The participants are jazz masters and exciting improvisors, drawing from their rich American, Afro-American, and European musical traditions to share their music. Each has shaped an original style, and received wide recognition for their ability.
The violin masters:
is the most senior swing fiddle representative. Frigo played violin with Jimmy Dorsey and with Herb Ellis in the 40's, but made a livelihood playing bass in Chicago's busy commercial music scene until the 1980s, when Frigo took a three year sabbatical to perfect his jazz violin playing. His sabbatical paid off when he sat in at clubs in Los Angeles with Herb Ellis, Monty Alexander and Ray Brown, leading to appearances on several Concord Jazz recordings, impromptu onstage duets with Tony Bennett, and two records to date for Chesky with Frigo as leader, one nominated for a Grammy.
is considered the first violinist to fully absorb bebop. His brilliant solo work is first featured on Ahmad Jamal's early recordings, for which Kennedy composed and arranged for both small group and string orchestra. Recently, Joe has performed with Benny Carter's All-Stars, Jon Faddis and the Great American Jazz Ensemble (a PBS TV special), and the Roanoke Symphony, for which he wrote a full-length jazz and gospel fantasia featuring himself as soloist.
changed the jazz world forever with his Turtle Island String Quartet, finally proving that a string quartet can not only swing but perform any contemporary music convincingly. Working in depth with such musical luminaries as Stephane Grappelli, Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck, David Grisman, et al.,inspired in Anger a unique perspective on string music, resulting in his inventing new string techniques for playing jazz and other styles, including his own originals.
dubbed "L'enfant Terrible of the Jazz Violin" by the Soho Weekly News, has chaired the String Department of Boston's Berklee College Of Music since 1983, building it from an incidental post to the world's most influential and respected course of jazz violin study. Glaser studied with Vassar Clements, Lee Konitz, and the late Adolphe Sandole, earned a degree in musicology from Tufts, and is a regular conributor to various Jazz encyclopedias, anthologies, NPR's All Things Considered, and many music periodicals.
Since her first violin lesson at age five, Sara has accumulated an unprecedented list of top local, state and national awards. A four-year Wells Scholar, she studied with Josef Gingold and currently performs with David N. Baker's Indiana University Jazz Ensemble while maintaining a Dean's List status under a double major in classical violin and jazz studies. She has studied or performed with some of the best jazz violinists today, including Claude Williams, John Blake, Matt Glaser, Randy Sabien and Darol Anger, and has commissioned arrangements for jazz violin and orchestra.
Perhaps the most rare and wonderful experiences in any art is to observe successive generations working together to create a synergistic mix of old and new styles. FOUR GENERATIONS OF JAZZ VIOLIN, captures the past and the present; it resonates mutual respect, tradition, and exciting innovation while igniting a fire of creativity which can be far more thrilling than the latest explosion movie!
The Inaugural show has been played,and was a startling success. Not that I didn't expect it to be great, historic, all those usual adjectives; but that the players went deep, into their personal end zones, to capture a unique beauty and grace only attainable with a violin, and only attainable with these individual. It was a shock at the nerve level. This show has a soul.
The immediate warmth between all the players, even those who hadn't met before, made every meal and rehearsal a pleasure, and the thrill of creating something new, especially in the ensemble arrangements, was palpable. The players were chosen not only for their greatness, their standing in the jazz community, but for their ability to read, phrase and blend, in what must surely be the hippest all-violin ensemble since the Turtle Island String Quartet. The group pieces exploded with punchy ensembles and brilliant solos in which everybody contributed their best work possible.
The show was enlivened with the variety of Matt & Darol's unaccompanied duet on an old-time fiddle theme, Matt's comedic talents and his inimitable singing, and Johnny's poetry. The exquisite grace and depth of Johnny and Joe's individual sets surpassed everyone's expectations but their own.
The terrific backup band, headed by the brilliant pianist Steve Crews, did yeoman duty on short notice. And thanks must go to Richard Van Kleeck and his assistant Libby McHugh of Lonesome Pine Special for their vision, dedication, and great organization, premiering this history-making show.
All told, the first concert in what promises to be a important milestone for jazz violin could not have been more auspicious. We're looking forward to receiving the multitrack recording made by the local radio station, and possibly releasing selected tracks, both here on the web and elsewhere. Look to this space for more news!
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