“On the Rocks” – October 3rd playlist – SmoothJazzNow.com
Hey there…It has been a real adventure searching for music and creating a show that incorporates what is happening in chill/nujazz and classic contemporary jazz.
Feeling like I am at the beginning stages of an evolution in contemporary jazz – and that’s exciting!
Tonight’s playlist – please tune in between 6-9pm on
http://www.smoothjazznow.com, click on Listen Live icon to stream the show – FREE!
Sounds from the Ground – Marshmello
Incognito – I’ve Been Waiting
Peter White – Talkin’ Bout Love
Cantoma – Marisi from Cantoma
Najee – Not a Day Goes By
Better Daze – Golden Brown (Scribe Remix)
Gerardo Frisina – Captivation
Suntrust (featuring Jevon Mc Glory) – He Said
Marc Antoine – Madrid
Jazzanova – Coffee Talk (Yukihiro Fukutomi Remix
Philippe Saisse – Monday Afternoon
Robert Manos – Silver from luxury Lounge
Pat Metheny Group – To The End Of The World
Acoustique Parfume – Waiting
Beady Belle – Apron Strings
Masala – Just a Love
Torun Eriksen – Under the rainbow
Andre Ward Feat. Yasha – Andre’s Theme
Skye – What’s Wrong With Me
Acoustic Alchemy – Out of Nowhere
Headed In The Right Direction
Aware – En Busca del Sol
Afterlife – This Earth
Chieli Minucci – The Sun Will Always Shine
Groovematist – Dream Pod.
Dr Damo – St. Germain
Craig Chaquico – Native Tongue
Pretz – Chapel Stile
Brian Hughes – On Moonless Nights
Bugge Wesseltoft & Sidsel Endresen – Try
Alucidnation – Meantime (Loud FM Mix)
Roebeck – Just Wanna Be Loved from
Grant Geissman – Looking Back
Jamiroquai – Dijitaal Vibrations
Nick Colionne – The Big Windy
Boozoo Bajou – Night Over Manaus
Pat Metheny Group – Follow Me
You can find all these great tunes on your favourite digital music providers and of course iTunes!
“On The Rocks” – SmoothJazzNow.com – Sept. 26 playlist
I am hosting a radio show called “On the Rocks” on SmoothJazzNow.com that currently airs on Saturday nights between 6-9pm (eastern). We’re looking to have more shows during the week but for now, tune in tonight to hear the latest and hippest in chill, nujazz, electronic and contemporary jazz music. Smooth jazz has been needing a bit of a resurrection lately, so hopefully this show will help provide the much needed antidote.
September 26th playlist:
Thievery Corporation – Richest Man in Babylon
Trance Groove –Paris
YonderBoi –Amor
Bliss –Kissing
Aromabar –Little Brother
Cantoma –Cosmopole
Fragile State –Undercurrent
Gary B –Hold On
Groove Armada –Dusk You and Me
Pretz –Chapel Stile
Tosca –Honey
Cinematic Orchestra –All That I Give
Cujo –The Barazilinaire
Royksopp –Sparks
Sounds from the Ground –Marshmello
Bebel Gilberto –Alguem
India.Aire –Heading in the Right Direction
Amanaska –Sleep
Boozoo Bajou –Night Over Manaus
Afterlife Black –Iris
Pushmipulyu –Wake You
Rinocerose –Machine pour les Oreilles
Cybajazz –Cybajaz
DePhazz –No Jive
Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale –Slither
Torun Eriksen –Under the Rainbow
Tankerville –Entangled
Chocolate Tannoy –Over the Bridge
Pochill –Violet Theme
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND – PART 1
“Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to miami beach or hollywood.
Im taking a greyhound on the hudson river line-
Im in a new york state of mind.”– Billy Joel
I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself for six weeks. Once I arrived, I felt anxious because the time frame seemed too short and too long, all at once. What was I going to do? What was I not going to do?
My husband and I were given a chance to sublet an apartment on 151West and Riverside. Waaaaay upper west side, kinda Harlem, kinda Washington Heights . More like Dominican Republic – north. On our first cab ride from LaGuardia, north on Broadway to 151W and Riverside, I was transported back to my times in the Dominican, with merengue music lofting in the air and families out on the streets, with their lawn chairs, communing with their neighbors. Our host has been living here for 7 years. She assures us we have nothing to worry about in this neighborhood. But for us sheltered Canadians, the hood can be a bit menacing, the energy a bit intense. Once a few nights pass, we get used to the energy and realise that this is what it is – and it’s alive, full of life, vibrant and just real! With a few mice scurrying around in our apartment, just for fun!
New York, the artist’s Mecca. We reached a ceiling here in Canada. We have done what we could, achieved some notoreity but something just wasn’t giving. We weren’t catching a wave. For whatever reason. I’ve had a manager say to me that you have to be a story in your own country before going elsewhere. Well, I tried, really tried. But it seems like I am turning into one of those artists who can’t get arrested in her own town. Like Sir Nigel Hawthorne who squeezed out a career for years, doubting himself and his chosen profession until his mid 50’s when “Yes Minister” came into his life – and the rest is history as they say. Yup, can’t be a prophet in my own country – so I had to look elsewhere. New York, the artist’s Mecca….and here I am.
We arrived a few days after Michael Jackson had died. One of our walks the first few days took us into Harlem, right to the Apollo theatre. The streets were packed with folks, dancing, singing, signing a condolences wall, selling t-shirts, cd’s, memorbilia. Graceland must have been like this when the other King died. I hadn’t listened to MJ in years. The genius pop melodies were penetrating the air, bringing me right back to my youth and reminding me just how brilliant of a writer he was. Truly, there will never be another entertainer like him. And being here, in these first few emotional days of his passing, was a testament to the profound affect he has had on our generation and generations to come.
But again, back to the Mecca idea. I can’t help but feel motivated and inspired by the huge wave of energy in this city. From theatre to music to poetry to literature, there is just so much of it here, so many people doing it. As a result, so many more opportunities, a bigger playground to play in. And I can’t help but feel that anything is possible. That I could be myself and there would be a place for it instead of someone trying to put me in some kind of box because they need to do that in order to understand what I do. Or at least, if there are boxes to place people in, there are many more to choose from. So, someone isn’t trying to put my square peg into a round hole. There actually is a square hole for me somewhere. Nonetheless, it is hard, very hard. There are just so many more people trying to do the same thing as you. And yet, with that challenge, you feel a sense of possibility. Or at least because of the intensity of the energy in this city, you WANT to do something. You can’t help but feel proactive and want to participate somehow because you can no one is saying you can’t. It’s a level playing field. One established musician may be playing Madison Square Gardens one night and then you’ll see them in Barbes in the Brooklyn, a tiny jazz place.
One thing I need to keep in mind though is that it’s not always greener on the other side. Musicians here are struggling just as much if not more. Gigs pay real crap, I mean real crap unless of course you are playing a high level gig or in the pit orchestra at the theaters. As a result, many musicians get together to just play, do sessions to keep the chops going, to play somewhere and build the community. There is a strong community here, everyone trying to help one another out. And the loyalty factor is high. There may be a few more places to play, and yes the chances of Stevie Wonder walking into Smalls Jazz Club is high but doesn’t mean that gigs are flowing for our neighbors down south. It’s a tough tough go and yet, the music flows.
