When smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz heard Juliana Wetmore’s story, he knew he had to do something to help in the spirit of the holiday season. Juliana is a young girl born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by facial deformities. She’s been called “the girl without a face.”
“I was recently asked by my friend, Nashville-based producer/guitarist/composer Skip Ewing, to be a part of a project near and dear to his heart,” Koz says. “He shared with me a story and images of Juliana, a young girl he met who transformed his life and taught him many important lessons. Once I saw the spirit of this little girl come shining through, I knew it was a project I’d want to be involved with as well.”
The result is the instrumental song “Juliana’s Smile,” composed by Ewing and featuring Koz and jazz-banjo player Bela Fleck. You can watch and hear a video of the song on YouTube. More importantly though, says Koz, you can purchase “Juliana’s Smile” from amazon.com and iTunes. Proceeds from the sale of the song purchased as a single or on Ewing’s CD titled Hits Volume One, go to benefit Juliana and her family.
“The music so poignantly complements the story of Juliana’s journey,” says Koz, “and shows us, especially at this time of the year with the holidays approaching, what truly matters in life. Despite devastating physical challenges this ‘girl without a face’ is teaching us all a whole lot and doing so in such a beautiful, touching and heartfelt way. I must say that these images can be a little graphic and jarring. But once you look beyond the surface and see the love and acceptance and joy coming through this amazing (and huge) spirit, I believe you too will be moved like we all were. I invite you to take a look at the video and listen to the song, and if so inclined, share it with the people closest to you in your life. It’s an opportunity to remember how truly blessed we all are.”
Smooth jazz saxophonist Kyle Wolverton has announced that he will be performing in a New Year’s Eve show at the St. Regis Monarch Beach hotel in Dana Point, CA. The hotel is California’s only Mobil Five-Star resort.
Wolverton, a Seattle native who now lives in Southern California, recently released a CD titled Soul Groove. A single from that CD, “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” this week took a big leap to No. 8 from No. 19 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20.
Soul Groove, Wolverton’s debut solo project, features collaborations with musicians such as Abraham Laboriel Sr., Joey Heredia, Vail Johnson, Joey Navarro and Brandon Fields.
The Recording Academy announced today (December 22) that Maxwell will be performing at the Grammy Awards next month. Maxwell’s latest CD, BLACKsummers’ Night, is nominated for six awards. One of those nominations is for an instrumental track titled “Phoenix Rise.” It is in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category, where Maxwell will be competing with Herb Alpert, Bela Fleck, Imogen Heap and Marcus Miller.
“Phoenix Rise” will be featured as the Feedback Track on the January 2 edition of the Smooth Jazz Top 20 hosted by Allen Kepler.
Also among the first performers announced for the Grammys today were Beyonce, Taylor Swift, the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Antebellum. Additional performers will be announced at a later date. The 52nd annual Grammy Awards will be held January 31 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and televised by CBS.
History has been made as Sade has the first vocal tune to hit No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with “Soldier of Love.” The #1 position is based on Mediabase monitoring and measured by total audience reach. Sade’s historic hit single will be reflected on the first Smooth Jazz Top 20 show of 2010 the weekend of January 2. According to Mediabase, “Soldier of Love” was heard by 2,410,000 smooth jazz listeners since it was first aired on December 8. That was even more remarkable given that the song had only a partial week of airplay.
In addition, “Soldier of Love” becomes the first song to actually debut at #1 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20.
“Soldier Of Love,” which Sade co-produced with Mike Pela, was written by Sade along with longtime collaborators Andrew Hale, Stuart Matthewman and Paul Spencer Denman and is from her forthcoming CD of the same name. Recorded in England, it will be released on February 9. It’s Sade’s first official CD since the multi-platinum release of Lovers Rock in 2000, which featured the smooth jazz singles “By Your Side,” “Somebody Already Broke My Heart” and “Lovers Rock.”
Fifty years ago, in 1959, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis released what has become arguably the most famous jazz album of all time: Kind of Blue. Now, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to honor the landmark album’s contribution to the genre.
Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who sponsored the measure, said Davis and his group “made musical history and changed the artistic landscape of this country and in some ways the world.” The resolution recognizing the album’s 50th anniversary passed on a 409-0 vote.
Kind of Blue features Davis and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
The album has five songs: “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” “Blue in Green,” “All Blues” and “Flamenco Sketches.”
Saxophonist Dave Koz has announced he will have a phone conversation with members of his Join the Koz fan club. It will be held January 7 at 6:30 p.m. PT.
Koz, a Smooth Jazz Network weekday afternoon host, says he has plenty to talk about. He recently received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, will soon be wrapping up his Christmas tour, and is headed out to a sold-out cruise. Koz will also talk about what he has planned for 2010 and anything else fan members want to know.
If you are a current member of Join The Koz, you can go to davekoz.com, where you’ll see a link to an e-mail to send by midnight on December 28. A full name in the body of the email is needed for membership confirmation.
If you are not currently a member of Dave’s official fan club, you can also go to davekoz.com and purchase a new membership. There are many perks besides the opportunity to chat with Koz. After you join, you can follow the directions above to be included in the drawing.
Ten winning fan club members will be notified via email by December 30.
For those in the L.A. area, Koz will be appear live shortly after 9 a.m. today (December 21) on Good Day LA, a morning show on TV station KTTV.
Happy birthday today (December 20) to saxophonist Jessy J, whose most recent song “Tropical Rain,” the title track to her sophomore release, was No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 for a phenomenal three months. Will Jessy’s song be No. for 2009? You can find out this weekend on the show as host Allen Kepler counts down the biggest songs of the year.
Born Jessica Arrelano in Portland, OR, Jessy is a USC graduate who was raised by her Mexican-American parents in Southern California, where she now lives. Jessy J, who is bilingual, tells us which language she learned first. “Actually, Spanish was my first language and I didn’t speak English until I started going to kindergarten. And even then I protested just a little bit because I was so used to speaking Spanish that I didn’t want to have to speak English. But I’m really glad that I did learn Spanish first because I feel like I’ll never forget it.”
In addition to her solo shows, Jessy also frequently tours with Michael Bolton and Mexican superstar Gloria Trevi. She’s also performed recently with Seal, the Temptations and the Four Tops.
It was veteran producer and guitarist Paul Brown who produced Jessy’s debut CD, “Tequila Moon,” which featured the No. 1 single of the same name.
Jessy will be performing on her birthday today as she’s in Bend, OR, as part of a special, star-studded holiday show called On a Clear Winter’s Smooth Jazz Christmas with Jeff Kashiwa, Gregg Karukas, Joyce Cooling, Richard Smith and Greg Adams.
On her recent appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Norah Jones helped host Jimmy Kimmel with a new edition of the classic “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It was all in good fun, of course, and Jones and Kimmel selected a major online time-waster to base their version on.
“YouTube videos are really the happiest memories of all,” Kimmel said. “We should sing about it.” So they did. With Jones playing the guitar and Kimmel handling vocals, they used popular YouTube videos as the backdrop of their new tune. They included a toilet-flushing cat, a lady falling in hole, smoking monkeys, chomping Charlies and laughing babies.
On the program, Jones also sang her Smooth Jazz Top 20 hit single “Chasing Pirates.” Her next TV appearance comes Monday (December 21) on E!’s Chelsea Lately program
Vocalist and keyboardist Michael McDonald is just the latest entertainer helping transform the once-laughable ukulele into a national phenomenon. McDonald will be performing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” today (December 18) on his uke during on a special performance on the Dr. Phil show. To see the video of Michael playing the song, go to Dr. Phil’s website.
McDonald, who recently played the ukulele on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien, also plays the ukulele on his latest CD, This Christmas, and can be seen playing it on PBS stations during the current showing of Michael McDonald – This Christmas: A Soundstage Special Event.
Future TV appearances for McDonald include this Tuesday (December 22) on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
Happy birthday to guitarist Norman Brown, who today (December 18th) is celebrating his 47th birthday. Brown, who was born and raised in Kansas City, first started playing the guitar at the age of 8 while listening to songs by Jimi Hendrix and the Isley Brothers. A few years later his father, Roy, encouraged young Norman to listen to such jazz guitarists as Grant Green, Kenny Burrell and especially Wes Montgomery.
Norman and his wife Kimberly now live in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley and have six children: Norman Jr., Lanika, Keesha, Rochelle, Roy and Quincy. Brown is also a grandfather.
Brown, who is a weekend host on the Smooth Jazz Network, has seven solo CDs to his name, including his Grammy Award-winning Just Chillin’. His latest CD, Stay With Me, features the smooth jazz hits “Let’s Take A Ride” and “Pop’s Cool Groove,” the latter dedicated to his late father.
Several years ago, Brown was touring with Chris Botti and Alex Bugnon during Art Good’s JazzTrax holiday show. Brown says he’ll never forget what happened when the tour stopped in Albuquerque: “It happened to be my birthday that day, but I didn’t know everybody knew that. But they stopped the whole thing and made a big old birthday toast for me and had a cake prepared. These little kids had made some hats. It was a whole big planned thing for my birthday. It blew me away. To hear the audience singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me was incredible.”
When smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz heard Juliana Wetmore’s story, he knew he had to do something to help in the spirit of the holiday season. Juliana is a young girl born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by facial deformities. She’s been called “the girl without a face.”
Smooth jazz saxophonist Kyle Wolverton has announced that he will be performing in a New Year’s Eve show at the St. Regis Monarch Beach hotel in Dana Point, CA. The hotel is California’s only Mobil Five-Star resort.
History has been made as Sade has the first vocal tune to hit No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with “Soldier of Love.” The #1 position is based on Mediabase monitoring and measured by total audience reach. Sade’s historic hit single will be reflected on the first 
Fifty years ago, in 1959, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis released what has become arguably the most famous jazz album of all time: Kind of Blue. Now, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to honor the landmark album’s contribution to the genre.
Saxophonist Dave Koz has announced he will have a phone conversation with members of his Join the Koz fan club. It will be held January 7 at 6:30 p.m. PT.
Happy birthday today (December 20) to saxophonist Jessy J, whose most recent song “Tropical Rain,” the title track to her sophomore release, was No. 1 on the 
On her recent appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Norah Jones helped host Jimmy Kimmel with a new edition of the classic “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It was all in good fun, of course, and Jones and Kimmel selected a major online time-waster to base their version on.
Vocalist and keyboardist Michael McDonald is just the latest entertainer helping transform the once-laughable ukulele into a national phenomenon. McDonald will be performing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” today (December 18) on his uke during on a special performance on the Dr. Phil show. To see the video of Michael playing the song, go to Dr. Phil’s 
Happy birthday to guitarist Norman Brown, who today (December 18th) is celebrating his 47th birthday. Brown, who was born and raised in Kansas City, first started playing the guitar at the age of 8 while listening to songs by Jimi Hendrix and the Isley Brothers. A few years later his father, Roy, encouraged young Norman to listen to such jazz guitarists as Grant Green, Kenny Burrell and especially Wes Montgomery.