Carolyn McClair Public Relations

The Andover Shop Outlet Dresses Up Spring Street
With Classic Menswear and Accessories

NEWPORT, November 8, 2011 – If you’re feeling the need for tweed and other exquisite menswear, now is the perfect season and perfect reason to visit The Andover Shop Outlet, newly located at 99 Spring Street in Newport.  Open from 10:30 am – 6:00 pm daily, the shop features classic menswear made for the renowned Massachusetts stores, including a selection of tweed sportscoats, wool and blended sweaters, wool trousers, Oxford cloth shirts, hosiery, silk ties and more – all starting at 50% discounts.

The Andover Shop Outlet is operated by Casey Davidson Farley and her husband Larry, the daughter and son-in-law of Charlie Davidson, owner of the popular stores in Andover and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“My father opened his first Andover Shop in 1948 and has been in the business of making men look good in their suits ever since,” said Davidson-Farley. “Watching Don Draper on Mad Men for me is like seeing fine tailoring come alive. While the Fedora hat may be a thing of the past, a soft shoulder suit with a silk tie or a tweed sportscoat and cashmere sweater still provide men with understated panache. This collection proves what Mark Twain noted: ‘Clothes make the man.’”

The Andover Shop Outlet will be open through the 2011 holiday season. For more information on the store and clothing line, call (401) 378-8359 or visit www.theandovershop.com .

#  #  #

R E M I N D E R

LIVING LEGEND RUSSELL GARCIA
TO BE HONORED AT 95th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Due to Doctor’s Order, Garcia Will Celebrate in New Zealand
While Shaynee Rainbolt, Terese Genecco and Billy Stritch
Host Tribute at Iridium Jazz Club in New York on November 6, 6:30 pm

Concert Will Be Streamed Live from Iridium at http://www.iridiumlive.tv

NEW YORK, NY, November 3, 2011 – Legendary composer, arranger and conductor Russell Garcia has been ordered by his doctor to give up his travel plans to participate in his U.S. 95^th Birthday Tour, but that isn’t stopping him from joining in the party.  Garcia will celebrate from his home in New Zealand while Shaynee Rainbolt, Terese Genecco and Billy Stritch host a tribute at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club on Sunday, November 6, at 6:30 pm.

The concert will be streamed live, allowing Garcia to not only watch the concert, but also to participate. Tune in to http://www.iridiumlive.tv

Garcia, who suffered from collapsed vertebrae two weeks ago, is on bed rest and unable to travel. Since stricken with the painful condition, Garcia has been on the phone and e-mail to assist his musical partners with arrangements and to encourage his friends, family and fans to come out to celebrate in his absence.

“We are all so sad that Russ can’t join us in person, but we are thrilled that we are able to celebrate his birthday and present his music with fabulous musicians At Iridium as well ast Yoshi’s in Oakland,” said Shaynee Rainbolt, who released Charmed Life, a CD of Garcia originals in 2007. “I have been in awe of Russ and his talent since meeting him while working on the CD. To hear Russ in the midst of severe pain encourage Terese and me to move forward with the concerts is a testament to his dedication to music and music lovers. Russ wouldn’t have it any other way, so we will do our best to present memorable evenings of his music, surrounded by friends, family and fans who love him.”

Rainbolt and the Iridium’s own Genecco will perform Garcia originals plus classics from The Great American Songbook arranged by Garcia and accompanied by their high-voltage, 9-piece Little Big Band featuring pianist Billy Stritch along with bassist Tom Hubbard, drummer Ray Marchica, trumpeter Bud Burridge, tenor saxophonist Cliff Lyons and trombonists John Fedchock, John Allred, Nate Mayland and George Flynn.

“In addition to celebrating the genius of Russ Garcia, performing his music is very special for many reasons,” said Terese Genecco. “In 1956, Russ did orchestrations of Porgy and Bess for Mel Tormé and Frances Faye. Later, Russ orchestrated a ground-breaking version of new arrangements of the music for Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. I am a huge Faye fan, Billy Stritch is a fan of Tormé and everyone loves Louis and Ella. In our tribute to Russ, Billy and I will present our rendition of Bess, You Is My Woman Now. I truly wish Russ could be with us to guide us through one of his most memorable musical contributions.  Thanks to technology, he will be with us in spirit and via Internet.”

“It is fitting and fantastic that Russ can ‘conduct’ the band while recuperating in New Zealand,” added Rainbolt. “He has always been on the cutting edge in the entertainment industry, with his film scores and the outstanding music he has composed and arranged for some of the world’s greatest artists. He has seen tremendous changes throughout his 75-year career, and he is excited that with the support of today’s technology, he will be able to enjoy and participate in the concert.”

Whether Russ Garcia (born April 12, 1916 in Oakland, CA) was working on a sound stage at MGM Universal, a major-label recording studio in Hollywood, a concert hall conducting a symphony, a jazz club or festival around the world, his body of work speaks for itself.  He hesitates to toot his own horn, saying he feels like he’s name-dropping; but to this day, people continue to drop his name.  Over the years, he has worked Sammy Davis, Jr., Anita O’Day, Bud Shank, Julie London, Sarah Vaughan, Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Johnny Hodges, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Harry James, Bill Holman, Jayne Mansfield, Bette Davis, Ira and George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Mickey Rooney, Henry Mancini, Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie Chaplin, Marvin Hamlisch, Clint Eastwood and numerous others.

Now living a relatively quiet life in New Zealand but still continuing to work at home and abroad, at 95, Garcia’s life is far from the glamorous world of Hollywood he and his lyricist-wife Gina used to lead. From radio and television to theatrical films and recordings, Garcia has been active in virtually every area of the entertainment industry since the late ’40s. His early 1960s scores for George Pal’s “The Time Machine” and “Atlantis: The Lost Continent” virtually created the music template for science fiction films that followed, and his un-credited work on Charlie Chaplin’s Oscar-winning score for the film ‘Limelight’ has fans launching a grass-roots campaign to set the record straight (http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/09/the-case-of-the.html).  His jazz arranging and composing is legendary in its own right and can be heard on recordings by Stan Kenton, Roy Eldridge, Stan Getz, as well as a classic version of “Porgy and Bess” featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. When describing the orchestral sounds that emerged from the West Coast jazz scene during the 1950s, the name Russell Garcia always comes to mind.  Not only did he provide arrangements for many singers and instrumentalists, he recorded more than 60 albums under his own name.  As if all that wasn’t enough, his book, The Professional Arranger-Composer, has been a valued tool for both beginners and veterans since it was written in the mid-’40’s.  In 2009, he and his wife Gina were awarded The New Zealand Order of Merit from the Queen of England for their Service to Music.

