JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL JAVA JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009, A Tribute

JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL JAVA JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009, A Tribute

Most people conceive jazz as ‘complicated’. Its’ tunes, as do rhythms, continuously change. The musicians and singers of the genre often adopt a Quasimodo-like expression, not exactly a sight to behold. Nonetheless, that is jazz. It is full of expression.

The truth is no special trick is needed to enjoy a jazz music presentation, be it live or through a recording. Enjoying jazz is an individual appreciation. Interpreting its beauty is the ear of the beholder. For that reason, despite the numerous debates in relations to jazz as a music genre, as an art form or how it ought to be enjoyed, jazz is merely an outlet for freedom of expression. So, one may stick to one’s opinion as one wishes.

One thing for sure, jazz is an amalgamation of various musical approaches by diverse cultural backgrounds. As human beings evolve, influence and be influenced by changes from time to time, jazz also evolves. Jazz evolves through time, although some people remain devoted to its ‘genuine’ form, when it was first conceived.

Perhaps that is the cause of jazz popularity all over the world, its capability to be modified. Some people consider the ability to revel and comprehend jazz is a prestige of its own. It is no wonder that the space of Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival (JJF) is always packed solid.

The Jazz Music of Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival There is no end to the diversity of jazz music at Java Jazz Festival. Even after four years after it was first established in 2005, Java Jazz Festival still has yet to feature the various forms of jazz’s developments in Indonesia and the world. From year to year, the name Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival (known widely as Java Jazz Festival) continues to gain popularity, even amongst foreign musicians.

Over the years, more and more artists continue to stage their enthusiasm and desire to perform at Java Jazz Festival. However, Java Festival Production (the organizer of the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival and Jakarta International Soulnation Festival) could not always fulfill all these demands. One of the reasons is the limited capacity of the venue (Jakarta Convention Center, or JCC) and also limitation in scheduling (it’s only a 3-day event). In addition, too tight of a schedule might also impede the audience capability to enjoy the well-designed program.

A Tribute for Indonesia

In 2005, Indonesia was in the midst of a financial crisis. The tsunami disaster ravaging the western part of Indonesia further enhanced less than stellar publicity on Indonesia, especially in the international world.

Java Festival Production, however, carried on with its plan to hold the first Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival on 4, 5 and 6 March 2005. Carrying out mission “Bringing the World to Indonesia”, the Festival aims to draw different kind of perspective to Indonesia. The language used, Jazz.

In reality, the review from the international musicians and public in general who attended the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival was positive. They were satisfied and were not doubtful in stating their enthusiasm to return to the festival. A number of American musicians were even not shy in stating how different Indonesia was from the way it was portrayed by the international mass media.
In mid-2008, the financial crisis returns. This time, its effect is more widely-spread. For that reason, Java Festival Production is required to be more diligent in order to actualize the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2009, established as one of Indonesia’s method of diplomacy whilst at the same time presenting quality jazz music performances for jazz lovers in Indonesia and those from all around the world.

Since the beginning, Java Festival Production aims not to be an organizer of just a regular festival, but a world-class festival, as means to promote Indonesia. Despite the many obstacles, Java Festival Production continues to persevere to hold Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2009, a concrete contribution to the nation’s diplomacy to the world.

JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL JAVA JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009

On 6, 7 and 8 March 2009, Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival will be held for the fifth time. For Java Festival Production and the line-up of workers behind it the festival’s success, the fifth edition of the festival is a special occasion indeed as it was not an easy feat to organize a festival as sizeable as Java Jazz Festival.

Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2009 will be slightly different from the previous years. One of the special treats this year is lower ticket prices. This way, the festival becomes more accessible to all enthusiasts of Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival.

Java Festival Production also wishes to improve the quality of the performances by providing an opportunity for the performers to conduct proper sound check, to guarantee a maximum performance.

This year, Java Festival Production plans to feature, among few, Swing Out Sister, Brian McKnight, Roy Ayers, Ledisi, Simon Philips, New York Voices, Matt Bianco, Isao Suzuki, Dianne Reeves, Mike Stern, Oleta Adams, Peabo Bryson, dan Regina Carter at Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2009.

WORLD JAZZ MUCISSION

• Duke Ellington
• Earl Kenneth Hines
• Count Bassie
• Thomas Wright Waler
• Benny Goodman
• Sun Ra
• Dizzy Gilespie
• Thelonious Monk
• Charlie Parker
• David Warren Brubeck
• Charles Minggus
• Oscar Peterson
• Miles Davis
• John Coltrane
• Ornett Coleman
• Chet Baker
• Billy Holliday

• Mark Levine
  
• pianis
• educator
• author

Mark began playing jazz as a teenager in Daytona Beach, Florida. Continuing his education in Boston and New York, Mark studied with Hall Overton, Herb Pomeroy and Jaki Byard, before moving to California in 1966.

A key phase in Mark's education was a year spent in Woody Shaw's quartet. "Every night was serious school," says Mark.

Mark spent significant time working with Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, David Liebman and Harold Land, composing all the while. Joe recorded two of Mark's tunes on "Canyon Lady," the late tenor giant's only Latin jazz album. Mark returned the favor by playing two of Joe's classic compositions, "Inner Urge," and "A Shade Of Jade," on his 2000 release, "Serengeti."

His interest in Latin jazz led to work with Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Moacir Santos, Francisco Aguabella, Pete Escovedo, and Cal Tjader (including Cal's Grammy-winning Concord Jazz recording "La Onda Va Bien").

Mark has continued to pursue the Latin side of his craft, attending Centro Nacional de Escuela de Arte in Havana, Cuba in 1997.

Twice, Mark has been the recipient of a National Endowment For The Arts Grants (1975 and 1977) and was awarded a "Jammie" as Best Bay Area Jazz trombonist, 1983-1984 (no, he no longer plays trombone, but he has taken up the gimbri, a Moroccan 3-stringed lute).

Mark Levine has played/recorded with:

Woody Shaw, Mongo Santamaria, Joe Henderson, Willie Bobo, Bobby Hutcherson, Moacir Santos, Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, Wallace Roney, Tito Puente, Milt Jackson, Francisco Aguabella, Harold Land, David Liebman, Blue Mitchell, Pete Escovedo, James Moody, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Fortune, Eddie Harris, Stefon Harris, Eddie Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Clark Terry, Ingrid Jensen, Charlie Rouse, Bobby Watson, Chet Baker, Philip Harper, Mark Murphy, Art Pepper, Julian Priester, Bobby Shew, Steve Turre, Madeline Eastman, and Poncho Sanchez

Mark's compositions have been recorded by:

Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Pete Escovedo, Mongo Santamaria, Nuyorican Soul, Joanne Brackeen, Moacir Santos, Tom Lellis, and Poncho Sanchez.

As an educator, Mark authored "The Jazz Piano Book," which has become the bible for jazz pianists all over the world. Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Korean. In 1996, he completed "The Jazz Theory Book," with similar success.

Jazz Times named "The Jazz Theory Book" as the #1 choice in its "recommended basic jazz library."

Mark's faculty affiliations include:

* The Jazzschool Institute, Berkeley CA, beginning Fall 2009
* San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 1992-present
* Monterey Jazz Festival Foundation Traveling Clinicians, Monterey, CA 2002-2007
* University of California at Berkeley, 2000-present
* Jamey Aebersold Jazz Camps, 1977-2002
* Stanford Jazz Workshop, Stanford, CA, 1982-2003
* Jazz Camp West, La Honda, CA, 1982-2002
* Jazz Studio Summer Camp, Dworp, Belgium, 1993-2004
* The Jazzschool, Berkeley, CA, 1997-present
* Jazz Flute Camp, Carmel Valley, CA, 2003-present
* Mills College, Oakland, CA, 1986-present

Guest Clinician and residencies at schools in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Iceland, Mexico, Sweden, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Wales.

In the early '90s, Mark produced The Jazz Masters Clinic Series, a combination workshop and master class taught by touring artists passing through the Bay Area. Featured artists included Cedar Walton, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Elvin Jones, Eddie Palmieri, and Tommy Flanagan.

