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Holiday
Jazz Renaissance

Concert Series

featuring:

Thursday
Dec. 9, 2010 8PM

Azar Lawrence
& Vocalist James Love
 
Sunday
Nov. 21, 2010 8PM

Dale Fielder &
Dale Fielder Quartet (DFQ)
Lynne Fiddmont
 
Mobile Convention Center
Catt's Sunday Jazz Brunch
Carmen Brown | 98.3 WDLT
92ZEW | Lite Mix 99.9
Clarion Jazz | EURweb

 

Tickets
*$20/Adults
Ticketmaster.com
1-800-745-3000
Mobile Civic Center
(Box Office hours: 9am-5pm M-F)
251-208-7906
Students/Senior Citizens/Group rates available
Email: info@rba-i.com
* (plus tax & fees)
 
previous Jazz Renaissance Concerts
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010 8PM
featuring:
Nat Adderley, Jr.
Lil Greenwood
Theodore Arthur, Jr.
Sandra Booker
read Review by Carmen Brown
 
 
 
 
JPEGS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE/PERFORMANCE.
THEODORE ARTHUR JR. TRIO Plus Percussion IMG_0110.jpg (l-r) Jerome Bryant (Percussionist); Theodore Arthur, Jr. (Sax); Shad Collins (Organ); L.C. Lyman (Drums).  Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography ©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
click to view/download
THEODORE ARTHUR JR. TRIO Plus Percussion
(l-r) Jerome Bryant (Percussionist); Theodore Arthur, Jr. (Sax); Shad Collins (Organ); L.C. Lyman (Drums).
Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography ©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
---------------
SANDRA BOOKER PERFORMS WITH QUARTET IMG_0310.jpg (l-r) Tal Ronen (Bass); Sandra Booker (Vocalist); Charles Ruggiero (Drums); (Not Shown, Jerome Bryant, Percussionist) Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography ©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
click to view/download
SANDRA BOOKER PERFORMS WITH QUARTET
(l-r) Tal Ronen (Bass); Sandra Booker (Vocalist); Charles Ruggiero (Drums); (Not Shown, Jerome Bryant, Percussionist)
Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography
©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
---------------
NAT ADDERLEY JR. PERFORMS Jpeg IMG_0425.jpg
click to view/download
NAT ADDERLEY JR. PERFORMS
"NAT ADDERLEY JR."
Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography
©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
---------------
NAT ADDERLEY JR. QUINTET  IMG_0411.jpg (l-r) Ricky Ravallo (Bass); Vaughn Hall (Drums); Longineu Parsons (Cornet); Diron Holloway (Sax). Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography ©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
click to view/download
NAT ADDERLEY JR. QUINTET
(l-r) Ricky Ravallo (Bass); Vaughn Hall (Drums); Longineu Parsons (Cornet); Diron Holloway (Sax).
Photo by Ken Holt, Holt Photography
©Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.
 
 
 
     
iJazz@Mobile logo News
Listen to the
Radio Spots
Thurs. Dec. 9 8PM  
iJazz@Mobile Holiday Jazz Renaissance Concert Series: Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 at 8pm: Azar Lawrence, saxophonist, the Azar Lawrence Quartet, and James Love Legacy, Music, and Songs of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman  
     
*Please note: best if viewed in Firefox or Safari
  Thursday, December 9 at 8PM  
AZAR LAWRENCE Photo by Jay Jackson
click to view/download
MYSTIC JOURNEY cover
click to view/download
AZAR LAWRENCE
click to view/download
AZAR LAWRENCE
Photo by Jay Jackson
MYSTIC JOURNEY cover AZAR LAWRENCE
     
JAMES LOVE INVITATIONS CD cover
click to view/download
COLTRANE & HARTMAN cover
click to view/download
HARTMAN & COLTRANE McCoy Tyner at the piano
click to view/download
JAMES LOVE "INVITATIONS" CD cover
COLTRANE & HARTMAN album cover HARTMAN & COLTRANE McCoy Tyner at the piano
The Azar Lawrence Quartet celebrating the Music of John Coltrane. Commemorating the December 9, 1964 Anniversary release of
John Coltrane's
"A Love Supreme"
James Love, Jazz Vocalist, singing the Music of
Johnny Hartman & more Jazz Classics
 
  Sunday, November 21 at 8PM  
DALE FIELDER
click to view/download
LYNNE FIDDMONT Photo by Lena Ringstad
click to view/download
LADY CD cover Photo by Eddie Wolfe
click to view/download
DALE FIELDER LYNNE FIDDMONT
Photo by Lena Ringstad
"LADY" CD cover
Photo by Eddie Wolfe
Jazz Saxophonist Dale Fielder, The Dale Fielder Quartet,
Lynne Fiddmont performing a special tribute
The Music of Billie Holiday and
Songs from the American Jazz Songbook
 
 

For Immediate Release, Please!

Announcing Two Holiday Jazz Engagements at the
Mobile Convention Center

Sunday, November 21 at 8PM     Thursday, December 9 at 8PM
Dale Fielder, Jazz Saxophonist
and Dale Fielder Quartet (DFQ)
with special guest Lynne Fiddmont
Tribute to Legendary Billie Holiday
    The Azar Lawrence Quartet & Vocalist James Love performing the Music of John Coltrane and
Johnny Hartman

Mobile, AL.-On Sunday, November 21 at 8PM, acclaimed jazz saxophonist Dale Fielder and his Dale Fielder Quartet (DFQ) will make their Mobile performing debut at the Mobile Convention Center's intimate "Jazz on the Bay" Room. Joining Fielder will be jazz vocalist "Lynne Fiddmont" premiering, "Lady", "A Tribute to Billie Holiday" from the title of her new CD. The concert marks the first Mobile appearance for Fiddmont, as well.

Dale Fielder is considered one of the premier jazz saxophonists in the country and is getting rave reviews from his recently released album on Clarion Records (www.clarionjazz.com) "Stellar Moments". Dale Fielder's style is somewhere between Wayne Shorter's tensile fragility and John Coltrane's towering strength or as jazz writer Bob Agnew stated, "As a multi-instrumentalist saxophonist Fielder is one of jazz's best kept secrets".

Bill Kohlhaas of the LA Times said of Fielder, " His performances swing with dignified sounds and a sense of tradition, not to mention the kind of emotional content that great jazz demands".

Fielder's Stellar Moments is the 13th in a series of recordings that began in 1983. It follows on the heals of his 2007 release, "Dale Fielder Quartet Plays The Music Of Pepper Adams" ending a 4 year cycle of primarily performing and recording on the baritone sax. On Stellar Moments , Fielder displays striking abilities on the baritone, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones.

Fielder's Dale Fielder Quartet (DFQ) has Joel Scott on piano. Scott has performed with Stevie Wonder, Jackson Five, Lou Rawls, and Dionne Warwick among others. Trevor Ware on acoustic bass. Ware has played with Nat Adderley, Jr., Herbie Hancock and Pharoah Sanders. Additionally, Ware also wears another hat and that's as the Senior VP & Chief Operations Officer for the Los Angeles Urban League. Thomas White will be on drums. White has performed with Dave Brubeck and Roy Hargrove.

Lynne Fiddmont, having attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston prior to relocating to Los Angeles, has sung extensively for years as a background vocalist. She has performed with Stevie Wonder, Patti Austin, Whitney Houston, Stanley Clark, Kenny Loggins, to name a few and most recently with multi-Grammy winner Phil Collins. Fiddmont is also riding high with her new 'Midlife Records' solo album effort, "Lady", a ten song tribute to jazz icon, "Billie Holiday". In her recording of "Lady", Fiddmont, who co-produced enlisted a virtual who's who of contemporary jazz performers on her album. Featured are "George Duke", "Gerald Albright", "Christian McBride", "Kirk Whalum", "Freddie Washington", "Billy Childs" and many others.

The album marks Fiddmont's second solo album, the first being the critically acclaimed, "Flow", which became a staple on smooth jazz and satellite jazz radio shows as well as 'Quiet Storm' radio programming formats worldwide upon its release in 2007.

Thursday, December 9 at 8PM
The Azar Lawrence Quartet
And Vocalist James Love
Performing the Music of
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

Multi-talented wunderkind jazz saxophonist Azar Lawrence and his Quartet with featured vocalist James Love will make a first time Mobile appearance performing the music of John Coltrane in concert and a musical salute to legendary singer, "Johnny Hartman".  Additionally, Azar Lawrence will perform from his vast songbook including his latest celebrated jazz album released this past spring, "Mystic Journey".

December 9th marks a monumental date in jazz history. It was on that date in 1964 that jazz icon John Coltrane released what many consider one of the most important "jazz" albums in musical history, "A Love Supreme".

iJazzAtMobile , in commemoration of that musical milestone will present in concert, "The Azar Lawrence Quartet". In 2007, Clarion Jazz Records released the widely acclaimed live performance album, "The Legacy and Music of John Coltrane" featuring "Azar Lawrence and "The Edwin Bayard Quartet". Lawrence, whose mother had been a superb classically trained pianist in her own right, recognized his musical aptitude early on. Lawrence was a musical prodigy at the age of five on both the violin and piano. His latest 2010 album, "Mystic Journey", is wowing jazz music critics here and abroad. Downbeat Magazine said of " Mystic Journey " in its September 10, 2010 review of the CD, "the John Coltrane legacy hits from the get-go on Mystic Journey ".

JazzTimes writer Don Heckman wrote in JazzTimes of Lawrence's heir apparency to John Coltrane, " Lawrence is one of the most authentic of the Coltrane-influenced tenor players." When Coltrane died in 1967, Coltrane's pianist and musical conductor "McCoy Tyner" selected the then young "Azar Lawrence" to fill Coltrane's chair on tenor sax. Later, he would also perform with "Miles Davis" at Carnegie Hall that produced the superb album, " Dark Magus: Live At Carnegie Hall". Heavy company for the then young jazz saxophonist from Los Angeles.

One of the greatest performances of "John Coltrane's musical career was the album he recorded with perhaps the finest balladeers of all time, "Johnny Hartman". Hartman's music was featured on the "Clint Eastwood" directed and produced movie soundtrack, " The Bridges of Madison County". Hartman's velvet vocal tone, according to one music critic, "defied explanation" as to its beauty, reached a vast new audience long after his death. The "Coltrane" and "Hartman" musical collaboration produced the 1963 venerable album, "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman". The album became an instant jazz classic, and the renditions of "Lush Life", "My One and Only Love", and "They Say It's Wonderful" are considered definitive artistic works.

Joining Azar Lawrence and his Quartet on December 9 in Concert will be "James Love" who jazz critics consider the "Johnny Hartman" of today. Love's velvet smooth baritone voice is reminiscent of Johnny Hartman in a host of ways. In 2007, "The Azar Lawrence Quartet" with Azar on tenor and alto sax with "James Love" as featured vocalist performed live at the "Camden House" in Beverly Hills and recorded at the "Jazz Bakery" in Culver City, California, "The Azar Lawrence Quartet and James Love" Celebrate the "Legacy, Music and Songs of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman".

"Lawrence and Love" will again perform the classic duets made famous with the 1963 album duet of "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman" that'll include "Lush Life", "My One and Only Love",  "They Say It's Wonderful", and "For All We Know", among others.

Comprising "The Azar Lawrence Quartet" will be Benito Gonzalez on acoustic piano. Gonzalez, originally from Venezuela, has performed with Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride and Pharoah Sanders. On the acoustic bass will be Easiet Easiet who has performed and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson and Cedar Walton. On drums will be Ronnie Burrage. Burrage has performed with some of the leading jazz ensembles around including McCoy Tyner, Gary Bartz, Bradford Marsalis, Marcus Miller, Wallace Roney and Archie Shepp among others. Additionally, Burrage who graduated from the acclaimed jazz program at North Texas State and when not touring teaches at the Philadelphia University of Arts and is an adjunct professor at Pennsylvania State University while teaching at the "New School University" in New York.

"Our motto is,"Bookman says, "when we say jazz, we mean jazz." Continuing, "we believe that in these two very superb concerts, we're offering music fans "real classical jazz" performed by some of the finest musicians in the world."

Showtime is at 8PM for both concerts (November 21 with Dale Fielder, DFQ and Lynne Fiddmont) and (December 9 with The Azar Lawrence Quartet and Special Guest James Love). All seating in the intimate 'Jazz on the Bay' Room at the Mobile Convention Center will be general admission. Tickets for each show are priced at $20 (plus applicable charges and fees). Students discount tickets with ID are $15 per concert (plus applicable charges and fees). Tickets for both concerts go on sale Wednesday, November 3rd at all the usual Ticketmaster locations including the Mobile Civic Center Box Office , (251) 208-7906 (Hours: M-F 9am-5pm), online at Ticketmaster.com , or 800-745-3000.
 
Purchasers of both the "Dale Fielder" DFQ with "Lynne Fiddmont" and the "Azar Lawrence Quartet with James Love" receive a $10 discount or $30 dollars (plus applicable fees and charges) for both concerts. That would be $15 per engagement.

The concerts are produced by 'Ron Bookman Presents' in association with Clarion Jazz.

— Contact:
Media Relations
Ron Bookman and Associates, Inc.:

media.relations@rba-i.com

251.725.6330
917.319.9091

 
 
Nat Adderley, Jr., Lil Greenwood, Theodore Arthur, Jr., Sandra Booker

For Immediate Release, Please!

'iJAZZ RENAISSANCE' CONCERT HITS "PERFECT" NOTE WITH NAT ADDERLEY, JR., SANDRA BOOKER QUARTET AND THEODORE ARTHUR, JR. TRIO, OFFERING STELLAR PERFORMANCES

LEGENDARY "LIL GREENWOOD" HONORED IN TRIBUTE

–A jazz concert review by Carmen Brown
October 9, 2010 "iJazz Renaissance in Mobile" Concert at the Mobile Convention Center Featuring Nat Adderley Jr. Quintet, Theodore Arthur, Jr. Trio, Sandra Booker Quartet, and a Special Appearance by Lil Greenwood.
Produced by Ron Bookman Presents

(Mobile, AL) There were five people in the multicolored, carpeted hallway. Two ticket takers, a security guard and a slight, bespeckled young man in black who was looking at his hands, or rather, looking at his fingers which were curled in towards his palms, and me. Nods were exchanged and he went into the ballroom.

Minutes later, I followed. The Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile ballroom had been transformed to assume the feel of a jazz nightclub. The stage was draped in black and white; tables topped with red and white linen and roses added to the ambience. Splashes of blue from strategically placed pin spots highlighted the walls. High-tech revolving lights of purple and gold (Mobile's Mardi Gras colors) created an aura of anticipation for what was to come.

After a few words with 'iJazz Renaissance@Mobile' producer Ron Bookman, he asked me, "Have you met Nat?" He meant Nat Adderley, Jr., the evening's headliner. Adderley, an accomplished keyboard player and arranger, bears the birthright of a famed jazz family: his father, Nat Adderley, was a composer and jazz cornet and trumpet player, while his uncle, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, was a jazz alto saxophonist. The reason for him looking at his fingers became clear. They were his gear for the debut event in the iJazz series.

Following a tribute to jazz legend, Lil Greenwood (vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for 14 years), the clock struck show time. The Theodore Arthur, Jr. Quartet (Arthur, sax; Shad Collins, organ; L. C. Lyman, drums; Jerome Bryant, percussion) opened the show with a six-song set. Included were a moving cover of Charlie Parker's "My Little Suede Shoes" and a rousing version of "Let The Good Times Roll" that featured Arthur on vocals.

After a brief intermission, vocalist/songwriter Sandra Booker opened her set with "On A Clear Day". Between scatting, vamping, shimmying, trading licks with the band, and stories with the audience, Booker delivered a solid, crowd-pleasing performance. The New Orleans native/California transplant was supported by a first class band - Jeremy Manasia (piano), Tal Roneh (bass), Charles Ruggiero (drums) and guest percussionist, Jerome Bryant. She closed out with two originals, "Café du Monde" and "Laissez Les Bon Temp Roullier" from her album "When Love Happens: The Loving Day Concert".

"A Performance of the Songbook of Nat & Cannonball Adderley" launched with "Fiddler On The Roof" followed by Duke Pearson's "Jeannine", both crisp and to the point. During the Nat Adderley, Jr. Quintet's soulful rendition of "Autumn Leaves", one concertgoer was moved to the point of sharing her Sleepless in Seattle-like moans with the rest of us. The quintet (Adderley on piano, cornet player Longineu Parsons, saxophonist Diron Holloway, bassist Ricky Ravello and drummer Vaughn Hall) attacked, teased and blazed through a straight ahead jazz set of nine tunes that also included two Cannonball signatures, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "The Work Song".

Adderley closed the evening with a special request, an unplugged solo performance of "A House Is Not A Home", a number he played often while carrying out his duties as musical director for Luther Vandross. The audience clamored for "more" as the house lights came up to signal the end of a magical evening. As he walked down the steps from the stage, Nat was looking at his fingers, curled towards his palm. Would like to think he was thanking them for a job well done.

The entire concert was videotaped "live" by Corredo Productions for re-broadcast to a national audience.

{Carmen Brown has been an on-air jazz radio personality for over 32 years. She currently hosts "Smooth Jazz Sundays" on WDLT-FM, 98.3 in Mobile, Alabama.}

— Contact:
Media Relations
Ron Bookman and Associates, Inc.:

media.relations@rba-i.com

251.725.6330
917.319.9091

 
   
   
© 2010 Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc., All Rights Reserved.