Arts Global

 

 

 

 

Contact: Leah Grammatica/LGPR

+1 212 243 6052

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West Orange New Jersey –

The Swiss Global Artistic Foundation in partnership with The Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center (OSPAC) announces that its Ninth Annual Jazz Festival will take place on Friday, September 16th at 7:30pm and Saturday, September 17th from 1pm to 9pm at the spectacular OSPAC Amphitheater at Crystal Lake, 4 Boland Drive, West Orange. This event is $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. Children are free. Admission is taken at the entrance. Rain date is Saturday, September 24th.

For the ninth consecutive year, the Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center will present a weekend of world-class jazz entertainment emceed by WBGO’s Gary Walker, in an open-air setting, complete with international food vendors, artisans and crafts, health spa center, and entertainment and activities for children. Saturday will also include “Paint the Music” led by Nitza Horner, teaching artist and freelance educator affiliated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where patrons will paint what they hear.

"The Swiss Global/OSPAC Jazz Festival has grown in the past nine years to be the most talked-about jazz event in the area,” said internationally renowned jazz singer and OSPAC Executive Director / Swiss Global Jazz Advisor, Kate Baker. “And this year’s event will be more spectacular than ever. Our lineup of artists is an international mix of quintessential jazz stylists and modern and cultural jazz interpreters.”

“What makes this venue special is not only the beautiful surroundings where you can stroll around the lake, but the superb sound that you can hear from every location,” said Swiss Global Executive Director Heather de Haes.

This year’s stellar lineup includes: Ali Jackson Quintet featuring Hope Boykin of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater; Houston Person Quartet; Nat Adderley, Jr. Quartet featuring Dave Stryker; Sheila Jordan Quartet featuring Steve Kuhn with Cameron Brown; world-renowned pianist Bill Charlap; Brazilian All-Stars: Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, and Claudio Roditi; Kate Baker, Vic Juris, Ralph LaLama, Anthony PInciotti and Harvie S,; Bob DeVos and Oscar Perez with the West Orange/NJ All Stars featuring Mike Lee, Ed Howard, Vince Ector and more, with special guests Pam Purvis, Kevin Burke and other vocalists. The festival will also present The Young Lions with Joe Alterman and Marcus Miller; and upcoming artist, guitarist/singer Dida with special guest Enrico Granafei.

“OSPAC is considered New Jersey’s premier outdoor theater, and we are proud of the great performances, like the Jazz Festival, that take place here,” says Gary Walker of WBGO-FM. “I encourage everyone to come out to OSPAC and enjoy the beautiful surroundings at Crystal Lake and experience the season’s signature event.”

The Swiss Global / OSPAC Ninth Annual Jazz Festival is sponsored by Swiss Global Artistic Foundation, Millennium Homes, WBGO-FM 88.3 and Ferential Systems, Inc.

 

Schedule of Events

Friday, September 16th

7:30 pm Dida with Tal Ronen and Colin Stranahan with special guest Enrico Granafei

8:30 pm Bob DeVos and Oscar Perez with the West Orange/NJ All-Stars featuring Mike Lee, Ed Howard, Vince Ector and more, with Special Guests Pam Purvis, Kevin Burke and other vocalists

Saturday September 17th

1:00 pm Swiss Global Young Lions: Joe Alterman/Marcus Miller Band

2:00 pm Houston Person Quartet

3:00 pm Kate Baker/Vic Juris Quintet featuring Ralph LaLama, Anthony PInciotti, Harvie S and pianist TBA

4:00 pm Bill Charlap

5:00 pm Ali Jackson Quintet featuring Hope Boykin of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

6:00 pm Sheila Jordan Quartet featuring Steve Kuhn with Cameron Brown and drummer TBA

7:00 pm Brazilian All-Stars: Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, Claudio Roditi and drummer TBA

8:00 pm Nat Adderley, Jr. Quartet featuring Dave Stryker

This event is $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. Children are free. Admission is taken at the entrance. The amphitheater is located at Crystal Lake, 4 Boland Drive in West Orange N.J. Audience members should bring blankets or chairs to enjoy the relaxed outdoor setting. Rain date is Saturday, September 24th.

For bios or event information, please visit: www.ospac.org or call 973-669-7385.

For high res press photos please visit:
http://www.ospac.org/JazzFestival2011/PhotosforPress/tabid/136/Default.aspx

Swiss Global Artistic Foundation has joined forces with the Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center to promote its 9th Annual Jazz Festival in the noble enterprise to produce a cultural event of great quality that will entertain and edify the community through music and arts.

Swiss Global Artistic Foundation has a mission to benefit young artists while providing resonant cultural experiences for its friends and supporters. The Foundation plays a major role in maintaining the vitality of the cultural values and traditions which enlighten our lives by nurturing the finest emerging performing artists, worldwide; educating young artists by inspiration and example; lending outstanding instruments from our collection to deserving musicians; providing unforgettable artistic experiences for our friends, worldwide; and serving as provider of artistic events to the World Economic Forum. Since 1999, the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation has assisted over 80 talented artists from 18 countries. We started by mentoring classical musicians have grown to include jazz and popular genres, along with emerging talents in dance and the visual arts.

The Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center is a non-profit organization located at 4 Boland Drive in West Orange, N.J. Its mission is to bring performances of the highest caliber for free or at minimal cost to the public while maintaining a strong commitment to arts education through its annual Jazz and World Music Workshop.

 

Schedule of Events and Bios

Friday September 16th

7:30 pm Dida with special guest Enrico Granafei
At the age of 23, guitarist and singer Dida has already established herself as one of the most in-demand musicians in Israel. After graduating from the prestigious jazz department of the Thelma Yellin High School in Tel Aviv, Dida was chosen by the Israeli Army to serve as an outstanding musician. After her release from the Army, Dida relocated to the U.S. to pursue a music career. She received a full scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston as well as a scholarship from the New School University in NYC, where she is currently studying. In the short time she has been in NYC, Dida has already played at some of the city’s most prestigious jazz clubs and recorded her first CD for the Italian label Red Records with Gregory Hutchinson on drums and guest trumpeter Roy Hargrove. She performs at the festival with Tal Ronen on bass and Colin Stranahan on drums and special guest Enrico Granafei.

8:00 pm Bob DeVos and Oscar Perez with the West Orange/NJ All Stars featuring Mike Lee, Ed Howard, Vince Ector and more, with Special Guests Pam Purvis, Kevin Burke and other vocalists
With long, blues-drenched lines, a warm, fat sound, and a horn-like, melodic approach, West Orange-based guitar powerhouse Bob DeVos has a strong following for his innovative work both in and outside of the Hammond B3 organ genre. His recent HighNote/Savant Records releases were on the top ten jazz charts for 46 weeks. Hailed by critics as “the thinking man’s guitar hero,” Bob has played with a who’s who of jazz legends both in and outside of the Hammond B3 organ genre, including Richard “Groove” Holmes-Sonny Stitt, Jimmy McGriff-Hank Crawford, and The Charles Earland Band with Eric Alexander, as well as many modern players. In recent years he has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola.

Pianist Oscar Perez is a New York City native whose training has been as diverse as his musical tastes. During his high school years, he studied with two very prominent classical pianists, Robert Harris (Julliard faculty) and Edgar Roberts (NYU faculty). He was later a student of Danilo Perez and Sir Roland Hanna at the New England Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music, respectively. He has spent recent years traveling and playing in the musical groups of Wicliffe Gordon, Virginia Mayhew and Steve Turre.

 

Saturday September 17th

1:00 pm Swiss Global Young Lions: Joe Alterman/Marcus Miller Band
Joe Alterman, a 22 year-old graduate of New York University, was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been playing piano since the age of five. Since first falling in love with jazz in his early teenage years, Joe has had the opportunity to learn from and play with many of his heroes, including Don Friedman, Houston Person, James Cammack, John Scofield, Ralph LaLama, Brian Lynch and Dr. Billy Taylor. He has performed at venues around the world, including Milan’s Blue Note, New Orleans’ Preservation Hall and Emory University’s Schwartz Center, and he has led groups at such venues in New York City as the Blue Note, the Iridium and Cornelia Street Café. He was also recently selected by famed pianist Bill Charlap to perform at the summer 2011 Jazz In July festival at New York's 92nd Street Y. His debut CD as a leader, Piano Tracks, Volume One, was released in the fall of 2010.

Young up-and-coming multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Marcus Miller integrates influences as disparate as jazz, hip-hop and electronic music into a unified whole. He grew up in South Orange, New Jersey studying jazz saxophone under Bruce Williams and by age 13 was playing in local venues. He took a brief hiatus from music, studying mathematics at Harvard and working for a short period at a multi-billion dollar hedge fund. Returning to music, he formed MultiMinds Productions, and took an internship under Bassy Bob Brockman to study engineering and music technology Marcus has performed in New York City, London, Los Angeles, Montreal and Ireland, both as a leader and sideman.

