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Since Michael Jackson’s death last week the King of Pop’s fans have shown respect in a myriad of ways. This video has to be the most unique, and if you think about it, the most fitting.
1500 inmates in the Philippines paying tribute to the fallen pop star. This isn’t their first Jackson performance. Take a look at their Thriller video. Inmates dancing to Michael Jackson? Odd. Bizarre. Messed up. And near perfect.
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Jacky Terrasson at Iridium Jazz Club, NYC, June 25, 2009.
BETWEEN SETS WITH JACKY TERRASSON
Just three blocks north of Times Square in Manhattan, you’ll find the world-famous Iridium Jazz Club (51st Street and Broadway). Iridium is a great place to celebrate and support live music. If you’re in the City, unplug your earbuds and check out Iridium’s stellar lineup of upcoming concerts.
Iridium recently hosted the outstanding French pianist, Jacky Terrasson with Ben Williams on bass and Jamire Williams on drums. We thought it was pretty brilliant, and apparently, we were not alone (see New York Times Review)!
Sundancechannel.com: You’re a very international guy – and your playing really reflects that.
Jacky Terrasson: Yeah, well my background is… my mom’s from North Carolina – she grew up in Durham, and my father’s French. My mom’s black American and my father’s French French (laughs). I grew up near Paris, France – and I moved to New York City around 1990.
Sundancechannel.com: What or who prompted you to enter the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in 1993?
Jacky Terrasson: Actually a friend of mine who was here at the first set. He was one of my first fans and he was at Bradley’s Jazz Club when I used to play there. He used to come to every set and he said, “You know, man, there’s this competition…” And I studied classical music for like eight years, and when that word came out of his mouth, “competition,” I was like “No, man, I’m not going there!” (laughs) You know, to me it was so part of the classical world. And he showed me some press about it and some articles about it and said, “This could really help you…” And I talked to other people and, finally, you know, I submitted a tape and I was accepted.
Sundancechannel.com: Did you realize beforehand what kind of a big deal it would be when you won?
Jacky Terrasson: No, absolutely not. I didn’t have any clue.
Sundancechannel.com: What kind of specific opportunities opened up for you immediately after you won the Monk Competition?
Jacky Terrasson: Well, before the competition, Tom Everett and Bruce Lundvall from Blue Note Records were coming to a lot of gigs. And so, everything kind of happened at the same time. And this guy, Richard Salters, a friend of mine said, “You should do [the competition] before you sign any kind of deal – you never know.” So what it did for me was it put me in a situation where, basically, there was not only Blue Note that was interested in me, but other labels and, you know, I was 25 years old or so and, well, everything helps. It created more buzz, more hype… more in the spotlight and, basically, it was a good position to be in.
Sundancechannel.com: What artists did you listen to growing up in France?
Jacky Terrasson: You know, I was so stuck, I was so limited – in a great way – but I was listening only to classical music and piano trios. I was listening to Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk. I loved, always loved Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, big Miles Davis fan, Bill Evans. And later, when I was 18 or so, I discovered Herbie (Hancock), Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett then later, Chick Corea.
But, I mean, during the whole teen age years, I was really not into… and I regret it in one way, because I realize there’s a lot of social - just normal growing up things that I was totally void to. I didn’t know anything about pop music or rock and roll, you know? All my friends, when I was in high school, were listening to AC DC and I was, like, “Arrgghhh” (laughs). It was great, but at the same time, it was funny because I just felt like I was on this little island listening to this other music.
Sundancechannel.com: You are so inventive and creative on the piano and get more mileage out of the instrument than a lot of others do – when did you first start experimenting with plucking the strings and playing the board as a hand drum?
Jacky Terrasson: You know, I just think of the instrument as something that has a lot to offer… and, uh, I’m not the first one who’s done it, you know, I mean, I’ve seen Herbie [Hancock] pluck strings, Keith Jarrett get inside the piano and do all kinds of crazy stuff… Cecil Taylor. I just like discovering sounds, you know – something that nobody’s done. So that’s my next thing – finding a new sound…
You know, a lot of people say the trio format is kind of limited because it’s been done for so many years now. My challenge is to find another expression with the same instruments – it’s wood, it’s metal, it’s skins - well, now it’s plastic (laughs) – but still very noble and primal. I like the idea of primal - primitive? primal? elements and the idea of expanding until that stuff, well, bursts!
Sundancechannel.com: What artists would we see on you iPod?
Jacky Terrasson: I have an iPod in my pocket right now! (laughs) A lot of stuff – a lot of jazz, a lot of classical music – some Beyoncé, some Tracy Chapman, a lot of Sting. Today I was listening a little to Michael Jackson, of course. [This concert and interview occurred on the day Michael Jackson died.] And I love ethnic music… some names that I can’t even pronounce, but, Indian music and African music.
Sundancechannel.com: What’s coming up for you in the next year?
Jacky Terrasson: Well, I just signed with Concord Records and we’re planning on recording this summer.
Sundancechannel.com: With the trio we saw tonight? (Ben Williams on bass and Jamire Williams on drums)
Jacky Terrasson: Yeah, this trio will be part of it, and I’m planning on having a few guests on it… just to do something different from the records I’ve been doing previously with Blue Note Records. So, I’m going to have a few guests and maybe it’s going to be more on the “push” side like tonight.
Sundancechannel.com: Any touring this summer?
Jacky Terrasson: I’m doing a few festivals in Europe in August and then I’m working on the album. The new album will probably be out February or March of 2010.
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The great stop-motion video below was the senior project of a Savannah College of Art and Design student named Bang-yao Liu. The music is by one of my favorite groups, the Norwegian electronica duo Royksopp:
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I don’t know about the rest of the country, but the cold and damp weather this month in New York has led some to rename June as “Junuary.” Hopefully these music videos will be a ray of light or at least some warmth in these overcast days.
1. Our bosom buddies at m ss ng p eces (who we are currently working on a project with–stay tuned!) produced and directed this fun and lively new video which debuted on Boing Boing for Hess is More’s “Ssshhh” from the new album “Hits.”
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Dave Weckl (center) on drums with Oz Noy (L) on guitar and Will Lee (R) on bass at Iridium.
BETWEEN SETS WITH OZ NOY, DAVE WECKL AND WILL LEE
Iridium Jazz Club, just north of Times Square in New York City, plays host to some of jazz’s most established legends as well as the hottest newcomers. Recently, Iridium hosted the fantastic trio of headliners performing as the Oz Noy Trio Feat. Noy was joined by drumming legend, Dave Weckl and bass virtuoso, Will Lee for an unforgettable (and totally packed) gig at Iridium. Sundancechannel.com was lucky enough to catch up will all three musicians between sets. Click to read Part 1 with Oz Noy and Part 2 with Will Lee.
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While listening to filmmaker David Lynch speak at the BAFTA Awards in February 2008, Moby had an epiphany. Lynch’s message – creativity for its own sake is a beautiful, wonderful thing – was a simple one, but it hit Moby with the force of the Zen master’s cane. “At that moment, I decided to just make records that were more personal,” says Moby, “maybe more experimental, and a little more challenging, maybe not as easy to like, but things that I found to be artistically and creatively more satisfying. That was the idea behind making the new album.”
The album resulting from this epiphany, Wait For Me (to be released on June 30, 2009 via Mute), is a radical departure from Moby’s recent albums and the video for the album’s debut track, a moody and contemplative instrumental called “Shot In The Back Of The Head,” is a beautiful dark animation directed by David Lynch. Watch below!
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Staten Island elementary public school PS22’s choir led by their teacher Gregg “Mr. B” Breinberg has achieved fame around the world thanks to their adorable and innocently soulful renditions of pop songs from Fleetwood Mac to Tori Amos (who wiped away a tear when they sang one of her songs to her). Most recently, they’ve recorded an amazing (slightly tweaked) cover of Lady Gaga.
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Moby
Moby recently introduced a select group of fans in New York to his new album Wait for Me with a listening party at the Hayden Planetarium. Nestling back in our stadium seating we literally spent the next hour plus staring into space, mesmerized by the deftly choreographed interstellar flybys as they ebbed and flowed with the lush and often cinematic soundscapes peppering this eclectic album.
While Wait For Me is rich with the sweeping, emotionally expansive music Moby has become known for, it also spreads its wings wide into territory that even bears the influence of Moby’s punk days, albeit in odd ways. “Mistake” is an homage to the emotional post-punk of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, while the title track’s depiction of quiet despair was inspired by Black Flag’s Damaged album.
Sonically, though, Wait For Me takes inspiration from a kinder, gentler era long before punk, even before the dawn of rock ’n’ roll. “I wanted to make a record that was beautiful and warm and open and inviting, and also a little more idiosyncratic and personal,” Moby says. “The way it’s recorded and mixed, it’s not supposed to be bombastic. A lot of my issues with modern records is they, from start to finish, are just in your face, they’re loud and brash and demanding. Sometimes that can be great, but when every instrument is mixed as loud as it can go and when vocals are constantly in your face and everything’s bright and there’s no subtlety, I don’t want to invite records like that into my house. They sound great when you’re in a rental car listening to Top 40 radio, but the records that I find myself more drawn to are very minimally recorded old blues records, records that are quite austere and simple. So I did want this record to have that austere quality.”
While the planetarium shindig was a one-time thing, we highly recommend you stage your own listening party by picking up the record, kicking back somewhere comfortable, snapping on some headphones and listening, start to finish, while staring at the sky. You’ll thank us as you wander through that space between the lush and the austere that Moby’s Wait For Me calls home.
As a ramp-up to the album’s release date of June 30th we’ll be highlighting various Moby-related features on SUNfiltered including an exclusive remix, videos and interviews, so keep checking back all week for more. Today we’re excited to present a SUNfiltered exclusive, Davide Rossi’s remix of one of the upcoming tracks from Wait for Me entitled “Pale Horses.” A longtime collaborator with Goldfrapp and The Verve, Rossi’s potent string arrangements were also prominently featured on Coldplay’s Viva La Vida album on tracks like “Violet Hill” and the Grammys’ 2009 song of the year “Viva La Vida.” Listen to the track now:
Davide Rossi is a violinist, a string arranger, a music producer and a composer. He studied at the Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ di Milano, where he received his diploma in his early twenties.
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Will Lee (right) with Oz Noy on guitar and Dave Weckl on drums at Iridium.
BETWEEN SETS WITH OZ NOY, DAVE WECKL AND WILL LEE
Iridium Jazz Club, just north of Times Square in New York City, plays host to some of jazz’s most established legends as well as the hottest newcomers. Recently, Iridium hosted the fantastic trio of headliners performing as the Oz Noy Trio Feat. Noy was joined by drumming legend, Dave Weckl and bass virtuoso, Will Lee for an unforgettable (and totally packed) gig at Iridium. Sundancechannel.com was lucky enough to catch up will all three musicians between sets. If you missed our conversation with Oz Noy click here.
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Here’s your weekly music video round up hyped around the Internet.
1. If I may say so, this entry is starting off strong. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at this first video, “You Came Out” from UK group We Have Band. Directed by David Wilson this was created from 4,816 still images!
Care Bears on Fire Video from Orange Dot on Vimeo.
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“Using both praxinoscopes and the technique of matching up the frame rate of the spinning record to that of the camera” without any digital assistance David Wilson at Blink created and directed this animated promo video for Morey McLaren, “We Got Time.” It’s just way too unique to bury in my weekly SUNfiltered music video round ups.
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