Ce Jazz The Newsletter of the Central Texas Jazz Society
“Count 23”
Spring 2013
N
Tex ews
Volume 6 Number 2
Marienthal Reprises Jazzfest
The Temple College Jazz Festival “counts 23” this week, with saxophonist Eric Marienthal returning in the number 1 spot. The 23rd annual Jazz Festival starts on Thursday, April 4 and runs through Saturday April 6, with an encore performance in Georgetown on Sunday April 7. Marienthal is the guest artist with the Temple Jazz Orchestra directed by Tom Fairlie, performing Saturday night and reprising the concert the following afternoon in Georgetown. Trombonist Bob McChesney joins the Temple College Jazz Ensemble directed by Ben Irom on Friday night (April 5). Vocalist Calabria Foti sings Thursday night (April 4), with the Temple
Eric Marienthal
College Vocal Jazz Ensemble directed by Priscilla Q. Santana as the opening act. All concerts take place in the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center at Temple
College. Marienthal is a long-time friend of TJO, having appeared twice before with the orchestra--first at the eighth Jazz Festival (1998) and more recently at the fourteenth festival (2004). Marienthal will give a clinic at noon Saturday (April 6). McChesney and Foti (who are also husband and wife) are new to the jazz festival. McChesney will give a clinic at noon on Friday (April 5); Foti will also give a clinic on Thursday (April 4). Foti’s clinic will be Temple College’s Backstage Theatre, while McChesney and Marienthal’a clinics will be in the Performing Arts Center. For details on the three (continued on Page 7)
Jazz Parties Swing Successfully
Ed Calle, Dave Wild at Waco Jazz Party CenTex Jazz News
February’s third-annual CTJS Jazz Parties with featured guest Ed Calle were roaring successes, according to participants. The two concerts raised funds for CTJS scholarship programs in Waco and Temple, provided support for live jazz performance in the area, and heightened awareness of CTJS and its mission.
Saxophonist Calle spent a busy two days in the area. On Friday, February 1, he lectured at Temple College on “Exploring Music Throught Mathematical Lenses”, under the auspices of the Scott & White Humanities Series at Temple College. That night he performed at Waco’s Hotel In(continued on Page 5)
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Jon Fox Joins Board of Directors
Guitarist and educator Jon Fox including studio recordings, has joined the CTJS Board of live performances and live radio Directors. He will be a member broadcasts with jazz ensembles of the Waco chapter. at the University of Colorado. Originally from Detroit, MI, He is an active performer in Jon has lived in Waco since the Waco area both as a soloist 2005. He is a member of the and in various small groups. commercial music faculty at Jon was a member of the CTJS McLennan Community College, Septet which backed Ed Calle where he teaches Improvisation, at the recent jazz party in Waco. Commercial Music Theory and Jon is excited to be a part of Combos as well as maintaining the CTJS. “Jazz education, and a full studio of private guitar arts education in general, is so students. very important in helping us New CTJS Board Member Jon Fox Jon began playing guitar at the find our place in the world,” he age of thirteen, and like most says, “in helping us obtain some young guitar players was at the time only interested broader, cultural context for our lives and provide a in playing rock-n-roll. He began performing and positive, creative outlet for our emotions and observarecording with various rock, country, and popular tions of our surroundings. I am delighted and proud ensembles while still in high school. His formal to be a part of anything that encourages, promotes or study of jazz began when he enrolled at Wayne State assists in the availability of the musical experience for University In Detroit. He received a BA in Jazz students and the community.” Studies at Wayne State, moving to the University of Colorado to complete a Masters of Music in Jazz Performance and Pedagogy. Jon has performed and recorded with jazz ensembles ranging from solo guitar to full jazz orchestra,
Meet the Board… Larry Simonette Dr. Benjamin Irom Jim Burns Bill Berning Thomas Fairlie Brent Colwell Greg Bashara David Wild John R. Francis
President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Artistic Director Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Legal Advisor (Attorney at Law)
CenTex Jazz News is published quarterly by the Central Texas Jazz Society, PO Box 643, Temple TX 76503-0643. President: Larry Simonette Editor: David Wild CenTex Jazz News
Neal Jakubowsky Dr. Colin Mason Evan Klaras Johnny Walker Tim Cates Alex Parker Jon Fox Byron Swann Gary Smith
Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors Board of Directors
For more information: www.centraltexasjazz.org www.wildmusic-jazz.com http://www.baylor.edu/music/jazz/ http://www.templejc.edu/dept/music/jazz.htm http://www.wacojazzorchestra.com/ Spring 2013 Page 2
TCJF Guest Artists
Eric Marienthal...
Saxophonist Eric Marienthal is a charismatic performer with an infectious sense of energy, adept in jazz genres from crossover to straightahead. Born in Sacramento California, Marienthal began playing saxophone in the fifth grade. After graduating from high school in southern California in 1976, Marienthal spent two years at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where he studied with legendary saxophone teacher Joe Viola. In 1995, Eric was awarded the Berklee Distinguished Alumnus Award for outstanding achievements in contemporary music. In 1980 Marienthal auditioned for famed New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt. Hired for the gig, he moved to New Orleans and played with Hirt and his band for about a year. "We would play at Al's club in the French Quarter during the week and almost every weekend we'd travel to a different city to play", says Marienthal. "It was my first time seeing most of the country." When the Hirt gig ended Marienthal returned to L.A. and began the task of working his way into the city's competitive music scene.A spot opened up in the Disneyland Band, through which he met many of the studio musicians that he still works with today. But his first major break came not from the steady Disneyland gig but from a casual engagement at a North Hollywood club with bandleader John Novello. During that gig jazz pianist Chick Corea stopped by. Corea happened to be looking for a saxophonist to join his Elektric Band with bassist John Patitucci, drummer Dave Weckl, and guitarist Frank Gambale. Corea liked what he heard and the following day asked Marienthal to join the band. That edition of the Elektric band went on to record 6 albums, win 2 Grammys and travel to every corner of the globe. After the Elektric Band's "Light Years" CD was released, Eric was offered his first solo record contract with GRP records. "It was a dream come true for me". said Marienthal. "Playing with Chick and
Eric Marienthal
getting signed to my own deal, what more could I ask for." Corea produced Marienthal's first record, "Voices of The Heart"; fellow bandmember bassist John Patitucci produced his next 2 CD's, "Round Trip" and "Crossroads". Marienthal's berth in the Elektric band and his first CDs led to an active career in the recording studio. He subsequently played on over 50 GRP records alone, including records by Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, David Benoit, Don Grusin, Dave Weckl, John Patitucci, GRP All-Star Big Band and The Rippingtons. He simultaneously performed as a member of Lee Ritenour's band, David Benoit's band, Corea's Elektric band and his own band. Marienthal later recorded with and worked for Jeff Lorber, Russell Ferrante, Lee Ritenour, and Russ Freeman. His most recent CD, his 3rd for Peak, is entitled "Got You Covered". It collects some of Eric's favorite tunes and was recorded live in the studio. It features Russell Ferrante, Peter Erskine, Russ Freeman, Chick Corea, Dave Carpenter and Luis Conte. Marienthal is also the lead altoist with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, a Los Angeles-based group featuring the work of the Grammy-award winning composer and arranger. The band performs and travels regularly, uncommon for a modern jazz big band. Marienthal's concert with TJO will include several Phat Band charts. He has also has written three (continued on Page 7)
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Bob McChesney...
Bob McChesney is both an internationally renowned trombonist, recognized for his emotional delivery and exceptional technique, and an authority on trombone pedagogy. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, McChesney began playing the trombone in the fourth grade as part of his public school music program. His family later moved to Rochester, NY, where he attended college as a business major. "I loved music but was uncomBob McChesney mitted to it as a profession. At school I practiced constantly, played in the college jazz ensemble and extracted a lot of good knowledge from the music majors." As graduation neared, McChesney felt less and less willing to join the corporate world. "Immediately after graduation I began looking for a job with one of the road bands. I soon was on the Tommy Dorsey ghost band with Buddy Morrow leading. Six months later some of my friends from college convinced me to move out to Los Angeles with them and give it a shot." McChesney has worked in the highly competitive Los Angeles music industry ever since, scoring hundreds of films and television shows. He can also be heard on CDs for Barbra Streisand, Shakira, Michael Buble', Natalie Cole, Rod Stewart, Chicago, Michael Bolton, and the following Grammy-winning CDs: "Ray Charles: Genius Loves Company", Diana Krall's "When I Look in Your Eyes", and most recently, Arturo Sandoval's "Dear Diz", where he was a featured soloist. As a jazz soloist, McChesney is featured on Horace Silver's first album for Sony/Columbia Records "It’s Got To Be Funky" and on Bob Florence's Grammy winning CD "Serendipity 18", and Florence's "Earth" and "All the Bells and Whistles". He has performed live with Arturo Sandoval, Nancy Wilson, Kenny G, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Robb McConnell, Lalo Schifrin, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Rosemary CenTex Jazz News
TCJF Guest Artists
Clooney, Jack Jones, Bill Holman, Jack Sheldon, Frank Capp and Juggernaught, The Woody Herman Band, and Supersax. "I admire the legendary guys, Jack Teagarden and J.J. for sure," notes McChesney. "I was in college when I first heard Bill Watrous who made a huge impact on me. Bill's playing is so precise, clean and beautiful. From then on I always wanted to play that cleanly. I like Carl Fontana for his speed and incredible flow of ideas." A passionate music educator, McChesney has authored a treatise on his technique of “doodle” tonguing entitled ‘Doodle Studies and Etudes’ (Chesapeake Music). "Doodle tonguing is a multiple tongue technique that I use to articulate fast but with a very smooth legato style," notes McChesney. "The name "doodle tonguing" was coined for the technique because it uses syllables similar to those used in the word 'doodle'." McChesney has contributed to the International Trombone Association Journal about the method, and his articles have been translated into Spanish, Italian and Dutch for publications on trombone technique. He’s also recently written a new book for multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, called “Jazz Etudes and Duets” (Chesapeake Music). He gives master classes on trombone technique, jazz improvisation and doodle tonguing all over the country, and is proud to be on the faculty at California State University, Northridge and California State University, Long Beach. Bob McChesney will perform on Friday, April 5, with the Temple College Jazz Ensemble in the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center.
WJO Adds Salsa Caliente
The Waco Jazz Orchestra will take things south of the border on Monday May 6 with "Caliente! Muy Caliente!", its final concert of the 2012-2013 season. Under the leadership of Tim Cates, WJO has programmed a variety of Latin Big Band charts from the books of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Pat Metheny, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, and Bill Watrous's Manhattan Wildlife Refuge, and from arrangers Jim Marshall and Dave Wild. The free concert takes place in the Ball Performing Arts Center at McLennan Community College. Spring 2013 Page 4
TCJF Guest Artist
Born into a family of musicians and music educators, Calabria Foti was exposed to all kinds of music at a young age. She fell in love with standards and show tunes and started performing them from the time she was 12 years old. Passionate about movie musicals and classic films of the late 1920s on, Ms. Foti has done extensive research on the songs of the Great American Songbook, and the actors and filmmakers from The Golden Age of Hollywood. Foti was born into a family of musicians that played standards and took her to jazz clubs, but the main thing that attracted her to jazz was "the expression it allows. I am also a classically trained violinist in addition to being a vocalist," said Calabria Foti, "but it’s the ability to improvise and to bend notes, rhythms, melodies and changes that I find really interesting and fun." Foti's first instruments were jazz guitar and bass and then violin. "But I was a singer long before I ever picked up an instrument," she says. "I was writing songs on my guitar as a little kid and singing for my classmates and in the community from an early age. Being able to express my emotions, what’s in my soul, is the highest joy for me, and being a vocalist allows that more than any other instrument for me. But, I love to do both - playing and singing. I could never make a choice to do one or the other. It’s all musical expression."
Calabria Foti...
As an accomplished violinist, Foti created the jazz violin sound for Fox TV’s Lisa Simpson and performed the virtuosic violin solo for the long-running theme to PBS’ Great Performances. As a violinist, she has recorded CDs with Barbra Streisand, Calabria Foti Michael Buble, Steve Tyrell, Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney and many others. Foti's vocal CDs, "A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening" and "When A Woman Loves A Man", which features arrangements by her husband, trombonist Bob McChesney, receive continuous airplay on adult standards and jazz radio formats throughout the world. Foti will perform on Thursday, April 4, with Ben Irom, piano, Richard Mikel, bass, and Norm Bergeron, drums in the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center at Temple College.
