ELLA FITZGERALD - THE VOICE OF JAZZ 10-CD BOX SET

Ella Fitzgerald’s vocal style was as incredible and diverse as the material that she sang. She started out a swing singer, moved to bebop, sang perfect scat, was an extraordinary jazz vocalist and had no fear of modern material as the 60s and 70s came along. From the blues to bossa nova, and calypsos to carols, Fitzgerald imbued all with her unique voice, sounding forever young.

On December 10, 2013, Verve Records/Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) will release the 10-disc box set Ella Fitzgerald: The Voice of Jazz, the first career-spanning retrospective of the most popular jazz singer and arguably one of the greatest singers of all time, Ella Fitzgerald. Featuring over 200 newly remastered studio and live tracks, including a previously unreleased concert from the 1960s, The Voice of Jazz is elegantly packaged in a linen-covered box and includes a 96-page, hardbound book that charts Fitzgerald’s career through her recordings plus photos and a complete discographical notation along with color and black and white illustrations.

From her days as Chick Webb’s girl singer, including her first ever release with Chick Webb’s Orchestra in 1935, through her rise as Decca Records’ singing star in the 1940s and early 1950s, to her decade-long career with Verve Records where she defined the long-playing record with her albums dedicated to the writers of the Great American Songbook. Ella Fitzgerald: The Voice of Jazz encapsulates the recording legacy of one of the most loved, admired and revered vocalists of the 20th century.

TRACK LISTING:

 CD-1 

   1.   I'll Chase The Blues Away (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   2.   Love & Kisses (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   3.   My Melancholy Baby (Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   4.   All My Life (Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   5.   When I get low, I get high (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   6.   Sing me a swing song (and let me dance) (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald)

   7.   Mr. Paganini (You'll have to swing it) (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald)

   8.   Goodnight My Love (Benny Goodman & his Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   9.   Eight My Last affair (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy) 

   10.   Big Boy Blue (Ella Fitzgerald & The Mills Brothers) 

   11.   Dedicated to You (Ella Fitzgerald & The Mills Brothers) 

   12.   All over Nothing at all (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy Eight) 

   13.   Everyone's Wrong but me (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy Eight) 

   14.   I got a guy (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   15.   Rock it for me (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   16.   It's my turn now (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy Eight) 

   17.   A-Tisket A-Tasket (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   18.   This time it's real (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy Eight) 

   19.   You can't be mine (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy Eight) 

   20.   Wacky Dust (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   21.   Undecided (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   22.   Taint What You Do (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   23.   My heart belongs to daddy (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

   24.   Don't worry 'bout me (Ella Fitzgerald & her Savoy Eight) 

   25.   That was my heart (Chick Webb & His Orchestra vocal Ella Fitzgerald) 

       

CD-2 

   1.   I Want the Waiter (With the water) (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   2.   The Starlit Hour (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   3.   Imagination (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   4.   Shake Down The Stars (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   5.   Five O'Clock Whistle (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   6.   Hello Ma I done It Again (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   7.   The Muffin Man (Ella Fitzgerald & her Famous Orchestra) 

   8.   Cow Cow Boogie (Ella Fitzgerald & The Inkspots) 

   9.   I'm Making Believe (Ella Fitzgerald & The Inkspots) 

   10.   Into each life some rain must fall (Ella Fitzgerald & The Inkspots) 

   11.   And her tears flowed like wine (Ella Fitzgerald acc. By Johnny Lang & his Orchestra) 

   12.   It's only a paper moon (Ella Fitzgerald & The Delta River Boys)

   13.   Stone Cold dead in the market (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan) 

   14.   Flying Home (Ella Fitzgerald with Vic Schoen & his Orchestra) 

   15.   You won't be satisfied (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   16.   For Sentimental Reasons (Ella Fitzgerald & The Delta River Boys) 

   17.   Guilty (Ella Fitzgerald with Eddie Heywood & his Orchestra) 

   18.   Oh Lady Be Good (Ella Fitzgerald with Bob Haggart & his Orchestra) 

   19.   How high the Moon (Ella Fitzgerald & The Daydreamers) 

   20.   My Happiness (Ella Fitzgerald with The Song Spinners)

   21.   I can’t go on (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   22.   I couldn't stay away (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   23.   Lovers Gold (Ella Fitzgerald with Gordon Jenkins & his Orchestra) 

   24.   Dream a little longer (Ella Fitzgerald with Gordon Jenkins & his Orchestra) 

   25.   Baby it's cold outside (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan) 

       

CD-3 

   1.   Baby Won't you say you love me (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   2.   I've got the world on a string (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   3.   Ain't nobody's business but my own (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five) 

   4.   Dream a little dream of me (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   5.   Looking for a boy (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   6.   Maybe (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   7.   Because of rain (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   8.   Even as you and I (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   9.   Smooth sailing (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   10.   Air Mail Special (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   11.   Nowhere guy (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   12.   Angel Eyes (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   13.   Trying (Ella Fitzgerald with Leroy Kirkland's Orchestra) 

   14.   Walkin' by the river (Ella Fitzgerald with Leroy Kirkland's Orchestra) 

   15.   Crying in the Chapel (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   16.   Melancholy me (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   17.   I need (Ella Fitzgerald with Gordon Jenkins and his orchestra) 

   18.   People will say we're in love [Ella Fitzgerald with Ellis Larkins (piano)] 

   19.   Stardust [Ella Fitzgerald with Ellis Larkins (piano)] 

   20.   Lullaby of Birdland (Ella Fitzgerald with Sy Oliver & his Orchestra) 

   21.   It might as well be spring (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Andre Previn) 

   22.   I can't get started (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Andre Previn) 

   23.   Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Benny Carter) 

   24.   Pete Kelly's Blues (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   25.   My one and only love (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Toots Camarata) 

       

CD-4 

   1.   Stay there (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   2.   Ridin' High (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   3.   Just one of those things (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   4.   Begin the Beguine (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   5.   So in love (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   6.   What is this thing called love (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   7.   I concentrate on you (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   8.   Let's do it (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   9.   Cheek to Cheek (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   10.   Moonlight in Vermont (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   11.   The nearness of you (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   12.   Lover (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   13.   I wish I were in love again (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   14.   Mountain greenery (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   15.   Manhattan (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   16.   Wait till you see her (Ella Fitzgerald with Barney Kessel)

   17.   It never entered my mind (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   18.   I could write a book (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   19.   Where or when (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   20.   Isn't it romantic (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman) 

   21.   Everything I've got belongs to you (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   22.   In a sentimental mood (Ella Fitzgerald with Barney Kessel)

       

CD-5 

   1.   Satin Doll (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   2.   Don't get around much anymore (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   3.   Hear my heart (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Russ Garcia) 

   4.   Take the A Train (Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington & his Orchestra) 

   5.   Drop me off in Harlem (Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington & his Orchestra) 

   6.   I'm beginning to see the light (Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington & his Orchestra) 

   7.   All too soon (Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington & his Orchestra) 

   8.   Our love is here to stay (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   9.   Autumn in New York (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   10.   These foolish things (remind me of you) (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   11.   You turned the tables on me (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   12.   Summertime (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   13.   Bess, you is my woman now (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong) 

   14.   I wants to stay here (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   15.   We'll be together again (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   16.   I thought about you (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   17.   Mood indigo (Ella Fitzgerald) 

       

CD-6 

   1.   In a mellow tone (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   2.   Night wind (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   3.   What's new (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   4.   Isn't this a lovely day (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Paul Weston) 

