MYBLOG by Ouriel

Good job Yaron

i was proud to walk in Paris metro the other day and this ad for the La defense jazz festival with my good friend Yaron Herman, an israeli pianist living in france (the opposite of me), showcased just above Herbie Hancock.

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Stop Talent: Jose James, the new voice you have to know

I listen to lots of music, but it is very rare i stick to a new discovery and keep listening to the disc over and over. Like love at first sight, Love at first listening is very rare. It happened to me with Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett more recently with Eliane Elias, Raul Midon and a few others. Jose James is the recent addition, i discovered via my musician friend Yaron Herman (actually they are friends..)

Jose James is a new young american singer that has a amazing control of his voice. His first album "The Dreamer" is a total knock out and i really strongly recommend you to find it and buy it. He reminds me a lot of Gil Scott Heron but with a softer more delicate tone. He can sing awefully complex songs and make them sound just like they were children songs (listen to NOLA coming from an old great Spike Lee movie). He can also take a dead simple, nearly boring melody and bring all the sophisticated nuances out of it (listen below to BlackEyedSusan for example).

I already take a bet, Jose James will be one of the most popular pop/jazz singer of the new generation in a couple of years taking up on Kurt Elling and Al Jarreau. It is very rare you hear this kind of talent. I think my bet is not very risky.

Listen below the track BlackEyedSusan or here more extracts and here his last.fm page

Jose James

Technorati Tags: josejames voice jazz pop music

JazzCast: Great version of Round Midnight

Sometimes on youtube you can find better stuff than on iTunes. for free. and legal. Check this out

Technorati Tags: jazz piano roundmidnight

Super Talent - Raul Midon

Raul Midon is probably one of the top 10 most talented musician of the new generation. Watch him at TED sing, play. Blowing. I forgot to precise: he's blind and will remind you a lot of Stevie Wonder

One of the best Jazz intro i have ever heard

I just stumbled upon this video in YouTube (they have some great recommendations there). Brad Mehldau is giving here a stunning solo intro to "The way you look tonight" we all know. It's hard to figure out how he s going to bring in the tune. But he makes it. Really amazing

Jazz Talent Alert: Lois Mahalia

The wonders of Youtube. Just Stumbled upon this great song and great voice: Lois Mahalia (her Youtube Channel here). The song is called "Smile" but has nothing to do with the Charlie Chaplin composition. The pianist is not bad either (although a bit classical). I never heard about her before. Probably would not have without Youtube and the related features. Is she famous? will she be one day? Hope you like it anyway

"Mas que Nada" like you never heard

Michel Petrcuciani and Al Jarreau in one of the most famous brazilian songs in their own style. Stunning

Discovered via Alain

Hot Jazz Pianist Talent: Hiromi Uehara

I was so surprised that i stopped walking in the street yesterday as i was discovering the incredibly talented Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Ueahara via a NPR jazz podcast (i recommend by the way).

I never heard about her before and i was totally blown by the level of energy and creativity of this young pianist. I went to youtube this morning to find out more about her. Check out below one of her composition, the tom and jerry show (tribute to the cartoon) and observe how she really "plays" with the piano this complex piece of music. Everything looks easy and totally under control.

I thought her territory would be more traditional-revisited (you feel the influence of Tatum/Peterson/Garner). But if you dig more you can see she knows how to explore new modern fields, like on this memorable version of summertime in duo with no one else than Chick Corea himself...

 

In addition she's very pretty and sounds very nice (you need to listen to her podcast on NPR jazz). I can only anticipate a massive success for this young artist.

I did not know really any international jazz musician until that day. I am already a great fan of Ruychi Sakamoto who is a great music film composer (mainly for Takeshi Kitano and Hayao Miyazaki cartoons) and has a strong jazz background. but Hiromi is the first true jazz artist i know coming out of this country

She's from now on at the top of my hot list of talented jazz musician to keep track of.

Technorati Tags: hiromi, jazz, piano, japan, npr, podcast

On My Shopping List

Will try to get those 2 promising Jazz CDs on iTunes as soon as they appear there.

ELIAN ELIAS: SOMETHING FOR YOU (here)

Eliane Elias playing Bill Evans can only be great

KEITH JARRETT: SETTING STANDARDS (Here)

Keith Jarrett's re-edition of  the standards that launched him. But what can i say? Impossible not to buy it. Weird because his last CD is less than a few weeks old...More here

Setting Standards brings together three classic recordings; Standards Vol. 1, Standards Vol. 2 and Changes. Music brought to life in a sustained burst of creativity in 1983 at New York's Power Station. Presented now for the first time in a specially priced 3-CD box set. Having wrapped up two volumes of standards, the trio then moved on to improvisational areas resulting in the album, Changes. Three top flight albums recorded in one day! Not only that, the musicians had mapped out the area - from the Great American Songbook to free play - that they would continue to explore for the next quarter-century, making them perhaps the most widely-admired jazz group in the world today. This re-release celebrates 25 years of the "Standards Trio" It includes historical session photos by Deborah Feingold and updated liner notes by Peter Rüedi. 

Technorati Tags: eliane elias, keith jarrett, something for you, setting standards, jazz, piano

The best piano jazz tutorial ever made

Once you are done with the basics you need to mash up all the key aspects of harmony, rhythm and melody to learn how to build a sophisticated jazz interpretation. This video (there are more) is the result of someone having the great idea of plugging his PC to his electronic piano and having transcribed not for note what he played (using probably Encore or Band in a Box) and then having it played in real time. Ideally i would have loved to see also the hands (real movie). But this is already great

 

update: he also doing it with real video in a 3 frame structure. really good