Welcome back to Gilad Atzmon, who we streamed live from the Hideaway London earlier this year. As reported in the ShowGo.tv blog at the time, the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper had these immodest things to say about Gilad:
“A formidable improvisational array…a local jazz giant steadily drawing himself up to his full height…”-John Fordham, The Guardian
“Best Musician” living in the world today, Robert Wyatt, The Guardian

Oh, and he also writes BOOKS. Here is an abstract from his recent work, available on Amazon.

“Jewish identity is tied up with some of the most difficult and contentious issues of today. The purpose in this book is to open many of these issues up for discussion. Since Israel defines itself openly as the ‘Jewish State’, we should ask what the notions of ’Judaism’, ‘Jewishness’, ‘Jewish culture’ and ‘Jewish ideology’ stand for. Gilad examines the tribal aspects embedded in Jewish secular discourse, both Zionist and anti Zionist; the ‘holocaust religion’; the meaning of ‘history’ and ‘time’ within the Jewish political discourse; the anti-Gentile ideologies entangled within different forms of secular Jewish political discourse and even within the Jewish left. He questions what it is that leads Diaspora Jews to identify themselves with Israel and affiliate with its politics. The devastating state of our world affairs raises an immediate demand for a conceptual shift in our intellectual and philosophical attitude towards politics, identity politics and history.”

Tune in tonight, Friday, at 9pm PT/ midnight ET on our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/ShowGotv?v=rTkr0JYV-_s or right here on ShowGo.tv.

Clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Reviewing Anat’s 2008 headlining set with her quartet at the North See Jazz Festival, DownBeat said: “Cohen not only proved to be a woodwind revelation of dark tones and delicious lyricism, but also a dynamic bandleader who danced and shouted out encouragement to her group – whooping it up when pianist Jason Lindner followed her clarinet trills on a Latin-flavored number.

With her dark, curly, shoulder-length hair swaying to the beat as she danced, she was a picture of joy.” Anat has been voted Clarinetist of the Year six years in a row by the Jazz Journalists Association, as well as 2012’s Multi-Reeds Player of the Year. That’s not to mention her topping of critics and readers polls in DownBeat magazine several years running. Anat has toured the world with her quartet, headlining at the Newport, Umbria, SF Jazz and North Sea jazz festivals as well as at such hallowed clubs as New York’s Village Vanguard. In September 2012, Anzic Records releases her sixth album as a bandleader, Claroscuro.The album ranges from buoyant dances to darkly lyrical ballads, drawing inspiration from New Orleans and New York, Africa and Brazil. In its ebullient, irresistible variety, Claroscuro encapsulates the description Jazz Police offered of Anat in full flight: “She becomes a singer, a poet, a mad scientist, laughing – musically – with the delight of reaching that new place, that new feeling, with each chorus.” Claroscuro takes its title from the Spanish word describing the play of light and shade (chiaroscuro in Italian).

Watch this:

And then watch her with us here Saturday at noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern or on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/ShowGotv?v=C2c6q3_T6e4.

Learn more at http://anatcohen.com or on her Twitter feed @Anat_Cohen

Lydia Pense & Cold Blood debuted when the Fillmore was at its peak as one of the nation’s musical Meccas. Owner Bill Graham was so impressed with Lydia’s voice and the sound of the band that he immediately signed Cold Blood to his new record label. During the span of six original late-60′s, early-70′s albums, Lydia Pense and Cold Blood helped, along with Tower Of Power, forge their own specific brand of funk/soul and R&B which came to be known as East Bay Grease. That music still holds up today, proving that great music is timeless and will continue to inspire generations to come.

The Cowboy Junkies released The Wilderness, Volume 4 of The Nomad Series on March 27, 2012, marking the conclusion of an ambitious schedule of four releases over an 18-month period. The group’s Michael Timmins says of the new CD, “The title, The Wilderness, in some odd way seemed to define what these songs were actually “about”: fragility, emptiness, loneliness, beauty, chance, loss, desperation – the delicate balancing act that makes up a life. They are about being lost in the wilderness of age, the wilderness of parenthood, in the wilderness of just trying to find meaning and substance, happiness and truth in ones day to day life. They are about standing alone in middle of it all, breathing in the cold still air and wondering.”

The preceding album, Sing In My Meadow, a collection of songs recorded over a four-day period that evokes the psychedelic, blues-inspired forays the band is fond of exploring on stage was hailed by Metromix as “showing yet another side of one of the most versatile, underrated bands of the last 25 years.”

The first volume of the series, Renmin Park, released in 2010, was inspired by Michael Timmins’ two-month stay in China with his family in ‘08 and was called “their most ambitious yet” by The Boston Herald. Demons (2011), the second in the series, is a collection of songs by the late Vic Chesnutt which Canada’s National Post called “…a celebration of both the Junkies and Chesnutt and one of the year’s best albums.”

Here’s a playlist of our favorite Cowboy Junkies videos for a taste of the band’s music.

Cowboy Junkies were formed in Toronto in 1985 after guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins and long-time friend and musical partner, bassist Alan Anton, recruited Michael’s sister, singer Margo Timmins and brother, drummer Peter Timmins to join them.

Watch the show right here or on our YouTube channel.

Join us Saturday night at 8pm PDT/ 11pm EDT for the fabulous Ruben Studdard for his first appearance at the world famous Yoshi’s. It’s been almost a decade since Fox Television’s “American Idol” television talent competition crowned Studdard its 2003 winner after he pulled 24 million votes and became a household name. In the years since, the Velvet Teddy Bear (as Gladys Knight nicknamed him for his smoothly soothing vocal style) has produced a string of gold and platinum albums, toured as Fats Waller in a national stage tour of “Ain’t Misbehavin,’ appeared on various television shows, toured in the comedy drama “Heaven I Need A Hug” with Robin Givens and played a pastor in the Trace Adkins film, “Lifted.” Along the way, he’s also picked up GRAMMY® and American Music Award nominations and turned out now classic urban radio hits like “Sorry 2004,” “Superstar,” “Make Ya Feel Beautiful” and “Change Me.” He also scored a #1 Gospel hit with “I Need An Angel.”

Here’s a little YouTube playlist to get you going with some of our fave videos:

Click here to be transported to the live event on our YouTube Live channel or watch the video with us right from the blog:

There I was walking down Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles in front of one of our venue partners (The Mint!) when video producer and blogger Loren Feldman asked me to describe ShowGo.tv in two minutes.

So I did.

Join us Tuesday from the fabulous Blue Note in Milan, Italy for Omar Hakim’s Trio of Oz. The legendary drummer has played with Weather Report, Sting, Miles Davis and David Bowie and is joined by pianist Rachel Z (Wayne Shorter, Steps Ahead, and Peter Gabriel). Solomon Dorsey fills out the trio on bass. Find out more about the band by visiting:

Artist Site: thetrioofoz.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetrioofoz?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheTrioofOZ @TheTrioofOZ
BlueNote: http://www.bluenotemilano.com/evento/the-trio-of-oz-feat-omar-hakim-and-rachel-z/

The repertoire ranges from Duke Ellington to Depeche Mode, Wayne Shorter to Joni Mitchell, from Stone Temple Pilots to Death Cab for Cutie, and from Sting to Coldplay and Bjork. Check them out here: