The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is a community of musicians striving to bring Brooklyn Jazz music out of the smaller neighborhoods and clubs and into the awareness of a wider listening public.  The Brooklyn Jazz Underground does this by producing CDs of the various artists under their wing and distributing them as well as encouraging the artists to travel and hold concerts outside their usual haunts.  The current group of about eight musicians travels around the New York area spreading the word about underground Jazz music and heightening awareness of this unique and classic genre of music. 

            The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is currently made up eight musicians: two bassists, two drummers (one straight up drummer, one who also does other percussion and the dhol), one saxophonist, one saxophonist/wood wind player, one trombonist and one trumpeter.  They are all highly skilled and well known in their field of music for having a creative style, being able to improvise well and having great showmanship.  They mostly play in the Brooklyn area, but are also known for traveling in the areas outside Brooklyn and putting on shows.  Their shows are very affordable and if you miss a concert, you can generally find the CD versions online or on podcasts.  You can even find the sheet music if you want to play it yourself and with your friends.  There are also samples on their website if you’ve never heard the music before and not sure if you’ll like it.  There are also videos of the group in their recording studio so you can get the full experience of how they create their music. 

            Jazz is very much an underground genre of music; it’s never had overwhelming popularity and it takes pride in being a cult genre of music.  Brooklyn Jazz Underground thrives on this; letting musicians experiment freely and enjoy all the facets of their music.  This makes for a very interesting and unique experience for the listener; there is a lot that can be pulled out for everyone and you’ll come away feeling different.  This is the mark of a true musician and that’s what you get with Brooklyn Jazz Underground. 

            If you don’t like jazz though, you won’t like this group.  The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is very much about the music, improvisation and everything.  For anyone who doesn’t like jazz or who doesn’t have much experience with it, it can seem very grating and even annoying.  But if you’re a jazz fan or just curious, you’ll definitely want to check this group out for yourself.      

If you are a musician and looking for band space to practice, contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is located in Brooklyn, New York and is the oldest performing arts center that has operated continuously; it was founded in 1861 and is still going strong.  In fact last year, it had over half a million in attendance, which makes it pretty huge for a performing arts and music academy.  The Academy boasts an average of one performance every two days that it either presents or produces and has a four screen cinema that is open year round for guests.

BAM prides itself on being able to teach students, help amateurs get exposure to the world of the performing arts, and bring the theater to the community.  There are many productions that BAM puts on of both the theater and the music genres.  BAM is also all about literature, free expression of things in the arts, histories, politics and other discussions.  It has a long history of hosting talks and discussion with some of the most noted names in political history such as Susan B. Anthony and Frank Llyod Wright.  The Academy continues this tradition with wonderful performers and speakers and a thoroughly interested and enthusiastic community to support new and professional performers.

BAM isn’t just about the music and the performing arts though; the academy has broadened its horizons to include working with the Brooklyn community on improvement initiatives such as schooling, restoration projects, and art and music projects to foster the creative spirit of the neighborhood of Fort Greene where the academy is based.  BAM also fosters an environmental conscience that can be found in its productions and in the works it does around the community such as recycling programs and looking at sustainable construction of their buildings so that the architects don’t create buildings that make a dent in the environment just by being there.  Finally, there are extensive archives for students of history and the arts to access with things like posters and original works dating back to the 1860s which is an amazing resource for research for many people.

You can learn a lot more about the Brooklyn Academy of Music by calling 718.636.4100 and find out how you can do things like submit your work to them or see theater and music for yourself.  BAM has a lot to offer anyone interested in the Arts, so if you’re in Brooklyn, it’s definitely worth checking out for yourself.

Empire Rehearsal Studios now has thirty music rehearsal studios in Brooklyn, so if you are in a band or are a musician and are interested in renting space to practice; just contact Empire for more information.

The Brooklyn Music School is an arm of the New York Music School Settlement that made it splinter off from the State University of New York.  It too has a long history; it was established in 1909 and gained its separate charter in 1912, making it almost one hundred years old.  The Brooklyn Music School specializes in music and dance for its students, giving them a solid foundation in the skills needed to go on to become a professional performer.

