Irvin Mayfield©Andrea Canter

Irvin Mayfield, Artist Director for Jazz at Minnesota Orchestra Hall, presents his “A Love Letter to New Orleans” with his quintet and special guests on Friday, April 6th (8 pm) at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis. An intimate reflection on his many influences, the project has been released as both a recording and a book. The evening’s host (and author of the book’s foreword) will be journalist Soledad O’Brien; special guests include New Orleans vocalist Aaron Neville, vibes/drum master Jason Marsalis, and acclaimed drummer Bill Summers.

Irvin Mayfield was born and raised in New Orleans, where he had his first opportunities to play jazz with the Algiers Brass Band. At about age 14, he started to get serious about music, playing with school bands that took him around the world on tours. In addition to formal music education in school, much of his growth was due to his interactions with older musicians on the city scene and listening to the great trumpeters, from Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, to Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, and Booker Little. He also cites the influences of Charles Mingus and Phineas Newborn, and contemporary masters, mentor Wynton Marsalis, Terrence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, and Brad Mehldau.

Bill Summers

Mayfield was named the International Cultural Ambassador for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana to promote cultural exchange with communities around the world. One of his special projects was the recording of his first commission, the Half Past Autumn Suite with Gordon Parks, a pianist better known as a photographer and filmmaker, whose images inspired Mayfield’s compositions “Minneapolis broke me in as an artist by their reaction to Los Hombres," he told the Star Tribune. "It is my home away from home, Minneapolis and St. Paul. During my collaboration with Gordon Parks, I learned to love St. Paul even more through his eyes." In the past few years, the Minnesota Orchestra has commissioned and/or premiered several of Mayfield’s original works.

Soledad O'Brian

Soledad O’Brien is the anchor for CNN’s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien and is a special correspondent for CNN/U.S. She has produced award-winning documentaries and won an Emmy in 2011 for her live coverage of the crisis in Haiti; she was also named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Aaron Neville’s five-decade career spans soul, R&B, country, pop, and gospel. He’s won three Grammies, performs with the Neville Brothers, and has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, and Allan Toussaint.

Jason Marsalis©Andrea Canter

Bill Summers was a member of Herbie Hancock’s The Headhunters and toured with Michael Jackson, Prince, Sting, Jay Z, Kanye West, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald. Co-founder of Los Hombres Calientes with Irvin Mayfield and Jason Marsalis, he continues to tour with The Headhunters and his new ensemble, Jazalsa.

It will be a musical “Love Letter to New Orleans” Friday night with this all-star cast led by Irvin Mayfield.

Orchestra Hall is located at 1111 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets available at www.minnesotaorchestra.org. This concert is part of the 2011-2012 Piper-Jaffray Jazz Season.

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