August 30:    Sapporo City Jazz Festival

September 1 & 2:    Nagoya Blue Note 

September 3:    Osaka Jazz

September 5 – 8:    Blue Note Tokyo

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The Hall of Fame Award (formerly Citation of Merit) was established to recognize and honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to society, their profession, the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, one of its departments or programs, or to the School of Music, Theatre & Dance Alumni Society. This award has been presented annually since 1977.

Bob James is a two-time GRAMMY award-winning smooth jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer. James is recognized as one of the progenitors of smooth jazz, however, his music has also had a profound effect on the history of hip hop music, having been sampled often. Two of James’ songs – “Nautilus” from 1974’s Oneand “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” from 1975’s Two  – are among the most sampled in hip hop history. He was discovered by Quincy Jones at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1963, and subsequently recorded his first solo album, Bold Conceptions, that year for Mercury Records.

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Check out Chuck Loeb’s new online Jazz Guitar School!

One of the most important things in Jazz Guitar is being able to improvise. To pull off a good solo, you need to know which key and scales work with the backing chords. What can be confusing when learning jazz guitar is that there are a variety of patterns and locations to play the same scale. It’s important to know the most efficient way of finding the right notes for the desired key from anywhere on the neck as you move around.

The way to do this is to learn the geography of the fretboard and understand how the notes relate to each other – which brings us to what Chuck Loeb refers to throughout his jazz guitar lessons as “The 6 Positions.”

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Harvey Mason is among the most recorded and in-demand drummers of all-time. A legendary, multi-GRAMMY® nominated session drummer, producer, composer & recording artist, he has worked with a pantheon of musical giants, including Barbra Streisand, James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bjork, Carlos Santana, Michael Jackson, John Legend, Seal, and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has composed and written songs recorded by artists ranging from Nancy Wilson and Mary J. Blige to The Notorious B.I.G., Lupe Fiasco, Nelly/P. Diddy and T.I.

Chameleon, Mason’s April 29, 2014 solo debut for Concord Records and 10th solo project overall, adds one more remarkable chapter to his legacy. A blend of R&B, urban and cutting-edge jazz, Chameleon takes its inspiration from the title track, which Mason co-wrote with Herbie Hancock, and is a knowing nod to Mason himself, aptly dubbed the “Chameleon” for his uncanny ability to perform so many styles of music. The album updates classic tracks that Mason either wrote or actually played on, such as Hancock’s “Chameleon,” Grover Washington’s “Black Frost,” Patrice Rushen’s “Before the Dawn,” Donald Byrd’s “Places and Spaces” and Mason’s own “Either Way.” Look for Mason to hit the road with his new band Chameleon to support his Concord release.

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France’s Culture Jazz has selected ‘Quartette Humaine’ among its Top 5 Records of 2013.

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Fourplay graced Seattle’s Jazzy Alley all weekend with the smooth sounds of sweetness…

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