Mindi Abair And Diana Krall Venture Into MySpace

Mindi Abair and Diana Krall are hanging out in cyberspace.

If you have children in middle school, high school or college, you’re probably aware of the online community called MySpace.com. That’s where young people set up personal sites, jot down their thoughts in journals and post dozens of pictures. The website is attracting new users at a rate of 3.5 million a month and is now a place where young people learn about new bands and their favorite music. The site boasts 30 million user pages, and 400,000 are devoted to bands.

Recognizing the potential of MySpace, saxophonist Abair and vocalist Krall and their record labels have created pages that enhances their official websites and further allows fans keep track of their careers.

You might not see them replying to your comments anytime soon. But you never know.

Kenny G Collection Will Have Personal Notes

Kenny G has released several best-of collections, but an upcoming one will be the first to have the saxophonist’s personal comments attached to each selection. The Essential Kenny G, on Arista/Legacy, is the most extensive collection of his career as it features two CDs and 31 songs.

It’s being released in January to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Kenny’s Duotones CD of 1986. That CD sold more than 5 million copies and is considered his breakthrough project. The first single from that CD, “Songbird,” remains one of Kenny’s most popular and he says in the liner notes that he wrote it as a love letter to Lyndie Benson, a woman Kenny met at a concert two years earlier. They later became man and wife.

The Essential Kenny G will be released on Jan. 24.

The Essential Kenny G

1. Songbird (Kenny G) -5:02
2. Sade (Kenny G) -4:18
3. Slip Of The Tongue (Preston Glass, Narada Michael Walden) -4:50
4. Don't Make Me Wait For Love (Featuring Lenny Williams) (Preston Glass, Walter Afanasieff, Narada Michael Walden) - 4:01
5. Silhouette (Kenny G) - 5:27
6. Against Doctors Orders (Kenny G, Preston Glass, Alan Glass) - 4:43
7. What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) (Featuring Ellis Hall) (Johnny Bristol, Vernon Bullock, Harvey Fuqua) - 4:07
8. Brazil (Kenny G., Walter Afanasieff) - 4:36
9. Theme From Dying Young (James Newton Howard) - 3:58
10. We've Saved The Best For Last (Featuring Smokey Robinson) (Lou Pardini, Dennis Matkosky, Paul Gordon) - 4:18
11. Forever In Love (Kenny G) - 4:57
12. Midnight Motion live (Kenny G) - 8:21
13. By The Time This Night Is Over (Featuring Peabo Bryson) (Michael Bolton, Diane Warren, Andy Goldmark) - 4:22
14. Loving You (Dan Shea, Walter Afanasieff, Kenny G) - 3:17
15. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane) - 3:54
16. Sentimental (Kenny G., Walter Afanasieff) - 6:34

1. What A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong with Kenny G) (George David Weiss, Robert Thiele) - 2:59
2. Morning (Kenny G., Walter Afanasieff) - 5:14
3. Sister Rose (Kenny G., Walter Afanasieff) - 6:12
4. Even If My Heart Would Break (Featuring Aaron Neville) (Franne Golde, Adrian Gurvitz) - 4:58
5. The Moment (Kenny G) - 6:00
6. Summertime (Featuring George Benson) (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Dubose Heyward) - 6:43
7. Missing You Now (Michael Bolton featuring Kenny G) (Michael Bolton, Walter Afanasieff, Diane Warren) - 4:34
8. Pick Up The Pieces (Featuring David Sanborn) (Alan Gorrie, Owen McIntyre, Roger Ball, Malcolm Duncan, Robbie McIntosh,
Hamish Stuart) - 4:13
9. My Heart Will Go On (James Horner, Will Jennings) - 4:21
10. Beautiful (Featuring Chaka Khan) (Linda Perry) - 3:43
11. Havana (Kenny G., Walter Afanasieff) - 7:20
12. Going Home (Kenny G., Walter Afanasieff) - 5:30
13. The Way You Move (Featuring Earth Wind and Fire) (Antwan Patton, Carlton Mahone, Patrick Brown) - 4:08
14. Deck The Halls/The Twelve Days of Christmas Medley (Traditional) - 2:59
15. Auld Lang Syne The Millennium Mix (Traditional) - 7:52

Sony Recalls Chris Botti CD And Many Others

Earlier this week, Sony BMG Music announced that it would temporarily suspend production of music CDs with anti-piracy software called XCP – or “extended copy protection” – that when played on Windows PCs leave them vulnerable to viruses and hackers. Now Sony will now recall nearly five million of the CDS, which includes Chris Botti’s latest album called To Love Again. In addition, Sony has announced several other titles that are affected and will be recalled, including So Amazing: All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross and At This Time by Burt Bacharach.

Sony BMG had created a website where users could uninstall the software that allowed the CD to play on computers, but now says that it will soon release an updated uninstall program. In addition, Microsoft has announced that its upcoming Windows Update will remove the malicious software. Sony says that customers can exchange any CD with the XCP software for a replacement copy without it. For more information, go to www.sonybmg.com.

Steve Oliver Offers Holiday CD On Website

Lyrical guitarist Steve Oliver has just released his first holiday album, Snowfall, which at this time can only be found on his newly redesigned website at www.steveolivermusic.com.

It's a holiday treat worth getting - for yourself or someone who digs good music.

The 10-song CD is offered by Oliver’s Oohla Productions and features such standards as “Carol of the Bells,” “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “The Christmas Song” and “Little Drummer Boy.” Oliver wrote two original songs, an instrumental called “Crystals in the Snow” and “Watching the Snow,” which features his lead vocals. In addition to playing guitar and singing on the CD, Oliver also played keyboards and percussion while handing the musical programming.

Contributing to the CD are pianist Tony Windle, saxophonist Will Donato and bassist KT Tyler.

To purchase Snowfall you can download the entire album for $10 or you can have it delivered for $15. The CD is Steve’s follow-up to 3D, which was released on the Koch label.

Mindi Abair Dedicating Song To New Orleans

Smooth jazz saxophonist Mindi Abair has entered the famed Capitol Studios in Los Angeles to finish recording her third CD and follow-up to Come As You Are. She has completed a tune called “Rain” that she’s dedicating to the people of New Orleans, many of whom were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Other songs include “Far Away,” which features a string section directed by Julie Rogers, “Bloom,” “Do You Miss Me?” and “Slinky,” which Abair calls a fun and sexy, Euro-inspired tune that she plays the soprano saxophone on.

As we’ve reported, the majority of the songs are written by Abair and her writing partner Matthew Hager. In addition to songs written with Adam Levy, the guitarist in Norah Jones’ band, and with blues legend Keb’ Mo’, Abair has called on numerous musicians to guest star on the CD, including vocalist Lalah Hathaway, keyboardist Ricky Peterson, bassists Stan Sargeant and Larry Klein and percussionist Paulinho da Costa.

The CD is expected to be released in the spring of 2006. Abair says she’s realizing a lifelong dream to record at Capitol Studios, where trumpeter Chris Botti also recorded his new CD called To Love Again.

"I definitely look forward to recording," she says. "You’ve written these songs and you have a specific sound in your head of what you want these songs to sound like. It’s a really fun yet arduous process. You know, I mean you’re sitting there, hmm, I hear this kind of thing and I go through five million keyboard sounds to try and find the right sound that I’m hearing. And so it is this really fun experiment of what we can make of this music that’s been in our heads for so long."

Rick Braun Offers Free Song Online - First New One in 2 Years

Trumpeter Rick Braun, who recently released a CD of cover tunes called Yours Truly, is now offering a brand-new song online. The song, “Sao Paulo,” is the first original song that Rick has offered to fans since his Esperanto CD from 2003.

And the good news even gets better – the song is available for free.

"Everybody’s welcome to come on to the site and download, their bonus track," Braun says. "The song’s really fun and catchy, sort of Brazilian type of a song. It’s a really neat tune. I’m happy with it."

To get your copy of the song, go to at www.artizenmusic.com and follow the link.

ARTizen Music Group is the new record label that Braun and partner Richard Elliot debuted late last year. Earlier this year, Elliot also offered a free download on the website of a song called “Mystery.”

Injury Forces Joyce Cooling To Cancel Cruise

Back problems have forced smooth jazz guitarist Joyce Cooling to cancel her appearance on this month’s first-ever All Star Smooth Jazz Cruise hosted by trumpeter Rick Braun.

Although Cooling recently strained her back while hauling musical equipment, she had hoped to still be able to set sail when the cruise departs on Nov. 13. But Cooling's manager says that she’s decided that it would be better for her to remain in her Bay Area home to recuperate while canceling all appearances for the rest of the year. Her first appearance in 2006 is scheduled for Jan. 14 in Cerritos, Calif.

Cooling is now focused on her rebabilitation and is working with musical partner Jay Wagner on a new album to follow-up her March 2004 release called This Girl’s Got to Play.

"We’ve written a bunch of songs for it," Cooling says. "And, as always but even more now than ever – and I think I say this every CD – I’m ready for a change. I need to stretch in a different way. I need to do some different things. I’ve been fooling around with a balalaika, and it’s given me some different chords and just opened up my head a little bit. I’ve been playing a little bit of keyboards, working on some vocals and just stretching out."