Jazz and Heritage Festival

“Mahalia Jackson, often called the greatest gospel singer, returned to her hometown to appear at the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in April of 1970. While attending the Louisiana Heritage Fair in Congo Square (then known as Beauregard Square), she and Duke Ellington, who also appeared at the event, came upon the Eureka Brass Band leading a crowd of second-line revelers through the Festival grounds. George Wein, producer of the Festival, handed Ms. Jackson a microphone, she sang along with the band and joined the parade…and the spirit of Jazz Fest was born.”

Since 1970, locals and tourist flock to the Fair Ground Race Tracks once a year for the famous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.  Jazz Fest is a 10-day festival, spanning over two-weekends in late April and early May, which showcase thousands of musicians, delicious authentic Louisiana cuisine, artworks and crafts.

New Orleans Hotel Motel Association formed the “New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation” which owns the Festival, would contract famous jazz producer George Wein to produce the Festival.  Wein combined forces with Ellis Marsalis, Richard B. “Dick” Allen and Harry Souchon, to name a few, to create a group of artistic advisers.

Wein’s concept of the Louisiana Heritage Fair consisted of a multiple stages with a wide variety of “home-grown” musicians, food booths offering Louisiana cuisine, and arts and crafts booths. The lineup included artist such as Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington as well as Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Clifton Chenier, The Meters, The Preservation Hall Band and many other.

The first two festivals were held in 1970 & 1971, in Louis Armstrong Park, previously known as Beauregard Square, in the historic Congo Square area of the park. In 1970,only 350 people attended the Festival, about half the number of musicians and other participants in the event. But the Festival, which became known as “Jazz Fest” almost immediately, was a great artistic success. When Jazz Fest was held the next year, it was clear that the event had already outgrown Congo Square.

The Festival quickly moved to the Fair Grounds in 1972, and has grown ever since.  In 2001, the Festival celebrated Louis Armstrong’s centennial,  with total attendance shattering records approximately 650,000 festival-goers. With 12 stages of soul-stirring music the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is a singular celebration. The event has showcased most of the great artists of New Orleans and Louisiana of the last half century including : Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, The Neville Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Dr. John, Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., Ellis Marsalis, The Radiators, Irma Thomas, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Allen Toussaint, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Better Than Ezra, Ernie K-Doe, Vernel Bagneris, The Zion Harmonizers, Beausoleil and many others.

Over the years, Jazz Fest has received many honors, including being named Festival of the Year four times by Pollstar magazine.  Also being dubbed as “the country’s very best music festival” with a wider, deeper lineup of essential American musical styles than any festival in the nation.

“This festival could only be held in New Orleans because here and here alone is the richest musical heritage in America.” He also noted, with great prescience, “New Orleans, in the long run, should become bigger than Newport in jazz festivals. Newport was manufactured, but New Orleans is the real thing.”

Alex Slipow

Influential Jazz Artists

Developing in the late 19th century, Jazz has become one of the most respected American forms of art.  Starting as American and European classical music mixed with African and slave folk songs,jazz has drastically changed as new artist bring their own beat sound.  “The musicians behind this ever growing phenomena are recognized as some of the best musicians of all time. Compiled here are who I believe are the best of the best, and the most influential all throughout the history of jazz music. The article below lists  15 of the best Jazz Musicians, including performances and a brief biography for each of these talented performers.

Click HERE to listen to amazing musicians!

http://listverse.com/2010/02/27/15-most-influential-jazz-artists/

Alex Slipow

If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know

-Louis Armstrong

 

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/louis_armstrong.html

-Lauren

Jazz Musicians Annual Salary

Do Jazz Musicians Really Earn $23,300 Per Year?

$23,000 is the mean yearly music-related income for a jazz musician not affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians union.  By “music-related” we include teaching, performing live and recording-so combing ALL that it comes out to a whomping $23,000. 

 

SURVEY SNAPSHOT

5,371 musicians and composers completed the survey.

Average age of survey takers: 45.2.

40 percent said they spend more than 36 hours a week doing music.

Less than 1 percent of survey respondents said they spent “no hours” on music, while 40 percent said they spent more than 36 hours a week doing music – what many would consider a “full time” job.

42 percent said they derived all of their personal income from music.

While there is a small cluster in the 0 to 10 percent range, 42 percent said they derive all of their personal income from music.

Average personal gross income of survey respondents was $55,561

This is slightly higher than the US population but when combined with information about survey respondents’ educational background (see below) these numbers make sense.

The average estimated music income was $34,455

By multiplying personal gross income by % of income derived from music, we were able to calculate an average estimated music income for all respondents of $34,455.  This is slightly lower than the US average but this estimated music income calculation shifts significantly based on a musician’s role, experience, education and genre.

Classical was the most common primary genre.

Classical	34.7%
Jazz	16.2%
Rock/Alt-rock	7.2%
Pop	4.5%
Composer	4.3%
Singer-songwriter	3.5%
Folk	2.3%
Indie	2.2%
Americana	2.1%
Country	1.8%

Survey respondents live all over the US.

 

 

Lauren

 

Preservation Hall

PRESERVATION HALL HISTORY AND INFORMATION

Preservation Hall opened in 1961 as a means or preserving traditional New Orleans Music.  Preservation Hall is still open, 7 days a week, featuring traditional New Orleans Jazz.

Preservation Hall does not serve alcohol and does not have air conditioning.  It is open every day from 8:00PM to 11:00PM, and all ages are welcome.

BAND MAKE-UP

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is composed of 7 core members and a few other people who play with the band on occasion. The band always has, as least: a trumpeter, a clarinetist, a trombone player, a pianist, a tenor saxaphone player, a tuba player, a banjo player, and a drummer. A handful of people also double as vocalists. When members of the band tour, (which they do constantly) younger, aspiring musicians sit in and fill the positions.  

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

Preservation Hall recently collaborated with The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation to create a program for young musicians to learn the essential elements of New Orleans Jazz.

The free, weekly program is open to students between the ages of 10 and 17, and the program is led by Carl LeBlanc, guitarist/banjoist and member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

-Zachery Poche

Sweet Home New Orleans

Sweet Home New Orleans is an organization that was formed following Hurricane Katrina to bring back musicians bring back musicians.  As stated by the website, Sweet Home New Orleans is “a one-stop service center for the musicians, Mardi Gras Indians and Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs of the Greater New Orleans area. Dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of New Orleans, Sweet Home New Orleans provides in-depth assistance in the areas of social support, legal needs and job creation, as well as extensive referral services to other resources serving the music community.”

Volunteering with Sweet Home New Orleans could be a great way to learn about the New Orleans Culture while getting involved with the community!  Click on this link to learn about volunteer opportunities.  http://sweethomeneworleans.org/about-us/

As part of their services, Sweet Home New Orleans sponsors Mike Corrigan to repair instruments for local musicians in New Orleans.  Click HERE  to view an interview with “the Horn Doctor.”

-Lauren

Employment in the Industry

The automotive industry is extremely cyclical; it ebbs and flows with the economy.  When economic recession struck in 2008 the car industry plummeted, thus bringing down employment within the industry.  After some major readjusting, automakers have begun to see their fortunes improve.  With auto sales in bloom,  car companies are hiring again! The jobs that are being created aren’t just restricted to workers either.

 

The chart shows the average income for particular jobs inside the industry.  These prices are stated with out any of the compensation most workers receive (which generally increases the salary).  Depending on the sector of employment, you can make a pretty penny working in the automotive industry.  With this money comes the perks as well.  Often times companies give their employees and family members significant discounts when purchasing a vehicle, and who wouldn’t want that?

Behind every paycheck are the hours put into the work. The chart above gives an estimate of on average how many hours each sectors works.  While certain positions require more hours than others, large companies, such as GM, do try to work with their employees to allow them to have a balanced work and home life.  They do so by allowing employees to select hours they wish to work and sometimes offers them the opportunity to work from home.  Sounds like a good deal to me!

