Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is April 5: Jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine was born in 1934. Advertisement Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Jerry Lewis, Mel Torme, Artie Shaw and Henry Mancini were among the mourners at the Los Angeles funeral of Buddy Rich in 1987. The legendary jazz drummer had died following brain surgery three days earlier at age 69. On April 6: Drummer Arthur S. Taylor Jr., the leader of Taylor's Wailers, was born in 1929. On April 7: Conductor Percy Faith, who had a pop hit with "Summer Place," was born in 1908. Billie Holiday was born in 1915. Blues singer Louis "Mr Bo" Collins was born in 1932. Looking at today's hip happenings... The Pat Methany Group's latest album is titled "Speaking of Now" and it's the first featuring the band's new line-up. The core group of Pat Metheny, Steve Rodby and Lyle Mays is joined by Richard Bona on vocals/percussion, New York-based trumpeter Cuong Vu, and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Methany told JazzReview.com that it was "very natural" to shift back into the group mode after the trio setting. Advertisement "The time with the trio ended up being a significant amount of time," he said. "I hadn't really anticipated that when it launched. I thought it was going to be a 4-week tour. We ended up with three CDs of material and a couple of hundred gigs under our belt. By the time we started to wrap-up, I was starting to get the itch for that bigger sound, the incredible stylistic range and potential that only the group harbors." The musician said the challenge with the latest recording was the new, younger members of the group. "For the first time, we have three guys who are chronologically one generation younger than the rest of us, and from very different places across the jazz panorama and geographically," Methany said. "One thing they all had in common was that listening to Pat Metheny Group records formed part of their musical DNA." Methany added that he's looking forward to touring with his new line-up. (By UPI's Penny Nelson Bartholomew, sitting in for Ken Franckling)
