Music News Net

2012 Newport Jazz and Folk Fests Dates Announce

MUSIC NEWS- Newport Folk and Jazz Fests are a go for 2012 as today, George Wein, Chairman of the Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.,  announced the dates of the 2012 Folk and Jazz festivals in Newport, RI. The Newport Folk Festival will be held July 28 & 29 and the Newport Jazz Festival is set for August 3 thru 5. Additional information will be announced in the coming months. 

"Following a sold-out 2011 Folk Festival and a very successful Jazz Festival, we want to make sure that music fans throughout the area and around the world have the 2012 dates on their calendars early," said Wein, who has produced the jazz and folk festivals since their inceptions in 1954 and 1959, respectively.

More information on the Newport Festivals, at  newportfolkfest.net and newportjazzfest.net.   Save the dates, and see you there!

Newport Folk and Jazz Fests to Simulcast Live

MUSIC NEWS - Continuing its tradition of bringing listeners the best live music from across the country, NPR Music, together with six partner radio stations, is exclusively live webcasting and broadcasting dozens of performances from this year's (sold out) Newport Folk Festival and the August 6 & 7 Newport Jazz Festival, offering four days of music from leading bands, singers and artists.  

For the Folk Festival on July 30 and 31, NPR Music and WFUV New York, FolkAlley.com (WKSU) Kent, OH, and mvyradio in Martha's Vineyard and Newport, RI are live video streaming many acclaimed acts. At the Jazz Festival on August 6 and 7, NPR Music with WBGO Newark, 89.7 WGBH Radio Boston and WICN New England are broadcasting and audio webcasting line-ups from three stages.

RETURN TO FOREVER Returns; Tour News

MUSIC NEWS - Return To Forever, the mind-blowing experimentors of jazz / rock who transformed the music world, will debut a historic new lineup this summer and return with a "must see" tour of 32 USA cities. The tour brings a re-imagined musical dimension to both the amazingly influential group and its repertoire. Tickets will go on sale Saturday, May 21.

Zappa Plays Zappa, the musical tribute to Frank Zappa, joins the bill alongside "Return To Forever IV" (RTF IV), the group's new incarnation. The RTF IV lineup includes core members Chick Corea (keyboards), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Lenny White (drums), along with Mahavishnu Orchestra alum and violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty as well as guitarist Frank Gambale.

Newport Folk and Jazz Fests Get New Sponsor

MUSIC NEWS - For the first time in the history of the Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Folk Festival, one company will be a sponsor at both events. The Rhode Island jewelry designer and manufacturer Alex and Ani will sponsor the Harbor Stage at Fort Adams State Park at the Newport Folk Festival on July 30 & 31 and at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 6 & 7,  announced the Newport Festivals Foundation. 

Based in Cranston, RI, with a flagship store at Newport's Bowen's Wharf, Alex and Ani will also create limited edition charms that will be introduced and available exclusively at the 2011 Newport Folk and Newport Jazz festivals.

So Who is Grammy Winner Esperanza Spalding?

MUSIC NEWS - One of the most asked questions from last night's 53rd Grammy Awards has been- Who is Best New Esperanza Spalding?  Well, she's a bassist, singer and composer and is the first jazz musician to ever win the Best New Artist GRAMMY Award. She was nominated this year along with Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford and Sons. Her inclusion in this mainstream category certainly signifies her considerable appeal to a broad audience.  

Spalding combines the imaginative flights of a serious improviser with the musical accessibility of a pop star and within two years of her solo debut has beguiled success at nearly unimaginable heights. Esperanza, her 2008 release, was on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart for 70+ weeks and was the most successful internationally selling debut that year.  

Photo Courtesy The Recording Academy(R)/WireImage.com

(c) 2011photo credit Steve Granitz

New JEFF BECK CD/DVD Release and Tour Plans

MUSIC NEWS - In addtion to his previously announced Spring 2011 tour, Jeff Beck has revealed plans for the February 22, 2011 cd / dvd release of Jeff Beck’s “Rock And Roll Party To Honor Les Paul”.  The set was recorded at New York City’s Iridium Jazz Club where Paul played every Monday night for the last 14 years!

Backing Beck as he performed Les Paul & Mary Ford classics like “How High The Moon” and “Mockin’ Bird Hill” was The Imelda May Band which will also perform with the guitar legend on his upcoming tour (full itinerary below).

Medeski Martin & Wood Reveal Summer Camp Plans for 2011

MUSIC NEWS- While we're no where near ready for Thanksgiving, it seems some are making Summer 2011 plans.  Get ready to pack up your instrument, open your mind, and enter the boundary-breaking world of jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood their Camp MMW.   Seems like an incredible opportunity for musicians of varying levels and ages, to live and study with MMW in the Catskill Mountains. Campers will gather together for five days of intensive workshops and seminars, deep listening, musical exploration, and improvisation.

This, the fourth annual Camp MMW takes place July 31 thru August 5, 2011 at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY. All types of musicians (16+), are encouraged to apply.

NEWPORT FOLK & JAZZ Fest Dates for 2011 Announced !

MUSIC NEWS - We're pleased to report that music impresario George Wein has announced the dates of the 2011 folk and jazz festivals in Newport, RI. The Newport Folk Festival will be held July 29 thru 31, 2011 and the Newport Jazz Festival is confirmed for August 5 thru 7, 2011. 

"We will announce additional information in the coming months, but we wanted to make sure that music fans throughout the area and around the world have the 2011 dates on their calendars," said Wein, who has produced the jazz and folk festivals since their inceptions in 1954 and 1959, respectively.

More information on the festivals @ www.newportfolkfest.net and www.newportjazzfest.net. 

NORAH JONES Reveals "...Featuring" Plans

MUSIC NEWS - Norah Jones has just announced plans to release ...Featuring, an album of her musical collaborations from the past decade.  The 18 songs on the November 16, 2010 releasing set include duets with such legends as Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, and with 21st century icons from OutKast to the Foo Fighters. 

"A lot of the people on this record are people I've worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries," says Norah.  "Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together."  These collaborations reveal Jones' astonishing musical versatility, from jazz to country, hip hop to rock.  Songs on the album range from classics recorded by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Joni Mitchell to new material by such wide-ranging innovators as Ryan Adams and Q-Tip, as well as recordings by some of Jones' own bands and side projects (The Little Willies and El Madmo).

GARY HUSBAND Readies "Dirty & Beautiful Volume One", Tours With John McLaughlin

MUSIC NEWS-  Gary Husband has been consistantly defining himself as the ultimate musician's musician: a fiery, perceptive presence who elevates every scenario; from the tightly arranged to pure, open-ended improvisation.   And his newest solo album Dirty & Beautiful Volume One, available on November 16 via Abstract Logix, is a showcase for the many gleaming facets of his musical imagination. 

No surprise, as his reputation among fellow performers is stellar, the album finds drummer and keyboardist Husband joined by an enviable cast of supporting musicians, among them John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth, Robin Trower, Steve Hackett (Genesis), Jerry Goodman (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Jimmy Herring (Widepread Panic, the Dead, Allman Brothers Band), Jan Hammer, Mark King (Level 42), among others.

PAT METHANY Announces Autumn ORCHESTRION Tour Dates

MUSIC NEWS - After a wildly enthusiastic response to his Spring 2010 concert tour, 17-time Grammy Award–winner Pat Metheny has just announced plans to bring his Orchestrion Tour to 19 North American performance halls this fall, starting up on October 1 (Itinerary below). The January 2010 released Orchestrion album (out via Nonesuch Records), has garnered critical praise from the New York Times, Associated Press, Village Voice, and Billboard, among many other publications as have his live performances.  

DANIEL LANOIS Admits He's Lucky to Be Alive

MUSIC NEWS - Musician / producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan) admits he's lucky to be alive after his motorcycle accident last month.  In the mishap, he broke six bones, cracked his pelvis and suffered internal bleeding in his right lung following the wreck in Los Angeles.

"I was on my bike with a friend of mine on the back and a guy coming the other way decided to turn in front of me into a variety store," he recently said to Rolling Stone.   "I veered to miss him, but I hit an industrial box on the sidewalk going 35 miles per hour. I blacked out and when I came to I was laying on my back in the parking lot and people were telling me, 'Don't move.' Then they hauled me away to a hospital and I had to lay there like a vegetable for three weeks."

Al Jarreau Hospitalized in France

MUSIC NEWS - Jazz singer Al Jarreau, 70, is in intensive care in a French hospital Friday after experiencing breathing difficulties that has resulted in the cancellation of at least four of his concerts.

He became ill prior to show on Thursday at a jazz festival in the French mountain town of Barcelonnette and was taken to an intensive care unit in Gap, the hospital said Friday.  Jarreau's British talent agent has the Grammy winning singer  "became weak from the altitude" in Barcelonnette, which is in the southern Alps.  "Upon medical advice, (he) was advised not to perform to allow him time to recover," Marshall Arts Ltd said in a statement, noting Mr Jarreau hopes to resume his tour next Thursday.

NPR Music To Broadcast & Webcast Newport Festivals

MUSIC NEWS - NPR Music, along with six partner radio stations around the USA, has announced plans to exclusively carry live webcasting and broadcast dozens of performances from George Wein's Newport Folk Festival and CareFusion Newport Jazz Festival, to give you four days of music by some of the country's most acclaimed artists.  NPR Music and WFUV New York City (90.7 FM), FolkAlley.com (WKSU) Kent, Ohio, and mvyradio in Martha's Vineyard and Newport are covering many acts from the Folk Festival on July 31 and August 1. Performances airing will include The Avett Brothers, Andrew Bird, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Justin Townes Earle and more.  From the Jazz Festival on August 7 and 8, NPR Music with WBGO Newark, WGBH Boston and WICN New England are broadcasting and webcasting line-ups from three stages, with potential sets from Jamie Cullum, Chick Corea Freedom Band, Ahmad Jamal and Wynton Marsalis (final artists tbd).

Al DiMeola and the World Sinfonia Continue World Tour

MUSIC NEWS- Al Di Meola and the international acoustic sextet World Sinfonia have drawn rave reviews on their current world tour (full itinerary below) and stop by NYC for some special shows at the Highline Ballroom on Friday, June 25th. The sets on this tour highlight songs from Di Meola's well-known repertoire alongside select electric performances that will showcase never-before-performed songs from the forthcoming studio album.

Di Meola, who was voted Best Jazz Guitarist by Guitar Player readers an amazing 11 times; more often than any other guitarist, will once again show off his "impressive stylistic range" (NY Times), delivering, as the Hartford Courant said of a show earlier this year, "impassioned, intricate tunes that wedded jazz, rock and folk traditions."

Watch a live performance of "Gumbiero" by Al Di Meola and World Sinfonia below: