CAROL WELSMAN

Per nostra fortuna ci risiamo. La Justim' Time, ottima etichetta jazz Canadese, dopo aver scoperto e lanciato Diana Krall e Susie Arioli torna con una nuova vocalist che, ne siamo certi, non potra' che ripeterne le gesta e, speriamo, il successo.
Stiamo parlando di Carol Welsman, vocalist Canadese ma dal sangue e dal ritmo soprattutto latino grazie ad una voce calda accompagnata da una timbrica del suono propriamente latina. Ma non poteva essere altrimenti visto i componenti dell'ensemble jazz che la accompagnano e che andremo a conoscere tra breve.
Un sogno di Carol ( piu' di 60.000 cds venduti nel solo Canada ) era di fare un disco di musica latina cantato in diverse lingue. Ecco allora che in questo cd incontriamo canzoni cantate in Inglese, Portoghese per finire con lo Spagnolo e, chicca per il pubblico italiano, una canzone nella nostra madre lingua. Tutto questo crea nell'ascoltatore delle sensazioni diverse in quanto si tenta di accostare ad ogni ritmo la propria lingua per rendere le sonorita' piu' coinvolgente. Il repertorio non è solo jazz, ma vi sono incluse, come potrete ascoltare, anche delle canzoni pop tradizionali ( soprattutto brasiliane ). Il motivo di questa scelta era ovvio per la Welsman che ricorda come in ogni caso ognuno di noi abbia dovuto crescere con queste canzoni. Ma per lei la sfida era quelle di trasformarle in melodie jazz con un feeling latino e con un approcio il piu' acustico possibile. Ecco allora la scelta dei musicisti che l' hanno accompagnata in questo viaggio musicale. Jimmy Haslip che oltre ad essere il produttore della Welsman può essere considerato uno dei migliori bassisti al mondo cui si affiancano il batterista cubano Jimmy Branly e il chitarrista franco canadese Pierre Cotè. Carol accompagna invece ogni brano al piano. Infnine Carol stessa fa notare che nessuno dei componenti dell'ensemble è di origine sud americana ed è per questo che nel proporre i classici brasiliani non si è cercato di riprodurne i suoni in maniera fedele ma al contrario si è tentato un approcio molto personale per cercare degli arrangiamenti che potessero essere momenti di sintesi dei vari stili presenti nell'album e riflettere la propria esperienza di rielaborazione personale.
Il risultato di tutto questo lo potrete giudicare voi ascoltando questo cd e, perchè no', scrivendoci cosa ne pensate.
Come al solito buon ascolto.

OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY

Carol Welsman is an internationally acclaimed singer and pianist whose expressive vocal styling and dynamic stage presence have captivated audiences around the world. She has sold over 60,000 CDs in Canada alone, something few jazz artists in Canada have experienced.

Award Winner for “Pianist/Keyboardist of the Year” at the 2006 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, and nominee for “Best Female Vocalist”, “Album of the Year”, and “Best Pianist/Keyboardist” in 2007, Carol’s jazz/pop career is soaring to new heights. She has released six CDs to date, and four have received Juno Award nominations, the Canadian equivalent to the Grammy Award.

Carol has just signed an international recording contract with renowned label Justin Time Records. Jimmy Haslip, producer, and bass player/composer for the famous group “Yellowjackets”, is producing Carol’s new CD scheduled for release in June 2007.

Pierre Cossette, renowned producer of the Grammy Awards, produced Carol’s latest project, a CD/DVD “What’cha Got Cookin’, released in Japan, and Canada in 2006. It garnered a nomination for “Album of the Year”.

2004 and 2005 brought Carol tours in Japan, Italy, Brazil, the US and French Canada. She was honored to perform on "Larry King Live" for the 9/11/04 Commemoration, and closed the show with a moving rendition of her original song "This Lullaby''. Pop icon Celine Dion recorded it and has released it worldwide on her 2004 "Miracle" CD as "Baby Close Your Eyes". Throughout that year, a camera team followed Carol around the globe to capture her musical magic, and "The Language of Love" documentary showcasing her career aired across Canada on CBC in 2005. With special guests Herbie Hancock, Brazil’s Djavan, and Oscar Castro Neves (producer of Carol's Juno nominated CD, “The Language of Love"), it continues to receive rave reviews.

