Ten Reasons to GO TO RIO !

10.) A GREAT EVENING of entertainment! 

9.) You get to spend an evening with fellow music lovers, family and friends.

8.) The opportunity to snag a few great auction items, if you're tenacious and bold! 

7.) The money we raise helps us offer more Creative Arts Camp, Youth Honor Band, and Jazz Intensive scholarships.

6.)  You help ensure that Roots of Jazz (a free program for ABQ Schools) continues. 

5.) Your ticket purchase helps to support our quality programming.

4.) You help NMJW introduce jazz to the next generation.

3.) Buy a ticket and support the arts right here in your community.

2.) Your purchase of a ticket, a table or auction help keep jazz alive.

THE TOP REASON TO GO TO RIO:

1.) Our programs serve 5,000 kids a year, ages 6-18. Of those students, 90% of them receive our jazz programs for FREE. Come to Club Rio and support our efforts to keep the music playing!

South Valley Band Project kids ROCK! 

That Girl from Ipanema

Hello Jazz Friends!

We're getting ready for CLUB RIO! Our colorful throw beads are in, build-your-own mask-masking supplies (and ready-made ones for you non-DIY types!) and we just can't get enough of the nova that's bossa! 





What IS a bossa nova anyway? "It comes from the Samba, but with more emphasis on harmony and melody," Debo Orlofsky of the New Mexico duo, Jazz Brasileiro. 

Taken from their website,  
Jazz Brasileiro is synonymous with Brazilian Jazz, playing both classic bossa nova and a wide range of contemporary Brazilian music. The collaboration between guitarist Tony Cesarano and vocalist Debo Orlofsky highlights exquisitely crafted guitar lines and gorgeously haunting melodies sung in Portuguese and English. The guitar/vocal duo adapts this purest form of bossa nova with singular arrangements and voicings.

Debo says, "Bossa nova makes me feel happy, relaxed, [reminiscent of ] nature, moonlit beaches under the stars."

Ahhhhh . . . 

Always on the look-out for that fresh take on an old favorite, we found this recording by the late and great Amy Winehouse. 



A new favorite is the Italian musician, composer, DJ, Nicola Conte. Brave, bold, NU Bossa with some Acid Jazz and the best sounds from Italian cinema all thrown in. Delicious:



We've definitely Bossa Nova-ed the afternoon away . . .

Hope you're having a great one!

NMJW

CLUB RIO:

An Evening in the Spirit of Carnival

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012 

7pm -- 11pm 

Sandia Resort & Casino Hotel

Individual Tickets: $75

http://carnivalclubrio.eventbrite.com/

Bring your friends to CLUB RIO!

SAVE $100! Get a 10-top table at Club Rio for $65 per person!

Please call NMJW @ 505-255-9798 to secure your 10-top!

(Click here to purchase your TEN-TOP online!) 

 (((((((((CLICK HERE)))))))))

Give the Gift of Jazz!

It's the second week of December already.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? We're not

quite ready to settle in for Winter just yet! One more concert for the year, Adult Education classes are shaping up, and we're gearing up for a a busy 2011!

12/12 Middle School and High School Youth Honor Bands RECITAL: Sunday, December 12th 1PM -3PM at the Cooperage, 7220 Lomas NE. Don't miss an afternoon of music with the future of jazz in New Mexico (and beyond!) Middle-High and High School Honor Band kids go on to great things. Get in on the ground floor of their assent to amazing heights!

Mid-High School Honor Jazz Band

Under the Direction of Sam Nesbitt

High School Honor Jazz Band

Under the Direction of Christian Pincock

*********************************

ONE-STOP SHOPPING @ NEW MEXICO JAZZ WORKSHOP

Give the Gift of JAZZ!

Consider an alternative to the hustle and bustle of holiday gift shopping by purchasing a gift card from New Mexico Jazz Workshop. Give the gift of Jazz -- buy NMJW Jazz Bucks.

A gift card of $50, $100, $150 or $200 is a wonderful way to offer the artist in your life the opportunity to take a class, attend a concert, present dollars towards a Jazz Camp session, or even join NMJW as a Member! Call us for more information: 505-255-9798.

We'll see you in the New Year! Can't wait.

NMJW

Facing the Day with Alex Maryol

Alex Maryol's bio is crazy impressive. This young blues artist has been on the circuit for years, opening for Etta James, Bo Diddley, Ani DiFranco, Michael Franti, Leon Russell, and G. Love and Special Sauce, to name a few. He has shared the stage with artists, oh, like James Brown, Johny Lang, John Mayer, Otis Taylor and Buddy Miles.

Alex is on the bill with Todd Tijerina as well as Combo Special TONIGHT at 7pm, at the final Jazz & Blues Under the Stars at the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater in Old Town. We thought we'd pin Alex down for a short interview:




NMJW:
Why the Blues? What made you gravitate towards this genre of music?

