SMOOTH JAZZ NEWS

SUSAN TEDESCHI: HOPE AND DESIRE
Verve Forecast is set to release Susan Tedeschi’s latest album entitled Hope And Desire on October 11. It’s her first for the label and the 12-track album features interpretations of the Rolling Stones’ You Got The Silver, Bob Dylan’s Lord Protect My Child, Aretha Franklin’s Share Your Love With Me, and Ray Charles’ Tired Of My Tears. Tedeschi will perform this Friday, September 16 at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado.

RICHY KICKLIGHTER RELEASES 7th SMOOTH JAZZ CD
Richy Kicklighter and Midnight Pass Music announce the release of Richy’s new CD Moving Skies collection of 12 original smooth jazz songs. Moving Skies also features the piano of Neil Larsen, percussionist Gumbi Ortiz and others. Moving Skies follows in the path of Kicklighter’s earlier smooth jazz CDs that charted well on radio (R&R, Gavin), and features Kicklighter’s soulful, haunting melodies and distinctive guitar style. Moving Skies is his seventh CD and his first with the new Midnight Pass Music label. The label is based in Sarasota, Florida and specializes in producing smooth jazz, blues, world beat and folk. For additional information go to www.richykicklighter.com or www.midnightpassmusic.com.

NATALIE COLE LINING UP TOUR DATES
Singer Natalie Cole has scheduled a handful of tour dates through the end of 2005 with more to be announced shortly. The dates are as follows: Sept. 13: Salt Lake City, UT @ Abravanel Hall; Nov. 20: Aurora, IL @ Paramount Arts Center; Dec. 3: Costa Mesa, CA @ Orange County Performing Arts Center; Dec. 4: Palm Desert, CA @ McCallum Theater; and Dec. 31: Honolulu, HI @ Hilton Hawaiian Village.

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL TO HOST HURRICANE KATRINA BENEFIT
John Mayer Trio and Joss Stone are among the artists who have signed on to appear at a September 20 benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims at Radio City Music Hall (in New York). This event will be held simultaneously with another benefit being held at Madison Square Garden. Diana Krall, Bette Midler, Ry Cooder and Elvis Costello are among those line-up for the Madison Square Garden benefit.

OTHER SMOOTH JAZZ NEWS
Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist Celso Fonseca has a new Ziriguiboom/Six Degrees CD, Rive Gauche Rio, which blends the classic sounds of the 60’s bossa nova with some nice jazz overtones. He’s worked alongside Brazil’s best musicians – including Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte and Virginia Rodrigues. He’ll be making his San Francisco Bay Area debut on September 20 at Yoshi’s Club.

The San Diego Smooth Jazz Festival at the Embarcadero Marina Park North kicks off this Saturday, September 17, from 11 a. m. until dusk.

New York Chill station 101.9 (CD101) has formally changed its logo to CD101.9 Smooth Jazz, thereby fully abandoning the format that they had embraced for a mere 10 months. For now though, they will still be carrying the syndicated Chill With Chris Botti and Groove Boutique programs. No need to worry though as a nearby Long Island station (formerly WLIR-FM) has migrated to an Adult Contemporary/Smooth Jazz/Chill hybrid station called NeoBreeze. This new station kicks off on September 15 and we’ll have more information for you once we have had a chance to check it out.