Wynton Marsalis

 

Wynton Marsalis is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader, an educator and a leading advocate of American culture. He has created and performed an expansive range of music from quartets to big bands, chamber music ensembles to symphony orchestras and tap dance to ballet, expanding the vocabulary for jazz and classical music with a vital body of work that places him among the world’s finest musicians and composers.

Always swinging, Marsalis blows his trumpet with a clear tone, a depth of emotion and a unique, virtuosic style derived from an encyclopedic range of trumpet techniques. When you hear Marsalis play, you’re hearing life being played out through music.

Marsalis’ core beliefs and foundation for living are based on the principals of jazz. He promotes individual creativity (improvisation), collective cooperation (swing), gratitude and good manners (sophistication), and faces adversity with persistent optimism (the blues). With his evolved humanity and through his selfless work, Marsalis has elevated the quality of human engagement for individuals, social networks and cultural institutions throughout the world.

Wynton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1961, to Ellis and Dolores Marsalis, the second of six sons. At an early age, he exhibited a superior aptitude for music and a desire to participate in American culture. At age eight Wynton performed traditional New Orleans music in the Fairview Baptist Church band led by legendary banjoist Danny Barker, and at 14 he performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic. During high school Wynton performed with the New Orleans Symphony Brass Quintet, New Orleans Community Concert Band, New Orleans Youth Orchestra, New Orleans Symphony, various jazz bands and with the popular local funk band, the Creators.

At age 17 Wynton became the youngest musician ever to be admitted to Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center. Despite his youth, he was awarded the school’s prestigious Harry Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student. Wynton moved to New York City to attend Juilliard in 1979. When he started gigging around the City, the grapevine began to buzz. The excitement around Wynton attracted the attention of Columbia Records executives who signed him to his first recording contract. In 1980 Wynton seized the opportunity to join the Jazz Messengers to study under master drummer and bandleader Art Blakey. It was from Blakey that Wynton acquired his concept for bandleading and for bringing intensity to each and every performance. In the years to follow Wynton performed with Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sweets Edison, Clark Terry, John Lewis, Sonny Rollins, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and countless other jazz legends.

Wynton assembled his own band in 1981 and hit the road, performing over 120 concerts every year for 15 consecutive years. With the power of his superior musicianship, the infectious sound of his swinging bands and a far-reaching series of performances and music workshops, Marsalis rekindled widespread interest in jazz throughout the world and inspired a renaissance that attracted a new generation of fine young talent to jazz. A look at the more distinguished jazz musicians to emerge for the decades to follow reveals the efficacy of Marsalis’ workshops and includes: James Carter, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Roberts, Wycliffe Gordon, Harry Connick Jr., Nicholas Payton, Eric Reed and Eric Lewis, to name a few.

Wynton also embraced the jazz lineage to bring recognition to the older generation of overlooked jazz musicians and prompted the re-issue of jazz catalogs by record companies worldwide.

https://wyntonmarsalis.org/

How LimeWire, Winamp, Napster and more internet relics are finding new life in Web3

 

At the turn of the millennium, peer-to-peer file sharing was a transformative innovation. Decentralised computer networks were poised to upend industries, reshape how we consumed media, cut out middlemen and empower individuals. Sound familiar?

Parallels with the new Web3 gold rush are difficult to miss. The key difference is that, back then, such disruption was widely viewed in apocalyptic terms. Sharing audio files was the equivalent of digital purse-snatching and, if it wasn’t stopped, would bring the entire music industry to its knees. Companies such as Napster, LimeWire, and Kazaa made a big impact but were ultimately squashed by an onslaught of legal action.

It came as some surprise, then, when some of the biggest names in digital piracy began their online comeback recently, attempting to establish themselves as major players in the new music ecosystem of Web3. Napster, BitTorrent, and LimeWire have all been purchased by members of the crypto crowd, with accompanying promises to revolutionize music just like they did in the good ol’ days.

Keep reading  https://musictech.com/features/opinion-analysis/napster-limewire-winamp-new-life-in-web3/

 

The Michael Mills Band

 

The Michael Mills Band is a high energy Blues Rock band out of California. The bands  showmanship exhibits their extensive touring experiences in their radiating energy allowing you to imagine how they charm crowds from the stage..

THE BAND MEMBERS:
Michael Mills is the front man with the killer vocals and lead guitarist.
Jesse Godoy is a highly skilled award winning guitarist.
Scot Campbell is the bassist for the band.
Ron Ravicchio is the drummer with extensive history touring with major bands.

"We are excited to announce the new single 'See My Baby' by The Michael Mills Band feat. Tom Hambridge (Grammy Award Winning Producer). Taking time during the pandemic, Michael Mills and Jesse Godoy started writing 'See My Baby' ... then Mike had the thought 'I want to get Tom Hambridge to produce this song. He wanted Tom because he knows how to make a hit out of a song'. That was the
beginning of the creative collaboration between Michael Mills and Tom Hambridge. 'Honored to have Tom perform and produce 'See My Baby'. We were fortunate that. Tom added some of his own style of drums and produced the single.' Michael Mills

www.michaelmillsband.com
Facebook.com/themichaelmillsband

Vince Gill

 

One of the most popular artists in modern country music, Vince Gill is famous for his top-notch songwriting, world-class guitar playing and warm, soaring tenor, all wrapped up in a quick and easy wit. Gill achieved his big breakthrough in 1990 with “When I Call Your Name,” which won both the Country Music Association’s (CMA) Single and Song of the Year awards as well as a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. Since then, Gill has won 17 additional CMA Awards, including Song of the Year four times – making him the most-awarded artist in that category in CMA history, and a total of 22 Grammy Awards, his most recent one for Best Country Solo Performance – “When My Amy Prays.”  The Academy of Country Music has conferred on Gill eight awards, including its Home Depot Humanitarian Award and the Career Achievement Award.

A gifted songwriter, Gill’s compositions earned him the prestigious BMI Icon award in 2014, and entry into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.

In 2007, Gill was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2012 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which was placed in cement right next to his wife Amy Grant’s star. In 1991, Gill was invited to become a member of The Grand Ole Opry, a position he treasures. He continues to perform on that historic stage on a regular basis.

Throughout his career he has released 20 albums, sold over 30 million albums, and charted 45 singles.

Known for his many collaborations, Gill has made guest appearances on more than 1000 albums, and has performed and/or recorded with artists such as Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Sting, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall, Jimmy Webb, Bruno Mars, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and George Jones. His collaborative efforts also include albums he has produced for Amy Grant, Ashley Monroe, The Time Jumpers and Wendy Moten.

Always considering himself a musician above all else, Gill has over the years been a part of some iconic bands including Pure Prairie League, The Cherry Bombs, and The Time Jumpers. In 2017 Vince was asked to join the Eagles on the road and continues to be a part of that historic band’s tour.

Gill’s current album, the critically acclaimed OKIE, is his most personal album, as he sings about his wife in prayer, about kindness and forgiveness, about his heroes in death, and about his own loves, joys, and regrets.

https://vincegill.com/

The Kabooms

 

 

The Kabooms are a band based in Barcelona and founded in 2014 with members of several well-known groups in the field of 50's rock and roll, Matt Olivera on vocals (Matt and The Peabody Ducks) El Lega on guitar (Legacaster, Locos del Oeste) , Xavi Carajillo on bass (Los Torontos, Los Locos del Oeste) and Jesús López on drums (Pike Cavalero, The Ragtones) form this combo of surf rock and late 50's rock and roll sound that have made their live show wild and full of energy by festivals and stages around the world such as: Viva Las Vegas, Fuss and Holler (USA), The Rockabilly Rave and Hemsby (UK) Let's Get Wild, Get Rhythm Go Wild (Germany), High Rockabilly and Rockin Race (Spain) And a long etcetera.

Their latest full-length “Right Track, Wrong Way” collects another discharge of pure energy, fun and quality as the band has accustomed us, the combo goes a step further to meet the tastes of a wider and more eclectic public, but equally demanding. Matt, the singer, leads the action providing the required claw at all times. Javier and Alex put the precise rhythm and strength to each song. And El Lega on guitar is a phenomenon. In fact, there are four phenomena. Directly. Music that gets you excited, with a catchy rhythm of drums and double bass, a guitar bordering on perfection and outstanding voice work. “50's cut rock played at full blast, furiously, as it should be”.

 https://www.facebook.com/thekabooms

 

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

 

 

 Jalacy Hawkins, better known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Cleveland, Ohio, United States, July 18, 1929 - Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, February 12, 2000), was a popular African-American American singer. He had a major hit during the rock explosion of the mid-1950s. Known for his circus performances and (sometimes macabre) aesthetic, he recorded one of the biggest hits of the era, I Put a Spell on You, in 1957. He learned to compose music and play the piano as a child at the Ohio Conservatory. At the age of 14, he drops out of school and lies saying that he has one more year to join the army and fight in World War II. In the army he began to play the sax entertaining the troops. He fell into enemy hands on the island of Saipan when he was parachuted, being rescued a year and a half later.

Van Morrison

 

 Born in 1945, Van Morrison heard his Shipyard worker father’s collection of blues, country and gospel early in life. Feeding off musical greats such as Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson and Leadbelly he was a travelling musician at 13 and singing, playing guitar and sax, in several bands, before forming Them in 1964. 

Making their name at Belfast’s Maritime Club, Them soon established Van as a major force in the British R&B scene. Morrison’s matchless vocal and songwriting talents produced instant classics such as the much covered ‘Gloria’ and ‘Here Comes The Night’. 

Those talents found full astonishing range in Van’s solo career. After working with Them’s New York producer Bert Berns on beautiful Top 40 pop hit ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ (1967), Morrison moved to another realm.

 Recorded over 3 days with legendary jazz musicians Astral Weeks (1968) is a still singular album combining street poetry, jazz improvisation, Celtic invocation and Afro Celtic Blues wailing. 

Morrison would weave these and myriad other influences into the albums that followed in quick succession. 

Reflecting on new life in America on the joyous Sinatra soul of Moondance (1970) and the country inflected Tupelo Honey (1971) he summoned old spiritual and ancestral life in the epic St Dominic’s Preview (1972) closer track Listen To The Lion. 

Double live album Too Late To Stop Now (1973) highlighted Morrison’s superlative performing and bandleader skills. Mapping out a richly varied musical course throughout the 70s he shone among an all-star cast including Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters on The Band’s Last Waltz. 

Indeed, borne of his Irish Showband instincts, the magic of the live performance has been a consistent feature of Morrison’s career. 

Settling back into life in the UK in 1980 he released Common One an album centring on Summertime In England an extraordinary invocation of literary, sensual and spiritual pleasure the song would often become a thrilling improvised centrepiece to his live shows. 

Steering his own course throughout the 80s on albums such as No Guru, No Method, No Teacher he claimed Celtic roots with The Chieftains on Irish Heartbeat. Teaming with Georgie Fame brought new impetus to his live show while Avalon Sunset saw him back in the album and single charts by the decades end. 

Van Morrison continued to advance on his status as a game- changing artist through the 90s and into the 21st century. 

Awards and accolades - a knighthood, a Brit, an OBE, an Ivor Novello, 6 Grammys, honourary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster, entry into The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and the French Ordres Des Artes Et Des Lettres - attested to the international reach of Van’s musical art. 

Yet there was never any suggestion that Morrison, one of the most prolific recording artists and hardest working live performers of his era, would ever rest on his laurels.

 The breadth and reach of his collaboration work continues in 2015 with the release of his new album ‘Duets: Re-working The Catalogue’. Featuring singers as influential and diverse as Bobby Womack, Gregory Porter, Mavis Staples and Michael Bublé, the album re-works songs handpicked from Morrison’s catalogue of over 360 tracks across his career. Including songs such as Real Real Gone, Higher Than The World and Irish Heartbeat, the album was recorded in his home town of Belfast and London over the last year, using a variety of musicians and fresh arrangements.

With one of the most revered catalogues in music history and his unparalleled talents as composer, singer and performer Morrison’s past achievements loom large. But, as throughout his extraordinary career, how that past informs his future achievements and still stirs excitement and keen anticipation. 

And so in 2017 Van released his 37th and 38th studio albums, the first of which, Roll With The Punches, is a blues flavoured offering. The 15 track album reconnects Morrison with artists such as Leadbelly, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Little Walter and Bo Diddley…musicians he first heard at home on the family radiogram. But more so, it brings Van together with musicians he encountered on the road during his time with Them in the ‘60s blues boom as Chris Farlowe, Manfred Mann’s Paul Jones and The Yardbird’s Jeff Beck all make contributions to the recordings. The rich jambalaya enjoyed on Roll With The Punches is Van Morrison both looking back, and moving forward. And though he references the past, Morrison always makes it his own, stamping his unmistakable spin on what has gone before.

Following shortly after the release of Roll with the Punches was the aptly titled Versatile. This album sees Morrison cross the genres of blues, soul and reconnect with his love of jazz. Across Versatile’s sixteen tracks, Van Morrison interprets some of the very building blocks of modern music in his own utterly unique style.  As well as songs originally made famous by the likes of Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra, the Righteous Brothers, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole, Versatile features the stunning new Van composition Broken Record – a timeless piece of late-night swing – and new interpretations of classics from his back catalogue (I Forgot That Love Existed from the 1987 album Poetic Champions Compose, Start All Over Again from 1990’s Enlightenment and Only A Dream from 2002’s Down the Road).

2018 is a significant year in Morrison’s career, marking 50 years since the release of the iconic Astral Weeks album in 1968. To date, the year has been full steam ahead for Morrison beginning with a string of shows in the USA and further shows scheduled for Europe later in the year. Morrison shows no sign of slowing things down, continuing to work on new material and exciting upcoming projects.

 https://www.vanmorrison.com