According to Espie Estrella, the ELEMENTS OF MUSIC are explained as followed:

Sound is created when an object vibrates. These vibrations are perceived by our ears and then sent to our brain. Our brain in turn analyzes these signals and let's us know what type of sound we are hearing (i.e. an alarm clock ringing, a car horn blaring, etc.). Music is differentiated from other sounds because it has certain qualities.

When you listen to a piece of music, you'll notice that it has several different characteristics; it may be soft or loud, slow or fast, combine different instruments and have a regular rhythmic pattern. All of these are known as the "elements of music."

Beat and Meter - In order to define meter, let's first define beats. Beats give music its regular rhythmic pattern. Beats are grouped together in a measure; the notes and rests corresponds to a certain number of beats. Meter refers to rhythmic patterns produced by grouping together strong and weak beats. Meter may be in duple (2 beats in a measure), triple (3 beats in a measure), quadruple (4 beats in a measure) and so on.

Dynamics - Dynamics are abbreviations or symbols used to signify the degree of loudness or softness of a piece of music. It also indicates whether there is a change in volume.

Harmony - In general, harmony refers to the combination of notes (or chords) played together and the relationship between a series of chords. But to give you a better understanding of harmony, let's first define melody. Melody refers to the tune of a song or piece of music. It is created by playing a series of notes one after another. Harmony accompanies and supports the melody. It is created by playing a group of notes (either simultaneously or as broken chords) behind the melody thus giving it musical texture.

The History of Bossa Nova - Part 1

Bossa nova is a well-known style of Brazilian music developed and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s. The phrase bossa nova means literally "New Trend". A lyrical fusion of samba and jazz, bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s initially from young musicians and college students. Since its birth, it remains a vital part of the standart jazz
In Brazil, the word "bossa" is slang for doing something with particular charm, natural flair or innate ability. As early as 1932, Noel Rosa used the word in a samba:

"O samba, a prontidão e outras bossas são nossas coisas, são coisas nossas" ("The samba, the readiness and other bossas are our things, are things from us").

The exact origin of the exact term "bossa nova" still remains uncertain. Within the artistic beach culture of the late 1950s Rio de Janeiro, the term "bossa" was used to refer to any new "trend" or "fashionable wave". In his book Bossa Nova, Brazilian author Ruy Castro asserts that "bossa" was already in use in the 1950s by musicians as a word to characterize someone's knack for playing or singing idiosyncratically. Castro claims that the term "bossa nova" might have first been used in publicity for a concert given in 1958 by the University Hebrew Group of Brazil. This group consisted of Sylvinha Telles, Carlinhos Lyra, Nara Leão, Luizinho Eça, Roberto Menescal, et al. And in 1959, Nara Leão also participated in more than one embryonic display of bossa nova. This included the 1st Festival de Samba Session, conducted by the PUC's student union. (This session was then chaired by Carlos Diegues, a law student that Leão ultimately married.) While these early musicians were likely using the term "bossa nova" as a generic reference this novel musicial style, the term took hold as the definition of their own specific artistic creation to this day.

Dr. Lonnie Smith embarks on first self-produced recordings. A Jazz project in New York, NY by Dr. Lonnie Smith

Dr. Lonnie Smith is one of the greatest organists in the history of jazz.

This July, he'll reach a milestone: his 70th birthday.

So, the Doctor is doing something special to mark the occasion. He's starting his own record company--Pilgrimage Productions--to release what will be his first entirely self-produced recordings.
The first release--THE HEALER LIVE--is an exciting live document of the music that Doc's working trio (featuring guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Jamire Williams) has been wowing audiences around the world with over the past couple of years.  It will be released this Summer.
But folks, there's MORE....and that's where you come in!
On March 27th, 28th and 29th--in a warm, beautifully appointed and refurbished warehouse space in Queens, New York, just five minutes from Manhattan--the Doctor will dig into an old-school type of album that's unheard of these days, in front of a live, in-house audience. The dates will be recorded straight to analog tape, giving it the classic feel and sound it deserves. And, the entire event will also be filmed for a simultaneous DVD release.

The Doctor's hand-picked supporting cast for the session will be a who's who of the current scene: Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums), "Little" Johnny Rivera (congas), Ed Cherry (guitar), Andy Gravish (trumpet), Ian Hendrickson-Smith (alto saxophone, woodwinds), John Ellis (tenor saxophone, woodwinds), and Jason Marshall (baritone saxophone, woodwinds). All leaders in their own right, they've also backed such heavyweights as Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Amy Winehouse, Al Green, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Roy Hargrove, Eddie Palmieri and many more.

