tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16503018419255789072024-03-05T09:02:44.624-08:00Women in Jazz Book ProjectUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-52639809747800302472022-02-21T10:32:00.004-08:002022-02-21T14:55:25.125-08:00This Beloved Houston Musician Recorded a Prince Tribute Album Before She Died — And It’s Finally Finished<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiC54LcajivJblJlAX-8_9Id8bnsX6IC4JyK0SH5ZcMVOoTBW_NVd1bWgZjCktSK_Jg5O7GFhtLegx0S_AQRnBreZ936mOJFOyQ3shonuVARc-TzLR26-AvfSNcof2gEhKi7iN-VlTS0CLkUnbxWlTKTx7ISPsJNCx4ECWEbl02ELs8x6Y1pW2IeBykA=s720" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiC54LcajivJblJlAX-8_9Id8bnsX6IC4JyK0SH5ZcMVOoTBW_NVd1bWgZjCktSK_Jg5O7GFhtLegx0S_AQRnBreZ936mOJFOyQ3shonuVARc-TzLR26-AvfSNcof2gEhKi7iN-VlTS0CLkUnbxWlTKTx7ISPsJNCx4ECWEbl02ELs8x6Y1pW2IeBykA=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><p>An entire unreleased album of Prince covers by late great Houston jazz singer <a href="http://kellyegray.com/" target="_blank"><b>Kellye Gray</b></a> drops tomorrow. Kellye did reach out to me when my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i> came out, and man, do I regret missing the opportunity to interview her for that project. She's a hell of a singer with so many stories to tell. Big thank you to Lucy Anderson, Henry Darragh and David Craig for taking time to speak with me about Kellye and her artistry</p><p>Here is what I wrote about Kellye for <i><a href="https://www.houstoncitybook.com/kellye-gray/" target="_blank">Houston CityBook</a></i>: </p><p>IN 2018, WHEN Dallas-born, Houston-based jazz singer <b>Kellye Gray</b> went into the EAR Studio in Austin to record <i>Purple Gray: A Prince Offering</i>, an entire album of songs by Prince, she did not know it would be her last project. In early December of that year, shortly after tracking eight of Prince’s songs, Gray was diagnosed with breast cancer, and a few weeks later, she was gone.</p><p>For fans of Gray’s inimitable, no holds barred style of singing, the loss was devastating, and her swan song, <i>Purple Gray</i> was stuck in limbo. Until now.</p><p>Set for digital release on Feb. 22, which would have been Gray’s 68th birthday, <i>Purple Gray </i>will finally see the light of day, thanks to the efforts of Gray’s close friend and soulmate <b>Lucy Anderson</b>. In March 2019, after over a year of mourning, Anderson and audio engineer <b>Erich Avinger</b> got to work, using email correspondence between Gray and Avinger as a guide for mixing and mastering the album. Given the fact that for several years Anderson and Gray were inseparable, listening back to Gray’s deeply felt singing on such iconic Prince ballads as “The Beautiful Ones” and “Nothing Compares To U” wasn’t easy. “It was gut wrenching, actually,” says Anderson. “Finishing the album didn’t happen without a lot of tears and tissues.”</p><p>Born in Dallas in 1954, Gray came through a rough childhood, including a period of time during which she and her siblings lived in an orphanage after their parents divorced. She picked up the guitar in her teens, and later became a part of Houston’s improv comedy scene, where she shared the stage with <b>Sam Kinison</b> and <b>Bill Hicks</b>, and used her voice to create sound effects, similar in spirit to the scat vocals of <b>Ella Fitzgerald</b> and <b>Louis Armstrong</b>. Gray gradually built a reputation as a powerful singer and riveting live performer, whose diverse repertoire included jazz standards, <b>Burt Bacharach</b> ballads, gutbucket blues numbers and vintage country songs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGHxwIBMyJCFXfDdStO2IxZBOv15Xzfx_d_BHU3S2hviI_tFewziqWegsJ8kDW3fH_NQ8U2h4SLdjQCZlBpGRKfw6cyenMF_tcLPQRW8wTLWv71ASAhaCOCZGkDPIdCt4iIEC4veBSyKDYk5LGqWavjnscB-_eOXpnuO5ZOayZMbNtGnVtZWdPN9pD9g=s3000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGHxwIBMyJCFXfDdStO2IxZBOv15Xzfx_d_BHU3S2hviI_tFewziqWegsJ8kDW3fH_NQ8U2h4SLdjQCZlBpGRKfw6cyenMF_tcLPQRW8wTLWv71ASAhaCOCZGkDPIdCt4iIEC4veBSyKDYk5LGqWavjnscB-_eOXpnuO5ZOayZMbNtGnVtZWdPN9pD9g=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Meanwhile, Gray’s live performances and in-between song banter became the stuff of legend. Growing up gay in a less enlightened time in Texas, and dealing with the sexist, misogynistic behavior of male jazz musicians gave Gray a hard edge, though audiences both gay and straight simply saw her as strong woman who happened to be a superb musician. “She could really work an audience,” confirms Houston bassist <b>David Craig</b>, who played and toured with Gray for many years. “She could be scathing and just rip people up, but she could also be really sweet and engaging. And once she got the crowd in the palm of her hands, that was it.” Houston pianist and vocalist <b>Henry Darragh</b> met Gray at Cezanne in 2004, and quickly became a fan and a friend. “As a vocalist, Kellye was powerful and dynamic, and very adventurous,” says Darragh, whose original ballad “<a href="https://youtu.be/3sORUk6wf0o" target="_blank">My Friend Kellye</a>” pays tribute to Gray’s gentler side.</p><p>With songs ranging from Prince’s biggest hits (“Kiss”) and deep cuts (“All The Critics Love U In New York”), <i>Purple Gray</i> is a both celebration of Gray’s artistry, and a heartfelt tribute to another musical genius who left this world too soon. “Kellye was a visionary,” says Anderson. “Very tuned in and empathetic, with a contagious, childlike enthusiasm, which is why people loved her.”</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-67346489363143786232022-02-18T09:15:00.005-08:002022-02-18T09:25:43.105-08:00Welcome!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgu_W9yB5FMp1JT974X_T-SVY3Co8TraYiBFvUyNKldPs9xP7BANcfZjBAQMsWo6hsFtO_wz-jUK2Z8Q-_6TJywYkNDqcnSjGrvbUR3EiPF47v9G1Sl8LKcckuugIfeVqaacfvbSjelzHX3EUH18fxcNohsivAPHJXLSvFPNeyLwv2eShCW0ZUiEjyUcw=s403" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="403" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgu_W9yB5FMp1JT974X_T-SVY3Co8TraYiBFvUyNKldPs9xP7BANcfZjBAQMsWo6hsFtO_wz-jUK2Z8Q-_6TJywYkNDqcnSjGrvbUR3EiPF47v9G1Sl8LKcckuugIfeVqaacfvbSjelzHX3EUH18fxcNohsivAPHJXLSvFPNeyLwv2eShCW0ZUiEjyUcw=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Photo of <b>Connie Crothers</b> by <b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sonicbeet/">Peter Gannushkin</a></b></div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">After a few years of minimal activity, I am relaunching this blog to promote my book, <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>, and create an expansive platform for all of my music writing, which explores jazz, blues, rock, classical and contemporary classical music and the avant-garde. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>Details about and excerpts from the interviews in my book are <a href="https://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/11/read-excerpts-from-freedom-of.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and s</span>everal articles I have written for <i>Houston CityBook</i>, <i>Houstonia</i>, <i>Culturemap Houston</i>, <i>Acoustic Guitar</i>, <i>Houston Press</i>, <i>Sequenza 21</i> and <i>Los Angeles Review of Book</i>s are available <a href="https://chrisbecker.contently.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thank you for visiting!</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-17370408152554366012019-01-06T12:21:00.001-08:002019-01-06T12:21:36.697-08:0018th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival: Celebrating Women in Jazz<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJijg_gcLONAl-uvCHNSP8NPQTrOGEcUIg9_gBsVf0xyyG37BqunkaV0kT_f0djCb5-dD9K7Dl6qpnlyAh6F-3cFnm6T5u4DHhMBnpR-YuOtipjEOM3Q8kgOsNyZtZnD8-qF8w7S9f7Lsc/s1600/Trinity+Jazz+Festival+2019.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJijg_gcLONAl-uvCHNSP8NPQTrOGEcUIg9_gBsVf0xyyG37BqunkaV0kT_f0djCb5-dD9K7Dl6qpnlyAh6F-3cFnm6T5u4DHhMBnpR-YuOtipjEOM3Q8kgOsNyZtZnD8-qF8w7S9f7Lsc/s640/Trinity+Jazz+Festival+2019.jpg" width="512" /></a></center>
<br>
<center>
<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trinity-jazz-festival-celebrating-women-in-jazz-tickets-53038597874">18th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival</a><br>
Sat, January 26, 2019<br>
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM CST
<br>
Trinity Church<br>
1015 Holman Street<br>
Houston, Texas 77004</center>
<br>
6:00 PM - CD Release Party with Interview by <b>Chris Becker</b>, author of <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz</i>.
<br><br>
7:00 PM - 18th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival, celebrating Women in Jazz.
<br><br>
Opening Act: Houston Jewels of Jazz, featuring vocalists <b>Yvonne Washington</b>, <b>Mickey Moseley</b> and <b>Ermelinda Cuellat</b>, with <b>Erin Wright</b>- bass; <b>Bob Henschen</b>- piano.
<br><br>
Headliner: Pianist <b>Helen Sung</b>, debuting her first vocal CD, <i><a href="https://youtu.be/gZWhKguBJGg">Sung With Words</a></i>, and her New York quintet: <b>Kendrick Scott</b> - drums; <b>David Wong</b>- bass; <b>Samuel Torres</b>-percussion; <b>John Ellis</b>- saxophone; <b>Christie Dashiel</b>, vocals.
<br><br>
>> <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trinity-jazz-festival-celebrating-women-in-jazz-tickets-53038597874">Tickets</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-33524242852629118252018-12-29T13:42:00.001-08:002019-01-06T12:22:12.595-08:00Helen Sung at the 2019 Trinity Jazz Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAKtAnW_3Pet-9vguU_5Cg_Xfol34qLGBRtkTCFjqqlbZ0_xpB_evM1V9lBBc8GK_mdJwNvH3zHgoMdnLo8ieE7wR29a5N4Wy3l1iaL2Fnf88W2iDJe_q6TcRJNT2elTO1r90oXWcoIWz/s1600/Helen-Sung-Pianist7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAKtAnW_3Pet-9vguU_5Cg_Xfol34qLGBRtkTCFjqqlbZ0_xpB_evM1V9lBBc8GK_mdJwNvH3zHgoMdnLo8ieE7wR29a5N4Wy3l1iaL2Fnf88W2iDJe_q6TcRJNT2elTO1r90oXWcoIWz/s320/Helen-Sung-Pianist7.jpg" width="320" height="216" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1078" /></a></div>
<br>
Looking ahead to January . . . as part of the <b><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trinity-jazz-festival-celebrating-women-in-jazz-tickets-53038597874">2019 Trinity Jazz Festival</a></b>, I will be talking LIVE before a gathered audience to the festival's headliner, Houston-born pianist and composer <b>Helen Sung</b>. We'll discuss the genesis of her excellent new jazz and poetry album, <i>Sung With Words</i>, which includes Houston's own Kendrick Scott on the drums. More on this as the date approaches. (<b>Helen Sung</b> is one of the 37 musicians interviewed in my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>.)
<br><br>
<center>
Sat, January 26, 2019<br>
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM CST
<br>
Trinity Church<br>
1015 Holman Street<br>
Houston, Texas 77004</center>
<br>
6:00 PM - CD Release Party with Interview by <b>Chris Becker</b>, author of <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz</i>.
<br><br>
7:00 PM - 18th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival, celebrating Women in Jazz.
<br><br>
Opening Act: Houston Jewels of Jazz, featuring vocalists <b>Yvonne Washington</b>, <b>Mickey Moseley</b> and <b>Ermelinda Cuellat</b>, with <b>Erin Wright</b>- bass; <b>Bob Henschen</b>- piano.
<br><br>
Headliner: Pianist <b>Helen Sung</b>, debuting her first vocal CD, <i><a href="https://youtu.be/gZWhKguBJGg">Sung With Words</a></i>, and her New York quintet: <b>Kendrick Scott</b> - drums; <b>David Wong</b>- bass; <b>Samuel Torres</b>-percussion; <b>John Ellis</b>- saxophone; <b>Christie Dashiel</b>, vocals.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-19812412312675297662018-07-17T22:00:00.003-07:002018-07-17T22:00:30.468-07:00Eleanora Fagen: b. April 7, 1915. d. July 17, 1959. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdeFt91VlDri1A3M99erkpzMzDexlH-ODX2FpclDpAsX-ohODsY-rHWg48w8RXkSWtyl50RnToJ08Xsuwp-x2kqN8N34NRgma3BpRlM5dWSEBMPh9lbnB9pPlTzDba2uEpv7fgGxVmVfkL/s1600/Billie_smoking.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdeFt91VlDri1A3M99erkpzMzDexlH-ODX2FpclDpAsX-ohODsY-rHWg48w8RXkSWtyl50RnToJ08Xsuwp-x2kqN8N34NRgma3BpRlM5dWSEBMPh9lbnB9pPlTzDba2uEpv7fgGxVmVfkL/s640/Billie_smoking.gif" width="532" /></a></div>
<br />
Eleanora Fagen. It's a name one might come across in the pages of a novel by Emily Bront<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">ë</span><br />
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or Charles Dickens. Born in 1915, Fagan would take the stage name <b>Billie Holiday</b> and change the course of American music.<br />
<br />
Singer Dee Dee Bridgewater describes Holiday as ". . . a groundbreaking singer. Her style was extremely unique. Very avant-garde. She refused to go the way of other singers of her time. She was a vocalist who made it possible for singers like me to carve out a career for themselves." Frank Sinatra, who readily acknowledged Holiday's influence on his own singing, put it simply: "With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the U.S. during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single influence on me." In addition to "standing up for her individuality" and making a career for herself against incredible odds, including segregation and racism, Holiday, in Bridgewater's words, "went down fighting." (Excerpted from <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>.)<br />
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</style>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-57991806100068350132018-02-27T04:45:00.000-08:002018-02-27T04:48:25.428-08:00Houston Singer Jacqui Sutton brings "Un-Cross Talk" to MATCH, March 16 and 17<div class="MsoNormal">
Houston singer and bandleader <b><a href="http://jacquisutton.com/">Jacqui Sutton</a></b> premieres her
new project "Un-Cross Talk: Jazz and Blues Slip n' Slide Together Houston Style" at MATCH, March 16 and 17. "Un-Cross Talk" is described as "a
semi-theatrical, multi-media immersive musical experience that seeks to make
urban and rural America talk 'with' one another, instead of 'across' from each
other; hence the title 'Un-Cross Talk.'" Sutton is one of the 37 musicians I interview in my book
<i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>. Here is the introduction
to and an excerpt from that conversation.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacqui Sutton (Photo by Richard Tomcala)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">When it comes to
realizing one’s musical potential, a musician must cut his or her own path. The
journey is never straightforward and certainly doesn’t unfold within the
prescribed timeline of a four-year degree program. Interestingly, across all
artistic disciplines, coming into one’s own is commonly described as “finding
your own voice.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The beginning of
singer <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jacqui Sutton’s</b> musical
journey can be traced back to the 1960s when she, along with her siblings and
mother (“newly single, and pregnant with her sixth child”), relocated from
Orlando, Florida, to Rochester, New York. At the end of the final decade of
what author Isabel Wilkerson calls “America’s great migration,”65 over six
million black citizens had relocated from the South to northern and western
states. The 1969 Supreme Court decision Alexander v. Holmes County Board of
Education ruled “school districts must immediately terminate dual school
systems based on race and operate only unitary school systems.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Integration also
found its way into popular music, in bands like Sly and the Family Stone, or
the influence of the Beatles’ track “Eleanor Rigby” on Stevie Wonder’s “Village
Ghetto Land” from his conceptual masterpiece <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Songs in the Key of Life</i>. And like the Fab Four from Liverpool,
Sutton explains that during this time, “I found myself drawn to experiences
that were the opposite of my own.”67 You can hear what she’s talking about on
her first album, Billie and Dolly, a tribute to two of her favorite singers and
biggest influences, Billie Holiday and Dolly Parton. Her second album, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Notes From the Frontier: A Musical Journey</i>
(That word again!), expands her repertoire to include Appalachian songs, classical
composition, and jazz standards in inventive musical settings Sutton<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">describes as “a
stylistic mash-up of jazz, bluegrass, and orchestral/chamber music.” Sutton’s
singing is similarly multifaceted and sits comfortably in an ensemble that
forgoes traditional jazz instrumentation to include banjo, cello, and hand percussion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In addition to
being just fun to listen to, Sutton’s conceptual approach to music making is
part of a continuum of jazz as once described by the great Jelly Roll Morton as
a music that uses ideas drawn from operas, symphonies, and overtures. Add
Appalachian ballads, country music, and rural blues to that list and you get an
idea of what Sutton and her band, the Frontier Jazz Orchestra, are able to pull
off on record and in live performance. Finding one’s voice can mean finding the
threads that tie together seemingly disparate influences in a way that
transcends modern-day pastiche and resonates with a similarly diverse
cross-section of listeners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Here’s a
quote from you I got from your biography. I’m taking it out of context. “In
many ways, I feel grateful that I’ve discovered my voice now rather than when I
was in my 20s. All those years languishing in oblivion forced me to respond to
music in a more mature way.” Can you talk to me a little more about discovering
your voice now as opposed to when you were in your 20s or right out of high
school?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">While I was
going through it, I was incredibly frustrated. I didn’t think I would ever be a
singer or put something together like the Frontier Jazz Orchestra. With the
exception of studying flute as a kid—I had a very short career on the flute in
elementary school—I didn’t study music. I didn’t study in high school, I didn’t
study in college. I didn’t really start to study until I was like 23 or 24.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I have a low
speaking voice. I auditioned for this vocal jazz ensemble called Jazz Mouth and
I got in; I don’t know how! I still to this day don’t know how Molly Holm cast
me in that jazz ensemble. But she said, “Okay, now you gotta study!” So I did,
but I kept getting miscast as an alto, because of my speaking voice and because
I didn’t know any better. I was always trying to sing as an alto, and doing
that gave me a lot of bad habits. So after about 10 years of studying, I moved
to New York in my mid-30s and found a voice teacher who said, “You are a soprano.
Now we don’t know what kind of soprano. Yet. But you’re a soprano.” [laughs] So
I had to retrain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">While I was
singing, I was also an actor. I did classical theater, I did Shakespeare, and I
did a lot of musical theater and experimental theater. Once I discovered
acting, I said, “You know, acting is so much more rewarding and I’m frustrated
with singing.” So I dropped singing and did acting for many years. It wasn’t
until I moved to New York in the mid to late 90s that I took up voice again.
And that was when I discovered I was a soprano.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">After I moved
here to Houston, I met my voice teacher, Cynthia Clayton. Cynthia sings with
the Houston Grand Opera and she teaches as well. She’s a professor of vocal
performance at the University of Houston. She got my voice to open up more. It
wasn’t until I started studying with Cynthia that I enjoyed singing. Before
then it was all terror. Something drove me to do it, but it was always
terrifying, so I never had any confidence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">While studying
with Cynthia, I released my first CD, <i>Billie and Dolly</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">So finding
a teacher who understood your voice and how you should sing, did that coincide
with you beginning to explore repertoire that includes both Billie Holiday and
Dolly Parton? And did singing that material help you with the process of
finding your voice?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">That’s a good
question. I think it was all kind of happening at the same time. I had been
listening to jazz and bluegrass since I was in my early 20s. Both of the sounds
had always been in my head. I think a lot of frustration I felt was because I
didn’t want to be pigeonholed into either. Each style seemed to have a specific
vocal approach that I was not sure how to handle. So I didn’t really pursue it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I will tell
you that the songs I selected for <i>Billie and Dolly </i>were all songs I
always liked personally. From Dolly Parton’s “Endless Stream of Tears” to
Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” to “A Sleepin’ Bee.” “A Sleepin’ Bee” is
a song that my teacher in New York tortured me with! I loved it so much but I
didn’t have the chops to sing it. And when I finally got the chops to sing it,
I said, “I want to do this song!” And it actually fit! It fit as a Frontier
Jazz song. So my repertoire includes songs that I’ve been singing forever but
had just been technically trying to master. Others are songs that I just
emotionally connected with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Is there a bridge, some commonalities
between jazz and bluegrass that you use in your singing?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Absolutely. It
is so integral to who I am. I mean, Frontier Jazz is saying “you all think
you’re so different, but you have a voice together.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">First of all,
they’re both uniquely American art forms. There is precedent for the two forms
making out! [laughs] Making out musically! They’ve been on parallel tracks in
my head for so long that I did not ever want to separate them. But I can tell
you that people get very confused when I say I’m blending jazz and bluegrass
together. One reviewer said (and I’m paraphrasing), “It’s curious on paper, but
it makes total sense once you hear it.” And I think that’s what’s been part of
the trajectory is getting people to understand that these two musical forms
have a lot in common.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><i>Jacqui Sutton and the Frontier Jazz Orchestra present "Un-Cross Talk" March 16-17 at MATCH, 3400 Main Street. 713-521-4533. <a href="http://matchouston.org/">matchouston.org</a></i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-27233962738023469822018-01-14T17:48:00.000-08:002018-01-14T17:48:07.758-08:00A Brief HERstory of Jazz: The Singers at The Jung Center of Houston, March 28, 7:30 p.m.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypD01taEelv3lTyDUifpfbGSzYDVMCvjqzFVcTlDn0TnGFVUK3qkZ_g2d_qeU_cJsSlQpFVjNam55KpV0Iwv_S5q9-1U3UWFjEl-xVofgYtb20w8mIMA1hg62t52zbLHtiV4Jx7oMqGm4/s1600/Tianna+Hall_for+sidebar_photo+by+Pin+Lim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypD01taEelv3lTyDUifpfbGSzYDVMCvjqzFVcTlDn0TnGFVUK3qkZ_g2d_qeU_cJsSlQpFVjNam55KpV0Iwv_S5q9-1U3UWFjEl-xVofgYtb20w8mIMA1hg62t52zbLHtiV4Jx7oMqGm4/s400/Tianna+Hall_for+sidebar_photo+by+Pin+Lim.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tianna Hall (Photo by Pin Lim)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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On Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. at The Jung Center of
Houston, I will present a lecture with live music by jazz singer <b><a href="http://www.tiannahall.com/">Tianna Hall</a></b>.
The lecture, titled <i>A Brief HERstory of Jazz: The Singers</i>. Here is
the description of the event from The Jung Center of Houston website:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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From <b>Bessie Smith</b>, to <b>Billie Holiday</b>, to <b>Dee Dee
Bridgewater</b>, jazz singers have not only shaped the development of the music,
but provided a “voice” for the expression of profound joy, righteous anger, and
deep sorrow. In this dynamic lecture by writer and composer <b>Chris Becker,</b> with
live music performed by Houston jazz singer <b>Tianna Hall</b>, we will consider what
defines “jazz” singing, and explore the history and recorded legacy of several
iconic female vocalists, including Holiday, one of the most influential singers
of the 20th century, who made a career for herself against incredible odds, and
<b>Ella Fitzgerald</b>, who singer <b>Jane Monheit </b>describes as “one of the true
originators of the art form.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This presentation is designed for both casual and seasoned
jazz fans.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The cost is $20 / $15 for Jung Center members. You can
register in advance by phone (713- 524-8253) or <a href="http://junghouston.org/program-offering-detail/?id=1721223d-d980-d62f-cb21-5a2d3c4822a3">online</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-53901563455787349592017-11-24T08:37:00.000-08:002017-11-24T08:39:40.887-08:00Mindi Abair Interview Excerpt<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
"I always went into musical situations with no chip on my shoulder . . . You hope that the color of your skin doesn't prevent you from getting a job or that being a man or woman doesn't. It does sometimes. . . . I can name some gigs I got because I am a woman, and some gigs I did not get because I am a woman.</div>
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"I do find that there are more women out there doing their thing because it's less odd now, you know? It's just more acceptable, which is beautiful. One day nobody's even going to think about it." (Excerpted from my interview with saxophonist <b><a href="http://www.mindiabair.com/">Mindi Abair</a></b> in <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>.)</div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers LIVE at Jazz Alley in Seattle performing Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child".</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-15535918264032117162017-05-10T04:52:00.000-07:002017-05-10T04:52:03.471-07:00A Brief HERstory of Jazz at The Jung Center of Houston<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeHkZWtE9R7zTs0SwDPlKiNZp-kMyXRsvik-kWH1Tq5rqUCqIlysn2ObKx8dYmUP0WYWp_G4uXgVxUmaEg9gsiLYsspMZEeJ_PD_fDXPYXphZognFb5V1KMN5UEA-Tbh8EFksJRcw0gOE/s1600/Lil_Hardin_Armstrong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeHkZWtE9R7zTs0SwDPlKiNZp-kMyXRsvik-kWH1Tq5rqUCqIlysn2ObKx8dYmUP0WYWp_G4uXgVxUmaEg9gsiLYsspMZEeJ_PD_fDXPYXphZognFb5V1KMN5UEA-Tbh8EFksJRcw0gOE/s400/Lil_Hardin_Armstrong.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pianist, singer and composer Lillian Hardin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
On Wednesday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m. at <a href="http://junghouston.org/">The Jung Center of Houston</a>, I will present a lecture with live music by saxophonist <b><a href="http://www.saxleash.com/">Alisha Pattillo</a></b> and pianist and singer <b><a href="http://www.pamelayork.com/">Pamela York</a></b>. My lecture, titled "A Brief HERstory of Jazz," will focus on three pioneering female jazz musicians: pianist, singer and composer <b>Lillian Hardin</b>, pianist and composer <b>Mary Lou Williams</b>, and pianist, harpist and composer <b>Alice Coltrane</b>. Portions of my lecture will be include live musical accompaniment by Pattillo and York.<br />
<br />
The cost is $20 / $15 for Jung Center members. You can register in advance by phone or <a href="http://junghouston.org/program-offering-detail/?id=33d13e3f-8d17-40af-21a0-58e7e85238df">online</a>.<br />
<br />
I am really looking forward to this, and very proud to be a part of The Jung Center of Houston's summer programming.<br />
<br />
Here is a description of the lecture and performance from The Jung Center website:<br />
<br />
"Discover the untold feminine past, present, and future of jazz in this revelatory lecture by musician and writer <b>Chris Becker</b>, author of <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz</i>, with live music performed by Houston jazz artists <b>Pamela York</b> and saxophonist <b>Alisha Pattillo</b>. We will learn about the groundbreaking women who made crucial contributions to the development of jazz, from bandleader Lillian Hardin, who brought Louis Armstrong into the national spotlight, to pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams, whose repertoire spans seven decades and nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. This engaging presentation is designed for both casual and seasoned jazz fans."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-32503135080726791972017-04-25T16:43:00.003-07:002017-08-21T15:54:55.471-07:00Diane Schuur: A Life of Making Music in the Moment<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyuUA67_Fs5Ll7QHpgmNuOBNjy2kiSpVidqW8oUb8Ivb4TMWls3KqPHccodCGXAvbAMc7xmziTDlzI_Ug0FiCyiwPjr6lvT-Dq6qsdzsvqKLSdKlJuacE_cCTBFV3bDNGjM9XhadyDdgkV/s1600/Diane+Schuur+Photo+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyuUA67_Fs5Ll7QHpgmNuOBNjy2kiSpVidqW8oUb8Ivb4TMWls3KqPHccodCGXAvbAMc7xmziTDlzI_Ug0FiCyiwPjr6lvT-Dq6qsdzsvqKLSdKlJuacE_cCTBFV3bDNGjM9XhadyDdgkV/s640/Diane+Schuur+Photo+2016.jpg" width="436" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Lani Garfield.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Interview with Diane Schuur by Chris Becker<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.dianeschuur.com/">Diane Schuur</a></b> was just 22 when she relocated from her hometown of Seattle to Los Angeles, and then boldly auditioned for a spot on <i>The Tonight Show</i>. Born in 1953, Schuur had been gigging since the age of 10 (a recording of an eleven-year-old Schuur belting out a jaw-dropping rendition of “September in the Rain” appears on her 2008 album <i>Some Other Time</i>), and was gaining attention as a prodigiously talented vocalist. Though <i>Tonight Show</i> bandleader <b>Doc Severinson</b> was not unimpressed with Schuur who, despite being blind, played and sang with the musical sophistication of a woman twice her age, she didn’t get the gig. Schuur persevered, paying her dues and singing for audiences in clubs and festivals across Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Her big break came in 1979 thanks to a show stopping performance of “Amazing Grace” at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and a subsequent backstage meeting with saxophonist <b><a href="http://www.stangetz.net/">Stan Getz</a></b>, a transplanted New Yorker and one of the originators of West Coast jazz. Getz was blown away by Schuur's soulful voice and dramatic sense of delivery. He became a mentor to Schuur, and in 1982, invited her to be part of a star-studded performance at the White House, which included such jazz greats as <b>Dizzy Gillespie</b>, <b>Chick Corea</b> and <b>Jon Faddis</b>, and was filmed for broadcast on PBS. Schuur's career skyrocketed; she went on to appear eleven times on <i>The Tonight Show</i>, and record 11 Billboard chart-topping albums for GRP Records, including the Grammy-award winning <i>Diane Schuur &amp; the Count Basie Orchestra</i>, along with several recordings for Concord and Atlantic records. She continues to tour widely across the U.S., Europe and Asia, most recently in Italy and South Korea.<br />
<br />
Schuur pays tribute to Getz, who died in 1991, as well as the late great <b>Frank Sinatra</b> on her most recent album, <i>I Remember You</i>. The musical, personal and spiritual connection between saxophonists and singers in jazz has always been profound, from <b>Billie Holiday</b> and <b>Lester Young</b>, to Getz and <b>Astrud Gilberto</b>, to Schuur and <b><a href="http://www.erniewatts.com/">Ernie Watts</a></b>. Los Angeles jazz fans will be able to witness that connection first hand when Watts and two of the city’s most in-demand players, bassist <b>Bruce Lett</b> and drummer <b>Kendall Kay</b>, join Schuur for a special concert at <a href="http://thewallis.org/schuur">The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on April 28</a>.<br />
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Like <b>Sarah Vaughn</b>, <b>Ella Fitzgerald</b> and <b>Dee Dee Bridgewater</b>, Schuur is part of a lineage of American singers who learned the art of jazz primarily by ear and on the bandstand. (Though Schuur did study piano formally as a child at the Washington State School for the Blind.) When asked if there are any singers today who stand out for her, Schuur replies, “To be honest, I keep gravitating back to the old jazzers. <b>Dinah Washington</b>, <b>Sarah Vaughn</b> and <b>Nancy Wilson</b>.” Those three singers in particular have had a profound influence on Schuur, and like them, she swings this music in a way that is pure and unforced. You can hear it in the way she tells a story when singing a song, be it <b>George and Ira Gershwin’s</b> freewheeling, Prohibition-era classic “S’Wonderful,” or <b>Jimmy Webb’s</b> heartbreaking late-1960s ballad “Didn’t We.” Now 27 ½ years sober, and newly single after a long marriage to her soul mate <b>Les "Rocket" Crockett</b>, a former aerospace engineer who, at the time of this writing, is in hospice after a long battle with several health issues, Schuur sounds as good if not better than she ever has, and has no plans of stopping anytime soon. <br />
<br />
In conversation, Schuur keeps her answers friendly, but succinct, and delights in occasionally disarming the interviewer with her bawdy sense of humor. And while she keeps her politics and certain aspects of her personal life close to her chest, she is happy to describe in detail the “wonderful ritual” of being at home in her desert “Deedle pad” in Cathedral City. California is the place where Schuur finds time to "live in the moment."<br />
<br />
<b>CHRIS BECKER: What kind of person were you when you auditioned for <i>The Tonight Show</i> back in 1975? How would you describe yourself?</b><br />
<br />
<b>DIANE SCHUUR:</b> I was an ambitious little thing back then, and maybe somewhat naïve. I hadn’t been subjected to what the world could actually dish out. (laughs) But I definitely had a purpose in mind for doing those things. I was hoping the opportunity would bear fruit. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the gig.<br />
<br />
At the time, I was working at a place called The Etcetera Club. I’ve worked at the Hollywood Bowl several times, and of course the Catalina Bar and Grill. I did that gig for at least a decade. L.A.’s been good to me.<br />
<br />
<b>The Monterey Jazz Festival performances were very important gigs for you.</b><br />
<br />
Oh, absolutely! I’ll never forget the first time I did Monterey. It was 1976 with drummer Ed Shaughnessy and his big band Energy Force, and we played in front of thousands and thousands of people. It was really quite and experience. I also performed as a solo pianist and singer at the festival. The last time I did Monterey I believe was in 1993 with The Count Basie Orchestra.<br />
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<b>In 1979, Stan Getz came into your orbit. </b><br />
<br />
Yes, he did. He brought me to the White House in 1982 for the PBS special . . . that definitely changed my life in a lot of ways. But still, the myth persists of “the overnight sensation.” It doesn’t happen that fast. It takes a lot of gigs and a lot of work to reach a pinnacle.<br />
<br />
<b>What was Stan Getz like? You two formed a close friendship. </b><br />
<br />
He could be really charming . . . it just depended on the day and the mood and the substance, you know? Because back then he was still “practicing,” if you know what I mean, which I didn’t even know about until later. He could be very charming and everything, but on the other hand, there was that Jekyll and Hyde side of him. I didn’t know sometimes what to expect. But the point is, he taught me about delivering a song, and that you didn’t have to give it all away all in one note or all in one phrase. That singing a song is kind of a building process, and telling a story.<br />
<br />
On the liner notes for <i>I Remember You</i>, you credit saxophonist <b><a href="http://www.joelfrahm.com/">Joel Frahm</a></b> for being “your other voice.” Is there always a dialogue happening between a singer and saxophonist in performance?<br />
<br />
Yes, definitely. There is a running dialogue happening, musically. The thing that comes to mind, and this may really sound far fetched, is the <i>Close Encounters of a Third Kind</i> dialogue between the musicians and the mother ship as it’s coming down. (laughs) I don’t know why that came to mind, but it did!<br />
<br />
<b>Well, in that film, the humans and aliens communicated through music! Tell me about Ernie Watts.</b><br />
<br />
He was on <i>The Tonight Show</i> for decades. He’s just a wonderful arranger, composer and saxophonist. Not only is he a brilliant musician, he’s one of my dearest friends, just one of the coolest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to get to know.<br />
<br />
<b>So we’re talking about personality very different than Stan’s?</b><br />
<br />
It’s like night and day. Watts is just such a cool cat, and very wise. When I’ve gone through things, he’s been a confidant for me to talk to.<br />
<br />
<b>As a singer, what do you want to hear from your bass player?</b><br />
<br />
Support. Which is part of the function of a bass player. To give support or grounding to a musician or a singer. Bruce Letts is really good, and I love working with him as well.<br />
<br />
I<b>n performance, the bass and drums are engaging in a musical conversation with you as well.</b><br />
<br />
Yes. Maybe “support” is too general a word. Kendall Kay is very strong, and yet very sensitive. It’s wonderful to be able to have that combination, because there are a lot of musicians who have one or the other. It’s a little harder to find someone who has both, and he does.<br />
<br />
<b>As the singer, do you lead the band? </b><br />
<br />
Oh, no doubt! (laughs) I’ve got to man, or we fall apart! I’ve got to be the captain of the ship. And the musicians are my co-pilots, you know?<br />
<br />
<b>When you get in a room with Ernie, Bruce and Kendall, and you call up a song, do you have to give them any direction before you begin? Or do you just play? </b><br />
<br />
We pretty much just play. In fact, I’ll do that onstage, sometimes even with a tune we’ve never played before. (shouts) ‘How ‘bout we do this?’ ‘Okay, Deeds! Let’s do it!’ And we go right into it. And the audience really digs it, because they know it’s spontaneous. It’s loose and fun.<br />
<br />
<b>You trust each other enough to try something you haven’t done before.</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, and most of the time, it’s pretty hip, because we’re all in the same musical universe.<br />
<br />
<b>Do you practice singing every day? </b><br />
<br />
No. I have a lesson every two weeks with a really wonderful vocal coach in New York. We do it by Skype. We’ve been doing this since July 2013, and it’s really helped my voice. As we age, things start to change, including the voice, which is just like any other part of the body. It’s a muscle that needs to be in tune and taken care of.<br />
<br />
<b>Do you do any sort of rituals to center yourself, after a gig or after a tour? </b><br />
<br />
I live in the desert, in the Palm Springs area. Cathedral City, which we lovingly call “Cat City.” I love it here. I’ve been living in California since ’96. If I do a gig in California, I’m able to come back to the dessert Deedle-pad, and the thing that I love to do is cuddle with my cat Puss-Puss. That’s very healing and wonderful and comforting. I wear these little prayer beads. They’re bracelets. Puss-Puss loves to grab them with her teeth and stretch them. It’s part of the wonderful ritual that goes on in my home life.<br />
<b><br /></b><b>Is there anyone you particularly like to listen to for spiritual replenishment? </b><br />
<br />
Sure. There’s this wonderful album that Carlos Santana put out in 1975 called <i>Illuminations</i>, with Alice Coltrane and Dave Holland. It’s pretty amazing. Miles Davis’ <i>In a Silent Way</i> is a real spiritual album. Saxophonist Earl Bostic. I really love his work. And of course, Stevie Wonder. I have a collection of his stuff on my iPhone.<br />
<br />
<b>I think musicians are all part of an effort to enlighten and raise consciousness.</b><br />
<br />
Absolutely. I feel very blessed I can do that. Music is part of the human experience. It’s part of the spiritual experience. Everything has a note. There’s not one thing that doesn’t have a note, including electricity. Even whoopee cushions have notes! (laughs)<br />
<br />
I hope to keep on keepin’ on throughout the years, no matter what happens. I hope there’s always going to be a place for music. Politics can’t wipe it out. I really don’t think that’s going to happen. There would an absolute uproar, I’m sure. Let’s hope that music is part of the raising of consciousness that is happening, that the higher vibration will win out, despite all of the darkness.<br />
<br />
<b>Do you think about the future? Or do you just live in the moment?</b><br />
<br />
Well, I try to live in the moment, but when you’re looking for gigs, you gotta think about the future. It’s a balancing act. I’m just grateful to still be able to do what I’m doing.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-39980633327518542872017-03-12T09:05:00.003-07:002017-03-12T09:05:47.258-07:00Bayou City Book Festival I am honored to be a part of this year's <a href="http://www.lonestar.edu/book-festival">Bayou City Book Festival</a>. The festival takes place April 3-8 at the various Lone Star College campuses. The festival's mission to create the venue for nationally and internationally known authors to speak to audiences about unique ideas, meet with attendees on an individual basis, provide free literary programming, promote diverse works of literature and their authors, and focus attention on literacy within the City of Houston.<br />
<br />
I will be at one of the authors exhibiting at the festival on <b>Saturday, April 8, at Lone Star College - Kingwood</b>. Copies of my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i> will be available for sale (I'll have a table at the <a href="http://www.lonestar.edu/arts-kingwood.htm">Lone Star College Kingwood Art Gallery</a>). I will also be part of a panel discussion titled "How Positive, Interactive
Relationships Help
Musicians and Artists
Realize Their Potential." Pianist <b><a href="http://www.pamelayork.com/">Pamela York</a></b> and saxophonist <b><a href="http://www.saxleash.com/">Alisha Pattillo</a></b>, who are each interviewed in my book, will also be a part of the panel.<br />
<br />
Much more information, including a complete schedule for the festival and maps, is available on the Bayou City Book Festival <a href="http://www.lonestar.edu/book-festival">website</a>.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-11126698536581716582016-11-14T06:20:00.000-08:002016-11-14T06:20:54.029-08:00Read Excerpts from Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQ_hkx_g3bYiVihB8ymrVwSLyTrBUHj7cLAxNuj7rwEjOK4Z8cxVlNeECdObOKxxRcBUovDVZ_A1Lps9jAQV9nQhC_oC7k3HVnGVfg4ptUCtMD8EFmQgihvDGvQ8MEUYdl8tiAjgMreAr/s1600/Becker_cover_sketches_Connie+Crothers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQ_hkx_g3bYiVihB8ymrVwSLyTrBUHj7cLAxNuj7rwEjOK4Z8cxVlNeECdObOKxxRcBUovDVZ_A1Lps9jAQV9nQhC_oC7k3HVnGVfg4ptUCtMD8EFmQgihvDGvQ8MEUYdl8tiAjgMreAr/s320/Becker_cover_sketches_Connie+Crothers.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
For those of you new to <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews
With Women in Jazz</i>, I’ve posted excerpts from some of the interviews in the book:
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Singer <b><a href="http://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/01/interview-with-dee-dee-bridgewater.html">Dee Dee Bridgewater</a></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Drummer <b><a href="http://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/05/interview-with-terri-lyne-carrington.html">Terri Lyne Carrington</a></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cellist <b><a href="http://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/02/interview-with-cellist-nioka-workman.html">Nioka Workman</a></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Drummer <b><a href="http://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/01/interview-with-drummer-sherrie-maricle.html">Sherrie Maricle</a></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Saxophonist <b><a href="http://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/02/interview-with-mindi-abair-excerpted.html">Mindi Abair</a></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Singer <b><a href="http://womeninjazzbookproject.blogspot.com/2016/01/interview-with-diane-schuur-excerpted.html">Diane Schuur </a></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>, a
