Author Archives: Adam Reifsteck

Keyna Wilkins

MFM Member Keyna Wilkins (Australia) US Mini Tour 2023 “Musician with Attitude”

Keyna Wilkins, MFM’s first international member, is a pioneering Australian/British composer-musician. She was one of three finalists for the Australian Art Music Awards for Individual Excellence in 2021 and 2018 (APRA/AMCOS). As an innovative soloist her solo show explores stream-of-consciousness improvisations alongside her composed pieces, often using loop pedal and visual projections and inspired by contemporary human rights issues, astronomical phenomena and philosophy.

She has collaborated with six detained refugees from their prison cells via zoom, victims of Australia’s brutal mandatory refugee detention laws for nine years, on music, poetry and art collaborations. She has performed her solo show around Australia including Phoenix Central Park, MONA, Sydney Women’s International Jazz Festival, Melbourne Digital Concert Hall, Australian Flute Festival and many other venues.

She has released 4 solo albums on piano and flute and 5 ensemble albums. Her works are published by Wirripang and performed internationally. While classically trained in UK, Germany and Sydney Conservatorium, she has branched into jazz, flamenco, live theatre and has studied intuitive conceptual improvisation with Tibetan Buddhist musician Tenzin Cheogyal. www.keynawilkins.com
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Wayne Shorter

RIP: Legendary Jazz Saxophonist Wayne Shorter Dead at 89

Wayne Shorter was born in Newark on Aug. 25, 1933. At the age of 12, he won a citywide art contest, which led to his attending Newark Arts High School, the first public high school in the country specializing in the visual and performing arts. His teachers helped him cultivate his interest in music theory and composition. At the same time, he became fascinated with bebop and the works of Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Shorter switched from clarinet to the tenor saxophone. He joined a local bebop group led by a singer named Jackie Bland.

He acquired the nickname, the Newark Flash, around the jazz scene of the 1950s, while earning a degree in music education at New York University. After serving two years in the Army, he re-entered the scene, making a strong impression as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

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The Byrds (photo by By http://www.drb-fans.com/pre-drb.html, Copyright : Sony Music Entertainment, 1965 (then CBS, Inc.), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22312881)

A Homage to THE BYRDS’ “Eight Miles High”

Text by Bruce Gallanther (DMG Newsletter for February 16th, 2023)
Photograph of The Byrds (1965): http://www.drb-fans.com/pre-drb.html, Copyright : Sony Music Entertainment, 1965 (then CBS, Inc.)

“Eight Miles High” written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn & David Crosby. Released as a single on March 14, 1966. Performed by The Byrds, from their Fifth Dimension LP,

Eight miles high, and when you touch down
You’ll find that it’s stranger than known
Signs in the street, that say where you’re going
Are somewhere just being their own
Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town, known for its sound
In places, small faces unbound
Round the squares, huddled in storms
Some laughing, some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes, and black limousines
Some living, some standing alone

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Burt Bacharach

Legendary Burt Bacharach, composer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, and producer…RIP!

Text by Dawoud Kringle

Burt Bacharach

By Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK

The music world is in mourning following the news of the death of Burt Bacharach.

Bacharach started his music career after he met Vic Damone in the army in 1950. He worked with Damone for three years following his discharge. In 1956, he got a break when, after working with several musicians, he was introduced to Marlene Dietrich. He worked as her arranger, conductor, and musical director, and toured the world with her.

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TikTok

Editorial: Is TikTok Toast?

By Dawoud Kringle

In February 2020. I wrote a piece about TikTok. The gist of the article described TikTok‘s corporate structure as a subsidiary of ByteDance, how its marketed exclusively outside of the People’s Republic of China (by mandate of the CCP), its enormous financial success, and how it affects professional musicians.

Their success is collapsing.

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