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BLOG POSTS August 26,2009 Summer Roundup Part 1 OK, this week is for catching up with the second half of this summer’s activity, and getting ready for the fall. I’ll pick up where I left off after my last post of July 18th... The 92nd St Y concert with Bill Charlap & company was, as always, a lot of fun. And a bit of a challenge, too, to put together a evening’s worth of music in shifting combinations in one rehearsal and a run through the afternoon of the concert. But with such a distinguished company such as this, you know things are going to turn out great!
l to r: BL, Kenny Washington (drums); Jon Gordon (alto & soprano saxes); Peter Washington (bass); Renee Rosnes (piano); Jimmy Greene (tenor sax); Bill Charlap musical director); Kurt Elling (vocal). Photo courtesy of Richard Termine The next day I was on the plane to Europe for the summer tour of the Eddie Palmieri Afro-Caribbean Jazz All Stars. I’ve been making these jaunts with Eddie for many years now, ever since the days of “Palmas” in the mid-90s. It's still a total gas to hit the international bandstand with the Chief! On this tour was the regular core of Jose Clausell “Capitan” on timbales (Jose has been with Eddie almost as long as I, in his 21st year!), Little Johnny Rivero on conga, Luques Curtis (also a regular member of my Spheres Of Influence group) on bass; and on this tour, Yosvany Terry on alto sax and chekere. It’s always a pleasure to play and hang out with the redoubtable Mr. Terry; a heavy musician and one of nature’s noblemen!
At JFK: l to r Jose Claussel, Luques Curtis, Yosvany Terry The tour covered a lot of the usual spots; the Jazz Café in London, New Morning in Paris, Zapata in Stuttgart (where we enjoyed an incredible sancocho prepared by the proprietor Xavier’s German wife). But a definite departure for us, and a high point, was to travel to Lebanon to perform in the incredible Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek for the International Festival there. This is part of the largest Roman temple complex in the world; an awe-inspiring setting to play music!
The Temple Of Jupiter in Baalbek
Eddie on stage in Baalbek Lebanon is an incredible place, with a most diverse mix of peoples and cultures (imagine 10,000 jazz & Latin music fans partying in the same town long known as a stronghold of Lebanese Hezbollah!), a little adventuresome to be there but I’d go again! We finished off the tour in Seté, France, where we had a great hang with Alexander Abreu, Cuban trumpeter and vocalist extraordinaire, and his group Habana de Primera. They’re a happening band; check them out!
Alexander Abreu and BL This takes me up to the beginning of August; the next post will get me up to date (hopefully) and detail the jazz camp bashes this month.
July 18, 2009 S*&t, has it really been two months? I've had a "quiet" week at home in NYC, but it's not like I'm sitting around. Staying close to the crib, but active. This weekend I'm finishing up arrangements for the 92nd Y Jazz in July concert that I'm taking part in on the 21st, in the company of Kurt Elling, Renee Rosnes, Jimmy Greene, Jon Gordon, Kenny Washington, Peter Washington, and 92nd Y jazz artistic director Bill Charlap, my old running buddy with the Phil Woods Quintet. The theme of this concert is the music of Sondheim and Styne, and I'm bringing in some Jules Styne material; an arrangement of "Make Someone Happy" featuring Kurt, "It's You Or No One" for the band, and a chart on my own "On The Dot" , based on the changes of Styne's "Just In Time". These concerts are always a lot of fun with great players and programs well organized and received. I've also been in the studio mixing with Dave Darlington as well as in my own home studio , getting "Unsung Heroes" ready to go. I'm a little behind my own self imposed schedule on this first Hollistic MusicWorks release , but I think September should see it out in the world. Wanna hear a little sample (just short of the final mix)? Let me see if I can hook up something and put up a track on the site. I had a great time taking Spheres Of Influence down to the Dominican Republic for three concerts at the beginning of this month, sponsored by the US Embassy there. The band was on fire! - it was inspiring and put me on my "A" game keeping up with those killing young cats (Zaccai Curtis, piano; Luques Curtis, bass; Obed Calvaire, drums, and long time playing brother Pedro Martinez, congas).
A highlight was the guest appearance for the Santiago concert of a giant of the perico ripiao (roots or tipico merengue) accordion, Krency Garcia, who's known by his nom de plume of "El Prodigio". his prominence in this idiom, Prodigio is also a skilled jazz player who studied saxophone at Berklee. Our cross cultural meeting waswas both stimulating and successful! I hope to learn more about this vital and swinging music and work with Prodigio again. Other concerts were at the July 4th holiday celebration at the US ambassador's residence and a very hip gig at Santo Domingo's arty Casa Teatro. We also gave a workshop for the local musicians at the Casa Teatro earlier that day. I hope to be back to the DR soon! Thanks to Rex Moser, the cultural affairs attache at the embassy, who brought us over, Viola Suarez and Nieves Peguero, also from the embassy, and my main man Fernando Rodriguez de Mondesert, who put the bug in the Embassy's ear to get us over. Fernando's blog "Jazz en Dominicana" is the resource for what's happening in jazz in the DR. Here's some links for reviews and articles concerning our DR jaunt, mostly in Spanish: http://jazzendominicana.blogspot.com/ After the 92nd St Y gig, I'm off the next day for 10 days in Europe with Eddie Palmieri. We hit London, Paris, Stuttgart, Bologna, among other locations. The group is the Afro-Caribbean Jazz ensemble with Yosvany Terry on board for this tour - should be the usual gas! OK, back to those charts.... May 17, 2009 My new music enterprise Hollistic MusicWorks , covering various aspects of my musical output including recording, sheet music and educational products/activities, is slowly but surely coming on line. HMW’s first recording project, “Unsung Heroes” (mentioned previously in my newsletters) is in the final stages of preparation for release. We’ll be doing a soft rollout over the next couple of months, and we’re aiming to have it together for an “official” launch by mid to late summer.
Speaking of “Unsung Heroes”, we’re having a “pre-release” party featuring the band on the recording at NYC’s Smalls coming right up this next Thursday, May 21st. I’ll be also playing “Unsung Heroes” music with my Midwest cats at hometown (Milwaukee) hang The Jazz Estate on Saturday, May 30th. For more details, check my itinerary. IN THE MEDIA My visage and pithy comments were featured in the cover story for the current (June 2009) issue of Chamber Music America magazine, on music marketing in the digital age. I’ve been associated with CMA as the leader of a member ensemble (Spheres Of Influence) since 2001, and received a “New Works – Creation and Presentation” grant from CMA in partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation in 2003 to fund the composition and premiere of “The Spheres Of Influence Suite”. Incidentally,Hollistic MusicWorks will be reissuing the CD of this music, originally recorded in 2004 with such great musicians as Miguel Zenon, Conrad Herwig, and Dafnis Prieto, in a remixed version later this summer. I’ve had the pleasure of recording numerous CDs for the Dutch label Criss Cross over the years, including my first two CDs as a leader back in the 1980s. eMusic.com, the digital downloading subscription service (highly recommended – I’ve been a member since 1999) has recently started to distribute the Criss Cross catalog – a great opportunity to sample some of the best jazz playing in the last 25 years on record. EMusic’s online survey of the best of Criss Cross singles out my most recent Criss Cross CD, “ConClave”, for special recognition in “Criss Cross – The eMusic Dozen”. You can read the review at: http://www.emusic.com/lists/showlist.html?lid=37177064
HUB’S MEMORIAL The Freddie Hubbard Memorial Concert at St. John’s the Divine Cathedral in New York City this past May 4th was a beautiful evening. So many great musicians honored Hub with their playing; for me a special highlight was the appearance of one of today’s true individualists on the trumpet, Wallace Roney. I was also honored to take a modest part in the tribute, performing Freddie’s signature “Byrdlike” in the company of Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Todd Herbert, Aaron Goldberg, Santi DiBriano and the great Louis Hayes. I salute fellow trumpeter and Freddie’s manager David Weiss and the Jazz Foundation of America, along with Freddie’s widow Brigitte and son Duane, for making this event possible. I think about Freddie every day. You should too. He personifies jazz to me in the form of his genius. RECENTLY… The beginning of this month as well as April was consumed with teaching activities. My NYU ensembles and big band played a number of gigs around town and both ensembles logged some time in the studio. I had fun taking my Tuesday ensemble out to Knoop Studio in NJ for a real record date. Everyone chipped in and we made it happen! Two large ensemble pieces and five smaller group tunes were recorded. The very fine young musicians in this group played some chall enging material extremely well – well enough to share once it’s mixed, perhaps!
