1. art and entertainment
2. music
3. musical instruments
4. drums

WED, MARCH 3RD, 9.00 pm:
THU, MARCH 11TH, 9.00 pm:
OTIS TAYLOR
OZ NOY FEAT.
DAVE WECKL & JAMES GENUS
BLUES CONCERT OF THE YEAR
OTIS TAYLOR banjo, guitar & voice
CASSIE TAYLOR bass • TERRENCE MALLOY guitar
JOSH KELLEY drums
Bluesman Otis Taylor never skirted tough subject matter in a career that
took him from the Folklore Center in Denver to a brief stay in London,
England, to retirement from music in 1977 to operate as a successful
antiques broker and since 1995 back again to the blues. Taylor's 2001
CD White African (Northern Blues Music), featuring Kenny Passarelli
(bass, keyboards) and Eddie Turner (lead guitar), became his most direct
and personal statement about the experiences of African-Americans. He
addressed the lynching of his great-grandfather and the murder of his
uncle. Brutality became his concern in songs about a black man executed in the 1930s for a murder he did not commit and about a father who
could not afford doctor's bills and sat powerless watching his son die.
Faith met Taylor's irony in his vision of Jesus as a mortal man who looked for ways to avoid his crucifixion and in his take on romantic infidelity among common men. Taylor's first CD, Blue-Eyed Monster, and
1997's When Negroes Walked the Earth also cast an uneasy spell on the
blues world. Part of Taylor's music could feel comfortable on the back
roads of the Delta in the 1920s and '30s. It came as no surprise when he
interpreted Charley Patton's "Stone Pony" on a Shanachie Records
compilation, Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: New Acoustic
Recordings of Pre-War Blues Classics, which also featured popular blues
performers such as Alvin Youngblood Hart, John Hammond, Duke
Robillard, and Corey Harris. At other times, Taylor's music was so
uncompromisingly contemporary in its outlook on social injustices that
he seemed more akin to South African poet and activist Stephen Biko.
Taylor was born in Chicago in 1948. After his uncle was murdered, his
family moved to Denver for apparent safe haven. Taylor took an interest in blues and folk music at Denver's Folklore Center. After hearing
Etta James sing "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You (Can't by Just
Looking Under the Cover)," Taylor knew he liked the blues. He then
went to the Folklore Center, where he heard the banjo and country
blues and Mississippi John Hurt. He also liked Junior Wells and Muddy
Waters and got into the folkie blues and Appalachian music. He learned
to play guitar, banjo, and harmonica. Only several decades later did he
begin to understand the ties of the blues and its instrumentation to the
savannah of western Africa. By his mid-teens, he formed his first groups
-- the Butterscotch Fire Department Blues Band and later the Otis Taylor
Blues Band. He briefly stayed in England in 1969 to pursue a record
deal with Blue Horizon, but negotiations failed and he returned to the
U.S. In the '70s, he took up mandolin. He decided to leave music behind
in 1976 and started a successful career as an antiques broker. After much
prodding from Passarelli, Taylor returned to music in 1995. He first
played a benefit concert. Then he started to play again both solo and
with his band in America and Europe. In the summer of 2000, he received a composition fellowship from the Sundance Institute in Park City,
UT, and hobnobbed with film celebrities at the Sundance Film Festival.
His When Negroes Walked the Earth was released on Shoelace Records
that same year. Taylor began participating in "Writing the Blues" in the
Blues in the Schools program, sponsored by the National Blues
Foundation, and he started writing and performing new songs in 2001.
White African and Respect the Dead were released by Northern Blues
in 2001 and 2002, respectively, followed by Taylor's first release on
Telarc Blues, Truth Is Not Fiction, in 2003. A second album on Telarc,
Double V, came out in 2004, followed by Below the Fold in 2005 and
Definition of a Circle two years later. The revelatory Recapturing the
Banjo appeared in 2008, again from Telarc. With the release of his fantastic masterpiece, Pentatonic Wars and love Songs (2009), Otis is the
most sold blues singer recently. Johnny Depp’s 2009 film Public Enemies
features two of Taylor's songs, "Ten Million Slaves" and "Nasty Letter".
The former is also featured in the film's trailer. In May 2009, he also
won a Blues Music Award for his banjo playing last.
Current CD: 'PENTATONIC WARS AND LOVE SONGS' (TELARC, 2009)
OZ NOY guitar • JAMES GENUS bass
DAVE WECKL drums
OZ NOY won the 2008 highly acclaimed Guitar Player Magazine readers poll for the 2nd time in a row for “Best New Talent”
Israeli-born guitarist Oz Noy is a progressive and iconoclastic artist
who incorporates a wide array of styles into his own work, including
funk, rock, blues, and jazz. Having performed from a young age, Noy
was an in-demand studio musician by his early twenties. A move to
New York City in 1996 eventually led to tours and session work with
such artists as Oz Noy has performed, toured and recorded with:
Richard Bona, Chris Botti, Gavin DeGraw, Harry Belafonte, Cyndi
Lauper, Clay Aiken, Akiko Yano, Toni Braxton, Phoebe Snow, Nile
Rogers, Mike Clark, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Dave Weckl, Mike Manieri, The
East Village Opera Company, Roger Glover, and others. In 2003, Oz
released his debut record – “Oz Live” – recorded at NYC’s legendary
Bitter End. Oz’s band featured drummers Anton Fig and Keith Carlock
and bassists Will Lee, James Genus and Reggie Washington. In 2004,
Oz signed to Magna Carta Records and in 2005 released his highlyacclaimed studio record “HA!” with his all-star band and special guests
Mike Stern and George Whitty. April 2007, a licensing deal with
Magna Carta and Japanese label Videoarts has opened the door for
Oz's music in Japan. August 2007 saw the release of “Fuzzy Feat”, Oz’s
third record under the Magna Carta label. For Fuzzy Feat, Oz’s all-star
band is joined by various special guests including, drummer Vinnie
Colaiuta, bassist Jimmy Johnson, and keyboardists George Whitty and
Jim Beard. Summer of 2009- Release of the 4th coming record under
Magna Carta label-“Schizophrenic” Featuring- Will Lee, Anton Fig,
Dave Weckl, Keith Carlock , Ricky Peterson, Chris Palmero and special guest Steve Lukather.
Current CD: 'SCHIZOPHRENIC' (Magna Carta, September 2009)
DAVE WECKL
For more than 25 years, Dave Weckl has developed and maintained a
reputation among fans, peers, and the international music community
as one of the great living drummers. For this, he has received numerous accolades and honors; Modern Drummer inducted Dave into
their Hall of Fame and named him “one of the 25 best drummers of
all time”. But these honors, in addition to many more bestowed by the
music community, are the product of Dave's undying commitment to
making great compositions. Dave's incredibly dynamic and diverse
drumming, which has inspired musicians worldwide, is built on a solid
foundation of knowledge and respect for music. Born in St. Louis
Missouri, January 8th, 1960, to a mother who loved music and a father
who played the piano as a hobby, Dave started playing drums around
the age of 8. During his high school years, Dave received many awards
from the NAJE (National Association of Jazz Educators) for outstanding performances in his high school's competition-winning jazz band.
He was involved with numerous local groups from a very young age
while studying with St. Louis-area teachers Bob Matheny and Joe
Buerger. At age 16, Dave began to work professionally with local pop
and jazz groups. In 1979, he moved to the East coast to study music at
the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.
At just 19 years of age, Dave was getting recognized. While playing the
club scene in New York City with a band called Nite Sprite, Dave started to receive accolades from established studio musicians such as Steve
Kahn, Michael Brecker, and especially drumming great Peter Erskine.
It was Peter who recommended Dave for his first 'big gig' in town with
a group called French Toast, forerunner to the Michel Camilo band,
which has been recorded quite extensively over the years. From this
group, legendary bassist Anthony Jackson recommended Dave for the
prestigious Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour in 1983. After this tour,
it was not long before Dave was regularly being called for radio and
TV jingles, sound track sessions, and top recording dates with such
artists as George Benson, Peabo Bryson, Diana Ross, and Robert Plant,
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to name a few. In 1985, Michael Brecker suggested to Chick Corea that
he look into Dave's services for his new Elektric Band. That was the
beginning of a seven year relationship with both the Elektric and
Akoustic Bands, where nine recordings and three videos were produced, including a Grammy for the first Akoustic Band release. The
Elektric Band showcased Dave's cutting-edge drumming and innovative use of electronic and acoustic drums, bringing him world-wide recognition. Though the Elektric Band went on a 10-year hiatus in the early
'90s, the band is once again touring from time to time. It also released
a 17-part conceptual album entitled "To The Stars" in mid-2004.
As a solo artist, Dave has recorded and produced nine recordings to
date, including GRP/MCA solo releases Masterplan, Heads Up, and
Hardwired. In 1998, Dave realized his long-time goal of forming a
world-touring band. The Dave Weckl Band released five studio
records, including: Rhythm Of The Soul, Synergy, Transition, Perpetual
Motion, and Multiplicity. The band also released a hot live album, LIVE
(and very plugged in) and a compilation of DWB and instructional
videos entitled The Zone. More recently, Dave has enjoyed taking on
more sideman work.
He regularly joins guitarist Mike Stern, Chuck Loeb, and Oz Noy,
among others. When off the road, Dave keeps busy with session and
production work at his home studio in Los Angeles. He also teaches at
the annual Drum Fantasy Camp. Additionally, Dave has many instructional video/DVDs and play-along packages on the market. A constant
student of the art of drumming and music, Dave gives back every chance he gets through clinics and classes all over the world. Of teaching,
Dave says: "It is my goal to inspire as many young (and not-so-young)
people as possible to want to play music, whether it be on drums or another instrument. With all the negatives in the world today, I feel this is
my way of contributing a positive action toward spiritual happiness,
which music can be a big part of, if you let it. So parents, if your child
has a talent for music, please allow them the opportunity to develop that
talent!"
JAMES GENUS
James Genus was born in Hampton, Virginia on January 20, 1966. He
started playing bass at the age of 13. After graduating from high school
in 1983, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University in
Richmond. During his last years at the University he studied and played with the renowned Ellis Marsalis. In 1987 he received a degree in
Jazz Studies, after which he soon moved to New York. Since then he has
been called upon to play either acoustic or electric bass in many different musical settings. Among the many different groups that he has
recorded or performed with include: Michael Brecker, The Brecker
Brothers, Whitney Houston, Chick Corea, Herbie, Hancock, John
Scofield, Pat Martino, Vanessa Williams, Bob James, David Sanborn,
Branford Marsalis, Roy Haynes, Dianne Reeves, Dave Douglas, Anita
Baker and many more. When not on tour, James is the bassist on the
highly rated TV show- Saturday Night Live.
TUE, MARCH 16TH, 9.00 pm:
STANLEY JORDAN
STANLEY JORDAN guitar • CHARNETT MOFFETT bass
KENWOOD DENNARD drums
"I want to be a part of a new way of doing things."
STANLEY JORDAN
One way to attack the daunting task of describing Stanley Jordan is to
think of him as a world class guitarist who marches in all aspects of his
life to the beat of his own drummer. Never one to be locked into constraints when it comes to musical expression, genres or applications, the
Palo Alto, California-born prodigy is a progressive thinker with goals
and ideals that stretch far beyond record deals, fortune or fame.
Though he maintains a busy international touring schedule and recently recorded several special independent CDs, his broader interests
stretch into the realms of Music Therapy and Sonification.
