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Wycliffe Gordon & Jay Leonhart at Dizzy's April 8-13 Print E-mail
Written by Ronaldo Oregano   
Sunday, 06 April 2008
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Wycliffe Gordon & Jay Leonhart

Wycliffe Gordon & Jay Leonhart present Voices of Jazz as part of Dizzy's "Sing into Spring" Festival at Dizzy's in New York on Tuesdy, April 8th through Sunday, April 13th. The quartet will be featuring Wycliffe Gordon on trombone, Jay Leonhart on bass, Ted Rosenthal on piano and Alvin Atkinson on drums. [Click here for a review of Wycliffe Gordon & Jay Leonhart CD This Rhythm on My Mind ].

Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. His trombone playing, hailed as "mixing powerful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies," has been universally hailed by jazz critics. Gordon received the Jazz Journalists Association 2002 and 2001 Award for Trombonist of the Year, the Jazz Journalists Association 2000 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Trombone and has been nominated for the Jazzpar Award.

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Wycliffe_Gordaon © G. F. Aquilino

Born in Waynesboro, Georgia, Wycliffe Gordon was first introduced to music by his late father, Lucius Gordon, a classical pianist and teacher. His interest in the trombone was sparked at age twelve by his elder brother who played the instrument in his junior high school band. Egged on by sibling rivalry, Gordon’s relentless pleading of his parents led to his first trombone. A year later, an aunt bequeathed Gordon her jazz record collection, and so began his passion for jazz music.

In addition to a thriving solo career, he tours regularly leading the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, headlining at legendary jazz venues throughout the world. Gordon is a former veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and The Gully Low Jazz Band, and has been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor's "Jazz at The Kennedy Center" Series. Gordon’s extensive performance experience includes work with many of the most renowned jazz performers of the past and present.Gordon is the youngest member of the U.S. Statesmen of Jazz, and in many tour performances has served and continues to serve as a musical ambassador for the U.S. State Department.

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Jay Leonhart
A superior bassist, Jay Leonhart has also had a parallel and sometimes overlapping career as a witty lyricist and occasional singer. As a child he attended the Peabody Conservatory (1946-50) and by the time he went to the Berklee College of Music (1959-61), Leonhart was a jazz musician. He played with Buddy Morrow (1961) and Mike Longo (1962-63) and then became a busy freelance musician in New York. Among Leonhardt's many associations were Marian McPartland (with whom he recorded in 1971), Jim Hall, Urbie Green, Chuck Wayne (1976), Phil Woods, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Don Sebesky, Louie Bellson and pianist Mike Renzi. Leonhart started becoming well-known as a lyricist in the 1980's when he began leading his own recording sessions and started having his songs being recorded by other singers. As a leader, Jay Leonhart has recorded for DMP (1983), Sunnyside (1984 and 1988), Nesak (1990) and DRG (1993) .

After moving to New York in the '60s, Jay began playing for many of the great jazz musicians, big bands, and singers who were to be found in New York - artists like Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Tony Bennett, Marian McPartland, and Jim Hall. And Jay has continued to work with many of the great jazz musicians of the twentieth century. Jay has now recorded 15 solo albums - all the while knowing that he would some day begin performing one man shows made up of these many songs about his life in music. "The Bass Lesson" is the first example. This show is being received warmly by critics and audiences and appears to have a nice long life ahead of it.

Video clip featuring Wycliffe Gordon:
Wycliffe Gordon & Jay Leonhart: Voices of Jazz featuring Wycliffe Gordon, trombone; Jay Leonhart, bass; Ted Rosenthal, piano; Alvin Atkinson, drums.
Tuesday-Sunday April 8-13, 7:30 & 9:30 sets and additional 11:30 sets on Friday and Saturday.

Dizzy's is located at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center Broadway at 60th Street, on the 5th Floor. For Reservations Call: 212 258-9595 or -9795. Seating is available on a first-come first-served basis either at tables or at the bar. For more information, visit: www.jalc.org/dccc

Jazz at Lincoln Center is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education and broadcast events for audiences of all ages.

 
 Tuesday, 14 October 2008
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