Friday, June 12, 2009

Gregg Moore and Bandemonium

Gregg has a new web site for all things Bandemonium.

http://relevantmusic.org/Bayside/Bandemonium/


"The Best in Human Powered Music for the Redwood Coast."


To see some really nice pics of Gregg and his tuba, visit Bob Doran's Flickr site and check out the photo set featuring Gregg.

The Redwood Jazz Alliance Needs Your Help!!!!

Dear Friends,

The following note is our latest missive to the world:


We wrote a week or so ago with a preview of coming attractions, namely
the artists you can expect to hear in the RJA’s coming season: Dave
Douglas Brass Ecstasy, Third Man Trio (Michael Moore, Will Holshouser
& Han Bennink), Ralph Alessi & This Against That, Myra Melford’s Be
Bread, Frank Kimbrough with Noah Preminger, Antonio Sanchez &
Migration. More details soon.

Talent like that doesn’t come cheap, we said. And that’s why we're
writing again tonight.

Part of what lets us keep ticket prices low is avid, open-eared jazz
fans like you who become members. Some of you signed on as "charter"
members last year, and for that we owe you our abiding thanks. (And a
few of you, we still owe a letter and a membership card—soon come!)

Summer is our fundraising season, and the more members we can line up
now, the firmer footing we'll be on in the fall. None of needs
reminding what tough times these are, and it’s already clear that some
of the good folks who’ve given us money in the past—local businesses,
Humboldt State—just may not be able to come through this year. But
you can make up the shortfall.

Seriously: if millions of small donations can send a jazz-loving
president to Washington (what other recent chief executive can you
name who has Coltrane on his iPod and brings Esperanza Spalding to
play the White House?), then dozens of small donations can keep world-
class jazz coming to Humboldt.

For a $40 tax-deductible contribution (we’re a registered 501 (c)(3)
charity), you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve played an
extra-ordinary part in bringing some major players on the contemporary
jazz and improvised music scene to the North Coast. And on the theory
that one good turn deserves another, four local merchants who are
friends of the RJA have volunteered to extend special favors to RJA
members. Present your 2009-10 membership card at our ticket outlets
all season long and receive

• 10% off jazz CDs at The Works (Arcata & Eureka locations)
• 10% off featured CDs by RJA guest artists at People’s Records
(Arcata Plaza)
• 10% all purchases at Missing Link Records (8th & J in Arcata, behind
the Co-Op)

Plus get 10% off one purchase of any amount at Northtown Books in
Arcata.

And starting this year, we’re bending our strict egalitarian principles
—just slightly—by offering members, donors, and sponsors a crack at
reserved seating (rather than our customary general admission) at all
shows they attend.

If you became a member last year: thanks again—really. Can we count
on you to renew? (If you joined at our after our final show of
2008-09, we’ll automatically extend your membership through 2009-10.)

If you’ve come to our shows and/or workshops without becoming a
member, and you feel as though you can spare a bit beyond the price of
a cheap ticket now and again: please join! (Or make a donation in
any amount that seems right.)

And if you or your business are in a position to plunk down a bit more
cash and become a bona fide sponsor, we’d love to talk to you about
that, too.

You can become a member, donor, or sponsor online at
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm, or you can post a
check to: Redwood Jazz Alliance, P.O. Box 4443, Arcata CA 95518. If
you’ve got questions, please direct them to
rja@redwoodjazzalliance.org and we’ll gladly get back to you.

In any event: thanks for coming out to hear great music and signing
up for our list. It’s responses like yours that make us appreciate
what an amazing community we live in. Happy summer—and stay tuned for
news about Jazz Night at the Humboldt Folklife Festival and RJA Discs
of the Month.

Dan, Michael, Thomas, Eric, Michael, Loralei, and David
Redwood Jazz Alliance Board of Directors

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

New Season Teaser

Brother Eldridge recently composed this missive:

Dear Friends:

Hope your summer is off to a flying start.

It's downtime for us, concert-wise, but we're working hard to get
ready for fall and we wanted to give you a preview of what's in store--
before we announce it to the general public.

We're still finalizing dates in one or two instances, but here's who
you can look forward to hearing and seeing as guests of the RJA in
2009-2010:

In September, one of the most acclaimed (and eclectic) composers of
the past two decades, trumpeter Dave Douglas, leads off the season
with a new project, "Brass Ecstasy." The quintet (four horns and
drums) will be touring behind a brand new album and coming to us after
a residency at New York's famed Jazz Standard and an extensive summer
tour of Europe. You can stream the album---and watch a great
documentary video---at
http://www.greenleafmusic.com/store/productdetail.php?p=136

In October, local-boy-made-good, reedist Michael Moore, returns to
Humboldt County in an unusual trio with accordianist Will Holshouser
and fellow ICP Orchestra member (and 2008 winner of the European Jazz
Award), legendary drummer and wildman Han Bennink. The group's name--
the Third Man Trio--was suggested to them by an Austrian friend.
(They must have reminded him of the Viennese thugs in the Carol Reed
film, surmises Holshouser.)

In November, it's New York trumpeter Ralph Alessi with his band "This
Against That," featuring Tony Malaby, Andy Milne, John Hebert, and
Mark Ferber. The group--whose previous members have included Don
Byron, Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nasheet Waits--has recorded two
dynamite albums of adventurous, inside/outside music on Ravi
Coltrane's RKM label.

January sees the return visit of one of our most popular guests,
pianist and composer Myra Melford, this time leading a new incarnation
of her "Be Bread" ensemble, with a killer lineup of Cuong Vu on
trumpet; Ben Goldberg on clarinet; and Matt Wilson on drums. The
band's debut album is one of our favorites, and they'll be kicking off
a bi-coastal tour in Arcata behind a brand new disc on
Cryptogramophone.

In February, it's another of our favorite pianists, Frank Kimbrough,
whose influences run from Bill Evans to Andrew Hill, and who holds
down keyboard duties for the Maria Schneider Orchestra, among other
jobs. He'll appear in a duo with one of this year's up-and-coming
stars of the New York jazz scene, tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger.

And we close the season in March with another in a series of young
innovators of the nueva Latin Jazz movement: drummer Antonio Sanchez
and his band Migration. This version of the band will sport two of
following A-List saxophonists, any one of whom we'd love to bring to
Humboldt County (and two of whom we have!): on alto, David Binney or
MacArthur "Genius" Grant winner Miguel Zenon, and on tenor, Donny
McCaslin or David Sanchez (no relation).

Phew!

Talent like that doesn't come cheap--but with your help, and the help
of local business owners and professionals (and support from HSU)--we
can keep it affordable. We'll make a membership plea in another
message soon, but if you want to spare yourself the pitch, just go to
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm right now and become
a member or make a donation.

Thanks--and stay tuned!

UPDATE: Myra Melford writes to us today with a slight correction:

"Just wanted to clarify something: the new cd is coming out on Firehouse 12
(not Crypto)."