The New Mexico Jazz Workshop Summer Concert Series BEGINS!

Hello Jazz Friends!

It's that time again, folks! Time to stretch our legs, get outside, and get sweaty! No, we're not talking about mowing the lawn. It's time for the NMJW Summer Concert Series UNDER THE STARS! Starting THIS FRIDAY, June 4th we're kicking off a summer of great concerts, all summer long and the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater!

On FRIDAY, JUNE 4th-- Felipe Ruibal y Quemozo breaks the seal on the salsa, it's ripe, delicious and ready to go! On SATURDAY, JUNE 5th, we welcome the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Bobby Shew and none other than our NMJW Youth Honor Bands, led by Christian Pincock (High School) and Sam Nesbitt (Middle School).

Where ya goin'? You know there's MORE in store. Week two of the Salsa Under the Stars we welcome Charanga del Valle, June 11th. You'll soon be over your Los Van Van heart break, just get on that dance floor. On June 12th come out for the Saxophone Summit featuring Glenn Kostur, Lee Taylor and Kanoa Kaluhiwa, and Aaron Lovato. Just buy a Summer Pass, please! You're not going to want to miss a single weekend. Because week three we have the lovely Ivon Ulibarri y Cafe Mocha! And, the first night of Women's Voices!

On Saturday, June 19^th NMJW presents the first night of Women’s Voices with Ladies Sing the Blues, hosted by KUNM radio personality, Mary Oishi. Join some of Albuquerque’s finest blues singers and musicians for a night of blistering blues born from the African-American A.M.E. Churches, to the field hollers and streets of Memphis, Chicago, New Orleans; to the dusty, back roads, train tracks, cross roads, and juke joints of the American landscape—making “a way out of no way.“ Are you ready for some hollerin’, honkin’, shoutin’, and getting’ down?” Joan Cere says (formally Joan Griffin). Cere, lead singer of Combo Special, is a performer and the curator of Ladies Sing the Blues. Cere pledges a diva-packed evening of blues featuring Hillary Smith, Wendy Beach, and Cathryn McGill. “So many soulful, talented people coming together to make the music that makes us who we are,” Cere says. Cere cites singers such as Big Momma Thornton, Bessie Smith, Janice Joplin and Ma Rainey as inspiration for Ladies Sing the Blues. Cere calls Ladies Sing the Blues, “a rootsy, rocking, feelin’ kind of music-- the kind that makes your skin tingle and brings a tear to your eye-- makes you wanna shake your stuff and join the party.”

Women's Voices 2010 continues with a tribute to the mothers of jazz: Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan. Women’s Voices: Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan Saturday, July 10^th.

They sang to express the secrets of their hearts, for sheer joy, to pay the rent, to stay afloat, to keep going. Women's Voices 2010 pays tribute to the mothers of jazz: Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan. This trinity of vocalists left mighty big shoes to fill. On Saturday, July 10^th, Patty Stephens, Patti Littlefield, Chava, Kathy Gutierrez, and Ashley (aka SayWut!?) Moyer pay a soulful, moving homage to the music, the women, and the lives and times that made Sarah, Billie and Ella trine stars that never lose their luster, and never fade from our collective memory.

“This tribute isn’t to the jazz song, it is to the lives of three women who sang those jazz songs,” says Patty Stephens, performer and curator of the tribute. “This tribute is from the New Mexican women of song to our ancestors, our elders.” Stephens, a favorite on the local jazz scene, says this concert is a deep exploration of the work and the world of Dames Fitzgerald, Vaughan and Holiday, not an evening of greatest hits. “I’m not talking about a contemporary singer sticking a big flower behind her ear, and bending notes,” Stephens says. “I’m talking about the women who stay up late, drag home in the middle of the night and work on new tunes and go sing at church on Sunday.”

This year’s Women’s Voices features a new, exciting element to the performance. Ashley (aka SayWut?!) Moyer, a local hip-hop beat boxer of note will, take the stage. (Beatboxing is a rediscovered art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue and voice. The art form dates back to the ancient tradition of bhol, found in the music of India.) Stephens, who will be performing a few duets with Moyer, says that beat boxing expresses the “jazz element of scat—the percussive use of the voice, and the power of improvisation.” According to Stephens, there are all components that relate back to Fitzgerald, Holiday and Vaughan. “Ashley brings to the evening a true, raw element of vocal expression inherent in jazz, and the music of the divas we honor.”

Women’s Voices 2010 Saturday, June 19^th and Saturday, July 10^th are sure to be two evenings of Jazz & Blues Under the Stars audiences won’t soon forget.

MUCH MORE to come as the summer rolls on!

We'll see you, Under the Stars . . .

NMJW in 2010!

