Michael Cuscuna, the three-time Grammy winner, Mosaic Records co-founder, historian and archivist who produced hundreds of jazz reissues and studio sessions during his career, has died. He was 75.
Cuscuna died Saturday of cancer at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, Grammy-winning recording artist Billy Vera, a longtime friend, announced.
Cuscuna produced the 1970 album Buddy & the Juniors, featuring Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Junior Mance, for Vanguard Records, and 1972’s Give It Up, Bonnie Raitt’s lone gold album during her time at Warner Bros.
He produced reissues and studio sessions for Impulse, Atlantic, Arista, Muse, Elektra, Freedom, Novus and virtually the entire Blue Note catalog.
“Plainly stated, Blue Note Records would not exist as it does today without the passion & dedication of Michael Cuscuna,” execs from the label wrote on Instagram.
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Readers of Blues & Rhythm magazine know his work in the blues field,...
Cuscuna died Saturday of cancer at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, Grammy-winning recording artist Billy Vera, a longtime friend, announced.
Cuscuna produced the 1970 album Buddy & the Juniors, featuring Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Junior Mance, for Vanguard Records, and 1972’s Give It Up, Bonnie Raitt’s lone gold album during her time at Warner Bros.
He produced reissues and studio sessions for Impulse, Atlantic, Arista, Muse, Elektra, Freedom, Novus and virtually the entire Blue Note catalog.
“Plainly stated, Blue Note Records would not exist as it does today without the passion & dedication of Michael Cuscuna,” execs from the label wrote on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Blue Note Records (@bluenoterecords)
Readers of Blues & Rhythm magazine know his work in the blues field,...
- 4/22/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jenny Lewis knows she’s not a real Southerner. “Let’s be honest,” the 47-year-old indie-rock icon says on a Zoom call. “I’m a Jewish girl from the Valley, transplanted in East Nashville. I’m not an outlaw at all.” It’s true: In Tennessee, where Lewis has been splitting her time with L.A. since 2017, the only law she breaks is smoking weed. She’s also allergic to horses. And bonfires. “I’m the nerdiest, wimpiest Nashvillian,” she confirms.
Even so, Lewis’ new album, Joy’All, is her Nashville Skyline moment,...
Even so, Lewis’ new album, Joy’All, is her Nashville Skyline moment,...
- 6/6/2023
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
Here’s a partial list of musicians we lost in the 2010s: Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, Chuck Berry, Ornette Coleman, B.B. King, Etta James, Whitney Houston, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Merle Haggard, Kitty Wells, João Gilberto, Ravi Shankar, Tabu Ley Rochereau, David Mancuso, Amy Winehouse, Abbie Lincoln, Gil Scott Heron, George Jones, George Martin, George Michael, Allen Toussaint, Donna Summer, Phife Dawg, Prodigy, Adam Yauch, Heavy D, Captain Beefheart, Robert Hunter, Gregory Isaacs, Johnny Otis, Big Jay McNeely, Levon Helm, Kate McGarrigle, Guy Clark, Pete Seeger, Ralph Stanley, Gregg Allman,...
- 12/11/2019
- by Will Hermes
- Rollingstone.com
Sophie Huber’s film, though sanctioned by the jazz record label, is no hagiography, interviewing key players and adding fantastic rostrum pictures of the era
This damn-near immaculate music documentary by Swiss film-maker Sophie Huber pays tribute to Blue Note Records, the iconic label most associated with mid-20th-century bebop jazz. Co-founded in 1939 by German-Jewish immigrants Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, Blue Note became a home for artists such as Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter (the last two are interviewed here). The label also issued key work by Miles Davis, Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane among others who largely recorded elsewhere.
Although clearly officially sanctioned by the label’s current owners this doesn’t feel like a slick, bland exercise in self-promotion. Instead, Huber crafts a respectful, crisply told but depth-plumbing history of the label, drawing from original recordings, vintage audio of studio chatter,...
This damn-near immaculate music documentary by Swiss film-maker Sophie Huber pays tribute to Blue Note Records, the iconic label most associated with mid-20th-century bebop jazz. Co-founded in 1939 by German-Jewish immigrants Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, Blue Note became a home for artists such as Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter (the last two are interviewed here). The label also issued key work by Miles Davis, Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane among others who largely recorded elsewhere.
Although clearly officially sanctioned by the label’s current owners this doesn’t feel like a slick, bland exercise in self-promotion. Instead, Huber crafts a respectful, crisply told but depth-plumbing history of the label, drawing from original recordings, vintage audio of studio chatter,...
- 3/15/2019
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
If you’re going by the bare facts alone, Jazz in Detroit / Strata Concert Gallery / 46 Selden is strictly for Charles Mingus completists. Unlike, say, John Coltrane’s recently unearthed Lost Album, Jazz in Detroit doesn’t date from a pivotal period in the leader’s career, feature an iconic lineup or introduce a wealth of unfamiliar repertoire.