   5.   I used to be color blind (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Paul Weston) 

   6.   How deep is the ocean (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Paul Weston) 

   7.   Blue skies (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Paul Weston) 

   8.   Teach me how to cry (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Paul Weston) 

   9.   What's your story morning glory (Ella Fitzgerald with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette) 

   10.   If I were a bell (Ella Fitzgerald with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette) 

   11.   Oh what a night for love (45 rpm version) (Ella Fitzgerald with the Marty Paich Dek-Tette) 

   12.   Let's fall in love (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   13.   Love is here to stay (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   14.   The Man I love (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   15.   A foggy day (in London town) (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   16.   Somebody loves me (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   17.   I've got a crush on you (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   18.   You go to my head (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   19.   Spring will be a little late this year (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   20.   But not for me (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   21.   They all laughed (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   22.   Gone with the wind (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

       

CD-7 

   1.   Shall we dance (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   2.   It's Wonderful (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   3.   Beat me, Daddy eight to the bar (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Marty Paich) 

   4.   Black Coffee (Ella Fitzgerald with Paul Smith, piano) 

   5.   September Song (Ella Fitzgerald with Paul Smith, piano) 

   6.   One for my baby (Ella Fitzgerald with Paul Smith, piano) 

   7.   Winter wonderland (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   8.   It's only a paper moon (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Billy May) 

   9.   Stormy weather (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Billy May) 

   10.   Heart & Soul (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Billy May) 

   11.   Come rain or come shine (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Billy May) 

   12.   The one I love belongs to somebody else (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   13.   Stella By Starlight (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   14.   Ich Fuhle Mich Crazy (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   15.   Mean to me (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   16.   I hear music (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   17.   Broadway (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Bill Doggett) 

   18.   She's funny that way (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   19.   Stardust Bossa Nova (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Marty Paich) 

   20.   Almost like being in love (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Marty Paich) 

   21.   I'm Old Fashioned (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   22.   The way you look tonight (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   23.   All the things you are (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

       

CD-8 

   1.   Deed I do (Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie & his Orchestra) 

   2.   My last affair (Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie & his Orchestra) 

   3.   Trouble in mind (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   4.   How high the moon (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol) 

   5.   I'm a poached egg (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   6.   Skylark (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   7.   Brown-Skin Gal (In The Calico Gown) (Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington & his Orchestra) 

   8.   The shadow of your smile (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Gordon Jenkins) 

   9.   Whisper Not (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Marty Paich) 

   10.   Lover Man (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Marty Paich) 

   11.   Misty Blue (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Sid Fuller) 

   12.   Love for sale (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle) 

   13.   Once I loved (Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass)

   14.   Round Midnight (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   15.   Midnight Sun (Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson) 

   16.   That old Feeling (Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass) 

   17.   I'm getting sentimental over you (Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie & his Orchestra) 

   18.   Wave (Ella Fitzgerald with orchestra conducted by Eric Bulling) 

   19.   They can't take that away from me (Ella Fitzgerald with Andre Previn) 

   20.   Don't worry 'bout me (Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass) 

   21.   All that jazz (Ella Fitzgerald) 

       

CD-9 

   1.   Love For Sale (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   2.   You Won't Be Satisfied (Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Fitzgerald) 

   3.   I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Down Myself a Letter (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   4.   Moonlight in Vermont (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   5.   Stompin at the Savoy (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   6.   St Louis Blues (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   7.   I loves You Porgy (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   8.   Midnight sun (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   9.   Misty (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   10.   The Man I Love (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   11.   Mack the knife (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   12.   On A Slow Boat to China (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   13.   Rock It For Me (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   14.   Stairway to The Stars (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   15.   Happiness is just a thing called Joe (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   16.   Deep Purple (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   17.   Here's That rainy Day (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   18.   Don't rain on my parade (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   19.   Lullaby of Birdland (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   20.   The More I See you (Ella Fitzgerald) 

       

CD-10 

   1.   Norman Granz Introduction Of Ella Fitzgerald #1 

   2.   Robbins' Nest (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   3.   A New Shade Of Blues (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   4.   Old Mother Hubbard (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   5.   I'm Just A Lucky So-And-So (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   6.   Somebody Loves Me (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   7.   Basin Street Blues (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   8.   Oh, Lady, Be Good! (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   9.   Black Coffee (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   10.   A-Tisket, A-Tasket (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   11.   How High The Moon (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   12.   Perdido (Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker) 

   13.   Bill (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   14.   Why Don't You Do Right? (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   15.   A Foggy Day (In London Town) (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   16.   Lullaby Of Birdland (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   17.   The Man That Got Away (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   18.   Hernando's Hideaway (Ella Fitzgerald) 

   19.   Later (Ella Fitzgerald)  

STING: THE LAST SHIP, AIRS ON PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES, FEB, 21, 2014

Sting: The Last Ship will air on THIRTEEN's Great Performances, Friday, February 21 at 9 p.m., ET on PBS (check local listings) and features the 16-time Grammy Award-winning musician performing songs from his new album, The Last Ship, and forthcoming play of the same name in an intimate evening of music and storytelling live at The Public Theater in New York City.

The program offers unique insight into the creative process behind Sting's latest album and his new musical, premiering June 2014 in Chicago before its debut on Broadway in the fall.  Drawing upon his childhood memories growing up in the shipbuilding community of Wallsend in the North East of England, Sting provides a glimpse into the narrative of the play through the songs on the new album, inspired by the story of "The Last Ship."

He is joined by a 14-piece band, many of whom also hail from the region (Kathryn Tickell on violin and Northumbrian pipes, Peter Tickell on violin and mandolin, Julian Sutton on the melodeon, and vocalists The Wilson Family), including actor and singer Jimmy Nail, who will appear in the upcoming stage production. Also featured is Musical Director Rob Mathes on acoustic guitar, piano and keyboards, and background vocals.

The evening was filmed on Sting's birthday (October 2) at a special fan club performance during a 10-night run of benefit concerts that immediately became one of New York's hottest tickets. The Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis observed at the time, "The Last Ship' is shaping up to be a masterpiece, both an elegy for and a celebration of the working class life of the Newcastle shipyards."

Sting has crafted a richly diverse musical landscape for a close-knit community of original characters. With a backdrop of evocative visual projections, he shares his experience emerging from a songwriting hiatus to pen his first album of original material in nearly a decade and his very first musical theater score, incorporating a mix of genres and styles ranging from pub-like folk tunes to ballads to a wall of sound from the full band.

"The memories at the heart of The Last Ship have occupied my mind for most of my life," said Sting. "I was compelled to tell this story." Sting's collaborators on the Broadway-bound production include the Tony-winning team of book writers John Logan ("Red," "I'll Eat You Last") and Brian Yorkey ("Next to Normal") along with director Joe Mantello ("Wicked").

The musical program is as follows:

The Last Ship

Shipyard

Coming Home's Not Easy

And Yet

August Winds

What Have We Got?

Practical Arrangement

What Say You Meg?

Dead Man's Boots

Big Steamers

Sky Hooks and Tartan Paint

Jock the Singing Welder

So To Speak

Show Some Respect

Underground River

The Last Ship (Reprise)

Composer, singer, author, actor, activist, Sting was born in Newcastle, England before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released five albums, earned six Grammy awards, and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Since 1985, Sting has released 11 studio albums as a solo musician and has earned an additional 10 Grammy awards, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and three Oscar nominations. Of his latest album, Jim Farber of the New York Daily News opined, "The Last Ship has an intelligence, beauty and pitch-black wit that makes it both a worthy solo project and a solid blueprint for something to be fleshed out later on stage."

"The Last Ship" will open on Broadway in the fall of 2014, following a pre-Broadway World Premiere from Tuesday, June 10 – Sunday, July 13, 2014 at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre.

Directed by Paul Bozymowski, Sting: The Last Ship is produced by Jon Kamen and Justin Wilkes; Kathryn Schenker and Joe Killian are executive producers. 

TRUE TO THE BLUES: THE JOHNNY WINTER STORY, AVAILABLE FEB. 25, 2014

The extraordinary four decade-plus recording career of seminal Texas blues-rocking guitar legend Johnny Winter, who celebrates his 70th birthday on February 23, 2014, will be commemorated with the release of True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story.  This deluxe 4-CD box set, includes 56 tracks that span his major label career from 1968 until his most recent album of 2011, will be available everywhere February 25, 2014, through Columbia/Legacy.

The two-time Grammy Award®-nominated, perennially touring Johnny Winter will play a special birthday night performance at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill at Times Square in New York City on Sunday, February 23, 2014.  Tickets are available for $30 in advance and $35 day of show. For tickets go to http://www.bbkingblues.com/bio.php?id=3309.

"If it was not for Johnny Winter," said Joe Perry of Aerosmith, "I would have never picked up the guitar!"  The testimonial is one of nearly 20 that accompany the box set, from such guitar luminaries as Eddie Van Halen, Angus Young, Pete Townshend, Carlos Santana, Steven Tyler, Billy Gibbons, Joe Satriani, Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Leslie West, Vince Gill, Glenn Tipton, Mark Knopfler, and many more.  "A lot of people play the blues," said Charlie Daniels, "but there's only a handful who can reach deep into the music and make it real.  Johnny Winter can take you on a ride.  Juke joints and cotton fields, rotgut whiskey and back alley crap games, lowdown, lonesome, trifling women and hard times.  That's the blues, y'all."

True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story lives up to its title with a chronological track sequence of studio and live material that underscores Johnny Winter's hard-won reputation as an American blues master.  The contents are sourced from no less than 27 separate albums on the Imperial, Columbia, Blue Sky/Epic, Alligator, Point Blank (Virgin), Friday Music, Megaforce, and Columbia/Legacy labels.  These range from his independently recorded and released The Progressive Blues Experiment of 1968 ("Bad Luck And Trouble," "Mean Town Blues") up through 2011's all-star duets project, Roots ("Maybelline" with Vince Gill, "Dust My Broom" with Derek Trucks).

Guests abound throughout True To The Blues, starting with the third track as fellow blues guitar giant Michael Bloomfield introduces Johnny Winter to the Fillmore East audience in December 1968, during a "Super Session" live concert date with Al Kooper.  It was Winter's first trip to New York City, on the heels of a Texas music scene survey on the newsstands that week in Rolling Stone magazine (not yet one year old!).  The issue, coupled with his incendiary playing on an 11-minute jam of John Lee Hooker's "It's My Own Fault," shot the unknown and unsigned-to-a-record-label Johnny Winter to stardom.  His six-figure signing with Columbia was reportedly the biggest advance in the CBS Records era to that point in history.  Winter would be signed with CBS through 1980.

Among other notable musicians on True To The Blues are Dr. John on "Illustrated Man," recorded in Chicago, 1991.  A year later, Winter was invited to the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration at Madison Square Garden, to reprise his blistering version of "Highway 61 Revisited," one of two indelible covers of Dylan, along with Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower," that defined the closing of the '60s.  Joining Winter at MSG was that night's all-star 'house band' of G.E. Smith, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Anton Fig, and Jim Keltner.

True To The Blues not only showcases Winter and the band lineups he has led over the years, many of them (up through 1976) including his brother Edgar on vocals and an array of instruments (keyboards, reeds, drums).  A blues lover's dream collection, the box set also pays homage to the great forebears who influenced Winter, and with whom he was able to record during his long career, among them:

•Willie Dixon and Walter "Shakey" Horton (together on "Mean Mistreater" from Winter's self-titled Columbia debut LP, 1969); and

•Muddy Waters and his band featuring James Cotton, "Pinetop" Perkins, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (in the studio on Muddy's "Walkin' Thru The Park," and live on Guitar Slim's "I Done Got Over It," both from 1977).

(It is noted that Johnny Winter produced and played guitar on the final four LPs recorded by his hero Muddy Waters after he left Chess Records.  The first three of those titles won consecutive Grammy Awards® as "Best Ethnic Or Traditional [i.e. Blues] Recording," namely Hard Again (1977), I'm Ready (1978), and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live (1979).)

True To The Blues also draws tracks from Winter's two Grammy Award®-nominated albums:

•Guitar Slinger, nominated for Best Traditional Blues Recording at the 27th Grammy Awards (February, 1985); and

•Serious Business, nominated for Best Traditional Blues Recording at the 28th Grammy Awards (February, 1986).

At the core of True To The Blues are the six albums that Winter recorded for Columbia Records:  Johnny Winter (1969), Second Winter (1969), Johnny Winter And (1970), Johnny Winter And/Live (1971), Still Alive And Well (1973), and Saints & Sinners (1975).  There were also six albums that he recorded for manager Steve Paul's Blue Sky Records (distributed by Columbia's sister imprint, Epic/Portrait/Associated Labels, or E/P/A):  John Dawson Winter III (1974), Together (1976), Captured Live! (1976), Nothin' But The Blues (1977), White, Hot & Blue (1978), and Raisin' Cain (1980).

In addition, True To The Blues draws tracks from a number of historic Columbia/Legacy projects: Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (2003), The Woodstock Experience (2009), Second Winter: Legacy Edition (2004), and Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (2007).

In addition to Winter's formidable catalog of original albums on Columbia and Blue Sky, True To The Blues revisits a lost classic of rock history, the Columbia three-LP package of 1970 known as The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies - Isle Of Wight/Atlanta Pop.  Previously unavailable on CD, it starred (in Atlanta) Johnny Winter And, Poco, the Chambers Brothers, the Allman Brothers, and Mountain; and (at Isle Of Wight, UK) Sly and the Family Stone, Cactus, David Bromberg, Ten Years After, Procol Harum, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, Kris Kristofferson, and Miles Davis.

In the pole position, side one, track one of that remarkable vinyl collectors item was "Mean Mistreater" by Johnny Winter And (his group with Rick Derringer and bassist Randy Hobbs, with Edgar sitting in on drums), as recorded live at the [Second] Atlanta Inter­national Pop Festival, their only appearance on the triple-record.  True To The Blues now adds two more previously unreleased numbers, Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Eyesight To The Blind" (cf. the Who's Tommy) and Johnny's take on "Prodigal Son." 

True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story was produced by Jerry Rappaport, and executive produced by Paul Nelson, Johnny's guitarist and manager.  The compilation was mastered by multiple Grammy Award®-winner Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in New York.

"For well over five decades," writes Guitar World magazine editor-in-chief Brad Tolinski in his liner notes for True To The Blues, "John Dawson 'Johnny' Winter III has produced and played on some of the most exciting blues and rock recordings in the history of both genres."  The writer's newly researched 4,000-word essay includes fresh, revealing interview material from Johnny Winter.  Tolinski has annotated previous releases from AC/DC, Charlie Christian, and Jeff Healey, and penned the notes for the double-CD, The Essential Johnny Winter (released April 2013 on Columbia/Legacy).

The notes touch on every facet of Winter's life and career: Growing up in Beaumont, Texas, influenced by his musical parents as well as the likes of Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, Hubert Sumlin and Chuck Berry; his early trio with bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer "Uncle" John (Red) Turner (as heard on the first two Columbia LPs); a pivotal wee-hours association with Jimi Hendrix in New York centering around Steve Paul's The Scene ultra-hip nightclub on 46th Street; his popular triumph at Woodstock but his regrettable absence from the movie; the transition to working in the '70s with post-McCoys Rick Derringer ("Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo") and Muddy Waters; the origins of dozens of tracks, from "Johnny B. Goode" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" to "Harlem Shuffle" and "Bony Moronie"; his return to the blues, with "a renewed sense of confidence and a big shot of inspiration" in the '80s; and the "artistic renaissance" that has kept Johnny Winter at the absolute pinnacle of guitar heroes around the world to this day.

