TOM BECKHAM TRIO
As a leader, vibraphonist Tom Beckham has released 4 CD’s to date: Suspicions, Center Songs, Rebound and a duo album with guitarist Brad Shepik entitled Flower Starter. He also performs on solo vibraphone. He also co-leads a quartet band with pianist Dred Scott called “Cali Mambo.”
As a versatile sideman in New York for 30 years, Beckham has toured with and performed and/or recorded with Brad Shepik’s “Across the Way” Quartet, George Schuller’s Circle Wide bands, JC Sanford’s Jazz Orchestra, lap steel guitarist Mike Neer, the Motown/Soul group The Soul Night Band; trombonist J. Walter Hawkes, the swing-era ensembles of Lapis Luna and Flying Home; Joseph C. Phillips’ Numinous Ensemble; the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP); pop/lounge artist Sylvia Black, as well as session work for film and TV such as PBS and HBO and has appeared on over 28 recordings to-date.
In 2018 he was featured in the book “Masters of the Vibes” (Mostly Marimba Productions) by Anthony Smith along with his own heroes of the vibes such as Stefon Harris, Joe Locke, David Friedman, Warren Wolf, and many other great players. Tom earned his Bachelor’s Degree at the Berklee College of Music and is a former student of Gary Burton and Ed Saindon.
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JASON MARSALIS
Jason Marsalis is the youngest son of piano patriarch and jazz luminary Ellis Marsalis Jr. Upon the presentation of their NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2011, The Marsalis’ were declared “America’s First Family of Jazz”. In addition to his renown as a drummer, Jason is also a respected vibraphonist whose 2018 release “Melody Reimagined ” with his 21st Century Trad Band rose swiftly to the top of the Billboard jazz chart. With a fire in his heart and a passion for the music, his will to swing has never been more resolute. The maturity and the command Jason possesses over his music is clearly evident to those who have heard or seen him.
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HENDRIK MEURKENS
Hendrik Meurkens, a virtuoso on both the chromatic harmonica and the vibraphone, is the most important jazz harmonica player since Toots Thielemans. A two-mallet player in the tradition of Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, Hendrik Meurkens was en-route to being an instantly recognizable vibraphonist when he heard Toots Thielemans. Inspired by the sound of Thielemans’ harmonica, he taught himself the difficult-to-master instrument.
His other life-changing musical experience was his introduction to samba and bossa nova. He was so moved by Brazilian music that after perfecting his unique musical voice at Berklee, as a vibraphone major, he moved to Rio in the early 80s to totally immerse himself in music and culture of Brazil.
Within ten years, he had established himself as the “new jazz harmonica voice,” and moved to New York, thanks to an exclusive contract with the prestigious label, Concord Records. He has since recorded fifteen albums, and continues to perform as both a guest artist, and with his own groups, both in festivals and clubs globally.
Hendrik Meurkens’ profound involvement in both jazz and Brazilian music resulted in a very personal and instantly recognizable version of Samba jazz. This music features his harmonica and vibes along with piano, bass and drums, playing his stirring originals and arrangements.
Tickets: $20 – $45 | $2.33 – $3.56 Fees
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Grant Sangster was born November 17, 1928 in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, Victoria, Australia. He was an only child that attended primary schools in Sandringham and Vermont, and then Box Hill High School. While at high school he taught himself to play trombone and with a friend, Sid Bridle, formed a band.
In 1946 he started a civil engineering course at Melbourne Technical School. Two years later Sangster performed at the third annual Australian Jazz Convention, held in Melbourne. By the following year he led his own ensemble, John Sangster’s Jazz Six, which included Ken Evans on trombone. He provided trombone for Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band, later took up the cornet and then the drums. They toured several times from 1950 to 1955, and in the late Fifties he began playing the vibraphone.
He went on to play with Don Burrows in the early 1960s, form his own quartet and experimented with group improvisatory jazz, after becoming interested in the music of Sun Ra and Archie Shepp. By the end of the Sixties his attention turned to rock musicians and he joined the expanded lineup of the Australian progressive rock group Tully, who provided the musical backing for the original Australian production of the rock musical Hair. He performed and recorded with Tully and their successors, Luke’s Walnut, throughout the two years he played in Hair. In 1970 he re-joined the Burrows group for Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan.
In the 1970s Sangster released a series of popular The Lord of the Rings inspired albums that started with The Hobbit Suite in 1973. He was also the composer of a large number of scores for television shows, documentaries, films, and radio. In 1988, Sangster published his autobiography, Seeing the Rafters.
Trombonist John Sangster, who also plays trumpet, drums, percussion, cornet, vibraphone and is best known as a composer, died in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on October 26, 1995 at age 66.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Wagnon was born on October 26, 1956 in Lausanne, Switzerland and his talent as a percussionist was immediately evident. His early musical tastes focused on progressive rock bands like King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Yes and Genesis. He was impressed with the fusion sounds of Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. However, it was a Gary Burton concert, which helped him focus his desire to become a musician.
He entered the Geneva Conservatory to study classical percussion, including the vibraphone, which would become his instrument of choice. The five years that Wagnon spent at the Geneva Conservatory he also spent a year at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While there he met Dave Douglas, and Dave Kikowski, who would become his consistent collaborator.
After his stint at Berklee, Mark moved to New York City where he began a series of projects and really began to develop his own unique style. He formed Dr. Nerve with Kikowski, a band described as Schoenberg meets the Sex Pistols. As a member of Tunnels with bassist Percy Jones and drummer Frank Katz, their album featured a more straight-ahead jazz fusion sound showing his skill on the vibes.
With Dr. Nerve, they released seven albums, and with No No Diet Bang, a collection of Swiss musicans, one cd titled Profan, and kicked off his new music service company, Buckyball, by releasing a collaboration with vocalist and Buckyball co-founder Sarah Pillow titled Paper Cuts, which was a collection of jazz standards. They would go on to release several other Wagnon releases, including a reissue of a late ’80s project, Shadowlines.
Vibraphonist Mark Wagnon has since delved into experimental jazz territory, and is consistently showing off his ever evolving technical mastery.
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