Opening Nights Performing Arts Fall 2014 Program by Opening Nights

Christopher Guest Film Festival

Sierra Hull Band

Jake Shimabukuro

The Hot Sardines

David Sedaris

Performing Arts

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

2014-2015 Season

Song of the JASMINE

Fall 2014 | Vol. III | Issue I 2014-2015 Fall Program 1

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Contents

Fall 2014 The Best of Christopher GUest Film Festival

Jake Shimabukuro

Sierra Hull Band

The Hot Sardines

David Sedaris

Song of the Jasmine: Ragamala Dance COmpany

Big Band Holidays: J a z z a t L i n c o l n C e n t e r ORc h e s t r a w i t h W y n t o n M a r s a l i s a n d sp e c i a l g u e s t C ĂŠ c i l e McL o r i n S a l v a n t 2014-2015 Fall Program 5

LET YOUR PRIDE TAKE CENTER STAGE Display your pride in Florida State University with the purchase of an FSU license plate. Proceeds from plate sales are applied to the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general scholarship fund to support need- and merit-based scholarships for Florida State students. Rebates for first-time buyers, as well as gift certificates and information on purchasing your FSU license plate is available online at fsu.edu/mytag.

W Florida State University John Thrasher, President Office of University Relations Liz Maryanski, Vice President for University Relations Opening Nights Performing Arts Staff Christopher Heacox, Director Ashley Kerns, Operations & Engagement Coordinator Carla DeLoach, Development Officer Pat Campbell, Event Coordinator Bethany Atwell, Administration Manager Mary-Margaret Dale, Community Engagement Manager Nathan Grater, Production Manager Wade Jennings, Arts Administration Assistant Erin Hollen, Graphic Designer Opening Nights Performing Arts Advisory Board Mike Pate, Chair Ruth Akers, Ph.D. Carmen Butler Gus Corbella Liz Maryanski Johanna Money Nan Nagy Michael Obrecht John Schultz Susan Stratton Marjorie Turnbull Wendy Walker Ed West Rep. Alan Williams Florida State University Office of the President College of Arts and Sciences College of Motion Picture Arts College of Music College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance Fine Arts Ticket Office Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography University Communications University Relations

elcome to the Fall 2014 season of Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State University. It is with great enthusiasm that we present this diverse array of artists to engage audiences in creative experiences. Guitarists Julian Lage (modern jazz, new music) and Chris Eldridge (bluegrass, member of the Punch Brothers) collaborate to form a powerhouse duo fronting one microphone on vintage 1939 Martin acoustic guitars. Their YouTube videos are great representations of what an amazing evening of American music will be performed on October 27th. Saturday, November 1st marks the first collaboration between Opening Nights and the Challenger Learning Center. The “mockumentaries” of Christopher Guest will be on the big screen as we present A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, and Waiting for Guffman. Mandolin virtuoso Sierra Hull wowed audiences at our Season Announcement Party in August. So much so, we added an additional performance. Audiences will be mesmerized on November 5th and 6th with performances of bluegrass, country, and American roots music by Sierra and her incredible band.

Speaking of virtuosos, Jake Shimabukuro comes to Tallahassee for the first time with ukulele in hand on his 2014 Uke Nations Tour on November 10th. It has taken three years to bring Jake to our community, and Opening Nights cannot be more excited. Also making their Tallahassee and Florida premiers, The Hot Sardines come to town after performing multiple sold-out shows across the country. They will have you dancing in the aisles to the sounds of Paris, wartime, hot-jazz this November 19th. Every time humorist David Sedaris performs in Tallahassee, it is in front of sold-out audiences. This time is no exception as David discusses his latest book Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls and much more in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on November 25th. A must see this season is Song of the Jasmine presented by Ragamala Dance Company and created by Aparna Ramaswamy, Ranee Ramaswamy, and Rudresh Mahanthappa. This beautiful work set to live music is the only fall performance in the U. S. (December 3rd and 4th) and features a cast of five dancers and a five piece musical ensemble of guitar, saxophone, and Indian woodwinds, violin, and percussion. I can think of no better way to end the fall season than with a Holiday Big Band concert by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant. This concert at Lee Hall Auditorium on December 13th will celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year” with big band arrangements of holiday classics. Thank you again for your support of Opening Nights Performing Arts at Florida State University. Enjoy these outstanding performances! All the best,

Christopher J. Heacox Director, Opening Nights Performing Arts 2014-2015 Fall Program 7

2014-2015 Members as of 10/1/14 Producerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Circle

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Peggy Ramsey Cathy & Barney Ray Nolan & Zana Raybon Bill & Connie Reinhardt Dr. Stephen & Elizabeth Richardson Dr. & Mrs. Shane & Angie Rignanese Marylee & Glenn Robertson S. Rollin & M. Apple Eleanore P. Rosenberg Mark & Sally Rosser William & Jeanne Ryder Ron & Tere Saff Kelly Samek Winnie Schmeling Thomas Schmick & Julia Zimmerman Keith & Valerie Bowers Alexis & Mark Seganish Steven & Linda Service Mirella & Theo Siegrist Joe Sisson Gale Slavin Carey Smith Dee Ann Smith Lane & Fraser Smith Chesterfield & Tricia Smith Mike & Jeannie Sole Joseph & Sharon Sollohub Jean Souter Mary Jo Spector John & Margie Stewart Kent & Susan Strauss Mr. Neil Sullivan John & Laurie Svec Janâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hallmark - Thomasville Dan Taylor & Tony Archer Bettina Teson Sally Lines Thomas Pet Sitting by Craig Jackson Dan & Robin Thompson Marianna Tutwiler Craig & Jessica Varn Dan Vollmer Marcia Warfel Forrest Watson & June Wright Lovers of the Arts Andrew Welch Zach & Stacy Wheeler Michael & Barbara White Michael & Gale Whitehead Arthur R. Wiedinger Jr Marilynn Theresa Wills Windham Family Ken Winker Samuel & Hannah Wiseman Agata Wlodarczyk Nancy Wright MD Thomas & Irene Cordi Mr. & Mrs. Zaritsky Julia Zimmerman & Thomas Schmick Coleman Zuber & Debbie Taggart 2014-2015 Fall Program 9

The Best of Christopher Guest Film Festival Saturday 11/1 | Challenger Learning Center 2:00 p.m. A Mighty Wind | 4:00 p.m Best In Show 7:30 p.m. Waiting For Guffman

orn in New York City in 1948, Christopher Guest gained fame when he began writing and performing for Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. He went on to write, direct and star in a number of classic satirical films, including the 1984 hit This is Spinal Tap–for which he wrote all the music–and Waiting for Guffman (1996). His other notable films include Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. One of Guest’s earliest performances came in the Broadway show Moonchildren in 1972. But it wasn’t long before he began moving in the direction of comedy, first contributing to The National Lampoon Radio Hour and then working with Chevy Chase in the off-Broadway revue National Lampoon’s Lemmings. In the late 1970s, Guest began writing and performing for Saturday Night Live. It was there that he struck gold with This is Spinal Tap, a parody of an English rock band based on Guest’s real experiences touring with an unnamed band in 1978. Continued on pg. 25 2014-2015 Fall Program 11

Building a stronger community through the arts.

Our bankers are proud to sponsor Opening Nights Performing Arts and this seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance by Sierra Hull.

402.7500 l www.ccbg.com

Jake Stargel Guitar Justin Moses Fiddle Jacob Eller Bass Cory Walker Banjo Sierra Hull Mandolin

Wednesday 11/5 | 7:30 p.m. Maguire Center at Westminster Oaks Thursday 11/6 | 7:30 p.m. The Carriage House at Goodwood Museum

good chunk of popular music’s real estate has been carved up along lines of age these last half-dozen decades, and we’re used to seeing young musicians aim exclusively for young audiences then flounder as they outgrow teenaged listeners’ tastes and concerns. Pan-generational mentoring and mingling has done much to insulate bluegrass from this coming-of-age quandary. Still, Sierra Hull is the rare soul to make it through these years entirely unscathed.

Secrets—the debut album she recorded at 15, and released at 16–struck the ear with sensibilities that seemed both seasoned and fresh; kids’ stuff this was not. Three years and a move from her family’s home in tiny Byrdstown, Tennessee to Boston’s Berklee College of Music later, she’s followed with one of the most surefooted transitions into early adulthood put to record. Thirty seconds into the opening track, she sings a line that puts a fine point on it: “I’m not a child anymore.” Continued on pg. 25 Sponsored by

2014-2015 Fall Program 13

Photo by Jon Nalon, courtesy of The Tallahassee Ballet.

Creativity connects. CenturyLink is proud to support Opening Nights Performing Arts Series and Festival.

CenturyLink proudly supports the local arts community. Whenever you’re trying to do something that’s never been done before, you’ll always have a fan at CenturyLink.

See how we connect at centurylink.com.

Monday 11/10 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m. Program to be announced from stage

n his young career, ukulele wizard Jake Shimabukuro has already redefined a heretofore under-the-radar instrument, been declared a musical “hero” by Rolling Stone, won accolades from the disparate likes of Eddie Vedder, Perez Hilton and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, wowed audiences on TV (Jimmy Kimmel, Conan), earned comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis, and even played in front of the Queen of England. With his most recent record Grand Ukulele, Shimabukuro’s star has burned even brighter.

An ambitious follow-up to 2011’s Peace, Love, Ukulele (which debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Charts), the Hawaiian musician’s newest record found him collaborating with legendary producer/engineer Alan Parsons, best known for his work on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, The Beatles’ Abbey Road and his own highly successful solo project. “It was very organic how it happened,” says Shimabukuro (she-ma-boo-koo-row). “He attended a couple of my shows near where he lives in Santa Barbara and the concert promoter put us in touch. Continued on pg. 27 2014-2015 Fall Program 15

Ken Kato and Nan Nagy and

Charles and Amy Newell Proud sponsors of The Hot Sardines

Evan “Bibs” Palazzo Bandleader, Piano “Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol Lead Vocals, Washboard “Fast Eddy” Francisco Tap, Foot Percussion Jason Prover Trumpet, Cornet, Teakettle Nick Myers Saxophones, Clarinet Joe McDonough Trombone Evan “Sugar” Crane Bass Alex Raderman Drums Bob Parins & Sam Raderman Guitar, Banjo Pete Lanctot Violin, Phonofiddle

Wednesday 11/19 | Opperman Music Hall | 7:30 p.m. Program to be announced from stage

ake a blustery brass lineup, layer it over a rhythm section led by a stride-piano virtuoso in the Fats Waller vein, and tie the whole thing together with a one-of-the-boys frontwoman with a voice from another era, and you have the Hot Sardines. (We haven’t even told you about the tap dancer yet.) In a short time, the Hot Sardines have gone from their first gig – at a coffee shop on the last Q train stop in Queens – to selling out Joe’s Pub five times in as many months, headlining at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing, and opening for the Bad Plus, Lulu Gainsbourg and French gypsy-jazz artist Zaz. Through it all they’ve become regulars at the Shanghai Mermaid speakeasy and turned The Standard, where they play regularly, into their own “saloon in the sky” (The Wall Street Journal) – complete with tap dancing on the bar – honing a live persona that’s been called “unforgettably wild” and “consistently electrifying” (Popmatters). Continued on pg. 27 Sponsored by

Ken Kato & Nan Nagy and Charles & Amy Newell 2014-2015 Fall Program 17

David Sedaris Tuesday 11/25 | Ruby Diamond Concert Hall | 7:30 p.m. Reading Selections to be announced from stage

avid Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, each of which became an immediate bestseller. The audio version of Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls is a 56th Annual GRAMMY® Awards Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album. He is the author of the NYT-bestselling collection of fables entitled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (with illustrations by Ian Falconer). He was also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. Sedaris’s pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are a total of seven million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages. Continued on pg. 27

Sponsored by

Rudresh Mahanthappa by Jimmy Katz

2014-2015 Fall Program 21

THEATRE TCC! presents

A Charlie

Br ow n

by Jeffrey Hatcher from the novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

October 16-18 | 8 p.m. October 23-25 On the fog-bound streets of Victorian-era London, Henry Jekyll’s experiments with exotic “powders and tinctures” have brought forth his other self—Edward Hyde, a sensualist and villain free to commit the sins Jekyll is too civilized to comprehend. When Hyde meets a woman who stirs his interest, Jekyll fears for her life and decides to end his experiments. But Hyde has other ideas, and so the two sides battle each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to determine who shall be the master and who his slave. Hatcher’s adaptation is an elegant re-telling of the classic tale. It would be a sin to miss it!

Christmas By Charles M. Schulz | Stage Adaptation by Eric Schaeffer Based on the t.v. special by Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson

Nov. 20-22 & Dec. 4-5 | 8 p.m. Dec. 6 | 10 a.m. & 8 p.m. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz called on pianist extraordinaire Vince Guaraldi and his trio to compose and perform music that would reflect the humor, charm, and innocence of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang for their 1965 Christmas TV special. With its blend of heartwarming themes, lovable characters and contemporary jazz score, A Charlie Brown Christmas is a joyous and festive event. A shorter run-time makes this production suitable for even the youngest family members.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS NOW: RESERVE YOUR TICKETS NOW: Call 644-6500 or visit www.tickets.fsu.edu Call 644-6500 or visit www.tickets.fsu.edu For more information about Theatre TCC! For more information about Theatre TCC! (850) 201-9882 | nielsene@tcc.fl.edu | www.tcc.fl.edu/theatretcc (850) 201-9882 | nielsene@tcc.fl.edu | www.tcc.fl.edu/theatretcc

Big Band Holidays: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis & Special Guest CĂŠcile McLorin Salvant Saturday 12/13 | Lee Hall | 8:00 p.m. Program to be announced from stage Wynton Marsalis, Big Band Music Director, Trumpet Ryan Kisor, Trumpet Marcus Printup, Trumpet Kenny Rampton, Trumpet Vincent R. Gardner, Trombone Elliot Mason, Trombone Chris Crenshaw, Trombone Sherman Irby, Saxophones Ted Nash, Alto & Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet

Walter Blanding, Tenor & Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet Victor Goines, Tenor & Soprano Saxophones, Bb & Bass Clarinets *Joe Temperley, Baritone & Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet *Paul Nedzela, Baritone & Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet Dan Nimmer, Piano Carlos Henriquez, Bass Ali Jackson, Drums

*Joe Temperley does not appear on this tour. Paul Nedzela is performing on Baritone and Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet. Brooks Brothers is the official clothier of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Continued on pg. 37 2014-2015 Fall Program 23

The Best of Christopher Guest Film Festival Continued from pg. 11

Guest would later team up with Rob Reiner and others to write the script and music for This is Spinal Tap (1984). In the cult classic, Guest plays lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel. A satirical band, the group would eventually find itself selling out 6,000 seat arenas to excited live audiences for the next 20 years. Remarking on this unusual turn of events, Guest once said, “The ultimate irony is that we are playing every note live and nearly all ‘real’ bands are now using prerecorded DAT tapes.” Following this success, Guest joined Saturday Night Live in 1984 for a one-year run as a cast member. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made cameo appearances in such hit movies as Little Shop of Horrors and The Princess Bride. In 1989, he directed his first film, The Big Picture, which, while still a comedy, lacked the improvisation that had been Guest’s signature style. Though happy with the film’s outcome, the director went back to his Spinal Tap roots and helped create a sub-genre of films now known as “mockumentaries.” In 1996, Guest directed, co-wrote and starred in the oddball hit Waiting for Guffman, a hilarious satire that follows a tightly wound choreographer (played by Guest) in his attempts to direct small-town talent in the performance of a lifetime. A high level of improvisation is the underpinning of Waiting for Guffman; the writing, filming and performances all happen organically. Taking jazz music as an analogy for his style of film-making, Guest once said, “You know the basic melody and the key changes but it’s how you get from one change to the next that matters, and you don’t know in advance how you’re going to do it. I’m completely blank before the camera rolls. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to say.” Most members of the original Waiting for Guffman cast soon formed a sort of repertory group that would ultimately appear in

Sierra Hull Guest’s next two films, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. The group included talent like Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Jane Lynch, Ed Begley, Jr. and John Michael Higgins, among others. Keeping to a collective ethos, each member of the troupe received the same payment and portion of the profits from each of the films.