Piano jazz from Grammy-nominated Mark Levine. Mark began playing jazz as a teenager in Daytona Beach, Florida. Continuing his education in Boston and New York, Mark studied with Hall Overton, Herb Pomeroy and Jaki Byard, before moving to California in 1966.

A key phase in Mark's education was a year spent in Woody Shaw's quartet. "Every night was serious school," says Mark.

Mark spent significant time working with Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, David Liebman and Harold Land, composing all the while. Joe recorded two of Mark's tunes on "Canyon Lady," the late tenor giant's only Latin jazz album. Mark returned the favor by playing two of Joe's classic compositions, "Inner Urge," and "A Shade Of Jade," on his 2000 release, "Serengeti."

His interest in Latin jazz led to work with Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Moacir Santos, Francisco Aguabella, Pete Escovedo, and Cal Tjader (including Cal's Grammy-winning Concord Jazz recording "La Onda Va Bien").

Mark has continued to pursue the Latin side of his craft, attending Centro Nacional de Escuela de Arte in Havana, Cuba in 1997.

Twice, Mark has been the recipient of a National Endowment For The Arts Grants (1975 and 1977) and was awarded a "Jammie" as Best Bay Area Jazz trombonist, 1983-1984 (no, he no longer plays trombone).

Mark Levine has played/recorded with:

Woody Shaw, Mongo Santamaria, Joe Henderson, Willie Bobo, Bobby Hutcherson, Moacir Santos, Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, Wallace Roney, Tito Puente, Milt Jackson, Francisco Aguabella, Harold Land, David Liebman, Blue Mitchell, Pete Escovedo, James Moody, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Fortune, Eddie Harris, Stefon Harris, Eddie Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Clark Terry, Ingrid Jensen, Charlie Rouse, Bobby Watson, Chet Baker, Philip Harper, Mark Murphy, Art Pepper, Julian Priester, Bobby Shew, Steve Turre, Madeline Eastman, and Poncho Sanchez

Mark's compositions have been recorded by:

Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Pete Escovedo, Mongo Santamaria, Nuyorican Soul, Joanne Brackeen, Moacir Santos, Tom Lellis, and Poncho Sanchez.

As an educator, Mark authored "The Jazz Piano Book," which has become the bible for jazz pianists all over the world. Translated into both French and German, it will be issued in Spanish in 2004,. In 1996, he completed "The Jazz Theory Book," with similar success.

• Leroy Ostransky
  
• Composer And Jazz Author

AP: Seattle Times Staff

TACOMA - Leroy Ostransky, a longtime composer, music educator and author of three books on jazz, died after a long illness. He was 75.
Mr. Ostransky, who died Monday, was a professor emeritus of music and composer-in-residence at the University of Puget Sound.
"He was a pioneer in the area of jazz education in higher education," said James Sorensen, dean of the School of Music at UPS. "Leroy was one of the very first to bring jazz into the academy."
Mr. Ostransky wrote his first symphony when he graduated with a doctoral degree from the University of Iowa. In all, he composed five symphonies. When his "Symphony No. 4: American" was debuted by the Seattle Symphony on Oct. 23, 1975, Gov. Dan Evans declared "Leroy Ostransky Day" in Washington.
Mr. Ostransky also wrote scores of instructional pieces for classrooms. His books on jazz were: "Understanding Jazz," "The Anatomy of Jazz" and "Jazz City."
In 1990, Mr. Ostransky published an autobiographical memoir, "Sharkey's Kid." The book documented the first 13 years of his life in New York. He wrote a comic opera called, "The Melting of Molly," said his daughter, Sonya Ostransky Wind. The opera was about a woman trying to lose weight. The prolific Mr. Ostransky wrote a Sunday column, "Notes and Comments," in The Morning News Tribune for 23 years. He had a radio show called "Oh, Oh Ostransky." His music reviews also appeared in The Seattle Times.
People magazine named Mr. Ostransky one of the 12 greatest teachers in America in 1975. The Tacoma Arts Commission honored Mr. Ostransky in September 1992 with an Excellence in the Arts Award.
In 1981 and 1983, family members said, Mr. Ostransky suffered debilitating strokes that forced his retirement from UPS.
Mr. Ostransky's survivors include his wife, Natalie; a daughter, Sonya; two sisters, Dorothy Herzog and Claire Verdi; a brother, Seymour Ostransky; and relatives in New York, Ohio and Florida.

