GA Russell

Here's an article from today's Financial Times about a new downloading service that will offer songs for free. Universal has come on board. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b194883e-36b2-11db...00779e2340.html Universal backs free music rival to iTunes By Joshua Chaffin and Aline van Duyn in New York Published: August 29 2006 05:02 | Last updated: August 29 2006 05:02 Universal Music, the world’s largest music company, is backing a start-up that will allow consumers to download songs for free. It will rely on advertising for its revenues, offering a different business model from that of Apple Computer’s popular iTunes music store. The move reflects music companies’ willingness to experiment as they try to capture some profit from the boom in digital distribution still dominated by illegal file-sharing networks. The service, SpiralFrog, represents a departure from Apple’s 99 cents-a-song business model and other legal download services which charge a subscription fee by being completely free. It is due to start up in December. A report released last month by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries revealed there were still 40 illegal downloads for every legal one. Although Apple’s iPod and its iTunes music download service has 80 per cent of the market for legally downloaded music, competition is expected to hot up in the run-up to Christmas. This year, the IFPI has predicted that 60m music players will be sold worldwide, many of them MP3 players not compatible with Apple’s services. As well as start-ups such as SpiralFrog, established companies are getting ready to flex their muscles. Microsoft is to launch Zune, which will offer music players and a music download store. MTV has launched Urge, a service that has downloadable music and music videos via subscription. “Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling,” said Robin Kent, SpiralFrog’s chief executive and the former head of the Universal McCann advertising agency. Mr Kent has held talks with labels Warner, EMI and Sony-BMG and hopes they will be lured by the surge in online advertising. Merrill Lynch last week raised its forecast for the sector’s growth, predicting it would expand by 35 per cent this year in non-US markets to $11.6bn (£6.1bn). US growth is expected to increase by nearly 30 per cent to $16bn. Perry Ellis, the fashion company, said it would advertise on SpiralFrog. Levi’s, Aeropostale, Benetton and others have expressed interest. “Our audience is into music and can be more easily reached on the web,” said Oscar Feldenkreis, president of Perry Ellis International. Other music services are looking to advertising for their revenues. The new Napster allows consumers to listen to up to five tracks for free while they view advertising. Meanwhile, video-sharing sites, such as YouTube, have held talks with music companies about showing music videos, which would then be supported by advertising. Mr Kent said his research revealed that young consumers would be willing to endure advertising as long as the brands and products were relevant to them. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006 9/07 edit subtitle

Topping it for Aggie.

B. Clugston, thanks for that link to the bio. Very informative. Last night in memoriam I listened to National Health's Playtime CD on Cuneiform. It was a 1979 concert not released till 2001, with Alan Gowen, John Greaves, Phil Miller, Pyle and a fellow I don't know named Alain Eckert. Within the past two weeks we have learned of the deaths of Moacir Santos, Maynard Ferguson and now Pip Pyle. I'm a bit stunned.

Happy Birthday!

If I were them, and stuck with CDs I wanted out the door, I would not lower the price below $2.99, but instead I would lower the number of discs needed to be purchased in order to obtain that price.

As I recall, and I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think he was also an early member of Gong, on the Camembert Electrique album.

Just a heads up that this comes out tomorrow. Those of you fans of Stanko who decide to pick this up...I hope that you will report back as to how this compares with the albums of his that you like - better, worse or average. I've pretty much made up my mind that there are songs here I would give five stars to, but I can't give the album more than four stars because of the lack of diversity among the songs.

My word, I'm sorry. I had quite a number of his records in the 70s. In those years I spent more time listening to Canterbury prog rock than to jazz, and he was a very major player. RIP

I too got it in the Concord sale, but I haven't opened it up yet. One track from the album is included in the 4 CD compilation The Contemporary Records Story, and it is one of my favorite tracks of the set. So I'm looking forward to this.

Happy Birthday!