Sierra Hull Band Continued from pg. 13

Of course, the evidence of Sierra’s uncommon maturity—musical and personal (one might say she embodies the perfect balance of humility and capability)—has been there all along, and won her formidable fans: by age 11, Alison Krauss had called with an invitation to the Opry stage; by 12, Rounder was expressing interest; first Ron Block and now Barry Bales have served as co-produc-

ers, and her studio bands have featured the cream of the contemporary bluegrass crop— Stuart Duncan, Randy Kohrs and Bryan Sutton this time, alongside members of Sierra’s own crack band. Then there’s the fact that Berklee gave her the school’s most prestigious award, the Presidential Scholarship, a first for a bluegrass musician; her choice to accept it, to delay her dream of hitting the road full time after high school in favor of expanding her musical worldview, was hardly a light one. If ever the “child prodigy” label did Sierra justice, its usefulness has completely fallen away and a distinctive new identity emerged. What you hear on Daybreak is one of bluegrass’s few full-fledged virtuosic instrumentalist/singer/songwriters, and one who’s gracefully grown into her gifts. While her mandolin playing has always possessed clarity and fleet-fingered precision, here she attacks her solos with newfound spontaneity and depth of feeling; she 2014-2015 Fall Program 25

calls it “playing with a point to prove.” Her singing—always straight and true—has more heartfelt power behind it, to results Bales describes, simply, as “doing the songs justice.” As for the songs, Sierra’s first album held just a few originals, but she wrote seven of these twelve, a collection that stands up quite well next to the outside material. There’s a pair of sprightly instrumentals, her first-ever western swing number and several that show her emotional sophistication: in songs that fall squarely in the bluegrass tradition, feelings are out in the open; during country-leaning compositions, she ponders relationships from more introspective angles; and the title track—a breathtaking pop ballad—is the most ruminative moment of all.

Who, Toto), session superstar bassist Randy Tico and Kip Winger (Winger, Alice Cooper), who helped with the orchestration. “The best thing was that, even with all those people, we recorded everything live with no overdubs,” says Shimabukuro. “It was great, tracking live with an orchestra and a rhythm section. We picked up on each other’s subtle emotional cues – you could feel everyone breathing together. It was like the old days of recording – when everyone tracked together–there’s a certain magic that happens.”

Boundaries—age genre or otherwise—don’t hamper an artist like Sierra. She’s already earned considerable respect in the bluegrass world, the IBMA’s voting members having nominated her for no fewer than five awards over three years—there’s a good chance she’ll be the first woman to win the mandolin category. But as a player, a singer and a songwriter, she also has remarkable range, the potential to win over ears unfamiliar with Bill Monroe and give performances of broad cultural importance, as she’s done at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the National Prayer Breakfast. Matt Glaser—head of Berklee’s American Roots Music Program—put it this way: “She has no limitations as a musician.” Daybreak is certainly a noteworthy arrival; you can’t help but feel it’s also just the beginning. – Jewly Hight, Nashville, Tennessee

Continued from pg. 17

Jake Shimabukuro Continued from pg. 15

I was stunned. I mean, THE Alan Parsons? We ended up having dinner before the show and he casually mentioned the idea of possibly working together on a project. It was a priceless opportunity I didn’t want to pass up – he’s a genius.” Parsons ended up helping Shimabukuro expand his sound, bringing in a 29-piece orchestra and a big-name rhythm section, including drummer Simon Phillips (The

The Hot Sardines The Sardine sound – wartime Paris via New Orleans, or the other way around – is steeped in hot jazz, salty stride piano, and the kind of music Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt and Waller used to make: Straight-up, foot-stomping jazz. (Literally – the band includes a tap dancer whose feet count as two members of the rhythm section). They manage to invoke the sounds of a near-century ago and stay resolutely in step with the current age. And while their roots run deep into jazz, that most American of genres, they’re intertwined with French influences via their frontwoman, who was born and raised in Paris (and writes songs in both languages). The band was born when said Parisian (“Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol) met a stride piano player (bandleader Evan “Bibs” Palazzo) at a jam session they found on Craigslist. Above a noodle shop on Manhattan’s 49th Street, they discovered a mutual love for songs from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s that noone really plays anymore. Or if they play them, “they handle them with kid gloves, like pieces in a museum,” says Evan, underscoring a point the pair can’t stress enough: “This music isn’t historical artifact. It’s a living, breathing, always-evolving thing.” Members of the Sardines collective have worked with a genre-hopping roster that includes Rufus Wainwright, Sufjan Stevens, Lauren Ambrose, Sondre Lerche, Vetiver, Of Montreal, Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling, Branford Marsalis, the New York and Jeru-

salem Philharmonics, Slavic Soul Party and the Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra.

David Sedaris Continued from pg. 19

He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays that have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. David Sedaris’s original radio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show This American Life. David Sedaris has been nominated for three GRAMMY® Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album.

Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what’s funny. – San Francisco Chronicle His latest audio recording of new stories (recorded live) is David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure (November 2009). A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. 2014-2015 Fall Program 27

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Song of the Jasmine Continued from pg. 21

Artists’ Biographies Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy (Concept/Choreography) are Artistic Directors, Choreographers, and Principal Dancers of Ragamala Dance, founded by Ranee in 1992. As dancemakers and performers, they explore the dynamic tension between the ancestral and the contemporary, making dance landscapes that dwell in opposition—secular and spiritual life, inner and outer worlds, human and natural concerns, rhythm and stillness—to find the transcendence that lies in between. As mother and daughter, each brings her generational experience to the work—the rich traditions, deep philosophical roots, and ancestral wisdom of India meeting and merging with the curiosity, openness, and creative freedom fostered in the United States. As protégés and senior disciples of legendary dancer and choreographer Alarmél Valli, known as one of India’s greatest living masters, Ranee and Aparna’s training in the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam is the bedrock of a creative aesthetic that prioritizes truthful emotion above all else. Ranee and Aparna’s work is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, MAP Fund, The McKnight Foundation, New Music/USA, USArtists International and the Japan Foundation, and has been commissioned by the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Lincoln Center Out of Doors (New York), the Krannert Center (University of Illinois), the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (University of Maryland), and the American Composers Forum. Ranee and Aparna were jointly named “2011 Artist of the Year” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Their upcoming work, Written in Water, has been selected for a development residency at

the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC). Ranee has worked tirelessly for the last three decades to find a place for Bharatanatyam in the landscape of American dance. Since her first cross-cultural collaboration with poet Robert Bly, Ranee’s work has merged the classical language of Bharatanatyam with a contemporary Western aesthetic to create timeless pieces that freely move between the past and the present. Among her many awards are 14 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Choreography and Interdisciplinary Art, a Bush Fellowship for Choreography, a 2011 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award, and a 2012 United States Artists Fellowship. Ranee serves on the National Council on the Arts, appointed by President Barack Obama. Most recently, she is the recipient of a 2014

Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Aparna’s choreography and performance have been described as “a marvel of buoyant agility and sculptural clarity” (Dance Magazine), “thrillingly three-dimensional,” and “an enchantingly beautiful dancer,” (The New York Times). She has toured her work extensively, both as a soloist and as choreographer/principal dancer of Ragamala. She has been awarded several honors, including three McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dance and Choreography, a Bush Fellowship for Choreography, an Arts and Religion grant funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, two Jerome Foundation Travel Study Grants, an Artist Exploration Fund Grant from Arts International, two Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation Choreographic Support, and the Lakshmi Vishwanathan

