Blog of a Jazz Singer - Marc Courtney Johnson - WEB JOURNAL

Well I've jumped on the bandwagon with everybody else. See me at http://www.mySpace.com/MarcJohnsonJazz.

Check out my blog, come be my friend, you can listen to the two original songs on my first CD and meet a lot of other cats who dig jazz and just about anything else that can be dug.

Just an FYI:

There is an award show that occurs every year hosted by an Organization made up of and that supports indie (independent) music artist called Just Plain Folk.

The award show has become very popular and attracts literally tens of thousands of CD's with hundreds of thousands of songs each year.

I entered the award show and of the 26,000 CD's received representing some 350,000 songs, my CD was nominated in two categories:

Best Vocal Jazz CD: (one of eight to be chosen) and

Best Vocal Jazz Song: For my original song "To Be Free" (one of twenty chosen).

The results of the event will be made known this weekend at the award ceremony in Sana Ana California (those winds are blowing again).

Also I do still have a few CD's available which you can purchase directly from me or on the CDBaby website.

One of the newer stations to pick up my music is ANIMAJAZZ out of Italy!!

Bruno Pollacci is the host and he has this eclectic show where he showcases new jazz singers next to the classics.

Check it out at http://www.animajazz.it

my music is at http://www.animajazz.it/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=416

Easily the most fun I've had since the Jazz Showcase, but man they gotta do something about that sound system in the small room. If I get the chance to do that gig again, I'll bring my own.

Below are a few pics from the gig.

Enjoying Dan's Piano Solo May 7, 2006 on Green Dolphin Street!

Mom and grandmom out on the town!

My cousins Byron, Pat, and Linda coming out in support!

Goods Friends Fred & Magda and their friends out!

We packed the place and rocked (jazzed!!) out!

My first reaction to the power's that be at WBEZ's decision to eliminate their jazz programming was knee-jerk. After I stopped stuttering and stammering and exhausted my epithet ladened rants of How dare they, why those, those ... incompetent, bean-counting ninnys (no really those were the adjectives I used) phrases.

I stepped back for a moment and gave it some thought. Is this any different than the changes that have rocked our individual and collective worlds at an accelerating pace in the last 20 or 30 years. So much has changed: mass consolidation of resources (thanks Ronnie for gutting the anti-trust laws), the Internet (thanks AL :)), all kinds of new musical styles marketed relentlessly to the next generation, etc...

We the musicians/writers and lover of jazz have to reinvent not only the music, but the genre. WBEZ's decision to can jazz is just the latest warning sign that jazz needs an infusion innovation, talent and especially marketing image to compete with all the new forms of music and media.

I walked into a packed house with Vonski brandishing the mic sax strapped around his neck calling cats out of the throng to strut their stuff. I looked around and could tell that it was going to be a star studded affair. Up in the front of the bar I could see Neil Tesser and could it be... Yup definitely Kurt Elling laying low waiting to get the call.

Vonksi addresses the crowd at the 25'th anniversary of his open jam

Among some of the other cats, the ranting and rhyming Neil Tesser explaining how he gave Vonski his first write up in the Reader (4 pages, wow!), Vonski's good friend and veteran vocalist Eulalia Dade a classical songstress, the sweet crooning Teddy Bear (nobody would tell me his real name!), The tenor man Irving (also know as the Hero after he saved a gig many years ago that Vonksi was hosting when he filled in for a missing vocalist) Ms. Bettye Reynolds, a couple of ladies affectionately know to Vonski as Queen #1 (Marvinetta Penn), and Queen #2(Margaret Murphy (the jazz cop!)), a sassy songtress Charlotte Foster (she tore the house down right before I sang and wrecked it further), the re-incarnated Ella Ms. Carolyn Whitfield and of course the afformentioned Kurt Elling pre-eminent male jazz singer on the planet. Check out these cats in my cat's gallery.

It was cool to be able to sing in front of such a crowd, and I didn't hold back, but ultimately the night belonged to Vonski as he has been schooling the kids learning jazz all around the city in the way of the Chicago Tenor for the last quarter of a century. Thanks for being the keeper of the torch Vonski. As you saw that night and I'm sure you've seen on many a night gone past, your skills and your dedication to the Chicago scene (what's left of it) are greatly appreciated.

Image Courtesy of the Chicago Board or Trade

Well January is in the books and what a month it has been. Check out the timeline...

JANUARY 18th: In a completely unexpected (but pleasant) incident, I got to meet jazz giant, and living legend Ramsey Lewis and was including in the Greeting Party as he visited the Chicago Board of Trade Agricultural Floor. He is such an amazing talent and a perfect gentleman.

JANUARY 19th: I received a very encouraging write up in the Reader from jazz historian, writer, and Jockey Neil Tesser, leading up to my gig at the Jazz Showcase. In it Neil writes:

Marc Courtney Johnson's self-released, self-titled debut disk (available through his web site, Dreamyjazz.com) came out in 2004, though you probably haven't heard of it, or of him: he's pursuing vocal jazz as a sideline to a career in Web Programming, so he's had relatively few gigs and little exposure. That's a shame, because Johnson has plenty of promise, both as a singer- his throaty tenor gets up into the Aaron Neville range- and as a songwriter; the more seasoning he gets, the better he'll sound. The album, like his stage work; has some valleys but some real peaks as well: he'll sometimes bite off a bit more than he can chew in terms of phrasing, tempo, or intonation, but he gets kudos for stretching toward tougher material, and he has a sure sense of what the music should do or say. Also on the plus side, Johnson works with a marvelous trio led by pianist Dan Cray, and he picks some unexpected but welcome material, such as tunes by Bill Lee (Spike's dad) and Luther Vandross. Well Worth hearing. He opens for Marshall Vente's Project 9, featuring singer Greta Pope and tenor titan Billy Harper, on the third night of this year's Marshall Vente Jazz Festival.

I'll take a review like that any day of the week!!

Marc Courtney Johnson and the Dan Cray Trio at the Jazz Showcase

JANUARY 21st: I had a fantastic gig with the Dan Cray Trio as a part of Marshall Vente's Jazz Festival!
The turnout was fantastic, we were on, and I'm looking forward to getting back to those hallowed halls sooner rather than later.

 

 

 

 

Kurt Elling sitting in at Vonski's Open jam

JANUARY 24th: Sat in on Vonksi's 25th Anniversary of his open Jam at the New Apartment Lounge where 7 Time Grammy Nominated Kurt Elling and a host of Vonski's protege's and contemporaries made their appearances. This was a B-L-A-S-T(more about this in a later post)!