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Andy West
Stephan Thelen: Fractal Guitar 2 - Remixes
by Mark Sullivan
Guitarist & composer Stephan Thelen's experimental guitar-fest Fractal Guitar (MoonJune Records, 2019) was followed by Fractal Guitar Remixes And Extra Tracks (MoonJune Records, 2019), a substantially fresh look at the material, as well as an expansion. For the sequel Fractal Guitar 2 (Moonjune Records, 2021) Thelen produced an even more radical approach to contemporary guitar-driven music. The remixes are also a step beyond. To start with, the album could just as well have been titled Point Of Inflection ...
read moreStephan Thelen: Fractal Guitar 2
by Mark Sullivan
Guitarist and composer Stephan Thelen's Fractal Guitar (MoonJune Records, 2018) found him stepping outside of his role in the band Sonar in a big way. An absolute feast of multiple guitars with electronic effects, live looping and soundscaping, it also featured a star-studded group of guest guitarists (not to mention a grooving rhythm section). The good news is that almost all of them are back for the second installment, along with some new friends. The original album was largely created ...
read moreAndy West with RAMA: Rama 1
by Glenn Astarita
Known for his longtime affiliation with the Dixie Dregs, bassist Andy West assembles an all-star prog-rock/jazz-fusion based band here. Supported by high-octane guitarist Mike Kenneally, Dregs drummer extraordinaire Rod Morgenstein and other notables, West lays down the booming bass patterns for this rather boisterous affair.
Notions such as Intelli-Metal come to mind, as the musicians meld raucous soloing endeavors with blistering rhythms and shrewdly coordinated shifts in strategy. And while the compositions are somewhat nondescript, this outing ...
read moreRandy Weston (1926-2018)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Randy Weston, a jazz pianist and composer who was the first artist producer Orrin Keepnews signed to his new Riverside label in 1954 and who became one of the most ardent champions of Pan-Africanism in jazz, died on September 1. He was 92. [Photo of Randy Weston by Chester Higgins] Randy was perhaps best known for his composition Hi-Fly, which he introduced on his New Faces at Newport album in 1958. The song's catchy melody and moody harmony helped the ...
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Randy Weston, 1926-2018
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Pianist and composer Randy Weston, who championed the African origins of jazz, died at home in New York yesterday. He was 92. With his distinctive rhythmic patterns and powerful harmonic progressions, Weston underlined the African heritage that so definitively helped shape the music’s development. He frequently visited and performed in Nigeria and other African nations. For a time in the late ‘60s he lived in Tangier, Morocco, and opened a club there. Several of Weston’s compositions long since took their ...
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NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston To Release New 2-CD Set, "The African Nubian Suite," On His African Rhythms Label, Jan. 20
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
NEA Jazz Master, iconic pianist/composer, and still-vital jazz elder Randy Weston, at 90, remains a powerful force in jazz. Currently serving as artist-in-residence at Medgar Evers College at the City University of New York; celebrated earlier this month at Harvard University, which has acquired his archive; and named a United States Artists (USA) Fellow last week, Weston is now preparing to release a new recording on his African Rhythms label. The 2-CD set, The African Nubian Suite, captures a concert ...
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Randy Weston & Billy Harper Highlights In Jazz Thursday, June 11th 8pm @ Tribeca Performing Arts
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
Jack Kleinsinger’s Highlights In Jazz, New York’s longest running jazz concert series, concludes its 43rd season on Thursday June 11, 2015 at 8:00 PM in the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, NY, 10007 with Jazz Past & Present, a multigenerational double bill featuring the incomparable duo of, pianist Randy Weston and tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, performing a program including selections from their critically acclaimed album The Roots of the Blues. Sharing the ...
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2015 JJA Jazz Awards Honor Musical Excellence Randy Weston Praised For Lifetime Achievement
Source:
Michael Ricci
jny: NEW YORK – The Jazz Journalists Association has announced winners of its 2015 JJA Jazz Awards for musical excellence in calendar year 2014 (see winners below), and released details about its annual public Jazz Awards party, at the Blue Note Jazz Club, 131 W. 3rd St., NYC, on June 16, from 3 pm to 5:30 pm. Tickets are available here. The 19th annual JJA Jazz Awards celebrates Randy Weston, 89-year-old pianist, composer, lecturer, and Brooklyn-born Africanist with its top ...
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Randy Weston, Lifetime Achiever
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The Jazz Journalists Association has named 89-year-old pianist, composerand bandleader Randy Weston winner of the JJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015. Weston’s 66-year career began in his native New York. In his early years it included work with Art Blakey, Bull Moose Jackson, Eddie Vinson, Kenny Dorham and his childhood friends Cecil Payne and Ray Copeland. He was a key figure at Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, during the institution’s influential years in jazz education. Also in the 1950s, he ...
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Randy Weston & Billy Harper Appearing At Highlights In Jazz
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
Jack Kleinsinger’s Highlights In Jazz—New York’s Longest Running Jazz Concert Series—concludes its 43rd Season with Jazz, Past & Present, a historic double bill featuring NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston with Billy Harper performing The Roots of the Blues and Highlights In Jazz New Stars Benny Benack, Steven Frieder, Dylan Meek, Devin Starks & Kosta Galanopoulos plus a very special surprise guest. Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 8 pm at Tribeca Performing Arts Center of Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 ...
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New England Conservatory Presents "African Rhythms" - Rare Boston-Area Performance By Legendary Pianist/Composer Randy Weston
Source:
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
In Concert with the NEC Jazz Orchestra Under the Direction of Ken Schaphorst on Thursday, April 18 in NEC's Jordan Hall Randy Weston will return to New England Conservatory in May to receive an honorary Doctor of Music degree. (one) of the most powerful, percussive pianists alive…and also one of the most joyous.” —Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Sun Times “Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat... but ...
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Jazz Treasures, 10/17: Honorees Randy Weston, Charenee Wade, Robert O'Meally
Source:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
LIVING JAZZ LEGEND RANDY WESTON TO BE HONORED! Honorary Co-Chairs Marty Markowitz, Danny Simmons And Others To Honor Renowned Pianist And Composer. When Randy Weston plays / a combination of strength and gentleness / virility and velvet emerges from the keys in an ebb and flow of sound / seemingly as natural as the waves of the sea." Langston Hughes BROOKLYN, NY: TRANSART, Inc. announced today that its annual Jazz Treasures program will take place on Monday, October 17, 2011 ...
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NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston And The 2009 Thelonious Monk International Bass Competition Winner Ben Williams To Perform At Annual CBCF Jazz Concert On September 22nd
Source:
AAJ Staff
Washington, DC: Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, will once again serve as the Honorary Host Jazz Issue Forum and Concert that will take place during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.'s 41st Annual Legislative Conference, September 21 -24, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (WCC), 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, DC 20001. The Jazz Issue Forum, entitled The Legacy of Modern Jazz Masters and ...
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