Aych – As the Crow Flies (Relative Pitch, 2011)

This is an angular and abstract album of progressive jazz from a collective unit consisting of Jim Hobbs on alto saxophone, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and brass. The music has an sharp cornered and edgy feel with ominous overtones flowing through it, like walking through a closed carnival late at night, where shadows and un-nerving noises lurk in wait. The performances are a mix of Jim Hobbs compositions like the lengthy title track and high-wire free improvisations credited to the group as a whole. The short collective improvisations are quite exciting like “The North Wind” or “Bimini Road” where the group develops a short pointed performances spontaneously. Hobbs’ own compositions go into greater textural depth, using the full palette of sounds available from the trio. Hobbs and Bynum spit and slur their lines obscuring the music until the mostly short pieces become one haunting sphere of sound. Mary Halvorson alternatively strums her guitar and hurls bolts of nervous energy complementing the other two instruments and adding to the atmosphere of the recording. As the Crow Flies – amazon.com

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Joe Pasternack Leaving UNO Basketball Team for Job at Arizona

Joe Pasternack has resigned as men’s basketball head coach of the University of New Orleans’ team in order to become an assistant coach at the University of Arizona’s men’s basketball team under head coach Sean Miller. “It was very difficult for me being from New Orleans to leave the city that I love,” Pasternack said. “But this was an opportunity, and I’ve looked at many opportunities in the past two years I let go by the wayside, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Sean Miller is the total package. He’s one of the top coaches in all of college basketball.”

Joe Pasternack’s contract at the University of New Orleans was very close to its expiration date, and the plan was for him to sit down with Athletic Director Amy Champion in order to decide on a new deal. That plan completely changed once coach Miller called him. Miller considered a number of candidates for the assistant coach job, but Pasternack’s impressive reputation and wide experience lead Miller to decide that he is the best candidate.

“To me, I just want to be in a situation where we’re competing for Final Fours and national championships,” Pasternack said. “That to me is the most important thing for me and my family, to be in a situation where we can compete at the highest level. This is one of the elite programs in all of America. When you look at Arizona basketball, you can put them at the same level as Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas.”

Prior to his coaching career at the University of New Orleans, Pasternack was an assistant coach at California for eight seasons, and also served as a student manager under Coach Bob Knight at Indiana. Coach Knight helped Pasternack to make his decision, and told him that the University of Arizona job is too good to pass up.

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Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up – The Air is Different (482 Music, 2012)

This is a very nice post bop quintet session with excellent band interplay. Led by drummer Tomas Fujiwara and consisting of Mary Halvorson on guitar, Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Trevor Dunn on bass and Brian Settles on tenor saxophone. The band achieves a very potent and progressive sound, with the leader providing ever shifting and pulsating rhythms accompanied by rock solid bass. Settles and Finlayson make for an excellent front line, playing in unison and soloing well, but the real center of attention is Mary Halvorson, who seemingly has the ability to dictate the feeling of the music at will with gentle strums, probing strokes and electric shards of guitar that permeate the music. The album is well paced with short nimble selections like the brisk “Double Lake, Defined” leading into the later longer works “Smoke Breathing Lights” and “Postcards” which build dynamically to powerful and satisfying conclusions. The payoff is that this is an excellent album, with suburb ensemble and group playing. The musicians in their group all have their own groups and configurations, but hopefully they will be able to reconvene and record again soon, because they’re on to something special here. The Air is Different – amazon.com

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Darius Jones Quartet – Book of Mae’Bul: Another Kind of Sunrise (AUM Fidelity, 2012)

Alto saxophonist and composer Darius Jones completes the first trilogy in his Man’ish Boy series with this album accompanied by Matt Mitchell on piano, Trevor Dunn on bass and Ches Smith on drums. The music has the ability to move from bop-based jazz to free music, using space and sound as a malleable substance. Jones uses his deep and piercing saxophone tone to develop texture and sonic waves to great effect and the quartet develops as an organic entity, mindfully channeling their own transitory nature to keep the music fresh and alive. “The Enjoli Moon” opens the album with pinched and ripe alto saxophone playing a circular melody over bouncing piano chords as Jones further develops his impressive solo statement, building in fast and raw. A sweet melody, gentle as a lullaby is featured in “The Fagley Blues” which also incorporates a fine piano, bass and drums section, before Jones returns with the rhythm section deftly supporting him. Jones’ yearning, dark hewn sound imbues “My Baby,” playing over a jagged piano, bass and drum backdrop. “You Have Me Seeing Red” has strong, fast group playing moving into an emotionally wrought saxophone section which evolves into the gentle ballad “So Sad” which is dark and haunting. I liked this album a lot, it had a searching, seeking tone that was emotionally resonant and very impressive. The artwork is extraordinary too, making me wish for a vinyl version. Book of Mae’Bul: Another Kind of Sunrise – amazon.com

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Alliance Charge Hires Additional Technical Support Employees

Online processing consulting firm, Alliance Charge, announces its recent hiring of additional technical support employees to meet demand. Recently the consulting firm announced it has hired 10 information technology employees.
 

Leading online processing consulting firm, Alliance Charge, recently announced its hiring of 10 savvy professional, friendly IT employees.

“Alliance Charge is committed to offering professional, full-service, helpful services, in order to do so, we needed additional technical support employees who could answer all our customers’ questions and concerns,” said Paul Skinner, Alliance Charge Spokesman.

The full-time technical support positions were filled by knowledgeable, experienced IT personnel, said Skinner. The new IT personnel will provide Alliance Charge customers with answers to questions regarding use and troubleshooting of online programs, as well as answers to any other technology related questions.

“Alliance Charge is happy to be able to hire additional staff and further grow as a family, we hope to continue growing and offer top-notch services,” said Skinner. “Alliance Charge is always on the hunt for the best solutions and employees,” said Skinner. “We simply want the best for our customers.”

Alliance Charge was formed in 2007 to play a bigger role in the online interactive and content management systems business. In addition, Alliance Charge provides payment consulting services as well as content management systems development. Alliance Charge specializes in serving companies that require reliable online payment processing solutions. In addition, Alliance Charge focuses on providing solid solutions for companies that want to leverage their payment processing capabilities.

More About Alliance Charge
Online processing consulting firm, Alliance Charge, is a subsidiary of Myroxon Holdings Ltd, a European based company. Alliance Charge provides a proprietary payment gateway directly linked to the banks across the globe, the company processes credit and debit card payments, verifies and processes e-Checks online, and more. Alliance Charge is considered an innovative global online processing consulting company. Alliance Charge was founded in 2007 to play a bigger role in the online interactive and content management systems business. Alliance Charge provides payment consulting services as well as content management systems development.

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For additional information, interview, and image requests contact:
Paul Skinner
PR Manager
Alliance Charge

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Joe Pasternack Named New Assistant Coach at Arizona

Joe Pasternack, previous head coach of the University of New Orleans’ men’s basketball team, will be the new assistant coach for the University of Arizona’s men’s team.

In his high school career, which took place in Metairie Park Country Day School, Pasternack played four years of high school basketball. He graduated from Indiana in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Prior to his coaching career at the University of New Orleans, Joe Pasternack was a manager for the Indiana basketball team for four years under coach Bob Knight and was an assistant coach at California.

He is known for his passionate and workaholic approach to all of his given positions.

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At Sinking UNO, Summer Recruiting Proves to Be Anything But Easy

In 2007, Joe Pasternack, then assistant coach at California, was offered a job as the University of New Orleans’ men’s basketball team’s (‘The Privateers’) head-coach, and he accepted it. Going back to his home-city in order to help rebuild the team after it was ruined by Hurricane Katrina seemed like the right thing to do. During his first year as head-coach, he lead ‘The Privateers’ to finish 19-11, their best record since 1997. “I thought we had turned the corner,” he said. Unfortunately he thought wrong.

With only a year left to his own contract as, Joe Pasternack, had to face the challenge of finding an entirely new team by the time the school year began at the end of August. The big problem, though, is that he needed to recruit players who were willing to enroll to the university and play for ‘The Privateers’, UNO’s basketball team, without receiving athletic scholarships. This is due to the fact the the university has, without too many choices, decided to move its athletics program from Division I to Division III because of major financial issues that they were experiencing as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Pasternack did everything that he possibly could in order to find the best players for the new team, who would also be able to afford paying for their own tuition. He attended a two-day scrimmaging camp, in order to find and invite the best players to the university’s basketball skills camp which takes place only a few weeks before the school-year begins. He was able to gather 40 players for the university’s basketball skills camp. “I’m sure a lot of you know our situation,” Pasternack told attendees. When he finishes explaining UNO’s plight, he says, “What that means is, we have a lot of spots open.”

By the end of the long and odd recruiting period, Joe Pasternack had a new team in front of him that he would need to build. “We started with one kid,” he says, “and finished with 19.”

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Rockin’ Johnny Band – Grim Reaper (Delmark, 2012)

Guitarist and vocalist “Rockin Johnny” Burgin worked his way into an admirable position on the current Chicago blues scene the hard way, making his way from South Carolina to the Windy City, and earning the nickname “Rockin’ Johnny” as a DJ at a college radio station. Rockin’ Johnny began playing in the clubs of Chicago’s West Side with blues singer Taildragger, and then began touring nationally as a sideman with former Howlin’ Wolf drummer Sam Lay and blues piano legend Pinetop Perkins. Rockin’ Johnny has a slow and drawn out way of phrasing his vocals, reminiscent of Charlie Musslewhite and Mose Allison. Supported by Rick Kreher on rhythm guitar, John Sefner on bass, Steve Bass and drums and Big D on harmonica. Rockin’ Johnny’s guitar work is economical and potent, and some of the tracks are framed by horn arrangements. The music is solid and respectable and you can imagine how it must whip up a crowd on a Saturday night. The title track “Grim Reaper” is an interesting one to come out of the gate with, a crossroads like tale of trying to keep death at bay. He plays to his strengths with the working man’s lament “It’s Expensive To Be Broke,” then lovelorn “One And One Ain’t Two,” and the travelling itinerant musicians plea “Shoe Leather and Tire Rubber.” Grim Reaper – amazon.com

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Naftali Feig Marks 7 Years Since Opening Business

Founding Partner of R & N Property Investments, Naftali Feig, recently marked the company’s seventh year in business. R & N Property Investments is a Cleveland-based real estate investment firm that purchases bank-owned homes and sells or rents them after renovation and home improvement work.

Naftali Feig founded R & N Property Investments in 2005. The Cleveland-based real estate investment firm purchases bank-owned homes, prior to releasing the properties to the market, Naftali Feig and his team renovate and repair the properties.

Since first establishing the real estate firm, Naftali Feig has been in charge of performing all due diligence on investment opportunities, job costing, designing and implementing property improvements, developing company growth strategy, hiring and overseeing professional tradesmen for projects, negotiating service contracts, cash-flow forecasting, bank reconciliation, budgeting, financial reporting and more.

“I completed a whole range of tasks,” said Naftali Feig. “I am a team player with strong leadership skills and a unique ability to see the larger picture while remaining detail oriented”

Since Naftali Feig recently relocated to Israel, he has handed over day-to-day operations of R & N Property Investments to his business partner.

Recently Naftali Feig marked his 12th year in the business profession. Naftali Feig, a native Israeli resident, moved to the United States with his family when he was seven years old. While living in the United States, Naftali Feig attended various American schools and education establishments.

In 2000, he graduated from Touro College with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. While a student at Touro College, Naftali Feig specialized in international financial markets, international bond trading, security analysis and options trading. Most recently, prior to his move to Israel, Naftali Feig graduated from Cleveland State University with a Masters of Business Administration.

Over the years, Naftali Feig has worked for a number of organizations, including Integrated DNA Technologies, Progressive Fashion Warehouse, Progressive Foods and most recently R & N Property Investments.

Naftali Feig is currently residing in Israel with his family and is seeking job opportunities in the business arena.

More About Naftali Feig

Naftali Feig, a native Israeli resident, holds 12 years of business and finance experience under his belt. Naftali Feig attended undergraduate and graduate school in the United States. Naftali graduated from Touro College with a Bachelor of Science in finance, recently he graduated from Cleveland State University with a Masters of Business Administration. Naftali Feig is a results driven business professional who is highly skilled at increasing revenue for organizations. Naftali Feig’s specialties include project management, accounting, strategy, planning, finance, real estate, and cost cutting. Naftali Feig is currently searching for challenging employment in Israel. Naftali Feig is married and has three children.

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Influential blues master chose music for a career but refuses to leave farming

By Dan England | dengland@greeleytribune.com

When Taj Mahal went to college for an education in farming back in the 1950s, he didn’t like the new term teachers used for agriculture.

They called it “agribusiness.”

Mahal fell in love with farming after watching his mother, a master of her garden, and growing up in the South surrounded by family farms. He even worked on a dairy farm when he was a teenager, eventually becoming its foreman, milking dozens of cows daily and tending waves of corn. But even back then, after he heard that word being thrown around, he saw a future of corporations dooming the individual farmers, he said.  [read more]

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