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Checking in on the Festivals

Thu, 29 May 2008 04:00:40 +0000

The weather has, for the most part, finally started to get warm around here. Of course, I am writing this the evening after we had a night of 39 degree weather. But still, compared to the below zero temps we had most of the winter, 39 degrees is a heatwave. On Monday, we were in the 80s and I heard people actually complaining about how hot it was. Come on people, either you want it cold or you want it hot, let’s not be total wimps here.

That means it is festival season and I have mentioned, many times, about how Chicago manages to do things right in this regard. The festival season really kicks off with the great Chicago Blues Festival. Then, there are other music festivals, including a Gospel Festival and Lollapalooza, but then the festival season closes with the Chicago Jazz Festival, which was always big, but just keeps getting bigger.

I want to thank a certain website that really stays on top of these things. You need to check out Chicagofests.com for the details about the various music festivals. The information below is quoted from their website. The site is run by the Chicago Music Commission and Centerstage. So, thanks guys, for the website, the details and the information below:

THE CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL

25th Annual Chicago Blues Festival, June 5-8, 2008 in Grant Park

The Mayor’s Office of Special Events has completed announcing the headliners for this year’s festival:

Thursday, June 5: Guitarist and singer Johnny Winter will make his first appearance at the Chicago Blues Festival since the inaugural event in 1984. He’ll be part of the opening night celebration of Muddy Waters on Thursday, June 5th, sharing the spotlight with “Superharp” James Cotton and others.

Friday, June 6: The Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor (joined by her Blues Machine) headlines on Friday night, along with a set by Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater. There will also be a tribute to the past with a set featuring Ruby Andrews, Cicero Blake and Jackie Ross.

Saturday, June 7: Buckwheat Zydeco will headline on Saturday. The 60-year-old accordionist will bring one of the classic sounds of New Orleans to the stage. Also appearing that night will be Chicago favorite Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, the 2007 Band of the Year at the Blues Music Awards.

Sunday, June 8: Just announced to close the festival on Sunday June 8th will be the legendary B.B. King, making his first appearance at the festival in over 20 years. Other headliners on the final night include keyboardist Little Willie Littlefield, guitarist Bobby Parker and vocalist Karen Carroll, who performs with Charlie Love and Lurrie Bell.

THE CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL (so far)

30th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival, August 28-31, 2008 in Millennium Park and Grant Park

The Mayor’s Office of Special Events has announced some of the headliners for this year’s Jazz Fest.

Thursday, August 28: Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins opens the festival at 6:30 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. One of the pioneers of bebop in the ’50s, Rollins is still an inspiration to many jazz artists around the world.

Sunday, August 31: Ornette Coleman, widely known as the creator of “free jazz,” will bring his improvisatory saxophone skills to the Petrillo Music Shell as he closes out the festival on Saturday night. Though he’s been on the scene for about a half-century, he hasn’t lost creative flair; last year’s Sound Grammar won a Grammy.

Once again, thanks to Chicagofests.com for the information above. Check out their site for details about Lollapalooza and other music festivals in the Chicago area throughout 2008.

Post from: Jazz & Blues Lounge

An April Links Round-Up

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:16:34 +0000

The cool thing about writing this blog for the folks at b5media is that you are never really and truly alone. There are a lot of great writers writing about a lot of cool things, and this is particularly true of the music channel. There are some writers so dedicated to writing about their field of music that they post two, three or four times a day. This is something I am just not capable of doing.

It’s been a great experience writing for them and the music channel has grown by leaps and bounds. I am looking forward to a lot more growth and exciting things to come. Below are some links to those other channels and some key articles and blog entries for each of them. Click them, read them, and enjoy them.

52Bands featured the Barenaked Ladies band.
Austin Sound Check already has the SXSW 2009 Dates.
Big Apple Music Scene has a list of her favorite CD store in NYC.
Brit Music Scene begs for BoyZone to give up.
Christian Music Fan reviewed David Pettigrew “Every Minute Miracles”.
Concord Crazy delved onto
Country Music Stop tells us about the Country Music’s 3 Muskeeters.
Crooner Culture is not sure whether to believe or not that Marilyn Monroe has a sex tape.
Ear Sucker is starting to get really sick of Mariah Carey.
Hip Hop Roll confirms that it’s really hard out there for a pimp.
Hippie Sounds posts her favorite hippie video of the week. I
ndustrial Addiction is not surprised at Marilyn Manson’s sex change.
check out my own article at Jazz and Blues Lounge teaches you how to create your basic jazz library.
Killed By The Video Star is not impressed with John Mayer.
Metal Martyr gives you major tips before getting your tattoo.
New Age Vibe posts an interview with Steven Halpern.
News In Punk has the track list from the Offspring new album.
Our Digital Music shares the news on MSN Download shut down.
Oz Music Scene gives Wyclef Jean a pat in back for setting a journalist straight during MTV Australia Awards.
Pop Music Scene jumped on the Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair pictures bandwagon.
Rumors In Music says there might be a Metallica online album.
She Plays Music lists the Top 10 Bad Girls Of Music.
The Beatles Invasion takes a look at the bitter rivalry between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The Good Musician has 10 tips to power up your rehearsal techniques.
The Production Side has the FYI on Lollapalooza.
The Rock Dose has the Bob Dylan ‘Hard Rain’ video.
The Rock Relic says it’s time to ROCK again.
Toronto Unplugged reviews the Colin Meloy concert at the Phoenix.
And just in case you missed it, here’s the ‘Soundtrack of The Day’ list from the music channel bloggers.

Post from: Jazz & Blues Lounge

Wynton’s Coming to Town

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 01:49:43 +0000

I decided to do some checking to see if any of my favorite jazz artists were planning on coming to town. One of my favorite current jazz performers is Wynton Marsalis. I have written about him before on this blog. If you haven’t spent any time listening to Wynton, I can’t recommend him enough. He is about as close as you are going to get to listening to some of those old-time jazz players I write about so often here… In my opinion, of course.

Wynton is a guy with a lot of talent. He not only plays the trumpet better than just about anyone right now in contemporary music, but he is an outstanding composer. He also composes and conducts classical music. Finally, he is the kind of guy who nurtures kids and young musicians and that is always cool.

Anyway, for those of you in Chicago, Wynton will be touring with his Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra and appearing in the city in January.

January 18 and 19, Wynton and his orchestra will be at the Symphony Center which is located at 220 S. Michigan Avenue.

The one on the 18th is listed for all ages, but the one on the 19th has a little not beneath the date as “Jazz For Young People.”

Anyway, I suggest trying to get tickets and enjoying the show.

Post from: Jazz & Blues Lounge

A Guy named Jaco and a Random MySpace Page

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:29:05 +0000

I love to bring you all kinds of jazz and jazz musicians here. Of course, the truly wonderful thing about jazz is that it is so diverse, there are bound to be sounds and musicians to appeal to any and all music lovers. Of course, trying to cover the entire scene is nearly impossible. I am but one man and there are so many jazz musicians.

There are also a lot of jazz musicans that I am just not familiar with. As I have mentioned many times, I tend to be a classic jazz kind of guy. My jazz CD collection contains CD releases of a lot of stuff recorded in the 50s and before that. I don’t have too many of the newer stuff.

At the same time I realize people who may be stopping by here might like the newer stuff. Personally, I try to be open to the newer stuff as well.

So, I was looking around on MySpace, hoping to find a new musician I might be able to point you to, and, instead, I found a site dedicated to a man I had heard of, but didn’t know much about. That guy’s name is Jaco Pastorius. Sadly, Jaco died back in 1987, so the term “new” may be bent slightly here.

Since I am hardly an expert on Jaco, I thought I would direct you to this site. I love the MySpace music pages. They have samples of songs and great information. Someone took the time to create his site and it appears to be lovingly done.

So, please click right HERE and check out the MySpace page. Enjoy the tunes and read some of the very informative blog entries and stuff on there.

Post from: Jazz & Blues Lounge