Dermot Hussey to resume'The Traveler'

The Traveler, Kenny Barron's latest work received master treatment by real music presenter Dermot Hussey on "the Riff" aired on Jamaica's News Talk 93 FM, weekdays at 8:35 pm. But, the journey was incomplete and Hussey promised listeners a Part 2 TBA.

The Traveler parades some excellent sounds abetted by a new rhythm section (Japanese bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela) and some very special guests.

Over 50 years of performance, Barron, who recently tutored our own Dr. Kathy Brown in New York, shows he still possess the touch, panache, grace, fire and empathy.

Riffin is heard live, Monday - Friday, 8:35pm @ http://www.newstalk.com.jm/

Sonny Bradshaw, Myrna Hague open Miramar centre

Jamaican trumpeter Sonny Bradshaw and wife Myrna Hague opened the new 800-seat Miramar Cultural Center at 2400 Civic Center Place, Florida recently.

The opening of the centre coincides with the staging of the Caribfest Community Showcase, the free multi-cultural festival staged annually by Caribefest Inc. and the City of Miramar.

This years focus turned to the Caribbean Jazz of veteran Jamaican musician and founder of the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival Sonny Bradshaw (trumpet) and his wife Myrna Hague (vocals) who graced the stage of the new US$20 million Arts Center with Jamaican saxophonist Dean Fraser, fresh from a stint at Anguilla’s Tranquility Jazz Festival and Grammy nominated Haitian-born Reginald Policard on keyboards as well as trumpeter Jean Caze.

Jazz nominees for 2008 Grammy Awards

The Recording Academy (US) announced its 51st Annual Grammy Awards Nomination as the precursor to awarding the prestigious Grammy statuette in 32 fields, comprising 110 categories of recorded music, spoken words and production.

Jazz is represented in Field 10 with its 6 categories, 45-50, and include Best Contemporary Jazz Album, Best Jazz Album, Best Jazz Vocal Album, Best Instrumental Solo (single/track), Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and Best Latin Jazz Album .

Best Contemporary Jazz Album

* Randy In Brasil, Randy Brecker [MAMA Records]

* Floating Point, John McLaughlin [Abstract Logix]

* Cannon Re-Loaded, All-Star Celebration Of Cannonball Adderley(Various Artists) [Concord Jazz]

* Miles From India, Various Artists [4Q/Times Square Records]

* Lifecycle, Yellowjackets featuring Mike Stern [Heads Up International]

Best Jazz Vocal Album

* Imagina: Songs Of Brasil, Karrin Allyson [Concord Jazz]

* Breakfast On The Morning Tram, Stacey Kent [Blue Note]

* If Less Is More...Nothing Is Everything, Kate McGarry [Palmetto Records]

* Loverly, Cassandra Wilson [Blue Note]

* Distances, Norma Winstone (Glauco Venier & Klaus Gesing) [ECM]

Last year Herbie Hancock's Rivers: The Joni Letters won the Record of the Year,, a remarkable achievement for the Jazz genre being the first time in 40 year since a jazz album was acknowledged.

CHICAGO comes to Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival

CHICAGO , not Barack Obama home state, but the rock band formed in 1967 in the Illonois capital, will arrive in Montego Bay for date at the upcoming Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival.

A steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Chicago, once boost Peter Cetera as lead singer, is one of the longest running and most successful U.S. pop/rock and roll groups.

They will bring to Montego Bay a package that includes #1 selling hits like "If You Leave Me Now, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", "Look Away" and their 2008 CD release Stone of Sisyphus.

For more of the BIG names already booked for Jan 22-24 festival visit http://jamaicajazzandblues.com/final/

Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 - 10 November 2008)

South African singer and civil rights activist born in . The Grammy Award winning, international acclaimed artist endearingly referred to as Mama Africa, born Zenzile Miriam Makeba is Johannesburg of the Xhosa tribe.

Makeba first toured with an amateur group. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers, before she formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa.

Miriam Makeba, the first studio album for RCA in 1960, was followed the same year by The Many Voices of Miriam Makeba, and The World of Miriam Makeba in1963. many more albums land compilations, countless performance later led to one last show.

Her final performance came November 9, 2008, where she became ill while taking part in a concert organized to support writer Roberto Saviano in his stand against the Camorra, a mafia-like organisation in a region of Italy.

Befitting this elegant African queen of music, the concert was being held in Castel Volurno near Caserta, Italy. Makeba suffered a heart attack after singing her hit song "Pata Pata" and was taken to a clinic where doctors were unable to revive her

Lionel Ritchie, Randy Crawford, Atlantic Star for Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival

R&B legend Lionel Ritchie, singer Randy Crawford, funk group Atlantic Star join the fabulous O'Jays at the rebrand JTB sponsored Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival to be held at the Aqueduct in Montego Bay, January 22 - 24, 2009.

Thirty (30) years in the business, over 100 million albums sold, countless awards including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, five Grammys, and the Crystal Award for Humanitarianism, Lionel Ritchie returns to the Montego Bay Festival.

Jazz & R&B singer Randy Crawford broke into the pop world as vocalist with the Crusaders, an instrumental jazz-oriented group on their sole hit Street Life. The Georgia born singer followed up solo effort include soul standards One Day I'll Fly Away, Rainy Night in Georgia, Knocking On Heaven's Door, a big selling album Secret Combination. Crawford was Michael Manley's favourite singer.

Atlantic Star, masterpiece soul band formed in 1976 in White Plains, NY by brothers Wayne (keyboardist/singer), David (lead singer/guitarist) and Jonathan Lewis (trombonist/percussionist) who hired vocalist Sharon Bryant, was among the top urban contemporary acts of the '80s but fared well in the adult contemporary market as well. Yet, their roots were '70s soul and funk with US Top 5 hits Secret Lovers, Always (#1), and Masterpiece.

O'Jays train rolls into MoBay Jazz & Blue festival

R&B group, O'Jays, originally from Canton, Ohio, who became one of "Philadelphia Soul" most popular groups, will roll the "Love Train" into Montego Bay as one of the headline acts of the upcoming Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, formally Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, at the Aquaduct, January 22 -24, 2009.

The group, in the forefront of 70s music, that, 2004, was inducted in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, racked up a lengthy string of modern R&B classics, including Back Stabbers, Love Train, For the Love of Money, I Love Music and Use Ta Be My Girl, that helped put the “Philly Soul” sound on the map.

The O’Jays, consisting of Walter Williams, Eric Nolan Grant and Eddie Levert, were the backbone of Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International label, which released some of the greatest and most influential Seventies records.

O'Jays fan website: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ojays/