VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 6 | June, 2021
19
Music Scene SDTV L to R Bart Mendoza, Florentino Buenaventura, Brad Weber by Sandra Castillo
L to R Mike Rugirello Mark Langford Wayne Riker Host Bart Mendoza
Premiering this month, Music Scene TV is a fast paced program dedicated to promoting San Diego’s music community, across genres. Hosted by Music Scene SD’s editor, Bart Mendoza, the show is brought to you by Entertalkmedia.com (CEO Florentino Buenaventura), Local Umbrella Media Publishing (CEO Brad Weber) and Blindspot Records, it’s brief running time – 15 minutes making it a fun, quick way to catch up with some of the folks who make up San Diego’s arts community, both onstage and behind the scenes. Special guests / co-hosts in the first batch of episodes include Pacific Records CEO Brian Witkin, Journalist / Photographer Sandra Castillo, Rock and Roll San Diego Founder, Mark Langford and former Elvin Bishop guitarist Johnny Vernazza, with live performances from Casey Hensley (with Anthony Cullins), Jeff Berkley, The Tourmaliners (unplugged), The Footloose Band, former Mamas and Papas / current Original Starfires singer Laurie Beebe Lewis, Skyler Lutes, Ed Kornhauser, Audrey Callahan and 2017 SDMA Lifetime Achievement winner, Wayne Riker, amongst others. The plan is for Music Scene SDTV to air weekly, with occasional special editions. Look for more information in next months edition!
with Casey Hensley by Sandra Castillo
ED KORNHAUSER
The Short Years
If you are a fan of jazz in San Diego, you are no doubt aware of the talents of pianist Ed Kornhauser. He has been the musician of choice for many combos big and small and last year issued his debut solo album, The Short Years, resulting in nominations for both “Jazz Album of the Year” and “Album of the Year” at the 2021 San Diego Music Awards. Although known for his keyboard skills, Kornhauser was initially tempted to play a different instrument. “I used to play the tuba, and can still a little, but I’m more of a tuba owner than a tuba player,” he said good naturedly. His influences as a pianist are varied. “I was influenced early on by Oscar Peterson. His unmistakable feel, his bluesy-ness, his unbelievable technique... all things I still (in vain) strive to even come close to.” He notes later pianists who’ve left a mark, including Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Keith Jarrett, Ethan Iverson, and Erroll Garner. “As we speak there’s a picture of Erroll on my wall looking over my shoulder, I’ve been working on my organ technique for a while.” Kornhauser said. Although he’s performed and recorded with dozens of groups over the years, he’s quick to cite favorites “It’s a tie between themattsmithneujazztrio, which is myself with drummer LOCAL NEWS | LocalUmbrellaNews.com
Matt Smith and bassist Mackenzie Leighton, and all the duo stuff I’ve done with vocalist Leonard Patton.” Kornhauser has performed at San Diego’s finest venues, but his favorite performance, was a more personal event. “I hiked Mt. Fuji when I was 24,” he recalled. “My friend brought her flute and I had my melodica. We met a guy up there with a sort of recorder thing and had a jam at the summit. Zero memory of what we did - we hiked at night and got to the top at dawn. I was delirious.” For his part Kornhauser, simply loves making music. “I love decorating the space I’m performing in with sound,” he said. “And I love how that, sometimes at least, makes people happy, and makes the moment memorable for them. I also love being improvisatory and creating everything on the fly and I love that my job takes me
/LocalUmbrellaMedia
@LocalUmbrellaMedia
to different locales weekly. It helps break things up.” Looking ahead, fans can expect new music from him before to long. “I’ve got a second album cooking in my head with some of the music I’ve been writing this pandemic,” Kornhauser said. “It’s sort of a jazz meets Americana sort of thing. Beyond that, I’m also very excited for all my pre-pandemic gigs to fully come back, as they have (slowly) been!” www.edkornhauser. com ADVERTISE | Press@LocalUmbrella.com
