Lazaro Vega

Anyone else get the Bud Freeman?

Don't know about the records, but he'll be playing live on Blue Lake Public Radio this Wednesday as part of Joel Harrison's quartet. That will stream live starting at 10 p.m. edt.

Looking forward to it, Ghost. Sunday night's line-up: 6 p.m. Jazz Profiles featuring Ahmad Jamal 7-8 p.m. Our recording of The Wonderland Jazz Ensemble performing live April 18th. A West Michigan based two saxophone and rhythm band, including music by Sun Ra ("Lullabye For Realville") and other classics. 8-10 p.m. Jazz From Blue Lake Sunday with yours truely. From 8 to 9 p.m. its Sunday jazz, that is Mary Stallings singing "A Sunday Kind of Love," a Buddy Rich mid-1950's Verve session playing "Sunday," music from Willie Pickens devotional album, David Murray's album "Speaking in Tongues" with Fontella Bass, etc. A big chunck of the 9 p.m hour will be spent on variations of "How High the Moon" including "Ornithology," "Solar" and "Satellite." 10 p.m. Night Lights. (web stream blocked) Hope our listeners enjoy the new line-up.

You're welcom Skid. After many listeners requested the info in writing that they'd heard on the air we HAD to do it. Will update the Datebook on-line this weekend and include the concerts in the park series in Spring Lake, Grand Haven and Scully's World Class Jazz Mini-tours, which will include Arno with Organissimo again this summer. Yipeeee.

Gato Barbieri, "Europa," from "Caliente."

Back in the decade of sex John Klemmer's "Touch" and Grover Washington's "Mr. Magic" made the scene with incense and some good cheap Jamacian in an apple pipe.

Last summer Lesley and I were in Europe. The small French seaport of Collioure put together a retrospective of everything Henri Matisse and his friends painted in that town during their year there, 1905-06, and they pulled together works from across the globe. What didn't fit in Collioure was exhibited in a nearby town. The show was called the Birth of Fauvism. http://www.abcgallery.com/M/matisse/matisse136.html After that part of our trip we were in Barcelona where the Picasso museum opened up much more after understanding the leaps the French took. I mean, his paintings are laid out room by room chronologically, and after "the French room" his paintings changed dramatically as he became the mature Picasso. Was sad not to make it to the Joan Miro institute in Barcelona. There was a Calder sculpture out front. As you may know Calder's "Le Grand Vitesse" is located in downtown Grand Rapids. As a nine year old I recall sitting about four feet away from him during the dedication ceremony. My mother hauled us down there early before the thousands of people showed up. Calder was there early, too, and monkeyed around with my sisters, who would have been 8 and 6, until the dignataries made him stop and deal with the fauldeeraw. My mom was embarassed that she couldn't control her girls, but Calder was laughing his ass off with them.

Sorry about that Randy. All of the listener feed back we've read on "Listen Here" was negative. Not that it was a lot, but it was all negative. Not one letter in support of the program. And Wilke...Yes, he's my first choice, but when Public Radio International split from Minnesota Public Radio the cost of Wilke's program hit a price we can't sustain for over night jazz programming. Almost the price of a new staff position. Blue Lake was one of the first stations to broadcast Wilke and we kept him for more than 20 years. If THEY hadn't changed we would have stayed with it. So our Sunday night programming last week was: 6 p.m., Listen Here; 7-10 p.m. Jazz From Blue Lake with Foley Schuler; 10 p.m. Jazz Profiles. Starting this Sunday, 6 p.m. Jazz Profiles; 7-10 p.m. Jazz From Blue Lake with Lazaro Vega; 10 p.m. Night Lights.

