Nu Blu Inspiration = New Music
In the arts whether you are a painter, writer or a composer, there tend to be more followers than there are true innovators. That is not to take anything away from the talented artists who interpret a particular art form through their own lens, but instead it serves as a compliment those who initially blaze the trails, often at the risk of having their art rejected. In the world of music, the pressures to conform are often even greater for an emerging artist, because commercial success can determine the longevity of careers. It is therefore, always refreshing when one has the opportunity to sit down and chat with a truly creative force such as New York City’s Dana Leong, who fuses jazz with hip-hop, while creating brilliant arrangements.
Serena Jost Lives In A Vertical World
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On March 3rd, Joe’s Pub, located in New York City, alternative folk rock singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Serena Jost unveiled her current CD Closer Than Far.
"It was a wonderful night and we really filled the place out. All kinds of people, both whom I knew and whom I didn’t know, came out. People who were on the record and a smattering of other people who have been playing with me recently, were all on stage, at different intervals. The setting (of Joe’s Pub) is so great, because you can put on a real show. I enjoy playing smaller venues, but Joe’s Pub is the perfect size. We caught a wave and you don’t always know if you are going to,” says Jost, in recalling the night of her CD release.
Exploring The Heart Of ISSA
For every Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci or in modern times Prince that passes through the annals of time, their contemporaries and the general citizenship of the day have tended to regard them as perhaps eccentric, out of the ordinary or simply misunderstood them. As time passes by, and in sadly many cases, Prince being one of the few exceptions, people have not realized their creative genius until they have left this life. ISSA, the artist formerly known as Jane Siberry, an icon among the students of Avant-garde music, could easily be included among the group of artists that I have mentioned and for all the reasons that we have stated.
Whirling Dervishes and James Brown
The first time that I heard Tom Teasley’s CD Painting Time, I wrote his publicist and raved about the music. I do not pretend to even be remotely knowledgeable about some of the more exotic percussion instruments that Teasley has mastered, but I do recognize excellent music when I hear it. In addition to releasing this phenomenal disc, Teasley has just finished a run as the Music Director for Arabian Nights at the Source Theater in Washington, D.C.
When I asked Teasley how he would describe his music to someone unfamiliar with it, he said, “What you are posing has been both my blessing and my curse, throughout the later years of my career. Were I trying to explain it to somebody who had not heard my music before, I would probably say that it is world music, with very much of a jazz influence.
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