Hello Jazz Workshop friends!

We've been moving straight ahead with a bullet! New Mexico Jazz Stories was a GREAT success. So much so that we had a hard time keeping with with blogging about it! Tommy Gearhart, Micheal Anthony and Bobby Shew had well-attended performances at the Cooperage! We look forward to bringing you the next volume of New Mexico Jazz Stories next fall!

This fall's Yule Stuttin' was great fun, as usual! On December 5th we met at the Albuquerque Art Museum and had quite the shindig. The proceeds for the event go to our education programs, like our latest program housed at the Juvenile Detention Center was devised by the NMJW education director, Amani Malaika. Channel 13 did a little story on it last week. Here's link to the spot:

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/education/jazz-workshop-helps-at-jail

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Can you believe it's already mid-December?? We're already in the throws of planning events and classes for 2010! Just visit our website for the latest in classes for adult and teens, as well as the music events we have planned for the coming year. Youth Orchestra begins January 17th, Adult Education classes start in mid-February. Also in February we're proud to present the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra under the Direction of Bobby Shew, featuring jazz trumpeter Scott Wendholt.

Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra

under the direction of Bobby Shew

Featuring trumpeter Scott Wendholt

February 20, 2010

El Dorado High School Performing Arts Center

8pm Tickets $15 General,

$10 Members/Students/Seniors

Here's a little something on Scott:

Trumpeter Scott Wendholt has recorded and/or worked with artists including Vincent Herring, Kenny Garrett, Cyrus Chestnut, Christian McBride, Don Braden and Bruce Barth. To his credit, Scott has been recorded on more than sixty CD's. He has received critical acclaim as a leader and 5 recordings as a leader. Much in demand on the big band scene as well, his list of credits include: The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (formerly Thad Jones/Mel Lewis), Manhattan Jazz Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band (led by Jon Faddis), John Fedchock NY Big Band, Gotham Jazz Orachestra (Mike Holober), Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band and the Bob Mintzer Big Band.

Mr. Wendholt continues to be in demand on the playing scene as well as in the educational arena. Scott is currently on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music as well as the Jamey Aebersold summer jazz camps. He is also in demand as a player/clinician in many colleges and various other learning institutions around the world.

You can buy your tickets online!

Buy tickets for Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra with Special Guest Scott Wendholt

See you at the AJO/Wendholt gig, and have a happy, SAFE Holiday!

That's all for now, folks. More to come!

NMJW presents new jazz series

Hello New Mexico Jazz Workshop friends!

Hard to believe the summer is coming to an end! Kids are back in school, the weather is changing. Just when you thought Monday Night Football would become the highlight of your week, we've come up with a NEW JAZZ SERIES to get you out of the house!

Life is an improvisation, a mixed tape, an unfinished work-- and no one knows that better than the five professional musicians NMJW has lined up for New Mexico Jazz Stories. They've played everywhere, from juke joints to concert halls, for sophisticated, international audiences, to salty bar flies in dives. Not only have Glenn Kostur, Larry Mitchell, Tommy Gearhart, Michael Anthony and Bobby Shew collected frequent flyer miles, they've collected stories throughout their colorful journeys, and they plan to share them with the New Mexico Jazz Stories audience for the first time.

Glenn Kostur is the first artist in the series on October 21st. Kostur is Director of Jazz Studies at the University of New Mexico. Glenn has performed with such jazz artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, the Woody Herman Orchestra, among others. On October 28th, Larry Mitchell, the jet-setting guitar virtuoso performs. A Grammy Award-winning producer, Larry has played with the likes of Tracey Chapman, Joy Harjo, Robert Mirabal. He's a world traveling musician, clinician, and a spokesman for Ibanez Guitars. Tommy Gearhart on vox, will perform on November 4th. Gearhart is a classic crooner with a modern sensibility. You'll enjoy the stories of this Ohio native who has established deep, New Mexican roots.

Guitarist Michael Anthony is a musician's musician. On November 11th, Michael shares his trials and tribulations as studio artist for some of the biggest names in the business. Anthony has played guitar professionally since 1960, and can be heard on the albums of Tony Bennett, Nelson Riddle, The Beach Boys, Diana Ross, and many, many more. World-class trumpeter Bobby Shew brings a type of magic to the stage on November 18th. Winner of the Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year in 1983 (Heavy Company), Bobby played with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Woody Herman's band, and spent several years as a lead musician in Las Vegas. Perhaps he will tell you his Wayne Newton story. You'll have to be there to find out.

NMJW presents

New Mexico Jazz Stories

October 21th- November 18th @ 7pm

The Cooperage

7220 Lomas NE

Tickets $10 general $8 nmjw members/seniors/students

Series pass available!