2005 - 6 Jazz at the Atheneum Series
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Presented by The Hartford Jazz Society at The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Aetna Theater - 600 Main Street - Hartford, CT Ticket Information Wadsworth Web Site - Directions/Parking - Master Classes  Friday,
October 14, 2005: 7PMJoey DeFrancesco Trio Opening Group: Hall High Jazz Combo Master Class: Hartford Conservatory - Friday, 10/14/05 at 1:00 PM - to be videotaped Joey DeFrancesco - Hammond B-3 Organ Byron Landham - Drums Jake Langley - Guitar (Web Site) These players have been collaborating with DeFrancesco for years, and it shows in the way all three musicians anticipate one another. Put these players together during uptempo ensemble passages, and you have one of the most persuasive young organ trios before the public today. - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, 4/6/2000 The organist was masterful, raging and roaring with amazing fleetness. [He] left everyone in a state of exhausted delight. - Geoff Chapman, The Toronto Star, 6/25/2000 |
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Friday, November 18, 2005: 7PM  Wallace Roney Sextet and Opening Group: The Greater Hartford Academy Jazz Ensemble Master Class: Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts - Thursday, 11/17/06 at 3:30 PM Wallace Roney, trumpet Robert Irving, piano Antoine Roney, sax Eric Allen, drums Clarence Seay, bass Val Jeanty, electronica - Web Site He is using and fully integrating the lessons of all that modern jazz has taught us in the last fifty years, and creating an exciting hybrid. - All About Jazz It is, in fact, this sense of freedom that pervades the whole record [Prototype], giving it a sense of urgency. That's not to say this is exactly free jazz; rather it is more open-ended jazz where a firm sense of rhythm exists throughout, but with harmonic and thematic liberation the group is less concerned with hanging on specific changes and, instead, uses harmonic devices as a jumping off point, much as early Weather Report did. - All About Jazz On the second night of a two-day stand at Chicago's Green Mill, trumpeter Wallace Roney blended acoustic postbop and electronic groove over three deeply satisfying sets. It's not as if this sort of stylistic synthesis is unheard of these days, but it was notable on just how successful Roney's synthesis has become … The group was profoundly tight, attuned and … noticeably listening-no one was content to merely play changes on the more boppish tunes nor did anyone lose concentration on the long groove numbers. This was a band that reached for, and attained, some lofty musical heights. - All About Jazz After several years of incessant Miles Davis comparisons, Wallace Roney has clearly emerged as a jazz giant on his own merits. His trumpet sound is unmistakable - beautifully dark and pensive in the lower register, clear and resonant on higher notes … The Wallace Roney Quintet is one of the most progressive working groups in jazz - their Warner Bros. release early this year was a showcase of blistering bop and cool balladry, guided by Roney's improvisational fire and compositional innovation. - PhildelphiaCityPaper.Net Mystikal continues Roney's progression. With the same core group as on Prototype … it's not just about the evolution of the leader's approach, this time it's also about the evolution of a collective sound … Roney's approach is becoming increasingly all-inclusive. Two common threads tie together these original pieces, ranging from the rhythmically complex, all-acoustic title track to the more propulsive and electric "Stargaze" and "NiceTown." The thematic conception focuses on breaking down bar lines and creating longer form melodies that float ethereally above the rhythm section; and an open collective approach allows these structured pieces to breathe … A diverse set of covers mingle with original compositions … Most revealing is the opening track. "Atlantis" retains composer Wayne Shorter's harmonic complexity, but it opens up expansively for Roney's probing solo, which is spare, lyrical, and emotionally to-the-point, without a note wasted … Allen, of course, has her own career; but when she plays with husband Wallace Roney, there's a simpatico that comes from shared life experiences beyond the musical.  As
Roney's concept becomes more eclectic, it paradoxically becomes more focused.
Mystikal continues his path towards combining past and present
- with, most importantly, a clear eye on the future. - All About JazzRobert Irving is best known for his eight-year association as keyboardist, producer, and musical director for the Miles Davis Groups of the 1980's. As a composer/producer, Irving has scored three motion pictures, produced three Grammy Award nominated projects, and has recorded and toured extensively with David Murray and Wallace Roney. He is also founder of the Miles Davis alumni group ESP and the Chicago-based, African Arts Ensemble. The presence of DJ Val on stage Tuesday [October 18, 2005] at the Jazz Bakery [in Los Angeles] with trumpeter Wallace Roney's sextet let the audience know right away that the ensemble probably was going to move beyond mainstream jazz territory ... But the true contemporary aspects of the music traced beyond turntables and synthesizers to a broader conceptualization of 21st century jazz, in which each lengthy piece was a virtual platform for unfettered soloing, with ensemble passages serving primarily as bridging and connective links. That meant plenty of space for the Roney brothers to stretch out improvisationally. Wallace was particularly impressive, spinning through the faster numbers with explosive streams of notes, and engaging the evening's sole ballad number with affecting lyricism. Antoine, playing tenor and soprano saxophones, was both foil and companion, sometimes matching his brother's swift excursions, sometimes taking off on his own exploratory pathways ... This emphasis on solo efforts, surrounded by constantly surging waves of rhythmic sound, delivered with little sense of interactive musical intimacy, positioned the Roney sextet as a metaphor for a society filled with unfocused energy and information -- one in which individuals often seem more responsive to the rich complexity of their milieu than to one another. - The Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2005  Saturday,
April 8, 2006:
7PMJason Moran and the Bandwagon Opening Group: The Artists Collective Youth Jazz Orchestra Master Class: Artists Collective - Saturday, 4/8/06 at 1:00 PM Jason Moran, piano Tarus Mateen, bass Nasheet Waits, drums - Web Site One of the most independent minds now working in jazz … [Moran is] one of the only contemporary jazz musicians who embrace everything from early-jazz to abstraction. - Ben Ratliff, The New York Times  [Moran’s] resonant
attack [on Black Stars] has no soft edges and expresses little interest
in harmonic variation. His improvisations are dynamic, abrupt, eruptive,
keyed to the composition at hand, and, even when hewing to the changes,
more drumlike than melodic. Like Ellington, he articulates with the brash
certainty of someone who never expects to miss hitting the right keys,
and he does not miss many … Tarus Mateen’s solos are so well integrated
into the performances that sometimes you don’t know he is soloing until
the trio dynamics bring him to the fore, and even then his variations
have a compositional integrity … Nasheet Waits has his father’s [Freddie
Waits] rugged aggression and clarity, combined with Tony Williams’s finesse
on the snares … and reflexes that allow him to close the sale on any conceit
Moran comes up with.Moran’s trio opened last week and the first set was a sparkling display of stream-of-consciousness accord, as one piece turned into another and then another and the hub shifted from one player to the next in the course of a very fast hour. The more Moran looks backward the more certain he is in moving forward. At 26, he is good news for jazz’s future. - Gary Giddins, Village Voice, October 17, 2001 It's a Sunday night at the Jazz Bakery, and Los Angeles' most secret underground music scene flickers briefly into view. That is, if you're looking for it. Brilliant 27-year-old pianist Jason Moran leads his trio through a blazing, genre-defying set, sending shards of jazz tradition clattering and splashing against the monastic confines of the room. They look the image of late '60s bebop, handsome black men in suits, except this music is on a trajectory toward the now. Deft practitioners of a hard bop-free jazz collision, Moran, rising star drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist Tarus Mateen set the tiny audience on its heels, moving in enormous, spacey leaps from classical works by Schumann and Ravel to a Moran original called "Thief Without Loot." But it isn't until the trio lays into a lovely Bjork song, "Joga," that it shows it knows the secret handshake of the young Los Angeles jazz scene. Moran lights up the interior of the Bjork tune like a CAT scan, exposing the individual bones of the melody and coloring the spaces in between with raw improvisation. Hearing it, it's impossible to think of the song the same way again ... By the time Moran's trio closes with Afrika Bambaataa's 1982 hip-hop crusher "Planet Rock," the definition of what can be jazz is cracked wide open again. Notably, its version of the song is not one that modern DJ or hip-hop heads would drool over--it's slappy, distended, cosmo-funk more in the tradition of Lester Bowie and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It's pure, challenging jazz, and not catering to any trends. - Dean Kuipers, The Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2002
 When
Randy plays, a combination of strength and gentleness, virility and velvet
emerges from the keys in an ebb and flow of sound seemingly as natural
as the waves of the sea. - Langston
HughesThe title of my music is African Rhythms because we try to invoke, we try to bring to our people where our music really came from, and how it was based upon spirituality -- thanking the Creator for the water that we drink, the food that we eat, the families that we have ... and Mother Africa - our ancestors - knew that to have a civilization you have to have a spiritual base ... and that spiritual base is music. And when we study the natural laws of music, we realize that we are approaching music just as our ancestors did thousands of years ago. - Randy Weston No musician has been more devoted to exploring the connection between Afro-American classical music (jazz) and the ancestral spirits and rhythms of the African continent than Randy Weston. - Russ Musto, All About Jazz Mr. Weston is a truth seeker who sees a power in music much greater than all of us. - Robin D.G. Kelley, The New York Times For over half a century Randy Weston has served as a musical anthropologist-connecting the notes, chords, ideas and Spiritual essence of jazz, blues, r&b, Caribbean, Western and Eastern music back to their source-Africa. This year Weston celebrates his 80th birthday. On this recording [Zep Tepi] Randy Weston returns (for the first time in over three decades!) to his original format as a jazz pianist - the piano trio. But this is not just another piano, bass and drums trio. The combination of Weston's piano with Neil Clarke on African percussion instead of a trap kit, and the percussive, strumming attack of Alex Blake on bass produces a free-flowing interplay that is almost orchestral in its effect. The 10 songs on this album reflect the arc of his musical journey: from old favorites to new works. Only one track is not a Weston composition. (Liner notes to Zep Tepi, 2006). NEA Jazz Masters on Tour is part of the NEA Jazz Masters Initiative, a comprehensive program of support for jazz artists, audiences, presenters, and students. The centerpiece of the initiative is the NEA Jazz Masters Award, the nation's highest honor in jazz. The award recognizes living artists or advocates who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz with a one-time award of $25,000 and the venerated title, NEA Jazz Master. The NEA works to connect these artists with a broad audience through television and radio programming, educations resources, musical recordings and through NEA Jazz Masters on Tour. Hartford Jazz Society
is a participant of the NEA Jazz Masters on Tour. This series
of presentations features NEA Jazz Masters in performances, educational
activities, and/or speaking engagements for audience in all 50states. Ticket Prices: Individual Concert Tickets: HJS Members (purchased in advance): $25.00 HJS Members (purchased at the door): $30.00 General Public (purchased in advance): $30.00 General Public (purchased at the door): $35.00 All Students: $5.00 NOTE: We have a large number of free student tickets that have been donated by HJS member Steven Konover. If you are a student, please call the HJS office to reserve one for the concert(s) of your choice. VIP Reception and 45th Anniversary Concert on May 20: One price: $50.00 NOTE: All seating is General Admission. Preferred seating will be in a designated section of the theater. Obtain tickets in advance from: Hartford Jazz Society 116 Cottage Grove Road Bloomfield, CT 06002 Or call the HJS office at 860-242-6688 (Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.). Major credit cards accepted. A Cash Bar will operate from 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM in the Lobby, where there will be seating at tables. Note: For the VIP Reception and 45th Anniversary Concert on May 20, 2006 only, the Lobby area will be reserved from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM for those who purchased tickets to the reception.VIP Reception will be held in the Aetna Theater lobby. Directions, Map and Free Parking Directions
and Map From
New Haven and Points South: From
New York and Points West: From
Boston and Points East: From
Route 4 and Northwestern Connecticut: From
Route 2 and Southeastern Connecticut: Free
Parking: Master Classes Education is a vital component of (and reason for) this concert series. Accordingly, we have arranged for Joey DeFrancesco, Wallace Roney, Jason Moran and Randy Weston to conduct master classes for students on October 14, November 17, April 8 and May 20, respectively. Students who wish to participate in the classes are expected to bring their instruments. Joey DeFrancesco’s master class will be held at The Hartford Conservatory in Harvey Hall (formerly, the Music Room) on October 14, 2005 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. The Hartford Conservatory is located at 834 Asylum Avenue (at the corner of Asylum Avenue and Huntington Street) in Hartford. Click for directions Wallace Roney’s master class will involve the entire sextet and will take place at the The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (in the Recital Hall) on November 17, 2005 from 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM. The Academy is located in the Learning Corridor at 15 Vernon Street in Hartford. Click for directions and a campus map (the Recital Hall is in Building 5). There is ample free parking in the nearby Parking Garage (Building 8 on the campus map) on the Learning Corridor campus. Mr. Roney's master class will focus on the communication within his group, demonstrating how the group performs and passes messages and thoughts to each other to push or pull the song. The group concept works to develop a single thought of performance while also allowing the individual to communicate and present improvisational thoughts. This concept works with traditional as well as with new media artists as an additional/unique instrumentation. The DJ as a musician in the Sextet setting will be demonstrated. Improvisational concepts will also covered. Student participation is encouraged -- bring your instrument! Jason Moran’s and Randy Weston’s master classes will take place at The Artists Collective (in the Atrium) from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM on April 8, 2006 and May 20, 2006, respectively. Jason Moran's master class will be with the Bandwagon. The Artists Collective is located at 1200 Albany Avenue at the corner of Woodland Street and Albany Avenue in Hartford. There is ample free and attended parking in the parking lot at the rear of the building. Enter the parking lot from Woodland Street. Student participants will be seated closest to the instructor; observers will be seated behind them. If you are a student, or a teacher who wants to enroll one or more students, please register early so that we can assure sufficient preferred student seating. Register through the HJS office at 860-242-6688, or by e-mail to: hartjazzsocinc@aol.com and provide your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, school and grade. Observers are welcome if enough seats are available. I was pretty young when I realized that music involves more than playing an instrument. It’s really about cohesiveness and sharing. All my life, I’ve felt obliged to try and teach anyone who would listen. I’ve always believed you don’t truly know something yourself until you can take it from your mind and put it in someone else’s. —Milt Hinton, from his autobiography, Bass Lines There
is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated
through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all
time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never
exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not
have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how
valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business
to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. Thank You to our Supporters! The Hartford Jazz Society would like to thank the following organizations whose financial support made this concert series and the master classes possible :
The Hartford Jazz Society would also like to thank the Artists Collective, the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and the Hartford Conservatory for joining us in presenting master classes. |
Saturday, May 20, 2006:
7PM
