Results for "Jaz Sawyer"

Jaz Sawyer

Jaz Sawyer (with one “Z”) began playing drums at age of 2 in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco, California. His musical studies has taken him through the music programs at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Stanford Jazz Workshop and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Jaz possesses an eclectic and refined personal style of drumming that stems from his deep roots in his Classical, Jazz, West-African and Afro-Caribbean musical training. Jaz has worked with many notable artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Abbey Lincoln, George Benson, Bobby Hutcherson, Jacky Terrasson and Dee Dee Bridgewater in some of the world’s premier concert venues, including The Blue Note, The Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House.

Cava Menzies and Nick Phillips: Their Moment

By BOB KENSELAAR

Every once in a while, a couple of jazz musicians who've never played with each other before find themselves together on a bandstand, and something special really clicks. They just jell musically as if they've been playing together all their lives. Pianist Cava Menzies and trumpeter Nick Phillips experienced such an encounter not long ago, when ...

Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips: Moment to Moment

By DAN BILAWSKY

Hushed lyricism, noir-ish episodes and smoky scenarios are brought to mind with Moment To Moment. This gentle quartet outing is a product of the budding musical relationship between trumpeter Nick Phillips, a music business veteran who still finds time for his horn, and Cava Menzies, a music educator who lives a double life as a performing ...

Michael Carvin: The Making of a Master

By BOB KENSELAAR

With a career that spans half a century, master drummer Michael Carvin has plenty to look back on, although he's mostly a forward-looking man. To say he's been prolific puts it mildly. By his own count, he's made some 250 recordings and toured the world five times. He has worked with such major jazz luminaries as ...

Rocket: Tipp-Topp

By BRUCE LINDSAY

Rocket--led by writer and keyboardist Emanuel Ruffler--refers to the music on its debut, Tipp-Topp, as Disco Jazz. Lest such a description have too many people running for the hills to escape visions of big hair and bigger flares, it needs stating up front that the epithet fits in a good way. Disco was about having fun, ...

Alex Pinto Quartet: Inner State

By DAN BILAWSKY

Indo-American forms of jazz have become more common over the years, but plenty of people who work in this arena have little personal connection to this hybrid form of music. Guitarist Alex Pinto is an exception. Pinto's paternal lineage leads to Karnataka, in southwestern India, and his worldly upbringing contributes to his unique sound. While the ...

Abbey Lincoln: African Queen in a Top Hat

By JOAN GANNIJ

(This interview was conducted in 2002) Abbey Lincoln made a stop in Amsterdam in 1998 for a rare appearance at the 110-year old Concertgebouw, where Sonny Rollins likes to play when he comes to town. The sellout crowd was composed mainly of seemingly staid yet perennially hip “pensionados" (as the Dutch like to ...

20/20: Live At The Blue Note

By JAZ SAWYER

Label: Not On Label (Ti Jaz Self-released)
Released: 2000

20/20

By JAZ SAWYER

Label: Half Note Records
Released: 2000
Track listing:

Four, Sandu, Night In Tunisia, Stella By Starlight, Sticks & Hats, Con Alma, Jordu, Shell

Jaz Sawyer/Irwin Mayfield: 20/20

By AAJ STAFF

Another in a series of CD's recorded live at the famous Blue Note jazz club in New York, “20/20" presents a contrast of sorts between a lyrical trumpeter and three highly percussive musicians in an aggressive rhythm section. Irvin Mayfield's tone, containing a bright ring and a slight buzz, commands attention in an extroverted, entertaining style ...