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andyman1125 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote andyman1125 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Dec 2011 at 4:53pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tupan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2012 at 11:23am
Esperanza Spalding (from the official website):
 

If “esperanza” is the Spanish word for hope, then bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding could not have been given a more fitting name at birth. Blessed with uncanny instrumental chops, a multi-lingual voice that is part angel and part siren, and a natural beauty that borders on the hypnotic, the prodigy-turned-pro might well be the hope for the future of jazz and instrumental music.

Spalding was born and raised on what she calls “the other side of the tracks” in a multi-lingual household and neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. Growing up in a single-parent home amid economically adverse circumstances, she learned early lessons in the meaning of perseverance and moral character from the role model whom she holds in the highest regard to this day – her mother.

But even with a rock-solid role model, school did not come easy to Spalding, although not for any lack of intellectual acumen. She was both blessed and cursed with a highly intuitive learning style that often put her at odds with the traditional education system. On top of that, she was shut in by a lengthy illness as a child, and as a result, was home-schooled for a significant portion of her elementary school years. In the end, she never quite adjusted to learning by rote in the conventional school setting.

“It was just hard for me to fit into a setting where I was expected to sit in a room and swallow everything that was being fed to me,” she recalls. “Once I figured out what it was like to be home-schooled and basically self-taught, I couldn’t fit back into the traditional environment.”

However, the one pursuit that made sense to Spalding from a very early age was music. At age four, after watching classical cellist Yo Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the roadmap was suddenly very clear. “That was when I realized that I wanted to do something musical,” she says. “It was definitely the thing that hipped me to the whole idea of music as a creative pursuit.”

Within a year, she had essentially taught herself to play the violin well enough to land a spot in The Chamber Music Society of Oregon, a community orchestra that was open to both children and adult musicians. She stayed with the group for ten years, and by age 15, she had been elevated to a concertmaster position.

But by then, she had also discovered the bass, and all of the non-classical avenues that the instrument could open for her. Suddenly, playing classical music in a community orchestra wasn’t enough for this young teenager anymore. Before long she was playing blues, funk, hip-hop and a variety of other styles on the local club circuit. “The funny thing was, I was the songwriter, but I had never experienced love before. Being the lyricist and the lead singer, I was making up songs about red wagons, toys and other childish interests. No one knew what I was singing about, but they liked the sound of it and they just ate it up.”

At 16, Spalding left high school for good. Armed with her GED and aided by a generous scholarship, she enrolled in the music program at Portland State University. “I was definitely the youngest bass player in the program,” she says. “I was 16, and I had been playing the bass for about a year and a half. Most of the cats in the program had already had at least eight years of training under their belts, and I was trying to play in these orchestras and do these Bach cello suites. It wasn’t really flying, but if nothing else, my teachers were saying, ‘Okay, she does have talent.’”

Berklee College of Music was the place where the pieces all came together and doors started opening. After a move to the opposite coast and three years of accelerated study, she not only earned a B.M., but also signed on as an instructor in 2005 at the age of 20 – an appointment that has made her the youngest faculty member in the history of the college. She was the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship.

In addition to the studying and the teaching, the Berklee years also created a host of networking opportunities with several notable artists, including pianist Michel Camilo, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Pat Metheny, singer Patti Austin, and saxophonists Donald Harrison and Joe Lovano. “Working with Joe was terrifying,” she recalls, “but he’s a really generous person. I don’t know if I was ready for the gig or not, but he had a lot of faith in me. It was an amazing learning experience.”

Spalding’s journey as a solo artist began with the May 2008 release of Esperanza, her debut recording for Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, which went on to become the best selling album by a new jazz artist internationally in 2008. The highly acclaimed release was the first opportunity for a worldwide audience to witness her mesmerizing talents as an instrumentalist, vocalist and composer. The New York Times raved, “Esperanza has got a lot: accomplished jazz improvisation, funk, scat singing, Brazilian vernacular rhythm and vocals in English, Portuguese and Spanish. At its center is a female bassist, singer and bandleader, one whose talent is beyond question.”

