Jazz Music to Rock Goa Soon

. No comments.

Since time immemorial Goa has been considered the land of dreams. The image of Goa is mostly associated with Dreams.  The reason need not be mentioned again and again. But now some people have sworn to make Goa not just reverie popular but to include the whole music scene as well.

Coming from St Petersburg, Russia, Ekaterina Belyakova is the brainchild behind the successful ongoing tour of Jazz ‘n’ Goa this year. It is the biggest jazz festival of the season with around nineteen performances at various places in the state.

Goa has always been a centre of diversity visited by music lovers from all over the world. Goa is a city of dreams and is a hub of music culture. So, with this festival it is hoped that a new page of musical history of Goa, will come out in the open. Ekaterina shares with The Times of India that she is a diehard Jazz music lover and is the main sponsor of the whole event. She is also the director of a well known travel hub.

The festival is organized to kick off an annual Musical Festival that will provide a platform to Jazz performers and lovers to come together and promote a new genre of music, and is sponsored by a dance floor hire company. Goa-Jazz will be a combination of classic Jazz and the traditional ethnic music of India, said Ekaterina.

The festival brings in unrehearsed music with the different genres in Jazz itself. From lounge to disco-funk, classical to modern Jazz, Brazilian bossa nova to Indo fusion and electronic music with elements of hip-hop, house, trance, acid jazz- all of these will be included in the itinerary of the festival.

Brilliant musicians from India and Europe will be seen participating, with guest performers and travelling musicians joining in. Each performance is definitely going to set the mood for different genres, keeping the whole concept alive followed by impulsive jam sessions.

JAZZ PENSION PROTESTS

. No comments.

In a bid to win pension benefits for jazz artists, the musicians’ union for New York City has begun an advertising campaign and plans to expand their protest outside jazz clubs. The union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians has started distributing leaflets outside Blue Note in Greenwich Village in December saying that owners of club have gone back on their word where they promised to begin pension benefits to jazz musicians in return for a sales tax break.

On Thursday evening, the union plans to expand the leaflet campaign to five prominent jazz clubs namely Jazz Standard, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola and Village Vanguard. The union is also advertising in jazz publications to draw attention to the misery of elderly jazz musicians who are devoid of pension benefits.

Meanwhile club owners have opposed the efforts of the union to force them to pay pension funds for years. Some of the owners say it the liability of the band leaders to pay pension benefits rather than club owners. They point out that it will be very much costly and impractical for owners to write a pension check for each and every musician who plays at a major jazz club. The campaign of the union is supported by several jazz artists such as Ron Carter, Bernard Purdie and Bucky Pizzarelli.

Fred Hersch gives Jazz Concert

. No comments.

Fred Hersch is a Grammy nominated jazz maestro who always prefers to be busy. When he is not devoting his time in producing albums of the finest caliber, he is teaching young jazz aspirants, performing at benefit concerts or working in collaboration with other artists.

On Wednesday night, Fred performed at the Manship Theater located in downtown Baton Rouge for Smash Hits HIV/AIDS Community Fund. The aim of this fundraising event is to provide grants to HIV and AIDS nonprofit organizations in Greater Baton Rouge. Today he will teach a master class and work with University jazz majors.

Fred Hersch is an AIDS survivor as well as an activist who produced and performed in four benefit albums. He also played in several fundraising events which focused on important social issues like HIV AIDS. However Fred said that he would like to be a part of events that would show a sign of promise and cause significant changes. Fred also said that he likes his benefit concerts to be well organized and although he can’t donate his money, he is always ready to donate his time.

Derek Gordon, who is the CEO of Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, said that the main aim of this concert was to bring a musician like Fred Hersch and provide hope to the people of Greater Baton Rouge that having AIDS is not the end of the world and one can survive and do great things that add meaning to one’s experience of life.

At present, Fred Hersch is touring Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans, performing in concerts and holding other important events.
Although traveling by air or on trains can be stressful, Fred says that he really enjoys playing jazz music. He says that the spontaneity and the possibility of improvisation that jazz can bring are the principal factors behind his love for this form of music.