2:00 pm Houston Person Quartet
Dubbed by Bob Porter “the natural heir to the Boss Tenor crown worn so long and so well by Gene Ammons,” Houston Person knows the music business inside out, from booking his own tours to producing his own albums. Person has recorded everything from disco and gospel to pop and r&b in addition to his trademark, soulful hard bop. After years as producer and house tenor for HighNote Records and touring with the late Etta Jones, Person is now known as a master of popular songs played in a relaxed, highly accessible style reminiscent of the great Ben Webster. Growing up in Florence, South Carolina, he played piano before switching to the tenor sax at age 17. He went on to study music at South Carolina State College and later pursued advanced studies at Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. As a member of the United States Air Force band stationed in Germany, he played with Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and Don Ellis, later working as a sideman for organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith in the mid 1960s. Person built his reputation as a leader with a series of soulful recordings for Prestige in the ‘60s. However, for a large part of his career he was best-known for his legendary partnership with the great vocalist Etta Jones, which lasted over 30 years. He has performed with vocalist Barbara Morrison, Ernie Andrews, Ernestine Anderson, Della Griffin and Dakota Staton and recorded with Etta Jones, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Dakota Staton, Horace Silver, Charles Earland and Joey DeFrancesco. He has recorded over 75 albums as a leader on Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, and Muse, which became HighNote Records. Houston’s latest recording, So Nice, is scheduled for October 2011 release.

3:00 pm Kate Baker/Vic Juris Quintet featuring Ralph LaLama, Anthony PInciotti, Harvie S and pianist TBA
Kate Baker is an internationally renowned jazz singer who has performed at the Carini Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival. Her distinctive vocal style and lyrical expression have made her one of today’s most sought-after singers. Kate also performs with Richie Cole’s Alto Madness Orchestra. “Kate Baker’s phrasing and rhythmic concept are brilliant.” – Newsday

Vic Juris is one of the world’s premier jazz guitarists. Since his emergence on the scene in the 1970s, his international career has included associations with Dizzy Gillespie, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Michel Legrand, Chico Hamilton, Freddie Hubbard, Gary Peacock, Richie Cole, Mel Torme, Eddie Jefferson, Bireli LaGrene, and, since 1991, the renowned David Liebman Group. Juris is also one of the leading jazz educators in the world and has written two highly regarded guitar books published by Mel Bay. He currently teaches at The New School and Rutgers University and has conducted clinics throughout the U.S. and Europe. Vic Juris is a Steeple Chase Recording Artist with 8 Recordings as a leader.

4:00 pm Bill Charlap
One of the world’s premier jazz pianists, Bill Charlap has performed and recorded with many leading artists of our time, ranging from jazz masters Phil Woods and Wynton Marsalis to singers Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand. Since 1997, he has led the Bill Charlap Trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, now recognized as one of the leading groups in jazz. Charlap is the artistic director of New York City’s Jazz in July Festival at the 92nd Street Y, and he has produced concerts for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the JVC Jazz Festival and the Hollywood Bowl. A two-time GRAMMY nominee, Charlap is married to renowned jazz pianist Renee Rosnes. In the Spring of 2010, Charlap and Rosnes released Double Portrait, a duo piano recording on the Blue Note label.

5:00 pm Ali Jackson Quintet featuring Hope Boykin of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Ali Jackson grew up in Detroit, Michigan and, as a youngster, studied with jazz greats Max Roach and Elvin Jones. Numerous times he has been likened to legendary Art Blakey. Jackson has been the principal drummer and percussionist for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra since 2005. He has performed and recorded with a wide array of diverse artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Harry Connick, Jr., KRS-1, Marcus Roberts, Chick Corea, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, the Berlin and New York Philharmonic orchestras and the New York City Ballet.

6:00 pm Sheila Jordan Quartet featuring Steve Kuhn with Cameron Brown and drummer TBA
Born in Detroit, Sheila Jordan grew up in Pennsylvania’s coal-mining country. She began singing as a child and by the time she was in her early teens was working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs. Her first great influence was Charlie Parker – indeed most of her influences have been instrumentalists rather than singers. She was a member of the vocal trio Skeeter, Mitch and Jean (she was Jean), that sang versions of Parker's solos in a style akin to the later Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. After moving to New York in the early ‘50s, she married Parker's pianist, Duke Jordan, and studied with Lennie Tristano, but it was not until the early ‘60s that she made her first recordings. By the late ‘70s jazz audiences had begun to understand her uncompromising style, and her popularity increased, as did her appearances on record, which included albums with pianist Steve Kuhn, whose quartet she joined, and an album, Home, a selection of Robert Creeley's poems set to music and arranged by Steve Swallow. A 1983 duo set with bassist Harvie S, Old Time Feeling, features standards, while 1990's Lost And Found pays tribute to her bebop roots. Her preference for bass and voice led to collaboration with bassist Cameron Brown, with whom she has been performing for more than ten years. They have released the live albums I’ve Grown Accustomed to the Bass and Celebration.

