Lionel Loueke Trio – Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, Feb. 25, 2012

Lionel Loueke Trio

Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-concert talk at 7:15pm

Thanks to the generosity of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University my wife and I will be attending the Lionel Loueke Trio Concert on February 25th gratis. We were awarded two free tickets due to appreciation of the music blog post I wrote about the Charles Lloyd New Quartet concert at Wesleyan on January, 28, 2011. It was a special evening and I even got to meet Charles Lloyd after the concert!

I have had the privilege of meeting Lionel Loueke in person. He is a most humble and gracious person. He has a warm spiritual light about him. We spoke in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle, Washington. We were both waiting to speak to the concierge that morning. Lionel Loueke was on tour with Herbie Hancock (who we also saw when we were getting our rental car….).

We have seen Lionel Loueke perform twice with Herbie Hancock, once at The Klein in Bridgeport, CT in 2008. Then we caught him again with Herbie Hancock at Herbie Hancock’s 70th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. Eager to see him with his trio and performing his music.

Here is a blurb from the Wesleyan Music concert page about Lionel Loueke.

“His music rolls along with a feel-good sense of joy…a new Afro-jazz star.”
–DownBeat

Benin-born jazz guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke combines harmonic sophistication, soaring melodies and grounding in West African music to create a warm, intimate sound with his trio, which features Swedish-born bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Praised by mentor Herbie Hancock as “a musical painter,” Loueke was featured on Hancock’s album River: The Joni Letters (2007), which won Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Grammy Awards.

Tim Berne, Snakeoil, Harlem in the Himalayas, February 17, 2012, NYC

We’re very excited to be attending Tim Berne‘s debut release concert of  his ECM Snakeoil recording being held at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City on Friday February 17th, 2012. The concert is entitled Harlem in the Himalayas.

Snakeoil is a potent blend of new voices and new ideas. Oscar Noriega (woodwinds), Matt Mitchell (keyboards) and Ches Smith (percussion) bring fresh sounds and vibrant energy. Berne responds with a stunning book of new pieces balancing compositional rigor with fluid group improvisation. Hypnotic rhythms and long, seductive melodies collide with jagged dissonances and surprising textural shifts. A lush, organic blend of saxophones and clarinets is layered with electronic and acoustic keyboards and an ever-changing tapestry of percussion. Freedom and discipline, consonance and discord, past, present and future- all work together to power this new band from Tim Berne. (This information is courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art Web site).

We have become familiar with the Rubin Museum from watching Reel 13 on Saturday nights on WNET. The Rubin Museum of Art is a proud sponsor of Channel 13 on PBS. Their advertisements for the museum have intrigued us to pay a visit. We just can’t go wrong with an intimate jazz performance at this beautiful museum performance space.

I must place a pre-order for Tim Berne’s Snakeoil on his Website,Screwgun Records.  It’s $14.99 for the Audio CD on his site. Maybe I can get Tim and his band members to sign it for me at the event

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,700 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Chris Botti – The Blue Note, December 28, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

My wife asked me to choose what I wanted to do for my sixtieth birthday. I thought about it for a bit and then I said, “I’d like to celebrate jazz in New York City at a famous club with you.”

So I purchased us tickets for Chris Botti at The Blue Note in Greenwich Village, New York City. I have always been enamored with the rich history of jazz in New York City. 52nd Street, Birdland, The Village Vanguard, Jazz at Lincoln Center, just to name a few of the great jazz haunts.

It should be a special evening

Related articles

• Blue Note Jazz Club (greatamericanthings.net)

Tower of Power with Special Guest AWB – The Klein Thu. Nov. 17, 2011

Two bands I have meant to see as individual concerts are on the same bill together. Tower of Power and Average White Band. They are r&b, soul, funk and bad-ass horns.

I could not resist this double shot of funky soul in my neighborhood. So Thursday night at The Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport we’ll be up dancing with these two great bands.

Thanks Fairfield Theater Company you keep bring us members such dynamite concerts!

Tower of Power with Special Guest Average White Band

Stephen Stills – Mohegan Sun Wolf Den

Stephen Stills

Friday, October 21st, 8:00pm

Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, Wed. Nov. 2

I just love the lilting sound of Jon Anderson‘s voice, especially when it is coupled with the magnificence of Rick Wakeman‘s piano virtuosity. I just learned today that they will be appearing together at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Wednesday November 2, 2011.

I am very encouraged to attend this event. It’s a rare opportunity to see these two musical artists who represent the true spirit of Yes.

Their 2010 collaboration, The Living Tree, will melt your heart when you hear it. These recordings have a healing power all their own.

Jon Anderson has also just released a new solo recording, Survival & Other Stories.

Related articles

• YES Legends JON ANDERSON And RICK WAKEMAN To Tour North America This Fall (bravewords.com)