Lazaro Vega

GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA ATMOSPHERES Creative music concert residency PERCUSSION – WINDS – STRINGS MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY ADAM RUDOLPH WEDNESDAY MAY 24 THRU SUNDAY MAY 28 and WEDNESDAY MAY 31 THRU SUNDAY JUNE 4 All concerts @ 8PM Admission $15 on Wednesdays and Thursdays $20 Friday, Saturday and Sunday $50 for 10 night pass No advance tickets or reservations – cash only at the door ELECTRIC LODGE, VENICE, CA 1416 Electric Ave. (1 BLOCK EAST OF ABBOT KINNEY SOUTH OF CALIFORNIA) PLEASE PARK IN FREE ON SITE LOT DIRECTIONS 310.306.1854 Each of the ten nights will feature between 12 to 48 performers. Each night will be unique - featuring a different combination of these artists who will improvisationally interpret the compositions in a creative ritual of the now. BENNIE MAUPIN SARA SCHOENBECK DAVID PHILIPSON RALPH JONES EMILY HAY ELLEN BURR GUSTAVO BULGACH MATT ZEBLEY BILL CASALE FAWNTICE MCCAIN TRACY WANNOMAE WOODY ALPANALP FEDERICO RAMOS MUNYUNGO JACKSON HARRIS EISENSTADT MILES SHREWSBERRY RANDY GLOSS AJAI JACKSON ANDREW GRUESHOW AUSTIN WRINKLE THOMAS STONES ALAN LIGHTNER ANDRES RENTERIA ANDREW PASK JEREMY DRAKE JESSICA CATRON MYKA MILLER PAUL SHERMAN PABLO CALOGERO PAUL TCHOUNGA TREVOR WARE MIGUEL ATWOOD NICK ROSEN MICHAEL BIRNBRYER TJ TROY BEN WENDEL JOEY DELEON MICHAEL BOLGER HARSIH RAGHAVAN RONIT KIRCHMAN JOHN PAUL MARAMBA ANDREA LIEBERHERR RURIKO MATTHEWS MELINDA RICE ANDREA HAMMOND ADAM BERD PETER JACOBSON JIRO PLUTSCHOW REBEKAH RAFF ASUNCION OJEDA and ROBERT WISDOM plus special guests ALFRED LADZEKPO and others tba INSTRUMENTATION ORCHESTRATED FROM: B FLAT CLARINETS, BASS CLARINETS, BATA, E FLAT CLARINET, FRAME DRUMS, BANSURI FLUTE, ACHIMEVU DRUM, C FLUTES, BASS DRUM, ALTO FLUTES, CELLOS, PICCOLOS, CAJON, HARP, VIBRAPHONE, VIOLAS, GENDER, VIOLINS, KENDANG, GONGS, NEY, BASS FLUTE, TRUMPET, RADA DRUMS, BAMBOO FLUTES, UDU DRUMS, HICHIRIKI, REBOLO DRUM, TIBETAN TRUMPET, HAITIAN BAMBOO TRUMPETS, ACCORDIAN, HINDEHOOS, SELYA FLUTE, ACOUSTIC BASSES, DRUM SET, ACOUSTIC GUITARS, TABLA, ELECTRIC GUITARS, SOGO DRUM, BATAJON, ZABUMBA DRUM, CAXIXI, CHINESE MUSETTE, CONCH SHELLS, ANGKLUNGS, KUTERO DRUMS, SURDO, CHANG CHANG PANDERO, DEF, CYMBALS, PERCUSSION, CONGAS, TARIJA DRUMS, BERIMBAU, TALKING DRUMS, BELLS DJEMBE, DUMBEK For latest update go to: WHAT'S NEW AT META RECORDS http://www.metarecords.com/new.html for more on GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA http://www.metarecords.com/gohtml GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA WINS LA WEEKLY MUSIC AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING WORLD MUSIC ARTIST 2005 & 2003 This is it. Percussionist Adam Rudolph has been watering Go: Organic Orchestra for several years, and it keeps growing. The concept combines Rudolph’s lush harmonies and vivid structures as he conducts his large semicircle of players via cue scores and hand signals to produce a surging, shifting sound with plenty of room for individual spark. — Greg Burk LA WEEKLY Produced by metarecords.com todosonidospresenta.org electriclodge.org

Worship of God through Coltrane. They view Coltrane as a saint.

Picasso portrait sells for $95.2 million in NY auction NEW YORK (AP) - A portrait by Pablo Picasso of the woman who influenced him in the late 1930s and early 1940s has sold at auction in New York for 95-point-two (m) million dollars. It's the second-highest amount ever paid for a painting at auction. "Dora Maar au chat," (dor-AH' mahr oh SHA') which depicts Picasso's mistress, went to an anonymous buyer in the room who was competing with telephone bidders during Wednesday's auction at Sotheby's. Its selling price ranked second only to another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la pipe,"(gar-SOHN' ah lah PEEP') which sold at Sotheby's for more than 104 (m) million dollars in May 2004. Also sold were paintings by Monet (moh-NAY') and Renoir (ren-WAH').

The eye rolling at Braxton, as if he would be heard on radio at all, is blind to the moment of jazz stardom A.B. reached after his Arista period. Bassist Mark Helias, during an interview portion of a live performance on Blue Lake, recalled 7,000 Berliners, some camping out overnight, gathering to hear Braxton's hard driving band play his angular melodies with wild blowing sections. Tens of thousands heard him in Chicago at Jazz Fest. I was there. And as I recall he was not ignored in the pre-concert publicty realm. There was a period in there where Braxton drew good crowds at home (and abroad). Not that he'd draw poorly now. But he's more like Steve and Edie these days: he doesn't need the media anymore.

True, but it would also be harder to find about those stations as the "middle" level administration of a station is usually publicity and fundraising. Because we only have 8 full time employees, one of whom is the office manager, spreading the word is the dog and pony show model. After we finally started streaming just over a year ago, I took the message to jazz boards all across the net and was pretty much sluffed off as a "look at me" ego maniac. Yet we have no publicity department. Most stations not only have pubicity departments, they have their own graphic designers and copy writers as well as development personnel. The upshot is though our web stream maxes out at 70 listeners we've yet to fill it up. Because the station is located in the Manistee National Forest the technology to stream was out of our reach for years. Now Blue Lake has partnered with the Fremont Public Schools system. They use our tower space for Y-fi and some other relays, and we are on the web, and will have a digital studio to transmitter link set up between the station and Grand Rapids. Right now our Grand Rapids frequency, 88.9 FM, is a rebroadcast version of our 100,000 watt FM 90.3 signal: the tower in Grand Rapids has a special reciever on it, reads 90.3 FM, and then rebroadcasts it at 88.9 (600 watts). When we have that digital link, the 88.9 signal sound will improve wonderfully. And, by the way, that 88.9 signal covering Grand Rapids, which is in a river valley creating dead spots for 90.3 which just went right over it, came to us from Moody Bible Institute. They have a powerful tower in Zeeland, Michigan, which reached Grand Rapids, covering it completely, and the 88.9 frequency was redundant. My boss saw this in a coverage map of frequenies in the area, and approached Moody. I'm not sure now of the exact cost, but it was far less than the millions the signal is worth, and it included their transmitter equipment. They gave us a great deal recognizing our non-commercial, music oriented status (and that we're owned by an international fine arts camp for jr. high and high school aged students). You can run a classical and jazz music based station for under a million, but there are some downsides to being so small.

