Langnau Jazz Nights: Thursday July 25

Program Thursday July 25th 2019

Thursday, July 25th – 10:15pm
Kupferschmiede Langnau

Ron Carter's "Foursight"
Ron Carter b, Donald Vega p, Jimmy Greene ts, Payton Crossley dr

A night with Ron Carter’s ‘Foursight’will take you on a journey with music recorded on various albums. From standards that you can find onhis ‘Dear Miles’ album to different well known originals documented throughout his life long career.

Ron Carter: For almost more than seven decades, the clever and sympathetic double bass player from Ferndale, Michigan, has been considered one of the most important, most creative and brilliant representatives of his profession and as one of the most recorded bass players in jazz history with well over 2,500 albums on which he cooperated. With his philosophy of absolute professionalism and reliability, he rose to become a model for entire generations of jazz musicians. Ron recorded his first records with colleagues such as Eric Dolphy and Don Ellis in the early 1960s, projects that ha a formative influence on modern jazz. Later, he made indelible achievements in the legendary quintet of Miles Davis, worked with Gil Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, Antonios Carlos Jobim, Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner, in solo projects, with big bands and even in the field of hip hop. He gained tremendous esteem as a professor at the City College of New York and the venerable Juilliard School of Music.

Donald Vega: Donald Vega arrived in the USA from Nicaragua at the age of 14. He spoke no English (except two words: "Bud Powell"), but quickly attracted the attention of Henry Mancini and jazz critic Leonard Feather by winning the prestigious Los Angeles Spotlight Awards competition. Since then he has studied piano solo with Kenny Barron at Juilliard School and has worked with jazz masters such as Billy Higgins, Francisco Aguabella, Justo Almario, Milt Jackson, Bennie Wallace, Diana Krall, Lewis Nash, Al McKibbon and Alex Acuña. His first album as leader, Tomorrows, was released in 2008. Recent awards include the Downbeat Jazz Soloist Award 2008 and the winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition 2010.

Jimmy Green: Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Jimmy Greene has been hailed as “...one of the most striking young tenors of recent years” by Jazzwise Magazine.He played with legendary jazz musicians and groups such as Horace Silver, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Barron, Harry Connick, Jr., Ralph Peterson, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and many others. Down Beat Magazine recognized Greene as one of “25 Young Rising Stars in Jazz” (June 2006). Greene has been commissioned to compose pieces by the Chamber Music America, the prestigious ASCAP/IAJE Commission in honor of Ornette Coleman and in 2005 he was awarded the Artists Fellowship in Music Composition by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

Payton Crossley: Drummer Payton Crossley broke into the jazz major leagues at age 20 with the great pianist Ahmad Jamal. From ages 14 to 18, he studied with, and received invaluable advice from, famed drummer and teacher Alan Dawson --whose students included the innovative Tony Williams."Drums allow you to tap into your whole being, from primal to delicate nuance, anything that you can capture in music," says Crossley. "Basically, drums are the heartbeat of everything that goes on. I like that feeling of being able to participate on such a broad level."

Thursday, July 25th – 08:30pm
Kupferschmiede Langnau

Shane Quartet
Michael Gilsenan ts, Gabriel Wenger ts, James Krüttli b, Philipp Leibundgut dr

Two tenor saxophones in combination with double bass and percussion give the quartet its very own, lively character.

Although the Shane Quartet is based on jazz tradition, it comes with a wide range of musical images and impressions. Through the multi-layered influences of the musicians, the Shane Quartet has developed into a dynamic collective that is constantly changing and evolving. The band members collaborate, listen to each other, support each other and cheer each other on, which is reflected in the improvised as well as in the composed parts.

The four musicians received a great response at various concerts and celebrated their first great success in April 2016 in Biberach, Germany, when they won the renowned international jazz prize.