Stories for May 18, 2013
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TUNE IN TODAY! for Bobby McFerrin on NPR's 'All Things Considered'
Posted: May 17, 2013 1:08 PM | By: Admin
TUNE IN TODAY! as Bobby McFerrin discusses his brand new CD: 'sprityouall' honoring his father and the American Spiritual on: NPR's 'All Things Considered. Please check local listings for airtime.
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The Piano Guys release the 'Home' video covering hit song from American Idol winner Phillip Phillips
Posted: May 16, 2013 12:40 PM | By: Admin
Utah's favorite dads, The Piano Guys just released their new video ‘Home' covering the hit song from 2012 American Idol winner Phillip Phillips. Shot in their home state of Utah near Zion National Park, Steven Sharp Nelson commented on the impetus to make the video. "We love being on tour and meeting our fans! However, as we travel along with our equipment, cellos and baggage one thing never gets checked away - we miss home. We miss our family. When we first heard ‘Home' we couldn't help but be emotionally drawn to it."
The video is being released in conjunction with the group's new album The Piano Guys 2, which features more imaginative mash-ups and arrangements on music from Pachelbel to The Turtles to Bruno Mars
The Piano Guys started making music videos together for fun, a hobby which turned into a worldwide phenomenon when their self-made YouTube videos amassed 220 million views to date.
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Phillip Phillips - Home (Piano/Cello Cover) - ThePianoGuys |
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The Blind Boys of Alabama sign with Sony Masterworks
Posted: May 16, 2013 11:25 AM
Veteran gospel act The Blind Boys of Alabama has signed with Sony Masterworks, Paste has learned. The band is now set to release a new album this fall, taking production notes from other than Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. An album title has not yet been released. The album will feature a few unexpected guest spots, which will be announced later. Its release will be followed by an international tour.
The band's current lineup includes founding vocalists Jimmy Carter, along with vocalists Bishop Billy Bowers and Ben Moore. Drummer Eric McKinnie, guitarist Joey Williams, bassist Tracy Pierce and keyboard player Peter Levin round out the lineup.
Vernon will add The Blind Boys to his growing list of production credits, which includes work with James Blake, Kathleen Edwards and Land of Talk.
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45 North speaks with Maria Schneider about 'Winter Morning Walks'
Posted: May 16, 2013 8:12 AM | By: Admin
45 North / Friday, May 3, 2013
Anne Strainchamps talks with a jazz composer and two-time Grammy winner Maria Schneider about her new album: 'Winter Morning Walks.'
Also on the show, Zoe Keating is a cellist with a lot of pluck. Acting as her own agent, tour manager, producer and publisher, Zoe tells Anne Strainchamps how to orchestrate a "slow, sustainable, career" as a musician-mother, how to crowd-source a tour, and why she writes odes to iTunes. A little later in the hour:
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Soul Flower is 'The Real McKelle'
Posted: May 15, 2013 9:09 AM | By: Admin
'Soul Flower,' Robin McKelle's new album on Sony Masterworks, set for release on June 11 might have called 'The Real McKelle.' "It's the record I've always dreamed of making" the singer says. McKelle who wrote most of the albums songs is true to it's title blending soul, blues, and R&B and showcasing not only her powerful expressive sound but also a great gift for devising familiar melodies that take hold immediately. McKelle also firmly puts her stamp on the project insisting on recognizing the backing band on the cover credit: Robin McKelle & The Flytones.
"I grew up listening to Nina Simone and Gladys Knight. I sang their classics and what I enjoy most today is building my own repertoire in that same soulful vein" McKelle says, as her lyrics delve into today's gloomy news. "You turn on the radio in the morning, you watch TV in the evening, and all you hear is crisis, crisis, crisis'. Wherever you are in the world the word is repeated ten thousand times a day, So I've tried to offer a take based on real life - people's experience, the everyday impression they have." The Rochester New York native does however end the session on a glamorous jazz note, with a cover of 'I'm A Fool To Want You' immortalized by Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday.
