QUOTE OF THE DAY

  "One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain."

-- Bob Marley

The first time I saw Bob Marley & The Wailers was about 4 weeks before the video above was filmed. The night was May 17, 1976 at the Santa Monica Civic and I'm looking for any video, audio or a set list from that night. Quite a pivotal evening for me. I became a hardcore BMW fan that night and still would rather dance to no one more.

BIG BEAR LAKE FILM OPPORTUNITIES DELIGHT LOCAL CINEASTS

With the Village Theater closed August 15, film buffs in Big Bear Lake are left with three first-run films in town each week (occasionally 4) instead of the usual five we've been used to for years. But for cineasts and fledgling film buffs alike, this small town, only 2 hours away from the bright lights of Hollywood still has offered plenty of filmic fun.

In late August, there was a wonderful special event for film fans on the mountain: A rare showing of the landmark silent film, THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD from 1924. So rare these days to see a silent film anywhere but late at night on TCM. In first the penny arcades then the silent movie halls was where the industry learned it's craft, where film making sprouted wings.

Starring Douglas Fairbanks, Julianne Johnston and Anna May Wong, this swashbuckling adventure was presented at a fundraiser for the Community Arts Theater Society of Big Bear Lake (C.A.T.S) in their Olde Tyme Movie Night series.

Of special interest to film fans was the organ and sound effects accompaniment by renowned musician Bob Salisbury which gave old and young alike a chance to experience what it was like in the Golden Age of silent film before talkies revolutionized the movie industry.

The film was shown on the side if C.A.T.S. Warehouse Theater and the admission price of $20 included the film, pasta dinner served by the adjacent Broadway Cafe, and popcorn. It was a beautiful, summer evening and a perfect occasion to get out and see a film under the stars.

In the early years of it's development before jet travel and superhighways made getting away from it all a more world-wide opportunity, Big Bear Lake was a hideaway spot for the Hollywood film industry. Not only did they make 100s of films in the rustic grandeur of the surrounding wilderness areas but many stars had weekend homes throughout the Bear Valley.

Proximity to Hollywood still brings a passionate film goer to the mountain and locals have many wonderful opportunities in the summer time to catch movies around town.

On select Saturdays this summer families have enjoyed MOVIES ON THE BEACH at the Swim Beach Amphitheater on Park Avenue. A fun place to take the kids for family fare like Happy Feet 2, Cars 2 and The Muppets Movie. With an open snack bar and beautiful sunsets that lead right up to movie time, these are great events for kids and mom and dad as well.

All of this leads up to the 13th Annual BIG BEAR LAKE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL taking place September 14th-16th. Known for it's annual Screenwriters Competition, this year the festival honors Academy Award winning screenwriter Tom Schulman, whose first feature script for Dead Poet's Society won him the coveted Oscar statuette in 1990. He has also written screenplays for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, What About Bob? (my favorite of his projects and the last film I saw in a drive-in theater, by the way), Medicine Man and Holy Man in addition to becoming a leading director and producer as well as executive with the Writers Guild of America and the Writers Guild Foundation. Schulman will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for Screenwriting from BBLIFF.

See a trailer on the Big Bear International Film Festival here.

Being honored posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography is the great cinematographer/director/photographer, Jack Cardiff. His camera work won an Oscar for Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes, The African Queen, and Death On The Nile. He worked alongside legendary directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Orson Welles, Joseph Mankiewicz, Laurence Olivier and King Vidor. A wonderful documentary, Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) is being screened during the festival.

From the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival's website:

"BBLIFF was founded in 2000 to showcase the emerging talent of screenwriters and independent filmmakers within the idyllic setting of Big Bear Lake. Our goal is to nurture a festival that is highly creative, filmmaker friendly and which provides an educational experience for people interested in all aspects of the film industry."

The BBLIFF features three days packed with events, screenings of features, shorts, student films, panels and Q&A sessions, parties and even a film camp. Find out more about the schedule of events, including Screenwriters Competition, here.

Thanks to Monique and Brandon R. Miller of BBLIFF for assistance with this article.

JAZZ NEWS - TROMBONIST CLIFTON ANDERSON 3rd CD DROPS 9/25

Trombonist-Composer

CLIFTON ANDERSON

Releases His Third CD, and so we carry on,

On Daywood Drive Records, September 25, 2012

 With DONALD VEGA (piano), ERIC WYATT (tenor sax),
ESSIET ESSIET (bass) and STEVE WILLIAMS (drums)

Recording Also Features Special Guest Artists:
MONTY ALEXANDER, BOB CRANSHAW, KIMATI DINIZULU,
KENNY GARRETT, STEVE JORDAN, WALLACE RONEY,
JEFF "TAIN" WATTS, WARREN WOLF and VICTOR SEE YUEN

"With people increasingly faced with turmoil, uncertainty and crisis,
I wanted to create music that uplifts the listener and offers a sense of hope to prevail."
- Clifton Anderson

"Trombonist Clifton Anderson gives US the soul, substance and spirit to carry on.
Listen closely, this music will move you through the days ahead in spite of..."
- Gary Walker, WBGO Radio

What happens when you get a bunch of friends together? Trombonist, composer and producer Clifton Anderson went into the studio in September 2011 to record and produce his third release as a leader, and so we carry on, with a stellar lineup of guest artists who also happen to be his friends. The featured friends -- pianist Monty Alexander, soprano saxophonist Kenny Garrett, bassist Bob Cranshaw, trumpeter Wallace Roney, percussionists Kimati Dinizulu and Victor See Yuen, and drummers Steve Jordan and Jeff "Tain" Watts -- blended seamlessly with Clifton's working band, pianist Donald Vega, tenor saxophonist Eric Wyatt, bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Steve Williams, to create a musical blueprint for hope, renewal and carrying on.

and so we carry on opens with its title track, an original composition full of intense tones and powerful energy, letting listeners know that this is stress-relieving, feel good music. In total, there are six new original compositions, each brilliantly crafted to take the listener on an emotional journey to provide musical relief for motivation to navigate through hard and confusing times. There are also three uniquely arranged standards; the Rogers & Hart ballads "Where or When" and "Falling in Love with Love," both given fast-paced treatments, and a bright, sunshiny take on the eternally optimistic "Tomorrow," from the musical Annie.

The provocative CD cover image by artist Rudy Gutierrez is a disturbing mixture of chaos, turmoil, and just plain old scary stuff. Clifton Anderson hopes that the musical journey on and so we carry on will be the right antidote to enable people to feel better after listening.

Clifton Anderson was born on October 5, 1957 in Harlem, New York City. He grew up surrounded by music. His father was a church organist/choir director, and his mother a singer and pianist. It was no surprise that Clifton exhibited an affinity for music at an early age. When he was seven years old, he got his very first trombone, a gift from his uncle, legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. 

Clifton attended the prestigious Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art in New York City and is a graduate of The Manhattan School Of Music. In 1983, Clifton got the call to join his uncle Sonny on the road. For over three decades, he performed as a member of Sonny’s group and toured extensively with him around the world. Clifton has also appeared on ten of his recordings and has produced four releases for Sonny’s label, Doxy Records. 

In 1997, Clifton released his first recording as a leader/producer on the Milestone label entitled Landmarks. Landmarks received critical acclaim internationally and made the top ten playlists on US Jazz radio coast to coast. At the end of 2007, Clifton went back into the studio as a leader to produce the highly anticipated, critically-acclaimed Decade (2009). 

Clifton has worked and performed with a “who’s who” of diverse musical legends, such as Stevie Wonder, McCoy Tyner, Frank Foster, Slide Hampton's World Of Trombones, Dizzy Gillespie, The Mighty Sparrow, Lester Bowie, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Paul Simon, Carlos Garnett, Terumasa Hino, Keith Richards, Muhal Richard Abrams, WyClef Jean, Geri Allen, T.S. Monk, and Charlie Haden, among others.

and so we carry on 

Clifton Anderson
Release Date: September 25, 2012
Label: Daywood Drive Records
Distributed by BFM Digital

Management:

Brian McKenna / McKenna Group Productions

brian@mckennagroupproductions.com

Publicity:

