JazzWeek with airplay data powered by jazzweek.com • July 3, 2006 Volume 2, Number 32 • $7.95 In This Issue: Arif Mardin Dead at 74. 4 Suzanne Vega Signs With Blue Note . 5 Ghanians Get Berklee Scholarships . 6 Music and Industry News In Brief . 6 Rochester Jazz Festival Keeps Growing . 9 Reviews and Picks . 17 Jazz Radio . 19 Smooth Jazz Radio. 26 Radio Panels. 25, 30 News. 4 Q&A: ELDAR page 13 Charts: #1 Jazz Album – Roy Hargrove #1 Smooth Album – Mindi Abair #1 Smooth Single – Phillipe Saisse Trio JazzWeek This Week EDITOR/PUBLISHER Ed Trefzger Frames of Reference MUSIC EDITOR Tad Hendrickson ne topic covered at this year’s JazzWeek Summit that has CONTRIBUTING EDITORS continued online on the Jazz Programmers Mailing List Keith Zimmerman Ois the desire to broaden the audience, particularly among Kent Zimmerman younger listeners. CONTRIBUTING WRITER/ PHOTOGRAPHER I believe this is possible without alienating current listeners Tom Mallison and there’s music out there that can make the sound of your sta- PHOTOGRAPHY tion just a little more appealing to a younger crowd or a non-jazz Barry Solof listening crowd. It may be as simple as opening up the playlist just a little or sounding like you’re actually having fun being on the Founding Publisher: Tony Gasparre air. ADVERTISING: Devon Murphy And beyond the art, there’s a little science involved. Some sta- Call (866) 453-6401 ext. 3 or tions are beginning to realize that there’s a younger demo listen- email: [email protected] ing at night and are programming to reach it. Not by pandering SUBSCRIPTIONS: or dumbing down, but by presenting artists and sounds that have Free to qualified applicants context for a younger listener. Sit with your station manager or Premium subscription: $149.00 per year, PD and take a look at your nighttime and weekend demograph- w/ Industry Access: $249.00 per year To subscribe using Visa/MC/Discover/ ics – if your station is like many others, you’ll be amazed at who AMEX/PayPal go to: is listening. http://www.jazzweek.com/account/ subscribe.html One other thing – take a moment to think about your 50 or 55 or 60-year old listener. They aren’t the same people that were that age when you were a kid. Someone who is 55 today was 20 AIRPLAY MONITORING BY in 1971. What was happening musically then? We can’t assume that a listener who has that musical frame of reference will neces- sarily recoil at the sound of something electric, whether it’s Miles Mediaguide or Charlie Hunter. 1000 Chesterbrook Blvd. Anyhow, I don’t presume to prescribe the formula for your sta- Suite 150 Berwyn, PA 19312 tion; this is food for thought. We have a great opportunity now, but we may not exist in the future if we don’t adapt. JazzWeek (ISSN 1554-4338) ••• is published weekly by Attendees at the Summit were enthralled by Eldar’s piano and en- ������������� chanted by his personality. Tad Hendrickson gives us a glimpse of both in this week’s Q&A with the piano phenom. 2117 Buffalo Road Suite 317 Rochester, NY 14624 – Ed Trefzger, Editor phone/fax: (866) 453-6401 [email protected] Next week is our twice-yearly one-week vacation. We’ll be back Copyright ©2006 with the July 17 issue. Charts for next week will run in that issue. Trefzger Media LLC jazzweek.com • July 3, 2006 JazzWeek 2 Contents July 3, 2006 News . 4 Legendary Producer Arif Mardin Dies At 74 of Pancreatic Cancer . 4 Blue Note Signs Suzanne Vega . 5 Ghanaian Musicians Earn Scholarships to Berklee Summer Program . 6 Music and Industry News In Brief ... 6 Birthdays . 8 Features 4 Rochester International Jazz Festival Continues Rapid Growth . 9 Artist Q&A: Eldar . 13 Reviews . 17 Esperanza Spalding . 17 Marilyn Harris With The L.A. Jazz All-Stars Big Band . 17 Wycliffe Gordon . 17 Gerry Gibbs and the Thrasher Big Band . 18 13 David Benoit . 18 Jazz Charts . 19 Jazz Album Chart . 20 Jazz Add Dates . 21 Jazz Current CDs . 22 Jazz Radio Panel . 25 Smooth Jazz Charts . 26 Smooth Album Chart . 27 19 Smooth Singles Chart. 28 Smooth Current CDs . 29 Smooth Radio Panel . 30 Closing Number Five Classic Albums Featuring Arif Mardin’s Work . 31 26 Cover Photo: Eldar Djangirov (photo by Bill Phelps) JazzWeek Volume 2 Number 32 jazzweek.com • July 3, 2006 JazzWeek 3 News Legendary Producer Arif Mardin Dies At 74 of Pancreatic Cancer rif Mardin, a prolific pro- a Grammy for producer of the year ducer who spent most of his (the second time he received this Acareer with Atlantic Re- award), a Grammy in 2004 for cords and who in 2001 became producing Dianne Reeves’ album co-General Manager of EMI A Little Moonlight and a Grammy Music’s Manhattan record label, for Norah Jones’ Feels Like Home died June 25 at the age of 74 after CD. His last recording project for fighting a courageous battle with Manhattan Records was the Raul pancreatic cancer. Midon CD State of Mind which Born in 1932 in Istanbul, he co-produced with his son, Joe. Turkey, Mardin graduated from Atlantic Founding Chairman the Berklee College of Music as Ahmet Ertegun said, “The death the first recipient of the Quincy of Arif Mardin leaves a void in Jones Scholarship. He began his all of his friends, the many artists music career in 1963 at Atlantic whom he produced, his colleagues Records. in the music business, and the Working first as an assis- countless musicians and compos- tant to Nesuhi Ertegun, Mardin ers with whom he collaborated... a worked his way up at Atlantic, void which will not be filled. eventually becoming a senior vice “Arif was that rare produc- president and building an incred- er who was equally at home with ible artistic legacy through his his first love, jazz, and with the work with Ahmet Ertegun and various other forms of Ameri- Jerry Wexler. can music - rock and roll, rhythm During his career, Mardin Arif Mardin, 1932-2006 & blues, and pop - and who was earned more than 40 gold and equally successful in all of these platinum albums, 15 Grammy diverse areas. From his early suc- Mardin worked with several jazz nominations and 12 Grammy awards. cesses with Aretha Franklin through artists at Atlantic, including Charles He worked with an impressive list of his recent work with Norah Jones, Arif Lloyd, Sonny Stitt, Max Roach, Eddie artists in a variety of genres includ- has been one of the foremost creators Harris, Les McCann, Herbie Mann ing: Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, of great hits and molders of great art- and the Modern Jazz Quartet. Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, Hall ists. His recent accomplishments for & Oates, Jewel, Patti LaBelle, Bette “Arif was known for his gentle Manhattan included multiple Gram- Midler, Diana Ross, Willie Nelson, manner, his keen perception of the my Awards for Norah Jones’ Come Carly Simon, Ringo Starr and Barbra particular and unique talents of a wide Away With Me which also earned him Streisand, among others. (continued on page 5) jazzweek.com • July 3, 2006 JazzWeek 4 News Arif Mardin, 74 Blue Note Signs Suzanne Vega (continued from page 4) diversity of artists, and his ability to create magic in the studio. He was a proud Istanbul gentleman, a black sheep of a great aristocratic family, a follower of Ataturk’s vision of a Turk- ish secular society, and an inspiration to Turkish artists and musicians, as well as to all the artists with whom he worked. “He was my dear friend, an incor- ruptible man of high ideals, a loving husband and father, and someone who, through his music, will live on.” Bruce Lundvall, President of EMI Jazz & Classics, said, “He was equal- ly prominent as a composer and an ar- ranger. Arif, in my opinion, was one Blue Note/EMI of the greatest music men in the his- Pictured in Blue Note’s Manhattan offices are: (L-R) Zach Hochkeppel (Vice President, tory of our business and the finest gen- Marketing, Blue Note), Tom Evered (Sr. Vice President/General Manager, Blue Note), tleman I’ve ever worked with. He in- Suzanne Vega, Bruce Lundvall (President & CEO, Blue Note), Eli Wolf (Director, A&R, Blue spired the entire Blue Note, Angel, Note), Michael Hausman (Vega’s Manager) Manhattan staff with his humor, his counsel and his great enthusiasm for NEW YORK – Suzanne Vega has Target your market! artists and music. He honored us and signed an exclusive recording deal with his legacy will continue to inspire us in Blue Note Records, the singer-song- the days and years to come.” writer’s first new label since she first David Munns, Chairman of EMI signed with A&M in 1984. Vega will Music North America, said, “In addi- record her Blue Note debut this fall for tion to being a fine human being, Arif a likely release in spring 2007. Mardin knew how to make magic out Vega’s surprise hit “Luka,” from of music and draw out the very best her 1987 album Solitude Standing, es- from artists. He was a master of un- tablished her as an uncompromisingly derstatement. We were fortunate to original voice, made her a household have Arif work with us at EMI in the name, and sparked a renewed interest second chapter of his career.” in female folk-pop singer-songwriters. Advertise in Mardin is survived by his wife Her last new album was 2001’s Songs Latife, son Joe and daughters Julie and In Red and Gray.