"His absolute command of traditional music," the notes sum up, "has earned him the respect of serious musicologists, while his tremendous agility, wicked speed and full-tilt aggression on the electric guitar and acoustic bottleneck has won over several generations of younger rock players looking to cop some the fastest and hottest licks ever committed to tape."

True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story:

Disc One – Selections: 1. Bad Luck And Trouble (A) - 2. Mean Town Blues (A) - 3. Mike Bloomfield's Introduction Of Johnny Winter (live, B) - 4. It's My Own Fault (live, B) - 5. I'm Yours And I'm Hers (C) - 6. Mean Mistreater (C, with Willie Dixon and Walter "Shakey" Horton) - 7. Dallas (C) - 8. Be Careful With A Fool (C) - 9. Leland Mississippi Blues (live, D) - 10. Memory Pain (E) - 11. Highway 61 Revisited (E) - 12. Miss Ann (E) - 13. Hustled Down In Texas (E) - 14. Black Cat Bone (live, F) - 15. Johnny B. Goode (live, F).

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Eyesight To The Blind (previously unreleased, live at Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970) - 2.Johnny Winter's Intro (live at Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970) - 3. Prodigal Son (previously unreleased, live at Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970) - 4. Mean Mistreater (live, G) - 5. Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo (H)  - 6. Guess I'll Go Away (H) - 7. On The Limb (H) - 8.  It's My Own Fault (live, I) - 9.  Jumpin' Jack Flash (live, I) - 10. Good Morning Little School Girl (live, J) - 11. Mean Town Blues (live, J).

Disc Three – Selections: 1. Still Alive And Well (K) - 2. Rock Me Baby (K) - 3. Rock & Roll (K) - 4. Rollin' 'Cross The Country (L) - 5. Hurtin' So Bad (L) - 6. Bad Luck Situation (L) - 7. Self Destructive Blues (M) - 8. Sweet Papa John (M) - 9. Rock & Roll People (M) - 10. Harlem Shuffle (live, with Edgar Winter, N) - 11. Bony Moronie (live, O) - 12. Roll With Me (live, O) - 13. Tired Of Tryin' (P) - 14. TV Mama (P) - 15. Walkin' Thru The Park (with Muddy Waters & James Cotton, P) - 16. I Done Got Over It (live, with Muddy Waters & James Cotton, Q).

Disc Four – Selections: 1. One Step At A Time (R) - 2. Honest I Do (R) - 3. Nickel Blues (R) - 4. Talk Is Cheap (S) - 5. Wolf In Sheep's Clothing (S) - 6. Bon Ton Roulet (S) - 7. Don't Take Advantage Of Me (T) - 8. Master Mechanic (U) - 9. Mojo Boogie (V) - 10. Stranger Blues (live, W) - 11. Illustrated Man (with Dr. John, X) - 12. Hard Way (Y) - 13. Highway 61 Revisited (live, Z) - 14. Maybelline (featuring Vince Gill, AA) - 15. Dust My Broom (featuring Derek Trucks, AA).

Album index:

A – from The Progressive Blues Experiment (Liberty LP-12431, recorded 1968, released 1969)

B – from Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (Columbia/Legacy 85278, recorded 1968, released 2003)

C – from Johnny Winter (Columbia 9826, recorded and released 1969)

D – from The Woodstock Experience (Columbia/Legacy 88697 48244 2, rec. 1969, rel. 2009)

E – from Second Winter (Columbia 9947, recorded and released 1969)

F – from Second Winter: Legacy Edition (Columbia/Legacy 85735, recorded 1970 at The Royal Albert Hall, London, released 2004)

G – from The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies – Isle Of Wight/Atlanta Pop (Columbia 30805, recorded July 5, 1970, at Middle Georgia Raceway, Byron, GA, released 1971, previously unavailable on CD)

H – from Johnny Winter And (Columbia 30221, recorded and released 1970)

I – from Johnny Winter And/Live (Columbia 30475, recorded 1970 at Pirate's World, Dania, FL, released 1971)

J – from Live At The Fillmore East 10/3/70 (Collectors Choice 60002, rec. 1970, rel. 2010)

K – from Still Alive And Well (Columbia 32188, recorded and released 1973)

L – from Saints & Sinners (Columbia 32715, recorded 1974, released 1975)

M – from John Dawson Winter III (Blue Sky 33292, recorded and released 1974)

N – from Together (Blue Sky 34033, recorded 1975 at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA, released 1976)

O – from Captured Live! (Blue Sky 33944, recorded 1976 at San Diego Sports Arena and Oakland Coliseum, released 1976)

P – from Nothin' But The Blues (Blue Sky 34813, recorded and released 1977)

Q – from Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (Columbia/Legacy 88697 07283 2, recorded 1977 at Masonic Temple Theatre, Detroit, released 2007)

R – from White, Hot & Blue (Blue Sky 35475, recorded and released 1978)

S – from Raisin' Cain (Blue Sky 36343, recorded 1979, released 1980)

T – from Guitar Slinger (Alligator 4735, recorded and released 1984, Grammy®-nominated)

U – from Serious Business (Alligator 4742, recorded and released 1985, Grammy®-nominated)

V – from 3rd Degree (Alligator 4748, recorded and released 1986)

W – from Live Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (Friday Music 1085, recorded late 1980s, released 2008)

X – from Let Me In (Pointblank 91744-2, recorded and released 1991)

Y – from Hey, Where's Your Brother? (Pointblank 0777 7 86512 2 2, rec. and rel. 1992)

Z – from Bob Dylan – The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (Columbia 53230, recorded 1992 at Madison Square Garden, released 1993)

AA – from Roots (Megaforce 1603, recorded and released 2011)

NEW RELEASES - JENNIFER HOLLIDAY, JEF GILSON, ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY - THE SONG IS YOU

Renowned R&B, Jazz and Broadway chanteuse Jennifer Holliday, who created and defined the role of Effie “Melody” White in the smash hit musical Dreamgirls, is set to release her first studio effort in 23 years!  Over the years, Holliday has made waves as a singer and actress, as well as scoring Tony and Grammy Awards, performing at the White House multiple times and collaborating with a plethora of greats such as Barbra Streisand, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross and more. Now, Holliday is set to unveil her master work, The Song Is You, on January 21, 2014 on Shanachie Entertainment.  The album, titled after Holliday’s rendering of a Jazz Standard made famous by Frank Sinatra, is the consummate example of passion, class, and musical excellence.  Featuring Jennifer’s soaring, emotive vocals cascading over lush horns and strings, The Song Is You navigates through a tasteful selection of Jazz, Broadway and R&B standards, as well as some lesser-known but equally beautiful numbers.  Having won legions of fans throughout her illustrious career, Jennifer Holliday is poised to make her indelible mark on the music world once more.  

JEF GILSON - THE ARCHIVES

Since Jef Gilson's passing in 2012, Jazzman Records have surveyed the substantial personal archive of his acetates, test pressings and reel to reel tapes with the kind permission of his widow, Geneviève. The task has not been easy, it's taken numerous trips to France and the generous assistance of a small army of translators, advisors, musicologists, amateur enthusiasts and record collectors, as well as the surviving members of Gilson's musical entourage, for Jazzman to gather together the information required to make this album. In it you will find music Jazzman have chosen from having listened to literally hundreds of hours of alternate takes, rehearsals, live recordings, unissued sessions and personal recordings made from the '50s to the '70s; none of which has been officially released before. Despite the limitations afforded by mastering some of these recordings from anonymous reels of twisted, buckled tape and scratched, dusty old acetate discs, Jazzman hope that the music contained herein affords a fascinating and otherwise impenetrable insight into the workings of one of the great unsung creative forces of European jazz. The record contains early experiments in Oriental and Ethnic Jazz with Lloyd Miller, unissued alternate takes of Gilson's classic repertoire, long-lost live performances from 1960s European jazz festivals and rehearsals and jam sessions that developed into a lifelong creative obsession.

ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT - PORTER CHOPS GLASPER

Great music, a great package, and a cool little record that really makes it worth owning a vinyl version of this great little track! Jill Scott's vocals are wonderful on the main version of "Calls" – remixed here by Mr Porter with added Pharoah Monche rhymes. The remix has these cool spacey touches – almost like someone's cutting the keyboards live – and these shine even more on the instrumental. The flipside has "Porter Chops Glasper" – a totally great 12 minute mix by Porter of grooves from Robert Glasper – keyboards, beats, and lots of sweet little touches all swirled together. And hey, the whole thing's on red vinyl too! ~ Dusty Groove

CARLOS SANTANA ANNOUNCES THE CORAZON 2014 TOUR DATES

Carlos Santana has announced the tour dates for the Corazon Tour 2014. 

January 22 - House of Blues Mandalay Bay,  Las Vegas

January 24 – House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

January 25 – House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

January 26 – House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

January 29 – House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

January 30 – House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

January 31 – House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

February 1– House of Blues Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

February 21nd, 2014 - Dubai Jazz Festival

February 25th, 2014 - Grand Arena, Cape Town, South Africa

February 26th, 2014 - Grand Arena, Cape Town, South Africa

February 27th, 2014 - Grand Arena, Cape Town, South Africa

March 1st, 2014 - FNB Stadium - Johannesburg, South Africa

April 23rd, 2014 Nashville, TN  Ryman Auditorium

April 26th, 2014 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre

April 27th, 2014 Saint Augstine, FL Saint Augustine Amphitheatre

April 29th, 2014 Clearwater, FL Ruck Eckerd Hall

May 2nd,  2014 Hollywood, FL, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

May 3rd,   2014 San Juan, Puerto Rico, Coliseo de Puerto Rico

The first single from Santana’s forthcoming superstar-packed album CORAZÓN entitled “La Flaca” featuring multi-platinum recording artist Juanes was recently unveiled at a Latin Grammy’s press conference in Las Vegas at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino. It was also announced at the press conference that HBO Latino and HBO Latin America have signed on to broadcast ten-time Grammy Award-winning, three-time Latin Grammy Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Santana’s once-in-a-lifetime “CORAZÓN, LIVE IN MEXICO: LIVE IT TO BELIEVE IT” concert event in Guadalajara, Mexico in Santana’s native state of Jalisco.  The concert will air on the HBO networks in spring 2014.

BRIAN CULBERTSON RELEASES INTIMATE VERSION OF 'THE CHRISTMAS SONG'

With the holiday season on his mind, contemporary jazz-R&B star Brian Culbertson recently took a break from recording his forthcoming “Another Long Night Out” album, sat down at the Mason & Hamlin grand piano in his studio and played a stark, emotionally stirring rendition of “The Christmas Song.” Enjoying his newfound freedoms as an independent recording artist, Culbertson recorded the seasonal classic and put it on iTunes (http://bit.ly/BCChristmasSong), Amazon (http://bit.ly/bcChristmasSong) and other major digital outlets..

“It is a solo piano piece of an arrangement I did many years ago. I have performed it on my Christmas tours, but had never recorded it until recently,” said Culbertson of the heartfelt, contemplative beauty. “Being able to spontaneously record and then swiftly release something new for fans is one of the energizing perks of the new music industry.”

Culbertson’s first full-length indie release and 14th album overall, “Another Long Night Out” is slated for release in late February. The project is a reimaging of his debut album, “Long Night Out,” which will mark its 20th anniversary in February. Culbertson, a multi-instrumentalist who wrote the eleven songs and played most of the instruments on the original album that he recorded in his crowded Chicago apartment while he was a 20-year-old student at DePaul University, is producing the set featuring performances by Lee Ritenour, Russ Freeman, Jonathan Butler, Rick Braun, Candy Dulfer, Eric Marienthal, Chuck Loeb, Steve Lukather and Paul Jackson Jr. along with a stellar collective of contemporary jazz musicians and a 33-piece orchestra playing arrangements by David Benoit.  

Additional information about Culbertson, who will bring in the New Year on stage with his band at a New Year’s Eve Gala at the Hyatt Regency in Huntingdon Beach, Calif., is available at www.BrianCulbertson.me.

WHITE MINK BLACK COTTON: ELECTRO SWING VS. SPEAKEASY JAZZ VOLUME 3

White Mink : Black Cotton (Electro Swing vs Speakeasy Jazz) Vol. 3 is a double digipack CD compilation and download album. As with the previous album-charting, silver-disc'd CDs, side one (White Mink) presents a diverse modern take, while the other side (Black Cotton) is all vintage. It is the latest, long-awaited, instalment in Freshly Squeezed's hugely succesful and highly influencial album series described as "Electro Swing's first landmark moment" by Mixmag. It is this series more than any other that was part of the van-guard of a global zeitgeist and that sets the gold standard for this new genre.

Compiled by label boss, DJ and world-wide radio host, Nick Hollywood, the first CD includes several exclusive tracks including a brand new remix of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Kid Kasino (feat. Shea Soul) and Swing Republic not available anywhere else. CD 2 features 12 re-mastered classics from the prohibition-era's 78rpm jazz age and is dedicated to the memory of London's late DJ, El Nino.

Since the launch of our first volume, White Mink has become the worlds leading electro swing club event, described as "One hell of a turbo-charged party" (Time Out) and named the 2nd best party in the UK by Mixmag. We have presented numerous sell-out shows by the biggest names in the genre including Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace at venues such as London's O2 Shephards Bush Empire and KOKO with numerous large festival stages hosted from Glastonbury to Latitude, the Edinburugh Fringe to Love Supreme, Bestival to Boomtown.

As the first White Mink album in two years, the anticipation for Vol.3 is greater than ever. We think that this is perhaps the best compilation in the series so far and we hope you'll agree, it has been well worth the wait!

JEFF BALLARD TRIO WITH LIONEL LOUEKE & MIGUEL ZENON - TIME'S TALES

Drummer and composer Jeff Ballard makes his long overdue, much anticipated debut as a leader with the diverse and wide-ranging Time's Tales. A master of the trio format who anchors the renowned Brad Mehldau trio and is one-third of the inventive collective group FLY with Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner, Ballard here documents his own longstanding trio with guitarist Lionel Loueke and saxophonist Miguel Zenón. 

With sounds ranging from forward-looking modern jazz to traditional African and Latin rhythms to heavy metal intensity, Time's Tales reflects the Jeff Ballard Trio's adventurous, multi-faceted identity, which has been honed on stages around the world since its formation in 2006. A landmark release in its own right, the album also arrives just as Ballard is celebrating an important benchmark in his own life, his 50th birthday.

"I'm getting into the middle of my years. So I think recording this project, with this band, makes a meaningful statement. It's a telling of my times up until this point."

A multi-faceted drummer with a keen interest in rhythms from Africa and Latin America, Ballard could have found no better partners for this endeavor than the Benin-born Loueke and Puerto Rico native Zenón. The two have imbibed the rhythms of their homelands and incorporated them into their own expansive sonic palettes, making them ideal foils for Ballard's polyrhythmic approach. 

"It's where we meet, for sure," Ballard says. "Their sophistication and awareness of rhythm is so high. Lionel's listening to three different rhythms at the same time; Miguel can hear everything. I pick up something melodically from what they're playing and put it on the drums, and they do the reverse." 

That relationship is evident right out of the gate on their buoyant, joyful take on Loueke's "Virgin Forest," which leaps off from a funky African-inspired groove in 9/4. Equally bursting with electricity is the leader's "Beat Street," which begins as a lively parade march in a New Orleans vein, but takes a few unexpected detours along the way.

Zenón provided the arrangement for Silvio Rodriguez's bolero "El Reperador de Sueños," which boasts a subtly modernized take on the original's Cuban rhythms, inspiring a sinuous, impassioned solo from the saxophonist.

The trio does not restrict itself solely to the expected sources for its repertoire, however. The moody "Dal (A Rhythm Song)" is adapted from Hungarian composer Béla Bártok's "44 Duos for Two Violins," and showcases Ballard's most coloristic playing as he crafts an atmospheric environment surrounding the intricate dialogue between Loueke and Zenón. 

Most surprising of all, however, is the trio's hyper-muscular cover of "Hangin' Tree" by the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age. Loueke suddenly channels the distorted ferocity of Jimi Hendrix on the track, revealing chops that haven't come much into play since his early days playing in rock bands back in Benin. 

"That's totally me," laughs Ballard about the unexpected choice. "I love that band and I love that vibe. I like so many different kinds of music and I can access a lot of stuff, so that diversity is really starting to come out now."

  

In contrast, the trio plays at its most tender and traditional on their airy ballad treatment of the Gershwin standard "The Man I Love." As Ballard says, "One might think that musicians from Benin and from Puerto Rico would play this song with a foreign-sounding influence, bending the song into another cultural jacket. But that's not the case - instead, one can hear these musicians' deep knowledge and respectful embrace of the American music tradition. This is a wonderful example of how diverse cultural borders can meet and disappear completely within an embrace." 

The trio's inventiveness is highlighted on the two free improvisations, one a brief interlude and the other a glimpse into the future of this still-evolving group that ends the album with a gaze at the horizon of possibility. That vast potential is also clear on the unusual "Western Wren," which uses a National Geographic-recorded bird call, transcribed by guitar great Steve Cardenas, to instigate a round robin of darting, eccentric improvisation. The piece is never played the same way twice, but prompts a look to nature for improvisation, as on the fluttering wings of Ballard's brushes or the echoing forest calls of Loueke's guitar. 

Ballard met Loueke while playing with trumpeter Avishai Cohen, and knew Zenón from their work together in Argentinean pianist Guillermo Klein's Los Guachos ensemble. He immediately recognized the potential of their combination. "I have a huge love and affection for the music of Africa, particularly West Africa, and of South America," Ballard says. 

"Even when I'm playing jazz, there's a percussive sensibility coming from Africa and South America; I have a natural affinity for that. So having Lionel and Miguel play with me made a lot of sense because of where they're from and the way they play." In the years since, the trio has carved out its own unique sound, melding the free-floating malleability of the classic Paul Motian, Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano trio with the global rhythmic approaches culled from their varied backgrounds.

Both of Ballard's bandmates are among the most innovative and acclaimed musicians on the scene today. Loueke was mentored by Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard, and has worked with legends like Jack DeJohnette and Charlie Haden as well as peers such as Gretchen Parlato, Esperanza Spalding, and Robert Glasper. Zenón is a Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow who has forged a distinctive blend of jazz and Latin American folkloric music. He's also a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective and has worked with the likes of Bobby Hutcherson, Fred Hersch, David Sánchez, and Steve Coleman. 

Born in Newport Beach, California, Jeff Ballard moved to New York after a three-year stint with the legendary Ray Charles, where he immediately began building a diverse resume with artists including Lou Donaldson, Buddy Montgomery, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Mike Stern. In the late '90s he became a part of the Danilo Pérez Trio and Chick Corea's New Trio and Origin, and later joined Joshua Redman's groove-oriented Elastic Band. In 2003, Ballard formed the collective trio FLY with Larry Grenadier and Mark Turner, which has since released three critically acclaimed recordings. 

  

Since 2005 he has been the drummer for the Brad Mehldau Trio, one of the most renowned groups in modern jazz. In addition to his trio, Ballard leads the ensemble Jeff Ballard Fairgrounds, which exists as a quintet featuring Eddie Henderson, Kevin Hays, Jeff Parker and Grenadier, and as a quartet with Loueke, pianist Tigran Hamasyan, and The Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson on electronics.

CATHERINE RUSSELL - BRING IT BACK - DUE FEB. 11, 2014

With Bring It Back, due Feb. 11, 2014 on Jazz Village/harmonia mundi, Catherine Russell pushes her remarkable run of solo work to new heights, building on her already-considerable renown as one of the foremost interpreters and explorers of mid-20th century American music.

Her fifth solo album finds Russell fronting an expanded 10-piece band, covering her widest artistic ground yet - from the earliest days of jazz through the swing era and into the rhythm and blues explosion - but with her most personal stamps. That takes extra inspiration and depth from her mother, pioneering jazz musician Carline Ray, who passed away shortly after the album was finished. And there is also a very strong presence of her father, long-time Louis Armstrong band leader and arranger Luis Russell, who is represented in several songs coming from their collaborative repertoire, drawing on the "Louis and Luis" concert she led at Jazz at Lincoln Center in spring 2012, including "I'm Shooting High" and "Public Melody Number One." Most profoundly, the album includes the first-ever recording of "Lucille," a song of her father's, recently discovered in the Armstrong archives.

Bring It Back follows her 2012 album Strictly Romancin', which topped the jazz charts and earned her the Prix du Jazz Vocal from L'Acadamie du Jazz and the Grand Prix du Hot Club de France. Called "one of the outstanding singers of our time" by The Wall Street Journal, she brings to familiar favorites and forgotten treasures alike the spark and verve cheered by hundreds of thousands in her role with Steely Dan and featured alongside Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs in the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue, as well as in her own festival, theater and club appearances and as a star of special Jazz at Lincoln Center programs. She was also heard prominently in the soundtracks to HBO's Boardwalk Empire and the movie Kill Your Darlings (starring Daniel Radcliffe as a young Allen Ginsberg).

"Love and fun" is how she sums up the thread through this album, as well as her artistic philosophy. "As I look at the list of tunes, it's love, romance and fun," she says. "Not a lot of pain. I don't do sad, not too much. That's a little 'woe is me,' feeling sorry for myself. I do things that make you move, take you back to the dance floor."

Through it all, she makes the most of what NPR called, "a voice that wails like a horn and whispers like a snake in the Garden of Eden."

On Ida Cox's "You Got to Swing and Sway" she does both. She adds her own enlivening spark to "Aged and Mellow," a 1952 Johnny Otis number that was a hit for Esther Phillips,  brought to Russell's attention by Donald Fagen. She kicks up her heels with "Darktown Strutters Ball" (one of the first major jazz hits, recorded in 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band), gets flirty with Fats Waller's "Strange As It Seems," sets a mood with "After the Lights Go Down Low" and lets down her guard on Duke Ellington's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart."

Tying it all together and bringing a deeply personal touch, is "Lucille." Written by her father Luis Russell, the noted composer and pianist, who was Louis Armstrong's orchestra leader and arranger from 1935 through the early 1940's, the song was discovered in the Louis Armstrong Archives recently in demo form. Here it receives its first public performance in the voice of the composer's daughter.

To bring a new range of swing, she added an expanded horn section to her regular core trio of guitarist/music director Matt Munisteri, pianist Mark Shane and bassist Lee Hudson for her brightest swinging album yet. Regular collaborator Paul Kahn co-produced with recording engineer Katherine Miller. Tenor saxophonist Andy Farber did the vibrant arrangements of six of the songs, with Munisteri doing two and Russell and trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso contributing horn arrangements on one each.

Through the making of the album Russell found herself on a voyage of artistic self-discovery, reaching for things that she'd felt beyond her in the past. "After the Lights Go Low," a song played at the end of every day on the radio station that provided the soundtrack of her childhood, is a perfect example.

"That's a song I rediscovered," she says. "A few years ago I don't think I could have done a song like that. It's very exposed. But I really wanted to create a mood, when people are dancing they're going to go home and ... hopefully ... whatever!"

These discoveries of music and of her own growing talents come on top of a rich career. For several decades Russell gained a place among the most in-demand background singers, working with stars from Paul Simon to David Bowie to Jackson Browne to Cyndi Lauper to Rosanne Cash. She launched her solo career less than a decade ago with the stunning Cat, showing her powers and personality across an array of jazz and blues, plus a sly reinvention of the Grateful Dead's "New Speedway Boogie." The album prompted esteemed critic Nat Hentoff to declare that after hearing countless "purported rising jazz singers ... it's a delight to hear the real thing in Catherine Russell."

She followed with 2008's Sentimental Streak, 2010's Inside This Heart of Mine and 2012's Strictly Romancin', each building on and expanding on the last. Along the way, in addition to awards and acclaim, she made two appearances on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross (the second, in Feb. 2012, included in-studio concert performances), another NPR session on the beloved Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland and has been a favorite guest on various other shows.

The new album also serves as a tribute to her mother, a pioneering force for women in jazz, who played guitar in the all-female '40s ensemble the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and performed with Erskine Hawkins, Mary Lou Williams and later the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ray's first album as a lead vocalist, Vocal Sides, in which she collaborated with her daughter, was released just months before her death.

"She worked right up to Dec. 2012," Russell says, dedicating the album to her parents. "They all are dedicated to them. Without them I wouldn't be here talking about their huge musical influences."

No matter the influences or sources of material though, Russell's magic is entirely her own.

"Nobody in the band is copying anyone, they all have their own styles and forms of expression," she says. "The whole thing we're trying to do is find ourselves in this music. I won't be Ella, Dinah, Sarah, Peggy. I won't be them. So I have to find my own way to tell these stories."

UPCOMING CATHERINE RUSSELL TOUR DATES:

December 31 / Shanghai Jazz / Madison, NJ

February 14 / Scullers Jazz Club / Boston, MA

February 15 / Wellfleet Congregational Church for Payomet Artists / Wellfleet, MA

February 24 / Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Album release celebration) / New York, NY

March 8 - 15 / Hot Jazz Tour / Various Cities, Israel

March 24 - 26 / Savannah Music Festival - Charles H. Morris Center / Savannah, GA

March 28 / Tryon Fine Arts Center / Tryon, NC

March 29 / NCSU Center Stage - Titmus Theater / Raleigh, NC

March 30 / The Rooster's Wife at The Spot / Aberdeen, NC

April 11 / The Fairmont Opera House / Fairmont, MN

April 13 / We Always Swing Jazz Series at Murry's / Columbia, MO

April 18 / Walton Arts Center / Fayetteville, AR

 April 19 / The Sheldon Concert Hall / Saint Louis, MO

May 3 / Izzy Asper Jazz Series at Winnipeg Art Gallery / Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Catherine Russell·  Bring It Back // Jazz Village ·  Release Date: February 11, 2014

www.CatherineRussell.net

JAMES BRANDON LEWIS - DIVINE TRAVELS

Even for an artist hailed by Ebony Magazine as one of "7 Young Players to Watch" who has studied with jazz heavyweights like Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Dave Douglas, Joshua Redman, and Matthew Shipp, it takes considerable confidence and courage for a young musician to match wits with veteran improvisers like William Parker and Gerald Cleaver. But on his second release, Divine Travels, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis does just that, not only holding his own with that masterful rhythm section but leading them down fresh and unexpected pathways.

Divine Travels melds the holy spirit of a gospel service with the fiery expression of free jazz, the intuitive dialogue of skilled improvisers with the stunning invention of a first meeting. Lewis' music draws in equal parts on his considerable studies and his roots in the church, as well as his considerable curiosity to discover more and deeper connections within his music.

Parker and Cleaver have a long history together, having co-founded the collective trio Farmers By Nature with pianist Craig Taborn and played together with artists like Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, and Joe Morris. And both have worked with some of modern jazz's greatest saxophonists: Parker with David S. Ware, Peter Brötzmann, and John Zorn, Cleaver with Roscoe Mitchell and Tim Berne.

Lewis calls the prospect of stepping into such esteemed shoes "a humbling experience." It was demanding for me to keep my composure and to really be honest with myself in that scenario. How do I go into this session and not think about everyone that these two gentlemen have worked with in the past? I truly respect them to the nth degree, but I had to be honest and give who I am as a person, to be vulnerable to however the recording was going to come out. And I think that I left an impression, just like they left a huge impression on my being."

Lewis' unique stamp can be heard throughout Divine Travels, which results in Parker and Cleaver revealing new facets in their own strongly individual voices. Fragments of gospel melodies emerge and evoke starkly spiritual meditations in tunes like "Wading Child in the Motherless Water," which weaves together the familiar melodies of "Wade in the Water" and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." But even when not explicitly referencing such traditional fare, Lewis shows a predilection for direct, memorable folk-like melodies that he can then develop, evolve and explore.

The album also contains two collaborations with poet Thomas Sayers Ellis, who Lewis has been working with since the two met at a residency in 2011. The Brooklyn-based poet recites works from two of his books, Skin, Inc., and The Maverick Room, which won the John C. Zacharis First Book Award in 2005.

The title Divine Travels pays homage to Lewis' belief that the music contained within is an expression of his own spiritual journey, marking both distance traveled and experiences yet to unfold.

Lewis' own travels began in Buffalo, New York in 1983. Lewis was raised in the church, which formed the core of the saxophonist's spiritual outlook. While many musicians are inspired by the church, Lewis says that its most important impact was not musical but personal, laying the foundation for his creative approach.

After graduating from the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, Lewis attended Howard University, where he studied with Charlie Young, performed with the likes of Benny Golson, Geri Allen, and Wallace Roney, and backed John Legend, k.d. lang, and Vanessa Williams at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony with the Howard University Jazz Ensemble.

In 2006, Lewis moved to Colorado and pursued a career in gospel music, working with Grammy® Award-winning singer Dorinda Clark Cole and the late "Queen of Gospel Music," Albertina Walker. He relocated again to earn his Masters at CalArts, where he was mentored by Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, and Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson, who later hired Lewis to play in his ensemble.

Lewis released his debut album, Moments, in 2010, before moving to New York City in 2012. Since arriving in the city, he has performed with a wide range of artists, including Charles Gayle, Ed Shuller, Kirk Knuffke, Jason Hwang , Marilyn Crispell, Ken Filiano, Cooper Moore, Darius Jones, Eri Yamamoto, Federico Ughi, Kenny Wessel, Marvin "Bugalu" Smith, and Sabir Mateen, and has worked with the dance company CircuitDebris under the direction of Mersiha Mesihovic. He currently leads his own trio with Luke Stewart on bass and Dominic Fragman on drums.

THE PEPPER POTS - WE MUST FIGHT

The Pepper Pots will release their new record "We Must Fight" on the back of 10 years and 6 albums, world tours that have taken in the United States, Japan, the UK, France, Russia and Germany and collaborations with some of the most important artists in the recent history of Soul music (Binky Griptite, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed) as well as the past (the Impressions, Maxine Brown). These 10 years have seen the band's approach to Old School Soul mature into this, their best album so far, representing a leap forward for both the songs and the sound of the group.

