Newport and Barcelona Jazz Festivals Join Forces – Two of the great jazz festivals have joined forces to increase world-wide recognition of the long-running events. Newport founder George Wein and Tito Ramoneda and Joan Cararach of the Barcelona International Jazz Festival announced the partnership on May 17. Started by Wein in 1954, the Newport Jazz Festival started the festival era and takes places August 6-8 this year in Newport, R.I. The Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival was founded in 1966 and takes place year November 3 to December 4. The Barcelona promoters hope for wider exposure of the many artists based there, such as Omar Sosa and Chano Dominguez. Some of the performers scheduled for Newport this year include Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, and the Maria Schneider Orchestra.
Prof. Sennheiser Dies – Audio pioneer and founder of Sennheiser Electronics passed away this week only a few days after his 98th birthday. Prof. Dr. Frtiz Sennheiser had a crucial influence on the development of sound transmission technologies and forged many ground-breaking developments in electro-acoustics and transmission technologies. Sennheiser created the first open-air headphones and shotgun microphones. Dr. Sennheiser also oversaw important advances in wireless radio and infrared transmission.
Grace Launches Wi-Fi Tuner with Pandora – Grace Digital Audio announces the Solo Wi-Fi Internet radio tuner, which not only accesses the thousands of Internet stations and podcasts, but also brings in personal Pandora “stations,” NPR, Sirius Internet Radio, Live365, iheart, and NOAA weather Internet stations. It connects with RCA patch cable to any stereo system or headphones, and uses either its own remote or a free remote app for iPhones and iPod Touch. It can also play back saved files from your computer. The unit’s SRP is $125.
Silent Film on Louis Armstrong With Wynton Marsalis Live Score – Wynton Marsalis and an all-star jazz ensemble plus pianist Cecile Licad will go on a five-city tour starting in August to do the musical performance accompanying a new silent film by Dan Pritzker titled Louis – a mythical homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. Six-year-old Louis navigates the intricacies of life in New Orleans. Licad will be playing the music of Gottschalk. Pritzker also directed the documentary Bolden, which will be released theatrically next year.
Video Games Taking a Hit – Market research firm NPD Group reports that U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories for April fell to $766 million from $1.03 billion a year ago, and could fall even further due to Apple’s launch of the iPad. There was a drop in demand for console games due to the impact of casual games which are inexpensive or even free, and can be used on such devices as the iPhone and iPad. Family-oriented titles for videogame consoles and portable game devices also saw a smaller percentage of sales.
