Multiple Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Norah Jones will release The Fall, her fourth studio album on Blue Note Records on November 17, 2009. Jones wrote nearly all of the songs in the past two years since completing tours in support of her 2007 global chart-topping, U.S. double-platinum album Not Too Late.
Beloved by fans for her sultry vocals and jazz-informed, piano-driven pop songwriting, Jones has taken a new direction on The Fall, seeing it as a chance to experiment with different sounds and an opportunity to work with a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, and Modest Mouse among others. Jones also enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partner Jesse Harris.
“I knew I wanted to try some different things on this album,” Jones says. “I’d been playing with the same musicians for a long time. We’re all still friendly and I hope we play together again, but it felt like a good time to work with new people and experiment with different sounds. As far as a producer, I wanted someone who could take me out of my comfort zone and find the right musicians to capture what I wanted to do with this collection of songs. I got in touch with Jacquire initially because he engineered one of my favorite records of all time, Tom Waits’ Mule Variations. He was really eager to do it and we got along really well, which was important.”
Stream The Fall album single “Chasing Pirates”
King helped Jones put together a new group of musicians to perform on the album, including drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer). Jones and King tailored the songs to the musicians’ strengths. “I think the record sounds different due to the variety of musicians we used,” Jones says, “I knew I wanted to play with grooves more than I have on previous albums. Some of these new songs lent themselves to having driving rhythms underneath.”
Another noticeable change on Jones’ upcoming album is that she plays mostly guitar. “I actually write more on guitar than I do on piano,” she says. “It just felt more natural for me to play it on these songs.”
Since coming on the scene in 2002, Jones’ has sold a collective 36 million albums worldwide. Her three studio albums, 2002’s eight-time Grammy Award-winning Come Away With Me, 2004’s Feels Like Home, and 2007’s Not Too Late have each topped the Billboard top 200 album charts in the U.S. and gone to No. 1 around the world. All three have been certified multi-platinum, while Come Away With Me has been certified diamond.
Since 2007, Jones has collaborated with a number of artists, including Herbie Hancock, Talib Kweli, Willie Nelson, Q-Tip, Irma Thomas, and Andy Samberg’s comedy troupe The Lonely Island. She has also contributed to various soundtracks, including Ken Burns’ The War, Ethan Hawke’s The Hottest State, and Wong Kar-wai’s My Blueberry Nights, as well as the Fats Domino tribute album Goin’ Home. In 2007, Jones starred opposite Jude Law in My Blueberry Nights and made a cameo in this year’s season finale of 30 Rock. Also this year, Jones was featured as a flagship artist on Apple’s GarageBand, presenting a tutorial on how to perform her song “Thinking About You.”
The track listing for The Fall is as follows:
1. Chasing Pirates (Norah Jones)
2. Even Though (Norah Jones/Jesse Harris)
3. Light As a Feather (Norah Jones/Ryan Adams)
4. Young Blood (Norah Jones/Mike Martin)
5. I Wouldn’t Need You (Norah Jones)
6. Waiting (Norah Jones)
7. It’s Gonna Be (Norah Jones)
8. You’ve Ruined Me (Norah Jones)
9. Back To Manhattan (Norah Jones)
10. Stuck (Norah Jones/Will Sheff)
11. December (Norah Jones)
12. Tell Yer Mama (Norah Jones/Jesse Harris/Richard Julian)
13. Man Of The Hour (Norah Jones)
Official site link, MySpace:
National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master and 10X Grammy-winning, legendary musician George Benson will release his new album on August 25th entitled Songs and Stories, his second for Concord Records / Monster Music. The album is a collection of tunes penned by some of the most prolific and enduring songwriters of the last half-century. Some were written specifically for this new recording, such as Bill Withers’ (who came out of retirement to write “A Telephone Call Away” for George), Rod Temperton’s “Family Reunion” and Lamont Dozier’s “Living in High Definition”; while others, including James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”, Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” were hand-picked by Benson for their ability to convey simple but universal truths about the human experience.
Songs and Stories was produced by Concord’s Grammy winning, creative head John Burk and renowned bassist /composer / producer Marcus Miller. Benson, Miller, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, guitarist Jubu and drummer John Robinson make up the core unit for the project. They were joined by special guests: guitarists Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Wah Wah Watson and Norman Brown, vocalists Lalah Hathaway and Patti Austin, keyboardist David Paich, saxophonists Tom Scott and Gerald Albright along with several others. “Brother, with that team, you can do just about anything,” said Benson. “We recorded in the studio for three days straight, and everything we touched had something on it that made us all glad we were there. It was just the right mix of people and material.”
