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| Manhattan School of Music Jazz Arts to Celebrate 30th Anniversary This year celebrates the 30th anniversary of Manhattan School of Music's Jazz Arts program. In con-junction with this celebration, students, alumni and faculty will be showcased at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in a week of performances taking place Tuesday, April 2 through Sunday, April 7. Manhattan School of Music Jazz Arts has had a longstanding relationship with Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola appearing each season on Monday nights in November and April. All concerts take place at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, one of Jazz at Lincoln Center's three performance venues located at Columbus Circle (Broadway and West 60th Street). Two sets, at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., are scheduled for each evening. Tickets: $35 cover; $20 for students with student I.D. Manhattan School of Music Jazz Arts – 30th Anniversary Festival Week at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Tuesday, April 2 -MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra; Bobby Sanabria, director Bobby Sanabria conducts the Grammy-nominated MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, program to be announced. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra is internationally recognized for its performances at prestigious jazz conferences and by its recordings on the Jazzheads label. The CD, Tito Puente Masterworks Live!!!, released in March 2011, received critical acclaim including from Audiophile Audition who said, "The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra is unrecognizable as a student ensemble … the soloists are of such a high level that none of them emerge as more memo-rable than the others." In 2009, the MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and Bobby Sanabria released the Grammy-nominated CD, Kenya Revisited Live! This recording, that features NEA Jazz Master Candido Camero, is from a historic concert held at MSM (2008) that celebrated the 50th anniversary of Machito & The Afro-Cubans 1957 jazz masterwork, Kenya. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, now in its thirteenth year under the direction of Bobby Sanabria, has performed in NYC jazz venues including at Birdland, the Jazz Standard, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, as well as on the plaza of the Harlem State Office Building in a concert celebrating the school's 90th anniversary. Among jazz greats who have performed with the en¬semble include Candido, Tom Harrell, David Sanchez, Arturo O'Farrill, Sonny Fortune and Ray Barretto, among many others. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and Bobby Sanabria are dedicated to performing the music of 'la tradition, ' paying hom¬age to these legends while continuing to pass on and advance the tradition to the next generation. MSM Jazz Arts 30th Anniversary Festival Week Wednesday, April 3 – New Stars, Emerging Artists Night –featuring MSM Alumni Showcased on April 3rd will be MSM alumni including The Le Bouef Brothers – Remy on alto saxophone and Pascal on piano – as well as Linda Oh on acoustic bass and Henry Cole on drums. Remy and Pascal Le Boeuf have become part of New York's growing jazz scene characterized by odd time signatures, shifting harmonies, influenced by hip hop, electronica and indie rock. Originally from Santa Cruz, California, identical twin brothers Remy and Pascal – saxophone and piano respectively – moved to New York in 2004 to study at Manhattan School of Mu -sic. In 2004, Pascal became the youngest person ever to receive the ASCAP/IAJE Commission in honor of Quincy Jones. In 2011, Remy received a New Jazz Works grant from Chamber Music America to write a series of pieces for the Le Boeuf Broth -ers and the Myth String Quartet based on the short stories of Franz Kafka. Additionally, the brothers received Independent Music Awards for Best Album & Best Song in 2006, an Astral Grant from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in 2008, were awarded 1st place in the International Songwriting Competition in 2010, as well as twelve ASCAP Young Composer Awards and various awards from Downbeat Magazine . The Le Boeuf Brothers have toured internationally and have performed at the Umbria, Montreal and Monterey Jazz Festivals, and at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. In May 2009, the Le Boeuf Brothers released their first CD, "House Without a Door." The New York Times described it as an "impressively self-assured new album … which reaches for the gleaming cosmopolitan of our present era." On their most recent album, "In Praise of Shadows, " (Nineteen-Eight Records) the Le Bouef Brothers expand upon the jazz tradition by continuing to sculpt their compositions after the initial recording process, using modern production techniques, sampling and layered arranging/recording methods. Bassist Linda Oh was born in Malaysia and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She started learning classical music at age four and at fifteen dabbled on electric jazz playing jazz in the high school and community big bands while playing a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2002 she was accepted into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts where she began lessons on the double bass, graduating in 2005, receiving a special award as best graduation recitalist. Her honors thesis is titled, "A New Approach to Rhythmic Bass Improvisation: an exploration of rhythmic devices used by Dave Holland and the rhyth -mic aspects of North Indian Classical Music." Ms. Oh is a recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award 2008. She received honorary mention at the 2009 Thelonious Monk Semi-Finals and received the 2010 Bel Award for Young Australian Jazz Artist of the year. Ms. Oh's self-released debut album Entry featuring Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet and Obed Calvaire, drums was met with rave reviews. Her second album Initial Here released in May 2012 on the Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music label features Dayne Stephens, tenor sax; Fabian Almazan, piano; Rudy Royston, drums and Jen Shyu, vocals. Among other musicians that she has performed with include Dave Douglas, Steve Wilson, Kenny Barron, Kevin Hayes, Slide Hampton and Cyrus Chestnut. Ms. Oh is an active double bassist, electric bassist and composer, composing music for short films including the Student Academy Award nominated film "Wian Bu." Linda Oh received her master of music degree in 2008 at Manhat -tan School of Music where she studied with Jay Anderson, John Riley, Phil Markowitz, Dave Liebman and Rodney Jones, and currently teaches in the MSM Precollege Division. Drummer Henry Cole emerged onto the music scene in San Juan in 1999 where he studied percussion at the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico. He later moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music returning to Puerto Rico where he had the opportunity to hone his craft performing with artists such as Bobby Valentin, Anthony Carrillo, Danilo Perez, Branford Marsalis and Ramon Vasquez, among others. In 2003 he moved to New York to study at Manhattan School of Mu-sic where he studied with John Riley. Henry Cole has toured throughout the United States, Mexico, Central America, Europe and Greece. In the fall of 2004, Henry Cole's Quartet was selected for a tour abroad as part of the 2006 Jazz at Lincoln Center American Music Abroad (The Rhythm Road, Jazz Ambassadors) Program. He has been acclaimed for his work with Miguel Zenon and David Sanchez. MSM Jazz Arts 30th Anniversary Festival Week Thursday, April 4 – Manhattan School of Music Combo Night Performing will be two ensembles – 7:30 p.m. – The Manhattan Society Orchestra with Leonardo Pellegrino, baritone saxophone; Mike Davis, trumpet; Joshua Holcomb, trombone; Sharik Hasa, piano; Kate Davis, bass and Arthur Vint, drums. 9:30 p.m. – The MSM Mingus Ensemble – Patrick Bartley, alto saxophone; Jonathan Beshay, tenor saxophone; Adam O’Farrill, trumpet; St. Clair Simmons, trombone; Tony Madruga, piano; Martin Kennedy, bass and Evan Sherman, drums. The MSM Mingus Ensemble, devoted to performing the music of Charles Mingus, was formed in January 2013. The ensem-ble, coached by Ku-umba Frank Lacy, performed on Sunday, February 17th during the Fifth Annual Charles Mingus Festival and High School Competition held at Manhattan School of Music. Friday, April 5 – Oliver Nelson’s “Blues and Abstract Truth” MSM Chamber Jazz Ensemble; Justin DiCioccio, coach The MSM Chamber Jazz Ensemble performs a complete re-creation of one of the most cherished jazz albums, Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth, recorded in February 1961. It is a landmark jazz work and remains Oliver Nelson’s most ac -claimed recording and features along with him Freddie Hub¬bard, Eric Dolphy, George Barrow, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes. The album explores the mood and structure of the blues. Among the notable tunes on the album are “Stolen Moments, ” “Hoe-Down, ” “Cascades, ” and “Teenie’s Blues” which opens with a 12-bar bass solo by Paul Chambers. Oliver Nelson’s own notes to Blues and the Abstract Truth express what he was after, as timeless as the music has become: “The compositions on this recording present a phase of my development up to the present time as a jazz writer and might shed some light on the subject of where I would like to go as a composer and arranger in the jazz idiom. As a player, I became aware of some things that I knew existed but I was afraid to see them as they really were. There is no need to elaborate; but when I ar -rived on the New York scene in March 1959, I believed I had my own musical identity; but before long everything got turned around and I began a period of self-searching. One big influence for tenor players was John Coltrane and it was an influence that I could not deny. Sonny Rollins was the other. It was not until this LP was recorded on Thursday, February 23, 1961, that I finally had broken through and realized that I would have to be true to myself, to play and write what I think is vital, and most of all, write your comments about the article :: © 2013 Jazz News :: home page |