Art Lande portrait, 8x8 inches at 300 dpi, 2.3MB DOWNLOAD
Art Lande (piano), Bruce Williamson (saxophone), Dean Johnson (bass), Alan Hall (drums)
When Art Lande brings his favorite musicians and people together from near and far he calls it a dream band because it satisfies a beautiful vision. Dream Band I was quite a success and Dream Band II will bring special musicians together again for Colorado audiences.
What listeners can expect from this group is the unexpected. Whether playing an original composition, a jazz standard, or an on-the-spot improvisation, this band will always feature unity from skilled and sensitive listening, and individuality from each member’s expressive command of their instrument. The ease in which the band delivers the beauty and spark of each composition will surprise and delight the listening audience.
Apr 4, Thursday, Interactive Workshop at The ArtsHUB in Lafayette.
Apr 5, Friday, Concert at the Broomfield Auditorium, Broomfield.
Apr 6, Saturday, Concert at the Erie Community Center, Erie.
Apr 7, Sunday, Concert at the Mountain View United Methodist Church, Boulder.
Bruce Williamson is a multi-instrumentalist with strong ties to several genres of music … jazz, classical, funk, blues & Brazilian music. He was active in the SF Bay Area from the early 70s to early 80s, including being a member of Art Lande’s Rubisa Patrol along with trumpeter Mark Isham. A lifelong friendship and music relationship with Lande resulted in many recordings & tours, some with jazz legends such as Gary Peacock & Paul McCandless. While in CA Bruce also performed with Benny Green, Bobby McFerrin, Mark Levine and many others.
Bruce moved to NYC from CA in the early ‘80s and started touring with jazz organist Jack McDuff. This connection also allowed him to meet and play with Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine and George Benson. Years later he started a long-time working relationship with director Julie Taymor and composer Elliot Goldenthal, performing in three award-winning theater pieces, Juan Darien, The Green Bird & Lion King and on nine award-winning filmscores, including Frida, Titus & Across the Universe. In the mid-90s Bruce started teaching at Bennington College (until 2021) while maintaining an active performing career in NYC, performing with artists such as Fred Hersch, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Tom Harrell, Mark Soskin and others. Bruce has also performed in Broadway orchestras (currently w/ the show “Chicago”) and at Lincoln Center (with both American Ballet Theater and NYC Opera). He can be heard on over 50 recordings, playing saxes, clarinets, flutes & keyboard. He also enjoys playing saxophone on stilts (along with his wife Sima) with the Shinbone Alley Stilt Band.
Dean Johnson Since arriving in New York from Seattle, Washington in 1980, Dean has been busy free lancing with a wide variety of artists including his 10 year association with Gerry Mulligan. Some of the eclectic array of artists Dean has been and continues to be involved with include Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Art Lande, Dave Douglas, Lee Konitz, Nguyen Le, Steve Kuhn, Bill Mays, Bill Charlap, Wynton Marsalis, The New York Voices, Jackie and Roy, Roseanna Vitro, Paul Jost, Kendra Shank, and many others. Dean has also appeared on over 80 recordings with a variety of artists.
Alan Hall has performed and/or recorded with many jazz greats including Paul McCandless, Russell Ferrante, Taylor Eigsti, Art Lande, Geoff Keezer, Jimmy Haslip, Kai Eckhardt, and vocalists Kenny Washington and Rebecca Parris. He’s worked with Cirque Du Soleil in NYC and Teatro Zinzanni, and Wicked San Francisco. He taught drum set and ensembles at Berklee College of Music (Boston), California Jazz Conservatory (Berkeley) and Cal State University East Bay (Hayward).
Currently he teaches at The Jazzschool at California Jazz Conservatory (Berkeley, CA) and at Jim Beaver School of Music near Asheville, NC. He has authored several articles and a drum book entitled Internalization - A non-reading intensive approach to mastery of the jazz drumming language.
(content excerpted from Dazzle Denver Press Release, Nov 20, 2023)
Portals is very much like an impressionist painting in music. Art says, Life is poetic. He likes to celebrate each day and is grateful and thankful to still be playing at 76. Each tune on the album paints a different picture with elements of Jazz, Classical, Salsa, World Music and is a culmination of everything he has played over his long career.
When asked about the Sea Shanties on Portals, Art laughed and said that without discussing it beforehand, he and Sam had both written sea shanties while apart and when they were talking about doing the recording, they thought it would be fun to put them into a medley. They brought in 6 different shanties with different keys and speeds and put them all together.
For the lineup at the Dazzle performance, Art said We will play a few pieces from the album, but since it was made over a year ago, we have moved on to other music. They like to keep it fresh. They will play some Miles Davis, some French tunes, and some new music they have been working on. Art says, we always want to play pieces that are worth hearing and if you want music from the CD, you should just buy the CD.
They have also recently taken some of the 500 pieces that Art has written over the years and brought them back to life again for the duo. He really likes playing with a smaller group. Art says, I am not a big band guy. It's more fun to play more of the parts. In a smaller group you have more space to breathe. He says he and Sam aim for freedom of expression and flexibility in their music.
Join them at Dazzle on Nov 26 and see what Art and Sam are working on now. These guys are endlessly creative and are ALWAYS very much worth hearing.
Deborah Stafford - Dazzle Denver Marketing
This reunion will be a special treat for listeners, who can expect to hear both lyricism and drive, fresh original compositions mixed with adventurous improvisation, and quite possibly poetic and/or theatrical elements added to the mix.
Click here to download the press kit (includes 1 web sized, medium quality group image, group intro and artist bios)
Serious fun is what the audience can expect — spontaneity in trustworthy hands of veteran players and composers that know how to leap into the unknown and land on their feet.
The ability to create space where rhythmic complexity, melodic lyricism, and harmonic freedom intersect makes the group interesting and surprising to listen to without sacrificing artfulness, groove or poetic beauty.
Click here to download the press kit (includes 3, 3 inch, high quality images, Press Release, group statement, and artist bios)
A group that straddles the definitions of modern Jazz and 21st century chamber music.
The seamless connection between composition and improvisation and the flexibility of precision and freedom takes the listener on a wide ranging journey.
Click here to download the press kit (includes 3, 3 inch, high quality images, Press Release, group statement, artist bios and Flyer with available Sharpie space)
Material for this weekend will fuse folk, jazz and classical traditions, including new compositions and Irish tunes for St. Patrick's Day weekend.
If music resonating and breathing from the heart is what you seek, come visit with this trio's journey into composition and improvisation on Friday, March 16th, 8:00 PM, at Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, and Saturday, March 17th at 8:00 PM, at JB Piano Company in San Rafael.
Click here to download the press kit (includes 3 web quality images)
September 4 - Baktrak and Cuddle
October 2 - Italavians in duo and trio and FunkModerno
November 6 - Art Lande Peter Sommer Duo and Art Lande Peter Sommer Quartet
December 4 - Art Lande / Mark Miller Duo and The Boy Girl Band
Click here to download the press kit
A refreshing band, playing original music, and comprised of veteran jazz musicians who are creative and interactive, is looking forward to an exciting series of music in the Bay Area. Audiences in the Denver Front Range area are familiar with Art Lande and Peter Sommer. Their special chemistry and powerful musical connection are apparent on their CD Sioux County and numerous live performances over the years. This May, they will be joined by San Francisco's premier bass and drum connection, Peter Barshay and Allen Hall.
They have played with a who's who of Jazz greats for decades and have a remarkable subtlety and spacing, and a fluid time feeling that can be tight, but is always flexible. They have done numerous projects in California with Art and are featured on Shape Shifter with Paul McCandless, and a new CD Standard Transmission with Bruce Williamson.
This will be their second time playing with Peter Sommer. Last October was their first meeting and it was a weekend of burnin' music and sold-out venues. This West Coast-Rocky Mountain blend will be an event not to be missed, with new compositions by Art and Pete, reworked standards, and free improvisations all weaved together.
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These three musicians have been part of the rich Bay Area jazz scene for forty years. Back in the 70's, you could hear them at the Both/And, Great American Music Hall or Keystone Korner as rhythm section participants with people like Bobby Hutcherson, Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson. They were all part of Cazadero Music Camp, the precursor to Jazz Camp West. Eddie was part of the great Fourth Way band with Mike Nock, Michael White and Ron McClure, while Art and Bill forged the Rubisa patrol that toured internationally and recorded for ECM. All three musicians are multi-instrumentalists. Bill is a superb flutist, including bamboo flutes, which he played in the chinese ensemble The Flowing Stream. Eddie just might be the wold's premiere jazz recorder player, while Art plays drum set and melodica in numerous bands.
The reunion of these fine musicians begins at 8PM on February 26th, at Syd Williams' Beautiful home at 1071 Page Street, San Francisco. Contact Syd at 415-823-1000 for reservations. Saturday night, the band plays at the Jazz School in Berkeley, 2087 Addison Street. Call 510 845 5373 for more information on this 8PM concert. Art and Bill will be doing a free improv clinic at the school from 3:30 - 5:30 that afternoon. The final concert will be on Sunday afternoon at Chez Hanny, beginning at 4PM. The new location is at 1300 Silver Street, San Francisco. Call Frank at 415 552 2729 for reservations.
It will be a rare treat hearing these guys making music again. You can count on creativity, subtle interaction, knowledge of the tradition and how to break with it, and much good humor and spirit.
Don't miss it!
Click here to download the text version of this release.
The Boy-Girl Band is an improvising ensemble from Boulder, Colorado, that has been performing, recording and rehearsing weekly since 2002. The group has made an art form out of spontaneous composition that blends jazz, modern music and rock elements into a unique concoction.
"Rehearsals aren't about memorizing songs, but about working on the collaborative process." -Art Lande
Click here to download the press kit (2.3MB) including high res photo, web photos and September 2009 press release.
Art Lande and Mark Miller have performed and recorded together for over thirty years. Their improvisations are compositional in their clarity and precision, tightly constructed works that include gorgeous melodies, spicy dissonances and a colorful harmonic palette.
"A perfect gem... Why aren't these guys more famous?" -Cadence Magazine
Click here to download the press kit (19MB) including high res photo, web photos, five audio excerpts and text.
The realms of classical, jazz, world music and pure improvisation blend together seamlessly to create concerts that are unique and inspiring. The feeling in the center of their music is a jewel worth searching for in the contemporary music landscape.
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here to download the press kit (1MB) including high res photo, web photo and text.
Together these two artists bring forth original, highly musical
pieces that both amaze and stimulate audience members.
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here to download the press kit (32MB) including photo, text and 5 sample music files.
Click here to download a smaller press kit (17MB) including photo, text and 4 sample music files. The 21 minute tune Creation Myth is not included.