|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Presenting 2025 Convergence Project June 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM Vermont Jazz Center The Vermont Jazz Center is excited to announce the last concert of this season, The Convergence Project, on June 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM EST. This year's iteration of the Convergence Project features Eugene Uman (piano and all compositions), Anabel Gil Diaz (flute), Michael Zsoldos (sax), Mimi Jones (bass), Samuel Torres (percussion), and Brian Shankar-Adler (drums), this concert is both a culmination and a celebration. French horn legend John Clark will also appear on a handful of the compositions. Together, these artists will offer globally inspired melodies including Colombian folk melodies, hard bop horn lines, gospel harmonies, and funk grooves. Tickets for The Convergence Project at the Vermont Jazz Center are $25+ for general admission (contact the VJC for educational discounts). Purchase tickets at www.vtjazz.org or call 802-254-9088 ext. 1. More about the band: Eugene Uman is the VJC's executive director, a pianist, and a composer who enjoys playing energetic rhythms and bold melodies that reflect his musical journey. His writing draws equally from the jazz traditions he absorbed through mentors like Sheila Jordan, Mike Longo, and Jimmy Heath, and from the folkloric rhythms he encountered during years living in Colombia. He founded jazz studies programs at Universidad EAFIT and el Colegio de Música de Medellín and his inspiration behind the name "Convergence Project" is from his incorporation of rhythms such as cumbia, pasillo, bambuco, and currulao, with bebop, gospel, soul, rock, and funk in what he calls a "convergence"—a mash-up of the styles he loves and where groove reigns supreme. Anabel Gil Díaz is an award-winning Cuban flutist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who brings deep cultural fluency and bold innovation to her performances. A Presidential Scholar at the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice at Berklee School of Music and featured soloist with the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, she has appeared at major festivals across the U.S. and Europe and is featured on Terri Lyne Carrington's Grammy-winning album New Standards Vol. 1. Ms. Gil has performed at Reno Jazz Festival, Arlington Jazz Festival, Momence Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival and at prestigious venues throughout the United States and Europe. Michael Zsoldos is a saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator based out of Central Vermont. He has performed with Paquito D'Rivera, Shelia Jordan, Kevin Mahogany, Houston Person, Luis Perdomo, Jason Palmer, Helen Sung, George Schuller, Armen Donelian, Bernadette Peters, Carole King, the Temptations and many others. He currently is a member of Miro Sprague Quintet and the Jason Ennis Quartet and has toured across Europe and performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and Chicago House of Blues with the horn section of Dartmouth Gospel Choir and Chicago's One Accord. As a sought-after collaborator and educator, he has also performed at prestigious venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center and President Obama's inauguration. Mimi Jones is a world-renowned bassist, vocalist, and composer who has toured all seven continents and performed with legends such as Kenny Barron, Beyoncé, and Terri Lyne Carrington. Her other accomplishments include being the co-creator of The D.O.M.E. Experience Project, a multimedia project focusing on inspiring its audience to be aware of their environmental and social impacts through art. Founder of the Hot Tone Music label, Jones is celebrated for her genre-defying sound and commitment to uplifting underrepresented voices in jazz. As JazzTimes notes, she possesses an "espresso-flavored alto that recalls Joan Armatrading, " and her playing "supplies the necessary bedding for all to dance, fall, walk, stumble or groove on." Samuel Torres, Latin Grammy-winning percussionist and composer from Bogotá, Colombia has performed and recorded with icons including Chick Corea, Tito Puente, Shakira, Paquito D'Rivera and many others. Hailed by JazzTimes as "intelligent, sophisticated and explosive, " his music fuses Afro-Caribbean and Colombian folkloric rhythms with jazz and classical forms. His testament to his boundary-pushing artistry is showcased in his 2019 Latin Grammy-winning album Regreso, which features a concerto for congas and orchestras. Percussionist, composer and VJC summer faculty, Brian Shankar-Adler, is an internationally acclaimed drummer whose polyrhythmic skill bridges South Asian classical music, jazz, and experimental soundscapes. Having performed in uncommon spaces like caves, forests and adjacent glacial ice fields to world-renowned centers like Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and The Stone, Adler continues to exceed expectations as a "polyrhythmic force capable of both heavy-hitting and feather-light precision…" (JazzTimes). He has played with Esperanza Spalding, Guillermo Klein, Sheila Jordan, and Michael Leonhart and his acclaimed 2020 album Fourth Dimension highlights his ability to create polyrhythmic, atmospheric soundscapes that cross cultural boundaries. Special guest French Hornist, John Clark is skilled in both classical and jazz improvisation. Jazz journalist Scott Yanow describes Clark as "possibly the most fluent jazz French horn soloist since the great Julius Watkins in the 1950s." As one of the few major horn players working in the jazz milieu, he has become a significant influence for aspiring horn players throughout the world. Clark is an NEA composition grant winner who currently teaches at the Vermont Jazz Center; he has also taught at SUNY Purchase and Manhattan School of Music and elsewhere. The list of artists (many of them Grammy winners) with whom Clark has recorded and/or performed includes: Gil Evans, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Turtle Island String Quartet, Joe Lovano, Julius Hemphill, Jaco Pastorius, George Russell, Sting, Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mingus Orchestra, among many others. He has released 7 albums as a leader and appeared on over 20 as a side-person. The Convergence Project is a project that brings together artists whose individual voices and global experiences converge in a shared musical vision. This performance stands as a powerful closing statement that reflects the VJC's mission of showcasing artistry, diversity, and community. Quote: "Eugene is an adventurer who brings many influences to his musical expression. He maintains our music's tradition and embraces the future." – Bobby Watson, American saxophonist and composer "This music has an intelligent plan and a fullness of sound – it is textured and colorful and celebrates its jazz roots without the common formulaic limitations." – Len Lyons, acclaimed author and jazz critic write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |