RICHARD ELLIOTT With a bestselling discography of over 15 recordings since 1986’s Initial Approach, thousands of live dates spanning over two decades, and one of the largest and most loyal fan bases in contemporary urban jazz, it’s incredible to hear Elliot declare: “What I’m doing now, enjoying this upward trend in my career, is seriously the most fun I have ever had.” Then again, the multi-talented tenorman, composer and producer has been on one of the most incredible rolls of his career since the 2005 release of Metro Blue, which debuted at #2 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart. The Scotland born, L.A. raised Elliot found his musical voice on tenor as a teenager and landed his first professional gig touring with Natalie Cole and The Pointer Sisters while he was still in high school. Before joining Tower of Power—which began a stretch that he calls the most influential period of his early career—he played in the adventurous fusion band Kittyhawk and did some dream recording sessions with his Motown heroes Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops and The Temptations. He later performed with Melissa Manchester and Yellowjackets, which found him hooking up for the first time with
the legendary fusion band’s founding drummer Ricky Lawson. Elliot was still on the road with TOP when he released his debut album Trolltown in 1986. Its success gave him the confidence to leave the band and start a solo career which has been seriously rockin’ steady ever since. Embarking upon one of instrumental music’s most dynamic and multi-faceted careers, Elliot’s sound played a huge part in pioneering the genre and radio format that became today’s contemporary urban jazz. Over the years, he has scored four #1 albums (On The Town, Soul Embrace, After Dark and Jumpin’ Off) and a growing number of #1 airplay singles. In addition to his participation in the current decade’s all-star tours like Groovin’ For Grover and Jazz Attack, in the mid-90s he helped launch another of the genre’s annual franchises, the Guitars & Saxes tours, which he continues to participate in.
JEFF GOLUB
Versatile and dynamic guitarist Jeff Golub doesn’t think about categories, labels or popularity when it comes to music. Instead, his major concern is something far more basic: honesty. “I love all kinds of music and I really only look at one thing when it comes to any style or type: if it truly comes from the heart. If it does, then it’s something I can embrace and really enjoy. If it doesn’t, I don’t care what you want to call it, it doesn’t resonate with me.”
It’s this desire to pay homage to the greats, coupled with the opportunity to showcase a great band that also includes Josh Dion on drums and vocals, Andy Hess (Gov’t Mule) on bass and features Butler in both an instrumental and vocal capacity, that makes Three Kings a standout. “Other than some minimal overdubbing we played it live and tried to keep it sounding fresh and spontaneous,” Golub concluded. “That’s pretty much the way the band sounds live and we wanted to capture that quality on the record.” “The big thing that I’ve learned over the years is that if you make good music people will hear it and find you. That’s my concern today, not whether something can get on the radio or if it’s deemed marketable or fits the profile and definition of what someone says is jazz or blues or whatever. I’m a music lover and that’s what I’ll continue to do, play the music I love.” Recently, Jeff Golub was stricken with a rare condition where the optic nerve in his eyes collapsed. Despite his impaired eyesight, Jeff is in good spirits and is committed to performing live. Please show your support for Jeff at the Russian River Jazz & Blues Festival and don’t miss his performance! To learn more about Jeff ’s condition or to make a donation towards his recovery, visit www.jeffgolub.com.
KIM NALLEY BAND
Awarded “Most Influential African American in the Bay Area,” vocalist Kim Nalley is already being called “legendary” and a “San Francisco institution.” With an international reputation as one of world’s best jazz & blues vocalists, she is known for her ability to turn a chattering cocktail-sipping crowd into a rapt audience of lifelong fans in minutes. Vocally, she has pipes to burn packing a 31⁄2 octave range that can go from operatic to gritty blues on a dime, projection that can whisper a ballad yet is capable of filling a room with no microphone, and the ability to scat blistering solos
without ever losing the crowd’s interest or the intense swing. Kim Nalley has performed globally, including major jazz festivals such as Monterey, Umbria Jazz and Lincoln Center and lived in Europe for several years before returning to San Francisco to re-open the jazz club Jazz at Pearl’s. During her tenure from 2003 to 2008, Nalley raised the club to iconic international acclaim as the owner and artistic director. A true Renaissance woman, Kim has been credited with “saving jazz in the Bay Area” — to try and find someone with more range of genuine talent would be a daunting task.
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Golub’s brand new album, Three Kings, is “a tribute work to the music of Albert, B.B. and Freddie King. When you look at the modern blues and rock vocabularly, it’s almost impossible for anyone to play something that doesn’t reflect their influence somehow,” Golub said in discussing the album. “Whether you’re talking about Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, anyone you can name, they are directly or indirectly influenced by something that one of them did or played. Their songs are timeless and, while they also certainly had
their influences, the impact of their work is unquestioned.”