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| T.S. Monk to Headline 29th Annual New Haven Jazz Festival Jazz Haven, in cooperation with the City of New Haven's Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism, has expanded the annual celebration of jazz in New Haven to present Jazz Week, a five-day series of live performances across the city, highlighted by the 29th annual New Haven Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 11, from 4:30 - 9:00 pm at the New Haven Green. The 2012 festival will showcase the state's proud jazz legacy with an impressive lineup featuring T.S. Monk, Annette Aguilar and the Stringbeans Latin Jazz Sextet, the Godwin Louis Quartet and Co-op High School and High School in the Community Jazz Bands. Produced by Jazz Haven since 2008, the New Haven Jazz Festival is free of charge. "Connecticut has been home to some of the world's most prominent jazz musicians – from Horace Silver and Jackie McLean to Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays – and this year we are pleased and proud to present some dynamic and incredibly talented musicians, both established and emerging, as well as the internationally-renowned T.S. Monk, who, himself, has direct family ties to New Haven, " said festival producer Doug Morrill. Jazz Week kicks off on Wednesday, August 8, from 9:00 pm – midnight, when drummer Gil Hawkins leads his quartet at The Owl Shop. Thursday features the gifted guitarist George Baker and his quartet at Geronimo Tequila Bar & Southwest Grill at 8:30 pm and keyboardist Matt Oestreicher and his band, M.O.B. at 116 Crown at 9:00 pm. On Friday, August 10, New Unity Quintet, an ensemble consisting of 21st Century Young Lions from The Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford, takes over Café Nine at 8:00 pm, and the Elligers Brothers (Erik, saxophone; Kyle, keyboards, Sean, trumpet) hit the stage at Cave à Vin at 8:30 pm. Keep the jazz party going after the festival on Saturday, August 11, with the Morris Trent Quintet at Temple Grill and the Ben Wolfe Trio at The Owl Shop, both beginning at 9:30 pm. The Tony Lombardozzi Duo convenes at The Study at Yale on Sunday, August 12, wrapping up of the week of stellar jazz. "Jazz Week features some magnificent musicians and artistry, " said Craig O'Connell, President and Director of Jazz Haven. "In addition to fronting their own bands, these performers have worked with a Who's Who of music. Gil Hawkins has performed with Etta James … George Baker with Marvin Gaye and Melba Moore … Matt Oestreicher has worked with Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and John Legend … Ben Wolfe with Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. … and Tony Lombardozzi has performed with Kenny Barron and Milt Hinton. Their credits and accomplishments go on and on, but I'll just say, put August 8 – 12 on your calendars and don't miss some of the baddest music around." NEW HAVEN JAZZ FESTIVAL PUBLIC ART PROJECT Visual artist Mike Reilly, who grew up in the New Haven area spending each weekend during high school on the New Haven Green listening to many jazz greats, is returning to the Green to create a public jazz-inspired graphic arts project with children. Reilly's jazz paintings also will be on exhibit in downtown restaurants, including 116 Crown Street and The Owl Shop, during Jazz Week. His larger 9 x 12 paintings will be used as backdrops for the Festival stage on the Green. In addition, 116 Crown Street will display the "Jazz Cats" created by first graders at St. Thomas's Day School in New Haven. The "Jazz Cats" are 20" X 25" framed collages painted by six year old students, who were inspired by the work of Harlem Renaissance artist Romare Bearden and the bebop music of Charlie Parker. JAZZ PACKAGES AND OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS Jazz fans will have the opportunity to stay in the heart of the Festival by taking advantage of the New Haven Music Package for $169 per night at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. The package includes breakfast for two and parking for one vehicle. Use Promo Code NHGREEN to book this package on line at http://www.omnihotels.com/findahotel/newhavenyale.aspx or call (888) 444-Omni and give the same promo code. A Music Package also is available at The Study at Yale Hotel. This package is also $169 and includes nightly accommodations, breakfast for two, and parking for one vehicle. Call (203) 503-3900 and request the "Jazz" rate. ABOUT THE NEW HAVEN JAZZ FESTIVAL ARTISTS T.S. Monk – 8:00 pm Manhattan-born T. S. Monk, the son of pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk, swings with one foot planted in his father's amazing legacy, and the other foot in the soulfully syncopated future. He scored an R&B hit, "Bon Bon Vie" with his eponymously-titled group, in the eighties. But his jazz-cred is deep and sure, as evidenced by his critically-acclaimed CDs, including, Take One, Changing of the Guard, and Monk on Monk. And, he further extended his father's legacy by founding The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in 1986. Monk, who attended boarding school in Connecticut, has many relatives throughout the New Haven area. His uncle Conley Monk moved to New Haven years ago, and his cousin, Pamela Monk Kelley, who wrote a book on the Monk family history, lives and teaches in New Haven. Annette Aguilar and the Stringbeans Latin Jazz Sextet – 7:00 pm When the great Duke Ellington said that "the drum is a woman, " he could have been talking about Nicaraguan-American percussionist Annette Aguilar. Raised in San Francisco, mentored by Jerry Gonzalez, Aguilar's knowledge of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms made her a valued sidewoman with Sheila E, and Cal Tjader, Stevie Wonder, and Tito Puente. At home with the rumba or with opera and classical music, Aguilar's Stringbeans Latin Jazz Sextet will make you dance and trance, especially when you listen to her latest CD, The Day Waits for Nobody. Godwin Louis Quartet – 6:00PM An alumnus of Bassick High School in Bridgeport, CT, Berklee School of Music and the Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz Performance, 2011 (one of only six invited students), Haitian-American alto saxophonist Godwin Louis studied and performed with Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. He is featured on clarinetist Michael White's CD, Adventures in New Orleans, Part 1, and is showcased on the forthcoming CD, Side Angles, with the group, Junto 6: comprised of Louis' classmates at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance Class. The Co-op High School and High School in the Community Jazz Bands – 4:30PM The future of jazz is here. And nothing shows that more than this special collection of New Haven's high school jazz phenoms, selected from the city's magnet schools. Since its inception in 1996, Jazz Haven, Inc. has promoted the culture of Jazz through unique collaborations with artists, organizations, schools and other groups. The skill and passion that its Board members have demonstrated for the culture of jazz encourages a growing network of organizations and programs that help promote jazz education as well as jazz as an art form. With its beginnings as a series of performances at Artspace, Jazz Haven incorporated programming — always in collaboration with other organizations — that has included master classes with visiting artists, concerts featuring internationally and locally known musicians, including the New Haven Jazz Festivals since 2008 on the New Haven Green, tributes to late jazz masters, benefits for not-for-profit organizations, consultation for programming and technical support of other organizations with similar missions, and education. Jazz Haven has organized and presented Jazz in the parks and other venues and presented educational programs in the New Haven Public Schools. Artists who perform at the New Haven Jazz Festivals also give workshops, master classes and performances for students at the Neighborhood Music School Summer Jazz Program. The mission of the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism is to improve the quality of life in New Haven and to support the economic development of the City by assisting, promoting and encouraging artists, arts and cultural organizations and events in New Haven. It also serves as the steward for the municipal collection of public art. The organization supports a wealth of neighborhood activities through the Mayor's Community Arts Grants Program, enhances municipal buildings and schools with public works of art through its Percent for Art Program and produces community events, such as the Holiday Tree Lighting on the Green. write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |