davidmanson

We just had Sam Rivers Quartet on the EMIT series on March 28 and he sounded great. We sold out the small concert venue (178 seats) and opened the lobby doors so those who could not get a seat inside, could hear him for free. The audience gave the group a standing ovation. Besides the incredible music he makes and his amazing history in jazz, Sam is one of the nicest guys in the music business.

O Fino Do Fino is a very good early Elis Regina recording from 1965. She sounds a bit like Elizeth Cardoso on some cuts. I can also recommend Haroldo Mauro's recent release Bossa na Pressão, for more of a jazz feel: http://cdbaby.com/cd/haroldomaurojr I'm found of my new release (Infinita Bossa) as well, with Andrea Moraes Manson singing: http://cdbaby.com/cd/osomdojazz

It has been a while since I've had time to browse through Organissimo. I miss it! I have new release. "Infinita Bossa" by Florida-based band O Som Do Jazz, is a 16-track collection of Bossa Nova & MPB... all in Portuguese. It is quite a departure from the work that I've done with Sam Rivers and Eugene Chadbourne. Rio de Janeiro vocalist Andrea Moraes Manson is the featured singer. She has a strong voice, not the typical sotto voce "cutesy" voice we hear too often with Bossa Nova. If you like Elis Regina, you will probably enjoy Andrea's singing. Works include Berimbau, Corcovado, Deixa, Noa Noa, É Com Esse Que Eu Vou, Lobo Bobo, Brigas Nunca Mais, Flor de Lis and many others. Other musicians on the CD are Régis Moreira, Ademar Fonseca, Roberto Bertone, Alfredo Rivero, Jeremy Powell, John Ward and me. The recording is available at CD Baby: cdbaby.com/cd/osomdojazz.

Dear Friends, Once again it is time for the NEA Jazz masters nominations. For the past three years, many supporters of innovative jazz have made efforts to bring the lifelong work of Sam Rivers to the attention of the NEA panel. Sam has been considered, but there seems to be a "safe mode of operation" that has lobbied for more mainstream jazz artists since 1991. I think that a hundred or so letters of support could show the NEA panel that jazz has room for innovators. Sam is 80 years old. He has dedicated his life to music and deserves this last remaining program of support for individual artists from the National Endowment of the Arts. Please consider writing a short letter of support for Sam Rivers. Information is listed below. Ten minutes of your time could make all of the difference. sincerely, David Manson EMIT www.emitseries.org Nominations may be made by submitting a one-page letter that details the reasons that the nominee should receive a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship. Describe the nominee's contributions and explain why this individual deserves national recognition. Include with your nomination letter a resume or a short biography that outlines the career of the nominee. An individual may submit only one nomination in each round of the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships. No one may nominate him/herself. Deadline for Nominations Nominations must be postmarked no later than January 23, 2004. Grant fellowships will be announced in the fall of 2004. Send your nomination to: Jazz Masters Fellowships National Endowment for the Arts Nancy Hanks Center 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Room 703 Washington, DC 20506-0001

My electro-acoustic trombone CD Beast was just released. It is not a jazz recording per se, but it crosses genres with electronic, free improvisation, interactive, snippets of 'Prez' Prado and more. Guitarist Davey Williams is featured on one track as well as compositions by Javier Alvarez, Eric Lyon, Gustavo Matamoros and myself. If you are "strong of ear" and want to hear something VERY different, you can listen to excerpts here at CD Baby. thanks! David Manson EMIT series

This is exactly what we were discussing in my Zappa repertoire band, Bogus Pomp. We have an acoustic concert on February 10 at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida and want to feature jazz and "new classical" works by Zappa. Here are some nice jazz-influenced tunes that we have played in the past: echidna's arf of you don't you ever wash that thing? dupree's paradise blessed relief inca roads peaches en regalia big swifty uncle remus pound for a brown I look forward to a more acoustic approach with this band. There are some mp3 files here: Bogus Pomp

I like your approach of telephoning people directly and encouraging them to attend your concerts as well as getting most of the funding in advance. Naturally - being a nonprofit organization with a track record helps with collecting the money up front. The telephone call is a great idea. We'll try that next time. One thing that works well for us is giving away a fair amount of tickets to shop owners (for letting us place posters and flyers) and radio station announcers (for on air "giveaways"). I was resistent to this initially, but found only an increase in revenue after giving away tickets. I think that it helps to get a "buzz" happening about the event. We have good luck with most of the media, but we make an effort to promote the concert as "unique". Instead of sending "stock" press to them, we put a unique spin on the event. We also send them great black & white photos. A photo in the local paper will add at least 50% to the audience count. I send advance press out about 6 weeks before the event and then follow up with more detailed information, recordings and press pack. Here is an example of how we are initially promoting our next concert: PSA The 9th season of EMIT is starting with a concert on Tuesday, September 30 at the wonderful Palladium Theater. It starts at 8 PM. This concert is the annual EMIT Avant-A-Thon, a benefit for the series. This is concert # 70. The theme for the concert is "ambient luminescence". Here are the artists on the Avant-A-Thon: Tuba visionary Tom Heasley: http://kalvos.org/heasley.html Tom creates beautiful layers of sound using his tuba, voice and looping equipment. Do you remember the sound of the obelisk in 2001 A Space Odyssey? That was music by contemporary composer Gyorgy Ligeti. Tom Heasley's music is similar... rich, layered, soothing and permeating. Moving Current Dance Collective dancer/choreographer Erin Cardinal (http://www.info-lution.com/webs/movingcurrent/directors2.htm) will be performing. Local trance/drone band PoOg led by Rick Olson, keyboardist for Zappa group Bogus Pomp. Instrument builder/composer Vonn New (from Loud Zoo) will be sharing her home-made musical instruments. VJ Lumena Atherton will project computer-generated imagery to add a visual dimension to the music. Tickets are $10 general and $8 for students and seniors available at the Palladium. The Palladium Theater is located at 253 Fifth Avenue North near downtown St. Petersburg. Call (727) 822-3590 for further information. I never send press to just one writer. I always send a duplicate to the arts editor. For the community radio station, I like to burn a :45 or :60 PSA to CD with an announcement of the event with music excerpts. Of course we send e-mails out to our list. There is more, but this is a good start. David Manson

Thanks for the positive comment about creating your own events. I am in a rush right now, but I'd like to jot down a few remarks. I really believe that this is the only way to preserve jazz, new music or whatever you are into. Funding You can consider looking for grant funding. I have an article about that here: http://www.spjc.edu/spg/music/grants.htm A quicker approach is to get four or more like-minded people together in a meeting and present the idea of a jazz event. You might even create a club. Ask them to consider risking $200 per member toward the costs of a music event. If you have a successful event, they will recover the investment. Think about the event. Include local musicians in addition to touring musicians. Your local musicians will greatly enhance and promote the event, and bringing in only "outside" artists won't create a long-lasting cultural improvement to your community. By the way - never talk with high profile artists' booking agents. You can't afford to work that way. Find out who is touring and try to reach a band member by e-mail directly. Find a friendly and inviting venue. Never pay for venue rental. If you look you will find a space for free or you can convince the owner that they will make money on drinks or that increased foot traffic will result from the concert. You have to think with a "herd" mentality when considering audiences. I have presented over 100 concerts during the past 10 years and there seem to be some common elements when considering venues (at least in my area). Here they are: Avoid universities - for some strange reason general audiences don't like stepping foot on campuses. Of course there are exceptions, but my biggest losses have happened when I have given concerts there, even when the music hall was wonderful. ALCOHOL must be available. This is strange since jazz crowds don't drink much anymore (this is what club owners tell me). I noticed this when doing concerts at a museum. Whe we set up for wine and beer sales (by recommended donation) our audiences doubled. Once again - there has to be a social aspect associated with concerts now. Apparently music is just not enough (this really saddens me, but that's the way it is). Avoid off-the-track warehouse and risky venues. Stick to the main strip where people dine and go to bars OR museums and art galleries. This is the "herd" mentality at work. If people aren't comfortable going to a venue, large numbers will avoid your music event just for that reason. Having said that - if there is already some foot traffic to a remote venue (maybe frequented by the "arts"crowd), then you may have success there. Promotion can take a large amount of work, but it is everything in presenting music. I have to go now, but I'll return with some ideas about that on Tuesday. Thanks for reading my disorganized thoughts. David

