10/01

Condolences from the employees of J. D'Addario

As Americans, we mourn for those who were lost on September 11, and offer our condolences to victims' family and friends. As human beings, we refuse to loose our faith in humanity, even in the face of such horrible events. Our thoughts and prayers are with those suffering through this unspeakable time, and with those who are bravely helping with the recovery. Nothing is accomplished through these kinds of acts, and though a few individuals may bring pain to us, America and the rest of the world shall overcome them. "Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man." --Mahatma Ghandi

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine, American Patriot

"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." --Leonard Berstein

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Hello and welcome to the latest update from your friends at J. D'Addario & Company. Inside this month's newsletter read about the latest from our endorsees including Eric Gorfain, Marty Friedman, Jim Hurst, Devon Glenn, Antonio Sanchez, Jeff Coffin, David Leisner and many more. Please read on!

To submit artist news, please e-mail John Ferrante at
john.ferrante@daddario.com

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Artist Quote of the Month:

"I say the louder the better, and Evans drumheads are louder and better!" --Claudia Rossi - Lo-Ball

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D'Addario News:

D'Addario is proud to welcome bassist Teddy Landau to our family of Performing Artists. Teddy is currently on the road as the bassist for Grammy-winning artist and fellow D'Addario endorsee Shelby Lynn. Teddy has also performed with Seal and Cree Summers. Here's what Teddy had to say about the Planet Waves cable he used for the first time at a recent Shelby Lynn gig - "Those cables are great. They are really quiet which is cool for me because I use Fender jazz basses with single coils, and the pickups can be noisy. I definitely noticed a decrease in the pick up noise, and the bottom end sounded more punchy." The band is performing select dates in the US and will then be off to London.

Guitarist Marty Friedman has been writing, playing and recording revved-up guitar music for ESPN/ABC Sports for this year's hockey season. Marty also did some guest soloing on the upcoming album of the platinum-selling Japanese band Mr. Orange. This month, Marty performs a clinic at Guitar Day LA in Hollywood.

Guitarist and composer Freddie Bryant will be featured this year on Billy Taylor's NPR radio show, Live From The Kennedy Center (air-date TBA). The show will be edited from a live concert with the Billy Taylor trio in the Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center. Freddie is a versatile musician, skilled both in jazz and classical music. He received his Masters degree in classical guitar from the Yale School of Music at Yale University. For more info, please visit his website: www.jazzcorner.com/bryant.

Bass Day 2001 takes place October 21 in New York City. Proceeds from this event will be donated to the Firemen's Widow and Orphans Fund and the Policemen's Widow and Orphans Fund. Performers include Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, and Christian McBride. Bassist Eric Hochberg can be heard on new releases from Saxophonist Mark Colby, Tenor Reference on Hallway Records and Ken Nordine's Word Jazz, A Transparent Mask on Asphodel Records. As producer, putting finishing touches on the new release from vocalist Jackie Allen. He also performed with jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton on the Midwest leg of her current tour promoting her new Telarc release, Blue in Green and continues playing in the Paul Wertico Trio on Thursdays at the Wise Fools Pub in Chicago with John Moulder and Fareed Haque splitting the guitar chair.

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New Releases:

The dynamic duo known as Tenacious D recently released their debut CD. The self-titled CD was produced by the Dust Brothers and recorded at the Boat and Neil Diamond's ArcAngel studio in Los Angeles. Some friends of the D pitched in with special appearances, including Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters, Page Mcconnell from Phish, Warren Fitzgerald from the Vandals, and Steve McDonald from Redd Kross.

Blue Highway releases Still Climbing Mountains on Rounder Records. Veteran singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III recently released a new studio album entitled Last Man On Earth.

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On the Road:

Chris Whitley will kick off his second U.S. tour in support of his ATO Records debut, Rocket House. On this five-week run, he and his band, also named Rocket House, will headline large clubs in markets including Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.

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Accolades:

Jim Hurst has been nominated for IBMA's Guitar Player of the Year award. Jim Hurst & Missy Raines have been touring extensively this year, including an appearance at D'Addario's New York facilities this past spring. Jim & Missy came in to visit and tour the factory, to say hello, and to thank the staff and employees for fine quality workmanship and products as well as for supporting endorsing artists. For more info, visit: www.jimhurst.com.

PJ Harvey won the prestigious 2001 Mercury Music Prize Award in London for her critically acclaimed album Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. PJ Harvey is the first female artist to win this award.

Acoustic pop singer-songwriter Bill Parsons, along with his co-writing guitar player Eric Weinberg, were recently honored to be finalists in the Lake County Folk Festival Songwriting Competition in Chicago, IL. Additionally, Parsons' latest release Special Delivery received a coveted 5-Star rating from Independent Songwriter magazine.

Australian guitarist Michael Fix has added 2 new awards to his mantelpiece: In addition to being voted the 1999 and 2000 CMAA instrumentalist of the year, Michael has just picked up a "Sunny" award for Best Instrumental album, presented by the Queensland Recording Association. Then, two days later, he was notified that he had been voted Best Instrumentalist at the SE Queensland Club awards.

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Bowed News:

Violinist Eric Gorfain has been producing many projects, everything from classical jazz to hard rock to country at a studio that he recently set up in LA. Eric also has a string group called The Section, which takes the form of anything from a duo to a full string orchestra for recording projects. Eric recently performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno with the band Live. For more info, please visit: www.quietstreet.com.

Mark O'Connor's album, Hot Swing! Released on his own OMAC Record label, is receiving universally tremendous reviews from music writers and audiences, alike. A tribute to his great friend and mentor Stephane Grappelli, the CD also features Jon Burr (who, like Mark, toured with Grappelli) on bass and Frank Vignola on guitar. The Chicago Tribune called this "one of the finest discs of Mark's career and one of the greatest jazz violin albums ever." The CD is available in stores nationwide, at most online outlets, and from Mark's website www.markoconnor.com

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Classical News:

David Leisner recently traveled to Los Angeles for concerts and master classes at Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge. David's program included Dowland, Bach, Schubert, Ponce, Villa-Lobos, and Leisner.

Liona Boyd has been extremely busy - trips to Europe, a concert for Prince Philip in Windsor, a shared concert last weekend with Jesse Cook in Seattle, and multiple trips to Canada to work on her new Latin album for which various guitarists such as Al Di Meola, Strunz & Farah, Jesse Cook, Pavlo, Johannes Linstead, and Steve Morse played duets with her. This month Liona performs 16 concerts in Canada. For more info, please visit www.classicalguitar.com

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Evans News:

Carl Allen is on the road hosting clinics this month.

This month Devon Glenn and his band Buckcherry perform multiple shows in Japan (Yokohama, Toyko, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Osaka). The band is touring in support of their new record Time Bomb. For more info visit: www.devonglenn.com.

Brooks Wackerman performs on two soon to be released discs from the bands Pressure 4-5 and Bad Religion.

The University of Kentucky Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Professor James Campbell, has been selected to appear in concert at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention on November 16 in Nashville, TN. This prestigious concert is the result of winning a juried competition among collegiate percussion ensembles from around the world. Jim has just returned from Sweden, where he was the featured artist/clinician for their Day of Percussion. Jim's clinic featured concert snare drum techniques with exercises based off his new book, which will be released this November.

Antonio Sanchez has been making the scene lately. He recently recorded the next Pat Metheny Group album and will tour with the band in February. Antonio has also been on the road with the David Sanchez Sextet with whom he also finished recording a CD that will hit the stores early this month.

John Blackwell is the featured cover story in this month's issue of Modern Drummer. Listen for John on the soon-to-be-released Prince CD.

Al Webster is currently touring throughout North America with Long John Baldry.

Congratulations to the Hawthorne Caballeros for their placing at DCA Championship Finals over Labor Day weekend. The corps placed third with a score of 95.35. The drumline, under the direction of Evans artist Mark Holub placed 4th in percussion with the score of 19.10.

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Planet Waves News:

What the Pros are saying about Planet Waves:

"We have cabled our entire backline with PW cables and are thrilled with them. No more worries about the quality of house cables. Leftover Salmon knows what we have every night - and that is so comforting. Our Mandolin player, Drew Emmit, uses Planet Waves stereo patch cables for his rig. They sound better and are much more reliable! As a frequent guest with Bluegrass Legends like Sam Bush, John Cowan, Jerry Douglas and Tim O'Brien, the durability of Planet Waves cables allows me to enjoy the show and not worry about whether or not his cable is going to fail.- Bruce Adams (Leftover Salmon)

The list of Planet Waves guitar straps users continues to expand. Look for these straps on Don Kirkpatrick (Rod Stewart), Bruce Somers (Kidney Thieves), Systematic, Simple Plan, and many, many more.

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Vandoren News:

Grammy-winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones) and his group, the Mu'Tet, recently released their new CD, Go Round, on Compass Records. Blending Second Line, Groove, Arabic, & traditional jazz, Jeff and the boys serve it up on this release - it's not to be missed. Please visit Jeff's website at www.jeffcoffin.com <http://www.jeffcoffin.com/>.

Horace Alexander Young recently taught clinics on improvisation at the Diaz Music Institute's Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz Workshop, held in Houston, TX, June 11-27. He also participated as a guest performer (along with fellow saxophonist David Sanchez and percussionist Ndugu Chanceler) in concerts with CALIENTE, the workshop's performing ensemble. Additionally, he appeared at the Houston International Jazz Festival in a guest appearance with Ronnie Laws. He is currently finishing a recording of Afro-Latin music with his trio Toque Rojo, and has plans for his second solo release next year.

Recent visitors to J. D'Addario's Manhattan Vandoren facility include Sherman Irby (www.shermanirby.com), Paul Garment, and Eric Person.

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Get the latest D'Addario, Evans, Planet Waves, and Vandoren news at http://www.daddario.com