VOA标准英语2010年-New Album a Tribute to the Late Arif M
时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(六)月
Arif Mardin (far right) and his classmates, at VOA in the early 1960s.
Grammy-award winning producer Arif Mardin died in 2006 after being diagnosed with cancer a year earlier. Now, four years after his death -- and through a loving tribute by his son -- Mardin is poised 1 to take the spotlight 2 at the top of the music world one more time.
As a producer, he was the wind beneath Bette Midler's wings. He gave "R.E.S.P.E.C.T" to Aretha Franklin. He accompanied Norah Jones as the virtually unknown artist sang 'Come Away With Me' on her journey to stardom. And he did the same for many more. But when award-winning music producer Arif Mardin learned that he was facing a personal health battle, he knew he still had one more album to make.
"In 2005, when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, in the months following that he started treatment and also he started to review many of the pieces he had written throughout the years, mainly jazz pieces," Joe Mardin said. Mardin is Arif Mardin's son and a fellow producer.
Arif Mardin was determined 3; this time he was not going to worry about the commercial demands of the pop record charts or the FM airwaves. This was going to be the artistic 4, jazzy" album that his heart and soul had longed for all those years.
Voice of: Arif Mardin (from movie clip The Greatest Ears in Town):
Together with my pop career I never gave up on classical and jazz, this gave rise to 'why don't I do a project of my own "
"I think many people know about his extraordinary career as a producer and arranger of popular music, with an extraordinary range of artists," Mardin stated. "But I don't think that they knew, or necessarily know about his very prolific 5 output during those years on the side as a composer of modern, classical and jazz pieces."
In fact, it was Arif Mardin's love of jazz, as a teenager in Istanbul, that opened up the path from his beloved home town to Boston and from being an ardent 6 Turkish jazz fan to being a sought-after pop music producer. Joe Mardin says the Voice of America also played a part in the process.
Tahir Sur, (r) worked for the VOA in Washington in 1950-1960's, Lawrence Berk (c), the founder 7 of the Berklee School (now College) of Music, Arif Mardin (l).
"In 1956 when Dizzy Gillespie was on a State Department sponsored tour of the Middle East, Turkey and Greece. Quincy Jones was the musical director of the orchestra at that time. That is when my father met Quincy and Dizzy Gillespie.
Eventually when Quincy came back to America they were looking for the first recipient 8 of Quincy's scholarship at the Berklee College of Music (in Boston), and at the Voice of America there was a gentleman named Tahir Sur, probably again on the Turkish news desk in Washington, D.C., and Voice of America actually commissioned my father to write three pieces, three arrangements, and eventually Quincy Jones recorded them with an all-star band with people like Art Farmer, Charlie Persip, I mean it was an incredible orchestra who played my father's pieces with Quincy conducting -- recorded for the VOA and that tape went to the Berklee College of Music and resulted in my father receiving the first Quincy Jones scholarship at the Berklee College of Music."
After a long journey of more than 40 years from Berklee to the Grammy awards, Arif was eager to pay homage 9 to jazz in his last album -- to be called All My Friends Are Here.
Mardin planned to collaborate 10 with all the artists who had become family and friends over the years. Chaka Kahn was the first among them who came on board.
Soon, Bette Midler, Norah Jones, Carly Simon and Doctor John joined the project. Recording 11 started in November of 2005, the same year Arif was diagnosed with cancer. It soon became clear that his illness was progressing much faster than the recording sessions.
"You know when we were making the album and in his last month or two it became very clear with his doctors that probably he wasn't going to be with us very longer, and it really kind of hit me, in a way, and made me very sad at that time that he would not be able to finish this very personal Project -- his album -- and it seemed so unfair to me," Mardin said.
Fortunately, after working side by side all those years with his father, Joe Mardin was able to finish the Project. He knew exactly what his father wanted and how he wanted it.
"The album, musically was very close to being finished. Obviously, there were things to do but I think he made it clear to me what and how he wanted it finished and I hope that he would have been pleased with the end result," he said.
As a gifted musician, Arif Mardin gave his best to artists and their fans. Now his son Joe is giving back: The completed All My Friends Are Here album became available to the public on June 15, as a father's day gift from the son to his father. And Joe Mardin's documentary on his father's life The Greatest Ears in Town will soon follow as well.
Note: This report narrated 12 by Wayne Bowman.
- The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋,准备俯冲。
- Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张,手悬在电话机上。
- This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
- The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
- The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
- These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
- She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家,写了很多小说和短篇故事。
- The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。
- He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
- Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。
- He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
- According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
- Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
- Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。
- We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
- The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。
- The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作,工作做起来就更快了。
- I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。