JAZZ @ the CAM IS BACK! by Tanya Suarez
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Volume 8, No. 7 January 2012 JAZZ @ THE CAM IS BACK! By Tanya Suarez Put January 5th from 6:30 until 8:00 pm on your calendar. It marks the return of Jazz @ the CAM on the first Thursday of each month through April (except February when it is the 2nd Tuesday instead.) January’s program restarts the series with a bang. El Jay Johnson and the Port City All Stars produce hand-clapping, toe-tapping jazz that will invigorate us after the long stressful holiday. So come and shed your cares and be prepared to leave with a smile and a lighter heart. El Jaye has been seriously involved with music since age ten. He has expanded his involvement in music beyond performing. He is the founder and owner of EDJE Records, an independent record label, which is a subsidiary division of his business El Jaye Enterprises. Since it’s founding, El Jaye has worked as a songwriter, arranger, producer, engineer, promoter and educator. On stage you will see him energetically bounce around from guitar to trumpet to singing and dancing. And although he is an accomplished musician in his own right, he likes to be considered an entertainer, rather than just a musician. He thrives on captivating his audience through his music and his dynamic performances and tries to reach not just their feet, but also their hearts. This show will feature El Jaye Johnson on guitar, trumpet, and vocals joined by a group he created called the Port City All Stars. The All Stars include Kevin Kolb on keys, Teddy Burgh on saxophone and flute, Taylor Lee on bass, Morey Jenkins, Jr. on drums, and Mike Hanson on congas and percussion. Barry Salwen of CVNC.net recently commented about their dynamic shows: “Led by drums and guitar, they showed versatility in playing styles ranging across African, jazz, and Caribbean, and gave the audience a rocking good time.” Tickets may be purchased at the Cameron Art Museum the night of the concert or earlier online at http://www. cameronartmuseum.com/. The prices are: $7.00 for CFJS and CAM members; $10 for nonmembers and $5 for students. Happy New Year to All! from The North Carolina Jazz Festival May 2012 be filled with the wonderful sounds of live jazz. ’Tis the season to be Jazzy Cate Falcone The CFJS annual Holiday Party took place on December 4th, and if you weren’t there you missed a great time. Members had an opportunity to get acquainted with some of our new folks and to catch up with some of our longtime friends. We had a record number of attendees this year and were able to raise nearly $400 with the raffles and merchandise sales. The Doug Irving Trio provided some fabulous music and really got everyone jazzed up for the holidays. We’d like to thank Rucker John’s for their support of CFJS, and for helping us have a great holiday celebration. Finally, we should take a minute to thank the many CFJS members who helped with everything from sending in their reservations to getting raffle prizes donated and cleaning up when the fun was over. Jazz In the Cape Fear Region January March 5th Jazz @ the CAM with 1st Jazz @ the CAM with the Wahl Project* El Jaye Johnson & the 6:30, Cameron Art Museum Port City Allstars* (910) 395-5999 6:30, Cameron Art Museum www.cameronartmuseum.com (910) 395-5999 www.cameronartmuseum.com 25th Liz Pina & the FROG Project* 3-5, Community Center 21st New York Voices Southport 8:00, Thalian Hall (910) 632-2885 April 5th Jazz @ the CAM with Benny Hill* February 6:30, Cameron Art Museum 2nd-4th North Carolina Jazz Festival (910) 395-5999 Hilton Riverside, Wilmington www.cameronartmuseum.com ncjazzfestival.com 20th CFJS/UNCW Scholarship Concert 9th Jazz @ the CAM with with Karrin Allyson* Stardust Kenan Auditorium, UNCW (Jim & Laura McFayden & Friends)* (910) 962-3500 6:30, Cameron Art Museum (910) 395-5999 May www.cameronartmuseum.com 11th John Brown Orchestra 8:00, Thalian Hall 28th Wynton Marsalis (910) 632-2885 Kenan Auditorium, UNCW (910) 962-3500 *An asterisk indicates events sponsored or co-sponsored by the Cape Fear Jazz Society HELP WANTED: CFJS ARCHIVIST We are seeking an archivist to collect, catalog and maintain our photos, articles, posters, concert announcements, etc. in our archives. Into scrapbooking? You are just the one we need to “put it all together.” This volunteer position has many rewards including being a part of an organization dedicated to keeping jazz alive in the Cape Fear region. Interested volunteers should contact President Tanya Suarez at 910-792-9531 or tmsuarez@charter.net or send us a note via our website, www.capefearjazzsociety.org JAZZ ACROSS THE STATE Contributors: Matthew Lilly, Tanya Suarez, and TomtheJazzman Mallison JANUARY 2012 Wednesday, 21st DAVID BENOIT & BRIAN CULBERTSON Friday, 13th BRANFORD MARSALIS Carolina Theatre Duke University Durham, NC