‘Miles Ahead’ plumbs mute years of jazz icon Miles Davis

LOS ANGELES | Miles Davis, one of America’s most iconic and prolific musicians, went musically mute for several years in the 1970s, and actor Don Cheadle plumbed that silence in his visually jazzy directorial film debut “Miles Ahead.”

“We wanted to find a way to tell the story that would give us the latitude and the license to show a creative person trying to figure out how to be creative again,” said Cheadle, who also stars in and co-wrote the independent film.

In “Miles Ahead,” opening in New York and Los Angeles movie theaters on Friday, Cheadle’s Davis is stuck in creative block.

Set roughly a decade after the 1959 release of Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” which remains the best-selling jazz album of all time, the film finds the mercurial trumpeter burrowed in his New York home following the demise of his marriage to his muse, dancer Frances Taylor, played by Emayatzy Corinealdi.

He’s at war with his record company, hobbled by a deteriorating hip, alternately fueled and numbed by street and prescription drugs, and haunted by history when a reporter of dubious skill (Ewan McGregor) literally bursts through his front door.

Honed during the decade it took to raise the $8.5 million budget, the film’s narrative is a lean, tumbling mix of present, past and reverie punctuated by cocaine and testosterone-fueled high jinks, historical events and Davis’ iconic horn.

“He didn’t know what he was going to say, if he was going to say it, what it was going to sound like when he said it,” Cheadle said of Davis, who worked with musicians from Dizzy Gillespie to Prince before his death in 1991.

Cheadle, who nabbed a best actor Oscar nomination for 2004′s “Hotel Rwanda” and stars in Showtime’s satire “House of Lies,” said he aimed to make a film with “free form and good flow.”

He channeled the musician, known for prodding bandmates to “play what’s not there,” devoting years to learning the trumpet so his fingering would be a match when Davis’ music was dubbed into the film, and choosing actors in the same way that Davis would put together a band.

“It’s like Don Cheadle cast Miles Davis in a movie that Miles Davis might have liked to have been in,” said co-star McGregor. “As a result, the film feels like Miles Davis, it feels like a piece of his music.”

source: interaksyon.com

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett ‘cheek-to-cheek’ at Montreux jazz fest

MONTREAUX | Pop star Lady Gaga and crooner Tony Bennett brought a mix of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra and even Edith Piaf to a sell-out crowd spanning generations at the Montreux Jazz Festival on Monday night.

Legendary producer Quincy Jones introduced the odd American couple, praising Gaga as a singer who had “blown his mind.” He also recalled working on the musical arrangement for Bennett’s 1966 hit “Girl Talk.”

“This would be Claude’s definite dream,” Jones said, referring to Claude Nobs, the late founder of one of Europe’s most prestigious summer music festivals, now in its 49th edition.

Bennett, the only person in the famed Stravinski Auditorium wearing a jacket and tie, and the blond Gaga, appearing first in a long shiny silver dress with plunging neckline, opened with “Anything Goes,” a Cole Porter tune of the 1930s.

The pair of New Yorkers then sang “Cheek to Cheek” by Irving Berlin, the title track from their 2014 album of jazz standards for which they won a Grammy Award in February.

Bennett, just weeks shy of his 89th birthday, and Gaga, already a six-time Grammy winner at age 29, delivered 30 songs during their 100-minute non-stop show, backed by nine musicians.

“We’re selling our album around the world, please buy it. She really needs the money,” Bennett quipped.

Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is better known for her hits “Paparazzi” and “Poker Face.”

Gaga hit the high notes in Montreux in half a dozen eye-popping outfits, changing backstage during Bennett’s solos. During love ballads, she gave him hugs or kisses on the cheeks.

For their “I Won’t Dance” duet, she wore a black dress and long gloves, with glittering eyebrows.

In “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” Gaga played the vamp in a red feathered dress with transparent top. For “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” her silver dress with chain belt gave her the allure of the swinging 60s.

She sat back-to-back with pianist Michael Renzi cabaret style for “Everytime We Say Goodbye,” another Cole Porter hit.

SINATRA CENTENARY

Bennett paid tribute to Sinatra, born 100 years ago, saying the late star had been “opening his soul” with the song “I’ve got the World on a String.” He then performed his personal favorite, “In the Wee Small Hours.”

Introducing the song “Smile,” Bennett told the crowd that he had once received a fan letter from Switzerland about the best-selling theme song from the 1936 movie “Modern Times.”

“I couldn’t believe it. It was from Mr. Charlie Chaplin,” he said of the British actor who lived in nearby Vevey.

Gaga, dressed in a vintage pink satin dress with huge bow at the waist, sang “La Vie en Rose,” earning the biggest applause of the night for her moving version of Piaf’s signature song.

source: interaksyon.com

Rolling Stones sax legend Bobby Keys dead at 70

NEW YORK | Bobby Keys, a defining saxophonist of the rock era who offered a jolt both musically and personally to the Rolling Stones, died Tuesday. He was 70.

Keys, a hard-partying jazz lover born in Texas, befriended Buddy Holly as a teenager and gradually became a go-to saxophonist for rock acts including the Rolling Stones — whom he first stumbled upon in 1964.

Keys provided the tenor sax that contributed to the blues sound of “Brown Sugar,” one of the Stones’ greatest hits, and toured with the rock legends for most of their five decades as a band.

“The Rolling Stones are devastated by the loss of their very dear friend and legendary saxophone player, Bobby Keys,” the band said in a statement announcing his death.

“Bobby made a unique musical contribution to the band since the 1960s. He will be greatly missed,” it said.

Keys was particularly close to guitarist Keith Richards, who was born on the exact same day — December 18, 1943.

“I have lost the largest pal in the world and I can’t express the sense of sadness I feel, although Bobby would tell me to cheer up,” Richards said in a handwritten statement posted on Twitter.

“My condolences to all that knew him and his love of music,” Richards said.

Besides the Rolling Stones, Keys also collaborated with the other giants of English rock, The Beatles. He joined John Lennon — both in music and in drug use — during the ex-Beatle’s so-called “Lost Weekend” of estrangement from Yoko Ono.

Among other artists with whom he collaborated were Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and Carly Simon. He also played saxophone on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

Keys’ rowdiness on the road was notable even by the standards of the Rolling Stones.

“I’ve been smoking pot for over 50 years, and I never let a day go by unless I’m in jail,” Keys said in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone magazine. “I am a devout pothead.”

Richards, in his autobiography “Life,” remembered Keys’ lifestyle when the Rolling Stones were staying at a villa in the southern French town of Nellcote, where the band recorded parts of the classic 1972 album “Exile on Main Street.”

Richards recalled that Keys one day “caused a disturbance by throwing his furniture out of the window in a moment of Texan self-expression.”

Keys eventually retired from the road as his health failed. He died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee.

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