National Jazz Museum in Harlem Features HARLEM SPEAKS et al., 10/25-31

The National Jazz Musuem in Harlem has announced its events for October 25-31:

Tuesday, October 26, 2010
 
Jazz for Curious Listeners
Betty Carter/Ray Charles: The Duet Album
7:00 - 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300
 
The vocal pairing of Ray Charles and Betty Carter produced a hit for the hip crowd, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Yet they recorded another 20 or so songs together; several are unsung cuts that deserve wider recognition as masterful interpretations of standards. And while it may be getting cold outside, you can rest assured that hearing their duet album tonight will reach your heart like a hot toddy that goes in smooth and warm. This night will be truly "dedicated to you." 
 

  
 
                                                                                                          
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Harlem Speaks
Aaron Goldberg, Pianist
6:30 - 8:30pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300
 
Aaron Goldberg is a pianist and composer performing at the vanguard of jazz music. His new album Home (April 2010, Sunnyside) builds upon his last, Worlds, both exhibiting the sensitivity and dynamism of his longstanding trio, featuring ReuBen Rogers and Eric Harland. In addition to heading his trio, Aaron has spent the last 12 years touring with many of the most brilliant voices in jazz-Joshua Redman, Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Nicholas Payton, Al Foster, Stefon Harris, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Madeleine Peyroux and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, among others.

Aaron was born in Boston and got hooked on jazz in high school by studying with Bob Sinicrope and Jerry Bergonzi, two master educators. He spent a year at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music before graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1996 with a degree in History and Science and a concentration in Mind, Brain and Behavior. On weekends he held a long-time residence at Wally's Cafe in Boston, and the fall after graduation he moved to Brooklyn.

He began performing with a cross-generational array of legends and peers-including Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Mark Turner, Greg Tardy-in addition to working with his own trio. In 1998 he joined the quartet of Joshua Redman, with whom he toured for 4 years and recorded two albums. Along with Aaron's 4 albums as a leader and 4 more as a co-leader of the OAM Trio, Aaron has recorded over 60 cds with a diverse spectrum of artists.

In 2004 and 2008, Aaron produced and performed in Jazz for America's Future and Jazz for Obama, historic fundraising concerts for Sen. John Kerry and President Barack Obama respectively. He is the co-arranger/composer (with John Ellis) of the Baby Loves Jazz series of books and cds, as well as the musical director of All Souls at Sundown, a jazz and poetry series in NYC. He is also a member of the instrumental faculty at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and a clinician at conservatories and universities around the world.

 
 
 
Friday, October 29, 2010
 
Harlem in the Himalayas
Wayne Escoffery Quartet
7:00pm
Location: Rubin Museum of Art
(150 West 17th Street)
$18 in advance | $20 at door |
For tickets: RMA Box Office <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=-1&amp;msgid=0&amp;act=11111&amp;c=246760&amp;destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rmanyc.org%2Fharleminthehimalayas%2F>  or call 212-620-5000 ext. 344
 
 
Since moving to New York City in 2000, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery has become one of the most talented rising stars and in-demand sidemen in jazz. At only 35 he has recorded seven CDs as a leader and been on numerous recordings as a sideman. Wayne began his professional New York career touring and recording with The Eric Reed Septet.
 
In 2001 he became a steady member of the Mingus Big Band/Orchestra/Dynasty, The Lonnie Plaxico Group, and Abdullah Ibrahim's Akaya. Then in 2004 Grammy award winning producer, arranger and trumpeter Don Sickler asked Wayne to be a part of Ben Riley's Monk legacy Septet (an innovative piano-less group dedicated to carrying on the legacy of jazz great Thelonious Monk). At this time Wayne was also touring with Jazz at Lincoln Center's Music of the Masters, consisting of two groups of musicians hand picked by Wynton Marsalis.
In 2006 Wayne secured one of the most coveted gigs in jazz: a frontline position in Tom Harrell's working quintet. In addition to being a part of some of the last true "apprenticeship" opportunities of our era, he has delivered three studio dates as a leader on the Nagel-Heyer label, including a collaborative project with his wife vocalist Carolyn Leonhart, If Dreams Come True released in September 2007.

During his senior year in high school, he attended the Artist's Collective in Hartford, Ct. It was there that he met Jackie McLean, the world-renowned alto saxophonist and founder of both The Artist's Collective and the jazz program at The Hartt School. McLean gave Wayne a full scholarship to attend The Hartt School, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Performance, and became known as one of McLean's prize pupils. He went on to attend The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at The New England Conservatory in Boston. It was a full scholarship two-year college program, accepting a small select group of the world's most talented young jazz artists every two years. At the Institute, he toured with Herbie Hancock and studied with George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Don Braden, Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Barry Harris, Charlie Persip and other Jazz masters.

His quartet promises to smoke the stage with brim and vigor, integrating styles from across the history of the music, as they interpret the jazz idiom with an eye toward the future.

 
 
 
Saturday, October 30, 2010
 
Saturday Panels
Hank Jones: A Life in Music
12:00-4:00pm
Location: NJMH Visitors Center
(104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C)
FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300
Hank Jones was one of a few remaining links to the storied past of jazz. He recorded countless albums as both a leader and as a sideman, having worked with virtually all of the jazz greats, from Coleman Hawkins and Ella Fitzgerald to Joe Lovano and Christian McBride. Two of his younger brothers, drummer Elvin and trumpeter, arranger, and composer Thad, were two of the most influential musicians in jazz. He was certainly the most respected, beloved and admired pianist across many generations of his peers, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem is proud to honor his memory and legacy today.

Jones began studying the piano as a boy, and at age 13 he began accompanying vocalists in Pontiac, Michigan, where he grew up. His father, a Baptist deacon, discouraged his sons' interest in jazz, thinking it was evil. But its draw was strong for the young Hank Jones. He would travel to Detroit to hear concerts, where he first saw Louis Armstrong perform. While playing with local bands, in 1944 Jones met saxophonist Lucky Thompson, who encouraged the young pianist to move to New York City.

Hank Jones' first gig in New York was with trumpeter and vocalist Hot Lips Page at the Onyx Club in Manhattan. Soon he was playing with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and in singer Billy Eckstine's big band. The mid-1940s saw the transition from swing to bebop, and Jones shifted his style accordingly. In 1947, he began playing with Jazz at the Philharmonic, produced by Norman Granz, alongside several top bebop musicians. A year later he became Ella Fitzgerald's pianist, touring with her for over five years, and in 1952, he recorded with Charlie Parker on Now's the Time (Savoy Jazz).

In the following decades, Jones played with clarinetists Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, and in 1959, became the staff pianist at CBS Studios, a position he held for 17 years. He expanded his skills from pianist and accompanist to conductor in the late 1970s for the Broadway musical tribute to pianist Fats Waller, Ain't Misbehavin'.

Since then, Hank Jones continued to grow as a musician, performing and recording with musicians such as Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Eddie Gomez, Al Foster, Jimmy Cobb, Sonny Stitt, Charlie Haden, and many others. In the last years of his life, he gave concerts and master classes around the world, spreading his talent and love for jazz. He died at age 91 on May 16th, 2010 in New York City. But his memory and music will live forever. Join us and discover the way this gentle giant of jazz piano embodied the values of jazz, and therefore the best values of his culture, for over 70 years.