Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mike Pedicin, Jr. CD Release Party Friday


Mike Pedicin, Jr. CD Release Party -
Friday, December 2, 2011
Sandi Point Coastal Bistro

New on Jazz Hut Records - Michael Pedicin Ballads – Searching for Peace

CD Release Party – Friday Dec. 2, 2011 8:00 pm
Sandi Point Coastal Bistro
908 Shore Road, Somers Point, NJ

Michael Pedicin tenor saxophone
Jim Ridl piano
John Valentino guitar
Andy Lalasis bass
Bob Shomo drums

Now available through Amazon.com
CDBaby.com
iTunes and
www.michaelpedicin.com

“The cure for everything is saltwater...sweat, tears or the sea.” – Isak Dineson

www.sandipoint.com
Text Sandi 411247 To Receive discounts and event information

From the ocean to your plate – same day.
Celebrate your special occasion – private parties, bridal parties, birthdays, anniversaries or any special occasion. 3 banquet rooms (10-150)
Holiday Gift Cards Available
Attitude Adjustment 4pm – 6:3pm Drink specials $5 martinis $5 bar appetizers

Sunday – Thursday – Dinner at Dusk – All Night Dinner for 2 -$26
Sunday – Prime Rib Dinner – 3 courses for $15.95 (From 2pm)
Monday - Quizzo w/ DJ Shakedown 7pm
Tuesday - Two Sliders for $1
Fridays – Yvonne & Jack – Live music at the bar.
Saturday – Gabe Staino & Chris Rabb Film Fundraiser for “Borrowed Happiness.”
Saturday - The Frigedaires (7pm-10pm)
Saturdays - Lew London & Bob Mower Live music at the Bar (8pm-11pm)

Sunday Dec. 18 - Gina Roche CD Release Party and Performance (“Thankfully”)

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cotton , Sumlin & Sonny Boy Williamson


James Cotton at the Club Bijou in Philadelphia (Circa 1982)

I started thinking about all this when I got an email from Billy Hector notifying his fans that his gig with Hubert Sumlin was cancelled.

From: Billy Hector
To: Billy Hector
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 6:05 PM
Subject: BH GIG ALERT
Tonight's Birthday Bash for Hubert Sumlin at Mexicali Live has been cancelled.
Hubert is not well enough to perform-
www.billyhector.com

I was sorry to hear about Hubert.

I met him at the Bijou Cafe in Philly in the early 1980s when he stopped there to see James Cotton, who I was interviewing in the backstage dressing room at the time.

I was with Billy Muller - an Ocean City NJ guitarist who played guitar with Backroads, a country rock band who often performed at Brownies, a now defunct old log cabin roadhouse in Bargaintown. Muller collected Les Paul guitars and had three or four of them, and he knew a lot of the old, black blues guitarists and also collected their LPs.

After Cotton's first show, Muller and me went upstairs and knocked on Cotton's dressing room door and he invited us in to talk before he went on for his second show. I asked and Cotton said I could tape our conversations so I turned my cassette tape recorder on and I put it on the table as we talked.

Muller did most of the talking, and got Cotton to recall his early years. Cotten said he listened to Sonny Boy Williamson's radio show out of Helina, Arkansas, and after learning to play the harp good enough he went there and Sonny Boy let him play the theme song for the King Bisquit Flower that sponsored the show.

"Hell, I'll play it for you now," Cotton said, hitting his thigh with a harp and then saying, "I got King Bisquit on my table," two or three times and then playing some harp riffs, - "I aint's done this since then," he said laughing.


At some point a women came over and wispered something in his ear, and then we continued talking, mainly about old blues men, especially guitarists, who Muller was most interested in.

When Hubert Sumlin's name came up, Billy Muller asked, "Is he still alive?"

I looked at Billy quizzically and Muller politely explained that Hubert Sumlin was guitarist with some of the old Chicago blues bands - Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, and he influenced a lot of young rock guitarists like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton.

Cotton lit up and laughed, and said, "Funny you should ask about him, cause he's right outside that door, waitin' to come in and say hello."

Cotton let Hubert Sumlin in and he waltzed in with a big smile on his face and dressed to the nines in suit and tie and starched shirt and little hat, and for them it was a reunion of sorts.

Sumlin said he was living in the area with his women and had to stop by, and Cotton asked him to stick around and sit in and jam on stage during the next set.

I had the tape on the whole time, but the Persuasions - acapella group, were singing downstairs, just below the floorboards, so they sort of add a backdrop to the conversation, but I remember listing to it later and still have it around here somewhere.

In any case, that's how I met Hubert, who later came to Somers Point to play at the Bubba Mac Shack - in the 1990s into early 2002-3, before they tore the Shack down.


Bill Kelly, James Cotton, Billy Mueller


Hubert Sumlin playing guitar at the Bubba Mac Shack in Somers Point NJ


Sonny Boy Williamson on Harp
The drum reads:
KING BISCUIT TIME

Over Radio Station KFFA of HELENA, ARK

12 – PM

KING BISCUIT ENTERTAINERS

MONDAY Thru FRIDAY

J.F. CURTIS

The KBT Radio Show

King Biscuit Time is the longest running daily radio show in history, and continues to be broadcast daily on Delta Broadcasting’s KFFA 1360 AM in Helena, Arkansas. First broadcast on November 21, 1941, King Biscuit Time featured legendary Blues artists Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Jr. Lockwood playing live in the studio. The show was named after the locally distributed King Biscuit Flour.

The distributor agreed to sponsor a radio production for Sonny Boy and his band if they agreed to endorse the flour. The agreement was made and the show has been broadcast ever since.
The original band, the King Biscuit Entertainers, often included boogie pianist Pinetop Perkins and James Peck Curtis on drums. It was the first regular radio show to feature blues, and influenced four generations of Delta blues artists whose sounds are based on the raw energy of Sonny Boy Williamson’s blues. In keeping with its tradition of broadcasting live music from the studio, King Biscuit Time still welcomes artists in the studio almost weekly.

Award-winning Sunshine Sonny Payne has hosted the show since 1951, and has been a presence on the program since its inception in 1941. By continuing to focus on a Delta blues format, King Biscuit Time has become a real anomaly true to its heritage. It has been so recognized with a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, presented to the station in 1992 for outstanding achievement in the field of radio and broadcast journalism through its continuous support or ‘an original American art form.’ Sonny Payne has received an impressive array of awards and accolades, including the Blues Foundation’s “Keeping the Blues Alive” award for lifetime service and the Arkansas Broadcasters Association’s Pioneer Award.

The direct influence of the show can be found throughout the music industry. Examples of this include the syndicated rock show, King Biscuit Flower Hour, and the largest free blues festival in the south, the King Biscuit Blues Festival. First organized in 1986, the festival annually welcomes blues fans to Helena, AR, from around the world to a three-day event that features several stages and showcases veteran blues performers along with today’s rising stars. The festival in Helena continues today, but has changed its name to the Arkansas Heritage and Music Festival.

http://www.kingbiscuittime.com/?page_id=7

The 30-minute long live radio program is broadcast at 12:15 every weekday and was named after the local flour company, King Biscuit Flour. The local grocery distributor financed the show at the behest of Williamson in exchange for endorsements and naming rights. KFFA was the only station that would play music by African-Americans, and it reached an audience throughout the Mississippi Deltaregion and inspired a host of important blues musicians including B.B. King, Robert Nighthawk, James Cotton, and Ike Turner. The show's 12:15 time slot was chosen to match the lunch break of African-American workers in the Delta.

King Biscuit Time celebrated its 16,000th broadcast on June 22, 2010. KBT has more broadcasts than the Grand Ole Opry andAmerican Bandstand. Since 1951 the program has been hosted by the award winning "Sunshine" Sonny Payne[1] who opens each broadcast with "pass the biscuits, cause its King Biscuit Time!" Before Payne, the show was hosted by Hugh Smith from 1943-1951. Over the years the biggest names in blues have been associated with the program, and important blues artists continue to perform live.

The King Biscuit Flower Hour is a one hour syndicated rock and roll radio program the name of which was derived from King Biscuit Time. Levon Helm, drummer for The Band, has credited King Biscuit Time, and in particular James Peck Curtis, for inspiring his musical career.


Hubert Sumlin and Levon Helm at the Bubba Mac Shack

Monday, November 21, 2011

From the Top at the Ocean City Music Pier


This week PBS Radio's show From the Top, hosted by Christopher O'Riley, features local musicians on a program that was recorded earlier this year with the Ocean City Pops orchestra at the Ocean City Music Pier. The nationally syndicated show that promotes young people playing classical music, can be heard on WRTI Temple University's station, and in Ocean City on WRTQ 91.3.

