 World-renowned
musicians play May 1-2
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for
33rd annual Paradise Valley Jazz Party |
| By
Patricia Myers |
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| Three
generations of jazz musicians will perform for
the 33rd annual Paradise Valley Jazz Party, May
1-2, at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Scottsdale-Phoenix,
4415 E. Paradise Village Parkway, Phoenix, AZ
85032.
The
roster ranges from gifted high school and college
students to an octogenarian who is still busy
performing and touring. The players are brought
from across the nation, many of whom tour globally,
including drummer Lewis Nash, a native of Phoenix.
The most senior musician will be 82-year-old saxophonist
Red Holloway, known for his entertaining rendition
of “Benny's from Heaven.” Among the
“youngsters” will be the talented
teens of The Young Sounds of Arizona big band,
and students from Arizona State University.
“Since
the Paradise Valley Jazz Party started in 1978,
the event has created a weekend of great music
and fun that includes national and international
jazz musicians, some of whom started their careers
way back in the 'olden days' when some of the
musicians they will be performing with were not
even born,” said producer and jazz impresario
Don Z. Miller, a founder and past president of
Jazz in AZ.
“The
jazz repertoire, which includes thousands of standards
and current tunes, supplies a common musical language
so the older and younger musicians can meet (some
of them for the first time) and create beautiful
music together on the Paradise Valley Jazz Party
stage. As the Talmud was passed down through the
generations, so jazz has (for a lesser number
of centuries)
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been
passed down from the beginning of it all in New
Orleans to jazz musicians in their 80s and on to
18-year-olds, so they all share the lingua franca
of this magical medium.”
He
explains, “The party is very different from
jazz concerts because we stage 16 hours of back-to-back
sets that are totally improvised, the way jazz started.
We bring in musicians from the East and West coasts
to play straight-ahead jazz, blues, swing and Latin.”
The party has been described as “one big jam
session” with continuous 45-minute sets during
three sessions, Saturday from noon to 4:30 p.m.,
Saturday night from 8 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday
from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
A
weekend badge for a reserved cabaret seat is $195,
including Sunday lunch. Individual sessions are
$55 for Saturday afternoon, $55 for Saturday night
and $95 for Sunday, including lunch. Badges may
be shared and can be reserved by calling 480-948-7993,
fax to 480-991-5732, email dzmiller@cox.net, purchased
online at
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| Lewis
Nash |
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| Instantseats.com/events/ParadiseValleyJazz.
More information is at www.paradisevalleyjazz.com.
Hotel rooms can be reserved at 800-362-2779 or
online at www. EmbassySuitesPhoenix-Scottsdale
(enter PVJ code for special party room rate).
At
every party, one of the musicians is selected
to be the guest of honor, and this year it's guitarist
Bruce Forman from the San Francisco Bay Area.
His guitar-playing was featured in Clint Eastwood's
Oscar-winning film, “Million Dollar Baby.”
His recording and performing credits also include
Bobby Hutcherson, Ray Brown, Freddie Hubbard,
Stanley Turrentine, Joe Henderson and Barney Kessel.
Known for bop-style phrasing and inventive harmonizations,
his ability to work in a variety of settings keeps
him in constant demand. He has 13 recordings as
leader, and was featured on Ray Brown's “Some
of My Best Friends Are Guitarists” CD, released
in 2002.
The
lineup also features popular returning musicians
such as saxophonists Houston Person, Mark Colby
and Eric Schneider, pianists Shelly Berg and Tamir
Hendelman, trombonists Wycliffe Gordon and Bill
Watrous, trumpeters Byron Stripling and Gilbert
Castellanos, bassists Jon Burr and John Clayton,
and drummers Akira Tana and Bobby Breaux.
The
roster also includes top Arizona talent such as
pianist Mike Kocour, flugelhornist Dmitri Mathey,
bassist John Sims, drummer John Lewis, ASU Sun
Devil Jazz Septette and The Young Sounds of Arizona
teen-age big band. |
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| Getz
tribute |
| continued
from previous page |
| that
year. I was going to have two weeks' worth of
lessons with Stan! Unfortunately, that never came
to pass because Stan became too weak from an illness
and he died on June 6, 1991.
“After
his death, I rededicated myself to studying his
music. I realized that I could still have my lessons
with Stan, but that they'd be through his recordings.
I started |
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to
get beyond simply playing the notes of his
solos,
and started getting into analysis of his solos to
try to understand the way in which
he thought. The more I would tear apart a solo and
reconstruct it, the more certain I was that Getz
was truly a musical genius.”
Playing
the music of Stan Getz at the April 7 Kerr concert
will be Greg Fishman on tenor saxophone, Judy Roberts
on piano and vocals, and guest Tucson musicians
Scott Black on bass and Pete Swan on drums. “We'll
be playing tunes from all periods of Stan's career,
from his |
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most popular hits like 'Desafinado' and 'The Girl
from Ipanema,' to the some of the lesser known
gems Stan loved to play, such as Johnny Mandel's
'El Cajon,' and Billy Strayhorn's 'Blood Count.'
”
Whether
you are a Getz aficionado or new to his music,
this concert will be a moving, informative and
memorable tribute to one of the greatest musical
geniuses of our time. Tickets are available at
the Kerr box office, 6110 N. Scottsdale Road;
by phone at 480-596-2660; and online at www.jazzinaz.org.
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