News from the darkest corners...

In 1966 Bernard Stollman sent Sun Ra and his Arkestra, along with audio engineer David B. Jones on a tour of five New York Colleges. When they returned, just 39 mintues of music was chosen to be released as the original ESP 1045 “Nothing Is…“.

44 years later, after extensive research, producer and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson has pieced together the missing parts of the infamous New York College Tour. Recorded on May 18th 1966 at St. Lawrence University in Potsdam, NY, this illuminating document represents the full 70 minute first set, of which ESP 1045 “Nothing Is…” was taken, including an introduction by ESP alum Burton Greene. In addition, producer Michael D. Anderson has uncovered a partial second set from the same evening and some rare rehearsal footage recorded during a sound check before the concert.

With over 90 minutes of additional material, this two disc set allows a close up look at the band’s repertoire and sound over an entire evening, including the rarely performed State Street and alternate versions of Theme Of The Stargazers and The Second Stop Is Jupiter.

Remasted from the original tapes and presented in superb quality, College Tour Volume One is a vivid snapshot of the mid-sixties Ra and his intergalactic band.

Complete track listing and personnel can be found here.

Pianist Hank Jones died yesterday in New York City. He was 91 years old.

Jones was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 31, 1918. He was raised along with his brothers Thad and Elvin in the Pontiac, Michigan area, where their father was a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector. All three brothers went on to prominence as jazz musicians. Hank, the eldest, was the last one to pass on.

In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored Hank Jones with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award. In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with a Doctorate Degree for his musical accomplishments.

Hank Jones has recorded over sixty albums under his own name, and countless others as a guest. As a sideman he played with John Coltrane, Milt Jackson, Wes Montgomery, and many others.

Well, it’s been out for a little while already, but we thought you’d enjoy hearing about this title:

Discographisme Récréatif [Homemade Record Sleeves] is both a documentary and archival work begun in 1996. It’s composed of different iconographic montages made from record sleeves and CD jackets. The distinctive feature: these covers, be they 45s, 33s, or CDs, mostly found at flea markets, have all been redone or modified by anonymous individuals using the original covers as a guideline and as a source of inspiration. The first book issued in 2004 compiled around 100 examples of found altered or homemade record sleeves. The second one contains around 200 sleeves.

The first volume of this book was already an absolute winner and this new volume goes much further, with twice the number of images and larger pages. This book highlights a trove of found creative efforts with many handmade album covers that exceed the design qualities of the originals. A true celebration of the kind of visual playfulness that makes the distinction between official works of art and other creative endeavors so unimportant.

Written by Patrice Caillet
Publisher: Saint-Denis, France: Editions Bricolage, 2009
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9782914697361

The book can be ordered from Amazon France.

In the spring of 1971 the Rolling Stones reluctantly departed the UK to take up residence in France. Keith Richards settled at a villa called Nellcôte in Villefranche-sur-Mer and this became the venue for the recording of much of the band’s masterpiece “Exile On Main Street”.

The new dvd “Stones In Exile” (coming out june 22nd) tells the story in the band’s own words and through extensive archive footage of their time away from England and the creation of this extraordinary double album, which many regard as the Rolling Stones’ finest achievement.

Extensive additional footage including interviews with all the band members, footage from “Cocksucker Blues” and Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts returning to Olympic Studios and Jagger’s country house Stargroves where a lot of the early work on the album was done.

Wath the trailer for “Stones In Exile” here.

Cesaria Evora, the world’s most famous singer from Africa’s Cape Verde, had open heart surgery last night (Monday, May 10, 2010) in a Paris hospital. The surgery was in response to a coronary problem that occurred this past weekend. She was admitted to the hospital Monday morning and the surgery, which started at 8:00 p.m., concluded early this morning at 2:00 a.m. The operating surgeon reported that things went as well as possible. Cesaria was then admitted into intensive care where she awoke around 11.00 this morning. Cesaria is suspending all activities until the end of the year. As a result, June 2010 concerts in Washington, DC, New York City, Boston, Toronto, and Montreal have been cancelled.

This week’s surgery follows an amazing return by Cesaria following a stroke in April 2008. Summer 2010 was meant to mark a return to North American stages. Three months after the stroke, she was ready to start rehearsing and working on her new album, Nha Sentimento (Lusafrica). “She hates rehearsing,” said producer and manager José da Silva in an interview earlier this month. “But she had a strong will to return to singing. The stroke made it harder for her to remember the words of new songs. She worked harder on this album than any other we have made,” says da Silva, who is staying at Cesaria’s side in the hospital. Music critics noticed that Cesaria’s voice had changed on the new album, yet she retained the essence of who she is. “I think the stroke scared her and she is now open to doing more things,” da Silva said before this week’s heart surgery.

Nha Sentimento explores the Middle Eastern and Arab influences of Cape Verdean music and culture, territory rarely explored before. The album features collaborator and admirer Fathy Salama, a former conductor of the Cairo Orchestra known for his work with Youssou N’Dour, and who arranged three mornas on Cesaria’s new album. Nha Sentimento will be re-released shortly featuring a bonus track of “Moda Bo,” Cesaria’s duet with Cape Verde’s up-and-coming singer and starlet, Lura, considered by some to be Cesaria’s heir apparent. The duet’s live debut was to take place during the June North American tour, for which Lura was set to be the opening act.

Meanwhile, the world waits and hopes for a speedy and full recovery of Cape Verde’s leading heroine of song, Cesaria Evora.

The Frank Zappa Family Trust have made four Frank Zappa releases available as downloads.

The albums “Buffalo”, “Everthing Is Healing Nicely”, “Imaginary Diseases” and “FZ:OZ” can now be purchased in mp3 format (256kbps) or FLAC directly from Zappa.com. As far as we know these releases will not be made available on any other download stores.

Lena Horne, the ground-breaking singer, actress and civil rights activist who, in 1942, became the first African-American performer to be put under contract by a major studio, died on Sunday, May 9, at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92. According to the New York Times, Horne’s death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley.

Though her movie career spanned nearly six decades and included a smattering of well-regarded films, like Stormy Weather (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), Horne was best known for her singing. Her music highpoints include collaborations with Tony Bennett, Grammy-winning recordings of her Vegas nightclub act (1981′s The Lady and Her Music, Live on Broadway, and 1995′s An Evening With Lena Horne), and her Tony-nominated performance in the Broadway musical, Calypso.

Horne grew up in an upper-middle-class African American enclave of Brooklyn, raised primarily by her grandparents after age 3, when both her parents left the family. By the time she was 16, Horne had scored a regular singing gig at Manhattan’s Cotton Club. Her knack for dramatic flourish and romantic renditions of jazz standards led to appearances on TV variety shows including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show, as well as a role in the big-screen musical, The Duke Is Tops (1938). Though she never found the substantial, satisfying work she sought on film, Horne did make an impact, later in life, on TV in recurring roles on The Muppet Show and The Cosby Show.

Throughout her career, Horne was equally dedicated to her advocacy for civil rights. She was an early pioneer in the movement for equality, fighting for desegregation alongside such legends of the movement as Paul Robeson and Medgar Evers. She also fought with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-lynching laws. The combination of Horne’s disarming talent and fierce individuality created a powerful force in breaking down racial barriers in Hollywood and beyond.

(Source: EW.com)