Apr 3, 2023 | Events
(SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 7:30PM)
The Edward Simon Group featuring pianist Edward Simon, Reuben Rogers, bass and Adam Cruz, drums, plus special guest, award-winning Mexican vocalist Magos Herrera and percussionist Luis Quintero, present a program entitled “Femeninas,” which celebrates the legacy of Latin American women songwriters including Violeta Parra (Chile), Marta Valdes (Cuba), Chabuca Granda (Peru), Elizabeth Morris (Argentina) and Joyce (Brazil) with a distinct jazz bent. Also included in the program will be Simon’s Chamber Music America commissioned multi-movement work, Latino Soy, which was funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and premiered at The Bowes Center in San Francisco, California in March 2022.
A native of Venezuela, Edward Simon, has made a name for himself in the U.S. as a jazz improviser, composer-arranger and band leader and in recent years, he has explored the commonalities that jazz has with the folkloric sounds of Latin America. Now based in the Bay Area, he is a member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, and has been a Guggenheim Fellow, along with being awarded multiple composition grants as part of the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works initiative. Simon has recorded 16 albums with his latest, Solo Live, released in October 2021. His 2016 album, Latin American Songbook, won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album and was described as “brimming with lyricism, color, and groove, giving instrumental voice to songs originally made famous by such singers as Caetano Veloso and Mercedes Sosa.” The Edward Simon Trio has been playing together for fifteen years, performing at some of the top venues and festivals in the country and is hailed as one of today’s top jazz piano trios. The trio’s current focus is on Simon’s compositions and arrangements of Latin American standards. Born in Mexico City and now based in New York, Magos Herrera is a “dazzling jazz singer, songwriter, producer, and educator,” who was declared “one of the greatest contemporary interpreters of song” by The Latin Jazz Network. Best known for her eloquent vocal improvisation and her singular bold style, which embraces elements of contemporary jazz with Ibero-American melodies and rhythms, Herrera sings in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, and has garnered many awards and recognitions, including a Grammy short-list nomination in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category for her album Distancia (2009). The only female artist to have received the Berklee College of Music’s Master of Latin Music Award, she is a champion of women’s causes and a promoter of gender equality, serving as spokesperson for UN Women, and contributing to UNITE to end violence against women. She serves as an artistic advisor of the “National Sawdust,” one of Brooklyn’s most innovative venues, and produces and hosts a weekly radio program from New York for Mexico’s Public Radio. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, percussionist Luis Ernesto Quintero Vegas (who goes by Luis Quintero) hails from a lineage of distinguished musicians and singers. He has participated in over 700 musical productions spanning a wide range of genres and is a multiple Grammy or Latin Grammy Award winner, including with Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band for Best Latin Jazz Album (2019) and in with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra for Best Tropical Latin album (2018).
This concert is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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Apr 2, 2023 | Events
(THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 7:30PM)
sponsored by Jim & Julie Gooddin
Back by popular demand, the Django Festival Allstars (DFA) return to Outpost with their unique, high-energy tribute to the “hot jazz” of legendary Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. A brilliantly cohesive group of world class musicians (mostly from France), founded by legendary gypsy guitarist and violinist Dorado Schmitt, the DFA has developed their exciting and refined sound for the past 20 years and they have taken America by storm, performing at top concert halls and festivals to standing ovations. Reinhardt’s driving, swinging style “harkens back to the 30s and 40s in Europe where he teamed up with the great jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli to create The Hot Club Quintette of France, one of the greatest musical partnerships in European Jazz history. ‘Hot-swing’ has its roots in American popular music and a reverence for Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and other top American jazz figures. The DFA take the music fully into the 21st century with their own creative interpretations, arrangements, and original compositions. “There’s nothing like The Django Festival Allstars to bring pure JOY to an audience… Their music reaches right into your heart and brings ‘smiles’ a mile long… as the music is ‘happy’, infectious, and full of love.” The DFA features Samson Schmitt and Michael Harris, guitars; Pierre Blanchard, violin; Ludovic Beier, accordion; and Antonio Licusati, bass.
Django Festival Allstars is also sponsored by John Pearse Strings
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Apr 1, 2023 | Events
(FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 7:30PM)
A New Mexico Jazz Festival Event
Combining jazz, soul, drum’n’bass, and spoken word into his own unique brand of vocal jazz, New York City-based vocalist José James is often referred to as a jazz singer for the hip-hop generation. Last heard in a performance at the Lensic in Santa Fe in a December 2021 New Mexico Jazz Festival event, James returns to New Mexico to perform at the Lensic and Outpost with his latest project honoring Grammy winning singer-songwriter (as well as touring artist, producer, DJ, director, and activist) Eryka Badu. An artist who often shows love to those who inspire him, James has dedicated entire albums to artists whose music he’s admired, including Billie Holiday and Bill Withers, and on his latest release, On & On: José James Sings Badu, he “investigates the breadth of Erykah Badu’s iconic catalog, from her groundbreaking debut album Baduizm to her contemporary masterpieces New Amerykah Pt. 1 and 2.” James notes, “It’s simple . . . Jazz singing has always been about interpreting the highest level of standards of your time. And for my generation Erykah Badu has been one of the most innovative and incisive songwriters. Her work has proven to be groundbreaking in a social, musical and artistic sense.” On & On is described as a jazz album conceived in the spirit of Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters, and on which James “artfully draws upon his experiences with modern masters like McCoy Tyner, Robert Glasper and Flying Lotus to create a new sonic landscape through an improvisatory lens.” A celebrated international performer, James has released 11 critically-acclaimed albums and presented his work at venues such as The Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, Ancienne Belgique and Billboard Live Tokyo. He has performed as a guest artist with McCoy Tyner, Laura Mvula and the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Melbourne Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras and is the recipient of both the Edison Award and L’Académie du Jazz Grand Prix. NPR Music exclaims, “Catch up with Jose James now because he’s a rarity— an artist evolving at warp speed.” James will be joined by Ebban Dorsey, saxophone; BIGYUKI, keys; David Ginyard, bass; and Jharis Yokley, drums.
“On & On: José James Sings Badu” will also perform in Santa Fe at the Lensic on Thursday, June 15 at 7:30pm
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