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| Karrin Allison, Clarenece Penn, Larry Grenadier, Anat Cohen, Mark Whitfield, Randy Brecker, and Peter Martin (Photo Credit: Jimmy Katz) |
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the
world-renowned Newport Jazz Festival® (August 1-3, 2014),
clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, vocalist/pianist Karrin Allyson, bassists
Larry Grenadier and Ben Allison, pianist Peter Martin, guitarist Mark
Whitfield, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and drummer Clarence Penn embark on the
17-city "Newport Jazz Festival®: Now 60" Tour, February 8 - March 30,
2014, with more dates during June, July and August in North America and Europe.
This
multi-gender, multi-national and multi-generational group of musicians was
especially selected by festival founder/producer George Wein, in conjunction
with his long-time associates and the tour's producers, Danny Melnick of
Absolutely Live Entertainment, LLC and Darlene Chan of FestivalWest, Inc., to
represent the incredible diversity of talent that the Newport Jazz Festival®
has presented over the last six decades. (Melnick is also the associate
producer of the Newport Jazz Festival®.)
"I've
put together some excellent all-star ensembles in the past, but this group is
really special to me," says Wein. "These musicians come from
different parts of the country, different parts of the world and from different
eras of jazz and they offer an excellent census of where the music has been,
where it is and where it's going. Together, they represent the festival's
60-year goal: to bring the best and brightest jazz musicians to present musical
experiences that fans will remember for a lifetime."
The tour
venues include Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, Emerson Concert Hall, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA; Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA; the Merriam
Theater, Philadelphia, PA; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA; Old Town
School Of Folk Music, Chicago, Il; and the Jazz Standard, New York, NY (See
full schedule below)
THE
ARTISTS
Born in
Tel Aviv, Israel, clarinet/tenor saxophonist Anat Cohen, comes from a musical
family that includes her brothers, saxophonist Yuval and trumpeter Avishai. She
studied clarinet at the age of 12, and attended the Tel Aviv School for the
Arts, the "Thelma Yellin" High School for the Arts and the Jaffa
Music Conservatory. She played tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force Band,
from 1993 to 1995, enrolled at the Berklee School of Music, and moved to New
York City in 1999, where she worked with a number of bands including the Diva
Jazz Orchestra, drummer Dudu Da Fonseca's Samba Jazz Quintet and the Choro
Ensemble. In 2005, she created her own label, Anzic Records, and released Noir
and Poetica (2007), Notes from the Village (2008), and Clarinetwork: Live at
the Village Vanguard(2010). Hailed by Nat Hentoff as a musician who
"...tells stories from her own experiences that are so deeply felt that
they are very likely to connect listeners to their own dreams, desires and
longings," Cohen's latest CDs, Claroscuro(2012), brilliantly blends jazz
with New Orleans, African and Brazilian genres, and Tightrope (2013), her
fourth release with her two brothers, together called the 3 Cohens.
The
Philadelphia-born Randy Brecker - who constituted one-half of the famed Brecker
Brothers Band with his saxophonist brother, Michael - has been one of the most diverse and in-demand
trumpeters of the last four decades. He grew up playing in R&B, soul and
rock bands in Philadelphia, and was influenced by Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown,
Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis. He attended Indiana University from 1963 to
1965, where he played with Booker T. and The MG's and IU Big Band. He moved to
New York City the next year, and worked with Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz
Orchestra, the Duke Pearson Big Band, recorded two albums with Blood, Sweat and
Tears, and worked in Horace Silver's quintet. Brecker was also a member of Art
Blakey's Jazz Messengers and co-founded the seminal jazz fusion group,
Dreams. With over 20 recordings as a
leader to his credit, Brecker's latest CDs include Randy Brecker Plays Wlodek
Pawlik's Night in Calisia (2013) and Brecker Brothers Band Reunion (2013).
Known as
"The Marksman" when he burst on the scene during the "Young Lions" decade of the
nineties, guitarist Mark Whitfield takes the approaches of George Benson, Grant
Green and Kenny Burrell to a whole new level. A graduate of the Berklee College
of Music, Whitfield has worked with a wide variety of musicians, from Dizzy
Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Carmen McRae, to Wynton Marsalis, Ray Charles and
Betty Carter. He's also worked with many pop stars including Sting, Jill Scott,
and Mary J. Blige. He released his debut
CD, The Marksman in 1990, and has recorded over 11 releases as a leader,
including his latest, Songs of Wonder(2009), a tribute to Stevie Wonder. He
toured with the band Jazz Futures, which was created in 1991 by George Wein to
celebrate the next generation of jazz.
Born in
Great Bend, Kansas, raised in Omaha, Nebraska and Northern California, Karrin
Allyson, "... brings a timbre that is part ice and part grain - incisive,
original, and emotionally convincing" according to critic Gary Giddins.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1987 with a degree in
classical piano and a minor in French, Allyson, gigged at a Kansas City
nightclub, and signed with Concord Records in 1992, which released her debut
recording, I Didn't Know About You. She has since recorded over 10 CDs as a
leader including Footprints (2006), Imagina: Songs of Brazil (2008), Round
Midnight (2011) and a holiday pleaser, Yuletide Hideaway (2013).
