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Saturday, April 11, 2015
Emma-Jane Thommen @ Sayers Club, April 14
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Emma-Jane Thommen will be singing alongside these talented beauties Mina and Flavia Watson @ Sayers Club (1645 Wilcox Ave.,Los Angeles), followed by DJ Bobby French ...well that's a lot of talent in one room! See you there!
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Shannon Lee Blas & Bill Strout's Big Band 2000 live @ Steamers, next Monday, April 13
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SHANNON LEE BLAS WITH BILL STROUT'S BIG BAND 2000
It's the second-Monday-of-the-month again so the lovely Shannon will be back onstage with the 17-piece Bill Strout's Big Band 2000 @ Steamers Jazz Club (138 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, CA)
Catch either set (8pm or 9:30pm) or both if you can. The cover-charge is just $2 per person
Call 714-871-8800 to RSVP. Hope to see you
Don't miss Big Band 2000, on hand to present sounds drawn from the popular music of the 40's through the 90's. Check out this band's classic repertoire from the big band books of the likes of Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, plus arrangements from such great jazz writers as Sammy Nestico, Bob Florence and Bill Holman.
Shannon grew up in San Diego where she began her music and theatre studies. She holds an AA in Music for Vocal Performance and finished her BA in Drama, with Honors in Acting, at UC Irvine. Her music and dramatic training make her a dynamic performer and musical "storyteller." For over twenty years she has sung jazz & popular music with multiple bands and ensembles and has performed music from all over the world.
She has shared the stage with the likes of Tom Kubis and Louie Bellson and performs regularly as the featured vocalist with Bill Strout's Big Band 2000. In 2011, Shannon completed an MBA/MFA in Theatre Management. She is now Patron Services Manager at Soka Performing Arts Center in Aliso Viejo, California while continuing to sing.
Other Music Pop-Up Shop @ JetBlue Terminal 5 @ JFK Airport, NYC, April 14
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The pop-up and concerts will be post-security, in the atrium of JetBlue's Terminal 5, so if you happen to be flying in or out of JFK on the 14th, you are in for a special treat -- please stop by to say hi, hear some great live music, and pick up a couple of LPs!
R.I.P.: Milton DeLugg
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died on April 6, 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA)
So sad to hear about the passing of composer, arranger, band-leader and accordionist Milton DeLugg on April 6, at age 96.
Although famous as the musical director for "The Tonight Show" and many other "jobs" during a prolific career, DeLugg only recorded his first accordion album in 1967, produced by Jim Foglesong for RCA Victor. Surprisingly, "Accordion My Way - Olé!" was a Brazilian-oriented project done not in a big-band mood, but with a tight jazz combo that includes Eumir Deodato (recommended to him by Luiz Bonfá) on organ -- actually, the ensemble recalls Deodato's Os Catedráticos group --, bassist Giulio Ruggiero, drummer Bobby Rosengarden, percussionists Phil Kraus (on vibes) and Johnny Pacheco (bongos, tambourine etc), and guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli & Al Casamenti.
The repertoire includes several Brazilian tunes; three of them composed by Luiz Bonfa for the Deodato-arranged soundtrack of the "Gentle Rain" movie -- "O Ganso," "Taking Judy Home" and its main theme "The Gentle Rain." DeLugg also recorded some bossa-nova gems "Summer Samba" (Marcos Valle/Paulo Sergio Valle), "Chora Tua Tristeza" (Oscar Castro-Neves/Luvercy Fiorini), "Amanhã" (Walter Santos/Tereza Souza), "Você e Eu" (Carlos Lyra/Vinicius de Moraes), plus bossa-oriented themes composed by himself ("Sometime Samba"), guitarist John Pisano ("So What's New?") and French maestro Michel Legrand ("Watch What Happens.")
"I'm flipped on Brazilian music," DeLugg told Harold Stern in the liner notes. "I think it's different, exciting and the best source of pop music today. It may well become an important major trend in music."
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Movable Feast - Spring / Summer Calendar
The Jazz Bakery Performance Space - a nonprofit organization
TICKETS
Saturday, April 25, 2015 - 8:00pm
General: $30 one show no intermission.
"UNDER THE RADAR"
FRED HERSCH
SOLO PIANO
VENUE: Broad Stage, The Edye Second Space
1310 11th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401
The Moss Theater is a beautiful performance space. Acoustic design by Yasuhisa Toyota (Disney Concert Hall).KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Saturday, May 9, 2015 - 8:30pm
General: $40 one show no intermission.
AARON GOLDBERG TRIO
BASS / DRUMS TBA
W/ SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY
SAXOPHONIST JOSHUA REDMAN
VENUE: Moss Theater (at The Herb Alpert Educational Village)
3131 Olympic Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90404
The Moss Theater is a beautiful performance space. Acoustic design by Yasuhisa Toyota (Disney Concert Hall).KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Monday, May 11, 2015 - 8:30pm
General: $35 Students: $25
one show no intermission.
VIJAY IYER
SOLO PIANO
VENUE: REDCAT
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
REDCAT is located in the Disney Hall complex. Parking in Disney Hall.
KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Saturday, May 16, 2015 - 8:00pm
General: $30 Students: $25
one show no intermission.
SOP SAXOPHONEIST
JANE BUNNETT & MAQUEQUE
ALL FEMALE CUBAN BAND
DAYMÉ AROCENA -VOC MAGDELYS SAVIGNE -PERCYISSY GARCÍA -DRUMS/PERC YUSA -BASS AND TRES GUITARDANAE OLANO -PNO CELIA JIMENEZ -BASS/PERC
VENUE: Moss Theater (at The Herb Alpert Educational Village)
3131 Olympic Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90404
The Moss Theater is a beautiful performance space. Acoustic design by Yasuhisa Toyota (Disney Concert Hall).KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Thursday, June 11, 2015 - 8:00pm
General: $25 one show no intermission.
ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ
SOLO PIANO
VENUE: Kirk Douglas Theatre
9820 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232
The Kirk Douglas Theatre is the Jewel of the Culver City Theater District. Free Covered Parking at Culver City City Hall, enter on Duquesne Ave. KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Friday, June 12, 2015 - 8:00pm
General: $30 Students: $25
one show no intermission.
DRUMMER
DAFNIS PRIETO SEXTET
TRIANGLES AND CIRCLES
PETER APFELBAUM-REEDS FELIPE LAMOGLIA -ALTO SAXOPHONE MIKE RODRIGUEZ -TRUMPETMANUEL VALERA -PIANOJOHANNES WEIDENMUELLER -ACOUSTIC & ELECTRIC BASS
VENUE: Musicians Institute
1655 N. McCadden Place Hollywood, CA 90028
The Musicians Institute concert center is an incredible experience! with state of the art sound & huge video screens flanking the stage, creating an intimate view of artists in-the-moment! KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Thursday, June 18, 2015 - 8:00pm
General: $40 one show now intermission.
PIANIST - SINGER ELIANE ELIAS
Marc Johnson -bass
Rafael Barata -drums/perc
VENUE: Moss Theater (at The Herb Alpert Educational Village)
3131 Olympic Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90404
The Moss Theater is a beautiful performance space. Acoustic design by Yasuhisa Toyota (Disney Concert Hall).KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
TICKETS
Sunday, June 28, 2015 - 8:00pm
General: $35 Students: $25
one show no intermission.
DRUMMER
ANTONIO SANCHEZ
and MIGRATION
SEAMUS BLAKE -SAXOPHONES
JOHN ESCREET -PNO MATT BREWER -BASS
VENUE: Moss Theater (at The Herb Alpert Educational Village)
3131 Olympic Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90404
The Moss Theater is a beautiful performance space. Acoustic design by Yasuhisa Toyota (Disney Concert Hall).KJAZZ 88.1 - official media sponsor.
Jazz Bakery Jukebox: Artist's Choice Series
Visit the international sensation! Listen to the all time favorite jazz recordings as picked by the artists who appear in the Jazz Bakery Movable Feast.
Ralph Sharon's obituary - Los Angeles Times
Ralph Sharon dies at 91; pianist brought Tony Bennett his signature song
Ralph Sharon sits at the piano at his home in Boulder, Colo., in 2003 beneath a portrait of himself painted by Tony Bennett. (Carmel Zucker / Boulder Daily Camera)
By ELAINE WOO for The LA Times
Ralph Sharon, a British-born jazz pianist who accompanied Tony Bennett on and off for more than 40 years and brought the singer his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," died March 31 in Boulder, Colo. He was 91.
His death from natural causes was confirmed by his son, Bo.
Sharon was one of England's finest jazz pianists before moving in the early 1950s to the United States, where he would work with such jazz and pop headliners as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Mel Torme and Rosemary Clooney. A bandleader, composer and arranger, he also recorded two dozen albums with Kenny Clarke, Charles Mingus, Milt Hinton, Jo Jones and other noted artists.
His most enduring association, however, was the one he forged in 1957 with Bennett.
Sharon did not think he and the singer would make a good musical match. He was steeped in jazz, while Bennett was known for his renditions of popular songs like "Blue Velvet," Stranger in Paradise" and "Cold, Cold Heart."
The pianist later admitted he didn't even know who Bennett was, but that didn't matter at the audition.
"The first guy who showed up was OK, but the second guy, Ralph Sharon, just had to hit a few notes for me to know he was the piano player for me," Bennett wrote in "The Good Life," his 2010 autobiography. "Hooking up with Ralph was one of the best career moves I've ever made."
Sharon was, according to Bennett, the "perfect accompanist," but he also played a broader role in shaping Bennett's sound: He urged the crooner to move beyond pop standards into jazz.
"He kept saying, 'If you keep singing these kind of sweet saccharine songs like "Blue Velvet," sooner or later the ax is going to drop on you and you're going to stop selling,' " Bennett once told National Public Radio, "
The result was the 1957 album, "The Beat of My Heart." Arranged and conducted by Sharon, it included Art Blakey, Jones, Chico Hamilton, Herbie Mann, Nat Adderly and other jazz masters. It changed Bennett's career, leading to collaborations with Count Basie and Ellington and a critically praised show at Carnegie Hall with sax player Al Cohn, guitarist Kenny Burrell, percussionist Candido and the Ralph Sharon Trio.
Bennett "loved jazz, loved to listen to it," Sharon told the Chicago Tribune in 1992. "So, if I may say so, I was like the missing ingredient for him. I could bring out the jazz element that already was there in the background."
In 1961 Bennett cut an album with Sharon on piano as the only accompaniment. Called "Tony Sings for Two," it was, Bennett said, "one of my finest records ever."
During this period Sharon discovered the song that Bennett would make famous around the world.
Songwriters George Cory Jr. and Douglass Cross had run into the pianist in New York and handed him some of their compositions, hoping the tunes would find their way into Bennett's repertoire. Sharon threw them in a drawer and forgot about them.
Two years later, in 1961, he was packing for a tour with Bennett and found "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" on the top of the stack of Cory and Cross songs he had stuffed in his shirt drawer. As luck would have it, the foggy "city by the Bay" was one of the stops on the tour, so Sharon tucked the song into his suitcase.
After a show in Hot Springs, Ark., Sharon went to the piano in the hotel bar and played it for Bennett. "I thought it was a great song," the singer later wrote.
When Bennett sang it at the Venetian Room in San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel, the crowd loved it. So did the rest of the country after he released the recording in early 1962. It won Bennett his first two Grammys.
Sharon was born in London on Sept. 17, 1923. His earliest musical training came from his American-born mother, an organist who played the accompaniment in silent movie theaters.
When he grew older, Sharon began listening to American jazz recordings and realized he had found his musical home.
He made his professional debut in 1946 as a pianist for British bandleader Ted Heath. By the late 1940s he was leading his own sextet, which included percussionist Victor Feldman, and made several recordings.
In 1953, he moved to New York, where he roomed with clarinetist Tony Scott. Within a few years he released "Around the World in Jazz," which featured a number of notable artists, including bassist Mingus, drummer Clarke and guitarist Joe Puma.
Over the next decades he would collaborate with some of the biggest names in American popular music, including Torme, Clooney and Robert Goulet, with whom he made a number of albums in the 1970s.
After parting with Goulet in 1979, he joined up with Bennett again and helped steer the singer's comeback, leading Bennett to his first Grammy in three decades with the 1992 album "Perfectly Frank."
In 2002 he retired as Bennett's musical director and, after 40 years in Sherman Oaks, moved to Colorado. He was still performing in clubs and hotel lounges until a few months ago.
Sharon is survived by his wife of 41 years, Linda Noone Sharon; their son, Bo; and two grandchildren.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Emly Elbert & Leni Stern live in LA next Friday!
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http://room5la.com/event.cfm?cart&id=197815
Anne Sajdera live @ The Sound Room, April 11
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The Anne Sajdera Sextet explores the textures and colors of contemporary American and Brazilian jazz. Sajdera's arrangements of compositions by Herbie Hancock, Stefon Harris, Duke Ellington, Egberto Gismonti, Chico Pinheiro (as well as originals) take listeners on a thoroughly emotional, rhythmic and dynamic journey.
Featuring:
Erik Jekabson, trumpet
Harvey Wainapel, sax
Anne Sajdera, piano
Gary Brown, bass
Deszon Claiborne, drums
John Santos, percussion
Tickets: $20
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1382472
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As a pianist, composer, bandleader and accompanist, Anne Sajdera is a creative force whose music encompasses an unusually far-flung array of traditions. With musical roots spanning the globe, she melds American and Brazilian jazz to her training in European and Hindustani classical music, creating an utterly personal sound that’s melodically verdant, harmonically sophisticated and rhythmically compelling. Unbound by any one musical passion, she draws inspiration from centuries old practices in which artisans sought to understand and experience the interior and exterior world through the act of creating art.
“At the heart of what I do is European classical music,” says Sajdera, a longtime San Francisco resident. “Around my house I’m always listening to Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Ravel and Bartók in particular. Harmonically it just captivates me and it always will. It’s an easy jump from that to Brazilian music, especially Ravel, and jazz is a real outgrowth from those extended harmonies. I’m using the same elements in my music but from a different angle.”
A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sajdera started performing around the Bay Area scene in the late 1980s while earning a bachelor's degree in composition. Currently she leads a trio, a sextet, and a 10-piece chamber jazz ensemble featuring some of the most esteemed improvisers on the West Coast, including trumpeter Erik Jekabson, reed expert Harvey Wainapel, and saxophonist/flutist Mary Fettig. With strings, brass and reeds, the ensemble provides Sajdera with a vehicle for her most ambitious writing, from Brazilian-inflected originals to her arrangements of pieces by Herbie Hancock and Stefon Harris.
She also performs regularly around the Bay Area with guitarist Terrence Brewer, Sandy Cressman, a singer known for an expansive repertoire of Brazilian songs, and Alexa Weber Morales, who earned a Grammy Award in 2014 for her work the Pacific Mambo Orchestra. Given her history it’s not surprising that Sajdera is best known for her work in Brazilian settings. She spent more than a decade performing in and leading Bay Area Brazilian ensembles such as Phil Thompson’s Rio Thing, Dandara & Pandeiros do Brasil, and the California Music Award-winning Tropicalia combo Bat Makumba.
For Sajdera, there’s no particular mystery about her affinity for Brazilian music. With endlessly enthralling rhythms, a treasure trove of melodies and jazz-informed harmonies, it’s got everything she requires. And above all, the music makes her want to dance. “Dancing was a big feature of growing up,” Sajdera says. “As soon as I heard the music I started taking samba dance classes and percussion classes with Michael Spiro. Harmonically Brazilian music is so beautiful and complex. I think the whole attitude makes sense to my personality.”
Her debut album, 2012’s "Azul," is also a reflection of her deep and abiding passion for Brazilian music. Sajdera released the CD on her Bijuri label, and co-produced the session with veteran guitarist Ray Obiedo. Rather than simply exploring a program of beloved bossa novas, she mixes her ravishing original pieces with classic tunes by Brazilian masters Ivan Lins, Egberto Gismonti, and Chico Pinheiro. With a top-shelf cast of Bay Area players, the album features special guest percussionists Airto and Michael Spiro. As the Wall Street Journal’s Marc Myers described the project on his popular JazzWax blog, Azul is “a jazz samba album that shows the creative breadth and beauty of a San Francisco charmer.”
Born in Virginia to a military family, Sajdera grew up in San Diego. While the Southern California city isn’t usually associated with Brazil, she absorbed a Carioca’s deep love of the ocean and sun-drenched landscape. Piano lessons as a child led her to form a tight circle of musical friends who often gathered to play together. When she started performing in her late teens Sajdera held down the drum chair in a pop combo, but her primary creative outlet was writing for the band. Moving to the Bay Area in 1985, she enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a performance major and graduated as a composition major.
Focusing on 20th century repertoire, she performed regularly with the Conservatory Orchestra, which gave her exceptional opportunities like playing Stravinsky's Symphony in 3 Movements, and the overture for Nixon In China conducted by the opera’s composer John Adams. Her incipient investigation of jazz got a jumpstart when she began a relationship with an accomplished jazz guitarist, with whom she was soon playing casuals. A conservatory class at the Jazzschool with Marcos Silva sparked her enduring passion for Brazilian music.
Before long she was gigging around the Bay Area with her own band Pelo Mar, which honed a sophisticated repertoire of tunes by Hermeto Pascoal, Airto, Toninho Horta and Eliane Elias while performing at notable venues like the Make Out Room and the lamented Café do Brasil. An original member of Bat Makumba, she has performed many times in San Francisco’s huge Mission District Carnaval celebration.
Her interest in classical Hindustani music also surfaces in her playing through her knowledge of ragas. She spent several months in India, and has continued to cultivate this facet of her musical vision. As an educator she maintains an active private piano studio in San Francisco and Oakland and is an artist in residence at Nueva School in Hillsborough.
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Amanda Castro back @ Steamers, April 9
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Amanda Castro live @ Steamers (138 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, CA)
$2-ALL AGES-! CALL 714-871-8800 RSVP
A note from Amanda: "We are back at Steamers! Come on by for some great music and fun! We will have Edmund Velasco on reeds, Blake white on bass, Bill Borjan on drums, Patrick Aranda on piano and yours truly on the mic! Hope to see you all!" I'll be there.
Ryan Truesdell's Gil Evans Project & NYC CD Release Concerts, May 14 - 17
"An unbelievable album. The band's performance is incredible; precise and energetic. Gil would be proud of what Ryan has done." - Bruce Lundvall, Chairman Emeritus of Blue Note Records
"4 1/2-stars. Superb renderings of some of the finest writing of the postwar big band period.... Players are uniformly excellent, but the star 'soloist' is the elegant ensemble amalgams that Truesdell found hiding among brass and reeds that others had missed. He makes familiar material worth hearing again. Buy it." -- John McDonough, DownBeat
Composer/producer/conductor Ryan Truesdell returns to the Jazz Standard with his award-winning Gil Evans Project for its fourth annual residency Thursday, May 14 - Sunday, May 17, 2015. The performances celebrate their triumphant sophomore album LINES OF COLOR: Live at Jazz Standard on the newly-formed Blue Note/ArtistShare label (www.GilEvansProject.com). The band will be debuting selections from the new CD, as well as other rarely performed works from Gil Evans' catalog - including music from the albums New Bottle Old Wine, Great Jazz Standards, Individualism of Gil Evans, and more. Sets at 7:30 and 10 p.m. with an additional set at 11:45 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets $30 - $35. The Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27h Street, New York City. 212-576-2232. http://www.jazzstandard.com/
This highly anticipated release follows Truesdell's debut CD CENTENNIAL: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans, which won a posthumous Grammy Award for Gil Evans and the New York Times called "an extraordinary album." LINES OF COLOR - the next step in Truesdell's endeavor to reveal hidden layers of Gil Evans' musical legacy - features some of New York's finest musicians including Lewis Nash, Donny McCaslin, Steve Wilson, Ryan Keberle, Marshall Gilkes, and Scott Robinson. The CD was recorded by Grammy award-winning engineer James Farber with the live engineering team of Tyler McDiarmid and Geoff Countryman.
LINES OF COLOR was recorded during the Gil Evans Project's annual week-long engagement at Jazz Standard in New York City from May 13-18, 2014. It consists of six newly discovered, never before recorded works (including "Avalon Town," "Can't We Talk It Over," and "Just One Of Those Things"), two arrangements with previously unheard sections ("Davenport Blues" and "Sunday Drivin'"), and three of Evans' well-known charts from his classic albums ("Time of the Barracudas," "Concorde," and "Greensleeves"). Throughout the engagement, the Gil Evans Project presented nearly fifty of Evans' works, most of which were performed live for the first time. Truesdell decided to record live for the Gil Evans Project's second album to honor the essence of Evans' music that craves live performance. "It allows Gil's colors and the overtones of the music to sound and blend in the room in a way that you can't get from a close-mic studio recording," says Truesdell.
"Live recording captures this intangible energy that's created when music is performed for an audience. It gives listeners a sense of the magic that happens when the notes are lifted off the page by these amazing musicians."
The eleven selections that make up LINES OF COLOR represent everything you hope for in a live recording: a beautiful sound, a lively, involved audience, and precise and inspired performances of remarkable music. Of this collection, six of the charts were originally written during Evans' tenure with the Claude Thornhill orchestra, including never-before-heard arrangements of "How High the Moon," "Avalon Town," and a rare Evans original composition, "Gypsy Jump," written in 1942. A fun tune with an unusual 36-bar form, "Gypsy Jump" seems to show a slight influence from the "Arabian Dance" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, also arranged by Evans for Thornhill during this time. "Can't We Talk It Over," a gorgeous ballad from the Thornhill Orchestra's late 1940s repertoire, illustrates Evans' strong bebop influences as evidenced by a direct musical quote from a Charlie
Parker solo. It is a wonderful feature for the Gil Evans Project's resident vocalist, Wendy Gilles. Bruce Lundvall, Chairman Emeritus of Blue Note Records said, "Wendy has an amazing voice which is a perfect fit for this music."
Two charts on the record represent the middle of Evans' career; one of which he and his band never recorded, and only performed once. In the spring of 1959, Evans and his orchestra played the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, sharing the billing with Dinah Washington and Thelonious Monk. For this concert, Evans chose to revisit a few charts from his past, including Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things," which was based on the arrangement Evans did for his first album as a leader in 1957, Gil Evans + 10. Ever the reviser, Evans took the opportunity to do a bit of rearranging as well as re-orchestrating the chart to fit the instrumentation for the concert. The Gil Evans Project's first-time recording of this great Evans arrangement features incredible solos from Steve Wilson on soprano, trombonist Ryan Keberle, and pianist Frank Kimbrough.
The other tune from this era is Evans' great adaptation of Bix Beiderbecke's "Davenport Blues," originally recorded on the 1959 album, Great Jazz Standards. "I was ecstatic when I discovered Gil's score to "Davenport," says Truesdell. "There were four pages in the middle of the score that were omitted from the original version. I'm thrilled we were able to record the entire chart as Gil first conceived it." Rather than imitating trumpet soloist Johnny Coles' definitive performance on Evans' Great Jazz Standards album, Truesdell decided to take a slightly different approach. The slower tempo and Lewis Nash's heavy, slightly dirty swing feel emphasizes the bluesy elements and perfectly articulates Gil's hard-swinging rhythms. "I was blown away by Mat Jodrell's performance; he poured every bit of his soul and personality into the solo and really made it his own," says Truesdell.
Rounding out LINES OF COLOR is a collection of tunes from Evans' output in the mid-1960s, including the Gil Evans Project's dynamic renderings of "Time of the Barracudas," and "Concorde," which both first appeared on the Individualism of Gil Evans recording. "Greensleeves," originally arranged for guitarist Kenny Burrell, receives a fresh take from trombonist Marshall Gilkes, whose unparalleled tone and inventive melodicism uplift this familiar tune and Gil's singular writing.
With LINES OF COLOR, Truesdell has solidified his reputation as one of the foremost Gil Evans scholars, while leading a band of industry giants in an historic and invaluable undertaking. Picking up where the Gil Evans Project's 2013 Grammy award-nominated album CENTENNIAL: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans left off, LINES OF COLOR is an exciting glimpse into how Truesdell and his critically acclaimed band are fulfilling the most crucial aspect of his vision: to bring Evans' music to new ears, and to extend his legacy into the 21st century.
Available on iTunes and at www.GilEvansProject.com
www.GilEvansProject.com
www.RyanTruesdell.com
Spring Pops 2015 w/ Amanda Carr & The Concord Band, April 11
Jazz super vocalist Amanda Carr performs with the historic Concord Band.
Call 978-897-9969 or www.ConcordBand.org for tickets. Also sold at the door.
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The Most Luxurious Jazz Cruise Vacation Ever!
The ship, the Seabourn Sojourn, is among the most acclaimed luxury ships in the world. The itinerary reads like a movie script, and the lineup of jazz performers is simply amazing. The ship is limited to 450 guests served by more than 300 crew members ... what else do we need to say!
From now through May 15, the remaining cabins are being offered at favorable rates. The quoted rates include all shows; meals; wine, beer and spirits; gratuities and all other expenses except what you purchase on the ship or in port. And, if you act before April 30, and mention JazzTimes Magazine, they will treat you to the excursion of your choice (from a list of 12 recommended excursions).
Jamey Powell of Entertainment Cruise Productions is your Travel Concierge for this sailing. For more information or to make your reservations, you can reach Jamey directly by email at Jamey@ecpcruises.com or by toll-free phone call at 855.723.2468.
Andrea Miller w/ The Ron Kobayashi Trio live @ Steamers, April 11
APR 11! 8P-MID ALL AGES, ONLY $10
ANDREA MILLER W RON KOBAYASHI TRIO
W/ STEVE DIXON AND DOUG LUNN
Born and raised in Salem, Oregon, singer/songwriter Andrea Miller's voice has been described as soulful, sensual, hypnotic and endearing. Influenced by Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, Eva Cassidy and Stevie Wonder, Andrea is currently heating up the Los Angeles music scene. Recently, Andrea had the incredible honor to work with David Foster, Quincy Jones and Alan & Marilyn Bergman when recording the vocal demo for CELINE DION "I Knew I Loved You" at Foster's studio in Malibu.
Originally trained in opera at a young age, Andrea won first place in the Oregon State Vocal Competition in the first soprano category when only 14 years old, singing Leonard Bernstein's complete work "I Hate Music". She then went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater Performance from the University of Southern California. A member of SAG and ASCAP, Andrea performs with Llew Matthews, Ron Kobayashi, Rickey Woodard, Mark Massey, Luther Hughes, Paul Krebich, The Matt Gordy Sextet, The Mike Peak Experience, The Swing Machine Disneyland Big Band and others.
Her performances have brought down the house and gained critical acclaim at venues such as The Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, The Pasadena Jazz Institute, Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, the Langham Hotel Pasadena, The Four Seasons Hotel, Nieuport 17, Bayside, 3-Thirty-3 Waterfront, Charlie O's, Regent Beverly Wilshire, Manhattan Steak & Seafood, Windows Of The World, 310 Lounge, Chaya Brasserie, The Smokehouse, Cafe Cordiale, Twin Palms, Club Lingerie, The Cat Club, The Knitting Factory, Bistango and others.
Andrea recently released a beautiful duo recording of standards featuring herself and Yoon Seung Cho on piano. The duo perform 10 jazz standards, displaying a fluid flow of give and take, combining both jazz and classical backgrounds. The album is entitled II By II. To purchase this album select contact on this site for direct sale or go to Itunes. In addition to performing, Andrea keeps busy recording as a session singer. Her voice can be heard on recordings by Disney/Pixar, Samsung, Warner Brothers, EMI, Blacktoast Music, Dimelo Records, Mattel Toys, Windgate Music, Groove Gravy Records, Kriztal Records, Wham-O, Sharkey Productions, YG Entertainment, Delta Entertainment, Mills Trading Company, Sensory Overload Music, Bluewater Music and others.
Andrea has three albums that are available for download on ITunes - "II By II", "Amazing Grace" and "Alone"...just enter "Andrea Miller" in the search box.
The Ron Kobayashi Trio consists of three uniquely talented musicians from the Southern California area; pianist Ron, plus Baba Elefante on bass and Steve Dixon on drums. Each musician brings with him years of diverse musical experiences. Kobayashi has performed with Mel Torme, Margaret Whiting, Eric Marienthal, Phil Upchurch, Teddy Edwards, Tim Weisberg, Kenny Burrell, Paula Kelly Jr. and "The Modernaires,". He was a featured performer on the internationally distributed "Johnny Yune" television show, and has been featured on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. In 1992, Ron performed for President Bill Clinton and has recorded as a solo artist for the Casierra Record label.
The trio has played numerous jazz festivals including the San Bernardino Music Festival, The Orange County Art and Jazz Festival, the Dana Point Jazz Festival and the Mission Viejo Music Festival, as well as the Colorado Belle Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. The recent Ron Kobayashi Trio CD "No Preservatives" received nationwide airplay. Their earlier disc "Exotic Places" made the "Top 30 Albums" in 1998 on radio station KSBR. In 1996, the ensemble was voted "Best Jazz Group in Orange County" by readers of O.C. Weekly.
CD Reissue of the Month - "Walter Wanderley: The Return of the Original"
Walter Wanderley: "The Return of the Original" (Canyon/Essential Media Group) 1972/2015
Produced by Musicbras Productions
Recorded @ I.D. Studios (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Arranged by Walter Wanderley Trio
Cover Artwork: Imagesmith, The
Album Design: Design: D.Tanous
Engineer: Ivan Fisher
Featuring: Walter Wanderley (Hammond organ, acoustic piano & electric harpsichord), José Marino (electric bass), Claudio Slon (drums), Lu Lu Ferreira (percussion), Milt Bernhart (trombone)
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Steve McQuarry to Present Tribute to Carla Bley at SFJAZZ Center, June 5
Oakland-based keyboardist-composerSteve McQuarry and his musician friends had long been enamored of the cutting-edge music of Oakland-born keyboardist-composer Carla Bley. In a conversation a year and a half ago with Bley's daughter, keyboardist Karen Mantler, he mentioned that he would love to perform some of her mother's compositions. Mantler talked it over with Bley, and within a few months, a large box filled with Bley's scores for octet and big band, some of them in their original hand-penciled form, arrived on his East Oakland doorstep."Mom's not going to be playing these pieces anymore, but she thinks it's great that you're going to do them," he recalls Mantler telling him.
On Saturday, June 5, at the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium, McQuarry will bring to life the contents of the box in a concert beginning with four pieces played by his Mandala Octet, then three by his newly formed 19-memberMandala Orchestra.
The octet compositions for trumpet, trombone, alto and tenor saxophones, piano, electric bass, and drums are "Blues in 12 Bars/Blues in 12 Other Bars," "Sidewinders in Paradise," "Baseball," and "Utviklingssang," all from the Bley album 4x4, recorded in Oslo in 1999. The works for the orchestra, which consists of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, piano, organ, electric bass, drums, a conductor, and, on two selections, violin, are "On the Stage in Cages," "Birds of Paradise," and "Fresh Impression," all from Big Band Theory, recorded in London in 1993. McQuarry will be playing a Hammond B-3-like Nord organ in both ensembles.
"We musicians have always loved her pieces," McQuarry says of Bley's music. "We think she's a great composer, and she has great humor. She's had such wide variety in her career: playing with Jack Bruce, playing with the free-jazz movement, playing with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra and with her own orchestra. It's always been an undercurrent in our musicians' world."
Carla Bley was born Lovella May Borg in Oakland on May 11, 1936, and grew up in the city's east side. She played some of her earliest engagements as the piano accompanist for folksinger Randy Sparks at the hungry I and Purple Onion, both in San Francisco, before relocating at age 17 to New York City. While working there as a cigarette girl at Birdland, she met pianist Paul Bley, whom she wed in 1957. She currently lives in Willow, New York, and continues to tour internationally, most often in trio or quartet settings. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition in 1972 and is one of four recipients of the prestigious NEA Jazz Masters Award 2015, to be presented April 20 in New York City.
Steve McQuarry, who was born in Denver on August 17, 1959, took his first arranging class at age 17 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, with Oakland-born composer-arranger Russell Garcia, renowned for his work with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton, and many others."I had no idea who he was," McQuarry says of Garcia. "I just got out of high school and I wanted to write for horns."
McQuarry also studied at the University of Colorado at Denver, Berklee College of Music, UC San Diego, and Alexander University. An Oakland resident for the past decade, he has performed as a pianist at Yoshi's San Francisco with his own trio and with flutist Gerald Beckett's quartet and has broadcast with his chamber octet Resonance over KPFA in Berkeley and KKUP in Cupertino. He currently records for his own label, Mandala Records, with his jazz trio and the jazz ensemblesResonance, Pangaea, and Zazen; the electronica group Synsor; and the new age groupAgharta.
"I named my record label, the octet, and the orchestra Mandala after meeting the Dalai Lama and some Tibetan monks drawing mandalas on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley some years ago," he says.
McQuarry gave his first concert at the SFJAZZ Center in October 2014 with Resonance. The Carla Bley Living Tribute concert this June will be his second there. A third, devoted to the music of Gil Evans, is tentatively slated for the fall of 2015. The Evans concert will consist of the Mandala Orchestra performing works by the late composer that were until recently unknown.
The Mandala Octet members are: Justin J. Smith, trumpet/flugelhorn; Ruben Salcido, alto saxophone; Cory Wright, tenor saxophone; Ken Yee, trombone; Laura Klein, piano; Ted Burik, bass; Greg German, drums; Steve McQuarry, organ.
The Mandala Orchestra members are: Michele Walther, violin; Justin J. Smith, John Worley, Niel Levonius, Henry Hung, trumpets/flugelhorns; Ken Yee, Joshua Sankara, Christian Manzana, trombones; Timothy Phelan, bass trombone; Ruben Salcido, Amelia Catalano, Cory Wright, Steve Heckman, Hermann Lara, saxophones; Laura Klein, piano; Ted Burik, bass; Greg German, drums; Steve McQuarry, organ.
A Living Tribute to Carla Bley
Steve McQuarry Presents Mandala Octet & Mandala Orchestra
Friday, June 5, 8:00 pmSFJAZZ Center, Miner Auditorium
201 Franklin Street, San Francisco
Tickets: $25
On sale at sfjazz.org after May 5
More info at mcquarry.org
"Women" Night @ The Sayers Club in Hollywood
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The Sayers Club (1645 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, CA)
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A compilation of Idris Muhammad's Kudu albums to be released next month
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During that period, Idris recorded four dates as a leader for Kudu, This colletion starts with two tracks from the 1974 masterpiece "Power Of Soul," produced by Creed Taylor, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and arranged by Bob James: the laidback danceflor hit "Loran's Dance" (released on CD for the first time in a groundbreaking compilation produced by Arnaldo DeSouteiro in 1997, "CTI Acid Jazz Grooves") and Jimi Hendrix's title song, "Power Of Soul," featuring great performances by Joe Beck, Gary King, Randy Brecker, Ralph MacDonald and Grover Washington, Jr. Grover's "Loran’s Dance" was sampled by both The Beastie Boys ("For All The Girl’s") and Fatboy Slim ("The Weekend Starts Here".)
Three songs were picked from the "House of the Rising Sun" album, also produced by Taylor, but arranged by former James Brown's musical director, David Matthews: the title track, an adaptation of Chopin's "Prelude in E Minor Op. 28 No. 4," and a surprising disco version of Ary Barroso's "Bahia" (Na Baixa do Sapateiro), a tune covered by many jazz stars from John Coltrane to Lalo Schifrin. Among the musicians on those 1976 sessions were Roland Hanna, Leon Pendarvis, Don Grolnick, Fred Wesley and Eric Gale.
At the time of the 1977 sessions for the "Turn This Mutha Out" album, David Matthews successfuly handled both the production and arrangements. He also wrote all the tunes for the project, which included "Crab Apple," "Turn This Mutha Out" and the much-sampled dancefloor classic "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" (with lyrics by Tony Sarafino), the three tracks selected for this compilation. Hiram Bullock, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Rubens Bassini, Gloria Agostini, Wilbur Bascomb and Jeremy Steig are listed as sidemen.
Idris' last album for Kudu came in 1978, once again entirely directed by Matthews: "Boogie To The Top." Two tracks were culled from it: the raw & wild funk "Stick It In Your Face" and the title track. Cliff Carter, Nicky Marrero, Will Lee, Sammy Figueroa, Ronnie Cuber, Gloria Agostini, Hugh McCracken and Horam Bullock were also on board.
This collection includes, as bonus tracks, the 7” single versions of "Boogie To The Top," "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" (sampled by Jamiroquai on "Alright," amongst others) and "Turn This Mutha Out." Charles Waring, a collaborator for Mojo and Record Collector magazines, signs the liner notes.
Fabiano do Nascimento & Airto Moreira live @ Blue Whale Jazz, April 4
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Very special guest: the one and only Airto Moreira, who took part of the album.
Featuring:
Fabiano do Nascimento - 7-string guitar
Sam Gendel - Soprano Saxophone
Ricardo Tiki Pasillas - Drums
Airto Moreira - Percussion
Guest DJ Carlos Niño (Spaceways radio) set before the show and in between sets!
Saturday, April 4th, 2015 @ the Blue Whale Jazz
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St. Suite 301
Los Angeles, CA
Ph: (213) 538-8038
9pm 1st set / 10:15pm 2nd set
$15 cover
Blu-Spec CD of the Month - "Freddie Hubbard: First Light"
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Freddie Hubbard: "Red Clay" (CTI KICJ 2332)
Rating: *****
Produced by Creed Taylor
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder
Featuring: Herbie Hancock (Fender Rhodes & Hammond organ), Ron Carter (electric bass), Lenny White (drums) & Joe Henderson (tenor sax & flute)
Recorded January 27, 28 & 29, 1970, at Van Gelder Studios (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey)
Cover photo by Price Givens
Album design by Tony Lane
A jazz classic. Period.
Besides the title track, which became a contemporary jazz standard, includes three other great compositions by Hubbard: "Delphia" (dedicated to his mother, with Herbie moving to organ and Henderson playing flute), "Suite Sioux" and the explosive hard-bop "The Intrepid Fox."
SACD of the Month - "Sir Roland Hanna Trio: Milan, Paris, New York"
Sir Roland Hanna Trio: "Milan, Paris, New York - Finding John Lewis" (Venus)
SACD Release Date in Japan: April 15, 2015
Rating: ***** (musical performance, sonic quality and remastering)
First SuperAudio CD reissue, using DSD Mastering technology, of a beautiful album recorded in 2002 by one of my all-time favorite pianists. Here, the "Chopin of jazz" pays tribute to his idol John Lewis, playing tunes composed by the Modern Jazz Quartet founder ("Skating In Central Park" and the jazz standard "Django" among them), or associated with him (Milt Jackson's "Bag's Groove," one of the MJQ hits.) Leading a trio with George Mraz on bass and Lewis Nash on drums, the late Hanna also shines on his own themes, like "The Clarion Bells of Zurich" and the famous "Perugia." The sound quality is equally astonishing.
10'' Vinyl of the Month - "Stan Getz & João Gilberto: Selections From Getz/Gilberto '76"
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto: "Selections From Getz/Gilberto '76" (Resonance HTL-8021)
Release Date: April 18, 2015
Recorded live @ Keystone Korner (San Francisco, CA), May 11-16, 1976
Produced by Zev Feldman & Todd Barkan
Executive Producer: George Klabin
Assistant Producers: Heidi Kalison & Sydney B. Lanex
Mixing & Sound Restoration by George Klabin & Fran Gala @ Resonance Records
Mastered by Erika Records (Buena Park, CA)
Art Direction & Design: Burton Yount
Painting: Olga Albizu ("Equilibrium Verde")
Liner Notes: Todd Barkan
This is not a reissue nor a "new recording", of course, but it's a fantastic new release! As we had anticipated here in January, George Klabin's California-based Resonance Records will be releasing "Selections from Getz/Gilberto '76" on April 18, to celebrate the Record Store Day. We just got our copy and we are in heaven, listening to four magical tracks from a musical miracle. For now, it's available only as 10-inch audiophile vinyl LP, but the full album will come out on CD and 2-LP sets probably in time to celebrate Joao Gilberto's 84th birthday (June 10).
The cover reminds me of my childhood, when I used to listen to a lot of 10-inch LPs from my parents' collections: albums by Art Tatum, Hazel Scott, Art Van Damme, George Shearing, the long forgotten Brazilian guitar genius Nestor Campos, and Frank Sinatra (such masterpieces as "Swing Easy!" and "Songs For Young Lovers"), among many many others. Most of them had 8 tracks, 4 per side. "Selections from Getz/Gilberto '76" has 4 tracks, 2 per side. "É Preciso Perdoar" and "Doralice" on Side A, "Eu Vim Da Bahia" and "Retrato Em Branco E Preto" on Side B.
Btw, the composers are not credited anywhere. No credits to them on the back cover neither on the labels...
This collector's LP (with a limited & numbered edition of 3,000 units) is pressed on translucent green-colored 140 gram vinyl at 33 1/3 rpm by Erika Records. The repertoire includes Dorival Caymmi's "Doralice" (recorded by João & Getz in 1963 for the historical "Getz/Gilberto"), and three songs covered by them on "The Best of Two Worlds" for CBS in 1976: "É Preciso Perdoar (Alcyvando Luz/Carlos Coqueijo Costa), "Eu Vim da Bahia" (Gilberto Gil), and "Retrato Em Branco E Preto" (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Chico Buarque), the latter also included by Gilberto on another masterpiece, the "Amoroso" album for Warner in 1977.
Backing João Gilberto (acoustic guitar & vocals) and Stan Getz (tenor sax) are Joanne Brackeen on piano, Clint Houston on acoustic bass, and Billy Hart on drums. [Hart and Houston also performed on "The Best Of Two Worlds," on which the late Albert Dailey was the pianist.] One more time, Getz's sax is mixed very loud, creating a constraining contrast with Gilberto's whispers that -- one more time -- appear very low on the mix.
The LP has been eagerly awaited by Getz's and Gilberto's fans since we first posted about it four months ago, and the stores expect even better sales than another impressive Gilberto album, "Um Encontro No Au Bon Gourmet," released by the Italian label Doxy (specialized in Public Domain recordings) as announced here last February.
Stan Getz and João Gilberto reunite in 1976 with these previously unreleased recordings from a four-night engagement at San Francisco's Keystone Korner, "Selections from Getz/Gilberto '76." This record commemorates performances that are one of the few times this duo collaborated in the 1970's, after their multiple Grammy award-winning 'Getz/Gilberto" released by Verve in 1964, and soon after their second studio reunion on "The Best Of Two Worlds" in 1976.
Resonance acquired the tapes from jazz impresario Todd Barkan, owner of the now-defunct (but very famous in the 70s) Keystone Korner jazz club in SF. They cleared rights with the Stan Getz Estate and the other musicians, including Joao Gilberto. As the title suggests, this is a sneak peak of the upcoming full length "Getz/Gilberto '76" due for release (CD & 2-LP sets) in June.
Puerto Rican abstract expressionist painter, Olga Albizu (1924-2005), graces the cover with her artwork "Equilibrium Verde"; Creed Taylor loved her work and selected Albizu's paintings for other Verve releases in the early 60s by people like Bill Evans ("Trio 64"), Bob Brookmeyer ("Gloomy Mondays And Other Bright Moments"), and the seminal Getz' albums "Jazz Samba" (with Charlie Byrd) and "Getz/Gilberto."
Prior to his work as president and founder of the Resonance label, George Klabin was the owner and chief engineer of the Sound Ideas Studio in NY, where great jazzmen and Brazilian artists -- such as Thiago de Mello ("Amazon"), Eumir Deodato ("Os Catedráticos 73"), João Donato ("Donato/Deodato) and Flora Purim ("Everyday Everynight") -- recorded many nice albums during the 70s.
On April 18, Resonance will also release a set by guitar wiz Wes Montgomery with pianist Eddie Higgins Trio ("One Night In Indy," cut on January 18, 1959) and another one by master organist Larry Young ("Selections From In Paris: The ORTF Recordings," recorded in 1964 and 1965. Famous for his sessions with Tony Williams and Miles Davis, the late (and much missed) Young will have his full album released probably only by the end of 2015. For more details, please check:
http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com.br/2015/01/new-cds-by-stan-getz-joao-gilberto-wes.html
Beyond CD of the Month - "Enoch Smith Jr.: Misfits II - Pop"
Enoch Smith Jr.: "Misfits II - Pop" (Misfitime Music)
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Produced by Enoch Smith Jr.
Executive Producer: J. Gabriella Smith
Recorded on March 24, 2013 @ The Samurai Hotel (Queens, NY)
Mixed & Mastered by David Kowalski
Artwork/Design: Billy Seccombe
Liner Notes: John Murph
Featuring: Enoch Smith Jr. (piano), Sarah Elizabeth Carles (vocals), Noah Jackson (acoustic & electric bass), Sangmin Lee (drums) plus guests Dee-1 (MC), Nate Anderson & Renee Anderson (voices)
Pianist/composer Enoch Smith Jr. has embraced the "Misfit" mantle ever since his days at Berklee College of Music, when the self-taught musician realized he didn't quite fit into the mold of his classmates and their daunting formal training. But Smith's eclectic, refreshingly different music does fit quite nicely into the ever-evolving jazz tradition. On his third album, "Misfits II: Pop," he continues to refine his approach to the jazz mainstream and other influences, including hip-hop and his ongoing work as a church pianist. Smith's newly launched label, MisfitMe Music, will release the CD on May 19.
The Smith original "Everything's Alright" showcases his gifts as both melodist and lyricist. Expanding on an idea from the song "It's Alright to Swing" by gospel-influenced jazz pianist Eric Reed, the backbeat-driven new composition serves for Smith as something of a declaration of independence from the opinions of some jazz purists.
"Whatever you choose to do, however you do it, it's alright," the pianist explains. "Don't hate me for what I'm doing, and I certainly won't hate you for what you're doing."
Whereas Smith's 2011 "Misfits" CD emphasized his own writing, "Misfits II" delves into some of the pop and R&B songs he grew up with, shining new light on hits associated with Joan Osborne, Amerie, the Roots, and -- a special favorite -- the Beatles. (The disc opens with a haunting version of "Yesterday.")
"Misfits II" also contains two arrangements of "Sweepin through the City," a staple of gospel superstar Shirley Caesar's repertoire for more than 50 years. "I grew up hearing that song at least three or four times every week," Smith says. "It became an anthem for the church I grew up in. There's a huge emotional connection to that song and the concept of moving on to something better."
Smith's tight-knit working group of vocalist Sarah Elizabeth Charles, bassist and
former Detroiter Noah Jackson, and drummer Sangmin Lee, a Seoul, South Korea-born Berklee colleague, are at the core of the music on "Misfits II: Pop," as they were on its predecessor, which DownBeat called "soulful and melodious" and "an original album full of ideas."
Enoch Smith Jr., 36, was raised in Rochester, New York in the Church of God by Faith, a Pentecostal denomination, where he began singing at age 3 in the children's choir. He later played drums for services, then got a chance to sub for the regular pianist, making his way through trial and error. "Growing up and playing mostly in church, you get a whole different side of what music is all about," he says. "For me, it was always more of a spiritual connection than a connection of the head."
Although he had originally intended on becoming a lawyer and had done several internships at Rochester law firms while still in high school, Smith decided to interview for admission at Berklee at the suggestion of his high school choir director. He was accepted on the spot. "It was amazing and intimidating and exciting all at the same time," he says of his classes at Berklee. "How much of it I'd gotten didn't sink in until five or six years later. It was a really great experience -- probably the best experience of my life."
Smith continues playing piano in church. For the past two and a half years, he's worked full time as Director of Music and Worship at Allentown Presbyterian Church in Allentown, New Jersey, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. In 2014 he started a monthly January-though-June jazz vespers program at the church that has combined worship services with performances by his own quartet, as well as by such musicians as bassist Mimi Jones, saxophonist Stantawn Kendrick, drummer Reggie Quinerly, and saxophonist Camille Thurman (all of whom he's recorded with as a sideman).
Smith has composed music for independent filmmaker Nefertite Nguvu's short "I Want You" in 2007 (he included his version of the title song on Misfits) and her 2014 feature "In the Morning." The latter film won the audience award when it debuted last month at the Urbanworld Film Festival in Manhattan.
Also on the film front, Smith has tried his hand at acting, portraying Thelonious Monk in Nica, a 20-minute thesis film by an NYU student about the friendship between Monk and the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. "It was awesome," says Smith. "I was able to use 'A Misfits Theme' in the film. It was great to play the role of a true 'Misfit' and legendary icon."
The theme for Enoch's next project is suggested by "One of Us" (a hit for Joan Osborne in 1995) on "Misfits II." "As technology improves, our humanity just kinda declines and our value for each other is depreciating," he notes. "This record embodies that concept: What if you look at everyone like that person is a reflection of God, then how would we treat each other?" A question Enoch Smith Jr. intends to ponder.
Vocal CD of the Month - "Chris Conway: Out Of The Blue"
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Chris Conway: "Out Of The Blue" (Oblong) 2015
Released on February 01, 2015
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered @ Aloft Studios (Leicester, UK)
Produced & Arranged by Chris Conway
Photos: Jim Tetlow & Mark Postlethwaite
Liquid Light Art: Lumiere Ogbanje
Graphics: Zorpinda Zorpin
Featuring:
Chris Conway - vocals, piano, keyboards, electronics, acoustic & electric 9-string & nylon string guitars, tin & low Irish whistles, bamboo flute, kalimba, zither, bodhran, theremin, effects, samples, percussion.
Zorpinda Zorpin - percussion, electronics.
Mo Coulson - Celtic harp
One of my favorite "acts" in the contemporary music scene, the UK-based North American composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Conway is a complete artist. His impressive discography shows that he is capable to travel through pop, jazz, bossa, new-age, ambient, avant-garde... any "style" you can name. With no prejudice, he ignores boundaries with true hipness. This new album reveals, in some tracks like "Lost In My Mind," the influence of Michael Franks. But Conway is his own man, and a very wise one that doesn't mix all the ingredients in the same album. He knows that each project has its own soul. He lists "Out Of The Blue" among his two dozens of "songs albums." So, sit back, relax, and enjoy.
In Conway's own words:
"A reflective album - looking back to find a way forward. Ballads, bossas, and some singer-songwriter roots songs with a touch of the wistful about them.
I had reached a reflective point in my life. I was a bit blue, to be honest, and this album came out of the blue one gloomy winter.
The songs I had to to hand came from diverse origins. In the end they included...
- my versions of 2 songs of mine that Vikki Clayton had sung and recorded.
- 4 new songs, 2 of which are bossas
- 5 songs from a file dating back 20 years. I've drawn on this file also on Time Traveller.
- 1 hybrid of a 20+year old song with new additions and music.
- 1 song left over from 2011's Time Traveller album sessions.
- an instrumental interlude...
Depite the different origins, dates and styles, somehow a similar vibe came though as I worked on the album. Reflective, yes, but with a glow to it. Looking back to find a better way forward.
Funnily enough, when I finished recording the album I was out of the blue..."
Available through:
https://chrisconway.bandcamp.com/album/out-of-the-blue
Instrumental Jazz CD of the Month - "Mark Little: Suite Mother"
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Mark Little: "Suite Mother" (Caralittle Music CLM 1004) 2015
Composed, Arranged & Produced by Mark Little
Recorded & Mixed by Robert de La Garza @ Windmill Valley Recording (Bulverde, Texas)
Mastered by Jerry Tubb @ Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc. (Austin, Texas)
Cover Art: "Mitosis" by Cathy Cunningham-Little
Graphic Art: Kristi Warren
Featuring: Mark Little (piano), Mike Porter (bass), Will Kennedy (drums), Joe Caploe (vibes, percussion), Ron Wilkins (bass trombone, euphonium) & Rich Oppenheim (alto sax)
After the wondrous trio project "Kindred Spirits," which mixed strong originals with creative renditions of jazz and bossa nova standards, Mark Little releases a new impressive album focused exclusively on his own tunes, "Suite Mother." The highlights are "Melodious Phunk," actually a frenetic 21st century hard-bop, "Rebirth," "One For Clare" and the project centerpiece, "Suite Mother," dedicated to his late mother Nadyne Little-Williams. The trio format from the previous album (that also included bassist Mike Porter) was expanded to a sextet, with a powerful contribution by Yellowjackets' drummer Will Kennedy and inspired solos by Joe Caploe, Ron Wilkins (shining on the seldom used euphonium), and Rich Oppenheim.
Mark Little's recording career is moving in a fine fashion fueled by a rare combination of talents as a composer, arranger, performer & producer. "Since my Mothers passing, she has gotten a job in Heaven as a "muse". I know this because of the deluge of inspiration I've received. Song after song after song. This is the first in what will be several CD's presenting this incredible music. God Bless you Mother," says Mark.
On his continued search for excellence, Mark was chosen by musical great Bill Evans, who contributed to the development of Mark's original sound. Bill's advice to Mark, "Listen to the inner voices" ...& dig Mozart. And as Mark remembers, he emphasized music as a statement...a communication from the soul of the musician. The message understood. From Mark's heart springs vibrant images displaying his personal visions of life with his masterful style.
"He is a master of anthem jazz," Phil Elwood wrote on the San Francisco Examiner. "I've had the pleasure of working with Mark Little but it's particulary exciting to hear him stretching out on his own. He's a fine player, with an individual jazz style and he deserves wider recognition," Steve Allen stated. Mark's CD's can be found at his web site www.littlejazz88.com as well as through CDBaby.
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Mark was born August 28, 1951 in Amarillo, Texas. He began piano lessons at four, and played his first professional gig at six. He joined an R & B group “The Undertakers” at 14, touring with them for four years. Mark moved to Austin in 1970, and played with numerous groups including Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Willis Allen Ramsey & Jerry Jeff Walker. He received a scholarship from Berklee School of Music where he got the chance to study with Bill Evans. Little adds that studying with Bill Evans was a “once in a lifetime incredible experience”. He (Bill Evans) talked extensively about developing the “inner voice’s” of the piano and sited Mozart as an example of this technique. By 1975, Mark was teaching at Berklee.
In 1980, Mark moved to California and got the job playing piano for Cleo Lane and John Dankworth, performing with them at many venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center in New York City, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles and Royal Albert Hall in London.
He composed and arranged for Bobby McFerrin, as well as performing with him at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles. He toured the United States and Europe with Maria Muldaur, working at Fat Tuesday’s in New York City and Ronnie Scott’s in London, among other places. On tour with Art Farmer and Clifford Jordan, Mark played the hottest clubs on the West Coast including Yoshi’s in San Francisco.
He “tenured” as the musical director and pianist for E.W. Wainwrights African Roots of Jazz. During which time he did special “command performances” for Nelson Mandela , Danny Glover and Louis Farrakhan.
Mark has worked with many great jazz artists, including Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Sanders, Grady Tate, Eddie Henderson, Morgana King, Joe Lovano, Ted Curson, Shorty Rogers, Chico Freeman , Bobby Hutcherson, Steve Allen, Ryo Kawasaki, Don Moye, Morganna King, Bud Shank, and Melba Moore.
He recorded his first album as a leader, “Dreamwalk’n” in 1993 on the Monarch label and received his first Grammy nomination. Little’s second CD, “The Tribe” was recorded in 1995 again for Monarch, and gave Little his second Grammy nomination. His third CD, “Birthright,” was a solo live performance at the famous Maybeck Recital Hall released in 1999.
Little’s 2003 CD, “Isn’t Art It!” released on his own label “Caralittle Music” is all original compositions dedicated to the life and work of his brother Ken Little which demonstrates Mark’s versatility of styles and creativity.
Mark moved to San Antonio in 2004 and has played with singer Beata Pater as well as with numerous groups including his brother Ken Little’s band, Richie Cole’s Alto Madness orchestra and Kyle Kyner’s Small World with Polly Harrison and Richard Oppenheim.
In the words of Mark’s old friend the late, great, John Dankworth, “Mark Little’s spirited playing amply demonstrates his total immersion in the music he loves, not to mention his wholehearted commitment to it. His fluent improvisations explore ever-changing routes with a surprise around nearly every corner; they sometimes display extraordinary virtuosity and sometimes almost disarming simplicity, yet are never devoid of interest. He shows himself to be an exciting performer whose work is still developing; this bodes well for the future of this highly individual artiste.”
Box Set of the Month - "Joe Farrell: Original Album Classics"
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Joe Farrell: "Original Album Classics" (CTI) 2015
Release Date: March 20, 2015
A CTI powerhouse – five full albums from reedman Joe Farrell, each packaged in a tiny LP-styled sleeve! All sessions produced by Creed Taylor and recorded & mixed at Van Gelder Studio (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA) by the legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder. The cover pics are by genius photographer Pete Turner, with great artwork by Bob Ciano, CTI's art director from 1970 to 1975, the heyday of the label.
First up is "Joe Farrell Quartet," his CTI solo debut from 1970, a stellar session that's easily one of the early high points for the legendary Creed Taylor's label. Farrell bursts forth as one heck of a soulful cat -- working on these great modal grooves that slide out wonderfully and really have a sense of flow -- a style that's different than Joe's later material, but equally powerful. Part of the strength of the record comes from the lineup, a key quintet of like-mined up-and-comers that includes Chick Corea on keyboards, John McLaughlin on guitar, Dave Holland on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – players who were also members of Miles Davis' band at that time and that definitely know the farther reaches of jazz, yet hang just on the inside here with Joe, providing some amazing accompaniment for his lines on soprano, tenor, and flute. Titles include the bossa-nova "Molten Glass." the etheral "Song Of The Wind" (Farrell plays the melody on oboe and improvises on the flute in this duet with Chick Corea), the avant-garde jazz rock "Motion," and John McLaughlin's "Follow Your Heart."
Next is "Outback" (1971) – a drawn-out quintet side, with Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Buster Williams on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and Airto on percussion. Farrell was playing with Jones at the time, and the album's got some of their strong choppy reed/percussion interplay – but with a sharpness and focus that you don't always hear on Elvin's records. The four tracks are all long and include "Outback" (Joe uses multiple flutes), the jazz waltz "Sound Down" (played on soprano sax), Corea's "Bleeding Orchid" (Airto is heard on castanets) and "November 68th" (with a long drum solo by Elvin). The follow-up album was "Moon Germs" (1972), recorded with Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke and Jack DeJohnette, but oddly not included on this "Complete" box set.
"Penny Arcade" (1973) has grooves so sharp you could cut your trousers on them! Farrell's angular reed style is in perfect form here, grooving with a small group that includes Herbie Hancock on both acoustic ("Geo Blue") & electric pianos (on all other tracks), Joe Beck on guitar, Herb Bushler on electric bass (acoustic only on "Geo Blue"), Steve Gadd on drums, and Don Alias on congas & cowbell in one track only, "Cloud Cream" – a combo that's got a harder, tighter feel than most CTI groups and a key reason why Joe's records of this time are so legendary. The album features a fantastic version of Stevie Wonder's "Too High" – one that breaks all over the beginning with these riffs by Farrell, then grooves into a CTI electric funk mode for about 13 minutes. Other tracks include "Hurricane Jane," "Geo Blue," "Penny Arcade" and the delightful "Cloud Cream," with Farrell on piccolo.
"Upon This Rock" (1974) is even stronger and wilder, and there's a lean, edgey groove to the set that's totally great – a lot more bite than usual for CTI, thanks to these wonderfully angular lines from Joe on tenor, soprano sax, and flute, backed up with some wicked guitar work from Joe Beck, who really matches Farrell's energy – in a core quartet with Herb Bushler on bass and Jim Madison on drums. "I Won't Be Back," one cut saved by Creed from the previous album, features the group that played on the "Penny Arcade" sessions: Hancock on Fender Rhodes, Bushler on bass, Gadd on drums, and Don Alias on congas. The album includes the much-sampled and massively break-heavy title cut "Upon This Rock", plus "Seven Seas" and "Weathervane".
Last up is "Canned Funk" (1975), a record that's as fresh and freaky as the classic Pete Turner image on the cover. The riffing rhythms get going right from the start – some amazing lines from a rhythm combo that includes Joe Beck on guitar, Herb Bushler on bass, Jim Madison on drums, and the mighty Ray Mantilla on percussion – adding in these extra changes and fills that really get the tunes moving wonderfully – providing a perfect platform for Joe Farrell's wonderful work on tenor, soprano, baritone, and flute. The sax lines are as angular as the rhythms – tight, choppy, and completely funky – no wonder the record's a CTI classic that folks have dug for years. Four wild and long tracks: "Canned Funk," "Animal," "Suite Martinique" and "Spoken Silence."
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Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Tomorrow, "The Music of David Lynch" in LA!
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8PM - WED APR 01, 2015
$45 - $1000 - THE THEATRE AT ACE HOTEL, LOS ANGELES
929 SOUTH BROADWAY, LOS ANGELES, CA 90015
TEL: 213.623.3233 / FAX: 213.235.9611
ENQUIRE.DTLA@ACEHOTEL.COM / @ACEHOTEL
WITH PERFORMANCES AND INTERPRETATIONS BY:
ANGELO BADALAMENTI, CHRYSTA BELL, REBEKAH DEL RIO, DONOVAN, DURAN DURAN, JIM JAMES, JULEE CRUISE, KAREN O, KINNEY LANDRUM, MOBY, ROB MATHES, SKY FERREIRA, TENNIS, TWIN PEAKS, WAYNE COYNE AND STEVEN DROZD OF THE FLAMING LIPS, ZOLA JESUS, PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS.
Be it the synthesized echo of the Twin Peaks theme song, the Angelo Badalamenti score to Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive's "Llorando," David Lynch deploys music in his work to stirring effect, creating layers of meanings in a sequence of melancholic minor chords or startled key changes.
On April 1, the David Lynch Foundation celebrates its 10th Anniversary with The Music of David Lynch, an exploration of the director's use of immersive and ambient sound in his films, Twin Peaks and original catalog. All proceeds benefit the non-profit Foundation to bring Transcendental Meditation to at-risk populations suffering with PTSD.
$1,000 VIP includes the best seats, a private pre-concert event with David Lynch, top shelf cocktails and crafted hors d'oeuvres, and a limited edition concert poster designed by Shepard Fairey.
$125 Reserved Orchestra
$75 Reserved Front Balcony
$45 Reserved Rear Balcony
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