Fluent in French and Italian in addition to her native English, Carol blends languages and rhythms with a versatile repertoire including Latin, R & B, pop and swing. She delivers a mix of classic standards and original compositions in a style that ranges from sensuous and warm to infectiously energetic. An elegant and sophisticated performer, this six foot strawberry blonde beauty exudes charm and delights fellow musicians and audiences alike.

Music is in her soul and she is greatly influenced by the diverse musical tastes exposed by her own family. Her passion for jazz led her to Boston's Berklee College of Music in the 80s, where she majored in piano performance. She later traveled to Europe, and studied voice with Christiane Legrand (sister of Michel) and, in Paris, met Romano Musumarra (producer/songwriter for Celine Dion, Pavarotti and Garou). She became the English lyricist for Musumarra's compositions, including a two l No. 1 hit songs in France and Sweden. She also co-wrote the Ray Charles 1995 recording, “Out of my Life” and the 2006 duet, You are my Miracle” for tenor Vittorio Grigolo and “Pussy Cat Dolls” lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger.

In 1990, armed with a wealth of knowledge and experience, Carol returned to Toronto where she started her own music production company and record label (Welcar Music) and launched a serious career as a performer. Since then, she has performed around the world to adoring audiences. Carol enjoys the unique ability to tour in Quebec with a show almost entirely in French.

Carol’s first CD, “Lucky To Be Me”, received a 1996 Juno Award nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and earned Carol the award for Best Female Jazz Vocalist of the Year (1996) by Jazz Report Magazine. Her second CD, Inclined, was so successful, it attracted Justin Time Records to sign her for Canadian license and garnered another Juno Award nomination.

In 1999 Carol released a CD “Swing Ladies Swing, A Tribute to Singers of the Swing Era”, with Pops Symphony Orchestra. The recording was a heartfelt dedication to her grandfather, Frank S. Welsman, founder and first conductor of The Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Carol showcases songs made popular by inspiring singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee. Swing Ladies Swing also earned Carol a Juno nomination for Best Female Jazz Vocalist, 2000.

Welsman made her first foray into the Smooth Jazz idiom with the release of her CD “Hold Me” on BMG Canada in June, 2001. Produced by Ronnie Foster and George Butler, this album continues to receive regular airplay on Canadian Smooth Jazz radio.

Carol has performed the music from “Swing Ladies, Swing” with many Canadian and American Pops Symphony orchestras. Co-hosting and performing at the 2000 Billboard Jazz Awards with legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock on BET introduced Carol to the U.S. jazz audiences. She has also performed at events attended by the likes of President Bill Clinton, Governor Gray Davis and legendary singer/songwriters Stevie Wonder and Gordon Lightfoot.

Awarded Canadian Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2002), and 2003 Distinguished Alumni of Berklee College of Music, Carol is an extraordinarily talented musician and one of Canada's finest vocalists and pianists.

Si vuole ringrazia Carol Welsman per tutte le informazioni che ci hanno consentito di scrivere questo blog.

ADDIO ZAWINUL

(ANSA) - VIENNA, 11 SET - Il musicista jazz austriaco Joe Zawinul e' morto in nottata nell'ospedale Wilhelminenspital di Vienna dove era ricoverato dal 5 agosto. Lo rende noto il figlio Erich. Zawinul aveva 75 anni ed era malato di cancro. Autore di hit internazionali il jazzista, che suonava il piano e cantava, era molto famoso anche negli Stati Uniti, dove viveva da quasi 50 anni. Nel 1979 Zawinul fondo' la band Weather Report trasformandola in una delle piu' importanti formazioni di jazz-rock del mondo.

Corriere Della Sera : ADDIO ZAWINUL Il musicista jazz austriaco Joe Zawinul è morto in nottata in un ospedale di Vienna. Il tastierista, 75 anni, era malato da tempo di cancro ed era in ospedale dal 5 agosto. Nel 1979 Zawinul fondò i «Weather Report», una delle più importanti formazioni di jazz-rock, insieme al sassofonista Wayne Shorter, al percussionista Peter Erskine e al bassista Jaco Pastorius. Il doppio lp dal vivo «8:30» vince il Grammy come miglior disco del 1979. Nel corso della sua carriera, Zawinul ha suonato con alcuni grandi della musica tra cui Miles Davis, contribuendo a definire lo stile del jazz-fusion. Dal 2004 Joe Zawinul era proprietario di un club jazz a Vienna, il Birdland, mecca degli appassionati del jazz-fusion. Zawinul, che viveva da 48 anni negli Usa, tornava però regolarmente in Austria. Per il 29 settembre era in programma al Konzerthaus a Vienna la serata «Absolute Zawinul»

VIENNA - Di lui resteranno classici immortali come "Mercy, mercy, mercy" e Birdland". Per lui parlerà la storia di un gruppo che ha segnato pagine indimenticabili di musica: i Weather Report. Il tastierista Joe Zawinul, 75 anni, si è spento in nottata in un ospedale di Vienna. Era malato di cancro da tempo ed era ricoverato dal 5 agosto.

