Just in case you missed seeing the incredible José James at Yoshi’s San Francisco Thursday night, you have another opportunity to see him tonight at The New Parish in Oakland. Doors open at 9pm and tickets are $20. Don’t sleep on this for he is definitely the real deal.

Check out the soulful grooves of Tortured Soul at The New Parish next Sunday, December 18.

Photo Credit: James Knox

This Sunday, Trisha Gold & Her Friends will perform at 3pm at Golden Gate Library, 5606 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, California. This concert is part of the Friends of Golden Gate Library 21st Annual Jazz on Sundays Summer Concert Series which runs through August 28.

Concerts are held every Sunday at 3pm (doors open at 2:30pm), followed by a History of Jazz lecture with jazz legend Randy Moore, and an open jam session. All concerts are held at the Golden Gate Library with the exception of the August 21 concert, featuring the Junius Courtney Big Band. This concert at Temescal Creek Park located on 47th Street between Adeline and San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville.

Admission is free and donations are welcome.

Upcoming concerts:

July 17, 2011
Trisha Gold & Her Friends

July 24, 2011
Bill Bell Trio

July 31, 2011
Faye Carol & Sista Kee

August 7, 2011
Herb Gibson

August 14, 2011
Calvin Keys Trio

August 21, 2011
Julius Courtney Big Band (Temescal Creek Park)

August 28, 2011
Rhonda Benin & Quartet

Photo of guitarist Calvin Keys by James Knox

Eastside Arts Alliance presents

11^th Annual

MALCOLM X JAZZARTS FESTIVAL

Saturday, May 21, 2011

11am – 7pm

San Antonio Park, Oakland

(18^th Avenue/Foothill Blvd)

FREE

www.eastsideartsalliance.org

On the main jazz stage we will be featuring:

• 12:00pm – John Santos Sextet (http://www.johnsantos.com/)
• 2:00pm – The Grassroots Composers Ensemble
• 4:00pm – The Abraham Burton Trio* (http://www.abrahamburton.com/)
• 6:00pm – Umar Bin Hassan – from The Last Poets (http://www.umarbinhassan.com/)

On the Katherine Dunham Dance Stage we will be featuring:

• AWON OHUN OMNIRA (VOICES OF FREEDOM) – Awon Ohun Omnira ritually demonstrates the history of African Americans using the vehicle of the music of our ancestors in the form of egun (ancestor songs) Negro Spirituals and ring-shouts songs.
• LIBERATION DANCE THEATER – Since 2007, Liberation Dance Theater  (LDT) has been pushing the boundaries of cross-cultural aesthetics, all through the exuberance, soul, and physical prowess of dance.
• SHAOLIN CH’AN INSTITUTE – The Shaolin wellness practice was developed over 1,500 years through rigorous training and refinement.
• STARCHILD DANCE PROJECT – With a mission to document and preserve black dance and culture Starchild Dance Project directed by Traci Bartlow, is proud to present it’s latest work, “What’s Old is New Again”, an exploration on the connection of Lindy Hop and Hip Hop with special guest musical director Ajayi Jackson.

* VERY SPECIAL SUNDAY CONCERT AT EASTSIDE CULTURAL CENTER!

In a very rare and important visit to the Bay Area, saxophonist Abraham Burton along with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits will also be bringing their dynamic trio to the Eastside Cultural Center on Sunday May 22^nd. The setting at the Eastside Cultural Center is an intimate one that embraces and encourages the musicians in ways that allows for their best performances. This really is a concert that you will not want to miss.

Every First Friday EastSide Arts Alliance has been presenting an extraordinary group of jazz musicians – THE GRASSROOTS COMPOSERS ENSEMBLE.

Join us tonight – FRIDAY, MAY 6 from 8-10pm for an evening of beautiful sounds and good company. Each concert with this group is profound and moving. Audiences have appreciated the opportunity to listen to original compositions as well as treasured classic tunes, performed live by some of the best musicians in the area. Bandleader Mark Wright on trumpet provides an accompanying commentary that provides a history of the music. Try and come check it out. It’s up to us to help keep live music happening in the Bay. Come out and show your appreciation – you won’t be sorry.

Editor’s Note: I had the pleasure of hearing The Grassroots Composers Ensemble for my first time last month and they were excellent. They are definitely a hidden treasure not to be missed. See you there!

GRASSROOTS COMPOSERS ENSEMBLE
Friday, May 6, 2011
8:00 pm $10
EASTSIDE CULTURAL CENTER
2277 International Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94606

Photo Credit: James Knox

Over the next 8 days, I will see 9 music performers. I am very excited. Tonight, I am seeing the Ronnie Laws Quartet at Yoshi’s San Francisco in celebration of his new release, Voices in the Water. Below is a complete list of concerts:

02/20 Performance and Lecture: Jazz in the Gallery @ MoAD (Museum of African Diaspora) with Drummer Jaz Sawyer and his group, 3RIO – Join Jaz Sawyer in tracing the musical influence of the international port of New Orleans, the melting pot for creative music innovation and cultural exchange that is the wellspring of the American art form, jazz. Explore the African American experience of cultural resilience through dance, singing and drumming traditions that fused elements from various cultures with gospel, blues and the Latin tinge.

02/21 Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quartet at Yoshi’s Oakland – CD Release Celebration for To Hear From There

02/22 Vocalist Gregory Porter @ Yoshi’s Oakland – Celebrating Grammy Nomination for his new album Water

02/23 Vocalist Paula West @ The Rrazz Room in the Hotel Nikko San Francisco – The last few weeks of her phenomenal 8 week engagement at The Rrazz Room. This will be my second time seeing her during this engagement. If you have not seen her yet, what are you waiting for?

02/23 Joe Warner Trio @ Kaleidoscope SF – From Joe: “I lead the session at Kaleidoscope every 2nd and 4th Wednesdays. I have a great group put together for this Wednesday featuring Lorca Hart on drums and Zach Ostroff on bass. Kaleidoscope is a cool arts venue in the Mission District and needs your support to stay alive. Come buy a couple drinks, listen to the music, and sit in on the second set. No cover!” Check them out!!!

02/24 Vocalist Rhonda Benin @ Freight and Salvage in Berkeley – In celebration of Black History Month (and her own birthday!) song stylist Rhonda Benin presents “Love Letters Make Me Misty Blue,” bringing to our stage music of the great unsung soul divas of the 1960s, like Martha Reeves, Ketty Lester, Gladys Knight, and Betty Everett.

02/25 Violinist Regina Carter with Oakland East Bay Symphony – Internationally renowned jazz violinist Regina Carter is soloist for a new violin concerto written for her by composer and jazz pianist Billy Childs. Carter, known for her passionate playing, brings audiences to their feet, whether on tour in Europe or in her hometown of Detroit, where this work received its world premiere in January. San Francisco Performances is proud to be a co-commissioner and to partner with the Oakland East Bay Symphony to bring this Concerto to our audiences.

02/26 Junius Courtney Big Band with Denise Perrier@ Freight and Salvage in Berkeley – With a brand new CD to release—Us—and a big dance floor to fill, there’s plenty to celebrate, and the Junius Courtney Big Band wants you in the house for a Saturday night party!

02/26 Terrence Brewer Trio @ 57th Street Art Gallery in Oakland – Terrence Brewer Trio concert celebrating Black History month with a concert at one of Oakland’s most amazing fine art/music galleries!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CHICK COREA’S NEW TRIO TO PLAY 4-NIGHT RUN AT YOSHI’S OAKLAND

Young Masters to Join Corea October 11-14:

Bassist Christian McBride and Drummer Brian Blade

OAKLAND, CA (18 August 2010) – Sixteen-time Grammy winner Chick Corea will convene an all-star trio for a four-night run of performances at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, October 11-14, 2010. There will be two shows each night, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Christian McBride, the most acclaimed bassist of his generation, and drummer extraordinaire Brian Blade, a longtime member of the Grammy-winning Wayne Shorter Quartet, will join Corea for the performance, part of an international tour. Corea is currently on tour with McBride in the Chick Corea Freedom Band, also featuring Kenny Garrett on saxophone and Roy Haynes on drums.

The three initially forged an indelible chemistry as the rhythmic backbone of the Five Peace Band on its tour of Asia and America in 2009 (Blade took over the drum chair from fusion icon Vinnie Colaiuta). During that tour, from night to night, there were rare moments when Chick’s co-leader John McLaughlin and alto sax burner Kenny Garrett laid out, allowing for brief interludes of piano trio magic to emerge. Their instant, easy rapport naturally stimulated the idea of yet another outlet for Corea’s tireless creativity. And a new trio was born.

The Corea / McBride / Blade Trio will commence touring on Sept. 24 in Chapel Hill, NC. Their Stateside tour includes a three-night engagement in New York City at the Highline Ballroom (Sept. 30 – Oct. 2) as well as appearances at Orchestra Hall in Chicago (Oct. 8 ) and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. (Oct. 9). They follow with a European tour in early November and an Asian tour from the end of November to early December.

Corea says he is excited to be engaging in such an intimate, conversational setting with such enormously gifted musicians as McBride (a ubiquitous sideman on the New York scene for the past 20 years, playing with Sting, Pat Metheny and McCoy Tyner, as well as a brilliant composer and bandleader in his own right) and Blade (one of the elite drummers in jazz today, who has worked with Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Kenny Garrett, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and who has held the drum chair in the Wayne Shorter Quartet for the past 10 years).

“Christian is a masterful musician,” says Chick. “He contributes great rhythmic ideas to any musical situation. But more than that, his communication abilities are out the top and he’s a lot of fun to make music with.

“And Brian is a master colorist as well as a master drummer. He certainly is a unique voice, easily recognized after hearing just a few seconds of his touch. When Brian came into the Five Peace Band, replacing Vinnie Colaiuta on the second tour, he took a whole new approach to the songs. In fact, it felt like we were playing a completely different repertoire as Brian found endless new twists to the creation of the rhythm and emotions of the compositions. Like Christian, he constantly contributes creative ideas to the flow of the music, whatever the setting is.”

With two such daring and free-spirited improvisers on board, this new trio tour will be a string of surprises, for both the audiences and the musicians on stage.

“I’m not sure what to expect,” says Chick, “but I am sure that it will be a fun musical adventure. I’m looking forward to exploring our communication in more depth. I’m sure that it will be something new and fresh.”

CONTACT:

Evelyn Brechtlein
Chick Corea Productions
Ph: 727-421-9518

Em: evelyn@chickcorea.com

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Vocalist/songwriter Lizz Wright is bringing her sweet music to the Bay Area.

9/18 Dizzy’s Den stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival at 8:30pm
9/19-20 Yoshi’s Oakland – Shows at 8 and 10pm

Photo Credit: James Knox

Photo of Roy Hargrove & RH Factor at the 2006 Monterey Jazz Festival by James Knox.