Soon after release, Esperanza went straight to the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart where it remained for over 70 weeks. Spalding was booked on the Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, the CBS Saturday Early Show, the Tavis Smiley Show, Austin City Limits and National Public Radio. Other highlights included two appearances at the White House, a Banana Republic ad campaign, the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2009 Jazz Award for Up and Coming Artist of the Year, the 2009 JazzWeek Award for Record of the Year, and many high profile tour dates, including Central Park SummerStage in New York and the Newport Jazz Festival. 2009 was capped by an invitation from President Obama to perform at both the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway – where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded – and also at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.

And as well as being on the road with her own band, Esperanza has toured with Joe Lovano, and has also performed with pianist McCoy Tyner.

In early 2010, Spalding was the subject of an in-depth profile in The New Yorker, she was also featured in the May 2010 Anniversary issue of O, The Oprah Magazine’s “Women on the Rise” (in a fashion spread that features portraits of 10 women who are making a difference in various careers), and she was again nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association for their 2010 Jazz Award for Up and Coming Artist of the Year.

If Esperanza marked a brilliant beginning for this gifted young artist, then Spalding’s August 2010 release, Chamber Music Society, sets her on an upward trajectory to prominence. Inspired by the classical training of her younger years, Spalding has created a modern chamber music group that combines the spontaneity and intrigue of improvisation with sweet and angular string trio arrangements. The result is a sound that weaves the innovative elements of jazz, folk and world music into the enduring foundations of classical chamber music traditions. Co-produced by Esperanza and Gil Goldstein (with string arrangements provided by both), Chamber Music Society finds Esperanza with a diverse assembly of musicians: pianist Leo Genovese, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, percussionist Quintino Cinalli, guitarist Ricardo Vogt, and vocalists Gretchen Parlato and the legendary Milton Nascimento. The string trio is comprised of violinist Entcho Todorov, violist Lois Martin and cellist David Eggar.

Esperanza has presented this album with a number of tours across the USA and Europe, as well as travelling to Japan to play at the Blue Note club in Tokyo and also down to the Cape Town Jazz Festival in South Africa. The album has also been supported with TV appearances on the top American late night chat shows, such as David Letterman and Jay Leno.

On Februrary 13th 2011 in Los Angeles, Esperanza received one of the music industry’s most prestigious prizes, the Grammy for Best New Artist. As Esperanza later said, she was surprised and also grateful to receive this award. It had been a very special day, as earlier on Esperanza has cohosted the pre-telecast with Bobby McFerrin and also performed with the Grammy Jazz Ensemble.

As well as a very busy spring and summer touring again in Europe and North America, Esperanza has been working on her upcoming new album, Radio Music Society. This new recording which she herself describes as funkier and more update than its predecessor, is planned to be released in the Spring 2012.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote snobb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2012 at 11:26am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote idlero Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2012 at 8:42am
Anat Fort -from her site

Having grown up in Israel where she studied classical piano, listened to 80's pop and soaked up the diverse sounds of the Middle East, it is no wonder that this rich kaleidoscope of sounds and influences would eventually become her stylistic signature. 

A natural improviser from a very young age, it was not until her late teens that she discovered the depth of jazz.  The next step was coming to the United States to study with people who were part of shaping up this music like Harold Mabern, Rufus Reid and Norman Simmons.  It was then that Anat started writing music, developing that aspect of her creative talent through the study of classical and jazz composition.  

In 1999 Anat self-produced her first CD, Peel, that features an all-original program.  The CD received excellent reviews, giving her the impetus to form a working band.  But little did she know that the collaboration she would form with drummer Roland Schneider and bassist Gary Wang would continue to be her main vehicle of expression over a decade later.  Having created a strong presence on the New York jazz scene, the Anat Fort Trio has traveled extensively in the US, Canada, Europe and Israel to play the most prestigious jazz venues and festivals such as the Montreal Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, The Opera House in Tel Aviv, NDR Rolf-Liebbermann studio in Hamburg, among many others.

Anat received two composition grants from the "Jerome Foundation" and one from "Meet the Composer". She has received commissions to compose pieces for orchestra and improvisational piano (Tzohar, 2000), chamber ensemble (Ketanot, 2002), choir and jazz trio (Mekayitz El Kayitz, 2007) and many more.  She has played with many jazz greats such as Paul Motian, Ed Schuller and Perry Robinson with whom she recorded her second CD, A Long Story in 2004. This collaboration brought her to the attention of ECM Records producer Manfred Eicher who decided to produce the recording without their having initially been in the studio; a rare occurrence.  The CD came out in 2007 and received outstanding reviews worldwide. 

The success of her first ECM CD resulted in a long-awaited project, the first recording of the Anat Fort Trio: And If.  This recording came out in 2010 and like its predecessors, features all Anat's original compositions.  And If was selected by Slate Magazine as one of the Ten Best Jazz CD's of 2010, an honor she shares with one of her most influential jazz heroes, the legendary Keith Jarrett. The trio is currently touring in support of this new recording.
I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ...
Ken Burns
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dreadpirateroberts View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dreadpirateroberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2012 at 8:57am
^ added, thanks idlero!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkshade Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2012 at 11:04am
OK, so Phish is on JMA, and needs a new pic, and I've also submitted a bio for them.



To their fans, Phish are not just a band, they're a way of life. Although the group's studio albums sell well enough, Phish are primarily a live phenomenon: the living, breathing, noodling embodiment of the term "jam band." Like Deadheads before them, Phish fans have followed the group city to city, traded bootleg tapes with the band's blessings, and feverishly debate the merits of past gigs (Phish never plays the same set twice). By nurturing this grass-roots following, Phish bypassed commercial radio and evolved over the course of a decade into one of—if not the— hottest live attractions in America.

The band first came together in drummer John Fishman's dorm room at the University of Vermont. Fellow students Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth brought their guitars by to jam, and they were later joined by bassist Mike Gordon, who answered a bulletin-board ad posted by Anastasio. Fan Page McConnell, a student at Goddard College, joined as a keyboardist in 1985, and Holdsworth left the following year. Early performances around this time also featured percussionist Marc Daubert, as well as occasional appearances by the enigmatic singer Dude of Life (with whom the band would later record the album Crimes of the Mind.).

In 1988 Phish recorded its first album, Junta, which was sold as a cassette at gigs. By the time the band released its second album, Lawn Boy (1990), on the independent label Absolute A-Go-Go, Phish's growing fan base had begun to establish a presence on the fledgling Internet at Phish.Net. Elektra signed the group a year later and released A Picture of Nectar in 1992, followed by reissues of Lawn Boy and Junta.

Beginning with 1993's Rift (Number 51), the band's popularity began to translate into chart success. The following year's Hoist, which spawned Phish's only video (for "Down With Disease"), went to Number 34, followed by 1995's double disc A Live One (Number 18), Billy Breathes (Number Seven, 1996), the live Slip, Stitch, & Pass (Number 17, 1997), The Story of the Ghost (Number Eight, 1998), the sprawling, six-disc Hampton Comes Alive (Number 120, 1999), and Farmhouse (Number 12, 2000). However the band's live performances, not its recorded output, defined it throughout the decade.

In addition to the band's trademark marathon improvisational jams (drawing equally from jazz, rock, and country), fans could count on such weird variables as Fishman's vacuum-cleaner solos and the band's penchant for oddball covers; in 1994 Phish began a semiannual tradition of performing an entire classic album live on Halloween as a "musical costume" (ranging from the Beatles' White Album to the Who's Quadrophenia and Talking Heads' Remain in Light). In 1997 the band's weekend festival, the Great Went, held in Limestone, Maine, drew an audience of 62,000. The following year's Lemonwheel Festival, also in Limestone, drew a comparable crowd. Phish ended the Nineties playing for 75,000 fans at a two-night millennial concert at Florida's Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.

After touring in support of 2000's Farmhouse, Phish announced a hiatus. Fans were left with Elektra's official release of The Siket Disc, a collection of studio outtakes, and the feature-length documentary Bittersweet Motel. The group periodically updated its Web site about such band member side projects as Gordon's experimental film Outside Out and Trampled by Lambs & Pecked by Doves, an album by Anastasio and Phish lyricist Tom Marshall. The band also began releasing versions of shows dating back as far as 1989 as part of the Live Phish series. Upon their return in 2002, Phish made shows available for instant download on the Live Phish Web site.

In 2004, shortly before the release of Undermind (Number 13), Phish announced that they were breaking up after their summer tour, culminating in one last festival on a farm in their native Vermont. The festival took on an air of Woodstock as flooding and heavy traffic prevented several fans from reaching the farm before they abandoned their cars and trekked to the venue on foot.

Over the next four years, Anastasio embarked on a moderately successful solo career first with a group informally known as Trey Anastasio Band, which took on many incarnations over the years, and later as a member of the supergroup Oysterhead, which also featured Primus' Les Claypool and the Police's Stewart Copeland. Anastasio and Gordon toured together briefly in 2006. In 2007, Anastasio faced felony drug possession charges and spent the next year in a court-ordered drug program to avoid jail time.

After months of rumors, Phish confirmed in 2008 that they would reunite in 2009. The band played three shows in March of that year before embarking on a summer tour. They released their fourteenth studio album, Joy (Number 13) in September. From October 30 through November 1, Phish took on one of their most ambitious projects to date, Festival 8, which found the band playing eight sets over three nights. Phish finished the year by playing a four-night New Year's celebration in Miami.

Phish has continued to tour in 2010, 2011, and 2012, performing some of their best shows in years. The band is due to enter the studio in 2012 to record the follow-up to Joy, with plans of getting together with no pre-existing material and completely write in the studio together.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote snobb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2012 at 12:47pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote idlero Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Nov 2012 at 4:51pm
Tord Gustavsen

Tord Gustavsen (born 5 October 1970 in Oslo, Norway) is a major jazz pianist and composer.

Before studying music, Gustavsen finished a degree in psychology. He studied jazz at the Conservatory of Music Trondheim and music theory at the University of Oslo. He tours extensively world-wide, and he has been a bandleader of a trio and a later ensemble both of which bore his name. The Tord Gustavsen Trio, with Harald Johnsen on double bass and Jarle Vespestad on drums, released three albums by April 2007 for ECM Records; Changing Places in 2003, The Ground (2004), and Being There (2007). He followed them with an album recorded by an ensemble he assembled in 2009, Restored, Returned - an album which was awarded with Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian Grammy) in 2008. In addition, he has recorded as a session musician, and guested on friends' albums.

Gustavsen's new Quartet with Tore Brunborg on saxophone, Mats Eilertsen on double bass, and Jarle Vespestad on drums, is highly praised for their album The Well (2012).


from http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/6592df44-5b0c-4e39-9f8a-cea53288ac68

I think the problem with a lot of the fusion music is that it's extremely predictable, it's a rock rhythm and the solos all play the same stuff and they play it over and over again ...
Ken Burns
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dreadpirateroberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Nov 2012 at 5:11pm
thanks! added
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tupan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Feb 2013 at 12:34pm
Bio for Areia e Grupo de Música Aberta (taken from their official website):

Areia is a member of the Mundo Livre S / A, (Founder of the Brazilian musical movement called Manguebeat). Throughout his life as a composer, has always been dedicated to instrumental music. It has partnerships such as the Norwegian guitarist Steinar Aadnekvam; a trumpeter Dominic Ntumous from Greece and Brazilian artists such as Alceu Valença, DJ Dolores, Jacinto Silva and Maciel Salú, also played with Arto Lindsay, Naná Vasconcelos and Tony Allen.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote snobb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Feb 2013 at 12:49pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tupan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2013 at 7:19am
Bondesom (the band sent to me):

Bondesom is a brazilian music group founded in Rio de Janeiro, since 2002. The sound of the sextet formed by Yuri Villar (soprano/tenor sax and flute), Matias Zibecchi (percussion), Pedro Mann (bass), Antônio Guerra (keyboards), Pedro Silveira (guitar) and Gabriel Guenther (drums) is a mix of brazilian regional rhythms, latinjazz and afrogrooves. Bondesom had already played at some of the best venues (Circo Voador, Fundição Progresso) and city music festivals in Rio (Leblon Jazz Festival, Viradão Carioca). The group has two recorded albums with its own compositions: "Bondesom", 2007 and "Procurando Lola", 2011(this one made after crowndfunding project). The third album is in pre-production and will be released this year.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote snobb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 May 2013 at 7:34am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tupan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 7:26am
The band Edo has a biography in PA .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote snobb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 7:27am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tupan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 7:46am
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