Barry Harris and Regina Carter Premiere New Works

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This season, As of Now, a Jazz at Lincoln Center commissioning series, presents two incredible Detroit musicians, pianist Barry Harris, with violinist Regina Carter, on April 7 and 8, 2006 at 8:00pm in Rose Theater. Jazz at Lincoln Center's current season is entitled Jazz From Coast to Coast and features the major jazz cities, including Detroit. As a Motor City native, Ms. Carter explains, "With the rise of the auto industry and industrialization, Detroit offered a 'better life' for many, thus attracting an influx of people beginning in the 1920s from all over the globe. Of all the groups of people who seized the opportunities Detroit had to offer, the black migrants were forced to live in a predominantly African-American neighborhood known as 'Black Bottom.' The name of my commissioned piece is "Black Bottom" and it is my musical account of the stories I heard, along with some narration and spoken word, by another Detroit native, guest poet, Leslie Reese. I'm excited about premiering my piece as part of the 'As of Now' series and sharing the night with jazz master and fellow Detroit native, Barry Harris."

"You don't get much of a chance to get commissioned to do something, " Mr. Harris explains. I have been commissioned to play for Jazz at Lincoln Center. We don't have enough of that...where they let you play your music in the concert hall. I just believe that I'm supposed to pass it along."

This season's Jazz at Lincoln Center Master Class Series concludes with the Violin Master Class led by virtuoso Regina Carter. She will teach the art of jazz violin and her effortless swinging style on Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 2:00pm in the Irene Diamond Education Center at Jazz at Lincoln Center.The Master Classes Series is a Jazz at Lincoln Center education program which allows audience members to get inside the hearts and minds of some of today's greatest jazz artists and find out how they make the music and magic that you love.

As of Now is a Jazz at Lincoln Center program which couples an established, legendary jazz composer with a younger, rising star. Each commissioned performer plays their own individual piece. Last season, the two musicians were Marcus Roberts and Jason Moran. Previous artists commissioned have included Toshiko Akiyoshi, Maria Schneider, Danilo Perez, Randy Weston, Eric Reed, Sam Rivers, Paquito D'Rivera, Nicholas Payton, Wallace Roney and Charles McPherson. As of Now began eight seasons ago at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Barry Harrisis an internationally renowned jazz pianist, composer and teacher. Dr. Harris is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Northwestern University. He has received the Living Jazz Legacy award from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Association, and an American Jazz Masters Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, Dr. Harris received the Manhattan Borough President Award for Excellence. This award was given for recognition of his devoted public service and in honor of excellence in the field of music. He received the 1999 Mentor award for his work with youngsters at the Manhattan Country School in NYC. Dr. Harris has devoted his life to the advancement of jazz and in the 1980s founded the Jazz Cultural Theatre. For the past several decades Dr. Harris has been an exponent of the classic jazz style that was developed by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Coleman Hawkins. Dr. Barry Harris receives frequent request to appear as a guest lecturer by universities and various musical venues all over the world. His lectures and interactive instrument and vocal workshops focus on the complete aspects of music including improvisation, harmonic movement and theory. His schedule includes lectures in the United States, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Japan. When he is not traveling, Dr. Harris holds weekly music workshop sessions in New York City for vocalists, pianists and students of other instruments.

InRegina Carter's hands, the violin reveals both its melodic side and its potential for percussive expression. Carter combines a dazzling, aggressive technical proficiency with profound compositional and improvisational gifts. She demonstrates an eagerness to explore musical combinations and contexts both familiar and unexpected. Carter's first musical influences naturally came from the Motown R&B of her native Detroit. Studying classical violin, her goal was to become a soloist in one of the major orchestras - until she heard a concert of Jean Luc Ponty, which hooked her on jazz. Since 1995, Carter has released six albums as a leader, including most recently the 2003 Verve records release Paganini: After a Dream. The album features her playing Paganini's famed 260-year-old Guarneri "Cannon" violin, which is held under lock and key by the city of Genoa, Italy. Carter is the only jazz artist and the first African-American to have ever played the coveted instrument. She was first invited to do so by Genoa as a sign of solidarity with the U.S. in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In addition to her own records, Carter's discography includes recordings with vocalists Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin and Cassandra Wilson, trombonist Steve Turre, pianists Kenny Barron and Danilo Perez, and guitarist Rodney Jones. She tours constantly with her jazz quintet and has also appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Ms. Carter performed on the Pulitzer Prize Winning recording, Blood on the Fields, by Wynton Marsalis.

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