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ROY HAYNES AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: Thelonious Monk once described Roy Haynes' drumming as "an eight ball right in the side pocket." Jack DeJohnette calls Roy's percolations "a rare combination of street education, high sophistication and soul." Pat Metheny says Haynes is the "father of modern drumming" and "a national treasure." Lester Young summed up Haynes' genius best perhaps when the two shared a bandstand in October, 1947, exclaiming, "Haynes, you sure are swinging!" For over 50 years Roy Haynes has influenced and innovated, shaping some of the greatest recordings in jazz while altering the very fabric and direction of jazz improvisation with his mercurial, intelligent, joyous drumming. Freeing jazz's borders, infusing its lifeblood, steering it towards greater freedom and more distinctive expression, Roy Haynes is a national treasure who continues to forge new paths well into his '70s, dumbfounding jazz lovers, not to mention Father Time and Mother Nature.
Who else can claim residencies with Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Lennie Tristano, Stan Getz, Chick Corea and Pat Metheny? "It is weird isn't it?" Haynes muses. "It is amazing for me, turning 79 as I am. I couldn't see this far in advance that I would be still playing at my age. I'm constantly getting calls for record dates, I don't know what the hell it is. I like to do my own thing where I can play anything I want to play, interpreting it my own way. Years ago, when I was playing with other people, my job was to make them feel good. When I stopped doing that it seemed like I got more attention – my own concept came out." Calling his music "hard swing," Haynes has recently led a series of groups such as appeared on 2001's BIRDS OF A FEATHER (Dave Holland, Roy Hargrove, Kenny Garrett) and 2003's LOVE LETTERS (Holland, Kenny Barron, Scofield, Joshua Redman). Add to that short list of explosive, inspired outings this live recording from New York's Birdland titled FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH which bows on Dreyfus Jazz February 24. With his 20-something band of Martin Bejerano (piano), Marcus Strickland (tenor and soprano saxophone and bass clarinet), and John Sullivan (bass), Roy Haynes is influencing the next generation just as he has those of the past.
Recorded in December, 2002, FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH is reverential, explosive, an celebratory, exploring music Haynes has included in his sets for years with a handful of new additions chosen by the group. Haynes happily admits that this group catches fire often, obviously following his lead. Selections by Monk, Metheny, Oliver Nelson, and Irving Berlin provide tremendous give and take, fireworks on full display. "I have recorded a few of the tunes before but I wanted to perform them again, documenting this great band," Haynes explains. "Recording live you can really capture some magic moments, and there are plenty here. 'Question and Answer' has some great stuff in the vamp when I am playing accents with the bass drum and the cymbals. On 'Green Chimneys,' where I stop and the horn and piano play solo, and we come back in – that is some wild stuff. The crowd at Birdland really digs it." On the second night of recording, the group had additional inspiration from an unlikely source — a major snowstorm blanketed the East Coast! When news of the storm came in that morning, the producers worried that the heavy weather would mean a small turn-out. At the last moment, word was circulated inviting some lucky New York jazz fans to attend the show for free. As a result, the audience was jam packed with an unusually high concentration of young people and musicians.
The enthusiasm of the audience is evident throughout this electrifying recording. Working with this younger group when not touring with Birds Of A Feather, Haynes says the musicians found him, not the other way around. "Strickland was playing with Milt Jackson's big band, he came up to me at the Blue Note and told me he wanted to play with me. I hired him a year later when the opportunity arose, and he recommended the other guys, John Sullivan and Martin Bejerano. They have played with me for the last three summers and the audiences love it everywhere we go." The connection between master and students is beyond notions of age or deference. The quartet meet in a musical space that is timeless, Haynes elevating the musicians' performances; matching their fire stroke for stroke, thrill for thrill. There is an affinity that happens between us that you can't find with just anybody." FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH opens with "Greensleeves." An homage to Coltrane perhaps, but the group strikes it anew with an emotive, clamoring energy. The album includes a triptych of Monk standards, "Twinkle Trinkle," "Ask Me Now," and "Green Chimneys," the songs' zigzagging logic providing some eruptive and forceful improvisations.
