Jazz Police - The Laura Caviani Quartet With Pete Whitman at the Artists Quarter, July 20-21

The Laura Caviani Quartet With Pete Whitman at the Artists Quarter, July 20-21

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Laura Caviani©Andrea Canter

One of the most revered jazz pianists in the Twin Cities, Laura Caviani brings her stellar quartet back to the Artists Quarter this weekend, featuring saxophonist Pete Whitman and the expert support of Chris Bates (bass) and Phil Hey (drums).

Raised in the Midwest where she studied trumpet as well as piano through high school, Laura Caviani 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, she 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. Laura’s teaching credits include St. John's University, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, the University of St. Thomas, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, and guest artist/educator in residence in Cordoba, Argentina in summer 2007. Currently she is on the music faculties of Carleton College and St. Olaf College in Northfield and is a frequent instructor at the Shell Lake Arts Center.

Chris Bates©Andrea Canter

Caviani is a veteran of two decades of performing, recording and composing, including appearances with Toots Thielemans, Bob Mintzer, and Dave Liebman, and touring and recording with star vocalist Karrin Allyson. As a leader she now has five acclaimed recordings to her credit and a long list of supporting roles with local musicians. Recent projects include her tributes to Horace Silver and Thelonious Monk; Soul Café with guitarist Steve Blons and saxman Brad Holden; Pete Whitman’s Xtet; her cross-genre Alec Wilder project; and appearances with vocalists Prudence Johnson and Lucia Newell, and guitarist Joan Griffith. In 2010 she was a finalist in the Jacksonville (FL) Piano Competition. In spring 2011, she collaborated with Prudence Johnson, Joan Griffith and other area composers to create “A Girl Named Vincent,” setting the poems of a young Edna St. Vincent Millay to music for both live performance and recording. Over the past year, Laura has dug back into her roots, rearranging favorite from Bach to Chopin to Debussy to present an inspired melding of classical and jazz at the Artists Quarter and on the St. Olaf campus.

As a composer, Laura has created numerous works for jazz ensembles and orchestral works for the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra. Her most recent recording as leader, Going There, features Bob Bowman and Todd Strait. “Full of warmth and a swinging sense of fun” (Bob Protzman), Going There charted high on jazz radio following its debut. Her latest releases with Joan Griffith include Sambanova, mostly original works drawing from the traditions of Brazil, and another set of Brazilian influenced songs, Circle of the Dance.

Pete Whitman©Andrea Canter

Pete Whitman launches his career in Kansas City before moving on to jazz studies at North Texas State University. After touring internationally with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, he moved to the Twin Cities in 1988. His credits on tenor, alto and flute include performing with Randy Brecker, Jack McDuff, the Woody Herman Orchestra, Michael Feinstein, Debbie Boone, Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Dennerlein, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Dave Stryker, Curtis Fuller, Andres Prado and the Lionel Hampton Tribute Band. In addition to leading his popular X-Tet and smaller ensembles in the Twin Cities, Pete works regularly with the Jazz MN Orchestra and Laura Caviani Quartet. He was commissioned to score the film, Been Rich All My Life, about a quartet of octogenarians reprising their dancing days in vaudeville. A dedicated educator, Whitman heads the Woodwind and Brass Department at St. Paul’s McNally Smith College, teaching saxophone, improvisation, and arranging, and leading the McNally Smith X-Tet.

Chris Bates (and his brother, drummer JT), grew up with jazz, sons of trumpeter/bandleader Don Bates. He began bass lessons in 4th grade and progressed to jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before returning to the Twin Cities to study with Anthony Cox. A founding member of the Motion Poets, Chris was a 1999 McKnight Composer Fellow, and often lends his compositions to the many ensembles that he juggles throughout his busy performance schedule. Over his career, he has played with Mose Allison, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Steven Bernstein, Howard Levy, Michael Attias, Ira Sullivan, Bill Carrothers, Eric Alexander, and Tim Sparks, among others. These days we can hear Chris with the Atlantis Quartet, Zacc Harris Quartet, Enormous Quartet, How Birds Work, Framework, on tour with Todd Clouser’s A Love Electric, and heading his own Quintet and Good Vibes Trio. He has played solo concerts using both acoustic and electronic instruments, and appears on over 30 recordings. His quintet’s debut recording is due out this fall.

Phil Hey©Andrea Canter

A former student of Ed Blackwell and Marv Dahlgren, Phil Hey was born in New York City and raised in Philadelphia. One of the busiest drummers in the Twin Cities, Phil toured for 20 years with the late Dewey Redman and is often is on the bandstand at the Dakota and Artists Quarter backing touring artists, local vocalists and small ensembles. For the past two years, Phil (along with bassist Gordy Johnson) has toured with British vocalist Stacey Kent, including gigs at Birdland in New York. He also manages percussion duties for the Pete Whitman X-Tet and Benny Weinbeck Trio, and teaches at the U of M, St. Olaf College and MacPhail Center for Music. His most recent recordings include a volcanic duo with trumpeter Kelly Rossum (Conflict) and a sublime trio date with Mary Louise Knutson (In the Bubble). In 2006, City Pages named Phil its Jazz Artist of the Year. His Phil Hey quartet is one of the longest running and most popular ensembles at the Artists Quarter, and released the acclaimed recording, Subduction.

This weekend gig with the Laura Caviani Quartet will offer a sampling of her recent work, including “a smattering of ‘Bach to Bop’ and some of our originals.” In other words, it will be a weekend of some highly enjoyable, sophisticated jazz.

The Artists Quarter is located at 408 St Peter Street in downtown St. Paul; sets begin at 9 pm. Visit www.artistsquarter.com

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