The History of Jazz Music

Larry "DOC" Elliott

Welcome to the New Year 2012!  Out with the old and in with the new! The History of Jazz Music.com's family of great music lovers marches to the back-beat of great drummers like Buddy Rich while "Preserving The Past". We're also stepping into tomorrow by "Presenting The Future" with percussionists like Harvey Mason. Enjoy VIDEO works from them both inside THOJM's 24/7/365 Video Rotation! For members making New Year’s Resolutions to lose a few pounds or to stop smoking, may we suggest a much easier one to accomplish? Post your profile picture onto The History Of Jazz Music.com website! Maybe someone nice will notice it and offer to work out with you or help motivate you into dropping whatever bad habits you'd like to rid yourself of in the coming year! Congratulations to THOJM's Jazzy Lady of The Month, Helen Johnson from Randallstown, MD! The first THOJM Jazzy Gentleman of the year is Jonathan Cheng of New Taipei, Taiwan! May all members of The History of Jazz Music.com continue to be blessed by the BEST throughout 2012 and remember to

"Keep The Beat"!

Larry "Doc" Elliott

The History Of Jazz Music.com
www.thehistoryofjazzmusic.com

THE HISTORY OF JAZZ MUSIC.com CYBER-STAR SEARCH RULES

1)       ONLY properly copyrighted OR original compositions can be eligible for entry.

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8)      The History  Of Jazz Music.com CYBER-STAR SEARCH WINNERS announced weekly on-site AND via e-mail to be sent  to winners AND to The History Of Jazz Music.com members  each Monday

9)      Each weekly winner progresses on to Finals and competes against other weekly winners for the Finals Grand Prize.

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Executive Auto Wash

Michael Franks

Franks grew up in southern California with his father Gerald, his mother Betty and younger sister Christine who is the mother of Connor Sullivan (The lead singer of The Royal Nonesuch). Although no one in his family played music, his parents loved swing music and his early influences included Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Johnny Mercer. At age 14 Franks bought his first guitar, a Japanese Marco Polo for $29.95 with six private lessons included - the only music education that he received.

At University High in Irvine, Franks discovered the poetry of Theodore Roethke with his off-rhymes and hidden meter. In high school, he began singing folk-rock, accompanying himself on guitar. Studying English at UCLA Michael discovered Dave Brubeck, Patti Page, Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Miles Davis. He never studied music in college or later,^[2] but earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA in comparative literature in 1966 and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oregon in 1968. He had a teaching assistantship in a Ph.D. program in American literature at the University of Montrealbefore returning to teach part-time at UCLA.

During this time Franks started writing songs, starting with the antiwar musical Anthems in E-flat starring Mark Hamill. He also composed music for the films Count Your Bullets, Cockfighter, and Zandy's Bride, starring Liv Ullmann and Gene Hackman. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee recorded three of his songs, including "White Boy Lost in the Blues" on their album Sonny & Brownie. Franks played guitar, banjo and mandolin on the album and joined them in touring. In 1973, he recorded an eponymous album, later reissued as Previously Unavailable, which included the minor hit "Can't Seem to Shake This Rock 'n Roll".

In 1975 Franks released his second album The Art of Tea, beginning a long relationship with Warner Brothers Music. The Art of Tea featured Joe Sample, Larry Carlton and Wilton Felder of The Crusaders and included the hit song "Popsicle Toes". His third album, Sleeping Gypsy (1977), which includes the song "The Lady Wants to Know", was partially recorded in Brazil. Around this time, percussionist Ray Armando gave Franks a cabasa, which became a signature instrument for him to play on stage when he was not playing guitar. Burchfield Nines(1978), which includes the song "When the Cookie Jar Is Empty", reflects his move to New York City and features more of an East Coast sound. Since then, Franks has recorded more than 15 albums.

His best known works include "When I Give My Love to You", "Popsicle Toes", "Monkey See, Monkey Do", "Tiger in the Rain", "Rainy Night in Tokyo", and "Tell Me All About It". His biggest hit came in 1983 with "When Sly Calls (Don't Touch That Phone)" from the album Passionfruit. Radio hits include "Your Secret's Safe With Me" from 1985's Skin Dive, and "Island Life" from 1987s The Camera Never Lies.

Please enjoy the link provided by Phatsak1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIhr9B1TYFE

For more information on Michael Franks please contact us at thehistoryofjazzmusic.com

Please help us preserve The History of Jazz Music!

The tag line for my company, Key of Gee, is “Have A Very Musical Day”. My life is filled with rhythms and sounds. I am listening, writing reviews, singing and humming all day. A friend asked if I could go 24 hours without turning on music. I told him I could and then began to wonder “what was I thinking?”
I took the dare and learned a great lesson. I kept to my regular routine – up early tied up my walking shoes – headed out for some exercise with no IPod – no music!
Walking my regular route, I noticed a large pothole in the street. Every vehicle that hit that hole had a different sound da-dum da-dum. The business on the corner flies three flags. As the wind blew the flags there was a whip, pop, whip sound and the rope on the flags was banging the pole, clang um clang. I started smiling, is nature making me cheat?
Car horns blowing, loud mufflers, dogs barking, birds chirping -- the leaves on the tree – the sound of my shoes hitting the pavement -- everything has a sound – its own cadence.
For 24 hours, I didn’t turn on any music. I took the time to be present in the moment and enjoy my surrounding and heard some wonderful sounds. And I still had a Very Musical Day.

This year, Baker’s Keyboard Lounge celebrated 76 years of Jazz – maintaining its standing as the world’s oldest Jazz Club.

In an effort to keep the music playing, Roger Tucker and Three Quarter Step will host a Wednesday Night open mic Jazz Jam at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. Come out and hear Jazz-America’s music performed by Detroit’s premier artists. In the weeks to come there will be fabulous door prizes and special celebrity guest performances. You won’t want to miss a week.

The open mic Jazz Jam starts Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 9:30pm. All Musicians and vocalists are invited to perform.

Baker’s is known for hosting the best in Detroit’s Jazz including: James Carter, Rayse Biggs, Calvin Brooks, Al McKenzie, Penny Wells, Allan Barnes, Vonne', Jazzeray, Gwen Dommond, David Myles and Mylestones, Guymon Ensley, Ange Smith, Ola Hemphill, Rene King-Jackson, Earl Klugh, Straight Ahead, Port of Call, to name a few. Come and experience standing on the stage that also hosted: Dave Brubeck, Donald Byrd, Oscar Peterson, Sunny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Jon Lucien and Sea Wind. Mix with the spirits of Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Liberace, Dr. Teddy Harris, Ken Cox, Donald Walden and the list goes on and on.

Calling All Past Performers -- It’s up to us to keep the music playing!



Baker’s Keyboard Lounge

20510 Livernois
Detroit, MI 48221

313-345-6300

HAVE A VERY MUSICAL DAY!


Sponsored by: Scott’s Cleaning Company, Inc.

Zachary Scott – (313) 318 – 2634 Call for Free Estimates

www.keyofgee.com

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Patrice Rushen

Rushen was the elder of two daughters born to the late Allen Rushen and the former Ruth Harris. She demonstrated her musical potential at a young age; she was regarded as a child prodigy. In her teens, she won the prestigious 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival. She earned a degree in music from the University of Southern California. As a mature woman, she became a jazz master and top musical director.

Rushen has many ground-breaking achievements. She became the first woman to serve as head composer/musical director for the Grammy Awards and the Emmy Awards, and the first woman to serve as musical director for the NAACP Image Awards' broadcast, an honor she held for twelve consecutive years. Additionally, Rushen has been the only woman to be a musical director/composer for the People’s Choice Awards, HBO’s Comic Relief and the only woman musical director/conductor/arranger for a late-night television talk show, The Midnight Hour.

In addition, Rushen was named musical director/composer for Newsweek's first American Achievement Awards, broadcast on CBS from the Kennedy Center and she served as the musical director for Janet Jackson's janet. World Tour.

In 2008, Rushen accepted a professorship at the Berklee College of Music, in Boston. The course is "Patrice Rushen: The Value of Music Education."

Along with contemporaries George Duke and George Benson, Patrice Rushen made a major transition from cutting respected acoustic jazz material to hitting the upper reaches of the club and R&B charts. A dynamite keyboardist with a limited but sweet voice, Rushen debuted at the age of 20 on the Prestige label, working with maverick saxophonist Joe Henderson. Within a matter of a few years, legendary club DJ Larry Levan was spinning her carefree but sophisticated post-disco singles released on Elektra. Rushen continued releasing R&B albums into the '90s while never completely departing the jazz world; she also became a barrier-breaking musical director.

