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Once a radio announcer who was obviously a classical music fan confronted me on the air and stated that blues is a lowly form of music whose text is relegated to the gutter with stories of loose women and booze and etc. ... and sometimes you can't even understand the words. Then he asked the question; "What do you think about that Mr. Siegel?" I answered immediately; "Opera! I rest my case." - Corky Siegel |
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 Thursday, 08 January 2009 |
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Mose Allison, Bobby Sanabria Headline the Hot Summer Jazz Festival's Opening Weekend in St Paul |
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Written by Don Berryman
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Saturday, 10 June 2006 |
The Hot Summer Jazz Festival's opening week-end begins in Saint Paul's
Mears Park with a bang! Three of the groups are led by drummers, the
festivities culminate in a hot Latin jazz festival-within-a-festival
featuring Nachito Herrera, Salsa del Soul, Bobby Sanabria
on Saturday night. The free concerts in Mears Park also feature
performances by Chris Graham, Mose Allison, George Avaloz Band, Walker
West Music Academy, Jesse Kegan, Bend in the River Big Band.
 Mose Allison @ Mears Park © Andrea Canter
I fell in love with Mose Allison's sound when I first heard it in the
1970's. Mose has vocal phrasing drenched in the blues combined with
impeccable jazz chops on the piano. That was over 30 years ago and he
has continued to write and perform his own songs and put his stylistic
stamp on classics like "Seventh Son" by Willie Dixon. He is
simultaneously a down home Mississippi Bluesman and a urbane jazz
hipster. In his half a century in the profession he has recorded albums
for Prestige, Columbia, Atlantic, and Bluenote records. A tireless
perform who still still tours throughout the year, he will grace Saint
Paul Minnesota with a free concert at Mears Park on Friday the 16th. That show will be
followed by two shows at the Artists' Quarter that evening and two more
on Saturday the 17th, providing the perfect way to relax and cool-off after the outdoor music ends.
Allison writes songs full of wit and wry observations, with lines like:
"Everybody's cryin' 'Justice', just as long as it's business first" and
"I don't want much in this world -It's the simple things I treasure /-
'Till I die I would get by on fame, riches and sensual pleasure". His
songs have been recorded by many blues, jazz and rock artists including
the Who, Charlie Musselwhite, Bonnie Raitt, Karyn Allyson, Eric
Clapton, Johnny Winter, Elvis Costello, Leon Russel, Hot Tuna, Georgie
Fame, John Mayal, Jeff Beck, The Clash, even Roy Rogers, and Van
Morrison (who recorded a tribute album: "Tell Me Something: The Songs
of Mose Allison" with nothing but Mose Allison tunes).
Pete Townsend (The Who) said of Mose "
... his voice was so right that I felt it was the voice of a gentle
giant. The man, the musician, with the strength to change the world,
but the humility and the character to stand alone, live his own life
and await his natural time."
 George Avaloz
 Nachit Herrera © Andrea Canter Widely recognized as a young genius, Ignacio "Nachito" Herrera
stunned Cuban audiences at the age of twelve, performing Rachmaninoff's
Concerto No. 2 with the Havana Symphony Orchestra. His love of
classical music quickly combined with traditional Cuban rhythms under
the instruction of the Cuban masters-Rubén González,
Jorge Gomez
Labraña, and Frank Fernández. In his twenties, Nachito
became the
musical director at the famous "Tropicana" in Cuba where he continued
to deepen his repertoire. In the late 1990's, Nachito joined the famed
Cubanismo as its lead pianist, arranger, and musical director while
cultivating a passion, talent and reputation in Latin Jazz; a striking
influence in his music today.
Nachito has toured, performed, and shared the stage with exceptional
musicians: Michel Camilo, Michael Tainer, Tata Quines, Carlos de
Puerto, Tito Puentes, Oscar de Leon, Giovanni Hidalgo (Mananguito),
Emilio del Monte, Jesus Alemany, Yellowjackets and many others.
Bobby Sanabria is a drummer,
percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer and
educator who has performed with a veritable Who's Who in the world of
jazz and Latin music, as well as with his own critically acclaimed
ensemble, Ascensión. His diverse recording and performing
experience includes work with such legendary figures as Dizzy
Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Charles McPherson, Mongo
Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Chico O'Farrill, Candido, Francisco
Aguabella, Henry Threadgill, and the Godfather of Afro-Cuban Jazz,
Mario Bauzá.
 Bobby Sanabria
Bobby, the son of Puerto Rican parents, was born and raised in the
"Fort Apache" section of New York City's South Bronx. Inspired and
encouraged by Maestro Tito Puente, another fellow New York-born Puerto
Rican, Bobby "got serious" and attended Boston's Berklee College of
Music. Bobby is now a leader in the Afro-Cuban and jazz fields as both
drummer and percussionist, and is recognized as one of the most
articulate scholars of la tradición. He has been featured on
numerous Grammy-nominated albums, including The Mambo Kings and other
movie soundtracks, as well as numerous television and radio work. His
most critically praised work has been with the famed Mario Bauzá
and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. With them he recorded three
Grammy-nominated CDs, considered to be the definitive works of the
Afro-Cuban big-band jazz tradition.
