A Knupp & Watson & Wallman Music Celebrations Series Event Columbia Artist Management LLC and George Wein present
Piano Jazz Summit featuring
Jacky Terrasson • Cedar Walton • Hiromi Columbia Artists Management LLC Tim Fox / Alison Ahart Williams 1790 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
TUE, MAR 22, 2011 |
Capitol Theater
Bottled water and beverages in Overture Refillable Souvenir Cups are allowed in the theater during select performances. Purchase a souvenir cup for $3 plus the cost of your drink at any of the concession locations in the lobby, and bring it back next time for a refill. This program is part of Overture’s Take 10 Series for students and educators. Funding for Take 10 is provided by contributors to the Ovation Fund. Learn how you can be part of supporting Overture’s community and education programs at overturecenter.com/contribute.
Piano Jazz Summit | Overture Center 1
for
SUPPORTING Escapes from reality. Beauty. Celebrations of life. Tales of heroism. Elegance. Magical moments. Villains and heroes. Brilliant performers. Melancholy melodies. Costumes to die for. Ear candy. Soprano solos. Local stars. Ballads of love. Tales of betrayal. Memories made. Romantic evenings. King of the Rat Pack. Feasts for the eyes. Fresh perspectives. Date night. Psychedelic flashbacks. Masters of the six strings. Boogie-woogies on the ivories. Storytellers. Spectacles of monumental proportions.
Because after all,
MADISON WOULDN’T BE MADISON WITHOUT THE ARTS SINCERELY, YOUR FRIENDS AT
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I D E A S .C O M
JACKY TERRASSON
Ever since pianist extraordinaire Jacky Terrasson burst upon the jazz scene in 1993 by winning the Thelonious Monk Piano Competition, he has consistently performed and recorded richly refined and remarkably freespirited music. Terrasson is a two time Grammy nominee (Kindred, Best Jazz Album, 2001 and Into The Blue, 2004 with Emmanuel Pahud) and has added a host of awards to his cache including 2003 Best Jazz Artist of the Year (Prix Django Reihnardt, Academie de Jazz), Best Jazz Album of the Year for Smile (Victoire de Jazz) and two Django d’Or awards for Best Jazz Album and Best Artist. Terrasson released Push
(Concord) in 2010 featuring his exciting new trio with bassist and Monk Competition winner Ben Williams and noted drummer Jamire Williams. The Village Voice speaks of their “enviable chemistry that flaunts a striking balance between the pianist’s exclamation-smitten right hand and the buoyancy of his rhythm section.” The trio brings an alluring range of original compositions and signature arrangements including the infectious adaptation of “Smile” and the bass feature medley of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Smoke Gets In your Eyes”. They continue to travel throughout Europe, Asia and the US.
Piano Jazz Summit | Overture Center 3
CEDAR WALTON
Walton is one of the most universally respected jazz pianists active today, having played in the bands of Lou Donaldson, Kenny Dorham, J.J. Johnson, Art Farmer and Art Blakey, and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. Since working with enchantress Abbey Lincoln, Walton has also been much in demand to accompany singers. He’s made numerous appearances as a band leader with trumpeters Dorham and Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonists Hank Mobley, Clifford Jordan and George Coleman, bassists Ron Carter and Richard Davis, and drummers Billy Higgins and Jack DeJohnette, among other luminaries. As a player, Walton’s a postbopper. In addition to his ability as an instrumentalist, Walton has quietly amassed an impressive body of original compositions. For over six decades, Walton has worked lovingly on his craft. Walton started young, beginning to noodle on the piano by the time he was six or seven. His mother taught piano. “I started playing by ear,” remembers Walton, “and my mother said, ‘You better learn to read.’” Dutifully, he did. At Lincoln High School, Walton began playing the clarinet in the marching band. “I used to see posters for Billy Eckstine appearances, and I had an autograph collection that included Marian Anderson, Eckstine, Duke Ellington, and Lena Horne,” says Walton, who 4 Overture Center | Piano Jazz Summit
began playing professionally while still enrolled in high school. “We were jazz musicians, but we had to play a rhythm & blues style. I can remember playing in a shuffle rhythm so people could dance.” Walton tried to absorb the latest records by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, citing Art Tatum and Bud Powell as his primary influences in those days. Following high school, Walton attended Dillard College in New Orleans for a year, where Ellis Marsalis was one of his classmates. Soon after, he transferred to the University of Denver, where he began to study composition seriously. While in Colorado, Walton met and played with a number of jazz notables, including Bird which led to the pianist’s decision to move to New York in 1955. He performed everywhere, sitting in, making rehearsals, and doing small club dates. It didn’t last long, though; that year, Walton was drafted. Spending 1956-58 in the Army, Walton was stationed first at Fort Dix, where he met tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter. As a member of the Special Services, he was able to play with several good jazzmen, including Eddie Harris, with whom the pianist later recorded. Most notable of all, it was while in the service that Walton had a chance to sit in with Duke Ellington’s band. After leaving the government’s employ, Walton quickly reestablished himself in New York, working in the bands of
A Knupp & Watson & Wallman Music Celebrations Series Event
Michael Feinstein and his Big Band The Sinatra Project Sponsored by
Fri, Apr 1, 8 pM $36.50 – $75.50 | Overture Hall Michael Feinstein, the multi-platinumselling, five-time Grammy-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” is considered one of the premier interpreters of American standards. When he does a Sinatra show — backed by a complete big band — you’ll feel like you’re there with “Old Blue Eyes” himself.