Durham, NC Thursday, 22nd HERBIE HANCOCK Saturday, 14th BRANFORD MARSALIS UNC Duke University Chapel Hill, NC Durham, NC Thursday, 22nd DIANA KRALL Friday, 27th NNENNA FREELON Durham Performing Arts Center Grove Park Inn Durham, NC Asheville, NC Saturday, 24th JOHN PIZZARELLI & Friday, 27th JOHN PIZZARELLI JESSICA MOLASKEY Grove Park Inn NC State University Asheville, NC Raleigh, NC Saturday, 28th JESSICA MOLASKY & APRIL AARON WEINSTEIN Grove Park Inn Thursday, 10th JOSHUA REDMAN & Asheville, NC BRAD MEHLDAU UNC Saturday, 28th TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET Chapel Hill, NC NC State University Raleigh, NC FEBRUARY MAY Thursday, 9th CHRIS BOTTI Saturday, 12th RIPPINGTONS East Carolina University High Point Theatre Greenville, NC High Point, NC Friday, 10th OVERTONE QUARTET (DAVE HOLLAND, CHRIS JUNE POTTER, JASON MORAN, & ERIC HARLAND) Friday, 22nd PIECES OF A DREAM UNC, Chapel Hill, NC Uptown Charlotte Jazz Festival Charlotte, NC Friday, 10th PAT BERGESON & ANNIE SELLICK tickets at www.uptowncharlottejazzfest.com Heart and Soul of Jazz Festival at Carolina Hotel Saturday, 23rd BONEY JAMES Pinehurst, NC Uptown Charlotte Jazz Festival Charlotte, NC Saturday, 11th BRIAN NEWMAN tickets at www.uptowncharlottejazzfest.com Heart and Soul of Jazz Festival Carolina Hotel, Pinehurst, NC Friday, 24th CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE UNC Chapel Hill, NC Saturday, 25th STEPHANIE NAKASIAN Pamlico Musical Society Oriental, NC MARCH Thursday, 15th WYNTON MARSALIS JAZZ AT LINCOLN UNC CENTER ORCHESTRA Chapel Hill, NC The Jazz Library: Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) Last month’s article featured one of the two fathers of bebop, Charlie Parker. The other father, of course, is the groundbreaking trumpeter and musical ambassador Dizzy Gillespie. Of Parker I wrote “performer, composer, one of the fathers of bebop, and icon for the beat generation – all these labels work for Bird, but his immortality is due to the way he taught the world to improvise.” Exactly the same can be said for Gillespie, and because the two were so closely linked, it’s essential to do these two articles back- to-back. John Birks Gillespie was born in Cheraw, SC, son of a bricklayer who was a pianist and bandleader in his spare time. Gillespie Senior kept all the instruments for his band around the house: young Gillespie, a pianist from early on, tried the trombone, but his arms were too short. At age 13 he heard Roy Eldridge on the radio, fell in love with the trumpet, and never looked back. He received a music scholarship at the Laurinburg Institute in Dizzy Gillespie, ca. 1950 NC, a traditionally Black prep school that flourishes to this day. © Unknown He studied music theory, harmony and performance for two years, but had to leave when his family moved to Philadelphia. There he began playing with local bands. His crazy antics on stage quickly earned him the nickname “Dizzy.” The name, and the antics, lasted the rest of his life. In 1937 Dizzy moved to New York, first playing with his idol Roy Eldridge’s band, then with Cab Calloway. He was fired by Calloway after a notorious incident in which Dizzy, fond of throwing spitballs during performances, allegedly threw one at Calloway: in the resulting post-concert confrontation, the mercurial Gillespie pulled a knife and cut Calloway in the hand. Gillespie worked with a “who’s who” of other bands during the early 1940s (Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, and Benny Carter). He was in the Earl Hines band in 1943 when he worked with Charlie Parker for the first time, and the two moved together to the more Dizzy Gillespie, ca. 1965 musically adventurous Billy Eckstine band. Of that time Gillespie © Unknown recalled, “New York is the place, and both of us blossomed.” They formed their own combo in 1945; as discussed last month, it ushered in the bebop era and was one of the greatest small bands of the 20th century. In 1946 the two made a California tour with great success, but as we discussed last month, the trip ended with Parker’s commitment to a rehab facility. Gillespie, who did not do drugs and used little alcohol, returned on his own to lead other small combos (including such luminaries as Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, John Coltrane, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, and Lalo Schifrin). He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic. Gillespie’s and Parker’s famous “Salt Peanuts” introduced the world to bebop. This column has not discussed the great and sudden transition in jazz of the early 1940s, which made “Salt Peanuts” such a surprise to the world, so a digression is in order. In August of 1942 the American Federation of Musicians, trying to escape the powerful financial thumb of the recording companies, imposed a ban on all recordings by union members.