collection of interviews with 37 female musicians of all ages, nationalities,
and races and representing nearly every style of jazz one can imagine, was
released November 16, 2015.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You can purchase the book via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Expression-Interviews-Women-Jazz/dp/0692543600/ref=sr_1_1">Amazon</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The interviewees, including Terri Lyne Carrington, Dee Dee
Bridgewater, Eliane Elias, Anat Cohen, Helen Sung, Diane Schuur, Ellen Seeling,
Val Jeanty, Carmen Lundy, Mindi Abair, Cheryl Bentyne, Jane Ira Bloom, Sharel
Cassity, Connie Crothers, Jane Monheit, and Sherrie Maricle, speak about their
earliest experiences playing music, the years of practice and study required to
become a professional musician, and what it means to be a jazz musician in the
21st century. The 320-page book includes a 25-page history of jazz, as well as
introductions to each interview, to provide helpful context for readers who are
unaware of the contributions by women to the development of this music.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Cover photo of Connie Crothers by Peter Gannushkin. </div>
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<i>"At long last, an in-depth recognition of the female contributions to jazz. As Dr. Billy Taylor said about the lack of awareness of female musicians: ‘If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.’ Now everyone will know that it did happen and continues to happen. What a great gift to the history of women and music." — <b>Judy Chaikin</b>, director of the award-winning documentary</i> The Girls in the Band</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>"Finally, a comprehensive HERstory of jazz music! Each of the women interviewed in this book have created strong musical identities while operating under the radar for far too many years. Thanks to Chris Becker, the world can discover the inner workings and creative lives of these fine, deserving jazzwomen. This book is a riveting read . . . an exciting journey into the mind of female genius." — <b>Rachel Z.</b>, composer, keyboardist (Steps Ahead, Larry Coryell, Wayne Shorter, Peter Gabriel)</i></div>
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</style>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-15782771881472401382016-10-19T10:36:00.000-07:002016-10-26T13:09:43.118-07:00November Readings With MusicIn November, I will be doing two readings from my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz </i>accompanied by Houston jazz pianist <b><a href="http://www.pamelayork.com/">Pamela York</a></b>. My hope is that by arranging music around specific passages from my book will reveal additional layers of meaning and history to the content. It also should be a lot more fun to listen to than just me reading solo.<br />
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The November 17 event is for a student music club at Lone Star College Kingwood.<br />
<br />
On November 27, Pamela and I will be at Project Row Houses as a guest of Houston artist, historian, and DJ <b><a href="http://www.tierneymalone.net/">Tierney Malone</a></b>, who is one of the participating artists in <a href="http://projectrowhouses.org/press-releases/round-45-local-impact">Round 45</a>, curated by Public Art Director <b>Ryan N. Dennis</b>. Through the duration of the Round, artists will present a variety of public programs. The November 27 reading with music is free and open to the public.<br />
<br />
Here are the dates, times, and locations:<br />
<br />
November 17, 2017<br />
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.<br />
Lone Star College Kingwood | Choir Hall<br />
Book lecture with music for the Camarata Club<br />
<br />
November 20, 2017<br />
3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.<br />
Project Row Houses<br />
2521 Holman St, Houston, Texas 77004<br />
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC<br />
<br />
And looking ahead, I will be leading a panel discussion at the <a href="http://www.lonestar.edu/book-festival.htm">Bayou City Book Festival</a>, April 8, 2017. The panel discussion takes place 11:15 to 12:15 p.m. Panelists will include <b>Pamela York</b> and saxophonist <b><a href="http://www.saxleash.com/">Alisha Pattillo</a></b>, who is also interviewed in my book.<br />
<br />
More details to come. Thank you for your support.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-33762164550796191692016-10-08T14:15:00.000-07:002016-10-08T14:15:01.880-07:00Let me give you a lift back to 1952 . . . <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xOtUiKxnTYXKQVwcFxaLAAJFRy3DCdQCmHUKns7STktadT7OpYXBbxvv3y4yY2jvPnD_uooIVv1u_fyHNt8-1V4_vs7rEZQ1lcYmwE6tqhbhNuXbMBmX2zIXOmtufE4G5wnWXTbVDQ_a/s1600/14590300_10154660630947835_1111647172062472271_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xOtUiKxnTYXKQVwcFxaLAAJFRy3DCdQCmHUKns7STktadT7OpYXBbxvv3y4yY2jvPnD_uooIVv1u_fyHNt8-1V4_vs7rEZQ1lcYmwE6tqhbhNuXbMBmX2zIXOmtufE4G5wnWXTbVDQ_a/s400/14590300_10154660630947835_1111647172062472271_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-61000776344394680062016-09-30T07:21:00.004-07:002016-09-30T07:22:01.876-07:00Mary Osborne On GuitarsA friend on <a href="https://twitter.com/women_jazz_book">Twitter</a> shared this ad with me. The ad copy is awkward, but interesting. It does indeed acknowledge and celebrate Mary Osborne's talents, but also has mildly condescending, definitely sexist tone as well. ("Love a quick, easy action!") And of course, we can't have Osborne holding the guitar like an actual guitarist, right? Hmm. Of course, this approach to advertising guitars and saxophones hasn't changed all that much in the 21st century, for women or for men.<br />
<br />
Here's what Connie Crothers has to say about Osborne in her interview in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Expression-Interviews-Women-Jazz/dp/0692543600/">my book</a>:<br />
<br />
<i>Mary Osborne is one of the most important musicians in jazz. She's the missing link between Charlie Christian and the guitar players who came afterwards. The missing link the historians have been looking for is her. She was Charlie Christian’s only protégé. She's major. Billie knew about her, and hired her for that TV special. So there were two women in that band. </i>[laughs] <span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;">— Connie Crothers to the author, 2013</span><br />
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<!--StartFragment--><!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-83691486585229855702016-09-29T18:30:00.001-07:002016-09-29T18:30:56.719-07:00The History of Houston's Musical Soul<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Saturday, October 1, the <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=115026678046" href="https://www.facebook.com/junghouston/" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">The Jung Center of Houston</a> will be selling copies of my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i> in their pop-up shop at the <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=126801040717223" href="https://www.facebook.com/houstonhistoryalliance/" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Houston History Alliance - HHA</a>'s History of Houston's Musical Soul conference. My book features interviews with three Houston jazz women: <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=623116600" href="https://www.facebook.com/pamelayorkmusic" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Pamela York</a>, <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=641666681" href="https://www.facebook.com/alisha.ansley" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Alisha Pattillo</a>, and <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=561732179" href="https://www.facebook.com/Jacqui.E.Sutton" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Jacqui Sutton</a>.</div>
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Saturday's speakers and panelists include John Nova Lomax, Roger Wood, Rick Mitchell, Dr. Robert Morgan and many others. I'm really looking forward to learning much, much more about Houston's musical history. Hope to see you there! </div>
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Zydeco dancers at PT's Cajun BBQ House in Clear Lake, which closed in 2005.</div>
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Photo by James Fraher</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-38340350777699576142016-08-31T05:57:00.003-07:002016-08-31T05:57:56.149-07:00Connie Crothers Memorial Broadcast Archived<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYYzLpRURxmnCi8cgwf1IFMZaKO-gD6M9aSbSLEK8ZkuG-A4jlqFQhqy4xrGDPLesBD_kb-5AhlemAUU3glxc8iYKkvxfQNN46ltpvWlKROvOCMC6nPJAKThkZQTE3clVVV7CMhtaiD4Op/s1600/Connie+Crothers_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYYzLpRURxmnCi8cgwf1IFMZaKO-gD6M9aSbSLEK8ZkuG-A4jlqFQhqy4xrGDPLesBD_kb-5AhlemAUU3glxc8iYKkvxfQNN46ltpvWlKROvOCMC6nPJAKThkZQTE3clVVV7CMhtaiD4Op/s640/Connie+Crothers_poster.jpg" width="376" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.32px;">Suga' In My Bowl's memorial broadcast for pianist <b>Connie Crothers</b> is now archived online. Sadly, Connie left us August 13. She graces the cover of my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>.</span></div>
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<br />The broadcast incorporates a recording of the interview I did with Connie back in April 2013 for my book, as well as remembrances from her fellow musicians, including trumpeter <b>Lewis 'Flip' Barnes</b>, drummer <b>Warren Smith</b>, and dancer <b>Patricia Nicholson Parker</b>. </div>
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Suga' In My Bowl host <b>Joyce Jones </b>did an amazing job putting this show together in a very short amount of time. I'm pleased to have contributed in some way to Connie's memory. </div>
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Listen on demand >> <a href="https://sugainmybowl.org/show-archives/#Connie_Crothers_Memorial">here</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-15407565232597265062016-08-20T09:22:00.002-07:002016-08-20T09:29:12.078-07:00Connie Crothers Memorial Broadcast on WBAI, August 21, 2016<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">This Sunday, 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, tune in to <a href="https://sugainmybowl.org/">Suga' in My Bowl</a> on WBAI 99.5 FM for a memorial tribute to pianist <b>Connie Crothers</b>. You can listen to the show online at <a href="http://wbai.org/">wbai.org</a>. Crothers passed away last Saturday after a brave battle with cancer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The broadcast will include a recording of my interview with Crothers which appears in my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i>. Trying to capture the "voice" of an interviewee in print is very challenging. Needless to say, hearing Connie's actual voice and her descriptions of her first attempt at improvising, her studies with Lennie Tristano, and the pervasive sexism that existed in the jazz world before the women's movement is a special experience. I hope you can tune in.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's a little more information about the broadcast: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.76px;">"<b>Connie Crothers</b> expressed her musical life as performer, recording artist and teacher releasing feeling–her source–through spontaneous improvisation. This edition is a memorial broadcast in honor of Connie Crothers by guest contributor <b>Chris Becker</b>, who provides an interview he recorded for his book released earlier this year titled <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz</i>. Additional remembrances will be provided by Arts for Arts/Vision Festival organizer <b>Patricia Nicholson Parker</b>, percussionist/drummer <b>Warren Smith</b> and trumpeter <b>Lewis "Flip" Barnes</b>.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.76px;" /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18.76px;"><br />"This program is engineered, produced, hosted and edited by <b>Joyce Jones</b>. Listen for our "On the Bandstand" segment with NYC metro area appearances of Suga’ guests at the end of the first hour with associate producer <b>Hank Williams</b>."</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qPSHvNkR56C-f_3qSWUpHgACk5nCPxBkHQEGzUL8xVezcii_mBctK_aHrrxjyGixh0y1LXZKp2pgD2aA-SUR1s82El4LSg0QRyuGwaHi_T9Y1rQJ9HOEwgHF6iTo9CwJZgOHck39vlyX/s1600/13975434_10154468921301170_6048267387806942703_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qPSHvNkR56C-f_3qSWUpHgACk5nCPxBkHQEGzUL8xVezcii_mBctK_aHrrxjyGixh0y1LXZKp2pgD2aA-SUR1s82El4LSg0QRyuGwaHi_T9Y1rQJ9HOEwgHF6iTo9CwJZgOHck39vlyX/s400/13975434_10154468921301170_6048267387806942703_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of Connie Crothers by Joyce Jones.</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-45581567360459643462016-08-14T12:15:00.002-07:002020-12-01T12:48:27.162-08:00Connie Crothers: A Queen At Her Throne <div class="MsoNormal">
Pianist <b>Connie Crothers</b>, one of the giants of jazz, passed away
in the early hours of August 13, 2016 after a brave battle with cancer. She was 75. As one of jazz music's great virtuosos, Crothers was a bridge between strains
of seemingly disparate musical camps, especially so-called standard-tunes players and free
improvisers. Like her mentor pianist <b>Lennie Tristano</b>, her approach to free (or “spontaneous”)
improvisation was founded in a deep knowledge of and appreciation for the earliest practitioners of
jazz (e.g. <b>Louis Armstrong</b>, <b>Roy Eldridge</b>, <b>Billie Holiday</b>). But while she saw herself as part of a lineage, she considered
jazz to be an evolving art form, and believed the music was in fact “heading into
something incredible.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is Crothers who graces the front cover of my book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women
In Jazz</i>. (She is one of 37 musicians interviewed.) This powerful image of Crothers at the piano, all ten fingers on the
keys, her head tilted back, perfectly captures the feeling of transcendence that comes from
playing music, as well as the sacrifices necessary to achieve such a state of
grace. Not surprisingly, the image has resonated with many women, as it conveys the
struggles and triumphs uniquely experienced by women in jazz. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4D3qkDYW9asJ03Yw5b7lwliMrJBuW1ygizklM5r5ugpU3JL2ZupnYFSAszp-E4b7PsbG9O0SMjfxCgOI45iZMcTOXQDBhfkAzZcrPTj0oT2SgGXy6OIOSngxx51hyphenhyphenLYhuQA4ZB4n7wm5I/s1600/Becker_cover_sketches_Connie+Crothers.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4D3qkDYW9asJ03Yw5b7lwliMrJBuW1ygizklM5r5ugpU3JL2ZupnYFSAszp-E4b7PsbG9O0SMjfxCgOI45iZMcTOXQDBhfkAzZcrPTj0oT2SgGXy6OIOSngxx51hyphenhyphenLYhuQA4ZB4n7wm5I/s640/Becker_cover_sketches_Connie+Crothers.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of Connie Crothers by Peter Gannushkin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The cover’s gold, rose, and turquoise colors were inspired
by the stained glass windows of artist <b>Henri Matisse’s</b> Chapelle du Rosaire de
Vence. For many of us, music is our religion; dogma doesn’t work when your
craft requires you to be open and receptive to influences and inspiration from
the past and the present, and to play in response to what’s in your heart, not in your head. That's a pretty good description of the kind of
spontaneous and freely improvised music Crothers played so masterfully, both as
a soloist, and in collaboration with some of the great improvisers of our
time. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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Crothers began studying classical (or “European”) piano at
age 9 and went on to major in composition at the University of California at
Berkeley. At Berkeley, her teachers emphasized “procedure and structure” and
“compositional rigor” over emotional expression, which didn’t sit well with
Crothers. She began listening to jazz, and upon hearing Tristano's recording “Requiem,” had a shamanistic vision that inspired her to leave school and travel to New
York to study and master a completely different musical language: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“ . . . during the length of the track ["Requiem"], I had an amazing
experience where I saw my future. . . . I knew nothing about New York City; I
knew nothing about improvising or about jazz, but I knew that that’s what was
going to happen. It was almost as if it had already happened.” </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Tristano, who was blind, told Crothers singing along with
records was an important key to developing an ear for improvisation. In her own
teaching, Crothers emphasized the importance of learning and internalizing a tune's melody,
not its chords, in in order to improvise more freely and creatively: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“What I try to get to instead with [my students] is have them play
the strict melody of a tune with no ornamentation whatsoever. . . . like how
they would sing it, just very simply. And then, instead of trying to think
chords, just hear the melody, and let the melodic line get released . . . I
like to say the melody has everything in it. It has the harmonic sound, so
you’re getting the harmony from your ear, rather than thinking ‘C7’.”</span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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For those of you scratching your head and wondering how this
concept is applied practically in a performance setting, it can be helpful to
understand free improvisation does not necessarily begin with common-practice
musical building blocks, such as chord progressions, Western European song forms, or
clearly stated time signatures. Bassist <b>William Parker</b>, who has described
Crothers at the piano as “<a href="https://youtu.be/DwBZv2dpm_0">a queen at her throne</a>,” describes instead an alternate
“periphery” of sounds that musicians tap into when playing free. The resulting
sounds are limited only by a musician’s imagination and technique. (And Crothers' imagination and technique were formidable!) Crothers
believed playing free is one of the most challenging things for a musician to
attempt:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“. . . if you have that understanding of music, you’re never
going to be able to fake it. You can’t. You have to tap into that deep well of
understanding every time you express your music. . . . With no parameters to
guide you, it’s on you to create music that’s beautiful and has an inner logic.
I find this extremely intriguing and really exciting — thrilling in fact!” </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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This is music that is the opposite of walls, borders,
paranoia, prejudice, and hate. In fact, Crothers equated freedom with truth
plus beauty plus love, with love being an ever-present and wholly accessible source for musical and spiritual inspiration. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1DrL3ZL-hr0/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1DrL3ZL-hr0?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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(Henry Grimes and Connie Crothers in performance, April 26, 2016.)</div>
</div>
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<br />
When Crothers and I first spoke, she told me
how pleased she was to be asked to be included in a project that focused on and
celebrated the contributions of women to jazz. She named several pioneering
jazz women, including pianist and bandleader <b>Lillian Hardin Armstrong</b>,
saxophonist <b>Vi Redd</b>, and guitarist <b>Mary Osborne</b>, who each made major
contributions to the development of this music. For Crothers, New York in the years before the women’s
movement was a place where men a generation ahead of her and her peers still
thought women were inferior and not be taken seriously:</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“When I first came to New York City in 1962 . . . when I
went to a club, it was like walking a gauntlet. It was just understood that if
there was a woman on the premises, the men were gonna hit on her. . . . A lot
of women in those days were kicked off of bandstands and out of the recording
dates because of the prevailing notion, which was very strong then, that men
were better, that women were not as good as men.”</span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I mention this to make it clear that Crothers was both an activist and a
feminist. She was also a strong advocate for independent artists. In 1982,
Crothers and drummer <b>Max Roach</b> co-founded the label <a href="http://www.newartistsrecords.com/">New Artists Records</a> when no
label expressed interested in releasing an album of their duets. New Artists Records would later become a cooperative, with each artist contributing to its
operating expenses and receiving 100 percent of their album sales. It is an
excellent place to sample and purchase some incredible recordings by Crothers,
including the aforementioned album of duets with Max Roach titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.newartistsrecords.com/pages/1001.html">Swish</a></i> and her epic live solo piano
recording <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.newartistsrecords.com/pages/1059.html">Concert in Paris</a></i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What remains to be seen is where a new generation of
musicians go with the music. Like <b>Duke Ellington</b>, Crothers was an optimist, and
she made her feelings about the future of jazz plain to me:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“For many years, the jazz world was sort of divided into
groups. . . . there was a kind of division between the free improvisers and the
jazz musicians who played tunes, as well as other divisions based on other
considerations. But now we’re moving into a new era. I feel that is already underway
. . . I call it a jazz renaissance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“But the thing that I think has to happen . . . is that all
the groups need to open up and find out about each other, because there are so
many valuable musicians in each group. And if they find out about each other,
the art form will just blossom! I look forward to that. I hope to be a part of
that.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And I’ll just leave it at that for now. Connie, we love you madly.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-5665664203253149202016-07-25T08:29:00.003-07:002016-07-25T08:34:02.087-07:00New Interview With Singer Jane Monheit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS25OvnmrGkoMDTd6_gdSxSvPpcmxM-X49b2aBuOYpzk-F-bVqfKGOVBg_h94-ckuXgz8soVPDOaPfmpNi45oKuKOJ6J93rpNn8a3Oc7JiZCx89SJoJmK6POHUrsxdyuAjOhdDGOpAnind/s1600/Monheit_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS25OvnmrGkoMDTd6_gdSxSvPpcmxM-X49b2aBuOYpzk-F-bVqfKGOVBg_h94-ckuXgz8soVPDOaPfmpNi45oKuKOJ6J93rpNn8a3Oc7JiZCx89SJoJmK6POHUrsxdyuAjOhdDGOpAnind/s400/Monheit_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "adriane" , "adriane text" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "adriane" , "adriane text" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; text-align: justify;">Please enjoy this excerpt from my recent interview with singer </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "adriane" , "adriane text" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://janemonheitonline.com/">Jane Monheit</a> </b>for the Los Angeles Review of Books.<b> </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "adriane" , "adriane text" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; text-align: justify;">Jane's most recent album <i>The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald</i> is excellent, a truly adventurous program of newly arranged classics made famous by the great Ella Fitzgerald. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "adriane" , "adriane text" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "adriane" , "adriane text" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; text-align: justify;">Jane Monheit is one of the 37 musicians interviewed in my book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Expression-Interviews-Women-Jazz/dp/0692543600/">Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</a></i>. </span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">CHRIS BECKER: Ella Fitzgerald was so many things to so many people. Tell me who she was to you.</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">JANE MONHEIT:</strong> She was one of the true originators of the art form. She was one of the first singers to really take the influence of the instrumentalists around her and bring them into her singing. But more importantly, in addition to all of the technical things she did as a singer — the swinging, the scatting, and all of that — she sang with such great warmth. I know a lot of people who knew and worked with Ella, and they all say she was like that in person.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">When were you first introduced to her music?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
I was at home with my mom. My mother was a singer and because I loved to sing, she was very conscious of playing singers for me that I could learn from. Little kids tend to copy. She knew I was going to be singing along with records and wanted to make sure they were singers with good technique. I remember her putting on Ella for me, and saying to me, “<em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Listen to this!</em>” and me just losing my little mind over how beautiful it was.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Was it just the <em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">sound</em> of her voice that moved you?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