In 1993 Mr. Sanabria and Ascensión released NYC Aché!,
which received four and half stars in Down Beat magazine. In June
2000 Bobby released Afro-Cuban Dream... Live & In Clave!!! on the
Arabesque label. Recorded live at Birdland in New York City, it
features Bobby powering a big band of twenty all-stars. Critically
acclaimed worldwide, it has been hailed by both the jazz and Latin
music cognoscenti as a masterpiece, and was nominated for a mainstream
Grammy as the Best Latin Jazz Album of 2001. Afro-Cuban Dream...Live
& In Clave!!! was also nominated for the Jazz Journalists
Association 2001 Award for the Best Afro-Cuban Jazz Album of the Year.
His latest recording, ¡Quarteto Aché!, on the ZOHO label,
documents Bobby's virtuosity in a small group setting and was
nominated for Best Latin Jazz recording of 2003 by the Jazz Journalists
Association.
 Walker West Front line © Andrea Canter
Mears Park Stage Schedule (Free Concerts)
Friday June 16
- 5:00 Chris Graham
- 6:45 Mose Allison
- 8:30 George Avaloz Band
Saturday June 17
- NOON Walker West Music Academy
- 1:30 Jesse Kegan
- 3:00 Bend in the River Big Band
- 4:30 Nachito Herrera
- 6:00 Salsa del Soul
- 8:00 Bobby Sanabria
Artists' Quarter Stage
In the Artists' Quarter jazz club. just a few blocks from Mears
park at 7th place and Saint Peter. See Mose in the park on the 16th,
then come down to the Artists' Quarter for more, or come relax in the
cool of that basement club and hear the
cool sounds of Mose after the heat of the Latin beat at Mears Park on
Saturday. The Artists' Quarter is located in the Historic Hamm
Building in Downtown St. Paul, at the corner of St. Peter Street and
the 7th Place Pedestrian Mall in the same building as Great
Waters Brewing Company and the Park Square Theatre. Enter on the
pedestrian mall side. From Mears Park, you can walk up 6th Street to
Wabashaw and take a right. Prceed on block to 7th Place Pedestrian Mall.
Artists' Quarter
408 St Peter Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
(651) 292-1359
Friday June 16
- 8:30 Mose Allison
- 10:30 Mose Allison
Saturday June 17
- 8:30 Mose Allison
- 10:30 Mose Allison
The following week-end brings the festival to
5 Stages in Minneapolis June 22-25. Watch for more coverage on Jazz Police! Minneapolis week-end Hot Summer Jazz Festival schedule follows:
10th & NICOLLET MALL
June 24
12:00 Trumpet Summit featuring David Young, Kelly Rossum & Dave Jensen
1:30 Norman Simmons with Vicky Mountain
3:00 IAJE Mid-Level State Honor Jazz Ensemble directed by Doug Snapp
4:30 High School Big Band
6:00 IAJE Minnesota Chapter Resource Team
7:30 Swing Dance with Mood Swing featuring Laurie Trach
June 25
12:00 MacPhail Center for Music - Jazz Combos
1:15 Jerry Weldon & Jon Weber
2:30 MacPhail Center for Music - Jazz Faculty Performance
3:45 Open Jam Session with MacPhail Faculty
5:00 The Schubert Club - Jazz Piano Competition - Winners Showcase
NICOLLET MALL at 11th Street
June 24
2:00 Kenny Horst Quartet
3:30 Jim Marentic and the Coltrane Connection Sextet
6:00 Jon Weber & Jerry Weldon
8:00 Connie Evingson & Debbie Duncan
June 25
12:00 Alicia Renee with Elizabeth Stoiaken
1:30 Yohannes Tona
3:30 Phil Hey Quartet
13th & Nicollet Mall
June 22
8:15P Michael "Hook" Deutsch
9:00P Bill Crutcher & Work in Progress
10:45P Tanner Taylor with Doug Haining
June 23
9:00P Twin Cities Hot Club
10:45P Dennis Spears with Jon Weber & Peter Snell
June 24
6:00P Tom Wegren
7:30P Butch Thompson
9:00P Larry McDonough
10:45P Jon Weber & Jerry Weldon
June 25
12N TO 7:00P The Jazz Vocal Coalition featuring Lila Ammons, Tommy Bruce, Dorothy Doring, Connie Dusseau , Arne Fogel, Maud Hixson, Rhonda Laurie, Connie Olson, Christine Rosholt, Sue Tucker, Vicky Mountain.
MAIN STAGE PEAVEY PLAZA - 11TH & NICOLLET MALL
June 22
5:00 MITY
6:30 Ginger Commodore
8:30 Dan Kusz
June 23
5:00 Air Force Falconaires Big Band
7:00 Frank Morgan with David Young
9:00 Barbara Morrison
June 24
4:30 Norman Simmons with Anton Denner & Sheila Earley
7:00 Air Force Falconaires Big Band
9:00 Dewey Redman
June 25
2:30 JazzMN Big Band
4:30 Nachito Herrera
CHeck the Hot Summer Jazz Festival website at
www.hotsummerjazz.com
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