For an artist, New York has an incredible history. You can’t help but feel the creative history of the city when you walk its streets. How can you not bring to mind that Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward hey, even Madonna were all influenced and created here. Any one who creates for a living has at some point in their lives thought about going to New York. There is a reservoir here, a subconscious flow that permeates if you are tuned into it. On the surface there are millions of people scurrying around like the mice in our apartment. And then on a deeper level, if you’re tuning into that channel, there is an intense flow of creative energy that inspires and motivates. Now, you may need to get out to the Hamptons or something to really hear what that inspriration may be trying to give you because really, it is so hard to hear yourself think amongst the millions of people. But as a friend said to me the other day, there is something spiritual in this madness. And I think she is right. Maybe New York is the ultimate symbol for yin and yang: that on the one side, you have this incredible, intense madness and on the other a depth of spirit that inspires. And isn’t that what Meccas are about?
This is a huge lesson in – flow. A huge lesson in letting go, in surrendering and going with the current. Allowing this incredible wave to take me some place within myself that I never would have dreamed of going to on my own accord. Instead of trying to direct the direction of the current, I need to surrender to its direction and trust the process. Yes, it’s mad at times. And yes, it’s deep at times too. That is what I need to stay focused on and allow it to change me – because inevitably it will, whether I flow or resist. All limiting beliefs need to be cast aside and I need to open myself up to the possibility that all is possible. It will take a lot of hard work but that’s okay. Like that saying goes, something like, who are you to think you are NOT that great? You know that piece by Marion Williamson that everyone thinks Nelson Mandela wrote?!?! Or as another friend of mine said to me, God didn’t want you to hide your light under a bucket.
At the moment, this is New York: dream, imagine, be inspired – and get your hands dirty because it’s just plain hard work. You’ll be tired all the time, you’ll be busted open by the relentless energy that is going to force you to let go of any inhibitions and limiting beliefs. It’ll change you – and your light will be given a chance to shine a little brighter – regardless of the outcome.
Photos of the journey will be posted continuously on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielanardi/sets/72157621312739708
TIME IS NO MORE THAN AN IDEA – First year anniversary for Rosie Nardi
I wrote a song for my mother, called Rosetta. It has the line:“Time is no more than an idea.”
We have our own ideas of what time is. There’s too much time. Not enough time. Too little time. We wait for time. When a loved one passes away, it feels like there is no more time with them.
We think of time as mere hours in a day. It’s more than that. It is what happens within those hours that defines time.
Today marks one year since my mother passed away. Time seems to have contracted and expanded all at once. In one way, it feels like it has been an eternity since she has passed. In another, it feels like just yesterday that I said goodbye to my mother, my best friend.
Where has the time gone? The year has been like a dream. Many times, she seemed to be on some extended vacation. There were many moments when I wanted to tell her something. Talk to her. Check in with her. Share with her. But I couldn’t. And I couldn’t really grasp why her not being here just seemed too incredible to absorb.
Everyday I’d say to my husband, “I can’t believe she is gone. I just can’t.” Days felt like an eternity. Months seemed to grind on slowly, especially when a depression hit me this past winter.
Yet, here we are, one year later. I am scratching my head saying it’s a year already?? How did that happen?!?!?
To paraphrase Kierkegaard: “You live life forward but see it backwards.” In this past year, I have lived backwards, reliving the time I had with my mom. Those 41 years were contracted, squeezed into bite-sized memories. A lifetime reduced to moments. The moments had been real, but now feel dream-like, from another lifetime, from someone else’s life.
Time also expanded as I reviewed my life. I learned much about myself. About her. About our family. About her relationships. My life expanded. New light shone on situations I thought I understood.
My humility expanded. I realized how wrong I had been about some things. For example: I used to become incensed with how much my mother would worry. I found it suffocating at times. She would say to me ‘one day when you have your own child, you’ll understand why I worry so much.’
Now, in my expanded timescape, if I think how I would be with my child… I understand the worry… the deep concern… how a mother is tied to her child. Emotionally, spiritually and physically. Nothing can ever tear that deep bond apart. Not even death.
In my present, I am living a much expanded sense of my Self. Time is going into the future, tied to her in the past. Her brother, my Uncle Sam, passed away early this year. I was no longer mourning for one person, but two. Both carried a past of which I am a part, which I now carry on. My present was doubled. It expanded with all that came before me.
So, I am much more than the 41 years I have lived up until this point. I am much more than the hours on a clock.
Death may complete the cycle life starts. It doesn’t end two people’s connection. Another line in Rosetta: “with every word that’s said, is where we start with no end.”
There is no end. In this dimension, I have no day to day exchange with my mom. It hurts. Going into year two of my physical life without her, I am constantly reminded that she is not here. Not here when I need to tell her exciting news. Not here when I need a mother’s shoulder to cry on. The life of which she was so much a part, is emptier.
And yet… because of the years I lived with her; because of my expanded sense of self that doesn’t include her physically, but emotionally and spiritually; because of this all, she is in everything I do.
She is the air beneath me, the air that carries me, the breath within me. She is everywhere, in every thing, at every moment.
In the past, I had an unknown future with my mom. In the future, I will always have a loving, meaningful past with her. As I walk now with grief, no longer consumed by it, I realize how fortunate I am to have known this woman, and how grateful I am to have known this woman, this woman I was lucky enough to call my mom.
She implanted in me, from living with her all these years, a never-ending unwrapping of a never-ending gift.
In this time, in this dimension, I may not have her with me. She may have exhausted her time on this Earth. But I do have her within me. In more ways than I can ever imagine.
I have so much more time with her in my heart, in my soul, in my being.
The future will reveal all of this to me. In time.
Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards – Daniela Nardi, Best Female Vocalist
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2009
5TH ANNUAL CANADIAN SMOOTH JAZZ AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Toronto’s Daniela Nardi won her first Canadian Smooth Jazz Award last night. She took home ‘Female Vocalist of the Year.’
Canada’s annual Smooth Jazz celebration took place at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga last night with an all-star cast.
Warren Hill led the list of winners with three Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. The popular saxophonist won for ‘Wind Instrumentalist of the Year,’ ‘Best Original Composition’ for ‘La Dolce Vita’ (co-written by Nathan East and Sam Purkin) and the CD of the same name picked up ‘Album of the Year.’ With his newest honours, Hill also becomes the winningest artist in the history of the awards with six since 2005.
As in previous years, awards were split between Canadian and International categories. Winners in the latter category included multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson who picked up ‘International Instrumentalist of the Year’ and Seal won ‘International Vocalist.’ Super-group Fourplay won in the ‘Group’ Category.
Flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook picked up ‘Guitarist of the Year.’ He also won in the same category in 2006 and 2008.
International sensation Robin Thicke whose R&B flavored music has sold
millions was awarded ‘Male Vocalist of the Year.’
Other winners include Steve Heathcote as the first winner of the new
category ‘Drummer/Percussionist of the year’ and Fred Engler won in the
‘Keyboardist/Pianist’ category.
Stu Berketo of Wave 94.7 FM in Toronto/Hamilton was awarded ‘Broadcaster of the Year.”
The night was filled with amazing performances including that of ‘Lifetime
Achievement” winner Earl Klugh. The legendary guitarist followed in the
footsteps of previous winners, George Benson, Bob James, Spyro Gyra and Lee Ritenour.
Performers included Nick Colionne, Brian Culbertson, DeNate with Darren
Rahn, Kellylee Evans, Gabriel Mark Hasselbach, Warren Hill, Michael Lington,
Ray Parker Jr., Chris Smith with Phil Poppa, and Alexander Zonjic.
The Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards was started in 2005 by co-chairs, Mary Kirk
of Wave 94.7FM Toronto/Hamilton, Ont. and John Beaudin, owner Smooth Jazz
Now.com.