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Piano Jazz Summit | Overture Center 5 1011 Full-MFeinstein_PBAD.indd 1
1/26/11 6:10 PM
CEDAR WALTON
Donaldson, and then Dorham. He made his first recorded appearance with Dorham on the Riverside LP This Is the Moment. After Dorham, Walton replaced a great pianist, Tommy Flanagan, in J.J. Johnson’s sextets. These were fine bands that boasted Nat Adderley on cornet or Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Bobby Jaspar or Clifford Jordan on tenor sax. Walton formed some solid relations there with drummer Tootie Heath, the brother of Percy and Jimmy Heath, and Jordan, and worked frequently with both in the future. Walton then succeeded another great pianist, McCoy Tyner, with the Jazztet. This group featured trumpeter Farmer, tenor saxman Golson, and trombonist Curtis Fuller, who was later replaced by Tom McIntosh. It was Walton’s next job, however, that brought the pianist to the attention of the jazz public: a stint with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. This may have been Blakey’s best band, featuring, in addition to Walton, a front line containing Hubbard, Shorter, and Fuller. Walton calls his situation with Blakey the ultimate experience. “It was exactly the opposite of the Jazztet in that Art encouraged everyone to write, to contribute originals,” explains Walton. I flowered and developed my ability to accompany with him.“ Walton played with Blakey from 1961-64, and took advantage of the freedom to compose that Blakey
gave him. Two of his compositions became title tunes for Blakey LPs, Mosaic and Ugetsu. He also wrote the title tune for Joe Henderson’s Mode for Joe. In 1965-66, he began backing Abbey Lincoln, who, at the time, was married to jazz drummer extraordinaire Max Roach. Since 1966, Walton has been a leader or freelancer. In 1967 and 1968, he made Cedar, on which Dorham and tenor saxophonist Junior Cook appear, and Piano Summit Spectrum, with Blue Mitchell and Jordan. During the 70s, Walton cut several albums: Eastern Rebellion, featuring George Coleman; A Night at Boomer’s, volumes one and two with Jordan; and Breakthrough with Mobley. It was during this decade, that Walton finally started receiving the recognition he deserved as a master. He and drummer Billy Higgins have had a long and fruitful relationship, and together with bassist Ron Carter, can be heard in fine form on two albums recorded live at Sweet Basil. In 1996 and 1997, the Astor Place label released two CDs on which all the compositions are by Walton. He had been interested in arranging as a youngster and did it by trial and error. Over the years, however, he learned from men like Ellington, Johnson, and Golson, and on both Composer and Roots, he’s developed his own distinctive arranging style. In 2001, Cedar signed a contract with HighNote Records.
CEDAR WALTON
His first recording, The Promise Land features young alto man Vincent Herring and a stellar rhythm section playing standards and Walton originals. His second recording, Latin Tinge features the heavy-duty rhythm section of Cucho Martinez and Ray Mantilla and finds Cedar displaying a complete command of the Latin idiom — not only with Latin standards but also with a handful of originals. In 2005, Cedar returned to the HighNote studios for his very first solo piano recording since his historic Maybeck recital of 15 years ago. This recording, Underground Memoirs, cements Cedar Walton’s reputation as one
of jazz’s greatest keyboard artists. Cedar has since recorded One Flight Down and Seasoned Wood, both of which feature the quintet format that Cedar loves so well. Most recently, he has recorded Voices Deep Within which reunites Cedar with bassist Buster Williams and saxman Vincent Herring with the young Willie Jones III on drums. Cedar’s most recent honor was to be named the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for 2010. The NEA Jazz Master is the nation’s highest honor in jazz.