Man, Larry Smith played some blazing jazz on his program -- long jam sessions I'd never heard on record before (or since. He was great at the hard to find stuff, especially local). Isn't Barry a baritone saxophonist? I remember a few night time live sessions on his program, too, during Jazz Fest. that were a riot. The straight ahead programs on WBEZ were legendary. Buckley did do some programming outside of his historical retrospective he's best known for, but I don't think it was for long. No, the "Big Boys" comment was not intended as a sexist slam at Chris, it was intended as a perspective on WBEZ's position in the market vis a vis signal strength, professionalism and the ability to program around ideas as opposed to formatting. There have been nights when I drove out of Chicago and listened to WBEZ until you could pick up WBLV as you come around the bottom of Lake Michigan and start up US 31. Incredible to hear uninterrupted jazz on the radio over the course of a 3 and a half hour drive. And you're right about youth: I remember driving over the Chicago Skyway in the daytime catching WBEZ playing Tal Farlow's "Cookin' On All Burners" into Jimmy McGriff's "Skywalk" and wondered why it didn't sound so energized when I heard that same music elsewhere. Yes, the Chicago Jazz Festival programmed Anthony Braxton with Leo Smith, maybe John Lindberg and Gerry Hemmingway, on the same evening as Bud Freeman's triumphant return to Chicago (with Wild Bill on trumpet). That type of programming did happen on the radio, though maybe not exactly as a seque. Formatting can be a souless proposition, and WBEZ's jazz was all about soul. Like I said, there are many "tools" and program philosophies that a program director can employ to attract more listeners and Chris had a handle on all of them, used them liberally, and had success in broadening (no pun intended) the listenership. But there was a price to pay. And what about now? I've heard from Kate Smith, a Chicago-based jazz records promotions person, that the on-air music programmers at the station have been "freed" of the format limitations and are delving heavily into the Chicago music scene, putting on recordings by local artists that people may not have heard of, and mining a treasure trove of live local recordings that puts the focus back on the Chicago music community and not on some abstract idea of what sounds good.

p.s. I don't know how objective the Arbitrons are. Those are estimates. Pledge drives seem a good indictor of audience support, too.

100,000 listeners....Which is why it's stunning to have "numbers" and growth being the primary reasons for the change away from jazz. What other radio station can boast a jazz audience so large? How did WBEZ's night time listenership compare in percentage of audience to WBGO or the student station at Columbia University? I would imagine favorably. Yes, there are many proven marketing techniques available to radio to increase audience size, but running them like a manual will leave the community feeling left out, which is what this backlash is really about. I bet that streamlining the station's sound and on-air personality presentation, taking character out of the station's sound, drew more listeners who use radio as a lifestyle tool, as much as an educational one. In any case there was something missing in Chris Heim's mix that angered the former regular audience of the station. It's not that the music was mainstream, it's that it may have favored Ron Carter over Vic Sproles. Who knows. Her mix may have also lacked the flint Chicago music sparks from. I mean, the daring of the city, and it's political, racial, labor and literary voice is not so polite, but ever listenable. To establish a format that forgoes or downplays Chicago as the epicenter for jazz experimentation, especially in the decades of the 1920's, 60's and 1990's, which is the city's jazz story, where it contributed strongest and most deeply influenced the course of the art form, is to make people who care about such historical truths feeling pimped. But WBEZ wasn't going to segue from Bud Freeman to Anthony Braxton anymore. It used to. The station had some real daring programming in the past, but it wasn't ever reckless. For some radio professionals the parceling out of various styles of music to one frequency or another (this one's trad, this one's smooth, this one's avant-garde, this one's mainstream, etc), covers the scene. But when a station as powerful and journalistically rich as WBEZ set it's sights on jazz, as it did in the 1980's, the result was an explosion of community and historical awareness. I think the program director's name at that time was Hodges, and they were aces in presenting the Chicago Jazz Festival. That station was an invaluable means of connecting with the essence of jazz and the highest level of radio professionalism as well as radio journalism for me and I'll feel ever indebted to the Chicago School Board, who I believe owned the station back then, for making it happen. And they did it without a station library. In those days the disc jockey had to have their own collection to program on the air. No wonder there were so many hard core characters on the air. They covered it all by being the big boys, and left the one-lung radio stations sounding like also rans. Since that time there's been a gradual erosion of jazz's position at the station, and it’s a damn shame.

Found that Randy's second version of "Ganjam" went well on the air with the recent Marty Erlich recording "News on the Rail," which was unexpected. Sandke played in Muskegon, Michigan, during the 1980's with George Wein's Newport Jazz Festival All Stars. During the afternoon sound check and "rehearsal" Sandke kept bugging Wein about what they were going to play together. I caught Wein's eye and said, "Aren't you going to play 'Weatherbird'?" He looked at me in stunned silence for a moment and then said, "Oh, we didn't bring the music for that." Can't remember what number they settled on for the concert, though it was probably a standard, and Randy sounded clear as a bell all night. And Nate is all that. Great web site.

Tonight Blue Lake is featuring Ira Sullivan (happy birthday a day late Ira) and he called my house today from Chicago where he's just wrapped up a week at the Jazz Showcase. Ira sounded in good spirits but was relieved to hear we didn't have to do an interview as he's crazy busy and didn't have the time. His daughter, Sunny, is hearing the program tonight in Florida. Been playing the new Leo Smith/Adam Rudolph duo album, and the station recently recorded the David Rempis Percussion Quartet live in Kalamazoo if that counts. We're all over the map, really, in a free form mix. It gets us in trouble with the record labels who use Media Guide and wonder why their new releases aren't showing up on the playlist 20 times in a month, but it's because we try, sometimes not successfully, but try to stay focused on the music more than the commerce. www.bluelake.org p.s. the Spring Membership drive just ended and we raised $150,000, which is tremendous for us. Our budget this year is around $800,000 with about $320,000 needed from listeners. We're off to a good start. If you see those numbers against what BEZ was raising with their jazz programming, well, they raised enough to run two Blue Lakes. It's all a matter of scale (and how many middle managers you have to support, a-hem).

That will be interesting as the way he begins his solo on the issued take is ingrained in memory.

Am glued down by a fundraiser and missed hearing the Bad Plus at the Top of the Bob, followed by Organissimo at Founder's Brewing...downtown Grand Rapids. What fun did I miss?

The Dizzy Big Band in Berlin smokes the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra, imho. The Fuller albums are on the short-side swinging instrumental showcases. Dizzy's solo in that arrangement of "Groovin' High," and Moody's flute in a 2 and a half minute long "Tin Tin Deo" get right to the point. No shuckin'. Concise. Authentic big band bebop. It makes me want to pull out Art Blakey and James Moody "New Sounds" on Blue Note and hear Fuller and Moody together in the 40's. We have a Pacific Jazz lp called "Night Flight," Gil Fuller/James Moody & The Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra, and this is a re-issue: there's no personnel listings, just the tunes and a photo of Moody and Fuller standing in what looks like an airport terminal. The label is sky blue with a giant wave breaking over the spindle hole, ready to soak it.

Thanks Michael -- played "The Cat" on the radio recently. Loved that when it was new, too.

Yeah, that is good news. Griff's version of "If You Could See Me Now" is one for the ages.

Ah, Eric Dolphy's "God Bless the Child" and Coleman Hawkin's "Picasso" are more than successful solo performances, they're masterworks of improvised music.

Earlier today WBEZ GM Torey Malatia was online answering questions. (10:30 am - 12:30 pm (Central Time)) Even if you missed the live chat, you can leave comments on the forum at any time, but you have to register to use. http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=9

Jazz giants come out to fete tireless promoter April 23, 2006 BY <mailto:lsachs@suntimes.com>LLOYD SACHS Staff Reporter On Friday night, in celebration of his 80th birthday, the Chicago jazz impresario Joe Segal will be gifted with a Symphony Center concert in his honor featuring a bunch of his all-time favorite players. His birthday buddy Johnny Griffin, also born on April 24, won't be on hand to share in the festivities like he used to every year at Segal's Jazz Showcase. But other practitioners of the music Segal loves best, bebop, will be on hand, including saxophonists Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody and Ira Sullivan. Also on the bill: two saxophonists of a more modernist bent, Chicagoan Von Freeman and Yusef Lateef, making a rare Windy City visit. All-star concerts don't always work, but high spirits promise to elevate this one, the way they elevated the Symphony Center bash in honor of Freeman's 80th several years back. That one recognized a local legend's mastery of the tenor saxophone. This one will recognize another local legend's mastery of the instrument of jazz itself. For nearly 60 years -- 60! -- in the face of downward trends and reasons to quit the biz while the quittin' was good, Segal has presented jazz in this city. That's the longest stint by a jazz promoter ever, a marathon run even more impressive than that of another Joe, DiMaggio. DiMaggio never had to deal with disco or Windy City winters or messed-up musicians or fickle audiences that forced a series of "Save Our Showcase" benefits -- or the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who in culturally purifying the Blackstone Hotel after purchasing it in 1995 made the Showcase take a hike. Nor did DiMaggio have to persuade drummers to play softer and singers -- well, most of them, anyway -- to play somewhere else. If you're a vocalist and your name is not Billie Holiday, Segal probably won't have a soft spot in his sensibility for you. JOE SEGAL'S ALL-STAR 80TH BIRTHDAY BASH When: 8 p.m. Friday Where: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Tickets: $16-$55 Call: (312) 294-3000 Think about it: This man has been booking jazz -- real jazz, none of that easy listening stuff -- in Chicago since becoming a student promoter at Roosevelt University in 1947. You want to know what was going on then? Mahatma Gandhi began a march for peace in East Bengali. Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Albert Speer was tried at Nuremberg. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. So, by many people, was Charlie Parker, patron saint of the Jazz Showcase, who formed his quintet with Miles Davis that year in New York and recorded some of his greatest works. The Showcase has moved numerous times over the years. Before landing on its feet at Grand and Clark, next to what was then the Zinfandel restaurant, it spent the most quality time on Rush Street (at the Happy Medium) and in the Blackstone. A few downtown clubs have competed with it in presenting national jazz acts (including Rick's Cafe Americain, booked by cocktail pianist Bill Snyder in the old Holiday Inn on Lake Shore Drive), but Segal has pretty much had the field to himself. Meaning that he's had McCoy Tyner and Roy Haynes and Joe Henderson and Phil Woods and so many other greats on pretty much an exclusive basis. Who knows whether someone else would have promoted this music in this town the way it deserves to be promoted had Segal not taken on the mission, fresh from a stint in the military, a Philadelphian with no preconceptions of Chicago. Who knows whether someone else would have stuck it out through periods in which the jazz audience has drifted -- and through periods like right now in which the major record labels have all but quit the form. Segal, who isn't kidding when he calls bebop "the music of the future," isn't much for progressive or avant-garde jazz, which ranks only slightly higher than the "rap crap" he used to bemoan from the stage for the benefit of young Sunday matinee attendees. But he couldn't resist the opportunity to plug upcoming Showcase gigs even in accepting tributes at his 75th birthday party at Joe's Be-Bop Cafe on Navy Pier (where he'll celebrate tonight, as well). "Tickets are still available," he said back then, pitching Count Basie Orchestra. Now, as ever, that's an offer no jazz fan can refuse. Lloyd Sachs, formerly the Sun-Times' jazz critic, now sits on the editorial board. Copyright © The Sun-Times Company All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Blue Lake will present a radio program in honor of his birthday tonight after 10 p.m. (but be warned we're also fundraising). www.bluelake.org

The other thing is that records are firstly a document of activity, secondly a calling card. That a record label can be the arbiter of culture is only true if it disseminates something that's already taken hold on a smaller level. Unless Verve dediced to get into the game full time by opening up a modern day Theater Owner's Booking Association or chitlin circut or other chain of venues for bands on their labels to play at, develop and audience with and THEN sell records to, you know, nothing will be solved.

"the predominant period of innovation in jazz was the 60s and early 70s." The predominant period of innovation in jazz was the 1920's. The political action you're talking about is much needed but not a commercial panacea: look at rap and hip hop, once politically charged now all about bling and booty. The kinds of changes would be societal, not just musical. Look at the world of expression in all means -- film, painting, literature, science, music, education, politics, even clothing styles and archetecture (sp) -- in the 1920's and 1960's and look at today.

Yeah, Bijou is a classic. So for comparison's sake the way Eckstine's trumpet section dives in and out of the ensemble on "Blowin' The Blues Away" with the way the First Herd's trumpet section take it up stairs on "Caldonia" are both, in their own way, out of Gillespie. That both the first Herd and Gillespie's big bands had vibes players in them, Norvo and Jackson, is kind of odd. I LOVE that Spotlight reissue of the Eckstine Jubilee broadcasts. In fact need a new lp as the one in hand is worn white (from toting it back and forth to work). The fidelity on those broadcasts gives a clearer picture of the band's tremendous dynamics. Though the Savoy re-issues are full of great solos by Ammons and Gordon, two leading tenors of the era coming out of Pres (sound-wise, anyway, don't know about extra-musical influences). And the occasional Fats Navarro turn lights up those muddy, cheap sounding 78's.

