Saturday, August 9, 2008

Alexa Weber Morales, tomorrow, at the San Jose Jazz Festival

Oakland singer/songwriter Alexa Weber Morales performs at the San Jose Jazz Festival with her fun-loving, aesthetically pleasing and rhythmically endowed eight-piece band Sunday, August 10 at 1 PM for a 90-minute set. Bay Area residents are urged to dust off their lawn chairs and hurry to the Latin stage located at Post and Market streets in downtown San Jose, CA.

The Alexa Weber Morales Band debuted earlier this year in a three-night run at Jazz at Pearl's in San Francisco, where the multilingual singer emphasized the Brazilian segment of her repertoire and learned much more than she wanted to about her nefarious musical crew, some of whom are wanted in three states.

In live performance, the Alexa Weber Morales Band engages in stunningly risky vocal interplay with the able assistance of backup singers Bryan Dyer, Daria, and David Chaidez. Her
instrumental accompanists will be Murray Low, piano; Michael Spiro, percussion; Scott Thompson, bass; and David Flores, drums. Both Murray and Michael are veteran studio musicians who made major contributions to Alexa's two solo recordings and have touched her in
so many ways.

The complete 19th Annual Comcast San Jose Jazz Festival schedule, along with hotel deals and travel information, is available at http://www.sanjosejazz.org/
(or phone 408-288-7557).

Purchase your tickets to the San Jose Jazz Festival online or at tickets booths at the festival. A $10 wristband will get you into all venues that day! Or, buy a three-day festival pass for $25.
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Since 2004, Alexa Weber Morales has made five studio recordings, including her two solo albums, Jazzmérica and Vagabundeo. The latter, named "one of the greatest Bay Area recordings in recent times" by Latin Beat magazine, made top-20 airplay nationwide and received acclaim from around the world. A June 2008 DownBeat review of Vagabundeo enthuses that "Her large-scale skill and talent encourages her all-inclusive dreams" and praises her "gorgeous articulation, flowing time sense and warm tone" (Ken Micallef).

Murray Low is a 30-year veteran pianist on the Bay Area jazz scene. Though he is a tireless performer, recording artist, and arranger, he is best known for his work with Pete Escovedo (since 1994); Grammy-nominated John Santos and the Machete Ensemble (since 2000);
and Andy Narell, the pioneering steel pan player. His multifaceted career has also included international performances with Tito Puente, Bob Mintzer, Sheila E, Benny Golson, John Patitucci, George Duke, and many others.

Michael Spiro is an internationally recognized percussionist, recording artist, and educator, known for his work in Latin music. He has performed on thousands of records, co-produced and played on several instructional videos for Warner Bros. Publications (including Talking Drums, Changuito, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Ignacio Berroa), and produced seminal recordings in the Latin music genre, including Orquesta Batachanga, Grupo Bata-Ketu, Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge, and Grupo Ilu-Aña. Michael's recording and performing credits include Mark Murphy, David Byrne, Cachao, The Caribbean Jazz Project, Dori Caymmi, Changuito, Richard Egues, Frank Emilio Flynn, Ella Fitzgerald, David Garibaldi, Gilberto Gil, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ray Holman, Toninho Horta, to name just a few.

Bassist Scott Thompson has been teaching, performing, and recording since he was only 15 years old, showing a gift for heartfelt American funk as well as the rhythms of Brazil. Now 22, he has already shared the stage with such world-class musicians as Chico Pinheiro, Marcos Silva, Omar Sosa, Flora Purim & Airto Moreira, John Mayer, Anthony Coleman, and Steve Wyreman.

Although Bay Area native David Flores is a drumset player at heart, he is also a skilled hand-percussionist. As a performer he's worked with such artists as Lauryn Hill (2007 world tour), Orestes Vilato, Donna Summer, Francisco Aguabella, Pete Escovedo, John Santos, Michael
Spiro, Steve Turre, Peter Erskine, Bobi Céspedes, Mark Levine, Ray Vega, John Calloway, John Benitez, Rebecca Mauleon-Santana, Mickey Hart, Melvin Seals, and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.

Vocalist DARIA fuses Jazz, Latin, Brazilian Rhythms and originals. She is a sultry, powerful and soulful singer, whose trademarks include perfect intonation, fresh interpretations and pure
musicality. The release of her 2005 CD, Feel The Rhythm, co-produced by Frank Martin and Wayne Wallace, garnered critical acclaim and airplay in the USA.

Vocalist and keyboardist David Chaidez, a San Jose native, has been working in the Bay Area as a professional musician for several years. He has also performed as a featured soloist at prestigious venues such as the 2000 Nice Jazz Festival in France and the 2002 Monterey Jazz
Festival. In 2002, he formed the Brazilian trio Agua Na Boca which performed around the South Bay regularly for three years. David is currently working with his new group, the David Chaidez Quintet.

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Bryan Dyer is a professional musician with almost 20 years of experience who has performed many styles of music from classical and avant-garde to rock, jazz, and blues. Music has taken Bryan around the world to countries including Japan, Switzerland, and Jamaica, alongside such artists as Al Green, Michael McDonald, and Bonnie Raitt. He currently performs with SoVoSo, Slammin All-Body Band, and Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir.

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