Seems forever since I last posted here, but here’s a plug for good friend and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, with whom I love playing with. He has a debut CD release show on Thursday Oct. 8th in NYC at the @ Zinc Bar (82 W 3rd street, Greenwich Village, NYC) so if you’re in the area you might want to catch his group playing. Also, check out his new CD …

A study shows jazz improvisers brains in an ’altered state’, high on creativity with decreased inhibition when performing.

Pit your jazz listening skills against featured artists at JazzTimes.

Internet radio companies are preparing for a battle with the Copyright Royalty Board that could lead to the Congress and – many fear, the end of streaming music stations in the United States. Most Internet radio stations are independent from major media companies that own the majority of traditional radio stations. As a result, webcasters play a far more diverse selection of music than broadcast or even satellite radio. Several Internet radio companies are arguing that a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (a three-member panel under the Library of Congress), would make it almost impossible for them to stay afloat. Under the ruling released on March 2, web broadcasters must pay every time a listener hears a song, at a rate that began at 0.08 cent in 2006 (the ruling applies retroactively) and rises to 0.19 cent in 2010. Besides increasing the charge for each song, the ruling established a $500 minimum payment for each Web channel. In all likelihood, many stations will be bankrupt if forced to do this.

As an independent recording artist, I have had my music played over several internet radio stations, thus reaching a wider audience. As a listener, I am able to check out new music from Europe and other continents besides the US, and be introduced to newer artists, whose music I buy if I like, and whose performances I will attend if they are in my neck of the woods. These internet radio stations support my music, and let me in turn, support other artists. They also support new music and artists that in all probabilty will never be played on traditional radio stations because their music doesn’t fit the stations’ format, or because they are unknown. Click on the link to the right if you would like to know more, and if you want to help, please sign the petition.

Thanks for the music and inspiration – we’ll miss you Mr. Brecker.
:: Video: Michael Brecker Solo: ‘Delta City Blues’
:: Video: Michael Brecker Quartet: ‘Delta City Blues’

Michel Petrucciani was one of my favourite pianists – I saw him perform live just once – and what an amazing, high-energy, mind-blowing concert that was!!! I had the opportunity to meet him the next day in oddly mundane surroundings – the foodcourt in a shopping/office complex in Montreal, during the Montreal Jazz Fest in the summer of ‘98. He was with some of his band members, and they were debating on what to order for their meal when I went up and spoke to him. I think he may have been one of the very few jazz musicians I’ve met who actually expressed an interest in how I had heard of his music, and what my connection to music was in general. When he learnt that I was a pianist, he immediately asked if I had any music of mine that he could listen to – of course, I didn’t then, but I came away touched by his offer to listen to my efforts. Little did I suspect that six months down the road, he would be no more. He was only 37 when he passed away.

I think any jazzlover, and students of piano would benefit from watching this video. It’s been around for some time on Google video, and I should have posted this link earlier. It’s around 40 minutes in length, and has some touching moments during the interview with him.