ends Spain's long wait.....
Spain has been crowned European champions for the second time as Fernando Torres's first-half goal in Vienna proved enough to defeat Germany in the final of UEFA EURO 2008...
A British singer / songwriter who aims to prove that British music and original talent is alive and well. Her original voice and edgy songs have provoked comparisons to Lenny Kravitz and Alanis Morissette, but her style is her own and her music is perhaps best described simply as Melodic Rock. From gut-wrenching ballads to full-on stadium anthems, Natascha's music has something for everyone. Her latest release, Dirty Little Word, is her best effort yet - with 13 fresh tracks that compliment her vocal ability and sweet style of delivery.
Danny Gatton and Tom Principato, 1984
Blazing Telecasters
Tom Principato's
Upcoming Dates
Saturday July 19th
WINDSOR HALL
Cumberland, MD
301-724-6800
Thursday August 7th
CHERRY HILL PARK
Falls Church, VA
Saturday August 30th
Billy Beam's Jam-A-Thon
Point of Rocks, MD
Saturday September 6th
Lyon, France Blues Festival
Thursday September 11th
Karlstad, Sweden
Friday September 12th
Porsgrunn, Norway
Tuesday September 16th
Stavanger, Norway
Saturday September 20th
Uddevalla, Sweden
Tom has been setting the telecaster on fire all across the globe with some of the finest performers for over 25 years.
The Tom Principato band enjoys the passionate virtuosity of John Perry on Bass and the energetic percussive stylings of Joe Wells on Drums.
LIMITS ~ The David Kikoski Quartet
on Criss Cross Jazz ~ CD 1284
David Kikoski
A t a time when jazz has been to the far reaches of the musical universe and back, some would say that its all been played before and we're currently at a point in the cyclical nature of this art form when those with lesser talents are merely rewriting the past.
Possibly this is why innovation and individualism are so rare these days and why David Kikoski stands apart from the scores of pianists who currently make their home within the mainstream tradition.
Helping the leader navigate seven harmonically rich originals with melodies that stick are tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, who performed on two previous Kikoski quartet sessions, and the incomparable bass-drum team of Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart, each a musician with tonal personalities defined by limitless imagination. All are in peak form.
A few hours ago she was standing here
Just watching the stars in our eyes
and the lights as uptights disappear.
And I could feel I could say what I want
That I could nudge her and call her my confidant
And now I'm back alone with just my shadow in front.
"Six O'Clock" ~ John Sebastian, 1966
Bright New Star ~ Tal Wilkenfeld
Her recorded performance with Jeff Beck at Crossroads Festival last summer was mesmerizing - and never having heard of her until last November, I haven't been able to put the vision of Tal's expressiveness out of my mind... there was the legendary Beck, plying his trade, and all I kept wondering was "Who IS that girl?? She's stealing the show - and effortlessly so!"
From The Sydney Morning Herald, May 16, 2007
DREAMS do become real. Many artists' entire careers consist of testing how well they bounce back from kicks in the teeth and run-ins with brick walls. Then there's Tal Wilkenfeld.
At 21, the Los Angeles-resident Sydneysider has been playing electric bass for less than four years (having previously played guitar). Last week she was performing with Chick Corea in Melbourne.
Now she was leading a trio completed by the virtuoso drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, who a fortnight ago was here with Herbie Hancock, and the keyboards player Geoff Keezer, whose credits include the Ray Brown Trio and playing with Art Farmer and Jim Hall.
Many musicians have made a splash by Wilkenfeld's age, but surely few have been playing their instrument for such a short time. Obviously her natural aptitude is profound, and the hours of practice must have been intense.
This performance showed off her phenomenal facility, her fluency across complex material (most of which she had also composed) and a thick-piled, attractive sound. It also showed off a naivety in her composing, despite the elaborate flourishes, and a tendency as a player to rely on generating thrills, rather than a broader array of emotions.
Of course, if thrills are the object, Colaiuta is the man. With a snare drum tuned to such lethal sharpness it could be used to euthanase the infirm, and tom-toms so fat and potent they might trigger avalanches, he detonated entertaining pyrotechnics at every turn. He didn't generate grooves so much as all the baroque ornamentation that could possibly be clustered atop them, although he and Wilkenfeld did hook up beneath Keezer's dazzling solo on Oatmeal Bandage, then enthusiastically crunched their way through the slower sections of Jan Hammer's Thorn of a White Rose.
Keezer, best known as a straight-ahead jazz player, was a revelation in punching out high-energy solos against the dense maelstrom emanating from bass and drums. Like Colaiuta, he clearly enjoyed the work of the cherubic young woman on bass: not just as a prodigy, but as an equal.
Chris Botti ~ ITALIA
With Italia, Chris Botti has once again delivered a lushly orchestrated album of astonishing beauty, full of memorable, breath-taking performances. He not only proves there's wisdom in the old adage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - but instead of resting simply on his laurels, with each successive album he's succeeded in making his "formula" of richly orchestrated, romantic standards better.
Spring 2008 Updates....
My 3 beautiful daughters:
Lara, 22, has relocated to Louisiana. Lara is a gem - a hard worker, free spirit, adventurous yet very grounded, dependable...and thinking of marriage.
Mackenzie, 18, returned from Asheville in the NC mountains, it's great to have her home again. Planning to attend CPCC, she's the family poet and writer.
Lenara, 19, spent her summer in Mari-El, Russia. Didn't forget too much of her English! She's now in the workforce.