And yet, for all of the high-caliber musicians on hand, the most important guests are the songwriters, says co-producer Miller. “Smokey Robinson doesn’t perform on this record, but he’s still a guest,” he says. “Lamont Dozier is a guest. Bill Withers, Rod Temperton and James Taylor are guests. If you take great songs from writers like these, and you put them in the hands of George Benson and a great band, you’d better just get out of the way and let things happen, because the result is going to be something great.”
Indeed, the record captures the somewhat underappreciated essential brilliance of his storied career; the ability to simply touch people through authentic lyrics and beautiful melody. On Songs and Stories, George Benson’s musical artistry has perhaps never been on sharper display.
To celebrate the release of Songs And Stories, fans can visit the official Benson website, georgebenson.com and receive a free mp3 download of “Living In High Definition”, the new song written by legendary composer Lamont Dozier. Additionally on the website, fans can view “The George Benson Sessions: The Making Of Songs And Stories”, a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new record. The series will be updated with a new video each week leading up to and through the August 25 release.
Concord Records is proud to once again partner with Monster Music® on presenting the newest George Benson album Songs and Stories on High Definition Surround™ Sound SuperDisc™. The Monster® version, also available August 25th, is a specially priced two-disc package that consists of Songs and Stories on compact disc mixed in traditional stereo and a bonus DVD, containing Monster’s High Definition Stereo and Surround mixes. In addition, the bonus DVD features behind-the-scenes video footage of the making of the record including an in-depth interview with George Benson. With its innovative High Definition Surround technology Monster Music is revolutionizing the listening experience. Mastered in the highest resolution possible, HDS SuperDiscs are specially engineered to capture the true harmonic depth and tonal richness of the music. THX certified HDS SuperDiscs deliver the music through a 5.1 speaker system just the way the artist heard it in the studio when it was recorded, the way they intended you to hear it.
First Single: “Living In High Definition”
Buy It HERE
Concord Jazz is proud to announce the signing of three-time Grammy award winning trumpet player and composer Terence Blanchard. With more than 29 albums to his credit, Blanchard has established himself as one of the most influential jazz musicians and film score composers of his generation. Blanchard’s new album Choices will be released on August 18, 2009.
Blanchard’s legacy has helped shaped the contours of modern jazz. As a musician he is a multi-Grammy Award winner, most recently winning earlier this year for his instrumental solo for “Be-Bop” on Live At The 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival. In addition to receiving the award, Blanchard performed live on the Grammy telecast along with other New Orleans artists including Lil’ Wayne, Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and singer Robin Thicke. In 2008, Blanchard won a Grammy for his CD, A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), a beautifully haunting and impassioned song cycle about Hurricane Katrina and the ravages incurred upon the City of New Orleans and its residents.
Blanchard’s Concord debut, Choices, was recorded in his hometown of New Orleans at the Ogden Museum of Art. The album addresses the choices we all make in life – both as a society and on a personal level. Blanchard will premiere the project at the Ogden in late July, and the show will be filmed for an upcoming documentary. Accompanying Blanchard on the album are longstanding band members Fabian Almazan on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass, Kendrick Scott on drums, Lionel Loueke on guitar and newcomer Walter Smith lll on saxophone, all of whom significantly contributed to the album’s compositions. Guest artists on Choices include writer, speaker, educator and activist Dr. Cornel West and singer, musician and composer Bilal. West performs spoken word pieces on the album with Bilal providing vocals on several of the tracks.
“It’s good to be back where I originally started my career. I’m excited about the possibilities of working with a staff that has the same passion for music and creativity as I do. At Concord, I feel we both look forward to an exciting future of creating new traditions in jazz,” said Terence.
“Terence is the quintessential jazz artist. He uses his extraordinary talent and creativity to constantly break new musical ground and explore new horizons,” said John Burk, Chief Creative Officer of Concord Music Group. “We are extremely honored to welcome him back to the Concord family.”
Terence and his band will be touring worldwide in support of the new release.
Streaming Link for “When Will You Call”:
QT
http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/audio/qtl/Terence_Blanchard_When_Will_You_Call_featuring_Bilal.qtl
Buy It:
http://amazon.com/Choices-Terence-Blanchard/dp/B002FUI4B0/?tag=concordreco0c-20
Scofield is proud to release his 36th solo album, Piety Street, which will be available March 31 on Emarcy. It’s a blues inflected album with an adapted gospel repertoire.
“I’ve always wanted to record and tour a blues project,” says Scofield. “That’s where I started as a guitarist and I’m feeling that music more than ever of late. I launched a personal search for musical inspiration beyond the standard 12 bar blues and found it in “old time gospel” music - the closest relative to and inspiration for the R&B that we all love. I’ve always treasured Gospel but never really dug deep into it. My search led to countless songs that really move me. It’s really powerful stuff. Of course, it will be Gospel done my way - all the arrangements are mine.”
Joining Scofield on Piety Street are the spectacular musicians, Jon Cleary (piano, keyboards and vocals), George Porter Jr. (bass), Ricky Fataar (drums), John Bouttè (vocals) and Shannon Powell (percussion).
Track highlights include Dorothy Love Coates’ “That’s Enough”, the Thomas A. Dorsey classics, “Never Turn Back” and “Old Ship Of Zion”, Rev. James Cleveland’s “Something’s Got A Hold On Me”, and the traditional “Sometimes I feel Like A Motherless Child.”
Did not expect to read this today. From Ultimate-Guitar.com:
Iggy Pop’s new album is informed by jazz, French literature and canine life.
“Préliminaires” is released on May 18 and signals a radical departure for the punk Godfather, embracing jazz and blues influences.
Pop said: “At one point I just got sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music and I’ve started listening to a lot of New Orleans-era, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton-type of jazz. And I’ve always loved quieter ballads as well.”
The record was influenced by Pop’s reading of “The Possibility Of An Island” by French novelist Michel Houllebecq.
The singer explained: “(The book) is about death, sex, the end of the human race, and some other pretty funny stuff. I read the book with intense pleasure when it came out, and in my mind, I created music that would have been the music that I would hear in my soul when I read this book.”
Tracks featured include a French-language cover of “La Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves)”, “How Insensitive” and “King Of The Dogs”, which takes The Stooges classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog” to its natural conclusion, being about “how cool it is to be a dog, and how much it beats human life”.
Like Music? Got 3 million dollars to spare? Check this out:
The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.
For Academy Award nominated actor Danny Aiello’s second CD he was inspired by Atlantic City, Sinatras old stomping ground. It was the place where old blue eyes performed his final public
US concert while Danny Aiello watched from the audience. “My wife Sandy and I got a call from my agent inviting us down to
Atlantic City to see the show and meet Frank. I loved Sinatra and jumped at the chance not knowing what to expect. He was everything and more and the Copa Room, well, it was the perfect setting.”
Ten years later Aiello recorded his debut CD. Five days after the release, Danny Aiello made his Billboard Chart debut! His first album I Just Wanted To Hear The Words hit the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart at #4, the highest new entry that week, just behind Harry Connick Jr., Winton Marsalis and Diana Krall.
And so it is fitting when a friend suggests in 2005 that he record one of those Atlantic City shows, preferably from The Sands so he and his band could preserve a little history for themselves, Aiello agrees, “Given Sinatra’s history on that stage and my memories of seeing him there, the Sands really captured the spirit of the resort’s history among the excitement of a new Atlantic City. For me, it made perfect sense.”
Check out the live streams for Pennies from Heaven and All Of Me.
New album, This Storm, is a strikingly confident second album from singer, guitarist, and songwriter Sonya Kitchell, is an immediate and visceral album. Though Kitchell touches on serious issues such as war, loss, and solitude on tracks like “Soldier’s Lament,” “Robin in the Snow,” and “Walk Away,” there is a fresh sophisticated yet playful attitude and sound on “Here To There” and “Every Drop”. At times one can barely believe it’s the same artist!
Among the many recent highlights, perhaps the most unexpected development has been the ongoing creative partnership between Kitchell and jazz legend Herbie Hancock. The two have performed together extensively, both on tour (one joint tour is wrapped and another is slated to kick off this summer) and on television, including a breakout performance on the acclaimed “Live From Abby Road.” They also collaborated on a bonus track for 2007’s Album of the Year Grammy recipient, the Hancock-helmed Joni Mitchell tribute The Joni Letters.
Sonya Kitchell’s new album, This Storm, is scheduled for release this fall as part of a joint venture between Decca/Universal and Velour Music Group.
“With a voice that’s equal parts smoke and honey, 16-year-old singer/songwriter Sonya Kitchell instantly transports you to her after-hours world of jazz and soul. Press play after a long day, and feel the stress slip from your shoulders.” – Marie Claire, 2006
Imagine the sonic equivalent of seeing your older sister’s best friend again after she went away to college for a few years. As beautiful and poised as she was before, you simply can’t believe the cute teenager you once knew has turned into such a smart and sexy adult. This Storm, the strikingly confident second album from singer, guitarist, and songwriter Sonya Kitchell, is an immediate and visceral album, dealing with serious issues and reflecting such remarkable growth that you can barely believe it’s the same artist.
Kitchell’s debut, Words Came Back To Me, recorded when she was only 15, shot her to national and international attention. People raved that Kitchell has “a knock out voice that alternately evokes the smokiness of Norah Jones, the soulfulness of Joss Stone and the ethereal sweetness of Sarah McLachlan,” adding that “Kitchell is destined for great things.”
And she was: her debut went on to sell almost 100,000 copies and led to major exposure on “Late Night With David Letterman”, “Craig Ferguson”, CNN, and NPR’s “All Things Considered”, in addition to generally rave reviews from the music press.
Among the many recent highlights, perhaps the most unexpected development has been the ongoing creative partnership between Kitchell and jazz legend Herbie Hancock. The two have performed together extensively, both on tour (one joint tour is wrapped and another is slated to kick off this summer) and on television, including a breakout performance on the acclaimed “Live From Abby Road.” They also collaborated on a bonus track for 2007’s Album of the Year Grammy recipient, the Hancock-helmed Joni Mitchell tribute The Joni Letters.
Kitchell’s new CD, scheduled for release this fall as part of a joint venture between Decca/Universal and Velour Music Group, touches on war, loss, and solitude in tracks like “Soldier’s Lament,” “Robin in the Snow,” and “Walk Away.” Recorded with Grammy Award-winning producer Malcolm Burn (Daniel Lanois, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris), the album is a perfect showcase for the artist’s prodigious talent and stunning voice.
Kitchell will be on tour this summer with Herbie Hancock singing songs from The Joni Letters,
and will headline her own national tour in the fall.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette
Just don’t get too carried away with your iPod karaoke.
Published: Tuesday, April 29
Is it just me, or is everyone plugged in these days?
“Nine out of 10 people workout with an iPod or MP3 player,” said Melanie Shernofsky, group fitness coordinator at Montreal’s Mansfield Club.
The same could be said for the many runners and walkers who are tuned in to their own playlist while cruising the streets of their neighbourhood.
Yet despite the apparent spike in music appreciation amongst the fitness crowd, exercising to music isn’t new. People were skating around roller rinks to the tunes of Buddy Holly and jumping to the beat of the Pointer Sisters in aerobics classes long before Amy Winehouse took top billing on the iPod of most gym rats.
Why is music such an integral part of the exercise experience?
“Music takes us away from the physical discomfort and the process of exercise itself,” said Jim Gavin, a clinical health psychologist from Concordia University.
Indeed most exercisers will tell you that music is a pleasant distraction during a workout. Some even go as far as saying they can exercise longer and harder when listening to music than without. And while there is a general consensus that music can make the minutes go by faster when running on a treadmill, there is little data to suggest that you can workout longer or harder while listening to your favourite tunes.
Numerous studies have evaluated the heart rate and time to exhaustion among exercisers listening and not listening to music. The majority noted no significant difference between the two. Which means exercise duration and intensity weren’t affected by music. What was affected, however, was how hard the exercisers perceived they were training while music was playing.
Study after study notes that exercisers perceive their level of exertion to be lower when music accompanies their workout compared to those who exercise in silence. Also interesting to note is that the affect is greater the harder you exercise. In other words, the tougher the workout, the more music helps you hang in there.
“Music tends to separate us from what we are physically doing and leads us further away from how we are feeling,” says Gavin.
Not all music is equal in its distraction, though - at least where exercise is concerned. A 2006 study of 128 undergraduate students noted a preference for faster, more upbeat music as the intensity of the workout increased. No surprise there. Footloose beats out James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful every time when the going gets tough. Nike’s iPod sensor combo even allows runners to program their own “power” song that can be pressed into play when the feet need a little extra incentive to keep moving.
Yet as powerful as music is, not everyone appreciates the distraction. Yet another study noted that among runners, novices were more likely than veteran runners to benefit from listening to music during their training runs. The elite runners actually found music to be an unwanted diversion, which suggests that the disconnect between mind and body is not considered beneficial for runners who use their body’s feedback to continually gauge and modify their intensity.
Of course, there are other uses for music in the exercise field. Yoga instructors often play music as a form of relaxation, helping participants to de-stress and slow down their hectic pace in tune with the mindful approach of the practice.
Group exercise instructors have long been known to count on music not just to motivate, but also to keep everyone in the class moving in synch. In fact, the addition of music to group exercise classes is what characterized the aerobics boom in the 80’s - back in the day instructors spent hours choosing the right music to motivate and the right moves.
Interestingly, with personal MP3 players now all the rage, music lovers don’t need group exercise classes to supply musical motivation. In the age of self-selection, exercisers can create their own workout playlist with their favourite tunes that can be updated at will. This means they can find all the motivation they want on their own iPod, making a solo run on the treadmill just as motivating as a group exercise class.
Shernofsky thinks that’s a good thing.
“For people who don’t like to exercise, music can be a great motivator.”
It also means that anyone with two left feet or an aversion to a Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey re-mix played at 150 beats a minute can now workout to the beat of their own drummer.
That being said, there are some rules that go along with plugging in during exercise. Don’t tune out to the extent that you aren’t aware of your surroundings. Keep alert and listen to your body and what’s going on around you. And whatever you do, limit your iPod karaoke to places where you aren’t likely to be overheard. Not everyone is a fan of Bat Out of Hell sung at full volume on a beautiful Sunday morning (don’t ask).
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24358965/wid/11915829?GT1=40006
By Jake Coyle
Mon., April. 28, 2008
NEW YORK - You’re sitting at home online and suddenly you get an irresistible urge. You absolutely have to belt out R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” and share it with the world.
You now have that ability, thanks to the new MySpace Karaoke, to be launched Tuesday by the social networking site.
MySpace Karaoke (ksolo.myspace.com) debuts nearly two years after Fox Interactive, a division of News Corp., which owns MySpace, purchased the karaoke site kSolo.com. The combination of MySpace and kSolo allows users to upload audio recordings of them singing everything from R. Kelly to Richie Valens to their profile page.
MySpace co-founder and president Tom Anderson (known by many as the friend that comes automatically with a MySpace account) said MySpace and karaoke are a natural fit.
“It is in part because music is so popular on our site,” said Anderson. “But also because karaoke is such a fun and social thing, which is what we’re about too. It’s not as much fun to go to karaoke alone, but when you do it through the Internet or on your MySpace page, then you can share it with people.”
Recordings can be prominently displayed on one’s MySpace page and receive ratings from friends (and, presumably, fans). As of Monday afternoon, the most popular song to sing was Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.”
MySpace Karaoke and kSolo — the first major karaoke site — are just two destinations of a small industry of online karaoke sites. SingShot, owned by Electronic Arts, and Bix, owned by Yahoo!, are also big names in karaoke on the Web.
And YouTube has, of course, been the largest repository of people dancing around their bedrooms and singing their favorite songs. While MySpace Karaoke doesn’t currently have a video option, Anderson says it’s in the works and that it will include a split-screen duet feature.
Users need only a microphone to sing into. MySpace Karaoke gives them the music to sing over (with vocals removed) with the lyrics scrolling across their computer screen. There are also numerous effects that users can play with to alter their recordings.
Right now, the site has between 2,000 and 3,000 songs available, all of them licensed from music publishers. The difficulty of managing those rights has been the reason for the delayed launch, Anderson said.
“It was quite difficult,” he said. “The rules and the licensing changed over time and became more complicated since MySpace is a global company. There’s different rights in different territories.”
But Anderson thinks having those rights puts MySpace at a distinct advantage.
“On MySpace, we actually filter and take down content (without licensing),” said Anderson. “At some point, YouTube is going to be forced to — or pay the rights holders because they’re breaking the law when they do that.”
As recordings have begun to pile up, there’s a wide variety of quality.
Said Anderson, “You’ll find equally horrible and equally good ones.”
PLAY
