BroadStage to Present GRAMMY Winners Stanley Clarke and Hiromi in September

BroadStage will present two GRAMMY-winning jazz greats, pairing up for a not-to-be-missed night of music as four-time GRAMMY Award-winning bassist, recording artist, performer, arranger, composer, and producer Stanley Clarke takes the stage in a program with Hiromi on Saturday, September 23 at 7:30pm at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica Performing Arts Center. Tickets and information are at broadstage.org or by calling 310.434.3200.
 
This concert marks the beginning of a three-year appointment of Clarke as BroadStage Artist in Residence.  This residence is an artist-centered partnership that includes performances, curation, and mentorship for Santa Monica College and Santa Monica High School music students. Co-designed by Clarke, BroadStage Activations staff and school faculty, the residency provides direct access and training by this iconic figure for students, who are on the cusp of professional careers.
 
Stanley Clarke is one of the most celebrated and influential acoustic and electric bass players in the world. With 70 film and television scores to his name, he was nominated for three Emmys, and won a BMI Award for his work on the film Boyz n the Hood (1991). Hiromi, a BroadStage favorite, is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances, and blending of musical genres such as stride, post-bop, progressive rock, classical, and fusion.
 
Clarke and Hiromi have recorded and performed in the past. They won a GRAMMYⓇ Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, The Stanley Clarke Band, featuring pianist Hiromi. They also recorded 2009's Jazz in the Garden with drummer Lenny White. The duet has most recently performed at the London Palladium. 
 
Japan has produced an impressive assemblage of jazz pianists, from Toshiko Akiyoshi and Makoto Ozone. And now, well into the change of the 21st century, the pianist/composer Hiromi is the latest in that line of amazing musicians. Ever since the 2003 release of her debut Telarc CD, Another Mind, Hiromi has electrified audiences and critics east and west, with a creative energy that encompasses and eclipses the boundaries of jazz, classical and pop parameters, taking improvisation and composition to new heights of complexity and sophistication.
 
Clarke said, “There has never been a more important time to enliven the culture of creativity than the times we are currently living in. In the recent past we have suffered the loss of many of our important cultural spaces and creators. This presents a crucial moment for our city and for the future of the arts in general. It seems that technological advancement in the arts is taking people further away from the one-of-a-kind experience of being exposed to quality live music. Exposure to the arts at the highest levels is paramount to the spawning of the future of culture and the arts.”
 

Stanley Clarke named BroadStage Artist in Residence

 
BroadStage has a robust history of presenting Jazz music. From Quincy Jones to Herb Alpert and Alfredo Rodriguez to Hiromi, a commitment to Jazz is deeply embedded in the organization's DNA.

As BroadStage prepares for its 15th anniversary season, the cultural landscape of live performance calls for an effort to support the development of future audiences and artists who will sustain this work.
 
BroadStage Executive and Artistic Director, Rob Bailis, said, “Jazz has been in the DNA of BroadStage from day one.  With this in mind, we are thrilled and honored to announce that the legendary jazz master, Stanley Clarke will join us as an artist in residence with the goal of launching in three years' time, the cornerstone of this project, an intergenerational jazz festival here in Santa Monica.  Stanley's natural charisma, his vision for the future of jazz, and his career-long commitment to nurturing emerging talent, makes him the perfect partner for this ambition.
 
To that end, Stanley will be building and mentoring small ensembles of young artists at the high school and college level, with the hope of featuring them in performance opportunities as the residency and eventually the festival itself takes shape.  Getting to hear Stanley perform at the height of his power as an instrumentalist and composer on our series as a regular will be an absolute joy. To know he will be a thought partner, curator, and mentor as we vision our future commitments to jazz is yet more exciting.”
 
For the general public, Clarke will give a free public Artist Talk on Tuesday, October 17 at 11:15AM at the SMC Performing Arts Campus Music Hall (adjacent to BroadStage) about his own, personal creative path.
 
Then, throughout the year, Clarke will spend time mentoring the Santa Monica High School (SAMOHI) and Santa Monica College (SMC) Jazz Ensembles in preparation for student performances of Clarke's compositions on their respective campuses.  He will work with the Santa Monica College Jazz Ensemble and the Santa Monica High School Jazz Ensemble in the days before the BroadStage performance September 23 and again ahead of the October 17 Artist Talk.  This work continues in Spring, 2024, when Clarke will continue his mentorship of the SMC and SMOHI Jazz Ensembles.
 
On Monday, December 4 at 7:00 PM the SMC Jazz Ensemble will have a performance titled Fusion Energy, at which the ensemble will play compositions of musicians who came into prominence during the fusion era including Stanley Clarke, and, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, and others.  Tickets at $10 will be available soon by visiting https://broadstage.org/activations/in-community/ or https://www.smc.edu/calendar/tickets.php.
 
Clarke returns with his new band 4EVER on Saturday, March 30 for a night of raucous jazz harmony, rock, funk, R&B, hip-hop, fusion, and more. 4EVER's band members, bring a dynamic youthful energy and freshness to the music, include Jeremiah Collier on drums, Beka Gochiashvili on piano and keyboards, Colin Cook on guitar, Emilio Modeste on saxophone, and Clarke on acoustic and electric bass. 

BroadStage gathers artists, thinkers and audiences to celebrate our shared humanity and expand the role the arts play in the vitality of our diverse community. BroadStage is an industry-leading performing arts producer and presenter located on the Los Angeles' Westside, providing a platform for the world's most compelling artists working the theatre, dance and music, and multidisciplinary artforms. Building upon its first decade, the organization is rising to meet a rapidly evolving set of needs for artists, audiences, community and campus, with the aim to advance its role as an invaluable cultural resource and artistic ambassador for greater Los Angeles. 
 
A beacon of Santa Monica College (SMC) – one of the country's most progressive, diverse and accessible educational institutions – BroadStage harnesses the transformative power of the performing arts as essential to well-being and society. Established in partnership with SMC in 2008, both organizations are aligned on core values of creativity, learning, and belonging. With the leadership of Artistic and Executive Director Rob Bailis, BroadStage is strengthening its impact through a new artistic vision, an expanded venue footprint, and enhanced community activation. These activities invite a deeper relationship to the artists on our stage and to the work they passionately share.

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