Brian Lynch NYU Tuesday Ensemble @ Knoop Studio, River Edge NJ: (l to r) Manfred Knoop; Wei Xiang Tan (p); Jared Weinstock (ts); Shareef Taher (d); Bob Sabin (b); me, Jonah Parzen-Johnson (bari); Jason Arce (as, ts); Matthias Konrad (tb). Also spreading the jazz word out in Chicago, a favorite place of mine, at the Merit School of Music. Merit is a fantastic school devoted to taking up the slack in music education for school age children in Chicago. I’ve given workshops for Merit’s Latin Jazz Band during a NYC field trip in the past, and last month’s workshop and concert with that same group, so ably directed by Michael McLaughlin, was a great continuation of what I hope will be an ongoing relationship with Merit.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT BRIAN LYNCH ON MYSPACE Brian Lynch and Spheres of Influence on MySpace
GRAMMY WIN FOR "SIMPÁTICO"! The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project: Best Latin Jazz Album 2006 I'm proud to announce that The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project recording, "Simpatíco" has received a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2006. I'd like to thank everyone involved in the project, from the musicians to my close friends on the support team and the Participant Contributors (Executive Producer, Gold, Silver, and Bronze) for making it possible. For more info about "Simpático", read on below or go straight to my project site to participate! To listen to tracks from "Simpático", click below at: http://www.artistshare.com/grammy/brianlynch/index.htm Thank you for wishing us luck at the Grammys! Brian "Simpático" - THE BRIAN LYNCH / EDDIE PALMIERI PROJECT powered by ArtistShare Brian Lynch proudly announces the release of his new recording project, The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project, in collaboration with ArtistShare, the innovative website based content delivery system. The Brian Lynch/ Eddie Palmieri Project showcases the acclaimed trumpeter and composer with his longtime musical mentor, the legendary Eddie Palmieri in a CD project of new original music by Lynch, special collaborative works composed by Palmieri and Lynch together, and recastings of classic Palmieri compositions. The recording also features two very special guest artists: the legendary saxophonist Phil Woods (another of Lynch’s musical godfathers) and the great vocalist and songwriter Lila Downs (Brian and Lila specially co-wrote a new song for this project). The distinguished group of jazz & Latin masters Brian has assembled for this project includes such luminaries as: Conrad Herwig (trombone) This unique musical experience will be shared with its audience using the cutting edge ArtistShare system, as utilized in recent projects by Maria Schneider and Jim Hall. Participants will be able to experience the artistic process through weblogs, streaming and downloaded audio and video, downloaded compositional sketches and finished music, and even online lessons. Follow every step of the way, as Brian creates and crafts this project! A limited edition CD of the final product will be released exclusively through the project website. Become a participant in the Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project today by clicking through to my ArtistShare powered project site. Then check out the different Participant Offers that have something to interest everyone, whether you’re a fan, musician, or committed to supporting the arts. Be a part of jazz history and check it out today! Log in and sign up for a free ArtistShare account and receive a FREE mp3 download of never before released music by Brian Lynch and Spheres Of Influence! To sign up, just click here |
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