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 CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH-FEBRUARY  Billie Holiday (born Elinore Harris; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Above all, she was admired for her deeply personal and intimate approach to singing. Critic John Bush wrote that she "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing jazz standards written by others, including "Easy Living" and "Strange Fruit". Early life  Raised Roman Catholic, Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood, which greatly affected her life and career. Not much is known for certain about her early life, and her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, first published in 1956, was later revealed to contain many inaccuracies. Billie Holiday at two years old, in 1917. Her professional pseudonym was taken from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Holiday, her probable father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name Halliday, which was the birth-surname of her father, but eventually changed it to Holiday, his performing name. There is some controversy regarding Holiday's paternity, stemming from a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives that lists the father as a "Frank DeViese". Some historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker. Thrown out of her parents' home in Sandtown Baltimore after becoming pregnant at thirteen, Billie's mother, Sadie Fagan, moved to Philadelphia, where Billie was born. Mother and child eventually settled in a poor section of Baltimore. Her parents married when she was three, but they soon divorced, leaving her to be raised largely by her mother and other relatives. At the age of 10, she reported that she had been raped. That claim, combined with her frequent truancy, resulted in her being sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school, in 1925. It was only through the assistance of a family friend that she was released two years later. Scarred by these experiences, Holiday moved to New York City with her mother in 1928. In 1929, Holiday's mother discovered a neighbor, Wilbert Rich, in the act of raping her daughter; Rich was sentenced to three months in jail. Early singing career According to Billie Holiday's own account, she was recruited by a brothel, worked as a prostitute in 1930, and was eventually imprisoned for a short time for solicitation. It was in Harlem in the early 1930s that she started singing for tips in various nightclubs. According to legend, penniless and facing eviction, she sang "Travelin' All Alone" in a local club and reduced the audience to tears. She later worked at various clubs for tips, ultimately landing at Pod's and Jerry's, a well-known Harlem jazz club. Her early work history is hard to verify, though accounts say she was working at a club named Monette's in 1933 when she was discovered by talent scout John Hammond. Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut in November 1933 with Benny Goodman, singing two songs: "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch". Goodman was also on hand in 1935, when she continued her recording career with a group led by pianist Teddy Wilson. Their first collaboration included "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown To You", which helped to establish Holiday as a major vocalist. She began recording under her own name a year later, producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the swing era's finest musicians. Wilson was signed to Brunswick Records by John Hammondfor the purpose of recording current pop tunes in the new swing style for the growing jukebox trade. They were given free rein to improvise the material. Holiday's amazing method of improvising the melody line to fit the emotion was revolutionary. (Wilson and Holiday took pedestrian pop tunes, such as "Twenty-Four Hours A Day" or "Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town", and turned them into jazz classics with their arrangements.) With few exceptions, the recordings she made with Wilson or under her own name during the 1930s and early 1940s are regarded as important parts of the jazz vocal library. Among the musicians who accompanied her frequently was tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom she had a special rapport. "Well, I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices, if you don't be careful, you know, or the same mind, or something like that." Young nicknamed her "Lady Day", and she, in turn, dubbed him "Prez". She did a three-month residency at Clark Monroe's Uptown Housein New York in 1937. In the late 1930s, she also had brief stints as a big band vocalist with Count Basie(1937) and Artie Shaw(1938). The latter association placed her among the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an arrangement that went against the tenor of the times. The Commodore years and "Strange Fruit"  Holiday was recording for Columbia in the late 1930s when she was introduced to "Strange Fruit", a song based on a poem about lynching written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx. Meeropol used the pseudonym "Lewis Allan" for the poem, which was set to music and performed at teachers' union meetings. It was eventually heard by Barney Josephson, proprietor of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, who introduced it to Holiday. She performed it at the club in 1939, with some trepidation, fearing possible retaliation. Holiday later said that the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father's death and that this played a role in her resistance to performing it. In a 1958 interview, she also bemoaned the fact that many people did not grasp the song's message: "They'll ask me to 'sing that sexy song about the people swinging'", she said. When Holiday's producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his Commodore Records. That was done in April, 1939, and "Strange Fruit" remained in her repertoire for twenty years. She later recorded it again for Verve. While the Commodore release did not get airplay, the controversial song sold well, though Gabler attributed that mostly to the record's other side, "Fine and Mellow", which was a jukebox hit. Decca years and "Lover Man" (1944-1950) Milt Gabler eventually became an A&R man for Decca Records, in addition to owning Commodore Records, and he signed Holiday to the label on August 7, 1944, when Holiday was 29. Her first recording for Decca was "Lover Man" (#5 R&B) and "No More". "Lover Man" was a song written especially for her by Jimmy Davis, Roger "Ram" Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman. Although its lyrics describe a woman who has never known love ("I long to try something I never had"), its theme—a woman longing for a missing lover—and its refrain, "Lover man, oh, where can you be?", struck a chord in wartime America, and the record became one of her biggest hits. A month later, in November, Billie Holiday returned to the Decca studio to record three songs, "That Ole Devil Called Love", "Big Stuff", and "Dont Explain". Holiday wrote "Don't Explain" after she caught her husband, Jimmy Monroe, with lipstick on his collar. After the recording session, Holiday did not return to the studio until August 1945. She recorded "Don't Explain", "Big Stuff", "You Better Go Now", and "What is This Thing Called Love?". "Big Stuff" and "Don't Explain" were recorded again but with additional strings and a This was Holiday's only recording session in 1945, for she returned again to the studio in January 1946, recording her biggest hits: "No Good Man" and "Good Morning Heartache". "Big Stuff" was also recorded for the third time. She came back on March 13, 1946, to record "Big Stuff" with a smaller group. In December 1946, Billie recorded "The Blues Are Brewin", a song that she performed in her first and last feature film, New Orleans. She also recorded "Guilty". In February 1947, Holiday recorded two hits, "There Is No Greater Love" and the haunting "Deep Song". She also recorded "Solitude" and "Easy Living", songs that she had recorded with Teddy Wilson in the late 1930s. Billie's next recording was after her release from prison in 1948; this time, she had a vocal group behind her (The Stardusters). She recorded "Weep No More" and "Girls Were Made to Take Care of Boys". Worried that people would not like the recordings, they recorded two more songs without the group. These singles became some of her biggest hits on Decca. She recorded "My Man" and Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy". The next year, Billie had a streak of hits, from her brassy rendition of Bessie Smith's "T'Ain't Nobody's Business if I Do", "Gimme A Pigfoot (And A Bottle of Beer)", "Do Your Duty", and "Keeps on Rainin'", to her lush "You're My Thrill" and "Crazy He Calls Me". She also recorded a song that she wrote, called "Sombody's On My Mind". In her last recording in 1950, she recorded two songs. Both of them were backed by strings, horns, and a choir. She recorded her own "God Bless the Child" and "This is Heaven to Me". Film Then, in 1935, she had a small role as a woman being abused by her lover in Duke Ellington's short "Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life". She also sang a tune called "Saddest Tale". Holiday made one major film appearance, opposite Louis Armstrong in New Orleans (1947). The musical drama featured Holiday singing with Armstrong and his band and was directed by Arthur Lubin. Holiday was not pleased that her role was that of a maid, as she recalled in her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues: "I thought I was going to play myself in it. I thought I was going to be Billie Holiday doing a couple of songs in a nightclub setting and that would be that. I should have known better. When I saw the script, I did. You just tell one Negro girl who's made movies who didn't play a maid or a whore. I don't know any. I found out I was going to do a little singing, but I was still playing the part of a maid."
