Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fernando Álvarez Ariza was born in Santander, Columbia on October 6, 1977. He began his musical studies at the artistic culture department of Santander DICAS and continued his studies in harmony with Rito Mantilla and classical guitar with Silvio Martinez at the Universidad Industrial de Santander. He graduated with a Bachelor in music degree and took a workshop at Los Angeles International Christian University, strengthening his studies in electric guitar, jazz fundamentals, and production. He later received tutoring from guitarists Bruce Saunders and Pino Marrone.
He has done rock projects with the group Osmosis from Bucaramanga, Santander, with whom he recorded a single called Atrás de los Sueños with the collaboration of guitarist Mauricio Espinoza. His jazz projects include the staging of the work Santandereano by bassist José “Chepe” Ariza at the national festival Jazz al Parque in Bogotá.
He has shared the stage with Bruce Saunders, Eric Halvorson, Javier Colina, Héctor Martignon, Antonio Arnedo, Oscar Acevedo, Chepe Ariza, Gabriel Rondón, Sebastián Monsalve, Pacho Dávila, Ricardo Uribe, Oscar Serrano Prada, Lalo Ariza, Germán Sandoval, Sincopa Jazz Band, among others.
His recent album, Arquitectura Sonora, features Cuban saxophonist Leonardo Molina and trumpeter Jorge Méndez. He fuses electronic textures, improvisation, and elements of Colombian folk and urban culture. He has taught at the Gentil Montaña Foundation, Corporación Cristiana Universitaria, Los Angeles International Christian University, and is currently a professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Pamplona, Colombia.
More Posts: bandleader,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roxana Amed was born October 5, 1963 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The singer-songwriter blends South American folk traditions with art rock and modern jazz. Considered as one of the most important voices in South American music.
Once in the United States, she collaborated with musicians based in New York City as Guillermo Klein, Emilio Solla, Leo Genovese, Sofia Rei, and pianist/composer Frank Carlberg. She has performed at The Jazz Gallery, Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, Jazz Standard, The Stone, Rockwood Music Hall, Smalls, and Mezzrow.
In 2017 was commissioned, with Brazilian pianist André Mehmari, to pay tribute to the legendary Astor Piazzolla at the Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival. An album of the performance is set to be released in 2021.
Amed is a post-graduate in Contemporary Literature in Spanish Language, as well as a vocal instructor and clinician. For ten years she has led a vocal workshop for hundreds of jazz vocalists at the Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival.
She worked on a special project for the CMA grant, which resulted in Becoming Human, her eleventh album. It illustrates the human journey and her own experience as an artist. Vocalist, composer, producer Roxana Amed is a full-time Voice Professor at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Jay Levine was born on October 4, 1938 in Concord, New Hampshire and began playing the piano at the age of five, trombone in his early teens. Attending Boston University, graduating with a degree in music in 1960, he also studied privately with Jaki Byard, Hall Overton and Herb Pomeroy.
Moving to New York City in the Sixties he freelanced and then played with musicians Houston Person, Mongo Santamaría, and Willie Bobo from 1971 to 1974. Levine then moved to San Francisco, California and played with Woody Shaw for two years. His debut album was made as a leader for Catalyst Records in 1976.
He went on to play with the Blue Mitchell/Harold Land Quintet, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson, Luis Gasca, and Cal Tjader. From 1980 to 1983, he concentrated on valve trombone, but then returned to playing mainly the piano. He then led his own bands, and recorded for Concord as a leader in 1983 and 1985. From 1992 Mark was part of Henderson’s big band. He created a new trio in 1996 and recorded it for his own, eponymous label. His Latin jazz group, Que Calor, was formed in 1997.
He put on his educator hat in 1970, teaching in addition to private lessons at Diablo Valley College, Mills College, Antioch University in San Francisco, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sonoma State University, and the JazzSchool in Berkeley. Levine wrote two method books: The Jazz Piano Book, and The Jazz Theory Book.
Pianist, trombonist, composer, author and educator Mark Levine, whose album Isla was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album, died of pneumonia on January 27, 2022 at the age of 83.
More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,composer,educator,history,instrumental,jazz,music,producer,trombone
NICOLE HENRY
Nicole Henry is a jazz vocalist out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her debut release, The Nearness of You received critical acclaim and earned Henry the “Best New Jazz Artist” award by HMV Japan and landed on most jazz radio playlists in the United States. Henry’s Teach Me Tonight reached #1 in Japan and was named HMV Japan’s Best Vocal Jazz Album of 2005. She won the 2013 Soul Train Music Award for Best Traditional Jazz Performance.
She has recorded eight albums to date with her latest Time to Love Again hit the online shelf in 2021. She continually performs around the States. From classic jazz to classic soul, and a sprinkling of everything in between, Nicole Henry will perform material including “A Lot of Living to Do,” “You Taught My Heart to Sing,” and more.
Nicole has also enjoyed four national “TOP 10” CDs in the U.S., Japan and the U.K. and has headlined stages in 20 countries throughout her career garnering worldwide rave reviews by Japan Times, El Pais, DownBeat, Essence and more. Among her numerous accolades, Henry received the Soul Train Award for “Best Traditional Jazz Performance” & Artist” by HMV Japan, and “Best Solo Musician” by the Miami New Times.
The Band:
Nicole Henry ~ Vocals
Pete Wallace ~ Piano
Bass ~ James McCoy
Trumpet ~ Jean Caze
Drums ~ TBD
Tickets: $60.50 ~ $65.50 (fees included)
More Posts: adventure,bandleader,club,genius,instrumental,jazz,music,preserving,travel,vocal
DEE DANIELS QUARTET
Music is not a just-discovered thing for her. She has a firm foundation in the church, singing in a church choir when she was younger. She was then attracted to the soul-touching and enticing beauty of R&B.
She is in tune with the music she sings, respecting its integrities and demanding that its stories are as clear as intended, adding her own coolness and spicing to give it her unique personal energy.
In her spirit is a love for visual art — she was a high-school art teacher — but music has this almost seductive tug, and all are forgiven for falling deeply for it as Dee did. Music education is a passion. She inspires students of voice through masterclasses, workshops, and scholarship offerings.
The words of Mary Kunz of The Buffalo News say a lot about the experience of Dee Daniels’ vocal artistry: “Dee Daniels’ voice brings to mind all the most delirious adjectives: Honeyed. Sweet. Low, rich, smooth, and slow as molasses.” David A. Frye’s words about the singer are precious ones: “The Great American Songbook is in her DNA.”
Tickets: $15.00 ~ $35.00 | Student ~ General
More Posts: adventure,bandleader,genius,instrumental,jazz,music,preserving,travel,vocal