ELLINGTON JAZZ SERIES
PIANO JAZZ SUMMIT MAR 4, 2016
WILLIE RUFF 路 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Toshiko Akiyoshi Aaron Diehl Barry Harris Friday at 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
PIANO JAZZ SUMMIT Aaron Diehl, piano Pianist Aaron Diehl is one of the most sought-after jazz virtuosos, consistently playing with what the New York Times describes as “melodic precision, harmonic erudition, and elegant restraint.” Diehl’s meticulously thought-out performances, collaborations, and compositions are a leading force in today’s generation of jazz contemporaries, spearheading a distinct union of traditional and fresh artistry. Highlights of the 2014–2015 season included serving as Music Director for the Jazz at Lincoln Center New Orleans Songbook concert series, performing in the New York premiere of Philip Glass’ complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, collaborating with the Spanish flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz (produced by Savannah Music Festival and Flamenco Festival), and touring the U.S. and Europe with Grammy-nominated jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. Ms. Salvant and Diehl’s Trio, featuring Paul Sikivie, bass, and Lawrence Leathers, drums, enjoyed select performances at Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles), Jazz in Marciac (Marciac, France), Newport Jazz Festival (Newport, R.I.), North Sea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Istanbul Jazz Festival (Istanbul, Turkey), Ronnie Scott’s (London, England), and La Cigale (Paris, France). Diehl’s next album on Mack Avenue Records, Space, Time, Continuum, emphasizes the artistic collaborations between generations. Establishing the
jazz language as a continuum uniting artists, the album includes performances by NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson (tenor saxophone) and Duke Ellington Orchestra alumnus Joe Temperley (baritone saxophone), alongside Diehl’s other established trio—Quincy Davis (drums) and David Wong (bass). The majority of the album consists of Diehl’s original compositions. The title track, featuring vocalist Charenée Wade, was co-written by Cécile McLorin Salvant. The Bespoke Man’s Narrative (2013), Diehl’s debut album, reached No. 1 on the JazzWeek Jazz Chart and was hailed by JazzTimes for displaying “precision and polish.” KCRW praised the album, stating: “This is an album you can listen to again and again, honest music that invites you back in to discover new wonders with each listening.” Live at the Players (2010) featured both of his trios: Quincy Davis and David Wong, and Paul Sikivie and Lawrence Leathers. His first solo album, Live at Caramoor (2008), was a concert recorded at the Caramoor Festival. Diehl’s recent collaborations with internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles include Warren Wolf, Lew Tabackin, Matt Wilson, Wycliffe Gordon, Wynton Marsalis and his Septet, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. As the 2014 Monterey Jazz Festival Commission Artist, Diehl became one of the youngest artists to receive this honor and composed Three Streams of Expression, dedicated to pianist and composer John Lewis. He is
ABOUT THE ARTISTS also the 2013 recipient of the Jazz Journalists Associations Award for Up-And-Coming Artist, the 2012 Prix du Jazz Classique recipient for his album Live at the Players from the Académie du Jazz, and is the winner of the 2011 Cole Porter Fellowship from the American Pianists Association. In an effort to nurture the development of young jazz artists and the community, Diehl was the inaugural artistic director of the Catskill Jazz Factory. Aaron Diehl is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Kenny Barron, Eric Reed, and Oxana Yablonskaya. Residing in Harlem, he enjoys spending time in the sky when he isn’t on tour or recording. As a licensed pilot, one of his favorite planes to fly is the Beechcraft Bonanza.
Toshiko Akiyoshi, piano Toshiko Akiyoshi’s unique contributions to the jazz world have evolved like falling dominoes through a series of events that started with a piano-loving little Japanese girl in China and brought her to prominence as an unparalleled pianist, composer, and leader of the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. Toshiko’s recordings have received a total of 14 Grammy Award nominations. Born in Manchuria, Akiyoshi began taking an interest in the piano at age six, around the time her family had moved back to Japan at the end of World War II. Toshiko soon began playing piano professionally, which eventually led to being discovered by pianist Oscar Peterson in 1952 during a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic tour of Japan. On Peterson’s recommendation, Toshiko recorded for Granz, and not long after, she went to the U.S. to study at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Her years in Boston, and later on in New York, developed her into a first-class pianist. Her interest in composing and arranging came to fruition when she moved to Los Angeles in 1972 with her husband, saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin. The following year they formed the worldrenowned big band that is now known as the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra featuring Lew Tabackin. The band, which began as a vehicle for Toshiko’s own compositions, grew in stature during its ten years on the West Coast and gained
PIANO JAZZ SUMMIT a reputation as one of the most innovative big bands in jazz. The late Leonard Feather, eminent jazz critic and author, summed up the brilliance of Toshiko Akiyoshi big band in his review of that album: “... greatness is greatness, whether on the East Coast, the West Coast, in Tokyo, or anywhere else in the world, I think you will find it in this magnificently variegated, consistently exciting example of one of the outstanding orchestras of our time.” In 1986 Toshiko was the only Japanese New Yorker ever to receive New York City’s Liberty Award. Her work was performed by the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra in 1992, and the following year by the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. In 1996 Maestro James De Priest conducted the Portland Symphony in a program of Akiyoshi’s works. In 1993 a live concert of the big band, “Strive for Jive,” was released on video. Toshiko realized a longtime dream in 1996 when she completed her autobiography, Life With Jazz. The book is now in its fifth printing in Japanese and will soon be translated into Korean. Among the many honors she has received are the Shijahosho (1999, from the Emperor of Japan); the Japan Foundation Award; Order of the Rising Sun; Gold Rays with Rosetta (2004, from the Emperor of Japan); and the Asahi Award (2005, from the Asahi Shimbun newspaper). She was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2007. In 2002 Toshiko retired her big band projects and returned to the piano, touring
as a trio and sometimes a quartet with her husband, Lew Tabackin. Summing up her own career, Toshiko, with characteristic modesty, commented in an interview with the San Bernardino Sun, “I would hope that my work might have more substance and more quality rather than quantity of notes. And I hope the notes I produce today are more selective than 20 years ago.”
ABOUT THE ARTISTS Barry Harris, piano Barry Harris is an internationally renowned jazz pianist, composer, and teacher. Dr. Harris is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Northwestern University. He has received the Living Jazz Legacy award from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Association, and an American Jazz Masters Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, Dr. Harris received the Manhattan Borough President Award for Excellence, given in recognition of his devoted public service and in honor of excellence in the field of music. He received the 1999 Mentor award for his work with youngsters at the Manhattan Country School in NYC. Dr. Harris has devoted his life to the advancement of jazz and in the 1980s founded the Jazz Cultural Theatre. For the past several decades Dr. Harris has been an exponent of the classic Jazz style that was developed by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Coleman Hawkins. Dr. Barry Harris receives frequent requests to appear as a guest lecturer by universities and various musical venues all over the world. His lectures and interactive instrument and vocal workshops focus on the complete aspects of music, including improvisation, harmonic movement, and theory. His schedule includes lectures in the United States, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Japan. When he is not travelling, Dr. Harris holds weekly music workshop sessions in New York City for vocalists as well as students of piano and other instruments.
ELLINGTON JAZZ SERIES ANNOUNCES A NEW EVENT Conservatory Without Walls
may 13 Morse Recital Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm antoine roney trio Antoine Roney, saxophone Kojo Odu Roney, drums Billy “Spaceman” Patterson, guitar Rashaan Carter, bass Watch “Conservatory Without Walls,” a documentary originally created by WTIC Hartford about the eponymous event that Willie Ruff organized here at Yale in 1972. That convocation of forty jazz legends directly led to the founding of the Ellington Jazz Series. The video includes interviews with figures such as Dizzy Gillespie and archival material of Duke Ellington — including Willie Ruff playing bass with Ellington at the piano. Tickets are $10, Students $5 203 432-4158 music.yale.edu
ELLINGTON JAZZ SERIES PATRONS paul hindemith circle $250 to $599 Jeffrey & Barbara Jones samuel simons sanford circle $50 to $124 Elsa Stone & Richard Granger
We invite you to support the patron program for the Ellington Jazz Series at Yale. » music.yale.edu/giving
UPCOMING EVENTS Kyung Yu, violin
New Music New Haven
march 5 Faculty Artist Series Morse Recital Hall | Saturday | 7:30 pm With Melissa Rose, piano Music by Mozart, Brahms, and Ravel Free admission
march 10 New Music New Haven Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Featuring arias from two operas by Christopher Theofanidis, along with music by Jack Vees and YSM graduate students Free admission
Alexei Lubimov, fortepiano march 6 Collection of Musical Instruments 15 Hillhouse Ave | Sunday | 3:00 pm Lubimov will play Haydn and Mozart on the 1795 Könnicke fortepiano, and Liszt and Debussy on the 1881 Erard piano Tickets $25 • Students $10 Seniors & Yale employees $20
Lunchtime Chamber Music march 9 YSM Student Ensembles Yale Art Gallery | Wednesday | 12:30 pm Music for a variety of chamber ensembles Wendy Sharp, director Free admission
Peter Oundjian, conductor april 1 Yale Philharmonia Woolsey Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, with Sun-A Park, piano; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 in C minor Tickets start at $10 • Students from $5 Yale employees from $8
Miami String Quartet april 5 Oneppo Chamber Music Series Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95, “Serioso,” and music by Schulhoff and Mendelssohn Tickets start at $26 • Students $13
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