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Laura Caviani’s Holiday Show at the Artists Quarter, December 21st

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"In my world, the first thing I reach for is the sound. Technique is Ok, but if you got the technique and I got a good sound, I'll beat you every time. You can play a thousand notes and I can play one note and wipe you out. What I reach for is ... a sound." -Dewey Redman

Friday, 09 January 2009

Laura Caviani’s Holiday Show at the Artists Quarter, December 21st

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Saturday, 16 December 2006

One of the Twin Cities’ pre-eminent jazz pianists, composers, and educators, Laura Caviani confirms her reputation and raises the ante another notch each time she takes the bandstand. And it wouldn’t be December in the Twin Cities without her holiday show. This year the Laura Caviani Quintet will feature virtuoso vocalist and frequent co-conspirator, Lucia Newell, when the musicians revisit Laura’s Angels We Haven’t Heard on December 21^st at the Artists Quarter in St. Paul.

Laura Caviani’s roots are solidly in the Midwest and music. 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. With a grant from the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 1997, Caviani studied with piano virtuoso JoAnne Brackeen, and the following year was one of four American musicians selected to study in Japan at the Akiyoshidai International Art Village. Currently teaching at Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges in Northfield, her teaching resume also includes St. John's University, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, the University of St. Thomas, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, as well as middle schools in Minneapolis through the "Harman How to Listen Program," an outreach project co-founded by Wynton Marsalis.

Caviani has toured with Toots Theilemans, Bob Mintzer, Dave Liebman, and extensively with Karrin Allyson, and has released five acclaimed recordings as well as appearing on a long list of CDs of local musicians. Last January, she released Going There with a trio featuring Bob Bowman and Todd Strait; she even made her vocal debut on one track, adding a couple horns as well. Wrote Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal, "Laura Caviani could waltz into any New York nightclub and tear up the joint.” Marian McPartland described her playing as “sparkling and inventive."

Angels We Haven’t Heard.

From Los Angeles to Mexico City to Rio de Janeiro, as well as locally at Orchestra Hall, the Artist's Quarter, Sophia’s, and the Dakota, Lucia Newell has performed Brazilian samba, French ballads and bop melodies; she’s lent her voice to the poems of Pablo Neruda and the songs of Rogers and Hart as guest vocalist on Soul Café’s recent release (Jazz and Poetry); she has sung with the great Billy Eckstein, the Rio Jazz Orchestra, and Oscar Castro Neves. A Minneapolis native who has spent time in New York, LA, Europe, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Rio, Lucia has experience in theater, studied with Minnesota Opera’s Janis Hardy, and has sung radio jingles, background vocals and provided voice-overs in addition to solo work with groups such as Departure Point, Soul Café, and of course, the Laura Caviani Quintet.. Over the past two decades, Lucia has continued her life-long study of music, performing, teaching and composing.

A linguist as well as vocalist, Lucia writes lyrics in both English and Portuguese, and has translated many of her favorite Brazilian songs. In 2005, Lucia released a highly regarded tribute, Steeped in Strayhorn, and is featured on Soul Café’s The Poetry of Jazz.

Solo or in such esteemed company, Laura Caviani knows how to throw a musical party, and her holiday celebrations are always among the most memorable events of the season for fans of great jazz. Radio icon Leigh Kamman (Minnesota Public Radio) noted, “this music will cheer and warm your space.” In his review of Angels We Haven’t Heard for the Star Tribune, Tom Surowicz noted that “this is a CD that delivers nearly as many gifts as Santa himself. You get great arrangements, bristling swing, powerful solos, timeless carols, charismatic vocals by Lucia Newell, and Phil Hey, the hippest little drummer boy in town.” These musicians know each other well, and their simpatico collaboration will make this a must-see holiday event.

The Laura Caviani Quintet with Lucia Newell will celebrate the holidays on Thursday, December 21^st at 9 pm at the Artists Quarter, 408 St. Peter Street in downtown St. Paul, www.artistsquarter.com. Visitwww.lauracaviani.com for updates on Laura’s performance schedule.

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