JEFF JENKINS
Jeff Jenkins – Piano | Darryl White – Trumpet, Flugelhorn | Dale Black – Acoustic Bass | Jeffrey Johnson – Drums
Omaha-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator Jeff Jenkins was recently a professor of music in the Thompson Jazz Studies Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.Grounded in a wide range of jazz styles, he has released seven original CDs in the last 15 years, while appearing as a featured player on dozens more. Throughout his career Jenkins has appeared locally, nationally and internationally in festivals and clubs with his eponymous ensembles, or as a guest artist with jazz greats including Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Harris, Clark Terry, The New York Voices, Bobby Hutcherson, and John Abercrombie, among others. A product of the acclaimed jazz program at the University of North Texas, Jenkins continued his piano studies in the New York City studios of Fred Hirsch, Richie Beirach, and Kenny Barron. Based in Manhattan in the 1980s, Jenkins performed in noted jazz venues throughout the city, and appeared as principal pianist forseveral Broadway musicals. A gifted bandleader and in-demand sideman across Colorado, Omaha, and the western region, Jenkins also mixes and produces music professionally in his Mixdown Sound recording studio.
Darryl White’s performance experiences include a wide range of idioms. He has appeared as guest soloist with the Omaha Symphony, Lincoln Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Mesa Chamber Orchestra, Grand Junction Symphony, Lake Forest Chamber Orchestra and many other solo appearances across the nation. He has also appeared as guest soloist for several international festivals including the International Brass Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Montreux Jazz Festival, the International Women’s Brass Conference, the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the Brandon Jazz Festival, the New Mexico Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival and Roaring Fork Jazz Festival in Aspen, Colorado as well as with college jazz bands and high schools across the continent. He can be heard on several recordings including performances with the Denver Brass, “Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue” on Centaur Records, 1997; and “America, The Golden Dream” on Delos International, 1996. He can also be heard on the Capri Record Label with jazz tenor saxophonist Keith Oxman on a 1997 release entitled “Out on a Whim and a 1999 release entitled “Hard Times”. White currently has three solo recordings released. The first is a 1999 release entitled, “Ancient Memories,” and a 2002 release entitled “In the Fullness of Time”. The 2002 release features several original compositions including “Lil I” featured on the PBS special “New Beginnings”. Lastly, White released his first classical recording, “Resonance” (2007) which features ECM recording artist/pianist Art Lande.
Born in Wichita Kansas Dale began playing the clarinet at 8 years old and later became interested in string instruments taking on the upright bass and later the electric bass in church. In 2008 Dale moved to Los Angeles California where he was embraced for his contributions to the west coast scene and beyond. Working with a myriad of artist including Terence Blanchard, Kamasi Washington, Marcus Belgrave, Terrace Martin, Kenny Burrell and the Late Solomon Burke to name a few. Dale continues to record as well as tour and has currently been working on releasing his much-antisipated debut album this fall.
A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina and a recent transplant to the Omaha area, Jeffery Johnson is a soulful, swinging presence on the scene. Steeped in the tradition of gospel music as a child, Johnson eventually attended the University of North Carolina at Pembroke to pursue a B.A. in Music with a concentration in Jazz Studies. During his undergraduate program, Jeffery played R&B, Gospel, and Jazz throughout North Carolina, and embarked on another musical journey to obtain his M.M. in Jazz Studies at North Carolina Central University under the direction of Dr. Ira Wiggins, where he was fortunate to learn from Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robert Sage Wilber was born on March 15, 1928 in New York City. He became interested in jazz at the age of three when his father brought home a recording of Duke Ellington’s song Mood Indigo. In 1935, the family moved to the affluent suburb of Scarsdale, New York. At the age of thirteen he began formal clarinet study under his first teacher, Willard Briggs. He began listening to jazz from New Orleans, Kansas City, and Chicago by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Eddie Condon, and Frank Teschemacher. He played jazz in high school and with his friends formed a hot club, listening and jamming to records and graduated from high school in 1945.
Set on becoming a musician he attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York in 1945. After one term however, Bob dropped out and moved back to New York City to hang out on 52 Street and in Greenwich Village. He formed the Wildcats, with pianist Dick Wellstood and trombonist Eddie Hubble and they became the first jazz group in New York to do what Lu Watters and Turk Murphy had been doing on the Coast. They played the music of the Hot Five, the Red Hot Peppers and the Creole Jazz Band. The group performed regularly at Jimmy Ryan’s club over the next two years and was recorded in 1947 by Ramp-art Records.
Wilber worked with some of the best traditional jazz musicians of the era, including Muggsy Spanier, Baby Dodds, Danny Barker, Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, George Wettling, Jimmy McPartland, Wild Bill Davison, and James P. Johnson. Fascinated with Sidney Bechet, in 1944 at sixteen, he met Bechet through Mezz Mezzrow and became Bechet’s pupil. He began studying both clarinet and soprano saxophone under his tutelage and eventually lived with him for several months.
Bob recorded for Columbia Records, Commodore, and Circle with Bechet and with his own group in the late 1940s. 1948 saw him forming a trio and playing Dixieland at intermissions at the Savoy Café in Boston, Massachusetts. Eventually, he expanded the band to a sextet and gained a strong following in the city, leading to opportunities in New York City.
Clarinet and soprano saxophonist Bob Wilber, who continued playing right up until 2017, transitioned on August 4, 2019 at age 91 in Chipping Campden, England.
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REBECCA KILGORE TRIO
Rebecca Kilgore, Vocals | Randy Porter, Piano | Tom Wakeling, Bass
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Three Wishes
The Baroness queried Nelson Boyd what would his three wishes would be and his response was:
- “Well, the first one, I would like to have freedom – through money.”
- “Then, I would like to make some people happy.”
- “Then, I’d like to be true to God.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Carri Coltrane was born Carrie Thompson in Phoenix, Arizona on March 14, 1953. Singing professionally since childhood, she was only nine when she joined Wallace & Ladmo, a children’s program that was founded by her father. The program aired in the Phoenix Area from 1954 to 1989 and she remained with the show until she reached adolescence and outgrew her role as a little girl singer.
She moved to Seattle, Washington in 1979 and went on to sing with various rock and pop bands as an adult, and did quite a few jingles for commercials along the way. While living in Seattle she met Eugene McDaniels who really encouraged her to explore straight-ahead jazz. Carri eventually became friends and partners with McDaniels and formed Numoon Publishing with him. They have put out several allbums on the Numoon label that included jazz, contemporary pop and Christmas music.
Carri released her self-titled debut album in 1980 under her birth name. It wasn’t until 1986 that she started going by Carri Coltrane as an homage to the tenor saxophonist. She moved to New England in 1987.
Vocalist Carri Coltrane, whose subtle waifish introspection continues to perform, record and publish her music.
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