Shaynee Rainbolt (www.shayneerainbolt.com), one of today’s rising jazz singers, first worked with Garcia in 2007 when he entrusted her with the first-ever album of all Garcia originals entitled Charmed Life.  Arranged by Garcia for his signature four-trombone band, this collaboration garnered two MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Awards for Best Jazz Recording (Charmed Life) and Best Song (I Remember, Music by Garcia and Lyrics by Rainbolt & Garcia.)  A top seller on CDBaby, the album was also chosen by TalkinBroadway.com as one of their Top 10 CD’s of 2008 and the press also took notice saying, “Rainbolt breathes joyful new life into his oeuvre…her interpretations plugging straight into the core of Garcia’s artistry. Beautifully sung…remarkable…” Jazzwise Magazine (UK); “This happy collaboration features Shaynee Rainbolt in inspired form…hear the magical combination of Shaynee Rainbolt and Russ Garcia.” LA Jazz Scene; “When Shaynee Rainbolt navigates the shoals of Russ Garcia’s arrangements, a beautiful artistic union forms – that of an emerging voice and an orchestral master.” Downbeat; “The classic sounds of Garcia are alive and well in the capable hands of Rainbolt and should remain there for a long time.” Jazz Improv Magazine

Terese Genecco (www.teresegenecco.com), who Will Friedwald of the Wall Street Journal said “…if Frank, Dean and Sammy ever returned from the Great Casino in the Sky, the first youngish female singer that I’d recommend to join their clan is this high-voltage entertainer,” has the Longest Running Nightclub Act on Broadway at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City.  In her third year of an open-ended run of shows, she is a critic and audience favorite. Genecco and Garcia have a special connection due to Genecco’s award-winning, one-woman tribute show, “Drunk with Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye!” Faye is Genecco’s idol and was one of Garcia’s favorite collaborators as well as a close personal friend.  Since relocating from San Francisco, where Genecco won the Bay Area “Entertainer of the Year” Award, there is hardly an award or accolade she hasn’t garnered. Terese is described as “addictive” and her fans call themselves “Geneccoholics.”  The critics agree.  This high-powered entertainer has won the 2009 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) Award for Outstanding Vocalist, a 2009 OUT Music Award for Outstanding Cabaret/Comedy/Theater Song; a 2008 MAC Award for Best Recording for her Live CD of “Drunk with Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye!” (which was also chosen as one of TalkinBroadway.com’s Top 10 CD’s of 2007) and the show itself won her the 2007 Bistro Award from Back Stage Magazine and a Top 10 Best Cabaret Show from Time Out New York Magazine for two years running (2006 & 2007).

*  * *

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6, 6:30 pm:

Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; 212-582-2121; Tickets: $25.00; www.theiridium.com; http://www.iridiumlive.tv

#  #  #

Dr. David A. Hampton, Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church,
To Return to Indianapolis to Lead Light of the World Christian Church

BROOKLYN, NY, November 1, 2011 – Dr. David A. Hampton, Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church since January 2008, has accepted the call to serve as Senior Pastor of Light of the World Christian Church in his hometown, Indianapolis, IN, it was announced last week by both churches.  The Senior Pastor Elect will follow the pastorate of Bishop Tom Benjamin, who will retire as Senior Pastor at the end of 2012.  Dr. Hampton and his family will relocate to Indianapolis in December.

“It is with mixed emotions that my family and I begin this new journey,” said Dr. Hampton. “While we will miss the wonderful people of Bethany, our many friends in Brooklyn and New York in general, we are delighted that God has set us on this path that not only leads home to Indianapolis, but also to one of the city’s greatest churches. I have been blessed to be elected to follow two of the world’s most dynamic preachers and teachers – Bethany’s Dr. William Augustus , Jones, Jr. and Light of the World’s Bishop Tom Benjamin. Both pastors served their churches faithfully for more than 40 years and I am humbled to stand in the pulpits of these great purveyors of the Word.”

The Bethany congregation wishes Dr. Hampton and his family all the best as they return to their hometown and embark on this next phase of their ministry.  Information on the search for a new Pastor will be announced in the coming months.

Bishop Benjamin stated, “Dr. Hampton is an Indianapolis native whom I had the opportunity to mentor as a young man. He has many unique gifts and a great love for people.  His approach to ministry will be well received in the city and particularly at Light of the World. He preaches with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other hand, which makes his preaching timely and relevant. Light of the World is a social justice platform for the Gospel to reach the world. We are blessed to have Dr. Hampton and Hope return to Indianapolis after such a positive and powerful experience with the Bethany Baptist Church family. I never would have dreamed after recommending Dr. Hampton to Bethany and presiding over his installation that he would be returning to the place of his birth, but God never makes a mistake. We must just trust Him.

My relationship with Bethany and my long-standing friendship with Dr. Jones are known by many, and in some ways we are actually sharing in the gifts of friendship and relationship that could never make us enemies, but will always make us friends. We must never forget Romans 8:28 – … all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Prior to becoming the 10^th Pastor of the historic Bethany Baptist Church, Dr. Hampton served as Senior Pastor at Zion Hope Baptist Church and at Antioch Church, both in Indianapolis, where he was licensed and ordained under the leadership of his Pastor, Rev. Jeffrey A. Johnson, Sr. of Eastern Star Church.  Dr. Hampton was Executive Director of Celebration of Hope in 1999, having served under his father in ministry, Bishop Benjamin.  Dr. Hampton also served as a Field Education Supervisor at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis in 2005.

Upon his arrival to New York City, Dr. Hampton took seriously the prophetic call of social justice as he participated in a May 2008 protest of the Sean Bell verdict. He was arrested and jailed for civil disobedience. Dr. Hampton currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Action Network. In June 2008, he became a member of Brooklyn Congregations Together (BCT). As an active member of the PNBC, he currently serves on the Economic Development Committee and is Vice-President of the New York State Progressive Congress of Christian Education.  Dr. Hampton served as a founding Board Member of Brooklyn City Prep Charter High School and on the Advisory Board of Boys and Girls High School, maintaining a passion for education reform. He is committed to global missions, particularly in Africa, having traveled to Kenya and Egypt. He also works with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and has traveled to Israel.

Dr. Hampton, who served as an adjunct professor at New York Theological Seminary, is author of the book Narrative Theology as an Hermeneutic Approach. He is listed among Distinguished Faith Leaders in the 2003–07 editions of Who’s Who in Black Indianapolis and the Inaugural Edition of Who’s Who in Black New York City in 2009. He is a 2011 recipient of the Presidential Call to Service Award, recognized by President Barack Obama.