Hailing
from St. Louis, Missouri, pianist Peter Martin is one of the most rooted and
revelatory musicians on the scene. The son of parents who were classical
musicians, Martin studied the violin and the piano at the age of three. After
he graduated from high school, he received the Presidential Scholar in the Arts
award from President Reagan, attended The Juilliard School in New York on
scholarship, where he studied with Martin Canin, and moved to New Orleans in 1990, where he has worked
with Nicholas Payton, Germaine Bazzle, Chris Thomas, Alvin Batiste, Brian Blade
and Victor Goines. Martin toured and
recorded with artists such as Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves,
Chris Botti, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, and the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra. He also
performed with the Berlin Philharmonic with Simon Rattle, the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Sydney Symphony. With over five
CDs as a leader, his latest record, Set of Five (2009), is a solo piano tour de
force.
Born in
San Francisco, bassist Larry Grenadier took up the trumpet at the age of 10
before switching to the bass at 12. Four
years later, he was playing at various gigs around his hometown, and sat in
with Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, and George Cables.
Grenadier earned a Bachelor's Degree from Stanford University in 1989, and
worked with Stan Getz, who was Artist-in-Residence at the University. Grenadier
moved to Boston and worked with Gary Burton, and later moved to New York City
in 1991, where his work as a sideman included gigs with his wife, Rebecca
Martin, Joshua Redman, John Scofield, Charles Lloyd, Mark Turner and Pat
Metheny. He's been a member of pianist Brad Mehldau's trio since 2004. His CDs
as a co-leader include Year of the Snake (w/Mark Turner and Jeff Ballard, 2012)
and Costumes are Mandatory (w/Ethan Iverson, Lee Konitz and Jorge Rossy, 2013).
A native
of Detroit, Michigan, and a graduate of Interlochen Academy, Clarence Penn
attended the University of Miami and Virginia Commonwealth University, where
Ellis Marsalis was a faculty member. He moved to New York City in 1991 and was
hired by Betty Carter. Penn has worked with Stanley Clarke. Christian McBride,
Michael Brecker, Dizzy Gillespie, Luciana Souza, Gary Burton, Joshua Redman,
Richard Galliano, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charlie Haden, Makoto Ozone and Maria
Schneider. His CDs as a leader include Penn's Landing (1997), Play-Penn(2001),
Saomaye(2002), A Master's Diary (2012) and Dali in Cobble Hill (2012).
Hailed
by the Boston Globe as one of "... today's best young jazz
musicians," bassist Ben Allison is one of the most ubiquitous bassists on
the scene. The New Haven, Connecticut native has worked with an impressive and
diverse array of artists, from Lee Konitz and Joe Lovano, to performance artist
Joey Arias and US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. Allison's 10 CDs as a leader
include Seven Arrows (1996), Medicine Wheel (1998), Third Eye (1999), Riding
the Nuclear Tiger (2001), Peace Pipe (2002),Buzz (2004), Cowboy Justice (2006),
Little Things Run the World (2008), Think Free(2009), and Action-Refraction
(2011). Allison's The Stars Look Very
Different Today,is scheduled for release in December.
Featuring
a diverse group of improvisers brought
together to celebrate the anniversary of a legendary festival, these dates will
no doubt present jazz with one foot in its proud past, and another pointing
toward its bright future.
NEWPORT
JAZZ FESTIVAL®: NOW 60 2014
TOUR*
February 8 / Emory University, Atlanta, GA
February 13 / Berklee
Performance Center, Boston, MA
February 15 / Manchester
Craftsmen's Guild, Pittsburgh, PA
February 16 /Music
Center at Strathmore, N. Bethesda, MD
March 4 / Jazz
Standard, NYC, NY
March 5 / Jazz
Standard. NYC, NY
March 6 / Jazz
Standard, NYC, NY
March 7 / Jazz
Standard, NYC, NY
March 8 / Jazz
Standard, NYC, NY
March 9 / Merriam
Theater, Philadelphia,
PA
March 14 / Lobero
Theatre, Santa
Barbara, CA
March 15 / Walt
Disney Concert Hall, Los
Angeles, CA
March 20 / Missouri
Theatre, Columbia,
MO
March 21 / SW Missouri State, Springfield,
MO
March 22 / Gem
Theater, Kansas
City
March 23 / Old Town
School of Folk Music, Chicago,
IL
March 26 / Lake Michigan College, Benton
Harbor, MI
March 27 / Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI
March 28 / Capitol
Center, Madison,
WI
March 29 / Harris
Theatre, Brookfield,
WI
March 30 / Sheldon
Concert Hall,
TOUR
MUSICIANS
Anat
Cohen - musical director, clarinet, tenor saxophone
Karrin
Allyson - vocals, piano
Randy
Brecker - trumpet
Mark
Whitfield - guitar
Peter
Martin - piano (all dates except February 15)
Clarence
Penn - drums
Larry
Grenadier - bass (all dates except March 4-15)
Bruce
Barth - piano (February 15 only)
Ben
Allison - bass (March 4-15 only)
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