Music Filter: Jazz

Miles Davis Movie?

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 20:02:37 GMT

Speaking of bio-pics (see the previous post about Walk the Line/Ring of Fire), there's chatter about Miles Davis getting the feature film treatment. Especially with the induction of the jazz master into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame, there's been renewed interest in revisiting the life of the late trumpeter who passed in 1991. Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn told reporters at the Hall that Sony Pictures has an option to produce a Davis bio-pic and that a popular choice to play the musician has been actor Don Cheadle (this is merely a rumor and has not been confirmed).

It's funny but Wilburn also mentioned that Antoine Fuqua is being considered for director; Fuqua just signed on to do the Notorious B.I.G. bio-pic. Looks like he's the go-to director for biographical films dead Black musicians. (Source: Reuters)

L.A. Plans To Bring Back Central Ave. Glory

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:23:46 GMT

Back in the 1930s and '40s, L.A.'s Central Avenue was as rich a cultural neighborhood for the West Coast jazz scene as Harlem was for New York. The legacy of that strip has been memorialized in books and box-sets but the avenue itself has largely worn away to time and the normal course of urban change. Very little visible signs of this once flourishing scene remain but the city of Los Angeles is planning on changing this.

Officials are pouring $500,000 (which, all things considered, is a nice gesture but not exactly chingo bling) into revitalizing the neighborhood and hopefully, attracting tourists to visit this slice of local cultural history. The LA Times reports that the fund will:

"provide money to mom-and-pop business owners to put new facades on their stores; promote more park space and cleaner, safer streets; and add neighborhood amenities similar to the Central Avenue Jazz Park, a tiny but popular plot of green space with a small play area and an outdoor stage.

No immediate timeline has been set for the project but it does seem to be long-range and long-term as the city also plans to create incentives to attract more "restaurants, retailers and movie theaters" to the area. (Just please don't turn Central Ave. into another Grove). (Source: LA Times)

Preserving New Orleans' Jazz Legacy

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 17:37:02 GMT

Amidst all the reconstruction in the Gulf Coast, the Bring New Orleans Back Commission is trying to remind the municipal leaders that the city's rich cultural history should have a central focus in the rebuilding efforts. Says the commission's chairman, Cesar Burgos, "We’re not going to sit here and pretend that what we’re doing is more important than levees, but we all know that without its culture, New Orleans isn’t New Orleans."

The commission, which reports directly to Mayor Ray Nagin, is recommending the establishment of a National Jazz Center, part-museum, part-performance space/studio. Surprisingly, given New Orleans' long heritage with jazz, the city has not done a great job, historically, of preservation around that legacy. Many buildings with famous connections to jazz have wasted away, even been demolished (this being prior to Katrina) and one of the Commission's key recommendations is the immediate preservation of some of the city's most important buildings, especially those connected with native son Louis Armstrong.

A more pressing need at current is simply bringing musicians back to the city; since the hurricanes of late summer, the city has seen its 2,500 musicians plummet to just 1/10th that number and an additional 11,000 people working in the cultural sector have lost their jobs. (Source: MSNBC)

John Coltrane: Gone But Not Forgotten

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:20:17 GMT

As Tupac and Biggie have demonstrated quite well, death is no barrier to being a hit artist. The latest musician to light up the charts from the great beyond is John Coltrane, the legendary saxophonist who passed in the 1960s. Coltrane has not one, but two albums in the Top 3 Jazz Album chart. The most recent is Impulse's One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note (#3), a much bootlegged live show finally released officially for the first time. On that album, Coltrane plays with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison.

At #2 is Blue Note's At Carnegie Hall, featuring the Thelonious Monk Quartet with Coltrane. It's a rare recording of the two gints collaborating and no one even knew a taping of that show (from 1957) even existed until a researcher discovered one in the Library of Congress. Says Coltrane biographer Ashely Kahn, "There's a whole bunch of tapes that even the record label didn't know about. There is going to be a lot more stuff." (Source: CNN)

Highlight On Ethiopian Jazz

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:03:23 GMT

For those who watched Jim Jarmusch's summer film, Broken Flowers, one of its most memorable qualities was a soundtrack built largely on the music of Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke. For those new to so-called "Ethiojazz" and the work of Astatke in general, today's NY Times has a profile of the venerable pioneer.

Obscure as Ethiojazz may sound to most Americans, it's long been popular amongst different cliques of cult music listeners, including hip-hop types you like the music's soul and funk influences as well as world music aficionados who enjoy its blend of Western and Ethiopian aesthetics. While Astatke has certainly enjoyed a small surge in interest thanks to Broken Flowers, his music had already come into vogue again in the last few years thanks to a few key reissues and compilations: the use of his music in the film will only help to push that interest further.

New Orleans Jazz Fest To Rise Again

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 16:55:02 GMT

In a promising sign of life and perseverance, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival intends to come back in 2006, according to one of the fest's co-producers, Randy Phillips. It's not certain if the event will actually be able to take place in New Orleans – much is dependent on the state of recovery/repair efforts. (We're guessing, "Come for the Jazz, Leave With E-Coli!" is probably not the kind of publicity slogan they'll want). That said, Phillips insists the fest is coming back:

"We are going to do a Jazz Fest in '06. Where, how with what infrastructure, will all be worked out."

Baton Rogue may be a possible alternative site, especially given how its absorbed a large percentage of the post-Katrina New Orleans population. (Source: Billboard)

Peyroux's Perils

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 18:11:50 GMT

Normally, we'd avoid gossip column items like this but it's such a bizarre story. We reported last week that jazz chartreuse Madeleine Peyroux went missing ... and then was found. Frankly, most probably wouldn't have even picked up for the story if not for the fact that Peyroux's gotten a lot of play in the last year or so ever since Starbucks picked up her CD for their stores.

In any case, this whole situation is getting stranger by the moment since the latest news is that Peyroux is being sued by her ex-boyfriend for one meeeeelllion dollars. William Galison is arguing that he helped Peyroux put together her first demo but once she got signed, he dumped him and contractually blocked him from cashing in. Says Galison,

"We were romantically involved. She lived with me, she was eating my food. We were romantically involved and we had an amazing act. But suddenly she stopped working with me."

Seems pretty iron-clad to us, after all, she was eating his food – that's sure to stand up nicely in court. Peyroux's attorneys are countering that Galison was abusive and is now just trying to cash in. How the plot thickens ...