Live Drum & Bass with heart. Joyful pop-n’-slap. Bassist Stanley Clarke (b.1951) and drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr. (b. 1982) revel in a interlocking, counter-punching rhythmic romp for a lucky lunch-time crowd in the 2nd Floor Jazz Store at J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, New York, NY.

View Stanley Clarke at J&R Flickr Slideshow

Promoting his latest CD, The Toys Of Men made a playful duet of one the the album’s cuts, “Bad Asses”.

See Flickr Slide Show.

Watch out Elton John & Billy Joel, this new kid on the block is poised to become the pop piano man for our young Century. Jon McLaughlin hit J&R Music World with twice the vocal and keyboard ability than any three established piano rockers.

McLaughlin wowed the mid-day in-store audience with solid, meaningful songs, sincerely sung in an expressive voice while he played a hella lot of piano.

The young, fresh-faced kid, straight outta Indiana was in complete command of his over-whelming abilities, thrilling all, but especially a group of young girls up front in the autograph line. They obliviously knew what many will be soon finding out — there’s a new McLaughlin in town, this is not your Dad’s John McLaughlin, the great jazz guitarist, this is Jon McLaughlin, the newest and soon to be greatest, piano man.

See Flickr Slide Show.

JUMP isn’t just about jumping. It’s also about flipping, punching and kicking all executed in a jaw-dropping, gasp-inducing and gut-busting manner. This London and Fringe Festival hit has finally landed in New York and landed with gravity-defying ease.

The JUMP cast came to J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, New York, NY to give the lunch-time crowd a taste of their magic.

Both the in-store and the theatrical performance is a rare opportunity to see the kind of action you’d see in Jackie Chan and Matrix™ movies, LIVE. No second-takes, wires or special effects for these actors who went through years of extensive martial arts training. JUMP is one-part silent comedy, one-part kung fu flick and one-part gymnastic display, every ounce of it thrill-filled entertainment.

See JR.com for show times, theater information and Exclusive J&R Broadway Mania Ticket Discounts

See Flickr Slide Show.

Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley came to J&R Music World to play selections from Dr. West’s recently release CD Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations and to speak about the CD’s purposes. As Dr. West eloquently put it, “… this CD is a dance-able education.”

In his remarks about the CD, Dr. West stressed that the music is to bring a higher state of awareness to young people of how their lives and their music fit into a long and profound history of soul-stirring, enabling music which has sustained Afro-Americans through adverse circumstances.

Dr. West’s collaborators on Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations include Talib Kweli, Prince, Darryl Moore and the late, Gerald Levert, among many other current stars of Hip Hop and R&B music.

Both Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley posses terrific oratorical powers which energized the crowd at J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, New York, NY. The following video is witness.

Bruce Hornsby has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 25th at J&R’s Music Fest in City Hall Park, across Park Row from J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, NY.

A WBGO FM remote broadcast hosted by Rhonda Hamilton beginning at 10am with Bruce Hornsby (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Christian McBride (bass) taking the stage at 12:30pm. Besides being broadcast in the New York area over 88.FM and streamed globally over WBGO.org, the in-store performance is free for the public to enjoy live Tuesday, August 7, 2007 at 12:30pm in the J&R Jazz Store, 2nd Floor of J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, NY.

The occasion is the Legacy Records release on CD of Camp Meeting an eleven song collection of originals and re-envisioned tunes by Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. This performance will be a prelude to Hornsby, DeJohnette & McBride taking their show to The Newport Jazz Festival and selected cities across North America.

The multi-layered piano work of Bruce Hornsby is almost impossible to pin down on Camp Meeting, a radiant, three-way collaboration. Among the album’s cuts are a cubist re-shaping of Monk’s “Straight No Chaser,” a Bill Evans-like tone poem “Death And The Flower” and skittering, Cecil Taylor-esque “Questions And Answers.” Throughout it all, Hornsby does what he does best: be Bruce Hornsby.

Jack DeJohnette has long been admired as one of the most unfailingly creative drummers in his genre. He also commands one of the most impressive resumes, having played with the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Keith Jarrett, to name just a few.

Acoustic bassist Christian McBride is likewise just as comfortable in a variety of styles. Having briefly attended Julliard, then leaving to play with the likes of Roy Hargrove and Freddie Hubbard, McBride eventually formed his own group.

J&R’s Q&A with Eric Burdon

J&R: It has been reported that after your encore performances of “House of the Rising Sun”, you ask your audience to help with the re-building of New Orleans. To what extent are you involved in New Orleans recovery and how is the effort going?

Eric Burdon: No, unfortunately I am not currently involved. If someone would have asked me, yes I would have been involved. I did do a benefit to raise money for the University Hospital when the disaster first happened, but I never heard what happened to all the money I raised? It was only a small portion, but I try to do my bit. I am wondering what really happened to all the money that was raised, dedicated and sent from all over the world to the city of New Orleans? When the Mayor of New Orleans was asked where it was on a recent TV interview he said, it was in cyberspace! Just recently, I returned back to New Orleans for a sold-out gig in Hammond, LA. I got sick instantly, I don’t think I’ll ever go back again because it affected me so emotionally as well as physically. During my visit, I hung out with some old friends and they had some great survival stories to tell. So, at least the spirit is high.

J&R: Your career seems to have four distinct divisions: the rough and tumble blues period, the long-hair-hippy-dreamy period, the WAR period, with it’s tremendous influence on Chicano culture with “Spill the Wine” and others, and then the fourth and current period where you seem to be free to explore. How do you feel now about those eras of your life and music and where does your ambition lead now?

EB: Yeah, I suppose you could break-down my past history into 4 different sections. Initially with my first band The Animals, we were just elated to discover blues music and we were happy enough to try to influence people, young kids in England to join us in our discovery of this great music and what it meant and what it means to people. The spirituality in it goes along with just feeling good, learning how to dance, how to chase girls, win their hearts over, and all those good things that came with the original rock & roll! The period with WAR was a little more of an experiment. It seemed to me to be a natural next step to take — to join up with a Black funk band, since I grew up on Black music! It was an extra added benefit to find out that the guys I had joined up with were born and raised by the Mexican border and they were out of the ghetto lands of Long Beach, CA! I have always had an interest in Latin music and it was great, and the fact that they had many influences in that direction too was great. How do I feel about these eras? Well, it’s a pity that I wasn’t invited to stay on with WAR as the lead singer. We could’ve done much more together than we did. However, they went on to do great things by themselves, and for the short time that I was with the band we did some great gigs together and it is always nice to know that we influenced other bands to begin crossing-over the racial lines in rock & roll music and rhythm & blues, maybe it’s enough.

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See Flickr Slideshow

Tank kicked off J&R’s Summerfest 2007 with a mid-day in-store performance at J&R Music World today. The show was carried as a live radio remote by WBLS-FM, hosted by Guy Black. Afterwards, Tank signed copies of his latest CD release, “Sex Love & Pain”.

See Summerfest Schedule

Real New Yorkers Know, New Jersey is the country, so it’s no surprise to us that, Jersey rocker, Bon Jovi has made a country music album. Some of us may have missed that he had a hit song on the country charts with the Grammy-winning single Who Says You Can’t Go Home from the album, Have A Nice Day, but we’re glad to learn about it now, in time for the June 19th release of Lost Highway written and recorded in Nashville.

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New Yorkers have the rare opportunity to see Amy LaVere at J&R Music World. The tiny country chanteuse known for slapping the hell out of an upright bass twice her size, will be signing autographs and performing songs from her second and latest CD release, Anchors & Anvils.
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Da’Ville Live @ J&R Flickr Slideshow

Thanking the in-store audience for supporting his music internationally on May 15, 2007, Da’Ville showed why he has been a top artist in Jamaica by pouring his soul into his songs of love and promise from his first North American CD On My Mind released on VP Records.
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