1947 arrest and Carnegie Hall comeback concert On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics and drugs in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she was in court. "It was called 'The United States of America versus Billie Holiday'. And that's just the way it felt," Holiday recalled in her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. Holiday pleaded guilty and was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. Holiday said she never "sang a note" at Alderson, even though people wanted her to. Luckily for Holiday, she was released early (March 16, 1948) because of good behavior. When she arrived at Newark, everybody was there to welcome her back, including her pianist. Bobby Tucker. "I might just as well have wheeled into Penn Station and had a quiet little get-together with the Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service." Ed Fishman (who fought with Joe Glaser to be Holiday's manager) thought of the idea to throw a comeback concert at Carnegie Hall. Holiday hesitated, unsure whether audiences were ready to accept her after the arrest. She eventually gave in, and agreed to the concert. On March 27, 1948, Holiday played Carnegie Hall to a sold-out crowd. It is not certain how many sets Holiday did, as the concert was not recorded, but the sets included Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and "Strange Fruit". Less than a year later, Holiday was arrested again on January 22, 1949, inside her room at San Francisco's Hotel Mark Twain. Early and mid 1950s Billie Holiday in court in late 1949. She was charged with the possession of opium, even though it was her boyfriend's. Holiday stated that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroeon August 25, 1941. While still married to Monroe, she became romantically involved with trumpeter Joe Guy, who was also her drug dealer, and eventually became his common lawwife. She finally divorced Monroe in 1947 and also split with Guy. Because of her 1947 conviction, her New York City Cabaret Cardwas revoked, which kept her from working in clubs there for the remaining 12 years of her life, except when she played at the Ebony Club in 1948, where she opened under the permission of John Levy.By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. Her later recordings showed the effects on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected the vibrancy it once had. In spite of this, however, she retained—and perhaps strengthened—the emotional impact of her delivery. On March 28, 1952, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia enforcer. McKay, like most of the men in her life, was abusive, but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, à la Arthur Murraydance schools. Her late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as popular as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years, her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive. On November 10, 1956, she performed two concerts before packed audiences at Carnegie Hall, a major accomplishment for any artist, especially a black artist of the segregated period of American history. Live recordings of the second Carnegie Hall concert were released on a Verve/HMV album in the UK in late 1961 called The Essential Billie Holiday. The thirteen tracks included on this album featured her own songs "Love My Man", "Don't Explain" and "Fine And Mellow", together with other songs closely associated with her, including "Body and Soul", "My Man", and "Lady Sings the Blues" (her lyrics accompanied a tune by pianist Herbie Nichols). The liner notes on this album were penned partly by Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who, according to these notes, served as narrator in the Carnegie Hall concerts, taking position at a lectern to the left of the stage. Interspersed among Holiday's songs, Millstein read aloud four lengthy passages from her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues. He later wrote: "The narration began with the ironic account of her birth in Baltimore - 'Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three' - and ended, very nearly shyly, with her hope for love and a long life with 'my man' at her side." Millstein continued, "It was evident, even then, that Miss Holiday was ill. I had known her casually over the years and I was shocked at her physical weakness. Her rehearsal had been desultory; her voice sounded tinny and trailed off; her body sagged tiredly. But I will not forget the metamorphosis that night. The lights went down, the musicians began to play and the narration began. Miss Holiday stepped from between the curtains, into the white spotlight awaiting her, wearing a white evening gown and white gardenias in her black hair. She was erect and beautiful; poised and smiling. And when the first section of narration was ended, she sang - with strength undiminished - with all of the art that was hers. I was very much moved. In the darkness, my face burned and my eyes. I recall only one thing. I smiled." Nat Hentoffof Down Beat magazine, who attended this same Carnegie Hall concert, penned the remainder of the sleeve notes on the 1961 album. He wrote of her performance: "Throughout the night, Billie was in superior form to what had sometimes been the case in the last years of her life. Not only was there assurance of phrasing and intonation; but there was also an outgoing warmth, a palpable eagerness to reach and touch the audience. And there was mocking wit. A smile was often lightly evident on her lips and her eyes as if, for once, she could accept the fact that there were people who did dig her." Hentoff continued, "The beat flowed in her uniquely sinuous, supple way of moving the story along; the words became her own experiences; and coursing through it all was Lady's sound - a texture simultaneously steel-edged and yet soft inside; a voice that was almost unbearably wise in disillusion and yet still childlike, again at the centre. The audience was hers from before she sang, greeting her and saying good-bye with heavy, loving applause. And at one time, the musicians too applauded. It was a night when Billie was on top, undeniably the best and most honest jazz singer alive." Her performance of "Fine And Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazzprogram is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young; both were less than two years from death. Holiday first toured Europe in 1954 as part of a Leonard Feather package that also included Buddy DeFranco and Red Norvo. When she returned almost five years later, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's Chelsea at Nine in London. Her final studio recordings were made for MGMin 1959, with lush backing from Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also accompanied her on Columbia's Lady in Satinalbum the previous year—see below. The MGM sessions were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later re-titled and re-released as Last Recordings. Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, was ghostwritten by William Dufty and published in 1956. Dufty, a New York Post writer and editor then married to Holiday's close friend Maely Dufty, wrote the book quickly from a series of conversations with the singer in the Duftys' 93rd Street apartment, drawing on the work of earlier interviewers as well. His aim was to let Holiday tell her story in her own way. Although childless, Billie Holiday had two godchildren: singer Billie Lorraine Feather, daughter of Leonard Feather, and Bevan Dufty, son of William Dufty. Death On May 31, 1959, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holidaydescribed her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes: Voice Her distinct delivery made Billie Holiday's performances instantly recognizable throughout her career. Her voice lacked range and was somewhat thin, plus years of abuse eventually altered the texture of her voice and gave it a prepossessing fragility. Nonetheless, the emotion with which she imbued each song remained not only intact but also profound. Her last major recording, a 1958 album entitled Lady in Satin, features the backing of a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis, who said of the album in 1997:
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HERBIE HANCOCK Tuesday 15 June 2010 Herbie Hancock at Eastman Theatre Rochester, NY Wednesday 01 September 2010 Herbie Los Angeles, at Hollywood Bowl CA SANTANA Feb 6, Sat At The "JOINT" Las Vegas, NV ETTA JAMES-OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU. PLEASE GET WELL SOON Bob Baldwin 02/11/10 - White Plains, NY "Westchester Musicians for Haiti" Benefit Concert WHITE PLAINS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (WPPAC)
Porter Carroll, Sharon Bryant, Mala Waldron, Ragan Whiteside, Lynette Washington, Dennis Bell, Wali Ali, Bob Baldwin, Erik Perez, Dave Anderson 8:00pm For tickets, call 914 428-4220 Kyle Eastwood April 12th, 2010 Paris, France Duc des Lombards April 13th, 2010 Paris, France Duc des Lombards April 15th, 201 La Marsa, TunisiaBarcelo Carthage Thalasso - Hall 1 April 16th, 2010 Morocco Casablanca Jazz Festival April 20th, 2010 Blois, France All That Jazz April 21st, 2010 Bastia, France Theatre Municipal de Bastia Esperanza Spalding JAZZ ALLEY -FEB. 6,7 at 7:30pm -Seattle, WA (Some nites two shows) HAITI - PLEASE REACH-OUT DURING THEIR TIME OF SPECIAL NEEDS AFTER A DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE.Port-au-Prince, Wednesday Jan. 13, 2010, after the devastating earthquake that flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. LARRY KING AT CNN SPECIAL "HOW YOU CAN HELP" FEATURING MANY WELL-KNOWN ENTERTAINERS/STARS RAISED APPROX. $9,000,000.00 FOR HAITIAN VICTIMS Mo'Nique-GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS-Picks up well deserved Award for her role in the Movie "PRECIOUS" STAY WARM NOTTZ - SUPER PRODUCER NEW PROJECT REMIX "I DREAMED A DREAM" BY SUSAN BOYLE. CHECK IT OUT ON HIS PAGE RIGHT HERE AT LEZAH ENTERTAINMENT GROUP SERVICES. MORE SURPRISES TO FOLLOW VERY SOON. Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. World Tour Thursday, Mar 4 8:00p CASSANDRA WILSON NJ PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, NEWARK, NJ 3-6-2010 TREVOR MCSHANE releases new CD January 2010. (See 'HOT' new video at his page) The Spirit of Christmas OPRAH WINFREY Oprah Winfrey has sent The Ron Clark Academy some kind of stocking stuffer this Christmas: $1.5 million. The southeast Atlanta school alerted Buzz moments ago that Winfrey sent the donation after learning the school was having trouble raising money, and said she hoped the contribution "would inspire others to follow her lead." In true RCA style, the school celebrated with an impromptu rally in the lobby, where shouts and laughter filled the room and happy tears flowed. "We work so hard to provide scholarships for students of all academic backgrounds and to share our successful teaching methods with the world," co-founder Kim Beardon said. "We are incredibly thankful for Ms. Winfrey's support." Along with the check, Winfrey included a note praising the school for its work with students and with teachers from elsewhere. "I hope my gift will inspire others to join in to support RCA, a place that's not only uplifting students but also training teachers across the globe how to do the same for their students," Winfrey said in her note, Buzz was told. the Ron Clark Academy kids are responsible for the song, "You Can Vote However You Like". Al Jarreau Mar 21 7:30 Walt Disney Concert Hall Tim McGraw and Faith Hill "NEIGHBOR'S KEEPER" FUNDRAISERNeighbor’s Keeper Fund raised more than $2.5 million, according to public charity tax records. For McGraw, the idea was simple, "You know, you got to look out for your neighbor. And Faith and I both came from families like that," said McGraw. "If somebody was in trouble, the neighbors were there to help." NICOLE KIDMAN-UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador for Ending "VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN" Goes to Congress BONO & ALICIA KEYS "DON'T GIVE UP AFRICA" "NELLY" NELLY BUSINESS MOGUL/HIP-HOP ARTIST is Truly "MAKING THAT CHANGE" . Nelly has Presented Full-Four Year College Scholarships to some High School Seniors! We all Thank You Nelly! "MADONNA" Madonna, another artist we wish to Salute for her many kind deeds, giving back and making a real difference in the lives of those who need help. "Madonna Opens School in Africa" "Tyler Perry" Acclaimed Director, Writer and Actor and Sam Gilliam. The gift was made to commemorate the organization’s Centennial anniversary. Tyler Perry Donates One Million Dollars to NAACP Gift is the Largest Received from an Individual Artist in the NAACP’s History Washington, DC (November 23, 2009) - The NAACP, the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, announced today that acclaimed film director Tyler Perry has donated one million dollars, marking the largest gift ever given by an individual artist. In addition, Perry purchased several NAACP commissioned Jacob Lawrence lithographs and additional lithographs by celebrated artists Jonathan Green, Elizabeth Catlett Washington, DC (November 23, 2009). DIANA KRALL 2/18/2010 Christchurch, NZ Westpac 2/19/2010 Wellington, NZ TSB Bank Eric Clapton & Roger Daltrey Thursday, Feb 25 7:30p Pat Metheny Wynton Marsalis The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 13 for the Sheldon Concert Hall’s Sheldon Gala 2010 Saint Louis, MO CREATE MUSIC ASCAP EXPO10 returns for the fifth year in a row to the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles from April 22-24, 2010. The ASCAP EXPO's fifth year will be its biggest yet, a must-attend event for all music creators and music industry.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pres. Barack Obama & The First Lady Malcolm X "A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything". ROSA PARKS "Mother for Civil The Civil Rights Movement" MARCUS GARVEY "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots". Garrett Morgan - 03-4-1877 - 08-27-1963 Garret Morgan was the first person to patent a "TRAFFIC SIGNAL" 1901 Louis Armstrong is born: The Jazz Original "Through his clear, warm sound, unbelievable sense of swing, perfect grasp of harmony, and supremely intelligent and melodic improvisations, he taught us all to play jazz." —Wynton Marsalis Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists in the history of music. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, he began playing the cornet at the age of 13. Armstrong perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919) invented a hair-growing lotion. Walker grew up poor. But she became the first female African- American millionaire. KUDOS TO SNOOP DOGG!  Thanks to rapper Snoop Dogg, Los Angeles’ Crenshaw High School is one of California’s leading high school football teams. Sporting an undefeated record, Crenshaw High School is just one win away from clenching the city’s title. A number of the players on Crenshaw’s football team are the first graduates of Snoop’s The Snoop Youth Football League. "I celebrate what he's doing—he's probably saved thousands of kids—and he doesn't have to do that," Crenshaw High School’s Coach Robert Garrett told the Wall Street Journal. "I may not want to hang out with him, but he's putting his money where his mouth is." Crenshaw High School boasts some of the fastest players in California and several of its football players have been recruited by schools like University of Miami and USC. WISCONSIN BECOMES THE 32ND STATE TO RECOGNIZE AND OBSERVE 'JUNETEENTH' AS A STATE HOLIDAY! GOV. DOYLE SIGNED IT INTO EFFECT.  THE APPLE JUICE KID HAS COMPLETED YET ANOTHER PROJECT. THIS ONE IS A REMIX OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG SONGS. PLEASE VISIT HIS PAGE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT. I HAVE DOWNLOADED A COUPLE TRACKS FROM THE CD THIS IS AN AWESOME PROJECT RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS ALREADY! THE APPLE JUICE KID WILL COMPLETE AN EDDIE HAZEL PROJECT IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE AS WELL, CAN'T WAIT; THIS IS GOING TO BE OFF THE CHAIN TOO! YOU GO APPLE JUICE KID! MORE NEW UPDATES COMING SOON. (HE WAS VERY RECENTLY IN A MAJOR STUDIO IN SOUTHFIELD, MI, WORKING ON SEVERAL MORE EXTREMELY UPCOMING HIGH PROFILE PROJECTS WITH OTHER MAJOR PRODUCERS). DON'T SLEEP ON THIS APPLE JUICE KID! HE IS MAKING MAJOR MOVES AND LOTS OF NOISE! UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. chief is naming blind pop star Stevie Wonder a United Nations Messenger of Peace to focus on helping people with disabilities.  SPECIAL HONOR AND TRIBUTE TO OUR MILITARY and their Families EVERYWHERE! We appreciate and Salute all of you, serving or who have served in the Military including my own Brother below, who served the U.S.A. Navy for 27 years. My brother fought for our Country in Three (3) Wars; retiring with honors as a high ranking Officer from the USA NAVY, (VIETNAM, THE PERSIAN GULF AND THE DESERT STORM WARS). God Bless our Troops and Military Veterans Families everywhere! On a final note; I must add, my brother is also a role model father; his daughter, (and my niece, earned her 'MASTERS DEGREE' AT THE AGE OF 23 YEARS OLD; SHE IS 27 YEARS OF AGE NOW. HOW PROUD WE ALL ARE). Actually, I have two brothers who served in the Military, however the younger brother did not serve as long as my oldest brother did; MY OLDER BROTHER RETIRED AS A "MILITARY LIFER", We are a family who have many in our family who served and some relatives who are serving now. God Bless all of you! We want all of our troops home. We all must continue to pray for our troops and their return home safely to their families.  PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA WON 2009 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE! Steve Perry - Making A Difference in Schools and Educational Systems! Steve Perry is the founder and principal of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut, and author of "Man Up!: Nobody is Coming to Save Us," which offers solutions to problems in the black community. "The program sent "100 percent" of our graduates to college. "We served poor students who were the first generation in their families to attend college. We provided college preparation through a six-week summer program, after-school tutoring and in-school academic advising". Steve Perry: A parent asked why only rich kids get good schools He says question started process of building a quality school Perry says his team fought bureaucracy, union to try something new He says his school is highly rated and sends all graduates to college. JAZZ AT THE BISTRO-ST LOUIS Feb. 3-6, 2010, Lou Donaldson, $30-$35 Feb. 17-20, 2010, Freddy Cole, $30-$35 March 3-6, 2010, Joey DeFrancesco, $25-$30 March 17-20, 2010, Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project, $25-$30 March 31-April 3, 2010, Alyssa Graham, $25-$30 April 14-17, 2010, John Pizzarelli, $35-$40 April 28-May 1, 2010, John Patitucci, $25-$30 May 12-15, 2010, James Carter Organ Trio, $25-$30 May 26-29, 2010, Marlena Shaw, $30-$35 Be a Part of History! First Annual JEN Conference University of Missouri - St. Louis May 20-22, 2010 Be certain not to miss out on being a part of JEN history by attending the First Annual Conference next spring! Here are a few exciting details about this once in a lifetime event. Conference Registration: Take advantage of the $95 Early-Bird