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Robin McKelle EPK Soul Flower |
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Inspired by their love of natural life, Nell Robinson & Jim Nunally release: House & Garden
Posted: May 13, 2013 5:32 PM | By: Admin
House & Garden was inspired by our love of natural life, of our gardens and the central place they play in our home-lives, our friendships and relationships. Jim and I were working one day, it was a beautiful spring day, and Jim said he'd started a song while thinking about the strawberry plants he has in his garden. His mother gave him the cuttings planted by his father, and though he passed on many years ago, his memory is kept alive in the garden. What a beautiful gift to reflect on your loved ones as you tend your flowers! We wrote the rest of the lyrics with specific flowers in mind and what they represent (love, faith, comfort).
We felt the album should be simple with spare instrumentation and a focus on stories, lyrics and vocal harmonies. The sound is refreshingly rich, with sweet surprises as the guitar and voices take on the sound of bees, mayflies, a music box, and even cello strings."
Nell Robinson
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Radio Celebrates Motherhood With RBP's 'Violin Lullabies'
Posted: May 10, 2013 6:45 AM | By: Admin
Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Rachel Barton Pine collected more than 150 lullabies and picked her favorite 25 for her new album, 'Violin Lullabies.' Inspired by art, history, and the everyday mother and child family ritual RBP, joined by the wonderful pianist Matthew Hagle have recorded pieces by Ravel, Schubert, Gershwin and Brahms with RBP's violin, hand-picked by Brahms for a student of his day.
In its first week of release, 'Violin Lullabies' ascended to:
#1 on Amazon Children's Music
#2 on iTunes Classical Chart
#2 Amazon Classical Music
Radio has also responded with great enthisiasm to the CD with an 'NPR: All Things Considered,' a Bob Edwards Morning Show feature on Sirius XM, on American Public Media's Performance Today, on Minnesota Public Radio's 'New Classical Tracks', WTTW-TV's Chicago Tonight', WGN: Chicago/'Music Lounge', Public Radio International's 'The Record Shelf'
Additional Interviews and Features have been airing on the following local stations to promote the album leading into Mother's Day on May 12 2013.
WQXR: New York
WFMT: Chicago
WRTI: Philadelphia
KDFC: San Francisco
WQED: Pittsburgh
WRCJ: Detroit
WICR: Indianapolis
WKNO: Memphis
Texas Public Radio
New Jersey Net: Statewide
Kansas PR: Statewide
Alabama PR: Statewide
WNED: Buffalo/NY
WCPE: Wake Forest/NC
WDAV: Davidson/NC
WGTE: Toledo/OH
KBAQ: Tempe/AZ
WFIU: Bloomington/IN
WIAA: Interlochen/MI
WFSU: Tallahassee/FL
KBIA: Columbia/MO
WBAA: West Lafayette/IN
KRCB: Rohnert Park/CA
In-Flight Airline programming via Spafax
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Brahms Lullaby for Violin -- Rachel Barton Pine and Matthew Hagle |
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Rachel Barton Pine's Interview with WDAV's Rachel Stewart |
Bobby McFerrin's Musical Tribute to His Father - Wall Street Journal piece
Posted: May 12, 2013 11:59 AM
WALL STREET JOURNAL Bobby McFerrin's Musical Tribute to His Father. By JOHN JURGENSEN At the WSJ Cafe, Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Bobby McFerrin performs an original song from his album "Spirityouall," which also includes his reinterpretation of such traditionals as "Swing Low." Almost anything gets Bobby McFerrin to make music. He created a rhythmic popping sound with his mouth while walking a hall during a recent interview, then he sang a little fanfare to the clacking tempo of a passing woman's high heels ...
James | Sanborn: 'Deep in the Weeds' is #1 most added this week at Smooth Jazz Radio!
Posted: May 7, 2013 7:08 AM
The track is from Keyboardist-composer-arranger Bob James and alto saxophonist David Sanborn's new album, Quartette Humaine, which will be released on May 21 2013 on Okeh! The album is the first collaboration between the two musicians since their 1986 Platinum-selling, GRAMMY® Award-winning album, Double Vision. An all-acoustic effort Quartette Humaine pays tribute to the late iconic pianist-composer Dave Brubeck and his great alto saxophonist Paul Desmond ...
Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt visit Performance Today
Posted: May 5, 2013 1:13 PM
Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt come from separate musical worlds: Dinnerstein is a classical pianist known for her interpretations of music by Bach; Merritt is a singer-songwriter known for her sweet voice and emotionally precise lyrics. The two musicians admired each other's work and became friends. And eventually, they became musical collaborators. Dinnerstein and Merritt join host Fred Child in the 'Performance Today' studio to discuss what they learned from each other musically. They also perform several songs from their new album Night ...
RBP's cradle songs getting Amazon Chart Position
Posted: May 2, 2013 6:55 AM
In its first week of CD release, Rachel Barton Pine's VIOLIN LULLABIES is: #1 on Amazon Children's Music #2 on iTunes Classical Chart #2 Amazon Classical Music Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Rachel collected more than 150 lullabies and picked her favorite 25 for the album.?inspired by art, history and how this music has become an everyday family ritual, RBP plays these?pieces by?Ravel, Schubert, Gershwin and Brahms on a violin hand-picked by Brahms for a student of his day ...
Bobby McFerrin's Spiritual celebration of his father - All About Jazz review
Posted: May 12, 2013 1:10 PM
Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau and Jon Hendricks are the most innovative jazz voices of the past 50 years. Our current subject, McFerrin, took the technical capabilities of the human voice, remolding them into the fantastic and delightful forms we recognise as his genius today. spirityouall is McFerrin's celebration of both his father, Robert McFerrin, Sr., the first African-American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera Company and the American musical vernacular called the Spiritual ...
Sony Masterworks releases Gloria Estefan's 'The Standards' 9/10/2013
Posted: May 1, 2013 11:36 AM
Celebrating great tunes from the American Songbook, Sony Masterworks releases Gloria Estefan's The Standards on September 10, 2013. With these classic songs sung in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French, Estefan is reaching out to her global fan base with new lyrics she wrote. The album also features collaborations with Laura Pausini, violinist Joshua Bell and saxophonist Dave Koz. Shelly Berg, who has produced and arranged for artists including Patti Austin, Elliot Smith and Arturo Sandoval did the arrangements ...
Kat Edmonson signs with with Sony OKeh/Masterworks
Posted: April 17, 2013 3:51 PM
"Fresh as a spring bouquet" - The New York Times "A timeless sound" - NPR "All Things Considered" "She's being compared to the greats" - NPR "On Point" "One of the greatest vocal albums I've ever heard" - The Boston Globe Kat Edmonson has signed a worldwide deal with Sony Masterworks. The label will launch her album Way Down Low on the OKeh/Masterworks imprint, coinciding with dates this spring and summer in Europe ...
On 'spirityouall,' Bobby McFerrin can't do anything without faith
Posted: May 7, 2013 7:23 PM
On 'spirityouall' Bobby McFerrin pays tribute to his late father, Robert McFerrin Sr., the celebrated Metropolitan Opera baritone and master interpreter of African-American spirituals. This May 14 CD release is a deeply personal statement for Bobby. "I couldn't do anything without faith," he says. "I couldn't open up my eyes, I couldn't walk, I couldn't speak, I couldn't sing ...
What does it mean to be an exile? Lara Downes on MPR's 'New Classical Tracks'
Posted: May 1, 2013 8:31 AM
What does it really mean to be an exile? That's a question pianist Lara Downes tries to answer with Julie Amacher on Minnesota Public Radio's 'New Classical Tracks Extra.' Ms. Downes latest recording: Exiles' Café is a collection of 19th and 20th century solo piano works written by composers in exile, composers longing for home, and composers reflecting on their respective journeys. Take a listen to what the pianist has to say about her new recording ...
Top 10 Albums for May
Bobby McFerrin :
spirityouall
For decades, Bobby McFerrin has broken all the rules. The 10-time Grammy winner waged a quiet revolution, blurring the distinction between pop music and high art, goofing around barefoot in the world's finest concert halls, exploring uncharted vocal territory, inspiring a whole new generation of a cappella singers and the beatbox movement. Now he surprises us by bringing it all back home with his new album, spirityouall from Sony Masterworks.
