directly exposing Chocolate to the New York jazz scene.
Chocolate, with Machito and his Afro-Cubans traveled uptown to the Apollo for the shows produced by radio hosts Symphony Syd and Dick “Ricardo” Sugar. There he would accompany performers such as Oscar Brown Junior, Hazel Scott, Philly Joe Jones, Miriam Makeba, Diane Carroll and others. While having after gig drinks several of the black artists would invite Choco to scat jazz with them to which he would reply that his trumpet spoke Spanish and improv.

The Art of Improvisation

“From the charismatic spark of a moment improvisation is born,” noted the master trumpet player. “You may see it in the face of a fan, the feel of the ambiance, the interaction of the group you’re playing with. All these things influence improvisation; it is born from the feeling of any moment. It can happen without control or will.”
Chocolate’s trumpet solos competed with a young La Lupe’s kinetic vocals over Mongo Santamaria’s debut recording of her fresh style to New York audiences andit was the brilliant color of his trumpet’s sequential lyricism that rides thetop of Ismael Rivera’s band in the recording of El Nazareno. From here, Choco soared once more inspiring the now rare cult recordings of the Alegre All-Stars. His recording over the album With A Touch of Brass for Tipica Novel won Armenteros’ a Latin New York Magazine Award in 1974 while the following year found him at music collector René Lopez’ Bronx home at a weekly experimental retreat where he and brothers Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, percussionists Milton Cardona, Marcial Reyes, Nicky Marrero, vocalist Willie Garcia, and an array of folk and local artists were “looking for a sound” in a mixture of Afro-Caribbean structures with a funky Nuyorican backbeat.” They were “guapeando” (ballsy) at its New York best.
“Freelancing and working with so many other bands and musical groups is what keeps the improvisation fresh and creative.” He underscored. I don’t stay in one band for too long; it becomes mechanical, stagnate. Playing with others expands not only the repertoire but the creative imagination to a point that it can never go back to what it was.”
“The music is always looking for something new and the American influence and young styles of expression continue to create different sounds,” Chocolate pointed out. “In reality, we’ve done it all before. I recorded a Cuban version of Mack the Knife in guaguancó time. I’ve jammed with Los Van Van and Arturo Sandoval. I love jazz, but I bring my own Cuban improvisational style within that genre as well. When Cedar Walton asked me to record on his Eastern Rebellion jazz album, he asked me to share my inspiration with his jazz style. That’s different from playing straight up jazz. I don’t play that.”
The trumpet he plays has played a major role in the instrumental make up of the Latin music sound. Since the Cuban comparsas at the turn of the last century featuring one trumpet as a principle force amid massive drumming, the trumpet lends a colorfully bright and inspirational melodic phrasing to the music different from other instruments.
Up until the summer of 2015, Chocolate Armenteros didn’t miss a beat since he first raised his hand to learn the trumpet. Whether recording an educational jazz series with Wynton Marsalles or playing his flugelhorn with a symphony, Chocolate Armenteros performed, recorded and toured the world returning to his beloved New York Barrio where he lived among the memorabilia of a glorious career. He toured the French Caribbean of Martinique and Guadalupe with Zon del Barrio, celebrated his 85^th birthday in Central Park where he received a proclamation from the City of New York from Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and could be seen every Sunday at the Julia de Burgos danzettes performing and enjoying the good life.

Chocolate worked with the most significant Latin music bandleaders of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Indeed through every musical milestone from the septeto to the conjunto, the big dance bands to the Latin jazz ensembles and on to his arrival in New York, Chocolate and his liltingly dynamic trumpet solo style were at the cutting edge of the Latin music Diaspora. So when he’d say there’s nothing new in music unless you add a sixth line to the musical staff, he’s wasn’t kidding. He’s lived enough for ten lives and has heard and done it all. In his memory, the family wishes that fans remember his zest for life, his love of music, his passion and most of all, his happy laugh.

Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros is survived by his son Alfredo and his wife Diane G.; and their daughters Diavana G.; and Amanda D. Armenteros. Chocolate also has six daughter he left behind in Cuba however, due to the embargo, the family only has contact with the youngest, Ana Catalina Armenteros who was two years old when Chocolate left for New York.
There will be a memorial celebrating his life on April 4, 2016 what would’ve been his 88^th birthday.

###

Highlights of A Sweet Life:
Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros

Compiled by Aurora Flores

April 4, 1928:Born to Lazaro Alfredo Armenteros, a trombone player and plantation farm owner and Angelina Abreu in Ranchuelo, Santa Clara the Cuban province of Las Villas.

1940: Recruited by Eduardo Egües for a local children’s musical group.

Mid-40s: Played with Los Hermanos Valladares, in local comparsas and with Melodias de Ironbeer (a popular drink in Cuba back in the day) and Comparsa Jardinera.

1948: Moved to the City of Havana to begin playing with the legendary Septeto Habanero led by Gerardo Martinez.

May 18, 1949:First recording with René Alvarez y Los Astros featuring the now standard for Afro-Cuban style soloing, Para las Niñas y Para las Señoras the title name of the recording.

1949: Joins the conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez. Performs with Julio Gutierrez.

1951: Begins a long career of freelancing playing with the famous Sonora Matancera and others while a member of the studio orchestra of the Cuban radio and television station CMQ and as a recording session man.

1953 – 1956: Organizes his cousin Benny Moré’s first dance big band for the public in Cuba.

1954 –1959: Records and works with Chico O’Farrill, Bebo Valdés, recorded Cole Español featuring Nat King Cole. Works with José Fajardo, records “Salsa” with Cheo Marquetti y sus Salseros in 1954 and later with Joseito Fernández composer of the standard, Guantanamera covered two decades later on Armenteros’ Chocolate y Amigos. Goes to New York in 1957 with a contract to play with the Machito and his Afro-Cubans Orchestra. He arrives a month prior to his starting date with Machito to work with Puerto Rican bandleader Cesar Concepción at the Palladium.

1960: Relocates permanently to New York City to continue a long-standing work relationship with Machito as he begins to play with other orquestras and in other venues. Early ‘60s: Performs at the Apollo with the Machito Orchestra accompanying Philly Joe Jones, Miriam Makeba, Oscar Brown Junior, Hazel Scott, Diane Carroll and other acts produced by jazz radio hosts Symphony Syd and Dick Ricardo Sugar.

‘60s ‘70s: Works with every major bandleader including Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez. Works with Joe Cotto, Moncho Leña and Mon Rivera. Continues to freelance and perform with every “salsa” bandleader in New York including Johnny Pacheco, Alegre All-Stars, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, Ray Baretto, Mongo Santamaria, Ismael Rivera, La Lupe, Celia Cruz, Bobby Capo, Sonora Ponceña, Orlando Marin, Roberto Torres, and many, many more.

1974: Records With a Touch of Brass for Tipica Novel that won Chocolate a Latin New York Award for Best Trumpet.

1975: Records on the two volumes of critically acclaimed and groundbreaking recordings by a workshop group of musicians produced by music producer, René López: Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorquino. Kicks off his career as a bandleader and recording artist with Chocolate Aquí on the Carib Music label.

Late ‘70s Chocolate traveled the world with La Sonora Matancera during the late 1970s.

’80: Records Chocolate Caliente and Juntos a collaboration with Roberto Torres on the Salsoul label. Releases Chocolate En El Rincon featuring Manny Oquendo and Andy Gonzalez in 1976 on Salsoul; followed by Prefiero El Son and Sigo Con Mi Son and Chocolate Dice over the SAR label in the early ‘1980s. Prefiero El Son and Sigo Con Mi Son were re-released on CD as Lo Mejor de Chocolate, Volumes 1 and 2.

1983 – 1984: On the Caiman label Chocolate records, Chocolate en Sexteto; ¡Rompiendo Hielo! and Chocolate y Amigos.

Chocolate continues his intermittent relationship with the Machito Orchestra recording three albums between 1982 and 1983 while appearing with the band in London. He appears with an American jazz group on pianist Cedar Walton’s Eastern Rebellion 4 featuring jazz trombonist Curtis Fuller. He also continues recording with Caiman Records as a featured sideman with a notable performance on Super All-Star ’84 featuring Tito Puente and Paquito D’Rivera. He records on Pionero Del Son with Alfredo Valdés, Sr., in 1984 and on Con Tumbao with Los Guaracheros de Oriente.

Late ‘80s 90s: Recorded with the legendary Cuban bassist Israel Cachao López in a two volume Grammy award-winning CD set: Master Session, 1 and II in 1995 and in the documentary produced by actor Andy Garcia, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos, creating an Afro-Cuban renaissance. Receives a certificate of recognition along with John Santos and the Machito Ensemble for Jazz from the City Festival, David Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California.

Oct. 1990: Receives three awards from Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana, Discos Terrazo and Discoteca Kristal in recognition of Chocolate’s work.

1991: Colombia Club in New Jersey recognizes the lifetime achievements of Chocolate Armenteros.

1992: Records with Paquito D’Rivera on 40 Years of Cuban Jam Sessions.

1994: Recognition from the City of New Orleans.

1995: Recorded on Descarga in New York (Estrellas Caiman) featuring Armenteros’ version of the Kurt Weill standard Mack the Knifepreviously recorded on his own ¡Rompiendo Hielo!

1996: Records Descarga del Milenio (Estrellas Caiman).Receives recognition from the New York City Council.

1997: Records his own Chocolate and His Latin Soul on the Caiman label and was later featured on trombonist Jimmy Bosch’s first recording as a leader, Soneando Trombón released on the Ryko-Latino label. Receives a star “Walk of Fame” from Willie’s Steak House in the Bronx, New York.

1998: Plays a comedic solo beside Bill Cosby at Tito Puente’s 75th Birthday on April 20 at a private party attended by Lionel Hampton, Isaac Hayes and other celebrities. Received the New York ACE Award on March 21.

1999: Records Heart of A Legend with Chico O’Farrell. Receives recognition from the Smithsonian Associates for Lifetime Dedication to the Enrichment and Diffusion of Latin Music on February 27th.

2000: Recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis on his educational jazz music series for Lincoln Center.

2002: Honored by the Caribbean Cultural Center as one of the most important and influential trumpet players in the history of Cuban music.

August 10, 2002: Celebrated with the big band orchestra of Ray Santos and tresero Nelson Gonzalez’ septeto conjunto at Prospect Park for the Celebrate Brooklyn festival. Historian Henry Medina’s vintage films danced across a bigs creen showcasing highlights of Chocolate’s intense and exciting musical career.

2010 – 2015: Recording, performing and touring with Zon del Barrio

August, 2013: Proclamation from the City of New York

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Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros 4/4/28 — 1/6/2016

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For immediate release: 1/6/2016
Contact Aurora Flores, 212.876.1936

Alfredo “Chocolate”Armenteros
A Sweet Life
4/4/28 — 1/6/2016
By Aurora Flores
On the day of the kings, the king of the Afro-Cuban trumpet, Cho-co-la-te Armenteros, passed into eternity the morning of January 6, 2016 at North Westchester Rehab near Peekskill, New York from complications of prostate cancer.
Playing his horn through seven decades of musical trends, Chocolate’s dynamically rich and lyrically vibrant tenor defined the early days of the Cuban conjunto trumpet solo style as much as his charismatically cackling laugh punctuated his many stories. With two fingers holding onto a stogy, Chocolate’s tales took him from the Tropicana Nightclub where he backed Nat King Cole to the many stages he shared with names like Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, and Oscar Brown Jr. at the Apollo Theater. A popular you.tube video features him schooling Wynton Marsalis on the art of Afro-Cuban improvisation. He’s recorded with the Palmieris, Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Ismael Rivera and the Estefans. He’s lived in Spain and France, traveled the world, performed on film with Andy Garcia and it was Chocolate’s horn that hailed from the horizon of an Infinity car commercial over national television. He answered his phone animatedly asking the caller to dimelo cantando, sing it to me, baby.
An old school dapper dresser who disliked jeans and sneakers his was a happy outlook on a life filled with jokes, adventures, pranks, love, romance, children, and many good times. A bon vivant who enjoyed his cognac, good cigar and great music he nonetheless had strict standards not only with dress codes but life in general; he did not tolerate tardiness, tastelessness or gibberish. He did not suffer fools. Always with an eye on and out for beauty and beauties, Chocolate’s love for life mirrored the passion of his muse; reckless, free spirited and bold.
“I approach my trumpet as I approach a woman,” he would say slyly. “I take my time with her. I ask if she wants to play with me. I respect her so she’ll respect me.” Then he’ll pick up his horn and mouth off a free wheeling, uninhibited aggressive kick-ass solo that oozes with creative cunning while rapturous in its brilliantly lyrical color; the color of Chocolate.
Born Teodolo Alfredo Armenteros he described his childhood on the farm in Ranchuelo, Santa Clara the Cuban province of Las Villas as fortunate and blessed. His father Lazaro Alfredo Armenteros had acres of land and a big house and grocery store passed down from his father, Lt. Coronel José Maria Armenteros, right hand to Coronel Antonio Maceo Grajales, leader of the ten year war against Spain and the fight for the abolition of slavery through the mambi army. Cuba was the last Island to free slaves, a freedom hard to enforce.
His father was a trombone player before he married Angelina Abreu. He retired from the musicians’ life by the time Alfredo was born on April 4, 1928, and dedicated himself to his wife, family, and Villa Ranchuelo, their farming estate before his untimely death when the young Alfredo was twelve years old; but not before instilling a sense of moral commitment and work ethic into his son’s talent and stand up character. A family’s legacy shapes the identity of the clan.
Chocolate’s was the first hand raised when his friend Richard Egües’ father asked for students interested in being part of a local band at school. Richard went on to become Orq. Aragon’s greatest flute player while Chocolate went on to Havana where he played with Septeto Habanero before his first recording with the great René Alvarez in 1949. The 78 recording sat center stage in Chocolate’s living room, a spotlight on his extensive and exciting career that went the next level with Arsenio, El Cieguito Maravilloso who gave form and substance to the Cuban conjunto style.
The blind Cuban tres (guitar) player who led the most popular conjunto of the 1940s is generally considered the father of modern conjunto and a significant influence on what is now known as salsa music; a cosmopolitan update of the son ensemble. Influenced by the Island’s legendary “laughing” horn approach honed by Felix Chapotin, an original member of Arsenio’s crew,Chocolate studied him closely until “El Cieguito Marvilloso,” the blind marvel, offered Chocolate work with his newly formed conjunto alongside Chapotin and Enrique “Florecita” Velazco.
Arsenio’s innovation of adding a piano to play across his tres, upgraded the “septets” of the time anchoring the sound around the inclusion of the forbidden conga drums that kept the groove deep and tight. With Chocolate taking center stage in the brass line-up, a shape-shifting chapter of musical history tumbled out. Harmonized horn lines mocked Eurocentric convention, sparring with each other like boxers, gyrating like dancers, and at some points, crying with each other like sympathetic, jilted lovers.
Chocolate had arrived. Mistaken in bars for Cuban Featherweight World Boxing Champ Kid Chocolate, he retained the “Chocolate” moniker before he began playing with Sonora Matancera.
He backed vocalist Nat King Cole at Cuba’s famous Tropicana Nightclub and performed on his subsequent recording, “Cole Español” while Choco was an in-demand radio and recording session player. During this time, Chocolate became the musical director and lead trumpet for Benny Moré before going on tour with Cuban flautist, José Fajardo. Later, Chocolate joined Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York opening an international door to Latin music and jazz trumpet improvisation.
Since that auspicious beginning, Chocolate has played with Cesar Concepción, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Ismael Rivera, Joe Cotto, Moncho Leña, Cachao, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Mongo Santamaria with La Lupe, the Alegre All-Stars, Dianne Carroll and so many more. He bested Bill Cosby at Tito Puente’s 75^th birthday party displaying his comedic as well as musical antics on stage. He won the Latin New York category for Best Trumpet of the Year in 1977 for his improvisations on Tipica Novel’s recording of “With a Touch of Brass.” Chocolate has nine albums to his name complimented by countless recordings with virtually every major Latin music artist in the business.

In fact, “the maturation of the solo trumpet style remains the most significant contribution by Rodríguez and his trumpet stars to the Cuban brass performing legacy,” states musician and educator Rick Davis in a published dissertation. The three-trumpet “sonora” format set them apart from their predecessors by dint of their unique improvisational styles sown from earlier septeto experience.
Arsenio was the first to bring the “tumbadora” (conga drum) into the conjunto showcasing the trumpet while dressing up the guaguanco beat. Arsenio revolutionized the instrumentation spotlighting three trumpets, adding a piano to the tres guitar, bass, bongo and three voices. Chocolate, being the youngest, decided to fit right into the center of these two senior trumpet mentors complementing rather than copying them. However, as Professor Rick Davies describes in his dissertation, in the harmonic voicing on one of Arsenio’s memorable numbers, No Puedo Comer Vistagacho, Armenteros’ instrumental virtuosity surpasses that of his older colleagues. His is a fluid linear style containing a high percentage of sixteenth-note figures as well as a mastery of an impressive trumpet range. Armenteros’ first solo in this piece includes a high C# (concert), a major third higher than any note in the Velazco solos and an augmented fourth higher than Chapotin’s highest notes
in Dundunbanza. With a rhythmic subtlety akin to Velazco, Armenteros’ playing defies notational representation and belies the youth of the twenty-one year old.”

Havana Nights

Chocolate began a freelance career working with Julio Gutierrez before joining La Sonora Matancera on radio and television. He quickly became a sought-after session and recording sideman. He toured all of Latin America with La Sonora recording the hit Burundanga with Celia Cruz. He was touring with Cuban flautist José Fajardo (percussionist Tata Güines was in the band as well) in Mexico when Machito first asked him to join the Afro-Cubans in New York. But Chocolate had another calling back home. His first cousin, Benny Moré asked Chocolate to help him organize and lead a dance band that would cater to the native Cuban dancer. The band was a hit. From 1953 until ’59 Chocolate continued his steady stream of freelance work recording and performing with Chico O’Farrill and Bebo Valdés.
Next, Chocolate recorded on the album “Salsa” with Cheo Marquetti y Los Salseros. He went on to record with Joseito Fernández who composed the Cuban classic, Guantanamera that Chocolate later recorded on his own. During this time, American vocalist Nat King Cole arrives in Cuba to record an album in Spanish. Chocolate performs on this recording.
But it was in New York where his “fruit becomes ripened” as he put it. It was in the City where he finally sired a son, Alfredo, after leaving six daughters behind in Cuba. Here he records nine albums on the advice of Machito who warned him that “creating a style, being accepted, and then being liked by the public are three distinctly different things very hard to achieve.”
After realizing his two lifelong dreams of playing with Arsenio and organizing the most popular dance band in Cuba with Benny Moré, Chocolate took Machito up on his offer and come to New York. Palladium promoter Catalino Rolon booked him a month earlier pairing him with the Puerto Rican big band of Cesar Concepción prior to becoming Machito’s first trumpet for eight years and traveling throughout the world. This opened doors to a variety of Afro-Caribbean musical genres as well as directly exposing Chocolate to the New York jazz scene.
Chocolate, with Machito and his Afro-Cubans traveled uptown to the Apollo for the shows produced by radio hosts Symphony Syd and Dick “Ricardo” Sugar. There he would accompany performers such as Oscar Brown Junior, Hazel Scott, Philly Joe Jones, Miriam Makeba, Diane Carroll and others. While having after gig drinks several of the black artists would invite Choco to scat jazz with them to which he would reply that his trumpet spoke Spanish and improv.

The Art of Improvisation

“From the charismatic spark of a moment improvisation is born,” noted the master trumpet player. “You may see it in the face of a fan, the feel of the ambiance, the interaction of the group you’re playing with. All these things influence improvisation; it is born from the feeling of any moment. It can happen without control or will.”
Chocolate’s trumpet solos competed with a young La Lupe’s kinetic vocals over Mongo Santamaria’s debut recording of her fresh style to New York audiences andit was the brilliant color of his trumpet’s sequential lyricism that rides thetop of Ismael Rivera’s band in the recording of El Nazareno. From here, Choco soared once more inspiring the now rare cult recordings of the Alegre All-Stars. His recording over the album With A Touch of Brass for Tipica Novel won Armenteros’ a Latin New York Magazine Award in 1974 while the following year found him at music collector René Lopez’ Bronx home at a weekly experimental retreat where he and brothers Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, percussionists Milton Cardona, Marcial Reyes, Nicky Marrero, vocalist Willie Garcia, and an array of folk and local artists were “looking for a sound” in a mixture of Afro-Caribbean structures with a funky Nuyorican backbeat.” They were “guapeando” (ballsy) at its New York best.
“Freelancing and working with so many other bands and musical groups is what keeps the improvisation fresh and creative.” He underscored. I don’t stay in one band for too long; it becomes mechanical, stagnate. Playing with others expands not only the repertoire but the creative imagination to a point that it can never go back to what it was.”
“The music is always looking for something new and the American influence and young styles of expression continue to create different sounds,” Chocolate pointed out. “In reality, we’ve done it all before. I recorded a Cuban version of Mack the Knife in guaguancó time. I’ve jammed with Los Van Van and Arturo Sandoval. I love jazz, but I bring my own Cuban improvisational style within that genre as well. When Cedar Walton asked me to record on his Eastern Rebellion jazz album, he asked me to share my inspiration with his jazz style. That’s different from playing straight up jazz. I don’t play that.”
The trumpet he plays has played a major role in the instrumental make up of the Latin music sound. Since the Cuban comparsas at the turn of the last century featuring one trumpet as a principle force amid massive drumming, the trumpet lends a colorfully bright and inspirational melodic phrasing to the music different from other instruments.
Up until the summer of 2015, Chocolate Armenteros didn’t miss a beat since he first raised his hand to learn the trumpet. Whether recording an educational jazz series with Wynton Marsalles or playing his flugelhorn with a symphony, Chocolate Armenteros performed, recorded and toured the world returning to his beloved New York Barrio where he lived among the memorabilia of a glorious career. He toured the French Caribbean of Martinique and Guadalupe with Zon del Barrio, celebrated his 85^th birthday in Central Park where he received a proclamation from the City of New York from Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and could be seen every Sunday at the Julia de Burgos danzettes performing and enjoying the good life.

Chocolate worked with the most significant Latin music bandleaders of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Indeed through every musical milestone from the septeto to the conjunto, the big dance bands to the Latin jazz ensembles and on to his arrival in New York, Chocolate and his liltingly dynamic trumpet solo style were at the cutting edge of the Latin music Diaspora. So when he’d say there’s nothing new in music unless you add a sixth line to the musical staff, he’s wasn’t kidding. He’s lived enough for ten lives and has heard and done it all. In his memory, the family wishes that fans remember his zest for life, his love of music, his passion and most of all, his happy laugh.

Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros is survived by his son Alfredo and his wife Diane G.; and their daughters Diavana G.; and Amanda D. Armenteros. Chocolate also has six daughter he left behind in Cuba however, due to the embargo, the family only has contact with the youngest, Ana Catalina Armenteros who was two years old when Chocolate left for New York.
There will be a memorial celebrating his life on April 4, 2016 what would’ve been his 88^th birthday.

###

Highlights of A Sweet Life:
Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros

Compiled by Aurora Flores

April 4, 1928:Born to Lazaro Alfredo Armenteros, a trombone player and plantation farm owner and Angelina Abreu in Ranchuelo, Santa Clara the Cuban province of Las Villas.

1940: Recruited by Eduardo Egües for a local children’s musical group.

Mid-40s: Played with Los Hermanos Valladares, in local comparsas and with Melodias de Ironbeer (a popular drink in Cuba back in the day) and Comparsa Jardinera.

1948: Moved to the City of Havana to begin playing with the legendary Septeto Habanero led by Gerardo Martinez.

May 18, 1949:First recording with René Alvarez y Los Astros featuring the now standard for Afro-Cuban style soloing, Para las Niñas y Para las Señoras the title name of the recording.

1949: Joins the conjunto of Arsenio Rodríguez. Performs with Julio Gutierrez.

1951: Begins a long career of freelancing playing with the famous Sonora Matancera and others while a member of the studio orchestra of the Cuban radio and television station CMQ and as a recording session man.

1953 – 1956: Organizes his cousin Benny Moré’s first dance big band for the public in Cuba.

1954 –1959: Records and works with Chico O’Farrill, Bebo Valdés, recorded Cole Español featuring Nat King Cole. Works with José Fajardo, records “Salsa” with Cheo Marquetti y sus Salseros in 1954 and later with Joseito Fernández composer of the standard, Guantanamera covered two decades later on Armenteros’ Chocolate y Amigos. Goes to New York in 1957 with a contract to play with the Machito and his Afro-Cubans Orchestra. He arrives a month prior to his starting date with Machito to work with Puerto Rican bandleader Cesar Concepción at the Palladium.

1960: Relocates permanently to New York City to continue a long-standing work relationship with Machito as he begins to play with other orquestras and in other venues. Early ‘60s: Performs at the Apollo with the Machito Orchestra accompanying Philly Joe Jones, Miriam Makeba, Oscar Brown Junior, Hazel Scott, Diane Carroll and other acts produced by jazz radio hosts Symphony Syd and Dick Ricardo Sugar.

‘60s ‘70s: Works with every major bandleader including Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez. Works with Joe Cotto, Moncho Leña and Mon Rivera. Continues to freelance and perform with every “salsa” bandleader in New York including Johnny Pacheco, Alegre All-Stars, Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, Ray Baretto, Mongo Santamaria, Ismael Rivera, La Lupe, Celia Cruz, Bobby Capo, Sonora Ponceña, Orlando Marin, Roberto Torres, and many, many more.

1974: Records With a Touch of Brass for Tipica Novel that won Chocolate a Latin New York Award for Best Trumpet.

1975: Records on the two volumes of critically acclaimed and groundbreaking recordings by a workshop group of musicians produced by music producer, René López: Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorquino. Kicks off his career as a bandleader and recording artist with Chocolate Aquí on the Carib Music label.

Late ‘70s Chocolate traveled the world with La Sonora Matancera during the late 1970s.

’80: Records Chocolate Caliente and Juntos a collaboration with Roberto Torres on the Salsoul label. Releases Chocolate En El Rincon featuring Manny Oquendo and Andy Gonzalez in 1976 on Salsoul; followed by Prefiero El Son and Sigo Con Mi Son and Chocolate Dice over the SAR label in the early ‘1980s. Prefiero El Son and Sigo Con Mi Son were re-released on CD as Lo Mejor de Chocolate, Volumes 1 and 2.

1983 – 1984: On the Caiman label Chocolate records, Chocolate en Sexteto; ¡Rompiendo Hielo! and Chocolate y Amigos.

Chocolate continues his intermittent relationship with the Machito Orchestra recording three albums between 1982 and 1983 while appearing with the band in London. He appears with an American jazz group on pianist Cedar Walton’s Eastern Rebellion 4 featuring jazz trombonist Curtis Fuller. He also continues recording with Caiman Records as a featured sideman with a notable performance on Super All-Star ’84 featuring Tito Puente and Paquito D’Rivera. He records on Pionero Del Son with Alfredo Valdés, Sr., in 1984 and on Con Tumbao with Los Guaracheros de Oriente.

Late ‘80s 90s: Recorded with the legendary Cuban bassist Israel Cachao López in a two volume Grammy award-winning CD set: Master Session, 1 and II in 1995 and in the documentary produced by actor Andy Garcia, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos, creating an Afro-Cuban renaissance. Receives a certificate of recognition along with John Santos and the Machito Ensemble for Jazz from the City Festival, David Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California.

Oct. 1990: Receives three awards from Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana, Discos Terrazo and Discoteca Kristal in recognition of Chocolate’s work.

1991: Colombia Club in New Jersey recognizes the lifetime achievements of Chocolate Armenteros.

1992: Records with Paquito D’Rivera on 40 Years of Cuban Jam Sessions.

1994: Recognition from the City of New Orleans.

1995: Recorded on Descarga in New York (Estrellas Caiman) featuring Armenteros’ version of the Kurt Weill standard Mack the Knifepreviously recorded on his own ¡Rompiendo Hielo!

1996: Records Descarga del Milenio (Estrellas Caiman).Receives recognition from the New York City Council.

1997: Records his own Chocolate and His Latin Soul on the Caiman label and was later featured on trombonist Jimmy Bosch’s first recording as a leader, Soneando Trombón released on the Ryko-Latino label. Receives a star “Walk of Fame” from Willie’s Steak House in the Bronx, New York.

1998: Plays a comedic solo beside Bill Cosby at Tito Puente’s 75th Birthday on April 20 at a private party attended by Lionel Hampton, Isaac Hayes and other celebrities. Received the New York ACE Award on March 21.

1999: Records Heart of A Legend with Chico O’Farrell. Receives recognition from the Smithsonian Associates for Lifetime Dedication to the Enrichment and Diffusion of Latin Music on February 27th.

2000: Recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis on his educational jazz music series for Lincoln Center.

2002: Honored by the Caribbean Cultural Center as one of the most important and influential trumpet players in the history of Cuban music.

August 10, 2002: Celebrated with the big band orchestra of Ray Santos and tresero Nelson Gonzalez’ septeto conjunto at Prospect Park for the Celebrate Brooklyn festival. Historian Henry Medina’s vintage films danced across a bigs creen showcasing highlights of Chocolate’s intense and exciting musical career.

2010 – 2015: Recording, performing and touring with Zon del Barrio

August, 2013: Proclamation from the City of New York

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Paul Bley, Adventurous Jazz Pianist, Dies at 83 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160105

** Paul Bley, Adventurous Jazz Pianist, Dies at 83
————————————————————

By BEN RATLIFF (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/ben_ratliff/index.html) JAN. 5, 2016

Paul Bley on piano at a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert in 2000, accompanied by Charlie Haden on upright acoustic bass. Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

Paul Bley (http://www.improvart.com/bley/) , an obdurate and original pianist who began his career playing bebop and eventually became a major force in experimental jazz, died on Sunday at his home in Stuart, Fla. He was 83.

His record label, ECM, announced his death without giving a cause.

Mr. Bley’s style of playing was melodic, measured, bluesy, often polytonal and seemingly effortless. He took as long as he needed to finish a thought, and at the tempo he chose for it. He loved standards but distrusted the strictures of the 32-bar song form, and especially distrusted repetition. His notes could move slowly without telegraphing their destination, drawling down into nothing or cohering into bright, purposefully gapped lines, with backing chords that kept changing the tonal center.

Mr. Bley (pronounced “blay”) developed an influential language of phrasing and harmony — Keith Jarrett and Ethan Iverson were two of its many beneficiaries — but often talked about being eager to get outside his own habits. In the 1981 documentary “Imagine the Sound,” (http://www.sphinxproductions.com/films/imaginethesound/) he professed not to practice or rehearse, out of what he called “a disdain for the known.” And he did not stake his work on traditional notions of acceptability, or the approval of the listener.

A 1965 publicity photo of Mr. Bley for ESP Records.

“I’ve spent many years learning how to play as slow as possible,” he told the Italian pianist and writer Arrigo Cappelletti in a typically provocative 2002 interview, “and then many more years learning how to play as fast as possible. I’ve spent many years trying how to play as good as possible. At the present I’m trying to spend as many years learning how to play as bad as possible.”

Hyman Paul Bley was born in Montreal on Nov. 10, 1932. His father, Joe, owned an embroidery factory; his mother, the former Betty Marcovitch, immigrated from Romania to Canada with her family when she was 9.

He started studying violin at 5 and piano at 8, and as a teenager began playing piano professionally as Buzzy Bley. In 1949, as a senior in high school, he briefly took over Oscar Peterson’s job at the Alberta Lounge in downtown Montreal.

Mr. Bley left for New York in 1950 to attend the Juilliard School. During his early years there, he played with the saxophonists Lester Young and Ben Webster, among others.

Keeping a hand in his hometown jazz scene, he helped organize the Jazz Workshop, a musician-run organization in Montreal that set up out-of-town soloists with local rhythm sections; in February 1953 he booked Charlie Parker for a concert and accompanied him. That concert was recorded, one of his first extant recordings before his first album as a leader, made nine months later with a trio that included Charles Mingus on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Through the mid-’50s, he was an adept bebop player with a spare style.

He met the pianist and composer Carla Bley (http://www.wattxtrawatt.com/) , then known as Karen Borg, when she was working as a cigarette girl at the jazz nightclub Birdland; the two of them moved west, finally settling in Los Angeles, where in 1957 Mr. Bley secured a job leading a band at the Hillcrest Club six nights a week for nearly two years.

Toward the end of his time there, in 1958, he hired the saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the trumpeter Don Cherry for his band. He noticed that Coleman, in his compositions did not follow the standard 32-bar AABA song pattern, but rather what Mr. Bley called “A to Z form.” In his 1999 memoir, “Stopping Time,” (http://www.vehiculepress.com/1-excerpt.php?EAN=9781550651119) he remembered that “it didn’t take more than a second to understand that this was the missing link between playing totally free, without any givens, and playing bebop with changes and steady time.”

Paul and Carla Bley were married in California in 1957, and during the following years he recorded a lot of her music: Her compositions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYnrtXiA0TA) make up most of Mr. Bley’s records “Footloose!” (1963) and “Closer” (1965), as he found his way toward his own kind of free jazz, intimate and almost folklike.

During that time, playing with the saxophonists Albert Ayler and Sonny Rollins, he defined as well as anyone the blurry line between the scratchiness of free improvisation and the virtuosity of the jazz tradition.

Paul and Carla Bley’s marriage ended in divorce. Another relationship, with the singer and composer Annette Peacock (http://www.annettepeacock.com/) in the 1960s, resulted in more collaboration. Her compositions, which make up all of the trio record “Ballads” (1971) and some of the solo-piano record “Open, to Love” (1972), were important to his “slow as possible” period; using synthesizers, well before they became common in jazz, they performed together on record as the “Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqIu-Y8CxSw)

In 1973, with the video artist Carol Goss — whom he eventually married — Mr. Bley set up the multimedia company Improvising Artists, which released his music and others’. Ms. Goss survives him, as do his daughters, Vanessa Bley, Angelica Palmer and Solo Peacock, and two grandchildren.