Copyright (c) 1993 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.

• Ian Carr
• trumpet player and author

The British trumpet player and author Ian Carr died in London on Wednesday 25th February aged 75.

He began his musical career in Newcastle in a band led by his brother Mike. Among the younger musicians he played with were John McLaughlin, Eric Burdon and Alan Price.

When he moved to London he co-led a quintet with sax player Don Rendell. His LPs with Rendell and with Michael Garrick, The New Jazz Orchestra and Neil Ardley in the late 60s are amongst the finest ever produced in the UK and fetch huge sums on Ebay.

In the 70s he led the pioneering British Jazz Rock band “Nucleus", (one of the first fusion bands) which included John Marshall, Chris Spedding, Alan Holdsworth and Karl Jenkins among others. His Nucleus records are heavily sampled by the Bass'n'drum generation because of the superb bass lines he wrote.

After recovering from a serious cancer operation in the early 1980s, he worked extensively with Nucleus, the George Russell Orchestra, Michael Gibbs and the United Jazz Rock Ensemble, which included Charlie Mariano, Kenny Wheeler and Albert Mangelsdorff.

His later works included a suite for Nucleus members and a string orchestra and a duo recorded in Southwark Cathedral playing solo trumpet accompanied by John Taylor on the Cathedral organ.

An accomplished author, he wrote the recently re-published Music Outside a polemical study of British jazz in the early 1970s Later, he wrote the definitive musical biography of Miles Davis, widely regarded as among the finest jazz musical biographies. He followed with a biography of Keith Jarrett and co-wrote The Rough Guide to Jazz. Working with the film director Mike Dibb he made the TV films The Miles Davis Story (EMMY Award, released on Sony DVD) and Keith Jarrett: the Art of Improvisation.

He made numerous BBC Radio programmes as musician and critic.

As an influential and selfless educator he ran workshops for a musical charity which were hugely formative on a whole generation of British Jazz players such as Julian Joseph. Later, as a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music, he taught another generation of young players.

He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from Parliament and the BBC. His biography by Alyn Shipton Out of the Long Dark was published in 2006.

Carr had been suffering from a long illness, which left him unable to play or write. He died peacefully with his daughter Selina and his old friends, drummer John Marshall and wife Maxi, and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler by his bedside.

The mid 50s to the late 60s were a time of great social and cultural change. A cry for civil rights and equality could be heard through the entire country. This time gave rise to music in many genres that is still considered influential today. Jazz is not an exception. The impact of this time period on jazz can be seen in the complex improvisation that occurred. John Coltrane and Miles Davis were both very influential during this time period. To really understand the impact that these artist had it is important to have an understanding of the time.

Who was listening to Jazz?

Jazz had risen from it's meager beginnings to become one of the few musical styles which were given significant merit by critics of the time. The audience of jazz was as varied as the people who live in the United States, the main core of the audience was made up of older people who resided in urban environments. "Jazz music is existence music.. It doesn't take you out of the world it puts you in the world." (Wynton Marsalis). Jazz allowed the audience to embrace their feelings instead of replacing them with popularized emotions. So the audience needed to be older to truly understand the impact of the music. There was a "tremendous investment in the generation gap." (Marsalis). Jazz music was about listening and hearing what was going on and that was something that the younger musicians were unable to convey.

And who was creating Jazz?

There were many people creating Jazz during this time, they all seemed to have a few things in common. First, the musicians were mostly from urban areas which allowed them to develop their style in the type of area it was born. Second, a majority of these musicians were aging black Americans, who understood the pain and anguish that is the heart and soul of jazz. Lastly, the musicians were able to work with each other using the new styles with the men who created it. This allowed them greater understanding and the ability to learn from the masters and to innovate and recreate the jazz style.

Home

Revised: Andrescik, Clementz, Hudson,11/23/2004

The singing revolution

By Miska Rantanen

One of the biggest influences on the Finnish music of 1969-76 was the strong political song movement. In a few years the socio-critical cabaret song born in the back-street theatres became transformed into the music of the extreme Left. The political movement petered out as the seventies drew to a close, but its songs can still be heard.

Finland did not remain on the sidelines when the radicalism of the 1960s swept through the Western world. Folk, the war in Vietnam brought home by television, and protest movements prodded the generation born after the Second World War and now reaching the age of maturity into taking a stand on the world in which they lived. The protest of the young intelligentsia first gained national prominence when cabarets produced by the Helsinki Student Theatre were shown on television in autumn 1965. The songs levelled criticism at the establishment and the supranational companies and raised the problems facing developing countries.

The new social climate had not simply grown out of nothing. The seeds of change had been sown a few years before by the trilogy Täällä pohjantähden alla (Here under the North Star, 1959-62) by Väinö Linna that triggered debate about the Civil War of 1918 until then hushed up in public. At the same time the extreme Left began to make its voice heard after years of isolation.

The recordings of the Student Theatre's cabaret songs continued to be the esoteric cult of a small minority, but left-wing winds of change made way for a larger audience. In 1969 Scandia, which had so far concentrated on popular jazz, released a disc of traditional workers' music. To the surprise of all, Työväen lauluja (Workers' Songs) was a great hit and led to a sequel.

The starting shot for the political song of the 70s was fired in November 1969 when Love Records, specialist in marginal music, released an album called Lautanen Guatemalan verta (A dish of Guatemalan blood). Though superficially the album was a follow-up to the cabaret music of the preceding years, its snappy style was new. Instead of being a gentle protest, the criticism was sharp and it carried an address tag: the blame for both the exploitation of the Third World and the hegemony of the "twenty families" that kept the Finnish economy rolling lay with the capitalist regime backed by the United States.

The early 1970s were the golden era of the political song. During these years Love Records released such albums as V.I. Lenin 1870-1970 (various artists), Kenen joukoissa seisot (Whose side are you on?, Aulikki Oksanen), Agit-Prop laulaa työväenlauluja (Agit-Prop sings workers' songs) and Porvari nukkuu huonosti (The bourgeois will not sleep well, Kom Theatre). The political song also gained a foothold outside the student world. The disc Berliini järjestyksen kourissa (Berlin in the grips of the Establishment) featured music from the play of the same name running at the Helsinki City Theatre in which political songs were heard for the first time ever on the big stage.

The quicker pace of Love Records' political output was the consequence of growing radicalism among Finland's students, and above all the rise of a Finnish brand of Communism. This was born when the student radicals veering further and further to the left discovered a kindred spirit in the old-school Stalinists of the Finnish Communist Party. The media named the movement Taistoism after the party's second-in-command, Taisto Sinisalo (whose very forename, Taisto, means "Fight"), and it soon became the leading fanatical left-wing movement of the young generation. The left-wing trends such as Maoism and Trotskyism raising their heads in other Western countries were of no practical significance in Finland. Nor, for reasons of foreign policy, was there any future in Finland for left-wing radicalism critical of the Soviet Union.

The political song of the 1970s was not an offshoot of the workers' music tradition. Rapid urbanisation and the spread of television had, by the early 1960s, led to the almost total demise of workers' clubs. The decline of the distinctive workers' culture also severed the musical tradition. The early years of the 1960s were thus marked by an absence of social songs.

The roots of the new Finnish political song lay in the stage music of Central Europe. The cabaret song launched by the Helsinki Student Theatre was inspired by the music of Kurt WeillHans Eisler and Brechtian theatre. When the general radicalism of the 1960s gave way to the party loyalty of the 1970s, the radical song changed accordingly. Gone was the cabaret beat, to be replaced by agitprop outspokenness, and the result was the political song. and

Before long, the political song had grown into a versatile genre of music. The repertoire of the early 1970s took in not only propaganda combing both the modern and the traditional but also traditional workers' music and even children's songs. Political music did not appear to win such a firm foothold in any other country in the 1970s as it did in Finland. The best of the songs had the catchiness of a charts number and the credibility of progressive rock, and the swinging idiom was backed by intellectually challenging lyrics. The fact that the political songs struck up an echo on the opposite ideological bank - they were even sung at right-wing social evenings for young people - says much about their appeal.

