By Sandy Cohen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Herbie Hancock shocked Kanye West, best-album presenters Usher and Quincy Jones, and just about anyone who was watching the Grammys when the jazz veteran won the night's big prize for "River: The Joni Letters."

But perhaps no one was more shocked than Herbie Hancock.

"It's immeasurable how surprised I am," Hancock said Sunday night after the show.

"I didn't even hear my name at first," he continued. "Then I heard the word 'River' and I said, 'Is this true? Is this happening?'"

It was the 11th Grammy for the 67-year-old, who doesn't expect any flak from his chief competitor.

"Kanye and I are cool," Hancock said.

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By Mark Small

Juan Luis Guerra

The tropical March wind blowing off the ocean in Santo Domingo feels much like a late summer breeze in Boston. Temperatures of 80 degrees Fahrenheit and above are typical year-round for the coastal capital of the Dominican Republic, and the air is always heavy with humidity. This is where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492, the site of the first contact between the people of the old and new worlds. Five hundred-plus years later, the specter of centuries of political and economic struggle still haunts the island. Many Dominicans have to really hustle to earn their daily bread. Entrepreneurial vendors are everywhere hawking fruit, vegetables, soft drinks, paintings, clothing, and everything else from sidewalk displays, bicycle baskets, or the beds of pickup trucks. It seems that two things are close to the hearts of a majority of Dominicans: baseball and merengue music. The former fuels the dreams of kids playing in sandlots, hoping to become the next Sammy Sosa or Pedro Martinez. Merengue offers a different form of release for a culture that loves to dance. Merengue típico was formerly the music of the peasantry in the Cibao valley region and was played on stringed instruments. Later, tambora, güira, accordion, and sometimes marimba joined the band. The form was adapted for the ballroom and became a national dance played by merengue orquestras during the reign of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961). In the decades following Trujillo's demise, merengue remained a symbol of Dominican national identity. But when Juan Luis Guerra breathed new energy into the form in 1984, merengue connected in a big way with young and old audiences both inside and outside the Dominican Republic.

Drawing on influences ranging from the Beatles, American rock, folk, r&b, jazz, and traditional Dominican music, Guerra features his rich tenor voice and agile guitar work with sophisticated backing vocals for a new take on merengue. Guerra's merengues are characterized by breakneck tempos, lightening-fast horn lines and jabs, and highly polished productions. While Guerra's music is great for dancing, those listening closely to the words will be rewarded for the effort with his poetic imagery and thoughtful commentary on a range of contemporary subjects.

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By Christina Kennedy

Young soprano bound for stardom sinks her teeth into the role of the High Priestess.

Rising soprano Kelebogile Boikanyo says that for black people and youngsters to buy into opera, directors need to “lighten up a little bit” and “bring opera to the audience”.

And she knows what she’s talking about — at the tender age of 20, Boikanyo is part of the new generation of talented South African singers who is set to inject fresh life into opera as we know it.

She is still studying vocal arts at the Tshwane University of Technology, but has landed a role in Opera Africa’s current production of Verdi’s Aida and will be making her international solo debut next year. True to her English name, Pearl, she is poised to become one of the country’s operatic gems.

Rising soprano Kelebogile Boikanyo, 20, in her role as the High Priestess in Aida which is being staged at the State Theatre in Pretoria .Picture: Katherine Muick-Mere

While in high school, the North West teen was twice voted the national soloist champion in the Tirisano Schools Choral Eisteddfod. Despite that, she initially didn’t consider singing as a career.

“In between the national choir competitions, I would say ‘to hell with singing’ until next year’s competition,” says Boikanyo, laughing.

“It was never a full-time thing for me. But singing always made me happy, and I was more comfortable singing than studying.”

But when, as one of her prizes for acing the competition, she won a full scholarship to study singing, she realised it was a chance of a lifetime. “I got lucky,” she admits. “Most kids would kill for this opportunity.”

Fresh out of school, she went on to perform the title role in Pro Musica’s Gräfin Mariza and sang in Norway in Princess Magogo.

Last year, Opera Africa invited her to join its development programme, where Boikanyo came under the wing of Laurence Dale who, for 20 years, was among the top five tenors in the world.

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Slim Busterr, one of Ghana's young hiplife musicians, has demonstrated by deed and style that at the moment he leads the chart as the most irresistible hiplife star in this country.

From his days as a dancer to his emergence on the music scene as a hiplife artiste, Slim Busterr, has remained the darling boy of most music lovers because of the romanticism he adopts to embellish his music.

Additionally, he has displayed, in no uncertain terms, that he reigns supreme among his contemporaries and he continues to make giant strides on the musical landscape. Currently, his latest album, Marsherita has caught on well with the fans and it has also strengthened the bond he has established with his ever-increasing admirers.

Slim Busterr, born to a Krobo father from Odumase-Krobo and a Fante mum from Elmina, was named Ebenezar Asare, but his showbiz name has swallowed his real name. According to him, when he nurtured the idea of pursuing dancing as a career, his mother, a pastor, kicked against it because she did not see the wisdom in her son going into dancing which could lead him into alcoholism, drug addiction and womanising.

Slim Busterr actually started dancing at Salem Secondary School at Osu in Accra when he was in Form One. He continued when he left for Ebenezer Secondary School. He thrilled his school mates with his artistic skills, to the extent that each time there was an entertainment event in the school, he was called upon to perform the floor show.

Slim Busterr - Home

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US soul legend Ike Turner, who died last month at the age of 76, was killed by a cocaine overdose, Californian coroners have established. "We are listing that he abused cocaine and that's what resulted in the cocaine toxicity," said an official at the San Diego County medical examiner's office.

Cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema were also given as "significant" factors in the death.

Turner's daughter Mia said she was shocked by the report.

The singer had waged an "ongoing struggle" with drugs, she said, but the coroner was "overstating the situation".

"Daddy at that point was not doing drugs to the level it leads to believe," she told the North County Times in a telephone interview.

The former husband of Tina Turner died at his home near San Diego on 12 December.

Paul Parker, chief investigator at the medical examiner's office, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema were also "significant and contributing factors" in Turner's death.

Rising to fame in the 1960s, the musician is best remembered for his musical partnership with Tina.

Their stormy marriage, in which she said he abused her, overshadowed his considerable achievements in popular music.

In his autobiography, he estimated he had spent $11m to support his cocaine habit in the 1970s and 1980s.

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By Will Friedwald

Oscar Peterson, one of the great jazz musicians and among the most celebrated virtuoso pianists of all time, died on Sunday of kidney failure in Toronto. He was 82. In an interview with The New York Sun last year, the contemporary jazz pianist Bill Charlap described Oscar Peterson as "one of the most profoundly important pianists in the history of the music. He straddles the entire history of jazz piano. Everything everyone says is true!" Peterson's praises were also sung by virtually every major pianist of the second half of the 20th century, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and André Previn.

For nearly 60 years in the world of jazz and pop music, the name Peterson was synonymous with a keyboard technique that was so prodigious it was nearly overwhelming: He played more notes than any other pianist, more intense chords, and faster rhythms, yet without ever descending into a quagmire of pure skill and speed. He also played with a supreme melodic logic: every one of the eighty-zillion notes he played in every song was saturated with both feeling and swing.

As he said in a 2001 interview with radio host Michael Anthony of WHPC Long Island, "Swing is the root of jazz. If you can't swing then you're not playing jazz. That is the impetus that drives the whole medium and has driven it throughout all these years. Swing is the infectious part of [jazz], the emotional end of it. … If you don't have the swing element, than you're not operating in the jazz medium."

