Mel Martin: A Celebration Of His Life In Music at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society

This memorial concert celebrates the life of Mel Martin, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who dedicated his life to the Bay Area jazz scene. Several ensembles will represent major eras of Mel's career such as: Listen, Bebop and Beyond, The Mel Martin Quartet, and The Mel Martin Big Band. Bay Area luminaries performing include John Handy, Roger Glenn, Denny Zeitlin, and John Santos…along with Jeff Marrs, Jeff Chambers, Robb Fisher, Bill Theurer, Greg Johnson, Cayce Carnahan, Larry Dunlap, George Marsh, Randy Vincent, Brad Beuthe, and many more.

Jesse “Chuy” Varela of KCSM will orchestrate the afternoon as master of ceremonies, and NEA Jazz Master Todd Barkan has played a major role in curating the program....

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This memorial concert celebrates the life of Mel Martin, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who dedicated his life to the Bay Area jazz scene. Several ensembles will represent major eras of Mel's career such as: Listen, Bebop and Beyond, The Mel Martin Quartet, and The Mel Martin Big Band. Bay Area luminaries performing include John Handy, Roger Glenn, Denny Zeitlin, and John Santos…along with Jeff Marrs, Jeff Chambers, Robb Fisher, Bill Theurer, Greg Johnson, Cayce Carnahan, Larry Dunlap, George Marsh, Randy Vincent, Brad Beuthe, and many more.

Jesse “Chuy” Varela of KCSM will orchestrate the afternoon as master of ceremonies, and NEA Jazz Master Todd Barkan has played a major role in curating the program.

Martin performed with many legendary artists over his 60-year career in music, backing up jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald and playing alongside stars in other genres including Frank Sinatra, James Brown and Tom Waits. As Todd Barkan says, “No matter what generation we are blessed to be born into, we all stand on the shoulder of our teachers, our parents, our heroes, and all those elders who have lit the path for us.” Mel Martin was one of those teachers and heroes whose shoulders we stood upon, and we celebrate our collective memories at this very special concert.

This production is hosted by Mel Martin’s family; therefore Bach membership benefits including waived ticketing fees are not available. All tickets are general admission and seating is first-come, first-served. Admission donations cover costs of the memorial, with proceeds benefitting ELM, Enriching Lives Through Music, a 501(c)3 corporation. ELM serves more than 120 students from the largely Latino immigrant Canal neighborhood of San Rafael, California through free and intensive music programs. For more information view the website at: www.elmprogram.org/

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