Let’s add author to the list of saxophonist Mindi Abair’s talents.  She has written a guidance book called How to Play Madison Square Garden – A Guide to Stage Performance. The book just hit the real and virtual shelves this month.

From Mindi’s website:

Developing your personal stage presence and all it encompasses has typically been learned the long hard way. Lots of shows, lots of clubs, some you win, some you lose. It can be a long, frustrating process. How to Play Madison Square Garden saves you time and teaches you the techniques used by multi-platinum artists.

Learn how to:

• Define who you are as a performer
• Forge a lasting bond with your audience
• Deal with stage fright
• Develop that elusive “it” factor
• And more…

For more info, please contact: http://www.howtoplaymadisonsquaregarden.com

Spyro Gyra will be releasing “A Foreign Affair” on Sept. 13. The album has a decidedly world music influence, as the title implies, but as always maintains the Spyro Gyra sound. It is being released on the label that they started it all with – Amherst records. You can pre-order at Amazon.com : http://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Affair-Spyro-Gyra/dp/B0058OKQP2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310838925&sr=8-1 and a complete overview/review
is available here: http://www.soultracks.com/story-spyro-gyra-foreign-affair

Guitar hero Jeff Golub has lost his eyesight. The news began to spread this evening (7/6) when Rick Braun posted this on FaceBook “As you may know my dear friend Jeff Golub has lost his eye sight. He has been to the best doctors in NY and they are unable to do anything at this time. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he goes through the challenge of relearning how to live. Love you Jeff and sending you strength and love every minute of the day!!!!!

Golub wrote about this on his website on July 1 and explains it eloquently
http://www.jeffgolub.com/newsletter.html
He ends it this way: ” OK, not what I wished for, but I hopped in a van last night with Henry, Josh & Andy and played a gig in PA. Was it scary? YES!!!! Was it fun? A BLAST!!!! I have proven to myself three days into “my new life” that I can go out and do what I do…play guitar. And even stranger, getting to spend all this time with Henry Butler who can give me the inside track on how the heck one navigates life with severely impaired vision…Just wanted to let you all know what is going on with me. I may need a bit of time to adjust, but God willing, I have every intention of playing guitar forever and a day.”

Bud Harner, his manager, long time collaborator and Co-producer, commented on FaceBook that Jeff is “staying positive, still totally able to play and is planning on getting out there and playing his gigs. Just figuring out a new way to deal with pretty much everything.”

I am holding him and his family in my prayers and sending love and positive energy as he navigates this challenge and know as you read this you will to. He will continue to rock our worlds. No Two Ways About It !

Rick Braun is taking a step in a new direction with his August release – he is singing some of his favorite standards, jazz classics, and a few left field goodies, all songs he grew up hearing at home as his mother was a singer/pianist. Phillipe Saisse did the string arrangements and Braun plays flugelhorn but no trumpet on the project. He is a surprsingly good vocalist and his approach to song selection and interpertation is totally original. He didn’t just go for the well known Great American Songbook standards, he dug deep and found some under-covered gems. All the info about the CD and a video documentary on the project are available here : http://www.mackavenue.com/artists/detail/rick_braun/

Rick Braun Sings With Strings will be released on August 2nd

The 2nd Annual JW Desert Ridge Jazz Festival will take place in Phoenix, AZ at the Sage Court JW Marriott Desert Ridge  Resort & Spa on April 9th and April 10th, 2011.  The impressive line-up includes: Mindi Abair, Gerald Albright, Dominic Amato, Norman Brown, Jonathan Butler, Steve Cole, Nick Colionne, Eric Darius, Richard Elliott, Jeff Golub, Euge Groove, Warren Hill, Jessy J, Jackiem Joyner, Jeff Kashiwa, Maysa, Marion Meadows, Paul Taylor, Turning Point, and Kirk Whalum.

For more info please visit:sageconcerts.com

Please join Earl Klugh as he hosts his 8th Annual Weekend of Jazz at the Broadmoor Colorado Springs on April 7-9, 2011.  This year’s line-up features six time Grammy winner David Sanborn, two time Grammy winner Peabo Bryson, ever popular multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, and vocalist Nnenna Freelon.  For more info, please call the Broadmoor at (866) 837-9520, or go to Broadmoor.

Guitarist Chuck Loeb, a much respected veteran and staple at the annual Berks Jazz Fest, is hosting his third annual guitar workshop/seminar for musicians of all ages and levels, that want to pursue their love of the guitar.  This workshop will be held on Thursday March 31 from 12pm – 2pm at the Reading Crowne Plaza Hotel (1741 Paper Mill Road, Wyomissing, PA.) Instructors include Loeb, Chieli Minucci, and Frank Vignola. 

The String Training will address many of the topics and challenges facing today’s guitarists, including jazz, blues, rock and fusion improvisation; chord structures and accompaniment; sight reading, practice, and study habits.  The format will be interactive – with instruction, discussion, question and answer sessions, and student participation.  Registration is $20.

For further information: http://berksjazzfest.com/stringtheoryworkshop.htm

Each year we can count on keyboardist Jay Rowe to put together a stellar Smooth Jazz for Scholars show in his beloved hometown of Milford, Connecticut.  The show is a benefit for the Milford Schools. 

This year’s show features Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole, Marion Meadows, Chieli Minucci and Ken Navarro,  and will be held on 4/30/11 8p.m. at The Parson’s Complex, 70 West River St. Milford, CT. 06460. Tickets are now on sale for $40 each. The first 175 seats sold will be reserved seating. The remaining seating is general admission, first come first serve.  For tickets and and additional information, please visit jayrowemusic.com.

Dr. Billy Taylor, legendary jazz musician and educator, passed away last month on 12/28/10.  According to his daughter, he died of heart failure.  Dr. Taylor was 89 years old at the time of his death.

We would be amiss if we did not acknowledge and pay respect to the enormous contributions Dr. Taylor made to music, education, and humanity in general.

Billy Taylor began playing professionally in 1944.  His career spanned nearly seven decades and included music that was not only played in clubs and heard on records, but music for theater, dance, and symphony orchestras.  Dr. Taylor was the recipient of many awards, including two Peabodys, an Emmy, a Grammy, a National Medal of the Arts, a Tiffany Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Downbeat magazine, and, he was an inductee in the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education.  He also held an impressive total of 23 honorary degrees. 

He found another outlet for his talent in radio and television.  In 1958, he was named Musical Director for the first ever televisedjazz series, The Subject is Jazz, on NBC.   Dr. Taylor also hosted and/or programmed radio shows for WLIB and WNEW in New York, and, for NPR in DC.  In 1981, he became an Arts Correspondant for CBS Sunday Morning, and has contributed ever since.

Dr. Taylor was a highly regarded educator.  He served on the National Council for the Arts, and, since 1994, was Artistic Advisor for Jazz at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. While in that role, he created such enduring programs as: the Art Tatum Piano Panorama, the Louis Armstrong Legacy Vocalists, the KC Jazz Club, the Discovery Artists Series, Billy Taylor’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center, and the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, which recently celebrated it’s 15th year.   The Billy Taylor Trio was the act that inaugurated the Millenium Stage, which provides free concerts, theatrical performances, and dance every day at 6pm in the nation’s capital.  In the early ’60’s, he founded the Jazzmobile, based in Harlem, NY.  The Jazzmobile is a non profit organization that provides arts education programs through workshops, lectures, seminars, symposiums, and free summer concerts by top notch jazz musicians.  He has written over a dozen books on jazz related topics, as well as numerous articles and feature stories.

Dr. Taylor was also a humanitarian and activist who used his music to help people.  He served on the Honorary Founders Board of the Jazz Foundation of America.  The Foundation began in 1989 and helps jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds, and connects them with performance opportunities in schools and communities.  The organization helps provide medical and social resources to jazz musicians whose careers did not provide those needs.

The world was very fortunate to have him for 89 years.  He leaves behind an incredible musical history and legacy for all of us to enjoy. 

For more information, please visit the following websites:  kennedy-center.org or jazzmobile.org

There is still time to register for Gerald Veasley’s 10th Annual Bass Boot Camp, which is held at the Reading Crown Plaza Hotel during the first weekend of the Berks Jazz Festival in Reading, PA.  (3/25/11 – 3/27/11)  Registration runs through 12/31/10.  The $449 fee includes tuition, workshops, night owl sessions, jam sessions, a Meet/Greet reception, and closing ceremony.  This intense, hands on boot camp brings bass players of all levels together with some of the most talented players in the genre, for a one-of-a-kind musical experience.  Past instructors have included: Scott Ambush, Richard Bona, Brian Bromberg, David Dyson, Jimmy Haslip, Bakithi Kumalo, Adam Nitti, and Victor Wooten.    For more info: bassbootcamp.com