Cross-Cultural Connection (CCC) Presents “Jazz in the Park”

Text by Glenn Hoagland

Ray BlueOn Sunday, August 11 from 1 PM to 7 PM, jazz saxophonist and MFM member Ray Blue‘s nonprofit Cross-Cultural Connection (CCC) will present its 6th Annual Jazz Festival on the beautiful Peekskill waterfront. Jazz in the Park is a free concert SUPPORTED BY VARIOUS SPONSORS. It is accessible by both Metro North train and car. It is held in Peekskill Riverfront Park, Hudson Ave., Peekskill NY, on the banks of the Hudson River.

Top-level jazz performers at this year’s event include trombonist Clifton Anderson, The Kristina Koller Band, Ray Blue Quintet, and The Carl Allen Band.

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John Mayall

RIP: John Mayall UK’s Godfather of the Blues

Blues rock pioneer John Mayall has passed.

Text by Dawoud Kringle

John Mayall was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK on 29 November 1933, and grew up in Cheadle Hulme. His father, Murray Mayall, was a guitarist. He taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica after immersing himself in the music of American blues players such as Lead Belly, Albert Ammons, Eddie Lang, and Pinetop Smith.

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Renaud Garcia-Fons

Live Review: Renaud Garcia-Fons Solo and In Quartet. At the East Neuk Festival, Scotland.

Artist: Renaud Garcia-Fons
Genre: French double bassist presenting his modern take on Andalusian cante jondo and Maqam.
Live concerts: on 28 and 29 June 2024 in Anstruther, Scotland, as part of the 20th iteration of the East Neuk Festival, a boutique annual international music and arts festival.

Photos courtesy of East Neuk Fest’s official photographer, Neil Hanna.

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R.I.P.: James Chance of the Contortions Remembered

Text by Dawoud Kringle

James Chance Saxophonist, bandleader of The Contortions and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and No Wave pioneer James Chance passed away.

Born James Alan Siegfried in Milwaukee, Chance began studying piano in elementary school and in his teens began playing the alto saxophone. He attended Michigan State University and Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee where he formed the James Siegfried Quintet and Death, a Stooges-influenced group. He would later study with jazz saxophonist David Murray.

He moved to New York in 1975 and began using the stage name James Chance. A year later he formed Teenage Jesus and the Jerks with singer Lydia Lunch. In 1977 he formed the first version of the Contortions.

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AI

A Deep Dive Into How A.I. Affects Musicians

Commentary by Jerome Harris (MFM)

(Note: this is Jerome Harris’ submission for  Local 802’s A.I. series who has been a member of Local 802 since 1979. Sohrab who’s also a member of Local 802 read this article in ALLEGRO – the Local 802 digital publication of news, articles, and discussions about issues that are important for organized musicians – and got permission from Jerome to share it with the MFM community.)

When thinking about artificial intelligence from the perspective of those for whom music making is a livelihood, it’s useful to note a distinction. There are various forms of AI; the one that is most concerning for workers in creative fields is generative AI. This technology can assemble (“generate”) new material based on the patterns it finds in old material. This involves feeding vast amounts of digitized data — including recorded music — into powerful computer systems designed to analyze and isolate patterns. This is called “training” these AI systems. The systems can then be ordered to fabricate recordings based on those patterns, as specified by commands such as text-based prompts. Note that the underlying compositions and their recordings that are being used for AI training were created by humans and are owned by them or by business entities unless they are in the public domain.

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