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Rock News: Music's high and low notes

By JOHN SWENSON, United Press International
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NORAH JONES RETURNS TO MAKOR

Norah Jones fans who came to the uptown New York club Makor Wednesday to see her guitarist Adam Levy play with his band got a very pleasant surprise when the singer herself stepped up to the mike.

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Looking much more at home on the stage where she got her start than she did sweeping up Grammy Awards, the "anti-diva" performed a sultry, country-jazz groove rendition of "Love Me Tender." In addition to Jones, soul greats The Holmes Brothers and Otis Clay also sang with Levy's organ trio.

Long before she was a gleam in Blue Note Records' eye and began climbing the charts, Jones honed her signature sound at Makor with a series of Wednesday "Lounge Night" gigs between December 2000 and January 2002.


ROY HARGROVE TAKES ON THE FUNK

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove has completed a hip-hop/rhythm and blues-influenced project, "Roy Hargrove Presents The RH Factor: Hard Groove," featuring D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, and others. The album is scheduled for release May 20 on Verve.

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"This is not the kind of thing you can just go do," Hargrove said. "You gotta have some people backing you." A star in the acoustic jazz world with 12 albums as a band leader and scores as a guest performer, Hargrove had long dreamed of making a record that mixed jazz with gritty funk, R&B and hip-hop. In 2000, Hargrove played on records by his friends D'Angelo ("Voodoo"), Erykah Badu ("Mama's Gun") and Common ("Like Water for Chocolate"), and the seeds of "Hard Groove" had been planted. Those three performers were among the first to join Hargrove's band The RH Factor, completing the collective of musicians who made the record.

As Hargrove put it, "Things came together quickly... It seemed like it was the right moment. It was a whirlwind of creativity. We had a great time, and I think that good energy comes through on the record. In the end, the album came out exactly the way I hoped it would be and then some."


HOMEOWNERSHIP FAIR

The New Orleans Neighborhood Housing Services organization is promoting its homesteading program with a free music festival Saturday on Freret Street between Napoleon and Jefferson Avenue. The Friendly Travelers, Pearlie Tyler and Friends, Chris and the Boulevards, Stephen Alfred, Bart and Neti, Eddie Bo, Sharon Martin, One Drop Plus, the Jazz Vipers, Anders Osborne and Monk Boudreaux, Cyril Neville and the Uptown All Stars and Wanda Rouzan will perform on two main stages.

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There also will be a kids' tent and street performances by the Panorama Jazz Band. While the music plays, local residents can investigate home ownership with help from local corporations, including Whitney Bank, Hibernia Bank, Fidelity Homestead Associates, AmSouth Bank, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, First Bank and Trust, Finance Authority of New Orleans, Fannie Mae, United Bank and Trust Company and Washington Mutual.


AUSTIN ON BLIND PIG

Award-wining vocalist Rene Austin has signed a recording agreement with prominent roots music label Blind Pig Records. With her powerful, near-five octave voice, Austin is gaining recognition across the country, as news of her electrifying performances is exciting audiences everywhere. Last year the singer won three Minnesota Music Awards -- Best Female Vocalist, Best Blues Artist and Best Blues Recording -- for her debut release "Dancin' With Mr. Blue".

Her first album was a favorite with radio DJs all across the country. David Fusco of the nationally syndicated program Blues Deluxe said, "One listen to Rene Austin is to hear the soul of Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin and a host of others that have molded the blues. When this lady is dancin,' let her lead!"

Austin has shared the stage with Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Keb' Mo, Vonda Sheperd -- of Ally McBeal -- and Robert Cray. After she opened last month for Delbert McClinton, he told Rene: "Girl, you ring my bell!" and invited her to perform on his celebrated Blues Cruise next year.

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STAX MUSEUM

The grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music will take place in Memphis April 28-May 1. A screening of the new edition of the 1973 documentary feature "Wattstax" is being scheduled as part of the opening festivities.

"Wattstax" also will be shown in limited theatrical release through Columbia Pictures Repertory beginning June 6 in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The film will play in additional markets in late June and July.

Fantasy Records has released three new Stax CDs: "At Wattstax," which contains the entire hour-long performance given by Isaac Hayes at the 1972 Wattstax concert, all but one of the tracks are previously unissued; "Stax Instrumentals," the first U.S. release of 25 tracks by Booker T. and the MGs and the Mar-Keys, with detailed booklet notes by Alec Palao; and "Soul Men," the first U.S. release of a Booker T. and the MGs compilation on which the combo reworks 25 hits of the 1960s.

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