JAZZ NEWS - TIM BERNE

SAXOPHONIST TIM BERNE'S INTERVIEW IN VILLAGE VOICE

I've had the pleasure of seeing Tim Berne perform live in numerous settings and ensembles since the early 80s and it is always a mind-boggling experience. Testing the listener's pre-conceptions and notions of what music not only is made of but of what kind of physical and emotion sensations one is able to absorb from a musical experience.

Here is a fun and rare interview with the artist which delves into his perspectives on being an independent label owner (Screwgun) and creative musician in today's Internet driven landscape.

NEW REMASTERED MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR DVD from THE BEATLES

More info at THE BEATLES official website.

From BASS MUSICIAN:

Paul McCartney’s Rickenbacker Remixed On Restored Magical Mystery Tour Movie

55th MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL JUST AROUND THE CORNER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2012 www.montereyjazzfestival.org
Monterey Jazz Festival Enhances Its Services and Offerings for Patrons Including Live Webcast from the Night Club,  Free Wi-Fi on Fairgrounds, Free 55th Festival Apps for iPhone and Android Mobile Phones Festival Increases Greening Efforts in 2012 to Include U.S. Pure Water Stations, Food Waste Collection Program, Free Bicycle Valet Parking Festival Parking Arrangements Courtesy of Monterey Peninsula College and JAZZ Shuttles for Patrons Provided by Monterey-Salinas Transit September 12, 2012; Monterey, CA; Monterey Jazz Festival is proud to announce a number of enhancements to the 55th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, all to benefit the patron experience. Once again, nightly concerts from the Night Club’s Bill Berry Stage will be available through a free live Web stream, brought to a global audience through a partnership between Monterey Jazz Festival and StreamGuys. Nine shows will be available September 21-23, beginning with Friday Night’s Pedrito Martinez Group featuring Ariacne Trujillo; Gregoire Maret Quartet; and Gregory Porter streaming live starting at 8:00 p.m. Saturday’s shows, beginning at 7:30 p.m., include Christian Scott; Tierney Sutton Band; and Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreamers featuring Eyvind Kang and Rudy Royston. Sunday’s Web stream, starting at 7:00 p.m. includes the Hammond B3 Blowout with the John Abercrombie Trio; Larry Goldings Trio; and the Chester Thompson Quartet. All Webcasts are Pacific Standard Time. Visit montereyjazzfestival.org/2012/live for our 2012 live Web stream. Also returning for 2012 will be the free 55th Monterey Jazz Festival App, for iPhone and Android and free Wi-Fi on the Festival grounds, so patrons can use these apps with ease. Each version of the Monterey Jazz Festival App gives patrons the ability to build a customized schedule of events, read artist info and bios, watch the live Webcast, access photo archives, and many more interactive features. The App can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or Google Play by searching for “Monterey Jazz Festival.” The free Wi-Fi is brought to Festival patrons by Meraki and Alvarez Technology Group. Continued efforts to make the Monterey Jazz Festival as green as possible include offering a self-service filtered water station, beverage container recycling, food waste recycling, and bicycle valet.  The self-service filtered water program, in association with U.S. Pure Water, will help to eliminate the need for and the waste of single-use plastic bottles at the Festival.,  All Festival attendees will be provided free access to multiple USPW filtered water stations (using compostable coconut shell carbon) throughout the three-day festival. Patrons are asked to assist in the success of this new program by refilling and reusing drinking containers, leading to a huge reduction in plastic bottle waste from the event. Water bottles will also available for purchase, with the proceeds benefiting the Festival’s life-changing jazz education programs. Ecology Action of Santa Cruz, in partnership with Pacific Grove’s The Offset Project will continue to implement comprehensive beverage container recycling programs and collect the food waste from the vendor areas, to help get closer to zero waste. The Monterey County Fairgrounds received hundreds of blue recycling barrels that are currently used during all venue events, and in 2011, the program transported nearly 3,000 pounds of food waste. Returning to the Monterey Jazz Festival for the fifth year in a row is the free Bicycle Valet Parking for patrons who are able to commute to the Festival from local hotels and residences, provided in partnership between Monterey Jazz Festival, the Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey Green Action, and Green Pedal Couriers. The free Bicycle Valet Service is located at Fairgrounds Gate 3, on the corner of Fairground Road and Garden Road, at the southwest end of the Festival grounds. Monterey Green Action is committed to minimizing the environmental footprint of the city of Monterey, promoting green policies and practices, raising awareness, and spurring community action. General Paid Parking for the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival will be at Monterey Peninsula College, a short distance from the Fairgrounds, located at 980 Fremont Street, Monterey, CA 93940. The Monterey Jazz Festival will charge $10 to cover parking costs. Complimentary Bus Service, provided by Monterey-Salinas Transit, will be available every fifteen minutes throughout the Festival weekend, offering easy and eco-friendly transportation between the parking areas at Monterey Peninsula College and the Monterey County Fairgrounds. The new JAZZ bus line will be unveiled for Festival patrons, which will serve the most heavily travelled route across Monterey beginning fourth quarter of 2012, reducing local travel times by as much as 25%. The JAZZ line will also connect over 30 custom designed shelters that feature displays highlighting the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 55-year history. Complimentary Bus Service to the Festival will begin when the parking areas open at Monterey Peninsula College, beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 21; 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 22; and 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 23. All buses will be wheelchair accessible. We encourage all patrons to visit the Monterey Jazz Festival Web site, montereyjazzfestival.org  to view maps and more information regarding the parking for this year. Tickets for the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival September 21-23 are available by phone at 888.248.6499 through the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Web site, montereyjazzfestival.org, or through walk-up service at the Monterey County Fairgrounds beginning Monday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m. About Monterey Jazz Festival Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates the legacy of jazz and expands the boundaries of and opportunities to experience jazz through the creative production of performances and educational programs. The Festival, now in its 55th year, is the world’s longest continuously-running jazz festival.
### The 55th Monterey Jazz Festival partners include Alaska Airlines, Amoeba Music, Big Sur Land Trust, Carmel Road Winery, DownBeat, Gallien-Krueger, Inns of Monterey, The Jazz Cruise, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jelly Belly, KGO 810, KUSP 88.9, Monterey Peninsula College, North Coast Brewing Company, Remo, San Jose Mercury News, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, StreamGuys, Yamaha Instruments, and Casa Vinicola Zonin. Monterey Jazz Festival also receives support for its Jazz Education Programs from AT&T Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Community Foundation of Monterey County, D’Addario Music Foundation, Joseph Drown Foundation, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Fund, Harden Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Quest Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Rotary International, Upjohn California Fund, Union Bank Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Robert & Audrey Talbott Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, and generous individual contributors. THANKS TO TIM ORR AND MJF FOR PROVIDING THIS PRESS RELEASE...

JAZZ NEWS - GUITARIST REZ ABBASI 9th CD COMING 10/9

Guitarist REZ ABBASI Releases His Ninth Album Continuous Beat on Enja Records, October 9, 2012 Voted #2 Rising Star Guitarist in 2012 Down Beat International Critics Poll  Inventive guitarist Rez Abbasi takes the pulse of the modern guitar trio on his ninth album, Continuous Beat. Embracing the use of electronics and effects to broaden his sonic palette to a much further extent than he ever has in the past, Abbasi evolves the scope and range of possibilities of the traditional guitar/bass/drums format far beyond its apparent limitations. “People often think of the jazz guitar trio and relate it to all things historical,” Abbasi says. “That's not to say that the Jim Hall trio records aren’t some of my favorite albums of all time. But it’s 2012 now and we've heard a lot of purely ‘warm’ guitar trio albums. I wanted to stimulate the listener’s aural perception throughout the album - to give them a sense of textural surprise from start to finish that embodies both that warmth and the desire to push away from the commonplace.” The occasion for Abbasi’s first ever trio release was his discovery of the very special chemistry between himself, bassist John Hebert, and drummer Satoshi Takeishi. He has known and played with both for over fifteen years, but their uniting as a trio was a fortunate accident brought about by unfortunate circumstances. In late 2011, Abbasi was looking forward to performing for the first time with one of his musical heroes, the legendary drummer Paul Motian. He had composed a number of new pieces for the date, which was to be a trio with Hebert. Unfortunately, a week before the gig Motian was forced to cancel due to the health issues that would lead to his passing last November. Instead of canceling the date altogether, however, Abbasi tapped Takeishi to step in, knowing the Japanese-born drummer’s openness would mesh well with pieces composed with Motian in mind. “I knew Paul's playing intimately from recordings and seeing him live multiple times,” Abbasi says. “I felt this was a good opportunity to write a few tunes with his character in mind, the operative description being ‘complexity within simplicity.’ In other words, music that was comfortable enough to play without a rehearsal, yet stimulating enough to create an interactive trio sound. That seems to encapsulate his aesthetic.” Two of those pieces feature on Continuous Beat, whose title acknowledges the “immortality of great artists” like Motian, Abbasi explains. With Motian’s death, the album became something of a loose tribute and includes pieces from two composers associated with the drummer: Gary Peacock’s “Major Major” and Keith Jarrett’s “The Cure.” The trio also offers an evanescent arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “Off Minor,” a Motian favorite. “Paul's life galvanized this project,” Abbasi says, “but then it went further from there.” The disc begins with the solo “Intro,” which offers a key to the album’s transformation of Abbasi’s approach. The piece is based on an Indian raga that the Pakistani-born guitarist has played often, but by using a reverse delay the material is mutated into something alien and unpredictable that Abbasi can play against, almost a duo with himself. That piece is bookended with Abbasi’s warm yet melancholy solo rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner,” which closes the CD. “Recording that was kind of cathartic in the sense that being an American at this point in history can be confusing, especially when you were born in Pakistan,” he says. “The question of ‘what it means’ arises given the climate of terrorism, the state of the union, the economy, immigration, et cetera. So I essentially tried to put the beauty back into my faith, although I'm not a ‘patriotic’ type at all. The melody has so much energy behind it that it simply felt right to do a modern day version with modern harmony.” Another meaning behind the album’s title came out of the fact that at the same time that Abbasi was mixing the session, his mother-in-law was undergoing triple bypass surgery. Alternating between the ER and the studio “was strange and emphasized the vitality of the heart,” he says. That vital heartbeat is evident in the trio’s interactions as soon as they appear on “Divided Attention” and is maintained throughout Continuous Beat. Both “Rivalry” and “iTexture” were written with Motian in mind, the latter also being a tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs following his death. “Back Skin” is a piece built on an Indian form that Abbasi has explored in different fashion in saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition. In projects like that trio and throughout his own work, Abbasi continually explores the conjunction between jazz and South Asian music. The guitarist moved to the US from Karachi, Pakistan at the age of four and went on to study at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music. He studied Indian music with a disciple of Ravi Shankar and performed and recorded with jazz greats including Billy Hart, Dave Douglas, Marilyn Crispell and Greg Osby. His own music has fused those two sounds in intriguing and surprising ways throughout his nine releases. Most important on this latest album for Abbasi was the chance to reconnect in such an intimate fashion with two longtime collaborators. “We've always had a connection,” he says of his triomates, “partly due to the way we interact as humans, partly due to what our vision of what music can be, and partly due to our unspoken telepathy. As jazz musicians we tend to move forward and make new relationships but there also comes a time to look back at some of our more meaningful relationships.” Release Date: October 9, 2012

www.reztone.com Publicity Contact: Matt Merewitz - Fully Altered Media 347-384-2839 matt@fullyaltered.com fullyaltered.com twitter.com/fullyaltered

Musicians vs. politicians

Musicians vs. politicians

From SALON.COM a slide show of musicians standing up for their right to say where their songs are used in the political arena. The thing I don't understand is after all the hoopla during the Reagan campaign about his misuse of "Born In The U.S.A." why would ANY politician regardless of party use someone's music without first checking with the artist? "Oh, yeah, we politicians are supposed to be beyond reproach. Oh yeah, the public is dumb and won't notice. Oh yeah, our people are incompetent and don't think we'll get caught. Oh yeah, trust us. We're smart. We cover all the bases. Oh, I mean, 'Oops'".