Ron Carter Trio

RON CARTER TRIO ELLINGTON JAZZ SERIES Willie Ruff, Artistic Director

A HOUSE FULL OF RHYTHM 2011–2012 Season

MARCH 23 8 pm in Morse Recital Hall

DONALD VEGA piano

RUSSELL MALONE guitar

RON CARTER bass

Robert Blocker, Dean

DONALD VEGA

RUSSELL MALONE

piano

guitar

Donald Vega’s style and virtuosity on piano, along with his composing and arranging, mark this young artist as a unique and exciting presence in the world of jazz. Due to civil war in Nicaragua, Vega immigrated to the U.S. at age of fourteen without speaking a word of English. Within a year of coming to the U.S. he won the prestigious Los Angeles Spotlight Awards competition, capturing the attention of Henry Mancini and the jazz critic Leonard Feather. Vega began studying at the Colburn School of Performing Arts (where he also taught) and went on to earn a B.A. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from the Manhattan School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from Juilliard. Along the way, he won the LA Jazz Society’s New Talent Award, the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in 2010, and Downbeat’s Student Music Award for 2007 best Jazz Soloist, and has had his compositions highlighted in JAZZIZ. Vega’s first album as a leader, Tomorrows, was released in 2008 to rave reviews; the album also six original tunes, showing Vega’s evolution into a creative composer and arranger. Donald currently resides in New York. He frequently performs at nightclubs in New York City as well as throughout Europe and Latin America.

Vega is currently working on his second album.

Born in Albany, Georgia, Russell Malone grew up playing a variety of music. Eventually, he made jazz his main focus, but he never lost his appreciation of other styles. Malone was 25 when, in 1988, he was hired as a sideman by the organist Jimmy Smith. He went on to back Harry Connick, Jr. from 1990 to 1994 and spent four years working with Verve labelmate Diana Krall, in addition to guesting on numerous recordings. By the new millennium, Malone’s profile was much higher, owing to his appearances with Krall and on record with Mose Allison and Benny Green. His career also benefited from an appearance in the 1996 movie Kansas City and from the praise given to his postColumbia albums. A fluid and highly melodic player, Malone’s solos are constructed with intelligence and display his remarkable selftaught skills to great effect. Throughout his work there is evidence of his uncommonly good taste, together with hints of his interest in and, indeed, reverence for the great traditions of the guitar’s role in the history of jazz. Malone has composed a number of pieces, several of which he has recorded.

RON CARTER bass

directed by Bertrand Tavernier; and Blind Faith, starring Courtney B. Vance. Carter shares his expertise in the series of books he authored, among which are Building Jazz Bass Lines and The Music of Ron Carter; the latter contains 130 of his published and recorded compositions.

Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz. With more than 2,000 albums to his credit, he has recorded with many of music’s greats: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, and Bobby Timmons. In the early 1960s he performed throughout the United States in concert halls and nightclubs with Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy. He later toured Europe with Cannonball Adderley. From 1963 to 1968, he was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He has been named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Downbeat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

In 1993 Ron Carter earned a Grammy award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, the Miles Davis Tribute Band and another Grammy in 1998 for ‘Call Sheet Blues,’ an instrumental composition from the film ’Round Midnight.

In addition to scoring and arranging music for many films, including some projects for Public Broadcasting System, Carter has composed music for A Gathering of Old Men, starring Lou Gosset Jr.; The Passion of Beatrice,

Carter earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School in Rochester and a master’s degree in double bass from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

He has also received two honorary doctorates, from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and was the 2002 recipient of the prestigious Hutchinson Award from the Eastman School at the University of Rochester. Most recently he was honored by the French Minister of Culture with France’s premier cultural award: the medallion and title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, given to those who have distinguished themselves in the domain of artistic or literary creation and for their contribution to the spread of arts and letters in France and the world.

Carter has lectured, conducted, and performed at clinics and master classes, instructing jazz ensembles and teaching the business of music at numerous universities. He was Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies while it was located in Boston and, after 18 years on the faculty of the Music Department of the City College of New York, he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus although, as a performer, he remains as active as ever. »www.roncarter.net

COMING UP

Guitar Extravaganza Yale School of Music 203 432-4158 concerts@yale.edu music.yale.edu

concerts & public relations Dana Astmann Danielle Heller Dashon Burton new media Monica Ong Reed Austin Kase operations Tara Deming Christopher Melillo piano curators Brian Daley William Harold recording studio Eugene Kimball

march 24 Morse Recital Hall | Saturday | all day Benjamin Verdery, artistic director. Featured performers include the Dither Quartet, Kim Perlak, Zaira Meneses, and SoloDuo. The day-long event features guitar-focused workshops, talks, and master classes.

All-day passes, concert passes, and individual concert tickets are available.

De Profundis: The Deep End march 28 Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 8 pm Yale in New York: preview concert Music for low instruments, including Mozart’s Duo for bassoon and cello; Schütz’s Absalon, fili mi; Penderecki’s Serenata for three cellos; Druckman’s Valentine; and Gubaidulina’s Concerto for bassoon and low strings.

Matt Wilson’s Arts + Crafts may 11 Morse Recital Hall | Friday | 8 pm Ellington Jazz Series Drummer Matt Wilson performs with Michael Rodriguez, trumpet and flugelhorn; Gary Versace, piano, organ, and accordion; and Martin Wind, bass.

Tickets $20–$30, Students $10.