This program, which was broadcast on Sunday afternoon, will be aired again on Friday at 7 pm, and can also be heard anytime over the internet at their web site, http://www.fromthetop.org/radio/thisweek, where it is archived.


The show includes the Ocean City Pops, under the direction of William Scheible, and solo performances by sixteen year old violinist Amy Semes, from Broomall, Pa., and eighteen year old trumpeter Jacob Hernandez, from Philadelphia, as well as Scheible, who also plays trumpet in a duet with Hernandez.

Christopher O'Reily gives Ocean City some good plugs and Amy's 102 year old great uncle, who lives in Ocean City, recalls patronizing the Ocean City Music Pier as a child, and is a big fan of classical music and opera. They talked with him and got him to admit the secret of his longevity - a Scotch a day, and listening to opera.


Amy has two sisters who also play the violin, which was selected as the instrument of choice by her parents because it was easy to carry around. She tells the story about how once, when she got hurt, her sister had to substitute for her at a performance that she too had to play, so her sister tied her hair back for once performance and let it down for another, and people didn't know the difference.

Fernandez, a protege of S, acknowledges that his friends come to his performances, but don't particularly care for the classical music, some of which is a century old.

If you go to the web site, besides listening to the show, there's also a short videotape of the Polaris Quartet, from Dayton, Ohio, rehearsing before they go on, giving a vibrant and spontaneous performance on the boardwalk outside the music pier.

As noted on the From the Top web site:

Show 239 | Ocean City, New Jersey
Recorded: Wednesday, August 31, 2011

This week, From the Top is at the Music Pier in Ocean City, New Jersey, joined by the Ocean City Pops under the direction of William Scheible. You'll hear a 16-year-old violinist play Wieniawski with the orchestra and an 18-year-old pianist play Bach. Also, the junior division winners of this year's Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition join Christopher O'Riley to perform Dvořák and a teenage trumpeter teams up with Pops conductor William Scheible to play the music of Vivaldi.

Performers and repertoire:
Violinist Amy Semes,16, from Broomall, PA performs I.Allegro Moderato from Violin Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op 14 by Henryk Wieniawski

Trumpeter Jacob Hernandez, 18, from Philadelphia, PA and Ocean City Pops conductor and trumpeter William Scheible perform I. Allegro from Concerto for 2 Trumpets in C by Antonio Vivaldi

Polaris Quartet (violinist Jenny Lee, violin, 17 from Bloomington, IN; violinist Billy Fang, violin, 18 from Dayton, OH; violist Demi Fang, 15, from Dayton, OH; and cellist Josh Halpern, 17, from Dayton, OH) performs I. Allegro, ma non tanto from Piano Quintet in A major, Op.81 by Antonín Dvořák

Pianist Kevin Sun, 18, from Carmichael, CA Performs I.Overture from Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 by Johann Sebastian Bach

Cellist Austin Huntington, 17, from South Bend, IN Performs I. Andante – Allegro vivace from Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 by Ludwig Van Beethoven


More on CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY

As a prestigious artist, pianist and national media personality, Mr. O'Riley has dazzled the world over on stage, the radio and his records. His memorable interpretations of traditional and popular repertoire make him a cherished bridge between musical tastes, genres and audience worldwide.

Mr. O’Riley’s exquisite and poetic interpretations have granted him phenomenal reviews and several recording contracts with labels like Sony Classical. His warm personality has brought him to host NPR’s “From the Top” for the last 10 years. Christopher O’Riley differs from other artists in two ways. First, his repertoire spans classical styles, from Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and Busoni to contemporary artists such as Radiohead, Nirvana, Pink Floyd and Elliott Smith. He is the definition of a Classical Crossover artist. Second, O’Riley 's unique, passionate and heartfelt piano interpretations of both classical and popular music create unforgettable musical performances and astonishing audience experiences. His most famous recording, Radiohead “True Love Waits” album, was awarded four stars in Rolling Stone magazine, along with many other reviews available in the attached press kit. Most importantly, it has also created a dedicated and diverse fan base that appeals to all ages, uniting them through music.

From his groundbreaking transcriptions of Radiohead to his powerful interpretations of repertoire classic and contemporary, pianist Christopher O’Riley has redefined the possibilities of classical music. He has taken his unique vision to both traditional classical music venues and symphonic settings, as well as to entirely new audiences on the radio, at universities and even clubs. As host of the most popular classical music radio show on the air today, National Public Radio’s From the Top, Mr. O’Riley works and performs with the next generation of brilliant young musicians, demonstrating to audiences, with humor and a lack of pretense, that these young artists are as characterful and diverse in their personal lives as they are in their music-making. In 2007, From the Top was filmed for public television in Zankel Concert Hall at Carnegie Hall and debuted on PBS in the spring. The series is now airing its third season.

An interpreter and arranger of some of the most important contemporary popular music of our time, O’Riley lives by the Duke Ellington adage, “there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad.” His first recording of Radiohead transcriptions, ”True Love Waits” (Sony/Odyssey) received 4 stars from Rolling Stone and was as critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful. His second set of music from the British alt-pop outfit, entitled “Hold Me to This: Christopher O’Riley plays the music of Radiohead,” was released on World Village/Harmonia Mundi to a similarly enthusiastic response. In April 2006, his third set of transcriptions was released on the same label. Entitled “Home to Oblivion; An Elliott Smith Tribute,” Mr. O’Riley this time tackles the deeply emotional and complex work from the troubled singer/songwriter who died prematurely in 2003. His most recent recording, released in April 2007 and entitled “Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake,” is a disc of transcriptions of the music by the British folk singer. Nick Drake died in 1974 after releasing just 3 albums, yet influenced two generations of songwriters in his wake.

Just as his radio show and his contemporary classical recordings have created extraordinary buzz, so have his performances in traditional classical context. In November 2004, Mr. O’Riley toured the U.S. with the world-famous Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Orchestra visiting 10 cities in 2 weeks, playing Bach, Mozart and Liszt concerti. He has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Minnesota Orchestra, the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Detroit, Colorado, Atlanta and Baltimore. The illustrious group of conductors with whom he has collaborated includes Marin Alsop, David Zinman, Leonard Slatkin, John Williams, Neeme Järvi, Bobby McFerrin, Hans Graf, Yoel Levi, Hugh Wolff and Andrew Litton.

Performances in the 2008-2009 season include tours with James Galway and cellist Carter Brey, recitals at the University of Colorado Boulder, Duke University, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, and orchestral engagements with the Baltimore Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, and Atlantic Classical Orchestra. At the Miller Theatre in New York City, Mr. O’Riley will showcase his own arrangements alongside Classical repertoire in three programs juxtaposing works of Shostakovich (Preludes and Fugues) with Radiohead, Claude Debussy (Images and Estampes) with Nick Drake, and Robert Schumann (Arabeske and Kreisleriana) with Elliott Smith. This season also finds O’Riley playing recitals in many of the great European cities: London, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Salzburg and Vienna.

An enthusiastic advocate of new music, Mr. O’Riley has twice participated in the annual “Absolute Concerto” concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, a brainchild of O’Riley’s fan in the 80’s, Andy Warhol, premiering works by Richard Danielpour and Michael Torke. In 1999-2000 he performed Michael Daugherty’s “Le Tombeau de Liberace” with the Detroit Symphony and with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, both in St. Paul and on tour. He has also recently given premieres of works by Aaron Jay Kernis, including his piano quartet, “Still Movement with Hymn,” (also recorded for Decca’s Argo label) and the “Superstar” Etude No. 1, inspired by the pianism of Jerry Lee Lewis.

From early in his career, Mr. O’Riley was honored with many awards at the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, as well as an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He was also a finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1981. Among his many solo releases are a Scriabin disc for Image Recordings and an all-Stravinsky disc on Elektra Nonesuch, featuring “Three Movements from Petrouchka” and Mr. O’Riley’s first foray into transcriptions with his own versions of “Apollo” and “Histoire du Soldat.” Other recordings include an RCA Victor Red Seal release of French repertoire for flute and piano with James Galway; his audacious debut disc of music of Busoni including the monumental ‘Fantasia Contrapuntistica’, a disc of Ravel’s solo works; a recording of Beethoven Piano Sonatas; a collaboration with cellist Carter Brey entitled “Le Grand Tango”; and the premiere recording of P.D.Q Bach’s “The Short-Tempered Clavier” by the fabled composer-satirist Peter Schickele. Other contemporary composers he has recorded include Richard Danielpour, Robert Helps, Todd Brief, Roger Sessions and John Adams.