The Brooklyn Music School offers a number of programs for students interested in learning more about the arts.  There are a number of music and dance programs for students between the ages of eighteen months and eighteen years of age with the focus being on intensive training and theory rather than on general knowledge.  This means that students get focus early on for their education in a fine art which means that they will become more skilled and the curriculum is built around honing the skills of the students right from day one.  There is a thorough grounding in all different types of dance given as part of the curriculum, including ballet and Jazz while the music curriculum covers things like chorus and chamber music.  There are also summer programs where students can learn the foundations of all different kinds of dance to broaden their portfolio.

The Brooklyn Music School strongly encourages parental participation as this is the only way that the students will be able to keep up with the daily practices that are required and the classwork that will need to be done.  This approach means that parents will be able to enjoy the experiences of their students as well and thus more fully appreciate their accomplishments.

The Brooklyn Music School is also all about the community though.  There is a community outreach program that brings music and dance to the public schools where they are normally sorely underfunded or even gone altogether.  This is very important as many youth now don’t have access to the arts at school anymore and their education is suffering for it.

The Brooklyn Music School is a fantastic place to learn about dance and music right from an early age for your children. Even if your child chooses not to go all the way with it, having grounding in music and dance has many benefits for them later in life such as a healthier and an appreciation for the arts.  It’s definitely worth looking at for your child.

You can contact the Brooklyn Music School at 718-638-5660 and if you need a place to practice your music in Brooklyn, just contact Empire Rehearsal Studios at 718-706-6669.

Best known for the single “How to Save a Life,” The Fray is a Grammy-nominated, four-piece piano rock band currently composed of Isaac Slade on lead vocals and piano, Joe King on bass guitar and backing vocals, Dave Welsh on lead guitar, and Ben Wysocki on drums.

It all began with regular two-man jam sessions by Slade and King in 2002, with the addition of drummer Zach Johnson and bassist Caleb Slade, Isaac’s younger brother. The departure of Caleb from the band cause an estrangement between the brothers, and this later inspired the band to write “Over My Head,” a song about the rift between the two. When Johnson left, he was replaced by Wysocki as drummer, and later on Welsh also joined as primary guitarist. The band name came from a suggestion bowl during Caleb’s graduation party. At first, the quartet mentioned that The Fray was very fitting, because of the frequent quarrels they have over the lyrical compositions, but they later on took this back, saying that every member’s contributions to the compositions is being recognized.

Prior to their debut album, The Fray released two EPs, namely, Movement EP, which featured four songs, and Reason EP. The latter was critically lauded locally, and when the group submitted the single “Cable Car,” they immediately found exposure through radio airplays.

How to Save a Life was The Fray’s first full-length record, released in September 2005. The single “Cable Car” was re-named to “Over My Head (Cable Car)”, later becoming the KTCL’s most played song of that year and hitting the top 40 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The same single also peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 charts. Because of the success of their debut album, the quartet did a number of opening acts for various artists, including Weezer and Ben Folds.

As the band was still at the height of success off their debut album, some of their other songs also became featured in several TV shows and movies – “How to Save a Life” in Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and One Tree Hill, and “Look After You” also in One Tree Hill, Journeyman, and the movie Jumper. When “How to Save a Life” was eventually released as the band’s second single, it later reached #3 in the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing their first chart-topper. The fact that the single was chosen to be the main advertising promotion for Grey’s Anatomy’s season premiere was contributory to its commercial success, not only in the US but in UK and Canada as well. It has sold over 2 million copies in the US alone and has reached the double platinum status.

The band’s follow-up effort was a self-titled album, released 4 years after their debut. Their first single off the album was “You Found Me,” which made its debut on a commercial break of Grey’s Anatomy. The promotions for this album similarly worked, because their first single reached the #1 spot in Australian charts in no time. After “Over My Head” and “How to Save a Life,” “You Found Me” also became the quartet’s third song to sell 2 million downloads in US alone. Overall, it has been certified gold in three countries – US, Canada and Australia. The second single off the album was “Never Say Never,” and together, these two singles got the band two nominations in its 52nd Grammy Awards.