Yuku free message boards

Tehrin-- You never gave an answer to the quest of how you liked the UK and did you meet tour friend Dan

Here's the deal, if I like Diana Krall or Jane Monheit, which I do, does that mean that I am being disloyal to all the other great black jazz singers and musicians, living or dead? I personally have never missed a Diana Krall concert whenever she is performing in and around the tri-state (New York) area. I have always felt that I have gotten my money's worth, and more, because she plays with such feeling and soul and she sings like an angel. She always hires the best musicians so that her concerts are totally awesome and enjoyable on all levels. People hug and kiss at her concerts, she brings such joy! I have also seen Monheit in concert and I enjoy her also. And I grew up with musician parents with a full knowledge of the jazz greats, black and white, far too many to cite here. And I have a very clear understanding of what my parents and those earlier jazz artists went through, the back doors, the racism, etc. But I also wonder how Krall and Monheit must feel, listening to and reading and hearing and having to digest all of this horrible criticism directed towards them because they happened to come into this world with white skin and are easy on the eyes. Has this to some people become their biggest crime, being white, beautiful, talented and successful? They can have all the so-called marketing and so-called privileges in the world, but the deal is that Diana gets on a plane one day and she is in Texas and the next day, she may be in New York. And at each place she goes, she has to please thousands of people, whether or not she is jet lagged, has a headache, has a broken heart, is on her period, whatever. And the same for Monheit and for any other working musician today. These two women have paid their dues like the rest of the working musicians out there today. I happen to love looking at Diana Krall because she is easy on the eyes, but if she did not move me with her funky piano, her excellent choice of back-up musicians and her sultry singing, I would never attend her concerts or buy her cd's or go to record signings where she is the featured artist. And incidentally, I have met her in person and you will not ever meet a nicer person. Fans of Diana Krall or Monheit, or any other white artist should not have to feel that we have to choose between them and black musicians and artists. Can't I love Diana and Jane and also love Billie, Ella, Sarah, Miles and Nancy Wilson also?

WOW, you guys really cover a topic! I ended up here because I bought Jane Monheit's debut CD a long time ago and was listenting to it in the office. I wondered if she had some new stuff out there and found her page. Reading a tiny slice of all you've written, I know I've got a bonanza list of little-known or under-publicised talent to shop. What you write, especially listing artists' names with recordings I can pursue, is valuable stuff. It's too bad the thread title is what it is, but I don't argue it. I just know that jazz is one environment where a lot of americans could learn something about the centuries-long struggle to get us OUT of racism. I grew up racist with big city violence in a small southern Illinois town. Serving 20 years in uniform, especially being a 19-yr old sailor in a big city, was the single greatest experience for me. It turned things around for me, culturally, before they were too late. My best friend, from the toughest of Chicago's neighborhoods, taught me that even a skinny white kid could feel at home in all night jazz clubs. On the publicity issue, I found out about Jane Monheit on public radio and pursued her CD. I would do exactly the same thing with any young black talent I hear about and like the sound of. But you guys have saved me a lot of time--I now have a list!

Indeed, there is racism in jazz and the music world because there is racism everywhere. But to use this to try and denigrate these two talents, Krall and Monheit, is wrong. These women work very hard at their craft, just as all other working musicians do, and I believe on her last tour, Krall toured around 300 days. Certainly that makes her one of the hardest working musicians in the business, and I for one say that she deserves all the applause and the accolades she gets. She is, in my opinion, most deserving of all the success has achieved. I have also met her personally and since she meets a whole lot of fans, she will never remember me but I will always remember her class, her style, her grace and her genuine kindness to all of us that day.

My dear Mela, you could do a lot worse than being compared to the one, the only, the hottest jazz artist in the world today, Diana Krall.

LMFAO!