I enjoy getting Best of's when I have no intention of picking up much of an artist, and the price is cheap. Getting a sampler of an artist from Your Music for $5.99 is a painless way to find out what he sounded like during the period he was with the label. I picked up a couple of Jazz Giants compilations from the Concord Blowout sale, and I'm sorry I didn't order more. I consider compilations to be promotional tools, and as a matter of principle I don't like to spend more than five dollars for one. But for what they are, I think they're great. Finally, as everybody knows, I'm a sucker for ballads compilations. My favorite is a four-CD set by EMI/Blue Note called 60 Jazz Classics For Lovers. Both Concord and Blue Note released a number for Valentine's Day this year. I got most of the Concords, and I hope to get some of the Blue Notes next year. Best of's and compilations are not works of art. They are often collections of a single mood. So when I am in the appropriate mood, they hit the spot. No need to swear off buying regular albums when you are picking up some inexpensive compilations.

Lon, on the cigar boards this is called "order disorder"!

Perhaps those of you who have been checking out the sound samples already know this. I have learned that Sonny is leaving Milestone after 35 years. His new Sonny, Please CD is on his own label, Doxy Records. Sonny's last recorded album was This Is What I Do, which I believe was recorded before Concord purchased Fantasy. I wonder why Sonny has decided to start his own label now. Maybe the passing of his wife, who I believe was also his manager, had something to do with it. I don't have a release date for Sonny, Please yet. I suspect it will be in October.

I'm sorry to hear it. I have been sitting on one of his Big Bop Nouveau albums for quite some time, so I think I will open it up today and give it a listen in memoriam. I've never heard his Mosaic Roulette material, and I've always been curious about it. I hope an album or two from it is released.

I believe that all Fantasy products are gone from BMG and Your Music.

I got her first album when it first came out, and really liked it. Played the heck out of it. Don't play it much anymore, however. I subsequently read that she needs a lot of help from the computer to stay on key.

The Source has been a group since 1993, but this self-titled CD is only its second album. The lineup is tenor or soprano sax, trombone, bass and drums. All four intruments are equal partners; the bass and drums are in the fore along with the horns. Trygve Seim says that without a piano the group's sound is "more open". I agree, but I'm not sure that a piano wouldn't pay for itself. The album has 13 songs totalling 74:25. None of the songs have hummable melodies. There are different tempos and moods to the selections. Unlike Sangam, this doesn't sound like a dark-mood ECM album of old. It also doesn't sound like the classical music of Sangam. This is pure jazz. Even with the uptempo numbers the playing is relaxed. The entire album is pleasant to listen to, despite the sometimes free aspect of the playing. Often when one horn takes a solo the other horn will lay out, resulting in a power trio horn, bass and drums thing going on. Some of the music reminds me of Dave Holland's Prime Directive album, perhaps because of the trombone. Unlike Sangam, which doesn't remind me of anything else, I have the nagging feeling that I have heard much of The Source before. It's good, but I wouldn't say it's original. Like Sangam, The Source isn't something that I'll play every day, but I'll probably play both once a week for many months to come. Sangam, as I said above, I'll be playing on Sundays. The Source I'll be playing during the week. I recommend both albums for when you are in the mood for songs you can't hum. By the way, The Source was recorded in Oslo, and it sounds great!

I don't watch television anymore at home. I stopped the cable TV about fifteen years ago. I never made the decision to quit cold turkey. I just found that everything was a waste of time. I would rather listen to music, get onto the internet or read a book. A few years ago I used to watch Law & Order every week, but as I say it's been a few years. When I travel, I check out the cable stations on the motel TV to see what's on, but usually don't stick around to see a whole show. For me, it's not just TV. I don't think I have gone to three movies in the past ten years. The media that used to interest me just don't appeal to me anymore.

A good friend of mine went to Marley's last concert. It was in Pittsburgh. Marley was ill with brain cancer, and cancelled the rest of the tour following the Pittsburgh gig. I don't think it was too long after that that he passed away.

Recently I was given a copy of a new album by a young drummer named Shawn Glyde called Alternate Rhythm. It might appeal to some fans of the Don Ellis Orchestra. Glyde went into the recording studio and recorded the drum track for each of the songs first. Having done that, the other band members composed melodies that fit the rhythms already recorded. Each of the rhythm patterns is unusual. For example, a pattern may extend over four measures. The first three measures will be in 4/4 time, and the fourth will be something odd such as 11/16 time. That is repeated throughout the song. Other songs are similar, except that the unusual measure may be 13/16 or 15/16. It's all very difficult to tap your foot to. This has the sound of a typical fusion album - heavy on the synth, with melody by the sax. Other than Joe Zawinul, I can't think of a synth album that I like. So I can tell you that because of the synth sound this album is not for me. But if your primary interest is in the rhythm, you may find this album interesting. I am not aware of anywhere you can pick this album up except directly from the label at www.imuso.com

Over the past week, I have listened a lot to Teddy Charles' New Directions CD, mostly in the car. I like it a lot. It is 16 songs taken from three unrelated sessions from 1951, '52 and '53. Sidemen include Jimmy Raney, Hall Overton and Ed Shaughnessy. Seven of the first eight songs are standards. Most of the remaining eight are what for the time would have been considered artsy.

Yes, and Benny Spellman (Lipstick Traces on a Cigarette) and Ernie K-Doe (Mother-In-Law) and Robert Parker (Barefootin').

Thanks for posting that Jim! I went to a number of dances with the band when I was in high school. Our school dances would usually alternate between the r&b bands of Art and Aaron Neville or Deacon John and the Ivories on the one hand and the white sound of John Fred and the Playboys and The Basement Wall on the other. I preferred the white sound, and I think I went to every dance he did for us. The name of the group was changed to John Fred and his Playboy Band when Gary Lewis and the Playboys hit it big. I remember Up 'n' Down and Agnes English well. As I recall, one of the dances I attended was the week that Up 'n' Down was released, and he made a statement as if this was the first time they were performing the song publicly. (Probably baloney!) I used to tell my friends in college that Judy in Disguise was the worst song he did, and we never understood why that was the one that was popular. My first recollection of his songs was in late '64, when he released the Muddy Waters song I Just Want To Make Love To You. RIP. I have fond memories of John Fred. By the way, he did make it onto American Bandstand after all. I remember seeing him there doing Judy in Disguise.

Moacir Santos has died. Here's his obituary from the L.A. Times: Moacir Santos, 80; Composer, Arranger of Brazilian Pop Tunes By Jon Thurber, Times Staff Writer August 12, 2006 Moacir Santos, an influential arranger and composer of Brazilian popular music, has died. He was 80. Santos died Sunday at an assisted living facility in Pasadena of complications from a stroke he suffered some years ago, according to a publicist for his record label, Adventure Music. ADVERTISEMENT Click here to find out more! Though not widely known to American audiences, Santos was well regarded among musicians in his homeland of Brazil and in the United States. "He was a musician's musician whose work was very under-recorded," said Tom Schnabel, producer and host of the radio program "Café LA" on KCRW-FM (89.9) and program director for world music at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall. "His work was far less known than the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim because he didn't write for the voice." Born in rural poverty in northeast Brazil in the 1920s, Santos showed musical acumen at an early age. By 14 he was able to play a number of instruments, most prominently the baritone saxophone. He worked for a time in a traveling circus. By the late 1950s, he was living in Rio de Janeiro and composing music for live programming on Brazil's Radio Nacional. His most musically fertile and productive time came in the mid-1960s, when he released the album "Coisas" on the Forma label and composed music for a number of Brazilian films. According to Schnabel, the coisas — which means "things" in Portuguese — were "densely structured" pieces that went beyond the framework of bossa nova, the musical genre most associated with Brazil. He gave each piece a number, with "Coisas No. 5" becoming his biggest hit. Writing in the Village Voice some years ago, critic Larry Blumenfeld said that "Coisas No. 5" mixed "African and march rhythms, and a splendid melody…. [it] became so popular that it was recorded more than a hundred times during the 1960s." In Blumenfeld's view, "Coisas" was "a brilliant record" that represented "the best of Brazilian jazz." On the strength of his album and movie work, Santos moved to Southern California in the mid-1960s, hoping to break into film. While continuing to write music, Santos taught music in Southern California but never achieved the wide recognition here that he was seeking. His work has continued to draw the interest of aficionados of Brazilian music over the last few years. A two-CD set of his work, "Ouro Negro," was released in 2004 on Adventure Music. He is survived by his wife, Cleonice; son, Moacir Santos Jr.; and three grandchildren, all of Pasadena. A memorial Mass will be said at 11:30 a.m. Monday at St. Andrew Catholic Church, 311 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena.

My pick this month was Dizzy Gillespie - Sonny Side Up. Another album that everybody already had but me. I have ten in my queue now, and I'm not hot to trot about any of them, particularly compared to the 33 I got from Concord. Hope that something irresistable comes up in the next three weeks!