Singer/songwriter Gazarek is known for seamlessly mingling her uniquely intimate style with the musical and improvisational elements of jazz while Vasandani is simply one of the hottest jazz vocalists/songwriters/bandleaders working today. Recently, Vasandani won the 2010 DownBeat Critics Poll for best Male Jazz Vocals in the Rising Star category. And Gazarek was voted one of the Best New Artists in the JazzTimes Readers Poll.

Sara Gazarek

(Listen To Interview)

Gazarek is a talented young artist on an amazing musical journey who has emerged as a strikingly original artist with limitless potential. In a follow up to Yours, Gazarek’s widely hailed 2005 debut focusing on American Songbook standards, she delivers a sensational sophomore effort with Return to You. Born and raised in Seattle, Gazarek grew up without much exposure to jazz.

Her preliminary jazz education started during high school and as a senior, she was awarded the first-ever Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation Outstanding Jazz Vocalist Award at the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City.

She studied at the prestigious Thornton School of Music at USC. In 2003, Gazarek was awarded the 2003 Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Collegiate Vocalist. Shortly after the publication hit the press, she was asked to perform with Oleta Adams, Karrin Allyson, and Diane Schuur as the “as yet undiscovered talent” on the Concord Jazz Festival Tour. Simultaneously, Gazarek joined Barry Manilow, Allyson, and Schuur as a Stiletto Entertainment (management) client and was soon being booked by the industry giant, William Morris.

John Clayton, a mentor and teacher at USC, produced her first album, and insisted she develop the arrangements herself with the band she’d been performing with. She found musical soulmates in her group and the resulting record was a debut that was released to national and international rave reviews. It ranked in the Top 10 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Charts, Top 10 on the iTunes top Jazz Album Downloads (US, UK, Switzerland, and Belgium), No. 1 on the iTunes Top Jazz Album Downloads (Germany, France), No. 5 on the Jazz Week Radio Charts, No. 4 on the HMV (Japan) chart. In addition, Gazarek was voted the No. 3 Best New Artist in the JazzTimes Readers Poll. saragazarek.com

Sachal Vasandani

Vasandani’s sophomore CD, We Move, on Mack Avenue Records was produced with a team of top-flight studio sages (John Clayton, Doug Wamble and Al Pryor). We Move finds Vasandani (who also serves as a producer) maturing as songwriter, tune stylist and bandleader in the wake of his breakout 2007 debut, Eyes Wide Open (Mack Avenue Records).

Vasandani was born in Chicago and grew up in a household where all kinds of music was appreciated. In pursuing his love for music at the University of Michigan, he began to be recognized as a talent of the future, most notably by DownBeat magazine, which awarded him Collegiate Jazz Vocalist of the Year in 1999.

After moving to New York, Vasandani quickly became a part of the jazz scene, and made a musical home in storied clubs like the Zinc Bar. And after the release of his breakthrough debut recording, he toured extensively supporting Eyes Wide Open. He opened for such disparate artists from jazz trumpeter Chris Botti to pop singer Joan Osborne.

On We Move, Vasandani has ample support from his trio comprised of pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong and drummer Quincy Davis. The band has been a group since 2001. Vasandani notes that in addition to their instrumental support, two band members also contributed songs, including Patton’s “Horizons” that is paired with the romping, upswing “Once in a While” (by Michael Edwards and Bud Green) and Davis composed the music on “Ring Road (Back to You).”

In addition to his originals, Vasandani puts his spin on songs from the jazz songbook and canon,including Rodgers & Hart’s “There’s a Small Hotel” with a Vasandani intro (“Escape”) that gives the standard a fresh feel. Also on the CD are “No More,” the Hubert Laws/Jon Hendricks ‘70s song; the Bloom/Kohler tune “Don’t Worry About Me;” “Poinciana;” “There Are Such Things” (by Stanley Adams, Abel Baer, George W. Meyer); “The River of St. Marie” by Joe Williams; and Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Dream” (with lyrics by Hendricks). sachalvasandani.com

Performance Info:

Date: September 24th-25th, 2010 (7:30 pm, 9:30 pm)

Location: Orange County Performing Arts Center (Samueli Theater)

Tickets: $49 – will go on sale August 22nd. They will be available online at OCPAC.org, at the Center’s Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.

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1. Concert Review: Sara Gazarek & Sachal Vasandani At OCPAC
2. Interview With Jazz Vocalist Sara Gazarek
3. Kurt Elling Among Artists Announced For OCPAC’s 2009-2010 Jazz Series

Club Nokia is the latest addition to L.A.’s thriving music scene. Located in downtown L.A., the club is pleased to announce three great shows, featuring Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes, famed singer and musician Etta James, and king of the blues B.B King. Concert promoter Goldenvoice will be putting on the concerts and aims to open this new venue with a bang.

Sergio Mendes:

Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes, regarded as one of the first practitioners of the new genre of samba-based bossa nova, bring us a flavor of his newest recording Encanto (Enchantment). In collaboration with songwriter Carlinhos Brown, Mendes offers a blend of infectious rhythms and irresistible melodies from the great Brazilian Songbook, with his always thoroughly modern arrangements and masterful production approach.

Contributing on the album are Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar), Alphonso Johnson (bass), Mike Shapiro (drums), Meia Noite (percussion), Gibi (percussion), will Garrett (vocals), and Siedah Garrett (vocals). Like always, Mendes geatures a cross between American mainstream and Brazilian sensibility, representative of his multi-cultural approach to the music.

