"With Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin, Umar Bin Hassan led the formation of The Last Poets, which refers to several groups of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African-American civil rights movement's black nationalism. The group was formed on May 19, 1968 (Malcolm X's birthday), at Mount Morris Park (now known as Marcus Garvey Park) in East Harlem. One of the earliest influences on hip-hop music. Critic Jason Ankeny wrote: _With their politically charged raps, taut rhythms, and dedication to raising African-American consciousness, the Last Poets almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip-hop._ - wiki. "
"Lage is a California-born guitarist who, as a child-prodigy, performed at the Grammies when he was just 12 years old. He's just release an album (Squint), and teaches at NEC. He came together with Frisell at a private house party in Lincoln last December. "
"Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984, the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight. They've released more than 49 albums. The band was originally called _One Day..._[3] but subsequently changed the name to The Legendary Pink Dots, apparently inspired by pink dots on certain keys of the band's main recording studio piano. The Pink Dots have influenced a wide range of bands, such as The Dresden Dolls, MGMT, and Skinny Puppy. The voice track in this song is played backwards. - wiki"
Bilal released a number of recordings. I learned of him first as a sideman to Abdul Abdul-Malik's 1963 album _The Eastern Moods of…_ He was born in June of 1928. As a young man during the 1940’s, Bilal Abdurahman worked as an illustrator for a local Brooklyn newspaper, while simultaneously studying music. He took special interest in the music and percussion instruments of the African continent. Like many Black American artists of the time, his interest in African art was coupled with a broader interest in African history, which led him to explore new spiritual traditions. In particular, he began to study Islam and the Afrocentric Hebrew tradition — both of which had become staples within the Black communities of New York City and several other American urban centers. During the 1950’s, the two participated in the famed weekly jam sessions at the Putnam Central Club that typified the remarkable jazz scene that flourished in Brooklyn during the era. These jam sessions were attended by jazz luminaries like Max Roach, Randy Weston, Wynton Kelly, Charles Mingus, and so many others. He passed away in 1988.
Messiaen wrote this deeply contemplative, spirit infused Quartet during his 2 years (1940-42) at the Stalag VIII-A German prisoner-of-war camp, located just to the south of the town of Görlitz (now Poland). He orchestrated it for the available prisoner-musicians in the camp, a clarinetist, cellist, pianist (him), and violinist. He'd joined the French army as a nurse, but that didn't protect him from imprisionment. Of the many stories to come from his experience and the creation of this work is that, upon his arrival at the camp the Nazi's, were suprised to find his pockets full of musical notations and scores. Of the first perfomance (Jan 14, 1941) Messiaen wrote: _The Stalag was buried in snow. We were 30,000 prisoners...The four musicians played on broken instruments...the keys on my upright piano remained lowered when depressed...and with my three other musicians, dressed in the oddest way...completely tattered, wooden clogs large enough for the blood to circulate depsite the snow underfoot...we play my quartet...the most diverse classes of society were mingled: farmers, factory workers, intellecutals, professional servicement, doctors and priests._ (and, of course, the Nazi captors)
"This cut is from Shirley's first record date in 1954. One story goes that, while the album was not widely heard, Miles Davis got ahold of it, and a year later he tracked down her telephone number in Washington and invited her to open for him at the Village Vanguard in New York. That exposure, plus the help of the jazz agent and manager John Levy, helped get her a contract with Mercury Records. They signer her as a singer, not singer-pianist...she eventually grew uncomfortable with that arrangement "
"Jazz double bassist Abdul-Malik (1927-1993) is remembered for integrating Middle Eastern and North African music styles in his jazz music as evidences by this oud performance by him. He played bass. Art Blakey, Earl Hines, Randy Weston, Ray Nance, and Thelonious Monk, among others. An interesting collaborator on his recordings was reed player Bilal Abdurhaman. Ahmed Abdul-Malik - bass, oud, Tommy Turrentine (Stanley's younger brother)- trumpet, Bilal Abdurrahman - clarinet, percussion, Eric Dixon - tenor saxophone, Calo Scott - cello, Andrew Cyrille - drums"
"Beth Anderson (M.F.A./M.A.) is a composer of new romantic music, text-sound works, and music theater events. She has composed and has had produced an opera, an oratorio, three off-off Broadway musicals, several downtown music theater collaborations, music for orchestra, voice, chorus, tape, instrumental solos with and without electronic modulation, and a large amount of chamber music, in this country and in Europe, on radio and in concert."
"At this performance, he was 35 and it was 7 years before he died in a bathroom at Graceland. Some reports say that the book Elvis Presley took along with him to the bathroom on the last morning of his life was Frank Adams' _A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus,_ which had been published five years prior. The book is focused on the Shroud of Turin, the piece of fabric purported to have been laid across the face and body of Jesus after his crucifixion. As for the song, the original name was _poke sallet_ aka Pokeweek, which is poisonous when served uncooked. Unfortunately, the story goes, the record company's decision to change _sallet_ to _salad_ caused alot of distress for song-lovers who picked the greens and mixed them up with their favorite vinaigrette. "
"Then Comes The White Tiger is a pan-cultural celebration of intoxicating power, featuring SamulNori, Korea's preeminent percussion ensemble, together with Red Sun, a unit formed by Austrian saxophonist Wolfgang Puschnig. The album was recorded in Seoul, South Korea. Puschnig and partner Linda Sharrock were subsequently invited to Korea for SamulNori's 10th anniversary celebrations and there the idea of an extended alliance was born. - ECM record liner notes"
"Dawid is a Chicago-based jazz clarinetist, composer, singer and DJ. She is a strong collaborator who has worked with Ben LaMar Gay, Marshall Allen, and may others. Her first album, Oracle, was notable for her recording the entire thing on her cell phone. "
"Malik is on oud, Bilal Abdurraham on alto, clarinet, Korean reed flute, and percussion, and William Henry Allen plays bass & percussion. See previous notes"
"Tunisian artist Anouar Brahem is a at the center of this recording, composing much of the music and playing the oud. The third musician in the group is Lassad Hosni who plays the bendir and darbouka (Turkish percussion instruments). They made the recording in the Monastary of St. Gerold in Austria. "
"This is the debut album for up-and-coming singer born and raised in Veracruz, Mexico. She accompanies herself on the Venezuzelan cuatro guitar and, she says, the music recorded on the album is an _introspective journey_ inspired by the break-up of a relationship. She was singing jazz in bars at the age of 13 and comes from a household full of musical instruments and making. "
Somi (born Laura Kabasomi Kakoma on June 6, 1981 in Champaigne, IL) is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, playwright, and actor of Rwandan and Ugandan descent. When Somi was three years old, her family then moved to Ndola, Zambia, while her father worked for the World Health Organization. In the late 1980s when her father became a professor at the University of Illinois, they returned to Champaign, where Somi attended both University Laboratory High School and Champaign Central High School. She earned her undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She also holds a Master's degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in Performance Studies.
"Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984, the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight. They've released more than 49 albums. The band was originally called _One Day..._[3] but subsequently changed the name to The Legendary Pink Dots, apparently inspired by pink dots on certain keys of the band's main recording studio piano. The Pink Dots have influenced a wide range of bands, such as The Dresden Dolls, MGMT, and Skinny Puppy. The voice track in this song is played backwards. - wiki"
"John Cage, accompanied by a film crew from Germany, went to upstate New York to work for 3 days in the State University of New York at Albany's electronic music studio. He carried with him three piles of tapes: (1) sounds of birds in aviaries that he had made in the prior two weeks, (2) recordings of himself singing his 'Mureau', and (3) ambient sounds. While listening to tapes of himself singing Mureau, he commented, _It makes the birds seem less ridiculous._ The duration, arrangement and modulation of the tapes are ascertained by means of the I-Ching."
"Bruzdowicz was a Polish composer with a stunning range of styles and volumonous output. In additiona to chamber works, she wrote for opera, symphonic, and film score. She & her husband , Horst-J
In April 2007, the sisters began to upload their self-made songs to the social networking site MySpace. This YouTube recording went viral and, as a result, they gained visibility & popularity that carried the two into further professional musical lives. They were eventually invited to perform the song with the Fleet Foxes, whom they greatly admired. Klara chose the name for their band at age 13 by looking through a dictionary. She found the term "first aid kit" and thought it best described what she wanted her music to be
