BrianLynchJazz.com

Here I go again – another attempt to catch up and make up for my lack of posting on this site for a dreadfully long amount of time! It’s been so long in matter of fact, that I now need to issue a multi part update. This first post will cover the second half of last year.

What a joy it is to play music together with great people and players! I had a lot of good gigs in the second half of 2015. Here are some highlights:

A concert at Jazz A Vienne and two nights at the Duc de Lombards in Paris with The Messenger Legacy, a group devoted to the music of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, played by alumni of the band. This edition comprised myself, Ralph Peterson (presiding on drums), Craig Handy (tenor sax), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Johnny O’Neal (piano), and Essiet Essiet (bass). The eminent one, Grand Master Benny Golson, joined us on the set in Vienne. We had a fun time in Paris,  hanging with friends and fans!

August in Guadalajara, Mexico saw “The Meeting” of Aaron Goldberg (piano), Jon Irabagon (tenor sax), Reuben Rogers (bass), and Greg Hutchinson (drums) playing my music for a headline concert at the Jalisco Jazz Festival:

I had some great gigs at Smalls in NYC with my quartet: one in July with Emmet Cohen (piano), Boris Kozlov (bass), and Ralph Peterson and again in December for a two day run with Emmet, Luques Curtis (bass), and grand master Billy Hart (drums):

It’s always an honor an a thrill to play with another grand master, alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, who I go back with more than 35 years. The Jazz Standard run in October with Jeb Patton (piano), Ray Drummond (bass), and Billy Drummond (drums) was the best yet!

I put together my “Boleros Meet Jazz” presentation for radio station WDNA at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium at the end of October, and it was a gas! NEA Jazz Master Candido Camero, my buddy and jazz icon Donald Harrison, and the fantastic Cuban singer Gema Corradera headlined a show that also featured a crack 9 piece band of Miami and NYC’s finest:

EDUCATIONAL RESIDENCIES

I love the people and program at Michigan State University a whole lot! I was an Artist In Residence at the school in October for workshops as well as a state wide tour with MSU’s “Bebop Spartans” playing my big band music. I had a great time with students and professors alike! It was great to get to know Jazz Studies chair and great bassist Rodney Whitaker better, as well as hang with one of my main cats, trumpeter Etienne Charles.

So many other things happened! – but I want to move on to this year. The next post will get things up to date…

Hi Fans and Friends!

I’ve been enjoying a rare couple of weeks “off the grid”, relaxing a good bit at home as well as catching up on some post production work for upcoming releases on my Hollistic MusicWorks label (see below). It’s back to work now, with a number of performances alongside great musicians to look forward to in July:

I have two leader gigs coming up, both with smoking bands. On Monday, June 29 (8:00 PM), my “Unsung Heroes” quintet comes to the Sunset Jazz Series at Wiggins Waterfront Park in Camden, NJ (just across the river from Philly). This edition of Unsung Heroes features the magnificent tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore and bassist Gerald Cannon, along with UH regulars Rob Schneiderman on piano and Pete Van Nostrand on drums. This group will be going into the studio in NYC that same week to record Rob Schneiderman’s music.

Moving to the end of July, I’ll be renewing my musical partnership on Thursday the 30th (10:30 PM) with the prodigiously talented young pianist Emmet Cohen in quartet form at NYC’s hip club Smalls. The truly amazing drums and bass of Ralph Peterson and Boris Kozlov will ensure that the music, from the Hollistic MusicWorks release Questioned Answer, will be taken to a new level!

I’ll be on the NYC scene uptown at the wonderful club Smoke for July 4th weekend (July 3rd – 5th, Friday through Sunday) with my old friend Mike Le Donne’s quintet, featuring the legendary Jimmy Cobb on drums for a tribute to Nat Adderley. Ralph Moore and John Webber on bass round out this great group. It’s going to be swinging!

Then it’s off to Europe for a short jaunt with The Messengers Legacy, a group celebrating the music of Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers as played by alumni of that seminal jazz institution. Along with myself, the lineup that drummer and organizer Ralph Peterson has put together for this tour is stellar: Craig Handy on alto sax, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Johnny O’Neal on piano, and  Essiet Okon Essiet on bass. We’ll be playing the Jazz A Vienne festival in France (July 9) and hitting two nights in Paris at the newly reopened Duc de Lombards club in Montparnasse (I played there with the Jazz Messengers in 1989!)

A few of you out there might be wondering what ever happened to the Woody Shaw Latin Jazz project that I was working on (quite) a while back. I’ve had to put the project aside for a while due to a lack of time to work on it, but I’ve been able to resume post production over the last month and now am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I’m very excited about this recording. “Madera Latino” (Latin Wood) is a celebration of  the music of the great Woody Shaw arranged in Latin Jazz form by myself, with an all star cast of jazz trumpeters and Latin Jazz luminaries.

I’m so eager for this music to get out into the world that I’m jumping the gun by sharing a sneak peek of one track, still in the final stages of mixing. “Zoltan”, composed by Woody Shaw and arranged by yours truly, features the stellar trumpet lineup of Dave Douglas, Etienne Charles, Diego Urcola, and myself. Listen to it here:

It’s hot in the South, rainy in the Midwest, and who knows what elsewhere, but I hope you’ll be keeping cool, dry, and swinging wherever you are! Until a little later:

All The Best,

Brian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last decade percussionist and 2015 Grammy Award nominee Pedrito Martinez, saxophonist Yosvany Terry and pianist Manuel Valera have carried the Cuban beat to the Big Apple, creating a bold sound for a new century. Groove to the pulse of this musical movement.

Join us at 7 pm for a pre-concert talk with Brian Lynch, artistic director of Latin on Lex: A Latin Jazz Festival.

Yosvany Terry, alto sax & shekere
 Gregory Tardy – tenor sax
, Manuel Valera – piano,
 Pedrito Martinez – percussion
, Hans Glawischnig, bass, 
Obed Calvaire – drums

 And Brian Lynch, host and trumpet

Saturday March 14, 2015 at 8 PM

Latin on Lex: Bolero Meets Jazz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t get more romantic than when the Latin bolero meets the jazz ballad. Swoon to these soulful song forms as they’re interwoven by NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods on alto sax, an all-star orchestra and—in a rare appearance—Cuban diva Xiomara Laugart. Fall in love with Cuban and American classics.

Join us at 7 pm for a pre-concert talk with Brian Lynch, artistic director of Latin on Lex: A Latin Jazz Festival.

Phil Woods – alto sax, 
Ivan Renta – alto sax
, Ralph Moore – tenor sax
, Marshall Gilkes – trombone
, Ron Blake – baritone sax, 
Zaccai Curtis – piano, 
Yunior Terry – bass
, Vince Cherico – drums
Reinaldo de Jesus – percussion, 
Xiomara Laugart – vocals

 And Brian Lynch, host and trumpet.

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