The Business Music fans give Chicago Public Radio static about its new programming plan. Mike Widell and Hillel Frankel have started a petition to ask WBEZ not to abandon music programming. By Deanna Isaacs thebusiness@chicagoreader.com No examples of the new concept, which apparently falls somewhere between public access TV and This American Life, were offered. WBEZ general manager Torey Malatia had to face the music last week at a meeting of Chicago Public Radio's Community Advisory Council at Columbia College. He was scheduled to air his latest programming plans in the flesh for the first time, and an audience of about 70 was waiting to take him on. Last summer he'd announced that CPR would launch a second Chicago-area broadcast stream on 89.5 that would be all music, while 'BEZ would go all talk. Then while the public was digesting that news, he had a change of heart. In a letter posted a month ago on 'BEZ's Web site, he made a drastically different announcement: all music programs would be dropped from both stations. Beginning in 2007, CPR would be nothing but jabber. That news prompted entertainment lawyer Hillel Frankel and jazz fan Mike Widell to create a protest Web site, savethemusiconwbez.org, which features a heated blog and a relatively tame online petition demanding that the "proposed programming changes be discussed and debated publicly . . . rather than allow a few individuals to unilaterally effect drastic change." Frankel says Malatia's plan will be detrimental to local venues, musicians, and music festivals, all of which "rely on 'BEZ to get the word out," a vital function that "only works in the context of a music program." By last week the petition had drawn 2,600 signatures with what Frankel says was minimal publicity. At the meeting Ron Jones, CPR's vice president of programming, attempted to summarize the changes for the council members, some of whom wondered aloud if there couldn't have been a less drastic solution. "We'll create a public affairs service, 24-7, for WBEZ," Jones said, "and a new service that isn't found anywhere else in radio [for 89.5]. That service will consist of not programs but a series of modules that depict life in the community. We're working toward the notion of listener generated programming. We're looking to attract nontraditional listeners. Our new service won't have a music format, but will contain lots of music in creative ways." (Partial translation, later provided by Jones: "You'll be able to hear musicians talk about their music.") Malatia opened his own remarks by "reminding" the council that "we got to this point of view philosophically together. In 2000 we all engaged in a review of our strategic plan-a number of representatives from the Advisory Council participated-reflecting on whether we were indeed performing relevant service to our community." The 2000 census pointed to the growing diversity of the community, Malatia said, but our programming was not reflecting that in any way whatsoever." 'BEZ, with an estimated 600,000 listeners, is serving just a sliver of its 7.6 million member community, he continued, and research shows others are not listening because of style barriers and what he described as an "embarrassing" lack of relevance. And given recent changes in the industry-including consolidation, which has resulted in less local news and public affairs coverage, and the rise of Internet and satellite radio-the "notion of taking the second asset and turning that into an eclectic music station became much less appealing." Instead, Malatia said, "we decided to be the place that brings people together, to specialize in public service, and to focus our attention and energy on one expertise." WBEZ will continue to carry national and international coverage while 89.5 will be "entirely local and regional" and will use acquisitions from independent producers. "We think this is the right thing to do with our mission," he added, quoting a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation statement that had inspired him: "If radio is not a healing and reconciling force . . . then we have failed." Then he took off on his own: "We're building a service that's going to be a resource for every single member of this community. The course is set, and I say that speaking for all staff, speaking for all board. The task is a noble one." That elicited a fiery reply from Pete Kimball, the first audience member to grab his two minutes of floor time: "The last time I got told there was a noble goal-we should trust that everything had been thought of, and you'll love it when you see it-we ended up in Iraq." Oak Park resident Larry Spivack warned that CPR is "going to lose thousands and thousands of subscribers." Others complained that the programming was narrowing even as its spectrum was increasing, that occasional and unpredictable use of music would drive the music audience away, and that nobody at CPR had bothered to ask listeners and station members what they want. When asked if this was a done deal or if there was still room for input, Malatia replied, "This is a done deal in which you have input." Only Alva Lewis, a newcomer to Chicago, said the changes were a good idea, noting her belief that public radio is there to give us not what we want but what we need. No examples of the new concept, which apparently falls somewhere between public access TV and This American Life, were offered, and its fuzziness brought charges of rhetoric without substance. At press time, the plan hadn't been announced or discussed on the CPR airwaves. Critics of former music director Chris Heim (who was let go when the new plan was announced) opined that Malatia, who ignored complaints about her programming for years, was now throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Mark Ruffin, who was fired as a 'BEZ on-air personality in 2000, said Listen Here, the jazz talk show he cohosts with Reader contributor Neil Tesser, is broadcast in 86 cities but "can't get on the air here." HotHouse director Marguerite Horberg brought up Chicago's "historical role in the development of jazz and blues," and Bob Koester, founder of Delmark Records and owner of the Jazz Record Mart, said if there's been a decline in contributions from jazz listeners over the years "it's because you've ruined the programming. Chicago's the number one or two center for avant-garde jazz, and you don't play it." Frankel and Widell say they'll step up their efforts now, and hope to have thousands more signatures by the next 'BEZ board meeting, scheduled for 8 AM Friday, June 16, at the station's Navy Pier offices. "We want to give people a chance to express themselves on this," says Widell. "It is supposed to be public radio.

Yes, that info was printed during his Presidency. Brotzmann was aware of the comment the last time he came through Kalamazoo, he had a wide eyed chuckle over it.

Up for the Joel Harrison, and update at the web site www.bluelake.org, and this addition: Friday, June 16th at 10 p.m. Jazz From Blue Lake presents guitarist extraordinaire Frank Vignola with drummer Joe Ascione in “The Frank and Joe Show” (see www.franknjoe.com ) live from our studios at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. With two acoustic guitars and two djembes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djembe) this version of the Frank and Joe Show promises great swing. Vignola is heard every Monday night at the Iridium in New York as a member of Les Paul’s band. Thanks to Family Budget Service of Grand Rapids and The Weathervane Inn of Montague for underwritting this performance. The Frank and Joe Show will be heard live in Grand Rapids on Thursday, June 15th at Schuler Books and Music 28th Street Store at 7 p.m. (see http://www.schulerbooks.com/ ).

Blue Lake Public Radio will feature Sun Ra this evening on "The Jazz Retrospective," so some of his music will be featured in each hour of the five hour program. The second set of Dave Rempis Percussion Quartet recorded in Kalamazoo is up at midnight "Out on Blue Lake." See you in the heliocentric world of cyber space. www.bluelake.org

Yes, I tote them back and forth between house and work and the packages get marked up and worn. But what's a fellow to do? Have to share the music.

Sorry I missed his 1959 Village Vanguard trio record with Roy Haynes re-issued on Chess in 1992. All Music has a shopping cart icon next to the title, but when you click to the album there's no link to B&N. What I've heard of that recording matches up with some of the Blue Note material. http://tinyurl.com/qvzut A couple of years ago Blue Note reissued "Introducing" Kenny Burrell in a nice double CD. Always owned, in one form or another, Blue Lights. Here's to Louis Smith and Andy Warhol

Florence is our featured artist this Monday night on Jazz From Blue Lake.

(Aric)? va·le·ri·an ( P ) Pronunciation Key (v-lîr-n) n. A plant of the genus Valeriana, especially V. officinalis, native to Eurasia and widely cultivated for its small, fragrant, white to pink or lavender flowers and for use in medicine. The dried rhizomes of this plant, used medicinally as a sedative. You know Organissimo is playing at Bell's in Kalamazoo tonight? That's the potion: Bell's beer.

Best of luck to them. I can't explain the logic behind the lobby that convinced congress to limit the number of times a single artist can be played in a three hour period for a station that streams on the web. What perhaps I didn't make clear is you're welcome to do it, but you have to pay additional royalties if you do (or loose your statutory license to stream) to Sound Stream, the division of RIAA station's have to report ALL of their music airplay to, even satellite programming, if they're streaming on the web. (Station's with a staff of less than 10 are exempt from that reporting). I know WEMU and WKAR here in Michigan both do their best to comply with these rules. After speaking to a V.P. at RIAA he told me that the labels themselves can sign a waiver of these restrictions so that's what we've done. Unfortunately, the labels I mentioned before have legal departments which don't want to deal with this on a case by case basis (tonight I need a waiver for Miles on Columbia, next week Mingus on Columbia, etc), but they won't grant a blanket waiver, either. So we block the stream when we're doing concentrated historical programming such as that. Of course 70 people can join Blue Lake's web stream at any single moment while in the neighborhood of 4,000 listen to the FM in the evening (best guess from looking over the shoulder of someone reading the Arbitron book). You'd think the labels would want to reach that larger audience.

What did you think of the Dave Rempis in Kalamazoo? Back tonight. Yesterday Lesley and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Was fun looking back at photos of the wedding day: there's Randy playing drums, and Chuck as best man. Great day.

I know. They are not music friendly rules at a time when talk radio is dominating the medium. See foot, shoot foot. Gotta foot?

XM is violating a provision in the Digital Millenium Copy Right Act for streaming music on the web that says there can be no on-demand, track by track downloading possible. They can stream an entire program, but the once you start tracking it out, well, the congressional law pushed by RIAA and industry lobbies as far as I can tell says that there's a fundemental difference between making a show available (broadcasting) and making it possible to download individual pieces on demand (retail). This isn't about not recording, it's about not using the radio as an interactive downloading device where people then do their own programming. That is the province of the labels. I see their point. I'm more concerned about how the DMCA regulates how many times a radio station streaming on the web is allowed to only program the same artist three or four times in a three hour period (four if the artist is featured, three if they're not). That just kills educational programming of 78 rpm era jazz. Fortunately many labels are willing to work out a waiver, but not Columbia, RCA or Verve, which means legally no extended retrospectives of Ellington, Basie, Holiday, Henderson, Dorsey, Armstrong, you name it, without paying up to 33 cents per play per 100 on-line listeners. That's the law, but right now there's not much enforcement occuring and many station's are doing what they want. I'm not taking chances at Blue Lake. During much of our most concentrated historical progamming we block our web stream, otherwise we play by the rules. The stream opens up when we have a waiver from the labels.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SAT...-05-17-04-17-19

In looking up music to play tonight for a program featuring Dewey Redman, came across this review at All Music Guide. Sorry I don't have the album to play on the radio. http://tinyurl.com/zrbkq

Randy the most-o: your calls from the road are always welcome. Last week's rant about Eric Alexander was especially fresh. You might join us tonight "Out On Blue Lake" for the Dave Rempis Percussion quartet (sax, bass and two drummers). Joel, best of luck with your new album and compositions. That WAS great talking to you and John, espcially about John's time with Lee Konitz Nonet and that record he made with Jimmy Knepper on Soul Note. Sorry about the web. We need to have more than one option for listening, an MP3 capability would be good. Real Player is a very expensive proposition.

Oh man, thanks for that, and to alocispepraluger102 for listening so regularly. There are very few who can catch most of our jazz programming because of the late hours and that you're able to just amazes me. Recording the web stream and listening back, that's just going so far. Sorry I couldn't be in tonight for the follow up on Edmond Hall. Migrane. Hate these bastards. It's a sleep thing. This morning the door bell rang at 9 a.m. for a delivery; then everybody in the neighborhood was cutting their lawn because it stopped raining for the first time in 10 days; and the alarm went off at 11. By dinner time I was riding the migrane bus and almost headed it off with medicine, but no luck. Hey Skid, Night Lights is coming to Blue Lake: Sunday nights at 10 p.m. starting June 1st. Thanks for the thread. Hanging out in the woods all night with 5 hours of airtime and thousands of jazz records to fill it with -- nice work if you can get it.

Nessa commissioned that work "African Sunrise" from Randy Weston for The Jazz Institute of Chicago. It was incredible to hear it that night at the Chicago Jazz Festival, again on Antilles records, and now in this trio version.