HOT NEW CHILL GROOVES & SMOOTH JAZZ NEWS: MINDI ABAIR, SANTANA, TOWER OF POWER, FONTELLA BASS, GLOBAL GROOVE COLLECTIVE & MORE...

HOT NEW CHILL GROOVES & SMOOTH JAZZ NEWS……….Mindi Abair’s True Blue was the number 1 most added smooth jazz radio track last week. True Blue is from her new CD Life Less Ordinary which is due for release on April 18. Mindi will be embarking on a new tour which starts in Clearwater/Tampa, FL on Apri l 21 at Coachman Park……….Carlos Santana is due to be inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame on June 23, 2006. Santana will be performing a few of his songs with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra……….Blue Note records has announced May 16 releases from The Jazz Crusaders: At The Lighthouse; Lou Rawls: Tobacco Road; Serge Chaloff: Boston Blow Up; and Ignacio Berroa: Codes……….Michael Bolton returns with a new release on May 23 entitled Bolton Swings Sinatra on Concord Records……….The Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts in Cerritos, CA is booking talent for the upcoming season and thus far has scheduling the following performers: Dave Brubeck Quartet (Aug. 21); Burt Bacharach and Steve Tyrell (both in Sept.); Tower Of Power (Nov.); Dave Koz’s Smooth Jazz Christmas (mid-Dec.); and Etta James and The Roots Band (March 2007)……….Michael Buble walked away with four awards at the recent 2006 Juno Awards held in Halifax, Nova Scotia and broadcast live on CTV television. Buble dominated the Jazz and Blues categories capturing the lion’s share of awards in the Jazz category (Single of the Year for Home, Album of the Year for It’s Time, Artist of the Year), and one in the Pop category (Pop Album of the year for It’s Time). Pianist Diana Krall took the Jazz Vocal award, while multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson captured the Traditional Jazz award and saxophonist Jane Bunnett received the Contemporary Jazz award for her Cuban recording……….Singer Fontella Bass is among the many special guests being featured on Chico Hamilton’s new release – Believe. The R&B diva is on three tracks including: Love Me A Long, Long Time, Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home and Believe In Him. Other guest musicians include George Bohanon, Jeremy Carlstedt, Evan Schwam, Paul Ramsey, Cary DeNigris and Andrew Hadro. The CD is out now on the Joyous Shot label……….April concerts in the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul include: Etta James (April 11 @ O’Shaughnessy Theatre); and Dee Dee Bridgewater (April 18-19@ Dakota Jazz Club)……….Santa Monica’s Temple Bar will host an evening of world groove music on May 4, with performances by Kwanza Jones and the Global Groove Collective featuring Darrell Crooks, Darrell Diaz, David Leach, Mark Lomax, Brienne Moore, Zakiya Roverts, Timbali and Andre Manga of the group Dumazz. Also appearing will be a special guest performance by W. Ellington Felton and Bilal Salaam. The event is being presented by Innovation Entertainment Group and for more information go to www.globalgroovemusicfestival.com.