Author Archives: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Jeanne Gies & Howard Alden

CD Review: Jeanne Gies & Howard Alden “Window”

Jeanne Gies & Howard AllenArtist: Jeanne Gies & Howard Alden
Title: Window: The Music of Manu Lafer
Label: Tratore
Genre: Brazilian jazz

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Manu Lafer is an interesting man. A prolific and accomplished musician and composer with over 300 songs to his catalog, and a discography of over 15 CDs, he studied guitar with Luiz Tatit, Cezar Mendes Nogueira, and Ítalo Perón; and studied singing with Ná Ozzetti, Fernanda Gianesella and Wagner Barbosa. In addition to his extensive experience as a producer, arranger, and composer, Lafer also studied medicine at Escola Paulista de Medicina in at São Paulo. He earned a doctorate in pediatrics, and has worked as a visiting researcher at Columbia University in New York and with the Food and Drug Administration in Maryland.

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CD Review: Peter Wetzler’s Solo Piano “Falling Awake”

Peter WetzlerArtist: Peter Wetzler
Title: Falling Awake
Label: Sound Forms
Genre: solo piano/nu classic/improv

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

When I was asked to write a review of Peter Wetzler’s 2009 CD Falling Awake, I was expecting (for reasons I can’t explain) a classical pianist whose CD contained the usual standards of the genre, and one or two pieces by a living composer. My assumption was wrong, and pleasantly so.

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Lucas Pino

CD Review: Lucas Pino’s No Net Nonet ” That’s a Computer”

Lucas PinoArtist: Lucas Pino’s No Net Nonet
Title: That’s a Computer
Label: Outside In Music
Genre: jazz

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

“That’s a Computer!” This remark was thrown at tenor saxophonist / bass clarinetist Lucas Pino by one of his teachers at Julliard, in a less than diplomatic attempt to dismiss one of Pino’s idols.

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Future350 Bu Bossa

CD Review: Future350 Nu Bossa…Nu Bossa Nova from Kingston (NY)

Future350 Nu BossaArtist: Future350 Nu Bossa
Title: Songs for the Amygdala
Label: Movita Records
Genre: nu Bossa/world

CD review by Dawoud Kringle

The amygdale is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans. As part of the limbic system, it performs a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making and emotional responses.

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News From L’Ecole Fula Flute (Guinea) by Sylvain Leroux

My dear MFM Family and MFM supporters,

It’s November, and once again, I appeal to you to support our school for another year.

Thanks to your help, we have come a long way from our humble beginnings in a public hangar to our now secure house and courtyard which is every day humming with activity.

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