Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
Wong Kar Wai’s new film My Blueberry Nights serves as his first English film and the film debut for pianist/vocalist Norah Jones.
She didn’t even know of his work and director Wong Kar Wai had only heard her music before selecting her for his film My Blueberry Nights.
“I was first introduced to Norah [Jones] through her music,” explains Wong. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know what she looked like at the time. However, her voice intrigued me. It was so visual that it gave me a very specific image of her.”
On Feb. 5, Blue Note Records will release My Blueberry Nights, music from the new motion picture. The soundtrack features “The Story,” a new song by Jones based on her experience in the film, as well as a wide swath of American music that touches upon r&b, soul, rock, folk and jazz. Artists on the soundtrack include Cat Power, Otis Redding, Ruth Brown, Mavis Staples, Amos Lee and Cassandra Wilson.
My Blueberry Nights is a romantic drama set as an American road movie featuring Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. It will be released Feb. 13, 2008.
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
If only because openings for JLCO’s 15 permanent positions appear about as frequently as sub-freezing days on the…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
Jan 16, 2025 2:02 PM
In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…