 

By: Alex Slipow

The LEAF and the Roadster

These are two videos: a comparison between a review of the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla
Roadster.

——

Selling electric cars in America is an incredibly difficult undertaking. Most of our large cities were designed with infinitely cheap gasoline in mind. relative to the rest of the world, we’re still obsessed with large vehicles.  And we don’t want to have to think ahead to charge our vehicles; we want to wait until our gas light goes on, then pull into a gas station that will inevitably be minutes away. But these statements do not suggest that introducing electric cars to America is impossible- just that it is very difficult.

These two cars (The Nissan LEAF and Telsa Roadster) are designed, priced, and marketed quite differently, but both are successful.

Distance Per Charge:
Nissan new that without substantial range between charges, a fully electric car could not succeed in America. With average round trip commutes of 32 miles, and taking meals and errands into account, it’s hard to imagine a 50 or 60-mile-per-charge car ever succeeding in America. So Nissan put $100 as its benchmark waited until 100-mile-per-charge battery technology became reasonably priced.

Tesla Motors through all thoughts of reasonable pricing out the window. They use compact, highly efficient laptop batteries to power the Roadster. These batteries contribute to the car’s $109,000 price tag.

Marketing:
The LEAF’s advertiements highlight the car’s economic efficiency. It’s target audience is composed of middle-class Americans who live in cities and want to save the planet.

The Tesla Roadster’s advertisements mention that the car is green, but the real focus is on the cars “coolness.” The car goes from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds,and the batteries exist in the shell of a Lotus Elise, a sexy British sports car. The roadster’s audience is composed mostly of million- and billionaires who can say, “This is my favorite car in my collection… because
it is 100% electric.

In the futue, Nissan will try to improve the technology and reduce the cost of later LEAF models, but Tesla Motors is planning to introduce an all-electric SUV in 2012.  With the efforts of these two companies and others like them, electric cars may slowly gain a significant foothold in America

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Traffic/story?id=485098&page=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhSqI77aLHU

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster

http://www.mercurynews.com/cars/ci_19936093

Trends in Automotive Industry

The amenities that each vehicle offers becomes more important for differentiation amongst companies.The new marketing campaigns focus on affordability, performance, and visual appeal, focusing on high horsepower capabilities and features standard on all vehicles. Companies have released competing models that leverage on the growing age segments. As companies profit from an increase in the customer base, companies are becoming innovative to remain competitive.

As Americans increase the time spent in their vehicles, the new technology companies include in vehicles is of utmost importance for the customer. Car companies compete on recognizable added value and innovative technologies.  Although customers value technology improvement, safety is the most important feature of any vehicle. The automotive industry has seen the effects of a brand image, its intangible asset, tarnished when Toyota experienced problems with brake pedals. Including the most technologically advanced safety features in a vehicle is extremely important in an industry where customers demand and pay for the highest quality of vehicle available.

Safety has become an imaginable asset for many of the major companies, exemplified by this Lexus’s commercials focused on safety innovation.

Recent technological advances have attracted more customers, which has increased revenues. Technology improvements to drivability, interaction, and design have allowed the companies to revolutionize a mature industry. As fuel efficiency continues to be of great importance to Americans, many companies have focused on technology that can reduce the fuel engines require to run these powerful vehicles. American society emphasizes the importance of sustaining the environment and creating ways to reduce the fuel dependency of the country.  Environmental regulations and increased energy constraints have caused fuel to increase. Fuel efficiency has become very important to Americans, and companies are beginning to focus technology on alternative energy sources for vehicles.

By: Alex Slipow

 

Consumer Behavior

 On February 2^nd,  January sales report  from 2012 were released also accompanied by the percent in sales changed from January 2011.

Through these numbers one can look at the consumer purchasing behavior in the past year and see the trend in “down-sizing” vehicles.  Although the Ford-F series is the high-level of sales, Toyota Camry sales jumped 55% within years time.  With that, other smaller vehicles, such as the Honda Civic, also had a large increase in sales.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/top-selling-vehicles-us-january-15492788#.TzWX07Egfkg

By: Lauren Bernard