Strings galore
The News Review:
- Strings galore
- Savannah Music Festival: new jazz program new commissioned work
- Mary Lou Williams ‘Perpetually Contemporary’
- Suzanne Vega | Music Artist | Videos News Photos & Ringtones |…
- All powerhouse to you
- All aboard the Wynton Marsalis’ jazz express
Strings galore
Malaysia Star – Jul 25, 2007
Two of the festival highlights were the experimental jazz concert by US-based violinist Fung Chern Hwei and the final two nights with the KLPac Sinfonietta featuring French Cellist Valeri Aimard. Fung and his cohorts for the night of July 12 Justin Lim on piano and Joseph Ernesto on bass proved a revelation. bviously Fung’s stint as a freelance musician has put him in a position where he can stretch the boundaries of classical and jazz music. The night was awash with original work after original work. The three seemed to be representing the younger generation of jazz or classical experimentalists exponent this country has to offer. There was a good turnout at Pentas 2 for the night and appreciation was certainly there for the trio’s music.
Savannah Music Festival: new jazz program new commissioned work
Savannah Morning News – Jul 25, 2007
The nonprofit organization announced Tuesday it will expand its high school jazz band workshop to include a national competition called “Swing Central. ” The contest is open to any high school band in the nation. It is scheduled to take place April 3-5. The organization also announced it has commissioned Wycliffe Gordon the famed jazz trombonist and performer to compose a new work that highlights the many musical influences of his life: gospel blues and jazz.
Mary Lou Williams ‘Perpetually Contemporary’
NPR – Jul 25, 2007
Williams began to play piano at the tender age of six. By the time she was 16 she was already in demand and played with many big-name bands as they passed through town. Williams explored the entire school of music from boogie-woogie and swing into bebop and modern jazz and became one of the most important female figures in the history of instrumental jazz. In 1927 she married saxophonist John Williams and went on the road with his band ending up in Kansas City. There her husband joined Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy and later so did Williams. As chief arranger and pianist for Kirk Williams was immortalized in the song “The Lady Who Swings the Band. ” She also wrote arrangements for Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford whose band helped make Williams’ composition “What’s Your Story Morning Glory” a hit.
Suzanne Vega | Music Artist | Videos News Photos & Ringtones |…
MTV.com – Jul 25, 2007
Vega’s early commercial success helped open doors for a wealth of talent and even if she couldn’t sustain the level of popularity she reached in 1987 with “Luka” and the platinum Solitude Standing she maintained a strong and dedicated cult following. Her association with — and marriage to — experimental producer Mitchell Froom during the ’90s resulted in two intriguing but uneven albums; however following their painful divorce Vega returned in 2001 with her first album in five years Songs in Red and Gray which was greeted with her strongest reviews in a decade. Suzanne Vega was born July 11 1959 in Santa Monica CA; her parents divorced shortly thereafter and after her mother (a jazz guitarist) remarried to Puerto Rican novelist Ed Vega the family moved to Manhattan. A shy and quiet child Suzanne nonetheless learned to take care of herself growing up in the tough neighborhoods of Spanish Harlem… Suzanne Vega was born July 11 1959 in Santa Monica CA; her parents divorced shortly thereafter and after her mother (a jazz guitarist) remarried to Puerto Rican novelist Ed Vega the family moved to Manhattan. A shy and quiet child Suzanne nonetheless learned to take care of herself growing up in the tough neighborhoods of Spanish Harlem. At age 14 she made her first attempts at writing songs; however when she attended the High School for the Performing Arts as a teenager it was to study dance not music.
All powerhouse to you
The Age – Jul 25, 2007
This is the ninth Queensland Music Festival and Grabowsky’sfirst. Its previous director was Grabowsky’s friend the operasinger Lyndon Terracini who now directs the multi-art formBrisbane Festival which is run on alternate years to the QMF. Grabowsky’s programming of opera rock jazz experimental andworld music is probably broader than his predecessor’s. “To me agreat opera like The Love of the Nightingale and a greatrock concert like Pig City are equally valid high-qualitymusical experiences” he said. But both the festivals have a strongemphasis on community arts. The Brisbane festival reaches into thesuburbs and the QMF is held in towns as far flung as LongreachRockhampton Winton and Mount Isa. Usually shows commissioned by the arts festivals start incapital cities then tour the regions.
All aboard the Wynton Marsalis’ jazz express
Telegraph.co.uk – Jul 25, 2007
But performances like this offer all the justification he needs. Billed as “Full Steam Ahead” the programme comprised a selection of pieces depicting train journeys both literally and metaphorically since trains in Afro-American mythology might carry slaves to freedom or sinners to redemption. Although the Barbican conspicuously lacks any resemblance to a nightclub or dance hall thus frustrating the music’s itchingly physical invitation to get up and take a spin around the floor its pristine acoustic afforded a perfect opportunity to savour the precision and fine detail of the Jazz at Lincoln Center rchestra’s playing. Marsalis ambled to the front of the stage to take the first solo of the opening number a relaxed walking blues.