By Kathy Edwards McFarland
Welcome back! Taking a hiatus got me recharged for an amazing 2016 Winter-to-Spring run of local and area Jazz.
Denton Courthouse Square
- Oak Trio plays the Greenhouse Restaurant, 600 N Locust St, Monday, Feb. 1, 10 pm to 12 Midnight. Free.
- The new University of North Texas Union , 1155 Union Circle, is open and the UNT Jazz Syndicate will be the place this Tuesday, Feb. 2, for the kick-off of the Tuesday Night Small Group Jazz Series at the Syndicate, with Justin Binek (vocals), Henry Dickhoff (piano), Henry Beal (bass), and Dan Beckwith (drums). Free.
Admission is free and open to the public – stick around for the Garrett Wingfield group immediately afterwards!
- Thursday, Feb. 4 at Andy’s Bar, 122 N. Locust, come early, stay late for the latest edition of The Rotation – Jazz/Funk/Blues/Fusion, 9 pm – 1:45 am. This mega -music pick: Samsara comes out blazing the fusion, Ararat lays on thick the Armenian metal-jazz, and Yu Nishiyama rounds out the night with some good ol’ standards. Free.
- Saturday, Feb. 6 – The Texas Instruments Jazz Band presents its Mardi Gras Celebration, at Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano, 2875 E Parker Rd.
Celebrating its 30th year, the 18-member TI Jazz Band will play colorful, New Orleans-style music. Tickets are just $10 in advance or at the door. Kids and students get in free.
- Also Feb. 6 – A Taste of Herb – the very cool Herb Alpert the Tijuana Brass tribute band – plays at The Common Table GastroPub, 2917 Fairmount St, Dallas, starting at 10:30 pm.
- Fat Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Mardi Gras is really big at Sweetwater Grill & Tavern, 115 S. Elm St., tonight. The menu changes at 5 pm to New Orleans feast food, and a few hours later (7 p or so), the Vintage Jazz Society strikes up a rousing marathon of New Orleans-style Dixieland, with plenty of “jam on the side.” Dress for fun, and plan to dance!
From one genre to another …
- The Dallas Jazz Piano Society presents The Music of Victor Young featuring: Pat Coil on piano assisted by Lynn Seaton on bass and Ed Soph on drums, Thursday, February 11, 7:30 to 9:30 pm, Sammons Center for the Arts, 3630 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas.
Pat Coil has returned to UNT after extensively touring and recording with such artists as Michael McDonald, Carmen McCrae, Ernie Watts, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Woody Herman, Olivia Newton-John, and many others. Pat has recorded with many artists, including Natalie Cole, Carmen McCrae, Woody Herman, Trisha Yearwood, Ernie Watts, BeBe & CeCe Winans, Kenny Rogers, Peter Cetera, Scott Henderson and Michael McDonald. His talent spans the musical spectrum of jazz, pop, R&B, gospel and country.
General Admission – $20; Students are Free with an ID. All profits from all concerts benefit our Keys for Kids Scholars! The Dallas Jazz Piano Society is a non profit organization supported by donations. DJPS is dedicated to promoting, preserving and perpetuating piano jazz music through performances and education opportunities for the community at large.
Contact dallasjazzpiano@gmail.com or (214) 353-9758 for questions.
- Denton Arts & Jazz Fest, scheduled for April 29-May 1, at Denton’s Quakertown Park, 321 East McKinney (Corner of McKinney and Bell), will offer up a first (?) with Multi-Grammy nominated artist, Patrice Rushen headlining the Jazz Stage, 9 pm on Friday.
Rushen has made many ground-breaking achievements. She became the first woman to serve as head composer/musical director for the Grammy Awards and the Emmy Awards, the first woman to serve as musical director for the NAACP Image Awards broadcast, an honor she held for twelve consecutive years. Rushen has been the only woman to be a musical director/composer for the People’s Choice Awards, HBO’s Comic Relief and the only woman musical director/conductor/arranger for a late-night television talk show, The Midnight Hour which aired on CBS.
In addition, Rushen was named musical director/composer for Newsweek‘s first American Achievement Awards, broadcast on CBS from the Kennedy Center and she served as the musical director for Janet Jackson‘s World Tour, “janet.”
In 2008, Rushen accepted a professorship at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, in Boston. The course is Patrice Rushen: The Value of Music Education.
She also continues to play keyboard and has played in the tour bands of Lee Ritenour and Wayne Shorter in recent years.
I’m really looking forward to her performance!
More later … and remember, your musicians are hardworking souls, and need proper care and feeding.
Filed under: Jazz History, Jazz skeds & events, Jazz venues, Musicians & Bands, UNT Jazz Tagged: A Taste of Herb, Amy Grant, Andy's Bar, Ararat, Armenian metal-jazz, BeBe & CeCe Winans, Berklee College of Music, Boston, Carmen McCrae, Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano, Dallas Jazz Piano Society, Dan Beckwith, Denton Arts & Jazz Fest, Ed Soph, Ernie Watts, Fat Tuesday, Garrett Wingfield, Henry Beal, Henry Dickhoff, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Janet Jackson, Justin Binek, Kenny Rogers, Lee Ritenour, Lynn Seaton, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Oak Trio, Olivia Newton-John, Pat Coil, Patrice Rushen, Peter Cetera, Quakertown Park, Sammons Center for the Arts, Samsara, Scott Henderson, Sweetwater Grill & Tavern, The Common Table GastroPub, The Greenhouse Restaurant, The Music of Victor Young, The Rotation - Jazz/Funk/Blues/Fusion, The Texas Instruments Jazz Band, Trisha Yearwood, University of North Texas Union, UNT Jazz Syndicate, Vince Gill, Vintage Jazz Society, Wayne Shorter, Woody Herman, Yu Nishiyama
