Chuck Redd and pianist John di Martino
WHEN: Sunday, November 12, at 3 p.m.
WHERE: Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road in Madison
ADMISSION: $10 for NJJS members and $15 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID.
There will be light refreshments for purchase.
To order tickets in advance, log onto https://madison-arts-and-culture-alliance.ticketleap.com/new-jersey-jazz-society-concert-with-the-chuck-redd-duo/details.
Chuck Redd and pianist John di Martino will again create their musical magic as the duo headlines the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert.
In his review of vibraphonist Chuck Redd’s 2019 Dalphine Records album, Groove City, Dan Bilawsky of AllAboutJazz wrote that “one of the standout moments comes in balladic form with (Billy Strayhorn’s) ‘A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing’. Redd and (John) di Martino, sans rhythm section, dim the lights, and capture the essence of beauty in less than three minutes. It’s the type of performance that passes quickly yet hangs in the air. It’s but one of many examples of how Chuck Redd lives atop and within a song.”
Di Martino’s latest album was Passion Flower The Music
of Billy Strayhorn (Sunnyside: 2020). Reviewing it for AllAboutJazz,
Dr. Judith Schlesinger wrote: “Among the many eulogies to Strayhorn's
genius, this one is unique in its fresh and straightforward interpretations.”
The scholarship winners will perform their opening act with a
trio of veteran jazz performers: pianist Oscar Perez, Coordinator of Jazz
Studies at Montclair State’s John J. Cali School of Music; bassist Mary Ann
McSweeney, who served for several years on the faculty of Lincoln Center’s
Middle School Jazz Academy; and drummer Ron Vincent, who has presented
workshops at more than 80 colleges and universities. Prior to the concerts,
tenor saxophonist Don Braden, who is an NJJS Advisor, will lead a roundtable discussion
with the scholarship winners.
LaRouech won the $1,000 scholarship for Performance. His major heroes on trombone are J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, and Slide Hampton. Dr. David Demsey, Coordinator of Jazz Studies at William Paterson, said LaRouech is “among the strongest players we have had in our jazz program in a long time, certainly one of the strongest trombonists.”
Sapnar was the recipient of the $1,000 scholarship for
Composition. His winning work, “Red Braid”, was chosen by Terell Stafford,
Director of Jazz Studies at Temple’s Boyer School of Music to be performed at
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jack Rudin Championship this past January. Sapnar
picked the trumpet as his instrument because of Louis Armstrong. “His energy
and joy was so contagious to me,” he said. However, his biggest influence has
been Stafford. “He is my favorite living trumpet player,” he added.
Foglia won the $500 scholarship for Performance. His first influences on saxophone were Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon. “I would always listen to Bird and practice out of the omni- book (note-for-note transcriptions),” he said. Demsey described Foglia as “an inspired learner, and he has a very strong and rapidly expanding jazz vocabulary.”
Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by
funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the
Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the
Arts.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHUCK REDD AND JOHN DI MARTINO
