Larry Carlton Covers Songs - By King Of Thailand

In addition to his work with with smooth jazz supergroup Fourplay and throughout his long solo career, legendary guitarist Larry Carlton has also played the music of numerous musicians as one of the most prolific studio musicians ever. Soon, though, Carlton will offer a CD that has a unique origin: All the songs are Larry’s interpretations of music written by the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Needless to say, the King is a fan of Carlton’s and asked him to perform last year for his 80th birthday celebration in Thailand. The result is a nine-song CD titled The Jazz King, comprised of eight songs written by the King and one new track written by Carlton, “Celebration.” Among those joining Carlton on the CD are Fourplay members Nathan East and Harvey Mason, as well as saxophonist Tom Scott, guitarist Earl Klugh and Carlton’s wife, vocalist Michelle Pillar.

The King of Thailand is considered to be a accomplished jazz musician. He plays the sax and has recorded with Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Carlton says “The Jazz King” will be released soon on his own 335 Records.

Peter White, Columbia, Split After A Decade

Guitarist Peter White and his label, Columbia Records, have ended their decade-long relationship as Peter has signed a contract with Peak Records, the expanding smooth jazz record label co-founded by Russ Freeman of the Rippingtons.

A new CD of all-original material is expected to be released in March 2009.

The upcoming CD, White's 11th, follows 2006’s Playin’ Favorites, which featured two No. 1 smooth jazz singles, “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)” and “Mister Magic.”

White joins a roster that includes Mindi Abair, Jeff Lorber, The Rippingtons, Marc Antoine, Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor, Norman Brown, Lee Ritenour, Will Downing, Eric Marienthal, David Benoit and Jessy J.

1st Annual Smooth Jazz Festival Bregenz 2008

The 1st annual Smooth Jazz Festival in Bregenz took place August 29/30th in Bregenz, Austria which is located right next to Switzerland and Germany, so smooth jazz fans from all across Europe gathered there for some of their favorite music at the lake of Constance. The organizers took great care in creating a laid-back atmosphere to enjoy the music with bars, a catering area and scattered tables and chairs to bring a piece of Southern California to our shores. I applaud Christian Boessner and his crew for taking the efforts (and risk) to bring smooth jazz to Europe, and - with the exception of some smaller concert events in the past -, this has been the first official attempt to bring smooth jazz to a larger audience in Europe.

If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It: The JVC Jazz Festival Produces Another Festival Winner

Written by The Jazz Gypsy
Photographs by Mario

Sunday, August 17, 2008, 6:00 pm
Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA
www.hollywoodbowl.com
http://jazz.jvc.com

This year, the JVC Jazz Festival is celebrating its twenty-fifth year of presenting jazz performances in the US and abroad. From its inception, in Bad Segeberg, North Germany, the JVC Jazz Festival has presented extraordinary talent. The line-up from the first festival in 1984 included such legends as Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, B.B. King, Freddie Hubbard, Spyro Gyra, Steps Ahead, David Sanborn, Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis. Since then, the JVC Jazz Festival has presented nearly 50,000 exceptional artists to over 4 million fans the world over.

The 2008 JVC season began in May in Miami (May 16-17), followed by New York (June 15-28), the North Sea (July 11-13), Chicago, IL (July 18-20), Newport, RI (August 8-10) Concord, CA (August 16), Los Angeles, CA (August 17) and will conclude in Paris, France (October 10-18). This season more than 100 jazz musicians representing a wide-spectrum of music will perform.

Wayman Tisdale Has Portion Of Leg Amputated

Our best for a speedy recovery goes out to smooth jazz superstar Wayman Tisdale, who this week had the lower part of his right amputated due to bone cancer. The 44-year-old Tisdale said on his website that he has “complete faith that with the Lord's blessings, this surgery will eliminate the cancer from my body."

It was in February 2007 that Tisdale first learned he had a cancerous cyst below his right knee after he broke his leg in a fall at his home in Los Angeles. Following a five-month regimen of chemotherapy, Tisdale underwent eight-hour knee-replacement surgery. He later said he was 100 percent cured of cancer, and in June released a comeback CD appropriately titled Rebound.

Tisdale will be taking some time off to recuperate but says he expects to resume touring this fall and still plans to host the Smooth Jazz Cruise in January. "There's a lot more music inside me," Wayman said on his website, "and once I am back on my feet, I look forward to sharing my joy with my fans, friends and fellow musicians."

The Soul of the Long Beach Jazz Festival

Text by Ricky Richardson, pictures by Peter Böhi

A precedent record setting throng of people crowded unto every inch of grass at the Rainbow Lagoon for the 21st Annual Long Beach Jazz Festival, August 8-10 presented by Rainbow Promotions. Nary could a speck of grass be seen by mid afternoon as a colorful array of blankets, towels, beach chairs, pop-up tents and umbrellas blanketed the grounds of the festival. Southern California’s premiere music festival presenting the best of jazz, R&B, Latin jazz and neo-soul was sold out for the entire weekend. A pleasant jazzy breeze hovered over the festival all weekend.

Dave Koz Sells Rendezvous Record Label

Saxophonist Dave Koz and his partners at Rendezvous Entertainment, a record label founded six years ago, have sold their business to Mack Avenue Records. According to Koz, Rendezvous will continue to release music under the Rendezvous brand, although there is no official announcement yet as to which Rendezvous recording artists, including Wayman Tisdale and Jonathan Butler, would be kept. The deal is similar to one earlier this year, in which bassist Brian Bromberg sold his Artistry Music Group, also to Mack Avenue.

During its tenure with Koz, who co-founded Rendezvous with industry veterans Hyman Katz and Frank Cody, the label released CDs by Tisdale, Butler, Kirk Whalum, Marc Antoine, Praful, Patti Austin, Brian Simpson, Kyle Eastwood, Philippe Saisse and Michael Lington, among others. Rendezvous also offered compilations CDs, including two volumes of Rendezvous Lounge and the tribute CD For Ever, For Always, For Luther, Volume 2.

Koz says it was vital that Rendezvous be sold to a label he trusted. "That’s one of the things that was very, very important to my partners and I, seeing as how we were very dedicated to our artists and our brand. Here was a place that would be a great new home for our artists. We felt very confident with that. And also that the Rendezvous brand, which does stand for something, will continue in the future as well. So those are two parameters that were met, making this feel good for all of us. I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone to know that the music business over the last couple of years has changed so dramatically, making it virtually impossible for a young, completely independent company to thrive."

Michael Lington Performing On Labor Day Telethon

Saxophonist Michael Lington will get some national television exposure as he has been invited to perform during the 42nd annual Labor Day Telethon benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Lington will be performing “Baker Street” from his upcoming CD Heat, which will be released Sept. 2. He will be joined by American Idol Top 10 finalist Ace Young, who also signs the song on Lington's CD. The Labor Day special hosted by Jerry Lewis reaches millions of viewers across the U.S. and this year will be held on Sept. 1.

Lington says his publicist was the one who first came up with the idea of appearing on the Labor Day Telethon. "One of the first thing he said was look, your album comes out on Sept. 2, and Labor Day weekend is the telethon. I want you to get on that show. And Ace Young was already doing the telethon. So we all came up with the idea of doing ‘Baker Street’ on the telethon together. They loved it over there, and now we’re doing it."

Dave Koz In Vegas

Smooth sax guru Dave Koz, who has done a fabulous job as the afternoon host for the local smooth jazz station, KOAS 105.7, is making a special guest appearance for one night at the Boulder Station Hotel on August 22nd in the Railhead Showroom.

Jeffrey Osborne will be at the Santa Fe Hotel in the Chrome Showroom on August 16th.

Legendary guitarist Larry Carlton will perform a three night concert weekend at the Suncoast Hotel, August 15-17.

Hometown favorite The Killer Groove Band (KGB), with saxophonist Rocky Gordon, opens the Advertising Community Talent Show, Friday, August 15th, at the Fiesta Hotel (westside) starting at 6pm. Proceeds to benefit Safe Nest.

The local jazz scene features saxophonist/vocalist Tommy Alvarado and his band at the Blue Martini on Tuesday nights.

Last heard was keyboard great Ronnie Foster and his group holding down Thursday nights at the Ice House Lounge.

Tom Peters Lounge has been hosting local jazz with various performers on Friday nights.
And Take 1 has a great jam session on Sundays starting at 1pm with The Gents Of Swing featuring Joe Darro on keys and vocals.

Shilts - Jigsaw Life

Welcome to the latest issue of Denis Poole’s Secret Garden, the page that offers a British perspective on the very best from the world of smooth jazz and classic soul. Up until now the music of high octane sax player Shilts has, in the most part, been characterized by the big funky sound of Down To The Bone. His long association with the band has resulted in numerous tours, six DTTB albums and the platform from which to launch his own solo career. His 2001 debut See What Happens and the 2006 follow up Head Boppin were both generously populated with examples of the immensely forceful sound for which DTTB is famous but now things are set to change. His latest CD, Jigsaw Life, that hit record stores across the USA on July 22, is his first for the rapidly emerging nuGroove label and, although traces of his funk roots linger, this choice gathering of ten original compositions shows a new and diverse side to his considerable talents. Shilts produces, writes or co-writes throughout and additionally calls upon some of the best musicians around to collaborate with him. Bill Steinway, Randy Jacobs and Nate Phillips all lend a hand and the fact that Shilts has previously shared the DTTB stage with both Steinway and Jacobs simply adds to the cohesion of the entire collection.

Contempo August 2008

Steve Tyrell has spent the better part of the last ten years spreading the gospel of The Great American Songbook, wowing thousands of fans across the country with his gravelly voiced magic and scoring Top 5 hits on the Billboard Traditional Jazz chart with his collections A New Standard, Standard Time, This Time Of Year and This Guy’s In Love. He also added a touch of class to his multi-decade pop producing resume with a Grammy win for Rod Stewart’s Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III, which hit #1 on the Billboard 200; the Tyrell produced follow-up Thanks For The Memory, reached #2. This quite unexpected whirlwind phase of his career happened by request after Tyrell sang the closing credit numbers on the soundtracks he produced for the hit Steve Martin comedies Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride 2.

