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Join Date: Mar 2003
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Caramoor
For the twelfth consecutive year, the Caramoor International Music Festival will present a parade of world-class jazz musicians on consecutive summer Saturdays, July 30 and August 6. This is Caramoor’s 60th Anniversary, and the 2005 Jazz Festival’s moment to take a look at 60 years of Modern Jazz.
“The Caramoor Jazz Festival lineup is presented in the tradition of the great European summer jazz festivals,” said Joe Lovano, Caramoor’s Artistic Director of Jazz. “The lineup features jazz legends as well as today’s stars. We have a festival that is truly hard to match.”
“Joe Lovano has programmed a particularly exciting mix of styles and generations at this year’s two-day jazz festival,” said Michael Barrett. “We invite jazz aficionados to absorb all-day sounds and sights on July 30 and August 6. It’s an opportunity to hear superlative jazz nearly non-stop from 2 till 10 p.m., to visit Caramoor’s beautiful gardens, tour the House Museum, and enjoy a picnic between concerts.”
All concerts are held in the acoustically superb outdoor Venetian Theater, and are programmed for jazz fans to enjoy a full day of world-class jazz with a picnic break on the beautiful Caramoor grounds at 6 p.m.
To begin the Festival on July 30, Artistic Director Joe Lovano presents the Charles McPherson/Tom Harrell Quintet with “Bird and Diz Live,” a tribute to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Next up: Percussionists Michael Carvin, Andrew Cyrille and Billy Hart salute Max Roach, The afternoon winds down with a blow out “Saxaphone Summit” with tenor saxophonists Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano, joined by world-class artists: pianist Phil Markowitz, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Billy Hart. Stylistically, this music stretches the boundaries of solo and group improvisation.
The evening also pays tribute to two great jazz legends – Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk, beginning with Ben Riley’s Monk Legacy Band. Thelonious Monk’s musical vision was both ahead of its time and deeply rooted in tradition, spanning the entire history of jazz music from the “stride” masters of James P. Johnson and Willie “the Lion” Smith to the tonal freedom and kinetics of the avant garde. He shares with Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and others the distinction of being one of the century’s greatest American jazz composers.
Charles Mingus, a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer, was one of the most important figures in twentieth century American music. The Mingus Dynasty, dedicated to bringing the great legacy of compositions to audiences around the world, will bring the evening to a swinging end.
The second jazz weekend salutes “The Chairman of the Board,” Frank Sinatra, and the golden age of jazz. On August 6, Joe Lovano presents Francisco Mela and the Berkelee All-Star Quartet, followed by the Luciana Souza Quartet.
The Bill Charlap Trio is joined by trombonist Steve Turre to continue the fun with a tribute to trombone master J. J. Johnson, before Caramoor favorites Russel Malone and Benny Green do an encore performance at the Venetian Theater. And then, the Festival Finale – the Joe Lovano Ensemble paying tribute to the greatest jazz singer of all time – Frank Sinatra, with arrangements by Manny Album from Joe’s Grammy nominated Blue Note recording Celebrating Sinatra, featuring a woodwind ensemble with Erik Friedlander on cello, Kenny Werner on piano and the voices of Judi Silvano, Tom Lellis, and Giacomo Gates. The performance will be taped for broadcast during December 2005 to mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of Frank Sinatra – an American legend.
Charles McPherson started playing jazz professionally at age 19 and performed with Charles Mingus from 1960 to 1972. He has performed at concerts and festivals with his own orchestra and has toured the U.S., Europe, Japan, Africa, and South America with his own group, as well as with jazz greats Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Nat Adderly and others. McPherson was also the featured alto saxophonist in the Clint Eastwood film, Bird, a biography about Charlie Parker. Stanley Crouch wrote “He is a singular voice who has never sacrificed the fluidity of his melody making, and is held in high esteem by musicians both long seasoned and young.”
Ben Riley’s Monk Legacy Septet pays tribute to Thelonious Monk, without a piano! 2004 marked the 40th anniversary of the first of 166 nights that Riley performed with Monk at the Village Vanguard. Riley's Septet explores Monk's rich palette of harmonies and rhythms with varying combinations of four horns and guitar along with bass and drums.
The 7-piece Mingus Dynasty has joined the family of the Mingus Big Band and The Charles Mingus Orchestra in bringing the great legacy of Mingus composition to audiences around the world. Mingus Dynasty members include: Craig Handy, Wayne Escoffery, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Alex Sipiagin, Boris Kozlov, Donald Edwards, Kenny Drew Jr.
Luciana Souza, 2002 and 2003 Grammy Awards nominee, hails from Săo Paulo, Brazil, where she grew up in a family of musicians. She spent four years on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she had received a bachelor's degree in jazz composition. A respected composer and performer, she has appeared and recorded with renowned jazz musicians and composers of new music, including Danilo Perez, Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Schneider, Kenny Werner, John Patitucci, and Osvaldo Golijov. Ms. Souza has been crossing over into classical music. She is soloist on two very successful pieces by contemporary classical composer Golijov, and has performed with the Bach Akademie in Stuttgart, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and both the Los Angeles and Brooklyn Philharmonic orchestras. She has sung Manuel de Falla's "El Amor Brujo" with the Atlanta Symphony, under Robert Spano, and with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Roberto Minczuk.
Seashellist Steve Turre, one of the world's preeminent jazz innovators and trombonists, has consistently won both the Readers' and Critics' polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz for Best Trombone and for Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (shells). In 1972 Steve Turre's career picked up momentum when Ray Charles hired him to go on tour. A year later Turre's mentor Woody Shaw brought him into Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After his tenure with Blakey, Turre went on to work with a diverse list of musicians from the jazz, Latin, and pop worlds, including Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson and Herbie Hancock. In addition to performing as a member of the Saturday Night Live Band since 1984, Turre leads several different ensembles. In the Summer of 2000, Telarc released In The Spur of the Moment. This recording features Steve with three different quartets, each with a different and distinct master pianist: Ray Charles, Chucho Valdes, and Stephen Scott.
Bill Charlap’s style has been described variously as hard swinging, romantic or rigorous He studied with jazz pianist Jack Reilly, classical pianist Eleanor Hancock, and jazz great (and distant cousin) Dick Hyman, he went on to college—but only temporarily. He auditioned for Gerry Milligan’s band, and was on his way. He has been influenced, he claims, by every musician he has ever worked with, including the members of his current trio, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington (no relation).
Joe Lovano’s reputation as one of the great tenor saxophonists performing today stems from his fearless ability to challenge and push the conceptual and thematic choices he makes in a quest for new modes of artistic expression and new takes on what defines the jazz idiom. Recent highlights of his many awards and accolades include “Jazz Album of the Year” for 52nd Street Themes; 2001 Down Beat Critic’s Poll Winner for “Musician of the Year”; 2001 Jazz Journalists Association Critic’s Choice Awards Winner for “Musician of the Year” and “Jazz Album of the Year” for 52nd Street Themes. His most recent album, At the Vanguard, was recorded live at the legendary Village Vanguard.
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