And then, there's the..."Doctor Quotient."

Those who have seen Dr. Lonnie Smith in a club or in concert--whether with George Benson or Lou Donaldson in the 1960's or 1970's, or as the leader of his own dynamic groups--are well aware of how much he...

Burns...live.

This reputation has garnered him many Organist of the Year awards from Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalists Association to the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. What's gotten lost throughout the Doc's fifty-year career, however, is his adeptness as a composer.  So, these March sessions will bring that part of him to light, too--not only revisiting many originals from his 1966-1971 songbook, but also introducing previously unrecorded compositions.

With the superb band we've assembled, the amazing sound of the studio we're using, and the energy of a live audience--well, think of Doc's “Live at Club Mozambique,” melded with Cannonball Adderley's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and Coltrane's "My Favorite Things," and you begin to get the idea...

An event this ambitious needs funding, of course. So, we're asking you--the people who have been listening to and loving Dr. Lonnie Smith’s music for years--to help make it all happen.

Look to your right and you will see a list of various "pledge" amounts. Make a pledge at any amount, and you'll get a bonus reward, with our thanks.  Please browse through the list of pledges and see if one is the right fit for you.  (Please note that the support we're asking for is still only a fraction of the entire cost of the project. Dr. Lonnie's record label has already been launched--it just needs a crucial extra "kickstart" to pull off this special event.) If you pledge...well, you'll be a part of jazz history.

For anybody not aware of how Kickstarter functions, we only get the money if our entire goal is reached. If we miss the goal we get nothing. Nada. (And if we are successful, international backers please add an additional $5 to your pledge to help cover shipping costs).

So let's gather around a true artist and show him how much we really love him and his music.
Sincerely, The Pilgrimage Productions Team.

Also: please note...

If you'd like to attend the recording sessions, reserved admission is available, at $30 per person. (No walk-ins will be considered.)  Just email drlonniereservations@gmail.com, and we'll email you back to confirm your seat. (There's a 50-seat maximum each night.) Food and beverage service will be available. Hurry, and get your tickets while they last!


More details on:


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/490026334/dr-lonnie-smith-embarks-on-first-self-produced-rec

Listener Time starts on Friday, March 9 at Eighth Note

"Eighth Note" now presents a fine selection of songs dedicated to special listeners actually friends. People who deeply love music, especially good music, as "Bossa Nova" and jazz.

Will be almost nine hours of good music divided into seven small programs. In the first we have Gal Costa, Quarteto em Cy, Emilio Santiago and Toninho Horta. In the second block will be the turn of Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Ivan Lins. The third section is dedicated to Dorival Caymmy (father).

Then we will have four blocks of jazz, featuring Ian Hendrickson, Mike Ledonne, Hank Mobley and Steve Einerson.

This selection is especially dedicated to Michael (Mike) Rosek, who kindly suggested the selection of artists.

Hope you all enjoy. Enjoy it.

http://www.radionomy.com/en/radio/eighth-note/listen

http://eighth-note.playtheradio.com/

Eighth Note pays a tribute to Pery Ribeiro

Let’s now listen to some immortal songs recorded by Pery Ribeiro, as a tribute that Eighth Note pays to this extraordinary artist who unfortunately left us.

Let's listen first to “Garota de Ipanema”, keeping in mind that Pery Ribeiro was the first singer in the world that recorded it in 1962.

"Garota de Ipanema," or, in English “Girl from Ipanema”, was composed in this year by Antonio Carlos Jobim, with lyrics in Portuguese by Vinícius de Moraes. (Norman Gimbel wrote the English lyrics, soon after.). A 1964 recording became an American hit. That recording, sung by Astrud Gilberto in English and in Portuguese by João Gilberto, with João Gilberto on guitar, Stan Getz on saxophone, and the composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim, on piano, appeared on the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto, which introduced Bossa Nova to audiences worldwide.

Listen in the sequence to other memorable songs recorded by Pery Ribeiro that will certainly touch us. Look at the style, the clear voice and the emotion with which he played each of his songs….

