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NYC Jazz Night feat.
Gerry Eastman Jazz Quartet NEW DATE: Monday January 15th Martin Luther King Weekend Festivities begin with The Gerry Eastman Quartet The Gerry Eastman Quartet starts off festivities for the Martin Luther King Celebration Weekend at the Center for the Arts of Homer with an improvisation workshop for students on January 12th from 1-3pm and a concert at 8pm on January 13th. Eastman's concert and workshop is also the first in a series of music events "Live From the Heart of New York" sponsored by a grant from the New York State Music Fund awarded to The Central New York Arts Coalition. The Coalition (SUNY Cortland and two other partners, the Center for the Arts of Homer and the Cortland Downtown Partnership) received the $500,000 grant in order to bring music education and public performances by regional and nationally prominent artists working in jazz, blues, folk, classical, and world music to the college, downtown venues, and to the Center for the Arts of Homer through December 2008 Indeed, this first concert by the Gerry Eastman Quartet will bring some of the most highly accomplished jazz musicians in the country to Cortland: Gerry Eastman on guitar; Taru Alexander on drums, Andy McCloud on bass, and Joe Ford on Sax. Eddie Henderson (jazz funk legend, doctor/psychiatrist / not yet confirmed) may be a special guest artist. Admission is $12, $10 for seniors, and free to students. Gerry Eastman, one of the finest jazz musicians on the New York scene today, is a renowned guitarist and bass player, as well as composer, producer, arranger, and bandleader. He has performed at venues in the U.S. and around the world with prominent musicians such as The Count Bassie Band, Joe Ford, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Andy Bey, Frank Foster, Houston Pearson, Archie Shepp to name a few. Jazz critics have characterized his style as brilliant, fluid, and seemingly effortless, a blend of diverse jazz modes from Delta blues to avant-garde jazz that appeals to audiences of all ages. An Ithaca native and musical prodigy, Gerry taught himself to play music at the age of 12; he then went on to develop his talent as an undergraduate and graduate student at Ithaca College and Cornell University. Gerry is also the founder and creative director of the Williamsburg Music Center in Brooklyn, NY, a venue well known to jazz musicians and arts aficionados who have either been part of the audience, gigged, or recommended a friend to experience the extraordinary ambience and sound at his center. You can learn more about the Center and Gerry at and at A second member of the quartet, Joe Ford, who will lead the improvisation workshop with Gerry on the 13th has had an extraordinary career as a sax player for over 40 years. He was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame (BMHF) in 2004, is a two-time Grammy Award winner, Playboy Jazz Poll Winner and four-time winner of Downbeat Magazine's Critics Poll. Over the course of his career, Joe has worked with notable artists Tyner McCoy, Nasar Abadey, Tonight Show pianist Kenny Kirkland, and Charles Fambrough, Jeff "lain" Watts and Darrell Brown, to name but a few. He has recorded more than 35 albums, including the soundtrack to New York Undercover, a Fox police drama, and his own 1993 release, Today's Nights. After graduating from Central State University in Ohio, he returned to Buffalo, where he founded the locally popular jazz band Birthright that released two albums while playing together. He played for a time with the Buffalo Jazz Ensemble, a group that went on to form Spyro Gyra. Ford also played on and off with the legendary pianist McCoy Tyner from 1975 through 1981 and joined Tyner's big band in 1985. In addition to touring, he has recorded on various albums with Tyner: Focal Point, Inner Voices, The Greeting, Horizon, and Thirteenth House. He has also played with Jerry Gonzalez' Fort Apache Band, and appeared on Charles Fambrough's number one rated jazz radio release The Proper Angle, and on albums with Idris Muhamed and Sahib Sarbib. Andy McCloud, a third member of the ensemble, has had an illustrious career as a bass player. After college, he played with and composed for Ocho, known to be one of the best salsa bands in the country. He was a regular on the New York City jazz scene playing with Bobby Battle, Carter Jefferson, Greg Bandy and Donald Smith. Jimmy Garrison. Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath and Sonny Redd. He eventually joined Frank Foster's band, the Loud Minority, while also playing with Pharaoh Sanders, Hannibal, Sonny Fortune and Mary Lou Williams. In 1977, Andy went on to play with Elvin Jones for five years, making a total of eight records with him. In the early ‘80s, he played with Clifford Jordan, Arthur Blythe and Don Pullen and then went on to freelance with musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks, and Hilton Ruiz and toured with shows like Black and Blue and Dinah. He has played on 44 recordings, both records and CDs. .Taru Alexander,is considered to have "a shimmering, masterful touch" on drums. In addition to touring with Gerry Eastman, Taru plays and records with the Harlem Arts Ensemble, a group of musicians that perform weekly at St. Nick's pub in Harlem. The group is considered "one of the most interesting 'little big bands' in America.” On its first recording, with pieces composed by Salim Washington, a mix of gospel, blues, gritty funk and "free flights of improv" one can hear clear examples of Taru's extraordinary touch on drums. Taru also plays and records with the Miles Griffith Ensemble. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=573 Students who play or sing with a jazz ensemble are invited to participate in the improvisation workshop with Gerry Eastman and Joe Ford. Those interested to participate should contact their music teacher or call 607-753-5784. Other students are invited to observe the workshop. These events and others to follow promise to provide extraordinary learning experiences for Central New York residents. Show Starts at 8:00pm, Refreshments at 7:00pm |
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