Repubblica : Nato in un quartiere della capitale austriaca il 7 luglio 1932 Zawinul aveva origini magiare, ceche e rom. Si trasferisce negli Usa negli anni '50 vincendo una borsa di studio alla Berklee School di Boston. L'inizio della sua carriera è legato alla sostituzione del pianista del trio di Ella Fitzgerald. Comincia così una carriera che lo vede suonare nella orchestra di Maynard Ferguson, Slide Hampton, poi Dinah Washington, Coleman Hawkins. Firma con il sestetto dei fratelli Adderley 'Mercy, mercy, mercy', il pezzo che ha fondato il soul jazz. Conosce Miles Davis e il soldalizio produce titoli come "Bitches Brew", "Live Devil" e "Big Fun", registrati da una formazione di cui facevano parte Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Jack De Johnette. Ma il nome di Zawinul resta legato all'avventura dei Weather Report, il gruppo fondato insieme al sassofonista Wayne Shorter. La band rimane assieme per 14 anni alternando diverse formazioni, in cui hanno militato anche Peter Erskine e Jaco Pastorius (che entrò nel 1976). Fu una delle ultime vere rivoluzioni creative della musica improvvisata di radice afro-americana, una intuizione felice che ha aperto al jazz e al grande pubblico le porte di culture e ritmi diverse da quella occidentale.

Dopo il suo scioglimento, Zawinul fondò nel 1987 la band 'Zawinul Syndicate', composta da musicisti di rango mondiale che si alternavano in sala d'incisione. Zawinul suonava le tastiere e fu nominato "miglior pianista" dalla famosa rivista jazz Down Beat 28. Nel 1988, esce il primo album della nuova band 'The Immigrants'. Il suo ultimo disco è 'Faces&Places', frutto di un lungo viaggio intorno al mondo in compagnia di un folto gruppo di musicisti.

Nel 2004 Zawinul fondò a Vienna il club "Joe Zawinul's Birdland", indirizzo cult per la musica jazz nella capitale. Per il 29 settembre prossimo era in programma al Konzerthaus a Vienna una serata 'Absolute Zawinul'. Mentre era atteso per un concerto nelle prossime settimane anche a Milano al 24 di questo mese al Teatro Manzoni per il classico appuntamento aperitivo in Concerto. Sarebbe stata per noi di Radio Moonlight l'occasione per conoscerlo... Addio Grande Joe

La Stampa : Joe Zawinul si è spento all'ospedale di Vienna stamattina alle 4,55. Era un grande del jazz. Amava rileggere le partiture portandole verso una contaminazione con il rock e certe forme di musica classica. Nel 1968 Wayne Shorter lo convinse a unirsi al quintetto nel quale militava con Miles Davis; e con Shorter fondò poi i Weather Report nel 1971: una formazione che lasciò il segno, perché rielaborava il jazz alla luce delle nuove possibilità offerte dall'innesto elettrico degli strumenti.

Guy Davis

"Davis’ folksy and humble stage presence, combined
with his humorous monologues, made one feel that
this was not a concert, but rather, an impromptu
performance on a front porch down in some southern
swamp. Indeed, at times Davis had the audience
singing, clapping and stomping their feet."
--Daily Herald Tribune, Grand Prairie, Alberta

Whether Guy Davis is appearing on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” or nationally syndicated radio programs such as Garrison Keillor’s, “A Prairie Home Campanion”, “Mountain Stage” or David Dye’s,“World Café”., in front of 15,000 people on the Main Stage of a major festival, or teaching an intimate gathering of students at a Music Camp, Guy feels the instinctive desire to give each listener his ‘all’.

His ‘all’ is the Blues.

The routes, and roots, of his blues are as diverse as the music form itself. It can be soulful, moaning out a people’s cry, or playful and bouncy as a hay-ride.

Guy can tell you stories of his great-grandparents and his grandparents, they’re days as track linemen, and of their interactions with the infamous KKK. He can also tell you that as a child raised in middle-class New York suburbs, the only cotton he’s picked is his underwear up off the floor.

He's a musician, composer, actor, director, and writer. But most importantly, Guy Davis is a bluesman. The blues permeates every corner of Davis' creativity.

Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to reviving the traditions of acoustic blues and bringing them to as many ears as possible through the material of the great blues masters, African American stories, and his own original songs, stories and performance pieces.

His influences are as varied as the days. Musically, he enjoyed such great blues musicians as Blind Willie McTell (and his way of story telling), Skip James, Manse Lipscomb, Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotton, and Buddy Guy, among others. It was through Taj Mahal that he found his way to the old time blues. He also loved such diverse musicians as Fats Waller and Harry Belafonte.

His writing and storytelling have been influenced by Zora Neale Hurston, Garrison Keillor, and by the late Laura Davis (his one hundred and five year-old grandmother).

Davis' creative roots run deep. Though raised in the New York City area, he grew up hearing accounts of life in the rural south from his parents and especially his grandparents, and they made their way into his own stories and songs. Davis taught himself the guitar (never having the patience to take formal lessons) and learned by listening to and watching other musicians. One night on a train from Boston to New York he picked up finger picking from a nine-fingered guitar player.

Throughout his life, Davis has had overlapping interests in music and acting. Early acting roles included a lead role in the film "Beat Street" opposite Rae Dawn Chong and on television as ‘Dr. Josh Hall’ on "One Life to Live". Eventually, Davis had the opportunity to combine music and acting on the stage. He made his Broadway musical debut in 1991 in the Zora Neale Hurston/Langston Hughes collaboration "Mulebone", which featured the music of Taj Mahal.

In 1993 he performed Off-Broadway as legendary blues player Robert Johnson in "Robert Johnson: Trick the Devil". He received rave reviews and became the 1993 winner of the Blues Foundation's "Keeping the Blues Alive Award” presented to him by Robert Cray at the W.C. Handy Awards ceremony.

Looking for more ways to combine his love of blues, music, and acting, Davis created material for himself. He wrote "In Bed with the Blues: The Adventures of Fishy Waters" -- an engaging and moving one-man show. The Off-Broadway debut in 1994 received critical praise from the New York Times and the Village Voice.

Davis' writing projects have also included a variety of theatre pieces and plays. "Mudsurfing", a collection of three short stories, received the 1991 Brio Award from the Bronx Council of the Arts. The Trial", (later renamed, "The Trial: Judgement of the People"), an anti-drug abuse, one-act play that toured throughout the New York City shelter system, was produced Off-Broadway in 1990, at the McGinn Cazale Theater. Davis also arranged, performed and co-wrote the music for an Emmy award winning film, "To Be a Man". In the fall of 1995, his music was used in the national PBS series, "The American Promise".

Davis also performed in a theater piece with his parents, actors/writers Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis, entitled "Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy", staged at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ in the spring of 1995. The show combined material written by Davis and his parents, with music, African American Folklore and history, as well as performance pieces by Hurston and Hughes. Of Davis' performance, one reviewer observed that his style and writing "sounds so deeply drenched in lost black traditions that you feel that they must predate him. But no, they don't. He created them."

For the past decade, Davis has concentrated much of his efforts on writing, recording, and performing music. In the fall of 1995, he released his Red House records debut "Stomp Down Rider", an album that captured Davis in a stunning live performance. The album landed on top lists all over the country, including in the Boston Globe and Pulse magazine.

Davis' next album, "Call Down the Thunder", paid tribute to the blues masters, but leaned more heavily towards his own powerful originals. The electrifying album solidified Davis' position as one of the most important blues artists of our time. It too was named a top ten album of the year in the Boston Globe and Pulse, and Acoustic Guitar magazine called it one of the “thirty essential CDs from a new generation of performers”.

Davis' third Red House disc, "You Don't Know My Mind", which includes backing vocals by Olu Dara, explodes with passion and rhythm, and displays Davis' breadth as a composer and powerhouse performer. It was chosen as ‘Blues Album of the Year’ by the Association For Independent Music (formerly NAIRD)The San Francisco Chronicle gave the CD four stars, adding, "Davis' tough, timeless vocals blow through your brain like a Mississippi dust devil."

Charles M. Young summed up Davis' own take on the blues best when he wrote his review in Playboy magazine, "Davis reminds you that the blues started as dance music. This is blues made for humming along, stomping your foot, feeling righteous in the face of oppression and expressing gratitude to your baby for greasing your skillet."

