Cassandra Wilson to release Closer To You album

Grammy-award winning jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson will release Closer To You: The Pop Side on April 7th via Blue Note / EMI.

With her unmistakable honeyed husky voice, she has made intimate and personal statements with jazz, blues, R&B, country and pop. Closer To You: The Pop Side is a new collection of Wilson’s best covers of pop / rock hits, originally recorded by a who’s-who of top musicians, including U2, Bob Dylan, Glen Campbell, The Band, Sting, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Cyndi Lauper and The Wallflowers.

Closer To You: The Pop Side celebrates the finest pop covers from Wilson’s seven albums recorded with Blue Note during her lengthy tenure with the legendary label.

Wilson won her second Grammy Award in February, earning the Best Jazz Vocal Album honors for Loverly, her critically acclaimed 2008 Blue Note release. Blue Note Records is celebrating its 70th Anniversary as the world’s premier and longest-running jazz label with special commemorative releases.

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Grammy announces Jazz category nominations

Nominations for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards are announced by The Recording Academy saying that the nominees reflects the best and brightest performances over the past year in music, as determined by the voting members of The Academy.

A golden statuette each is set aside for the winners in 6 fields of Jazz; Best Contemporary Jazz Album, Best Jazz Vocal Album, Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Best Jazz Instrumental Album Individual or Group, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and Best Latin Jazz Album.

BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM

No Regrets
Randy Crawford (& Joe Sample)
[PRA Records]

Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings The Music Of Coltrane And Hartman
Kurt Elling
[Concord Jazz]

So In Love
Roberta Gambarini
[Groovin' High/Emarcy]

Tide
Luciana Souza
[Verve]

Desire
Tierney Sutton (Band)
[Telarc Jazz]

Monty Alexander comes home for Jamaica Jazz & Blues

Festival Date: January 24 - 30, 2010
Venues: Early Shows - Kingston, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay hotels (Jan 24 - 27)
Main Stage - Aqueduct, Rose Hall, Montego Bay (Jan 28- 30)

MONTY ALEXANDER

In a career that started in the 1950s, Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander has built a reputation exploring and bridging the worlds of American jazz, pop, and the music of is homeland, finding in each a sincere spirit of musical expression. In the process, he has performed and recorded with artists from every corner of the musical spectrum and entertainment world.

Monty and family moved to the United States at the end of 1961 and in less than two years later, while playing in Las Vegas, he caught the eye of New York City club owner Jilly Rizzo and his friend, Frank Sinatra. Rizzo hired the young pianist to work in his club.

To this day, Monty Alexander, who, since August 2000, bears the insignia of the Order of Distinction (Commander class) for outstanding services to Jamaica as a worldwide music ambassador, maintains an active touring schedule, from intimate jazz clubs to concert halls and jazz festivals around the globe.

His collaborations span multiple genres, styles, and generations and he comes home to play a multi-genre crowd at the Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival.

More details:
jamaicajazzand blues.com!
Monty Alexander!

Mellow jazz at AA dizzying 35,000 feet

The options opened to the Offbeat Blogger, provisionally confined on an American Airline Boeing 757-200 jet plying the Miami to Los Angeles route, were enough for the over 5-hour long journey.

Read the carry-on novel and do crossword puzzle, rummage through the American Way mag, sip a Cola (complimentary meal is passé) while watching the moving, picturesque landscape below, watch the hilarious Imagine That, a movie starring Eddie Murphy and cutie Yara Shahidi, or just kick back and listen to some really mellow and sophisticated blend of jazz instrumentals and vocals.

With time to spare the Blogger did all of the above.

The After Hour jazz channel certainly helped to take the edge off a 2300-mile long flight cruising at a dizzying 35,000 feet. And, Anita O’Day, Diana Krall, Miles Davis, James Darren complemented what was a smooth flight to LA.

The Sky Radio audio included Miles Davis - Blue in Green, Kevin Mahogany - Since I fell For You, Gene Harris & Scott Hamilton Quintet - At Last, Bloosom Dearie - Someone To Watch Over Me, Kenny Burrell - I’m Falling For You, James Darren - Blame It On My Youth, Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema, Chet Baker - Time After Time, Diana Krall - Everytime We Say Goodbye, Marian McPartland - What’s New, Anita O’ Day - I Can’t Get Started.

'Sonny Bradshaw's music to be preserved'

Great memories. what we must cherish, Prime Minister Golding tells the wife of Sonny Bradshaw, Myrna Hague (third right). Sharing in the moment are Minister of Culture Olivia 'Babsy' Grange (second right) and members of the Bradshaw family. (Photos courtesy of Jamaica Information Service)

A thanksgiving service at the Mona Chapel, University of the West Indies, to celebrate Sonny Bradshaw's life was described by Prime Minister Bruce Golding as a farewell to a 'musician's musician' and a perfectionist.