For further information, contact: http://www.canadiansmoothjazzawards.com
Mary Kirk, CSJA Chair
mary@kx96.fm
416 565 7211
2009 CSJA Winners
Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards
Living Arts Centre, Mississauga
FRIDAY April 24 8pm-11pm
International Instrumentalist of the Year
Brian Culbertson
International Vocalist of the Year
Seal
International Group of the Year
Fourplay
Female Vocalist of the Year
Daniela Nardi
Male Vocalist of the Year
Robin Thicke
Guitarist/Bass Guitarist of the Year
Jesse Cook
Wind Instrumentalist of the Year
Warren Hill
Keyboardist/Pianist of the Year
Fred Engler
Drummer/Percussionist of the Year
Steve Heathcote
Album of the Year
La Dolce Vita – Warren Hill – E1 Music (Koch)
Best Original Composition
“La Dolce Vita” – Warren Hill, Nathan East, Sam Purkin
Broadcaster of the Year
Stu Berketo Wave 94.7FM
Toronto/Hamilton
trying to stay awake with Zen tea and se …
trying to stay awake with Zen tea and searching layouts for my blog….liking this one… not sure if I want to customize one!
CONFESSIONS OF A WRITER – WORDS FROM THE BLOCK
It has been a few weeks since I have posted a blog. It’s not like I gave up writing for Lent or anything like that. I have been enduring some kind of writer’s block, feeling rather anxious about facing this blank screen. Anything that I tried to put to the keyboard seemed so uninteresting, so boring, so what?!??! And not of the Miles Davis kind. I was blocked and I haven’t been able to find my way out of it.
I sat again at my desk, looking at the blank screen and screaming out – what?!??! What do you want from me? What do you want to hear? Where do I even begin???
Then the words bellowed out – start where you are. And it hit me. Like the Buddhist monk Pema Chodron says, start where you are. Start with the anxiety, the fear, the sadness, the joy. Start where you are, go right into it and trust that all will unravel.
I do feel the anxiety, the pressure to write, to come up with something witty, engaging, thought provoking. I ask myself – why? what is this need to impress? Start where you are. Start where you are and you will be shown. I am being shown that my ego desires to present itself in the best light possible. Be it the voices, the ghosts of the past, present or future, I need to write that monumental work that will make heads spin with thought. Somewhere, a ghost whispers – anything coming up for you, you think you’re Virgina Woolf or something?!?! See, see you can’t follow up, follow through – you can’t write.
Whose bright idea was it that every time I sit down to write, I have to be some literary genius?
But that’s the pressure that I think many artists feel, this pressure to be genius. That the ghosts of past, present and future are looming over us, watching every move we make, every word we write, every note we sing – wait that song has been done! Oh and of course, make sure you are original.
I like what Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat Pray Love ) said in her 20 minute talk on Ted.com where we need to think of the genius as being outside of ourselves. That we need to stay focused on showing up, on showing up to do the work, to focus on our end of the bargain. She prefaced this by talking about how people would ask her if she felt pressure after having had such freakish success with her book. That she must feel like it’s impossible to follow up to that kind of success. Her response was well yeah, since you put it that way I guess I could feel a lot of pressure.
Elisabeth says that she chooses to focus on the work – not the success. To stay focused on the task at hand, that it’s our job to show up to the page and what becomes of it we really have no control over. What we do have control over is our skill and our ability to show up and work.
This leads me back to start where you are. I can’t be all those things the ghosts want me to be. Maybe yes, it is my discomfort with the stillness. That if there’s no action then there’s nothing there, nothing deep within. But we may sit there for a while before one thought leads to another thought which then leads to a thousand thoughts that eventually become our work.
This quote is taken out of context, it is by James Joyce, “The Dead”. He is talking more about individuation and waking up to one Self but I kind of like to relate this to writing:
“The world, I’ve come to think, is like the surface of a frozen lake. We walk along, we slip, we try to keep our balance and not to fall. One day there is a crack, and so we learn that underneath is an unimaginable depth.”