Reverend Hampton earned a B.A. Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Indianapolis (1994), a Master of Theological Studies Degree (2000), and a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Practical Theology (Summa Cum Laude) from Christian Theological Seminary (2006).  He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and Prince Hall F&AM.

Dr. Hampton and his wife Hope share in the blessings of two children, Taylor and Gabriel.

Bethany Baptist Church is located at 460 Marcus Garvey Blvd., between Decatur and MacDonough Streets in Brooklyn. Worship services are held at 8:00 am and 11:00 am on Sundays as well as at various times throughout the week. For more information on the Bethany experience, please contact the church office at (718) 455-8400.

#  #  #

LIVING LEGEND RUSSELL GARCIA
TO BE HONORED AT 95th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION/CONCERTS

Due to Doctor’s Order, Garcia Will Celebrate in New Zealand
While Vocalists Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco
Host Tributes at Yoshi’s Oakland on November 1 and
at Iridium Jazz Club in New York on November 6

New York Tribute Concert,
Featuring Billy Stritch with Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco,
Will Be Streamed Live from Iridium
at www.livestream.com/iridiumlive

NEW YORK, NY, October 19, 2011 – Legendary composer, arranger and conductor Russell Garcia has been ordered by his doctor to give up his travel plans to participate in his three-city 95^th Birthday Tour.  Although disappointed by the decision, Garcia will celebrate from his home in New Zealand while vocalists Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco host tributes at Yoshi’s Oakland on November 1, and at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club on November 6. The New York celebration features special guest star Billy Stritch.

The concert scheduled for October 26 at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood has been cancelled.

Garcia, who suffered from collapsed vertebrae last week, is on bed rest and unable to travel, but it doesn’t stop him from celebrating with Rainbolt and Genecco. Since stricken with the painful condition, Garcia has been on the phone and e-mail to assist his musical partners with arrangements and to encourage his friends, family and fans to come out to celebrate in his absence. In New York, the concert will be streamed live, allowing Garcia to not only watch the concert, but also to participate. Tune in to www.livestream.com/iridiumlive.

“We are all so sad that Russ can’t join us in person, but we are thrilled that we are able to celebrate his birthday and present his music with fabulous musicians in these wonderful venues,” said Shaynee Rainbolt, who released Charmed Life, a CD of Garcia originals in 2007. “I have been in awe of Russ and his talent since meeting him while working on the CD. To hear Russ in the midst of severe pain encourage Terese and me to move forward with the concerts is a testament to his dedication to music and music lovers. Russ wouldn’t have it any other way, so we will do our best to present memorable evenings of his music, surrounded by friends, family and fans who love him.”

Joining Rainbolt and Genecco at Yoshi’s are Larry Dunlap, piano; Daniel Fabricant, bass;  Tom Duckworth, drums; Rich Armstrong, trumpet; Tony Malfatti, tenor saxophone; and, in Garcia’s four-trombone signature style, Doug Beavers, Don Benham, Greg Saúl and Floyd Reinhart.

In New York, Rainbolt and the Iridium’s own Genecco will perform Garcia originals plus classics from The Great American Songbook arranged by Garcia and accompanied by their high-voltage, 9-piece Little Big Band featuring pianist Billy Stritch along with bassist Tom Hubbard, drummer Ray Marchica, trumpeter Bud Burridge, tenor saxophonist Cliff Lyons and trombonists John Fedchock, John Allred, Nate Mayland and George Flynn.

“In addition to celebrating the genius of Russ Garcia, performing his music is very special for many reasons,” said Terese Genecco. “In 1956, Russ did orchestrations of Porgy and Bess for Mel Tormé and Frances Faye. Two years later, Russ orchestrated a ground-breaking version of new arrangements of the music for Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. I am a huge Faye fan, Billy Stritch is a fan of Tormé and everyone loves Louis and Ella. In our tribute to Russ, Billy and I will present our rendition of Bess, You Is My Woman Now. I truly wish Russ could be with us to guide us through one of his most memorable musical contributions.  Thanks to technology, he will be with us in spirit and via Internet.”

“It is fitting and fantastic that Russ can ‘conduct’ the band while recuperating in New Zealand,” added Rainbolt. “He has always been on the cutting edge in the entertainment industry, with his film scores and the outstanding music he has composed and arranged for some of the world’s greatest artists. He has seen tremendous changes throughout his 75-year career, and he is excited that with the support of today’s technology, he will be able to enjoy and participate in the concert.”

Whether Russ Garcia (born April 12, 1916 in Oakland, CA) was working on a sound stage at MGM Universal, a major-label recording studio in Hollywood, a concert hall conducting a symphony, a jazz club or festival around the world, his body of work speaks for itself.  He hesitates to toot his own horn, saying he feels like he’s name-dropping; but to this day, people continue to drop his name.  Over the years, he has worked Sammy Davis, Jr., Anita O’Day, Bud Shank, Julie London, Sarah Vaughan, Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Johnny Hodges, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Harry James, Bill Holman, Jayne Mansfield, Bette Davis, Ira and George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Mickey Rooney, Henry Mancini, Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie Chaplin, Marvin Hamlisch, Clint Eastwood and numerous others.

Now living a relatively quiet life in New Zealand but still continuing to work at home and abroad, at 95, Garcia’s life is far from the glamorous world of Hollywood he and his lyricist-wife Gina used to lead. From radio and television to theatrical films and recordings, Garcia has been active in virtually every area of the entertainment industry since the late ’40s. His early 1960s scores for George Pal’s “The Time Machine” and “Atlantis: The Lost Continent” virtually created the music template for science fiction films that followed, and his un-credited work on Charlie Chaplin’s Oscar-winning score for the film ‘Limelight’ has fans launching a grass-roots campaign to set the record straight (http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/09/the-case-of-the.html).  His jazz arranging and composing is legendary in its own right and can be heard on recordings by Stan Kenton, Roy Eldridge, Stan Getz, as well as a classic version of “Porgy and Bess” featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. When describing the orchestral sounds that emerged from the West Coast jazz scene during the 1950s, the name Russell Garcia always comes to mind.  Not only did he provide arrangements for many singers and instrumentalists, he recorded more than 60 albums under his own name.  As if all that wasn’t enough, his book, The Professional Arranger-Composer, has been a valued tool for both beginners and veterans since it was written in the mid-’40’s.  In 2009, he and his wife Gina were awarded The New Zealand Order of Merit from the Queen of England for their Service to Music.

Shaynee Rainbolt (www.shayneerainbolt.com), one of today’s rising jazz singers, first worked with Garcia in 2007 when he entrusted her with the first-ever album of all Garcia originals entitled Charmed Life.  Arranged by Garcia for his signature four-trombone band, this collaboration garnered two MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Awards for Best Jazz Recording (Charmed Life) and Best Song (I Remember, Music by Garcia and Lyrics by Rainbolt & Garcia.)  A top seller on CDBaby, the album was also chosen by TalkinBroadway.com as one of their Top 10 CD’s of 2008 and the press also took notice saying, “Rainbolt breathes joyful new life into his oeuvre…her interpretations plugging straight into the core of Garcia’s artistry. Beautifully sung…remarkable…” Jazzwise Magazine (UK); “This happy collaboration features Shaynee Rainbolt in inspired form…hear the magical combination of Shaynee Rainbolt and Russ Garcia.” LA Jazz Scene; “When Shaynee Rainbolt navigates the shoals of Russ Garcia’s arrangements, a beautiful artistic union forms – that of an emerging voice and an orchestral master.” Downbeat; “The classic sounds of Garcia are alive and well in the capable hands of Rainbolt and should remain there for a long time.” Jazz Improv Magazine

Terese Genecco (www.teresegenecco.com), who Will Friedwald of the Wall Street Journal said “…if Frank, Dean and Sammy ever returned from the Great Casino in the Sky, the first youngish female singer that I’d recommend to join their clan is this high-voltage entertainer,” has the Longest Running Nightclub Act on Broadway at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City.  In her third year of an open-ended run of shows, she is a critic and audience favorite. Genecco and Garcia have a special connection due to Genecco’s award-winning, one-woman tribute show, “Drunk with Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye!” Faye is Genecco’s idol and was one of Garcia’s favorite collaborators as well as a close personal friend.  Since relocating from San Francisco, where Genecco won the Bay Area “Entertainer of the Year” Award, there is hardly an award or accolade she hasn’t garnered. Terese is described as “addictive” and her fans call themselves “Geneccoholics.”  The critics agree.  This high-powered entertainer has won the 2009 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) Award for Outstanding Vocalist, a 2009 OUT Music Award for Outstanding Cabaret/Comedy/Theater Song; a 2008 MAC Award for Best Recording for her Live CD of “Drunk with Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye!” (which was also chosen as one of TalkinBroadway.com’s Top 10 CD’s of 2007) and the show itself won her the 2007 Bistro Award from Back Stage Magazine and a Top 10 Best Cabaret Show from Time Out New York Magazine for two years running (2006 & 2007).

CONCERTS:

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 1, 8 pm:

Yoshi’s Jazz Club, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA 94607; 510-238-9200; Tickets: $20.00; www.yoshis.com/oakland

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6, 6:30 pm:

Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; 212-582-2121; Tickets: $25.00; www.theiridium.com; www.livestream.com/iridiumlive

#  #  #

HAILUN PIANOS LAUNCHES ANNUAL NATIONWIDE “PIANO PARTNERSHIPS”

Saxophonist Donald Harrison’s jazz programs in New Orleans
to be the first recipient of superbly crafted pianos on November 15, 2011

NEW ORLEANS, October 5, 2011 – Basilios Strmec, CEO of Hailun USA, a piano company based in Ningbo, China, announces the launching of an annual nationwide program of Piano Partnerships with jazz musicians and significant courses of jazz studies. The Piano Partnerships begin with their presentation of Hailun’s HG 178 grand piano and HU 1 P upright piano on November 15 to the renowned jazz saxophonist and composer Donald Harrison for use in the two jazz programs that he runs in New Orleans. In conjunction with the installation of the pianos, Harrison will present a concert which will include some famous New Orleans piano classics on November 16 at the Tipitina’s Foundation, where he is the musical director of the internship program.

“This is a dream come true,” says Harrison. “I initiated free music programs at The Tipitina’s Foundation and The Guardians Institute in 2007 to provide the gifted young people in New Orleans opportunities and a place to develop as musicians. Hailun Pianos is providing an essential element to ensure the highest level for music studies in New Orleans. These pianos will play an important role in continuing the traditions that made New Orleans the birthplace of American music. The impact of this is going to be life-changing for so many people.”

Basilios Strmec acknowledges, “Donald Harrison exemplifies the type of leadership as a musician, and as a member of his community, that Hailun Pianos is seeking for its partnerships, and that is why he was chosen to be the first partner in our new program. It is obvious that there is an exciting resurgence of musical culture in New Orleans, and that Donald Harrison is in the vanguard of that resurgence. Hailun is honored to participate in his jazz programs that are inspiring a new generation of New Orleans musicians. “

Born in New Orleans in 1960, saxophonist Donald Harrison began playing with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in his early twenties. He had already completed what most musicians would call a career when the influential band he co-led with fellow New Orleans native trumpeter Terence Blanchard broke up in 1989. But Harrison was only beginning. Choosing to work in a number of genres at once, Harrison has released a series of albums that are touchstones of contemporary New Orleans music, particularly the immensely important 1992 release “Indian Blues,“ in which he brought the Mardi Gras Indian music learned from his father, Donald Harrison Sr., into a vibrant contemporary jazz/R&B setting. Harrison continues to perform and record in traditional jazz settings with both acoustic and electric bands as well as what he calls Nouveau Swing, a roots amalgam merging acoustic jazz, Mardi Gras Indian Music, hip-hop, second line and reggae. Harrison also has been a potent influence on younger musicians, mentoring personalities as different as rapper Notorious BIG and whiz kid trumpeter Christian Scott. As the director of Tipitina’s Intern Program, he often works with musicians from that program as his band when performing. Other notable former interns of the Tipitina’s program include Jonathan Batiste, Trombone Shorty, Khris Royal, Joe Dyson, Max Moran and Conun Pappas.

Hailun Pianos has become the standard for high quality piano manufacturing across the Far East, and a global influence in the world of pianos. Owner Hailun Chen, with more than 20 years of successful manufacturing experience, has worked closely with Peter Veletzky, a fourth generation piano builder from Vienna, to develop technology to build pianos that are equal in quality to the best European-made pianos. Hailun’s 430,000 square foot factory now employs over 800 workers and 37 seasoned piano engineers. This uncompromising insistence to achieve maximum quality and product excellence has made Hailun the piano of choice for thousands all over the world. Since the partnership with Mr. Veletzky, Hailun has retained the talents of well-known American piano designer and engineer George F. Emerson, Viennese piano voicing and sound specialist Zlatkovic Sibin, Japanese production specialist Ema Shigeru and French scale designer and piano builder Stephen Paulello. These collaborations ensure long-term quality, innovation, and artistic production at Hailun Pianos. With over 360 European piano dealers, over 80 U.S. Authorized Hailun Merchants, over 40 merchants in Japan and a growing network in other parts of the world, Hailun Pianos is the epitome of an innovative, progressive company that is expanding in response to the world market.

The Hailun Piano Company is also placing an HU 1 P upright in The Blue Monk, a jazz club in Portland, Oregon. Hailun is dedicated to helping the future musicians of the world and will begin the process soon to find recipients in the field of music education to participate in the Piano Partnership in 2012.

#  #  #

www.donaldharrison.com

www.hailun-pianos.com

Lenora Zenzalai Helm Releases New CD
I Love Myself When I’m Laughing
… And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive

Available Today on Zenzalai Music at CDBaby.com

NEW YORK, NY, October 5, 2011 – There comes a point in an artist’s life when she hits her stride: when all of the musical, artistic and emotional elements align themselves perfectly in that artist’s orbit; making her shine brighter than she ever did before. With the release of her new CD, I Love Myself When I’m Laughing … And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive (Zenzalai Music), the award-winning, Chicago-born vocalist, composer, lyricist, arranger, educator and former U.S. Jazz Ambassador Lenora Zenzalai Helm brilliantly illuminates the jazz world with this soulful and spectacular 13-track CD.

It features music and lyrics inspired by two Chicago storytellers, and by writers Zora Neale Hurston, Neale Donald Walsch and Alice Walker, Robert Kennedy, biographers Gene Santoro and Ross Russell, poets Rudyard Kipling and Sam White, and the music and lyrics of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Jon Hendricks and Joni Mitchell.

I Love Myself When I’m Laughing … And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive is available now at http://cdbaby.com/cd/lenorazenzalaihelm2.

On this CD, Helm – who lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she is a Visiting Instructor in the Jazz Studies Program and Music Department at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) – is supported by an impassioned and impressive core rhythm section featuring drummer Larry “Q” Draughn, Jr., bassist Lance E. Scott, Jr., and pianist Ryan Hanseler.  They lay down a sensitive and swinging magic carpet for Helm to soar as she works her moving and velvet soprano as it weaves its spell –forged in the aching embers of Billie Holiday and Abbey Lincoln.

The primal, percussive “Huntress,” inspired Sam White’s book of poems: The Goddess of the Hunt Is Not Herself; the haunting, cymbal-shimmered “Beauty,” a tribute to Helm’s maternal grandmother Helen Amelia Graine Faulk, a legendary matriarch and Chicago cosmetologist; and the dancing lead track, “Tears Are A River That Take You Someplace” – a line taken from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God – are three selections from  Journeywoman: A Work in Progress, Helm’s five-part suite, written as a result of winning the 2004 Chamber Music America/ Doris Duke Foundation’s New Jazz Works grant for jazz composers – making her the first African-American to win that award.

The moving and midtempo title track, augmented by an ethereal vocal choir arrangement, is another Hurston-inspired gem titled after an anthology of her works. “Begin Again” is a wistful vocal/piano duet based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” and Alice Walker’s The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart, featuring NCCU piano professor, Ed Paolanotino. Helm’s aural alchemy is equally phenomenal with her stunning renditions of jazz standards. “Skies of Bud (Blues Skies/Suddenly (In Walked Bud)” was birthed from her conversations with Chicago griot/jazz historian Donald “Poppa” Meade, and stays true to Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud,” laced with lyrics by Jon Hendricks and Helm’s lyric to Irving Berlin’s melody. Helm’s reading of three books – Ross Russell’s Bird Lives, Duke Ellington’s Music Is My Mistress and J.C. Thomas Takin’ The Trane, with the writings of Neale Donald Walsch and become “Charlie Parker’s Tale, “I Didn’t Know About You,” and “A Conversation with God (Dear Lord),” with vocalist Michael Hanna, grandson of  piano giant Roland Hanna.

Helm also delivers a moving rendition of Joni Mitchell’s version of the immortal Charles Mingus elegy to Lester Young, “Goodbye Porkpie Hat,” with Brian Horton’s serpentine soprano sax solo, and “Sampson’s Nemesis (Delilah)” is an inventive reinterpretation of the Victor Young standard “Delilah” made famous by trumpeter Clifford Brown. Her take on Jason Moran’s Capetown-cadenced, “Ripples (RFK in the Land of Apartheid)” from the 2011 PBS documentary – based on a speech Robert F. Kennedy made  when he toured South Africa in 1966, dances with the kind of message-oriented, Motherland pulses that are a vital part of the jazz continuum.  The CD closes with a stirring, solo performance of the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” inspired by her surviving a car crash during the making of this CD. Her friend, vocalist Nnenna Freelon, who just lost her mother, asked Helm to sing it at a memorial service, and the piece also evokes the eternal spirit of Helm’s maternal grandmother.

Lenora Zenzalai Helm’s infinite variety of musical experiences originate from her birthplace, Chicago, where she was born into a musical family. At the age of eight she started singing and later learned to play trumpet, organ, piano, and guitar. After moving to New York in 1987, she worked with a number of artists including saxophonists Dave Liebman, Antonio Hart and Branford Marsalis, and pianists Donald Brown and Andrew Hill.  She was the first African-American woman to receive a B.A. in Film Music Composition/Voice from Berklee School of Music in Boston in 1982.  In 1994, she won Best New Jazz Artist from the syndicated Jazz in the City radio program. Her previous recordings as a leader include Awakenings (Baoule Music, 1997), Spirit Child (J Curve, 1999), Precipice (Baoule Music, 2002), Voice Paintings (MidLantic Records 2003/2007) and Chronicles of a Butterfly (Zenzalai Music, 2009).

Helm’s jazz suite, Journeywoman: A Work in Progress, was written as a result of winning Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation & Presentation Award for Jazz Composers in 2004 and the Encore Award in 2007. She also received awards from other organizations including Meet the Composer and a coveted Composer Fellowship from the MacDowell Colony, the oldest artist’s colony in the United States. Her film music composer credits include After Life by writer/director Lana, previewed and awarded in 2007 at the Arizona Black Film Festival and the Village D Cinema festival in Lisbon, Portugal.  Helm’s extensive educational credentials include a MA in Jazz Performance form East Carolina University, and work as a teacher/clinician at numerous schools and institutions including The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Long Island Performing Arts High School,  and Carnegie Hall/Link Up.  She served as a Jazz Ambassador for the United States State Department and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 1998-99. She currently serves as a Visiting Instructor in the Music Department at North Carolina Central University.

