CD Release:

  El Medico de Coqui

 

Featuring:
Nicki Denner
Julian Llanos
Anton Denner
Mark Miller
Rolando Morales-Matos
Shai Hayo
Willie Martinez
Jennifer Vincent

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Past CD Releases:

   Awake

"An album of unquestioned elegance, spunk and rich melodies, Awake is an engaging collection of music bound to capture your attention, hold your interest and never, never put you to sleep."

~~ Edward Blanco, eJazzNews.com, 7/2/07

Featuring:
Vinson Valega
Terell Stafford
Anton Denner
Chris Bacas
Jon Cowherd
Josh Ginsburg

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  Consilience


"Valega’s drumming continually evolves, steady rhythmically but given to frequent tonal shifts which create new environments which his band mates respond to with snap reflexes."

~~ Shaun Brady,
Philadelphia City Paper, 3/17/05

Featuring:
Vinson Valega
Anton Denner
Gary Wang

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CD Pick:
Johnny Griffin - "Way Out!"

Johnny Griffin, who recently passed away in July, was originally from Chicago. Known as "The Little Giant," his sound was unique as was his phrasing and delivery. You knew it was him on tenor after only a few notes. And this quote from 1993 says it all: "It's not like I'’m looking to prove anything anymore," he At this age, what can I prove? I'm concentrating more on the beauty in the music, the humanity."

(posted 8/11/08)

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Book Pick:
Historical Statistics of the United States

by Susan Carter

What can one easily find in this major compendium by using the excellent index or browsing? Attendance at horse racing in 1997 was about half of what it was in 1976. Voter turnout in presidential elections in the U.S. was at a high in 1860, with 81.2 percent voting, and at one of the lowest percentages in 2000, with 49.3 percent. And In the "Health" chapter, one can discover that the incidence of cataracts in the elderly has stayed fairly constant from 1982 to 1995, while the number of people under 18 who have asthma almost doubled in the same period.

Fascinating reading, eh?

(posted 8/18/08)

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Essay:
Do-Gooders With Spreadsheets

In the U.S., Gillian Caldwell and her group, Witness, train people around the world to use video cameras to document human rights abuses. The resulting videos have drawn public attention to issues like child soldiers and the treatment of the mentally ill. Now Ms. Caldwell aims to create a sort of YouTube for human rights video clips.

Social entrepreneurs like Ms. Caldwell resemble traditional do-gooders in their yearning to make the world a better place, but sound like chief executives when they talk about metrics to assess cost-effectiveness. Many also generate income to finance expansion.

Read on...

(posted 8/18/08)

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Link:

Simplicity Forum - The Simplicity Forum is a think tank of academics and authors, activist and artists, educators and entrepreneurs who seek to promote simplicity in our work and practice it in our lives.

(posted 8/13/08)