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Friday, April 19, 2013

MUSIC IN THE MOONLIGHT JAZZ SERIES CONTINUES @ LUNA STAGE THIS SUNDAY

Music in the Moonlight Jazz Series

The Don Braden Quartet in
R&B Goes Jazz

featuring Jazz arrangements of songs by Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, Roberta Flack and others, plus original compositions.

Don Braden: Saxophone, Flute, Alto Flute
Cecil Brooks III: Drums
Brandon McCune: Piano
Joris Teepe: Bass

WHEN: Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: Luna Stage, 555 Valley Road, West Orange
TICKETS:
$18 in advance, $20 at the door
For tickets visit lunastage.org or call the box office at 973.395.5551

 

Don Braden is a musician of the highest caliber. For many years he has toured the world leading his own ensembles, as a special guest, and as a sideman with greats such as Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and many others. He has composed music for everything from duo to full symphonic orchestra, in many styles, for recordings (including 16 CDs as a leader and nearly 80 as a sideman), film and television, and worked several years as composer for Bill Cosby. He is also a world renowned educator, having spent nearly two decades giving master classes at countless schools and universites, and running first class educational programs such as the Litchfield Jazz Camp and NJPAC’s Jazz For Teens.

Cecil Brooks III (drummer) – A contemporary drummer and aggressive, polyrhythmic stylist, Cecil Brooks, III has worked in the New York area with such musicians as Greg Osby, Geri Allen and Lonnie Plaxico. He recorded his debut album as a leader for Muse in 1989, subsequently releasing efforts such as1990′s Hangin’ with Smooth, 1993′s Neck Peckin’ Jammie and 2000′s Our Mister Brooks, in addition to session work in both a hard bop and bebop setting. His father was a drummer and grandfather a concert pianist. Brooks is also making his mark on the music as a producer. Recently Muse created a subsidiary label, Westside Records, so he could produce some of the older, lesser-known artists whom he’s been bringing into the Muse stable, including vocalists Gail Allen and Jackie Woods and saxophonist Reggie Wood. Brooks operated the Cecil’s Jazz Club in West Orange for almost nine years, closing it in February 2012 to concentrate on playing music and producing records.

Brandon McCune makes his home in Newark, NJ. His musical studies began at age three, when his parents enrolled him in the Suzuki method of classical piano. For the past eighteen years, Brandon McCune has been an experienced professional musician (pianist, organist, drummer, trumpeter, bassist, vocalist and choir director) serving as a principal music instructor, composer, counselor, arranger, and performer with a special concentration in the jazz, classical and gospel genres. [Read More].

Several great bassists in Jazz came from Europe (Dave Holland, George Mraz, NHOP, Miroslav Vitous), but Joris Teepe is the first European musician from The Netherlands to be able to make it in New York. Arriving in New York in 1992 with just his bass and a suitcase, he quickly met many musicians, started to work a lot and a year later he recorded his first CD, co-led by Don Braden and featuring Cyrus Chestnut, Carl Allen and Tom Harrell. From that point everything really took of for Joris and he became a bassist in great demand and he has been working with the "who is who in Jazz" from Benny Golson to Randy Brecker to Rashied Ali. [Read More].