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.

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).

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

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.

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)

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

Friday, October 21st, 8:00pm

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)

Her latest recording Blessed makes powerful statements about life and the human condition. She also has an incredible library of songs and recordings that are very compelling listening.

I especially like her first music video ever, “Copenhagen”. It is unique in its use of animation which underscores how technology might be utilized in the future.

Related articles

• Lucinda Williams – “Copenhagen” Video (stereogum.com)

What I am even more pleased about is that the concert tickets were $50 each for FTC members. Just last Friday Ridgefield Playhouse charged $127 each for the same seats to see Tedeschi Trucks Band live. We are saving $77 a ticket and did I also mention we’re getting two bands that night, Hey Now!

Thanks Fairfield Theater Company for charging the right price for us members. Keeping music affordable in these dire economic times speaks to your commitment to us the music buying public. We attend thirty+ concerts a year and appreciate a value when we see one!

Related articles

• Tedeschi Trucks Band – Midnight in Harlem (musicofourheart.wordpress.com)