Daily Dose OF Jazz…
Jan Lundgren was born on March 22, 1966 in Olofstrom, Sweden and raised in Ronneby in the south of the country. He began learning the piano at the age of five and moved to Malmo in 1986 to study at the Academy of Music. He graduated in 1990, later becoming a lecturer at the Academy.
His group, the Jan Lundgren Trio broke through in 1997 with the album Swedish Standards, winning Orkesterjournalen’s Golden Record prize in the same year. In 2007, he became the first Scandinavian jazz pianist to be named an International Steinway Artist.
Since the early ‘90s, Jan has worked with a variety of Sweden’s leading artists both in the studio and/or at concerts such as Povel Ramel, Putte Wickman, Bengan Janson, Jason Diakité, Peter Asplund and Monica Zetterlund to name a few. He has also worked with Johnny Griffin, Mark Murphy, Herb Geller, Joe LaBarbera, Scott Hamilton, Andy Martin, Bill Perkins, Peter Washington, Billy Drummond, Deborah Brown, Lee Konitz, and Stacey Kent among numerous others.
Lundgren has recorded some 40 discs as a leader, under his own name since 1994 on labels including ACT, Fresh Sound, Marshmallow, Sittel, Four Leaf Clover, Volenza, Alfa, Gemini and Bee Jazz. As a sideman, Lundgren has been involved in dozens of other recordings across a broad range of labels.
In 2010, together with Thomas Lantz, Jan founded the annual Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, for which he is Artistic Director. YSJF, has hosted Quincy Jones, Hugh Masekela, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hiromi, Pat Martino, Youn Sun Nah, Benny Golson, Enrico Pieranunzi, Tomasz Stanko, Kenny Barron, Elina Duni, Fabrizio Bosso, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bobo Stenson, Nils Landgren, Benny Green and Eliane Elias, Charles Lloyd, John Scofied, Abdullah Ibrahim, Dianne Schuur, Joshua Redman, Enrico Rava and Roy Hargrove. Pianist Jan Lundgren continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Martina Almgren was born on March 20, 1962 in Sweden and was surrounded by music as a child. She started playing the piano, then soon followed with the flute. In her late teens she was caught entirely by the drums, that became her primary instrument, along with the freedom in jazz and improvised music. It was some years later that she began composing her own music.
A colorful addition on the contemporary Swedish jazz scene, Almgren is passionate about playful improvisation, enticing rhythms and expressive melodies. This is reflective in her drumming as well as her compositions. She heads her own band, Martina Almgren Quartet, and has released four albums since 1999.
Martina together with Owe Almgren lead the Oh Yeah Orchestra comprised of ten of the top jazz musicians on the Swedish scene. In 2009 she was commissioned to compose for Swedish Jazz Celebration for Oh Yeah Orchestra. The album with the music “Freedom of Movement” was released in 2011. She expanded her performing on the European scene in 2007 when she teamed up with Scottish saxophonist Laura Macdonald on their album Open Book in 2008 followed by another in 2012.
She has been a part of Tom Bancroft´s Band of Eden, Nikki Iles Quintet and MOZ Trio that released their debut album “Sparkling Water, Please” released on the new Swedish label Oh Yeah Records in 2013. Drummer and composer Martina Almgren teaches improvisation classes at the Academy of Music and Drama at the University in Gothenburg, performs, records and tours.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eliane Elias was born on March 19, 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and her musical talents began to show at an early age. She started studying piano at age seven, and by age twelve was transcribing solos from the great jazz masters. Fifteen, saw her teaching piano and improvisation and her performing career began at age seventeen, working with Brazilian singer/songwriter Toquinho and the poet Vinicius de Moraes.
In 1981, she headed for New York and a year later landed a spot in the acclaimed group Steps Ahead. In 1988 she was voted Best New Talent in the Critics Poll of Jazziz magazine, together with Herbie Hancock she was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Jazz Solo Performance” category for her 1995 release, Solos and Duets, received the Downbeat Readers Poll’s “Best Jazz Album” for her recording The Three Americas and has been named in five other categories: Beyond Musician, Best Composer, Jazz Pianist, Female Vocalist, and Musician of the Year.
Elias has recorded with RCA Victor, Bluebird, Denon, Manhattan, Blue Note, EMI, Concord/Picante, ECM and Savoy Jazz spanning over twenty albums to date. She has recorded two albums solely dedicated to the works of the composer, Plays Jobim and Sings Jobim. Her 1998 release, Eliane Elias Sings Jobim, winning Best Vocal Album in Japan and was awarded Best Brazilian Album in the Jazziz Critics Poll. She has been featured in a Calle 54 documentary, received several Grammy nominations for Best Latin Jazz Album, and recorded with Denyce Graves on The Lost Days.
On her first album titled “Amanda” released in 1984 she collaborated with Randy Brecker and shortly thereafter she began her solo career. She has also collaborated with bassist Marc Johnson on the album Swept Away. Pianist, singer, arranger and songwriter Eliane Elias, known for her distinctive blend of her Brazilian roots with voice, jazz and classical music, continues to compose, record, perform and tour.
Dose A Day – Blues Away
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Martin Bejerano was born in Miami, Florida on March 9th of Afro-Cuban heritage and began his professional music career at age fifteen, when he began playing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” concerto with the Mexican-American Bi-National Symphony while still in high school. He went on to graduate from the New World School of the Arts, Florida State University and the University of Miami with a Masters in jazz performance.
In 2000 Martin moved to New York City and in less than a year joined drummer Roy Haynes’ band and two years later was a part of guitarist Russell Malone’s quartet. He released his debut album as leader, titled Evolution/Revolution in 2007, followed by Potential Energy in 2013. He has done sideman duties as well on six projects.
In 2010 he was awarded a Chamber Music America commission for a new jazz work, has had several compositions published in Ignacio Berroa’s “Groovin’ in Clave” instructional drum book and has attended the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony.
Martin has also performed with Kenny Garrett, James Moody, Lonnie Plaxico, Jimmy Heath, Ignacio Berroa, Mingus Big Band, Marcus Printup, Marcus Strickland, and even trading choruses with the legendary Chick Corea. In between performing and recording with the Haynes and Malone bands, pianist Martin Bejerano is an Assistant Professor of jazz piano at the University of Miami Frost School of Music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Orbert Davis was born on March 8, 1960 in Chicago and raised in Momence, Illinois. He began playing trumpet around the age of ten, but was not formally instructed until Charles Danish, an elementary school teacher, found him a trumpet teacher and drove him to lessons. He eventually graduated with a degree in trumpet performance from DePaul University and then received a master’s degree in jazz pedagogy from Northwestern University.
Davis has recorded over 3000 television and radio commercials, released three studio albums, very active in music education, particularly with at-risk students, is co-founder and director of MusicAlive!, an initiative associated with the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, which he also founded and directs.
Winner of the 1995 Cognac Hennessy National Jazz Search, Orbert was chosen as one of Chicago Tribune’s “1995 Arts People of the Year” and Chicago Magazine named him “Y2k Best Trumpeter in Chicago”.
One of Chicago’s busiest and most sought after musician, the jazz trumpeter has performed and/or recorded many projects for such notable artists as Ramsey Lewis, Charles Earland, Kurt Elling, Bob Mamet and William Russo’s Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Wynton Marsalis, TS Monk, Stevie Wonder, Dr. John, Kurt Elling, Ernie Watts, Ramsey Lewis, Grover Washington Jr. and The Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra. Davis performs regularly with various groups under his own name, including his critically acclaimed ensemble “Orbert Davis with Strings Attached”.
He was featured soloist at the 1996 Chicago Jazz Festival, performing Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ “Sketches of Spain”. In October 1999, along with Jon Faddis and Lester Bowie, Orbert was a featured performer for the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s “Tribute to Louis Armstrong: Legacy for the Millennium” where he performed compositions from Armstrong’s Hot 5 and Hot 7 recordings.
Along with his partner/manager Mark Ingram, Davis owns and operates Orbark Productions, whose credits include projects for Atlantic, Capitol, CBS, Epic, MCA and the Warner Brothers record labels. He has scored and performed on and off camera for such films as A League Of Their Own, The Babe and Road To Perdition. Trumpeter, composer, bandleader and educator Orbert Davis is currently an Associate Professor of music at the University of Illinois at Chicago and conducts and records the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic in between recording as a leader.
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