NBA: Red-hot Jazz heap another loss on Lakers

Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley each flirted with triple-doubles and Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points in his customary role off the bench as the red-hot Utah Jazz smashed the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-89, Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.

Conley finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the wake of being snubbed as an All-Star reserve, while Mitchell totaled 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his first game since earning a second spot in the All-Star Game.

Rudy Gobert, also named to his second All-Star team, added 18 points with nine rebounds as the Jazz to their 22nd win in 24 games. It was also the 20th time in the spurt that they have won by double digits.

Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 points -- all on 3-pointers for Utah, which has the best record in franchise history to begin a season (26-6) and the NBA's best mark so far.

LeBron James scored 19 points but didn't have much help in the Lakers' most lopsided loss of the season. Los Angeles, playing without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder, lost their fourth straight and fell for the fifth time in six games.

The game was competitive in the first quarter, but the Jazz blew it open in the second quarter by outscoring the Lakers, 39-24. 

Utah put it away with a 27-17 third-quarter advantage, holding Los Angeles to its lowest point total in a quarter this season.

The Lakers are hoping to get Schroder back for Friday's home game against Portland. He has been sidelined for four games due to NBA health and safety protocols.

Only two other players scored in double figures for the Lakers: Montrezl Harrell (16 points) and Markieff Morris (12).

Derrick Favors added 12 points for Utah.

Utah made 22 3-pointers after draining a franchise-record 28 in beating Charlotte on Monday.

-reuters

Jazz icon Nina Simone in spotlight at Sundance premiere

PARK CITY | The opening night of the Sundance Film Festival saw a moving documentary about jazz icon Nina Simone — whose director trumpeted her as a model for a new generation of civil rights activists.

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” was greeted with a standing ovation at a gala screening at the film festival, which runs through February 1 in the Utah ski resort of Park City.

Drawing on previously unreleased footage and recordings, the movie traces Simone’s life from her youth as a classically trained pianist to crossover blue/soul/jazz “I Love You Porgy” songstress and 1960s black power figurehead.

Including extensive interviews with her daughter and close friends, it then recounts her downward spiral and battles with domestic abuse and mental illness, leading eventually to her diagnosis with bipolar disorder.

“She struggled with demons, from inside and out,” said Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus, a Sundance veteran whose previous movies include “The Farm: Angola, USA” (1998) and “Love, Marilyn” (2012).

“Her life was a reflection of the legacy of racism in America but also of the extraodinary power that a righteous voice can have against even the most wicked historical legacy.”

After separating from her husband and manager Simone moved to Liberia in the early 1970s, but running out of money headed north to Europe, first Switzerland and then France, struggling to get her career back on the rails.

Ironically it was a commercial — for Chanel No 5 perfume — which resurrected her fortunes, as its use of her song “My Baby Just Cares for Me” brought Simone renewed fame from the late 1980s.

‘MISSISSIPPI GODDAM’

But much of the movie centers on the early years, and in particular her transformation from jazz singer into civil rights firebrand — despite the efforts of her abusive husband, who wanted her to keep making the hits.

It is difficult to feel the power that a song like “Missippi Goddam” — her response to the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four black children — had at the time, when it was banned from radio stations.

Speaking after Thursday night’s screening, the film’s director said Simone’s songs can still resonate for a new generation — specifically protestors following a recent spate of white-on-black killings in America.

“If we had voices like Nina Simone today, (they could express) the pain and the passion of the movement, that’s been building I think on the streets in the past six months.

In a later-life interview in the film, a disillusioned Simone laments that there was no civil rights movement, and therefore no place for her earlier songs.

“I think that’s one of the saddest moments for me in the film, because I think we can all see the place of these songs today,” said Garbus, urging new artists to “appropriate those songs to take them, and to continue them and to … let the music mean something again.”

The evening ended with a tribute from Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated singer John Legend, who sang three Simone tunes including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.”

Simone ended up based in Paris after her late-career comeback, and continued to perform in the 1990s — her last album, “A Single Woman,” was released in 1993. She died in 2003, aged 70.

“What Happened, Miss Simone?” is due out soon, on streaming video service Netflix.

source: interaksyon.com

Renee Olstead in Manila for dinner concert on Friday

American singer-actress Renee Olstead arrived in Manila Tuesday night, touching down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on board All Nippon Airways from Tokyo.

The 24-year-old native of Kingston, Texas will headline a special dinner concert at the ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel in Makati on Friday, August 28.

This is her first major concert and her second visit to the Philippines. Best known as a jazz performer with three albums to her credit, she first performed in Manila last year in a show with trumpeter Chris Botti.

Olstead’s voice has been compared to those of Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, and Adele.The local female trio Baihana will be her special guest in the concert.

As an actress, Olstead is best known for her role in the sitcom “Still Standing”, which ran from 2002 to 2006, and her co-starring turn in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, the ABC teen drama series which ran for five series from 2011 to June of this year.

She also appeared in the movies “13 Going on 30″.

source: interaksyon.com

Jazz great Dave Brubeck dies at 91

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, 91, died Wednesday from heart failure, his manager, Russell Gloyd, told CNN.

Brubeck's heart stopped while he was en route to the hospital with his eldest son for a regular checkup, Gloyd said. His son became alarmed about his father and called 911, Gloyd said.


"(Paramedics) came out and said, 'We just can't keep the heart going,' " Gloyd told CNN.

Gloyd, who also was a producer with Brubeck, said the musician was rushed to Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he was declared dead.

According to his website, Brubeck was born into a musical family in Concord, California, and had two older brothers who were also professional musicians. As a teen, he began playing in local dance bands after his family moved to a cattle ranch in the foothills of the Sierra mountains.

Intent on pursuing a career in veterinary medicine, Brubeck worked his way through college as a pianist in jazz bands. He soon switched his major to music and went on to pursue a career, releasing music as part of the Dave Brubeck Trio in 1949. He formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 following a near fatal car crash.

Songs such as "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five" helped the jazz artist find crossover success in the pop world.

Designated a "living legend" by the Library of Congress, Brubeck was still actively pursuing his career in music. Gloyd said the pianist continued to practice every day and was contemplating recording a new song.

But his longtime manager/publicist said he and the musician's family hope that Brubeck is also remembered for his political activism.

"I don’t think people realize his commitment to civil rights and justice," Gloyd said. "At the height of his stardom, he canceled 23 out of 24 concerts in the South at Southern universities when they would not allow him to bring his black bass player."

President of The Recording Academy Neil Portnow called Brubeck an "iconic jazz and classical pianist."

"Throughout his six decade-long career, his unique time signatures and distinct rhythms were highlights of his innovative style," Portnow continued. "As one of the prime architects of the sophisticated West Coast jazz sound, Brubeck showed that jazz could be artistically challenging yet accessible to large audiences. His recordings have received both commercial and critical success, and will be remembered and celebrated for generations to come. We have lost a great legend in our community, and our thoughts and condolences go to his family, friends and all those he inspired."

Brubeck would have celebrated his 92nd birthday on Thursday.

source: CNN