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Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra will be featured on a CBS Evening News national broadcast at 6:30 p.m EST Saturday, Feb. 4 (alternate air-date is 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5). Check your local CBS listings here.
The network will broadcast an interview with O’Farrill, which was recently filmed at Birdland in New York City. Topics of discussion will include the O’Farrill family, nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance and its resident Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, educational outreach, Cuba, and the recent Grammy category cutbacks. Performance footage of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra’s recent 10th anniversary benefit at Symphony Space and a recent performance at Birdland will also be broadcast.
Over the course of a stellar career that has spanned more than 30 years, saxophonist Kenny Garrett has become the preeminent alto saxophonist of his generation. From his first gig with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (led by Mercer Ellington) through his time spent with musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis, Garrett has always brought a vigorous yet melodic, and truly distinctive, alto saxophone sound to each musical situation. As a bandleader for the last two decades, he has also continually grown as a composer. With his latest recording (and second for Mack Avenue Records), Seeds from the Underground, Garrett has given notice that these qualities have not only become more impressive, but have provided him with the platform to expand his horizons and communicate his musical vision clearly. Seeds from the Underground is a powerful return to the straight-ahead, acoustic and propulsive quartet format that showcases Garrett’s extraordinary abilities.
For Garrett, Seeds from the Underground is a special recording. It once again consists of all original compositions, and is truly an homage to those who have inspired and influenced him, both personally and musically. “All of these songs are dedicated to someone,” says Garrett in a news release. “And the ‘seeds’ have been planted, directly or indirectly, by people who have been instrumental in my development.”
The album highlights Garrett’s overall approach to music: wide-ranging, receiving ideas from all musical sources and genres.
“I love the challenge of trying to stay open…about music and about life,” Garrett says. “If it’s music, I just try to check it out. Right now, I’m listening to some music from Martinique, and I’m lovin’ it. If I like it, maybe I can incorporate some of it into what I do.”
As for composing: “I don’t try to control what I write,” he says. “Music comes from ‘The Creator.’ It’s a gift that’s coming in, and I receive it. I write in all genres, and I’m writing all the time. It’s never about what it is…I just say thank you.”
Seeds from the Underground is the latest stop on what continues to be a fascinating musical journey for Kenny Garrett and his listeners. It’s a recording that is not only a significant personal statement from the saxophonist, but a musical declaration of his continued growth as a musician, and in particular, as a composer.
“Since my last recording, [his Mack Avenue debut, Sketches of MD/Live at the Iridium], I’ve had a lot of different experiences [including the aforementioned Five Peace Band, as well as The Freedom Band featuring Corea, McBride and Haynes],” Garrett says. “What I liked about putting this album together was the idea that my writing had grown and had become a little different, partially the result of Seeds from the Underground.”
All That Jazz, an annual gala event of the Westside Community Center in Bartlesville, OK, will celebrate its 10th anniversary at 6 p.m. Saturday, February 18, at the Hillcrest Country Club (click here for map). This year’s musical lineup will feature the Mo Hemian Jazz Syndicate during dinner and, for the main entertainment, Tulsa jazz saxophonist Eldredge Jackson.
Jackson, a New Orleans-born saxophonist, who was raised in Tulsa, OK, has delighted audiences with his blend of traditional and smooth jazz peppered with a dash of gospel. Jackson has performed with a cross-section of urban jazz and R&B musicians such as Wayman Tisdale, Najee, Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Osborne, Angela Winbush, Stanley Jordan, Shirley Murdock, Con-Funk-Shun, Tom Braxton, and fellow Tulsans Charlie Wilson and The GAP Band.
Tax-deductible donations and proceeds from All That Jazz benefit the Westside Community Center’s youth programs. The Center has been a United Way agency since 1951. Today, the center focuses on uniting, nurturing and empowering local youth through programs such as the After School Zone, Peaceful Warriors, Summer Enrichment, and Work Ethics (WE) Pro$per.
Tickets are $100 and include a raffle ticket for the evening’s showcased prizes. For more information and to purchase tickets, call the Westside Community Center at (918) 336-6760 or email Executive Director Morris McCorvey at westsidecommunityctr@juno.com and include “All That Jazz” in the subject line.
