Here we are in January 2010 celebrating the 5th Anniversary of Red Cat Publicity! Part of that celebration is starting this blog so I can keep you, and myself, up to date on what will be happening in the realm of Red Cat over the next few years, and what's happening now in the life of the man with four names - me - Jason Paul Harman Byrne. A side benefit might be a sharpening up of my writing chops, we'll see.
How did all of this start . . .
After almost ten years at GRP/Impulse! (the last three as Director of International Marketing), a gig at Chesky Records for a hot minute, and five and half years at Third Floor Media (the last three as Senior Publicist), in 2005 I decided, with much encouragement from the love of my live-my wife Samantha, and from two colleagues, Don Lucoff and Jana LaSorte, to take the scary plunge and form my own PR firm, Redcatpublicity.com. To add drama to this risky decision was the fact that I had exactly $0.00 in my savings account, just one client (guitarist Rez Abbasi), and planned on exclusively representing jazz musicians, jazz labels, jazz venues, . . . you get the idea . . . this was not to be a rags-to-riches story. Jazz has very few of those, if any, but I knew it would be fun, and enriching, at the very least.
Most importantly, I was finally my own boss, calling the shots, making things happen, or not, and I was fully entrenched in the music I love. It was high time I became a self-made man, and I quickly got to work creating my own network of artists, editors, journalists, presenters, managers and agents. I was finally doing what my dear late Dad had always wanted me to do - run my own business. “Don't work for any assholes", he would always bluntly say to my sister and me. Truth is, I was very comfortable working hard and receiving a check from someone else every two weeks. But ultimately the music industry had changed so drastically that I really had no choice but to strike out on my own if I wished to remain in the music biz.
At the aforementioned Rez Abbasi's CD release party at Joe's Pub the esteemed journalist Tad Hendrickson said to me, “what's a matter with you - you look like a nervous father-to-be". I was. This was the very first event that had been publicized by my firm, which was, and is, a team of one (most of the time), and I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted every journalist that said they would attend to show up, and I wanted the place to sell out, partly for bragging rights, but really to prove to myself that all of the work I put in during the weeks and months leading up to this night had paid off. I got both wishes. We had about 15 high profile journalists at the show, and they had to turn people away at the door! It was a fantastic night, musically and professionally. That one night proved to be the shove from the dock that Red Cat Publicity needed to get sailing.
From that point on I was off and running, eventually working with quite a group of amazing artists such as Dave Douglas, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Avishai Cohen, Darrell Grant, Pete Malinverni, Mark Egan, Marcus and E.J. Strickland, Roni Ben-Hur, Ryan Cohan, Rufus Reid, Smalls Jazz Club, Kendra Shank, Tessa Souter, Anzic Records, Motema Music, The Tribeca PAC, The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Matt Slocum, Samuel Torres, The Wee Trio, and many, many others.
Here I am five years later and 2010 is off to a very promising start. Looks like starting Red Cat Publicity was a pretty good idea! For starters, a new face on the New York City scene, drummer/composer Matt Slocum (mattslocumjazz.com), the product of immense talent, nurtured by the likes of Peter Erskine, John Clayton and Alan Pasqua, has released a brilliant debut, “Portraits", featuring none other than Gerald Clayton and Massimo Biolcati, with guests Jaleel Shaw, Walter Smith III and Dana Stephens. Slocum just wrapped up a week at Dizzy's and will be taking a trio out on tour in support of the new disc. Upcoming tour dates include:
February 19 & 20 - The Artists' Quarter - St. Paul, MN
March 11 - Jazz at the Crowne, Crowne Plaza LAX, Los Angeles, CA
March 12 - Caf Metropol, Los Angeles, CA
March 14 - Bach Dancing and Dynamite Jazz Series, Half Moon Bay, CA
March 15 - Cuesta College Performing Arts Center, Free afternoon clinic, 7:30 pm evening concert, Cuesta College
San Luis Obispo Campus, Performing Arts Center- Main Stage, San Luis Obispo, CA
Another first is the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (formerly the East Coast Jazz Festival), happening in Rockville, MD, February 19-21. This is one of the few Festivals that truly embraces their community by giving a stage to many of the world-class jazz artists living and working in the D.C. Metro area. Kudos to the presenters Paul and Karmen Carr for not making this just another transplanted New York-centric Festival. As great as that would be, the players that make up the D.C. scene can hold their own, to say the very least, and the 2010 MAJF will be an event to remember. Check out midatlanticjazzfestival.org.
Coming up (rel date-March 16) is the great new sophomore recording from The Wee Trio - Dan Loomis, Jared Schonig and James Westfall (theweetrio.com), titled “Capitol Diner Vol. 2 - Animal Style".
This will follow up their 2008 debut “Capital Diner Vol. 1" which garnered some over-the-top praise such as "a winning debut", "as true to the jazz tradition as it is to their freewheeling tastes." - The Boston Globe, this from The San Francisco Chronicle, "With James Westfall's vibes in the forefront, the group has a fresh sound, and bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Jared Schonig flow like the tides. Wee's sound is not wee, it's huge" - The San Francisco Chronicle, this nugget from The Boston Herald, "Bulging with even more muscular jazz chops than the Bad Plus but displaying more earthbound taste than the late, lamented E.S.T., the Brooklyn-based Wee Trio makes a larger than wee splash on its debut", and a rave review from Greg Burk at www.Metaljazz.com, "Joining the Bad Plus, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and the Leviathan Brothers on the national scene, Brooklyn's The Wee Trio are stirring up jazz you don't have to be old to enjoy, Bring a teen." - MetalJazz.com
I have recently met one of the most talented percussionists, and also one of the most gifted composers, that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting personally - Mr. Samuel Torres, from Bogata, Columbia, and based in NYC since 1999. He has a new recording coming out, his second, on March 23 that I am terribly excited about. Here is some information on “Yaounde" (from the press release):
The music on Yaounde, the second recording from percussionist/composer Samuel Torres, is the product of one of today's most versatile and formidable Latin jazz artists absorbing the richness of some of the world's greatest cultural melting pots. The release of Yaounde, available on March 23, 2010, confirms that this multifaceted musician's prowess as a composer has come to rival his international acclaim as one of the best percussionists of his generation.
A 2005 trip to Africa with guitarist Richard Bona sparked an interest in African music and its connection to many of his homeland's rhythms. It unleashed a flood of creative energy that led directly to the creation of Yaounde. “My trip to Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, was very emotional," he recalls. “At that moment, I began a new period in my life. The song 'Yaounde' was the first tune that I wrote after the experience, and out of that compositional process the rest of the songs flowed."
Yaoundeis the follow up recording to Skin Tones (2006), his debut recording as a leader and an album that quickly solidified his reputation as one of the most creative percussionists in Latin jazz today. The effort was trumpeted by JazzTimes magazine as “at once intelligent, sophisticated and explosive." Now with Yaounde Mr. Torres shows an even more stylistically adventurous side, with 13 invigorating tracks that draw from the seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of Colombian folkloric traditions, as well as African sonorities and shadings of funk and jazz.
Among the headliners whose talents make Yaoundeso memorable are woodwind artists Anat Cohen and Joel Frahm, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, pianist Manuel Valera, bassist John Benitez, timbalero Ralph Irizarry, drummer Ernesto Simpson, vocalist Sofa Rei Koutsovitis, and tiple (12-string Colombian guitar) player Andrs Garca.
And here is what the press and his peers are saying about this great artist - believe it all, he is fantastic, and so is his new recording:
“ . . . at once intelligent, sophisticated and explosive." - JazzTimes
“ . . . has written and recorded music for his project that is inventive, lyrical, and important work. He is a special artist" - Jeff “Tain" Watts
“[Samuel Torres'] playing is full of joy and that's what music is all about" - Richard Bona
“ . . . a ferocious conga solo by Samuel Torres that seemed not humanly possible." - The Boston Globe
Those of you who follow the activities of The Brooklyn Jazz Underground and Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records know that there is always a bustle of exciting musical activity happening in the world's hippest borough, thanks in great part to these intrepid musicians. 2009, and going forward into 2010, are no exception. BJURecords has now expanded its catalog with four new recordings from a diverse group of Brooklyn-based artists who, in their own brilliantly unique way, are defining the Brooklyn/NYC jazz scene: Randy Ingram - “The Road Ahead", Rob Garcia - “Perennial", ACT - “ACT" (feat. Ben Wendel, Harish Raghavan and Nate Wood), and Andy Cotton - “Last Stand at The Havemeyer Ranch".
In 2010 BJURecords will be releasing recordings from the following artists:
March: Trombonist Mike Fahie
April: Trumpeter Dave Smith
May: Drummer/composer Sunny Jain
June: Drummer Owen Howard
Fall: Alexis Cuadrado
The 4th annual compilation CD is nearly finished. Embracing the digital age, “BJU Volume 4" will be a downloadable release only. Some nice surprises await the listener as the compilation features tracks from new BJU members David Smith, Adam Kolker and Rob Garcia.
In conjunction with the compilation CD release, the 4th annual BJU Festival is schedule to take place at The Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC on March 5, 6 & 7 - lineup TBA soon.
Also in March, starting the first Wednesday after the Festival (March 10), the BJU will be starting a new residency at a new jazz venue in Brooklyn, Korzo. (667 5th Avenue, www.eurotripbrooklyn.com) (a collaboration with Connection Works - www.connectionworks.org). Every BJU & Connection Works member will curate the Wednesday nights for a month at a time. There will be 2 groups per night (one set each).
Current Brooklyn Jazz Underground members are: Alan Ferber, Dan Pratt, Anne Mette Iversen, Alexis Cuadrado, Sunny Jain, Adam Kolker, Rob Garcia, Dave Smith
Last but never least is a new recording from a jazz legend, a virtuoso, and a man that has played with Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson, J.J. Johnson, Philly Joe Jones, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Art Farmer, and countless others - bassist / composer/ bandleader/ educator RUFUS REID! The recording is titled “Out Front" and features pianist Steve Allee and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca - I promise you, it is a treat from the first note to the last. Look for this gem on Motema - March 9
How did all of this start . . .
After almost ten years at GRP/Impulse! (the last three as Director of International Marketing), a gig at Chesky Records for a hot minute, and five and half years at Third Floor Media (the last three as Senior Publicist), in 2005 I decided, with much encouragement from the love of my live-my wife Samantha, and from two colleagues, Don Lucoff and Jana LaSorte, to take the scary plunge and form my own PR firm, Redcatpublicity.com. To add drama to this risky decision was the fact that I had exactly $0.00 in my savings account, just one client (guitarist Rez Abbasi), and planned on exclusively representing jazz musicians, jazz labels, jazz venues, . . . you get the idea . . . this was not to be a rags-to-riches story. Jazz has very few of those, if any, but I knew it would be fun, and enriching, at the very least.
Most importantly, I was finally my own boss, calling the shots, making things happen, or not, and I was fully entrenched in the music I love. It was high time I became a self-made man, and I quickly got to work creating my own network of artists, editors, journalists, presenters, managers and agents. I was finally doing what my dear late Dad had always wanted me to do - run my own business. “Don't work for any assholes", he would always bluntly say to my sister and me. Truth is, I was very comfortable working hard and receiving a check from someone else every two weeks. But ultimately the music industry had changed so drastically that I really had no choice but to strike out on my own if I wished to remain in the music biz.
At the aforementioned Rez Abbasi's CD release party at Joe's Pub the esteemed journalist Tad Hendrickson said to me, “what's a matter with you - you look like a nervous father-to-be". I was. This was the very first event that had been publicized by my firm, which was, and is, a team of one (most of the time), and I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted every journalist that said they would attend to show up, and I wanted the place to sell out, partly for bragging rights, but really to prove to myself that all of the work I put in during the weeks and months leading up to this night had paid off. I got both wishes. We had about 15 high profile journalists at the show, and they had to turn people away at the door! It was a fantastic night, musically and professionally. That one night proved to be the shove from the dock that Red Cat Publicity needed to get sailing.