Dates & Times:

Next Friday, march 2th of 2012 at:

5:00 a.m. (GMT + 1)

9:00 a.m. (GMT +1)

1:00 p.m. (GMT +1)

5:00 p.m. (GMT +1)

9:00 p.m. (GMT +1)

1:00 a.m. (GMT +1)

http://www.radionomy.com/en/radio/eighth-note/listen#

http://eighth-note.playtheradio.com/

Brazil is sad. Pery Ribeiro died today, but not his songs.

A key singer of the bossa nova, having launched "Garota de Ipanema," Pery Ribeiro, son of the composer Herivelto Martins and of the singer Dalva de Oliveira, started early in his artistic career by providing singing and voices in Walt Disney animated movies. In 1944, he acted in the film Berlim na Batucada, by Luís de Barros. His debut on radio was in 1959, on Paulo Gracindo's show at Rádio Nacional, where he took his stage name Pery Ribeiro on suggestion of his godfather César de Alencar. In 1960, Ribeiro had his first song, "Não Devo Insistir" (written with Dora Lopes), recorded by Dalva de Oliveira. Ribeiro recorded his first single in the same year. In 1961, he recorded the bossa nova classics "Manhã de Carnaval" and "Samba de Orfeu" (both by Luís Bonfá/Antônio Maria) and "Barquinho" (Roberto Menescal/Ronaldo Bôscoli), among others. The first LP came in 1962, Pery Ribeiro e Seu Mundo de Canções Românticas, backed by Luís Bonfá on the guitar. In the next year, Pery é Todo Bossa had an enormous success with the first recording of "Garota de Ipanema" (Tom Jobim/Vinícius de Moraes), along with other bossa nova classics like "Me Lembro Vagamente," "Nós e o Mar," "Ah! Se eu Pudesse," and "Rio" (all by Roberto Menescal/Ronaldo Bôscoli) and originals.

In 1964, Ribeiro's LP Pery Muito Mais Bossa brought "Berimbau" (Baden Powell/Vinícius de Moraes), "Baiãozinho" (Eumir Deodato), "Feio Não é Bonito" (Carlos Lyra/Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), and "Você" (Roberto Menescal/Ronaldo Bôscoli). In the next year, he formed with Leny Andrade and the Bossa 3 the group Gemini V, which performed with success at the Porão 73 club and at the Princesa Isabel theater ("Rio"), recording live the LP Gemini V/Show na Boate Porão 73/Leny Andrade, Pery Ribeiro e Bossa Três. In 1967, he had a successful six-month season in Mexico with the Gemini V. In 1966, Ribeiro went to the U.S. where he joined the Bossa Rio, (Sérgio Mendes, Gracinha Leporace, Osmar Milito, Manfredo Fest, Otávio Bailly, and Ronnie Mesquita), performing in several American cities. Returning to Rio in 1971, Ribeiro recorded with Leny Andrade the LP Gemini Cinco Anos Depois. Again in Mexico in 1974, he performed in Acapulco with Eliana Pittman and Herivelto Martins. In 1986, he recorded with Luís Eça the LP Pra Tanto Viver. Ribeiro starred in a show at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, in which his father Herivelto Martins was paid tribute and awarded with the Shell Prize. (source: Alvaro Neder, All Music Guide).

Sivuca playing

Severino Dias de Oliveira, b. 26 March 1930, Itabaiana, Brazil, d. 14 December 2006, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. 

Sivuca played accordion and guitar from an early age, developing an extensive repertoire that ranged through forró, Bossa Nova, Jazz and folk music of many lands. He played in Pernambuco from his early teenage years and by the 1950s was established as a recording artist and was also becoming known on radio and television. His fame spread internationally and he performed in Europe with Los Brasileiros in the late 1950s. From the mid-1960s he spent a dozen years in the USA, mainly in New York City, then toured South America and also Scandinavia where he was especially popular, visiting the region in the late 1960s, returning in the 1980s and again in the 1990s.

Among artists with whom Sivuca worked during his long career are Harry Belafonte, Oscar Brown Jnr. , Miriam Makeba, Clara Nunes, Humberto Teixeira, Toots Thielemans, Sylvia Vrethammar, Ulf Wakenius and Putte Wickman. Over the years, Sivuca, who was married to composer Glória Gadelha, made numerous albums, many of which have yet to be reissued. Despite this, even after his death he remains a very important figure in the spread of appreciation and understanding of traditional Brazilian music.

Soon Sivuca will be at Eighth Note

(http://www.radionomy.com/en/radio/eighth-note/listen#