Guy’s fourth album was, “Butt Naked Free”, the first of all of the albums since that have been produced by John Platania, former guitarist for Van Morrison. In addition to John on electric guitar, it includes musician friends such as Levon Helm (The Band), multi-instrumentalist, Tommy “T-Bone” Wolk (Hall & Oates, Carly Simon, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Band), drummer Gary Burke (Joe Jackson), and acoustic bassist, Mark Murphy (Walt Michael & Co., Vanaver Caravan). The musicians all performed “Waitin’ On the Cards to Fall” from this album on the Conan O’Brien show.

Of the fifth album “give in kind”, Music critic Dave Marsh wrote, “Davis never loses sight of the blues as good time music, the original forum for dancing on top of one's sorrows. Joy made more exquisite, of course, by the sorrow from which it springs.”

It was this album that caught the ear of Ian Anderson, founder and lead singer of one of Rock & Roll’s greatest bands, “Jethro Tull”, who invited Guy to open for them during the summer of 2003. He wrote in his invitation, “Folk Blues (Sonny Terry, J.B. Lenoir) is where I started. Hearing Guy is like coming home again.”

In fact, there are many notables in the entertainment world who call themselves Guy Davis fans including Jackson Browne, Maya Angelou, and Jessica Lange, who had Guy perform his take on the Bob Dylan song, “What’s a Sweetheart Like You (Doing in a Dump Like This)” for a special fundraiser she and her husband Sam Shepard organized for Tibetan Monks in Minnesota.

“Chocolate to the Bone”, Guy’s sixth album followed with more accolades and acclaim including a W.C. Handy award nomination for “Best Acoustic Blues Album”. In fact, Guy has been nominated for nine ‘Handy Awards’ over the years including for “Best Traditional Blues Album”, “Best Blues Song” (“Waiting On the Cards to Fall”) and as “Best Acoustic Blues Artist” two times.
His latest album, “Legacy” was picked as one of the Best CDs of the Year by National Public Radio (NPR), and the lead track on it, “Uncle Tom’s Dead” was chosen as one of the Best Songs of the Year. This of course is ironic as FCC rules won’t allow it to be played on the air, but it’s a fitting tribute none the less. The only other artist on both lists was Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys fame.

The cover for this album was drawn by noted comic book artist and graphic illustrator, Guy Davis. The tongue-in-cheek cartoon strip that is included in the liner notes, is a collaboration between the two Davis’. A winery in California completes the triumvirate as it is headed by a man also named Guy Davis. He created a limited edition wine in their honor with the label artwork done by illustrator Guy.

Bluesman Guy has contributed songs on a host of ‘Tribute’ and ‘Compilation albums’, including collections on bluesmen Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, for Putumayo Records collections including, “From Mali to Memphis” and the children’s album called, “Sing Along With Putumayo”, for tradition-based rockers like the Grateful Dead, songwriters like Nick Lowe, and for Bob Dylan’s 60th birthday CD called, “A Nod to Bob”, even on a Windham Hill collection of Choral Music, and alongside performers like Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen for a collection of songs written by his friend, legendary folksinger, ‘Uncle’ Pete Seeger, called, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”.

However, easily the proudest recording project he’s been involved with is the one produced by his friend Larry Long, called “I Will Be Your Friend: Songs and Activities for Young Peacemakers”, in which Guy contributes the title track. It’s a CD collection of enriching songs combined together with a teacher’s aide kit to help teach diversity and understanding. It is all part of the national “Teaching Tolerance” (www.tolerance.org) campaign and continues to be distributed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and sent to every public school in the country to help combat hatred.

And speaking of children’s projects, Guy wrote a couple songs and recorded with Dr. John for Whoopi Goldberg’s “Littleburg” series, and appeared and sang in “Jack’s Big Show”, both for the Nickelodeon network, “Nick, Jr”.

Guy has also done residency programs for the Lincoln Center Institute, the Kennedy Center, the State Theatre in New Jersey, and works with “Young Audiences of NJ”, doing classroom workshops and assembly programs all across the country and in Canada for Elementary, High School, and College students.

Most recently Guy had the honor of appearing in the PBS special on Jazz and Blues artist, the late Howard Armstrong. And he was an honored guest at the Kennedy Center Awards, in which his folks received their medals, alongside other recipients like Warren Beatty, Elton John and composer John Williams from the President of the United States.

Ciao Big Luciano