Celebrated actor Don Cheadle has always had a fascination with legendary trumpeter Miles Davis. Thanks to a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo, Cheadle will be able to make his directorial debut about the life of one of his favorite artists.
The film titled “Miles Ahead” will focus on Davis’ return to music after a five year absence many call his “silent period.” Miles Davis’ marriage to his first wife Frances Taylor Davis will also be examined in the film.
Cheadle gave fans a first look of the film through an exclusive with Entertainment Weekly Magazine. The photo is of Cheadle in costume as Davis.
article by Jonathan Hailey via theurbandaily.com
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This past weekend’s Essence Festival surpassed its record setting attendance of last year’s 543,000 attendees by 7,000. At the 20th anniversary of the famed festival, more than 550,000 people attended and saw various performances, activities, and speakers throughout the Fourth of July weekend in New Orleans.
“Through a unique combination of entertainment and empowerment programming, the ESSENCE Festival has become the place where we come together to revel in culture and connect to our community,” said ESSENCE Communications President Michelle Ebanks. “In recognition of our 20-year milestone, we are tremendously proud to have offered more curated content than ever before—live in New Orleans for our more than 550,000 festival-goers and available digitally on multiple screens for our ESSENCE community of 11.5 million.”
There were more than 80 performers including such dignitaries as Prince, Mary J. Blige, Lionel Richie, Robin Roberts, Alicia Keys, Steve Harvey and Rev. Al Sharpton.
article by Cedric “BIG CED” Thornton via blackenterprise.com
As a proud native of Houston, Texas, Beyoncé is leaving her mark on the city that groomed her to become an international star. The singer’s hometown pastor says the star has donated millions to his church to help the homeless and feed the poor.
In a recent interview with KHOU 11, Rev. Rudy Rasmus said St. Johns Downtown has benefited from Beyoncé’s $7 million gift to the establishment. Despite her superstar status, the pastor explained the Grammy award-winning artist still has a heart of gold.
“She has a global platform and is doing some amazing work and I’m glad she’s a friend of mine,” Rasmus said. “[…] She’s an incredible human being. Has an incredible heart and has been extremely helpful in our mission and our ministry here.”
Rasmus said Beyoncé has kept the ministry near and dear to her heart because she grew up at that very church and entertained the congregation with her musical talents.
“She used to sing right here,” he pointed out. “I don’t remember the song but I do remember she had long braids, tennis shoes and jeans on. A far cry from what she is today.”
article by Camille Travis via uptownmagazine.com
Music and movie fans alike have been waiting anxiously to see Andre 3000 star as legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. While the film “All Is By My Side” hits theaters on September 26th, another trailer has been released, theurbandaily.com reports.
“All Is By My Side” follows Hendrix’s life for one year, 1966 to 1967. That was the pivotal year Hendrix went from a backup guitarist at a New York nightspot The Cheetah Club to making a name for himself in the London music scene and finally his breakout moment at Monterey Pop Festival. The film was written and directed by Oscar winner John Ridley, who is currently executive producing the new drama series “American Crime” for ABC.
Check out the official trailer for “All Is By My Side” below:
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
A watershed moment, a major milestone, recently took place on Broadway, with the orchestras of four major shows led under the batons of distinguished African-American music directors and conductors. This marks the first time in the history of Broadway that this many African-Americans have been in executive roles in major productions running contemporaneously.
The men in front of the orchestra and behind the music are (L to R) Daryl Waters, music supervisor and conductor for “After Midnight,” recalling Duke Ellington’s years at the Cotton Club; Zane Mark, music director and conductor for “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” inspired by the late hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur; Joseph Joubert, music director and conductor for “Motown the Musical,” about Berry Gordy’s famous music label; and Shelton Becton, conductor, pianist and performer in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” about the legendary Billie Holliday.
article via amsterdamnews.com
Bobby Womack, the multitalented singer-songwriter-guitarist who left an indelible mark on R&B and soul in the 1960s and ’70s, died Friday at 70, his record label XL Recordings confirmed. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2012.
A gutsy singer and a superlative guitar player, Womack charted nearly 50 hits, the majority of them self-penned, during his career of more than 40 years. His No. 1 R&B entries were “Woman’s Gotta Have It” (1972) and “Lookin’ for a Love” (1974), a remake of a number he recorded with his family act the Valentinos for Sam Cooke’s SAR label.
Womack also notched a top 20 hit with “Across 110th Street,” the title number from the 1973 crime thriller starring Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto; Quentin Tarantino appropriated the song for use under the opening credits of his 1997 pic “Jackie Brown,” and it was also employed in the 2007 Denzel Washington starrer “American Gangster.”
Born in Cleveland to a musical and religious family, Womack began singing and playing guitar at an early age. He toured the gospel circuit with his brothers. Cooke – also a product of gospel music, and the former lead singer of the Soul Stirrers – took the act under his wing, and recorded for SAR with a new moniker. After scoring a No. 8 hit in 1962 with “Lookin’ for a Love,” the group reached No. 21 in 1964 with “It’s All Over Now,” which the Rolling Stones turned into a top 30 pop hit the same year.
After Cooke was shot and killed in an incident at a Los Angeles motel in 1964, the Valentinos disbanded. Womack married Cooke’s widow Barbara three months after the singer’s death.
Womack initially made an impression as a sideman, playing guitar on crucial sessions at FAME in Muscle Shoals and American Studios in Memphis behind Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett (who also cut several of Womack’s compositions for Atlantic).
He recorded some lesser R&B chart singles for New Orleans’ Minit Records before signing in 1971 with United Artists Records, where he found his greatest commercial success. His hits for the company – which combined his trademark grit with a softer, acoustic-based sound – included “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha’” ((No. 2, 1971), “Harry Hippie” (No. 8, 1972), “Nobody Wants You When You’re Down and Out” (No. 2, 1973), “You’re Welcome, Stop on By” (No. 5, 1974), “Check It Out” (No. 6, 1975) and “Daylight” (No. 5, 1976). He also crafted some outstanding albums for the company, including “Communication” (1971) and “Understanding” (1972).
Womack segued to Beverly Glen Records in the late ’70s; there he recorded the mellow, widely praised album “The Poet” (No. 29 in 1981) and its 1984 successor “The Poet II” (No. 60).
He wrestled with a serious cocaine addiction that scuttled his career in the ’80s. He recorded sporadically thereafter, and published an outrageous autobiography, “I’m a Midnight Mover,” in 2006. His later life was marred by tragedy, including the murder of one of his brothers, the death of two sons, and the jailing of a third.
However, after making an appearance on Gorillaz’s 2010 album “Plastic Beach,” he enjoyed a latter-day renaissance. Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn co-produced the 2012 XL set “The Bravest Man in the Universe,” which served to reinstate Womack’s reputation as one of the top do-everything talents in R&B. He played a show at L.A.’s Wilshire Theatre earlier this year, and had been scheduled to perform several tour dates in Europe this summer.
Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Watch him perform of one of his best, most well-known songs, “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” below:
article by Christopher Morris via Variety.com
Conductor Thomas Wilkins has been a familiar face to classical music fans in Los Angeles since at least 2008, when he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
On Thursday, Wilkins officially took on a new title with the orchestra — principal conductor — signaling a more permanent role in the institution. Wilkins made his Bowl debut in 2007 and has held a series of two-year appointments in his role as principal guest conductor.
On Thursday, Wilkins officially took on a new title with the orchestra — principal conductor — signaling a more permanent role in the institution. Wilkins made his Bowl debut in 2007 and has held a series of two-year appointments in his role as principal guest conductor.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, which made the announcement on Thursday, said that Wilkins has led the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at 50 concerts during his periods as principal guest conductor.
The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra was led for many years by conductor John Mauceri, who stepped down in 2006.
Jimmy Scott, a jazz singer whose distinctively plaintive delivery and unusually high-pitched voice earned him a loyal following and, late in life, a taste of bona fide stardom, died on Thursday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 88.
The cause was cardiac arrest, his wife, Jeanie Scott, said.
Mr. Scott’s career finished on a high note, with steady work from the early 1990s on, as well as a Grammy nomination, glowing reviews and praise from well-known fellow performers like Madonna, who called him “the only singer who makes me cry.” But the first four decades of his career were checkered, with long periods of inactivity and more lows than highs.
After enjoying sporadic success in the 1950s, he had almost none in the 1960s. Albums he recorded for major labels in 1962 and 1969, which might have jump-started his career, were quickly withdrawn from the market when another company claimed to have him under contract. He virtually stopped performing in the 1970s and made no records between 1975 and 1990.
The fact that both men and women considered themselves Mr. Scott’s disciples is not surprising: because of a rare genetic condition called Kallmann syndrome, which caused his body to stop maturing before he reached puberty, Mr. Scott’s voice never changed, and he remained an eerie, androgynous alto his whole life.
Standing 4-foot-11, with a hairless face to match his boyish voice, he was originally billed as Little Jimmy Scott, and he was presented to audiences as a child until well into his 20s. In his mid-30s he unexpectedly grew eight inches taller and, although he otherwise remained physically unchanged, doctors told him an operation might stimulate his hormonal development. He decided against it.
“I was afraid of entering uncharted territory,” Mr. Scott told David Ritz, the author of “Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott” (2002). “Besides, fooling with my hormones might mean changing my voice. Whatever the problems that came with the deficiency, my voice was the one thing I could count on.”
Mr. Scott’s condition left him incapable of reproduction.
James Victor Scott was born on July 17, 1925, in Cleveland. The third of 10 children, he lived in orphanages and foster homes after his mother was killed in a car accident when he was 13. After singing in local nightclubs for a few years, he went on the road in 1945 with a vaudeville-style show headed by Estella Young, a dancer and contortionist. He moved to New York City in 1947 and joined Lionel Hampton’s band a year later.
His 1950 recording of “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” with Hampton set the pattern for his later work. A mournful ballad of love gone wrong, the song was delivered with feverish intensity and idiosyncratic, behind-the-beat phrasing. The record was a hit, but because it was credited on the label simply to “Lionel Hampton, vocal with orchestra,” few people knew that Mr. Scott was the singer.
According to MTV Act, Beyoncé is donating $125,000 to Embrace Innovations, an organization that gives out little “sleeping bags” to keep alive underweight infants whose parents can’t afford (or don’t have access to) an incubator.
They aren’t actually sleeping bags, but they look like them, and they are lifesaving and easy to use. Thanks to Beyoncé, there will be pilot testing with these inventions in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda, and Beyoncé could be saving at least two thousand infants via her contribution. The baby warmers have already been used in some areas of the world, but this will ensure more parents are able to get them.
Beyoncé announced her donation while at Gucci’s Chime for Change anniversary party. Since Chime for Change is dedicated to helping women, it was great timing. Jane Chen, the TED Fellow and TED speaker behind the baby warmers, was thrilled by the support.
“She [Beyoncé] told me how incredible she thought the innovation was,” Jane said. “I think what struck me was how sweet and genuine she was—and just so excited about our work. One of my most memorable moments was getting to dance with her after we spoke.” Beyoncé’s publicist, who had given birth to a premature baby, also fully understood the importance of this invention.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Apparently 50 Cent’s new STARZ series, “Power,” was a major hit. After just one episode, the cable network has announced that the series will be renewed for a second season, Deadline reports.
The fast-moving drama debuted last weekend “with 462,000 Live+same day at 9 PM, 1.27 million for the three Saturday night airings and 2.022 million for the nine weekend runs on Saturday and Sunday.” In case you’ve been out of the loop for a bit, the 50 Cent-produced series is “set in two different worlds, the glamorous New York club scene and the brutal drug trade” and follows the story of Ghost St. Patrick, a drug dealer and businessman with dreams of going legit. Stars include “Being Mary Jane” actor Omari Hardwick, Naturi Naughton and Lela Loren.
“Tasha St. Patrick, she’s crazy,” Naturi recently described her character to Shadow and Act. “She really is Ghost’s sidekick, the other half of Bonnie and Clyde. She came up from the streets, grew up in Queens, and had a rough life. She had desires to be a singer but those desires got cut short because she was pregnant at 19 with Ghost’s child. He’s trying to choose between going legit and staying in the drug game, and she’s pretty much the woman who’s like look, we’ve built this empire together, I’ll ride with you to the end. She’ll throw the gun away, she’ll tell you how to dump the body. She’s an edgy character and not afraid to do whatever it takes to keep the family together.”
Production for season two begins in September.
See more at: http://madamenoire.com/438064/starz-renews-50-cents-power-season-2-just-1-episode/#sthash.bcWJ1fZa.dpuf