In addition to his own transcriptions, Mr. O’Riley has ventured into alternate territory on tour with other classical artists. He has developed programs with fellow pianists: “Heard Fresh: Music for Two Pianos,” with the jazz pianist Fred Hersch; and “Los Tangueros,” with the Argentinian pianist Pablo Ziegler, a program of two-piano arrangements that feature Astor Piazzolla’s classic tangos. In 1999 he collaborated with choreographer and director Martha Clarke, who staged several stories of Anton Chekhov set to the piano works of Alexander Scriabin, performed live on stage by Mr. O’Riley. This production, titled “Vers la Flamme,” toured Europe and the United States, and was presented by Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, among others.

As Mr. O’Riley continues to create new directions in which to take the solo piano recital, the demand for his work internationally has continued to grow. He has performed his transcriptions at major jazz festivals in Istanbul, London, San Francisco and Sicily as well as on a tour of the U.K. He recently appeared at the Belfast Festival and he debuted in Australia at the 2006 Sydney Festival.

O’Riley studied with Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory of Music. Christopher O’Riley splits his time between Los Angeles and rural Ohio. His radio and tv show can be found on-line at www.fromthetop.org. His personal website is at www.christopheroriley.com.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Cape May Jazz Fest Benefit Shows



Benefit concerts for Friends of Cape May Jazz

They may have announced the cancellation of the fall edition of the Cape May Jazz Festival, but that won’t stop the musicians from playing anyway, as some of the past performers have gotten together to put to put on a series of shows to benefit the financially ailing festival.

It wasn’t long after festival founders Carol Stone and Woody Woodland were ousted by the board that they cancelled the fall festival, so some administrative problems must still be solved, but for some of the musicians, the show must go on.

Led by Cape May locals Geno White and Jay Bethel, they recruited fellow guitarist Tom Larson, singer Frank Bey and trumpeter Eddie Morgan, and Martini Beach and Cabanas agreed to provide the venues at Decatur and Beach Drive, so the makeshift and abbreviated Cape May Jazz Fest will take place this coming weekend, Friday and Saturday, November 11 and 12th.

Geno White [http://www.genowhite.com/genowhite.cfm] will open the proceedings on Friday at 6 pm at Martini Beach, the upstairs fine dining establishment with the glass porch that overlooks Beach Drive, with the Tom Larrson Blues Band picking up the beat downstairs at Cabanas at 9:30 pm.

Pat Martino calls his protégé Geno White “a complete original,” and indeed he is, as reflected on his recordings and live performances, which usually include TC Kissinger on electric upright bass and Seth Johnson on drums.

Downstairs at Cabanas (9:30), the electric Tom Larson Blues Band [http://www.tomlarsenband.com/] will feature Larson on slide guitar. Larson picked up the Delta Blues style of the legendary Robert “Crossroads” Johnson, Blind Willie McTell and Son House.

Cabanas is where the blues acts are usually found at Cape May Fests, and Frank Bey
[http://www.frankbeymusic.com/ ] will feel quite at home when he sings the blues at the Saturday afternoon matinee (1pm). Originally from Georgia, Frank began singing gospel in church before tagging along on tour with the late great Otis Redding. After starting his own band, and experiencing a bad record deal, Bey stopped singing and the music industry for twenty years before returning in 1996. Carol and Woody brought him to Cape May and after his stunning performance he got some steady work at local clubs, including the Boiler Room at Congress Hall.

While Bethel, Larson and Bey emphasize the blues, horn man Eddie Morgan will jazz things up at Martini Beach (6 pm). Morgan [ www.nextcat.com/eddiemorgan] is known from playing in church with the Jazz Vespers with a quartet that includes Darryl Robinson on keys, Keith Hollis, on drums, Derek Cason on bass and guitarist
Tony Marshall.

Jay Bethel and Blue Bone [http://www.bluebone.net/ ] brings the blues back to the table at Cabanas (9:30 pm). Bethel has made Cape May his home, and also plays locally as a solo act, but really cooks with his band.

Martini Beach used to be Maureen’s, once rated the best restaurant in the state, a standard now maintained by Chef & General Manager, John Siuta, so you have the opportunity of not only seeing a great blues and jazz show, but enjoy a fine meal at the same time.