Mr. Bley did much of his performing and recording from the ’80s onward in Europe, often with musicians he knew from earlier days — notably the bassist Charlie Haden, from Coleman’s group; the bassist Gary Peacock (former husband of Annette); and the saxophonist and clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre, with whom he made two chamberlike trio albums in 1961.

Increasingly he made solo records (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO8SET56s0Y) , full of his onrushing, nonrepeating ideas — the best way for him to express what he described as a series of questions.

“My solo piano playing is a question in itself,” he told Mr. Cappelletti. “The question is ‘why?,’ and after ‘why?’ comes ‘what?,’ and after ‘what?’ comes ‘when?’ ”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
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Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

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Paul Bley, Adventurous Jazz Pianist, Dies at 83 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160105

** Paul Bley, Adventurous Jazz Pianist, Dies at 83
————————————————————

By BEN RATLIFF (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/ben_ratliff/index.html) JAN. 5, 2016

Paul Bley on piano at a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert in 2000, accompanied by Charlie Haden on upright acoustic bass. Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

Paul Bley (http://www.improvart.com/bley/) , an obdurate and original pianist who began his career playing bebop and eventually became a major force in experimental jazz, died on Sunday at his home in Stuart, Fla. He was 83.

His record label, ECM, announced his death without giving a cause.

Mr. Bley’s style of playing was melodic, measured, bluesy, often polytonal and seemingly effortless. He took as long as he needed to finish a thought, and at the tempo he chose for it. He loved standards but distrusted the strictures of the 32-bar song form, and especially distrusted repetition. His notes could move slowly without telegraphing their destination, drawling down into nothing or cohering into bright, purposefully gapped lines, with backing chords that kept changing the tonal center.

Mr. Bley (pronounced “blay”) developed an influential language of phrasing and harmony — Keith Jarrett and Ethan Iverson were two of its many beneficiaries — but often talked about being eager to get outside his own habits. In the 1981 documentary “Imagine the Sound,” (http://www.sphinxproductions.com/films/imaginethesound/) he professed not to practice or rehearse, out of what he called “a disdain for the known.” And he did not stake his work on traditional notions of acceptability, or the approval of the listener.

A 1965 publicity photo of Mr. Bley for ESP Records.

“I’ve spent many years learning how to play as slow as possible,” he told the Italian pianist and writer Arrigo Cappelletti in a typically provocative 2002 interview, “and then many more years learning how to play as fast as possible. I’ve spent many years trying how to play as good as possible. At the present I’m trying to spend as many years learning how to play as bad as possible.”

Hyman Paul Bley was born in Montreal on Nov. 10, 1932. His father, Joe, owned an embroidery factory; his mother, the former Betty Marcovitch, immigrated from Romania to Canada with her family when she was 9.

He started studying violin at 5 and piano at 8, and as a teenager began playing piano professionally as Buzzy Bley. In 1949, as a senior in high school, he briefly took over Oscar Peterson’s job at the Alberta Lounge in downtown Montreal.

Mr. Bley left for New York in 1950 to attend the Juilliard School. During his early years there, he played with the saxophonists Lester Young and Ben Webster, among others.

Keeping a hand in his hometown jazz scene, he helped organize the Jazz Workshop, a musician-run organization in Montreal that set up out-of-town soloists with local rhythm sections; in February 1953 he booked Charlie Parker for a concert and accompanied him. That concert was recorded, one of his first extant recordings before his first album as a leader, made nine months later with a trio that included Charles Mingus on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Through the mid-’50s, he was an adept bebop player with a spare style.

He met the pianist and composer Carla Bley (http://www.wattxtrawatt.com/) , then known as Karen Borg, when she was working as a cigarette girl at the jazz nightclub Birdland; the two of them moved west, finally settling in Los Angeles, where in 1957 Mr. Bley secured a job leading a band at the Hillcrest Club six nights a week for nearly two years.

Toward the end of his time there, in 1958, he hired the saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the trumpeter Don Cherry for his band. He noticed that Coleman, in his compositions did not follow the standard 32-bar AABA song pattern, but rather what Mr. Bley called “A to Z form.” In his 1999 memoir, “Stopping Time,” (http://www.vehiculepress.com/1-excerpt.php?EAN=9781550651119) he remembered that “it didn’t take more than a second to understand that this was the missing link between playing totally free, without any givens, and playing bebop with changes and steady time.”

Paul and Carla Bley were married in California in 1957, and during the following years he recorded a lot of her music: Her compositions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYnrtXiA0TA) make up most of Mr. Bley’s records “Footloose!” (1963) and “Closer” (1965), as he found his way toward his own kind of free jazz, intimate and almost folklike.

During that time, playing with the saxophonists Albert Ayler and Sonny Rollins, he defined as well as anyone the blurry line between the scratchiness of free improvisation and the virtuosity of the jazz tradition.

Paul and Carla Bley’s marriage ended in divorce. Another relationship, with the singer and composer Annette Peacock (http://www.annettepeacock.com/) in the 1960s, resulted in more collaboration. Her compositions, which make up all of the trio record “Ballads” (1971) and some of the solo-piano record “Open, to Love” (1972), were important to his “slow as possible” period; using synthesizers, well before they became common in jazz, they performed together on record as the “Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqIu-Y8CxSw)

In 1973, with the video artist Carol Goss — whom he eventually married — Mr. Bley set up the multimedia company Improvising Artists, which released his music and others’. Ms. Goss survives him, as do his daughters, Vanessa Bley, Angelica Palmer and Solo Peacock, and two grandchildren.

Mr. Bley did much of his performing and recording from the ’80s onward in Europe, often with musicians he knew from earlier days — notably the bassist Charlie Haden, from Coleman’s group; the bassist Gary Peacock (former husband of Annette); and the saxophonist and clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre, with whom he made two chamberlike trio albums in 1961.

Increasingly he made solo records (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO8SET56s0Y) , full of his onrushing, nonrepeating ideas — the best way for him to express what he described as a series of questions.

“My solo piano playing is a question in itself,” he told Mr. Cappelletti. “The question is ‘why?,’ and after ‘why?’ comes ‘what?,’ and after ‘what?’ comes ‘when?’ ”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Paul Bley, Adventurous Jazz Pianist, Dies at 83 – The New York Times

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160105

** Paul Bley, Adventurous Jazz Pianist, Dies at 83
————————————————————

By BEN RATLIFF (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/ben_ratliff/index.html) JAN. 5, 2016

Paul Bley on piano at a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert in 2000, accompanied by Charlie Haden on upright acoustic bass. Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

Paul Bley (http://www.improvart.com/bley/) , an obdurate and original pianist who began his career playing bebop and eventually became a major force in experimental jazz, died on Sunday at his home in Stuart, Fla. He was 83.

