CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
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Name:
Woody Mann
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City/Place:
New York City
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Country:
United States
Life
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Bio:
Among guitarists and critics, Woody Mann is considered a modern master. While the country blues are his touchstone, he seems to draw inspiration from every direction, blending a myriad of influences with ease and grace. Pioneering guitar legend John Fahey said it well: “You can hear classical, jazz and blues approaches somehow converging into a single sparkling sound – a sound completely his own. If there was a category simply called great music Woody’s music would belong there”.
Since his early days when Woody took his first musical schooling with Reverend Gary Davis, the legendary blues, gospel and ragtime guitarist and with Chicago-born jazz pianist Lennie Tristano, Mann has pursued a rich and diverse career. From his first solo recording “Stairwell Serenade” that Guitar Player Magazine included in their “guitar recordings of destiny” he has; performed everywhere from the orchestra pits of Broadway to stages worldwide, recorded extensively as a soloist and in collaboration with legends Son House Bukka White, and John Fahey, been honored by the C.F. Martin guitar company with the release of “Woody Mann” signature model, named as the official USA ambassador the Great Britain International Guitar Festival, and has schooled countless guitarists through his many books and DVDs. Mann’s latest release “Careless Love” features a collection or original tracks ranging from Italian inspired melodies to Southern blues and jazz rhythms. It is yet another inspired set that shows why Woody continues to be an original voice on the music scene.
Acknowledging his artistry, the C.F. Martin guitar company has honored Woody with the release of the “Woody Mann” signature model guitar. He is also the official USA ambassador the Great Britain International Guitar Festival, where he has been a frequent performer.
As a producer, writer and filmmaker he has co-produced the award winning feature documentary, “Harlem Street Singer”, the story of Reverend Gary Davis, the legendary Gospel, blues, and ragtime guitarist, produced the soundtrack CD “Empire Root Band”, and penned his latest book “Just Play”, combines history and stories of artists Woody has known and worked with including jazz guitarist Attila Zoller, Lennie Portuguese composer Carlos Paredes, and his early mentors Reverend Gary Davis and jazz great Lennie Tristano.
Woody has taught at the major guitar workshops in the USA and Europe including Hanover University in Germany and Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, been a faculty member at the New School in New York City, founded International Guitar Seminars, and created his own innovative online teaching website. Presently, Woody is a visiting artist at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he is teaching a new generation of musicians.
His originality has captured critical acclaim from New York to Tokyo. “Woody takes familiar material and twists and turns it taking a phrase and dynamics into a breathtaking listening experience. And smooth & bluesy vocals.” – the Guardian “What is remarkable is how he can draw from several styles and techniques within a single song and have them blend without the feeling of inconsistency. Woody Mann’s performance is inspired from start to finish.”-Acoustic Musician Magazine
Throughout his career, Woody has not forgotten those early lessons in the Rev. Davis’ living room or the jazz traditions that were his wellspring. He has become one of the world’s renowned guitar masters – bringing the past up to the present – with his own contemporary improvisational style.
My Instruction
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Lessons/Workshops:
" What puts American guitar virtuoso Woody Mann so far ahead of the rest is that his lessons are grounded not just in a deep understanding of early blues music, but also in his own superior musicality.”
- Canberra Times, Australia
"Woody was extremely gracious and patient. He presents the material in such a clear and simple way. My adrenaline was pumping just knowing I was learning from someone who is not only a great player, but also a direct link to some of the first generation guys."
-R.F.
"If there was a category simply called "Great Music," Woody's C.Ds. would belong there."
- John Fahey
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Instruction:
http://www.woodymannguitarlessons.com
Clips (more may be added)
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
Wolfram Mathematics
Bahia was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place on earth throughout all of human history...refuge for Sephardim fleeing the Inquisition...Indigenous both apart and subsumed into a sociocultural matrix which is all of these: a small-world matrix (see Wolfram). Human society, the billions of us, is small-world. Neural structures for human memory are small-world. This technological matrix positioning creators around the world within reach of each other and the entire planet is able to do so because it is also small-world...
In small worlds great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"I'm truly thankful ... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
—Nduduzo Makhathini (JOHANNESBURG): piano, Blue Note recording artist
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
Dear friends & colleagues,
Having arrived in Salvador 13 years earlier, I opened a record shop in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for Bahian musicians, many of them magisterial but unknown.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Bahians and other Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix (people who have passed are not removed), then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Recent access to this matrix and Bahia are from these places (a single marker can denote multiple accesses).
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL
Nduduzo Makhathini
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Matt Garrison
RÁDIO MATRIX