From that point on I was off and running, eventually working with quite a group of amazing artists such as Dave Douglas, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Avishai Cohen, Darrell Grant, Pete Malinverni, Mark Egan, Marcus and E.J. Strickland, Roni Ben-Hur, Ryan Cohan, Rufus Reid, Smalls Jazz Club, Kendra Shank, Tessa Souter, Anzic Records, Motema Music, The Tribeca PAC, The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Matt Slocum, Samuel Torres, The Wee Trio, and many, many others.
Here I am five years later and 2010 is off to a very promising start. Looks like starting Red Cat Publicity was a pretty good idea! For starters, a new face on the New York City scene, drummer/composer Matt Slocum (mattslocumjazz.com), the product of immense talent, nurtured by the likes of Peter Erskine, John Clayton and Alan Pasqua, has released a brilliant debut, “Portraits", featuring none other than Gerald Clayton and Massimo Biolcati, with guests Jaleel Shaw, Walter Smith III and Dana Stephens. Slocum just wrapped up a week at Dizzy's and will be taking a trio out on tour in support of the new disc. Upcoming tour dates include:February 19 & 20 - The Artists' Quarter - St. Paul, MN
March 11 - Jazz at the Crowne, Crowne Plaza LAX, Los Angeles, CA
March 12 - Caf Metropol, Los Angeles, CA
March 14 - Bach Dancing and Dynamite Jazz Series, Half Moon Bay, CA
March 15 - Cuesta College Performing Arts Center, Free afternoon clinic, 7:30 pm evening concert, Cuesta College
San Luis Obispo Campus, Performing Arts Center- Main Stage, San Luis Obispo, CA
Another first is the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (formerly the East Coast Jazz Festival), happening in Rockville, MD, February 19-21. This is one of the few Festivals that truly embraces their community by giving a stage to many of the world-class jazz artists living and working in the D.C. Metro area. Kudos to the presenters Paul and Karmen Carr for not making this just another transplanted New York-centric Festival. As great as that would be, the players that make up the D.C. scene can hold their own, to say the very least, and the 2010 MAJF will be an event to remember. Check out midatlanticjazzfestival.org.
Coming up (rel date-March 16) is the great new sophomore recording from The Wee Trio - Dan Loomis, Jared Schonig and James Westfall (theweetrio.com), titled “Capitol Diner Vol. 2 - Animal Style". This will follow up their 2008 debut “Capital Diner Vol. 1" which garnered some over-the-top praise such as "a winning debut", "as true to the jazz tradition as it is to their freewheeling tastes." - The Boston Globe, this from The San Francisco Chronicle, "With James Westfall's vibes in the forefront, the group has a fresh sound, and bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Jared Schonig flow like the tides. Wee's sound is not wee, it's huge" - The San Francisco Chronicle, this nugget from The Boston Herald, "Bulging with even more muscular jazz chops than the Bad Plus but displaying more earthbound taste than the late, lamented E.S.T., the Brooklyn-based Wee Trio makes a larger than wee splash on its debut", and a rave review from Greg Burk at www.Metaljazz.com, "Joining the Bad Plus, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and the Leviathan Brothers on the national scene, Brooklyn's The Wee Trio are stirring up jazz you don't have to be old to enjoy, Bring a teen." - MetalJazz.com
I have recently met one of the most talented percussionists, and also one of the most gifted composers, that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting personally - Mr. Samuel Torres, from Bogata, Columbia, and based in NYC since 1999. He has a new recording coming out, his second, on March 23 that I am terribly excited about. Here is some information on “Yaounde" (from the press release):The music on Yaounde, the second recording from percussionist/composer Samuel Torres, is the product of one of today's most versatile and formidable Latin jazz artists absorbing the richness of some of the world's greatest cultural melting pots. The release of Yaounde, available on March 23, 2010, confirms that this multifaceted musician's prowess as a composer has come to rival his international acclaim as one of the best percussionists of his generation.
A 2005 trip to Africa with guitarist Richard Bona sparked an interest in African music and its connection to many of his homeland's rhythms. It unleashed a flood of creative energy that led directly to the creation of Yaounde. “My trip to Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, was very emotional," he recalls. “At that moment, I began a new period in my life. The song 'Yaounde' was the first tune that I wrote after the experience, and out of that compositional process the rest of the songs flowed."
Yaoundeis the follow up recording to Skin Tones (2006), his debut recording as a leader and an album that quickly solidified his reputation as one of the most creative percussionists in Latin jazz today. The effort was trumpeted by JazzTimes magazine as “at once intelligent, sophisticated and explosive." Now with Yaounde Mr. Torres shows an even more stylistically adventurous side, with 13 invigorating tracks that draw from the seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of Colombian folkloric traditions, as well as African sonorities and shadings of funk and jazz.
Among the headliners whose talents make Yaoundeso memorable are woodwind artists Anat Cohen and Joel Frahm, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, pianist Manuel Valera, bassist John Benitez, timbalero Ralph Irizarry, drummer Ernesto Simpson, vocalist Sofa Rei Koutsovitis, and tiple (12-string Colombian guitar) player Andrs Garca.
And here is what the press and his peers are saying about this great artist - believe it all, he is fantastic, and so is his new recording:
“ . . . at once intelligent, sophisticated and explosive." - JazzTimes
“ . . . has written and recorded music for his project that is inventive, lyrical, and important work. He is a special artist" - Jeff “Tain" Watts
“[Samuel Torres'] playing is full of joy and that's what music is all about" - Richard Bona
“ . . . a ferocious conga solo by Samuel Torres that seemed not humanly possible." - The Boston Globe
Those of you who follow the activities of The Brooklyn Jazz Underground and Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records know that there is always a bustle of exciting musical activity happening in the world's hippest borough, thanks in great part to these intrepid musicians. 2009, and going forward into 2010, are no exception. BJURecords has now expanded its catalog with four new recordings from a diverse group of Brooklyn-based artists who, in their own brilliantly unique way, are defining the Brooklyn/NYC jazz scene: Randy Ingram - “The Road Ahead", Rob Garcia - “Perennial", ACT - “ACT" (feat. Ben Wendel, Harish Raghavan and Nate Wood), and Andy Cotton - “Last Stand at The Havemeyer Ranch".
In 2010 BJURecords will be releasing recordings from the following artists:
March: Trombonist Mike Fahie
April: Trumpeter Dave Smith
May: Drummer/composer Sunny Jain
June: Drummer Owen Howard
Fall: Alexis Cuadrado
The 4th annual compilation CD is nearly finished. Embracing the digital age, “BJU Volume 4" will be a downloadable release only. Some nice surprises await the listener as the compilation features tracks from new BJU members David Smith, Adam Kolker and Rob Garcia.
In conjunction with the compilation CD release, the 4th annual BJU Festival is schedule to take place at The Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC on March 5, 6 & 7 - lineup TBA soon.
Also in March, starting the first Wednesday after the Festival (March 10), the BJU will be starting a new residency at a new jazz venue in Brooklyn, Korzo. (667 5th Avenue, www.eurotripbrooklyn.com) (a collaboration with Connection Works - www.connectionworks.org). Every BJU & Connection Works member will curate the Wednesday nights for a month at a time. There will be 2 groups per night (one set each).
Current Brooklyn Jazz Underground members are: Alan Ferber, Dan Pratt, Anne Mette Iversen, Alexis Cuadrado, Sunny Jain, Adam Kolker, Rob Garcia, Dave Smith
Last but never least is a new recording from a jazz legend, a virtuoso, and a man that has played with Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson, J.J. Johnson, Philly Joe Jones, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Art Farmer, and countless others - bassist / composer/ bandleader/ educator RUFUS REID! The recording is titled “Out Front" and features pianist Steve Allee and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca - I promise you, it is a treat from the first note to the last. Look for this gem on Motema - March 9
