A recent study due to be published in March's edition of the Personality and Individual Differences journal has surmised that our taste in music has the ability to affect how we work. The researchers who kicked off the study began with the premise that music affects our mood, but, as the study progressed, they began to find out more about how music impacts on our performance, how we interact with colleagues, and that it even has the ability to influence our thoughts on the topic of resigning. More than 400 people were surveyed for their preferred musical style. The researchers listed 14 styles to choose from, grouped into four main categories: "reflective and complex", which included the jazz of Nina Simone; "intense and rebellious" rock songs from the likes of Bon Jovi; "energetic and rhythmic" tracks, including the party hits of David Guetta; and "upbeat and conventional" soaring anthems from people like Beyoncé. The results of the survey surmised that of the four broader musical genres, it was the "reflective and complex" category that seemed to have the biggest influence on innovative and creative work. Subgenres that fell into the category included not only jazz but blues (such as the likes of B.B. King), classical (including Bach and Berlioz) and folk (Joni Mitchell, amongst many others). READ THE FULL happy.com ARTICLE

The nominations for the Jazz FM Awards 2019 have been announced ahead of an evening event at Shoreditch Town Hall on International Jazz Day. The shortlist includes Sons of Kemet, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Nubya Garcia, Poppy Ajudha, Leon Bridges, Makaya McCraven, Louis Cole, Eric Bibb, and Steam Down Collective amongst the acts. The Awards recognise the best emerging new artists, contemporary icons and established stars from across the worlds of jazz, soul and blues. The night, on April 30th, will also feature special performances from a host of celebrated artists, still to be revealed. 2019 nominees include; Eric Bibb for 'Blues Act of the Year' John Coltrane – Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album & Sons of Kemet – Your Queen Is A Reptile for 'Album of the Year' READ THE FULL Radio Today ARTICLE

With the increasing role of technology in today's music world, computer-generated music and compressed audio files can take precedence over sitting down at a concert to enjoy a live performance. In one of Italian classical pianist Roberto Prosseda's educational projects, he performs side-by-side concerts with a robot pianist - named Teo Tronico - in order to stress the differences between lifeless perfection and human-to-human musical expression. On Feb. 13 in Morse Recital Hall, Prosseda will perform works of Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schubert. The concert will continue the Horowitz Piano Series, a concert series that highlights Yale School of Music faculty members and brings well-known soloists to an intimate recital setting on campus. While he will not bring Teo Tronico to New Haven, Prosseda seeks to share his music in a unique and personal way. "We risk losing the sense of a genuine musical expression and for this reason attending classical music concerts and playing an acoustic instrument is so important nowadays," said Prosseda. "Recitals are an opportunity for me to share with the audience the intensity, depth and magic of some of my favorite piano masterworks." READ THE FULL Yale Daily News ARTICLE

The New York Times has called Raul Midón "a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus." Midón's voice and guitar ride the waves of an actual orchestra: the acclaimed Metropole Orkest, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Dutch ensemble that has collaborated with artists from Al Jarreau and Elvis Costello to Laura Mvula and Snarky Puppy. Midón – who earned his first GRAMMY nomination for Bad Ass and Blind, his Artistry Music/Mack Avenue album of 2017 – worked hand in glove on If You Really Want with another renowned GRAMMY winner and frequent Metropole Orkest collaborator: conductor-composer-arranger Vince Mendoza. He created beautifully dynamic arrangements, inspired not only by the singer-guitarist's melodies, harmonies and rhythms but by his lyrics, too. Alongside fresh versions of six favorites from past Midón albums, If You Really Want features four previously unrecorded songs: "If You Really Want," "Ride On A Rainbow," "Ocean Dreamer" and "All Love Is Blind." This past spring, Midón performed in National Public Radio's popular "Tiny Desk Concert" feature, with NPR prefacing the broadcast by saying: "Raul Midón lives in a world of sound – blind since birth, Midón's interpretation of his surroundings is borderless. He sings with the passion of the best classic soul singers, and his instrumental chops stand alongside the most accomplished jazz musicians." Watch the attached video as Raul Midón performs - 'If Only'

Over the past six years International Recording Artist Lyn Stanley has sold more than 38.000.albums - currently worldwide, but before that time she had had absolutely no singing experience whatsoever. I, like practically all journalists, was amazed to hear this. "Not even singing along to background music on the stereo or radio as a child?" I asked. Directly and sincerely she replied, Within a year of each other, she has produced the previously mentioned Lost in Romance, Potions, songs from the 50s, Interludes, Moonlight Sessions, on two discs, and the latest London Calling, a Tribute to Julie London. A live to disc recording D2D (Direct to Disc) called London with a Twist is in progress. In fact, a single from it is already receivng air play. When the album is released this spring, it will be her 7th.There is no stopping Stanley's passion and ambition to move further up the ladder. READ THE BroadwayWorld INTERVIEW

The singer who "compels us to listen actively, to hear things anew" (Gramophone) plies her profuse talents once more in Songplay! Joined by pianist-arranger Craig Terry, jazz legends Chuck Israels (bass) and Jimmy Madison (drums), and young international sensations Lautaro Greco (bandoneón) and Charlie Porter (trumpet), Joyce DiDonato and her band fuse Italian Baroque bel canto classics, jazz ballads, and tunes from the Great American Songbook into one illuminating musical program, just released on Warner Classics. READ THE medici INTERVIEW This March 4 concert is being featured as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Dmitri Shostakovich's long-lost Impromptu for Viola and Piano, Op. 33, recently unearthed in the Moscow State Archives, receives its world-premiere recording on Matthew Lipman's Ascent, the acclaimed young American violist's solo debut album, featuring, in the artist's words, "music enraptured by flights of fantasy." Recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Lipman has created an album of uplifting and spiritually transcendent works for viola and piano, dedicated to his late mother. In this wide-ranging program, his collaborator is pianist Henry Kramer, winner of the Second Prize at the 2016 Queen Elisabeth competition. For Tuesday February 12, 2019, Matthew Lipman - Ascent is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'     p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}