GA Russell

Bill, I dare say that not many here recognize the name Mike Hugg!

I think that the foremost problem with pace-of-play issues in sports is the time given to commercial breaks. I suspect that MLB's #2 problem is that almost all games are night games. If the typical game started shortly after (say) 5:30, there would be fewer worries about games ending so late.

Happy Birthday 2017 Michael!

RIP. Buddy Greco was my guilty pleasure, especially The Lady is a Tramp. I saw him perform in Las Vegas at a convention party, maybe 1986. He was great!

ECM François Couturier Tarkovsky Quartet Nuit blanche Release date: February 17th François Couturier: piano / Anja Lechner: violoncello Jean-Marc Larché: soprano saxophone / Jean-Louis Matinier; accordion Anja Lechner & François Couturier duo tour: February 18 New York, NY Greenwich House February 20 Portland, OR The Old Church February 21 Seattle, WA Seattle Art Museum February 24 San Francisco, CA SFJAZZ (ECM @SF Jazz II) François Couturier piano | Anja Lechner violoncello Jean-Marc Larché soprano saxophone | Jean-Louis Matinier accordion Ingmar Bergman once said of Andrey Tarkovsky, “He moves with such naturalness in the room of dreams,” and the French-German quartet named after the great Russian filmmaker has developed an associative dream-language of its own. For leader and pianist François Couturier the “silence and slowness of Tarkovsky” are closely related to an “ECM aesthetic” further developed on the group’s third album Nuit blanche, produced by Manfred Eicher in Lugano in April 2016. Whether playing improvised chamber music, modern composition or baroque music, the creative originality of the Tarkovsky Quartet shines through. François Couturier/ Anja Lechner On Tour February 18 New York, NY (Greenwich House) February 20 Portland, OR (Old Church) February 21 Seattle, WA (Seattle Art Museum) February 24 - San Francisco, CA (SFJAZZ, Miner Auditorium) © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 1001