The Prime Minister promised to have Sonny Bradshaw's music recorded for the benefit of posterity and for those who appreciated his music so that it will live on long after today. He bemoaned the fact that Sonny Bradshaw did not spend a lot of time in the recording studio. However, with the assistance of Minister of Culture Olivia Grange and Sonny's wife, jazz performer, singer, Myrna Hague, Mr. Golding is determined to have his music preserved through recordings of some of his private works.

Source: Jamaica Information Service (JIS) via Jamaica Observer newspaper

Jamie Cullum shows change and evolve in The Pursuit

While it is being strongly mooted that jazz is in steady decline and that the average jazz enthusiasts are among the geriatrics an emergent band of young musicians have not only given credence to the genre but also wining new jazz fans while garnering measurable return on a chancy investment.

Jamie Cullum , English based pop-jazz, crossover jazz singer, pianist is one such musician who stuck his neck out and earned the distinction of being UK’s biggest selling jazz artist of all times and with only three studio albums.

His fifth album, The Pursuit, released November 9, pragmatically sidles to some extent to the pop-side assuredly an effort to captivate a wider, larger market. Purposefully, the Decca Record 14-track CD/DVD Deluxe Edition opens with a Cole Porter jazz classic, “Just One of Those Things”, first of five covers, and closes out with an atypical house music track “Music Is Through” that is indicative of the roadway The Pursuit travelled.

Jamie Cullum penned the first album single “I’m All Over It”, the cheery “Wheels”, the animated swing “You and Me Are Gone”, his love songs “Mixtape” and “Love Ain’t Gonna Let You Down”. Cullum adopted Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music”, Leslie Bricusse’s “If I Ruled the World” fitted snuggly after “Wheels” (fallen off the world), Stephen Sondheim’s promise “Not While I’m Around” and another Cole Porter tune, "Love For Sale", the latter makes the DVD side of the album.

While the album cover art illustrates an exploding piano, which is the way Jamie prosecute his live performances, The Pursuit is a pop compared to the piano fireworks of Twentysomething. Yet, the intention of both Grammy-nominated producer Greg Wells and Cullum, the former British Jazz Rising Star, seemingly was to move the album outside of the expected and extends the musician’s reach.

Another point to note is that The Pursuit title has no reference in any of the composite tunes. The Grammy and Golden Globe nominated musician admits “The reason I made it the album title was that I've come to realize that life is one long pursuit. Being a musician is not about any obvious goal; it's about appreciating the journey as opposed to the destination”.

Actually, the title was drawn from Nancy Mitford’s classic novel, The Pursuit of Love. "In life, we pursue everything. Life is one long pursuit," Jamie continued, and the album is just such a pursuit”, a combination of his eclectic music tastes and enduring love of Jazz and its timeless standards.

Music Week’s Andy Morris calls The Pursuit ‘bold, experimental and the best thing Cullum's done’. His fans will offer their own superlatives of this exciting musician who admires people like Miles Davis and Tom Waits much because they “make all kinds of different records, they change and evolved over the years”.

The Pursuit shows that Jamie Cullum is changing and evolving into a more seasoned, matured, better musician.

CD TRACK LIST
1. Just One of Those Things
2. I'm All Over It
3. Wheels
4. If I Ruled the World
5. You and Me Are Gone
6. Don't Stop the Music
7. Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down
8. Mixtape
9. I Think I Love You
10. We Run Things
11. Not While I'm Around
12. Music Is Through

Smooth Jazz stars shone on Santa Catalina Island

Catalina Island Casino Ballroom

The stars of Smooth Jazz shone in the Avalon Casino Ballroom on Catalina Island at the 23rd staging of the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival that is held each year over the first three weekends of October.

Organised and produced by Art Good, host of the syndicated JazzTrax radio show, the crowd that included this Blogger sailed across from the Californian mainland on the Catalina Express to imbibe on the very best of Smooth Jazz (California is awash in Smooth Jazz).

Although not a huge fan of Smooth Jazz, the show was a treat in itself and what stood out most was the high quality musicianship of all who mounted the ballroom stage. Not a misnomer, no dice roll, no gambling occurs in the The Avalon Casino Ballroom, a circular, 12-story building perch at the edge of Avalon harbour.

This year Catalina JazzTrax dates were October 2-18 and Good billed some 30 acts over the three weekends. Headliners of the multiple venue series included Marc Antoine, Peter White, Norman Brown, Nick Colionne, Eric Darius, George Duke, Kyle Eastwood (Clint's son), Gregg Karukas, Earl Klugh, Phillip 'Doc' Martin, Keiko Matsui, Pieces of Dream, and Najee.

We got to see former baseball star cum saxophonist Bernie Williams, guitarist Craig Sharmat, saxophonist Jackiem Joyner and show stopping saxman Kim Waters (who passengers applauded on the boat back to the mainland).

Offbeat highly recommends this beautiful Catalina Island and the 24th Annual Catalina JazzTrax Festival to be held First 3 Weekends of October 2010.