"The way I do the Monk songs is definitely different," Haynes says. "We cut out certain bars in 'Twinkle Trinkle,' for instance, and add a lot of different accents. I don't like to give all the details. We rearrange the music, almost treat them as if they were my tunes. 'Green Chimneys' as well." Oliver Nelson's "Butch and Butch," which Haynes recorded with the saxophonist/arranger for his 1961 classic, BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH, is an airy, dynamic performance, allowing a breather from the febrile, feverish land of Monk. Where Strickland and Bejerano wowed the winter's eve crowd on earlier tracks, here Sullivan solos (short and sweet) with a sense of assurance belying his youth. The ballad "Inner Trust," by longtime Haynes' pianist Dave Kikoski follows, though the drummer's triumphal approach is more like a whirlwind than a pool of reflection. A funky street march opens the darting lines of "Green Chimneys" before the group launches it on a dazzling ride of interlocking jabs, singular shouts and gospel worthy exclamations. After a lush reading of Berlin's "Remember," FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH closes with Pat Metheny's "Question and Answer."
"I played on the original QUESTION AND ANSWER album with Metheny and Dave Holland back in '89," Roy recalls. "I like that melody; it really knocks me out. I like a lot of Pat's writing." Roy Haynes' perennial focus on the music has not only led to a cherished spot among jazz fans and musicians, but to a mantel full of much deserved awards. Along with honorary doctorates from Berklee and the New England Conservatory, Haynes picked up the JAZZPAR prize in '94, the French Chevalier des l'Ordes Artes et des Letters in '96, Zildjian's American Drummer's Achievement Award in '98, and the PAS Hall of Fame Award. And as in years past, Haynes recently topped the 2003 Downbeat Critic's Poll and Reader's Poll. But for a musician whose gifts have only slowly become recognized as innovations and continual inspiration, Roy Haynes remains an almost shy man concerned more with his music than reaping accolades. "Chan [Parker] used to tell me that I was Bird's favorite drummer. He would never tell me what he liked about my playing but years later I figured it out. I had that swing thing. I had that thing on the cymbal, that swing we called it in the old days, it wasn't just a word, it had a meaning back when Bebop was new. My way of doing it was right in the pocket. That is what kept me out there." With FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, Roy Haynes is still right in the pocket, leading the charge.
RANDY BRECKER & FRIENDS Jazz trumpeter and composer has helped shape the sound of jazz, R&B and rock for more than four decades. His trumpet and flugelhorn performances have graced hundreds of albums by a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Parliament/Funkadelic to Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa.
Born in 1945 in Philadelphia to a musical family, Randy's musical talent was nurtured from an early age. He attended Indiana University from 1963-66 studying with Bill Adam, David Baker and Jerry Coker and later moved to New York where he landed gigs with such prominent bands as Clark Terry's Big Bad Band, the Duke Pearson Big Band and the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.
In 1967, Randy ventured into jazz-rock with the band Blood, Sweat and Tears, but left to join the Horace Silver Quintet. He recorded his first solo album, 'Score', in 1968, featuring a young, then unknown 19 year-old tenor saxophonist named Michael Brecker.
After Horace Silver, Randy joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers before teaming up with brother Michael, Barry Rogers, Billy Cobham, and John Abercrombie to form the seminal fusion group 'Dreams'. The group recorded two adventurous and wildly acclaimed albums: 'Dreams' and 'Imagine My Surprise' – now collector's items – for Columbia Records before they disbanded in 1971.
In the early 1970s, Randy performed live with many prominent artists including Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, Stevie Wonder and Billy Cobham. He also recorded several classic albums with his brother under the leadership of the great pianist/composer Hal Galper.
By 1975, Randy and Michael were ready to front their own group, the Brecker Brothers Band. A band of immeasurable impact and influence, they released six albums on Arista and garnered seven Grammy nominations between 1975 and 1981. Their eponymous first record, which Randy wrote, arranged and produced, featured his now classic composition "Some Skunk Funk."
In 1992, exactly ten years after they parted ways to pursue solo careers, Randy and Michael reunited for a world tour and the triple-Grammy nominated GRP recording, 'The Return of the Brecker Brothers'. The follow-up, 1994's 'Out of the Loop,' was a double-Grammy winner.
In 1997, 'Into the Sun' (Concord), a recording featuring Randy's impressions of Brazil, garnered Randy his first Grammy as a solo artist.
In 2001, Randy released 'Hangin' in the City' (ESC), a solo project which introduced his alter-ego Randroid, a skirt chasing, cab driving ne'er do well, with lyrics and vocals by Randroid himself. This CD was especially well received in Europe, where Randy toured extensively with his own line-up.
Randy's next CD for ESC Records, '34th n' Lex,' won him his third Grammy for 'Best Contemporary Jazz Album' in 2003. In May of that year he toured Europe with his Quintet in support of the CD, and in the summer went back to Europe yet again with the Randy Brecker/ Bill Evans Soulbop Band. The summer of 2003 culminated in the special headline appearance in Japan at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival of the reunited Brecker Brothers.
2004 saw Randy touring Europe extensively as co-leader (with Bill Evans) of the band Soulbop. The WDR Big Band also celebrated Randy and his music that year in a performance at the Leverkusen Jazz Fest. The date was of special significance to Randy as it was the last time he played with his brother, who took ill shortly thereafter with a rare form of leukemia known as MDS.
In 2005, with Mike unable to travel to Russia for Brecker Brothers gigs booked there, Randy's wife Ada sat in for the first time. Randy's active schedule continued apace with the Randy Brecker Band performing throughout Eastern Europe and across the globe.
In 2007, Randy was awarded his fourth Grammy for "Randy Brecker Live with the WDR Big Band" (Telarc/BHM), the live recording (also available in DVD format) of his performance with Michael at the Leverkusen Jazz Fest in 2004.
Tragically, Michael passed away that same year on Jan 13th.
2007 also saw the release of a 2 CD set of live recordings of the band 'Soulbop' (BHM) featuring Dave Kikoski, Victor Bailey, Steve Smith or Rodney Holmes and the late great Hiram Bullock.
Randy returned to his long-time love of Brazilian music in 2008 for the album 'Randy in Brazil,' which was recorded in Sao Paulo with a full complement of great Brazilian musicians and released on Summit Records. Chosen one of the top 10 CDs of 2008 by AllAboutJazz.com, the CD won the Grammy for "Best Contemporary Jazz Album," bringing his Grammy total to five.
A "Tribute to the Brecker Brothers" featuring Randy and recorded live at the Hamamatsu Jazz Festival in Japan with Yoichi Murata's Solid Brass & Big Band was released by JVC Victor in Japan in late 2008.
And in 2009, Randy's roots were celebrated with the release of 'Jazz Suite Tykocin,' a project initiated and conceived by the Polish pianist and composer Wlodek Pawlik, featuring Randy as a soloist with members of the Bialystok Philharmonic. Tykocin is the area in Poland where Randy's ancestors (mother's maiden name: Tecosky) hail from, a fact that Pawlik discovered while helping to search for a bone marrow donor for Michael.
2011 saw the release of 'The Jazz Ballad Song Book: Randy Brecker with the Danish Radio Big Band and The Danish National Chamber Orchestra,' which garnered 4 Grammy nominations and enjoyed enthusiastic critical acclaim. And in 2012, Sony Legacy recaptured history with the long-awaited boxed set, "The Brecker Brothers – The Complete Arista Albums Collection."
A Brecker Brothers Band Reunion tour of European festivals in the summer of 2013 in support of Randy's newest project, Randy Brecker's "Brecker Brothers Band Reunion," re-introduced the familiar faces of Brecker Brothers Band members from the past and their special brand of music to sell-out crowds.
A dual-disc release, Randy's newest project will be released on September 25th, 2013 on Piloo Records. Randy Brecker's "Brecker Brothers Band Reunion"features a live DVD recorded at the Blue Note in NYC bundled with a new 11-song studio recording featuring members of the Brecker Brothers bands from throughout the years including Dave Sanborn, Mike Stern, Will Lee, and Dave Weckl. George Whitty is back in the production and keyboard chair, and Randy's Italian wife Ada Rovatti is in the 'hot saxophone' seat, keeping it in the family on tenor and soprano saxophone. The new dual-disc recording will be released in North America by Magenta/E-One, in Europe by Moosicus Records in November and in Japan by JVC/Victor.
A long time in the making, this project is very close to Randy Brecker's heart. It is dedicated to his brother, Michael, and other departed Brecker Brothers Band members.
As a composer, performer and in-demand Yamaha clinician, Randy Brecker continues to influence and inspire young musicians around the world.
MELISSA ALDANA AND CRASH TRIO began playing saxophone at the tender age of 6. After watching pupils come in and out of her home in Santiago, Chile to take lessons from her father, Marcos Aldana – a renowned jazz saxophonist himself – the young Melissa would pester him to teach her as well. Her father began teaching her by showing her how to play two notes. From that moment, she was hooked and was finally given her first saxophone, an alto, and her father began teaching her how to play.
Marcos Aldana's teaching technique included a great deal of transcription. "When I first started learning, we were using cassettes to transcribe," says Melissa. "My dad would choose a song that he really liked, so the first person I learned from was Charlie Parker. We would take one phrase, and listen. Then, I would play it really slow, over and over, hundreds of times, until it sounded exactly like him. I think it's one of the best ways to teach a little kid because I learned everything by listening to the masters."
Melissa's adolescence was filled with learning solos of many of the jazz greats including her father's favorites; Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and Michael Brecker. But, as she grew up, she began branching out and discovering artists on her own. When she first heard Sonny Rollins, she was so influenced by him, that she asked her father to change from alto to tenor sax. Melissa's grandfather, Enrique Aldana, was also a sax virtuoso, and taught Marcos how to play. Upon hearing her desire to switch, Marcos gave Melissa her grandfather's Selmer Mark VI, which she still plays and records with today.
By her early teens, Melissa was frequenting the Santiago jazz clubs, and by 16, she was headlining sets at the Club de Jazz de Santiago, which, at the time, was the main hub of the Chilean jazz community. Around the same time, in 2005, Melissa caught wind that Panamanian jazz pianist Danilo Pérez was coming to Chile to perform with the Wayne Shorter Quartet, and was determined to meet him. Danilo's wife was one of Marcos' former students and Danilo was part of the faculty at Berklee College of Music. Melissa went down to sound check, introduced herself and, subsequently, Danilo invited her to play at the Panama Jazz Festival. Afterwards, Danilo was instrumental in bringing Melissa to the U.S. for the first time and helped to arrange auditions for her at both Berklee and the New England Conservatory.
Melissa was accepted at both schools and decided to attend Berklee. "I didn't go to Berklee to learn how to play saxophone, because my father has already taught me how," comments Aldana. "I went to grow as a musician, be around young musicians, and learn from the veterans." In school, she did just that by playing with fellow students and studying under the likes of Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Frank Tiberi, Greg Osby, Hal Crook, Dave Santoro, Bill Pierce, Dino Govoni, and Ralph Peterson. She was also exposed to a great deal of recorded jazz music and cites Mark Turner and Don Byas as having a lasting influence on her playing style.
Immediately after graduating from Berklee, Melissa moved to New York. One of the first people she contacted was the legendary jazz saxophonist George Coleman. While still in Boston, Melissa asked her friend Emilio Lyons, the famous saxophone repairman, to call up George and introduce them. George had Melissa play for him over the phone. He liked it so much, he invited Melissa to come to his house and gave her a few saxophone lessons. Over the years, they became very close as George continued to mentor Melissa, introduce her to a number of fellow musicians, and invite her to sit in on his concerts.
Melissa spent those first couple of years in New York frequenting the jazz clubs, listening to music, playing, meeting people and of course, practicing. She recorded her first record, an album of covers and originals titled Free Fall for Greg Osby's label Inner Circle Music, and, in 2012, she recorded and released her sophomore album, titled Second Cycle.
