|
|
Click here to listen
We are on Twitter! Get your Rock History Book headlines on our Twitter page! Click Here.
Top Stories
Paula Abdul Is Finally Leaving Idol? It’s Not a Done Deal Yet
 August 13, 2009 – I wonder if Paula Abdul is really leaving American Idol. Since the beginning I have continually turned down the volume on Paul Abdul’s spaghetti-stringed gobble-dee-goop on American Idol. More
Them Crooked Vultures Could Be Real-Deal Super-group thanks to Foo-Zeppelin Horsepower
 August 13, 2009 – The term super-group has become so overused that you’re already rolling your eyes just reading this, right? A great super-group has to be greater than the sum of its parts. More
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke Wants to Burn Your CD’s
 August 12, 2009 – Hide your CD collection. Thom Yorke of Radiohead wants to burn the whole lot. The singer says he’s had it with CD’s, never liked them, never will. More
Bill Champlin Leaves Chicago
 August 12, 2009 – It’s been a long run for Bill Champlin and Chicago. In fact the singer has been with the band since 1981, that’s 28 years but now it’s over. More
Steely Dan Performing Some Songs for the First Time on All-Requests-Tour
 August 11, 2009 – You got to love the current touring trend of performing classic albums in their entirety. Now Steely Dan has gone one better by surprising fans with one of three albums, "Aja," "Gaucho" or "The Royal Scam," which meant Donald Fagen and Walter Becker had to re-learn lots of tunes from their catalogue. More
Brian Johnson Ponders Retirement from AC/DC
 August 10, 2009 – Unlike being a postman, rockers have problems retiring. We simply won’t let them. If Tom Petty moved in next door, now matter how old he got, I’d be drinking beer in his garage waiting for him to pull out the old guitar. I think we get confused on that fact that the music lives forever, they don’t. More
Collective Soul Set to Release “Rabbit” Album On August 25
 August 9, 2009 – It’s not very often that our entire staff get excited about a new album, after all were a cantankerous bunch, but Collective Soul is it for us. More
Get More Music News
About Us
Volunteer with Us
Check out Our Sister site below
Join our Facebook Group and get on our mailing list. Here
|
|
|
|
 |
Barbra Streisand Slated to Release “Love Is the Answer” on September 28th
 July 22, 2009 – It’s been a string of successful albums for Barbra Streisand - “Guilty” (1980), “Emotion” (1984), “Till I Loved You” (1988) or “Higher Ground” (1997) and that’s just a few of them. Now the multi-talented diva is set to release her highly awaited studio album, “Love Is the Answer” on September 28th on Columbia Records.
The new project “demonstrates a cabaret and jazz singer of emotional clarity, depth and maturity,” according to Columbia.
The famous vocalist, actress, director, writer, composer, producer and designer also has a new collaborator in Grammy Award-winning Canadian jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall. She is also working with her old pal, famous Grammy Award-winning song writer and producer Johnny Mandel. The pair worked together on “Back to Broadway” (1993) CD. He also arranged and co-produced Diana Krall’s Grammy winning album “When I Look in Your Eyes” (1998). More
|
|
Streisand Teams up with Diana Krall on “Love is the Answer”
 June 24, 2009 – When most people heard that Diana Krall was producing Barbra Streisand the reaction was mixed to say the least. On one hand both have specialized in niche genre’s and won big. They are both known as Divas, the good kind, both classy and love stiletto high heels and flashing thing-a-ma-gigs hanging from their dresses. Performance wise though Streisand is a multi-octave peacock while Krall is a quiet little dove. There is nothing understated about Streisand, she speaks her mind while Krall is intensely private, she has always played her cards close to her chest.
Nonetheless on September 29 Columbia Records will release their collaboration. It’s important to note that this is not a duo album but inside word says that Krall had a huge influence on Streisand. This is primarily a Jazz and Cabaret album.
“Love is the Answer” will be Streisand’s first full-length collection of new studio recordings since 2005's "Guilty Pleasures" and her first album since "Live In Concert 2006."
Songwriter Johnny Mandel, who worked on Streisand’s 1993 “Back to Broadway” album will also be in the fold as well as Krall’s backup band.
Though Streisand’s TV concert special was not exactly a huge ratings blockbuster recently, demand for her music is still pretty damn good. She is 67 now and with 10 Grammy awards and 2 Oscars any release from the singing legend is a big deal. – by John Beaudin - story courtesy of Smooth Jazz Now |
|
Diana Krall and Elvis Costello’s Kids Prefer the Hamster Dance
 April 22, 2009 – Diana Krall has a sense of humor when it comes to her kids with Elvis Costello. The Jazz superstar says the twins have lots of favorite tunes but they are not usually in their parents discography, "They like everything. They like Frosty the Snowman, this theme from The Mickey Mouse Club called Hot Dog.” Krall talked to Sarah Liss of the CBC about those crazy tunes that her kids play over and over, there’s this thing called the Hamster Dance, which they like. They do their own dance to it — let’s get crazy!” says Krall, “They also like Yes We Have No Bananas. That’s a pretty good one, not too big a hit. I’ll turn on the radio and start singing a song and they just pick it up. It’s kinda scary.”
Krall, whose new CD, ‘Quiet Nights’ is a Bossa Nova love letter to her husband, says there is one Elvis tune that the kids usually love, “They like [Costello’s] Pump It Up, too. But some days they don’t like it. Some days it’s, “No Pump It Up!”
Krall is currently producing Barbra Streisand’s new album. – by John Beaudin |
|
Diana Krall Finds Her Mantra on ‘Quiet Nights’
 April 5, 2009 – Some might say “speed kills,” but Diana Krall has found her inner chi in multi-tasking – a lot. She is producing Barbra Streisand, married to Elvis Costello, has twin boys and has just released her new album ‘Quiet Nights’ which of course comes with a tour that doesn’t end until December in Moscow.
Interestingly the Jazz singer/pianist is more suited to the speed and says it’s easier for her this way. She told the Malaysia Star, "I'm just doing better work because I'm more relaxed - you don't have too much time to obsesses or worry.” Krall adds, “I'm living beyond my wildest dreams”
With long-time producer, Tommy LiPuma in tow, Krall took a Bossa Nova and ballads approach on the new CD. The Grammy winner had an urge to work with
German arranger Claus Ogerman again (they worked together on 2001’s ‘The Look of Love’) and she longed to be in the middle of an orchestra again. Some critics have not been kind to Krall’s new product.
She told the Toronto Star, “Everything I do has some kind of comment. With The Look of Love it was all about the picture. Then the Girl in the Other Room (2004) it was `Why aren't you doing what we love you to do?' And then the big band (2006's From This Moment On), la la la ..... There are very few legends to work with and Claus Ogerman is one of them. There's a strength for me to interpret standards and Bossa Novas; it's something I really love to do. I'm not saying it's easy, or safe, but what's not safe? I guess writing your own compositions again and maybe incorporating a chainsaw in your band. (Preposterous laughter) We live in this sort of pop-idol world, where you're expected to do all these vocal gymnastics. I was listening to lot of Joao, he sings very quietly, that's probably why the album came out the way it did. I hope people like it. I think it's beautiful and it certainly wasn't easy to make it sound that way.”
Krall, who is now 44, claims to have a second wind, when her band mates are taking naps before sound checks she’s visiting museums and meeting people. – by John Beaudin - story courtesy of Smooth Jazz Now |
|
Diana Krall Gettin' All Sexy
 Dec. 10, 2008 – Diana Krall says get ready for a more intimate, sensual and erotic album this time around. I guess that explains all those promo shots of the singer wearing stiletto high heels
Krall explains, "I'm not coy single girl singing 'Peel Me a Grape. I love that song but I don't love it for me any more, I feel more womanly, I guess, and I think this record is a love letter but very sensual, more on the erotic side. It's definitely late night."
The new CD ‘Quiet Nights’ won’t hit stores until March 31 on Verve but fans are buzzing with anticipation on where this new “sexy” direction will take the Jazzer.
Long-time Krall producer Tommy LiPuma returns to produce a few Antonio Carlos Jobim covers for Krall and a new Jazz version of Burt Bacharach’s ‘Walk On By.’ "It was just the greatest recording experience I've had to date," said Krall
Krall is also slated to produce Barbra Streisand in January. That album will be out in late 2009.
‘Quiet Nights’ is the first album for Krall in three years. – by Kari Graham - story courtesy of Smooth Jazz Now |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Retro Review: Linda Ronstadt - The Very Best of -Sept. 24, 2002 - In high school my best buddy John Scott could never understand how I, a rocker, preferred Barbra Streisand over Linda Ronstadt. |
|
|
Retro Review: Bruce Hornsby - Spirit Trail- Oct. 16, 1998 - No one could ever accuse Hornsby of not paying attention. Every lyric on 'Spirit Trail,' his sixth album, describes his unquenchable thirst to understand what were all doing here. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
