John Hilderbrand
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Chris Botti on recording today
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Chris Botti, touring right now, hasn’t put out a recording in six years and has a new deal with Blue Note Records. But he doesn’t appear to view it as a priority, stating that “the record business is over.” “Unless you’re bubblegum teen pop, it’s over. What’s the point? It’s a very tricky time right…
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Yellowjackets raising their voice?
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The new Yellowjackets recording, Raising Our Voice, supposedly is “subtly taking a resistant stand against the status quo of the cultural and political undercurrent of our times.” But I don’t even hear any subtle stand. No resistance, protest, or even a song title that indicating the current times other than maybe “Strange Times.” It’s the…
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Pat Metheny NEA Jazz Master and Acceptance Speech
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Metheny and Wayne Shorter – two men I always love listening to speak in addition to playing.
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Aretha Franklin has passed
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The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, passed away today at age 76. The cause of death was “advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type.” Indisputably a legend, she impacted many lives. Here’s what some jazzers had to say: From the time that Dinah Washington 1st told me that Aretha was the “next one” when she…
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Flashback: Tom Schuman in 2003
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Tom Schuman has been the keyboardist for Spyro Gyra since the beginning. He’s been on every recording by the perennial contemporary jazz band and has penned at least 40 of the songs on those recordings. During the 40+ year career of the group, he’s had a handful of solo albums. Fifteen years ago this month,…