By Donald True Van Deusen
Zanzibar Blue, Philadelphia's most sophisticated jazz club, Broad and
Walnut Streets, (215-732-4500) is offering up a tasty serving of various
jazz forms over the next several days.
The Mark Kramer Quintet featuring Gary Thomas on tenor sax along with
Jeannie Brooks on vocals, will be the main menu tonight and tomorrow night at
9 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and Midnight for a $10 cover.
Kramer is a highly regarded Philadelphia pianist who taught himself to
play piano, was director for ye Olde Temperance House in Newtown for 14
years, worked with various top jazz groups and taught at the New School of
Music and at Rutgers. Thomas, a nationally known jazz sax man and Director of
Jazz Studies at Howard University, has worked with such jazz stars as Miles
Davis, Herbie Hancock and Cassandra Wilson. Ms Brooks, a top flight local
jazz vocalist, is featured on several jazz albums. They will be joined by
John Mosemann on drums and Gary Mazzaroppi on bass.
Latin jazz lovers will get their fill on Wednesday night with the Ellas y
Amigos shows at 8, 9:30 and 11 p.m. with no cover charge with reservations..
The Ellas, an all-female jazz group working this date for several months,
include Lynn Riley, one of the finest sax players in Philadelphia, and
someone anyone who cares about jazz should hear.
Ms Riley, a Washington, D.C. native, came to Philadelphia in 1984 and
worked in the joyful jam sessions at the old Blue Note on Limekiln Pike after
graduating from the University of Hawaii and working five years with the
Women's Jazz Festival in Kansas City, Mo. Described by many as a
"superwoman" on sax (soprano,alto and tenor) she also plays flute and
clarinet. She has worked with such top stars as Grover Washington, Jr. and
Philly Joe Jones and has been recognized by the Trane Stop Resource Institute
for her work. She is a sensational sax sidewoman or star.
