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Onondaga Community College’s critically-acclaimed Arts Across Campus Legends of Jazz series returns this Fall for its third season with four concerts, scheduled at Storer Auditorium located in Ferrante Hall on the Onondaga campus. In conjunction with each concert, artists will conduct a companion educational clinic, workshop, or Master Class for Onondaga students and nine selected CNY-area high school jazz ensembles. The educational components of the series will be co-coordinated by OCC Jazz Band Director Steve Frank and Onondaga Music Department Chair David Abrams, DMA.
Ticket Info
Wednesday October 10, 2012 at 9 pm in StorerTICKETS SOLD OUT
Pat Metheny was born in Kansas City on August 12, 1954 into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility -a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional “jazz guitar” sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument.
Metheny’s versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. He has been part of a writing team with keyboardist Lyle Mays for more than twenty years -an association that has been compared to the Lennon/McCartney and Ellington/Strayhorn partnerships by critics and listeners alike. Metheny’s body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.
As well as being an accomplished musician, Metheny has also participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received an honorary doctorate more than twenty years later (1996). He has also taught music workshops all over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South America. He has also been a true musical pioneer in the realm of electronic music, and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. Years before the invention of MIDI technology, Metheny was using the Synclavier as a composing tool. He also has been instrumental in the development of several new kinds of guitars such as the soprano acoustic guitar, the 42-string Pikasso guitar, Ibanez’s PM-100 jazz guitar, and a variety of other custom instruments.
It is one thing to attain popularity as a musician, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaim Metheny has garnered from critics and peers. Over the years, Metheny has won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist” and awards, including three gold records for (Still Life) Talking, Letter from Home, and Secret Story. He has also won 18 Grammy Awards spread out over a variety of different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition. The Pat Metheny Group won an unprecedented seven consecutive Grammies for seven consecutive albums. Metheny has spent most of his life on tour, averaging between 120-240 shows a year since 1974. At the time of this writing, he continues to be one of the brightest stars of the jazz community, dedicating time to both his own projects and those of emerging artists and established veterans alike, helping them to reach their audience as well as realizing their own artistic visions.
For more info go to: http://www.patmetheny.com/unity-band/
Friday December 14, 2012 at 7 pm in StorerTICKETS SOLD OUT
Joey DeFrancesco comes from a musical family. His Grandfather Joseph DeFrancesco (his name sake) was a reed man. And of course his father "Papa" John DeFrancesco is a fine jazz organist in his own right. At the age of 4 Joey began taking a strong interest in the organ. By the time he was five, he was playing Jimmy Smith songs verbatim. As the years went on his interest and love for the organ and music grew stronger. From the ages of 5-10 his father would bring him to his own gigs and let him sit in. At 10 years of age he began to play in a Band in Philadelphia, which featured legendary players Hank Mobley on Tenor Saxophone, and "Philly" Joe Jones on the Drums. At 16 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Columbia Records, releasing his first record "All Of Me" at 17. This record was single handedly responsible for the great resurgence of the Hammond sound in popular music. Also in his 17th year he was called on by the great Miles Davis to join his band, and toured all over Europe. It was at that time that Joey, inspired by Miles’s sound, picked up the trumpet & started playing. To this day, Joey continues to play the trumpet, very similar to the style of Miles. At 18, Joey began touring with his own quartet. At 22, John McLaughlin called him along with drummer Dennis Chambers, to form the group the "Free Spirits". This band toured extensively for 4 years. Joey has been around the world and back dozens of times with his own trio, but also playing and recording with some of the greatest musicians in the world such as, Ray Charles, Bette Midler, David Sanborn, Arturo Sandoval, Frank Wess, Benny Golson, James Moody, Steve Gadd, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Cobb, George Benson, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, and many more. He has won the Down Beat Critics poll nine times & the Readers poll ever year since 2002, as well as Jazz Journalist award, and countless others. In 2004 Joey was nominated for a Grammy for his record "Falling In Love Again", and again in 2010 for his release titled “Never Can Say Goodbye”. Currently, Joey continues to tour with his own group, and other all-star projects. Joey has played a key role in the development of his signature model organ, called Numa, by Studiologic.
For more info go to: http://www.joeydefrancesco.com/
Friday, March 8, 2013 at 7 pm in Storer
Purchase Tickets
An artist long intrigued by contrasts and hybrids, Carter resists comfortable categorization. Born (1969) and raised in Detroit, Carter grew up surrounded by music, soaking up everything from funk and fusion to rock, soul, and various strains of acoustic jazz. It was the late trumpeter Lester Bowie who first brought Carter to New York, inviting him to perform with his New York Organ Combo. The Bowie connection led to Carter’s debut recording, 1993’s JC on the Set, a quartet tour de force that announced the arrival of a superlative new talent equally expressive on alto, tenor, and baritone sax (though he’s added several other horns over the years, most importantly soprano sax).
Carter always finds a way into whatever musical situation he finds himself in. “You have to be totally comfortable wherever,” Carter says. “I think there’s tremendous beauty in cross-pollinations of music and influences.” In 2000, he released two albums simultaneously that seemed to proclaim everything fair game: Chasin’ the Gypsy, a voluptuous, lyrical session partly inspired by the timeless collaboration between Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, and the groove-laden Layin’ in the Cut, which combines harmolodic freedom with a deep reservoir of funk. He explored the music of alt-rock band Pavement (on 2005’s Gold Sounds), and paid loving tribute to Billie Holiday (on 2003’s Gardenias for Lady Day).
He’s reinvented the organ combo with 2005’s Out of Nowhere, in 2009 with John Medeski on Heaven and Earth and in 2011 with At the Crossroads. Featuring the lithe and muscular keyboard work of Detroit’s rising B3 star Gerard Gibbs and the propulsive drum support of veteran Motor City trap master Leonard King Jr., At the Crossroads marks the 10th anniversary of the multigenerational James Carter Organ Trio. A sensational follow-up to the saxophonist’s acclaimed Emarcy release Caribbean Rhapsody, Carter’s 15th album documents his trio’s combustible chemistry, with a Detroit-centric cast of special guests adding fuel to the celebratory fire.
For more info go to: http://jamescarterlive.com/
Special thanks to Carrier Corporation for the Percussion Level Sponsorship for this concert.
Supported by IDEAS (Initiative to Develop and Engage Audiences in Syracuse), a multi-funder approach to fostering engagement and collaboration between the community and arts, culture and heritage organizations.
FELICIANO: A Name That is Synonymous with MUSIC.
It is synonymous with an international presence that has influenced popular music for more than two generations. It is synonymous with a presence that has bridged musical styles in a way that has never been equaled. Jose Feliciano is recognized as the first Latin Artist to cross over into the English music market, opening the doors to others who now play an important part in the American music industry.
As importantly, Feliciano has been acclaimed by critics throughout the world as “The greatest living guitarist”. Referred to as “The Picasso of his Realm,” Jose Feliciano’s accolades are repeatedly celebrated. Guitar Player Magazine awarded him “Best Pop Guitarist,” placing him in their “Gallery of the Greats,” and he’s been voted both Best Jazz and Best Rock Guitarist in the Playboy Magazine reader’s poll, as well. He’s been awarded over forty-five Gold and Platinum records; has won sixteen Grammy nominations, earning him eight Grammy Awards and is in receipt of countless prestigious awards the world over.
In 1996, Jose Feliciano was selected to receive Billboard Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and New York City honored him by re-naming Public School 155 in East Harlem, “The Jose Feliciano Performing Arts School.” And In 2001, Jose received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, for his musical, as well as humanitarian, contributions to the world.
For more info, go to: http://www.josefeliciano.com/