Yes! I remember that specifically, the sound of her voice.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">You have described Ella’s songbook albums as “biblical.” Why are those particular albums so important to you?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
As a child, they were what I chose to focus on. I don’t know why. The songbook albums are more of the pop music of their time. She’s not doing a ton of improvisation, so they were wonderful records to learn these songs from. But <em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book</em>, which is by far much more of a jazz record than the other ones, has always been my favorite. She’s looser on that record, and she’s singing more jazz.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">In Ella’s later recordings, one hears so much joy in her singing, but there’s also wisdom, and even some sadness in the material as well. Could you connect to that?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
Ella was someone who was able to sing with complete and utter sincerity, but without any histrionics. That’s a place I need to get to! [<em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Laughs</em>.] She was a total sage. That’s the mark of any great singer, to be able to distill life experiences into a song and help people understand other people’s experiences. Ella was brilliant at that, but she did it in such a calm, collected way. That’s something I do <em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">not</em> know how to do. For all of her influence on me, I sing in this crazy emotional way. Ella was able to sing something so calmly, and you would believe her. I can’t do that yet.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Quincy Jones has spoken about the “open wound” that pushed Ella, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and other singers to greatness. Is that what you’re talking about as well? Having those painful experiences and then being able to speak about and share them through singing?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
You want to use your experience to help provide some catharsis for others. But I think it’s the same with your joyful experiences. It doesn’t have to be just the things that hurt us. As a singer, you get used to having your heart on your sleeve. It’s about accessing all of it, and having it at the ready. I always tell my husband, if I’m being overly emotional or overly dramatic, “No, no, no. This is cool. It makes me good at my job.” [<em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Laughs</em>.]</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/jane-monheit-beyond-ella/">Read the entire interview . . . </a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-71556171639324369892016-07-21T09:40:00.000-07:002016-07-25T08:31:22.906-07:00Interview With Judy Chaikin, director of The Girls in the Band<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGFF1t65DiynP7NB5iaF4N01jtHXpriDvAqSeroAO8bbwr-jiq0la8AfyYrac_6XnxobW44gnpzx_48mg5agXmy_koTc1_gUkC_Mx_1DHA13SxtcQp-5lbEhIrTYw0jY4QIBLVeycsBOZ-/s1600/Judy+Chaikin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGFF1t65DiynP7NB5iaF4N01jtHXpriDvAqSeroAO8bbwr-jiq0la8AfyYrac_6XnxobW44gnpzx_48mg5agXmy_koTc1_gUkC_Mx_1DHA13SxtcQp-5lbEhIrTYw0jY4QIBLVeycsBOZ-/s400/Judy+Chaikin.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Director Judy Chaikin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
Here's an excerpt from my recent interview with filmmaker <b>Judy Chaikin</b>, director of the award-winning documentary <i>The Girls in the Band</i>. Judy's film was an important source of inspiration and historical reference for me while writing my book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Expression-Interviews-Women-Jazz/dp/0692543600/">Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</a></i>. You rent or buy Judy's film from iTunes or order the DVD from <a href="http://thegirlsintheband.com/">The Girls in the Band website</a>. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">CHRIS BECKER: The initial spark for the film was your discovery of a female drummer who played in big bands during World War II, correct?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">JUDY CHAIKIN:</strong> Yes: Jerrie Thill, the composer and producer. Alison Freebairn-Smith first told me about her. Jerrie was active in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and had an all-girl band. She ended up being a drummer out here in Los Angeles and played a regular gig at a place on Hollywood Boulevard for about 20 years. She died at 93, and had been playing up until the year before. She was pretty phenomenal.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Were you surprised to discover there was so little about women who played jazz?</strong></div>
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It was totally surprising, and that was one of the things that really spurred me on. When I realized how many women there were, and that no one had paid any attention to them, that really got me going.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">How did you start with your research for the film?</strong></div>
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It started with learning about Jerrie Thill, and then talking to various musicians I knew who gave me a couple of other names like saxophonist Roz Cron, who lived out here in Los Angeles and had been in the International Sweethearts of Rhythm; contemporaries like the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, who were big in New York, and also the all-female big band, Maiden Voyage, that was here in Los Angeles. I just started contacting these women and talking to them and one by one they started giving me other names, like Clora Bryant. One person led to another, and the story started to unfold.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">What was the initial audience reaction?</strong></div>
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The reaction was so surprising to me, because it covered such a wide audience: a lot of young female musicians literally came up to me crying afterward saying, “I can’t thank you enough. I thought I was the only one!” Older people who were big band fans said, “This is phenomenal. I can’t believe this. I had never heard of these women!” And then professional musicians, a lot of them said, “Boy, this is shame that these women are not known, and that I don’t know about them. They were so fantastic.” So the sense of wonder was across the board.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">One of your earliest screenings was in Dubai. What was the response there to these women musicians?</strong></div>
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The screening in Dubai was a little strange. It was an outdoor screening on the beach, and people were just sort of wandering around like they were at a rock concert. [<em style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Laughs</em>.] But people came up afterward and said they enjoyed it.</div>
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The greatest overseas screening that I attended was in Sweden. The film screens somewhere in Sweden almost every other week. They absolutely adore it. It’s playing on television as well, and we keep getting requests for it. When I was there, it played at a film festival, and it played at a college, and it played in a theater. The response was fantastic.</div>
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I think one of the reasons for that is because a lot of the women in the early years of jazz, who could not have careers in the United States, went to Europe and had careers there. In some of the places where the film showed, these women were known. Generally, there is such a big interest in jazz in Europe, so much more than there is here. You walk through public places and jazz is playing, in stores, in restaurants — it’s always jazz you hear.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Dr. Billy Taylor, the late musician and composer, and Woody Herman, who is also now deceased, are both in the film. These men, in different ways, were strong advocates for women in the bandstand and providing equal opportunities for women jazz.</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
Right.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, "Adriane Text", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Has your film helped to open any dialogue between jazz men and women — either performers or educators?</strong></div>
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Not being a musician myself, and not being in the studios having face-to-face contact with the men in the business, I don’t know about that dialogue. What I know is from hearsay. The men I know have said to me how wonderful it was that I brought this to their attention. That’s the only thing I can go on.</div>
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<a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/beyond-jazzs-boys-club">Read the entire interview . . . </a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-62895701628639817632016-05-28T17:41:00.000-07:002016-07-06T19:21:25.547-07:00Interview with Terri Lyne Carrington (Excerpted from "Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz") <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i> is a collection of inspiring and in-depth interviews with 37 women musicians of all ages, nationalities, and races and representing nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. The interviewees include <b>Carmen Lundy</b>, <b>Dee Dee Bridgewater</b>, <b>Eliane Elias</b>, <b>Helen Sung</b>, <b>Anat Cohen</b>, <b>Diane Schuur</b>, <b>Sherrie Maricle</b>, <b>Sharel Cassity</b>, <b>Brandee Younger</b>, <b>Jane Ira Bloom</b> and many other incredible artists. The 320-page book includes 42 photographs, and a 25-page introduction to the history of women in jazz.<br />
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<i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i> is available for purchase from <a href="http://amzn.to/28QCcd0">Amazon</a>. Here in Houston, TX, you find the book at <a href="http://www.brazosbookstore.com/">Brazos Bookstore</a>, <a href="http://junghouston.org/bookstore/">The Jung Center of Houston Bookstore</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Casa-Ramirez-FOLKART-Gallery-76060185584/">Casa Ramirez FOLKART Gallery</a>.<br />
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What follows is an excerpt from the book: the introduction to and a portion of my interview with drummer, composer, and producer <b><a href="http://www.terrilynecarrington.com/">Terri Lyne Carrington</a></b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terri Lyne Carrington. Photo by Phil Farnsworth.</td></tr>
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Drummer, composer, and producer <b>Terri Lyne Carrington</b> is one of the first musicians I interviewed for this book. In our conversation, she quotes composer Duke Ellington to help explain her relationship to jazz:<br />
“I don’t doubt my connection with it, because I don’t look at it as a certain thing. It’s creative music. Duke Ellington said jazz means ‘freedom of expression.’ And I think that everything that I do, for the most part, feels like jazz. As far as creative music and freedom of expression, like Duke Ellington said, there’s no ‘box’ for that.”<br />
Her reply provided me with the first three words to the title of this book. Her early participation as an interviewee also opened some doors for me as I contacted other musicians around the country about this project. There’s no question, Carrington commands a great deal of respect among the music community at large.<br />
Born in 1965 in Medford, Massachusetts, Terri Lyne Carrington is part of a multi-generational musical family that includes her father, saxophonist Sonny Carrington, and grandfather, drummer Matt Carrington, who played with Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. Carrington was a child prodigy and began taking classes at Berklee College of Music under a full scholarship at the age of 11. In 1983, she moved to New York and became an in-demand musician, drumming for jazz luminaries Lester Bowie, James Moody, Pharoah Sanders and many others. Her extensive résumé includes television gigs as the house drummer for the Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones’ late-night show Vibe, hosted by the comedian Sinbad. She has also toured extensively with pianist and composer Herbie Hancock.<br />
