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Listing Information: Producer: Jazz at Lincoln Center Event: Jazz at the Penthouse: Boudoir Tenors
Featuring Frank Wess, Lew Tabackin, Wayne Escoffery, and Stephen Riley,
with Bill Charlap, Peter Washington, and Kenny Washington. Date/Time: Thursday, Friday & Saturday, February 28, March 1 & 2, 2002, 8pm Place: Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, 165 West 65th Street, 10th Floor Tickets: $45, available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge
at (212) 721-6500, or via www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.
SAXOPHONISTS FRANK WESS, LEW TABACKIN, WAYNE ESCOFFERY & STEPHEN RILEY CONVENE FOR ‘BOUDOIR TENORS’: FEB. 28 – MAR. 2
Features rhythm section of Bill Charlap (piano), Peter Washington (bass), and Kenny Washington (drums).
Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC), as part of its expanded Jazz at the Penthouse programming, will produce a special concert highlighting the rich ballad tradition of the tenor saxophone, as performed by four diverse and acclaimed practitioners of that instrument. “Boudoir Tenors” will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 28, March 1 and 2, 2002 at 8pm in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.
The concert will feature saxophonists FRANK WESS, LEW TABACKIN, WAYNE ESCOFFERY, and STEPHEN RILEY, who will be backed by the rhythm section of pianist BILL CHARLAP, bassist PETER WASHINGTON, and drummer KENNY WASHINGTON. In varying combinations, the saxophonists will perform some of the great ballads in the jazz repertoire, as well as uptempo numbers and blues.
Tickets at $45 are available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or via www.jazzatlincolncenter.org. Jazz at the Penthouse concerts take place in the intimate, club-like setting of the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, where the audience enjoys candlelight, spectacular views of the city, and complimentary wine (for patrons age 21 and over). - more -
Frank Wess was born in Kansas City on January 4, 1922 and grew up in Sapulpa, Oklahoma and Washington D.C. Hearing Lester Young as a youth led him to switch from alto saxophone to tenor. He played in Blanche Calloway’s band, spent his enlistment playing in army bands, and did brief stints with Billy Eckstine, Eddie Heywood, Lucky Millinder and Bull Moose Jackson before he returned to Washington. In 1953 he joined Count Basie’s big band – where his lighter tone offset Frank Foster’s tougher tenor sound – and then switched to alto at Basie’s request. Wess also played flute and helped to establish its position in jazz. A gifted composer, he also wrote many hit songs for the Basie band. Wess left Basie in 1964 to freelance in Broadway pit orchestras, on television, and doing jingle work. He replaced Hubert Laws in Roland Hanna’s reorganized New York Jazz Quartet in 1974, playing mostly bop-style originals penned by the group’s members. Wess also worked with Dameronia in the early 1980s, played briefly in Woody Herman’s band, co-led a band with Frank Foster and was featured in Toshiko Akiyoshi’s big band. He has led sessions for Concord Records and other labels in a variety of settings from combo to big band. He continues to perform regularly and to tour worldwide.
Lew Tabackin was born on May 26, 1940 in Philadelphia, where he first studied flute and then tenor saxophone in high school. He majored in flute at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and studied privately with composer Vincent Persichetti. After serving in the U.S. Army, Mr. Tabackin moved to New Jersey and then to New York, where he played first with Tal Farlow and Don Friedman and later in the big bands led by Cab Calloway, Les and Larry Elgart, and Maynard Ferguson. During the late 1960s, Mr. Tabackin led a trio at a club called La Boheme in Philadelphia, in addition to playing in smaller groups with Donald Byrd, Roland Hanna, and Elvin Jones. In those early years he worked with Doc Severinsen and the studio band for Dick Cavett’s television show. He also spent some time in Europe, where he was a soloist with various orchestras, including the Danish Radio Orchestra and the Hamburg Jazz Workshop. In 1968 he met Toshiko Akiyoshi when the two played together in a quartet. They eventually married and moved to Los Angeles where they formed the award-winning big band known as the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. While in Los Angeles Mr. Tabackin also played with Shelly Manne and with various trios of his own. In 1982 Mr. Tabackin and Ms. Akiyoshi moved to New York, which brought him back to the Manhattan jazz scene. Mr. Tabackin has been associated with several all-star bands, including George Wein’s Newport All-Star Band, the New York Jazz Giants, and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. He has recorded as a leader for several different labels, including Inner City (1974-77), Ascent (1979) and Concord (starting in 1989).
Wayne Escoffery, a native of London, England, moved to the U.S. at age six and began playing saxophone at age eleven. While in high school, Escoffery studied at the Jazzmobile in New York and the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT. During his senior year, he studied at the Artists Collective in Hartford, CT, where he met jazz legend Jackie McLean, the world-renowned alto saxophonist and founder of both The Artists Collective and the jazz program at The Hartt School. McLean gave Escoffery a full scholarship to attend The Hartt School, where he graduated summa cum laude. While at Hartt, Escoffery played with such jazz greats as Curtis Fuller, Eddie Henderson, Philip Harper, Claude Williams, and Albert Heath, among others. He was one of the first musicians to be selected to take part in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, and in May 1999, he graduated from there with a Master’s degree. He is currently living in New York City, performing with Carl Allen and Eric Reed's New York Seven. He also performs with his quartet and his own big band, which recently performed Ellington's “Night Creature" at Lincoln Center with the American Symphony Orchestra. Escoffery released his first recording as a leader, entitled Times Change in September 2001.
Stephen Riley was born on November 19, 1975 in Greenville, North Carolina. His first instrument was violin, which his mother introduced to him when he was four years old. His interest in saxophone evolved at age nine when his older cousin, who played in church, introduced it to him. He joined the elementary school band when he was in the fourth grade and his cousin soon introduced him to the world of jazz. In the ninth grade, Riley moved to Florida to go to a school of the arts where his mother taught classical voice. After moving back to North Carolina he started performing with the local university big band. With the encouragement of Paul Tardiff at the University, he entered an IAJE competition and was awarded its Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship Award. Riley went to New York to study briefly at Patterson College, before leaving to gain professional experience. He has recorded with the Philip Harper Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Printup, Marcus Roberts, Mingus Dynasty Big Band, and many others. He has performed in several J@LC productions, including the 1998 concert “Blues Up & Down – A Battle in the Bucket.”
Jazz at Lincoln Center is the world’s largest not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of education, performance and broadcast events for audiences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, residencies, a weekly national radio program, television broadcasts, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, a jazz appreciation curriculum for children, advanced training through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, music publishing, children’s concerts, lectures, film programs, and student and educator workshops. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis and Executive Director Bruce MacCombie, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce more than 400 events during its 2001-02 season. Currently, Jazz at Lincoln Center is building its new home – Frederick P. Rose Hall – the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, slated to open in fall 2004.
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For more information on J@LC, please visit www.jazzatlincolncenter.org
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