#not to be confused with offbeat magazine of new orleans

[world-of-advice]

[jazzworldquest-blog]

USA: BILLIE DAVIES trio-PERSPECTIVES II(2018)

  “PERSPECTIVES II”

BILLIE DAVIES trio

Billie Davies - drums, Evan Oberla - piano/keys/trombone, Oliver Watkinson - bass

featuring: Ari Kohn - woodwinds, Iris P - vocals, Allie Porter - vocals

live recorded for sound and video at: Art Klub, New Orleans LA live recording date: June 1, 2018, 8 - 10 pm recording, mixing, mastering: Mike Davies

video: Marion Hill

tracks

Nature - 11:36 , Life - 06:13 , Happiness - 07:15 , Love - 07:15

Freedom - 16:47 , Art - 13:37 , Rhythm - 14:45

release date: September 27

          “PERSPECTIVES II”

 "All of my music is improvisational... a conversation between musicians and musical instruments. A joint emotional expression inspired by a certain common feeling, thought or perspective in an instinctual, unpredictable, freely expressed improvisation exploring authentic feelings and inspirations that is being communicated to an audience, a listener, a community." - Billie Davies

“PERSPECTIVES II”, is an all spontaneous, instinctive, intuitive improvisation inspired by 7 perspectives, words and 7 chakra musical keys, expressed by a quartet of piano / keys / trombone, baritone sax / flute, bass, drums and vocals / spoken word by 2 female vocalists.

 Perspectives that affect all human beings, regardless of race, nationality, culture, gender, creed, religion, politics, social status and personhood.

Abstract Expressionist Improvisations Neither confused by the light

Nor blinded by dogma, color or political correctness

An ever evolving improvisation, a message to raise the awareness of life and living, love and loving from a deeply natural, instinctive perspective.

A symphony to mother nature, to the tree of life and people. One big conversation where each artist responds to another artist’s call, where each and every action taken is in response to another, all being influenced by each other, all being one and one with mother nature.

A spontaneous expression through sound, through words and through movement, all expressing perspectives of Nature, Life, Happiness, Love, Freedom, Art and Rhythm.

About the performers

Billie Davies - Drums.

“Billie Davies is a very accomplished free-jazz drummer. Born in Belgium, she now lives in New Orleans, having spent much of her life living peripatetically. Previous reviewers have made much of the self-taught nature of her drumming. I defy any listener to distinguish her playing from someone ‘schooled’ in jazz drumming. There is a vitality and fluidity in the way that she plays the drum kit... her stories explain her drumming... ” - Chris Baber, Jazz Views (Jun 30, 2016)

Her 2012 release of “all about Love” solidified her position as a professional jazz musician. This recording of standards and original music, charted #1 in CMJ Jazz College Radio Charts for ‘top jazz add’ in new albums and went on to stay in the top 20 for 4 weeks. Also well received in Canada, the album ended up in the Top 10 on three different !Earshot Jazz charts.

In October, 2013 Billie released “12 VOLT”. CJ Bond, JAZZ MUSIC, wrote, “12 VOLT” adds the crucial tyne of 'composer/arranger' to her sterling artistic fork, augmenting fearless innovation. Jan Hocek of His Voice in Prague wrote:”Without hesitation - HIGH VOLTAGE avant-garde JAZZ - one of the most remarkable trio albums of the year!"

In 2013 Billie Davies received the "Jazz Artist of the Year" Award by the 23rd Annual Los Angeles Music Awards.

In March of 2014 she moved to New Orleans where she recorded "Hand In Hand In The Hand Of The Moon" in 2015.

She received more national and international attention due to a player feature in Downbeat Magazine May 2016 edition, "BILLIE DAVIES '20 Years Stronger'".

"On Hollywood Boulevard", released in 12/10/2016 became a January 2017 Editor's Pick on DownBeat.com.  December 2017 Billie Davies was nominated for "Best Contemporary Jazz Artist" in New Orleans by OffBeat Magazine.

Evan Oberla - Piano/Keys/Synth & Trombone.

"Music never stops, it only begins. All the music that ever was exists now. It is the musician's job to tune into the universe and become a vessel for the music of the moment." Evan Oberla

Evan was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, playing piano and guitar at an early age. In 5th grade he picked up the trombone for the school band. In high school his musicality led him to participate in multiple jazz ensembles, including the acclaimed Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra. Evan graduated in June 2009 from Ohio State University with a degree in Jazz Studies performance. A diverse and active musician based out of New Orleans, LA, he can be found with acts such as EO & The Tasty Sapiens, Brass Lightning, Sexual Thunder, Allie Porter Band, Billie Davies, Miss Mojo, Mike Dillon & more. Evan has toured nationally with O.A.R., Allen Stone, and Elle King.

Oliver Watkinson - Electric & Upright Bass.

Born in Brunswick Maine, Oliver began studying music at the age of five. He attended college in Boston at the New England Conservatory, where he had the opportunity to study upright jazz bass and perform with greats such as Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Cecil McBee, and many more. In 2014, Oliver moved to New Orleans and began performing with BILLIE DAVIES in 2015, Gandhi Castle, Laelume, and various street bands. He has taught and performed all over the United States, as well as Central America and Canada.

FEATURING

Ari Kohn - Reeds

  Born in Portland, OR he now lives in New Orleans and is a jazz studies graduate from Tulane University. Ari is fast becoming one of the important younger musicians in New Orleans. He is a very creative and dedicated reeds/woodwind player that can be found playing with Brass Lightning, Miss Mojo, Allen Stone, Elle King, Sexual Thunder!, Doombalaya, Noruz, and more.

He is a BOOST Music Teacher at New Orleans College Prep Charter Schools.

He played and performed with the Billie Davies Ensemble horn section in 2015 and with Billie Davies & The Bad Boyzzzz horn section in 2015/16.

He joined BILLIE DAVIES in January of 2018 for the “PERSPECTIVES I & II” project.

 IRIS P - vocals

  Born in 1985, in New Orleans, Catherine Poree' aka IRIS P, discovered her talent when she received her very first instrument, a violin, at the age of 6. From there she went on to perform in orchestra concerts and a host of plays, but most of all enjoyed singing with her mother, the late Marilyn J. Etienne, also known as LADY GOSPEL. In 2010 IRIS P started her mission to "save the world" by performing her original songs written from her extravagant poetry debuting a plethora of songs from her Underground EP "I Got Issues". IRIS         P shows style like no-other with Jazz Melodies when she played "Billie Holiday" in "Dryades Street Divas Review" in the summer of 2014, held at Ashe's Cultural Center. She won "Nola’s Hottest Female Vocalist In October of 2014" at the Nola Hip Hop Awards, and headlined in the Foundation Room at the New Orleans House of Blues. She joined BILLIE DAVIES for the recording of “On Hollywood Boulevard” in 2016.

Allie Porter - vocals

Hails from Crofton, MD and is a singer and songwriter now living in New Orleans with honest pipes and a heart of gold bringing you the music of your past, present and future.

She has been influenced by Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell, Irma Thomas, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Beyonce and Janis Joplin.

She can be seen performing in New Orleans with The Allie Porter Band, The Holy Trinity Trio and more. She joined BILLIE DAVIES in January of 2018 for the “PERSPECTIVES I & II” project.

Dancers in Video

Artivism Dance Theatre featuring Elle C Jones and Briana Alston

Artivism Dance Theatre is a collective dedicated to bringing awareness of social issues to a wide range of audiences through dance theatre. Artivism aims to generate discussion amongst its audiences and open a dialogue around these important issues. We prioritize communication of social message over esoteric performance, often using multimedia techniques in our work. We believe that art, and specifically movement, can communicate perspective and experience across gaps in culture, language, and tradition that might otherwise remain unbreachable.

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2xEmvlU

[myyearofgivingdaily]

Keeping Watch on the Rohingya

Today’s donation: Human Rights Watch

No wonder we’re not talking much about the humanitarian crisis with the Rohingya people in Myanmar and Bangladesh. We can’t even agree on how to pronounce it.

