Andrew Speight

Andrew Speight spearheaded the formation of the Generations Band as a project of the International Center for the Arts at San Francisco State University. Despite changing personnel and the untimely death of original pianist Ronnie Matthews in June 2008, the Generations Band has not only survived but also strengthened its position as the premier cross-generational jazz band, its members’ collective experience encompassing more than 60 years of the music’s history. (Senior statesman Frank Wess was playing with Billy Eckstine’s big band in 1946!) The Generations Band includes Frank Wess on tenor saxophone, Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone, Andrew Speight on alto saxophone, Jim Rotundi on trumpet, David Hazeltine on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums. The guiding principles of musicianship and mentorship remain constant in the Generations Band, even as new members like pianist David Hazeltine and trumpeter Jim Rotundi have arrived to offer fresh insights and perspectives. The Generations Band will appear at the Jazz Standard in New York on Thursday, July 9th through Sunday, July 10th. The youthful alto saxophonist  Music Charge: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday, no minnimum.  

Frank Wess © Roland K. Marsh

All this time, Count Basie had been calling. Wess finally joined his big band in 1953, helping it to evolve during its so-called "New Testament" phase and remaining with it until 1964. Wess's flute playing, set off by Neal Hefti's arrangements, contributed strongly to the Basie Orchestra's new sound, while his tenor saxophone playing served as a counterpoint to the more fiery sound of Frank Foster.

Wess has played since the 1960s in countless settings: with Clark Terry's big band, the New York Quartet with Roland Hanna, Dameronia (1981-85), and Toshiko Akiyoshi's Jazz Orchestra. During this period, he also bridged the worlds of jazz and popular show business. Wess performed as a staff musician for ABC Television, both for the Dick Cavett Show and for the David Frost Show (with the Billy Taylor Orchestra). In Broadway pit bands, he played for shows such as Golden Boy (starring Sammy Davis), Irene (with Debbie Reynolds), and Sugar Babies (with Mickey Rooney). For ten years, he played first-chair tenor saxophonist in the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

He has also led his own big bands on world tours, and has played recently in the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Big Band. Widely recorded on many labels, both as a leader and a sideman, Wess is a perennial favorite in Down Beat polls and a now-legendary presence on the jazz scene.

Frack Wess biographic information was adapted from the NEA, www.nea.gov.

Andrew Speight is an internationally acclaimed saxophonist. Originally from Australia, he relocated to the United States in 1990 to perform and record with jazz luminaries. That year, he was also a prize winner in the Thelonious Monk Saxophone competition. In 1992, Andrew was appointed to the music faculty at Michigan State University, teaching saxophone and directing small Jazz ensembles. He was promoted to director of Jazz Studies in 1994 and founded the undergraduate jazz performance degree in 1999. Moving to San Francisco State University in 2000, Speight also launched the BM in Jazz studies in 2002.

Eric Alexander © Andea Canter

Currently Andrew is the leader and artistic director of the Generations Jazz Band, considered one of the finest in jazz, and has also produced a full feature DVD and accompanying CD on essential concepts in Jazz education.

Andrew is also the artistic director of the Manly International jazz Festival, the largest jazz festival in the southern hemisphere, and educational consultant to the Stanford Summer Jazz Program. He can be heard playing in local jazz clubs and on KCSM radio every week.

With 20 CD's out under his own name and appearing as sideman on countless others, Eric Alexander has made his mark on the jazz world and documented his progress as a tenor master. At William Paterson College in New Jersey Eric advanced his studies under the tutelage of Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."

Jim Rotondi © Andrea Canter

Brilliant pianist David Hazeltine has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David's influences include Art Tatum and Bud Powell and such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton.

Dave Hazeltine © Andrea Canter

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites