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BLOG POSTS May 17, 2009 My new music enterprise Hollistic MusicWorks , covering various aspects of my musical output including recording, sheet music and educational products/activities, is slowly but surely coming on line. HMW’s first recording project, “Unsung Heroes” (mentioned previously in my newsletters) is in the final stages of preparation for release. We’ll be doing a soft rollout over the next couple of months, and we’re aiming to have it together for an “official” launch by mid to late summer.
Speaking of “Unsung Heroes”, we’re having a “pre-release” party featuring the band on the recording at NYC’s Smalls coming right up this next Thursday, May 21st. I’ll be also playing “Unsung Heroes” music with my Midwest cats at hometown (Milwaukee) hang The Jazz Estate on Saturday, May 30th. For more details, check my itinerary. IN THE MEDIA My visage and pithy comments were featured in the cover story for the current (June 2009) issue of Chamber Music America magazine, on music marketing in the digital age. I’ve been associated with CMA as the leader of a member ensemble (Spheres Of Influence) since 2001, and received a “New Works – Creation and Presentation” grant from CMA in partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation in 2003 to fund the composition and premiere of “The Spheres Of Influence Suite”. Incidentally,Hollistic MusicWorks will be reissuing the CD of this music, originally recorded in 2004 with such great musicians as Miguel Zenon, Conrad Herwig, and Dafnis Prieto, in a remixed version later this summer. I’ve had the pleasure of recording numerous CDs for the Dutch label Criss Cross over the years, including my first two CDs as a leader back in the 1980s. eMusic.com, the digital downloading subscription service (highly recommended – I’ve been a member since 1999) has recently started to distribute the Criss Cross catalog – a great opportunity to sample some of the best jazz playing in the last 25 years on record. EMusic’s online survey of the best of Criss Cross singles out my most recent Criss Cross CD, “ConClave”, for special recognition in “Criss Cross – The eMusic Dozen”. You can read the review at: http://www.emusic.com/lists/showlist.html?lid=37177064
HUB’S MEMORIAL The Freddie Hubbard Memorial Concert at St. John’s the Divine Cathedral in New York City this past May 4th was a beautiful evening. So many great musicians honored Hub with their playing; for me a special highlight was the appearance of one of today’s true individualists on the trumpet, Wallace Roney. I was also honored to take a modest part in the tribute, performing Freddie’s signature “Byrdlike” in the company of Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Todd Herbert, Aaron Goldberg, Santi DiBriano and the great Louis Hayes. I salute fellow trumpeter and Freddie’s manager David Weiss and the Jazz Foundation of America, along with Freddie’s widow Brigitte and son Duane, for making this event possible. I think about Freddie every day. You should too. He personifies jazz to me in the form of his genius. RECENTLY… The beginning of this month as well as April was consumed with teaching activities. My NYU ensembles and big band played a number of gigs around town and both ensembles logged some time in the studio. I had fun taking my Tuesday ensemble out to Knoop Studio in NJ for a real record date. Everyone chipped in and we made it happen! Two large ensemble pieces and five smaller group tunes were recorded. The very fine young musicians in this group played some chall enging material extremely well – well enough to share once it’s mixed, perhaps!
Brian Lynch NYU Tuesday Ensemble @ Knoop Studio, River Edge NJ: (l to r) Manfred Knoop; Wei Xiang Tan (p); Jared Weinstock (ts); Shareef Taher (d); Bob Sabin (b); me, Jonah Parzen-Johnson (bari); Jason Arce (as, ts); Matthias Konrad (tb). Also spreading the jazz word out in Chicago, a favorite place of mine, at the Merit School of Music. Merit is a fantastic school devoted to taking up the slack in music education for school age children in Chicago. I’ve given workshops for Merit’s Latin Jazz Band during a NYC field trip in the past, and last month’s workshop and concert with that same group, so ably directed by Michael McLaughlin, was a great continuation of what I hope will be an ongoing relationship with Merit.
March 4, 2009 It’s a fairly busy month for me performance wise. My travels take me to the Jersey Shore (or near there), Arizona, Spain and France, while I’ll also be enjoying an engagement at a premier NY jazz club in the company of one of the legends. I’m looking forward to a reunion with my longtime compatriot David Hazeltine this coming weekend when I perform with the group One For All as part of the Jazz @ The Point festival in Somers Point NJ. That’s on Friday, March 6th. The next night (Saturday, March 7th), my own Spheres Of Influence quartet (Rick Germanson, piano; Essiet Essiet, piano; Justin Brown, drums) will take the stage at The Inlet as part of the same jazz weekend. Next, off to the University Of Arizona – Tucson on the 10th and 11th, to conduct workshops and perform with the University Jazz Band. An early morning flight back to NYC will hopefully get me to Columbus Circle in time to take the stage with jazz icon Phil Woods and his Quintet for the opening night of a four night run (March 12-15) in Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in Jazz at Lincoln Center. This spring I’m celebrating my 17th year as a member of the Phil Woods Quintet. The music’s still fresh every time out! Later in the month I hit the road with Phil as we journey to Europe to present a tribute to the “Little Giant”, the great saxophonist Johnny Griffin, who left us last year. We’ll be performing in Barcelona (Mar. 26) and Marciac, France (Mar. 28) with a crack European based rhythm section including the wonderful drummer and US expat Doug Sides. One of the joys of living in NYC is the opportunity to play with some of the world’s greatest musicians with the ease of walking out your door and down the street. One of those musicians is the legendary drummer “Killer” Ray Appleton, who was a mainstay of One of Freddie Hubbard’s 1960s groups, as well as playing and recording with giants such as Wes Montgomery and John Coltrane. Ray was a mentor of mine as a young man in Milwaukee, during his sojourn there around the turn of the ‘80s. Ray is putting a group together these days and I’d suggest you check him out if you have a chance; he’s the real deal as far as swing is concerned! I’ll be making the scene with him whenever my schedule permits. The first opportunity will be at Creole on 3rd Ave. and 118th St. in Manhattan on March 19th. Come on by! February 25, 2009 A lot of teaching has been going on this month. My philosophy for teaching has been pretty simple over the last few years, as I’ve become more involved in it. Basically, I teach what I myself am interested in, the same things that I am working on musically for my own artistic development and maintenance of musical skills. Since a continuing commitment to refining and redefining fundamentals is so important to my own growth, I think this works out well for both my students and myself. It keeps me very engaged and committed; the better I teach, the more my own playing and musicianship benefits. It’s no wonder that I’ve become increasingly engaged in this most rewarding activity. I’ve been working especially hard with my NYU students this month getting ready for our performance at the Blue Note this coming Sunday (both my ensembles are playing a set apiece at the brunch gig). I’m really happy with my groups this year; I think these are the best bands I’ve had overall in the five years I’ve been teaching at NYU. Some of these students have been with me for a long time, and it’s been gratifying to see their development; the hard work they’ve put in is paying off. At the same time, the level of the new students coming in has been going up and up; in particular I’ve got some grad students playing in my groups that are ready to take their place in the jazz world. Not that the undergrads are any slouch, though – I’ve got some great players there ready for prime time, too. We’ve been working on some interesting music, both mine and from the jazz classic book. My “Tuesday” ensemble has been working on some of the very challenging music from my Chamber Music America/Doris Duke commissioned work “Spheres Of Influence”, and I have to tell you, they’re playing this music as good as anyone has ever played it! I’ve had more rehearsal time with these student groups on this difficult music than I ever had with my own larger group (this is five horn music) and the results show. The Tuesday group is also playing some of the original numbers I recorded with Art Blakey (“Byrdflight”, “Chippin’ In”), other numbers accsociated with the Messengers (Walter Davis Jr.’s “Uranus”), and music from my upcoming Venus release of jazz standards in the Latin bolero style. My “Thursday” band is also very happening; they have worked hard and really have come together as a group. They’re playing my originals, including my perennial favorite “One For Mogie”, dedicated to Lee Morgan, music from my upcoming “Unsung Heroes” recording, and other jazz classics like Horace Silver’s “Yeah!”. Of course, I’ll be playing with both groups. I do hope some of you all in the NYC area can drop by the club to hear these bands! As an expression of my own music, it’s every bit as satisfying as hearing my own groups.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT BRIAN LYNCH ON MYSPACE Brian Lynch and Spheres of Influence on MySpace
GRAMMY WIN FOR "SIMPÁTICO"! The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project: Best Latin Jazz Album 2006 I'm proud to announce that The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project recording, "Simpatíco" has received a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2006. I'd like to thank everyone involved in the project, from the musicians to my close friends on the support team and the Participant Contributors (Executive Producer, Gold, Silver, and Bronze) for making it possible. For more info about "Simpático", read on below or go straight to my project site to participate! To listen to tracks from "Simpático", click below at: http://www.artistshare.com/grammy/brianlynch/index.htm Thank you for wishing us luck at the Grammys! Brian "Simpático" - THE BRIAN LYNCH / EDDIE PALMIERI PROJECT powered by ArtistShare Brian Lynch proudly announces the release of his new recording project, The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project, in collaboration with ArtistShare, the innovative website based content delivery system. The Brian Lynch/ Eddie Palmieri Project showcases the acclaimed trumpeter and composer with his longtime musical mentor, the legendary Eddie Palmieri in a CD project of new original music by Lynch, special collaborative works composed by Palmieri and Lynch together, and recastings of classic Palmieri compositions. The recording also features two very special guest artists: the legendary saxophonist Phil Woods (another of Lynch’s musical godfathers) and the great vocalist and songwriter Lila Downs (Brian and Lila specially co-wrote a new song for this project). The distinguished group of jazz & Latin masters Brian has assembled for this project includes such luminaries as: Conrad Herwig (trombone) This unique musical experience will be shared with its audience using the cutting edge ArtistShare system, as utilized in recent projects by Maria Schneider and Jim Hall. Participants will be able to experience the artistic process through weblogs, streaming and downloaded audio and video, downloaded compositional sketches and finished music, and even online lessons. Follow every step of the way, as Brian creates and crafts this project! A limited edition CD of the final product will be released exclusively through the project website. Become a participant in the Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project today by clicking through to my ArtistShare powered project site. Then check out the different Participant Offers that have something to interest everyone, whether you’re a fan, musician, or committed to supporting the arts. Be a part of jazz history and check it out today! Log in and sign up for a free ArtistShare account and receive a FREE mp3 download of never before released music by Brian Lynch and Spheres Of Influence! To sign up, just click here |
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