Born September 30, 1954, in Los Angeles, CA, Rushen's parents enrolled her in music classes at USC when she was three. In her teens, she won a solo competition at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival. The attention garnered from this earned her a contract with the Prestige label. After recording Prelusion (1974), Before the Dawn (1975), and Shout It Out (1976), and establishing herself as an in-demand session player on albums such as Donald Byrd’s Caricatures and Eddie Henderson’s Heritage, for which she contributed "Kudu," Rushen signed with Elektra. Forging an engaging jazz/R&B/funk fusion, she found a new audience through Patrice (1977), Pizzazz (1979), Posh (1980), Straight from the Heart (1982), and Now (1984). Most of these sets impacted both the jazz and R&B charts, and several singles off them were heard on dancefloors and across airwaves. 1980's "Haven't You Heard" and 1982's "Forget Me Nots" were the most successful of the lot; both of them went Top Ten on the R&B and club charts. The latter was sampled heavily for Will Smith’s 1997 hit "Men in Black," while the former became the basis of Kirk Franklin’s 2005 gospel crossover smash "Looking for You."

From the mid-'80s onward, Rushen's solo recordings were relatively sporadic, including sets for Arista, Sindrome, and Discovery; some of these were her most jazz-oriented releases since the mid-'70s. During the early '90s, she established herself as a musical director, guiding Janet Jackson’s janet. world tour. More significantly, in 2004, she became the first woman to serve as musical director for the Grammy Awards. Throughout the decade, she continued to record, lending her skills to releases by Lee Ritenour, Stanley Clarke, George Benson, Babatunde Lea, and Jill Scott, not to mention the Hidden Beach label's Unwrapped series of hip-hop reinterpretations.

Please enjoy the link provided by Phatsak1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Modl_Oej78I

For more information on Patrice Rushen please contact: thehistoryofjazzmusic@gmail.com

Victor Wooten

Bassist Victor Wooten began his musical career early. At age three, his brother Regi taught him to play bass, and at age five he made his stage debut with his four older brothers in the Wootens, playing songs by R&B mainstays like James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, War, and Curtis Mayfield. After playing regional tours and opening for acts like Mayfield and War, the Wootens recorded an album in 1985. However, the record received little commercial or critical response, and eventually the Wooten Brothers found other gigs. By 1988, Victor Wooten moved to Nashville to join a rock band, and the following year met Béla Fleck, the banjo player for New Grass Revival. Fleck was forming a jazz group to appear on a TV show; he recruited Wooten, his brother Roy on drums, and Howard Levy on keyboards and harmonica. As the Flecktones, the group earned numerous accolades, including four Grammy nominations and a number one album on the jazz charts.

As the '90s progressed, Wooten added a solo recording career and numerous collaborations to his duties in the Flecktones. Along with solo albums like 1996's A Show of Hands and the following year's What Did He Say?, Wooten contributed to albums by friends like David Grier, Paul Brady, and Branford Marsalis' Buckshot LeFonque. His third solo album, Yin-Yang, which featured appearances by Fleck, Bootsy Collins, and the Wooten Brothers, was released in 1999. Live in America from 2001 documented four years on the road in a double-disc package. After tours with the Flecktones and a 2001 release/tour with the group Bass Extremes, Wooten returned to his solo career in 2005 with the album Soul Circus. Released in 2008, Palmystery included turns by violinist Eric Silver and harmonica player Howard Levy. Heather Phares, Rovi

Please enjoy the link provided by Phatsak1: http://youtu.be/tthroVK8JN8

For more information on Victor Wooten please contact us at: thehistoryofjazzmusic@gmail.com

Mindy Abair

Born c. 1969, in St. Petersburg, FL; daughter of Lance (a saxophone player and keyboardist) and Linda Abair. Education: Attended University of Northern Florida; graduated from Berklee College of Music, magna cum laude, 1991.

At a time of sagging sales for contemporary and smooth jazz, pop-inspired saxophonist Mindi Abair has brought the cool factor back onto the jazz scene, boosting not only her own popularity, but that of an entire genre as well. With her heavy emphasis on the sounds of R&B and dance music as well as pop and rock, her jazz tunes defy categorization, and have attracted many new, young listeners to the genre. Although most clearly defined as a jazz musician, she cut her teeth playing the saxophone for pop superstars the Backstreet Boys. That connection showed clearly in her 2003 major label debut, It Just Happens that Way. "Lucy's," a single from the album, debuted at the number one position on the Radio & Records chart for most airplay. Following on the single's heels, the album itself landed in the top ten on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart.

Abair grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, in a family of musicians. Her father, Lance, was a saxophone player and keyboardist. His band, the Entertainers, frequently played on the road, and Lance took his family along with him, including Abair and her mother, Linda. Abair was the third generation of musicians in the family; her grandmother had been an opera singer. Young Mindi Abair learned to play the piano when she was five years old, while on the road with her father. She soon fell in love with the saxophone, again following her father's example. She had learned to play the sax by the time she was eight years old, and that same year she began writing her own music.

By the time she reached high school, Abair was an accomplished musician, playing in her high school marching band, in which she also played drums. There was never a point at which she decided to make music her life, she recalled later, she simply always was a musician. Her early influences were not only the music of jazz musicians such as Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and others, but top 40 hits as well, and this blend of tastes defined her work in later years.

After graduation from high school, Abair won a full scholarship to the University of Northern Florida to study music. But she soon found that the music department was not receptive to her interest in contemporary jazz. "It was a great experience," she later explained to Kevin Walker in the Tampa Tribune, "but they were very traditional." After a year she transferred to the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. There she found herself at home with instructors and fellow students, who appreciated her desire to fuse jazz with rock, dance, and pop sounds. Among her most influential teachers was famous saxophone instructor Joe Viola, who helped her further hone her composition skills. After class she got even more experience playing in jam sessions with classmates in the dorms.

Following her graduation from Berklee, Abair moved to Los Angeles. Unlike many of her peers, she chose not to get a day job to help support herself; she expected her music to support her immediately. To this end, she put together a band to play in clubs at night and, lacking other work, she played on the streets of Santa Monica during the day. The gamble paid off when new age recording artist John Tesh spotted her in one of her club gigs and invited her to join a concert tour he was putting together. She accepted, and her career was off and running. More job offers rolled in, and soon she was playing with such acts as the Gap Band, Adam Sandler, Mandy Moore, Teena Marie, and perhaps most significantly, from 1999 to 2001, the pop group the Backstreet Boys.

Bud Harner, a Verve record label representative, caught one of Abair's acts in concert. He later described the scene to Dave Scheiber in the Chicago Sun-Times: "The whole place was just mesmerized by her, this beautiful, young, blond woman ... just burning on the horn." Abair was already committed to a long-term tour with the Backstreet Boys tour, so she and Harner agreed to talk when she returned.

For Abair, the gig with the Backstreet Boys--two years on the road as the band's featured sax player--marked a major milestone in her career. She played in 50,000-seat venues throughout the United States and Europe, making professional contacts and gaining valuable experience that would serve her well in her later career as a soloist. After her return from the tour in 2001, she sent Harner a demo CD, and Verve gave her a contract. The result was an album called It Just Happens that Way, Abair's major label debut. The title of the album came from a 1962 live album by jazz saxophone great Cannonball Adderley, on which he can be heard saying, as quoted on the Verve Music Group website, "Hipness is not a state of mind. It's a fact of life. You don't decide you're hip. It just happens that way."

The album debuted to brisk sales and to critical acclaim. A single from the album titled "Lucy's" hit the number one spot on the Radio & Records chart for most airplay, and the album itself climbed to the top ten on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart. The record label began receiving fan letters from teens, an accomplishment normally reserved for pop stars. Abair has said of her debut that it was the culmination of a lifetime of work, that all of her playing and practicing and performing had been leading up to this achievement. She couldn't have been happier, too, with the success of the album at music stores and among critics, who praised it for its fresh approach to jazz. Abair was proud, not only of landing her own recording contract and playing her own compositions, but for having achieved success in a field largely dominated by men.

Abair has continued to live in Los Angeles. As for the future, she has said she plans to produce many more albums, and to one day start a family. "I grew up on the road," she explained on the Verve website, "so I think I can pull it off.... But I have to meet someone first."

by Michael Belfiore

Please enjoy the link provided by Phatsak1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMv1rXt1dHo

For information on Mindi Abair please contact: thehistoryofjazzmusic@gmail.com