Fans of Tyrell the vocal interpreter are always amazed when the Texas native reaches back nearly 40 years for some precious pop anecdotes from his early days in New York when he was in charge of A&R and promotion for Scepter Records. Working side by side with the legendary songwriting duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, he not only placed their songs in the movies that made them famous but also brought his pal B.J. Thomas to pop culture consciousness via “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,” which Tyrell produced. Tyrell also enjoys telling a story about Dionne Warwick, who changed “Message to Martha” to the much more recognizable, female point of view hit it became, “Message to Michael.”

Jeff Lorber Covers Amy Winehouse Hit Song

Keyboardist and producer Jeff Lorber has just wrapped up production of a new funky and soulful CD co-produced by smooth jazz veteran Rex Rideout. The CD, Heard That, is Lorber's follow-up to the Grammy-nominated He Had a Hat, which featured the hit single “Anthem for a New America.”

The CD of original material does have one cover song: an instrumental version of British singer’s Amy Winehouse’s "Rehab,” which was mixed by Paul Brown and features Rick Braun on trumpet. In addition to the title track, which was co-written with saxophonist Eric Darius, the CD features titles such as “Don’t Hold Back,” “Gamma Rays,” “Don’t Stop” and “The Bomb."

Heard That, Lorber's debut for Peak Records, will be available on Sept. 30. I've listened to an advance version, and this is definitely a CD you'll want.

Jazz Legends on Central Avenue

Photos and Text by Ricky Richardson

The 13th Annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival was held on July 26 and July 27 on historic Central Avenue. This year’s festival, like the ones held in the past was a huge success.

Everybody was raving about the new set-up for the festival which featured a huge canopy that covered the stage as well as the crowd. The vendors were situated along the side streets off of Central Avenue.

Every year the festival gets under way with a panel discussion with musicians who were apart of the excitement of Central Avenue back in the day. Trumpeter Clora Bryant shared insights with the crowd about the history of Central Avenue and painted a good picture of life on “The Avenue” with the clubs and the prominent jazz musicians of the 1930’s and 1940’s who played along “The Avenue.”

Thousands of jazz aficionados crowded “The Avenue” to hear some straight ahead jazz, bebop, blues and Latin jazz. I could feel the energy and excitement of “The Avenue” back in the day by looking at the crowd, many of whom frequented “The Avenue” during those vibrant times. Great music was showcased by wonderful musicians who performed for an appreciative crowd at the festival. Ernie Andrews (a legend of Central Avenue), Al Williams Jazz Society, Justo Almario Quartet, Gerald Wilson Orchestra (another legend who recently celebrated his 90th birthday), and Barbara Morrison closing out the festival on Saturday.

Long Beach Jazz Festival: Three Days Of Great Music with Kem, Michael Franks, Kirk Whalum, The Commodores, Roy Ayers, Down To The Bone And More

“And The Beat Goes On” For Jazz And R&B Lovers Alike

Southern California’s premiere music festival presenting the best in Jazz and Rhythm & Blues for the 21st year. The Long Beach Jazz Festival takes place the weekend of August 8, 9, and 10, 2008. Once again, the festival venue is the breath-taking seaside setting of Rainbow Lagoon Park on Shoreline Drive in Long Beach, California, where for two decades now thousands of faithful music fans have made the Long Beach Jazz Festival an annual family affair.

True to its reputation as the most soulful and well-rounded summer music festival in sunny Southern California, the 21st Annual Long Beach Jazz Festival for 2008 is loaded with an extraordinary and exciting array of musical talents for every taste. Not only is it a jazz festival celebrating straight ahead and contemporary jazz, but also this year’s weekend of magic includes top-flight star talent from worlds of classic R&B, Neo Soul and Blues — ideal for the more seasoned as well as the newer generations of listeners.

Festival founder, Al Williams and his band Al Williams Jazz Society, featuring incomparable vocalist Barbara Morrison will once again delight jazz lovers with its highly anticipated set on Sunday. “I am really pleased to have such a great variety of artists this year” says Williams, in anticipation of 2008’s star-studded festivities.

Gerald Albright - Sax For Stax

Welcome to the latest issue of Denis Poole’s Secret Garden, the page that offers a British perspective on the very best from the world of smooth jazz and classic soul. Over the last twenty years , and with the possible exceptions of Grover Washington Jr and Kirk Whalum, only Gerald Albright can be credited as having made a genuinely genre framing contribution to sax driven contemporary jazz. In fact Albright has been setting the agenda since the advent of his1987 solo debut Just Between Us. Since then he has released a succession of CD’s the latest of which is Sax For Stax, Albright’s tribute to the legendary record label that defined southern soul from the 1950’s to the mid 1970’s. The release of the album, which consists of eight passionately rendered covers of Stax classics plus three originals written with Memphis in mind, coincides both with the 50th anniversary of Stax and Concord Music Group’s re-launch of the famous label. It’s a collection with all the drive and energy one associates with the golden age of soul that Stax represents and the entire project is enhanced by the stellar array of guest performers who step up to play a part.