CHRIS BOTTI

Grammy-winning trumpeter Chris Botti has been one of the most popular instrumentalists in the world for nearly three decades; he’s collaborated with some of the biggest superstars on the planet, including Sting, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma, and others; he’s topped the jazz charts with numerous albums, earned multiple Gold and Platinum records, performed with symphony orchestras and on prestigious stages from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House.

In short, Chris Botti really needs no introduction. Yet with his Blue Note Records debut, he’s offering one anyway. Vol.1 is in many ways a fresh start for the trumpeter. Having successfully crossed over from jazz renown to pop stardom, Botti’s first album in more than a decade finds him crossing back, with a small group project focused on acoustic jazz and classic standards.

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DANIEL SPEARMAN QUARTET

Daniel was captivated by music, first playing the piano then picking up the trumpet when he attended Creative Arts High school under the tutelage of Jamal Dickerson. Daniel graduated with highest honors from the Oberlin College and Conservatory of music with degrees in Africana Studies and Jazz Piano. He has studied under Dan Wall, Sean Jones, Eddie Henderson and Sullivan Fortner. Artists that Daniel has worked with the Robin Eubanks Big Band, Sam Blakeslee Large Ensemble, Tito Puente Jr., Edgardo Cintron, The Four Tops, Eric Nolan, Angie Stone, and Justin Lee-Schultz.

Recently Daniel obtained his M.M. in orchestral trumpet from Pennsylvania State University where he studied under the tutelage of Dr. Langston Fitzgerald III, who served as the Principal trumpet player for the Baltimore Symphony prior to teaching at Penn State. He operates primarily in the Greater Philadelphia area performing regularly with a wide range of wedding, salsa, and jazz bands. He is the frontman for the band SoundEVR, which is dedicated to blurring the line between dance music and art music.

Cover: $5.00 Tuesday~Thursday | Friday & Saturday $10.00 per person

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Erkki Vilhelm Aho was born December 10, 1918 in Helsinki, Finland. He led the Rytmi orchestra which was formed in 1938. In the orchestra, Olavi Virta and Raija Valtonen acted as soloists, the pianist was Toivo Kärki and another famous member was Pauli Granfelt.

Aho’s orchestra was one of the top Finnish orchestras. During the Continuation War, his orchestra consisted of 14 men before it was taken over in 1945 by drummer Osmo “Ossi” Aalto. In the spring of 1944, the orchestra recorded American evergreens arranged by Kärjen Syväri.

Trombonist, trumpeter and conductor Erkki Aho died on August 19, 2002.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bhumibol Adulyadej was born on December 5, 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, however, the family moved to Bangkok, Thailand where she briefly attended Mater Dei school. In 1933 his mother took the family to Switzerland, where he continued his education at the École nouvelle de la Suisse romande in Lausanne. In 1934 he was given his first camera, which ignited his lifelong enthusiasm for photography.

Before he became King of Thailand, titled Rama IX, in 1942, Bhumibol became a jazz enthusiast, and started to play the saxophone, a passion that he kept throughout his life. He received his high-school diploma with a major in French literature, Latin, and Greek from the Gymnase Classique Cantonal de Lausanne, and by 1945 had begun studying sciences at the University of Lausanne, when World War II ended and the family was able to return to Thailand.

Adulyadej became an accomplished jazz baritone saxophone player and composer, playing Dixieland and New Orleans jazz. He also played the clarinet, trumpet, guitar, and piano. It is widely believed that his father may have inspired his passion for artistic pursuits at an early age. Initially focusing on classical music exclusively for two years but eventually switched to jazz since it allowed him to improvise more freely. It was during this time that he decided to specialize in wind instruments, especially the saxophone and clarinet. By 18 he started composing his own music with the first being Candlelight Blues.

He continued to compose even during his reign following his coronation in 1946. Bhumibol performed with Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, and Benny Carter. Throughout his life, Bhumibol wrote a total of 49 compositions, much of it is jazz swing but he also composed marches, waltzes, and Thai patriotic songs.

He initially received general music training privately while he was studying in Switzerland, but his older brother, then King Ananda Mahidol, who had bought a saxophone, sent Bhumibol in his place. King Ananda would later join him on the clarinet. On his permanent return to Thailand in 1950, he started a jazz band, Lay Kram, whom he performed with on a radio station he started at his palace. The band grew, being renamed the Au Sau Wan Suk Band and he performed with them live on Friday evenings, occasionally taking telephoned requests.

Many bands such as Les Brown and His Band of Renown, Claude Bolling Big Band, and Preservation Hall Jazz Band recorded some of his compositions and can still be heard in Thailand. A 1996 documentary, Gitarajan, was made about his music. Adulyadej still played music with his Au Sau Wan Suk Band in later years, but was rarely heard in public. In 1964, Bhumibol became the 23rd person to receive the Certificate of Bestowal of Honorary Membership on behalf of Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts.

Baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, guitarist, pianist and composer and King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years and 126 days and is the longest of any Thai monarch, died on October 13, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Raymond Court was born on December 2, 1932 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He began playing trumpet in his late teens, but by age 20 was playing in Raymond Droz’s band from 1952 to 1956.

Later in the 1950s he played with Flavio Ambrosetti and Kurt Weil, and the early 1960s saw him with Daniel Humair, Martial Solal, and Rene Urtreger.

Starting in the mid-Sixties, he began concentrating on a new career in woodworking and cabinetry, but returned to music after about a decade. He recorded as a leader in the 1980s and with Weil again and Charly Antolini in the 1990s.

Trumpeter Raymond Court died March 03, 2012.

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