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HIROMI
Since her 2003 Telarc debut, Another Mind, keyboardistcomposer Hiromi Uehara has electrified audiences and critics on both hemispheres. The initial buzz – critical and commercial – triggered by Another Mind in North America traveled all the way back to her native Japan, where the album shipped gold and received the Recording Industry Association of Japan’s (RIAJ) Jazz Album of the Year Award. Her second release, Brain, won the Horizon Award at the 2004 Surround Music Awards, Swing Journal’s New Star Award, Jazz Life’s Gold Album, HMV Japan’s Best Japanese Jazz Album, and the Japan Music Pen Club’s Japanese Artist Award (the JMPC is a classical/jazz journalists club). Brain was also named Album of the Year in Swing Journal’s 2005 Readers Poll. In 2006, Hiromi won Best Jazz Act at the Boston Music Awards and the Guinness Jazz Festival’s Rising Star Award. She also claimed Jazzman of the Year, Pianist of the Year and Album of the Year in Swing Journal Japan’s Readers Poll for her 2006 release, Spiral. She continued her winning streak with the release of Time Control in 2007 and Beyond Standard in 2008. Both releases featured Sonicbloom, her handpicked supergroup that included guitarist Dave “Fuze” Fiuczynski, bassist Tony Grey and drummer Martin Valihora. Her output in 2009 has been extensive. She appears on Duet,
a two-disc live recording of a performance in Tokyo with pianist and mentor, Chick Corea. She also appeared on bassist Stanley Clarke’s Jazz in the Garden. In June 2009, she simultaneously released two concert DVDs, both recorded in Tokyo: Hiromi Live in Concert (recorded in 2005) and Hiromi’s Sonicbloom Live in Concert (recorded in 2007). Hiromi scales back to the solo piano setting – but sacrifices none of her innate energy or passion in the process – with her latest album, A Place To Be, a musical travel journal of the many places around the world that have left an indelible impression on her creative sensibilities. Born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1979, she took her first piano lessons at age six. She learned from her earliest piano teacher to tap into the intuitive as well as the technical aspects of music. “When she wanted me to play with a certain kind of dynamics, she wouldn’t say it with technical terms. If the piece was something passionate, she would say, ‘Play red.’ Or if it was something mellow, she would say, ‘Play blue.’ I could really play from my heart that way, and not just from my ears.” Hiromi came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, an environment that pushed the limits of her artistic sensibilities even further. Among her mentors at Berklee was veteran jazz bassist Richard
A ProVIDEO Comedy & Theater Series Event
SAT, APR 30, 7 pm
$26 – $34 | Capitol Theater
Sponsored by
This tender, loving, life-affirming Tonynominated one man show celebrates the life and career of George Burns, played by Alan Safier, as he finds himself caught between this world and the next, unable to join his beloved Gracie until he summons one last command performance. “You’ll be in heaven yourself, at least for an hour and a half.” — New York Times
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HIROMI
Evans, who teaches arranging and orchestration. Evans co-produced Another Mind with longtime friend and collaborator Ahmad Jamal, who has also taken a personal interest in Hiromi’s artistic development. “She is nothing short of amazing,” says Jamal. “Her music, together with her overwhelming charm and spirit, causes her to soar to unimaginable musical heights.” Hiromi’s new album, A Place To Be, is more than just a chronicle of the many places around the globe where she has performed. Recorded just days before her thirtieth birthday in March 2009, it also represents a personal milestone. “I wanted to record the sound of my twenties for archival
purposes,” she says. “I felt like the people whom I met on the road really helped me develop and mature as a musician and as a person. So in addition to making a record that represented all of these places that have inspired my music, I also wanted it to be a thankyou to those people. I feel very fortunate to have spent this part of my life traveling to all these places and making people happy.” “I don’t want to put a name on my music,” she says. “Other people can put a name on what I do. It’s just the union of what I’ve been listening to and what I’ve been learning. It has some elements of classical music, it has some rock, it has some jazz, but I don’t want to give it a name.”
HELP
BRING THE
ARTS
YOUR
TO
COMMUNITY
Overture’s free and low-cost community and education programs are at the heart of our mission to engage the entire community in the arts. In fact, last season, these programs served more people in our community than the total number of tickets sold to all of our performances. These programs are possible only through the generosity of contributors to the Ovation Fund – people just like you who recognize the transforming benefits of the arts and want to ensure that everyone in our community can experience them. LEARN MORE WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR DONATION ONLINE AT OVERTURECENTER.COM/CONTRIBUTE. OVERTURE’S FREE AND LOW-COST COMMUNITY AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS INCLUDE: Community Ticket Vouchers, Kids in the Rotunda, Duck Soup Cinema, Take 10, International Festival, Overture Galleries, Artist Residencies, Community Arts Access Program, OnStage Performing Arts Series, The Tommy Awards, Educator Workshops, Meet the Artist, Wisconsin Writers Series and Overture After Work
OVATION FUND: Community. Education. Diversity. 10 Overture Center | Piano Jazz Summit
GEORGE WEIN
NEA Jazz Master George Wein is as much a legend as his festivals. Through his company, Festival Productions, he has spearheaded thousands of music events since 1954 when he produced the first Newport Jazz Festival – an event that started the “festival era.” At 85, George has as much creative fuel as he did when he started that festival and advanced the concept of live music – a fact that is proven by the January 2011 announcement of Newport Festivals Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation that he formed to assure that the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals would live on in perpetuity. George also pioneered the concept of sponsor association with music events, beginning with The Schlitz Salute to Jazz and the Kool Jazz Festival, which guaranteed that the sponsor would be mentioned in publicity and promotion. His company went on to produce titled events for JVC, Mellon Bank, Verizon, Essence, Ben & Jerry’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, CareFusion and many others. George’s autobiography, Myself Among Others: A Life in Music (Da Capo Press) has become a major reference on jazz history. In addition to his work as a producer, he also is an accomplished pianist and continues to tour worldwide with his group, the Newport AllStars. George Wein has been honored by heads of state, educational institutions and leading publications. In addition
to receiving the 2010 Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts and commendations from Presidents Clinton and Carter, he was decorated with the Legion d´ Honneur for his creation of the contemporary jazz festival and appointed Commandeur de L´Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the government of France. In addition to his life in jazz, Mr. Wein has a long history of involvement with philanthropy and the arts, including the establishment of the Joyce and George Wein Chair of African American Studies at Boston University and the Alexander Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at Simmons College.
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PATRON SERVICES AND INFORMATION
Welcome to Overture Center for the Arts
Your enjoyment is important to us. Please contact an usher or the ticket office if you have any concerns about your experience here. ORDERING & INFORMATION Order online! overturecenter.com Phone orders: Call 608.258.4141 Mail or fax: online order form at overturecenter.com or in our magazine. Buy in person: Visit the ticket office located on the main floor just off the Rotunda Lobby. Ticket office hours: Mon–Fri, 11 am–5:30 pm; Sat, 11 am–2 pm; open additional hours evenings and Sundays on days of ticketed performances. Group orders: Groups of 15 or more receive a discount on most performances. Call 608.258.4159 to make reservations. Visit overturecenter.com: For a calendar of events, links to artists’ websites, video, audio, directions, parking and much more. PATRON SERVICES & POLICIES Accessibility: Request accommodations when ordering your tickets. Call 608.258.4144 for information, questions, or to request the following: n
wheelchair-accessible seating house wheelchair for transport n sign language interpretation n Braille playbill n other accommodations n
Etiquette Please turn off all paging devices, cell phones and watch alarms. Smoking is prohibited in Overture. The use of cameras or tape recorders in the theaters is prohibited without written permission from Overture Center and the performing company’s management. Food, large bags and other large items are not permitted in the theaters. Bottled water and beverages in Overture Refillable Souvenir Cups are allowed in the theaters at select shows. In consideration of audience members with scent sensitivities and allergies, please use perfumes, aftershaves and other fragrances in moderation. Event Staff Stagehand services in Overture are provided by members of Local 251 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Volunteer usher and other services for Overture are provided by Overture Friends. For information, visit overturecenter.com/ contribute/volunteer or call 608.258.4177. RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONS Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society bachdancinganddynamite.org | 608.255.9866
Information is also available at overturecenter.com/tickets/accessibility
Children’s Theater of Madison ctmtheater.org | 608.255.2080
Children and lap seating: Every person, regardless of age, must have a ticket to enter the theaters for performances. Children under the age of 6 are not permitted at certain performances. See our season brochure, visit our website or call the Help Line at 608.258.4143 for information.
Li Chiao-Ping Dance lichiaopingdance.org | 608.835.6590
Kanopy Dance Company kanopydance.org | 608.255.2211
Madison Ballet madisonballet.org | 608.278.7990
Contacting a patron during a performance: Call 608.258.4179 with the performance the patron is attending and his/ her row and seat number.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art mmoca.org | 608.257.0158
Lost and Found: Visit the information desk in the Rotunda Lobby or call 608.258.4973.
Madison Symphony Orchestra madisonsymphony.org | 608.257.3734
Rentals: For information on renting spaces in Overture Center for weddings, performances, meetings or other events, call 608.258.4163 or email events@overturecenter.com.
Wisconsin Academy’s James Watrous Gallery wisconsinacademy.org | 608.265.2500
12 Overture Center | Piano Jazz Summit
Madison Opera madisonopera.org |608.238.8085
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra wcoconcerts.org | 608.257.0638