JAM 2010: 156 Artists for a New Jazz Experience (Part III)
April 5, 2010 at 6:00 AM Good morning to everyone! I hope that you had a great weekend.
This is Part III of my contribution to the celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) 2010. Today you will find introductions to artists like Charmaine Clamor, Chris Potter, Cindy Blackman, Corey Wilkes and Cuong Vu.
Enjoy~
1. (27) Charmaine Clamor is a Filipina jazz singer based in Hollywood, CA. She is best known for melding Filipino folk songs and instruments with American jazz and blues in a newly developed musical genre called “Jazzipino”. Clamor has simultaneously made the top 5 on both JazzWeek’s World (#2) and Traditional Jazz (#4) charts and is the first Filipino-American artist to place two consecutive recordings in the World Music top 10. Charmaine has been profiled on NPR's "Weekend Edition" and BBC's "The World."
2. (28) Charnett Moffett was born 10 June 1967 in New York City. He plays the piccolo bass, double bass and bass guitar. Moffett's given name was created as a combination of that of his father (Charles Moffett, the jazz drummer) and that of Ornette Coleman (the jazz saxophonist). In addition to leading his own groups, he is a member of McCoy Tyner’s group.
3. (29) The Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble was founded in 2006 by Nicaraguan pianist/composer Darwin Noguera and Mexican trumpeter/composer Victor Garcia. It was formed to fuse the musical treasures of Afro-Latin American Music and Jazz as well as musicians from Chicago's diverse Latin and Jazz communities. Musicians in this band have had the opportunity to share the stage with artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Chick Corea, The Temptations, Paquito D'Rivera, and Danilo Perez, among others.
4. (30) Chick Corea is a pianist, keyboardist, drummer and composer. Corea developed his piano skills by exploring music on his own. A notable influence was concert pianist Salvatore Sullo from whom Corea started taking lessons at age eight. Sullo introduced him to classical music, helping spark his interest in musical composition.
He eventually decided to move to New York where he studied musical education for one month at Columbia University and six months at The Juilliard School. Among his Juilliard teachers was Peter Schickele, who described Chick as "the most awake student I ever taught." He quit after finding both disappointing, but liked the atmosphere of New York where the musical scene became the starting point for his professional career.
Corea participated in the birth of the electric fusion movement as a member of Miles Davis’ band in the 1960s, and in the 1970s he formed the group Return To Forever. Personally, one of my favorite albums of his was released in 1968 “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
5. (31) Trumpeter and composer Chris Botti is from Portland, OR. In 2007, he was nominated for two Grammy-Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009 he was nominated for 3 more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video. Three of his albums have reached the #1 position on the Billboard jazz albums list.
6. (32) Saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Chris Potter was born in Chicago (1971). He exhibited an early interest in all kinds of music and quickly became a prodigy, mastering several instruments including guitar and piano, and finally gravitating toward the alto and tenor saxophone. He attended college in New York City, first at the New School, and later at Manhattan School of Music. Potter has released a number of albums as leader and has performed and recorded with many leading musicians including Patricia Barber, Kenny Werner, Red Rodney, Marian McPartland, the Mingus Big Band, Paul Motian, Ray Brown, Jim Hall, James Moody, and Dave Douglas.
7. (33) Bassist Christian McBride was born in Philadelphia, PA (1972). In the jazz community, McBride is considered to be one of the best bassists of his generation. Since 2000, he has fronted his own acoustic, jazz, fusion and funk ensemble “Inside Straight”. Their 2009 release is entitled "Kind Of Brown"
"The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian" premiered on Saturday, April 3 at 1 pm ET as part of SIRIUS XM’s celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month. It will be recorded in front of a live audience at various jazz clubs across the country and will feature onstage dialogues and musical duets between McBride and his special guest artists.
8. (34) Christian Scott is a Grammy-Award nominated trumpeter, composer and producer. He has been heralded by Jazz Times magazine as “the architect of a new commercially viable fusion”. Scott is known for his impact on Jazz’s recent shift in culture. As NPR stated it, “Christian Scott Heralds in a New Era of Jazz”.
9. (35) Jazz and rock drummer Cindy Blackman was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio (1959). Blackman is best-known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz. She has recorded several straight-ahead jazz albums under her own name, and has performed with acclaimed jazz and rock artists, including Pharoah Sanders, Ron Carter, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill, Buckethead, Bill Laswell and Joe Henderson. Tony Williams is her main drumming influence.
10. (36) Trombonist Clifton Anderson is from Harlem, New York City. Clifton attended the prestigious Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art. In 1974 he spent one year at the State University of New York at Stony Brook studying under Simon Karasick and Dave Schechter. He continued his education at the Manhattan School of Music, and graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Music degree.
By the early 1980s Clifton was working with a “who’s who” of diverse musical giants: from Frank Foster, McCoy Tyner, Clifford Jordan, Stevie Wonder, Dizzy Gillespie, Merv Griffin and The Mighty Sparrow to Lester Bowie, Paul Simon, Muhal Richard Abrams, T.S.Monk and Dionne Warwick. He is a bandleader but is also known for being a sideman for his uncle, Sonny Rollins. Anderson’s latest release as a leader is "Decade" which was released in 2009.
11. (37) Corey Wilkes honed his craft at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While there, he studied trumpet under Tiger Okoshi and Charlie Lewis Jr. Leaving college for more hands on experience, Corey held down a trumpet seat for Carnival Cruise Lines for a short stint. In an even further effort to absorb the very essence of Jazz, he traveled to its heart, Louisiana. He immersed himself into the local scene by frequenting jam sessions and playing with several different bands in New Orleans. He has become an Artist in Residence for the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
12. (38) Cuong Vu was born on September 19, 1969 in Saigon, Vietnam. He immigrated to Seattle at the age of 6 and began playing the trumpet at the age of 11. His intense dedication and love for music led him to a full scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz studies with a distinction in performance. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Cuong was awarded the Colbert Award for Excellence: The Downtown Arts Project Emerging Artist Award. In 2002 and 2006, Cuong was a recipient of the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album as a member of the Pat Metheny Group.
13. (39) Cyrus Chestnut is a pianist, songwriter and producer. Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for Time magazine, wrote “What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes and play space.” He released the CD"Spirit
Reader Comments (5)
Hey Donna,
I'm loving these posts! I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about the jazz scene and I'm still learning about great new artists from you!
Thanks for all you do.
Jason
http://oneworkingmusician.com
Hey Donna ! Congrats' for this new blog ! And what a good choice you've done ! I like it all. You can count on me to promote your website in France and in Europe :)
Thank you again for those great pieces and keep the music alive !!!
I am amazed at how many folk play jazz, and play it so well. so many I have not heard yet and so many I have been blessed to have heard
Hey Jason, Jean-Paul and Wayne!!
Jason ~ Wow! That is a compliment coming from you! Thank you for that.
Jean-Paul ~ Thank you for visiting the site! I'm glad that you found everything to your liking, JP.
Wayne ~ There are so many great jazz musicians out there. I'm hoping that we'll all be able to let one another know about newly (and not so newly) discovered musicians/vocalists.
Thank you, gentlemen! :)
Great group of musicians to feature! Dare I say it, Ultrahang from Chris Potter's Underground was perhaps the best jazz album I bought in 2009. I was thrilled to hear Chris' amazing sounds and see via ArtistShare what went into making the album. Can't wait to read your future posts!