JAZZ HERITAGE ORCHESTRA w/ VANESSA RUBIN
The Jazz Heritage Orchestra performs a musical tribute to Ohio’s quiet musical genius, composer, arranger, bandleader, saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Frank Foster. Perhaps best known for his work with the Count Basie Orchestra, Foster also wrote and arranged music for Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, and Dizzy Gillespie, and he performed with jazz greats, including Elvin Jones and Snooky Young.
The Jazz Heritage Orchestra (JHO) was formed in 1998 in residence with the Cleveland State University Black Studies Department. The mission of the JHO, under the artist direction of Dennis Bradley Reynolds, is to preserve and perpetuate the heritage of the great African American jazz masters through educational programming coupled with elite performance. This mission continues today through a partnership with Open Tone Music. Based in Akron, Ohio, the JHO has performed with many acclaimed artists, including Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Nancy Wilson, John Morton, Evelyn Wright, and Vanessa Rubin.
“In a thoroughly contemporary twist on the classic jazz lore tradition of the territory band, the Jazz Heritage Orchestra reflects the contributions of an impressive range of musicians from several points on the midwestern map.” —Willard Jenkins, Journalist (JazzTimes, DownBeat, BET on Jazz, WPFW)
Tickets:
Non-Members: $28.00 ~ $50.00
CMA Members: $25.00 ~ $47.00
Students: $10.00 | Purchase at the door, subject to availability
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LIZZ WRIGHT & KENNY BANKS SR.
The singer Lizz Wright — who owns one of the most spellbinding voices of her generation, regardless of genre —remembers the first time she heard her dear pianist Kenny Banks Sr. perform. It was at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, where Banks was onstage with the vocalist Audrey Shakir, a regional legend. Wright was a freshman at Georgia State University; the daughter of a minister, she was raised on the music of the Black American church. Banks was already a respected player on the Atlanta scene who was working toward his master’s in jazz studies from GSU.
At a jam session at the original Churchill Grounds in Atlanta, Wright sat in while Banks was on the keys and sang a couple of jazz standards — at the time, the only ones she knew. But the crowd wanted more, so the band settled on “Amazing Grace” off the cuff. “He played it as a blues, and he kind of scared me because I’d never sang like that in my life,” Wright says. “I’d never sung a blues. I’d never felt prayer and longing and lust and confusion at the same time. And the sound came out with all those things.” “It was bananas,” Banks recalls, beaming. “I think that’s why we still have that in our repertoire.”
But what of that voice —that spectacular instrument the New York Times once described as “a smooth, dark alto possessed of qualities you might associate with barrel-aged bourbon or butter-soft leather”? Was it already in place at that formative jam session? “Absolutely. One-hundred percent,” Banks says. “You know when you hear people say, ‘You’ve got that thing’? She always had that thing. She’s just got a presence that commands your attention.”
Thus began a quarter-century-long adventure in which Banks became one of Wright’s most trusted collaborators, appearing on her 2003 major-label debut, Salt, and then on such acclaimed albums as The Orchard, Fellowship, Freedom & Surrender, Grace and Shadow. Now comes Nearness, from Blues & Greens Records and Candid Records, the most thrillingly intimate expression of their kinship yet. The new LP, produced by longtime musical director and esteemed guitarist Chris Bruce, features just Wright and Banks, on piano and organ, traversing 11 jazz standards and spirituals.
Following that first Churchill Grounds jam session, Banks essentially took Wright under his wing, helping her to learn the etiquette around jazz performance, develop her repertoire and even lead a group. Wright aspired to perform within the band rather than out front, to deliver her melodies and improvisations with the same fiery spontaneity as her sidemen. “Kenny was the one who showed me how to relate to a band in a way where you could be respected,” she says. (In recent years, Wright has studied piano with Banks. His lessons, she says, allow her to find passion and enjoyment in practice, “taking joy into the depths of discipline.”)
They bonded quickly and profoundly, on the strength of their shared background in the church — including improvisation-rich testimony services — and their interests in swinging jazz, R&B and other music. In Banks, Wright found the ideal ally, whose personality and approach offered the best kinds of dualities: He was both a hyper-organized, immensely gifted arranger and a bold, wide-open performer who loved to discover new pathways on the spot.
The album title comes from the opener, Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You,” one of Wright’s favorite standards. “I’m excited to be able to use that one word to explore concepts of love and closeness that are not often mentioned,” Wright says. “I’m celebrating not just a teacher here, but a great platonic love.”
Tickets:
Limited View Seats: $65.00
Standard Seat: $70.00
Premium Seat: $75.00
Standard Booth | Up to 6: $300.00
Premium Booth | Up to 4: $420.00
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TERREON “TANK” GULLY
Grammy Award-winning drummer, producer, and musical visionary Terreon “Tank” Gully brings his powerhouse band Tanktified to Churchill Grounds for two extraordinary nights of music celebrating its official Grand Opening!
Special guest is two-Time JazzTimes Critics Poll Winner, Six-Time DownBeat Critics Poll Winner, Four-Time Grammy-Nominated Vibraphonist: Stefon Harris!!!!! One of the most celebrated and innovative vibraphonists of his generation, Harris brings his extraordinary artistry to an already phenomenal lineup!
Featuring an all-star lineup of some of the most extraordinary musicians on the planet, Tanktified delivers an electrifying musical experience where jazz, funk, soul, Afro-Cuban and fearless improvisation collide!
The Crew:
Ali Barr: Percussion
Joel Powell: Bass
Mace Hibbard: Saxophone
Curtis Taylor: Trumpet
Andre Hayward: Trombone
Kenny Banks Jr.: Piano
Tony Hightower: Vocals
Saunders Sermons: Trombone
Tickets:
Limited Seat View ~ $60.00
Standard Seat ~ $80.00
Premium Seat ~ $100.00
Standard Booth | Up to 6 ~ $480.00
Premium Booth | Up to 4 ~ $400.00
Doors ~ 9:30pm | Set ~ 10:00pm
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jane Monheit was born November 3, 1977 in Oakdale, New York on Long Island. As a child, Jane spent her summers as a student at the Usdan Center For the Creative and Performing Arts, and is a recipient of their distinguished alumna award.
She began singing professionally while attending Connetquot High School in Bohemia, N.Y. from which she graduated in 1995. As a student at the Manhattan School of Music she studied voice under Peter Eldridge, graduated with honors. Monheit was the first runner up to Teri Thornton in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Jazz Institute’s vocal competition.
An international artist, Jane has performed at most of the major concert halls, cabarets and jazz venues around the globe. She has released seven albums and two DVDs, and has appeared as a guest artist on many others, as well as soundtracks for the movie “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” singing Over The Rainbow.
Monheit has appeared on numerous television shows and also been a featured performer in the nationally televised Christmas at the White House, the Capitol Fourth of July Celebration, and The National Memorial Day Celebration.
Vocalist Jane Monheit has collaborated with artists such as Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash, David “Fathead” Newman, Michael Bublé, Geoffrey Keezer, Donald Harrison, Romero Lubambo, Terence Blanchard, Ron Carter, Christian McBride, and Tom Harrell and has been nominated twice for her recordings. She spends most of the year on tour with her band but also performs with the major symphonic orchestras throughout the country.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Carmen Lundy was born November 1, 1954 in Miami, Florida and at the age of six began to study the piano. After joining her church junior choir, she decided to become a singer when she was 12 years old. While an opera major at the University of Miami she sang with a jazz band and her decision to sing vocal jazz was cemented.
Moving to New York in 1978 Carmen was hired by the Mel Lewis/Thad Jones Big Band and performed her first engagement at the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village. Two years later she formed her own trio, performing with pianists John Hicks and Onaje Allan Gumbs. She has also performed with Walter Bishop Jr. Don Pullen, Mulgrew Miller, Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Courtney Pine, Bill O’Connell, Steve Berrios, Marian McPartland, Kenny Kirkland and numerous others.
Lundy recorded her first album of original compositions Good Morning Kiss in 1985 followed by her sophomore project Night and Day the next year featuring musicians Kenny Kirkland, Alex Blake, her brother Curtis Lundy, Victor Lewis, Rodney Jones and Ricky Ford.
Carmen played the lead role in the European tour of Duke Ellington’s Broadway musical, Sophisticated Ladies. Off-Broadway she portrayed Billie Holiday in Lawrence Holder’s They Were All Gardenias. She made her television debut in 1990 as the star of the CBS pilot-special Shangri-La Plaza in the role of Geneva.
A composer, arranger, producer, actress, painter, and sophisticated vocalist well known for her progressive bop and post-bop styling’s, Lundy has composed and published forty songs with favorites such as Quiet Times, Forgive Me, The Out Crowd, and Never Gonna Let You Go that have been recorded by Kenny Barron, Ernie Watts and Straight Ahead. With thirteen albums to her credit Carmen Lundy continues to focus on original material as she moves her three-decade career forward.