His record label, ECM, announced his death without giving a cause.

Mr. Bley’s style of playing was melodic, measured, bluesy, often polytonal and seemingly effortless. He took as long as he needed to finish a thought, and at the tempo he chose for it. He loved standards but distrusted the strictures of the 32-bar song form, and especially distrusted repetition. His notes could move slowly without telegraphing their destination, drawling down into nothing or cohering into bright, purposefully gapped lines, with backing chords that kept changing the tonal center.

Mr. Bley (pronounced “blay”) developed an influential language of phrasing and harmony — Keith Jarrett and Ethan Iverson were two of its many beneficiaries — but often talked about being eager to get outside his own habits. In the 1981 documentary “Imagine the Sound,” (http://www.sphinxproductions.com/films/imaginethesound/) he professed not to practice or rehearse, out of what he called “a disdain for the known.” And he did not stake his work on traditional notions of acceptability, or the approval of the listener.

A 1965 publicity photo of Mr. Bley for ESP Records.

“I’ve spent many years learning how to play as slow as possible,” he told the Italian pianist and writer Arrigo Cappelletti in a typically provocative 2002 interview, “and then many more years learning how to play as fast as possible. I’ve spent many years trying how to play as good as possible. At the present I’m trying to spend as many years learning how to play as bad as possible.”

Hyman Paul Bley was born in Montreal on Nov. 10, 1932. His father, Joe, owned an embroidery factory; his mother, the former Betty Marcovitch, immigrated from Romania to Canada with her family when she was 9.

He started studying violin at 5 and piano at 8, and as a teenager began playing piano professionally as Buzzy Bley. In 1949, as a senior in high school, he briefly took over Oscar Peterson’s job at the Alberta Lounge in downtown Montreal.

Mr. Bley left for New York in 1950 to attend the Juilliard School. During his early years there, he played with the saxophonists Lester Young and Ben Webster, among others.

Keeping a hand in his hometown jazz scene, he helped organize the Jazz Workshop, a musician-run organization in Montreal that set up out-of-town soloists with local rhythm sections; in February 1953 he booked Charlie Parker for a concert and accompanied him. That concert was recorded, one of his first extant recordings before his first album as a leader, made nine months later with a trio that included Charles Mingus on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Through the mid-’50s, he was an adept bebop player with a spare style.

He met the pianist and composer Carla Bley (http://www.wattxtrawatt.com/) , then known as Karen Borg, when she was working as a cigarette girl at the jazz nightclub Birdland; the two of them moved west, finally settling in Los Angeles, where in 1957 Mr. Bley secured a job leading a band at the Hillcrest Club six nights a week for nearly two years.

Toward the end of his time there, in 1958, he hired the saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the trumpeter Don Cherry for his band. He noticed that Coleman, in his compositions did not follow the standard 32-bar AABA song pattern, but rather what Mr. Bley called “A to Z form.” In his 1999 memoir, “Stopping Time,” (http://www.vehiculepress.com/1-excerpt.php?EAN=9781550651119) he remembered that “it didn’t take more than a second to understand that this was the missing link between playing totally free, without any givens, and playing bebop with changes and steady time.”

Paul and Carla Bley were married in California in 1957, and during the following years he recorded a lot of her music: Her compositions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYnrtXiA0TA) make up most of Mr. Bley’s records “Footloose!” (1963) and “Closer” (1965), as he found his way toward his own kind of free jazz, intimate and almost folklike.

During that time, playing with the saxophonists Albert Ayler and Sonny Rollins, he defined as well as anyone the blurry line between the scratchiness of free improvisation and the virtuosity of the jazz tradition.

Paul and Carla Bley’s marriage ended in divorce. Another relationship, with the singer and composer Annette Peacock (http://www.annettepeacock.com/) in the 1960s, resulted in more collaboration. Her compositions, which make up all of the trio record “Ballads” (1971) and some of the solo-piano record “Open, to Love” (1972), were important to his “slow as possible” period; using synthesizers, well before they became common in jazz, they performed together on record as the “Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqIu-Y8CxSw)

In 1973, with the video artist Carol Goss — whom he eventually married — Mr. Bley set up the multimedia company Improvising Artists, which released his music and others’. Ms. Goss survives him, as do his daughters, Vanessa Bley, Angelica Palmer and Solo Peacock, and two grandchildren.

Mr. Bley did much of his performing and recording from the ’80s onward in Europe, often with musicians he knew from earlier days — notably the bassist Charlie Haden, from Coleman’s group; the bassist Gary Peacock (former husband of Annette); and the saxophonist and clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre, with whom he made two chamberlike trio albums in 1961.

Increasingly he made solo records (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO8SET56s0Y) , full of his onrushing, nonrepeating ideas — the best way for him to express what he described as a series of questions.

“My solo piano playing is a question in itself,” he told Mr. Cappelletti. “The question is ‘why?,’ and after ‘why?’ comes ‘what?,’ and after ‘what?’ comes ‘when?’ ”

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

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269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The Music’s Over at Garage, The Latest Village Jazz Club to Turn Out the Lights

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/01/the-musics-over-at-garage-the-latest-village-jazz-venue-to-turn-out-the-lights/#

** The Music’s Over at Garage, The Latest Village Jazz Club to Turn Out the Lights
————————————————————
BY DANIEL MAURER (http://bedfordandbowery.com/author/daniel-maurer/)

http://bedfordandbowery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_20160104_0012.jpg

David Coss (top, right) with his Saxophonist and fans as they performed their final set at Garage on it’s closing night. (Photo: Nick McManus)

Last week, as part of our A Lot About a Plot (http://bedfordandbowery.com/category/a-lot-about-a-plot/) series, we looked back on the history of some bygone jazz joints, including the Village Gate (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/a-strange-story-how-160-bleecker-went-from-slum-house-to-bohemian-bastion/) and Nick’s Tavern (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/nicks-tavern-the-village-jazz-joint-that-went-down-swinging/) . Now you can add another Village venue to the list: Garage Restaurant & Cafe (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/garage-restaurant/) closed its doors on Sunday. So much for its claim of hosting “more live jazz than anywhere in the world.”

Photographer Nick McManus, who documented Sway’s last blast (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/sways-last-dance-another-downtown-mainstay-gone-still/) , was also on hand for this sendoff, and snapped a couple of group portraits of final act David Coss, some members of his quartet, and attendees. McManus tells us the goodbye was a “very intimate affair attended mostly by personal friends and longtime fans.” The concert ended around 10:30 p.m. and Garage closed soon after.
http://bedfordandbowery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_20160104_0011.jpg

David Coss (top left) with his Quartet at the end of their final set joined by nightlife scion Pebbles Russell (top, second from left) and artist Russell Murphy (top, left). (Photo: Nick McManus)

In 1930s, the former garage at 99 Seventh Avenue was home to live cockroach races (http://gvshp.org/blog/2014/01/07/then-now-99-seventh-avenue-south/) when it was the Nut Club. That establishment, with its scantily-clad waitresses, was said to be touristy, and, truth be told (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/garage-restaurant/) , Garage was as well. But its commitment to live music was unwavering, with cats like John David Simon, identical twins Peter and William Anderson, and Williamsburg’s own Lou Caputo playing two sets nightly.

Garage’s building was put up for lease late last year. The broker, Cushman & Wakefield, noted that “Greenwich Village benefits from one of the highest income-per-capita rates in the country.” The listing (http://cushwakeretail.com/listings/99-seventh-avenue-south/) does not, of course, mention that the neighborhood is riddled by urban blight (http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-are-there-so-many-shuttered-storefronts-in-the-west-village) caused by empty storefronts as landlords wait for chains to roll in.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=5e265f248a) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=5e265f248a&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The Music’s Over at Garage, The Latest Village Jazz Club to Turn Out the Lights

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/01/the-musics-over-at-garage-the-latest-village-jazz-venue-to-turn-out-the-lights/#

** The Music’s Over at Garage, The Latest Village Jazz Club to Turn Out the Lights
————————————————————
BY DANIEL MAURER (http://bedfordandbowery.com/author/daniel-maurer/)

http://bedfordandbowery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_20160104_0012.jpg

David Coss (top, right) with his Saxophonist and fans as they performed their final set at Garage on it’s closing night. (Photo: Nick McManus)

Last week, as part of our A Lot About a Plot (http://bedfordandbowery.com/category/a-lot-about-a-plot/) series, we looked back on the history of some bygone jazz joints, including the Village Gate (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/a-strange-story-how-160-bleecker-went-from-slum-house-to-bohemian-bastion/) and Nick’s Tavern (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/nicks-tavern-the-village-jazz-joint-that-went-down-swinging/) . Now you can add another Village venue to the list: Garage Restaurant & Cafe (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/garage-restaurant/) closed its doors on Sunday. So much for its claim of hosting “more live jazz than anywhere in the world.”

Photographer Nick McManus, who documented Sway’s last blast (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/sways-last-dance-another-downtown-mainstay-gone-still/) , was also on hand for this sendoff, and snapped a couple of group portraits of final act David Coss, some members of his quartet, and attendees. McManus tells us the goodbye was a “very intimate affair attended mostly by personal friends and longtime fans.” The concert ended around 10:30 p.m. and Garage closed soon after.
http://bedfordandbowery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_20160104_0011.jpg

David Coss (top left) with his Quartet at the end of their final set joined by nightlife scion Pebbles Russell (top, second from left) and artist Russell Murphy (top, left). (Photo: Nick McManus)

In 1930s, the former garage at 99 Seventh Avenue was home to live cockroach races (http://gvshp.org/blog/2014/01/07/then-now-99-seventh-avenue-south/) when it was the Nut Club. That establishment, with its scantily-clad waitresses, was said to be touristy, and, truth be told (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/garage-restaurant/) , Garage was as well. But its commitment to live music was unwavering, with cats like John David Simon, identical twins Peter and William Anderson, and Williamsburg’s own Lou Caputo playing two sets nightly.

Garage’s building was put up for lease late last year. The broker, Cushman & Wakefield, noted that “Greenwich Village benefits from one of the highest income-per-capita rates in the country.” The listing (http://cushwakeretail.com/listings/99-seventh-avenue-south/) does not, of course, mention that the neighborhood is riddled by urban blight (http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-are-there-so-many-shuttered-storefronts-in-the-west-village) caused by empty storefronts as landlords wait for chains to roll in.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=5e265f248a) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=5e265f248a&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The Music’s Over at Garage, The Latest Village Jazz Club to Turn Out the Lights

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/01/the-musics-over-at-garage-the-latest-village-jazz-venue-to-turn-out-the-lights/#

** The Music’s Over at Garage, The Latest Village Jazz Club to Turn Out the Lights
————————————————————
BY DANIEL MAURER (http://bedfordandbowery.com/author/daniel-maurer/)

http://bedfordandbowery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_20160104_0012.jpg

David Coss (top, right) with his Saxophonist and fans as they performed their final set at Garage on it’s closing night. (Photo: Nick McManus)

Last week, as part of our A Lot About a Plot (http://bedfordandbowery.com/category/a-lot-about-a-plot/) series, we looked back on the history of some bygone jazz joints, including the Village Gate (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/a-strange-story-how-160-bleecker-went-from-slum-house-to-bohemian-bastion/) and Nick’s Tavern (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/nicks-tavern-the-village-jazz-joint-that-went-down-swinging/) . Now you can add another Village venue to the list: Garage Restaurant & Cafe (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/garage-restaurant/) closed its doors on Sunday. So much for its claim of hosting “more live jazz than anywhere in the world.”

Photographer Nick McManus, who documented Sway’s last blast (http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/sways-last-dance-another-downtown-mainstay-gone-still/) , was also on hand for this sendoff, and snapped a couple of group portraits of final act David Coss, some members of his quartet, and attendees. McManus tells us the goodbye was a “very intimate affair attended mostly by personal friends and longtime fans.” The concert ended around 10:30 p.m. and Garage closed soon after.
http://bedfordandbowery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/IMG_20160104_0011.jpg

David Coss (top left) with his Quartet at the end of their final set joined by nightlife scion Pebbles Russell (top, second from left) and artist Russell Murphy (top, left). (Photo: Nick McManus)

In 1930s, the former garage at 99 Seventh Avenue was home to live cockroach races (http://gvshp.org/blog/2014/01/07/then-now-99-seventh-avenue-south/) when it was the Nut Club. That establishment, with its scantily-clad waitresses, was said to be touristy, and, truth be told (http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/garage-restaurant/) , Garage was as well. But its commitment to live music was unwavering, with cats like John David Simon, identical twins Peter and William Anderson, and Williamsburg’s own Lou Caputo playing two sets nightly.

Garage’s building was put up for lease late last year. The broker, Cushman & Wakefield, noted that “Greenwich Village benefits from one of the highest income-per-capita rates in the country.” The listing (http://cushwakeretail.com/listings/99-seventh-avenue-south/) does not, of course, mention that the neighborhood is riddled by urban blight (http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-are-there-so-many-shuttered-storefronts-in-the-west-village) caused by empty storefronts as landlords wait for chains to roll in.

Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services T: 845-986-1677 E-Mail: j (mailto:jazzpromo@earthlink.net) im@jazzpromoservices.com (mailto:jim@jazzpromoservices.com)
http://www.jazzpromoservices.com (http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/)

HAVE A JAZZ EVENT, NEW CD OR IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE JAZZ COMMUNITY YOU WANT TO PROMOTE? CONTACT JAZZ PROMO SERVICES FOR PRICE QUOTE.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDvUe6fkNLU)

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=5e265f248a) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=5e265f248a&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2016 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA