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GA Russell

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  4. Joel Behrman - Steppin Back

    in New Releases

    Posted

    I just got this one in the mail today. I'll keep an eye out to see if it goes up on Spotify.

    "Steppin' Back,"

    New CD Due October 23,

    Introduces Bay Area Trumpeter/Composer

    Joel Behrman

    In a Striking Debut

    His All-Star Bay Area Band Includes

    Dayna Stephens, Matt Clark, Marcus Shelby,

    Howard Wiley, & Danny Armstrong

    October 12, 2012

    1104.jpg When Joel Behrman relocated to the Bay Area in 2000, the trumpeter/composer was intent on renewing his commitment to jazz. He'd completed his music degree at the University of Miami and worked a series of non-jazz gigs, in clubs and on the road, and as he continued his years of dues-paying in California he realized that, in jazz, the fundamental things apply: swing, the blues, connecting with the audience.

    On his superb new debut recording, Steppin' Back, Behrman and his band express those essential jazz values in a program of elegant originals interspersed with compositions by Ellington, Armstrong, and Joe Henderson. His collaborators represent the top tier of local players: bassist Marcus Shelby, one of San Francisco's most illustrious bandleaders and composers; in-demand pianist Matt Clark; drummer Howard Wiley (better known as a saxophonist); tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, a Berkeley High grad who lives in New York but maintains close ties to home; and veteran trombonist Danny Armstrong, a founding member of Lavay Smith's Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

    "I wanted it to be a Bay Area project exclusively," says Behrman, a San Jose resident. "There is a lot of talent here that's underexposed."

    The album's centerpiece is the leader's compelling three-movement "Justice Suite" (Sin / Righteous Indignation / Evolution), written for the sextet. While conceived as a response to the current political climate, the suite is also very much an interior drama, "related to a personal struggle of someone trying to change, working through the anger," Behrman says. "That could be a metaphor for all kinds of things where it doesn't feel like justice is around."

    Steppin' Back closes with "something lighthearted": "The Faithful Hussar," which Behrman learned from Louis Armstrong's Ambassador Satch. While listening to it recently with his wife, "we just started dancing to the song. Anything with that bounce needs to be heard."

    1100.jpg

    Joel Behrman, 37, grew up in a St. Louis suburb and, at age 9, started on his first instrument, trombone, a horn he still plays frequently today. He went on to earn his music degree at the University of Miami, studying with world-class improvisers like Ira Sullivan (another two-horn master) and playing countless salsa gigs on the local scene. He went on the road with KC and the Sunshine Band and eventually moved to the Bay Area, where several UM friends were already living.

    Behrman started playing with the New Orleans-inspired Brass the Monkey Brass Band on trumpet and trombone. He played funk with Lenny Williams, the former lead vocalist with Tower of Power; East Bay grease with Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, another vintage soul/R&B combo; and New Jack Swing with Tony! Toni! Toné! -- all gigs that required him to hone his trumpet chops and really develop his technique. But the most important gig was joining swing/blues vocalist Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

    "That was a life-changing experience, getting introduced to genuine swing," Behrman says. "There was a standard you had to live up to, being able to swing and play the blues. It really shaped certain opinions and philosophies in my mind."

    1101.jpg These days Behrman is touring internationally with percussion star Sheila E., and also performing widely with her father, the Latin jazz great Pete Escovedo. He still gets gigs as a trombonist, but the trumpet has increasingly become his primary creative vehicle, to the point where he didn't think twice about playing the horn exclusively on Steppin' Back.

    Behrman's immediate goal is to find opportunities to perform with his sextet. "I couldn't have hoped for a better assembly of musicians," says the trumpeter. "They really understand what I'm trying to accomplish on this project."

    Photography: Maurice Ramirez

    Web Site:

    www.joelbehrman.com

  7. 2025 @CFL Season

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    I forgot to mention the obvious news that John Hufnagel chose Drew Tate to play for the Stampeders Sunday. Now it turns out that he broke his wrist during the game, and is out for the remainder of the year. So Kevin Glenn will get another chance. It would be great if he gets a chance to play in the Grey Cup to make up for the year he couldn't because he broke his arm in the Eastern Final.

    http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=409551

    http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Calgary/2012/11/15/20359771.html

  10. 2025 @CFL Season

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    Greg Xenakes Finals picks

    http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=4542925

    *****

    Lowell Ullrich reports that the league is considering returning to its former policy of allowing players to try out for the NFL during their option year. This would allow Americans to play only one year in the league.

    http://www.theprovince.com/sports/football/bc-lions/could+revive+option+year+rule/7536992/story.html#axzz2CEqoaNG2

  12. Scheduled upgrade for 9am EST tomorrow

    in Forums Discussion

    Posted · Edited by GA Russell

    I posted to the CFL thread, but the thread did not appear when I clicked on View New Content, although the thread did move to the top of the Misc. Non-Political forum.

    Is there a glitch, or does the poster not see via View New Content when he has added to a thread?

    PS - Now I don't see this thread being at the top of the View New Content list either, so maybe that answers the question.

  13. 2025 @CFL Season

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted · Edited by GA Russell

    Calgary Stampeders 36....Saskatchewan Roughriders 30

    http://www.sportsnet...aspx?id=4542305

    http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=409290

    Terrific game! Great finish. The Stamps dominated except on the scoreboard.

    Very late in the second quarter, Sask scores a TD to take a 16-14 lead. The convert would have given them a three point lead, but it was blocked and run back all the way for two points for Calgary. A couple of plays later Paredes then kicks a 50 yard FG as time expired to give the Stamps a three point lead going into the dressing room.

    With 52 seconds left in the game, Sask scores on a TD pass that for a 30-29 lead that looked like it would win the game. But the Stamps came back and scored a TD of their own with 20 seconds left.

    *****

    Of the five playoff games this year (including the Grey Cup game), the Stampeders-Riders game is the only one played outdoors. From now on, the remaining three will be played in a dome.

  14. 2025 @CFL Season

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    Toronto Argonauts 42....Edmonton Eskimos 26

    http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=409278

    The Eskimos defense dominated the first quarter, but the Esks led only 7-0 at the break. The Argos then outscored the Esks 31-0 in the second quarter. That 31 point total is a new league record for points scored in a playoff game quarter.

    Things were so bad for Edmonton in the second quarter that a shovel pass was intercepted!

    The second half was just a matter of running out the string. The Argos will play at Olympic Stadium next week.

  19. Anne Sajdera - Azul

    in New Releases

    Posted

    This looks appealling. It's up on Spotify for anyone interested.

    "Azul," Debut Recording by

    S.F. Pianist/Composer Anne Sajdera,

    Due for Release April 17

    By Her Bijuri Records Label

    Sajdera Plans CD Release Show April 22

    At Piedmont Piano Company, Oakland,

    With Bassist Gary Brown, Drummer Celso Alberti,

    Percussionist Brian Rice

    March 28, 2012

    956.jpgPianist/composer Anne Sajdera has long been an invaluable part of the San Francisco Bay Area Brazilian music scene -- as leader of her own band Pelo Mar and member of ensembles such as Rio Thing and the award-winning Bat Makumba. Her much-anticipated debut Azul, which will be released April 17 by her label, Bijuri Records, highlights her exquisite touch, rhythmic acuity, and melodic resourcefulness front and center.

    Sajdera (sazh-dair-uh), who co-produced the CD with veteran guitarist/composer Ray Obiedo, utilizes her dynamic trio of Gary Brown on bass and drummer Paul van Wageningen, with percussion added on most tracks. "Every artist is different, but in order to make my first album in the right way, I needed to have the right people around me," says the pianist. "It's taken this long to find those people. It was the perfect time."

    Percussion on Azul is handled alternately by Airto Moreira and Michael Spiro, with drummer Phil Thompson taking over for van Wageningen on two selections. "I always knew I wanted percussion on the album probably because when I think musically, I'm always thinking from the perspective of the rhythm section," says Sajdera. "I have deep reverence for Airto and feel so fortunate that he wanted to participate in this recording. He never looks back when he's working. Mike Spiro wasn't that different. He treats recording like painting."

    Obiedo was struck by Sajdera's "focus and conscientiousness about every aspect of the production. Her choice of tunes, both her original compositions and the Brazilian and jazz standards, and her beautiful arrangements made this project such an enjoyable experience for me." In addition to Sajdera's sophisticated, lyrical originals, the repertoire includes compositions by Egberto Gismonti ("Frevo"), Chico Pinheiro ("Tema em 3"), Ivan Lins ("Love Dance"), and Wayne Shorter ("Ana Maria"), as well as a dramatically reharmonized version of "I Should Care."

    957.jpg

    Born in 1965 in Portsmouth, Virginia to a military family, Anne Sajdera grew up in San Diego. In 1985 she moved north and enrolled in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a performance major, graduating as a composition major. She focused on 20th-century repertoire and immersed herself in Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Bartók while performing as pianist for the Conservatory Orchestra, which gave her exceptional opportunities like performing a selection from John Adams's opera Nixon in China conducted by the composer at SFCM's 75th-anniversary concert in Davies Symphony Hall.

    Sajdera began investigating jazz and then -- via a class with Marcos Silva at the Jazzschool -- Brazilian music. She gigged extensively around the Bay Area with her band Pelo Mar and was an original member of Bat Makumba, with whom she performed at the city's huge Mission District Carnaval festivities. Recently she has been working with Latin-jazz singer-songwriter Alexa Weber Morales.

    958.jpgThe pianist also developed an interest in classical Hindustani music, sparked by a two-month stay in India in 1999. She has since continued to cultivate this facet of her musical vision through study with India's foremost violinist and vocalist, Kala Ramnath.

    The music for Azul emerged after a two-year stretch (2006-2008) when Sajdera was off the scene recuperating from a back injury, a period when she was "writing tunes, practicing, setting up grooves, trying to really expand my linear playing. I studied a lot and went back to original sources like Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Monty Alexander, and Egberto Gismonti."

    Anne Sajdera will celebrate the release of Azul with a special concert on Sunday, 4/22, 4:00 pm, at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, with bassist Gary Brown, drummer Celso Alberti, and percussionist Brian Rice. The CD is available at iTunes and CD Baby.

    Web Site:

    www.annesajdera.com

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