Endowment Prize from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India). Her solo work has toured the U.S. and India with support from the National Dance Project and USArtists International. In 2010, Aparna was named one of “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. Aparna is an empaneled artist with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (of the Government of India). She serves on the Board of Trustees of Dance/USA. Rudresh Mahanthappa (Composer/Alto Saxophone) - Few musicians share the ability of Rudresh Mahanthappa to embody the expansive possibilities of his music with his culture. The saxophonist/composer hybridizes progressive jazz and South Indian classical music in a fluid and forward-looking form reflecting his own experience growing up a second-generation Indian-American. Just as his personal experience is never wholly lived on one side of the hyphenate or the other, his music speaks in a voice dedicated to forging a new path forward. The current manifestations of that trajectory include his quartet Gamak, which will issue its first release in January 2013 as it undertakes an extended period of live performances. The band features guitarist David “Fuze” Fiuczynski, whose own microtonal vocabulary has opened new possibilities for Mahanthappa’s compositional imagination, alongside bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Dan Weiss. The 2010 debut CD by Samdhi (ACT Music + Vision), a multi-cultural ensemble that advances Mahanthappa’s blend of jazz and Indian music with modernist electronic music, was described by JazzTimes as “a landmark convergence of styles that didn’t lend itself to easy analysis… new music of this caliber hasn’t been attempted before.” Other recent projects run the gamut from the cross-generational alto summit Apex featuring Bunky Green; trios MSG and Mauger; the quintet Dual Identity co-led with fellow altoist Steve Lehman; and Raw Materials, his long-running duo project with pianist Vijay Iyer. Mahanthappa also continues to partner with Pa2014-2015 Fall Program 29

kistani-American guitarist Rez Abbasi and innovative percussionist Dan Weiss in the Indo-Pak Coalition, while giants in both jazz and South Indian music have recognized his success: he was enlisted by Jack DeJohnette for the legendary drummer’s new working group, while a collaboration with the renowned Carnatic saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath resulted in Mahanthappa’s critically-acclaimed 2008 CD Kinsmen (Pi). Hailed by the New York Times as possessing “a roving intellect and a bladelike articulation,” Mahanthappa has been awarded a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, Chamber Music America and the American Composers Forum. He has been named alto saxophonist of the year in Downbeat’s International Critics Polls, Jazztimes’ Critics Polls and by the Jazz Journalists’ Association numerous times. Mahanthappa is a Yamaha artist and uses Vandoren reeds exclusively. More information can be found at rudreshm.com. Rez Abbasi (Guitar) has been blazing a new trail as a leading figure in South Asian -American cutting edge jazz for over a decade. His work spans far and wide, performing in award-winning groups as Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition and Kinsmen, and Indian multiple Juno award winning vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia’s ensemble. In 2013, Abbasi was voted #1 Rising Star Guitarist in Down Beat magazine’s prestigious International Critic’s Poll. Rez has released several albums as a leader, from acoustic guitar driven quartet music, to electrified organ trio featuring Indian vocals. His ultra - modern quintet, Invocation pulls all aspects of his persona into a cohesive, distinctive voice rarely paralleled in today’s jazz. Including band mates, Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Dan Weiss, Johannes Weidenmueller and guest, Kiran Ahluwalia, Invocation’s debut release, Things To Come (2009) was included in Downbeat magazine’s ‘best albums of the decade’. That same year he received the prestigious Chamber Music America NJW grant to compose more music for Invocation. Abbasi’s new compositions focused on a mu-

sical form from Pakistan called, Qawwali. With hard-driving grooves and sophisticated melodies, Suno Suno (2011) ended the year on many critics ‘best of’ lists. In Fall of 2012, Rez released his ninth album and his first ever trio, with John Hebert on bass and Satoshi Takeishi on drums. Continuous Beat hit #1 on the CMJ radio charts with Rez featured on the front cover of CMJ magazine. In 2014 he will release his tenth album, featuring the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet (RAAQ). reztone.com Jessica Fiala (Dancer) began training with Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy in 2006 and has toured with Ragamala throughout the US, India, and the UK, including performances at the Kennedy Center, the American Dance Festival, and the Soorya Festival. Outside of the company, she has studied rhythm tap and modern dance and continues to perform with choreographers Kaleena Miller and Vanessa Voskuil. Jessica holds an interdisciplinary master’s degree in Museum Studies & Cultural Studies through the University of Minnesota, with a thesis titled “Ordering ‘the Other’: Heterotopias and the Musée du Quai Branly.” Most recently, she presented research at the MeLa conference “The Postcolonial Museum” in Naples, Italy (2013), which she has since expanded for publication in the upcoming MeLa collection The Ruined Archive (2015). Jessica has been active at the Walker Art Center since 2009 in roles as a tour guide, blogger, and SpeakEasy facilitator. She is the International Research Coordinator for Forecast Public Art, a Research Associate at Lutman & Associates, and an Administrative Assistant at the Caux Round Table. Raman Kalyan (Carnatic Flute) - Breathing magical melodies on the Indian bamboo flute, virtuoso Raman Kalyan is one of the leading flautists in the Carnatic style of music. Raman with his unique style has captivated audiences globally. Raman has released over 60 CDs and many DVDs. His most recent CD, “Music for Deep Meditation” reached the #1 spot on the iTunes world music charts and remained in the top 50 for more than six months. Raman has also been featured as guest artist in more than 300 commercial recordings & Indian Movies. Apart from being a soloist, Raman

has scored music for many audio/video albums, dance dramas and theatre productions. Raman won the “Best Flautist Award” from Madras Music Academy twice for his concerts during December Music Festival 2009 & 2013. Raman is a featured artist in the “Miles from India” tour and performs with legends Glen Velez (Grammy Winner) Dave Liebman (Grammy Winner ), Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt (Grammy Winner), Mandolin Shrinivas, Selvaganesh (Remember Shakti), Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones), John Beasley (Finding Nemo,) and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival and Miles from India fest in Paris. Raman has performed with South Indian music legends like Dr M. Balamuralikrishna, Dr N. Ramani, and A.K Palanivel and has also been touring as a special guest with legendary singer and Guinness record holder K.J. Yesudas. Raman’s accompaniment for Martha Graham’s documentary “The Flute of Krishna” has been appreciated globally and his meditation music you tube videos have more than 300,000 views. Raman is the founder/president of Indo American Academy of Classical Music, an organization dedicated to propagate the Classical music. ramankalyan.com Tamara Nadel (Dancer) is a disciple of Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy. She is a founding member of Ragamala and has toured extensively with the company throughout the U.S. and in Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, India, and the U.K. Tamara is the recipient of a 2006 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Dancers, Minnesota State Arts Board Career Opportunity Grant, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund grant, and Jerome Foundation Travel Study Grant. She has been studying Carnatic music under Lalit Subramanian since 2011. She is also Ragamala’s Development and Outreach Director, and holds a degree in Religious Studies and Dance from Macalester College. Tamara served on the City of Minneapolis Arts Commission from 2008-2010. She currently sits on the board of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts. Ashwini Ramaswamy (Dancer) has studied Bharatanatyam with Ragamala›s Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and 2014-2015 Fall Program 31

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Aparna Ramaswamy—her mother and sister—since the age of five. She has been accepted as a student of Bharatanatyam legend Alarmél Valli, one of the greatest living masters of the form. She has toured extensively with Ragamala, performing throughout the U.S. and in Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, the U.K, and India. Ashwini is a 2012 McKnight Artist Fellow for Dance, and the recipient of two Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants for Dance and a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund grant. Ashwini recently began choreographing and is continuing to create new work. Ashwini is Ragamala’s Director of Publicity and Marketing and holds a degree in English Literature from Carleton College. She currently serves on the board of Arts Midwest. Anjna Swaminathan is a budding artist in the field of South Indian Carnatic Violin. A disciple of the late violin maestro Parur Sri M.S. Gopalakrishnan and Mysore Sri H.K. Narasimhamurthy, she has been trained in both Carnatic classical and Western classical styles of violin. As a theatre artist and dramaturg with interests in postcolonial thought, gender and queer theories, and Hindu vedantic philosophy, Anjna often engages in artistic work that ties together multiple aesthetic forms towards a critical consciousness. Using her hybrid and interdisciplinary perspective, she seeks a space for her deep-rooted vocabulary within the contemporary artistic landscape. Anjna frequently takes part in interdisciplinary collaborations, often developing scores and providing musical accompaniment for dancers and dance companies, most notably, Ragamala Dance (Minneapolis), with whom she has been working for the past four years, as well as Ragamala’s principle dancer and soloist, Aparna Ramaswamy. Anjna also performs regularly with the ensemble RAJAS, curated by her sister and frequent collaborator, Rajna Swaminathan, which brings together contemporary musicians to explore new directions of composition and improvisation. More recently, Anjna has delved into the realm of composition, and was commissioned to create original music for playwright/performer Anu Yadav’s (Washington, D.C.) powerful one-woman-play Meena’s Dream. In the

