Dante Ross

Dante Ross was born in the bay area in 1970. After his family relocated to NYC in 1972 Ross embarked on his life long love affair with the rotten apple. Amongst other things Ross is a Grammy award winning record producer (Santana Supernatural ) a songwriter for EMI music, a a+r person credited with signing ODB, Pete Rock and Cl Smooth, Brand Nubians, Everlast, and Busta Rhymes, a brand consultant, a published writer, a street culture ambassador. Mr. Ross is currently the Vice President of SRC (Steve Rifkind Company) and creative director at Loud.com Steve Rifkinds newest venture.

Website — http://www.danteross.com

Latest Posts

FREDDIE HUBBARD REST IN POWER

January 7th 09, 9:45

I was kind of late on this been slacking on the blog a little……Loved this guys music thru many different phases of his career from the Bop stuff to the funk jazz of the 70’s…..Hall of Famer right here

Freddie Hubbard, Jazz Trumpeter, Dies at 70

By Peter Keepnews

Freddie Hubbard, a jazz trumpeter who dazzled audiences and critics alike with his virtuosity, his melodicism and his infectious energy, died on Monday in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was 70 and lived in Sherman Oaks.

The cause was complications of a heart attack he had on Nov. 26, said his spokesman, Don Lucoff of DL Media.

Over a career that began in the late 1950s, Mr. Hubbard earned both critical praise and commercial success — although rarely for the same projects.

He attracted attention in the 1960s for his bravura work as a member of the Jazz Messengers, the valuable training ground for young musicians led by the veteran drummer Art Blakey, and on albums by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and many others. He also recorded several well-regarded albums as a leader. And although he was not an avant-gardist by temperament, he participated in three of the seminal recordings of the 1960s jazz avant-garde: Ornette Coleman’s “Free Jazz” (1960), Eric Dolphy’s “Out to Lunch” (1964) and John Coltrane’s “Ascension” (1965).

In the 1970s Mr. Hubbard, like many other jazz musicians of his generation, began courting a larger audience, with albums that featured electric instruments, rock and funk rhythms, string arrangements and repertory sprinkled with pop and R&B songs like Paul McCartney’s “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” and the Stylistics’ “Betcha by Golly, Wow.” His audience did indeed grow, but his standing in the jazz world diminished.

By the start of the next decade he had largely abandoned his more commercial approach and returned to his jazz roots. But his career came to a virtual halt in 1992 when he damaged his lip, and although he resumed performing and recording after an extended hiatus, he was never again as powerful a player as he had been in his prime.

Frederick Dewayne Hubbard was born on April 7, 1938, in Indianapolis. His first instrument was the alto-brass mellophone, and in high school he studied French horn and tuba as well as trumpet. After taking lessons with Max Woodbury, the first trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music, he performed locally with, among others, the guitarist Wes Montgomery and his brothers.

Mr. Hubbard moved to New York in 1958 and almost immediately began working with groups led by the saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the drummer Philly Joe Jones and others. His profile rose in 1960 when he joined the roster of Blue Note, a leading jazz label; it rose further the next year when he was hired by Blakey, widely regarded as the music’s premier talent scout.

Adding his own spin to a style informed by Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Clifford Brown, Mr. Hubbard played trumpet with an unusual mix of melodic inventiveness and technical razzle-dazzle. The critics took notice. Leonard Feather called him “one of the most skilled, original and forceful trumpeters of the ’60s.”

After leaving Blakey’s band in 1964, Mr. Hubbard worked for a while with another drummer-bandleader, Max Roach, before forming his own group in 1966. Four years later he began recording for CTI, a record company that would soon become known for its aggressive efforts to market jazz musicians beyond the confines of the jazz audience.

His first albums for the label, notably “Red Clay,” contained some of the best playing of his career and, except for slicker production and the presence of some electric instruments, were not significantly different from his work for Blue Note. But his later albums on CTI, and the ones he made after leaving the label for Columbia in 1974, put less and less emphasis on improvisation and relied more and more on glossy arrangements and pop appeal. They sold well, for the most part, but were attacked, or in some cases simply ignored, by jazz critics. Within a few years Mr. Hubbard was expressing regrets about his career path.

Most of his recordings as a leader from the early 1980s on, for Pablo, Musicmasters and other labels, were small-group sessions emphasizing his gifts as an improviser that helped restore his critical reputation. But in 1992 he suffered a setback from which he never fully recovered.

By Mr. Hubbard’s own account, he seriously injured his upper lip that year by playing too hard, without warming up, once too often. The lip became infected, and for the rest of his life it was a struggle for him to play with his trademark strength and fire. As Howard Mandel explained in a 2008 Down Beat article, “His ability to project and hold a clear tone was damaged, so his fast finger flurries often result in blurts and blurs rather than explosive phrases.”

Mr. Hubbard nonetheless continued to perform and record sporadically, primarily on fluegelhorn rather than on the more demanding trumpet. In his last years he worked mostly with the trumpeter David Weiss, who featured Mr. Hubbard as a guest artist with his group, the New Jazz Composers Octet, on albums released under Mr. Hubbard’s name in 2001 and 2008, and at occasional nightclub engagements.

Mr. Hubbard won a Grammy Award for the album “First Light” in 1972 and was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2006.

He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Briggie Hubbard, and his son, Duane.

Mr. Hubbard was once known as the brashest of jazzmen, but his personality as well as his music mellowed in the wake of his lip problems. In a 1995 interview with Fred Shuster of Down Beat, he offered some sober advice to younger musicians: “Don’t make the mistake I made of not taking care of myself. Please, keep your chops cool and don’t overblow.”

From The NY Times

destinys-children-1

Red Clay a old fav of mine and Qtips……Great record I used destinys children for Del a long time ago for a song called……….Freddie Hubbard he had a beautiful tone and had a bunch of funk jazz joints I liked in the 70’s One of the all time greats much respect

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ART BASEL O8:THE CONVENTION ENTER PT 1

December 10th 08, 1:17

I went to Miami this year for the 3rd straight year. I was only in Miami for a few days and tried to take in as much art as possible. This is a bunch of stuff I saw and dug at Art Basel. The satellite shows like scope and Aqua showed younger emerging artists while at Art Basel they tended to show more heavy hitters. There was also a lot of paintings by the modern masters more than I recall seeing the last 2 years possibly due to the faltering economy. Enough of me here’s some pics of stuff I dug

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10DEEP HOLIDAY JUMPOFF AND MIX TAPE WITH DJ BENZI

December 9th 08, 15:44

This event gets bigger and better every year …..This is gonna be a humdinger! If i could get the site to function properly I would post a tune from the NEW DEAL mix tape we did with Benzi

Here’s our first salvo from the New Deal Mixtape go download that tmrw at the 10Deep site….for now enjoy this right here: Wale ft. Brother Ali 2nd time around

2nd-time-f-brother-ali
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TRAVIS LOUIE STRANGE NEIGHBORS@FUSE GALLERY NYC

December 1st 08, 12:33

Popped in to Fuse Gallery and peeped out Travis Louies show over the weekend. Travis is a serious talent with a totally unique and child like style that incorporates lots of scary yet playful imagery. His work is some where in the realm of Edward Gorey or Maurice Sendak in a sense. Eric Foss who runs Fuse introduced me to Travis’ work a few years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since. He’s a NYC original and a nice guy. His work is really cool to me check it out:

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CALMA@ JONATHON LEVINE

November 30th 08, 23:58

Nice show stuffs simple and clean looking and his book is pretty cool as well…….Here’s some pics

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KRIS KUKSI IMMINENT DISASTER

November 22nd 08, 22:10

Just got back from Kris Kuksi’s mind blowing show at Joshua Liner Gallery this evening. I have rarely seen a artists work captivate a galleries attendees this much. This show has to be seen in person the limitations of my camera and digital photography cant do these pieces justice. Kuksi hailing from Hays, Kansas considers this work mixed media assemblage as opposed to sculpture. This refers to his sourcing pre existing figures and articles and augmenting and juxtaposing them in various macabre settings. I call this stuff tremendous. Look at the work:

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D ROSS FOR THAT ASS…..FOR REALS

November 20th 08, 1:05

Check this out my home girl whose a confirmed Hellz Bellz fanatic hit me up 2 days ago and was like “Dam I didn’t know you had a pair of Hellz Bellz jeans named after you D ?” She then demanded a pair and asked me how it felt to have my name on lady’s asses coast to coast…….Gotta say it feels kinda special……..Thanks Lawnie and Bam you guys rock…….

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BIG DADDY KANE 20 YEARS DEEP!

November 18th 08, 11:04

Miss info has the ill footage me I got a lil something something… The Biz yeah I know I’m late I’m lagging blah,blah…..anyways here’s some the BIZMARKIE going off and more….and some more KANE getting busy….Good vibe dumb crowded in there and yep I posted my pal Miss Info’s footage if ya aint already seen it….Enjoy I know I did…I would wax poetic about Kane and the Juice crew but I gotta boogie I’ll hit up some vibes for yall later for now enjoy this I know I did.

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CLASSIC NYHC FLYERS

November 15th 08, 23:54

Trolling on the net the other day I decided to google my OG friend Sean Taggert. He did a gang of Old School hard core flyer’s,was an occasional drinking buddie and a all around funny mutherfucker. His flyer’s and illustrations defined a moment in time to me and I aways thought they were really funny. Trying to find the guy I tracked down his email addy so hopefully I’ll get up with him soon.

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PEN+PIXEL:BEST WORST DESIGN GROUP EVER!

November 13th 08, 20:28

Remember when the whole dam rap world seemingly was f***in with these cats? There’s been a few Pen+Pixel retrospectives floating around but none of them have my colorful commentary

This one was a smash when it came out……Master P before Lil Romeo started stealing his shine…. Fuck that lil dude I liked P when he was Bout it Bout it but the last few ………

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MR CARTOONS ROOFTOP VIEWING

November 11th 08, 0:54

When I was in LA I popped in to the Paper magazine 24 hour pop up shop composed of a bunch of brands selling there wears. It was cool but super hot so I had to bounce, on the way out my friend Alanah let me know Mr.Cartoon was gonna be showing a bunch of his and his peoples cars on the roof of the said locale the next day in the afternoon. I don’t know too much about cars but I knew this would be fresh….
Enough words here’s some MFing cars

The man and one of his rides

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CHANGE GONNA COME: BRING THE DRAMA HERE COMES OBAMA

November 4th 08, 19:18

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JAM MASTER JAY 6 YEARS LATER WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?

November 1st 08, 13:12

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HARRY JUMONJI BACK ON BOARD!

October 31st 08, 14:03

NYC skateboarding legend Harry Jumonji is back on the streets ripping it up. Here’s a pic of my brother from another killing it at Owls Head in BK NY last week.

wicked frontside grind in the big bowl! Jumonji got style for miles always did always will………………for more Jumonji you know the drill:

http://www.danteross.com/blogs/dante/2008/10/31/harry-jumonji-returns/

Enjoy!

Dante Ross

NYC
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DQM DAVE FOR FUNKY PRESIDENT PART DEUX

October 30th 08, 14:31

I’m vying for the Vice Principal gig…I figure I’m old and white like Joe Bidden and I understand the campaign tail I mean trail emphatically…….More to come
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