Five Motéma Artists Among Nominees Of The 11th Independent Music Awards

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JC Stylles, Malika Zarra, Monty Alexander, Motéma Music, Randy Weston, Rene Marie

Independent Music Awards Nominee

Recordings by Motéma artists Monty Alexander, Randy Weston, Malika Zarra, René Marie, and JC Stylles are among the nominees named by Music Resource Group (MRG) for The 11th Independent Music Awards (The IMAs), the influential awards program for independent bands and fans.

Two Motéma projects were nominated in the “Live Performance Album” category, both of which were recorded live at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola: Monty Alexander’s Harlem-Kingston Express Live! , and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston & his African Rhythms Sextet’s The Storyteller . Nominated in the “Jazz Album” category is vocalist René Marie’s outrageous emancipation proclamation, Black Lace Freudian Slip and Australian guitar ace JC Stylles’ album Exhilaration & Other States . In the “World Beat Album” category, Moroccan artist Malika Zarra is honored for her outstanding CD Berber Taxi .

NEA JAZZ MASTER RANDY WESTON TO RECEIVE HIS MAJESTY KING MOHAMMED VI’S HONOR FOR HIS LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO MOROCCO’S GNAOUA MUSIC TRADITION ON MAY 11

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African American, Jazz, Piano, Randy Weston

“…a lifelong scholar of Africa, (Randy Weston’s) playing has always had a ring of the ancient in it; his percussive, resounding bass-clef chords are among the great pleasures in jazz piano.” – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

Randy Weston

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York’s premiere French cultural center, welcomes leading Moroccan cultural and intellectual figures for a series of talks from May 1-21 on the occasion of the fourth edition of its annual World Nomads Festival, which this year celebrates the arts and culture of Morocco. On May 11, Randy Weston will receive His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s honor for his lifelong engagement with Morocco and deep commitment to bringing Morocco’s Gnaoua music tradition to the attention of the Western world. His collaborator of over 50 years, Gnaoua maestro Maleem Abdellah El Gourd will be present for the occasion and will also be honored. Mr. Azoulay will represent His Majesty the King for this occasion.

The great NEA Jazz Master, Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship winner, and Chevalier in France’s Order of Arts and Letters Randy Weston has contributed six decades of musical direction and genius to the world. He remains one of the world’s foremost pianists and composers today, a true innovator and visionary. Encompassing the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa, his global creations musically continue to inform and inspire. He has had a deep commitment to Morocco and the Gnaoua culture since the 1960s when he was introduced to the world of the Gnaoua by maestro Maleem Abdellah El Gourd who represents the Tangiers Gnaoua tradition. Maleem Abdellah El Gourd and Mr. Weston have collaborated together in concert presentations throughout the world including at an unprecedented concert at the Canterbury Cathedral in England.

2011 Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival Presented by US BANK AWARDED TWO NEA GRANTS

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2011 Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival, Esperanza Spalding, Poncho Sanchez, Randy Weston, Regina Carter

The 2011 Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival Presented by US Bank has received two NEA grants. PDX Jazz has been awarded a Jazz Masters Live grant and Challenge America Fast-Track grant.

National Endowment For The Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) created the Jazz Masters Live grant to help bring outstanding jazz musicians, writers, producers, and scholars to communities across the nation through NEA Jazz Masters Live. In cooperation with Arts Midwest, these NEA Jazz Masters Live grants support performance and educational activities featuring NEA Jazz Masters, recipients of the nation’s highest honor in jazz. The program celebrates these living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz and offers audiences the unique opportunity to share the artists’ expertise in performances, master classes, clinics, lectures, and short term residencies. “Live interactions between musicians and audiences are essential to jazz,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman.

NEA Jazz Master and acclaimed pianist, Randy Weston, will open the 2011 Portland Jazz Festival on February 18 at the Winningstad Theatre with an evening of solo jazz piano. He will also lead a workshop for Portland State University students and participate in the festival’s “Jazz Conversation” series, hosted by Marty Hughley. Weston will be appearing in support of his most recent album, The Story Teller, available through Motema Music, and his recently released autobiography, African Rhythms, available through Duke University Press.

NEA JAZZ MASTER RANDY WESTON TO RELEASE A NEW CD WITH HIS AFRICAN RHYTHMS SEXTET

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African American, Jazz, Piano, Randy Weston

AVAILABLE TODAY: 11/9/2010
RANDY WESTON AND HIS AFRICAN RHYTHMS SEXTET,
THE STORYTELLER: LIVE AT DIZZY’S CLUB COCA-COLA

“…a lifelong scholar of Africa, (Randy Weston’s) playing has always had a ring of the ancient in it; his percussive, resounding bass-clef chords are among the great pleasures in jazz piano.” – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

RANDY WESTON - THE STORYTELLER

For over five decades, pianist, composer, bandleader and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston has enjoyed a distinguished career in music. With over 46 CDs as a leader, Weston has continued to perform his Africa-inspired jazz throughout the world and has been the recipient of many international awards and honors.

This fall, Weston is set to release a new live album with his African Rhythms sextet, The Storyteller: Live At Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, his debut for Motéma Music (available November 9). The CD is a musical companion to Weston’s highly anticipated memoir, African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston, a collaboration with Willard Jenkins and published by Duke University Press (also available November 9).

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of his landmark recording, Uhuru Afrika, a spectacular four-part suite composed by Weston, arranged by long-time collaborator Melba Liston, with lyrics by the great Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes (to be celebrated with a concert at Tribeca Performing Arts Center on November 13).

Portland Jazz Festival 2011 Announced

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African American, Don Byron, Esperanza Spalding, Joshua Redman, Portland Jazz Festival 2011 Announced, Randy Weston, Regina Carter

Portland Jazz Festival 2011

SFJAZZ COLLECTIVE, REGINA CARTER, DON BYRON,
THE 3 COHENS, RANDY WESTON, JOSHUA REDMAN,
AND ESPERANZA SPALDING
TO HEADLINE THE 2011 PORTLAND JAZZ FESTIVAL

BRIDGES AND BOUNDARIES:
JEWISH & AFRICAN AMERICANS PLAYING JAZZ TOGETHER

The 2011 Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by US Bank will be held Friday, February 18 through Sunday, February 27 at venues throughout Portland. The week-long festival will include jazz education and outreach along with a series of concerts all supporting the 2011 theme, Bridges and Boundaries: Jewish & African Americans Playing Jazz Together.

Among this year’s headliners are the SFJAZZ Collective, in the world premiere of new repertoire paying homage to African American pop icon Stevie Wonder; NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston, performing solo piano in support of his new release, The Storyteller, and autobiography, African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston; celebrated clarinetist Don Byron and his new project dedicated to the great Jewish entertainer, Mickey Katz – a reunion of the groundbreaking and virtuosic klezmer ensemble that recorded Byron’s eponymous Nonesuch album and spearheaded the klezmer revival in the 1990s; a special performance by The 3 Cohens, featuring siblings, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, and pianist Yuval Cohen; famed African American violinist Regina Carter will return to Portland, presenting her newest project, Reverse Thread, which traces the musical history of African cultures, including tribes of Ugandan Jews; saxophonist Joshua Redman – son of African American saxophonist Dewey Redman and Jewish American dancer Renee Shedroff – leading his new project, James Farm, that includes both African American and Jewish American musicians; and the Portland Jazz Festival’s new Artistic & Community Ambassador, bassist Esperanza Spalding (who will lead her new Chamber Music Society in an exclusive Portland area engagement).