The Independent (Free subscription) | 01/03/2009
It was 40 years ago today – well, in June, actually – that Steve Winwood taught the band to play. Blind Faith, that is, who played the first ever free concert in Hyde Park in London in front of 100,000 people on 7 June 1969. And what a gig it was.
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 01/01/2009
Meet Carolyn Lee Jones: In my own words, Have You Met Miss Jones? Born and raised in Nebraska, one day I hopped on a bus with 21 suitcases and boxes, $200, my best friend and went to Dallas, Texas! My first career was in retailing as a buyer traveling the world. My travels gave me opportunities to perform and to meet other musicians...
Matt Dentler's Blog (Free subscription) | 12/31/2008
It's snowing today in New York, so I find this film a greater comfort than usual. Bert Stern's 1960 documentary Jazz On A Summer's Day is a terrific chronicle of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. It's sunny, sweet, and full of amazing performances. The musicians featured include: Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, and many many more. It's brought to...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 12/19/2008
Anita O'Day Anita O'Day: The Life Of A Jazz Singer AOD Productions 2008 Whatever else she was, Anita O'Day was a bundle of contradictions. Though one of the top four or five women jazz singers of her generation, she had little idea what she was doing with her life or where she was going with her art. She led a miserable though long life, was regularly addicted to drugs and alcohol, frequently disappeared...
[CinemaRatty] Lattest Articles (Free subscription) | 12/15/2008
Thanks to Rodrigo for posting these and for our industrious readers for ferreting them out. The Golden Satellite winners Satellite Awards Winners FILME (Drama) - Slumdog Millionaire Atriz (Drama) -...
The Current Buzz - Tech (Free subscription) | 12/10/2008
Ive spent the past two days seriously rocking out to the two-disc set Theme Time Radio Hour: With Your Host Bob Dylan, a collection of pop songs with fascinating written introductory material from Dylan. The variety of genres spanned here is amazing, from old reggae to swing to coutnry and western to the White Stripes, [...]
Philadelphia Inquirer (Free subscription) | 12/05/2008
To watch Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden's Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer is to get a close-up look at the strange alchemy that is jazz singing - singing at its most sublime.
The Washington Times (Free subscription) | 11/28/2008
The little black dress and matching wide-brim black hat adorned with white ostrich feathers were bought just hours before Anita O'Day's memorable 1958 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Washington Post (Free subscription) | 11/28/2008
In the 1950s, Anita O'Day was such a big name in jazz that she rated a mention in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." She was the first artist recorded by Norman Granz for his fledgling Verve jazz label, and with her unforgettable performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, she stepped into legend as a...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 11/18/2008
Anita O'Day, center with red tie, poses with other National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters for a group photo, reminiscent of Art Kane's 1958 "A Great Day in Harlem," in New York Friday Jan. 23, 2004. Included in the photo are George Russell, Dave Brubeck, Nat Hentoff, Louie Bellson, David Baker, Percy Heath, Billy Taylor, Chico Hamilton, Jim Hall, James Moody, Randy Weston, Ron Carter, Jackie...
Metroblogging Seattle (Free subscription) | 10/17/2008
One of the best-known, best-loved children’s films ever is E.T The Extra-Terrestrial and it’s playing at SIFF Cinema as part of their Films4Families series Saturday morning, October 18th. Go relive your childhood or share the film with kids who were years away from being around when the movie first became a pop culture phenomenon. Back [...]
Campaign for the American Reader (Free subscription) | 10/17/2008
John Edward Hasse, curator of American Music at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, founder of national Jazz Appreciation Month, and author of Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, named a five best list of books on jazz for the Wall Street Journal. One title from his list: Reading Jazz Edited by Robert Gottlieb Pantheon, 1996 Don't be put off by the
Seattle Weekly (Free subscription) | 10/15/2008
There may be musical greats like Monk, Dinah Washington, and Louis Armstrong on stage, but this classic concert film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival is at least as interested in the audience as the musicians. First-time filmmaker Bert Stern, a former fashion photographer and magazine designer, ste...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 10/10/2008
Anita O'Day sang like an angel, lived like the devil and made enough great music to fill a couple of lifetimes. Actually, she did live twice, considering that a heroin overdose killed her briefly in 1966, before revival with a then-experimental electric-shock device. It's practically a miracle O'Day lived to age 87, singing nearly until the time of her death in 2006...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 09/30/2008
Fans and critics are welcoming the latest recording from 23-year-old vocalist Rachael Price. “An alarmingly mature delivery,” writes George Harris in the LA Jazz Weekly, “mix Anita O'Day's timing with a young Sarah Vaughan's sense of dynamics, and you get a feel for why she sang with T.S. Monk's sextet.... [there is] lots to like and adore on this welcome release by a lady whose value is likely to...