But what looks marginal on paper turns out to be sheer joy coming out of the speakers, thanks in large part to Mingus’ lesser-known yet enormously gifted sidemen: tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield, trumpeter Joe Gardner,...
But what looks marginal on paper turns out to be sheer joy coming out of the speakers, thanks in large part to Mingus’ lesser-known yet enormously gifted sidemen: tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield, trumpeter Joe Gardner,...
- 11/2/2018
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
One, the new first album from Ray Angry, isn’t like most debuts. That’s probably because the pianist isn’t exactly an up-and-comer: He’s got a huge list of playing, writing and producing credits dating back to the Nineties, including work with everyone from Mick Jagger to Joss Stone, Christina Aguilera, the Roots, Miguel and DJ Khaled. That might explain why One sounds more like the statement of an assured veteran.
Angry grew up steeped in gospel and classical, and his résumé ranges all over the musical map.
Angry grew up steeped in gospel and classical, and his résumé ranges all over the musical map.
- 10/5/2018
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Stephen Colbert enlisted Norah Jones and Jon Batiste to help him debut a maddening, so-bad-it's-good holiday tune titled "Christmas Is Now" on The Late Show Monday.
As Colbert explained, the song was written to bump Paul McCartney and Wings' "Wonderful Christmas Time" from the top spot of "worst Christmas songs of all time." True to his promise, Colbert, in an ugly knit sweater, began beating the song into ears, brains and hearts everywhere as he harmonized with Batiste, "Christmas is now, Christmas is now/ Now it is Christmas and Christmas is now.
As Colbert explained, the song was written to bump Paul McCartney and Wings' "Wonderful Christmas Time" from the top spot of "worst Christmas songs of all time." True to his promise, Colbert, in an ugly knit sweater, began beating the song into ears, brains and hearts everywhere as he harmonized with Batiste, "Christmas is now, Christmas is now/ Now it is Christmas and Christmas is now.
- 12/13/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Norah Jones chronicled a tale of musical dreams and disappointments with her gorgeous cover of Neil Young's "Don't Be Denied" on The Late Late Show With James Corden Monday.
Jones flips Young's ragged, autobiographical tune into a shuffling piano ballad about a woman from a broken home who finds solace in music and eventually hollowness in success. Jones delivers the song's aching final verse with a brutal delicacy as her band swoops in with stunning harmonies: "She's a pauper in a naked disguise/ Millionaire through a businessman's eyes/ Oh...
Jones flips Young's ragged, autobiographical tune into a shuffling piano ballad about a woman from a broken home who finds solace in music and eventually hollowness in success. Jones delivers the song's aching final verse with a brutal delicacy as her band swoops in with stunning harmonies: "She's a pauper in a naked disguise/ Millionaire through a businessman's eyes/ Oh...
- 10/25/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Norah Jones gave a strong performance of her new politically charged song, "Flipside," on The Tonight Show Wednesday.
Jones and her backing band moved between the cut's smoky soul verses and blazing piano rock chorus, even throwing in a heavy breakdown before unloading the last rousing hook. As always, Jones' deft piano and vocals led the performance, especially when she was joined by her backup singers for some exalted harmonies.
Upon the release of "Flipside," Jones said the song was inspired by the political and social tumult of the past few years.
Jones and her backing band moved between the cut's smoky soul verses and blazing piano rock chorus, even throwing in a heavy breakdown before unloading the last rousing hook. As always, Jones' deft piano and vocals led the performance, especially when she was joined by her backup singers for some exalted harmonies.
Upon the release of "Flipside," Jones said the song was inspired by the political and social tumult of the past few years.
- 10/6/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Happy birthday to Pat Metheny (born August 12, 1954), one of the few jazz superstars of the past four decades to combine commercial success and critical plaudits. After paying his dues in Gary Burton's band (which he joined at age 19), Metheny put out his first album in 1976 and by the time of his third release two years later was gaining crossover radio play. Though the style of his eponymous band was smooth and tuneful, Metheny had a firm basis in jazz and straight-ahead guitarist gods such as Jim Hall (with whom he eventually recorded a fine duo album).
With success came the challenge of avoiding complacency, which Metheny has met masterfully with a wide-ranging series of albums in a variety of stylistic bags, from atonal skronk to mellow Brazilian, from thorny Ornette Coleman covers to mercurial bebop. Along the way he has lent his prestige to both respected elders (Hall, Burton, Coleman,...
With success came the challenge of avoiding complacency, which Metheny has met masterfully with a wide-ranging series of albums in a variety of stylistic bags, from atonal skronk to mellow Brazilian, from thorny Ornette Coleman covers to mercurial bebop. Along the way he has lent his prestige to both respected elders (Hall, Burton, Coleman,...