"We Must Fight" is a record that signals a number of changes. The first noticeable one is in the vocals, with the group for the first time employing two voices, those of Adriana Prunell and Aya Sima, who build up layers of emotion throughout the album, reaching the highest peaks. They are helped by some of the most personal lyrics that the group has written, inspired by the social issues around us today and the need for change, while still reaching out for fun, vitality and also love, the other great inspiration behind the record.

Apart from the lyrics and vocals, the group's sound has also undergone an evolution by combining the classic Motown sound, which has made them one of the stand-out new soul acts, with deep soul from the late 60s and early 70s, incorporating thrilling string arrangements, percussion, keys and guitars, and creating a deep groove which was already hinted at on "Train to your lover". For the album's recording, the Pepper Pots were back in their own studio, brimming with analogue equipment from the golden era of Soul. Alongside them and finetuning the vocals has been Binky Griptite of the Dap Kings, one of the most important names in the new soul scene, a man who lists collaborations with Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson, Sharon Jones, Lee Fields, Lily Allen, Ghostface Killah, Nas and Robbie Williams, among others.

Alongside this impressive list, the Pepper Pots feel honoured to have crossed paths with Binky on so many occasions in the last five years, forming such a solid bond between Girona and New York over time that we can now consider Binky an "Honorary Pepper Pot!"

JAREZ GOES "ON TOP OF THE WORLD"

Following the sizzling release of “On Top of the World,” R&B saxophonist Jarel Posey (AKA “Jarez”) will be touring in the States and overseas with hip hop music rapper Coolio.

Jarez’s tour dates are not the normal jazz venues and haunts you would expect either. He tours regularly on the hip hop scene, incorporating the smooth sounds of jazz into cutting edge beats. Jarez is perhaps one of the few jazz artists able to successfully blend the two diverse musical genres. In fact, for several years, Jarez toured with Coolio around the world, dazzling audiences unfamiliar with jazz with his playing skills and showmanship.

“Touring in over 30 countries, the experience was an unforgettable one,” explained Jarez. “Performing is one of the most satisfying experiences because I have a spiritual connection with the audience when I’m playing. To have them feel what I feel – well, it’s a divine connection. It is a double blessing and joy to be able to bring the gift of jazz to an audience not typically familiar with it, and yet have them embrace and welcome it.”

Just as his touring schedule challenges the public’s perception of jazz, “On Top of the World” marks a strategic release for this entrepreneurial artist. While the music itself appeals to a broad audience base, Jarez desires to unite the younger generation with jazz. By adding a splash of urban groove with luxurious melodies, Jarez paints a musical tapestry that is culturally rich and brazenly accessible. It is music that inspires change within the contemporary jazz landscape.

The saxophonist’s commitment to America’s future includes having served as a spokesperson for Environmental Justice and Climate Change’s (EJCC) campaign, which served Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in an educational initiative regarding global warming. This opportunity also lent him a chance to develop his fan base even further with selections from one of his previous CD releases, ” SAXOHOLIC ,” providing the musical signature for the accompanying radio show, “Just Environment” which broadcasted weekly on from Atlanta’s Clark University’s WCLK 91.9, “The Jazz of the City,” and live online at www.wclk.com.

His ability to expand his musical outreach to fans of all ages included multiple appearances on “Cooking with Coolio.” Jarez also assisted in the production of Coolio’s cookbook  of the same name, along with ongoing management of various aspects of Coolio’s business operations.

For information on Jarez and to view all available tour dates, please visit www.jarezmusic.com.

DHAFER YOUSSEF - BIRDS REQUIEM

The oud-the 11-string, fretless, acoustic relative of the lute so central to the culture of the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean-is inextricably tied to tradition, more than 5,000 years of it. But in the hands of Dhafer Youssef, one of the most highly respected and influential virtuosi of the instrument in the world, the oud takes a giant leap into the future. For more than two decades, Youssef has paid his respects to the ancient legacy of the oud while integrating its melodious, robust and resonant-but simultaneously delicate tones-with modern sounds and sensibilities, transcending genre and defying the expected. On his new album Birds Requiem (OKeh Records) Youssef has created his most breathtakingly powerful work to date, a suite of 11 interconnected compositions that, he says, were "constructed as music for an imagined movie."

Recorded primarily in Gothenburg, Sweden, with additional recording in Istanbul, Birds Requiem features Youssef on oud and vocals, clarinetist Hüsnü Senlendirici, trumpeter Nils-Petter Molvaer, Aytaç Dogan on the zither-like kanun, Eivind Aarset handling electric guitar parts and electronics, pianist Kristjan Randalu, double bassist Phil Donkin and drummer Chander Sardjoe.

Birds Requiem didn't start out as such. "At first, the title of the album was Incantations," says Youssef. "Even in my interviews, I mentioned the project using that title, which I found suitable. But once the album was recorded, the more I listened to it the more Birds Requiem imposed itself as a title."

The album is structured around what he has dubbed the "Birds Requiem" suite, whose four parts ("Birds Canticum," "Fuga Hirundinum," "Archaic Feathers" and "Whirling Birds Ceremony"), form the centerpiece of the recording. "This structure creates a leitmotif," he says, "which also symbolizes two entities that intermingle, represented by voice and clarinet." Those two essential elements produce an ethereal and welcoming pairing of sounds that, along with Youssef's oud and the other supporting instrumentation, is both otherworldly and simultaneously suggestive of something earthy and primordial.

Youssef envisions the entirety of Birds Requiem as a score for a film that exists only in his creative mind. "I imagine the movie being about two entities," he says, "myself and my permanent search for a wandering soul. It symbolizes the idea of the disappearance of the body and the wandering of the soul. This idea is also reflected in the image of the birds depicted in the songs and in the album's pictures."

Of all of his works to date, this album is closest to his heart. "It's a very personal album, that of souvenirs and memories," he says. "I was preparing this album at a turning point in my life, and at that moment, a return to the origins occurred-mine but also the origins of music."

The album took shape, Youssef recalls, after a performance he gave in Ludwigsbourg, Germany, with Senlendirici and Dogan, both of whom are from Turkey. "I always wanted to work with these great musicians and this encounter accelerated the process," he says. Youssef then brought in the other musicians and, with Lars Nilsson at the helm of the recording process, the project came together. "I composed the entire album except for the song 'Khira,' which was totally improvised between me, Kristjan Randalu and Nils-Petter Molvaer," Youssef says.

For Youssef, Birds Requiem marks the continuation of a journey into the possibilities of the oud that began during his childhood in Tunisia, where he was born in 1967. He discovered jazz as a youth and knew as he explored his instrument and composition that his lot in life would be the fusion of Eastern and Western styles into something wholly exhilarating and new. He relocated to Europe in the '90s and his reputation as an artist who blurred the lines between world music, jazz, classical and even contemporary genres such as funk grew exponentially with each new release. Albums such as 2002's Electric Sufi and 2006's Divine Shadows redefined the role of the oud in modern music, and Youssef's compositions, which also often featured his impassioned vocals, have been hailed as cutting-edge. He has received many honors for his work including a nomination for the BBC Music Awards For World Music in 2006. "I've always been in a permanent search for new sonorities," he says. "Even at the age of 6, I was curious. I discovered the echo of my voice and its resonances. Later, I experienced the undulations and the resonances of sounds that we find in Electric Sufi."

Birds Requiem is a culmination of all that he's accomplished previously, taking Dhafer Youssef's music to the next level. But he prefers not to overanalyze it all. "I sincerely think it is hard to succeed in describing the mood in this album or the others," he says. "I am convinced that its essence can only be felt while listening. It solicits the participation of the listener and the audience. Each one can feel it according to his own background or experience. Birds Requiem continues my search."