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 Steve Kuhn © Robert Lewis
Three living legends of adventurous jazz will join thier mighty forces for four explosive nights at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles. Pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Al Foster will play at the Jazz Bakery on Wednesday, Septemebr 17th through Saturday, September 20th with sets at 8:00 and 9:30 daily. This performance is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. "...for what I wanted in a drummer, Al Foster had all of it." - Miles Davis
"He [Steve Kuhn] has a way of reaching for a handful of notes as if he had six fingers on his right hand. The resulting dissonances create tension and excitement, and the passionate, almost savage way he punctuates some passages with percussive chords is dramatic." -Marian McPartland
Brooklyn-born Steve Kuhn was in his early teens when he started to play in Boston jazz clubs with visiting celebrities; Coleman Hawkins, Chet Baker and Vic Dickenson. After graduation from Harvard College, Kuhn attended the Lenox School of Music where he met and played in a group with fellow-students Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. The faculty included Bill Evans, George Russell, and Gunther Schuller. While at Lenox, Kuhn met trumpeter Kenny Dorham and began a two-year stint, interrupted when Kuhn was asked to join John Coltrane's newly-formed quartet..
Kuhn next joined Stan Getz's band, which included bassist Scott LaFaro. After a year with Art Farmer, he formed the first Steve Kuhn Trio, with drummer Pete LaRoca and bassist Steve Swallow. At the end of the 1960's he spent four years living in Europe, where his performances had a significant impact upon local players. Upon returning to the United States, Kuhn began his long-term affiliation with ECM, resulting in a string of important albums including Trance, Ecstasy, Non-Fiction and the collaborations with Sheila Jordan; Playground and Last Year's Waltz.
In the mid-80's, Kuhn co-founded the popular 'All Star Trio', with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Al Foster, and launched a new and still evolving edition of his trio with bassist David Finck. Drummers for the latter have included Joey Baron (as on the ECM recording Remembering Tomorrow), Lewis Nash, Billy Drummond, Kenny Washington and Bill Stewart. In the 90's and up to the present time, he has recorded CDs for Venus, Reservoir and Sunnyside.
In 2004, Kuhn recorded Promises Kept which includes a string orchestra for ECM Records. He is most proud of this recording. Kuhn continues to tour widely throughout the world, with a strong following in Europe and especially Japan where his CDs frequently appear on the jazz charts.
 Steve Swallow © Natalia Dobryszycka
Steve Swallow toured with the Stan Getz Quartet, which also included Gary Burton (replaced in 1967 by Chick Corea) and Roy Haynes. In 1978 he joined the Carla Bley Band. He toured and recorded often with John Scofield from 1980 to 1984, first in trio with drummer Adam Nussbaum, and then in duet. He has since toured often with Scofield, and has also produced several of his recordings. He produced recordings for Karen Mantler, Lew Soloff and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, and recorded and/or toured with, among others, Joe Lovano, Motohiko Hino, Ernie Watts, Michael Gibbs, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Paul Bley, Henri Texier and Allen Ginsberg. In the Spring of 1998 he toured and recorded with Lee Konitz and Paul Motian, and toured with Brazilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati. He also participated with Carla Bley in the Copenhagen Jazzvisits program, and was nominated for the 1999 Danish Jazzpar. He toured in the Fall with Paul Motian’s Electric BeBop Band, and with John Scofield and Bill Stewart.
Steve Swallow placed first (electric bass) in the Downbeat International Critics Poll from 1983, and in the Downbeat Readers Poll from 1985, until 2004, when the category mysteriously disappeared from the polls. He has also won the Jazz Times poll (electric bass) for the past several years, and has been voted the Jazz Journalists Association's electric bassist of the year since 2001, when that category was instituted.
 Al Foster
Other artists Foster has performed and recorded with include Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Randy & Michael Brecker, Bill Evans (the saxophonist), George Benson, Kenny Drew, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Dexter Gordon and Chick Corea. Over the years, Foster has toured extensively with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson, becoming a major attraction in all three bands as well as an integral part of them.
Respected and admired for his keen sensitivity, Foster is known for his unique ability to listen to and play off others in an almost telepathic way, responding to them with a style that is at once both charismatic and understated. Foster is a great believer in the purity of the music, a genuine artist who continues to push the boundaries of creativity again and again, devoted to preserving and perpetuating the highest standards in jazz today. He is a magnificent all-round drummer, and his rhythmic chops are renowned in musical styles ranging from bebop to free form to jazz/rock. Recently he has recorded and toured with his own band.
Biographic info was adapted from www.stevekuhnmusic.com, www.wattxtrawatt.com. and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Foster.
The Jazz Bakery is located at 3233 Helms Av in Culver City and their telephone number is 310-271-9039 for reservations. For more information: www.JazzBakery.org
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Los Angeles 
Thursday, 08 January 2009
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