The amount of gigs for musicians have been lower in my area (Tampa Bay) for the past three years. I think that there are two main reasons. The economy... (although I see plenty of folks driving new $40-60,000 luxury cars and SUVs)/ The inevitable victory of "Pop" culture and generational politics... It is sad that young people think of local music performance in terms of DJs, not musicians. Baby Boomer audiences seem willing to pay hefty tickets for pathetic "oldies" concerts, but will not support local musicians. The audiences that grew up listening to jazz... are too old to go out anymore or they are dead. To continue to make music here, I have had to become involved as a presenter and promoter of musical events. It's a ton of work. Gone are the days when I could expect to get calls for casuals, Broadway shows or private parties. If I don't make it happen, I don't make music. No matter what genre, I find that audiences want events, not concerts. If you play in a string quartet, you had better plan a pre-concert talk or wine tasting. With new music or jazz, you need to book at last two bands or have some social activity embedded in the concert. That's the way it is now. I would like to encourage everyone who has a passion for music to consider organizing one musical event per year. Meet with friends and figure out how to plan, promote and execute a concert or festival. I am convinced that this is the only solution to the continuing marginalization of jazz. It's easy to gripe and condemn commercial culture. Take that energy and make a concert happen in your community. David Manson EMIT

I play trombone and arrange for the horn section of a Zappa repertoire band called Bogus Pomp based in Florida. We have been together now for 8 years and have performed with the Florida Ochestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic in addition to our yearly Zappaween (Halloween) concerts and assorted other performances. We often perform with Napolean Murphy Brock who is a great musician and a great guy to work with. Cal Schenkel generously gave us our group logo. Anyway - our next concert is with a 14-piece chamber orchestra on August 21 at the Tampa Theatre in Tampa, Florida. Tom Trapp has arranged the chamber music. If you are traveling through Florida - check it out. For further info about the band, check this web site: Bogus Pomp. David

The Buffalo Philharmonic has some innovative programming. Most orchestras are afraid to take chances. I play trombone/arrange in a Frank Zappa repertoire band (Bogus Pomp) and we gave a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic three years ago. The opening half was the orchestra playing some of Zappa's works (Dupree's Paradise, BeBop Tango, Naval Aviation in Art, Strictly Genteel, G-Spot Tornado). Tom Wilkins conducted. The second half was Bogus Pomp (a ten-piece band) with vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock. The selections were: 1. son of orange county 2. zoot allures 3. village of the sun 4. echidna's arf of you 5. don't you ever wash that thing? 6. oh no 7. black page 8. dupree's paradise 9. andy 10. black napkins 11. florentine pogen 12. idiot bastard son 13. cheepnis 14. inca roads 15. watermelon in easter hay 16. peaches en regalia 17. uncle remus We were treated very well in Buffalo and it was a pleasure to perform there. I wish that we could give similar concerts with other American orchestras. David Bogus Pomp

I am working on the season now. Easter is unknown at this point. I thnk it is likely that Tom Healey, ROVA (or some smaller group with a ROVA member), Day & Taxi and others will work into the calendar. If any adventurous groups plan to tour toward Florida between October and June, feel free to contact me at the EMIT web site. There is some info about booking there. thanks, David EMIT

I produced the CD and it is being sold through EMIT, a nonprofit presenter organization. Sales benefit the EMIT series. David EMIT

Visions - an EMIT compilation I'm going to post this one again since it was ... ahem ... cut off at the knees when it was first posted and only had 3 hits. I am no longer a "newbie" - so I'd like to try again since these CDs are filling up our guest room and my wife is giving me hell about it. The EMIT series in St. Petersburg, Florida has released a compilation CD of live performances entitled Visions. The disk has a wide variety of styles. A 7-minute duet with Evan Parker and Sam Rivers opens the CD. San Fran vocalist Pamela Z does real time processing via clothing controller device on track 2. Swiss avant-jazz group Day & Taxi wail on track 3. Mills College prof Chris Brown and shakuhachi improvisor Philip Gelb do some ambient interactive performance on track 4. Spling-master Derek Bailey & drummer Jim Stewart improvise on track 5. Ten minutes of the wonderful (and sadly missed) bassist Peter Kowald is on track 9. OK - I'm tiring out with these descriptions. Davey Williams, Saturnalia with Daniel Carter, Amy Denio and Eugene Chadbourne are all featured on this recording. Most of the performances were recorded at the Salvador Dali Museum. You can hear samples at CD Baby. Verge, NorthCountry and CDBaby are doing distribution. thanks, David EMIT

Fluid Motion with Sam Rivers will be performing Tuesday, July 1 at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. The band is Sam Rivers (saxes), Doug Mathews (bass), Anthony Cole (drums), Jonathan Powell (trpt) and David Manson (trbn). For more info, see EMIT