David Binney

Our fall season keeps rolling in less than two weeks with alto
saxophonist David Binney, who plays the Kate Buchanan Room with his
Third Occasion Quartet on Thursday, October 6. Stereophile calls
Binney "one of the most original minds in contemporary music," and we
agree: he's a powerful player and a distinctive composer, a
tremendously influential figure on the modern jazz scene. Tickets for
the show are $15 General Admission and $10 for students and seniors,
and are currently available online at the "Tickets" page of our
website only. (They'll be on sale at Wildberries, Wildwood Music,
People's Records, and The Works by the middle of next week.)


You can read more about David Binney and stream a set by the Third
Occasion Quartet from last year's Newport Jazz Festival at
RedwoodJazzAlliance.org:
http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/binney.html


While we've got your attention, here are two bits of other news:


The Donny McCaslin Group's set from last weekend's Monterey Jazz
Festival is now available for streaming at NPR Jazz:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/09/21/140611177/monterey-jazz-2011-donny-mccaslin-group


And we're proud to pass along the word that earlier this week, our
October 2008 guest, drummer Dafnis Prieto, was named a 2011 MacArthur
Fellow (that is, he got a "Genius Grant"). If you're interested, you
can read about it here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/09/20/140621262/drummer-and-compser-dafnis-prieto-named-macarthur-fellow
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/09/20/congratulations-to-a-newly-minted-jazz-genius/

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. (And even though we're pretty
sure we had nothing to do with it, we can't help but point out that
Prieto is the second of our guests to win these laurels: saxophonist
Miguel Zenon was a 2009 winner. Great minds think alike, we
suppose...)

First Up!

We're a week away from the start of our fall season, with the Donny
McCaslin Group coming to town on Thursday, September 15. (We're their
last stop before they play the Monterey Jazz Festival next weekend.)
The concert's in the Kate Buchanan Room at Humboldt State University
and starts at 8 p.m. Ticket prices remain a recession-friendly $15
general admission and $10 for students and seniors and can be
purchased at our newest ticket outlet, Wildberries Market, as well as
the Works in Eureka and Peoples Records and Wildwood Music in Arcata,
online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm and at the
door.

Donny and the band will also present a free workshop the day after the
concert, Friday, September 16 at 11 a.m. in room 131 of the HSU Music
Building.

Don't forget that you can also purchase season tickets (all six
concerts for the price of five!) online right now (http://
www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm) or at the door on the 15th.

You can read more about Donny and the members of his group and check
out streaming audio and video at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/mccaslin2.html

New Season; Old and New Friends

Our new season is finally coming out from under wraps--and (if we say so ourselves) you will not hear any better touring jazz musicians 'round here in the coming months than our 2011-12 guests.  Have a look--and a listen, via the magic of streaming audio--at our season web page.  It all starts on September 15th with our old friend, saxophone giant and prince-of-a-man Donny McCaslin.

Speaking of unveilings: the results of this year's DownBeat Critics Poll were recently released, and upcoming visitors to HumCo were well represented there.  Pianist Jason Moran, who'll appear as part of this year's Center Arts season with bass legend Dave Holland's Overtone Quartet (which also features RJA 2010-11 leadoff hitter Chris Potter, we might add), topped the list, winning both Artist and Album of the Year--not to mention Pianist of the Year.  Holland himself won Bass honors.  Meanwhile Rudresh Mahanthappa, who's slated to appear next April with Rez Abbasi's Invocation Quintet, took home Alto Saxophonist laurels.

Past guests were not scarce, either:  Dave Douglas (RJA 2009-10) won Best Trumpeter for the umpteenth time; Anat Cohen (RJA 2007-08) took the Clarinet and Rising Star Soprano Sax categories; Craig Taborn (Michael Formanek Quartet, RJA 2010-11), Electric Keyboard, Rising Star Piano and Rising Star Organ; Ambrose Akinmusire (RJA 2010-11), Rising Star Trumpet and Rising Star Jazz Artist of the Year; Vijay Iyer Trio (RJA 2010-11), Rising Star Jazz Group; Luis Bonilla (Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy, RJA 2009-10), Rising Star Trombone; Ben Goldberg (Plays Monk, RJA 2006-07 and Go Home, RJA 2007-08), Rising Star Clarinet; and Nasheet Waits (Brass Ecstasy, RJA 2009-10), Rising Star Drums.  Not bad, eh?

Scan the full results--and (if you're a DownBeat subscriber) vote for your favorite artists in the 76th annual Readers Poll.

And if you like reading and/or hearing about jazz when you're not listening to jazz, here are a couple recent recommendations:

• Donny McCaslin was the subject of a feature article by David Adler, "Big Love," in the July issue of Jazz Times.  (Our favorite line: "A gentle giant at 6-foot-3, McCaslin has the easy vibe of a native Northern Californian, an unflappability that once led pianist Frank Kimbrough to bestow a nickname: “the Donny Lama.”) 
• And bassist Ben Allison (RJA 2007-08) whose latest album Action-Refraction was named (by NPR) one of the 25 Best Albums of the Year So Far, was featured back in June on NPR's All Things Considered. (He was also profiled by Gene Santoro in the summer issue of Chamber Music America's Chamber Music magazine, but sadly the piece is not available online.)

Claire Iris Schencke at Piante Gallery

If you've been following us for a while, you know we don't do endorsements: there's a ton of good art and music in Humboldt County, and we don't want to be seen to play favorites.  So think of this as a public service announcement.  You may have noticed friend of the RJA Claire Iris Schencke (full disclosure: Arcata Arts, the company headed by Iris's husband Gordon, has helped support our past two seasons) sitting in the front row at recent shows, furiously, thoughtfully slashing away at her iPad, with results like these:

Well, if you needed one more reason to check out Arts Alive tonight, August 6, then here it is:  Iris has a show, The Glacier Art Project and At Waters' Edge, opening at the Piante gallery, 620 2d Street, Eureka.  Get a preview at Iris's own website, or read this two-page spread by R. W. Evans in the North Coast Journal.

Formanek Added to This Year's RJA Season

We're very pleased to be presenting the Michael Formanek Quartet in
our first-ever postseason show on Sunday, June 5 at 8 p.m. at the
Morris Graves Museum of Art.

Formanek's "The Rub and Spare Change" was one of last year's top
albums, so when Formanek told us he was bringing the same all-star
quartet (altoist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn, drummer Gerald
Cleaver) on tour to the West Coast, we knew we had to find a way to
make this show happen, even without our usual underwriters and
sponsors. You can read more about Formanek and his illustrious
bandmates and check out streaming audio and video of the quartet at
http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/formanek.html

Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students and seniors and
can be purchased at the Works in Eureka, Peoples Records and Wildwood
Music in Arcata, online at http://www.redwoodjazzalliance.org/tickets.htm
and at the door.

Because this is a post-season show and the concert is being funded
entirely by ticket sales, with all proceeds going directly to the
band, we can't include this in our season-ticket package, but we can
still offer reserved seating to our members. If you haven't yet joined
the RJA, you can do so online at http://redwoodjazzalliance.org/underwrtg.htm

Remember that seating is limited at the Graves, so we recommend
arriving early if you're not going to have reserved seats.

We'll see you on the 5th!

The Redwood Jazz Alliance

Jazz Journalists' Association award nominations

I missed Ambrose Akinmusire last night...the final show of our fifth season! I'm sick. But at least I'll get to vote for him several times in several different categories. If I joint the JJA. Which I think I might do.

Nate Chinen Cannot Stop Talking about Ambrose

Our next featured artist is getting lots of notice in NYC.