Stanley Jordan came to prominence with the release of his 1985 debut
album Magic Touch, a revolutionary project that dually placed him at
the forefront of re-launching legendary Blue Note Records into a contemporary entity in jazz and beyond, as well as establishing the thentwenty-something Jordan as among the most distinctive and refreshing
new voices of the electric guitar. Key to Jordan's fast-track acclaim was
his mastery of a special "tapping" technique on the guitar's fret board
instead of conventional strumming and picking. While a handful of
other virtuoso players were using similar techniques, Stanley's fluid
and melodic use of tapping captured the imagination of listeners via his
inherent warmth and sensitivity. He happened upon the technique
without any formal study and had been applying it to his already exemplary traditional playing ten years prior to the album. Though Jordan
showcased the technique in a variety of musical styles from swing to
rock, it was smooth jazz radio support for his singular versions of "The
Lady in My Life" (first recorded by Michael Jackson) and the Beatles'
"Eleanor Rigby" that sent Magic Touch to the top of Billboard's jazz
chart for a stunning 51 weeks. The album became a gold-seller (over
500,000 sold) - outstanding for any jazz or instrumental CD.
Subsequent albums found Jordan caught in a frustrating web of wanting to usher his audience into deeper levels of his artistry while record
companies craved more of the stuff that had whisked him to the chart
top. Because he debuted on the Blue Note label, he was marketed as a
jazz progressive when what he was trying to stress was music beyond
stylistic boundaries. Those projects included a solo guitar project titled
Standards Volume 1 (1986) where Stanley made the bold statement that
songs by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell deserved recognition as standards as much as chestnuts like "Georgia On My Mind."
He followed that with the band album Flying Home (1988) and an
especially edgy album titled Cornucopia (1990), half of which was
straight ahead jazz recorded live and the other half of which was multidimensional originals recorded in the studio. Still later in 1994 after a
move to Arista Records (then-helmed by pop music maverick Clive
Davis), he recorded the bracingly eclectic Bolero album, featuring
covers of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," Jimi Hendrix's "Drifting,"
his original "Plato's Blues" and the CD's centerpiece, a 17-minute
arrangement of Ravel's "Bolero" broken up into rock, African, Latin,
"groove" and industrial versions.
Now in 2007, it's been over a decade since Stanley Jordan has released
an album on a major record label, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been
active in the music field. To the contrary, he has been exploring deeper
dimensions of his craft. After a self-imposed exile from the rat race in
the 9` 0s that included a retreat to the mountains of the southwest,
Stanley Jordan has re-emerged with a new life's direction. "Most people - if and when they find their calling - come to see themselves in some
sort of service capacity," he states. "Right now I feel a strong desire to
bring my music to the people not just for entertainment, but also for
inspiration and healing." A primary element of this new direction involves championing Music Therapy, which he is studying in a Masters
program at Arizona State University. "Accelerated music schools give
lots of good information but not a lot of advice on how to learn and
retain that information," he states. "I try to supply this missing element
of how to approach it to where you don't strain yourself.
Physically, musicians run the risks of problems such as repetitive motion strain that this can help. More importantly, Music Therapy can help
creative people with psychological problems such as perfectionism.
Normally people approach difficult music, start out not playing it very
well then try to increase their ability to play it. My approach is the
opposite. I say approach easy music first, do it well then gradually
increase the difficulty of the music. That way you have success right
from the start. It's a way of slowing down and staying in a comfort
zone, enabling you to learn the music faster in the long run while building up your confidence."The positive affects of this training are not
just skills Stanley teaches but skills he has adopted for his own creativity. "With composing, you start writing something and it's great
because you get all these ideas. But the minute you stop and analyze it,
you have the constraint of writing something that fits what you've
already done.
Now there's this whole 'judgment' thing going on. What I suggest is to
stay in the creative flow for as long as possible, getting as many ideas
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out as you can. Then come back later with a different head to do the
editing and critical side. The 'mental training' for this is not in books.
It's closer to meditation or neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) where
one is taught to control their mental state to achieve a goal. This can be
applied not just to music but to other aspects of your life." Another area
of intensive interest for Jordan is the development of Sonification (turning something into sound) and the concept of using music as a form
of representation. "A great percentage of the data that people analyze is
time sensitive data," Stanley explains, "and audio is a far superior
vehicle for understanding the passage of time. Take the amortization
schedule of a 30-year mortgage, for example. If I hit one note per
second in the left speaker for interest and another note per second for
principle in the right speaker, it would take about six minutes to 'play'
that mortgage. A person could hear how long they would be paying
interest before they started paying principle.
Looking at it on a graph is one thing, but listening to it makes you feel
it. Sonification offers deeper understanding of information because
more of the brain is involved in understanding that information."
Jordan sees the potential for Sonification applications on a revolutionary level. "Sonification can be of profound benefit to humanity," he
continues, "especially when making decisions that affect other people
which requires an emotional understanding of what you're doing. For
example, you can use Sonification for a person's vital signs. To a degree
that's already in place with machines that beep for heart rates, but it's
in a primitive stage without much coordination. You get all these pieces
of equipment making different sounds. Through Sonification, we can
create a universal language that makes it easier for physicians to listen
to several monitors' sounds and know what's going on with their patient's body. This is done using principles similar to those of arrangers
and sound mix engineers. In arranging music for a number of instruments, you write so that the parts stay out of each other's way, enabling
you to hear each part separately." Where does this leave new recordings in the matrix of Stanley's career?
In 2004 he was prominently featured with the Italian group Novocento
on their CD, Dreams of Peace. And independently, he has recorded
two CDs: Ragas (a collaboration with musicians from India featuring
Jay Kishor on sitar) and Relaxing Music in Difficult Situations I, an
audio extension of his Music Therapy interests. Beyond those, Stanley
is preparing some new CDs that will focus on something he has only
shared sporadically: original compositions. However, as with all things
related to Stanley Jordan, he will release them when he feels the music
and the timing is right. "There's a belief that when you're a musician,
you're supposed to want to be rich and famous," he muses. "I've never
been like that. I do want to be paid well for what I do and want people
to know about what I do - as big of an audience as I can - but that's a
tangent. I see the commercial and artistic as two separate things.
Sometimes they can work together. Sometimes they work against each
other. I'd rather be musically satisfied and not famous than be famous
and not satisfied with my music."
"When I have something new I'm playing that I really like, then I'm
most motivated to share it with the world."
Current CD: 'STATE OF NATURE ' (MACK AVENUE, 2008)
CHARNETT MOFFETT
A virtuosic bassist who is equally skilled on acoustic and electric,
Charnett Moffett has been a better sideman than leader. His own recordings (for Manhattan, Blue Note, and Evidence) have had an excess of
bass features while failing to develop a group sound. The son of drummer Charles Moffett, Sr. and the younger brother of drummer
Codaryl, singer Charisse, trumpeter Mondre, and tenor saxophonist
Charles Jr. (all of whom have guested on his records), Charnett started
on bass early and appeared at age eight on a family record in 1974 for
LRS. He later studied at Juilliard and was in Wynton Marsalis' quintet
when he was 16, playing with the trumpeter regularly during 19831985. Moffett, who appeared on 17 records before he turned 20, has
worked with Tony Williams, Slide Hampton, Mulgrew Miller, Monty
Alexander, Sonny Sharrock, Stanley Jordan, David Sanborn, Arturo
Sandoval, and Diane Reeves, among many others, and played regularly with Ornette Coleman during 1993-1995. Scott Yanow
Current CD: 'THE ART OF IMPROVISATION ' (MOTEMA, 2009)
WED, MARCH 24TH, 9.00 pm:
MIKE MAINIERI &
NORTHERN LIGHTS
MIKE MAINIERI vibraphone • BENDIK HOFSETH saxophone
BUGGE WESSELTOFT keyboards
LARS DANIELSSON bass • AUDUN KLEIVE drums
Primarily recognized as an award-winning jazz vibraphonist, Mike
Mainieri's equally remarkable talents as producer, performer, arranger,
and composer have contributed to shaping the cutting edge in music.
During 50's and early 60's, he performed with such legendary artists as
Buddy Rich, Billie Holliday, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, and
Wes Montgomery. At the age of 20, he won Downbeat's International
Jazz Critic's Award. In 1962, he joined the ground breaking jazz/rock
group Jeremy & the Satyrs led by flutist Jeremy Steig. The Satyrs appeared at New York's Club A-GoGo, and performed with such monumental figures as Frank Zappa, Richie Havens and Jimi Hendrix.
During the late 60's, this small circle of performers grew into what became known as the White Elephant Orchestra, a 20-piece, all-star, experimental ensemble. The group featured such soloists Michael Brecker,
Ronny Cuber, Jon Faddis, Lew Soloff and Randy Brecker.
In the late 70's, Mike founded the pioneering jazz/fusion group Steps
Ahead, which included previous cohorts Michael Brecker, Eddie
Gomez, Steve Gadd and Don Grolnick. Delving into contemporary
sounds while maintaining experimental sounds and compositional integrity, Steps Ahead was and is a launching pad for young talent and new
musical ideas. Steps 'alumni' include appearances by such notable
artists as:
Saxophonists: Michael Brecker, Bendik Hofseth, Rick Margitza, Donny
McCaslin, Bob Mintzer, Bob Berg, Bill Evans Pianists: Don Grolnick,
Warren Bernhardt, Eliane Elias, Kenny Kirkland, Rachel Z, George
Whitty, Mitch Forman, Robbie Kilgore, George Whitty, Dave Kikoski,
Joey Calderazzo Guitarists: Mike Stern, Steve Khan, Chuck Loeb,
Hiram Bullock, Dean Brown, Paul Jackson, Wayne Krantz, Jimi
Tunnell Bassists: Eddie Gomez, Tom Kennedy,Victor Bailey, Daryl
Jones, Tony Levin, Jeff Andrews, James Genus, Baron Browne, Richie
Goods, Marc Johnson, Ed Howard, Larry Grenadier, Scott Colley,
Richard Bona Drummers: Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, Steve Smith,
Rodney Holmes, Billy Kilson, Clarance Penn, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Ben
Perosky Vocalists: Dianne Reeves, Bobby McFerrin, Richard Bona
Other noteworthy jazz collaborations have included recordings with
Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, Dave Liebman, Al Jarreau, David
Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Joe Lovano, Jim Hall and Jane Monheit As a
composer, arranger and performer, Mike has contributed to over 100
gold and platinum albums. An active participant in the rock and pop
scenes, Mike produced and co-wrote three albums with Carly Simon,
and recorded with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Aerosmith, Billy Joel,
Janis Ian, James Taylor, Dire Straits, Bonnie Raitt, George Benson, and
on Don McClean's classic album; "American Pie". In 1991, Mike brought to bear his vast experience with the creation of his own Jazz label
NYC Records (www.nycrecords.com). The independent label is a
vehicle for exposing new and established artists such as vocalist
Luciana Souza, pianist Rachel Z. (Nicolazzo), alto saxophonist Myron
Walden and legendary tenor saxophonist, George Garzone.
Current CD: 'TWELVE PIECES ' (NYC Music, September 2009)
BUGGE WESSELTOFT
Since the early 1990´s Bugge (conveniently pronounced Boogie!) has made
an impressive, truly post-modern transistion from ECM nordic jazz traditions, playing and recording together with the likes of Jan Garbarek, to
forming his own exquisite label "Jazzland", and creating a unique, fresh
blend of "future jazz". Which finds itself equally at home with fans of deep
house, techno, ambient, as well as traditional and experimental jazz
purists. Following on from the pioneering, globally acclaimed "Sharing"
album in 1998, Bugge has spent the past two years touring the world´s melting-pot festivals, where jazz meets club culture in a heady brew, and has
seen his "sound" embraced by leading worldwide jazz critics - confidently
comparing this new Norwegian star to Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Erik
Satie(!), as well as finding an impressive following among some of the
world´s most respected DJ glitterati: Gilles Peterson, José Padilla,
Mixmaster Morris, and New York´s cult "Body and Soul " collective.
Current CD: 'PLAYING ' (Jazzland, 2009)
TUE, APRIL 13TH, 9.00 pm:
TANGO FROM BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA:
PABLO ZIEGLER &
QUIQUE SINESI,
GUEST WALTER CASTRO
PABLO ZIEGLER piano (EX. ASTOR PIAZZOLLA)
QUIQUE SINESI guitar • WALTER CASTRO bandoneon
’A Piazzolla protege, Ziegler continues the master’s legacy.’
LOS ANGELES TIMES
‘Ziegler’s music adheres to the central traits that make new tango so
powerful, fitted with bravura, swagger, elegance.’
AZZTIMES
‘Ziegler shows his strength on his own tunes where the music moves as
if it were telling stories.
RHYTHM
Longtime pianist and protege of the groundbreaking tango legend
Astor Piazzolla, Pablo Ziegler is the primary force driving innovative
tango music. Furthering the developments of Piazzolla’s ‘New Tango’
movement, Ziegler continues to break free from the strong traditions
and stylistic limitations of tango, developing his own emphatic musical
style. Pablo Ziegler was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1944. He
studied at Buenos Aires Music Conservatory where he graduated as
Piano Professor. He continued his studies with Adrian Moreno and
Galia Schaljman. He studied composition with professors as Gerardo
Gandini and Francisco Kröpflt. When he was fourteen years old, he
began to play with different jazz groups and at the same time until he
was eighteen played piano solo concerts. Then he created the Pablo
Ziegler Terceto which was dedicated to playing classical music with jazz
arrangements done by himself and, at the same time he wrote music
such as Polvo de Estrellas (Musical), La Noche de los Grandes (TV);
Adios Roberto and Tacos Altos (cinema), etc. In 1978 he joined Master
Astor Piazzolla’s quintet and started his tournees through Europe,
USA, Japan, etc. playing with worldwide known artists such as the
Italian singer Milva and the American Gary Burton. When Astor
Piazzolla died - in Buenos Aires, on July 4, 1992 - he left behind an
extraordinary musical legacy - and a challenge. Piazzolla didn’t just
revolutionize tango. In his New Tango he brought forth a new language, a fresh vocabulary of sounds and emotions, accents and attitudes. It
turned out that the same man once accused by purists of killing tango
had given this music a future. But it’s a future left for others to write.
With Quintet for New Tango, pianist, composer and arranger Pablo
Ziegler, a member of Piazzolla’s last Quintet (1978 - 1988), stakes his
claim. It might be Piazzolla’s language at times, but it’s always Ziegler’s
story being told. Piazzolla’s legacy ‘is both a blessing and a curse,’ he
says. ‘To break through a system you have to know it deeply. If I know
anything it is that I do know this system, inside out. I am in that path.’
PABLO ZIEGLER
THU, APRIL 15TH, 9.00 pm:
JOHN ABERCROMBIE
ORGAN TRIO
JOHN ABERCROMBIE guitar • ADAM NUSSBAUM drums
JARED GOLD Hammond B3 organ
Abercrombie´s connection to the organ goes back to his earliest days, as
he has always professed a love for the sound of the organ and guitar
together. After several years of groove-based and straightahead playing
guitarist/composer John Abercrombie found his niche in the mid-70?s
with open-oriented Europeans and Americans who often recorded for
ECM records. He has broadened his approach over the years with
Eastern influences, electronics, and free music although he maintains a
strong sense of the jazz tradition. He plays a variety of interactive
music, refusing to be limited or compromised. Over a career spanning
more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie has established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual
sounds (he played electronic mandolin on McCoy Tyner's 1993 album
4x4) and nontraditional ensembles (recent quartet recordings have
included violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie is a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony."Born on December 16, 1944 in Port
Chester, New York, Abercrombie grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut,
where he began playing the guitar at age 14. Like many teenagers at the
time, he started out imitating Chuck Berry licks. But it was the bluesy
music of Barney Kessel that attracted him to jazz. Abercrombie enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music and teamed up with other students to play local clubs and bars. One of those clubs, Paul's Mall, was
connected to a larger club next door, the Jazz Workshop, where
Abercrombie ducked in during his free time to watch John Coltrane
and Thelonious Monk.Abercrombie's appearances at Paul's Mall led to
several fortuitous meetings. Organist Johnny Hammond Smith spotted
the young Abercrombie and invited him to go on tour while he was still
a student. During the same period, Ambercrombie also met the Brecker
Brothers, who invited him to become a new part of their group
Dreams, which would become one the prominent jazz-rock bands of
the late 1960s and early 1970s. Abercrombie appears on the group's
eponymous debut album.After graduating from Berklee, Abercrombie
headed to New York, where he quickly became one of New York's most
in-demand session players. He recorded with Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri,
and Barry Miles, to name a few. He was also a regular with Chico
Hamilton?s group. "But it was in Billy Cobham's band, which also featured the Brecker brothers, that Abercrombie first started to build a following. He was featured on several of Cobham's albums, including
Crosswinds, Total Eclipse and Shabazz, all of which staked new ground
in fusion jazz. The group was booked into large concert halls and arenas, appearing on bills with such top rock attractions as the Doobie
Brothers. It was not, however, the direction Abercrombie had hoped
his career would go. "One night we appeared at the Spectrum in
Phildelphia and I thought, what am I doing here?" he said. "It just
didn?t compute." In the early 1970s, Abercrombie ran into Manfred
Eicher, who invited him to record for ECM. The result was
Abercrombie's first solo album, Timeless, in which he was backed by
Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette. Abercrombie's second album,
Gateway, was released in November 1975 with DeJohnette and bassist
Dave Holland; a second Gateway recording was released in June
1978.He then moved on to a traditional quartet format, recording three
albums on ECM--Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet, and M--with pianist
Richie Beirach, bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald. "It
was extremely important to have that group for many reasons,"
Abercrombie told AAJ in 2004. "It was, of course, a good band, but it
was also my first opportunity to really be a leader and to write consistently for the same group of musicians."His second group, a trio with
bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine, marked the first
time he experimented with the guitar synthesizer. This gave him the
opportunity to play what he called "louder, more open music" with a
propulsive beat, demonstrated in the group's three releases, Getting
There (featuring Michael Brecker) in 1987, Current Events in 1988,
and John Abercrombie, Marc Johnson & Peter Erskine in 1989. From
there, he moved to partnerships that he would shuffle and reshuffle for
the next 20 years. He reunited with his Gateway bandmembers in 1995
for an album appropriately titled Homecoming, but not before forming
yet a third ensemble that would make several recordings together.
Abercrombie had long been enamored with the sound of jazz organ, so
he teamed with organist Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum in
While We Were Young and Speak of the Devil (both 1993) and, in 1997
Tactics. Another album, titled Open Land, added violinist Mark
Feldman and saxophonist Joe Lovano to the mix. His affiliation with
Feldman, in a quartet that included Marc Johnson and drummer Joey
Barron, ushered in a period of looser, freer, almost improvisatory playing. "I like free playing that has some relationship to a melody; very
much the way Ornette Coleman used to write all those wonderful songs
and then they would play without chords on a lot of them," he told AAJ.
In fact, Abercrombie's work from this period has been compared to
chamber music, with its delicacy of sound and telepathic communication between musicians.Throughout the 1990s and into 2000 and
beyond, Abercrombie has continued to pluck from the ranks of jazz
royalty--and be plucked for guest appearances on other artists' recordings. One propitious relationship was with guitarist, pianist, and composer Ralph Towner, with whom Abercrombie has worked in a duet setting. (Abercrombie has also worked in guitar duos with John Scofield,
for 1993's Solar and with Joe Beck in Coincidence, released in 2007).
Abercrombie has also recorded with saxophonist Jan Garbarek and bassist Eddie Gomez.Abercrombie keeps up a heavy touring schedule and
continues to record with ECM, a relationship that has spanned more
than 30 years. As he told one interviewer, "I'd like people to perceive me
as having a direct connection to the history of jazz guitar, while expanding some musical boundaries." That, no doubt, will be his legacy.
Current CD: 'WAIT TILL YOU SEE HER ' (ECM, 2009)
WED, MAY 5TH, 9.00 pm:
GEORGE DUKE
GEORGE DUKE keyboards • SHANNON PEARSON vocals
JEF LEE JOHNSON guitar • MICHAEL MANSON bass
RONALD BRUNER drums
George Duke was born in San Rafael, California, and reared in Marin
City, a working class section of Marin County. When he was just four
years old, his mother took him to see Duke Ellington in concert. "I
don't remember it too well," says George, "but my mother told me I
went crazy. I ran around saying 'Get me a piano, get me a piano!'" He
began his piano studies at age seven, absorbing the roots of Black music
in his local Baptist church. "That's where I first began to play funky. I
really learned a lot about music from the church. I saw how music
could trigger emotions in a cause-and-effect relationship."
By the age of sixteen, George had played with a number of high school
jazz groups. He was heavily influenced by Miles Davis and the soul-jazz
sound of Les McCann and Cal Tjader. Attending the San Francisco
Conservatory Of Music and majoring in trombone and composition
with a minor in contrabass, he received his Bachelor of Music degree
in 1967. George and a young singer named Al Jarreau formed a group
which became the house band at San Francisco's Half Note Club.
"There was another club up the street called The Both/And and I worked there on Mondays with everybody from Letta Mbulu to Sonny
Rollins and Dexter Gordon." George later received a Masters Degree
in composition from San Francisco State University and briefly taught
a course on Jazz And American Culture at Merritt Junior College in
Oakland. It was about this time that George began to release a series of
jazz LP's on the MPS label.
One night, on a local jazz station, George heard a record by the violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. When he found out that Jean-Luc was coming to
California to record, he sent a tape to Dick Bock at World-Pacific
Records, along with a note saying "There is no other pianist for this
guy but me." The George Duke Trio which emerged from those sessions was soon burning a path of creative excitement through the jazz
world. It included a major European tour and an appearance at the
Newport Jazz Festival. The group's first gig in a rock-oriented venue
came in early 1969. "It was a club in Los Angeles called Thee
Experience," George recalls. In attendance were Cannonball Adderly,
Quincy Jones, Frank Zappa, and the unexpected presence of an electric,
rather than acoustic, piano on-stage. The Ponty-Duke performance
wowed the crowd, and ushered in the West Coast counterpart of the
Eastern fusion revolution sparked by Miles Davis, The Mahavishnu
Orchestra and Weather Report. Before '69 was out, George joined
Frank Zappa (as he put together a new "Mothers Of Invention" lineup)
and toured for an entire year. At the end of 1970, George Duke received an offer he couldn't refuse from veteran jazzman Julian
"Cannonball" Adderly. "I joined the group in January '71, and stayed
two years. Through Cannonball, I was given the opportunity to meet
and work with Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie -- all these
great artists I'd been listening to since I was a kid." I met Stanley Clarke
through my association with Cannonball.
We played a festival in Pori Finland where I heard Stan with Chick
Corea for the first time live – I was astounded! Through my recordings
and live performances with Cannonball and Stanley, I developed a
musical, and even more importantly, a family relationship with Flora
Purim and Airto Moriera. The 70’s were filled with musical experimentation with all of these great musicians and more. In 1973, George
rejoined Zappa and brought Jean-Luc Ponty with him. That band stayed together for the next three years, until Duke left to join forces with
drummer Billy Cobham. Together, they formed a powerhouse jazz fusion unit even more popular and influential than the earlier Duke/Ponty
group. George Duke became a solo artist in 1976, and enjoyed success
with a series of fusion-oriented LP's such as his debut CBS LP, From
Me To You. In 1978, the funk-flavored sound of the gold album Reach
For It propelled George Duke into the upper reaches of the charts, and
from small clubs to large arenas. In the late '70s, George decided to get
into producing as a career. George began by producing the Brazilian
instrumentalist Raoul de Souza, then made his first vocal album with
singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. His breakthrough came with an album by
A Taste Of Honey. The single, "Sukiyaki," went to Number 1 on the
pop, adult contemporary, and R&B charts, ultimately selling over two
million copies. George Duke made his debut on Elektra in February,
1985 with the Latin-flavored Thief In The Night.
A second album, simply titled George Duke, was issued in August
1986, followed by Night After Night, George Duke's final release for
Elektra. In 1990, George Duke was named "R&B Keyboardist Of The
Year" by Keyboard Magazine for the second consecutive year. Other
honors include Grammy nominations for his production of "We Are
The World" by the Children Of The World; "Sweet Baby" by the
Clarke/Duke project; "Let's Hear It For The Boy" by Deniece
Williams; "Stay With Me Tonight" and "On The Wings Of Love" by
Jeffrey Osborne; and "Fumilayo" by Dianne Reeves. Tutu, by Miles
Davis with selections produced by George Duke, won a Grammy in
1986. Both Miles Davis Amandla (selections produced by Duke) and
Al Jarreau's Heart's Horizon (produced entirely by Duke) received
Grammy nominations in 1990.
Following the release of Illusions in January 1995, Duke began mixing
the Muir Woods Suite which was recorded live, when originally performed at the Montreux Festival in 1993. When not locked in the studio with the Suite, George arranged, produced and performed on songs
and albums for a number of artists, including: Najee, George Howard,
and the Winans (he arranged and produced three tracks on their Qwest
album Heart And Soul which was nominated for a Grammy). George
Duke also traveled extensively, performed a European tour with Anita
Baker and a Brazilian tour with Rachelle Ferrell, as well as toured the
states with his own Duke and Friends tour featuring Phil Perry,
Howard Hewett, Dianne Reeves and George Howard.
He ended the year performing in Jakarta with Phil Perry. 1997 began
on a high note, with a trip to the Arkansas Ball for the President's
Inaugural, where George Duke was a featured performer and special
guest. This was followed by the spring release of George Duke's 30th
solo album and fourth release on Warner Bros. Records, Is Love
Enough? It displayed myriad influences and boundless energy, continuing his tradition of posing questions, inspiring thought and requiring
reflection. George also produced the Grammy award winning In the
Moment CD for Dianne Reeves, and Rachelle Ferrell's Individuality,
delaying completion of his own year 2000 solo release, Cool. In the
midst of production of his wonderfully diverse and vocally revealing
sixth Warner Bros. solo release, he headlined a tribute to Jesse Jackson
at a special birthday celebration for the renowned reverend, along with
Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu and continued his longstanding association as musical director for the Soul Train Awards.
During the summer, Duke toured with the Montreux Jazz Festival on
Tour in the USA, for which he served as both musical director and a
featured artist, along with an all-star cast of musicians and vocalists
including Al Jarreau, David Sanborn, Roberta Flack and Joe Sample.
The summer of 2001 finds Duke on the Tom Joyner Cruise with a combination vacation and gig. Live dates include a special performance for
the 100 Black Men of AmerIca Convention in Atlanta. Off to Europe
where Duke is artist in residence at the North Sea Jazz Festival featuring
performances with Dianne Reeves and Rachelle Ferrell. A special performance of Muir Woods Suite with the Prima la Musica Orchestra
form Brussels was amazing! Also various performances at the
Montreux Festival kept George busy. One special moment was a tribu-
te to Miles Davis featuring Marcus Miller, Christian McBride and
Richard Bona on basses; Herbie Hancock and duke on piano and synths; Terri Lynn Carrington and Chester Thompson on drums; Wallace
Roney on trumpet and Jeff Lee Johnson on guitar. Duke returned to
Rotterdam for several shows with Randy Crawford before returning to
LA to put the final touches on Dexter Gordons CD for BPM.
Current CD: 'DUKEY TREATS ' (HEADS UP RECORDS, 2008)
here, spinning imaginative, long, fluid lines. Even though he is playing
acoustic guitar, he is somehow able to cut through the fray of a very
large group sound. Davila takes a number of inventive, blustery solos
on trombone, and also trades rhythm section functions on tuba with
Takeishi – when one is holding it down, the other offers color commentary and counterpoint. Kavee on drums provides constant subtle
shifts in rhythm while always keeping that sense of groove.
THU, MAY 13TH, 9.00 pm:
TUE, JUNE 1ST, 9.00 pm:
HENRY THREADGILL ZOOID
LENNY WHITE
HENRY THREADGILL alto saxophone, flutes, arranger, composer
LIBERTY ELLMAN guitar
STOMU TAKEISHI acoustic bass guitar
JOSE DAVILLA trmobone, tuba • ELLIOT KAVEE drums
LENNY WHITE drums • VINCE EVANS keyboards
TOM GUARNA guitar • RICHIE GOODS bass
Threadgill is one of the most popular cutting-edge jazz musicians. He
has been recording for 40 years, including with his popular groups Air,
Sextett, Very Very Circus, and Make a Move. He has devised a new
system of group improvisation, utilizing serial interval blocks, rather
than chord progressions or scales, providing his band with a flexible
framework that encourages imagination and interaction. Threadgill
was the winner of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 and
the United States Artist Fellowship in 2008. In the music for Zooid,
Threadgill creates structures in his compositions that provide platforms
for the musicians to interact in a way that is constantly challenging, one
that allows for personal exploration. He programs dynamic moments
where each musicians can take the initiative to pull the music in a whole
new direction, creating moments of tension and release, push and pull,
consonance and dissonance. Threadgill is very proud to have been a
consistent band leader throughout his career: from Air to the Sextett,
Very Very Circus, Make a Move, and now Zooid. The first Zooid
album, Up Popped the Two Lips, recorded in 2001 not long after the
formation of the band, was something of a transitional release. It has
taken eight years of constant refinement for this music to truly come
together, for Threadgill to finally perfect that zooid.
Current CD: 'This Brings Us To, Vollume 1' (Pi Records, November 2009)
This Brings Us To is the first release from Threadgill since 2001’s
Everybodys Mouth’s a Book (Pi01) and Up Popped the Two Lips
(Pi02). He has spent those eight years, the longest time between releases in his career, creating and perfecting a new system of improvisation
in a group setting. A zooid is a cell that is able to move independently
of the larger organism to which it belongs, an apt description of the
musical language that Threadgill has developed for this band. The
compositions are organized along a series of interval blocks comprised
of three notes, each of which is assigned to a musician, who is free to
move around within these intervals, improvising melodies and creating
counterpoint to one another.
The system provides the framework for open dialogue within the
group while encouraging the musicians to seek new ways to improvise,
away from a reliance on chord changes, scales or any of the clichés of
certain “free” jazz. The music is coupled with complex rhythms, another distinctive aspect of all of Threadgill’s music. He was among the
first in jazz to use constantly shifting meters, which creates a layered
rhythmic effect, while maintaining a steady pulse. Despite its rhythmic
intricacy, his music maintains a grooving, funky vibe, even though
there is rarely a “1” to be found anywhere. This quality, later co-opted
by Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Cassandra Wilson and the M-Base
Collective, has had a profound effect on much of the music and the
drumming styles that one hears in jazz today.
Threadgill has always understood the importance of bringing together
musicians who are willing to dedicate themselves to his vision. Each
member of Zooid – Threadgill on flute and alto saxophone, Liberty
Ellman on acoustic guitar, Jose Davila on trombone and tuba, Stomu
Takeishi on acoustic bass guitar, and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums
– has worked to gain a thorough mastery of Threadgill’s singular musical language. The core of the band has now been together for almost
ten years. The one recent addition, Stomu Takeishi, was a member of
Threadgill’s earlier band Make a Move, so he is no stranger to his
music. Threadgill and Ellman are the main solo voices on the CD.
Threadgill plays with two very distinct styles, depending on the instrument. He playing tends towards the pretty on flute, and a biting, almost
R&B attack on alto sax. Ellman shows off his development as a soloist
A versatile drummer, Lenny White is still best-known for being part of
Chick Corea's Return To Forever in the 1970's. White was self-taught
on drums and he largely started his career on top, playing regularly
with Jackie McLean (1968) and recording "Bitches Brew" with Miles
Davis in 1969.White was soon working with some of the who's who of
jazz including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato
Barbieri, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke and Stan Getz among others. As a
member of Return To Forever during 1973-76, White gained a strong
reputation as one of the top fusion drummers, but he was always versatile enough to play in many settings. After the breakup of RTF,
Lenny White headed several fusion projects but none of the recordings
(for Nemperor and Elektra) have dated well at all, emphasizing commercial funk. However his work with the Echoes Of An Era and
Griffith Park all-star groups were been more successful and he has been
a valuable sideman for a wide variety of projects.
Energized by the success of last Summer’s RETURN TO FOREVER
30-Year Reunion, Lenny White was anxious to introduce his next-generation PRESENT TENSE band to the same enthusiastic RTF audience that had filled concert halls around the world.Lenny formed the original PRESENT TENSE in 1995, a band able to deliver Lenny’s eclectic musical message. After his beginning with Miles Davis (“Bitches
Brew”), Freddie Hubbard (“Red Clay”), and RETURN TO FOREVER as an important founding father of “Fusion,” Lenny went on to
explore the widest musical spectrum, as both producer and bandleader.
Starting with a number of solo Fusion albums, Lenny moved into the
1980s, succeeding in genres ranging from Straight-Ahead Jazz (“Echoes
of an Era” with Chaka Khan and “The Griffith Park Collection”) to the
Progressive Pop of his band Twennynine, Bass/Drum Funk with bassist Marcus Miller and the Jamaica Boys, and soundtracks for Spike
Lee (“School Daze”) and the Hudlin Brothers (“House Party”).Lenny
then formed PRESENT TENSE with a mind that his musical exploration was still in its infancy. The first self-titled record included elements
pulled from Lenny’s entire career, but moved forward into Hard Rock,
Modern Hip-Hop, and even what could be described as Heavy Metal.
Today, the exploration continues with Lenny’s new PRESENT
TENSE, another band of younger, well-educated players who understand the complexities of Jazz, but who still have the open-minded
abandon to follow Lenny’s quick-to-change-direction musical lead. The
band was in the studio, well into recording its new record when the
RTF reunion was announced, but instead of hindering the new PRESENT TENSE progress, similar to how the experience reinvigorated
Lenny, it also inspired the band.Each member is an accomplished musician and bandleader in their own right, but when it came to RTF, they,
like most others, were inspired to see Lenny, Chick (Corea), Stanley
(Clarke), and Al (Di Meola) together again, blazing through their ground-breaking, genre-defining compostions with all the intensity and
passion as when they invented it.Rejuvinated by the tour, Lenny decided, even before its end, that he wanted to take the new PRESENT
TENSE out for a short European tour ... knowing it will be good for
him, good for the band, and ultimately good the soon-to-be-released
record.As mentioned earlier, Lenny already had the urge to make a
return to his “Fusion” roots before the RTF reunion, and was motivated to reform PRESENT TENSE when he heard friend and past collaborator (keyboardist) George Colligan’s MAD SCIENCE with (guitarist) Tom Guarna ... impressed with Colligan’s foward-thinking electric
jazz, and his obvious reverence for the past.Getting together with
George, Lenny was furthur inspired, and proceeded to “officially” form
today’s PRESENT TENSE band.
KÜNSTLERISCHE LEITUNG & COVER COLLAGE
BY BRANE RONCHEL BRANKO
KARTENVORVERKAUF AN ALLEN BEKANNTEN
VORVERKAUFSSTELLEN UND IM HOTEL BAYERISCHER HOF
PROMENADEPLATZ 2 – 6 · 80333 MÜNCHEN,
TELEFON NIGHT CLUB 089/21 20-994 (AB 19.00 UHR)
SITZPLATZRESERVIERUNG NUR IM NIGHT CLUB MÖGLICH.
WWW.BAYERISCHERHOF.DE
[email protected]
P
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New York im Bayerischen Hof
Konzertreihe Frühling 2010
03. März – 01. juni
OTIS TAYLOR
OZ NOY DAVE WECKL JAMES GENUS
STANLEY JORDAN CHARNETT MOFFETT
MIKE MAINIERI BUGGE WESSELTOFT
PABLO ZIEGLER QUIQUE SINESI WALTER CASTRO
JOHN ABERCROMBIE ADAM NUSSBAUM
GEORGE DUKE
HENRY THREADGILL ZOOID
LENNY WHITE