Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles William Porter was born May 10, 1978 in Boynton Beach, Florida. He studied trumpet at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Paris Conservatory. His mentors include Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, Raymond Mase, Guy Touvron, and Laurie Frink.
Porter started in the New York jazz scene in the 1990s while studying classical music under Wynton Marsalis at the Juilliard School. He became a long-standing member of the Absolute Ensemble, and is a frequent member of the Charlie Porter Quintet, The Alan Jones Sextet and the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra.
As a bandleader, he has toured as both a jazz and classical musician, and released his debut self-titled album, Charlie Porter, and a sophomore project Immigration Nation. As a sideman he has recorded some two dozen albums with Philip Glass, Absolute Ensemble, Paquito D’Rivera, Tristan Murail, Billy Martin, Anthony Coleman, Russ Spiegel, Majid Khaliq, Chuck Israels, Alan Jones, and Derek Hines.
As an educator he is currently based in Portland, Oregon and presently holds the position of adjunct professor of jazz trumpet at Portland State University. Trumpeter, composer and music educator Charlie Porter, who has won several trumpet competitions and awarded a Grammy for his collaboration on the Joyce DiDonato album Songplay, continues to perform, record and teach.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Meeco was born on May 2, 1976 in Berlin, Germany. As a young child he was heavily influenced by his father who played classical piano and his poet/artist mother, thereby making it completely natural to follow their footsteps. Beginning piano lessons at six years old, and after several years of studying classical music, he sought other musical outlets. After a friend introduced vintage Ella Fitzgerald, Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner records, he became enamored with Black American music.
Mentored by his close friend, the late New York pianist/singer Bob Lenox, he realized that the only important thing in music was creating the right feeling. He would go on to work with German producer Marco Meister, founding member of the group Terranova, Meeco gained invaluable studio experience producing his own music.
Over the course of his career Meeco has recorded with Benny Golson, Gregory Porter, Ron Carter, John Scofield, Hubert Laws, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, Kirk Whalum, Richard Bona, Casey Benjamin, Mary Stallings, Freddy Cole, Kevin Mahogany, Bennie Maupin, James Moody, Eddie Henderson, Shedrick Mitchell, David “Fathead” Newman, Eric Reed, Vincent Herring, Victor Lewis, Stefon Harris, Lionel Loueke, Cedar Walton, Charlie Mariano, David Friedman, just to name a few.
Not limiting himself to jazz, Meeco has also produced hip hop and soul legends Talib Kweli, Masta Ace, Smif n Wessun, Lil Fame of M.O.P., Yahzarah, Jean Baylor, DJ Stylewarz, along with Latin and pop genres Joe Bataan, Jane Birkin, Jaques Morelenbaum and Romero Lubambo.
Pianist, composer, producer, deejay and photographer Meeco, who has released seven albums to date, remains based between Berlin and Paris, France as he continues to expand his musical horizons.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
August Rosenbaum was born on April 30, 1987 in Copenhagen, Denmark into a family of artists. He has had an eclectic and passionate vision since he first started learning to play the piano. As the only one at elementary school recitals who would perform Thelonious Monk, Wu Tang Clan and Erik Satie, the piano prodigy shows with equal conviction many sides of his talent.
Rosenbaum has won two Danish Music Awards for his composing, performed at the acclaimed Sónar Festival, and has been shortlisted for both the Nordic Music Prize and the National Danish Critics’ Award. He has wona Grammy for Best Alternative Album at the 2018 Danish Music Awards.
He is also known for collaborations with artists like Quadron, Rhye and MØ, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and visual artist Jesper Just. He has been commissioned for works in film, theatre and performances at a.o. Palais De Tokyo, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Royal Danish Ballet.
Pianist, composer and record producer August Rosenbaum continues to explore and record music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jan Hammer was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on April 17, 1948 to a mother who was a well-known Czech singer, and his doctor father who worked his way through school playing vibraphone and bass guitar. He began playing the piano at the age of four with formal instruction starting two years later. He aspired to follow his father into medicine until a family friend convinced him to develop his musical talents instead.
Forming a jazz trio in high school, he performed and recorded throughout Eastern Europe at the age of fourteen. Upon entrance to the Prague Academy of Musical Arts, he completed many compulsory classes including harmony, counterpoint, music history, and classical composition. He moved to the United States and resolved to become a citizen after receiving a scholarship at Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Upon completion of his studies, Jan spent a year touring with Sarah Vaughan, recorded with Elvin Jones and Jeremy Steig, then moved to New York City in 1971 and joined the original lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Though he previously recorded as a leader and sideman, his debut solo album, The First Seven Days, dropped in 1975. He formed the Jan Hammer Group in 1976 to support the album tour, which received good reviews from both jazz and rock critics. During the mid 70s to early 80s he recorded and played with Joni Mitchell, Billy Cobham, Santana, Tommy Bolin, Harvey Mason and Stanley Clarke.
Returning to solo work he recorded an album in 1978, formed a new band, known as Hammer, and wrote theme song for a British television series. He formed Schon & Hammer, played benefit concerts, and has received three Grammys and an Emmy nomination. By the Nineties and well into the new millennium, he continued to score and compose for film and television. In 2018 he released his first album of new material in over 10 years: Seasons – Part 1.
Keyboardist, drummer, composer, and record producer Jan Hammer continues to produce and perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Susanne Alt was born April 15, 1978 in Würzburg, Germany to Hans-Joachim and Maria Alt. Her father is a composer, poet and piano teacher, and mother a guitar teacher. After studying classical piano and guitar with her parents, she began playing the saxophone at thirteen and successfully participated in several saxophone competitions.
While still in high-school she started taking lessons in classical saxophone at the Meistersingerkonservatorium Nuremberg between 1993 and 1995, becoming a full-time student there in the 1995–96 academic year. During this period Susanne began practicing jazz and after winning the Siemens-Jazz-Förderpreis, she moved to the Netherlands to continue her studies at the Hilversums Conservatorium. Returning to Germany for postgraduate studies, she enrolled in the Berlin University of the Arts in 2000.
Forming the Susanne Alt Quartet in 2003, in the following year she released her debut album, Nocturne at Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Five jazz albums later, she released the funk album Saxify in 2016, preceded by the 7-inch single Saxify. The album features 36 musicians, amongst them are Fred Wesley, Michael “Clip” Payne, Michael Hampton, Rodney “Skeet” Curtis, and Roger Smith of Tower Of Power.
Alt has collaborated with a number of notable musicians and ensembles and has also toured worldwide. Saxophonist and composer Susanne Alt is based in Amsterdam, and continues to pursue her desire for new musical experiences.
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