Smooth Jazz And Great Venues – Buffalo Bill Historical Center

It took special people to settle the American West–people of vision and courage with strong values and beliefs. This uniquely American story starts with the land and its first peoples, and extends through the centuries to the present day—western experiences that refine the spirit of our nation.

Since 1917, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center has been committed to the greatness and growth of the American West—keeping those western experiences alive for today’s visitors and those in the future. Just as William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody “took the West to the world,” we’ve taken on the challenge of bringing the West to you.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center is a complex of museums displaying artifacts and art of the American West located in Cody, Wyoming. Founded in 1917, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center is the oldest museum in the West. The museum is an affiliate in the Smithsonian Affiliations program.

The museums include the Buffalo Bill Museum, which features general western articles and historical items that help tell the story of W. F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s life. A large amount of background and historical information is provided so as to put his life into context with what was going on in the country, especially out west, at that time.

For over two decades the Yellowstone Jazz Festival has been bringing top jazz performers and musicians in the Yellowstone National Park area to participate in jazz concerts during the Festival. Smooth Jazz fans will attend the concert of Dotsero.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 720 Sheridan Ave, Cody, Wyoming 82414

Smooth Jazz And Books – Ultra Smooth Jazz Grooves for Bb Instruments

Internationally renowned authors, musicians and recording artists, Frank Villafranca and Andrew D. Gordon of The Super Groovers have composed a collection of grooves and melodies in the Smooth Jazz Genre creating an exciting supplemental jazz study series for beginner, intermediate and advanced jazz students and musicians.

After releasing their first CD Supergroovin , which received world wide airplay, they recognized a need in the music publishing business for a series of books on contemporary improvising within the Smooth Jazz genre.

The smooth jazz grooves in this 48 page book feature a variety of contemporary rhythm section styles including R&B, Jazz, Funk, Top 40, Rock, Gospel, Hip Hop and Latin.. These stylistic influences are frequently associated with smooth jazz. Popular artists in this genre include, The Super Groovers, David Sanborn, Eric Marienthal, Kenny G, Dave Koz, Tom Scott, Gerald Albright, Candy Dulfer, Wilton Felder, Boney James, Chris Botti, Chuck Mangione, Sade, George Benson, Peter White, Lee Ritenour, Earl Klugh, Larry Carlton, Jeff Lorber, Brian Culbertson, George Duke, Joe Sample, Spyro Gyra, Pat Metheny, Four Play, The Yellow Jackets and The Rippingtons.

On each of the 20 tracks, the groove is separated into 3 melodic ideas. Each melodic idea (example or riff) is played first, by the saxophone with the groove, followed by just the rhythm section groove, without sax. The 1st example is usually the easiest, the 2nd slightly harder and the 3rd the most difficult.

Versions for each groove are available separately as midi files or extended MP3 files where the rhythm tracks for each groove are recorded for approximately 2 minutes.

In their opinion, the melodies were so catchy they couldn’t resist developing them into completed songs. Mainline Connection , Villefranche sur-Mer and You re The Only One In My Life , are a few featured on their second CD, Mainline Connection . Their CD’s or mp3 downloads are available from iTunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby or from The Super Groovers web site.

Ultra Smooth Jazz Grooves for Bb Instruments is available at Amazon.com.

 

Smooth Jazz And Wine – Helwig Winery

The new, state-of-the-art winery with its unique wine cave system is located just outside Plymouth, California, in the heart of the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. With its contemporary American barn design, Helwig Winery is a combination of functionality and modern-day, rustic charm.

Join them in the Helwig Winery Amphitheater for the Summer Concert Series, beginning June 2012. They are very excited to present these artists, and are looking forward to a fabulous concert series!

Craig Chaquico has engaged and inspired two generations of pop music fans, first as a founding member, lead guitarist, and a prolific principle song writer for the multi-platinum Jefferson Starship/Starship in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. While others came and went, Craig is the only person in the band to appear on every recording, tour, MTV video, album, CD, and hit song during that time.

Helwig Vineyards & Winery, 11555 Shenandoah Valley Road, Plymouth CA 95669

Smooth Jazz And Great Venues – Maymont Park

 

Maymont is a 100-acre American estate, an extraordinary gift given to us by James and Sallie Dooley who lived here from 1893 to 1925. Whether strolling in the gardens, touring the mansion or watching river otters play, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

It contains Maymont Mansion, now a historic house museum, an arboretum, formal gardens, a carriage collection, native wildlife exhibits, a nature center, and petting zoo known as “The Maymont Children’s Farm”.

In 1893, Major James H. Dooley, a wealthy Richmond lawyer and philanthropist, and his wife, Sallie, completed their elaborate Gilded Age estate on a site high above the James River. According to their wishes, after their deaths Maymont was left to the people of Richmond. Over the next 75 years, additional attractions were added.

The Japanese gardens located at Maymont are well tended and cared for and consist of a koi pond as well as a large waterfall coming down from the terrace. There is an extensive rose garden ending in a large waterfall located on a terrace below the manor. The roses are partially shaded by a wisteria covered pergola. Bamboo forests are a great spectacle in the Gardens

The arboretum dates from the early 20th century, and contains more than 200 species of trees and woody plants. It includes a number of “exotic champions” including a Cedrus atlantica, Cryptomeria japonica, Parrotia persica, and Tilia europea.

Maymont’s gardens are popular for outdoor weddings focused around the Italian garden, the Japanese gardens, the waterfalls, or other numerous gazebos located throughout the grounds.

Smooth Jazz fans love this ground for the  Annual Richmond Jazz Festival at Maymont.

Maymont Park, 1700 Hampton St, Richmond, Virginia 23220

 

 

 

Smooth Jazz And Great Venues – Market Creek Amphitheater

The Market Creek Amphitheater is an ideal location for musical and theatrical performances or for creating unforgettable seminars and corporate retreats. This grand, open-air space is accented by a Children’s Art Wall featuring a copper-inlaid tree with hand-painted circular leaves created by more than 1,000 local school children. Tiered grass seating areas make the perfect setting for up to 500 guests to relax or picnic in the shade. Centrally located in Market Creek, the Amphitheater makes an exciting addition for multi-venue use. Adjacent businesses offer a variety of food and services.

The Market Creek Plaza Amphitheater is San Diego’s newest outdoor amphitheater, featuring a stage set into the bed of Chollas Creek that rises and falls with the level of the water flowing through the creek. The amphitheater features symbolic glyphs of water, sun, and hands on the walls that border the theater’s grassy seating.

The site was envisioned as a venue for showcasing the rich talent and culture of the community. Cultural groups, local dance studios, spoken word groups, and cultural music groups will soon take center stage before crowds of up to 500 people.

This place will be the venue of  Jazz At The Creek. This concert series is unique on the San Diego jazz scene in setting as well as purpose, and will afford you the opportunity to encounter Jazz enthusiasts from all across San Diego County, Southern California and neighboring states.

Three national acts are scheduled to headline: Darryl Williams (June 30), Marcus Johnson (July 21) and Jazz In Pink (August 11).

Market Creek Amphitheater, 310 Euclid Ave, San Diego, California 92114

Smooth Jazz And Great Venues – Avondale Park

Avondale was a company town built around the Avondale Mills east of Birmingham, Alabama in Jefferson County. The town was incorporated on March 18, 1887. The city was annexed into Birmingham and is now divided into three separate neighborhoods, North Avondale, East Avondale and South Avondale.

The Park was the largest in Birmingham until Ruffner Mountain Park was dedicated. It was known for the spring-fed grotto pool, an extensive rose garden, athletic fields, a secluded pavilion called “The Villa”, and a large amphitheater that hosted a spectacular pageant in celebration of Birmingham’s 50th anniversary in 1931. The park was also one-time home of the Birmingham Zoo, which at the time consisted mainly of non-exotic species with the exception of “Miss Fancy”, an erstwhile circus elephant purchased by the Birmingham Advertising Club as a promotional novelty and then donated to the city.

The project, under way since last winter, was a major overhaul of the historic park that has dominated Fifth Avenue South in the Forest Park-South Avondale neighborhood since the mid-1880s.

The historic amphitheater at Avondale Park will be the setting for this summer’s Jazz in the Park concert series, according to officials with series organizer Magic City Smooth Jazz.

The nonprofit organization presents free summer concerts, billed as “Building Community through Jazz,” in parks around Birmingham. The concerts are held on Sunday afternoons, except for the July 4 kick off event, which will be from 6-9 p.m.

Other concert dates are July 8, 15, 22 and 29.

Avondale Park is at 4101 Fifth Ave. South.

Smooth Jazz And Internet – Smooth Jazz Europe

“Smoothjazz” triggers a lot of prejudice in Europe with some poor perceptions. Among the regular “jazz environments”, it is stated as an undefinable style. Outside the Jazz style, most of the time, the music has a name as being a friendly jazzy variation of easy listening (sometimes perceived as elevator music). Because of this prejudgment, this music style is rarely programmed at the big jazz festivals.

However, Inge Wenzel and Marijn Eland from Almelo wanted to make a change in all this. They are owners of the website www.smoothjazz.eu and with organizing this first (Dutch) SmoothJazz Festival in history, they have made a bold statement in this style of jazz that has been underestimated for years.

The website offers reviews, and a lot of information about smooth jazz radio, concerts, promoters, artists and more.

Smooth Jazz And Fine Dining – Sambuca Jazz Cafe

Live jazz, seven nights a week, in Houston? Look no further than Sambuca. Set in an oasis of dark woods and white linen with the occasional tiger print thrown in, Sambuca features local singers, like the sultry Yvonne Washington and Tianna Hall, and high-energy Houston bands, like the Blue Monks and the Mark Dini Group.

The bar also regularly plays host to international acts such as Acoustic Alchemy and Larry Carlton. Want to dance? Sambuca’s got you covered. In the mood to just sit back and listen? No problem. The monthly music calendar has something for everyone’s taste. Sambuca’s menu is a great complement to the music onstage (don’t miss the miso sea bass).

Located in Houston’s historic Rice Hotel, Sambuca Houston was a pioneer in the downtown area renovation. Area business associates gather daily for business lunches, and each evening guests unwind in the bar and dining room to enjoy the live music seven nights a week. The live music is as diverse as the Eclectic menu, this rockin’ dinner club offers sultry singers, crooners, classic rock, top 40, jazz and Latin rhythms. Looking for a location for your rehearsal dinner, wedding, business luncheon, pharmaceutical seminar or networking happy hour? Whether it is off site, at Sambuca or The Crystal Ballroom at the Rice, you can be assured everything will be handled with attention to every detail.

Sambuca Houston – 909 Texas Avenue

 

 

Joyce Cooling – Staying Cool

Since her arrival in the San Francisco Bay Area Joyce Cooling was always infected by music. But it was Wes Montgomery’s solo on If You Could See Me Now which Joyce turned to the guitar. Her contact to Jay Wagner, a keyboardist on San Francisco’s Brazilian circuit, gave her the impetus and energy to start her solo career. Her first album was Cameo (1990), a Brazilian-oriented music under the strong influence of her partner and musician Jay Wagner.

Her breakthrough was her Heads Up International debut Playing It Cool (1997), presenting a mixture of Latin and smooth jazz. The title song reached #1 on the Gavin Report and was the foundation for her great fan community. Based on a frequent appearance on numerous gigs and festivals her next album Keeping Cool (1999) could extend her popularity and success. Still on the heights of charts followed her albums Third Wish (2001-GRP), This Girl Got To Play (2004) and Revolving Door (2006-Narada Jazz), musically anchored in the smooth jazz genre.

Released from any label contract in the absolute weightlessness of independence Joyce finds back to her roots on her latest album Global Cooling (2009). All songs on the new album are written and arranged by Joyce and her longtime friend Jay Wagner. Joyce expresses her excitement: “Global Cooling is like taking a transcontinental flight, touching down in fun, exciting and beautiful places. We were inspired to travel into uncharted territory, so we really stretched ourselves to get our passports in order! We played with a lot of new instruments and layered Tablas, congas, bongos, sitar, berimbau and even accordion over funk, rock and jazz. It was a trip.”

Currently Joyce is studying music and somehow we all are waiting for her new album, she intended to record soon.

Joyce Cooling published with permission of Bettie Grace Miner.

Smooth Jazz And Books – Outside the Lines

Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation has become the worlds largest print music publisher, representing some of the greatest songwriters and artists of all time. We are proud to publish titles of interest to all musicians as well as music lovers, from songbooks and instructional titles to artist biographies and instrument price guides to books about the music industry and all the performing arts.

This unique book offers smooth jazz stylings of nine sacred standards, in moderately difficult arrangements for solo keyboard with optional guitar, bass and percussion. Tunes include: Be Thou My Vision * Jesus Paid It All * Lamb of God * Shout to the Lord * Wonderful Words of Life * and more.