The Jazz Datebook April 21, 2006 Program Note: April 29th is Duke Ellington’s 107th Birthday. Blue Lake celebrates the occasion Friday, April 28th after 10 p.m. and Saturday morning, April 29th from 7 to 10 a.m. In April Jazz From Blue Lake birthday tributes included Stanley Turrentine, Bud Freeman, Gene Ammons, Billie Holiday and Charles Mingus. Please see our on-line program guide for a list of this week’s featured artists. www.bluelake.org The Datebook: From April 22 through May 7 the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival presents a number of great jazz performances in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. www.thegilmore.com Thursday, April 27 at 7 and 9:30. The Bad Plus are at The B.O.B. in Grand Rapids. The Bad Plus is Ethan Iverson, piano; David King, drums; and Reid Anderson, bass. Ethan Iverson appeared on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” in February. See: http://www.npr.org/programs/pianojazz/prev...05/iverson.html Tickets for The Bad Plus at the Top of the B.O.B. are available through Tickets Plus, the B.O.B., or at the door. $30 with a a two drink minimum. The B.O.B. web site: http://www.thegilmorecollection.com/The%20....B./thebob.html In Kalamazoo, the Gilmore Festival Features three jazz series: Jazz Club at Western Michigan University’s Gilmore Theater Complex: Sunday, April 23rd at 4 and 7 p.m. pianist McCoy Tyner Friday, April 28th at 7 and 9:30 p.m. pianist Eric Reed Sunday, April 30th at 4 and 7 p.m. pianist Danilo Perez Friday, May 5th at 7 and 9:30 p.m. pianist Lynne Arriale Saturday Night Jazz at Chenery Auditorium Saturday, April 29th at 8 p.m. the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra with Arturo O’Farrill Noon Series at Civic Theater Wednesday, April 26th Nachito Herrera with Puro Cubano Thursday, April 27th the Jeff Hamilton Trio featuring the swinging drummer Friday, April 28th A Tribute to Miles Davis’s recording “Kind of Blue” featuring drummer Jimmy Cobb, who with Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers made up Davis’s second great rhythm section of the 1950’s. The next Gilmore Festival is in two years. Please see: www.thegilmore.com or call 1-800-34-PIANO. Saturday, April 22 at 8:00 p.m. The Windy City All Stars play a tribute to New Orleans as they open the new Lakeshore Jazz Connection Concert Season at the Saugatuck Women’s Club, on the corner of Butler and Hoffman streets, Saugatuck. A favorite at Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago, the All Stars are led by trombonist Russ Phillips and include trumpeter Bobby Lewis (www.bobbylewis.com ), clarinetist Kim Cusack, guitarist Andy Brown, bassist Stewart Miller, and drummer Greg Sergo. The season continues May 28th with The Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra plus vocalist Sunny Wilkinson, vibraphonist Jim Cooper and pianist Dick Reynolds. $18 General Admission. See www.lakeshorejazzconnection.org or call (269) 857 – 2287. Friday, April 21 at 5 p.m. and Saturday April 22 beginning at noon and running straight through to the finale concert at 7:30, the Third Annual Thornapple Arts Council/Felpash Jazz Festival in downtown Hastings. Over 18 high school jazz bands will be heard, including young musicians from Northview High School, Comstock Park, Byron Center, Forest Hills East and Coopersville. The finale concert features the Lansing Symphony Big Band and is a fundraiser for the Thornapple Arts Council. Tickets $15 adults; $10 for students and seniors; $5 for children under 12. See www.thornappleartscouncil.org for a full schedule, or call (269) 945 – 2002. Monday, April 24th at 7:30, The Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra delivers the big band sound at The Kopper Top Guest House, 638 Stocking NW, one door south of Fourth Street, Grand Rapids. See www.wmichjazz.org for more at the Kopper Top. Monday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. The Northview High School Jazz Ensemble with guest artists Minds Eye, a musical collective featuring pianist/composer/teacher Steve Talaga, bassist/saxophonist Tom Lockwood, trumpeter/saxophonist Rob Smith and drummer Jeff Moehle. The Northview Performing Arts Center is at 4451 Hunsberger N.E. (off of Alpine), Grand Rapids. Tickets, $5 adults; $3.00 for students and seniors. Phone (616) 363 – 4857 extension 1727. Thursday, April 27th Till Midnight in Holland features Jazz Avenue with twins Dave and Darren Mathews. ‘Till Midnight, 171 East 24th Street, Holland. Phone (616) 392 – 6883 or click www.tillmidnight.biz Thursday, April 27th the popular jazz organ trio Organissimo with drummer Randy Marsh, guitarist Joe Gloss and organist Jim Alfredson at Founder’s Brewing Company, 648 Monore N.W., Grand Rapids. Phone (616) 776-1195. www.foundersbrewing.com Tuesday, May 9th at 7 p.m. The Truth in Jazz Orchestra plays at the West Side Inn, Beidler St., Muskegon. The sixteen piece big band led by bassist/bass trombonist Dave Collee features a swinging book and regular guests such as drummer Tim Froncek and trumpeter Dan Jacobs (see: http://www.danjacobsmusic.com/home.html ) The Theater Bar, 24 Washington St., Grand Haven features jazz or blues guitarists Rick Hicks or Eric Glatz on alternating Wednesday evenings from 8 to 11 p.m. The Theater Bar, which specializes in seafood, presents live jazz Fridays and Saturdays from 9 to 11 p.m. (616) 844- 5055. Friday, May 12th, pianist Butch Thompson and Friends at the Hart Public Schools Auditorium in the Hart Middle School. Tickets $7 at the door. Contact Tom Kirk, (231) 873- 6320. Saturday, May 13th at 6 p.m. The University Musical Society’s 11th Annual Ford Honors Program presents Dave Brubeck the 2006 UMS Distinguished Artist Award. Brubeck Time: A Lifetime Tribute at Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor includes The Dave Brubeck Quartet with special guest artists Chris Brubeck, trombone; Russell Gloyd conducting the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra; the UMS Choral Union, Jerry Blackstone, Music Director; and The First Presbyterian Church Choir of Ann Arbor, Susan Boggs, Music Director. Brubeck’s quartet will play jazz, with Dave Brubeck, piano; Bobby Militello, saxophone, flute, woodwinds; Michael Moore, bass; and Randy Jones, drums. Movements from Brubeck’s “Light in the Wilderness: An Oratorio for Today” will be performed by the quartet, large ensemble and choirs. Concert tickets: $10 - $60 with proceeds supporting the UMS Education and Audience Development Program. Tickets are also available for a reception and elegant dinner in the Michigan League Ballroom hosted by the UMS Advisory Committee. This event follows the concert and presentation. For details phone (734) 764-2538 or click www.ums.org. Sunday, May 21st from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. the River Rogues Jazz Band of Grand Rapids opens the new season for the West Shore Jazz Society at their season venue: The Oakridge Country Club, 513 West Pontaluna Road, Muskegon. $20 for members; $25 for non-members. The season includes The Chicago Hot Six on June 18th. For a full schedule call (231) 759 – 0071.

I think he plays "Stuffy" during that free association. We played this on the radio twice during the day when it first came out. Needless to say the blue hairs in the audience were not impressed. Though the fuscia hairs did raise a razor cut eyebrow or two.

From Chi-improv. by Jason Guthartz The local papers come to BEZ's defense: The Sun-Times' Feder: http://www.suntimes.com/output/feder/cst-fin-feder19.html But the more Malatia looked to the future, the more convinced he became that music alone wasn't the answer. For the eight hours each day that WBEZ airs music, the station draws less than half the listenership of its 16 hours of news and talk daily. Overall, according to the Arbitron ratings, the station's music audience is down 20 percent from last year. But more significantly, the availability of jazz in other forms has increased dramatically in recent years. Multiple full-time jazz formats are available on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. Internet broadcasting abounds. Podcasts are standing ready to be downloaded. Even locally, Clear Channel Radio broadcasts a 24-hour digital signal of traditional jazz on the second HD Radio frequency of "smooth jazz" WNUA-FM (95.5) -- all announcer-free and commercial-free. And of course there's still jazz on WDCB. So what will air instead of the music on WBEW and WBEQ? That's the truly exciting part of the story that unfortunately has been overshadowed by the sincere and legitimate protests over the jazz cut and the ouster of music director Chris Heim. Steve Johnson's Trib blog: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/te...m_915_is_d.html Can you believe that WBEZ-FM 91.5 is dumping jazz, world music and blues? Neither can I. I thought the city's public-radio station would never get around to making this smart decision, a big improvement over its current personality divide. It's not that I hate jazz, blues or world music. A little of each goes a long way for me, to be sure, but they are all fine, even splendid, at certain times -- like during brunch and over tinny speakers in college-town clothing stores. But even melodic jazz (as opposed to the numbingly virtuosic kind; I get it, dude, you can play your horn) is no match for a lineup of first-rate public-affairs programs, and the latter is just what WBEZ aims to put in place of the nighttime and overnight music it now plays. *** As for jazz, even true believers have to admit it's already a niche format, well served by the small stages of Internet and satellite radio outlets and devotee record stores. Let's not pretend the playing of prerecorded niche music continues to be more deserving than freshly produced news of the huge auditorium that is Chicago's lead public-radio station. Let's especially not pretend this when there's a whole world out there to try to comprehend. [Jason Guthartz] posted this comment to that Trib-moron's blog: Johnson: "As for jazz, even true believers have to admit it's already a niche format, well served by the small stages of Internet and satellite radio outlets and devotee record stores." So what? News reporting that is "intelligent," "scrupulously reported" and "lavishly detailed" is also a niche format, well served by the Internet, satellite radio, print periodicals, etc. domerquid commented: "And why does quality talk deserve more of an outlet than quality music? You make no argument other than you think it does." Exactly. In fact, the argument can be made that it is *more* important for a public radio station to focus on music, since the information-content of "precorded niche music" is in the sound - sound that cannot be translated to print - whereas news/opinion reports lose little if anything when transcribed. Jazz, like other forms of art, is valuable for its ability to shed light on the "surfaces and structures of experiences different from our own" (to paraphrase Raymond Durgnat). That it does so in ways that can be surprising and challenging - and not always logocentric - makes it all the more valuable, particularly in an environment dominated by soul-deadening corporate propaganda. -Jason -- Jason Guthartz jason@restructures.net www.restructures.net www.restructures.net/chicago