All of Lenora Zenzalai Helm’s broad artistry and experience make I Love Myself When I’m Laughing … And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive the wonderful masterpiece that it is. As Lana Garland writes in the CD liner notes, “I Love Myself When I’m Laughing is a barefoot walk around the human experience and the tour guide, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, makes us listen, ponder, swing a little, listen and then swing some more! Grasping all the nuances, colors, and details of this well-crafted work takes time. It is a treasure that must be listened to over and again and as Henry Miller suggests, you will forget yourself.”

For more information, visit www.lenorahelm.com.

Hear the new CD at http://cdbaby.com/cd/lenorazenzalaihelm2

*  *  *

LISTENING PARTIES
10/1, 5:00 – 7:00 pm – Chicago, IL
The Home of Reggie “Rajah” Helm

10/14 – New York, NY
Hosted by SUNY COIL Institute (Private Event)

10/19 – Richmond, VA (Location TBA)

10/22, 4:30 – 6:30 pm – Durham, NC
Hosted by Bikram Yoga
Golden Belt, 807 E. Main Street

CD RELEASE PARTY & CONCERT
10/17, 7:00 – 9:00 pm – Raleigh, NC
Hosted by Hopper Piano
1800 Tillery Place, Suite A

The above events are free and open to the public, except where noted.

#  #  #

LIVING JAZZ LEGEND RANDY WESTON TO BE HONORED!
Honorary Co-Chairs Marty Markowitz, Danny Simmons And Others
To Honor Renowned Pianist And Composer.

“When Randy Weston plays / a combination of strength
and gentleness / virility and velvet emerges from the
keys in an ebb and flow of sound / seemingly as natural
as the waves of the sea.” – Langston Hughes

BROOKLYN, NY, October 3, 2011 – TRANSART, Inc. announced today that its annual Jazz Treasures program will take place on Monday, October 17, 2011 at 6:30 pm at The Rotunda in Brooklyn Borough Hall (located at 209 Joralemon Street in downtown Brooklyn). This year’s event will include an awards program, a VIP reception, and live music. The highlight of the evening will be a tribute to Brooklyn’s own Randy Weston, a world-renowned jazz pianist and composer who was selected as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2001. Credited with creating the Brooklyn sound, Weston is also the 2011 Guggenheim Fellow for the Creative Arts. www.RandyWeston.info.

Other awardees are Dr. Robert O’Meally (Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, and Founder/Former Director, Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies) and Charenee Wade (2010 2nd Place Winner, Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition). Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, and Danny Simmons, Chairman Emeritus, New York State Council on the Arts are honorary co-chairs. The host committee, chaired by activist and writer Kevin Powell, includes great African American influencers from a variety of fields, including award-winning poets and activists Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez; Jitu Weusi, Co-Founder of The Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium; James Mtume, jazz and R&B musician and Co-Host of Open Line on KISS FM; and Marc Lamont Hill, Columbia University Professor and Host of Our World with Black Enterprise. Sharif Abdus Salaam, Host of Jazz Alternatives on WKCR-FM is the Master of Ceremonies. Performances will feature saxophonist Salim Washington, Charenee Wade, and others.

Tickets are only available online at www.transartinc.org. Admission ranges from $20 to $50. For more information, please call 845.384.6350 or send an email to info@transartinc.org. Also, www.facebook.com/jazzinthevalley.

More About Randy Weston

With a career span that covers more than six decades, Randy Weston is one of the world’s foremost pianists and composers and is recognized as a true innovator and visionary. Perhaps the Newport Jazz Festival newsletter said it best: “Sitting at the top of the ivory throne [in the jazz world] is the majestic, octogenarian pianist/composer Randy Weston: The music’s most profound living link to Africa, born in Brooklyn to parents whose roots are in Jamaica, Panama, and the American south. Pianistically, he is a descendant of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole and John Lewis…. [He] is anchored in the ancient, ancestral ache of the blood, sweat, and tears of his people. Mr. Weston has written some of the most identifiable jazz standards of the modern era, including the hip-notizing Little Niles, and the immortally cool Hi-Fly. Unlike a lot of people who talk about Africa, Weston actually lived [there], ran a jazz club in Morocco, and established life links with the mysterious Gnawa musicians of that country.”

Randy Weston was born in Brooklyn in 1926. He cites Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, and Duke Ellington as piano heroes, yet says that Thelonious Monk had the greatest impact. His first recording as a band leader came in 1954 on Riverside Records and it was about this time that he played around New York and wrote many of his best loved tunes: Saucer Eyes, Pam’s Waltz, Little Niles, Hi-Fly. The latter is a “tale about being my height and looking down at the ground,” says the 6′ 8 jazz master.

About Jazz Treasures and Event Purpose

Musicians and scholars recognize jazz as America’s original music, created and developed by Black people who trace their ancestral and cultural lineage to Africa. Having once enjoyed prominence on the popular music scene, jazz is not widely embraced nor understood today by its would-be heirs. TRANSART seeks to change that. In keeping with its mission, TRANSART promotes and preserves jazz culture throughout New York. Jazz Treasures is one of TRANSART’s successful programs that accomplishes this goal.

Greer Smith, founder of TRANSART, explains the motivation behind this event “I wanted to create an event that not only honors legendary and upcoming jazz musicians, but one that creates a space for African American youth, in particular, to learn about their musical heritage. This tribute is a people’s celebration. It’s inter-generational on purpose and it’s based in Brooklyn on purpose, yet it’s for everyone.” Addressing the relevance of jazz culture, Smith adds: “Historically, Brooklyn has been fertile ground for this culture, a culture that has shaped a music that is treasured worldwide. Acknowledging Randy Weston for his work in consistently promoting jazz and its African roots is a way to say thank you and to introduce him to a generation via his music and his humanity.”

Jazz Treasures 2011 Host Committee | Sharif Abdus-Salaam, Adeyemi Bandele, Lumumba Bandele, Amiri Baraka, Wanda Burgess, Khephra Burns, NYS Assemblyman Karim Camara, Jo Ann Cheatham, Laurie Cumbo, Olu Dara, Camille Evans, Bernice Green, Richard Green, Brenda M. Greene, Roger Greene, Marc Lamont Hill, Delridge Hunter, NYC Councilwoman Letitia “Tish” James, Robert H. Johnson, Richard Jones, Don Quinn Kelley, Marline Martin, Carolyn McClair, James Mtume, Sam Pinn, Laura Rice, Sonia Sanchez, April R. Silver, Ernest Skinner, Quincy Troupe, Khalia Washington, Salim Washington, Jitu Weusi, NYC Councilman Jumaane Williams. Host Chair: Kevin Powell

For more info, visit www.transartinc.org, www.facebook.com/jazzinthevalley, call 845.384.6350 or send an email to info@transartinc.org.

# # #

Jazzmobile Presents First Annual Jazzy Awards Celebration:
In Honor of Dr. Billy Taylor’s 90th Birthday
Monday, October 10, 7:00 pm, Hudson Theatre

Special Performances by Dianne Reeves, Frank Wess,
Jimmy Heath, Wycliffe Gordon and the Jazzmobile Big Band

Evening Also Honors George Wein and JPMorgan Chase Foundation

NEW YORK, September 28, 2011 – Jazzmobile, Inc., the Harlem-based organization that pioneered the concept of bringing jazz into the community and creating new audiences with mobile jazz performances, hosts its  first annual Jazzy Awards Celebration: In Honor of Dr. Billy Taylor’s 90^th Birthday (1921-2010) featuring a concert with special performances by Dianne Reeves, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Wycliffe Gordon and the Jazzmobile Big Band conducted by Cecil Bridgewater on Monday, October 10, 7:00 pm, at the Hudson Theatre, 145 West 44^th Street in New York City.

In addition to the performances, legendary Jazz Impresario, George Wein and JPMorgan Chase Foundation will be honored for their significant contributions to Jazz and their continuous support of Jazzmobile. Wynton Marsalis,  Artistic Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center, will present the Jazzy Award to Chase while Dick Cashin, Managing Director of One Equity Partners and a Board Member of the Newport Festivals Foundation, will make the presentation to Wein. Marsalis also will present an award created from a work by renowned artist Leroy Neiman to Theodora Taylor in recognition of what would have been Dr. Taylor’s 90^th Birthday and for his many contributions to Jazz including the founding of Jazzmobile.

The Honorable H. Carl McCall is the Committee Chair for the Jazzy Awards Celebration. Honorary Chairmen are Spike Lee and Wynton Marsalis, with Kathleen Battle, Ruby Dee, Honorable David Dinkins, Joyce Dinkins, Danny Simmons and Theodora Taylor serving as Honorary Committee Members. The Steering Committee includes Eileen A. Frank, H. Sidney Holmes III, and Kim Taylor-Thompson.

* * *

About Jazzmobile, Inc.

Jazzmobile, Inc., America’s oldest not-for-profit arts organization created just for Jazz, was founded in 1964 by NEA Jazz Master Dr. Billy Taylor and Daphne Arnstein. Its mission is to present, preserve, promote, and propagate Jazz – “America’s classical music.” This mission is implemented through quality jazz education and performance programs, workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations, arts enrichment programs, as well as out-of-doors mobile Jazz performances and those in clubs and major concert halls here and abroad. Jazzmobile serves approximately 100,000 people in New York City and its outlying areas each year.

About the Artists

One of Jazz’s pre-eminent vocalists, multiple Grammy winner Dianne Reeves is a powerful storyteller. With her unique R&B and Jazz stylings, she has captured a huge following and tremendous critical acclaim throughout the world. She has been featured frequently with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall with Sir Simon Rattle and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Earlier this year, Reeves performed at Carnegie Hall’s 120^th anniversary celebration and is touring internationally with Sing the Truth!, a production honoring the music and spirit of great female artists including Odetta, Abbey Lincoln and Miriam Makeba.  Her award-winning recordings include When You Know, A Little Moonlight, The Calling and In the Moment – Live in Concert.

Prior to moving to New York in 1964 to lead his own groups, NEA Jazz Master Frank Wess performed with the Count Basie Orchestra for 11 years. He used the popularity of the Basie band to introduce the flute as an independent voice to jazz audiences, becoming one of its first major soloists. A mainstay on the New York Jazz scene and in local studios, Wess played in various shows all over the city and held a contract with ABC for 10 years performing for “Saturday Night Live,” the Dick Cavett Show, the Sammy Davis Show and others. For almost 20 years, he performed in a quintet called “Two Franks” with Frank Foster, his colleague from the Basie days. In the late 80s and early 90s, Wess led a stellar Basie-style big band, which recorded the critically-acclaimed albums “Dear Mr. Basie” and “Entre Nous.”  Soon to celebrate his own 90^th birthday (January 4), Frank Wess continues to  travel around the world as a soloist and band leader.

NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath has long been recognized as a brilliant instrumentalist and a magnificent composer and arranger.  He is the middle brother of the legendary Heath Brothers (Percy/bass and Tootie/drums), and is the father of Mtume.   He has performed with nearly all the jazz greats of the last 50 years, from Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis to Wynton Marsalis.  One of Heath’s earliest big bands (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, Ray Bryant, and Nelson Boyd; Charlie Parker and Max Roach sat in on one occasion. During his career, Heath has performed on more than 100 record albums including seven with The Heath Brothers and a dozen as a leader.  He also has written more than 125 compositions, many of which have become jazz standards and have been recorded by other artists including Art Farmer, Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, James Moody, Milt Jackson, Ahmad Jamal, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie J.J Johnson and Dexter Gordon. His autobiography, I Walked with Giants, is reaping rave reviews worldwide and was named 2011 Best Book of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Renowned trombonist, composer and arranger Wycliffe Gordon has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Tommy Flanagan, Shirley Horn, Joe Henderson, Eric Reed, Randy Sandke and Branford Marsalis, plus many top players from the swing and traditional jazz world. A continued supporter of Jazzmobile, he recently premiered a Jazzmobile commission,  Within Our Gates, a composition to an Oscar Micheaux silent film.  His work with young musicians and audiences from elementary schools to universities all over the world is extensive, and includes master classes, clinics, workshops, children’s concerts and lectures — powerful evidence of his unique ability to relate musically to people of all ages.

Cecil Bridgewater is a trumpeter who realizes the lineage of his instrument and has an appreciation for its place in contemporary music. Throughout his more than 30 years as a performer, composer, arranger, record producer and educator, he has worked with Max Roach, Horace Silver, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Heath, Sir Roland Hanna, Wynton Marsalis and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, among others.  At the Jazzy Awards Celebration, Bridgewater will conduct the Jazzmobile Big Band featuring some of New York’s top musicians and ongoing Jazzmobile supporters.

Tickets to the Jazzy Awards Celebration: In Honor of Dr. Billy Taylor’s 90^th Birthday are $90.00. VIP seating and pre-concert reception prices begin at $1,000 and are available through Dwight Johnson Design by calling (212) 889-4694. For more information, visit www.jazzmobile.org.

#  #  #

NEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION, INC.™
ANNOUNCES BOARD OF ADVISORS FOR NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL®

Newport Folk Festival Returns to Fort Adams State Park July 28 – 29, 2012

NEWPORT, RI, September 28, 2011 – To further advance the dialogue with both established and budding musicians, the Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.™ announced the creation of its Newport Folk Festival Board of Advisors. The panel of musicians will help ensure that the Newport Folk Festival remains a significant, viable, and influential institution for years to come. The Board of Advisors includes: Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, Gillian Welch, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem.

“The Newport Folk Festival’s Board of Advisors is comprised of very special performers and we’re pleased that they have agreed to join us as we return to our roots as a non-profit organization,” said George Wein, Chairman of the Newport Festivals Foundation and festival co-founder along with Pete Seeger.   “Each of these musicians personifies and enhances the spirit of the Newport Folk Festival, which honors past, present, and future icons of the ever-changing folk scene.”

The five founding members have all previously appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, and, in a further testament to their importance to the advisory board and in true Folk Family fashion, each has a special connection that has bonded them to Newport.

“To attend the Newport Folk Festival is to be part of the unbroken chain of American music that connects Mother Maybelle Carter and Mississippi John Hurt, to Bob Dylan and Bill Monroe, and Emmylou Harris and Mavis Staples,” said Gillian Welch. “The scene is vibrant and diverse, the faces of folk change; and yet for 52 years, the Newport Folk Festival has succeeded in keeping us connected to our own living tradition.”

Jim James added, “Every time I find myself within her loving arms, ye old festival de Newport Folk sweeps me off to a special land of music and reverie where all things are possible,” “Way back when, right now, and way off into the future her power is a mirror: all-encompassing and real, reflecting back to us a vividly truthful vision of our times. I am honored and humbled to be in her presence and at her service.”

The Newport Folk Festival has seen many performers break into the musical and cultural consciousness of the world following an appearance at one of the Festival’s 51 previous installments. In exchange for the opportunity to play this mainstay of the music world, experienced and emerging artists often make some concessions to perform at Newport, and the Festival has always shown its gratitude by offering its performers a bit of magic that no other venue or festival can match, delivering credentials with historical significance and real value.

“The importance and influence of the Newport Folk Festival is undeniable,” says Colin Meloy. “I’m proud to be involved with the Festival because I feel like it can have real and lasting relevance to a new generation of musicians.”

To further cultivate the mission of the Newport Folk Festival, the Board of Advisors will not only interact with other artists in the music world, but will also serve as “talent scouts” and will be a collective sounding board for festival producers and organizers as future Newport Folk Festival lineups take shape in the years to come.

”Returning to our non-profit status, it’s imperative that we have artists who can help us shape the future of this Festival. The connection the Festival has with its artists and the music world is a characteristic that has enabled us to be successful and unique while presenting unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime, impromptu performances. Thanks to the support of these five advisors, we will remain relevant for another 50 years and beyond,” said Jay Sweet, Folk Festival talent programmer and producer.

The Newport Festivals Foundation continues to build on the festival’s historic past by featuring emerging young artists alongside some of folk music’s most venerable names. The 2011 Festival featured: The Decemberists, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch, Amos Lee, Earl Scruggs, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, Wanda Jackson, Mavis Staples, Tegan & Sara, The Felice Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Justin Townes Earle, Delta Spirit, Middle Brother, The Wailin’ Jennys, Freelance Whales, The Secret Sisters, Trampled by Turtles, The Civil Wars, The Head & The Heart, Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, The Cave Singers, What Cheer? Brigade, Mountain Man, David Wax Museum, Devil Makes Three, Song Circle with Dar Williams Ellis Paul John Gorka & Liz Queler, Typhoon, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Chris Thile & Michael Daves, The Seeger Clogging All-Stars, BrownBird, River City Extension and PS22 Chorus.

For more information, visit www.newportfolkfest.net and www.newportfestivalsfoundation.org.

#  #  #

*The Newport Folk Festival® is a production of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation, under license from Festival Productions, Inc. and George Wein; all rights reserved.

Danny Melnick Joins
Team of Newport Festivals Foundation™ Producers

NEWPORT, RI, September 20, 2011 – George Wein, Chairman of the Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.™ and Producer of the Newport Jazz Festival®, today announced the addition of Danny Melnick to the Foundation’s team of veteran concert and event producers. Melnick, who worked for Wein’s Festival Productions, Inc. (FPI) from 1990 – 1996 and again from 1998 – 2007, returns to the Festival family as Associate Producer of the Newport Jazz Festival.

Melnick will continue to produce concerts and events around the world for his own company, Absolutely Live Entertainment (ALE). Prior to forming ALE in 2007, he was the Artistic Director and a Senior Producer at FPI, where he played a central role in producing the JVC Jazz Festivals in Newport and New York, as well as the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, Verizon Music Festivals, the Hampton (VA) Jazz Festival and the Mellon Jazz Festivals in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, among others.

“Danny is a complete and consummate producer who is tapped in to the past, present and future of jazz, ” said Wein. “His return to the team of producers is especially important to the non-profit organization in the coming years when I am no longer involved; however, his long-term experience as a producer, programmer and promoter, with me and on his own, is also invaluable now as the Foundation moves forward.”

“I’ve had some of the best experiences in my career working on the Newport Jazz Festival. George’s invitation to reunite with him is a personal and professional honor, and I am thrilled to be returning to Newport, ” said Melnick.

Rounding out the team of Newport Festivals Foundation producers are Jay Sweet and Robert Jones. Jones, Foundation Technical Director and a Newport Folk Festival® Producer, has been involved with the Folk Festival since 1963. Known for his enthusiastic understanding of the entertainment industry’s inner workings, Jay Sweet has spent the last decade helping corporate America with its music initiatives and, in 2007, brought that expertise as well as a passion for music and a strong commitment to the environment to the Newport Folk Festival. As Producer since 2009, Sweet has carried the Festival in a new direction that reaches a young audience and sells out in advance.

“The mission of the Foundation is all important. The Folk and Jazz Festivals are moving forward with a great team of producers and music industry veterans in New York, Newport and New England. Jazz and folk are ever-evolving art forms and the Festival producers understand this, ” emphasized Wein.

Wein added, “Jason Olaine did a magnificent job as a talent booker for the Jazz Festival, and I am grateful for his dedication and hard work over the past three years.”

The 2012 Newport Folk Festival® will be held July 28 – 29 and the Newport Jazz Festival® is set for August 3 – 5. Visit www.newportfestivalsfoundation.org, www.newportfolkfest.net and www.newportjazzfest.net for more information.

# # #