Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nick Lyons was born in New York City on November 7, 1982. He graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, then lived and actively played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Returning to New York he settled in Brooklyn in 2005 and collaborated with pianist and mentor Connie Crothers until her passing in 2016. This had a profound effect on his approach to music and improvisation. His other significant teachers and mentors have included Donald Byrd, Donald Walden, and Gary Bartz.
In 2022 he toured as a solo performer in Denmark and Germany, participated in 2 residencies in France and 1 in the US with the Paris-based group Mobke, appeared on 2 CD releases, “Triple Exposure” under his own name with Gene Perla and John McCutcheon and “Another Spring” with vocalist Cheryl Richards, performed often with bassist Adam Lane’s quartet, performed with pianist Harvey Diamond and bassist Cameron Brown.
In 2020 he joined the improvising ensemble Concerts from Cars which traveled the streets of NYC as a car caravan and performed from the street. They have performed at clubs all over New York. Lyons has been a sideman with William Parker, Sam Ospovat, Adam Caine and Federico Ughi as well as a duet with pianist Carol Liebowitz.
Among the many he has performed with are pianists Connie Crothers and Kazzrie Jaxen; trio with clarinetist Bill Payne and flutist Robert Dick, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Halperin, bassists Michael Bisio, Ken Filiano, Hill Greene, and Ratzo Harris, and drummers Roger Mancuso, Michael Wimberly, Billy Hart, and Billy Mintz.
Nick Lyons, who is an improvising alto saxophonist and composer has earned a reputation among peers for his musical imagination and original approach to playing both standard tunes and pure improvisation.
More Posts: bandleader,composer,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gordon Brisker was born on November 6, 1937 in Cincinnati, Ohio and began on piano as a child. He studied reed instruments at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Before enrolling in the Berklee College of Music he played with Ralph Marterie Following this he worked with Al Belletto, Bill Berry, and Woody Herman.
Moving to New York City he played with Louie Bellson and Gerry Mulligan. After a short time Brisker returned to Cincinnati, then moved to Los Angeles, California where he worked extensively as a studio musician.
From 1983 to 1985, Gordon taught at Berklee College of Music and during this time also arranged for Herb Pomeroy. After 1985 he returned to Los Angeles, recording extensively with Anita O’Day and Bobby Shew among others. He recorded several albums under his own name.
In the 1990s, Brisker moved to Australia and taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Tenor saxophonist Gordon Brisker died of pancreatic cancer on September 10, 2004 at the age of 66.
More Posts: educator,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Willem Breuker was born on November 4, 1944 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. During the mid-1960s, he played with percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg. He co-founded the Instant Composers Pool (ICP) with which he regularly performed until 1973. He was a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra and the Gunter Hampel Group.
In 1974 Willem led the 10-piece Willem Breuker Kollektief, which performed jazz in a theatrical and often unconventional manner, drawing elements from theater and vaudeville. They toured Western Europe, Russia, Australia, India, China, Japan, the United States, and Canada. In 1974, he founded the record label BV Haast. Beginning in 1977, he organized the annual Klap op de Vuurpijl (Top It All) festival in Amsterdam.
Haast Music Publishers, which he also operated, published his scores. In 1997, he produced with Carrie de Swaan Componist Kurt Weill, a 48-hour, 12-part radio documentary on the life of Kurt Weill. In 1999, BV Haast published the book Willem Breuker Kollektief: Celebrating 25 Years on the Road, which includes two albums.
Bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinetist Willem Breuker, who was knighted with the Order of the Netherlands Lion, died from lung cancer on July 23, 2010 in Amsterdam.
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,clarinet,composer,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
KIND OF BLUE: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF MILES DAVIS
Born in 1926, trumpeter Miles Davis was among the greatest innovators in jazz. This centennial concert celebrates his unparalleled musical legacy, which includes the albums Sketches of Spain, Tutu, Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, both Grammy Award nominees, will pay tribute to the magical pairing of Miles Davis and John Coltrane,
Miles was the quintessence of cool. A musical icon as well as a cultural one, Davis took his place in the pantheon by ceaselessly seeking and often ushering in the “next thing” in jazz while steadfastly refusing to be anyone but himself.
Finding his footing in the bebop world in the late 1940s and early 50s, Davis would go on to reinvent his sound many times—to the consternation of many of his followers and the delight of others. To Davis, what the audience might want never seemed to enter into the equation. Throughout his 65 years on the planet, he would set his course of discovery, a renegade in a restless search for new, uncharted places that the music could take him.
Featuring:
Ravi Coltrane ~ Tenor, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet
Ambrose Akinmusire ~ Trumpe
Veronica Swift ~ Vocal
Shelly Berg and the Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra
Conductor ~ Scott Flavin
Tickets: $52.65 – $152.10
More Posts: adventure,bandleader,clarinet,genius,instrumental,jazz,music,preserving,saxophone,travel,trumpet,vocal
The Jazz Voyager
Leaving the magic of Manhattan for the West Coast in preparation, this Jazz Voyager is heading to San Francisco, California to be in the audience at the renowned jazz venue, the Black Cat. Located in the Tenderloin, the supper club will be put to the test to see if their Maryland Crab Cakes asre as good as the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
This week I will witness a once in a lifetime music collaboration between three time Grammy nominated composer De’Sean Jones and Urban Art Orchestra with the drumming of Blaque Dynamite. The Detroit saxophonist is bringing lush textures of music to the stage.
A cover charge including fees range between $20.00 and $50.00. Dinner has its own cost.
More Posts: adventure,club,drums,ensembles,genius,jazz,music,preserving,saxophone,travel