Stephanie Dawn Agency {SDA}

Steph Brown

StephbSDA@gmail.com
Davida Garr

garrgirl@comcast.net

JAZZ NEWS - NEW CD FROM PIANIST SEAN WAYLAND

Visionary Pianist/Composer SEAN WAYLAND Releases His 21st Album, Click Track Jazz: Slave to the Machine, Vols. 1 & 2 (Seed Music), October 9, 2012 Double Album Release Features Wayne Krantz, Keith Carlock, Mark Guiliana, Donny McCaslin, Nate Wood, Mark Shim, Jochen Reuckert, Orlando Le Fleming, James Muller and Matt Penman Australian-born pianist, composer and keyboardist Sean Wayland creates a stunning work of improvisational jazz/funk on his latest recording, Click Track Jazz: Slave to the Machine, Vols. 1 & 2.  A creative star of Sydney’s jazz scene, Wayland relocated to Brooklyn in 2005 (following a brief earlier stint in New York) and has spent a good part of the last decade living in New York touring and recording mostly with his piano trio featuring Jochen Rueckert and Matt Penman. All the while, Wayland has maintained a high profile in Australia through his collaborations with Australian virtuoso guitarist James Muller and drummer Andrew Gander. Rueckert and Penman both feature prominently on the new double album, which also heavily features rising drum star Mark Guiliana.  An extremely prolific instrumentalist and composer, Wayland mines a vein of jazz which has its roots in such influential recordings as Herbie Hancock’s Thrust, Alan Holdsworth’s Secrets and John Scofield’s Blue Matter.  Wayland delivers 26 fresh-sounding compositions on Click Track Jazz as he effortlessly combines influences ranging from jazz piano greats Herbie Hancock and Kenny Kirkland with jazz funk and fusion masters Allan Holdsworth and Wayne Krantz, both of whom Sean has worked with in the last year. Wayland’s studies of composers of various idioms find expression in the truly rare grooves of Click Track Jazz. Deeply rooted in the jazz piano tradition, Wayland strongly feels funk rhythms and electric instruments to be equally worthy of exploration by the serious musician of today. Click Track Jazz combines the tradition of the acoustic jazz piano trio with modern rhythms and newly created instruments including Sean's own programs created on the computer-based Nord Modular G2X synthesizer. “Actual Proof,” from Thrust, is a real American masterpiece,” Wayland says. “The way it’s recorded, Herbie’s Fender Rhodes playing and Mike Clark’s drumming created an entirely new genre. I heard Holdsworth’s Flat Tyre right after 9/11 while gigging in Japan. The sounds of the synths there really captured me.  That’s when I realized it was possible to do something very interesting and original with synthesizers.” Click Track Jazz features a heady rollercoaster ride of rapt musicianship and inspired melodies, across-the-bar-line improvisations and seriously unctuous groove machinations. Vol. 1 includes “Belt Parkway,” with its darting acoustic piano, swirling synthesizers, and slippery rhythmic syncopations, bop-flavored quartet vehicle, “Boxing Day,” the Holdsworth-tinged synths and arrangement of “Conglomerate,” the Hammond B3/acoustic piano infused drive of “Flypaper,” the Wayne Krantz enlightened ruminations of “Marshmallows,” and Americana-inspired closer, “Stop I Want to Get Off.” Bringing a fresh perspective to American standards, Wayland finds a unique slant on Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” to introduce Vol. 2. Over a pulsing Mark Guiliana rhythm, Wayland improvises on a Nord Lead modular synth, the duo battling like Ninja swordsmen, Coltrane’s classic melody eventually erupting through the smoke before the song spins out and collapses, as quickly as the track began. Wayland explains the significance of finding and playing with Guiliana in the context of his larger body of work. “I think Mark has revolutionized improvised drumming. It's a real step forward in the language and concepts. He sounds like what has been in my head for years and previously only my computer drum programming could realize. It’s actually a dream come true to hear my music performed by him. I believe that over the last few years of playing and touring, we have developed a unique way of playing together.” Other highlights of Vol. 2 include the odd phrase-shifting explorations of “Mark Is Enough,” the atmospheric synth tonalities of “QY70,” “Technocalypse,” with its squirrely melody and gently insinuating rhythms, and the ominous “Waiting for the Computer to Take Over.”  Throughout Click Track Jazz, Wayland merges various strains for an album that is simultaneously challenging, refreshing, and forward thinking. A graduate of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music where he won the Jack Chrostowski Piano Award and was a finalist in 1993’s National Jazz Piano Awards, Wayland arrived in New York City in 1999 and soon became a fixture on Harlem’s chitlin circuit, and a regular at Lower East Side haunt, The Living Room, supporting Madeleine Peyroux and Jesse Harris. Constantly learning, recording and expanding his knowledge base, Wayland also adapted his keyboards to suit his vision. “I’ve spent a great deal of time tinkering with what’s possible,” Wayland explains. “For synthesizers, I created a patch that allows me to transpose the whole keyboard by playing notes on the bottom octave.  Rather than spending time practicing insane chromatic systems I can play them on the spot.” Since arriving in New York, Wayland has recorded at a furious clip with a compelling collective of like-minded musicians. Most recently, Pistachio and Pistachio 2 (featuring Keith Carlock, Tim LeFebvre & Adam Rogers from 2009), Live at 55 Bar Dec 2009 (featuring Mark Guiliana & Jeff Hanley), and The Show Must Go On (featuring Rueckert & Penman, 2010) paved the way for Wayland’s most powerful statement yet, Click Track Jazz: Slave to the Machine, Vols 1 & 2. “The new record is an attempt to straddle multiple styles,” Wayland says.  “It blurs the division between playing rhythm changes, actually having a chord sequence and having no chord sequence.  Overall, I wanted to make a funky, improvised record that was also as acoustic as possible.”  Release Date: October 9, 2012  www.seanwayland.com Publicity Contact: Matt Merewitz - Fully Altered Media 347-384-2839 matt@fullyaltered.com fullyaltered.com twitter.com/fullyaltered