18 NEW / 48 Total Stations/Shows
SYND: NPR/ATC, Acoustic Cafe, UnderCurrents, TTBOOK
Direct: SiriusXM/Bob Edwards Show
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami, Cleveland, Seattle, Houston, Detroit, Albuquerque, Berkeley CA, Madison WI, Canada
Online: All About Jazz, wildmansteve.com, CD Insight, WSJ Cafe
Nell Robinson | Jim Nunally :
House & Garden
House & Garden was inspired by our love of natural life, of our gardens and the central place they play in our home-lives, our friendships and relationships. Jim and I were working one day, it was a beautiful spring day, and Jim said he'd started a song while thinking about the strawberry plants he has in his garden. His mother gave him the cuttings planted by his father, and though he passed on many years ago, his memory is kept alive in the garden. What a beautiful gift to reflect on your loved ones as you tend your flowers! We wrote the rest of the lyrics with specific flowers in mind and what they represent (love, faith, comfort).
Nell Robinson
6 NEW 'ON' 9 Total Stations/Shows
Markets include: Boston, Philadelphia, Tucson, Montreal
Online: CD Insight
The Piano Guys :
Volume 2
The Piano Guys are back with a new album, The Piano Guys - Volume 2, with their unique take on music from Pachelbel to The Turtles to Bruno Mars, available on Portrait, Sony Masterworks' new adult contemporary imprint. Also available is the Deluxe version which includes the CD plus the 12 corresponding music videos - available for the first time on DVD! The recording features imaginative mash-ups and arrangements that made their last album so successful, plus a few original recordings including the previously unreleased song 'Berlin' as well as 'Waterfall,' creating an incomparable style that appeals to audiences from all walks of life and across generations.
28 Total Stations/Shows
SYND: 60 Second CD
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Albuquerque, Long Island NY, Jacksonville FL
John Medeski :
A Different Time
Keyboard master John Medeski thrives on the unpredictable, a trait that has kept his work with the trailblazing trio Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW) fresh and surprising for more than twenty years. With A Different Time, his first solo piano project, Medeski once again takes his sound in a completely unexpected direction - unexpected even to him. "I had a more eclectic record in mind," Medeski says. "I wanted to put out something that would be more representative of what my live solo concerts are like." The first release on Sony Classical's newly-revived OKeh Records imprint, A Different Time is a far more introspective, meditative collection than fans of MMW's lively, groove-driven music might expect. Consisting mostly of Medeski's own compositions and improvisations, with a familiar spiritual and a Willie Nelson song added into the mix, the album presents a different side of Medeski's prodigious artistry, one which he was initially reluctant to display.
24 New 'ON' 73 Total
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland, Houston, Austin, Kansas City, Denver, Baltimore, Portland, New Orleans, Milwaukee Berkeley, Albuquerque, El Paso, Chattanooga, Madison WI
Online: Taintradio, RadioIO, Greenarrrow, Jazzweekly, WGOE
Paris Combo :
5
Paris Combo 5 shatters the traditional concept of what some consider the Paris sound with a myriad of influences including the alluring vocals of Belle du Berry. Smoldering just beneath the surface there is an accessible Europop vibe, adventurous riffs, and swinging grooves that are carefully mixed with Latin, African and rumba rhythms all tightly woven around the tapestry that is the French cabaret sound. Paris Combo 5 is a return to the studio after a four year hiatus and is arguable one of the finest groups to come out of France in thirty years.
10 New 'ON' 159 Total
SYND: Jazz Variations
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, Denver, Baltimore, New Orleans, Austin, Seattle, Long Island NY, San Antonio, Albuquerque, Madison WI, Honolulu
Online: RadioIO, Taintradio, Greenarrrow, Jazzweekly, M3 Radio, Radio Phoenix, New World Buzz, WGOE, The Paul Leslie Hour
Pedrito Martinez :
Rumba de la Isla
Sony Masterworks in partnership with Calle 54 Records releases: Cuban musician, Pedrito Martínez's new album Rumba de la Isla. Featuringsongs once interpreted by Camarón de la Isla, the legendary flamenco icon, Rumba de la Isla is produced by Fernando Trueba and Nat Chediak. The albumcelebrates the convergence of both the Cuban and Flamenco rumbas. The great rumbero Pedrito Martínez manages to integrate, in his own personal way, classic songs by Camarón de la Isla in a unique tribute to the greatest flamenco artist of all times.