Show Details:
Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008
7:00 pm
Get Tickets from Ticketmaster

Etta James:

Celebrating five decades as a recording artist, music legend Etta James has amazed and astounded audiences with her great voice and stage presence. Honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, James has shown her talent and class over the years, performing with some of the best, including Marvin Gaye, Leonard Bernstein, Johnny Watson, and Frank Sinatra (to name just a few).

Etta will showcase her enduring artistry on an amazing diversity of the eleven songs featured on her new BMG album All The Way. It includes a range of material that would prove challenging for even the most competent vocalists, but but we would not expect anything less of the great vocalist.

Show Details:
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008
7:00 pm
Get Tickets from Ticketmaster

B.B. King:

Hailed as the reigning king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King is without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half century. A contemporary blues guitar solo without at least a couple of recognizable King-inspired bent notes is all but unimaginable, and he remains a supremely confident singer capable of wringing every nuance from any lyric.

King has earned himself an astounding 74 entires on Billboard’s R&B charts, and he remains one of the few blues artists to have a major pop hit produced – The Thrill Is Gone (1970). When combining his legendary guitar skills with his unforgettable vocals, King sets himself apart from the pack as the blues’ undisputed king.

Show Details:
Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008
7:00 pm
Get Tickets from Ticketmaster

[Source: www.jazzandblues.org]

Performance Location:
Club Nokia
800 W. Olympic Blvd.
Suite A335 (downtown)
Los Angeles, CA 90015

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This week the Jazz Bakery in Culver City brings us The Antonio Sanchez Quartet, featuring David Sanchez (saxophone), Miguel Zenon (saxophone), and Scott Colley (bass). Three time Grammy award winner Antonio Sanchez will head the group on drums for these great preformances.

Antonio Sanchez:

Born in Mexico City, Antonio began playing drums when he was only five years. His talent and dedication was apparent right away, as he was performing professionally as a teenager. This would lead him to many great opportunities, moving to Boston to enroll at Berklee College of Music at the age of 22 and eventually graduating Magna Cum Laude in Jazz Studies.

Antonio has always expressed a great interest in education, and he has been featured at many performing clinics, drum festivals, and master classes around the world. Some of the festivals include the “Modern Drummer Festival Weekend”, “Zildjian Day” and the “Montreal Drum Festival” among many others.

2007 brought his first solo recording entitled Migration, which includes a huge cast of today’s most renowned jazz musicians – Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Chris Potter, David Sanchez and Scott Colley to name a few. It has gotten rave reviews from different publications all over the world.

Considered one of the most saught after drummers in the international jazz scene, has has performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz including Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, Gary Burton and Toots Thielmans. In addition he is a member of the Pat Metheny Group and the Pat Metheny Trio with Chirstian McBride.

Make sure to come out and see one of these performances – they always bring a great and entertaining show.

Jazz Bakery
3233 Helms Ave.
Culver City, CA
(310) 271-9039

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The Sweet & Hot Music Festival, taking place at the LAX Marriott over Labor Day Weekend, presents a diverse lineup of excellent musicians in a family-friendly environment at affordable prices.

This year, the Festival features the likes of Ernestine Anderson, the Jack Sheldon Orchestra, Herb Jeffries, Ernie Andrews, the Jennifer Leitham Trio, and Banu Gibson, along with the world premiere of some unreleased Chet Baker recordings and an ongoing jam session in the lobby.

But with entertainment happening in eight venues within the Marriott, Sweet & Hot offers more than jazz. There’s also blues, gospel, R&B, honky-tonk, and children’s and novelty music. There’s Pianorama, hosted by Yve Evans, in which pianists are given 15 minutes each to “play his or her butt off.” There’s ballroom and swing dancing. As performer Ava DuPree puts it, “there’ll be comedy, drama, magic, the bold, the beautiful, the young, and the restless, all served up with a little vaudeville on the side.” It all happens at the LAX Marriott August 29-September 1.

[Source: www.lajazz.com]

Listen to Ernestine Anderson:

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Pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballad will perform at the El Rey Theater in Hollywood as part of a tour supporting their new release Live. This is the third album the Trio has recorded live at New York’s Village Vanguard; it comprises five Mehldau originals and interpretations of compositions by Jimmy Heath, John Coltrane, Ray Noble, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Noel Gallagher of Oasis, among others.

More on Brad Mehldau, including his biography and tips to success!

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Also performing at the LA Latin Jazz Festival will be the “The Latin Giants of Jazz” which reunites former Tito Puente Orchestra members performing together in LA for the first time since the passing of “El Rey” in 2000. This Latin big band under the musical direction of Jose Madera and leadership of Johnny Rodriguez will perform the music of the Palladium era which in recent years has been the preferred music of professional Salsa Music Dancers throughout the world. Performing with The Latin Giants of Jazz will be Grammy Award winning flautist, Dave Valentin and a former member of the Carlos Santana Band Cuban percussionist Oreste Vilato. The show will open with a performance by Jose Rizo’s Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars featuring the last of the original Cuban Conga Master Mr. Francisco Aguabella.

LA Latin Jazz Festival 2008 TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 7:00pm

Price: $80.00 / $65.00 / $45.00 / $35.00

Tickets available at all Ticketmaster outlets including select Macy’s locations and Ritmo Latino. To charge by phone, call (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000. Tickets can also be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or at The Greek Theatre box office the LA Latin Jazz Festival

[Source: All About Jazz]

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