ALL-DAY PASS: $80
HALF-DAY PASS: $55 (all shows except Blythe benefit)
SETS: General $35, Student $20
(Nelson/Ortiz, Taborn/Bynum, Blythe benefit)
This closing event at Barnsdall Art Park's Gallery Theatre is part of an all-day concert presented on two stages. For more information, please visit: http://angelcityjazz.com/venues/barnsdall-park
The 2014 Angel City Jazz Festival is presented by The Jazz Bakery.
JOSH NELSON'S DISCOVERIES (4:00pm)
Josh Nelson โ piano
Dontae Winslow โ trumpet
Alan Ferber โ trombone
Brian Walsh โ bass clarinet
Larry Koonse โ guitar
Dave Robaire โ bass
Dan Schnelle โ drums
On Discoveries, Nelson taps into his inner child to find inspiration through the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, but the pianist's music doesn't come off like a reflection of these authors' retro-futurist tendencies. Nelson's writing is modern, in the here-and-now, and crafted with a broad harmonic vocabulary that helps to create a rich musical mรฉlange to fire the imagination. His ability to build intricate, interlocking motifs, while simultaneously painting broad swaths of complex colors in swirling fashion makes him a man with few equals.
ARUรN ORTIZ TRIO (5:00pm)
Aruรกn Ortiz โ piano
tba โ bass
tba โ drums
Aruรกn Ortiz is a critically acclaimed Cuban pianist, award-winning composer, and a solid producer and educator, not only on the New York City scene, but internationally as well. Named โthe latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United Statesโ by BET Jazz, this classically trained violist and pianist from Santiago de Cuba, considers himself โa curious person who loves musicโ, and portrays his music as an architectural structure of sounds, incorporating contemporary classical music, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and improvisation as primary material for his compositions. He has received a number of awards such as Latin Jazz Cornerโs Arranger of the Year (2011) for his contribution on the album, โEl Cumbancheroโ (Jazzheads 2011) by flutist Mark Weinstein; Best Jazz Interpretation, Festival de Jazz in Vic, Spain (2000); and Semifinalist, Jas Hennessy Piano Solo Competition, Montreux, Switzerland (2001).
CRAIG TABORN (6:00pm)
Craig Taborn โ solo piano
Jazz pianist and keyboard player Craig Taborn began working professionally in the 1990s in a variety of musical contexts, ranging from more straight-ahead jazz to more outside music, with young jazz musicians, seasoned veterans, and even techno artists. In his hometown of Minneapolis, Taborn studied piano, composition, and music theory with area university professors before going away to college. Before he graduated from college, Taborn had already performed on three recordings as a member of the James Carter Quartet. After graduating with a liberal arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1995, DIW released Taborn's first date as a leader, The Craig Taborn Trio. He then moved to N.Y.C., and by the close of the '90s, he performed on two more Carter releases; Roscoe Mitchell's 1999 ECM release, Nine to Get Ready; Detroiter Carl Craig's techno-jazz project, Innerzone Orchestra; and Hugh Ragin's Afternoon in Harlem. His second album, Light Made Lighter was a piano trio date for Thirsty Ear in 2001.
Over the next decade, Taborn became one of the most in-demand musicians in New York. Although his time with James Carter would come to a close, the Roscoe Mitchell and Hugh Ragin projects continued and Taborn formed another longstanding collaboration with Tim Berne. He also played in projects for Drew Gress, Chris Potter, Dave Douglas, and Mat Maneri on the jazz side as well as serving as a hired gun for Bill Laswell and Meat Beat Manifesto. In 2004, he issued Junk Magic on the Thirsty Ear label, turning away from the traditional piano trio and incorporating all kinds of electronic elements. Junk Magic is now generally recognized a watershed album for jazz meets electronica. The late 2000s saw continued work with Berne in a number of groups (including with David Torn) and albums for David Binney, Eivind Opsvik, and old college bandmate Gerald Cleaver.
In 2007, he did an album with fellow Minnesotans Dave King (Bad Plus,Happy Apple) and Greg Norton (!) (Hรผsker Dรผ) as Gang Font. His involvement on a number of ECM releases at the close of the decade (David Torn, Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, and Michael Formanek) caught the ear of Manfred Eicher and Taborn was signed to ECM Records. His first album of solo piano, Avenging Angel, was released in 2011. That same year he, bassist William Parker, and Cleaver formed a trio called Farmers by Nature; they recordedOut of This World's Distortions for AUM Fidelity. Chants, Taborn's second album for ECM, was released in April of 2013.
TAYLOR HO BYNUM'S WEST COAST ENSEMBLE (7:00pm)
Taylor Ho Bynum โ cornet
Bobby Bradford โ cornet
Nicole Mitchell โ flute
Jeff Gauthier โ violin
Jeff Parker โ guitar
Michael Dessen โ trombone
Alex Cline โ drums
Taylor Ho Bynum has assembled an all star ensemble of west coast luminaires to perform for his Acoustic Bycicle Tour, which is an ongoing performance journey where Taylor travels solely on bicycle, presenting solo concerts and playing with ensembles of area musicians. The endeavor is an act of composition, a performance art piece, a philosophical statement, a celebration of musical community, and an exercise in extreme physicality. There are clear analogies between choosing to travel by bike and choosing to pursue a career in creative music: the trip may be slower and more arduous, but it is ultimately more rewarding in its acoustic pleasures and unexpected delights.
In September 2010, Taylor undertook one of the more unusual projects of his career: a two-week, 800-mile performance journey to all six New England states traveling only by bicycle. He presented original music every night, playing in venues ranging from state parks to art galleries to concert halls. In the fall of 2014, Taylor will make a five-week, 1800-mile West Coast Acoustic Bicycle Tour, going border to border from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico, and stopping at the Barnsdall Art Park for the Angel City Jazz Festival in the process.
ARTHUR BLYTHE TRIBUTE & BENEFIT CONCERT (8:00pm)
Oliver Lake โ alto saxophone
Bob Stewart โ tuba
Curtis Stewart โ violin
Gust Tsillis โ marimba
Nick Rosen โ bass
Dave Binney โ alto saxophone
Dwight Trible โ voice
Queen Bey โ voice
Andy Langham โ piano
Cecil Brooks III โ drums
Alex Cline โ drums
Arthur Blythe was born in 1940 in Los Angeles and grew up in San Diego. He took up the alto saxophone at the age of nine, playing R&B until his mid-teens when he discovered jazz. In the mid-1960s he was part of The Underground Musicians and Artists Association (UGMAA), west coast counterpart to Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) founded by Horace Tapscott, on whose 1969 The Giant Is Awakened, Blythe made his recording debut. He made his big splash on the jazz scene after he moved to New York in his mid-30s and subsequently played with the Gil Evans Orchestra, Jack DeJohnette and McCoy Tyner. Renown for his ripe, passionate, vibrato-rich sound, Blythe recorded on Columbia Records through much of the 1980s and his most recent recorded appeared on the Savant label between 2000 and 2003.
He recently underwent a serious kidney operation, which affected his ability to walk and swallow foods. He is also struggling with Parkinsonโs disease. While heโs slowly regaining strength at a rehabilitation centre in California, he needs financial support to pay bills and to get the help of a good neurologist. Proceeds from this concert will be donated to Arthur Blythe to help him cover health care expenses.
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In addition to the spectacular music, there will be food, beer and wine vendors.
Public Transportation:
โขMetro Red Line: Vermont & Sunset Station
โขMetro Bus Rapid: 780 and 754
โขMetro Bus regular: 2, 302, 180/181, 204, 206, and 217
Parking:
โขThere is limited parking available in the parking lot by the entrance to the Art Park
โขStreet parking at the bottom of the hill is free on SundaysThis closing event at Barnsdall Art Park's Outdoor Stage is part of an all-day concert presented on two stages.
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