Donald Cortez Cornelius (1936 – 2012) creator of the long running music / dance show Soul Train was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, CA home early this morning. He was 75. Beginning his career as a radio announcer, “Don” wanted to produce a show akin to American Bandstand geared towards the African-American community.

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Musicians and music dealers flock to Anaheim California as NAMM exhibits new products aimed at the music and entertainment markets.

The National Association of Music Merchants is the not-for-profit association that unifies, leads, and strengthens the $17 billion global music products industry. The association—and trade shows—serve as a hub for people wanting to seek out the newest innovations in musical products, recording technology, sound and lighting. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages.

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World Series Champion and All-Star Right fielder Nick Swisher has added one more credit to his professional resume - recording artist. Swisher has released his first full-length twelve song kids CD entitled Believe. A portion of the proceeds will be going to Swish’s Wishes, Nick’s charitable foundation which is dedicated to enriching lives and lifting the spirits of children who are facing vital health issues. On Believe, Swish is joined in the recording studio by an all-star band of musicians including drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge), bassist Leland Sklar (James Taylor, Phil Collins), guitarist Tim Pierce (Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson) and keyboardist Matt Rollings (Tim McGraw, Lyle Lovett). Special musical guests playing guitar on the album include former all-star centerfielder and Latin GRAMMY Nominee Bernie Williams and pitcher Barry Zito. Also accompanying Nick on the album is a group of talented kids ages eight to thirteen years old who sing backup vocals on each song. Included are kids from the nationally acclaimed music education franchise School Of Rock, as well as thirteen year old Natalie Prieb, granddaughter of Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Directions.

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R&B recording artist Lalah Hathaway — seen here below shopping at J&R Music World’s CD Department on October 19th — is in town for her performance at New York’s Highline Ballroom on October 21st. Ms. Hathaway (daughter of Grammy Award Winner Donny Hathaway), released her new album, Where It All Begins on October 18th.

What was Ms. Hathaway shopping for? Why, her own album, of course!
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Back in May, Rachelle Friedman, co-CEO of J&R Music World and Chairman of NARM, presented Brian Wilson with the 2011 NARM Chairman’s Award. The buzz at the convention was that Brian and the Beach Boys had decided to give Smile to the world, 44 years after its originally planned release.

There have been songs, snippets and fragments released on various Beach Boys albums over the years, but the general wisdom was that Brian had destroyed the tapes of the album a mere few weeks before the release date. Now, with the full participation of Brian, Al Jardine, and Mike Love, the legendary 1966-67 sessions for what Rolling Stone called “the most famous unfinished album in rock ‘n’ roll history” will be available on November 1st.

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Mark Lindsay will come to J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, Manhattan, New York, NY Friday, March 19th at 12 noon to autograph a new release of Paul Revere and the Raiders Singles.

This 66-song, 3-CD set covers the entire Raiders’ 45 rpm recording career at Columbia Records. Included along with every A and B side of all the singles are two songs used for marketing Mattel’s “Swingy” and Pontiac’s “Judge”. This package was mastered by Sundazed’s Bob Irwin and sounds incredible. Includes a 26-page booklet! Mark put a lot of effort into this repackage and is very proud of it.

One of the most commercially popular American rock bands of the 1960s, Paul Revere & the Raiders enjoyed a 40-year career. Formed in Oregon in the late `50s around organist Paul Revere, the Raiders played an edgy brand of pop-minded rock influenced by the sound of the British Invasion. Continue Reading »

Grammy-nominated Trumpeter Christian Scott will celebrate the release of Yesterday You Said Tomorrow at noon March 30, 2010 at J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, Manhattan, New York, NY. The highly anticipated, all-new 10-song collection was recorded at the renowned Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey where legendary Rudy Van Gelder engineered the work. Van Gelder, who is known as one of the greatest recording engineers in jazz history for his work with John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock among others, says about the new album, “This is one of the best things I have done in a long, long time.”

Born in New Orleans in 1983, Scott has always been acutely aware of the legacy of jazz and its role within the broader context of 20th century history. Regarding the new album, Scott says, “I wanted to create a musical backdrop that referenced everything I liked about the music from the ’60s - Miles Davis’ second quintet, Coltrane’s quartet, Mingus’ band - coupled with music made by people like Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. Continue Reading »

HD video, photos and music — they’re on your computer, your USB drives, and the Internet. Now it’s easy to play a whole world of Full-HD, 1080p media on your TV with the WD TV Live HD network-ready media player. Western Digital HD TV Live Media Player is a converter lets you attach a hard drive, a camera, or practically any video output device and view images and movies directly on your HDTV via HDMI connectivity. If you download movies from the Internet to your computer’s external hard drive, simply attach the drive to the Western Digital HD TV Live Media Player and view them directly on your large screen HDTV. This is simply one of those devices every home should have. It is currently on sale at J&R.
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Timbaland will give a brief performance followed by an autograph signing on December, 8th at 6 pm in J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, New York, NY.

Buy the New Timbaland CD, Shock Value, Vol. 2 and receive a wristband to meet him at this special event.

For more than a decade, Timbaland has dominated the pop charts by producing an endless stream of hits for the likes of Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, and Nelly Furtado.

Says Timbaland, “I came back more determined than ever and I my fans accepted me with open arms; the connection my fans felt to my music was a result of the renewed sense of confidence I had in myself.”
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It’s hard to believe that it’s almost been a year since I blogged about the WD TV HD media player. I was really impressed by it, especially at the asking price. Never one to rest on their laurels, Western Digital went back to the lab, and they came out with the WD TV Mini. Think of the WD TV Mini as the little brother of the WD TV HD. Little brother might be a bit of a misnomer, since the Mini is a competent media streamer in its own right.
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