Some say row-HING-ga, with a hard g.

Some say row-HIN-ja, soft g.

Though what with Mueller, Trump tweets, Spacey, the World Series and whatever else is dominating the news of the day, in most U.S. media it’s hardly being said at all.

That’s nothing new. Five full years ago, Al Jazeera aired a program asking why is the world ignoring Myanmar’s Rohingya, calling them “the most persecuted people in the world.”  A year later the same network aired a documentary about it titled “The Hidden Genocide.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other agencies have been trying to keep a spotlight on this horrifying situation, a campaign in recent months by Burmese forces in what some have called ethnic cleansing against the predominantly Muslim group. More than half a million have fled to Bangladesh as the community in Myanmar has been targeted with murder, rape, villages burned to the ground and, for displaced survivors, conditions as dire as can be imagined.

Even for some aware of the situation, it’s hard to keep straight. Who are these people? Why are they being dealt with so severely and by whom? Well, the capsule is that the Rohingya are a “stateless” ethnicity centered in the Rakhine region of Myanmar, believed to be descended from Arab traders who went to South Asia in the 15th century or before. And just to further confuse things, at times in the past they were called Arakanese Indians, a name that still lingers in some places. (Arakan is the former name of Rakhine.)

Whatever they’re called, the have long been denied citizenship in Burma/Myanmar and held as pariahs by the predominantly Buddhist population there. Yes, Buddhist — generally seen in our western eyes as peaceful to a fault. And at the center of the current situation is Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who emerged as a political leader there following her release in 2010 after spending most of the past 11 years under house arrest. She seems to have deferred to the military in this matter and has received global condemnation for what many see as a failure to protect the Rohingya. Just this week, with some even calling for her Nobel to be revoked, she finally made a visit to Rakhine, so we will see if any real help or change in policy are forthcoming.

When I want to learn about a culture, two go-tos for me are music and food. The former proves a limited field in Internet searches, just a few traditional pieces, some modern love songs and a few new videos lamenting and/or protesting the crisis. And searches for the latter can be distressing. One site, the Stateless Rohingya, has a page devoted to food, but above stories on popular dishes and recipes are news pieces about Rohingya being banned from shopping in parts of Myanmar and of tens of thousands of Rohingya children “wasting” from hunger. The thought of enjoying the arts and eats of these people at this time is a troubling disconnect, whatever insights it might yield.

So instead, at this point it’s all about reading, watching and listening to the disturbing reports from the crisis. There are many out there, some more reliable than others. The Human Rights Watch organization seems a good resource, its page devoted to this matter carrying much information from various sources (as the outfit does with other humanitarian crises around the world). Obviously, awareness of a problem doesn’t address dealing with the problem itself. But it’s a crucial step. If we don’t even know that these people exist and what is happening to them, we can’t help. Human Rights Watch is doing crucial work in that regard. — Steve Hochman

About this blog: 
Causes and Effect: My Year of Giving Daily, was started in 2013 by entertainment and culture journalist Melinda Newman, who made daily donations to a wide variety of non-profits and wrote about her experience. USA Today music writer, Brian Mansfield took on this monumental task in 2014. Since then, various writers have taken turns with stints, as the effort comes to a close at the end of 2017.   

About Steve Hochman: Steve has covered popular, and unpopular, music for more than 32 years, most of that time as a key member of the Los Angeles Times’ music team. He is currently music critic for Pasadena station KPCC’s morning magazine “Take Two” and a regular contributor to BuzzBandsLA and to his own Make Mine Baconwrapped blog. He hosts interview-and-performance sessions at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and at New Orleans’ annual Jazz and Heritage Festival. His byline has appeared in an array of major publications, including Rolling Stone, Billboard and Entertainment Weekly and New Orleans’ Offbeat and he’s written liner notes for a range of projects, from an elaborate book in Disney’s award-winning box set of music from the Howard Ashman-Alan Menken animated musicals to reissues of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s first four albums. He’s thrilled to be sharing this month’s C&E with Geoff Mayfield.