Jazz@Rochester

Blue Note Records has announced that it will make available cell phone ring tones of classic jazz riffs from its legendary label names like Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver (and the list goes on). Check the article on Allaboutjazz.com here, or a page from Blue Note’s site here (they’re pretty much the same article, but Allaboutjazz.com has already archived it so the address is less likely to change). The “Best of the Blue Tones” ringtones are portions of the actual tracks, not cheesy remakes that sound like a Casiotone keyboard from the 80s. Blue Note is working with a variety of carriers worldwide to make them available, so watch for them at your favorite ringtone location.

I just recently joined the ranks of us downtrodden masses on the cell network. One of the first things I did was download a jazz ringtone—the first few lines from Coltrane’s Giant Steps. The problem is I just don’t want to answer the phone until he’s done . . . (I know, you’re all saying “that’s a problem?”)

One of my favorite albums is Stan Getz’s Getz/Gilberto on Verve, which brought together saxophonist Getz and Brazilian Joao Gilberto on an album that defined bossa nova and really brought that wonderful music to the rest of the world. Mostly songs of the great Brazilian songwriter Carlos Antonio Jobim, it turned out that it was Gilberto’s wife, Astrud, who sang on the track of “The Girl from Ipanema,” who became an international sensation in 1964 when the album was released and the song became one of the smash hits of jazz. Although it isn’t the best song on the album, it is just right for summer (the entire album is, actually) and is on heavy rotation in my CD player. I recently ran across this somewhat kitchy video on YouTube with Astrud singing that hit (and that is Mr. Getz there, too) and thought you might enjoy:

The city that is only a short hop, skip and jump-jive down the Thruway, Syracuse, will be having its own international jazz festival, Jazz in the Square 2006, on July 27-29. This year’s Jazz in the Square, while not holding a candle to our own RIJF, will feature major artists on the mainstage in Clinton Square, the heart of downtown Syracuse. Two other downtown stages present jazz in many forms. Additionally, the festival opens with a symphonic jazz concert featuring the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra with a night of great swing featuring a special guest jazz artist. Some of the artists who will be appearing in this year’s Jazz in the Square include:

Branford Marsalis
Chuck Mangione
Joyce Cooling
Criss Cross All-Stars
Sipiagin/Reid Quintet
Danny Sinoff Quartet
Nancy Kelly and the Syracuse Symphony
CNY Jazz Orchestra
The Breakers

According the website, there will also a “Jazz Alley” restaurant row and wine court in Clinton Square, late night jam sessions in the “Jazz Central” arts center, and jazz and funk groups populating the downtown club scene surrounding Clinton Square , and strolling jazz groups will perform on streets.

The Point of Departure is an online journal (a blog) by William Shoemaker discussing jazz music. Trending toward the freer and avant-guarde side of the jazz world, it makes for some interesting reading and has links to things you won’t find at sites like allaboutjazz, which Shoemaker describes as the U.S.A. Today of jazz websites. Point of Departure was nominated for a 2006 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Award for Best Website Concentrating on Jazz.

From time to time, I’ve read the thoughtful posts on the blog Rifftides, written by author Doug Ramsey, who lives in the Pacific Northwest. His blog’s “mission statement” is worth reading to give you a feel for it. Thought you might want to check out his writeup of the four days he spent here in Rochester at this year’s Swing ‘N Jazz, June 1-4, the fundraising event for the The Commission Project, which is a nonprofit that seeks to enhance music education by commissioning original works and producing workshops and composer-in-residence programs in public schools nationwide. While I’ve heard about it and have included event listings for the Drummers’ Night Out and other concerts that are included during the event, I didn’t know much about it. Falling so close to the RIJF, Swing ‘N Jazz doesn’t get as much press and it involves golf and country clubs, so it’s not for all of us plebes, but it is great cause, brings some great talent to Rochester and utilizes some of the great talent we already have here. I’ll try to look into it more closely next year….