- 8/12/2015
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Yusef Lateef, who died on Monday after a bout with prostate cancer, was a devout Muslim who did not like his music to be called jazz because of the supposed indecent origins and connotations of the word (although those origins are still debated). He preferred the self-coined phrase "autophysiopsychic music." Furthermore, his music encompassed an impressively broad range of styles, and the only Grammy he won was in the New Age category -- for a recording of a symphony. Think about those things amid the flood of Lateef obituaries with "jazz" in the headline.
That said, certainly Lateef's own musical origins indisputably revolved around jazz. Growing up in Detroit, a highly fertile musical environment in the 1930s and beyond, Lateef got his first instrument, an $80 Martin alto sax, at age 18. Within a year he was on the road with the 13 Spirits of Swing (arrangements by Milt Buckner).
A Detroit friend,...
That said, certainly Lateef's own musical origins indisputably revolved around jazz. Growing up in Detroit, a highly fertile musical environment in the 1930s and beyond, Lateef got his first instrument, an $80 Martin alto sax, at age 18. Within a year he was on the road with the 13 Spirits of Swing (arrangements by Milt Buckner).
A Detroit friend,...
- 12/25/2013
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
New York -- Tenor sax legend Sonny Rollins was a triple winner Wednesday at the annual Jazz Awards, garnering musician of the year honors for the second straight year.
Rollins also repeated as the top tenor saxophonist. His latest CD, "Road Shows, Vol. 2," consisting of live recordings from concerts in Japan and his September 2010 80th birthday concert in New York highlighted by a first-ever public performance with free jazz visionary and alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, was chosen the year's best jazz recording.
"I was born with some talent for which I am grateful," Rollins said in a statement read from the stage at the Blue Note jazz club by emcee Josh Jackson, host of Wbgo's jazz music magazine "The Checkout."
"I copied and learned from my predecessors and I'm grateful to them, and I gratefully accept this award," said Rollins, who could not attend the ceremony because he was moving...
Rollins also repeated as the top tenor saxophonist. His latest CD, "Road Shows, Vol. 2," consisting of live recordings from concerts in Japan and his September 2010 80th birthday concert in New York highlighted by a first-ever public performance with free jazz visionary and alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, was chosen the year's best jazz recording.
"I was born with some talent for which I am grateful," Rollins said in a statement read from the stage at the Blue Note jazz club by emcee Josh Jackson, host of Wbgo's jazz music magazine "The Checkout."
"I copied and learned from my predecessors and I'm grateful to them, and I gratefully accept this award," said Rollins, who could not attend the ceremony because he was moving...
- 6/21/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Gil Evans, perhaps the second-greatest arranger in jazz after Duke Ellington, was born Ian Ernest Gilmore Green on May 13, 1912 in Toronto, Canada (Evans was his stepfather's name). Though best known for his collaborations with Miles Davis, Evans released many great albums as a bandleader and created a highly influential style that changed the course of jazz history.
Though self-taught, by age 21 Evans was leading a big band that became the house group at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach. Eventually it was fronted and then led by singer Skinnay Ennis, and Claude Thornhill joined Evans in providing arrangements for them. Thornhill then moved to New York to start his own band, and in 1941 invited Evans to New York to write arrangements. Soon Evans's arrangements with their lush, hazy, floating textures defined the Thornhill style.
Though theoretically a swing band, the Thornhill ensemble was one of the most progressive big bands of its time,...
Though self-taught, by age 21 Evans was leading a big band that became the house group at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach. Eventually it was fronted and then led by singer Skinnay Ennis, and Claude Thornhill joined Evans in providing arrangements for them. Thornhill then moved to New York to start his own band, and in 1941 invited Evans to New York to write arrangements. Soon Evans's arrangements with their lush, hazy, floating textures defined the Thornhill style.
Though theoretically a swing band, the Thornhill ensemble was one of the most progressive big bands of its time,...
- 5/13/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Joe Henderson always had the respect of fellow musicians and hardcore jazz fanatics, but for a long time it seemed the closest he'd get to fame was his brief stint in Blood, Sweat & Tears (years later he reminisced, in one of my favorite interviews, about how that short period was when sax companies wanted his endorsement and gave him free horns). Hardly fair considering that he spent a quarter century ranked among the top three tenor saxophonists alive, along with Rollins and Shorter. Then, almost miraculously, Verve put together a masterful production/promotion campaign that made him more famous in his last decade than he'd ever been before. Alas, emphysema took him at age 64, but he'd managed to leave an impressive legacy with nary a misstep -- he never made a bad album, and his appearance on anyone else's album was always a mark of quality. (Why is Ptah, the...
