Aug 26 2009
Anyone who watches the Weather Channel is familiar with those mellow-yet-bouncy new age, smooth jazz and pop instrumentals that accompany the local weather forecasts. Some people have their favorites, and hang around to see if they'll hear them: others go for the mute button.
The former category can now carry the Weather Channel tunes with them 24/7. The Weather Channel has launched Weather Channel Music, a web site featuring music played during the “Local on the 8s” segments and more.
There are collections by Larry Carlton and Weather Channel mainstay Ryan Farish.
The site's musical offerings go beyond the Weather Channel's own playlist. There are several collections -- "Acoustic Altitudes" and “Getaway" -- plus classic selections from Al Jarreau, George Benson, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, The Count Basie Orchestra and others.
Listeners can sample excerpts online and download their choices for 99 cents a song.
Aug 07 2009
The 2009 Newport Jazz Festival will Webcast live this Saturday and Sunday (August 8 and 9).
The 55th edition is a mix of legends, current stars and up-and-coming players. It includes Roy Haynes, Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride and others.
Locally, listeners can find the the live stream through local jazz/NPR station WDUQ-FM's (90.5) site or through NPR’s site.
Performances run from 10 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. See the NPR site or the Newport Festival site for updates on Webcast times.
NPR is also offering free downloads of music by some of the Festival artists, as well as a downloadable collection of songs from last week's Newport Folk Festival.
Aug 05 2009
Musicians who have a Kindle e-book reader have a new use for it. They can download sheet music from a large online collection through Amazon.
FreeHand Systems’ Novato Music Press Catalog, with more than 20,000 titles in classical and traditional music, is now available for download to the Kindle.
FreeHand offers more than 130,000 titles on its sheet music web site. Eventually, the company hopes to make all of them available for the Kindle.
There are numerous other sources for downloading sheet music directly to the computer and printer. Some are free downloads.
Among them: Virtual Sheet Music, 8 Notes, Free Sheet Music and Music Notes.