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| The Original Gig Alert ~Presents~ The Richard Tabnik Quartet: ~Jazz Equinox~ Friday March 21, 2025 sets at 8 pm + 9:30pm @ Michiko Studios Richard Tabnik, alto saxophonist, started saxophone at the age of 10 in public school, had his first band at 12 (the year after The Beatles appeared), and his first working band at 15. He studied with Lee Konitz and Hall Overton in the early 1970's, and soon was playing and performing in Providence, RI, Boston, MA, Harrisburg, PA, Houston, TX, and Atlanta, GA. In the mid 70's he moved to Buffalo, NY where he studied and performed with some of the best musicians in the area, including the legendary jazz pianist, Al Tinney, who apprenticed with George Gershwin, was 'the' jazz pianist on the scene before Bud Powell (according to Max Roach), and had Bird and Max in his band at Monroe's Uptown House… Richard taught jazz improvising at the State University of NY @ Buffalo from 1976-77 and was on the Federally Funded (CETA) Buffalo Jazz Ensemble, under the musical direction of Al Tinney, from 1976-1979. photo by Scott Friedlander Richard moved to NYC in Sept 1979 and soon began his 36 year association with the astounding pianist and profound teacher, Connie Crothers. During that time, Richard also performed in other musical scenes, including his own trios and quartets which were also released on New Artist Records. Between 1997 and 2007, in addition to his studies with Ms. Crothers, and gigs as a sideman and leader, Richard went to thousands of hours of jam sessions in the NYC area, often from 7 pm to 7 am, and thrilled audiences from Harlem to Brooklyn to Greenwich Village. During that time, he met many wonderful musicians and evolved greatly. He has performed with the bands of Connie Crothers and with his own bands at Smalls, Sweet Basil, Birdland, Roulette, Cornelia Street Café, et al in NYC as well as concerts in Russia, Estonia, Canada, and Sweden with Ms Crothers. Since Ms. Crothers untimely passing, Richard has been focusing on and extending many of the principles and concepts that he learned studying, playing, rehearsing and performing with her. Richard's latest CD is the innovative "Symphony for Jazz Trio: A Prayer for Peace" on New Artists Records. Scheduled for release next year is a new work for The Richard Tabnik Quartet. • "One of the most original alto saxophonists on the scene today!" -Italian Jazz Critic Vittorio LoConte • "A superb saxophonist!" -legendary jazz trombonist Benny Powell • "Why isn't Richard Tabnik more well known?"- multi-instrumentalist and writer Tim Price "You're playing the most original $#*% of anyone here!" - Arnie Lawrence, renowned Saxophonist and originator of the NYC New School Jazz Program "You take chances!" - Jazz Drummer Max Roach "You are a true keeper of the jazz flame!" -Loren Schoenberg is a tenor saxophonist, conductor, educator, and jazz historian Harvey Diamond, pianist: His greatness, originality, depth and humor make this great artist "galaxy class." His long years of study with both the legendary Lennie Tristano, as well as the incredible Ms. Connie Crothers, have enabled him to play with an unparalleled depth and expressiveness. He has several CD's under his own leadership. Harvey Diamond has graced the Boston area for decades with his music which is at once both deeply intricate and deeply emotional to even the most casual listener. Over the years he has performed across the U.S. and in Europe. Harvey has done concert appearances with NEA Jazz Masters Sheila Jordan, Dave Liebman, and Art Farmer, and also with Charles Neville, Herb Pomeroy, Harvie S, John Abercrombie, George Mraz, Jay Clayton, Joe Hunt, Don Alias, Billy Drummond, Cameron Brown, and many others. After decades of patience by his fans, he has finally released some recordings, including It Could Happen To You (itunes) with Domenic Landolf, Arne Huber and Jorge Rossy (2019); Look Up For Down with Hannah Rose Diamond, Jamie MacDonald, and Claire Arenius (2019); Fair Weather with Cameron Brown (2018); and The Harvey Diamond Trio with Marcus McLaurine and Satoshi Takeishi (2015). He has performed at New York's Mezzrow, Kitano, Apollo Theater, The Drawing Room, the Cornelia Street Cafe and The Stone; Minneapolis' Crooners Lounge; Boston's Regattabar, Scullers, Ryles, Mandorla Music Series, and Acton Jazz Café, the Vermont Jazz Center and many others venues. He has performed at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, was the featured pianist at MIT's Herb Pomeroy First Memorial Concert, and at the New Hampshire Jazz Festival with Sheila Jordan. Harvey has been on the faculty of the Vermont Jazz Center since 2003; has done workshops internationally. He is a revered private teacher, carrying the legacy of Lennie Tristano's and Connie Crothers' teaching. Harvey has been described as "one of the unsung heroes of the Boston jazz scene since the mid-1960's, " both as a performer and as a revered teacher. He plays with a rare combination of technique, intellect, subtlety and heart. "Pianist Diamond, among the last students of the legendary Lennie Tristano, improvises with beguiling intelligence and heart." — Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe "The simultaneously cerebral and soulful pianist extends the legacy of his legendary mentor Lennie Tristano.—Kevin Lowenthal, Boston Globe, June 24, 2021 "Harvey Diamond is a fantastic pianist. He plays from his heart and totally disappears into the song. He's a real joy to sing with." —NEA jazz master Sheila Jordan http://music.jondreyer.com/harveydiamond.html *** CAMERON BROWN, Bassist, composer and educator began his career in the mid-sixties, recording in Europe with George Russell and Don Cherry. These important innovators remain life-long inspirations and influences. Beginning in 1975, Mr. Brown anchored some of the most important ensembles of the seventies, eighties, nineties, and into the current century. Sheila Jordan, Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp and Beaver Harris were other early mentors and bandleaders. He has enjoyed special relationships with master drummers: Art Blakey, Dannie Richmond, Philly Joe Jones, Edward Blackwell, Eddie Moore, Idris Muhammad, Billy Hart, Lewis Nash and Matt Wilson as well as Mr. Harris. The Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet, featuring Dannie Richmond, developed into an intense and rewarding partnership which lasted nearly ten years. In addition to this quartet, Beaver Harris's 360 Degree Music Experience, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the Sextet and Big Bands of George Russell, the Dannie Richmond Quintet, the Dewey Redman Quartet, and various ensembles led be Mr. Shepp, Mr. Cherry, Mr. Rudd, Don Byron and Joe Lovano, Mr. Brown has performed and/or recorded with Donald Byrd, Booker Ervin, Ted Curson, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Terumasa Hino, Marco Tamburini, Betty Carter, Houston Person, Etta Jones, Ben Riley, Lou Donaldson, Jim McNeely, George Cables, Joe Locke, Salvatore Bonafede, Tony Malaby, Jeremy Steig, and Marc Copland. He's helped young people around the world to nurture their interest in and passion for jazz from North Carolina to Norway, from Helsinki to New York, to Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is on the faculty at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York and at the Vermont Jazz Center's summer workshop. At present, Mr. Brown performs and records in duo with Sheila Jordan, and with various ensembles led by Joe Lovano, David Janeway, Don Byron, Jane Ira Bloom, Jason Rigby, Lena Bloch and Feathery, Krzysztof Popek, Harvey Diamond, Rob Scheps Core-tet, Kristen Lee Sergeant, Kazuki Yamanaka, and Carl Stormer (www.jazzcode.com). He leads two ensembles: “Cameron Brown and the Hear and Now” and “Cameron Brown and Dannie’s Calypso.” and has appeared on more than 200 recordings as well as DVDs with Art Blakey and Archie Shepp. Cameron Brown and the Hear and Now has two releases on the Omnitone label: “Here and How!” and “Here and How!, Volume 2.” *** BILLY MINTZ "If you are a fan of modern jazz drumming but have not heard Billy Mintz, you have not heard it all." - Tom Conrad, JazzTimes Billy Mintz was born in Queens, New York. By the age of 15 he was playing in the show bands of the Catskill Mountain resorts developing his musicianship. In his twenties, while living in New York City, he played and recorded with the Lee Konitz Nonet (1978), Kundalini with Perry Robinson and Badal Roy, the Eddie Daniels Quartet, Gloria Gaynor, the Steve Tintweiss Quartet, and the Harold Danko Quartet. In 1981 Mr. Mintz relocated to Los Angeles where he was a member of the Mike Garson Trio with Stanley Clarke ; the Kim Richmond Sextet; the Bobby Shew Quintet, the Joey Sellers' Jazz Aggregation, and the Vinny Golia Quartet. He also perfomed several times with the Mose Allison Trio and with Mark Murphy, and did a stint with the Merv Griffin Show band. In LA, Mr. Mintz was also the drummer for the Bill Mays Quartet, as well as for Road Work Ahead, with Mr. Mays, Bob Magnusson and Peter Sprague. In 1988 he toured Europe with saxophonist Charles Lloyd's band. Throughout the 1980's he performed and recorded with Bill Perkins, Frank Strazzeri, and Pete Cristlieb. Throughout his life Mr. Mintz has taught privately and done clinics at schools around the world, including the Berklee School of Music, NYU, California Institute of the Arts, North Texas State University the Dick Grove School of Music, Musikgymnasium in Innsbruck, Austria, Long Island Drum and Percussion Club, Eagle Rock H.S., Arizona State University at Tempe, and University of Arizona at Phoenix, . He also taught extensively while on tour with various artists in Sydney, Australia, Tel Aviv, Israel and Wellington, New Zealand. Mr. Mintz has written two books: Different Drummers (AMSCO Music Publishing) and Advanced Sticking and Sight-Reading (BM Publications). His articles have been published in Not Just Jazz and Modern Drummer magazines. Mr. Mintz currently lives in New York, where he performs with the Alan Broadbent Trio, Roberta Piket Trio, the Russ Lossing Trio, and Tony Malaby, among others. In recent years, Mr. Mintz has taken on new roles as a bandleader and composer. For the past 15 years he has led the Two Bass Band, a ten-piece ensemble which features his compositions and arrangements. He also leads the Billy Mintz Band (with Tony Malaby, Rich Perry, Adam Kolker, Hilliard Greene and Roberta Piket) and performs solo drumset concerts. As a soloist Mr. Mintz has performed extensively on both coasts of the US as well as internationally. Billy's third CD as a leader, Ugly Beautiful, is available on thirteenth Note Records. write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |