Carolyn McClair Public Relations

LIVING LEGEND RUSSELL GARCIA
TO BE HONORED AT 95th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION/CONCERTS

Due to Doctor’s Order, Garcia Will Celebrate in New Zealand
While Vocalists Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco
Host Tributes at Yoshi’s Oakland on November 1 and
at Iridium Jazz Club in New York on November 6

New York Tribute Concert,
Featuring Billy Stritch with Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco,
Will Be Streamed Live from Iridium
at www.livestream.com/iridiumlive

NEW YORK, NY, October 19, 2011 – Legendary composer, arranger and conductor Russell Garcia has been ordered by his doctor to give up his travel plans to participate in his three-city 95^th Birthday Tour.  Although disappointed by the decision, Garcia will celebrate from his home in New Zealand while vocalists Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco host tributes at Yoshi’s Oakland on November 1, and at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club on November 6. The New York celebration features special guest star Billy Stritch.

The concert scheduled for October 26 at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood has been cancelled.

Garcia, who suffered from collapsed vertebrae last week, is on bed rest and unable to travel, but it doesn’t stop him from celebrating with Rainbolt and Genecco. Since stricken with the painful condition, Garcia has been on the phone and e-mail to assist his musical partners with arrangements and to encourage his friends, family and fans to come out to celebrate in his absence. In New York, the concert will be streamed live, allowing Garcia to not only watch the concert, but also to participate. Tune in to www.livestream.com/iridiumlive.

“We are all so sad that Russ can’t join us in person, but we are thrilled that we are able to celebrate his birthday and present his music with fabulous musicians in these wonderful venues,” said Shaynee Rainbolt, who released Charmed Life, a CD of Garcia originals in 2007. “I have been in awe of Russ and his talent since meeting him while working on the CD. To hear Russ in the midst of severe pain encourage Terese and me to move forward with the concerts is a testament to his dedication to music and music lovers. Russ wouldn’t have it any other way, so we will do our best to present memorable evenings of his music, surrounded by friends, family and fans who love him.”

Joining Rainbolt and Genecco at Yoshi’s are Larry Dunlap, piano; Daniel Fabricant, bass;  Tom Duckworth, drums; Rich Armstrong, trumpet; Tony Malfatti, tenor saxophone; and, in Garcia’s four-trombone signature style, Doug Beavers, Don Benham, Greg Saúl and Floyd Reinhart.

In New York, Rainbolt and the Iridium’s own Genecco will perform Garcia originals plus classics from The Great American Songbook arranged by Garcia and accompanied by their high-voltage, 9-piece Little Big Band featuring pianist Billy Stritch along with bassist Tom Hubbard, drummer Ray Marchica, trumpeter Bud Burridge, tenor saxophonist Cliff Lyons and trombonists John Fedchock, John Allred, Nate Mayland and George Flynn.

“In addition to celebrating the genius of Russ Garcia, performing his music is very special for many reasons,” said Terese Genecco. “In 1956, Russ did orchestrations of Porgy and Bess for Mel Tormé and Frances Faye. Two years later, Russ orchestrated a ground-breaking version of new arrangements of the music for Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. I am a huge Faye fan, Billy Stritch is a fan of Tormé and everyone loves Louis and Ella. In our tribute to Russ, Billy and I will present our rendition of Bess, You Is My Woman Now. I truly wish Russ could be with us to guide us through one of his most memorable musical contributions.  Thanks to technology, he will be with us in spirit and via Internet.”

“It is fitting and fantastic that Russ can ‘conduct’ the band while recuperating in New Zealand,” added Rainbolt. “He has always been on the cutting edge in the entertainment industry, with his film scores and the outstanding music he has composed and arranged for some of the world’s greatest artists. He has seen tremendous changes throughout his 75-year career, and he is excited that with the support of today’s technology, he will be able to enjoy and participate in the concert.”

Whether Russ Garcia (born April 12, 1916 in Oakland, CA) was working on a sound stage at MGM Universal, a major-label recording studio in Hollywood, a concert hall conducting a symphony, a jazz club or festival around the world, his body of work speaks for itself.  He hesitates to toot his own horn, saying he feels like he’s name-dropping; but to this day, people continue to drop his name.  Over the years, he has worked Sammy Davis, Jr., Anita O’Day, Bud Shank, Julie London, Sarah Vaughan, Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Johnny Hodges, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Harry James, Bill Holman, Jayne Mansfield, Bette Davis, Ira and George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Mickey Rooney, Henry Mancini, Elizabeth Taylor, Charlie Chaplin, Marvin Hamlisch, Clint Eastwood and numerous others.

Now living a relatively quiet life in New Zealand but still continuing to work at home and abroad, at 95, Garcia’s life is far from the glamorous world of Hollywood he and his lyricist-wife Gina used to lead. From radio and television to theatrical films and recordings, Garcia has been active in virtually every area of the entertainment industry since the late ’40s. His early 1960s scores for George Pal’s “The Time Machine” and “Atlantis: The Lost Continent” virtually created the music template for science fiction films that followed, and his un-credited work on Charlie Chaplin’s Oscar-winning score for the film ‘Limelight’ has fans launching a grass-roots campaign to set the record straight (http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/09/the-case-of-the.html).  His jazz arranging and composing is legendary in its own right and can be heard on recordings by Stan Kenton, Roy Eldridge, Stan Getz, as well as a classic version of “Porgy and Bess” featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. When describing the orchestral sounds that emerged from the West Coast jazz scene during the 1950s, the name Russell Garcia always comes to mind.  Not only did he provide arrangements for many singers and instrumentalists, he recorded more than 60 albums under his own name.  As if all that wasn’t enough, his book, The Professional Arranger-Composer, has been a valued tool for both beginners and veterans since it was written in the mid-’40’s.  In 2009, he and his wife Gina were awarded The New Zealand Order of Merit from the Queen of England for their Service to Music.

Shaynee Rainbolt (www.shayneerainbolt.com), one of today’s rising jazz singers, first worked with Garcia in 2007 when he entrusted her with the first-ever album of all Garcia originals entitled Charmed Life.  Arranged by Garcia for his signature four-trombone band, this collaboration garnered two MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Awards for Best Jazz Recording (Charmed Life) and Best Song (I Remember, Music by Garcia and Lyrics by Rainbolt & Garcia.)  A top seller on CDBaby, the album was also chosen by TalkinBroadway.com as one of their Top 10 CD’s of 2008 and the press also took notice saying, “Rainbolt breathes joyful new life into his oeuvre…her interpretations plugging straight into the core of Garcia’s artistry. Beautifully sung…remarkable…” Jazzwise Magazine (UK); “This happy collaboration features Shaynee Rainbolt in inspired form…hear the magical combination of Shaynee Rainbolt and Russ Garcia.” LA Jazz Scene; “When Shaynee Rainbolt navigates the shoals of Russ Garcia’s arrangements, a beautiful artistic union forms – that of an emerging voice and an orchestral master.” Downbeat; “The classic sounds of Garcia are alive and well in the capable hands of Rainbolt and should remain there for a long time.” Jazz Improv Magazine

Terese Genecco (www.teresegenecco.com), who Will Friedwald of the Wall Street Journal said “…if Frank, Dean and Sammy ever returned from the Great Casino in the Sky, the first youngish female singer that I’d recommend to join their clan is this high-voltage entertainer,” has the Longest Running Nightclub Act on Broadway at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City.  In her third year of an open-ended run of shows, she is a critic and audience favorite. Genecco and Garcia have a special connection due to Genecco’s award-winning, one-woman tribute show, “Drunk with Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye!” Faye is Genecco’s idol and was one of Garcia’s favorite collaborators as well as a close personal friend.  Since relocating from San Francisco, where Genecco won the Bay Area “Entertainer of the Year” Award, there is hardly an award or accolade she hasn’t garnered. Terese is described as “addictive” and her fans call themselves “Geneccoholics.”  The critics agree.  This high-powered entertainer has won the 2009 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) Award for Outstanding Vocalist, a 2009 OUT Music Award for Outstanding Cabaret/Comedy/Theater Song; a 2008 MAC Award for Best Recording for her Live CD of “Drunk with Love: A Tribute to Frances Faye!” (which was also chosen as one of TalkinBroadway.com’s Top 10 CD’s of 2007) and the show itself won her the 2007 Bistro Award from Back Stage Magazine and a Top 10 Best Cabaret Show from Time Out New York Magazine for two years running (2006 & 2007).

CONCERTS:

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 1, 8 pm:

Yoshi’s Jazz Club, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA 94607; 510-238-9200; Tickets: $20.00; www.yoshis.com/oakland

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6, 6:30 pm:

Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; 212-582-2121; Tickets: $25.00; www.theiridium.com; www.livestream.com/iridiumlive

#  #  #

HAILUN PIANOS LAUNCHES ANNUAL NATIONWIDE “PIANO PARTNERSHIPS”

Saxophonist Donald Harrison’s jazz programs in New Orleans
to be the first recipient of superbly crafted pianos on November 15, 2011

NEW ORLEANS, October 5, 2011 – Basilios Strmec, CEO of Hailun USA, a piano company based in Ningbo, China, announces the launching of an annual nationwide program of Piano Partnerships with jazz musicians and significant courses of jazz studies. The Piano Partnerships begin with their presentation of Hailun’s HG 178 grand piano and HU 1 P upright piano on November 15 to the renowned jazz saxophonist and composer Donald Harrison for use in the two jazz programs that he runs in New Orleans. In conjunction with the installation of the pianos, Harrison will present a concert which will include some famous New Orleans piano classics on November 16 at the Tipitina’s Foundation, where he is the musical director of the internship program.

“This is a dream come true,” says Harrison. “I initiated free music programs at The Tipitina’s Foundation and The Guardians Institute in 2007 to provide the gifted young people in New Orleans opportunities and a place to develop as musicians. Hailun Pianos is providing an essential element to ensure the highest level for music studies in New Orleans. These pianos will play an important role in continuing the traditions that made New Orleans the birthplace of American music. The impact of this is going to be life-changing for so many people.”

Basilios Strmec acknowledges, “Donald Harrison exemplifies the type of leadership as a musician, and as a member of his community, that Hailun Pianos is seeking for its partnerships, and that is why he was chosen to be the first partner in our new program. It is obvious that there is an exciting resurgence of musical culture in New Orleans, and that Donald Harrison is in the vanguard of that resurgence. Hailun is honored to participate in his jazz programs that are inspiring a new generation of New Orleans musicians. “

Born in New Orleans in 1960, saxophonist Donald Harrison began playing with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in his early twenties. He had already completed what most musicians would call a career when the influential band he co-led with fellow New Orleans native trumpeter Terence Blanchard broke up in 1989. But Harrison was only beginning. Choosing to work in a number of genres at once, Harrison has released a series of albums that are touchstones of contemporary New Orleans music, particularly the immensely important 1992 release “Indian Blues,“ in which he brought the Mardi Gras Indian music learned from his father, Donald Harrison Sr., into a vibrant contemporary jazz/R&B setting. Harrison continues to perform and record in traditional jazz settings with both acoustic and electric bands as well as what he calls Nouveau Swing, a roots amalgam merging acoustic jazz, Mardi Gras Indian Music, hip-hop, second line and reggae. Harrison also has been a potent influence on younger musicians, mentoring personalities as different as rapper Notorious BIG and whiz kid trumpeter Christian Scott. As the director of Tipitina’s Intern Program, he often works with musicians from that program as his band when performing. Other notable former interns of the Tipitina’s program include Jonathan Batiste, Trombone Shorty, Khris Royal, Joe Dyson, Max Moran and Conun Pappas.

Hailun Pianos has become the standard for high quality piano manufacturing across the Far East, and a global influence in the world of pianos. Owner Hailun Chen, with more than 20 years of successful manufacturing experience, has worked closely with Peter Veletzky, a fourth generation piano builder from Vienna, to develop technology to build pianos that are equal in quality to the best European-made pianos. Hailun’s 430,000 square foot factory now employs over 800 workers and 37 seasoned piano engineers. This uncompromising insistence to achieve maximum quality and product excellence has made Hailun the piano of choice for thousands all over the world. Since the partnership with Mr. Veletzky, Hailun has retained the talents of well-known American piano designer and engineer George F. Emerson, Viennese piano voicing and sound specialist Zlatkovic Sibin, Japanese production specialist Ema Shigeru and French scale designer and piano builder Stephen Paulello. These collaborations ensure long-term quality, innovation, and artistic production at Hailun Pianos. With over 360 European piano dealers, over 80 U.S. Authorized Hailun Merchants, over 40 merchants in Japan and a growing network in other parts of the world, Hailun Pianos is the epitome of an innovative, progressive company that is expanding in response to the world market.

The Hailun Piano Company is also placing an HU 1 P upright in The Blue Monk, a jazz club in Portland, Oregon. Hailun is dedicated to helping the future musicians of the world and will begin the process soon to find recipients in the field of music education to participate in the Piano Partnership in 2012.

#  #  #

www.donaldharrison.com

www.hailun-pianos.com

Lenora Zenzalai Helm Releases New CD
I Love Myself When I’m Laughing
… And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive

Available Today on Zenzalai Music at CDBaby.com

NEW YORK, NY, October 5, 2011 – There comes a point in an artist’s life when she hits her stride: when all of the musical, artistic and emotional elements align themselves perfectly in that artist’s orbit; making her shine brighter than she ever did before. With the release of her new CD, I Love Myself When I’m Laughing … And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive (Zenzalai Music), the award-winning, Chicago-born vocalist, composer, lyricist, arranger, educator and former U.S. Jazz Ambassador Lenora Zenzalai Helm brilliantly illuminates the jazz world with this soulful and spectacular 13-track CD.

It features music and lyrics inspired by two Chicago storytellers, and by writers Zora Neale Hurston, Neale Donald Walsch and Alice Walker, Robert Kennedy, biographers Gene Santoro and Ross Russell, poets Rudyard Kipling and Sam White, and the music and lyrics of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Jon Hendricks and Joni Mitchell.

I Love Myself When I’m Laughing … And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive is available now at http://cdbaby.com/cd/lenorazenzalaihelm2.

On this CD, Helm – who lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she is a Visiting Instructor in the Jazz Studies Program and Music Department at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) – is supported by an impassioned and impressive core rhythm section featuring drummer Larry “Q” Draughn, Jr., bassist Lance E. Scott, Jr., and pianist Ryan Hanseler.  They lay down a sensitive and swinging magic carpet for Helm to soar as she works her moving and velvet soprano as it weaves its spell –forged in the aching embers of Billie Holiday and Abbey Lincoln.

The primal, percussive “Huntress,” inspired Sam White’s book of poems: The Goddess of the Hunt Is Not Herself; the haunting, cymbal-shimmered “Beauty,” a tribute to Helm’s maternal grandmother Helen Amelia Graine Faulk, a legendary matriarch and Chicago cosmetologist; and the dancing lead track, “Tears Are A River That Take You Someplace” – a line taken from Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God – are three selections from  Journeywoman: A Work in Progress, Helm’s five-part suite, written as a result of winning the 2004 Chamber Music America/ Doris Duke Foundation’s New Jazz Works grant for jazz composers – making her the first African-American to win that award.

The moving and midtempo title track, augmented by an ethereal vocal choir arrangement, is another Hurston-inspired gem titled after an anthology of her works. “Begin Again” is a wistful vocal/piano duet based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” and Alice Walker’s The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart, featuring NCCU piano professor, Ed Paolanotino. Helm’s aural alchemy is equally phenomenal with her stunning renditions of jazz standards. “Skies of Bud (Blues Skies/Suddenly (In Walked Bud)” was birthed from her conversations with Chicago griot/jazz historian Donald “Poppa” Meade, and stays true to Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud,” laced with lyrics by Jon Hendricks and Helm’s lyric to Irving Berlin’s melody. Helm’s reading of three books – Ross Russell’s Bird Lives, Duke Ellington’s Music Is My Mistress and J.C. Thomas Takin’ The Trane, with the writings of Neale Donald Walsch and become “Charlie Parker’s Tale, “I Didn’t Know About You,” and “A Conversation with God (Dear Lord),” with vocalist Michael Hanna, grandson of  piano giant Roland Hanna.

Helm also delivers a moving rendition of Joni Mitchell’s version of the immortal Charles Mingus elegy to Lester Young, “Goodbye Porkpie Hat,” with Brian Horton’s serpentine soprano sax solo, and “Sampson’s Nemesis (Delilah)” is an inventive reinterpretation of the Victor Young standard “Delilah” made famous by trumpeter Clifford Brown. Her take on Jason Moran’s Capetown-cadenced, “Ripples (RFK in the Land of Apartheid)” from the 2011 PBS documentary – based on a speech Robert F. Kennedy made  when he toured South Africa in 1966, dances with the kind of message-oriented, Motherland pulses that are a vital part of the jazz continuum.  The CD closes with a stirring, solo performance of the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” inspired by her surviving a car crash during the making of this CD. Her friend, vocalist Nnenna Freelon, who just lost her mother, asked Helm to sing it at a memorial service, and the piece also evokes the eternal spirit of Helm’s maternal grandmother.

Lenora Zenzalai Helm’s infinite variety of musical experiences originate from her birthplace, Chicago, where she was born into a musical family. At the age of eight she started singing and later learned to play trumpet, organ, piano, and guitar. After moving to New York in 1987, she worked with a number of artists including saxophonists Dave Liebman, Antonio Hart and Branford Marsalis, and pianists Donald Brown and Andrew Hill.  She was the first African-American woman to receive a B.A. in Film Music Composition/Voice from Berklee School of Music in Boston in 1982.  In 1994, she won Best New Jazz Artist from the syndicated Jazz in the City radio program. Her previous recordings as a leader include Awakenings (Baoule Music, 1997), Spirit Child (J Curve, 1999), Precipice (Baoule Music, 2002), Voice Paintings (MidLantic Records 2003/2007) and Chronicles of a Butterfly (Zenzalai Music, 2009).

Helm’s jazz suite, Journeywoman: A Work in Progress, was written as a result of winning Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation & Presentation Award for Jazz Composers in 2004 and the Encore Award in 2007. She also received awards from other organizations including Meet the Composer and a coveted Composer Fellowship from the MacDowell Colony, the oldest artist’s colony in the United States. Her film music composer credits include After Life by writer/director Lana, previewed and awarded in 2007 at the Arizona Black Film Festival and the Village D Cinema festival in Lisbon, Portugal.  Helm’s extensive educational credentials include a MA in Jazz Performance form East Carolina University, and work as a teacher/clinician at numerous schools and institutions including The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Long Island Performing Arts High School,  and Carnegie Hall/Link Up.  She served as a Jazz Ambassador for the United States State Department and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 1998-99. She currently serves as a Visiting Instructor in the Music Department at North Carolina Central University.

All of Lenora Zenzalai Helm’s broad artistry and experience make I Love Myself When I’m Laughing … And Then Again When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive the wonderful masterpiece that it is. As Lana Garland writes in the CD liner notes, “I Love Myself When I’m Laughing is a barefoot walk around the human experience and the tour guide, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, makes us listen, ponder, swing a little, listen and then swing some more! Grasping all the nuances, colors, and details of this well-crafted work takes time. It is a treasure that must be listened to over and again and as Henry Miller suggests, you will forget yourself.”

For more information, visit www.lenorahelm.com.

Hear the new CD at http://cdbaby.com/cd/lenorazenzalaihelm2

*  *  *

LISTENING PARTIES
10/1, 5:00 – 7:00 pm – Chicago, IL
The Home of Reggie “Rajah” Helm

10/14 – New York, NY
Hosted by SUNY COIL Institute (Private Event)

10/19 – Richmond, VA (Location TBA)

10/22, 4:30 – 6:30 pm – Durham, NC
Hosted by Bikram Yoga
Golden Belt, 807 E. Main Street

CD RELEASE PARTY & CONCERT
10/17, 7:00 – 9:00 pm – Raleigh, NC
Hosted by Hopper Piano
1800 Tillery Place, Suite A

The above events are free and open to the public, except where noted.

#  #  #

LIVING JAZZ LEGEND RANDY WESTON TO BE HONORED!
Honorary Co-Chairs Marty Markowitz, Danny Simmons And Others
To Honor Renowned Pianist And Composer.

“When Randy Weston plays / a combination of strength
and gentleness / virility and velvet emerges from the
keys in an ebb and flow of sound / seemingly as natural
as the waves of the sea.” – Langston Hughes

BROOKLYN, NY, October 3, 2011 – TRANSART, Inc. announced today that its annual Jazz Treasures program will take place on Monday, October 17, 2011 at 6:30 pm at The Rotunda in Brooklyn Borough Hall (located at 209 Joralemon Street in downtown Brooklyn). This year’s event will include an awards program, a VIP reception, and live music. The highlight of the evening will be a tribute to Brooklyn’s own Randy Weston, a world-renowned jazz pianist and composer who was selected as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2001. Credited with creating the Brooklyn sound, Weston is also the 2011 Guggenheim Fellow for the Creative Arts. www.RandyWeston.info.

Other awardees are Dr. Robert O’Meally (Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, and Founder/Former Director, Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies) and Charenee Wade (2010 2nd Place Winner, Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition). Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President, and Danny Simmons, Chairman Emeritus, New York State Council on the Arts are honorary co-chairs. The host committee, chaired by activist and writer Kevin Powell, includes great African American influencers from a variety of fields, including award-winning poets and activists Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez; Jitu Weusi, Co-Founder of The Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium; James Mtume, jazz and R&B musician and Co-Host of Open Line on KISS FM; and Marc Lamont Hill, Columbia University Professor and Host of Our World with Black Enterprise. Sharif Abdus Salaam, Host of Jazz Alternatives on WKCR-FM is the Master of Ceremonies. Performances will feature saxophonist Salim Washington, Charenee Wade, and others.

Tickets are only available online at www.transartinc.org. Admission ranges from $20 to $50. For more information, please call 845.384.6350 or send an email to info@transartinc.org. Also, www.facebook.com/jazzinthevalley.

More About Randy Weston

With a career span that covers more than six decades, Randy Weston is one of the world’s foremost pianists and composers and is recognized as a true innovator and visionary. Perhaps the Newport Jazz Festival newsletter said it best: “Sitting at the top of the ivory throne [in the jazz world] is the majestic, octogenarian pianist/composer Randy Weston: The music’s most profound living link to Africa, born in Brooklyn to parents whose roots are in Jamaica, Panama, and the American south. Pianistically, he is a descendant of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole and John Lewis…. [He] is anchored in the ancient, ancestral ache of the blood, sweat, and tears of his people. Mr. Weston has written some of the most identifiable jazz standards of the modern era, including the hip-notizing Little Niles, and the immortally cool Hi-Fly. Unlike a lot of people who talk about Africa, Weston actually lived [there], ran a jazz club in Morocco, and established life links with the mysterious Gnawa musicians of that country.”

Randy Weston was born in Brooklyn in 1926. He cites Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, and Duke Ellington as piano heroes, yet says that Thelonious Monk had the greatest impact. His first recording as a band leader came in 1954 on Riverside Records and it was about this time that he played around New York and wrote many of his best loved tunes: Saucer Eyes, Pam’s Waltz, Little Niles, Hi-Fly. The latter is a “tale about being my height and looking down at the ground,” says the 6′ 8 jazz master.

About Jazz Treasures and Event Purpose

Musicians and scholars recognize jazz as America’s original music, created and developed by Black people who trace their ancestral and cultural lineage to Africa. Having once enjoyed prominence on the popular music scene, jazz is not widely embraced nor understood today by its would-be heirs. TRANSART seeks to change that. In keeping with its mission, TRANSART promotes and preserves jazz culture throughout New York. Jazz Treasures is one of TRANSART’s successful programs that accomplishes this goal.

Greer Smith, founder of TRANSART, explains the motivation behind this event “I wanted to create an event that not only honors legendary and upcoming jazz musicians, but one that creates a space for African American youth, in particular, to learn about their musical heritage. This tribute is a people’s celebration. It’s inter-generational on purpose and it’s based in Brooklyn on purpose, yet it’s for everyone.” Addressing the relevance of jazz culture, Smith adds: “Historically, Brooklyn has been fertile ground for this culture, a culture that has shaped a music that is treasured worldwide. Acknowledging Randy Weston for his work in consistently promoting jazz and its African roots is a way to say thank you and to introduce him to a generation via his music and his humanity.”

Jazz Treasures 2011 Host Committee | Sharif Abdus-Salaam, Adeyemi Bandele, Lumumba Bandele, Amiri Baraka, Wanda Burgess, Khephra Burns, NYS Assemblyman Karim Camara, Jo Ann Cheatham, Laurie Cumbo, Olu Dara, Camille Evans, Bernice Green, Richard Green, Brenda M. Greene, Roger Greene, Marc Lamont Hill, Delridge Hunter, NYC Councilwoman Letitia “Tish” James, Robert H. Johnson, Richard Jones, Don Quinn Kelley, Marline Martin, Carolyn McClair, James Mtume, Sam Pinn, Laura Rice, Sonia Sanchez, April R. Silver, Ernest Skinner, Quincy Troupe, Khalia Washington, Salim Washington, Jitu Weusi, NYC Councilman Jumaane Williams. Host Chair: Kevin Powell

For more info, visit www.transartinc.org, www.facebook.com/jazzinthevalley, call 845.384.6350 or send an email to info@transartinc.org.

# # #