AM:
Blues is a very emotional sounding music... I felt the blues from a very young age... from the first moment I heard it when I was around 4 or 5. Blues is a music -like all music- that is not in the "notes" but rather that is in the person.

NMJW:
You credit musicians like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley as people who've influenced you. When did you first become aware of these artists and how?

AM:
I first heard these artists on my dad's radio in his truck as he drove me to kindergarten when I was four. He would then play more of these artists for me on his record player in our living room.

NMJW:
You mention being the son of Greek-American restaurateurs in your biographical information. Were you expected to enter the family business? When did it become clear that you were charting your own course through music?

AM:
I was never expected to be or do anything in particular. I always had the freedom to choose what I wanted to do... however, growing up in the restaurant is a very important detail in my life. I always wanted to be involved with music. My mom tells me that I would pick my head up in the crib when I was a baby to "see what was going on" when there was music being played in the room.




NMJW:
Tell us about Face the Day. How have you approached the material on this record, in contrast to your earlier releases?

AM:
Face the Day is an album that deals with my experience of life through my mid 20's.


NMJW:
What's your favorite guilty pleasure in terms of music?

AM:
Kelly Clarkson, Shania Twain, and Cindi Lauper.


NMJW:
Who would you most like to share the stage with?

AM:
Leslie Feist

NMJW:
If you were not a musician, where else might you focus your creative attention?

AM:
Running, Bicycling and Swimming.

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 . . .

School Days

Hello, Jazz Friends!

It's nearly summer! Can you believe that? We're looking forward to getting outside for the Salsa/Jazz & Blues Under the Stars shows! We're also happy to let you know that we'll be offering summer jazz courses for adults!

Eight-week and ten-week courses are available for adult students interested in Modern Jazz Ensemble, Community Big Band, Latin Jazz & Improvisation, Vocal Jazz and, Real Book Jam!

Our adult ed classes are designed for musicians looking to expand their knowledge and skills! NMJW classes offer adults the opportunity to study with some of New Mexico's most talented, working musicians.

The 2010 Summer Adult Education Program offers students four, great courses to assist adult musicians and vocalists in the development of their craft. Latin Jazz & Improvisation, taught by Rodolfo Gonzalez provides the student with skills for jazz combo performance while exploring Latin rhythms. Lewis Winn offers an updated course in Modern Jazz Ensemble which emphasizes improvisation, swing, hot, and cool styles while developing successful ensemble techniques.

NMJW Community Big Band taught by Christian Pincock is a popular, challenging but rewarding course with limited enrollment in the band, so sign-up right away! Patty Stephens, local diva and curator of Women’s Voices: Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, offers her very popular course. This class is designed to improve your vocal jazz skills while exploring the song(s) of your choice. Each of the summer courses culminates in its own performance.

For musicians wishing to connect and collaborate with other players without the commitment of a class, Real Book Jam is a good choice.

For a small lab fee, musicians and singers are invited to come together on Saturday afternoons to simply play!

For a full description of courses and fees, please visit www.nmjazz.org

See ya in class!

2010 Summer Adult Education Program-- course series begins June 6^th and runs through August 15^h. Dates and times for classes vary. For full course description, and instructor bios, please visit our website: www.nmjazz.org. For more information, contact Vicki Dugger, Adult Education Coordinator

505-255-9798. Or, send email to Vicki at nmjazzvols@gmail.com.

Cabaret with Deian McBryde!

Deian McBryde is a ladies' man. We mean, a self-confident, approachable man women enjoy being around. Guys like him, too. What is it about Deian that speaks to us? Charisma. The man’s got charm for days. So much charm (and guts and talent) that he’s parlayed his skills into an international singing career. A self-proclaimed, “Sonic Smoothie,” Deian has entertained in the US, Canada, Europe, Russia and Australia as a solo artist and with his little jazz band, The Pretty Girl Orchestra. Now Deian honors us by offering a brand new class at New Mexico Jazz Workshop. If you’ve ever wanted to sing loud and proud, then consider taking Deian’s NMJW class, Cabaret! which starts Monday, March 22 at 6:30pm. We caught up with Deian to talk about the class, about the art of cabaret, and singin’ to the cheap seats.

NMJW: So, what draws you to cabaret? What about this performance style attracts you?

DMc: I'm really drawn to narrative and interpretation. Cabaret is a unique form because, unlike musical theatre, the stories are very personal -- even if you are in "character." This isn't about you acting like anyone other than being more fully yourself, and offering your wisdom and vulnerabilities to the audience. When a cabaret artist is really present to what's happening (something I call, "Being in The Room") people pay attention. Maybe it helps them make sense of the world, in the case of very political cabaret, or maybe it helps them feel the empathy of someone sharing their experience. In cabaret, the drama and the humor are personal and practical to the human experience. I've done a lot of singing from concerts to nightclubs -- the times I've made them laugh hardest and cry deepest have all been in a cabaret.

NMJW: Who are some of your influences, and why?

DMc: It's not completely true but I generally "quote" my mother who "said," "Sing so the people in the cheap seats can hear you!" That's actually not at all true; she never said that and I just made it up. But, true story, when I was a kid and wanted to be one of the Carol Burnett Dancers, she said, "Well, they're not picking people from Mars for those jobs; it's just people like you me." That bit of advice has given me WAY more courage than my talent justifies. Creatively, I'm inspired by the cabaret legend, Julie Wilson, who rode the subway with me one day and said, "I never let anyone tell me how to sing my songs -- that's my only job."

NMJW: Tell us about the experiences with this art form?

DMc: I performed in cabarets in New York for a number of years. Eighty-Eights, The Duplex, Don't Tell Mama... a lot of them. I actually got "medium popular" on the scene but there was always a disconnect between me and the cabaret community in New York because I just wanted to "do my job" as Julie said. So, I did them alone with just a pianist. I didn't hire musical directors, acting coaches, choreographers and a fleet of people eager to take my limited cash -- that always just felt WAY to dilettante for me. But, things did take off when I took my 2nd trip to Australia to perform in the Melbourne Fringe Festival. I created a character (students will hear ALL about that!) and did a nightclub act based on this other life. To everyone's surprise (meaning, me) we won the Melbourne Fringe Festival Prize for Musical Direction that year... and the year after that, too! I ended up performing sold-out rooms in Melbourne and Adelaide, and slightly smaller houses in Sydney for which I am still NOT bitter. I learned from this series to never underestimate the power of a good story to move people deeply and profoundly, with grace and humor. I also sang a cabaret in the middle of a Russian Rave party in St. Petersburg a few years ago -- the kids all stopped everything to watch, listen and cheer. That taught me that a good story lives in your bones, not always in your words.

NMJW: How do you apply cabaret to "modern" music? What are some "modern" examples of the style?

DMc: Well... I dunno. I think cabaret requires a point, a purpose of some sort. I don't agree that it's a night of show tunes strung together with stories about the good old days. But I also don't think it's anything you do in a small room with a two-drink minimum. There are a lot of people doing interesting stuff, especially overseas in Australia. I don't know why but they're just funnier and less self-absorbed about it. I like a cabaret that moves me around through emotions. Too much sweet music is like too much candy on Halloween. So, New York cabaret doesn't inspire me anymore, not at the moment. I want to see funny, bawdy, poignant and beautiful work -- not just hear beautiful singing. In fact, I think that's one thing that makes cabaret AMAZING -- you don't have to be the world's best soprano or loudest tenor to have an impact in cabaret. You just have to have something to say.

NMJW: What can people expect to experience in your class?

DMc: We'll have a mix of singing and non-singing activities. I won't be critiquing the singing (much!). Mostly, I'm interested in helping people draw out their stories and tell them in compelling ways. I'm eager to help them tap into their own charisma and sense of stagecraft to make it happen within the length of a song. I think we'll be pushing some boundaries and creativity buttons (but all safely) and I think we're going to have a lot of fun!

NMJW: (Anything you want to say about the class, the style the work??)

DMc: Please only sign up if you want to work, learn, take risks, grow and transform your life. How's that for subtle?

NMJW: Thanks, Deian!

DMc: Thank you, Marya!

Cabaret! Instructor: Deian McBryde Mondays, starting March 22 through April 26th $90 General $75 NMJW members (and APS teachers) For more information check our website:

www.nmjazz.org

It's gettin' kinda KOSMIC at the Jazz Workshop

Here's the deal:

We have this new FANTASTIC series coming up called, Jazz, Deconstructed. Sure, it's not happening until Spring, but you know, why wait to blog tomorrow what you could blog about today? Anyway, with Jazz, Deconstructed, we're going into the wilds of jazz through the thickets and thorny wood. "What do you mean?" You might ask.

Hmm. . .

Watch this video of the Charleston performed by the famous Al & Leon:

Great, right? Now, watch it again. Yes again. This time with Daft Punk over-dub:

That's Jazz . . . Deconstructed. Same song, same soul,beats PERSONIFIED. Jazz, Decontructed is:Amani Malaika & Luis Guerra-- April 7th, Resonance w/Patti Littlefield & Mark Weaver-- April 14th,Joy Harjo-- April 21st, Christian Pincock-- April 28thNow, you may not know that we have had to find a new place to do our series. It's a long story,drizzled in unfortunate events,but there's a happy ending,we assure you.We love the folks at q-Staff-- their Open Eye Cafettewas the perfect place for JD. If you're curious as to know why we're moving house on this series, read this.Here's the good part: we're moving the series toThe Kosmos the newest warehouse-turned-art space, located near downtown Burque.Chances are you already know where this place is-- if you take your Sunday prayers at the Church of Beethoven.

In their own words,The Kosmos has, "breathtaking acoustics, exposed brick and wooden ceiling beams, a central location near I-40 to make The Kosmos Albuquerque's most unique arts and events venue."

We agree.

See ya there!