29 New 'ON' 70 Total
SYND: PRI/Jazz After Hours
Direct: SiriusXM, MOOD
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Miami, Atlanta, Cleveland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston, Portland, Denver, San Diego, Austin, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Berkeley CA, Las Vegas, Albuquerque
Online: M3, Taintradio
David Chesky :
The New York Rags
"New York Rags FULL of riches."
WBGO Radio
"This is certainly among the finest piano recordings ever made..."This music and recording deserve the highest of high fidelity and that's just what the 192/24 download delivers."
The Absolute Sound
"combines classical, jazz, and Chesky's quirky personality in a series of short vignettes that are quintessentially New York." Stereophile Magazine
Artistic virtuosity and entrepreneurial vision rarely reside within the same person, but David Chesky has long ventured seamlessly between those two worlds. As a composer, musician and recording artist, three-time Grammy nominee Chesky bridges classical music, jazz and other genres, crafting a unique hybrid that he calls "Urban Orchestral" music.
21 New 'ON' 74 Total
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Houston, Portland, New Orleans, Kansas City, Detroit, Albuquerque, Madison WI, Hartford CT, Canada
Online: Taintradio, Jazzweekly.com, Live 365, The Jazzy Vegetarian
Quartetto di Cremona :
Beethoven: Complete String Quartets - Volume 1
During the past ten years the Quartetto di Cremona has matured into a string quartet of international renown, combining the Italian culture of string playing with an awareness of historical performance practice. The first volume of their recording series of the Complete Beethoven String Quartets comprises three distinctive works from Beethoven's early, middle and late periods. With the three works contained in Volume 1, the Quartetto di Cremona covers the most important periods of Beethoven's quartet oeuvre. The final of the six Op. 18 Quartets features a mysteriously programmatic dimension in its last movement, "La Malinconia", whereas Op. 95 from Beethoven's middle period is both highly compact yet dramatically gripping. The disc closes with Beethoven's final Quartet, Op. 135, completed in Vienna one year before his death: it differs from his less easily approachable late works in taking on a conciliatory stance.
19 Stations Total
Markets include: Atlanta, Detroit, Erie PA, Denton TX, Stevens Point WI, Ashland & Astoria OR, Tempe AZ, Rohnert Park CA, Newark DE, Notre Dame IN, Iowa City, Cape Girardeau MO, Syracuse NY, Davidson & Wilmington NC, Fargo ND
Rachel Barton Pine :
Violin Lullabies
On Violin Lullabies, Rachel Barton Pine and pianist Matthew Hagle perform 25 classic cradle songs for violin, including works by Johannes Brahms, George Gershwin, Franz Schubert, Gabriel Fauré, Richard Strauss, and Maurice Ravel. Released on Cedille Records, these brief, beautiful pieces are as compositionally sophisticated as longer works by these same composers, and the music suits both hard core classical listeners as well as novices of all ages. "While the birth of my first child inspired this album, the idea of deeply exploring the lullaby as a genre has fascinated me for some time. These are beautiful concert pieces which allowed me to express the love that fills my heart each day that I spend with my precious baby," Rachel Barton Pine
53 New 'ON' 153 Total
SYND: NPR/ATC, PRI/Classical 24, The Record Shelf, APM/Performance Today, The Romantic Hours
Direct: SiriusXM/Bob Edwards & Symphony Hall, Music Choice, MOOD, Spafax
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Baltimore, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Detroit, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, Tucson, San Antonio, Louisville, Madison WI, Honolulu
Online: RadioIO, Taintradio, WGOE
Maria Schneider & Dawn Upshaw :
Winter Morning Walks
Maria Schneider releases: 'Winter Morning Walks' featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw. It is Schneider's first recording with major orchestras and features two commissioned works composed and conducted by Schneider with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra, and poetry by Ted Kooser and Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Blurring the line between classical and jazz, with touches of avant-garde and pop sensibilities, Winter Morning Walks marks a new chapter in an already illustrious career.
8 New 'ON' 120 Total
SYND: NPR/ACS & WATC, PRI/Classical 24, PRI/Jazz After Hours
Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice, DMX
Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Portland, Indianapolis, Detroit, New Orleans, Berkeley CA, San Antonio, Long Island NY, Canada
Online: RadioIO, WGOE, Humboldt 101