summer of 2014, she was a participant at the celebrated Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in Alberta, Canada. Anjna holds a Bachelors degree in Theatre from the University of Maryland, College Park. anjnaswaminathan.com Rajna Swaminathan is an accomplished young artist in the field of South Indian classical percussion – mridangam. She is a disciple and protégé of mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. She has accompanied many renowned musicians widely in the US, Canada, and India. She has also performed extensively in the December Music Festival in Chennai. She frequently presents workshops on South Indian rhythm, most notably at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the KOSA International Percussion Camp. Over the past three years, she has been collaborating with distinguished artists in New York’s jazz and creative music scene, including saxophonist Steve Coleman and pianist Vijay Iyer. Rajna is active as a composer-performer for dance and theatre works. Most notably, she has toured widely with the acclaimed Ragamala Dance (Minneapolis), as well as with Ragamala’s celebrated artistic director Aparna Ramaswamy in her solo work. Rajna’s most recent engagement as a composer is RAJAS, a nascent project that brings together contemporary musicians to explore new directions for composition and improvisation rooted in Indian musical concepts. She holds degrees in Anthropology and French from the University of Maryland, College Park. rajnaswaminathan.com Jeff Bartlett (Light Design) has been honored to light Ragamala Dance since A Canticle of Mary in 1994. He has lit many of the company’s signature works, including Sacred Earth, 1,001 Buddhas: Journey of the Gods, Yathra/Journey, The Transposed Heads, Body and Soul, Bhakti, Sthree, and Ihrah. A dance lighting specialist based in Minneapolis, Jeff has lit scores of artists in hundreds of productions over more than two decades. His design work has been recognized with 2010 and 2005 Sage Awards for Dance; a 2008 Artist of the Year listing in City Pages; and a 2003 McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship. Jeff is Production

Manager at the Weitz Center for Creativity at Carleton College.

From the Artists In Song of the Jasmine we explore the interconnectedness of the spiritual, the sensual, and the natural that is the lifeblood of the Indian psyche. We are guided by the writings of the 8th century Tamil mystic poet Andal, whose Sacred Sayings of the Goddess erases any dichotomy between the sacred and the personal and seamlessly interweaves the two as she expresses deep longing, anguish, ecstasy, and the desire to merge the soul with the Supreme Consciousness. For us, her unparalleled intensity of emotion inspires a dynamic world of contemporary interpretive possibility. Our commitment to entwining our Indian and American artistic genres speaks to the cultural fluidity in our hybrid existence and frees us to approach the poetic, visual and aural elements of the work as a sort of prism, different upon each viewing. Song of the Jasmine was born of a close collaboration in which the choreography and the music were constructed simultaneously in a constant artistic dialogue that spanned more than a year. — Aparna Ramaswamy, Ranee Ramaswamy, Rudresh Mahanthappa.

Selections from ‘Nachiar Tirumozhi’ …the state of bliss attained by the total surrender of body, mind and soul, or Atma, to the Paramatman, or the Divine Existence He has invaded my heart; and while I pine and sigh for his love, He looks on indifferent as if it were all a play. I feel as if my bones had melted away and my long javelin eyes have not closed their lids for these many days. I am tossed on the waves of the sea of pain without ﬁnding the boat that is named the Lord of the highest realm. My vow to him courses through my body like a ripened blossom strung on your bow to release with keening motion the name of the only one capable of ocean-breaths dotted with song cleaved from between beaks. Draw the bow at me, loosening braids of reason until I am an untied string without a knot... I have nothing left to give. I’ve expended all at 2014-2015 Fall Program 33

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Hiring k a y e sc h o l e r . c o m

Ranee Ramaswamy & Ashwini Ramaswamy Photo by Alice Gebura

Govinda’s feet, who while dancing . . . plucked the stem of me in such heightened state. Frozen in ecstasy, is it fair to be further tormented? If the blazing lord of Arangam finds kindling of virtue, then he will reveal what’s outside himself inside me. — Translations by Subramanya Bharathi and the poet Ravi Shankar.

About Andal Throughout her short life, Andal refused to marry any mortal man–Krishna was the sole object of her affection. Her feverish urgency to unite with Him is likened to the unbearable urgency of a fish out of water. It is said that He was so pleased with her devotion that He appeared to her father in a dream, instructing him to bring Andal to the temple at Srirangam, on the banks of the Kauveri River in southern India. Legend says that the moment she entered the sanctum of the temple, she was surrounded by a blaze of light and was absorbed into the image of Vishnu. She was only fifteen years old.

About Ragamala Dance Under the direction of Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, Ragamala creates work that conveys a sense of reverence, of unfolding mystery, of universal celebration. Now in its 22nd season, Ragamala has been hailed by The New York Times as, “movingly meditative… [Ragamala] showed how Indian forms can provide some of the most transcendent experiences that dance has to offer.” The company has been featured at the American Dance Festival (North Carolina), Lincoln Center (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Music Center of Los Angeles (California), University Musical Society (Michigan), Just Festival (Edinburgh, United Kingdom), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Soorya Festival (Kerala, India), and National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India). Song of the Jasmine premiered at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in May of 2014. An 11-city tour of the work began in August with a performance at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, which The New York Times called, “soulful, imaginative and rhythmically contagious.”

For upcoming tour dates in the U.S. and India, please visit, ragamaladance.org | 612.824.1968 info@ragamala.net Exclusive representation by Laura Colby, Director Elsie Management elsieman.org | 718.797.4577 info@elsieman.org Support for the creation of Song of the Jasmine was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; New Music/USA’s Commissioning Music/USA program, made possible with generous annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and endowment support from The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Helen F. Whitaker Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2014-2015 Fall Program 35

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The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trust; the RBC Foundation USA; The McKnight Foundation; Target; the General Mills Foundation; the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund; Ragamala’s Board of Directors Institutional Growth Fund; the generous support of Ragamala’s “Rasika Circle,” including Prakash and Usha Asirvatham, The Goodale Family Foundation, the Dale Schatzlein and Emily Maltz Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation, Ranee Ramaswamy and David McKay, Wallace and Margaret McKay, and Anonymous; and Friends of Ragamala. This presentation of Song of the Jasmine was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation & The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Continued from pg. 23

Meet the Artists The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz through performance, education and advocacy. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest artists spanning genres and generations, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of performance, education, and broadcast events each season in its home in New York City (Frederick P. Rose Hall,

“The House of Swing”) and around the world, for people of all ages. Jazz at Lincoln Center is led by Chairman Robert J. Appel, Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, and Executive Director Greg Scholl. Please visit us at jalc.org.

Corea; Oliver Nelson; and many others. Guest conductors have included Benny Carter; John Lewis; Jimmy Heath; Chico O’Farrill; Ray Santos; Paquito D’Rivera; Jon Faddis; Robert Sadin; David Berger; Gerald Wilson; and Loren Schoenberg.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), comprising 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the globe; in concert halls; dance venues; jazz clubs; public parks; and with symphony orchestras; ballet troupes; local students; and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists.

Jazz at Lincoln Center regularly premieres works commissioned from a variety of composers including Benny Carter; Joe Henderson; Benny Golson; Jimmy Heath; Wayne Shorter; Sam Rivers; Joe Lovano; Chico O’Farrill; Freddie Hubbard; Charles McPherson; Marcus Roberts; Geri Allen; Eric Reed; Wallace Roney; and Christian McBride, as well as from current and former Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon and Ted Nash.

Education is a major part of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission; its educational activities are coordinated with concert and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra tour programming. These programs, many of which feature Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members, include the celebrated Jazz for Young PeopleSM family concert series; the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival; the Jazz for Young PeopleTM Curriculum; educational residencies; workshops; and concerts for students and adults worldwide. Jazz at Lincoln Center educational programs reaches over 110,000 students, teachers and general audience members. The Jazz at Lincoln Center weekly radio series, Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio, is distributed by the WFMT Radio Networks. Winner of a 1997 Peabody Award, Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio is produced in conjunction with Murray Street Enterprise, New York. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra spends over a third of the year on tour. The big band performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington; Count Basie; Fletcher Henderson; Thelonious Monk; Mary Lou Williams; Billy Strayhorn; Dizzy Gillespie; Benny Goodman; Charles Mingus; Chick

Over the last few years, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has performed collaborations with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic; the Russian National Orchestra; the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; the Boston, Chicago and London Symphony Orchestras; the Orchestra Esperimentale in São Paolo, Brazil; and others. In 2006, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra collaborated with Ghanaian drum collective Odadaa!, led by Yacub Addy, to perform “Congo Square,” a composition Mr. Marsalis and Mr. Addy co-wrote and dedicated to Mr. Marsalis’ native New Orleans. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performed Marsalis’ symphony, Swing Symphony, with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin and with the New York Philharmonic in New York City in 2010 and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles in 2011. Swing Symphony is a Co- Commission by the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and The Barbican Centre. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has also been featured in several education and performance residencies in the last few years, including those in Vienne, France; Perugia, Italy; Prague, Czech Republic; London, England; Lucerne, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; São Paulo, Brazil; Yokohama, Japan; and others. Television broadcasts of Jazz at Lincoln Center programs have helped broaden the awareness of its 2014-2015 Fall Program 37

From top left to bottom right: Wynton Marsalis, Music Director, Trumpet; Ryan Kisor, Trumpet; Marcus Printup, Trumpet; Kenny Rampton, Trumpet; Vincent R. Gardner, Trombone; Elliot Mason, Trombone; Chris Crenshaw, Trombone; Sherman Irby, Saxophones; Ted Nash, Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet; Walter Blanding, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet; Victor Goines, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, Bb and Bass Clarinets; *Joe Temperley, Baritone and Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet; *Paul Nedzela, Baritone and Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet; Dan Nimmer, Piano; Carlos Henriquez, Bass; Ali Jackson, Drums

unique efforts in the music. Concerts by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra have aired in the U.S.; England; France; Spain; Germany; the Czech Republic; Portugal; Norway; Brazil; Argentina; Australia; China; Japan; Korea; and the Philippines. Jazz at Lincoln Center has appeared on several XM Satellite Radio live broadcasts and eight Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts carried by PBS stations nationwide; including a program which aired on October 18, 2004 during the grand opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall, and on September 17, 2005 during Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Higher Ground Benefit Concert. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Higher Ground Benefit Concert raised funds for the Higher Ground Relief Fund that was established by Jazz at Lincoln Center, and was adminis-

tered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to benefit the musicians, music industry-related enterprises, and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, and to provide other general hurricane relief. The band is also featured on the Higher Ground Benefit Concert CD that was released on Blue Note Records following the concert. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was featured in a Thirteen/WNET production of Great Performances entitled “Swingin’ with Duke: Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis,” which aired on PBS in 1999. In September 2002, BET Jazz premiered a weekly series called Journey with Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring performances by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra from around the world.

To date, 14 recordings featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis have been released and internationally distributed: Vitoria Suite (2010); Portrait in Seven Shades (2010); Congo Square (2007); Don’t Be Afraid…The Music of Charles Mingus (2005); A Love Supreme (2005); All Rise (2002); Big Train (1999); Sweet Release & Ghost Story (1999); Live in Swing City (1999); Jump Start and Jazz (1997); Blood on the Fields (1997); They Came to Swing (1994); The Fire of the Fundamentals (1993); and Portraits by Ellington (1992). Wynton Marsalis (Music Director, Trumpet) is the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Mr. Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 2014-2015 Fall Program 39

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12 and soon began playing in local bands of diverse genres. He entered The Juilliard School at age 17 and joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Mr. Marsalis made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and has since recorded more than 70 jazz and classical albums which have garnered him nine GRAMMY® Awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMY®s in the same year; he repeated this feat in 1984. Mr. Marsalis’ rich body of compositions includes Sweet Release; Jazz: Six Syncopated Movements; Jump Start and Jazz; Citi Movement/Griot New York; At the Octoroon Balls; In This House, On This Morning; and Big Train. In 1997, Mr. Marsalis became the first jazz artist to be awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields, which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 1999, he released eight new recordings in his unprecedented Swinging into the 21st series, and premiered several new compositions, including the ballet Them Twos, for a 1999 collaboration with the New York City Ballet. That same year, he premiered the monumental work All Rise, commissioned and performed by the New York Philharmonic along with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Morgan State University Choir. Sony Classical released All Rise on CD in 2002. Recorded on September 14 and 15, 2001 in Los Angeles in the tense days following 9/11, All Rise features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra along with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Morgan State University Choir, the Paul Smith Singers and the Northridge Singers. In 2004, he released The Magic Hour, his first of six albums on Blue Note records. He followed up his Blue Note debut with Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, the companion soundtrack recording to Ken Burns’ PBS documentary of the great African-American boxer; Wynton Marsalis: Live at The House Of Tribes (2005); From the Plantation to the Penitentiary (2007); Two Men with the Blues, featuring Willie Nelson (2008); He and She (2009); Two Men with the Blues featuring Willie Nelson (2008) and Here We Go Again featuring Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis and Norah Jones (2011).

To mark the 200th Anniversary of Harlem’s historical Abyssinian Baptist Church in 2008, Mr. Marsalis composed a full mass for choir and jazz orchestra. The piece premiered at Jazz at Lincoln Center and followed with performances at the celebrated church. Mr. Marsalis composed his second symphony, Blues Symphony, which was premiered in 2009 by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2010. That same year, Marsalis premiered his third symphony, Swing Symphony, a Co- Commission by the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and The Barbican Centre. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performed the piece with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin and with the New York Philharmonic in New York City in 2010 and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles in 2011. Mr. Marsalis is also an internationally respected teacher and spokesman for music education, and has received honorary doctorates from dozens of universities and colleges throughout the U.S. He conducts educational programs for students of all ages and hosts the popular Jazz for Young Peoples concerts produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Mr. Marsalis has also written and is the host of the video series “Marsalis on Music” and the radio series Making the Music. He has also written six books: Sweet Swing Blues on the Road, in collaboration with photographer Frank Stewart; Jazz in the Bittersweet Blues of Life, with Carl Vigeland; To a Young Musician: Letters from the Road, with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds; Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!, illustrated by Paul Rogers published in 2012, and Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life, with Geoffrey C. Ward, published by Random House in 2008. In October 2005, Candlewick Press released Marsalis’ Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits, 26 poems celebrating jazz greats, illustrated by poster artist Paul Rogers. In 2001, Mr. Marsalis was appointed Messenger of Peace by Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations; he has also been designated cultural ambassador to the United States of America by the

U.S. State Department through their CultureConnect program. In 2009, Mr. Marsalis was awarded France’s Legion of Honor, the highest honor bestowed by the French government. Mr. Marsalis serves on former Lieutenant Governor Landrieu’s National Advisory Board for Culture, Recreation and Tourism, a national advisory board to guide the Lieutenant Governor’s administration’s plans to rebuild Louisiana’s tourism and cultural economies. He has also been named to the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, former New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s initiative to help rebuild New Orleans culturally, socially, economically, and uniquely for every citizen. Mr. Marsalis was instrumental in the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief concert, produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center, which raised over $3 million for the Higher Ground Relief Fund to benefit the musicians, music industry related enterprises, and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina. He led the effort to construct Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall, opened in October 2004, the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which Mr. Marsalis co-founded in 1989. Walter Blanding (Tenor Saxophone, JLCO) was born into a musical family on August 14, 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio and began playing the saxophone at age six. In 1981, he moved with his family to New York City; by age 16, he was performing regularly with his parents at the Village Gate. Blanding attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and continued his studies at the New School for Social Research where he earned a B.F.A. in 2005. His 1991 debut release, Tough Young Tenors, was acclaimed as one of the best jazz albums of the year, and his artistry began to impress listeners and critics alike. He has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1998 and has performed, toured and/or recorded with his own groups and with such renowned artists as the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Roy Hargrove, Hilton Ruiz, Count Basie Orchestra, Illinois Jacquet Big Band, Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Roberts, Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Isaac Hayes, and many others. 2014-2015 Fall Program 41

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Blanding lived in Israel for four years and had a major impact on the music scene while touring the country with his own ensemble and with U.S. artists such as Louis Hayes, Eric Reed, Vanessa Rubin, and others invited to perform there. He taught music in several Israeli schools and eventually opened his own private school in Tel Aviv. During this period, Newsweek International called him a “Jazz Ambassador to Israel.” Chris Crenshaw (Trombone, JLCO) was born in Thomson, Georgia on December 20, 1982. Since birth, he has been driven by and surrounded by music. When he started playing piano at age three, his teachers and fellow students noticed his aptitude for the instrument. This love for piano led to his first gig with Echoes of Joy, his father Casper’s gospel quartet group. He started playing the trombone at 11; receiving honors and awards along the way, he graduated

from Thomson High School in 2001 and received his Bachelor’s degree with honors in Jazz Performance from Valdosta State University in 2005. He was awarded Most Outstanding Student in the VSU Music Department and College of Arts. In 2007, Crenshaw received his Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from The Juilliard School where his teachers included Dr. Douglas Farwell and Wycliffe Gordon. He has appeared as a sideman on fellow JLCO trumpeter Marcus Printup’s Ballads All Night and on Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton Play the Blues. In 2006, Crenshaw joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and in 2012 he composed “God’s Trombones,” a spiritually-focused work which was premiered by the orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Vincent Gardner (Trombone, JLCO) was born in Chicago in 1972 and was raised in Hampton, Virginia. After singing, playing

Wynton Marsalis

piano, violin, saxophone, and French horn at an early age, he decided on the trombone at age 12. He attended Florida A&M University and the University of North Florida. He soon caught the ear of Mercer Ellington, who hired Gardner for his first professional job. He moved to Brooklyn, New York after graduating from college, completed a world tour with Lauryn Hill in 2000, then joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Gardner has served as Instructor at The Juilliard School, as Visiting Instructor at Florida State University and Michigan State University, and as Adjunct Instructor at The New School. He has contributed many arrangements to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and other ensembles. In 2009 he was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center to write “The Jesse B. Semple Suite,” a 60-minute suite inspired by the short stories of Langston Hughes. Gardner is featured on a number of notable recordings and has recorded five CDs as a leader for Steeplechase Records. He has performed with The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Harry Connick, Jr., The Saturday Night Live Band, Chaka Khan, A Tribe Called Quest, and many others. Victor Goines (Tenor Saxophone, JLCO) is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993, touring throughout the world and recording over 20 albums. As a leader, Goines has recorded seven albums including his latest releases, Pastels of Ballads and Blues (2007) and Love Dance (2007), on Criss Cross Records. A gifted composer, Goines has more than 50 original works to his credit. He has recorded and/or performed with many noted jazz and popular artists including Ahmad Jamal, Ruth Brown, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Willie Nelson, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and a host of others. Currently, he is the Director of Jazz Studies/Professor of Music at Northwestern University. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Loyola University in New Orleans in 1984, and a Master of Music degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond in 1990. 2014-2015 Fall Program 43

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Carlos Henriquez (Bass, JLCO) was born in 1979 in the Bronx, New York. He studied music at a young age, played guitar through junior high school and took up the bass while enrolled in The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program. He entered LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts and was involved with the LaGuardia Concert Jazz Ensemble which went on to win first place in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival in 1996. In 1998, swiftly after high school, Henriquez joined the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, touring the world and featured on more than 25 albums. Henriquez has performed with artists including Chucho Valdes, Paco De Lucia, Tito Puente, the Marsalis Family, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz, Marc Anthony, and many others. He has been a member of the music faculty at Northwestern University School of Music since 2008, and was music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute of Music with Chucho Valdes in 2010. Sherman Irby (Alto Saxophone, JLCO) was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He found his calling to music at age 12. In high school, he played and recorded with gospel immortal James Cleveland. He graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a B. A. in Music Education. In 1991, he joined Johnny O’Neal’s Atlanta-based quintet. In 1994, he moved to New York City, and then recorded his first two albums, Full Circle (1996) and Big Mama’s Biscuits (1998), on Blue Note. Irby toured the U.S. and the Caribbean with the Boys Choir of Harlem in 1995, and was a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. During that tenure, he also recorded and toured with Marcus Roberts, was part of Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program and Roy Hargrove’s groups. After a four-year stint with Roy Hargrove, Irby focused on his own group in addition to being a member of Elvin Jones’ ensemble and Papo Vazquez’s Pirates Troubadours. Since 2003, Irby has been the regional director for JazzMasters Workshop, mentoring young children, and a board member for the CubaNOLA Collective. He formed Black Warrior Records and released Black Warrior,

Faith, Organ Starter and Live at the Otto Club under the new label. Ali Jackson (Drums, JLCO) developed his talent on drums at an early age. In 1993, he graduated from Cass Tech High School and in 1998 was the recipient of Michigan’s prestigious Artserv Emerging Artist award. As a child, he was selected as the soloist for the “Beacons Of Jazz” concert which honored legend Max Roach at New School University. After earning an undergraduate degree in Music Composition at the New School University for Contemporary Music, he studied under Elvin Jones and Max Roach. Jackson has been part of Young Audiences, a program that educates New York City youth on jazz. He has performed and recorded with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Harry Connick, Jr., KRS-1, Marcus Roberts, Joshua Redman, Vinx, Seito Kinen Orchestra conductor Seiji Ozawa, Diana Krall, and the New York City Ballet. His production skills can be heard on George Benson’s GRP release Irreplaceable. Jackson is also featured on the Wynton Marsalis Quartet recordings The Magic Hour (Blue Note, 2004), and From the Plantation to the Penitentiary. Jackson collaborated with jazz greats Cyrus Chestnut, Reginald Veal and James Carter on Gold Sounds (Brown Brothers, 2005) that transformed songs by indie alternative rock band Pavement into unique virtuosic interpretations with the attitude of the church and juke joint. He has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2005. Jackson currently performs with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Horns in the Hood, and leads the Ali Jackson Quartet. He also hosted “Jammin’ with Jackson,” a series for young musicians at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy Club Coca-Cola. He is also the voice of “Duck Ellington,” a character in the Penguin book series Baby Loves Jazz that was released in 2006. Ryan Kisor (Trumpet, JLCO) was born on April 12, 1973 in Sioux City, Iowa, and began playing trumpet at age four. In 1990, he won first prize at the Thelonious Monk Institute’s first annual Louis Armstrong Trumpet Competition. Kisor enrolled in Manhattan School of Music in 1991 where he

studied with trumpeter Lew Soloff. He has performed and/or recorded with the Mingus Big Band, the Gil Evans Orchestra, Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Philip Morris Jazz AllStars, and others. In addition to being an active sideman, Kisor has recorded several albums as a leader including Battle Cry (1997), The Usual Suspects (1998), and Point of Arrival (2000). He has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1994. Elliot Mason (Trombone, JLCO) was born in England in 1977 and began trumpet lessons at age four with his father. At age seven, he switched his focus from trumpet to trombone. At 11 years old, he was performing in various venues, concentrating on jazz and improvisation. At 16 years old, Mason was chosen to receive a full tuition scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music. He has won the following awards: Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Soloist (under 25) Award, the prestigious Frank Rosolino Award, the International Trombone Association’s Under 29 Jazz Trombone competition, and Berklee’s Slide Hampton Award in recognition of outstanding performance abilities. He moved to New York City after graduation and in 2008, Mason joined Northwestern University’s faculty as the jazz trombone instructor. Mason has performed with Count Basie Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and the Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau. A member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2006, Mason also continues to co-lead the Mason Brothers Quintet with his brother. The Mason Brothers released their debut album, Two Sides, One Story in 2011. Ted Nash (Alto Saxophone, JLCO) enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Los Angeles into a musical family (his father, Dick Nash, and uncle, the late Ted Nash, were both well-known jazz and studio musicians), Nash blossomed early, a “young lion” before the term became marketing vernacular. Nash has that uncanny ability to mix freedom with accessibility, blues with intellect, and risk-taking with clarity. His group Odeon has often been cited as a creative focus of jazz. Many of Nash’s 2014-2015 Fall Program 45

