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EXPERIENCE JAZZ |
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The New Mexico Jazz Festival is supported by ticket sales, of course, as well as by many generous funders, sponsors, presenting partners and supporters. FESTIVAL VENUES ALBUQUERQUE TICKET SALES Tickets Santa Fe is located in The Lensic lobby 211 West San Francisco St, Santa Fe. Outpost Performance Space box office JAZZ FESTIVAL SPONSORS
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EXPERIENCE JAZZ IN NEW MEXICO LAND OF ENCHANTMENT |
Funded in part by the New Mexico Department of Tourism |
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HILTON BOX OFFICE SPECIAL Located Just around the corner from the Lensic Performing Art Center and 2-blocks from the renown Plaza, the Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza is To reserve you guest room, HILTON OF SANTA FE |
Welcome The New Mexico Jazz Festival is a collaborative project of the Outpost Performance Space, the Lensic, Santa Fe’s Performing Arts Center, and the Santa Fe Jazz Foundation, all 501(c)3 non profit organizations. The two week Festival takes place each year in the last two weeks of July. The New Mexico Jazz Festival is exciting in that it features local as well as world renowned artists and jazz masters and brings together the two major New Mexico cities— Albuquerque & Santa Fe.
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2009 NEW MEXICO JAZZ FESTIVAL July 14, Tuesday, 6pm: |
Tuesday, July 14, 6-8:30pm
The Cal Haines Trio features Lewis Winn, electric guitar; Michael Glynn, bass; and Cal Haines, drums. Joining the trio for this concert is L.A. based pianist and vocalist, John Proulx, and the internationally renowned, Grammy award winning trumpeter Bobby Shew who recently moved back to live in his hometown of Albuquerque. Proulx and Shew performed this past fall in Albuquerque and Santa Fe in a tribute to the great Chet Baker amd they both appeared on the Cal Haines Trio’s most recent release entitled, The Bright Side.
Jazz a la Carte comprises 6 talented New Mexico-based musicians. A Dixieland band that applies its spirited traditional jazz approach to a wide range of timeless tunes, this ensemble is led by trombonist Dick “Doc” Rock and has been performing together for more than a dozen years. A frequent performer at the Rio Grande Jazz Society, Jazz a la Carte is also a favorite at many important annual social events such as the Santa Fe Stages Arts Celebration and the Gallup Heart Fund Gala and as the warm-up band at UNM’s Popejoy Hall for annual Mardi Gras celebrations featuring Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Dukes of Dixieland, and Dr. John. Jazz a la Carte was the featured musical entertainment for the annual week-long Mardi Gras festival at the exclusive Hotel Porto Palacio in Porto, Portugal in both 2000 and 2001. Jazz a la Carte is Dick “Doc” Rock, trombone; Dick Trask, saxophone; Tom Rheam, trumpet; Wayne Shrubsall, banjo; Mark Weaver, tuba; and Bob Delich, drums.
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Thursday, July 16, 7:30pm New York-based bassist and Albuquerque native, Matt Brewer, returns home for the opening night of the Fourth Annual New Mexico Jazz Festival, along with friends, guitarist Ila Cantor, drummer Tommy Crane, and special guest pianist Aaron Parks. Matt Brewer spent most of his youth in Albuquerque where he studied classical bass with renowned bass instructors, Winston Budrow and Lawrence Hurst, as well as learning jazz from his father. During his junior and senior years in high school, he attended the Interlochen Arts Academy and was selected from applicants across the country to participate in the Grammy Band, performing on the 2000 Grammy Awards telecast. A student in the inaugural class of The Juilliard Jazz Program, he left after two years to make time for his busy touring schedule and has since worked with Greg Osby, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Greg Tardy, Chris Cheek, Mark Turner, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and many others. He is featured on Greg Osby’s current Blue Note release Channel Three. Aaron Parks, who played with jazz trumpeter, Terence Blanchard for five-years, was recently named a “new visionary” by JazzTimes Magazine and last year released his debut CD, Invisible Cinema, on Blue Note Records, which had critics raving. The 24-year old pianist and composer, who cites Radiohead and Blonde Redhead among his major influences alongside Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau and Terence Blanchard represents a new generation of Jazz musicians finding the common ground between modern progressive jazz, indie rock and hip-hop. Guitarist, Ila Cantor, a New York native, leads her original jazz trio, The Trapezoids, as well as performing with her quartet and an electronic project, FacilaT, from Barcelona, where she has lived and worked as a musician. She has played extensively with gypsy-jazz virtuoso, Stephane Wremble and works with numerous other jazz, rock and experimental musicians in NY and around the US. Drummer, Tommy Crane attended The New School in New York and together with his friend Matt Brewer, has toured worldwide with Greg Osby and others. All About Jazz described Crane and Brewer together as possessing “daunting technique with a restless and fearless willingness to go pretty much anywhere … they combine to produce an intense, rubbery swing that’s pretty breathtaking.”
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Friday, July 17, 7:30 pm Tonight’s concert is a rare evening featuring the two pianos of brothers Dave and Don Grusin, both giants of contemporary jazz and both devotees of the western United States having been born in Denver and now living respectively in Santa Fe and Colorado. One of the top ten film scorers of his generation, Dave Grusin is also a renowned jazz artist and founder of the prestigious independent record company GRP (Grusin Rosen Productions). His musical career has been distinguished by his mastery of a diverse range of styles, complemented by a touch on the keyboard that has given him a unique signature as a pianist. Early in his career, he served as the musical director for Andy Williams and played on some of Williams’ best-selling albums. A sideman, arranger, conductor and/or producer for many years, Grusin later turned his focus to composing for the screen and has since written and been honored for countless movie and TV scores, including the The Graduate, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Candy, Tootsie, and the theme for the long-running TV series, St. Elsewhere. Grusin collaborated with film director Sydney Pollack on nine films and was nominated for two Academy Awards for Heaven Can Wait and The Champ. He also wrote Oscar-nominated scores for On Golden Pond, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Milagro Beanfield War for which he won an Oscar. A featured artist with the 1976 Sheffield Labs landmark album Discovered Again and One of a Kind, Grusin’s work set the tone for the fusion jazz movement. In the past decade he has collaborated with Lee Ritenour, won a Grammy in 2003 for his arranging on a James Taylor CD and released his 2004 CD, Now Playing, which features his solo piano work in a collection of his own film themes. Besides his numerous entertainment industry awards and nominations Grusin has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Colorado and Berklee College of Music.
The younger brother of Dave, Don Grusin is an American songwriter, producer and keyboardist. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Colorado and taught as a Fulbright professor in Mexico and in the U.S. before deciding to enter the music business full-time after joining Quincy Jones’ band for a Japan-U.S. tour in the mid 1970s. The creative sparkplug for the acclaimed fusion ensemble Friendship, Don has recorded and produced scores of albums, including Ernie Watts’ Grammy-winning CD entitled Musican. He received a Grammy nomination for his live contemporary jazz DVD and CD The Hang, and received another Grammy this past year for his contribution to Paul Winter’s CD, Crestone. He also released his CD, Piano in Venice, in 2008— a collection of tunes inspired by the moods and grooves of the Venice CA beach community. The recipient of Colorado University’s Alumni Association’s 2006 George Norlin Award for distinguished lifetime achievement, Don Grusin continues a busy touring and recording schedule, as well as giving music clinics. His multidisciplinary course at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado, called World Music Video as Catalyst for Social Change, was created to incorporate such diverse fields as economics, music, film, ethnography, journalism, and art to produce videos as educational and marketing tools leading to greater global social awareness and action. Dave and Don Grusin will be joined by Bijoux Barbosa, bass; and Mike Marlier, drums in an evening of solos, duos and quartets. |
Saturday, July 18, 6-10:30pm
6pm. Main Stage LE CHAT LUNATIQUE: Le Chat Lunatique plays a combination of Gypsy Swing, Western Swing and as they put it, “anything else we damn well please…. Filthy, Mangy Jazz is our forte!” The project grew out of guitarist, John Sandlin and violinist, Muni Kulasinghe’s love for the great Hot Club of France, a gypsy swing group from 1940’s Paris, which included the combined genius of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli. Bassist, Jared Putnam’s western swing background then fused itself into the mix as well. Finally, drummer Fernando Garavito (from Colombia) adds a latin aspect to the groove. Le Chat Lunatique’s CD, Demonic Lovely, released in February 2008, was nominated for SEVEN New Mexico Music Awards . Le Chat was voted “Best Band Over-All” and “Best Jazz Act” in the Weekly Alibi’s 2008 Best of Burque issue AND “Best Local Band” and “Best Jazz Act in the Local iQs 2008 Smart List. They have opened for Asleep at the Wheel, The Hot Club of San Francisco, and The Djangomatics. They composed and performed the music for a play called Flamingo/Winnebago which was premiered in Philadelphia. Each October, John Sandlin organizes the hugely popular New Mexico Django Fest. 6:40pm. The Jazz Tent THE BRAZIL PROJECT w. PATTY STEPHENS: New Mexico’s own Brazil Project is an exciting new Brazilian Jazz ensemble featuring vocalist, Patty Stephens; pianist Bert Dalton; bassist Rob “Milo” Jaramillo; percussionist Frank Leto; and drummer John Bartlit. A blend of traditional, contemporary, and original Brazilian jazz, their music encompasses samba and bossa nova rhythms, the excitement of carnival, sensuous songs in Portuguese, fiery percussion, and top-flight jazz and Latin improvisations.
7:20pm. Main Stage THE MARCO BENEVENTO TRIO: Long a favorite on the jam-band/avant-jazz circuit, 31-year-old keyboardist/“sound sculptor” Marco Benevento, has been building a nationwide following for his jaw-dropping improvisational skills, no-genres-barred approach, and his globe-trotting touring schedule. A member of The Jazz Farmers from 1999–2001, Benevento studied under and played alongside teachers, Kenny Werner, Brad Meldau and Joanne Brackeen. He initially garnered attention playing Hammond B-3 organ and Wurlitzer in The Benevento-Russo Duo, but he also plays acoustic piano with his trio, with whom he released his first studio CD, Invisible Baby in 2008. That effort landed them a spot at the 2008 JVC Jazz Festival. His 2009 follow-up trio release, Me Not Me, was recorded and distributed through his own newly formed record label, Royal Potato Family, and is a testament to his continuing desire to move in unexplored musical territory. Benevento re-imagines the piano, running it through pickups, delay and distortion pedals and a Fender Super Reverb Amp. With his constantly evolving equipment rig, his use of circuit bending (creative short-circuiting of electronic devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects to create wild and warped sounds) and his innovative approach as an improviser and performer, Benevento has become one of the most compelling sonic innovators of his generation. The Marco Benevento Trio also features Reed Mathis, bass; and Andy Borger, drums 8:20pm. The Jazz Tent THE DIMI DISANTI QUINTET: One of New Mexico’s finest and most versatile guitarists, Dimi Disanti leads an all star hard-swinging jazz quintet featuring Kanoa Kaluhiwa, saxophone; Paul Gonzales, trumpet; Colin Deuble, bass; and Diego Arencon, drums.
9pm. Main Stage THE DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND: Established in 1977 by Benny Jones, together with members of the Tornado Brass Band, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorporating funk and bebop into the traditional New Orleans style. They have since been a major influence on the majority of New Orleans brass bands. Performing a bracing, innovative blend of traditional New Orleans sounds and modern jazz sensibilities, the ensemble has recorded with artists ranging from Dizzy Gillespie to Elvis Costello, taken on the music of jazz inventor Jelly Roll Morton for their album Jelly and reinterpreted the hymns and parade songs of the Crescent City second-line bands for their 2004 Funeral For A Friend (following the death of co-founding member Tuba Fats). They’ve mixed intriguing approaches to traditional and familiar material, but in a context emphasizing challenging original music composed by the band members themselves. The band resurrected, revitalized and put distinctly personal stamps on what was a dying tradition of New Orleans brass bands when the group formed in the late 70s, inspiring a full-on revival that’s flourished with several new generations of young brass bands, each bringing their own twists to the form. The touring members of the band are: Gregory Davis, trumpet & vocals;
Roger Lewis, baritone & soprano sax;
Kevin Harris, tenor sax;
Jake Eckert, guitar;
Efrem Towns, trumpet and fluglehorn; Julius McKee, sousaphone; Revert Andrews; trombone; and Terence Higgins, drums. |
Sunday, July 19, 2pm Continuing a New Mexico Jazz Festival tradition, A.B. Spellman, the highly respected retired National Endowment for the Arts Deputy Chairman (for whom, in 2005, the NEA named one of its prestigious Jazz Masters awards the “A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy”), jazz historian (Four Lives in the Bebop Business and Art Tatum: A Critical Biography) and poet (The Beautiful Days and in 2008, Things I Must Have Known), meets with NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath for an informal but highly engaging and informative on-stage interview and Q&A.
Sunday, July 19, 7:30pm NEA Jazz Master, Jimmy Heath has long been recognized as a brilliant instrumentalist and a magnificent composer and arranger. The middle brother of the legendary Heath Brothers (bassist, Percy Heath and drummer, Tootie Heath) he has performed with nearly all the jazz greats of the last 50 years, from Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis to Wynton Marsalis. At the age of 21, he performed in the First International Jazz Festival in Paris sharing the stage with Coleman Hawkins, Slam Stewart, and Erroll Garner and one of his earliest big bands (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included the likes of John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Charlie Parker and Max Roach. Heath has performed on more than 100 recordings, including seven with The Heath Brothers. He has written more than 125 compositions, many of which have become jazz standards that were recorded by jazz greats Art Farmer, Cannonball Adderley, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, and many others. He has also composed seven suites and two string quartets as well as a symphonic work, “Three Ears.” A Professor of Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College for eleven years, a position he recently left, Heath still maintains an extensive performance schedule and continues to conduct workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Europe, and Canada. His enduring dedication to jazz as well as his musicianship have prompted praise from the best in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie who said, “All I can say is, if you know Jimmy Heath, you know Bop,” and Miles Davis who stated, “Trane was always high on Jimmy’s playing and so was I … Jimmy is one of the thoroughbreds.” The Generations Band is a project of the International Center for the Arts (ICA) at San Francisco State University which grew from a deep reverence for traditional modern jazz and a desire to rekindle one of its most crucial traditions–that of intensive, inter-generational mentoring. The Generations Band comprises an all-star line up of jazz veterans who each year act as mentors to a young jazz combo (the winners of an international competition for emerging |
TWO NIGHTS: Kurt Elling, considered the preeminent young male jazz singer today, boasts a rich baritone voice that spans four octaves and displays an astonishing technical facility and emotional depth. Elling has an impressive command of rhythm, texture, phrasing, and dynamics and his repertoire ranges from his own compositions to modern interpretations of standards, both of which can serve as a springboard for free form improvisation, scatting, spoken word, and poetry. One of his major contributions is as a writer and performer of vocalese, the art of putting words to improvised solos of jazz artists. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, and Jon Hendricks, Elling is the new contemporary voice of vocalese. Infusing his lyrics with passion, humor, and a startling intellectual depth, he often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Proust, Kerouac, Rumi, Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth into his work. A seven-time Grammy nominee, Elling was at the top of the DownBeat Critics and Jazz Times Readers’ polls for six consecutive years and was awarded three Jazz Journalists’ Association Awards for Best Male Vocalist along with the Prix Billie Holiday from the Academie du Jazz in Paris. He has recorded and/or performed with numerous artists, including Terrence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, Al Jarreau, John Pizzarelli and many others and has been featured in profiles for CBS Sunday Morning and for CNN. Elling’s quartet tours constantly, performing worldwide to critical acclaim. It features longtime accompanist, Laurence Hobgood, piano; Ulysses Owens, drums; bass TBA. |
Friday, July 24, 6-9pm
It’s a celebration of three wonderful and diverse New Mexico jazz vocalists. First off, it’s Tommy Gearhart a young vocal talent who is originally from Detroit. Gearhart has put together a set consisting of original lyrics put to existing obscure organ jazz melodies (Larry Young, Don Patterson, Bill Heid, and Wes Montgomery), and some fresh arrangements of a few long-forgotten, beautiful jazz standards. It’s soul-stirring, foot-tapping, groove-influenced, swing-infested jazz with Steve Figueroa, Hammond B3 organ; Tony Cesarano, guitar; and Chase Ellison, drums. Next, it’s one of New Mexico’s vocal treasures, Hillary Smith with her latest, popular blues-drenched project, Soul Kitchen with guitarists/songwriters Chris Dracup and Tommy Elskes. The evening closes with another NM vocal star, Cathryn McGill, whose gospel inspired, “straight out of the church” performance style has been described as "electrifying, gospel-cooked jazz and blues." She’ll be accompanied by Stu MacAskie, keyboards; Howard Cloud, bass; and Chase Ellison, drums.
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Sunday, July 26, 7:30pm Closing this year’s festival is the dynamic 7-piece Mingus Dynasty— the original Mingus legacy band created in 1979, just after the death of jazz legent, bassist and composer, Charles Mingus. The Mingus Dynasty was formed to bring the beauty of his compositions to audiences around the world. The original ensemble featured many musicians who were members of Mingus’ bands when he was alive. The group was named after the 1959 Charles Mingus album entitled Mingus Dynasty. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of that album, as well as two other landmark Mingus recordings— Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots. Besides the Mingus Dynasty there are two other Mingus renowned repertory groups— the Mingus Big Band and the Mingus Orchestra. All three groups tour extensively and are under the direction of Charles Mingus’ widow, Sue Mingus. One of the most important figures in twentieth century American music, Charles Mingus was a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer. An independent thinker and revolutionary figure in the music, Charles Mingus formed his own publishing and recording companies in the 1950’s in order to protect and document his growing repertoire of original music and also founded the “Jazz Workshop,” a group that enabled young composers to have their new works performed in concert and on recordings. At the forefront of the avant-garde, Mingus’ recordings bear witness to his extraordinarily creative body of work. The Mingus Dynasty features Seamus Blake, tenor saxophone; Craig Handy, alto saxophone & flute; Ku-umba Frank Lacy, trombone & vocals; Alex Sipiagin, trumpet; Orrin Evans, piano; Boris Kozlov, bass; and Donald Edwards, drums. |