Whereas the cabaret song asked questions, the political one had ready answers. The song-writers did not, however, agree to praise the might of Communism merely to order, for their desire to express their ideas sprang from the radical trend in both artists and their audiences. At the turn of the 70s some cabaret song-writers in fact opted out when they felt they could no longer toe the strict line.

Music with a political message became more firmly established at the level of theory, too, as the supporters of Taisto Communism began to bandy the word "song movement" in around 1974. In doing so they sought to reinforce the image of an independent cultural front uniting progressive forces from different political camps.

The number-one composer in the first half of the 1970s was Kaj Chydenius, father of the Finnish cabaret song and a prestigious figure who to a great extent came to personify the song movement. Another leading name was that of Eero Ojanen, who played a major part as an arranger in particular. By combining bossa nova with beat, this self-taught jazz pianist created the laid-back "bossa beat". Other composers of note were Otto Donner, Heikki Valpola and Toni Edelmann, while Marja-Leena Mikkola, Aulikki Oksanen, Matti Rossi and Pentti SaaritsaElvi Sinervo, Bertolt Brecht and Pablo Neruda. produced a steady stream of lyrics. Song-writers also drew sustenance from Finnish and foreign classics, such as

The political song artists of the early years were often female leads at the Student Theatre: Kristiina Halkola, Kaisa Korhonen, Arja Saijonmaa or Aulikki Oksanen. The groups were of a temporary nature and tied to a particular performance. This changed in February 1971, when Agit-Prop, a member of the Uusimaa Socialist Youth Federation acting as agent for artists for political events, formed a vocal quartet from among its members to appear at a political song festival in East Berlin. Led by Pekka Aarnio, it was called Agit-Prop and later served as a model for hundreds of grass-root artist groups.

Although the song movement was spearheaded by the Communist minority, it never at any point consisted entirely of this and always included some other left-wing artists. The political song also had an impact on popular music in general. Political awareness might, for example, be demonstrated by dedicating a record to national liberation movements, as did Piirpauke.

In time the song movement sought to identify itself as one element of the workers' music tradition, but one with a political mission. In order to be part of the workers' movement, its music had to be that of the workers. Commitment to continuing this tradition ushered the song movement more and more towards the classic proletariat songs and the musical legacy of the Civil War.

By the mid-1970s the song movement had got duly organised. It had its own central office, an agency that distributed sheet music and published a magazine called Uusi Laulu (New Song). Invited to perform at the Helsinki Song Festivals attracting audiences of many thousands were left-wing singers and groups from all over the world. The event was modelled on the political song festival held in the German Democratic Republic and visited regularly by Finnish groups. The song movement's primary prop and stay was nevertheless Love Records, which in practice had a monopoly over the political music genre.

The year 1976 marked a turning point in the history of the political song. However hard they tried, the new groups failed to produce such catchy songs as the first generation. But a more serious blow was the dimming of the Taisto aura. Having climbed to the apex of its support, the movement now had difficulty urging its troops into new battles once the promised revolution no longer promised to be a walkover. In 1977 punk came stomping in and quickly established a place for itself as credible protest music. Some had dreams of it becoming the successor to the song movement, but in vain: the young generation looked askance at music tied to party politics. The final straw was when Love Records went bankrupt in summer 1979. From then onwards, not a word was said about the song movement.

The song movement was not such a traumatic experience to those involved as Taisto Communism itself, the legacy of which is still being painfully thrashed out three decades later. Many of the artists who rose from its ranks, such as Agit-Prop's Liisa Tavi, Mikko Perkoila and Hannu "The Judge" Nurmio, former editor-in-chief of Uusi Laulu, just carried on surprisingly well under changed circumstances.

Even so, the second coming of the political song had to wait for another generation and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The mental hangover of the over-politicised 1970s was also reflected in music. Apart from the brief punk era, socio-critical music has not been heard in Finland for years. Not even the deep recession of the 1990s succeeded in stirring up a revolt.

Minor changes began to appear when, in 1993-94, the 30+ generation began recalling the battle songs familiar from childhood at three big concerts entitled Eteenpäin - Vorwärts! An Agit-Prop compilation was released in 1995 and the group gave a few concerts to full houses. When Ultra Bra - some of whose members were the offspring of 1960s radicals -began gaining popularity in student circles, the time was ripe for a gradual reassessment of the 1970s political musical heritage.

A political element reappeared in Finnish music with the criticism levelled at globalisation, though on a lesser scale than in the 1970s. The demonstrations accompanying the WTO Ministerial in Seattle in November 1999 lent impetus to the activist movement in Finland as elsewhere. Its musical manifestation was the rap sung in Finnish that had been simmering on the margins for some years already. Among the conspicuous socio-critical artists to emerge were Paleface, MC Avain and Steen1. The heyday of Suomi rap with a political message is now over in 2007, but the stylistic genre is here to stay.

Translation: Susan Sinisalo

Love Records & Love Music Publishing: www.lovemusic.fi

1. Music.
   1. A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.
   2. Big band dance music.
2. Slang.
   1. Animation; enthusiasm.
   2. Nonsense.
   3. Miscellaneous, unspecified things: brought the food and all the jazz to go with it.

v., jazzed, jazz·ing, jazz·es. v.tr.

1. Music. To play in a jazz style.
2. Slang.
   1. To exaggerate or lie to: Don't jazz me.
   2. To give great pleasure to; excite: The surprise party jazzed the guest of honor.
   3. To cause to accelerate.

v.intr. Slang.

To exaggerate or lie.

phrasal verb:

jazz up Slang.

1. To make more interesting; enliven: jazzed up the living area with beaded curtains.

Categories

PDF">

THE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ AWARDS
CONTEMPORARY

1. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Male)

2. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Female)

3. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group/Instrumental

TRADITIONAL

4. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Male)

5. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Female)

6. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group/Instrumental

SWING

7. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group/Instrumental

BRAZILIAN

8. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Male)

9. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Female)

10. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group / Instrumental

LATIN & AFRO-CUBAN

11. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Male)

12. Outstanding Performance in a Vocal (Female)

13. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group / Instrumental

FUSION

14. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group/Instr

umental

DIXIELAND

15. Outstanding Performance in a Duo or Group/Instrumental

16. Outstanding Performance of a New Artist – Vocal/

Duo or Group/Instrumental (US)

17. Outstanding Performance of a New Artist – Vocal/Duo or Group/Instr. (International)

ADDITIONAL CATEGORIES

18. Outstanding Song of the Year

19. Outstanding Album of the Year

20. Producer of the Year

21. Outstanding Performance in a Live Album

22. Outstanding Performance in a Holiday Album

23. Outstanding Motion Picture Soundtrack of the Ye

ar

24. Outstanding Performance of a New Artist in Duo or Group/Instr. in Hip-Hop Jazz

____________________________________________________________________

:: BBC Jazz Award 2008 ::

• Rising Star Award – Kit Downes
• Best Vocalist Award – Christine Tobin
• Best Instrumentalist Award – Tony Kofi
• Album Of The Year Award – The Blessing, All Is Yes
• Services To Jazz In The UK Award – Alan Bates
• BBC Radio 3 Jazz Line-Up Best Band Award – Curios
• BBC Radio 3 Jazz On 3 Innovation Award – Fraud
• BBC Radio 2 Jazz Artist Of The Year Award – Humphrey Lyttelton
• BBC Radio 2 Heart Of Jazz Award – Tommy Smith
• International Award – Charlie Haden
• Lifetime Achievement Award– Chick Corea & R eturn To Forever
• Gold Award – Sir John Dankworth & Dame Cleo Laine