Cat Conner Cat Tailes Self Produced 2011

One of the greatest jazz performance challenges is playing and singing ballads slow…sometimes called "calendar slow." The trick is playing slowly without dragging or stalling. It is simple physics, the difference between velocity and momentum. Simple tempo may be understood in terms of speed (or velocity) but swing, swing has the added element of musical weight about it, ensuring that once motion is started, no matter how slow, it is properly maintained by the spirit of the delivery…

Soundtrack features Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Brenda Lee, Sergio Mendes, Connie Francis and more.

NEW YORK, N.Y.&#151Pan Am: Music From and Inspired By the Original Series, a collection of music from and inspired by the ABC television drama, slated for January 17, 2012 CD release from Verve Music Group, is a non-stop flight back to the early ’60s. The collection features 14 songs by Buddy Greco, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz and Joo Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Peggy Lee, Shirley Horn, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Brenda Lee, Connie Francis and Dinah Washington, plus new artists Grace Potter and Nikki Jean…

Violinist Jeff Gauthier has been a leading figure in cutting-edge jazz on the West Coast since the mid-’70s. As a leader, he’s produced half a dozen compelling works with his band of 20 years, The Jeff Gauthier Goatette. Open Source (Cryptogramophone, 2011) finds the quartet grown to a quintet, with trumpeter m: John Fumo bringing added fire to what was already one of the most exciting combos in modern jazz. Open Source blends folkish, pastoral airs with a very modern jazz aesthetic typified by the unclassifiable, yet always arresting, playing of guitarist m: Nels Cline. Drummer m: Alex Cline and bassist m: Joel Hamilton conjure deep funk rhythms one minute and swing hard the next. Pianist m: David Witham weaves a subtle influence every step of the way, and the use of effects lends a sci-fi edginess to the recording, particularly on the epic through-composed title track…

Peter Frampton has been reunited with the Gibson electric guitar he played on "Frampton Comes Alive," three decades years after it was presumed destroyed in a plane crash.

It turns out the guitar did not burn up in November 1980 when a cargo plane crashed on takeoff in Caracas, Venezuela, on its way to Panama, where Mr. Frampton was to perform. Instead someone plucked it from the burning wreckage and later sold it to a musician on the Dutch Caribbean island of CuraA ao…

Here are ten new releases and three reissues which stood out from those heard this year:

Wadada Leo Smith’s Organic Heart’s Reflections Cuneiform

String ensembles and fusion don’t usually go together, but in AACM trumpeter m: Wadada Leo Smith‘s universe anything is possible. His Organic ensemble made its first appearance on the second disc of his acclaimed Spiritual Dimensions (Cuneiform, 2009), and here it returns, with only slight changes to the lineup, for a whole two-CD set of their own. Passages of collective interplay explore color and texture as much as melodic or rhythmic development, merging into a seething hyperactive stew of up to four guitars, along with a brace of laptops and saxophones. Calm at the center of the storm, Smith is simply majestic…

CHICAGO, IL&#151Just eight days after being digitally released, two songs on the new EP, Frank Swings, jazz retro-pop crooner Frank Lamphere’s (LAM-fear) first release of original music, have been licensed for inclusion in an independent film.

The New York-based film production company A May Sky Picture Entertainment discovered Lamphere’s recording of the swinging « I Never Forgot » online and found it the ideal fit for a memorable scene in their film Teresa is a Mother. The jazz-flavored « Be Happy » will also be included in the film. Lamphere states, « It feels great to have just released a song and have some immediate success with it, especially as a new songwriter. It’s very encouraging. » Teresa is a Mother (in post production) is expected to be unveiled at film festivals in the upcoming year…

The Dave Douglas/Donny McCaslin Key Motion Quintet Jazz Standard December 8, 2011

This was the first of four m: Dave Douglas nights at the Jazz Standard, each of them highlighting a different performance perspective. The unexpected has become the expected where this high-wire trumpeter is concerned. Douglas is perpetually scouting for fresh settings, new musical concepts and unfamiliar terrain where he’s able to stretch his abilities, to heighten an already fearsome virtuosity and communicative playing passion. Three out of the four combos were premiering unexplored parameters. The second evening teamed Douglas with the new music ensemble m: So Percussion and the third unveiled a new acoustic quintet featuring saxophonist m: Ravi Coltrane and pianist m: Vijay Iyer, whilst the closing session was the only one which could be viewed as in any way retrospective, as the tried and trusty Brass Ecstasy waddled its Art Ensemble Of New Orleans way onto the stage…

Anaheim, CA&#151Award-winning local jazz vocalist, m: Chris Williams has been nominated in the category of Best Jazz for the Orange County Music Awards, to be held March 3 at The Grove in Anaheim.

Canadian-born jazz vocalist m: Chris Williams has impressed audiences with his intense passion, vocal proficiency and musical maturity. He has built a loyal following, as his highly entertaining performances are met with great enthusiasm by people of all ages. Chris has been performing in Southern California for more than a decade and currently resides in Anaheim, CA…

Al Kindi Parfums Ottomans Le Chant du Monde 2012 (2007)

Pianist m: Dave Brubeck and his quartet’s exploration of « exotic » time signatures on the 1959 album Time Out (Columbia) was, for its era, strikingly adventurous. The disc’s opening track, « Blue Rondo A La Turk, » was in 9/8, and « Take Five » was in 5/4. More crazy than adventurous, thought Columbia’s executives. They believed the jazz public would be baffled by the time signatures and, for almost a year, the label barely promoted the album. But the public were unbaffled, and ramped up Time Out’s sales by word of mouth. Only then was « Take Five, » b/w « Blue Rondo A La Turk, » released as a single, to become an international chart hit…

Mango Blue is performing at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Thursday, January 5, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online. A dinner and the show cost $62. To make reservations call 617 562-4111.

Led by Ecuadorian composer, bassist and singer Alex Alvear, the band plays all original songs that blend the rich array of musical genres from throughout the Americas…