A true celebration of jazz in a beautiful beach atmosphere where you can also enjoy sumptuous cuisine and refreshments available at different stands along the beach.

Here’s the Hua Hin Jazz Festival 2008 Schedule:

There are 2 beach stages at the Hilton and Sofitel with a “Jazz Alley” linking. And a “Charity Zone” were a 500 baht ticket will help donations towards the Thai Red Cross and reward the buyer with free beer!

More info available here  http://www.huahinjazzfest.com/

Allotted at another program, there will also be senior musicians of the next generation. Names such as Idang Rasjidi, Yance Manusama, Glen Dauna, Arief Setiadi, Harry Toledo and singer Syaharani dare not miss the opportunity to perform. Amidst all these performances, there are two special performances. First is the reemergence of Dian Pramana Poetra who has been withdrawing from the public eye. His first public appearance, after years of pursuit, can be seen at a special project. Second, is the performance of Dwiki Dharmawan who puts forward his project, “World Peace Orchestra Project”, which was recorded in Indonesia, the US and China. Dwiki will be performing with international musicians who took part in the making of the album. Previously, they had shared a stage in Los Angeles. The “World Peace Orchestra” album will be launched in August 2008 in the United States.

There will also be a program that showcases groups comprising of Indonesia’s young talents, such as Souleh & Soulehah, Phinisi (from Makassar), RAN, Parkdrive, Sister Duke and Ecoutez. There will aso be performances by Dimi, Dira, Bibus, Eka Bhakti, Cindy Bernadette, Dewi Sandra, Barry Likumahuwa and many more.

Speculated from the musical possibilities to be exhibited, the variation of differences between Indonesia musicians is not only limited by age, but also by the colors of the music. This is a result of different music influences and medium, which differs from one generation to the next. What an amazing musical rainbow.

The international musicians who have confirmed their attendance for Dji Sam Soe Super Premium Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2008 also represent different generations. There are Joe Sample & The Crusaders, Wilton Felder, Steve Gadd, Terumasa Hino, Lee Ritenour, Pat Martino, Ray Parker Jr., George Clinton (the Godfather of Funk) and the posse of Manhattan Transfer. Then, there’s the likes of Omar Sosa, Tony Monaco, Kurt Elling, Dhafer Youssef, Tetsuo Sakurai and Jody Watlety, having already established their names in the music world. The young generation of musicians due to perform include Gabriel Grossi and Daniel Santiago (Brazil), CODA, Sara Gazarek and the 17-year-old Renee Olstead.

To wrap it all up, Dji Sam Soe Super Premium Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2008 is truly a festival for all generations, for all music lovers.

Workshop Details

Fats Waller, Nat King Cole, Blossom Dearie, Shirley Horn, Harry Connick Jr, Diana Krall, Peter Cincotti.

What do these jazz singers have in common? They are all excellent jazz pianists, who most of the time accompany themselves on piano while singing.

Didi Mudigdo (www.didi.com.au), jazz singer/pianist at Nine Muses Club for December - February will present a free workshop discussing the art and craft of the jazz singer/pianist.

The musical material covered in this workshop will be of interest to not only jazz singer/pianists, but also to jazz pianists who accompany singers, and singers who play with jazz pianists.

As a self-managed artist who has performed in Australia, Japan and China over the last 10 years, he will also discuss self-promotion and self- marketing.

This material will appeal to any jazz artist wanting to improve their self-promotion and self-marketing.

Open audience participation will be expected as springboards for workshop discussion, so before arriving, singers please warm-up your voices, pianists please warm-up your fingers, and please bring in your promotional material, photos, biography etc. for discussion.

Topics include:

FOR PIANISTS:
Dealing with singers holding down the groove/basss taying out of the singer’s way transposing skills awareness of vocal repertoire.

FOR SINGERS:
Dealing with jazz musicians approaches to learning theory learning repertoire selecting repertoire selecting keys creative approaches to well-known standards developing your own sound FOR BOTH: building repertoire awareness of jazz vocal styles intros and endings colla voce/rubato intros publicity/promotion getting gigs dealing with overseas agents

Didi Mudigdo
jazz vocals & piano
www.didi.com.au www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=7770182540

Born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1979, Hiromi took her first piano lessons at age six. She learned from her earliest teacher to tap into the intuitive as well as the technical aspects of music.

Hiromi took that intuitive approach a step further when she enrolled in the Yamaha School of Music less then a year after her first piano lessons. By age 12, she was performing in public, sometimes with very high-profile orchestras. “When I was 14, I went to Czechoslovakia and played with the Czech Philharmonic,” she says. “That was a great experience, to play with such a professional orchestra.”Further into her teens, her tastes expanded to include jazz as well as classical music. A chance meeting with Chick Corea when she was 17 led to a performance with the well-known jazz pianist the very next day.

“It was in Tokyo,” Hiromi recalls. “He was doing something at Yamaha, and I was visiting Tokyo at the time to take some lessons. I talked to some teachers and said that I really wanted to see him. I sat down with him, and he said ‘Play something.’ So I played something, and then he said, ‘Can you improvise?’ I told him I could, and we did some two-piano improvisations. Then he asked me if I was free the next day. I told him I was, and he said, ‘Well, I have a concert tomorrow. Why don’t you come?’ So I went there, and he called my name at the end of the concert, and we did some improvisations together.”

After a couple years of writing advertising jingles for Nissan and a few other high-profile Japanese companies, Hiromi came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. For as open as her musical sensibilities had already been when she came to the U.S., the Berklee experience pushed her envelope even further.

At 26, Hiromi stands at the threshold of limitless possibility, constantly drawing inspiration from virtually everyone and everything around her. Her list of influences, like her music itself, is boundless. “I love Bach, I love Oscar Peterson, I love Franz Liszt, I love Ahmad Jamal,” she says. “I also love people like Sly and the Family Stone, Dream Theatre and King Crimson. Also, I’m so much inspired by sports players like Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan. Basically, I’m inspired by anyone who has big, big energy. They really come straight to my heart.”But she won’t, as a matter of principle, put labels on her music. She’ll continue to follow whatever moves her, and leave the definitions to others.

“I don’t want to put a name on my music,” she says. “Other people can put a name on what I do. It’s just the union of what I’ve been listening to and what I’ve been learning. It has some elements of classical music, it has some rock, it has some jazz, but I don’t want to give it a name.”

More about Hiromi Uehara at her website

Questions, dont hesitate to drop us an email!.

The festival will take place at 3 different venues including the Amphitheater at Dubai Media City, The Dusk Terrace at Radisson SAS Hotel DMC, and Marina Square at Dubai Festival City.

The line-up will include more than 250 international artists and performers, jamming sessions, and many new activities.

Soon will will be announcing the full line-up, however tickets for some of the nights are already on sale online. More info available via http://www.dubaijazzfest.com/

More info will be posted as soon we get some details.
For reference please click http://www.pijazzfest.com/

To be held on May 9 and 10, 2008, next year’s edition will see inclusion of new things to infuse change for the festival. The performers’ line up will also see more varieties in jazz genre, to spice up the already exciting festival.

Promised to be another signature attraction for Miri’s tourism calendar, MIJF 2008 will be liven up by renowned jazz performers from Australia, Philippines, Korea, Cuba, Japan, Holland, USA, France, UK and Canada. Nearer to home, we will see performances from bands from Sarawak and Sabah, taking centre stage among the foreign performers. Their genre of jazz include blues and fusion jazz with a tinge of Latin, Caribbean and oriental music.

Habana Sax, one of the performers from this year’s line up will also make a come-back at next year’s festival, after the crowd voted the band as their favourite.

Parkcity Everly Hotel in Miri will still play host for the venue of the festival, which had attracted more than 4,000 guests over the two nights last year. Last year’s crowd turn out had increased by almost two folds as compared to more than 2,000 guests in 2006.

Looking at the steady increase in the crowd turn out, MIJF is set to become an icon for Miri and in line with STB’s aim at boosting the city’s tourism industry.

Parkcity’s management has also indicted its plan to expand the Pavilion where the main stage is located, to provide more room for the increasing number of audicences.

Looking at the steady increase in the crowd turn out, MIJF is set to become an icon for Miri and in line with STB’s aim at boosting the city’s tourism industry via events and festival.

Ticket the festival is priced at RM60 per person per night and RM30 per child between three and 12 years old, is available online at www.TicketCharge.com.my from December 12, 2007.

Apart from enjoying the good music, guests can also savour the wide variety of food and beverages at the stalls set up in and around the venue.

For further enquiries, kindly contact the Visitors’ Information Centre at Lot 452, Jalan Melayu in Miri (tel: 60 85 434181, fax: 60 85 434179) or log on at www. Mirijazzfestival.com. Email contact: info@mirijazzfestival.com.

Miri is located in Northern Sarawak and has, in 2005, gained its Resort City Status. Often known as the Northern Gateway to Sarawak, the city is a popular base for visitors to explore the nearby National Parks including the Niah, Loagan Bunut and Lambir Hills while Mulu is only a 45- minute flight away.

Tickets and more info available here