Nichelson Entertainment: Blog

I must say that I am not usually at a loss for words but a lot of friends and fans surprised me at Brooklyn Jazz cafe last night. Many of you may know that my family and business base is relocating to Los Angeles in early 2009. I really thought this was going to be a typical Wednesday show with Ardina Lockhart but it turned out to be a very special gathering of many of my friends and fellow musicians. Some I have known since my 80s days at UNT; others I met just last night. I must say that I have been richly blessed with some irreplaceable friendships here in the Dallas area. I will name only a few here, but there is always one more. Ardina, you helped make it all possible. Thanks. Shelley, what can I say? TJ, Johnny, LD, Melba, Gordon (The Rev), Big Sexy, Jamil, Garfield, Brad Mezei, Scott, Lorna and Robin. And even thanks to those who were gigging and/or missed it. We will celebrate again in the future. Peace!

Yours sincerely,

Frederick A. Nichelson/aka/Nick

NE would like to announce our latest retail partership with Georgia based IndieRhytm.com. This company specializes in online music retail and radio airplay. We look forward to getting our music to more people and making new fans around the planet. We should be up and running with our new stores by September 08.

The latest CD from Shelley Carrol is finally here. You can listen to tracks on this site and purchase it from CDbaby.com and other fine retailers. NE has also aquired the rights to distribute Shelley's debut Leaning House Records CD. This one is an instant classic with Sebastain Whittaker on drums along with several Ellington Orchestra members.

SA, you did it again. We love playing for you and you give it right back to us. Thanks to "The MAN", David Munoz for putting us on. It was hot but we felt cool. We also got a chance to hang with the headliner, Nils and his band. Very cool cats.

Look for Kyle out on tour this summer with Pendulum Recording artist, Regina Belle. kyle has been a part of her group for several years and will continue working on her live show. Also look for Kyle on the upcoming Bobby Lyle release.

NE will be opening a west coast office in the 4th Quarter of 2008. We will still continue operations in Texas but will soon become a mainstay in the fertile California scene. Look for more details soon.

Thanks to Rainbow Ent for hiring us to play the afterparty at Hotel Polamar for the new movie Expelled starring Ben Stien. The event was really nice and brought a taste of Hollywood to North Dallas! Much success in the future.

NE has just completed a landmark CD for the Denton Festival Foundation. The project was produced by Union President, Ray Hair. It features tracks form some of the most popular artist who have appeared at the Annual festival. They include Fingerprints, Brave Combo, John Adams, Eric Scortia, and more. The Sampler CD will be sold at this years 3 day festival event and on the website.
see dentonjazzfest.com for more details.

Memphis Soul Live made its debut at one of TX most traesured venues. We performed at One World Theater in Austin. This place should be visited by all who like music in an intimate setting. Loved it!

Tim Jones and Fingerprints are now being featured at the Mansion Hotel Bar in Dallas. This is a very upscale venue in the Turtle creek section of Dallas. The band is there several time a month so check our calendar for details.

If you had not heard, our own Kyle Turner was recently included in the 2008 Edition of Who's Who in Black Houston. This is a tremendous honor for one of the city's many great entertainers. Kyle has been not only performing for years in Houston, but he has given back countless hours to up and coming musicians. For that, Kyle is a rare talent! The ceremony was at the Hotel Intercontinental and also included gospel artist Yolanda Adams.

Well, it's official. After a year long run, we are no longer performing at Sambuca. The venue changed its format in January and no longer features jazz artists. We are disappointed in the change but vow to find a more suitable place to perform. We wish them the best. Peace.

NE has a deal in place to create a Joint venture with Allen, Texas based TVR (The Vibe Refinery). The newly formed "Refined Riffs" LLC will focus on branding opportunities and product parterships. The first campaign is a CD compilation and pairing with a prominent wine producer. Stay tuned for more details.

Here is a link to some real cool words from some who knew Marchel!

Hear Eric Scortia, Shelley Carrol, and John Murphy.

http://www.kntu.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1708&Itemid=1

MARCHEL IVERY: 1938-2007
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
guidelive@dallasnews.com
Another member of a great regional jazz dynasty has left the world too soon. Dallasite Marchel Ivery was a staunch proponent of what has become known as the "Texas tenor" saxophone sound – a ribald, full-throated approach that married roadhouse ebullience to technical chops.
Mr. Ivery died Tuesday at age 69 at Presbyterian Hospital after a brief and unexpected illness.
Other Texas tenors included giants like Arnett Cobb, David "Fathead" Newman and Illinois Jacquet, and Mr. Ivery was certainly of their ilk. Art Blakey, with whom he served in the '80s, called him "fire personified." Even though he made a decision to stay in Dallas for family reasons, he still cut a wide swath in the jazz world.
"As a bandleader, he was so great – he let you make your own mistakes and he corrected you by his own example, not directly," recalls local drummer Andrew Griffith, who played with Mr. Ivery since the early '90s. "Every night he played something that you hadn't heard before, but there was still a sense that he was holding something back. The guy could play 10 choruses, and there'd still be that sense of more to come.
"He was a wonderful musician and person. He came up playing that Texas tenors stuff, and he definitely had that down-home blues approach – after all, he'd played with Lightning Hopkins, and playing that stuff sticks with you."
"For me, coming up to Dallas in 1985 from Houston, he was a guy we all looked up to," says Shelley Carrol, another great and underappreciated local sax man. "He never had a mean word to say. He might be tough, but he always put it with an encouraging word. We played together two Mondays ago, and we just played and laughed.
"We were playing a Thelonious Monk song, and we were messin' it up, and he just looked at us like he was looking over his glasses, and he said, 'I need for you to go to the source' – to go to Monk's world to learn this. I feel so lucky to have known him."
In addition to forming the backbone of now-defunct local jazz label Leaning House, Mr. Ivery was a mainstay of the Sammons Jazz program, which took a refurbished waterworks pump house and turned it into a musical nexus.
"He was a big part of Sammons since the beginning, in 1989," says executive director Joanna St. Angelo. "And he's been with us ever since. His joy in playing was matched only in the joy he inspired in the audience."
Matt Weitz is a Dallas freelance writer.

We are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Texas music legend Marchel Ivery. NE had the pleasure of recording a project in 2007 with this diminutive giant of the saxophone. Plans are still pending on a release date. Ivery was a mentor to virtually all jazz musicians in the DFW area. He will be missed by so many musicians and fans alike.

Inner City Allstars debut CD is finally done and is currently set for release on Nov 13. This fun, high energy band is really headed for BIG things in 08. They already have a college tour and several other prime shows on the books. The new CD was recorded in their hometown of Denton and has guests appearances from Jeff Barnes (Brave combo), Shelley Carrol (Ellington orchestra), and many others.

We had a great time at Pappas Homestyle restuarant last weekend. This is a really nice place with great home cooking in Hickory Creek. Whenever you are near Denton it is well worth the visit. We look forward to playing there again.

PS. Michael and his daughter Makayla Cheadle wowed the crowd with some great vocals. They really did it up big.

NE will be releasing a State of the Texas Tenor CD this fall. it will be led by icon, Marchel Ivery and Shelley Carrol. This has been a lifelong dream project for Carrol and the time has come. The recording will be done at Dallas Sould lab in mid-July. We look forward to this landmark recording and it's promotion.

Dick's pastel works are currently on display at The Plaza of the Americas Downtown Gallery located at:

700 N. Pearl, Suite G207
Dallas, Texas 75201
972-951-7879
Hours are 10 am to 4 pm

This fantastic showing is sponsored by Texas Visual Arts Assn. and runs thru the month of June.