Acclaimed jazz pianist Steve Kuhn has worked in many types of settings through the years. He began classical piano lessons when he was five, studied with Madame Chaloff, and at 14 accompanied her son, baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, on some gigs. He freelanced in Boston as a teenager, graduated from Harvard and moved to New York, where he worked with Kenny Dorham’s group from 1959 to 1960. Kuhn was the original pianist in John Coltrane’s Quartet before McCoy Tyner succeeded him. He was with the bands of Stan Getz (1961-1963) and Art Farmer (1964-1966), moving to Europe in 1967 and returning to the U.S. in 1971. Kuhn doubled on electric piano in the 1970s, recording for ECM, and co-led a group with Sheila Jordan in the latter part of the decade. He formed an acoustic trio in the mid-'80s, which has been his main vehicle ever since. Kuhn has recorded as a leader for numerous labels, including Impulse, Muse, ECM, Blackhawk, New World, Owl, Concord and Postcards.

7:00 pm Brazilian All-Stars: Romero Lubambo, Nilson Matta, Claudio Roditi and drummer TBA
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1955, Romero Lubambo studied classical piano and music theory as a young boy, graduating as a top student of classical guitar from the Villa-Lobos School of Music in Rio in 1978. In 1980 he received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro. He taught himself through intense research and practice, a fluency in both jazz and Brazilian idioms. In 1985 he left Brazil for New York, where he worked for Astrud Gilberto for four years. He has performed and recorded with many artists, including Diane Reeves, Michael Brecker, Al Jarreau, Kathleen Battle, Herbie Mann, Ivan Lins, Flora Purim and Airto, Paquito D'Rivera and Leny Andrade.

Nilson Matta has long been considered one of Brazil's best bass players. Since his arrival in New York in 1985 he has become the first call of many of the top US musicians. Nilson studied bass at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). In Brazil he played with such top artists as Joao Gilberto, Hermeto Pascoal, Chico Buarque, Nana Caymmi and Luis Bonfa. Nilson moved to New York City in 1985 and has performed and recorded with such renowned artists as Joe Henderson, Paquito D'Rivera, Slide Hampton, Herbie Mann, Oscar Castro Neves, Paul Winter, Claudio Roditi, Gato Barbieri, Yo Yo Ma and Kenny Barron. Five years after his move to the States, he co-founded an extraordinary quintet, The African Brazilian Connection, with pianist Don Pullen. The group released three critically acclaimed CDs for Blue Note Records. In 1993 Nilson returned to Brazil to record the CD The Magic with the great composer and guitarist Luis Bonfa. Along with fellow Brazilians Romero Lubambo and Duduka da Fonseca, Nilson founded Trio da Paz. The trio has recorded five CDs; Brazil from the Inside, Black Orpheus, Partido Out, Cafe and Somewhere.

Rio-born trumpet and flugelhorn player Claudio Roditi has been on the U.S. jazz scene since studying at Berklee College of Music in 1970. He has lived in New York for 30 years. Known for his warm, fluid sound combining post-bop and Brazilian elements, he has worked with Herbie Mann, Charlie Rouse, Paquito D'Rivera and Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra. A GRAMMY nominee, he has recorded a dozen albums as a leader. On his 2009 Resonance Heirloom Records debut, Brazilliance X4, featuring drummer Duduka da Fonseca and pianist Helio Alves, Claudio performs a number of originals and lesser known gems from the Brazilian repertoire.

8:00 pm Nat Adderley Jr. Quartet featuring Dave Stryker
Nat Adderley Jr. is best known for his work as producer, arranger, songwriter and long-time pianist and musical director for Luther Vandross. His compositions include “Stop to Love,” “Wait for Love” and the GRAMMY-nominated “Give Me the Reason.” His many arrangements for Vandross include “Superstar,” “If Only for One Night,” “Creepin’” and the GRAMMY-winning “Here and Now.” He produced numerous recordings for Vandross, including “My Favorite Things,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the GRAMMY-winning duet with Beyoncé, “The Closer I Get to You” as well as Luther Live at Radio City Music Hall. He has also written arrangements for Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick. Adderley has also served as musical director for Ashford and Simpson and worked with Melba More and Angie Bofill.

Guitarist Dave Stryker, voted a “Rising Star” for the fifth time in the 2008 Downbeat Critics Poll, has released 20 CDs under his own name. He has also been a featured sideman with Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff and Kevin Mahogany. Gary Giddons in the Village Voice calls him one of the most distinctive guitarists to come along in recent years. He grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, moved to New York City in 1980, and joined organist Jack McDuffs group, travelling all over the U.S. for two years in the mid-‘80s. From ‘86 to ‘95 and from ‘98 to 2000 Stryker played with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, performing at festivals, concert halls and clubs throughout the world. He currently co-leads the Stryker/Slagle Band with saxophonist Steve Slagle as well as his own trio, the Dave Stryker Organ Trio. Stryker also teaches privately and at the Outreach Jazz Workshop in Austria, the Litchfield Jazz Camp, the Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop, the Jazz Connections Workshop, and the Veneto/New School Jazz Workshop in Italy. His book, Dave Stryker’s Jazz Guitar Improvisation Method, is available from Mel Bay Publications.