Tag: Clive Davis

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Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives

The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network will broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The most prestigious party associated with the event is the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala. The festivities take place tonight, Saturday, February, 11 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

This year’s guests will include Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Ringo Starr, Metallica, Pharrell Williams, John Legend, Michael Keaton, Jane Fonda, Nile Rogers, Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears, Neil Young, Brian Grazer, Larry King, Andrea Day and Wiz Khalifa.

Clive Davis’s influence has been felt for 50 years in the music industry. He will be honored with a documentary, Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives which opens the 16th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, at Radio City Music Hall on April 19, 2017. After the screening, an all-star music concert will take place featuring performances by Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind & Fire. (to name a few)

The documentary is based on Clive Davis’s 2013 bestselling autobiography:

I admire Clive Davis who was President of Columbia-CBS Group in the heyday (1967-1973) at Big Black Rock on 52nd Street in New York City. This was a significant period that expanded my rock music appreciation.

An early pop signing of his was the British folk-rock musician Donovan, who enjoyed a string of successful hit singles and albums released in the U.S. on the Epic Records label.

Clive Davis went on to further success by founding Arista Records in 1975 by signing Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, and after Whitney Houston.

He’s 84 and still a pivotal force in the recording industry as Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment.

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Victory Is Won – Santana

The art of the instrumental can be powerfully felt through tight musicianship and coordinating playing. The instrumental track, “Victory is Won” highlights the drumming of Dennis Chambers (love the rolls at the end) along with how well Chester Thompson dances his fingers across his Hammond B3 organ. Carlos Santana tops things off with his glass slide technique down the neck of his Paul Reed Smith. Benny Rietveld plays bass. This four piece ensemble recorded many of the Shape Shifter album tracks together.

There are two ways I love to hear this instrumental performed. The first is to play the instrumental recording from the Santana Shaman audio compact disk.

The second way is live. My wife and I attended the November 1, 2005 Webcast Concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, in celebration of  the Santana album, All That I Am launch. It was an all star evening with special guests Robert Randolph and Anthony Hamilton who are on that album. Clive Davis was there sitting in the opera booth and we walked behind him when the crowd let out 🙂

We witnessed a great rendition of “Victory Is Won” as we stood very close to the stage that night. Trust me it was as cool as the video evidences.

 

 

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Santana’s First Single from the forthcoming Guitar Heaven due 9/21

Clive Davis and Carlos Santana combine their energies with the Santana band and various guest stars for the new collaboration recording, Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time (Arista Records), available on September 21st.

The first single is the George Harrison classic, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which features the beautiful voice of Ms. Indie.arie and the masterful bow of cellist Yo-Yo Ma. I loved it when I read what Olivia Harrison said when she heard this recording, ““Listening to the song,” Olivia Harrison told Carlos, “it made me jump for joy and cry at the same time.”.

The track is available here:  http://bit.ly/cQMlQl (link requires iTunes)

The VIP listening and all star concert takes place in Las Vegas on August 25th when Santana returns for their next extended stay at The Joint at The Hard Rock International Hotel. We hope that there will be something special planned on September 3rd when we get to see Santana live there for the 3rd time this year!

Light and Love!

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