By Marian McPartland

A native of Chicago, Andrew Hill was interested in music throughout his childhood, and could be found singing and dancing on stage at a young age. By the time he was 13, he had picked up blues and R&B piano, and his first work in music was with local R&B bands like that of Paul Williams. Hill later began to develop his jazz chops in the 1950s while jamming with top-notch players who traveled through Chicago clubs, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Johnny Griffin.

In 1961, Hill moved to New York to be Dinah Washington's accompanist, and by 1962, he'd landed a gig playing with Rashaan Roland Kirk in Los Angeles. The following year marked the beginning of Hill's association with Blue Note Records, which released many of his significant albums. During his Blue Note period, Hill released several records featuring other influential jazz artists, including Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson and Elvin Jones. These now-classic recordings showcase Hill's remarkably original style, and show that he wasn't afraid to go against the grain of 1960s post-bop and avant-garde.

Listen below to Andew Hill on NPR Originally recorded Feb. 24, 2005. Originally broadcast Dec. 6, 2005.

Part 1	Part 2

 

Oh my, what great music 2007 brought. The world of music became more global with fusion artists sprouting up on three continents. For the LGBT community, we saw several brethren debut and begin to make their marks. Notable in the year were the artists Kashan Fields and Jason Ricci. Please review the articles below.

	Kashan Fields: Simply Soul! singer/poet/songwriter takes the stage.
	Rhythms without frontiers - Anglique Kidjo delights in breaking the boundaries of ‘world music’
	Leon and The Peoples Band is New York City’s hottest up-and-coming ‘reggae-soul’ band.
	Out gay bluesman is opening ears and minds. Jason Ricci isn't your stereotypical blues musician.
	Gospel Label RedeemedSoul.com Wins “Best Album” Award. Founder David V. Taylor is proud of the accomplishment.

Romantic crooner HARRY CONNICK JR. is certain he has gay tendencies because he has spent his life surrounded by women. 

The singer insists he's far from a guy's guy and probably wouldn't know what to do in the company of macho men, because women have been running his life forever. Connick Jr., who is married to model Jill Goodacre and has three daughters, says, "I have so many women in my life, I wouldn't know what to do with a guy. 

In fact I'm probably gay and I don't even know it! "My life is chick power. My manager is a woman, who has been with me since I'm 18, and my wife is a strong and intelligent woman. I have three daughters. My dogs are all females. "Even my sister Suzanna... she just got a double medical degree; she's now a psychiatrist and an internal medicine doctor and she speaks about 10 languages. She's so impressive.

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Washington, Dec 10 (ANI): A close friend of Ricky Martin has once again stirred the debate about the Latin heartthrobs sexuality by commenting that he is gay.

Skin care specialist Ole Henriksen in an interview with a gay Swedish magazine Salonk said that the Livin La Vida Loca hitmaker has become quite open with his sexual preference.

“He (Martin) is a bit more open about it (his homosexuality) these days than he used to be… I don’t know if he has a boyfriend, Contactmusic quoted Henriksen, as telling the magazine.

And when asked who he’d choose to spend a romantic holiday with, Henriksen said that his companion would be Martin.

“I’d go for Stig Tofting (ex Danish soccer player), but since he’s straight, I’d say my client Ricky Martin, he said. (ANI)

By Istra Pacheco

MEXICO CITY — Ricky Martin defended the right of pop stars to come out of the closet, saying he felt solidarity with Christian Chavez of Mexican band RBD, who recently said publicly that he is gay.

"Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say," said Martin — whose sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation — in an interview with The Associated Press. Christian "has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength."

Martin, who was named person of the year in 2006 by the Latin Recording Academy, has hits including Livin' la Vida Loca and Shake Your Bon-Bon.

He said his non-profit Ricky Martin Foundation inspires him in his songwriting. One of the foundation's programs, People for Children, works toward the elimination of human trafficking, especially trafficking of children.

"When you start to work with social problems, it gets the attention of the media and people think it's a farce," the 35-year-old singer said. "It's a spiritual search. The philanthropic work helps me write music and the music helps me in the philanthropic work."

Martin said it was great that more celebrities are working with charities.

"If this is a fashion, then I hope a lot more fashions like this come along."

RBD, which spun off Mexico's wildly popular soap opera, Rebelde, has achieved success throughout Latin America and among Spanish speakers in the United States.

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Ricky Martin works to publicize the plight of exploited children.

By Jordan Levin

Ricky Martin claims to have slowed down, but it seems as if he's just channeling his apparently limitless energy into different places: His work with his Ricky Martin Foundation helping and publicizing the plight of children trapped into sexual slavery and prostitution, himself and, oh yes, his unstoppable musical career, which took him to arenas around the world this year in the most ambitious production in his, and possibly Latin pop music, history.

He just finished the second leg of his Black and White Tour and received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Thursday, he opened the Latin Grammy Awards with a rousing performance featuring the Blue Man Group. Later, he walked away with two of the four awards he was up for: male pop vocal album and long-form video, both for his acclaimed MTV Unplugged album.

By Christine de Kock

Rondebosch-based African Children's Choir will perform at the Nelson Mandela 46664 Aids awareness benefit this weekend.

The 25 children aged between six and 11 have a poignant link to the concert as their parents have died or are dying from Aids.
 

Choir manager Barbara Ferunjogi said they were excited about the performance.

"To them it means they are going to see Nelson Mandela. They absolutely adore him," Ferunjogi said.

"They are going to perform with Queen and will be singing a Johnny Clegg song. They will also sing songs for Mandela."

By Rochelle Metcalfe‚

Oh Happy Day in Da 'Mo, for Jazz lovers especially! “The Rebirth of the Cool!” Tonight is the Grand Opening of Yoshi's San Francisco, and the return of a major Jazz club in the City and Western Addition area of lower Fillmore Street! It’s been a long time coming!

The gentrification of the Fillmore Western Addition, called “Black Removal”, began in the mid-60s; bulldozers leveled Black businesses and residences, disrupted lives, displaced, given vouchers of promise to return when area was rebuilt which took many years; for most the opportunity never came! Other ethnic groups took over the area.

Washington, DC (Top40 Charts/ Smithsonian Folkways) - On January 29, 2008, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will release 'Classic African American Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways,' a definitive collection of gospel music selected from the label's vast library of historic recordings.

The latest addition to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings' popular "Classic" series, 'Classic African American Gospel' highlights the diversity and rich history of African American gospel music. The album features performances from celebrated artists who helped define and shape the genre, such as Lead Belly, Rev. Gary Davis, The Thrasher Wonders, Sonny Terry and The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Carefully compiled and thoroughly annotated by Kip Lornell of George Washington University's music department, 'Classic African American Gospel' provides listeners with a comprehensive guide to gospel music's origins and evolution.

By WAYNE BLEDSOE

Jason Ricci isn't your stereotypical blues musician. His hair and clothes come straight out of the punk-rock world. His music, with his band New Blood, can veer into hard-edged jam territory. The title cut of the group's new album, "Rocket Number 9," is a number by legendary jazz provocateur Sun Ra. And, Ricci is openly gay.

In a cell phone call while the band travels to Lincoln, Neb., Ricci says that, in the blues world, all those things are issues:

"I've had some death threats. We've been banned from several clubs and festivals. We've been boycotted by a blues society in Ohio. ... Why I'm out is not that I'm on some crusade to be some greatest gay blues artist, I just don't want to make up stories about why I don't have a girlfriend."

Editor's Note: "If you are a Blues fan, you must see the video below.
This kid is phenomenal… a Mozart on the mouth organ!"

Jason Ricci and New Blood - Harpin Help

 

The current ill state of Harlem West

By Harrison Chastang

Much has been written and spoken in the local media about the opening of Yoshi's on Fillmore and the 1300 Fillmore restaurant next door. But few of these stories have been from an African-American perspective, partly because there are hardly any blacks left among the Bay Area's press corps.

The best way to describe the feeling of African Americans in The City toward Yoshi's and the rest of the restaurants and clubs on Fillmore can be illustrated by a story many San Francisco Black residents tell about the city's nightlife scene before 2000.

A scene from the 1982 movie 48 Hours shows Eddie Murphy on the phone at a packed African American nightclub talking to Nick Nolte who's looking for Murphy. When Nolte asks where Murphy's at, Eddie replies "you wouldn't know about this club, it's in the Fillmore."

by Margaret Pick

How do spirituals fit into a life filled with jazz? For a generation of jazzmen, they were their first introduction to a love of music. From childhood days in church to grandparents singing favorites on long-ago Sunday mornings, this sacred music inspired their work as jazzmen. Legends of American music—trumpeters Clark Terry and "Sweets" Edison, and bass-baritone William Warfield—perform with the band and share family stories, both heartfelt and humorous, about what the music has meant to them.

In this season of gratitude for the wealth of freedoms we enjoy, we pay tribute to the inventors of spirituals. Spirituals were the folk music of generations of slaves. These songs, born out of misery and sorrow, must have been a source of inspiration—and motivation to keep striving for freedom. Almost four hundred years ago, the first cargo of African slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. And slave ships kept arriving on these shores for some 250 years until President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.

By the late 1800s, spirituals were widely popular with black and white audiences throughout the country, and could be found in hymnals of almost every denomination. And by the 1950s, grade school children were singing spirituals like "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in their classrooms.

How do spirituals and hymns fit into a life filled with jazz? For a generation of jazzmen, spirituals were their first introduction to a love of music. From childhood days in church—to grandparents singing favorites on long-ago Sunday mornings, spirituals and hymns inspired their work in jazz.

This week on Riverwalk Jazz, we 'break bread together'—with songs in the spirit of Thanksgiving. New Orleans' Topsy Chapman joins The Jim Cullum Jazz Band, lending her soulful vocals to classic spirituals and hymns. And three legends of American music—trumpeters Clark Terry and "Sweets" Edison, and bass-baritone William Warfield—perform with the band and share heartfelt and humorous family stories of what this music has meant in their lives.

Click here to listen to the PBS Radio Broadcast

By Owen Cordle

When opera singer Kathleen Battle and jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut perform spirituals and Christmas music together Nov. 26 at UNC's Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill, you can thank the black church. In Battle's case, it's the African Methodist Episcopal Church of her childhood in Portsmouth, Ohio. For Chestnut, it's Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Baltimore, where his father played the piano and his mother directed the choir.

Early exposure to and training in spirituals and gospel music can open many doors. They helped Battle toward a scholarship at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music education. After teaching in urban schools, she auditioned for the Cincinnati Symphony, debuting with the orchestra at the 1972 Spoleto Festival in Italy.

By Kevin Collison

A once-homeless artist who got his start painting murals at 18th and Vine is getting his biggest canvas ever, the sweeping southern facade of the Power & Light District.

It’s familiar territory for Alexander Austin, who decorated the exteriors of inner-city buildings with such jazz legends as Charlie Parker and Count Basie when he was struggling to survive in the early 1990s.

Now, the Cordish Co. is tapping that same vein to communicate the energy it hopes to achieve in the new downtown entertainment district.

The firm has hired Austin to transform a two-block stretch of blank walls into a panorama primarily showing how African-American musicians and ballplayers put Kansas City on the national cultural map.

“We looked at the heyday of Kansas City and asked ourselves who and what entities were at the forefront of representing Kansas City to the world,” said Jon Stephens, director of marketing for the Kansas City Power & Light District.

“It really was the jazz scene and 18th and Vine.”

Representatives of the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the anchors of the 18th and Vine district, appreciate the oversized gesture — the mural covers 18,000 square feet — and hope it also draws new visitors to their attractions.