Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Yoron Isreal

I was lucky enough to be able to see a wonderful singer and member of the Berklee School of music staff Gabrielle Goodman last week at KCC. She brought the house down (no surprise there) and another cool thing was a cameo by Stephen Webber, playing a lovely samba on guitar.

She gave her backup (Matthew Truss) a solo appearance and I don't think there was one person who did not get "chickenskin". Amazing .....(grace).

But, I was stoked by the band. Will Lydgate, island resident and Berklee alum was as always, subtle yet stunning, the pianist (of whom I am unfamiliar with) Jiri Nedoma , definitely showed he will be going places...But most of all..give the drummer some. Yoron Isreal, who I have never had the pleasure of hearing live was a monster. Not a loud monster..a perfect monster.

Here is his website: http://www.yoronisrael.com/bio.html

Now I have heard him on several recordings, but I had not as a leader: check this out..


YORON ISRAEL & ORGANIC
Ronja Music


Yoron Israel - Drums
Kyle Koehler- Organ
Ed Cherry - Guitar
Jay Hoggard - Vibes, Marimba
Bill Pierce - Tenor, Soprano Saxophones
Ernesto Diaz - Percussion

Man, look at the line up..ed cherry, bill pierce...I tell you< its as good as it looks!

and there's more:
A GIFT FOR YOU
Ronja Music Company

Yoron Israel - Drums
Donald Harrison - Alto Saxophone
Phillip Harper - Trumpet
James Williams - Piano
("The Move" only)
Ed Cherry - Guitar
John Lockwood - Bass
Bryan Carrott - Vibraphone
Lance Bryant - Tenor/Soprano Sax... again a killer,

Yoron has a couple more. One with Joe Lovano and another with Eric Alexander. Man..I wish he had copies!
I guess its amazon for me:






5.
Dance World Dance by Rodney Kendrick, Graham Haynes, Arthur Blythe, Michael Bowie and Tarus Mateen (1994)

6.
The Telarc Collection, Vol. 9 by Eduard Strauss, Jean Sibelius, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1993)
Formats
Price
New Used
Audio CD, 1993


$19.99 $6.23


8.
Formats
Price
New Used
Audio CD, 1995


$49.99 $4.99

9.
Find all the CDs, MP3s, and vinyl, plus photos, videos, biographies, discussions, and more. Visit the store.


And I got to tell you, the Rodney Kendrick, dance world, dance...nice.

here is an article about the show:

Kaua‘i welcomed acclaimed singer-songwriter Gabrielle Goodman and Matthew Truss to the stage at Kaua‘i Community College on Jan. 8 to perform an incredibly diverse offering of spiritual and jazz standards, R&B and original compositions. The Berklee –Steelgrass Residency Program brings Boston’s Berklee College of Music faculty to Kaua’i with the support of the Kaua’i Concert Association and Tony Lydgate.

Goodman, a long-time Berklee College voice professor, has performed with musical greats Roberta Flack, Miles Davies, Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Nancy Wilson. She wrote “You Can Make the Story Right” for Chaka Khan, which earned her a top 10 ASCAP songwriters award. She was magical Sunday afternoon with stunning vocals and a talented keyboard performance.

Truss sang backup vocal for Goodman during the first half and then took center stage for an acapella solo that brought everyone to their feet. Goodman and Truss were accompanied by Yoron Israel, Jiri Nedoma and Kaua‘i’s own Will Lydgate on bass. Truss teaches private voice instruction at Berklee and focuses on bringing music into the inner city, not just in Boston but in more than a dozen cities around the world.

Stephen Webber, a professor of music at Berklee, the world’s largest music college, accompanied on guitar for a few of the arrangements and granted an interview for this piece. Berklee College began in the 1940s focusing on the dominant musical style of the day which was jazz. True to its roots, John Mayer, Amy Mann and Quincy Jones graduated from their halls.

Webber is the executive producer of the Berklee-Steelgrass Residency program, which for five years now has come to Kaua‘i’s west side to host workshops and five weeks of resident training to aspiring students from all over the world.

Proceeds from the Jan. 8 concert will go to help sponsor a place in the residency program for a young musician from Kaua‘i. A recording studio also on the west side affiliated with the college is dedicated to help preserve the dialect, songs and music of the area. It also provides the college faculty and residents a place to concentrate on their art and to learn recording. The Steelgrass facility is sponsored by Tony Lydgate and interestingly. Will Lydgate, Sunday’s bassist, is a graduate from the residency program.

Sunday was a musical journey from “Misty” to a soulful duet between Goodman and local music teacher Leinani Springer for “Wade in the Water” before tribute tunes, from Marvin Gaye to Steve Miller. A finish with “God Bless the Child” earned Goodman a standing ovation and four minutes of applause that called her back to the stage to perform a soulful rendition of “My Funny Valentine.”

Berklee College of Music has a faculty of 525 teachers and 4,000 undergraduates. The college is introducing graduate studies in writing and scoring for film, video games and television, as well as the music business. Anyone wanting to help secure a spot in the residency program for a music student from Kaua‘i can contact Stephen Webber at swebber@berklee.edu.


Read more: http://thegardenisland.com/entertainment/music/a-whole-lot-of-soul-at-kcc/article_89c65366-3f24-11e1-9dfc-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1kVQ3wh4h

Here is the berklee site: http://www.berklee.edu/

a letter

Dear mr. president. I voted for you as did my wife. We believed "change" had to happen.
I am a life long democrat, I worked in campaigns both local and national. I applaud your decisive action regarding wall street. I that, I see the vision I had of the man I voted for.

