Jazz DAY (2014) in J-A

 After 43 years the storied music and electronics store J&R Music World closes.

 

One of the last bastions of music retail in the Big Apple having survived Sam Goody, Tower, Virgin, HMV and countless others who came and went over the years J&R Music World was a solid rock of retail.  

 

Opened in 1971 with one store on Park Row I can remember when Raachele Friedman worked the register in their record department down in the basement under her father’s upstairs electronics store.  From that one store they expanded to pretty much buying up all the real estate on that one block (except the hardware store) to an empire and giant of electronics retail with an international reputation.  

 

Back in the hey day of the record business J&R Music World probably sold more records per square inch then any retailer in the US.

 

In fact when they first started they paid all their vendors in cash.  I was a sales rep back then and believe me when I tell you they kept many an independent record distributor afloat with their cash flow.

 

From 1985 to 1987 I managed their jazz department,  a stand alone store on top of their classical store at 33 Park Row.

 

Back in those days the record business was flush.  You could sell records with both hands 9 to 5 with no problem.

 

During the lunch rush (Noon to 2) you could sell a box of records right off the wall of any new release you played in the store. 

 

I did ‘In Stores' with many jazz legends including Horace Silver, Abbey Lincoln and Wayne Shorter.

 

You never knew who would stop in the store.  One time the actor Matt Dillion came in looking for classic Be Bop records for a role he was considering.

 

The article in the New York Times says it’s a reorganization so who know’s what the future will bring.

 

Jamaica Joins the World for Jazz Day 2014

Its described as THE global Jazz Jam: Since 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has officially designated April 30 as International Jazz Day in order to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe. The further caps a month of celebrations marking Jazz Appreciation Month.

Here in Jamaica, while the genre may have gone south in terms of mass appreciation from a few generations ago (when clubs like the Glass Bucket and Silver Slipper and bands like the Skatalites ruled the roost), there remains a nub of hardcore jazzophiles, many of whom will be heading to the Zinc Shack on the famed Hip Strip in second city Montego Bay, for the Jmaaican version of International Jazz Day.

This will take the form of a dance party/selector session presented by Gordon Wedderburn through his GW Jazz outfit. Wedderburn, who has hosted Jazz radio in the UK and also worked in the hospitality industry locally is committed to keeping Jamaica "in swing" with the rest of the world's jazz aficionados.

"Its our small way of recognizing the huge contributions of jazz to popular music and even of Jamaican musicians to jazz and music as a whole," he said in articulating the motive behind the event. "There'll be music for dancing and music for listening and just an overall atmosphere of good vibes."

Wedderburn, with support from musicophile and writer Michael Edwards previously staged a birthday tribute to the late Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti in October 2013, and plans are afoot to renew that event this year. Overall, the aim is to grow both events so as to be able to welcome live musical participation as the support base - and corporate interest - grows.

Internationally, Jazz Day 2014 celebrations will be centred in Osaka, Japan and will feature a wide array of live and synchronized acts, including giants Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

The New Talk King? SAINT Int'l boss Deiwght Peters steps into talk TV

The winds are changing internationally in the talk TV format, what with David Letterman's impending retirement and the prior departure of Jay Leno.

Here in Jamaica, a new entrant is intending to bring a "fresh, fun wind" of his own to the format. SAINT International CEO and style guru Deiwght Peters (yes, that's how his name is spelled - he even lampoons it on the show) premieres a new one-hour talk-fest appropriately dubbed the Deiwght Peters Show, on Television Jamaica as of April 25 at 9pm. The show will get an ideal lead-in as it is preceded by the long-running and popular "Entertainment Report"

Peters describes the show as "all about, fun, simplicity and style." There will be a brief mnonologue in the manner of the established chat shows, as well as a "Keepin It real" segment where the host will sound off on selected issues of the day. This beigh the Deiwght Peters Show, one expects a hefty style component and Stylin' 876 will function as a kind of "mini-Mr Blackwell's" identifying the who's hot and who's not of Jamaican fashion and celebrities.

Celebrities will take the couch s special guests, but Peters says they won't be allowed to just sit there and talk. "We'll have some activities as we get into our guests' headpsace and take them just a little bit out of their comfort zone, but all in good fun," he promises.

The show will be presented before and in-studio audience with both those inside and viewers around the world encouraged to link in via social media with  their feedback and opinions.

this inaugural season will be shortened one of six episodes, after which, Peters syas, things will crank up for the full measure next year.

The Deiwght Peters Show is presented withthe support of Courts Jamaica, L'Oreal, and Boom energy drtink (WISYNCo)