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| Brian Culbertson Is Going Back To School An accomplished alum currently possessing the No. 1 Billboard contemporary jazz album and single for two weeks and counting, multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson is heading back to the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago on Saturday, April 5 to perform an intimate show in the same room in which he played his first concert 20 years ago and 120 lucky students, fans and VIP donors will be present to mark the occasion. Culbertson was a 20-year-old music major recording demos in the crowded Chicago apartment on Fullerton Avenue he shared with three roommates when the three tracks he sent to a record label exec in Los Angeles landed the student playing trombone in the university's jazz ensemble a 6-album record deal. Since then, the massively popular keyboardist-producer-songwriter has amassed 27 No. 1 Billboard singles, including the aptly titled first cut, "Fullerton Ave., " from his newly released 14th album, "Another Long Night Out, " a reinterpretation of the debut disc, "Long Night Out." Culbertson will play a short set from the collection in the rehearsal room where he performed for the first time publicly as a keyboardist in 1994. "Shortly after the album ("Long Night Out") was released, the label called to tell me that they booked a bunch of shows for me to perform. So before going on my first tour, I decided to do a showcase at DePaul. I had never performed live as keyboardist before that concert so I was really nervous. Also, seated in the front row was a really cute music student that I met for the first time that evening. We've been married over 16 years now, " recalled Culbertson, who is in the midst of the "Another Long Night Out: Brian Culbertson's 20th Anniversary Concert Tour." Guests of age attending the DePaul event will be able to taste the newly uncorked Culbertson Pinot Noir, which the artist custom blended in partnership with Jamieson Ranch Vineyards and Reata Wines of Napa, California where Culbertson founded and serves as creative director for a star-studded wine and jazz festival, Napa Valley Jazz Getaway, taking place for the third time June 11-15, 2014. "Another Long Night Out" is the first album released on Culbertson's own imprint, BCM Entertainment, and marks a return to his contemporary jazz roots after focusing on R&B and funk grooves on recent recordings. The set features collaborations with many of the renowned contemporary jazz musicians that influenced and inspired Culbertson while he recorded the original on a shoestring budget. Instead of playing most of the instruments himself as he did on "Long Night Out, " this time out he was joined by Lee Ritenour, Chuck Loeb, Eric Marienthal, Rick Braun, Russ Freeman, Patches Stewart, Candy Dulfer, Jonathan Butler, Will Kennedy, Jimmy Haslip, Paul Jackson Jr., Ray Parker Jr., Nathan East, Jeff Kashiwa, Ricky Peterson and a 33-piece orchestra playing arrangements by David Benoit and Culbertson. write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Jazz News :: home page |