Calle Roars at Jazz Parties
(continued from page 1)
digo, and the following night he brought his explosive approach to the saxophone to Temple’s Hilton Garden Inn. Calle was backed by members of the Temple and Waco Jazz Orchestras, many of them also CTJS board members. Capacity crowds greeted Calle and the “CTJS 7” at both venues. In fact, ticket sales for the Waco event were suspended several days prior to the performance when the number of tickets purchased reached the capacity of the room at the Indigo. See our “Jazzshots” section on page 6 for a photo story on the events. CTJS President Larry Simonette and other board CenTex Jazz News
members were also in attendance at the parties, manning the CTJS table and handling other details. Simonette said “Planning is already underway for next year’s Waco and Temple CTJS Jazz Parties, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, February 7 and 8, 2014. We were so pleased with the attendance at the Indigo Hotel on Friday night and Hilton Hotel in Temple on Saturday night that we plan to seriously consider at our May retreat whether or not to hold a second jazz party in the late summer or early fall. Stay tuned for more details.”
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At the Jazz Parties with Ed...
At the CTJS Jazz Parties in Waco and Temple with Ed Calle and the CTJS 7... Photos by Jim Burns.
Collective personnel: Ed Calle, Greg Bashara, Colin Mason, saxophones; Tim Cates, Byron Swann, trumpet; Gary Smith, trombone; Jon Fox, Evan Klaras, guitar; Dave Wild, piano; Vince Bryce, bass; Norm Bergeron, drums.
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Marienthal, McChesney and Foti (continued from Page 1)
artists, see the articles on pages 4, 5 and 6. On Friday (April 5) following the concert with McChesney (at about 9:30), the festival will sponsor an all-star jam session at the Hilton Garden Inn in Temple. The Dave Wild Trio will act as the house band, with the guest artists and others from the festival in attendance. Although the guest artists are naturally in the spotlight, the focus of the Temple College Jazz Festival is education. To that end, the Festival will offer a number of clinics. In addition to the clinics by the guest artists, Performing Arts Department Chair Colin Mason will discuss “Transcribing Solos for Better Improv” at 2:00 pm Friday and Saturday. Author/ pianist Dave Wild will present “A Jazz Listening Guide” at 3:00 pm Friday and Saturday, drummer and TC instructor Norm
Calabria Foti
Bergeron will examine “Big Band Drumming (for Students and Direc-
tors)”, and percussionist Henry Brun will explore the “Utilization of AfroCuban and World Percussion in Jazz Combo and Big Band Settings” at 2:00 pm Saturday. (All clinics are free and open to the public). The festival also offers college, high school and middle school big bands, combos, vocal jazz ensembles and show choirs a chance to perform in a noncompetitive setting, receiving professional evaluations and recordings of their performance. Student groups will perform in the Performing Arts Center during the day on Friday and Saturday. This year’s judge/ clinicians are Lee ‘Sparky’ Thomason, Paul Baker, Mike Brumbaugh and George Prado. Major additional support for the jazz festival is being provided by the Central Texas Jazz Society and by Scott and White Healthcare.
Bob McChesney
Eric Marienthal: A Brief Retrospective (continued from Page 3)
instructional books, "Comprehensive Jazz Studies & Exercises," "The Ultimate Jazz Play Along" and "The Music Of Eric Marienthal" as well as three instructional videos, "Play Sax From Day One," "Modern Sax" and "Tricks Of The Trade," all published by Alfred Publishing/Belwin Jazz. Every summer for the past eight years, Marienthal has acted as music director for an annual fundraising concert for High Hopes. High Hopes is a non-profit organization in Orange County, California that works with people who have suffered traumatic head injuries. With the help of many guest artists who have donated their time to perform, these concerts to date have raised more than a half million dollars for this charity. Eric Marienthal will perform with the Temple Jazz Orchestra Saturday April 6 at 7:30 pm in the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center at Temple ColCenTex Jazz News
lege and Sunday April 7 at 4:00 pm in the Georgetown High School Performing Arts Center in Georgetown.
JAMmin' At The Library April is JAM--Jazz Appreciation Month. Among activites planned this month, the Harker Heights Public Library presents the Dave Wild Trio (Dave Wild, piano; Vince Bryce, bass; Charles Burleson, drums) in a jazz performance/lecture on Friday, April 19 at 7:30. Light refreshments will be served. The library is located at 400 Indian Trail in Harker Heights (254) 953-5491. Details at http://www. ci.harker-heights.tx.us/index.php/2011-11-22-17-1410/library.
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