Chico & Rita, the Oscar-nominated animated film by the Spanish team comprising Academy winner director Fernando Trueba, illustrator Javier Mariscal, and director Tono Errando, is being released in a Limited Edition Collector’s Set including Blu-ray and DVD discs, an audio CD and a 16-page excerpt from the graphic novel based on the film. (A DVD single is also available.) …
Carlos Nuñez, gaitero There is more to Carlos Nuñez than being “the Jimi Hendrix of the bagpipes,” or the “the 7th Chieftain,” making him an honorary member of the legendary traditional Irish band. But if you happen to be the modern master of the gaita, the bagpipe of Galicia, a region in the Northwest …
Carlos Nuñez on Bagpipes, Rock, Roots Music, and The Chieftains Read More »
In Besieged, the new film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci which closes the Miami Film Festival Sunday, a peculiar love story plays out over a profound cultural chasm. Jason Kinsky (David Thewlis), an English classical musician living in an old house in Rome, falls, hard, for Shandurai (Thandie Newton), his housekeeper, an African medical student, …
Bernardo Bertolucci And The “Other” (Miami Herald) Read More »
On August 12, Pat Metheny turns 53. His face is now creased with the light lines of middle age, but he still has a broad, easy smile, a seemingly eternal tan, and his trademark tangle of wild hair. On this warm, late-spring afternoon in Manhattan, dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and cut-off jeans, he …
Pat Metheny settles not-so-softly into middle age (JAZZIZ) Read More »
Most jazz recordings are little more than souvenirs, true-color snapshots of moments in the music’s history and in artists’ careers. Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage (Heads Up) is a different matter. Recorded over four days in August 2006, and mixed shortly after Brecker succumbed to leukemia on January 13, at the age of 57, Pilgrimage is the …
Testament: The Making of Michael Brecker’s Final Album (JAZZIZ) Read More »
Chucho Valdés. Photo by Alejandro Pérez It’s tempting to hear Chucho’s Steps, the most recent album by Cuban pianist, composer, and bandleader Jesus “Chucho” Valdés, like a memoir of sorts. After all, Valdés turned 69 on October and the image on the cover, not to read too much into it, shows him approaching a crossroads. …
As members of the University of Miami’s Frost Salsa Orchestra trickle into Gusman Concert Hall, drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto, who is rehearsing the ensemble for a year-end concert, passes out the parts for one of his original compositions, Two for One. There’s the usual cacophony at the beginning of a rehearsal: warm-up phrases, a …
Dafnis Prieto and Gonzalo Rubalcaba Taking Music Mastery From the Stage to the Classroom Read More »
When the Department of Studio Music and Jazz faculty invited bassist, composer, and bandleader Dave Holland to be its fall 2011 guest artist in residence, they expected Holland’s visit to be memorable for students. What perhaps they didn’t foresee is that Holland is a natural teacher whose influence on the students was unforgettable. “First and …
Dave Holland: Passing it On (SCORE Magazine, University of Miami) Read More »
Gospel superstar Kirk Franklin The song starts in the low register, like a rumble. It rises in pitch and volume ever so slowly, growing from a murmur to a visceral roar. Then shadings in the harmonies become lighter, luminous, dusk turning to dawn. Someone cries out in praise. Others stand up, eyes closed, palms up. …
There is a 1910 poster for a masquerade ball given by The Orleans Athletic Club at the Economy Hall in New Orleans, admission 25 cents, featuring the “popular favorite” Imperial Band, led by Manuel Perez. A few steps away hangs a dignified photo of Pedro Stacholy’s Cuban Jazzband, taken in Havana, circa 1920. There’s the …
The Smithsonian Explores Latin Jazz: The Perfect Combination Read More »