News Briefs

GREENVILLE, N.C., Dec. 19, 2003 — Dr. Billy Taylor returned to his home town of Greenville, N.C., Dec. 13, with his wife, daughter Kim and son-in-law to participate in graduation exercises at East Carolina University.  Dr. Taylor was the commencent speaker and also recieved an honorary Doctorate of Letters from East Carolina University.  The university also has named their annual jazz festival in Dr. Taylor's honor. Dr. Taylor has also served as Artist in Residence at ECU with the School of Music and the Jazz Studies program under the leadership of Carroll Dashiell.

Dec. 17, 2003 — The Los Angeles-based, Philly born-and-raised guitarist Skip Heller has been signed to Hyena Records. His organ jazz CD, Fakebook, will be released February 24, 2004. Web site: Hyena Records

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 17, 2003 — Savoy has added 3,000 classic and current tracks to Apple's iTunes Music Store, which recently added support for Windows. "We are very pleased to offer thousands of classic jazz tracks as well as the repertoire of our current roster to Apple's pioneering iTunes Music Store. We're thrilled at Apple's commitment to legitimate downloading and will look forward to working with them on all our new releases in the future," said Savoy president Steve Vining.

CHICAGO, July 30, 2003 — Kicking off the first of MusicNow's co-branded, digital music channels are "The Blue Note Channel from MusicNow," which debuted today, and "The Soul of Quincy Jones," debuting later this year. FullAudio will continue to add additional co-branded channels on MusicNow. Web site: MusicNow

LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2003 — The Recording Industry Association of America has named Mitch Bainwol, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, as its new chief executive. Bainwol will start Sept. 1.

July 28, 2003 — Tenor saxophonist Dave Ellis will perform the National Anthem at the Oakland A's/New York Yankees game on Saturday, Aug. 2, at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, at 1 p.m. PST. The game will be televised in many parts of the country on Fox.

NEW YORK, July 3, 2003 — The Johnny Mercer Foundation has launched a website that aims to introduce a whole new generation to the songs and tradition of Johnny Mercer and other greats such as Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington. The site highlights Mercer's prolific songwriting contributions and the non-profit organization's dedication to preserving the nation's rich history of songs. Web site: http://www.johnnymercerfoundation.org/

PARIS, July 2, 2003 — Reuters reports that five bidders for Vivendi Universal's U.S. entertainment assets have made the cut and have been asked to revise their bids, leaving out offers for Universal Music Group, which Vivendi has reportedly taken off the table.

July 1, 2003 — Guitarist Allen Kwela, one of South Africa's greatest jazz musicians, died Monday of asthma at the age of 64. Kwela grew up in Durban where he made his first guitar out of a gallon can and wire and taught himself to play. He also taught guitar at Carlton University in Canada and the University of Quebec.

PARIS, July 1, 2003 — Reuters reports that Vivendi Universal may take until September to determine the buyer and the scope of the sale of its U.S. entertainment assets, although a decision may come as soon as the end of this month. Six bids are said to be considered by the French-American media giant; the sale may or may not include Universal Music Group, which includes Verve Music Group's jazz and smooth jazz labels.