In addition to being a virtuoso drummer, Carrington is a formidable producer, a role that allows her to bring together artists from all genres into her creative projects. I interviewed Carrington for this book not long after the release of her Grammy Award-winning album <i>The Mosaic Project</i>, a collection of tracks performed by some of the world’s most highly respected female instrumentalists and singers, including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen Lundy, Helen Sung, and Anat Cohen, who are also interviewed in this book. In the liner notes to <i>The Mosaic Project</i>, Carrington says the album “comments on historical, current, and appropriately feminine themes,” and for listeners new to jazz, it is a wonderful, engaging, and profound introduction to this music.<br />
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<b>When did you first begin studying music? </b><br />
My grandfather was a drummer. He passed away before I was born. I guess my father was my first teacher.<br />
At around age 9, I started taking private lessons at like a music shop. But I never, throughout my whole public-school time period, took music classes, except for violin, in third grade.<br />
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<b>So at a young age, the drums were your main instrument? </b><br />
It was always just the drums! I took piano lessons, but I guess I never really felt I was going to play the piano. I wanted to know music theory and things like that. But for the most part, it was just the drums.<br />
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<b>At that age, before you were even a teenager, what kind of music were you listening to? And what kind of stuff were you playing on the drums? </b><br />
Well, see my dad was a saxophone player too. I was into jazz because that was what he was into. But I was also listening to the popular music of the day because . . . I was young! [laughs] I had friends! So I listened to people in the jazz world, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Michael Jackson, and Earth Wind & Fire as well.<br />
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<b>And your family, as things got more serious, they were 100 percent behind this career choice that was forming for you at such a young age? </b><br />
Oh, yeah! Yes, they were always supportive. Still are. My dad still plays a little bit, and my success was one of three generations.<br />
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<b>So maybe it wasn’t that unusual to have a musical prodigy in the house? </b><br />
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Well, not unusual for us! [laughs] I think you’re very fortunate when you have a family that understands it and doesn’t think music is something that should be a hobby. I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without my dad and all of his knowledge.<br />
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<b>You began at Berklee at the age of 11? Is that correct? </b></div>
<div>
Yes. I was taking private lessons and jamming with ensembles. I didn’t really attend real classes, mainly just private lessons on drums and piano. </div>
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<b>Did you think back then, as a young woman, a young woman playing drums, you were cutting your path, doing something that had not necessarily been done before? </b></div>
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I think as a young person, no. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been seeing myself more as a pioneer in a sense. </div>
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<b>As a trained jazz musician, with a lot of experience playing live and tour¬ing, was the transition to playing on television weird? </b></div>
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No, because I always had respect for great artists in the R&B field and the pop field. And as a result of my television gigs, I ended up playing with a lot of those people, like James Brown, Whitney Houston, Rick James—all kinds of people. It was just fun for me. It wasn’t like I was playing down to that music or those artists at all! </div>
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<b>Did you end up shifting your focus as a musician as a result of the schedule demands of television?</b> </div>
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Yes, but I think your focus should shift every time you work in and play another style. It wasn’t about chops or anything like that. When I played jazz, which was a lot less during that time, I played better, because my approach was fresh. Because I had been away from it, I got better. </div>
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<b>Was playing for Rick James different from playing for Herbie Hancock? </b></div>
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Yes. TV is a very different animal. You have to play in 30 seconds with such energy. It’s not about a building; it’s about getting to the point very quickly. When you’re coming in and out of commercials, you have to sound good from the moment you hit the first stroke and absolutely have to have a certain level of energy. </div>
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When I play certain styles of jazz, it’s more about telling a story, and starting something and building something into an experience for the listener. </div>
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But with TV shows, and maybe pop music in general, it’s a little different. It’s about really performing from that “one.” It’s entertainment. So, maybe it’s not as spontaneous. But I’m not saying it’s not creative; that music is creative too! </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-14851830835033534992016-05-14T10:00:00.001-07:002016-05-14T10:00:26.154-07:00Interview With Saxophonist Grace Kelly for the Los Angeles Review of Books<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saxophonist Grace Kelly</td></tr>
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<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, 'Adriane Text', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">CHRIS BECKER: So much of how we get our information these days is through visual communication, be it on social media or in pop music — and you certainly have your own unique eye-catching style. As an artist, has that become an important component to get people to pay attention?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: adriane, 'Adriane Text', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 28px; padding: 15px 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">
<strong style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: inherit; cursor: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">GRACE KELLY</strong>: That’s a great question. I have family friends who live in New York City, and one of their kids is four years old; he’s an amazing kid, so musical, and I remember they were playing him my new album. He kept saying, “Why can’t I see it?” It was kind of a light bulb moment for me.</div>
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One of the things that I’m working on for <a href="http://www.gracekellymusic.com/">my new album</a> is how it will be presented live as a multimedia show. The album is so visual. All of these songs I wrote I saw [them] visually beforehand.</div>
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We’ve done a couple of music videos for the album, the latest one for the track “<a href="https://youtu.be/bPmEefH4Sf8">Blues for Harry Bosch</a>,” which includes Bosch in a trench coat, cigarette smoke, me, and the musicians in a club [with] cool lighting. Jazz, as an art form, is a little bit behind in the way pop music uses visuals. I think this is something jazz musicians are becoming aware of, and will come into play more in the future. In a live performance, people are there to hear you, but also to see you. I’ve always thought it was so important to dress well and to present a visually stimulating show.</div>
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<a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/jazz-for-the-thrill-of-it/">Read the entire interview . . . </a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-50912845639355509052016-04-30T14:01:00.001-07:002016-04-30T14:02:00.926-07:00Ah, New York . . . Just wanted to save this somewhere where I could see it and share. (Dee Dee Bridgewater of course is one of the 37 musicians interviewed in my book!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftv1ke5g8Im9xrDrXymjpomsNyjXUZpFWZTMcgrBt8-HprwZcep6ykpOfF5LhZloZ5i2hV5btb1rOE5GxJqIYF7xNiGakzoMVnLt4w3DXsmDXApoG6VGnTVteB4Vn8duXOBtxROA9AetG/s1600/13100751_10154137163532173_3587999504917978302_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftv1ke5g8Im9xrDrXymjpomsNyjXUZpFWZTMcgrBt8-HprwZcep6ykpOfF5LhZloZ5i2hV5btb1rOE5GxJqIYF7xNiGakzoMVnLt4w3DXsmDXApoG6VGnTVteB4Vn8duXOBtxROA9AetG/s400/13100751_10154137163532173_3587999504917978302_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1650301841925578907.post-11587599999080894702016-04-27T09:53:00.000-07:002016-04-27T09:53:00.209-07:00April 30 is Independent Bookstore Day! April 30 is <a href="http://www.indiebookstoreday.com/"><b>Independent Bookstore Day</b></a>. Which means . . . your favorite independent bookstores will be (hopefully) packed with customers looking to stock up on new titles.<br />
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I am very pleased that my book <i>Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i> is available in several excellent independent bookstores here in Houston, TX as well as my former home, New York City. If you haven't picked up a copy, consider visiting one of these stores (see below). Most of them also offer online ordering, so if you prefer not to use Amazon, remember, you have other options!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIQzo03gGrWYat4Oa4BLqJkEnRUmn55U3B6i0uwRL6so0LheuSwL6fZhxjTlovGaI9z07Sg85UlDdNqJfonc_IKFyWwLQ1voUmzy8FIcFx5DcGmqArtqsH3MbR3AAvgMDznNRpk5Mg6fg/s1600/McNally+Jackson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIQzo03gGrWYat4Oa4BLqJkEnRUmn55U3B6i0uwRL6so0LheuSwL6fZhxjTlovGaI9z07Sg85UlDdNqJfonc_IKFyWwLQ1voUmzy8FIcFx5DcGmqArtqsH3MbR3AAvgMDznNRpk5Mg6fg/s640/McNally+Jackson.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My book on the shelves of McNally Jackson, New York City. (Third shelf from the bottom!)</td></tr>
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<b>Houston, TX:</b><br />
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You can pick up a copy of my book at <b><a href="http://www.brazosbookstore.com/">Brazos Bookstore</a></b>, the <a href="http://junghouston.org/bookstore/"><b>Jung Center of Houston Bookstore</b></a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Casa-Ramirez-FOLKART-Gallery-76060185584/"><b>Casa Ramirez FOLKART Gallery</b></a>.<br />
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<b>New York City: </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My book is available at <a href="http://www.mcnallyjackson.com/"><b>McNally Jackson Books</b></a> (home of the <a href="http://www.mcnallyjackson.com/self-publishing">Espresso Book Machine</a>!) as well as <a href="http://bluestockings.com/"><b>Bluestockings</b></a>,<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> a 100% volunteer-powered and collectively-owned radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Published in November 2015, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;"> is a timely collection of inspiring and in-depth interviews with 37 women musicians of all ages, nationalities, and races, who represent nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. The interviewees include </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Carmen Lundy</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Terri Lyne Carrington</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Eliane Elias</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Helen Sung</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Anat Cohen</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Diane Schuur</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Sherrie Maricle</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Sharel Cassity</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Jane Monheit</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Ellen Seeling</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Cheryl Bentyne</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Brandee Younger</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">Jane Ira Bloom</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">, and many other incredible artists.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2px;">The 320-page book includes a 25-page history of jazz, as well as introductions to each interview, to provide helpful context for readers who are unaware of the contributions by women to the development of jazz.</span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0