ECM Benedikt Jahnel Trio The Invariant Benedikt Jahnel: piano Antonio Miguel: double bass Owen Howard: drums U.S. Release date: February 17, 2016 ECM 2523 B0026214-02 UPC: 6025 571 2837 6 The trio with Spanish bassist Antonio Miguel and Canadian drummer Owen Howard has been an “invariant” in the life of Berlin-based pianist Benedikt Jahnel, “a constant in a transformational period” as he puts it, and new album The Invariant is issued as the players reach their tenth anniversary as a working unit. “I like very much interacting with the same group and digging deeper each time into the musical conversation,” Jahnel says. “You have this energetic input and this intense time working together, and then I believe the music develops even when we’re apart. When we come back together I can hear the progression that has taken place in the pieces.” If natural evolution contributes to the music’s growth so do interventions by the pianist-composer, for whom constant revision is part of the creative process: “The version of any given piece that a listener hears on the new album might be the fifth or tenth version. We take the music on the road and then I’ll adjust it, maybe quite dramatically. Even in the studio I will often still adapt pieces, and of course in that process I’m constantly integrating ideas generated from the bass and the drums.” Jahnel is a prolific writer and The Invariant pools the best of the many pieces he has composed in the last five years, incorporating the dynamic responses of his trio partners into the fabric of the material. For the most part this is music carefully shaped for these players; this is its strength and the source of its detail. The Invariant was recorded in Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in April 2016, and produced by Manfred Eicher. Its opening track, “Further Consequences”, picks up where the trio’s critically-lauded album Equilibrium left off, extending ideas about pianistic patterning and textural playing. Like many of Jahnel’s tunes an odd-metred piece, it also contains elements of swing, as the pianist reacts to the implications of Owen Howard’s drumming. “For me this is a departure. I’m more of a straight eighths player. Owen is more strongly rooted in the whole tradition of jazz and the way he approached the tune pulled me, in the solo section, toward the world of swing phrasing…” The feeling of swing permeates also “The Circuit”. Designed by Jahnel to be an easily-breathing tune amid more heavily arranged pieces, it is still modestly unorthodox in its form, with a solo preceding the head of the tune, and a beguiling feature for Antonio Miguel’s bass over gently pulsing piano and brushed drums at the end. “Mirrors”, at nine and a half-minutes the album’s longest tune, is one of several pieces written, as Jahnel says, “from a very pianistic perspective: it has a choral introduction and lives from that choral, harmonic, trichord movement”. A rubato section gives way to stressed rhythm. “There are many parts, it’s quite heavily arranged, and even the ‘free’ section incorporates structures.” In the ballad “Monolake” “moving inner voices in the piano define the piece. I tried to design it in such a way that the harmonic anchors are slightly away from where you expect them to be. “ “Part of the Game” has “an odd little melody. The tune is really all about the rhythm, with fantastic drumming from Owen.” Unexpectedly cast into the middle of the program, “For the Encore” was “designed as a textural statement, to even things out.” “Interpolation 1”, one of a series of fragmentary ideas, “opens up a new window, offering another perspective of the trio with more advanced harmony.” Finally, “En Passant”, a soulful ballad with a touching bass solo, brings the album to a peaceful conclusion. In addition to his work with the trio, Benedikt Jahnel plays with – and contributes compositions to – the band Cyminology and is featured on the group’s ECM recordings As Ney, Saburi and Phoenix. A mathematician as well as a musician, Jahnel is a researcher at the Weierstrass-Institut Berlin, with interacting particle systems in the context of probability theory amongst his main interests. While sceptical about parallels between maths and music, he allows that “what mathematics can do really well if you have a practical problem is to make it abstract: get rid of the flesh and try and understand the mechanics of the bones. A detour via abstraction is a powerful tool, and in writing music it can sometimes also be helpful in developing things, especially if the starting point is emotional and intuitive, as it usually is with my pieces.” Benedikt Jahnel studied music at the University of Arts in Berlin – where he first met Owen Howard, who was there as visiting professor – and at City College, New York. In New York Jahnel and Howard reconnected and also met up with Antonio Miguel. In the course of his career, Antonio – born in Zaragoza in Northern Spain – has played with musicians including Paquito D’Rivera, Jerry González, Claudio Roditi, Ben Sidran, Rosario Giuliani, Rick Margitza, Jorge Pardo, Perico Sambeat, Ximo Tébar and Pedro Iturralde in the jazz scene, as well as flamenco artists José Luis Montón, Josemi Carmona, Rocio Marquez and El Negri, and artists like Buika, Paloma Berganza, Carmen Paris, Miguel Rios and Ara Malikian. Owen Howard, born in Edmonton, Canada, but Brooklyn based for many years, is a bandleader in his own right. He has also played with Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, John Abercrombie, Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, George Garzone, Dave Holland, Sheila Jordan and Tom Harrell, amongst many others. The Benedikt Jahnel Trio begins its tour with dates in Germany in January and February 2017, followed by shows in France in Spain. Concerts in Canada and the US are currently being set up: details soon at www.benejahnel.de and www.ecmrecords.com ECM François Couturier Tarkovsky Quartet Nuit blanche François Couturier: piano Anja Lechner: violoncello Jean-Marc Larché: soprano saxophone Jean-Louis Matinier; accordion U.S. Release date: February 17, 2016 ECM 2524 B0026215-02 UPC: 6025 572 9067 7 Ingmar Bergman once said of Andrey Tarkovsky, “He moves with such naturalness in the room of dreams,” and the French-German quartet named after the great Russian filmmaker has developed an associative dream-language of its own. For leader and pianist François Couturier the “silence and slowness of Tarkovsky” are closely related to an “ECM aesthetic” further developed on the group’s third album Nuit blanche, produced by Manfred Eicher in Lugano in April 2016. Here pieces variously composed by François Couturier, or created in the moment by Couturier, cellist Anja Lecher, saxophonist Jean-Marc Larché and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier, explore the texture of dreams and memory and continue to make oblique reference to Tarkovsky. Couturier’s Dakus, for instance, acknowledges a debt to Toru Takemitsu’s 1987 composition Nostalghia, written in memory of the director. The quartet also incorporates a crepuscular interpretation of Vivaldi’s “Cum dederit delectis suis somnum” from the Nisi Dominus, alluding to a composer Tarkovsky was listening to at the time of Stalker. Whether playing improvised chamber music, modern composition or baroque music, the creative originality of the Tarkovsky Quartet shines through.

JLH, I feel for you! That happened to me once with Purolator.

BC has signed Swayze Waters. http://3downnation.com/2017/02/07/b-c-lions-sign-formers-argo-kicker-swayze-waters/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/02/07/lions-add-kicker-punter-swayze-waters/ http://www.tsn.ca/lions-sign-former-argos-kicker-waters-1.666473 ***** The league released its 2017 schedule today. Opening Day will be June 22, when Darian Durant and the Als host the Riders. Dominion Day will see the Riders open their new park, hosting the Bombers. BC gets the bye on Labor Day weekend. Ottawa gets two byes the last month of the season. If they get the bye for the playoffs, they might be VERY rusty for the Eastern Final. http://www.cfl.ca/schedule/ http://www.tsn.ca/bring-it-riders-face-durant-in-week-1-open-new-mosaic-against-bombers-1.666316 http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-darian-durant-schedule-1.3971056 http://www.cfl.ca/2017/02/07/gate-no-shortage-storylines-week-1/ http://3downnation.com/2017/02/07/2017-cfl-schedule/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/02/07/2017-cfl-schedule/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/02/07/six-quick-thoughts-ticats-schedule/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/02/07/riders-get-lucky-fairly-balanced-schedule/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/02/07/ticats-schedule-good-fans-horrendous-team/#comments

I'm putting this in this forum because it involves business. Mods are welcome to move it or delete it. The UPS Store has a club for American small business owners. Each week they ask you for your opinion of their marketing ideas or they ask you to tell of your experiences as a businessman. For your trouble, they pay $10-15 a month in Amazon (or others, your choice) gift cards. Here's the link if you would like to sign up. http://www.smallbizbuzz.me/recruitment/survey/3010?ID=60255&recruitmentCode=HWdFrdn956ab77O7QoDK

Happy Birthday 2017 MJ!

Happy Birthday 2017 Big Wheel!

The Alouettes released Rakeem Cato today. http://3downnation.com/2017/02/06/report-alouettes-release-qb-rakeem-cato/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/02/06/alouettes-cut-ties-cato/ http://www.tsn.ca/alouettes-release-qb-cato-1.665863 http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/alouettes-release-quarterback-rakeem-cato/

Happy Birthday 2017 tk!

Continuing on, here are guys who have signed contract extensions. Typically, they were set to become free agents on St. Valentine's Day. http://3downnation.com/2016/12/05/argonauts-sign-trick-shot-artist-contract-extension/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/05/b-c-lions-sign-chris-rainey-contract-extension/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/08/cfl-record-holding-kicker-rene-paredes-signs-extension-stampeders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/08/stampeders-punter-rob-maver-agree-extension/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/09/oshea-walters-sign-contract-extension-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/10/cfl-mike-oshea-contract-talks-started-beers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/13/walters-oshea-deserving-contract-extensions-growth-needed/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/14/redblacks-re-sign-antoine-pruneau/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/16/jeremiah-johnson-signs-contract-extension-b-c-lions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/20/ticats-decision-re-sign-mike-daly-sneaky-good-move/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/21/reports-bc-lions-re-sign-cfl-mopd-lb-solomon-elimimian/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/21/19621/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/21/dl-cordarro-law-re-ups-with-calgary-stampeders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/01/decision-day-coming-argos-drew-willy/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/02/drew-willy-argos-agree-terms-new-contract/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/09/ol-landon-rice-signs-extension-ticats/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/11/argos-extend-canadian-kicker/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/11/ticats-sign-simoni-lawrence-contract-extension/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/11/simoni-lawrence-true-ticat-legacy-sight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/11/canadian-ol-tyler-holmes-inks-extension-argos/#comments

Continuing on with recent articles about past headlines... Joe McKnight http://3downnation.com/2016/10/15/six-things-watch-riders-face-argos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/10/22/six-things-watch-riders-host-alouettes/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/10/27/winston-venable-fined-hit-shouldve-given-riders-chance-victory/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/10/29/six-things-watch-riders-final-game-taylor-field/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/11/03/cfls-law-order-journey-land-make-believe/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/11/05/six-things-watch-riders-season-finale-b-c/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/31/lucky-13-popular-3downnation-stories-2016/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/02/usc-honouring-joe-mcknight-rose-bowl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/02/02/joe-mcknights-killer-charged-second-degree-murder/#comments

Parks and Recreation (complete) - $26.99 prime https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00SG16TIC/

Yesterday the Bombers cut Keith Shologan, and today the Als signed him. http://3downnation.com/2017/01/31/bombers-release-keith-shologan/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/02/01/day-cut-bombers-shologan-signs-montreal/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/31/bombers-release-national-keith-shologan/ http://www.cfl.ca/2017/02/01/als-sign-shologan-two-year-deal/ http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/alouettes-sign-veteran-canadian-dl-keith-shologan/ http://www.tsn.ca/alouettes-sign-shologan-to-two-year-deal-1.662355 ***** The Als are shuffling their coaching staff. http://3downnation.com/2017/02/01/bowman-calvillo-stays-als-name-coaching-staff/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/31/no-surprises-als-finalize-2017-coaching-staff/ http://www.cfl.ca/2017/01/31/als-vet-parker-retires-joins-coaching-staff/ http://www.tsn.ca/stewart-sweet-dropped-from-als-staff-1.661774

One of my favorite radio announcers, Scott Rintoul of Vancouver, was laid off yesterday. The parent company showed an C$800,000,000. profit, and they need to lay off their good people? http://3downnation.com/2017/01/30/b-c-lions-radio-play-play-voice-laid-off-tsn/#comments ***** For those of you who cannot read enough about certain people and topics, here are various articles from the past two months amplifying those articles which I have posted previously. free agents http://3downnation.com/2016/11/30/unofficial-list-pending-cfl-free-agents/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/01/official-list-potential-cfl-free-agents/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/10/five-players-riders-re-sign-darian-durant/#comments ***** trying out for NFL teams http://3downnation.com/2016/12/01/lucky-13-cfl-players-may-take-shot-nfl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/07/cfl-players-insiders-say-could-get-nfl-look/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/08/redblacks-release-dl-cleyon-laing-to-pursue-nfl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/09/bc-lions-allow-lb-adam-bighill-pursue-nfl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/09/19493/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/12/15/slew-of-cfl-players-worked-out-for-new-york-jets/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/02/canadian-db-dondre-wright-accepts-invite-nfl-regional-combine/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/19/canadian-lb-works-baltimore-ravens/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/19/riders-dblb-otha-foster-works-baltimore-ravens/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/27/riders-release-otha-foster-pursue-nfl-opportunities/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/27/mcmaster-receiver-attending-nfl-regional-combine/#comments ***** signing with the NFL http://3downnation.com/2017/01/02/four-players-cfl-connections-sign-nfl-teams/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/30/bo-lokombo-signs-nfls-ravens/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/01/31/mcduffie-not-cfl-star-signing-nfl/#comments

Tower of Power - OAS - $14.84 prime or $10.08 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Original-Album-Tower-Power/dp/B00AFZ86BK (Anyone have an opinion on these albums?)

NPR discusses Craig Taborn's Daylight Ghosts. http://www.npr.org/2017/01/30/512449162/from-the-critic-s-desk-a-preview-of-2017-in-jazz

Has anyone taken the time to visit Spotify to listen to this? Many of the tracks have Latin percussion; but I still find it easy to listen to late at night.

