|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Celebration of The Music of Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams On March 7-12 2006, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola presents a celebration of the music of Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams featuring some of jazz's brightest stars and most virtuosic players, including the legendary Jimmy Cobb on drums, the ubiquitous Gary Smulyan on baritone saxophone, the always in demand Peter Washington on bass, the veteran Richard Wyands on piano and a rising star in this music, Jeremy Pelt on trumpet. Next week, Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Victor Goines (tenor saxophone), Ted Rosenthal (piano), Ben Wolfe (bass), and Carl Allen (drums), collectively known as the Juilliard Jazz Quintet, celebrate the 100th anniversary of one of the world's most revered and prestigious institutions for the study of the arts. "Donald Byrd is practically a household name. He possesses a big tone and plays from the heart. He is an Afro-American history scholar and connoisseur of African Art. He's truly an amazing man."-Kenny Washington. Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams' fruitful collaboration grew out the fertile hard bop scene in New York in the 1950s. The bulk of the brilliant music they recorded together was put on tape between 1958 and 1961. The hard driving playing is even more spectacular when considering that the quintet Byrd led with Adams was his first full-time band. Jeremy Pelt arrived in New York in 1998 after graduating from Berklee College of Music, and it wasn't long before he started being noticed by a lot of top musicians in the city. His first professional gig was playing with the Mingus Big Band, which led to many long lasting associations with many of the top players in the band. Pelt has been fortunate enough to play with many of jazz's luminaries including Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Charlie Persip, Keter Betts, Frank Foster, Ravi Coltrane, Winard Harper, Vincent Herring, Ralph Peterson, Lonnie Plaxico, Cliff Barbaro, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Short, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Cedar Walton, and many others. Pelt has also been featured in a variety of different bands, including the Roy Hargrove Big Band, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, and the Duke Ellington Big Band. Currently, he is member of the Lewis Nash Septet, Mingus Big Band, and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring L! ouis Hayes. In addition to his busy schedule as a sideman, Pelt leads his own ensembles and has released four highly praised recordings under his own name. Baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan is critically acclaimed as one of the major voices on the baritone saxophone today. As a teenager growing up on Long Island, Gary had the opportunity to perform with Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, and Jimmy Knepper. In 1978 he was asked to join Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd, which at that time included Joe Lovano, Marc Johnson and John Riley. He left Herman in 1980 and moved back to New York to join the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra led by Bob Brookmeyer. Smulyan has recorded and performed worldwide with Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Tom Harrell. Cedar Walton, George Coleman, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Tommy Flanagan, Chick Corea, Diana Ross, Clark Terry, Kenny Wheeler, Charles McPherson, James Moody and Slide Hampton, among others. He has recorded 5 CDs for the CrissCross label. His newest recording will be released this ye! ar on Reservoir Music. Mr. Smulyan currently performs with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Joe Lovano Nonet, the Dave Holland Octet and Big Band, The Three Baritone Saxophone Band, the George Coleman Octet, The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band and the Tom Harrell Octet, as well as his own projects. Smulyan is currently on faculty at William Paterson University. Legendary jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb was born in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 1929. A superb, mostly self-taught musician, Jimmy is the elder statesman of all of the incredible Miles Davis bands. Jimmy's inspirational work with Miles, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Co. spanned 1957 until 1963, and included the masterpiece Kind of Blue, the most popular jazz recording in history. He also lent his percussive artistry to Sketches of Spain, Someday My Prince Will Come, Live at Carnegie Hall, Live at the Blackhawk, Porgy and Bess, and many other legendary and ultra-influential recordings. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |