Friday, April 3, 2009, at 8 p.m. 

BeauSoleil
together with Michael Doucet
 
Grammy winners and 10-time nominees BeauSoleil continue their scion-like march through the panorama of American music with Alligator Purse, released in January on Yep Roc Records.
 
Over the past 30-plus years, BeauSoleil has been the very heartbeat of Cajun music and culture, keeping it vital through not only their attention to tradition, but also through passionate and inventive experimentation. This time around these twin creative approaches combine yet again, manifesting themselves in some of music’s most authentic and recognizable names.
 
On new studio album Alligator Purse, BeauSoleil’s fearless captain Michael Doucet leads the next installment of his musical journey along the lifeline of Cajun music, this time with an all star crew including Natalie Merchant (“Little Darlin’”), Garth Hudson (“I’ve Spent All My Money Loving You”) John Sebastian, Roswell Rudd, Bill Keith and others.
 
Doucet’s notable friends help him bring the rich folk traditions of south Louisiana into the 21st century through the genius interplay of a new take on Cajun favorites (‘Marie’) and the  Cajunization’ of modern folk classics. A French language reworking of Bob Dylan’s cover of Muddy Waters’ classic “Rollin’ & Tumblin’” (“Rouler et Tourner”) and J.J. Cale’s “The Problem” stand alongside Cajun and Creole history lessons like “Reel Cajun (451 St. Joseph St.),” “Les Oignons” and “Théogéne Creole”, originally sung for John and Alan Lomax’s historic 1934 field recordings.
 
This new work continues a tradition of culturally significant output from Doucet and company. Doucet’s solo work is distributed by Smithsonian Folkways records and Michael has received a grand from the National Endowment of the Arts for his work rediscovering the originators of early Cajun music.
 
Despite Doucet and the band’s lofty intellectual pedigrees Alligator Purse is the funkiest history lesson ever created. It’s a sweaty sweep through the lore of one of the most vital veins of America’s musical heritage and a stark reminder that musical history is best served by a dance floor, not a museum.

BeauSoleil Band Members
 * Jimmy Breaux: accordions
 * Billy Ware: percussion
 * Tommy Alesi: drums
 * Michael Doucet: vocals, fiddle, octave violin, guitar, percussion
 * Mitchell Reed: accoustic & electric bass, fiddle
 * David Doucet: vocals, accoustic guitar
 
   

Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 8 p.m.

The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Allstars featuring Irvin Mayfield
 
The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, founded in 2002 by now-30-year-old trumpeter, composer and bandleader Irvin Mayfield, is more than just a group of exceptionally talented musicians playing America's only indigenous music.
 
Although it features a critically-acclaimed big band that tours internationally and will soon record its debut album, NOJO is a non-profit organization whose mission - to inspire freedom and culture in the individual and the global community by creating authentic, engaging jazz experiences while celebrating the origins and transforming the future of jazz -- encompasses wide-ranging goals in a number of areas.
 
It performs in the form of the big band, an All-Stars quintet or sextet, or trumpet-piano duo. It commissions works and supports performances of small groups. It manages five programs in New Orleans, one of which is a Saturday music school that tours students who want to experience what it's like to go on the road for the first time. It has a program at Tulane University, where its offices are located, and the University of New Orleans, where it oversees the New Orleans Jazz Institute. 
 
In short, NOJO is a business for jazz.
 
In 2003, Mayfield was appointed official cultural ambassador of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana by the U.S. Senate, Congress and other governmental agencies. He and the NOJO team are dedicated to the long-term development of an industry around jazz and the beginning of international, national and local discussions on where jazz was, is and will be.
 
NOJO's performing element has consistently received glowing reviews. One journalist dubbed the orchestra "a savory dish of musical gumbo," while another raved, "These guys are about playing New Orleans jazz with blistering Creole fire, a kind of unrestrained fun and virtuosity."
 
The big band has played all of America's major performing arts centers, including Lincoln Center. It will release its debut album on World Village, a subsidiary of the Harmonia Mundi label, next year.
 
Despite its musical success, NOJO was never meant to be a stand-alone performing entity. Rather, it was designed as a bridge to the greater cultural legacy of New Orleans and a vehicle for preserving and expanding it. The concept for the NOJO came to Mayfield at age 23, after he had already created the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans.
 
"It was a program where the entire university would have a jazz experience," Mayfield, a Grammy-nominated and Billboard Award-winning trumpeter, said of the institute. "W would talk about jazz from a literary perspective. We would talk about the social effects of jazz, look at jazz and its representation of the American democratic experience, and talk about the authentic New Orleans experience. And when I looked around the city to see who I could partner with, there was no institution that was doing the business of jazz or performing it 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the city that created jazz."
 
So Mayfield founded the NOJO with best friend Ronald Markham, its president and CEO.  Together, they have made the NOJO the premier jazz institute in New Orleans and, in an institutional sense, created the first business for jazz in the city in which it was born.
 
It has become a vital cog in the revitalization of New Orleans jazz in the post-Katrina era. In fact, its performance in November 2005 of a newly-commissioned work, "All the Saints," marked the first jazz performance in New Orleans after the storm and signified the cultural reopening of the city.
 
A distinguished nine-member Board of Directors sets policies for the NOJO, which also has a professional staff that includes a director of development, director of programming and chief of staff. 

Irvin Mayfield
 
 * Read more on Irvin Mayfield and his musical career here.

Friday, April 3, 2009, at 6:45 p.m.

Adam Clark Quartet
 
Adam Clark has worked with many jazz greats including Papa John DeFrancesco, David “Fathead” Newman, Accordion Manter Frank Marocco, Stanley Jordan, Nicole Pesce, Fred Forney, Michael Kocour, Mike Crotty, Raul Yanez, Margo Reed, Dave Cook, Ioannis Goudelis, Jacob Koller, Mario Mendivil, and Catalin Royaru.
 
His quartet has performed at the Tempe Festival of the Arts, Scottsdale, Chandler and Glendale Jazz Festivals.
    
   

Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 1 p.m.

Sun Lakes Big Band
 
The Sun Lakes Big Band is composed of 15 veteran big band players who faithfully recreate the festive sounds of bands like Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Harry James and Stan Kenton. Formed in 1998 by trumpeter Bart Salzman, the Sun Lakes Big Band has a reputation for taking audiences on a trip down memory lane that rekindles fond memories and creates new ones.
 
The band members are primarily retirees from other careers (very few were full time musicians), with an average age of 73. Several of the band’s members played for big bands in their heyday of WW-2 and Saturday night radio broadcasts from one of the famed ballrooms.
 
Sun Lakes Big Band performances have included the annual Big Band Dance in the hangar at Falcon Field, dances in the Sun Lakes Ballrooms, concerts at the Chandler Center for the Arts, the Chandler Jazz Festival, and Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino. The band has played for numerous private events such as anniversary parties, weddings, and even a high school homecoming dance.
    
      

Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 4:15 p.m.

East Valley Yamaha Music School
with the Jeremy Siskind Trio
 
Founded in 1986 by Director Heidi Grimes, EVYMS is part of the Yamaha Music Education System, operating in 41 countries with over 1 million current students and over 5 million graduates of the complete Yamaha course. Yamaha believes that ALL children have an innate ability to learn, enjoy, and express themselves with music. All Yamaha courses are age appropriate and continually updated for the very best musical experience.  Yamaha teachers are dedicated. They are college trained musicians and educators who have passed demanding tests in musicianship and are certified by the Yamaha Music Education System.  Most importantly, Yamaha teachers are committed to providing your child with a happy, rewarding musical experience.

This year the East Valley Yamaha Music School is proud to perform with special guests, the Jeremy Siskind Trio.

Pianist, composer, and educator Jeremy Siskind is “a remarkable pianist” and “a rising star on the jazz scene” according to legendary pianist Marian McPartland. Siskind, a Southern California native, received his bachelor’s degree from Eastman School of Music in 2008, receiving a double-major in jazz performance and music theory. His career highlights include an episode as featured guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, selection as a finalist for the American Pianists Association’s Cole Porter Fellowship, and winning the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s Award. In addition, Siskind has twice taken second place at the Kathleen T. and Philip B. Phillips, M.D. Jazz Piano Competition, has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and has taught a course at the Eastman School. Siskind’s primary teachers include Harold Danko, Tony Caramia, Bill Dobbins, Tamir Hendelman, and Linda Martinez, but he has also studied with Fred Hersch, Shelly Berg, and Bill Cunliffe, among others. In 2007, Siskind released his first recording, Prophecy, a collection of original material for piano trio that reviewer Edward Blanco calls “an engaging and compelling debut.” 

Friday, April 3, 2009, at 5:45 p.m.

Nick Manson Trio
Nick Manson, John Sims & Wesley Anderson
 
Nick Manson, a two time EMMY Award winning keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer, presents a distinctively enjoyable listening experience for all audiences. His versatile performances offer original compositions, classic jazz standards, as well as uniquely arranged favorites from the American Songbook. Nick has often been a favorite featured guest on Jim Wilke's "Jazz in the Northwest", KPLU jazz radio. He has recorded and/or performed with jazz and pop artists John Patitucci, Andy Suzuki, Dean Taba, Kendall Kay, Ernestine Anderson, Jay Thomas, Bud Shank, B.B. King, Plas Johnson, Bill Perkins, Steve Huffsteter, Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra, Chuck Manning, The Nairobi Trio, DMQ, Robert Kyle, Jeff Kashiwa (The Rippingtons), Bruce Conte (Tower of Power), James Gadson, Al McKay (Earth, Wind & Fire), Lenny Kravitz, Will Calhoun (Living Color), Deniece Williams, Clint Holmes, Dianna Krall, Ernie Watts, Bennie Maupin, John Guerin, Ralph Humphrey, Steve Ferrone, Don Lanphere, Gerry Gibbs, Alphonze Mouzon, Tom Brechtline, plus gospel artists, Roby Duke, Terry Clark and The Katinas. Nick has performed at the Concord Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Bumper Shoot, The Playboy Jazz Festival and the majority of famous jazz clubs on the West Coast, including, Jazz Alley, Catalina’s Bar & Grill, The Baked Potato, La Ve Lee, The Jazz Bakery, Rocco’s, Vibrato Grill, & Spazios. He has also toured internationally in Asia, Europe and South America. Originally from Seattle, Nick studied classical piano, privately for many years. He began composing for big band during high school. He attended the Berklee College Of Music on Boston, and the Dick Grove School in Los Angeles. He has performed, arranged, and produced on numerous occasions within the past 25 years for CD production, Film, TV, and Commercials.
 
John Sims played his first professional gig as a bassist at 16 and has since then thoroughly enjoyed playing music, whether jazz or classical. He was a member of the 2006 Arizona All-state jazz band, as well as a member of the Young Sounds of Arizona from 2005-2007, and is featured on their most recent CD.  Currently attending ASU on a full-ride, talent-based scholarship, he plays in the ASU Concert Jazz Band, as well as the ASU Symphony Orchestra and various other groups. John picked up the bass four years ago, switching to upright two years later.  Sims has performed with Pete Christlieb, Rebecca Mauleon, Carl Saunders, Butch Miles, Jacob Koller, Mike Kocour, Eric Alexander, Eric Schneider, Joel Spencer, Dick Oatts. John enjoys traveling, and has been lucky enough to represent Arizona in the Grenoble, France youth music festival in both performances since its founding four years ago, playing jazz and other great music. 
    
Wesley Anderson started playing the drum-set at the age of 9. During High School, Wes performed with the Saguaro High School Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, Men’s Choir, and various small performing groups. His drum corps experience includes playing snare with the Arizona Academy from 2004-2008.  During this time he received four outstanding percussion member awards; member of the year award twice, a division II world championship title, and two DCI I&E Multi-percussion Championships. From 2005-2006, Wes attended Scottsdale Community College as a pre-music major. After attending SCC, Wes attended Mesa Community College from 2006-2008 where he began his bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Jazz Studies. He is currently a student at Arizona State University finishing both of his BA in Jazz Performance and Music Education. Past and present instructors and teachers include: Fred Forney, Dom Moio, Rob Hunter, Bob Laiser, Barb Catlin, Raul Yanez, Cleve Huff, J.B. Smith, Mike Kocour, Keith Kelly, Mike Wilkinson, Glen Crosby, Fred Smith, Ryan Masterson, Mike Talerico, Ralph Hardimon, Murray Gusseck, Chris Evans, Phil Edwards, Wardell King, Saul Aguilar, Mike Evans, Karl Herman, Christian Carichner, Mark Richardson, Gary Hill, Wayne Bailey, Gary Juarez, Joe Goglia, Mark Richardson, and James Hudson.  Anderson has performed with numerous Phoenix area jazz musicians, such as: Jerry Donato, Dwight Killian, Fred Forney, Eric Rasmussen, Dan Delaine, John Shea, Judy Roberts, Bob Ravenscroft, Sherry Roberson, Mike Kocour, Bill Moio, Brian Ruth, Armand Boatman, Rob Hunter, Barb Catlin, Ted Sistrunk, Patrick Sheridan, and Sam Pilafian.
      
   
   

Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 3:15 p.m.

Judy Roberts Quartet
    
   
Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 6:45 p.m.

Young Sounds of Arizona