Formidable Lineup for O.R.k.'s RareNoiseRecords Debut SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS CD, VINYL AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON FEBRUARY 24, 2017 AND THROUGH WWW.RARENOISERECORDS.COM. Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari Voice, Keys, Electronics Carmelo Pipitone Guitars Colin Edwin Bass Pat Mastelotto Drums ABOUT THE LABEL - RareNoiseRecords was founded in 2008 by two Italians, entrepreneur Giacomo Bruzzo and music producer Eraldo Bernocchi. Located in London, the label's mission is to detect and amplify contemporary trends in progressive music, by highlighting their relation to the history of the art-form, while choosing not to be bound by pre-conceptions of genre. It seeks to become a guiding light for all those enamored by exciting, adventurous and progressive sounds. For further information and to listen to excerpts, please go to www.rarenoiserecords.com . New York, January 31, 2017 - Following on the heels of 2015's captivating Inflamed Rides, the members of the powerful collective O.R.k. - lead singer Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, Porcupine Tree bassist Colin Edwin, Marta Sui Tubi guitarist Carmelo Pipitone and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto - were primed to deliver an even more potent statement for their sophomore offering. Coming off of a triumphant tour of Europe and South America, they were charged to take things up a notch. And so it was with Soul of an Octopus, their second recording and RareNoise debut. This one finds the four kindred spirits dealing in even deeper waters. "After Inflamed Rideswe did around 30 shows in Europe, Argentina, Chile and Mexico this year," says Fornasari. "That definitely helped us to reign in our sound and get to a more focused mutual vision. So all the pieces from the new album represent an honest and effective picture of who we are as O.R.k. right now. That said, people who have listened to the new stuff - included our booking agents - think this is at least four times more powerful and intense than Inflamed Rides." Because of the presence of drummer Mastelotto, it would be easy to draw comparisons to King Crimson for this project. (The opener "Too Numb" in particular has a kind of Discipline vibe in its interlocking ostinatos that create a hypnotic latticework pattern against Fornasari's menacing vocals). One can also hear traces of such artistically inclined groups as Pink Floyd in ambitious tunes like "Scarlet Water," "Just Another Bad Day" and the extraordinary "Capture or Reveal."But O.R.k. draws on a myriad of other influences throughout Soul of an Octopus thatencompass prog-rock, jazz-rock and and are influenced by opera, as can be heard in Fornasari's dramatic and wide-ranging vocals on tunes like the intense closer "Till the Sunrise Comes" and the epic "Dirty Rain." Says the native of Bologna, Italy, "I got a degree as opera singer, but when it comes to my music I try to forget what I've been taught. When I find myself working on new material I prefer to improvise and sing without thinking what to do or where to head to, at least that's what I do in first place." On the extreme opposite end of the dynamic scale from the operative sweep that he delivers throughout Soul of an Octopus, Fornasari takes a more intimate, close-mic approach at the outset of the poetic "Heaven Proof House," recalling the enigmatic whisper vocals of the late Leonard Cohen. "Since I think at myself as a composer and producer first and then as vocalist, I get my brain to rethink the whole structure and listen to my vocals as a producer would do," he explains. "I tend to give my vocals the same importance I'd give to any of the other instruments composing the whole structure." Innovative Italian guitarist Pipitone is prominently featured on "Collapsing Hopes," which opens with some gutbucket acoustic blues guitar and gradually builds to a slamming wah-wah fueled six-string onslaught. Says Fornasari of his O.R.k. bandmate, "Carmelo has received multiple awards from music Italian critics because of the way he plays acoustic guitar. He makes his strings bark and scream like the most ferocious electric piece of guitar and a second later he makes you cry with the most intense clean arpeggio. The very first time I've seen him playing with his other band Marta Sui Tubi - they're quite famous in Italy - I thought, 'Hey! I want to make some noise with this crazy horse!' And here we are." Fornasari further describes the process that he and his O.R.k. bandmates took on this RareNoise release: "We usually start the process from guitar or bass riffs, I assemble a rough structure and send it over to the other guys. This collaborative back-and-forth process across the miles is very effective in our case. Nonetheless, it usually takes weeks or even months before a piece gets to its final shape. We don't follow any pre-defined plan though. One of the most intriguing elements in music is the most unpredictable too - once you release new stuff you never know how people will react and interpret your sound and words." While Fornasari has also been involved in other projects for RareNoise Records (he was on Owls' 2011 release, The Night Stays, Berserk's self-titled 2013 debut and Obake's 2015 release Mutations), he considers O.R.k. to be the focus of his artistic endeavors right now. "I love Berserk! and Owls but I see them as collaborative side projects while O.R.k. is actually my main band. It's the one which best represents my vision in music and the one I'm dedicating most of my of time and energy to." Fornasari clearly poured his heart and soul and all of his energy in this band. If you can't catch O.R.k. in action live, check out their imposing sophomore release, Soul of an Octopus, which stands as one of the more intensely compelling recordings on the RareNoise roster. www.orkband.com TRACKS 1. Too Numb 2. Collapsing Hopes 3. Searching For The Code 4. Dirty Rain 5. Scarlet Water 6. Heaven Proof House 7. Just Another Bad Day 8. Capture Or Reveal 9. Till The Sunrise Comes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/O.R.k.band Twitter: https://twitter.com/orkband

"Akua's Dance," Third CD by Cellist/Composer/Arranger Akua Dixon, To Be Released February 10 By Dixon's Akua's Music Label CD Features Dixon with Two Jazz Quartets: Guitarist Freddie Bryant, Bassist Kenny Davis, & Drummer Victor Lewis, & Special Guests Ron Carter & Russell Malone With Victor Lewis CD Release Shows Set for 3/4 Trumpets, Montclair, NJ 3/11 Sistas' Place, Brooklyn January 31, 2017 With her sublime new album, Akua's Dance, cellist Akua Dixon brings her sumptuous sound to the foreground on an array of material encompassing exquisite balladry, the music's deepest roots in African and African-American culture, and instrumental pieces gleaned from Dixon's opera-in-progress. Her label Akua's Music will release the new CD on February 10. "The music moves forward from where I was to where I'm going," says Dixon, who notes that her last release, 2015's critically hailed album Akua Dixon, was a string-centric recording that featured her "in a sectional way," Dixon says. "On this one I'm out front with the rhythm section." Two rhythm sections, to be precise. Seven of the 10 tracks feature her stellar working quartet with guitarist Freddie Bryant, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer Victor Lewis, with Dixon performing on the baritone violin. Built by the late luthier Carleen Hutchins, "it's an instrument with the same tuning as my cello but a larger, deeper sound," Dixon says. "I wanted some more power." On three pieces Lewis and Dixon (on cello) are joined by guitar ace Russell Malone and bass legend Ron Carter, with whom she first performed some four decades ago on Archie Shepp's The Cry of My People (1972, Impulse!). But Akua had never had a chance to work with Carter playing her music, "so I reached out to him. If you don't ask you don't receive." The album opens with Dixon's "I Dream a Dream," a piece she repurposed from her opera based on the life of 19th-century New Orleans voodoo queen Marie Laveau. "This dance rhythm has roots in many parts of Africa and wherever Africans were taken," says Dixon. "Akua's Dance" is another tune drawn from the opera, and its terpsichorean groove was inspired by Dixon's gigs performing for dancers at African-American socials. "Dance was at the foundation of this music," she says. (Above: Dixon with Ron Carter, Russell Malone, Victor Lewis.) If the album has an emotional centerpiece it's Abbey Lincoln's "Throw It Away," a song that's become a bona fide standard in recent years. It's the only piece featuring Dixon's soulful vocals. Closing the album are several pieces that embody the sacred and secular sides of African-American culture. Following a slinky version of Sade's "The Sweetest Taboo," Saturday night revelry gives way to Sunday morning revelation with a reverent rendition of the Negro spiritual "I'm Gonna Tell God All of My Troubles" that basks in the baritone violin's voluptuous lower range. "I always like to include a spiritual," Dixon says. "It's an important part of my legacy." Photographed at Lukas Violins, New York City, by Lukasz Wronski. Born and raised in New York City, Akua Dixon grew up in a family suffused with music. She started playing with her sister, the late violinist Gayle Dixon, shortly after the cello came into her life in the 4th grade. After graduating from the prestigious "Fame" High School of the Performing Arts, Dixon studied at the Manhattan School of Music at a time when the only track available focused on European classical music. She describes her post-graduation gig in the pit band at the Apollo Theater as an essential proving ground. With the doors of most symphony orchestras closed to African-American musicians (to say nothing of women), Dixon found a home in the Symphony of the New World, where she experienced the Ellingtonian epiphany that led her to jazz. "I started immersing myself in jazz and spirituals, and became determined to learn the secrets of improvising," she says. In the early 1970s, this jazz string pioneer served as director of new music for the String Reunion, a 30-piece orchestra founded by Noel Pointer, and at the same time launched her own string quartet, Quartette Indigo. A founding member of the Max Roach Double Quartet in the early 1980s, Dixon had honed her rhythmic drive backing the likes of James Brown, but learning to phrase bebop with one of the idiom's founding fathers was an invaluable experience. "It's been a calm couple of years," says Dixon, now resettled in New York's Hudson Valley. "I'm working on The Opera of Marie Laveau, a project I started a long time ago. I recently completed the second half of the opera since moving to Rhinebeck." Dixon, along with a quartet of singers and accompanied by her string quartet, will perform scenes from The Opera of Marie Laveau and African-American spirituals, at Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church (15 Mount Morris Park West, 122nd Street at 5th Avenue) on Sunday 2/19, 3:00pm. She is also planning a pair of CD release shows with her quartet at Trumpets, Montclair, NJ, 3/4, and Sistas' Place, Brooklyn, 3/11 (Freddie Bryant, g [replaced by Richard Padron at Sistas' Place]; Kenny Davis, b; Orion Turre, d). Web Site: akuadixon.com

RIP. The Fourth Way was a favorite of mine when I was in college. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Way_(band)

Thanks Jim.