August 6, 2004, (Minneapolis, MN) - The Chris Graham Trio, a group whose members recently graduated from high school, will give its final performance at The Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, on Sunday, August 15, from 4:00 - 5:00 PM. The group consists of Chris Graham, 17, on guitar, Sam Westley, 18, on piano, and Brian Hawthorne, 19, on bass. Chris will be a senior at St. Paul Central this school year. Sam graduated from South High, and Brian graduated from Southwest High. Both Sam and Brian will both be moving to New York this fall to attend the Manhattan School of Music.

The group performs Graham's original compositions as well as standards and tunes by contemporary jazz artists. For this performance, Graham said, "The plan is to move towards some more challenging material."

The trio's performance is part of a series called J-Train at the Dakota, which features young musicians from area schools and are free events open to jazz lovers of all ages. J-Train at the Dakota Performances are sponsored by The Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education. Funds are provided by COMPAS: Community Programs in the Arts, through a grant from the McKnight Foundation.

I have had the thrill of seeing Nachito Herrera and Puro Cubano in several different editions and at many different venues in the past three years. Although you can usually count on hearing several of his favorites, including “Malaguena” or "Un Dia en la Habana" (A Day in Havana), there is always a new twist, a new harmony, a different approach to the improvisation that keeps the tune fresh. A set usually includes both original compositions and his own arrangements of everything from Gillespie to Rachmaninoff to the Cuban masters and traditional melodies. When you first see his hands fly across the keyboard, you blink and wonder if in fact this guy has more than the usual allotment of ten digits, or perhaps he has an extra hand or two? His percussive attack is somewhat reminiscent of McCoy Tyner, but more like Tyner on psychodelics. And yet, Herrera can be gentle and lyrical, always passionate, and always ready to explain the roots of Cuban music to his audience. “I love all kinds of music, especially American music, but I love Cuban music the most....I like to combine the older Cuban styles, especially the rhythmic approaches of montunos and tumbaos, with jazz and classical themes. It’s how I see the evolution of Cuban piano.”

Photo by Andrea Canter

Recorded at the Artists’ Quarter in St. Paul, Minnesota, this CD documents the phenomenon which is the Tuesday Night band: Soul jazz at its finest, served up fresh, hot, and dripping with grease. The band is Kenny Horst on drums, Gary Berg on saxophone, and Billy Holloman on the Hammond B3 organ.

Mozart called the organ “the king of instruments,” and the king is still ascendant on Tuesday nights at the AQ.

Laura’s roots are solidly in the Midwest and music. She tells about her father’s barbershop quartet gigs as a student at Grinnell College in Iowa, when the young pianist was a fellow named Herbie Hancock. She received a Bachelor’s of Music in Composition from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, and a Masters of Music in Improvisation from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Oscar Peterson was my first serious introduction to jazz and over the years I have collected about 70 of his recordings. I have attended three live performances, unfortunately none when he was at the height of his technical powers. I first heard him at the Ravinia festival near Chicago a few years before his devastating stroke in 1993. In 1999 he brought his quartet to University of Minnesota's Northrop Auditorium, hardly an intimate setting for chamber jazz, but in retrospect, an adequate arena for an appreciative audience. At that time it was clear that Peterson had redirected some of his Tatumesque wizardry to a more lyrical, introspective approach, at least in part to compensate for a loss of power and dexterity in his left hand. The move from his legendary trio format to quartet was also in part a means of giving more support to the piano: "I use the quartet with guitar, bass, and drums more than anything now, which is the best of both worlds. You have all of the rhythmic impetus, plus the backing and counterpoint of the guitarist" (1995, Jazz Times). At Northrop, Peterson had significant difficulty walking on stage; yet when seated at the piano, he was still a physically as well as artistically commanding performer.

Artists' Quarter Shows on August 13 and 14 celebrate the birthdays of Irv Williams (85), Cliff Brunzell (83) and Jeanne Arland Peterson (83)

Three of the most treasured pioneers of the Twin Cities jazz scene, Irv Williams, Cliff Brunzell and Jeanne Arland Peterson, will perform at The Artists' Quarter in St. Paul on August 13 and 14 to celebrate a collective 251 years of musical life. These three gifted musicians, whose contributions as performers, mentors and role models cannot be measured, celebrate birthdays on three consecutive days in mid-August. Saxophonist Irv Williams turns 85, while violinist Cliff Brunzell and pianist/vocalist Jeanne Arland Peterson each turn 83 within a week of the Artists' Quarter shows. Show times are 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. each night. The Artists' Quarter is located at 408 St. Peter in downtown St. Paul, telephone (651) 292-1359.

“When looking for models, Arland, Brunzell and Williams offer examples of discipline, inspiration and mastery of an art form,” says Leigh Kamman, the legendary Twin Cities broadcaster who has been interviewing jazz greats for over 60 years.