 Former Hawaii resident and two time Grammy nominee, trombonist Conrad Herwig
will perform a concert with his high school jazz band-mate, bassist John Kolivas
and the Honolulu Jazz Quartet at the Honolulu Academy of Arts’ Doris Duke
Theatre on May 20, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for general public and $23
for Academy of Arts members.
This will be Mr. Herwig’s first visit back to Hawaii since his graduation from
Punahou School in the 70s. After high school, he attended the prestigious North
Texas State University (now University of North Texas) where he majored in jazz
performance.
Mr. Herwig began his professional career in 1980 with the Clark Terry Big Band
and later joined the Buddy Rich Orchestra for tours of the US and Europe. After
locating permanently in New York he performed with Slide Hampton's World of
Trombones and Mario Bauza's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, as well as with the
orchestras of Toshiko Akiyoshi, Mel Lewis, Bob Mintzer, Henry Threadgill, Miles
Davis, Quincy Jones, and Frank Sinatra.
Herwig has recorded 16 albums as a leader. His new CD release is "Another Kind
of Blue-The Latin Side of Miles Davis" on Half Note Records, which was nominated
for a 2005 Grammy Award. This is the follow-up project to the 1998 Grammy-
nominated CD, "The Latin Side of John Coltrane".
“In the Punahou Stage Band, it was either a trombone or bass solo on every
tune!” recalled Herwig when he and Kolivas met two years ago at Jamey
Aebersold’s Jazz Camp in Indiana. “Conrad was already great in high school. We
had a wonderful time playing together then. He’s also responsible for hooking me
up with saxophonist David Choy and his brother, trumpeter Delano Jr.,” said
Kolivas. Kolivas and the Choy brothers formed the jazz-fusion group “Wave” in
high school. “When I saw Conrad at the Aebersold camp, he told me to try and set
up something in Hawaii so we can work together. It’s finally happened!”
The Honolulu Jazz Quartet, made up of Kolivas on bass, Tim Tsukiyama on sax, Dan
Del Negro on piano and Adam Baron on drums, was formed in 2001. The HJQ’s CD
“Sounds of the City” was released last year to critical acclaim and is one of
the few jazz CDs from Hawaii to make it onto the JazzWeek Top 50 National Jazz
Radio Chart, where it stayed for seven weeks. Kolivas’ tune “Heater’s On” was
No. 7 on the top 100 most requested tunes on jazz radio WRTI in Philadelphia in
2004.
“When Conrad solos,” said Kolivas, “he puts so much energy and emotion into it
that he seems totally exhausted at the end of the solo. It’s going to be
inspirational working with him.”
www.honolulujazzquartet.com |
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Friday, 21 November 2008