- 4/24/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
"That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine" has been gone for more than a year now, so these days I'm pretty much in the business of getting father's day gifts rather than giving them. But I will always believe that the gift of music is more beautiful and powerful than even the nicest tie or pen set. So here's my musical gift for all of the other dads out there in Huffington Post-land. As always, please add your own and let's help make this the mother of all Father's Day Playlists: That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine - The Everly Brothers Song For My Father - Horace Silver He Didn't Have To Be - Brad Paisley Father And Daughter - Paul Simon Daddy Could Swear, I Declare - Gladys Knight & The Pips My Father's Gun - Elton John Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash To Daddy - Emmylou...
- 6/20/2010
- by David Wild
- Huffington Post
World premiering at the Playboy Jazz Film Festival and opening Friday at Laemmle's Monica, Jean Bach's excellent documentary illuminates the history and lasting legacy of a "magic moment" in 1958 -- when "Esquire"'s Art Kane photographed 60 of jazz music's "big dogs" one summer morning in Harlem.
A treat for jazz aficionados and a dandy historical jam session for the curious, "A Great Day in Harlem" combines recent interviews with those subjects in the photo still alive, liberal use of the famous black-and-white still and others taken by Kane that day, home movie footage shot by Mona and Milt Hinton, and great film clips of performances to support the verbal storytelling.
Starting with Kane's account of how the photograph came about, with support from then-Esquire art director Robert Benton, Bach weaves together the memories of the late Dizzy Gillespie plus Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer and many others -- including Taft Jordan Jr., one of the now-grown boys seated on the curb with Count Basie -- and thoroughly recounts the events of the "Great Day".
Amazingly, it was Kane's first pro gig as a photog and the early-morning session resembled a social gathering until everything came together just right. Controlling the group was "near impossible" and Kane used a rolled-up newspaper as a megaphone. His assistant did not even know how to load film.
But the moment is undeniably powerful, as the group stands on the steps of a 125th Street tenement and sidewalk with locals looking on. The mood seems casual and the composition unpretentious, evoking but not overstating the subjects' "hard life surrendered to art."
Bach and co-writers Susan Peehl and Matthew Seig wisely follow the leads of their talkative subjects. Stories about those in the photo no longer among the living are both laudatory and personal.
The soundtrack is heavenly and supports Art Blakey's conclusion that these jazz greats were "literary figures," using drums, trombones, trumpets and saxophones to imaginatively capture the experience of living.
A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM
A Jean Bach Production
Flo-Bert Ltd.
New York Foundation for the Arts
Producer Jean Bach
Co-producer Matthew Seig
Writers Jean Bach, Susan Peehl, Matthew Seig
Director of photography Steve Petropoulos
Editor Susan Peehl
Narrator Quincy Jones
With Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer, Marian McPartland, Mona Hinton, Robert Benton, Horace Silver, Art Blakey
Color/Stereo
Running time -- 60 minutes
No MPAA Rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
A treat for jazz aficionados and a dandy historical jam session for the curious, "A Great Day in Harlem" combines recent interviews with those subjects in the photo still alive, liberal use of the famous black-and-white still and others taken by Kane that day, home movie footage shot by Mona and Milt Hinton, and great film clips of performances to support the verbal storytelling.
Starting with Kane's account of how the photograph came about, with support from then-Esquire art director Robert Benton, Bach weaves together the memories of the late Dizzy Gillespie plus Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer and many others -- including Taft Jordan Jr., one of the now-grown boys seated on the curb with Count Basie -- and thoroughly recounts the events of the "Great Day".
Amazingly, it was Kane's first pro gig as a photog and the early-morning session resembled a social gathering until everything came together just right. Controlling the group was "near impossible" and Kane used a rolled-up newspaper as a megaphone. His assistant did not even know how to load film.
But the moment is undeniably powerful, as the group stands on the steps of a 125th Street tenement and sidewalk with locals looking on. The mood seems casual and the composition unpretentious, evoking but not overstating the subjects' "hard life surrendered to art."
Bach and co-writers Susan Peehl and Matthew Seig wisely follow the leads of their talkative subjects. Stories about those in the photo no longer among the living are both laudatory and personal.
The soundtrack is heavenly and supports Art Blakey's conclusion that these jazz greats were "literary figures," using drums, trombones, trumpets and saxophones to imaginatively capture the experience of living.
A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM
A Jean Bach Production
Flo-Bert Ltd.
New York Foundation for the Arts
Producer Jean Bach
Co-producer Matthew Seig
Writers Jean Bach, Susan Peehl, Matthew Seig
Director of photography Steve Petropoulos
Editor Susan Peehl
Narrator Quincy Jones
With Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer, Marian McPartland, Mona Hinton, Robert Benton, Horace Silver, Art Blakey
Color/Stereo
Running time -- 60 minutes
No MPAA Rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 9/28/1994
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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