|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Mike Stern at Yoshi's with Bob Franceschini 12/19-23 |
|
|
|
Written by Ronaldo Oregano
|
|
Saturday, 09 December 2006 |
 Mike Stern © Clay Patrick McBride
Stern joins the Heads Up label with the release of Who Let the Cats Out? Included on
the guest roster are bassists Richard Bona (who handles vocals on two
tracks), Anthony Jackson, Meshell Ndegeocello, Chris Minh Doky and
Victor Wooten, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, saxophonists Bob Franceschini
and Bob Malach, drummers Dave Weckl and Kim Thompson, harmonica player
Gregoire Maret, and keyboardist/producer Jim Beard.
Born on January 10, 1953, in Boston, MA, Stern got his start as a
guitar player with Blood, Sweat & Tears at the age of 22. He then
toured with Billy Cobham for a year, and it was at one of the legendary
drummer’s gigs in New York City that Miles Davis first heard Stern.
After moving to New York City, he was recruited by Davis to play a key
role in his celebrated comeback band of 1981. From 1983 to 1984, he
toured with Jaco Pastorius’ Word of Mouth band and in 1985 returned to
Davis’ lineup for a second tour of duty that lasted close to a year.
In
the summer of 1986, Stern went out on the road with David Sanborn and
later joined an electrified edition of
Steps Ahead. Stern made his debut on Atlantic Records in 1986
with Upside Downside. From
1986 through 1988, he was a member of Michael Brecker’s quintet and
later joined a reunited Brecker Brothers Band, appearing on 1992’s Return of the Brecker Brothers.
Stern’s acclaimed 1993 release, Standards
(And Other Songs), led to him being named Best Jazz Guitarist of
the Year by the readers and critics of Guitar Player magazine. He
followed that up with 1994’s Is What
It Is and 1996’s Between The
Lines, both of which received GRAMMY nominations. In 1997, Stern
recorded Give And Take, and won the Orville W. Gibson Award for Best
Jazz Guitarist that year. Stern’s next release was a six-string summit
meeting with colleagues Bill Frisell and John Scofield that was
appropriately titled Play.
Voices (2001), his first foray into vocal music, earned Stern his third
GRAMMY nomination. He released These
Times for the ESC label in 2003.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have played with lots of great musicians
like Joe Henderson, Miles, Jaco Pastorius, Mike Brecker and Dave
Sanborn, just to name a few,” says Stern. “It seems to me what they all
have in common is that they’re wide open to so many different kinds of
music, and no matter what they play they put their heart and soul in
it.”
On Who Let The Cats Out?, his
13th as a leader, Stern injects some brash new energy into the mix with
valuable input from a fresh cast of characters, including the exciting
young drummer Kim Thompson,
bassist and pop-jazz-funk enigma Meshell
Ndegeocello, harmonica phenomena Gregoire Maret and jazz trumpet star
Roy Hargrove. Along with
longtime colleagues like legendary drummer Dave Weckl
and the brilliant keyboardist Jim Beard (producer here and on six
previous Stern recordings) and more recent collaborators in tenor
saxophonist Bob Franceschini
(a member of Stern's touring band for the past five years) and a gang
of formidable virtuoso bassists in Bona, Victor Wooten, Anthony Jackson
and Chris Mihn Doky, Stern unleashes his distinctive brand of bop 'n'
roll with several intriguing twists along the way.
 Bob Franceschini
A native New Yorker, Bob Franceschini attended public schools in Harlem and Washington Heights. He begun his musical education in junior high, then entered the High School of Music and Art where he met and played with Kenny Washington, Marcus Miller and Omar Hakim. In the summer following their graduation, these young lions formed a jazz group which played an extended engagement at a club owned by George Benson. This opportunity gained Bob immediate recognition and led to tours with a number of outstanding artists including Tom Browne and Chaka Khan. He then went on to play with George Benson, Woody Shaw, Dave Valentine, Kenny Kirkland, Eddie Palmieri, Michel Camilo, Jorge Dalto, Barry Rogers and others.
In 1986 he began touring with Willie Colon. There he had the chance to focus on his Puerto Rican roots and learn about arranging and soloing in Latin music. Eventually he became Musical Director for Willie Colon.
At the same time he continued doing studio work and jingles and continued to play and record with jazz and fusion groups with such noteworthy musicians as Victor Bailey, Dave Weckl, Anthony Jackson, Darryl Jones and Charlie Sepulveda.
Catch Mike Stern and this fine quartet
December 19th through the 23rd at Yoshi's Jazz Club at Jack London Square in Oakland
www.yoshis.com, visit Sterns' Website
www.mikestern.org/ |
|
 Tuesday, 02 December 2008
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