According to a recent news release, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s 2012 Winter Concert Series is in full swing. On Sunday, Jan. 29, vocalist Olivia Duhon will give another performance at the Jazz Depot, 111 E. First St. (Upper Level) in Tulsa, OK. Showtime begins at 5 p.m. Click here to order tickets online for Olivia’s show.
On Jan. 31, attendees are encouraged to stop in for some jazz and fellowship at Depot Jams. Every Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:30, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame presents soulful jazz by talented local musicians.
On Wednesday, Feb. 1, check out live music by 7Blue and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame’s weekly Jazzwich Wednesday.
On Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m., Pam Van Crosby and her crew from Sweet and Hot productions will swing dance the night away.
General admission tickets are $15, and reserved table seating tickets are available for $20. Seniors, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame members and college students can see the show for $10, and high school and junior high students attend for only $5 each. For more information and/or to buy tickets, call Bettie Downing at (918) 281-8609 or buy them here at the Jazz Depot.
Gospel singer Earnest Pugh continues to make big strides in his career. His recent No. 1 Billboard gospel radio smash “I Need Your Glory” has now crossed over to the urban adult contemporary radio charts. This week the song moves up to #23 on the Mediabase Urban AC chart and No. 30 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart.
“It’s an honor to be embraced by Urban AC radio,” Pugh says in a news release. “This milestone in my career solidifies my belief that in bad times people gravitate to The Good News and good ole hard work pays off!” A Memphis native who was mentored by Grammy Award winning choir leader O’Landa Draper back in the 1990s, Pugh released his first solo CD in 2006 and showed off his five-octave vocals on the radio hit “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up.” After years of making respectable forays into gospel, Pugh finally hit it big in 2009 with his No. 1 smash “Rain on Us.” He followed-up with other radio chart smashes such as “The Great I Am” and “Perfect Peace” before hitting No. 1 again with “I Need Your Glory.” For more information, go to www.earnestpugh.com.
Guitarist Stanley Jordan has been nominated for a 2012 NAACP Image Award in the category of “Outstanding Jazz Album” for his latest Mack Avenue Records release Friends. The NAACP Image Awards, celebrating its 43rd anniversary this year, are presented each year to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music and literature. In conjunction, the ceremony offers awards to individuals or groups who help promote social injustice through creative efforts. Members of the NAACP vote on the awards, and the process is similar to that of the Grammy Awards and Oscars. The complete awards ceremony will be presented live at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST on Friday, Feb. 17 on NBC. In Friends, Jordan shares the platform with the following musical guests: guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike Stern, Russell Malone and Charlie Hunter; violinist Regina Carter; saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Ronnie Laws; trumpeter Nicholas Payton; bassists Christian McBride and Charnett Moffett; and drummer Kenwood Dennard. Reflecting on the wealth of music inspired by collaborating with chosen peers on Friends, Stanley Jordan says in a news release, “I am so humbled and grateful to all of the wonderful musicians who graced this project. This collection truly speaks to my belief in the integrationist spirit of music. I’d like to move beyond ‘fusion’ and explore the concept of ‘integration.’ When you integrate styles, you combine them into something new while still remaining true to the original sources. The same principal holds for our friendships, which require mutual respect. Our friends are a mirror revealing the diversity within us, and at the same time they give us the courage to share our true selves with the world.”
In a career spanning five decades, pianist MontyAlexander has distinctively bridged the worlds of jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica. With over 70 albums to his name, Alexander celebrates his 50th year in music with an ambitious, two-week engagement at New York’s Blue Note, on Monday, February 20 through Sunday, March 4.
Alexander will present the engagement in two parts: Part 1 – The Full Monty: 50 Years in Music! (February 23 – 28) and Part 2 – Jamaica Meets Jazz – A One Love Celebration (February 29 – March 4). The featured body of work and lineup will vary throughout the engagement, with each evening focusing on a project from Alexander’s extensive career (six projects total will be presented throughout the engagement). Special guests throughout the two weeks include Russell Malone, Christian McBride, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Pat Martino, Freddie Cole, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ernest Ranglin, John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, and Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar, among others.
“I derive great personal joy and satisfaction from being able to present music that can bring out people of all persuasions and life styles,” says Alexander in a news release, “from Kingston, Jamaica to New York and the rest of the world – that’s my Harlem-Kingston Express train. That is what this Blue Note booking is all about.”
Part 1 of the engagement will kick off on February 20 with a performance by one of Alexander’s working ensembles, Harlem-Kingston Express, featuring special guest, guitarist Ernest Ranglin. They will perform music from their Grammy Award nominated debut, Harlem-Kingston Express: Live! (Motéma Music – released in June 2011).
On February 21 and 22, Alexander will bring back his long-standing Triple Treat project. Originally consisting of guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown (a group that toured and recorded together throughout much of the 80s), Alexander will reinvigorate the trio in a program titled “Triple Treat Revisited,” featuring one of the “living descendants” of Brown, bassist Christian McBride, as well as guitarist Russell Malone, who appeared on Brown’s last recording, along with Alexander.
Alexander’s Uplift! trio project (stemming from the March 2011 Jazz Legacy Productions release of the same name) will perform on February 23 and 24, featuring organist Lonnie Smith and guitarist Pat Martino respectively. On February 25 will showcase Ivory & Steel, a project that reflects the music of Trinidad and the steel drum tradition (much like the Iron & Steel group Alexander led in the 70’s and 80’s).
With “A Night at Jilly’s” on February 26, Alexander will honor the first jazz club he performed in when he arrived to New York City from Jamaica in 1963 – Jilly’s. It was here that Alexander began to establish himself on the U.S. scene. During his three year’s at the club, he had the privilege of accompany the great Frank Sinatra. Special guests for the evening will include vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Freddie Cole.
Closing out Part 1 of Alexander’s engagement will be “The Montreux Alexander ’76 Trio Reunion” on February 27 and 28, dedicated to one of the pianist’s most celebrated albums, Montreux Alexander: The Monty Alexander Trio Live! at the Montreux Festival. The show will feature the original trio, with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton.
Alexander goes directly to his Jamaican roots with Part 2 of the engagement. OnFebruary 29-March 2, Alexander will present“Monty meets Sly & Robbie,”performances with drummerSly Dunbarand bassistRobbie Shakespeare. Sly & Robbie are two of reggae’s most recognized trailblazers and collaborated with Alexander on his album, Monty Meets Sly & Robbie. The pianist will conclude the engagement by bringing back hisHarlem-Kingston Expressgroup for two final nights onMarch 3 and 4. Special guests for these performance dates are TBA.
Alexander has been on the express track and now, in this 50th year of phenomenal musicianship, he shows no sign of slowing down. In 1961, the urban sophistication of jazz and the American songbook, and an invitation to accompany none other than Frank Sinatra, lured the teen prodigy Alexander away from Jamaica and the art form most associated with that nation. The move led to an extraordinary career in jazz, reggae and popular song including collaboration with greats such as Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Bill Cosby and Bobby McFerrin.
According to a recent news release, the legendary Rance Allen Group has earned two Stellar Awards for their latest CD, The Live Experience II: Celebrating 40 Years of Music and Ministry (Tyscot Records). The group picked up awards in the categories of Quartet of the Year and Traditional Group/Duo of the Year. The ceremony will broadcast on The GMC Channel at 7 p.m. February 11. Check your local listings at www.watchgmctv.com.
The live CD celebrates the group’s 40-year career. It features two medleys of their past hits such as “Feel Like Going On,” “We Care a Lot” and “Smile.” It also features new songs such as the old school soul flavored “You That I Trust” and the worship ballad, “Holy One.” Making cameo appearances are renowned artists such as Shirley Caesar, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and The Christianaires’ Paul Porter.
The Rance Allen Group has been recording professionally since 1971. They started with Stax Records where they recorded a string of gritty, R&B-flavored gospel and message songs through the 1970s. From there, the group recorded for a variety of labels and scored their first No. 1 gospel album in 1991 with the Phenomenon CD that featured the crossover R&B smash, “Miracle Worker.”
In 2002, the Rance Allen Group joined Tyscot Records, where they have enjoyed a new string of hits such as “Do Your Will,” “Closest Friend,” “For Your Feet,” and the Kirk Franklin duet, “Something About the Name Jesus.” The music industry has now begun to honor the Rance Allen Group for its groundbreaking work in bridging R&B and gospel. They received a Legend Award during the 2009 Stellar Awards and were feted in a BMI Trailblazers of Gospel ceremony in 2008.