But I implore you, please rectify the mistake made in the National defense Act bill. The language is obtuse, and it , in it's current form is not only unconstitutional but stands against all the values that made the republic.The detention of United States citizens and there possibility of no legal consul is horrifying

Sir, I will vote for you again. Please don't make it a vote of choosing the lesser of two evils.
It is your responsibility, as our leader to show the way. It is time to roll-back some of the powers that have been bestowed on the executive branch, rammed through without education of the public by your predecessor.

Please, don't fool me twice.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

David torns new album..........


As I write this, I am using my newest toy I-pod to CRANK this into my brain. It took me a bit to get this cd as I am Broke, but I bought it of a friend , who surprisingly found it too "straight".
He is a Prezen's guy....I love this, this is the first album with david that I have really connected to in the last few years. ( check out the soundtrack for "The Order").
I read some other reviews that we're not completely favorable, but I say this: BUY the freakin thing.
This is full of different flavors, almost an update to David's Door X but so much better!
Ok, I have been lame, the band rocks and Alan White is killer. Tony Levin is as always amazing but as I listen I am amazed buy the sounds produced by a trio. Oh yeah..Polytown...think Polytown. If you don't have this (and Polytown) get them.

This is both a throwback (fusion- prog-rock) and moving forward at the same time.
sorry, it's Torn.

01 - No Warning Lights
02 - Ultra Mullet
03 - White Noise
04 - The Hood Fell
05 - Monkey Mind
06 - Cheese It the Corpse
07 - Convergence
08 - Pillowfull of Dark Dreams
09 - The Egg Man Comith
10 - Sleeping Horse
11 - Prom Night of the Centipedes
12 - Crunch Time
13 - Brain Tattoo
14 - Lights Out


Tony Levin: bass and Chapman Stick
David Torn: guitar and textural events
Alan White: drums and percussion

just plain lucky



As a few of you have figured out, I live off in the middle of the Pacific.

It's a small Island , with musical opportunities..... yet, still enclosed.

I will be posting some events, recent reads and thoughts.

But, If you are American........wake up and see whats happening of late.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/ten-steps-for-radical-rev_b_1223404.html

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or the NDAA, was inked by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve, despite immense opposition from Americans who were concerned by vague language that could allow the commander-in-chief to use military forces to domestically police the United States. Under Section 1021 of the NDAA, any person, US citizen or not, can be held without trial by American armed forces if they are suspected of being engaged in hostilities against the country by al-Qaeda or associated forces.

At this point, there is no definition of "terrorist" read: ORWELL, nor does it say just whom determines who is a terrorist.

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND this, ANYONE CAN BE THROWN AWAY without trial, for an "indefinite" period.
It means also, that the Military is free to act as a police force w/in the United States.....how would you like to get pulled over, and then thrown away. Taken away, in the middle of the night ...with no one to speak to.


Do you still think we live in a COMPLETELY free society?

Monday, January 16, 2012

10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free (Washington Post OUTLOOK)



Mark Nodwell Nemesis review


I know I am a bit behind...but I thought I'd write about some of my favorite things over the last few months......


Here is..a bit about a cd I got in the last year.

Nemesis was perhaps the best surprise of all the CD's I got, Its really a bit of a revelation, combining "free" and straight jazz texture's with electro-acoustic instrumentation. It's really quite good.
Nemesis the albums title, opens the set..you'd think looking at the artist listings that your are about to embark on a difficult, (hard to listen to) project. However, the sound here is straight ahead modern electric jazz...and to start out..almost mellow. Khabu is just such a superb player. Nodwells decision not to play, but to hire musicians to fulfill his compositions is curious, but clearly well thought out. Nodwell has picked well using the duo of Lande and Young along with long time collaborator Ron Miles crating a "rock" to build around has paid good dividends. The end result is an almost astonishing suite of music, that has me reminiscing to the "good old days" when the mix of electronics, jazz and rock was still fresh. The date is solid throughout, there's no dead weight in either band or compositions...but to me there are highlights: On Sortex, we really get an idea of what Khabu Doug Young is capable of. (what can Khabu do for you!) When my friend from Colorado and I were talking music, David torn came up and somehow we worked to Khabu Doug Young. I had never heard of him. He compared Young to Torn's playing. What I here is more of a young John Abercrombies tone and attack. In fact Sortex, to me feels like it could be a part of Enrico Rava's "the plot" date. Youngs playing has that early 70's Abercrombie sound with a distorted yet almost country tone. It has that Manfred Eicher sound and Ron Miles is so strong here. Ron Miles is such a great player, and another familiar with both Lande and Young. Fleet has the band in one of those goofy "downtown" rollicking messes....Young is again given the lead and he trades off finely with Lande. Flight of the Pterodacty is kinda a psychotic tango. the band blasts through vaguely Latin bizarre chord changes and odd meters, bouncing great solos off each other along the way. Nodwell's musician choices really show how well picked and thought out they were here. There is great chemistry here. Resurrection pulls it back in, Drew Gress's subtle underpinning's remind me why I think so highly of his work. Ron Miles pulls some lovely laid back trumpet out of his bag, sweet stuff. Art Lande's piano tops it all off Landes in charge. This is a definite 5 star effort, Hats off to all involved.

Mark Nodwell (leader)
Ron Miles (trumpet)
Art Lande (piano)
Khabu Doug Young (guitar)
David Gress (bass)
Tom Rainey (drums).


Nemesis
Sortex
Pitfall
Corpse
Fleet
Aura
Flight of the Pterodactyl
Resurrection
Dreamtime (epilogue)