NPR to Feature Steve Wilson’s Kennedy Center Performance on JazzSet
Non-Stop ‘09 Activity Includes a Week at The Village Vanguard with Michael Wolff, Blue Note Anniversary Tour and Spring Headlining Concerts
Saxophonist Steve Wilson continues to develop his reputation as one of the genuinely ‘good guys’ of jazz. Wilson is in demand as a band leader, sideman, educator, jazz historian and more, and his busy 2009 schedule shows him cultivating one of the most diverse and respected careers in the business.
Known for his warm personality as well as for his incomparable chops, Wilson was recently honored to perform at The Kennedy Center, and that concert will air on NPR’s JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater in early April.
Wilson will return to the D.C.-area next month, for a series of March events: Steve Wilson Quartet, March 7 at Garth Newel Music Center in Warm Springs, VA; SWQ, March 8 at Live Arts Theater, Charlottesville, VA; SWQ March 9 - 12 at University of MD, for a very special visit to the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Univ. of MD, College Park, MD: Wilson will be the Artist in Residence and will conduct workshops on improvisation and all things jazz as well as the Business of Music. He will speak to the ethnomusicology class about jazz history within the context of American History, conduct workshops with the university jazz ensemble as well as smaller combos. The UMD Jazz Ensemble will perform Wilson's “A Joyful Noise," with Wilson as guest soloist. Steve’s long-time friend Chris Vadala, who is the head of the Jazz Dept at UMD, directs this ensemble. The Steve Wilson Quartet (Bruce Barth, Michael Bowie and Adam Cruz all join him for this residency) will perform a concert on the last day that will feature a new work composed by Steve, and commissioned by UMD. (All events are subject to change.)
From April 21-26, 2009, the quartet of Steve Wilson, pianist Michael Wolff, Chip Jackson on bass and Victor Lewis on drums will join together at the legendary Village Vanguard in New York City. Wilson is also in the midst of performances with The Blue Note 7 on the successful Blue Note 70th Anniversary Tour. The tour kicked off in Seattle last month, and will finish at Birdland in NYC on April 14-19, 2009. Music Director for the touring group is Bill Charlap, and the band features Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Ravi Coltrane, Peter Bernstein and Nicholas Payton. Together with Wilson, they are focusing on recreating Blue Note music from the 1950s and 1960s. The ensemble did a studio recording in May, which was released in January 2009. Be sure to check the Tour Page on Steve's new website for additional details, as they become available. Arts Journal reviewed an early show and praised Wilson’s “six choruses of story-telling improvisation…” Read the full review, here: http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2009/01/the_blue_note_7_and_theyre_off.html
Prior to the April 2nd Blue Note show at Darmouth College, Wilson will participate in a discussion with critic Howard Mandel on the topic of ‘The Class Divide’ – how the arts have or have not been affected and/or influenced by class. And how the classes have reacted to art over the ages.
Also on the horizon: Steve Wilson has been invited to be the Artist in Residence at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada for the 2008/2009 school year. The first of two sessions took place in Winnipeg from November 3-14, 2008 and the second visit is set for February 2 through 13, 2009. While there, Steve will conduct intensive sessions on a variety of topics, including improvisation, jazz history, and private lessons. He will also conduct large and small student ensembles, and will do performances with both faculty and students.
Two appearances are confirmed at one of America's most prestigious chamber music festivals for the summer of '09. On July 22, Wilson will play a jazz concert with his quartet at the Vermont Music Festival, and on July 25 he will make his orchestral debut with the Villa Lobos' Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra, with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, and conducted by Gil Shohat.
Steve Wilson works with Grammy award winning arranger and conductor Robert Sadin on a very special project: “Charlie Parker – Looking Forward and Backward”: Performing with classical musicians was always one of Parker's great dreams and ultimate satisfactions. This program explores the artistic alchemy of intersecting these great traditions. The repertoire includes classic songs from the Bird with Strings album, plus new arrangements of music of Ellington, Monk, and Mingus and as a special feature, Barber's Adagio for Strings. This project will begin in 2010, the 60th anniversary of the original recording. More details will be coming soon.
April 27 - 29, 2009 - Wilson will be in residence at the State University of New York at New Paltz where he will be collaborating with arranger and guitarist David O'Rourke and world-renowned bassist Ira Coleman. Wilson and company will bring their music and teaching skills to lead a three-day residency, and final performance that will incorporate both faculty and students from the university. More details on this exciting project will be announced soon.
Wilson’s performance at the Kennedy Center was previewed in the DCist: http://dcist.com/2008/10/16/preview_steve_wilson_the_kc_jazz_cl.php
In a live review in the 9/09 issue of ALL ABOUT JAZZ – NY, Wilson's recent performance at the Rubin Museum in New York was described as follows: “Wilson wove his sound through the music in a manner that was spellbinding in its nuance and attentiveness to dynamics." http://www.allaboutjazz.com/newyork/aaj_ny_200809.pdf
Recently nominated as Alto Player of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and profiled in ALL ABOUT JAZZ, Wilson is known for his modest, warm personality…and for his in-depth knowledge of all-things-jazz. Read the major 'career' feature on Steve Wilson, from ALL ABOUT JAZZ, here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php? id=29437
At the newly-launched http://www.stevewilsonmusic.com/, visitors will be able to sample new tunes and see performance footage. The site, part of the Jazz Corner family, also includes a streaming audio player, details of Wilson's numerous band configurations, and more.
Non-Stop ‘09 Activity Includes a Week at The Village Vanguard with Michael Wolff, Blue Note Anniversary Tour and Spring Headlining Concerts
Saxophonist Steve Wilson continues to develop his reputation as one of the genuinely ‘good guys’ of jazz. Wilson is in demand as a band leader, sideman, educator, jazz historian and more, and his busy 2009 schedule shows him cultivating one of the most diverse and respected careers in the business.
Known for his warm personality as well as for his incomparable chops, Wilson was recently honored to perform at The Kennedy Center, and that concert will air on NPR’s JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater in early April.
Wilson will return to the D.C.-area next month, for a series of March events: Steve Wilson Quartet, March 7 at Garth Newel Music Center in Warm Springs, VA; SWQ, March 8 at Live Arts Theater, Charlottesville, VA; SWQ March 9 - 12 at University of MD, for a very special visit to the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Univ. of MD, College Park, MD: Wilson will be the Artist in Residence and will conduct workshops on improvisation and all things jazz as well as the Business of Music. He will speak to the ethnomusicology class about jazz history within the context of American History, conduct workshops with the university jazz ensemble as well as smaller combos. The UMD Jazz Ensemble will perform Wilson's “A Joyful Noise," with Wilson as guest soloist. Steve’s long-time friend Chris Vadala, who is the head of the Jazz Dept at UMD, directs this ensemble. The Steve Wilson Quartet (Bruce Barth, Michael Bowie and Adam Cruz all join him for this residency) will perform a concert on the last day that will feature a new work composed by Steve, and commissioned by UMD. (All events are subject to change.)
From April 21-26, 2009, the quartet of Steve Wilson, pianist Michael Wolff, Chip Jackson on bass and Victor Lewis on drums will join together at the legendary Village Vanguard in New York City. Wilson is also in the midst of performances with The Blue Note 7 on the successful Blue Note 70th Anniversary Tour. The tour kicked off in Seattle last month, and will finish at Birdland in NYC on April 14-19, 2009. Music Director for the touring group is Bill Charlap, and the band features Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Ravi Coltrane, Peter Bernstein and Nicholas Payton. Together with Wilson, they are focusing on recreating Blue Note music from the 1950s and 1960s. The ensemble did a studio recording in May, which was released in January 2009. Be sure to check the Tour Page on Steve's new website for additional details, as they become available. Arts Journal reviewed an early show and praised Wilson’s “six choruses of story-telling improvisation…” Read the full review, here: http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2009/01/the_blue_note_7_and_theyre_off.html
Prior to the April 2nd Blue Note show at Darmouth College, Wilson will participate in a discussion with critic Howard Mandel on the topic of ‘The Class Divide’ – how the arts have or have not been affected and/or influenced by class. And how the classes have reacted to art over the ages.
Also on the horizon: Steve Wilson has been invited to be the Artist in Residence at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada for the 2008/2009 school year. The first of two sessions took place in Winnipeg from November 3-14, 2008 and the second visit is set for February 2 through 13, 2009. While there, Steve will conduct intensive sessions on a variety of topics, including improvisation, jazz history, and private lessons. He will also conduct large and small student ensembles, and will do performances with both faculty and students.
Two appearances are confirmed at one of America's most prestigious chamber music festivals for the summer of '09. On July 22, Wilson will play a jazz concert with his quartet at the Vermont Music Festival, and on July 25 he will make his orchestral debut with the Villa Lobos' Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra, with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, and conducted by Gil Shohat.
Steve Wilson works with Grammy award winning arranger and conductor Robert Sadin on a very special project: “Charlie Parker – Looking Forward and Backward”: Performing with classical musicians was always one of Parker's great dreams and ultimate satisfactions. This program explores the artistic alchemy of intersecting these great traditions. The repertoire includes classic songs from the Bird with Strings album, plus new arrangements of music of Ellington, Monk, and Mingus and as a special feature, Barber's Adagio for Strings. This project will begin in 2010, the 60th anniversary of the original recording. More details will be coming soon.
April 27 - 29, 2009 - Wilson will be in residence at the State University of New York at New Paltz where he will be collaborating with arranger and guitarist David O'Rourke and world-renowned bassist Ira Coleman. Wilson and company will bring their music and teaching skills to lead a three-day residency, and final performance that will incorporate both faculty and students from the university. More details on this exciting project will be announced soon.
Wilson’s performance at the Kennedy Center was previewed in the DCist: http://dcist.com/2008/10/16/preview_steve_wilson_the_kc_jazz_cl.php
In a live review in the 9/09 issue of ALL ABOUT JAZZ – NY, Wilson's recent performance at the Rubin Museum in New York was described as follows: “Wilson wove his sound through the music in a manner that was spellbinding in its nuance and attentiveness to dynamics." http://www.allaboutjazz.com/newyork/aaj_ny_200809.pdf
Recently nominated as Alto Player of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and profiled in ALL ABOUT JAZZ, Wilson is known for his modest, warm personality…and for his in-depth knowledge of all-things-jazz. Read the major 'career' feature on Steve Wilson, from ALL ABOUT JAZZ, here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php? id=29437
At the newly-launched http://www.stevewilsonmusic.com/, visitors will be able to sample new tunes and see performance footage. The site, part of the Jazz Corner family, also includes a streaming audio player, details of Wilson's numerous band configurations, and more.
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