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recordings have received critical acclaim, and have appeared on the “best-of” lists in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and The Boston Globe. His recordings, The Mancini Project and Sidewalk Meeting, have been placed on several “bestof-decade” lists. His album Portrait in Seven Shades was recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and was released in 2010. The album is the first composition released by the JLCO featuring original music by a band member other than bandleader Wynton Marsalis. Dan Nimmer (Piano, JLCO) was born in 1982 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With prodigious technique and an innate sense of swing, his playing often recalls that of his own heroes, specifically Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly, Erroll Garner, and Art Tatum. As a young man, Nimmer’s family inherited a piano and he started playing by ear. He studied classical piano and eventually became interested in jazz. At the same time, he began playing gigs around Milwaukee. Upon graduation from high school, Nimmer left Milwaukee to study music at Northern Illinois University. It didn’t take him long to become one of Chicago’s busiest piano players. Working a lot in the Chicago scene, Nimmer decided to leave school and make the big move to New York City where he was immediately emerged into the New York scene. A year after moving to New York City, he became a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. Nimmer has worked with Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Dianne Reeves, George Benson, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Tom Jones, Benny Golson, Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Ed Thigpen, Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Fareed Haque, and many more. He has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, The View, The Kennedy Center Honors, Live from Abbey Road, and PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center, among other broadcasts. He has released four of his own albums on the Venus label (Japan). Marcus Printup (Trumpet, JLCO) was born and raised in Conyers, Georgia. His first musical experiences were hearing the fiery gospel music his parents sang in church. While attending the University of North

Florida on a music scholarship, he won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet competition. In 1991, Printup’s life changed when he met his mentor, the great pianist Marcus Roberts who introduced him to Wynton Marsalis. This led to Printup’s induction into the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 1993. Printup has recorded with Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed, Madeline Peyroux, Ted Nash, Cyrus Chestnut, Wycliffe Gordon, and Roberts, among others. He has recorded several records as a leader: Song for the Beautiful Woman, Unveiled, Hub Songs, Nocturnal Traces, The New Boogaloo, Peace in the Abstract, Bird of Paradise, London Lullaby, Ballads All Night, A Time for Love, and his most recent Homage (2012) and Desire (2013) featuring Riza Printup on the Harp. He made a big screen appearance in the 1999 movie Playing by Heart and recorded on the film’s soundtrack. Education is important to Printup as he is an in-demand clinician teaching middle schools, high schools and colleges across the U.S. He teaches privately at the prestigious Mannes New School of Music. August 22nd has been declared “Marcus Printup Day” in his hometown of Conyers, Georgia. Kenny Rampton (Trumpet, JLCO) joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2010. In addition to performing in the JLCO, Rampton leads his own groups. He released his debut solo CD Moon Over Babylon in 2013. He is also the trumpet voice for the popular PBS TV series “Sesame Street.” In the summer of 2010, Rampton performed with The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival, and was the featured soloist on the Miles Davis/Gil Evans classic version of “Porgy and Bess.” Rampton has been a regular member of The Mingus Big Band/Orchestra/Dynasty, Mingus Epitaph (under the direction of Gunther Schuller), George Gruntz’ Concert Jazz Band, Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Bebo Valdez’ Latin Jazz AllStars and The Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. He spent much of the 1990’s touring the world with The Ray Charles Orchestra, The Jimmy McGriff Quartet, legendary jazz drummer Panama Francis (and the Savoy Sultans), as well as jazz greats Jon Hendricks, Lionel Hampton and Illinois Jacquet. As a sideman, Rampton has also performed with Dr. John,

Christian McBride, The Maria Schneider Orchestra, Charles Earland, Geoff Keezer and a host of others. Some of Rampton’s Broadway credits include “Anything Goes,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” “The Wiz,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Young Frankenstein,” and “Color Purple.” Joe Temperley (Baritone Saxophone, JLCO) was born in Scotland and first achieved prominence in the United Kingdom as a member of Humphrey Lyttelton’s band from 1958 to 1965. In 1965, Temperley came to New York City, where he performed and/or recorded with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, Duke Pearson, the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Clark Terry, among many others. In 1974, he toured and recorded with The Duke Ellington Orchestra as a replacement for Harry Carney. Temperley played in the Broadway show “Sophisticated Ladies” in the 1980s, and his film soundtrack credits include “Cotton Club,” “Biloxi Blues,” “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “Tune In Tomorrow,” composed by Wynton Marsalis. Temperley is a mentor and co-founder of the FIFE Youth Jazz Orchestra program in Scotland, which now enrolls 70 young musicians, ages 7 to 17, playing in three full-size bands. He has released several albums as a leader including Nightingale (1991), Sunbeam and Thundercloud with pianist Dave McKenna (1996), With Every Breath (1998), and Double Duke (1999). He released Portraits (2006) on Hep Records and Cocktails for Two (2007) on Sackville. His most recent release is The Sinatra Songbook (2008). He is an original member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and serves on the faculty of The Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies and Manhattan School of Music. Through the years, Temperley has been named in DownBeat magazine’s Critics Polls and was the featured artist in the 2009 Edinburgh Jazz Festival where he performed with the Edinburgh Jazz Orchestra. Cécile McLorin Salvant was born and raised in Miami, Florida of a French mother and a Haitian father. She started classical piano studies at 5, and began singing in the Miami Choral Society at 8. Early on, she developed an interest in classical voice, 2014-2015 Fall Program 47

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began studying with private instructors, and later with Edward Walker, vocal teacher at the University of Miami. In 2007, Cécile moved to Aix-en-Provence, France, to study law as well as classical and baroque voice at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory. It was in Aix-en-Provence, with reedist and teacher Jean-François Bonnel, that she started learning about improvisation, instrumental and vocal repertoire ranging from the 1910s on, and sang with her first band. In 2009, after a series of concerts in Paris, she recorded her first album “Cécile”, with Jean-François Bonnel’s Paris Quintet. A year later, she won the Thelonious Monk competition in Washington D.C. Cécile performs unique interpretations of unknown and scarcely recorded jazz and blues compositions. She focuses on a theatrical portrayal of the jazz standard and composes music and lyrics which she also sings in French, her native language as well as in Spanish. She enjoys popularity in Europe and in the United States, performing in clubs, concert halls, and festivals accompanied by

renowned musicians like Jean-Francois Bonnel, Rodney Whitaker, Aaron Diehl, Dan Nimmer, Sadao Watanabe, Jacky Terrasson (she was the guest singer on his latest album, Gouache), Archie Shepp, and Jonathan Batiste. She is the voice of Chanel’s “Chance” ad campaign for the third consecutive year.

Cécile McLorin Salvant

In August 2012, Cécile recorded WomanChild for the Mack Avenue Label with Aaron Diehl, Rodney Whitaker, Herlin Riley and James Chirillo. Cécile has performed at numerous festivals such as Jazz à Vienne, Ascona, Whitley Bay, Montauban, Foix, with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in New York’s Lincoln Center and Chicago’s Symphony Center and with her own band at the Kennedy Center, the Spoleto Jazz Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival and other venues. Cécile’s WomanChild was nominated for the 2014 GRAMMY® Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Visit us at jalc.org, facebook.com/jazzatlincolncenter, twitter.com/jalcnyc, and youtube.com/jazzatlincolnc

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UPcoming Performances Spring 2015 2/4

Alive & Kicking! Forbidden Broadway

2/5

Gregory Porter with Avery*Sunshine

2/9

The Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill

Piper Kerman, Author Orange Is The New Black

Danú

Cameron Carpenter, Organ

2/15

A Movie You Haven't Seen

3/16

Miloš Karadaglić, Classical Guitar

2/7

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

2/11

2/14

PRISM

3/2

Vijay Iyer Trio

2/10

2/13-3/1

Ragtime

2/6

2/12

The King's Singers

2/15-16

Nellie McKay

3/19

Itzhak Perlman, Violin

The Knights with Béla Fleck

2/13

Dirty Dozen Brass Band & Red Baraat

2/28

Joshua Bell, Violin

3/26

Raisin' Cane starring Jasmine Guy

8 5 0 . 6 4 4 .6 5 0 0 | o pe ni n g n i g h ts . f s u . edu |

2/8

4/6

Steep Canyon Rangers & Della Mae