Results for "San Jose"

Aaron Lington

Born: December 27, 1974

Grammy Award-winning baritone saxophonist and composer Aaron Joseph Lington (b. 1974) received his BM in music education from the University of Houston, Moores School of Music, and both his MM in jazz studies and DMA in saxophone performance from the University of North Texas where he studied with James Riggs. His performing and compositional credits include collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony, Maynard Ferguson, the BBC Radio Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, Doc Severinsen, Bo Diddley, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Jamie Davis, Tommy Igoe, Pacific Mambo Orchestra, and many others. In addition, he has won awards for both his playing and writing from Downbeat Magazine, ASCAP, and was the 2003 recipient of the Sammy Nestico Award. He was named the 2011 “Jazz Educator of the Year” by the California Music Educators Association, and has been recognized multiple times in both the Downbeat Magazine Critic’s Poll and Reader’s Poll. In 2015 he was named as a Silicon Valley Artist Laureate. The San José Mercury News praises Dr. Lington’s playing as “revelatory…he obviously relishes the beautiful, blustery bark of his instrument…” and that he possesses a “…finely honed melodic sensibility…” Josh Davies from the International Trumpet Guild states that Lington “...[shows] a true command of his instrument with a very studied and soulful essence.” Cadence magazine declares “Lington and compatriots come up with a wonderful and totally American jazz sound, [resulting in] a solid mainstream set based on some sweet melodic improvisation.”

Mason Razavi

Born: April, 1983

Jazz guitarist Mason Razavi is an artist with a growing profile in the SF Bay Area and beyond. Based in San Jose, CA, Razavi’s groups have performed at SF Jazz and San Jose Jazz as well as many Bay Area jazz clubs and concert series. He regularly performs with the area’s top players and has also played with Anton Schwartz, John Stowell, Carl Saunders, and Charles McNeal, among others. His albums have often featured ambitious original music that has been warmly received by jazz radio worldwide. An avid educator, Razavi is the jazz guitar professor at West Valley College and Chabot College

Dillon Vado

Born: August 26, 1991

Dillon Vado is a professional drummer and vibraphonist in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a graduate of the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. He grew up in San Jose, where he played many small club gigs on drums and marched snare drum for the Santa Clara Vanguard. He has recorded at Fantasy Studios, and played with many musicians at The Freight and Salvage, Yoshi’s, and the SF Jazz Center. He has also performed overseas at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy. Dillon has performed with Art Lande, Hafez Modirzadeh, Royal Hartigan, Marcus Shelby, Erik Jekabson, Jeff Denson, Alan Hall, Jovino Santos Neto, Marcos Silva and Kate McGarry

Bennett Roth-Newell

Born: April 4, 1988

Bennett Roth-Newell is a pianist/keyboardist, composer/arranger, emcee, producer, and multi-genre music educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bennett began piano lessons when he was 7 years old and by age 10 became fascinated with jazz. After playing mostly classical music during his first few years of studying piano, Bennett set off on a path of learning jazz standards and immersed himself in the music of the jazz giants—especially of legendary jazz pianists Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, and Bill Evans—while practicing determinedly to develop his sound on the piano as an improviser. Starting as a teenager, he also found a love in hip-hop music and began honing his craft as a lyricist, recording artist, producer, and live performer.

Wendy Waller

Wendy Waller’s unique and creative approach to melody and lyric embodies the vast rich landscape of American Roots Music. She tells her story with her dynamic multi-ranged voice. There is no compromise with Wendy. She is unyielding in her quest to take the listener on a musical journey. Every performance is a new and provocative experience. Born into an artistic family of musicians, painters, and writers, Wendy spent her young years cultivating her multiple abilities, singing, acting and dancing in musical theater. As a multi-instrumentalist Wendy studied piano, guitar, french horn, trumpet, trombone and flugelhorn

Robin Bramlett

Stephen Marley

Born: June 2, 1950

Many years ago I was planning on being a full time musician, but mid- college, I took a different path and went into advertising and jazz fell by the wayside. After 35 years in the "ad biz" I'm very excited about playing again... it's been a real honor to have been able to jam and gig with some of the areas best players. I'm learning a great deal, shedding everyday and gradually getting my chops back. I'm also working on improving my home recording studio and having too much fun. Starting in January 2012, I've been hosting and leading the house trio at the Hedley Club Jazz Jam in the lounge at the Hotel De Anza in San Jose CA on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday, each month

Jemal Ramirez

Born: May 16

My earliest memories go back to me in my bedroom (I was about 4 maybe 5), with a portable tape recorder, adult-sized over-the-ear headphones, a box of my dad’s tapes, chewed up drumsticks, and this drum set. This was the first drum set that my mom, Deanna Tafoya, bought for me at a garage sale. I remember having two drum sets to choose from. I had a connection with this drum set for some reason; well, I was born in the year of the tiger (1974). But my story with drums and music, actually starts a bit earlier. My father, Alfred Ramirez, played music. In fact, me, my mom and dad all drove from California to as far away as Colorado while I was only six months old

Karlton E Hester

Born: 1949

Karlton E. Hester, Ph.D. (composer/flutist/saxophonist), began his career as a composer and recording artist in Los Angeles where he worked as a studio musician and music educator. He received his Ph.D. in composition from the City University of New York Graduate Center and is currently Director of "Jazz" Studies at the University of California in Santa Cruz. As performer on both flute and saxophone, he is music director of the Fillmore Jazz Preservation Big Band and Hesterian Musicism. Hester is currently music director of Hesterian Musicism, founding director of the Fillmore Jazz Preservation Big Band in San Francisco and served as the Herbert Gussman Director of Jazz Studies at Cornell University from 1991-2001

Paula Harris

Born: May 18, 1966

Members of the press and media have frequently said “If Etta James Fronted the Tower of Power and they were a blues Band- THAT is what Paula Harris sounds like!” But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Paula. This classically trained vocalist has literally run the gamut of music from Blues, to jazz, and everything in between.While most vocalists sing the small areas that cross between genres- Paula performs multiple genres over the full spectrum. She spent years singing with symphony orchestras and jazz bands as well as musical theater and corporate dance bands.