As a creative person, I need to trust that the crack will present itself, to have faith that if I start with where I am at, if I let go of all ego desires -go tell the ghosts to go have a coffee and tell the genius as well that you’ll show up to do your part and they can show up later – that what will present itself to me is a depth that I never imagined possible. That if I start where I am at, I will surprise myself with what wants to show up on the page. That I am not the sum of my mistakes or failures or even my successes. That I am a creative person, a writer, a musician who does enjoy swimming in the depths and seeing what lurks in the ocean of the mind and heart.
And that it will be “genius” only because I have shown up, started with where I was at – and trusted my Self.
GIVING UP OR GIVING IN?
I was born into a Catholic family, went to an Anglican high school, discovered Buddhism in university, devoted myself to yoga and is now married to a Jewish man. My religious and spiritual adventures have certainly been all over the map however there is one constant which is present in all spiritual walks: faith. We have something that we believe, something that takes us out of our day to day chaos and expands our mind to live our lives in such a way that is more meaningful instead of mechanical.
I bring this up because it’s Ash Wednesday tomorrow. When I was a kid, it wasn’t about potato pancakes. It was about what was I going to give up for 40 days. It was easy to say chocolate, easy to say I wasn’t going to play my favourite game, stuff like that. But of course, the true meaning of it was lost on me and now as an adult I am wondering, as the calendar stares me in the face: what am I going to give up?
But is it giving up or is it giving in?
If we really take this as a deep spiritual exercise, we can see that what is required of us in the next 40 days is to reframe our thinking. It is an opportunity to work that ego and find ways to “give in” to the truth that our ego is at work when we envy someone or when we compare ourselves, when we feel sorry for ourselves, etc. We need to find the humility (give in) and as Plato says something like, be kind because you don’t know what battle the other person is dealing with.
I know that sounds pretty new age flaky and theoretically a good idea but not practical, especially when kids are being thrown onto subway tracks and our economy is going through a massive transformation, leaving many jobless and insecure as to what their future will hold.
All we can do is try. Like when I was a kid, if I thought about giving up chocolate for 40 days, I would be back into the Hershey’s the day after I made that promise. We need to work in baby steps, to have each moment be the perfect teacher and not think we need to be the guru all at once.
On a small level, with our partners or co-worker, maybe we can “give in” to the fact that we get a little angry a little too quickly. So give it up, give in. Or maybe we wallow in our self pity because so and so got a promotion or is receiving more recognition. So give it up, give in.
At the end of the day, it’s about consciousness of the self. Sure we don’t like to see the dark parts but they are there too – so give it up, give in and own the fact that we are all comprised of dark and light. And if we own that, maybe we can find a way to have a little more compassion.
All I know for myself is that, when I focus on giving in to the ego and its trappings, I find a little more peace and freedom. And maybe working that each day, in some small way, I experience my own sort of resurrection.
SISTER DOING IT FOR HERSELF – SUPPORT THE INDIE ARTIST!
The music industry as we all know, has been going through some changes. Some say it’s the end of music as we know it. Well, in some ways it is. I don’t think however, we could ever do away with music in our lives. Music is at the core of what we do. We do have “soundtracks” we carefully select, consciously or not that accompany our lives, that play out the emotional landscape while we’re busy trying to go about our day to day business.
As for the independent artist, that is, the artist without major label support, this can be an exciting time. Though the dollars for touring and marketing are always well appreciated, we can still get our music out there thanks to many sources like Myspace, Facebook, etc. Technology is our friend and with a little time and effort, we can reach the world with our music.
But it also requires the support of the audience, the community. Word of mouth, spreading the word to your friends, colleagues, is a way to help us independent artists keep going on with what we’ve got going on!
What the music industry, much like the rest of the global economic community is having to do now is – go back to basics! And back to basics means, going back to the source – us! Getting real, getting honest, making things simple and moving forward one step at a time, conscious of the fact that we’re all in this together.
So, having said all that, here is a link to a personal message I have created about supporting the independent artist as they claw their way up the mountain!
Thanks for reading, would love your comments!!
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PERSONAL MESSAGE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIhpCg2SNI4