registration fee by purchasing on or before December 31st, 2009. The cost increases to $150 beginning January 1, 2010. To register today, log on towww.JazzEdNet.org and click the link to purchase your conference registration. If you are not currently a JEN member, please Join Todayand you can register for the conference as part of the same transaction. If you have already purchased your conference registration, we will see you in St. Louis! Conference Housing: The Jazz Education network is pleased to announce the Hilton Airport St. Louis as the official hotel for the 2010 Conference. As part of this exciting partnership we are able to offer a room rate of $74 per night, plus tax to our members. Click Here to be redirected to the Hilton Airport St. Louis website to make your room reservation. If you prefer, you may contact the hotel directly by calling: 314-426-5500 direct or toll free at 1-800-314-2117. Hotel Shuttle Service to and from airport is provided by the Hilton. JEN will provide shuttle service to and from the University of Missouri-St. Louis for the Conference. 4,000+ sq. ft. Industry Exhibit Congratulations to the following School Ensembles that have been accepted for performance: Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College - Tifton, GA Austin Academy - Garland, Texas Brubeck Institute, Stockton, CA College of the Mainland - Texas City, TX Columbia College Chicago - Chicago, IL Deal Hannes Sigfridsson Trio - Stockholm, Sweden Ft.Zumwalt North High School - O'Fallon, MO Hannibal High School - Hannibal, MO Jazz St. Louis All Stars - St. Louis, MO Johnston High School - Des Moines, IA Marshall University Big Band - Huntington, WV Milton Academy - Milton, MA Metropolitan Area Youth Jazz Orchestra - Omaha, NE Niles North High School Jazz Choir - Skokie, IL St. Charles North High School - Bartlett, IL Tinley Park High School - Tinley Park, IL University of Alabama Big Band - Tuscaloosa, AL University of California Los Angeles - Canyon Country, CA University of Northern Iowa - Cedar Falls, IA University of Missouri-St. Louis Big Band - St. Louis, MO University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA Webster Groves High School - St. Louis, MO
We are very pleased to announce the Professional ensembles that will perform at the Inaugural Conference: The Army Blues/Pershing's Own Ruben Alvarez Jennifer Barnes' Sixth Wave Shelly Berg Phil Brown and the New Arts Jazztet The Caswell Sisters John Clayton Lou Fischer The Adam Larson Quintet Bill Mays OslanDailey Jazztet Gene Perla's GO Trio Rufus Reid Trio Bobby Shew Terrell Stafford Marvin Stamm Jerry Tolson Quintet Chris Merz' Equilateral John Wojciechowski Jazz Quartet
Conference Clinics: Education is one of the three primary missions of the Jazz Education Network and we were fortunate to receive a significant number of clinic applications. The process of selecting individuals to present was a very difficult one and we would like to thank all of those who applied. Jamey Aebersold, Anyone Can Improvise Ariel Alexander, Where are the Girls? Frank Alkyer, DOWNBEAT Blindfold Test Carol Argiro, New Knowledge for Engaging Jazz Audiences Pete Barenbregge, Big Band Rehearsal Techniques Sharon Burch, Jazz for kids--easy and fun! Infusing jazz into elementary music Ndugu Chancler, Finding the Time: Swing to Salsa! Tim Davies, Breaking the Mold: Taking your Big Band Writing to the next level. J.B. Dyas, Tune Learning: A Systematic Method for Memorizing and Retaining the Essential Jazz Repertoire Dave Fodor, JEN Student Composition Forum Antonio Garcia, Transcribing Jazz Solos Without Pitches Mark Gridley, Teaching Jazz History and Appreciation: A Listening Skills Approach Cheryl Hughley, The Future of Online Media Technology in Jazz Lisa Kelly and JB Scott, Singing Jazz: How do you Begin to Learn Your Craft? Robert Klevan, Listening 101: Get your students to listen to jazz John Kuzmich Jr., Digital Magic: Seamlessly From 'Live' Recording to Web Posting in Minutes Larry Lapin, Arranging for the Jazz Vocal Ensemble Mark Levine, Drop 2 for Pianists and Arrangers Victor Lopez, Latin Rhythms: Mystery Unraveled (A Practical Approach Introducing Latin Rhythms to the Jazz Ensemble) Sherry Luchette, Hands On Activities In Jazz for K-8 Students Allan Molnar/Stewart Smith, The ALIVE Project - Jazz Education via Distance Learning Fran Morris Rosman, An Afternoon with Ella Fitzgerald Dave Robinson, Traditional Jazz Jam featuring the Capital Trad Jazz Band Judy Shafer, Roundtable-Open Discussion on K-8 Dean Sorenson, Jazz improvisation One Step At A Time Mike Tomaro, Instrumental Big Band Reading Session with the Army Blues Mike Vax, Care and Feeding of the Trumpet Section Richard Victor, ADVOCACY IN ACTION: Tips for EFFECTIVE advocacy! Michelle Weir, JAZZ CHOIR: Effective Rehearsal to Stellar Performance
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