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July 28 Caramoor Jazz Festival
Saturday, 3:00pm ~ Venetian Theater
3:00pm - The Cookers
4:15pm - Gretchen Parlato
5:30pm - Kenny Barron
6:30pm - Dinner Break
8:00pm - Dee Dee Bridgewater
9:00pm - Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band
THE 2012 CARAMOOR INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Welcome to the 2012 Caramoor Jazz Festival - our 19th year of presenting many of the world’s most significant masters of our beautiful music known as jazz. I have spent 52 of my 60 years on the planet in awe of the spirit of the music and its practitioners... and its uplifting power in my personal and professional life. If you are looking for spiritual power, the kind that brings people together and makes living life just a little bit better, may you find it today in our “garden of great music”—Caramoor. I am very happy and privileged to present today’s lineup of great musicians. They stand for the very best that
jazz represents.
For those of you who have been with us over the years, it’s no surprise that I love bebop. In many ways, the New York I lived in from the 70s to the 90s was an exciting time for me in that I got to experience bebop and hard-bop as played by many giants who are no longer with us... people such as Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Miles, Mingus, Sun Ra and Dexter Gordon to name a few. It was during this time frame that I became acquainted with some of the musicians who start this concert program.
3:00 PM
THE COOKERS
EDDIE HENDERSON, DAVID WEISS, TRUMPETS; CRAIG HANDY, ALTO SAXOPHONE;
BILLY HARPER, TENOR SAXOPHONE; ORIN EVANS, PIANO; CECIL MCBEE, BASS; VICTOR LEWIS, DRUMS
The Cookers are an inspired group. Andy Gilbert of the Boston Globe recently stated, “Player for player, there's no better working band in jazz than The Cookers.” The Cookers are Billy Harper, Billy Hart, Craig Handy, Orrin Evans, Eddie Henderson, Cecil McBee and David Weiss, the band’s founder, chief organizer, and trumpeter. Their Motéma Music debut Believe celebrates their fifth anniversary as a working ensemble. If you are younger than 40, this is the way it used to be – every night – all night!!
4:15 PM
GRETCHEN PARLATO
GRETCHEN PARLATO, VOCALS; TAYLOR EIGSTI, PIANO AND KEYBOARDS;
BURNISS TRAVIS III, BASS AND ELECTRIC BASS; KENDRICK SCOTT, DRUMS
Gretchen was a real surprise to me when I finally took the time to dig deep into her music. And she’s caught fire on the music scene as her non-stop global schedule proves, and the proof in this case is in the depth of her emotion backed by a sincerity that reminds me why I love this music so much. Herbie Hancock calls her “a singer with a deep, almost magical connection to the music.”, and Wayne Shorter nailed it when he said, “In an inconspicuous way, Gretchen Parlato knows how to play the same instrument that Frank Sinatra played. There’s no one out there like Gretchen.” I am absolutely thrilled to present Gretchen Parlato - winner of the 2012 Jazz Journalists Award for Best Female Vocalist. Since she was traveling in June when the Awards were held, she will receive her award here at Caramoor.
5:30 PM
KENNY BARRON
Although I’ve never told him this, Kenny Barron has been one of my teachers for a very long time. By example, and by word, he has been making a difference at the piano since 1959, when he began playing with Philly Joe Jones while still in high school. At age 19, Kenny came from Philadelphia to New York and began playing with everybody you can think of that would have been in New York then - James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, and even Buddy Rich. He would go on to make tremendous contributions to the working bands of Yusef Lateef, Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Eddie Harris and many others. The Los Angeles Times calls Kenny, “... one of the top jazz pianists in the world.” Amen. When I was 22, I fell in love with his recording Sunset to Dawn. Do you have it in your collection?? In our earliest days, Kenny came to the Venetian Theater to play an explosive duo set with Geri Allen. I have been trying to get Kenny to come back to Caramoor ever since, however as I noted above, he’s been a little busy in jazz hotspots like France, Italy, Germany and Japan.
8:00 PM
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, VOCALS; CRAIG HANDY, SAXOPHONES AND FLUTE;
EDSEL GOMEZ, PIANO AND MUSICAL DIRECTOR; MICHAEL BOWIE, BASS; KENNY PHELPS, DRUMS
Dee Dee Bridgewater came to New York to sing with Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, and all she did was change the face of theater and music in New York, and in the world. Dee Dee is a three time Grammy winner, and she won a Tony Award for her role in “The Wiz”, and she’s been in high demand ever since. We lost her for quite some time to the elegance of life in France, however she’s come back to us to sing and to make her presence felt as a force - capital F!! These days, Dee Dee has found a way to also host NPRs longest-running jazz performance program, “Jazzset” – celebrating their 20th anniversary on the air tonight with a special to be aired on public radio worldwide on Labor Day weekend and beyond. We have never met, but I’ve seen her in action in Nice, New York, Los Angeles and Paris. It’s a dream come true to have her. Thank you, Dee Dee.
9:00 PM
ROY HAYNES FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH BAND
JALEEL SHAW, SAXOPHONES; MARTIN BEJERANO, PIANO; DAVID WONG, BASS
ROY HAYNES, DRUMS
Here’s a pop quiz for you. Who has played with Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sarah Vaughan and also appeared with the Allman Brothers Band, on the Letterman Show; in the Game “Grand Theft Auto”; and was named along with Fred Astaire, Clark Gable and Cary Grant by Esquire Magazine as one of the Best Dressed Men in America in 1960? Why it could only be one man on earth - Roy Haynes! Roy returns for the third time to the Venetian Theater, and this time it’s with his band The Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth. Roy was inducted into the Down Beat Magazine Hall of Fame in 2004. Listen closely and pay attention!
-Jim Luce, Producer
JIM LUCE
PRODUCER, CARAMOOR JAZZ FESTIVAL 2012
Jim Luce is President of LIGHTSOUNDSPACE, a Photography and Music Space, Gallery and Digital and Analog Media Lab. A veteran radio and record producer and presenter of jazz and classical music, Mr. Luce won a Peabody Award for his NRP Series “Jazz Profiles” on Miles Davis. He is the Producer of “Good Music Mostly Classical” at the new Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts in the heart of the new Rahway Arts District, and he also produces various fine-arts music projects for Brookfield Properties in New York and Los Angeles, including, The Downtown LA Piano Festival, Thelonious Monk at 95, and Debussy at 150. Jim and Genevieve Luce are Institutional Brand Ambassadors for Allegro Pianos of Stamford, Connecticut and New York, NY – representing Bosendorfer, Bluthner, Steingraeber, Estonia and Kawai premium performance pianos.
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