On stage, Melissa caught her first big break when Osby invited her to play a weeklong residency at the Village Vangaurd. Since then, she has performed in such prestigious venues as the Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Blue Note, Jazz Standard, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Small's & Jazz Gallery, as well as been invited to perform with her band at such prestigious festivals as Monterey Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz in Italy, Barcelona Jazz Festival in Spain & Providencia Jazz Festival in her native Chile. She's also shared the stage with some of the greatest contemporary jazz artists of our time such as Christian McBride, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Tain Watts, Kevin Hays among others.
During the last two years, Melissa has been playing and performing with her current band mates, bassist Pablo Menares (who she has known for a long time from the Chilean jazz scene), and drummer Francisco Mela. Known as the Crash Trio, Melissa finally found her band, "This is the first time I have met people who have the time to dedicate to writing, talking about, and working on compositions."
In September 2013, at age 24, Melissa won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, which was judged by Jane Ira Bloom, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter and Bobby Watson. In commenting on Melissa's win to Downbeat magazine, Bloom stated, "The thing that was apparent to us was that Melissa was a young artist, who, in addition to having embraced a great deal of tradition, has made important steps in developing her own personal sonic vocabulary. We all sensed that from her original music and in her interpretations of traditional material."
In addition to winning a $25,000 scholarship with the Monk Institute and a recording contract with Concord Music Group, Melissa was also distinguished with the honor of becoming the first female instrumentalist to ever win the illustrious competition, which she recognizes is important, but would prefer people to see beyond her gender. "I understand that being from Chile, being young and being a woman makes me standout, but what I really want people to see is that jazz and music transcends gender and age. The most important thing is the quality of the music and what you feel when you hear it." Aldana also won the National Arts Award "Altazor" in Chile for "Best Album," and recently received the Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award.
On June 17, 2014, Melissa and the Crash Trio will release their self-titled debut album for Concord. The album was recorded at Sear Sound Recording Studio in New York in just two days. The album consists of originals written by all three band members and includes two covers – the Harry Warren classic "You're My Everything" and Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now."
CIRCUS MIND FEATURING CHARLES NEVILLE, the second oldest Neville brother, has the most diverse musical background. His experience on saxophone has included rhythm & blues, funk, jazz, be-bop, popular and even American Indian music. He cites as influences Louis Jordan, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and Professor Longhair. He is also the only brother that lived away from New Orleans for long periods of time, making places like New York, Memphis and Oregon his home.
Always exposed to music in the Neville household, Charles started playing saxophone before he reached his teens. At the age of 12, he joined the band at school. He and his brother Art formed a band called Turquoise while teenagers. As did brothers Art and Aaron, Charles also played briefly with the Hawketts. By the time he was 15, he had quit school, and was on the road with Gene Franklin & the Houserockers – part of a traveling variety show.
After his road tour, Charles returned to New Orleans, where he had the good fortune to play in the house band of the Dew Drop Inn. In the 1950s, the Dew Drop was a major venue for nationally known musicians and local New Orleans talent, and the experience left a lasting impression on Charles. From 1954 to 1956, Charles was on the road backing rhythm & blues greats like Johnny Ace, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Big Maybelle, James Brown, B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Ray Charles. Not ignoring his hometown, he also played saxophone behind Allen Toussaint, James Booker, Ernie K-Doe and Huey "Piano" Smith.
Perhaps inspired by stories of foreign ports told by their father and uncle, who were both in the merchant marine, Charles and brother Art both joined the Navy. Charles stayed about two years, from 1956 to 1958. Instead of exotic foreign ports, Charles was assigned the duties of aviation mechanic in Memphis. Relying on his skills as a musician, he got a job in the house band of a local club, and became friends with B.B. King.
After his experience in the service, Charles returned to New Orleans where he enrolled in Southern University. Music and the road were too great a enticement, and Charles returned to the touring musicians' life. Besides being exposed to various musical styles and cultures of different cities while on tour, young Charles was introduced to the darker side of life. He resorted to shoplifting to support a heroin habit, and served a couple of short jail terms. Back in Louisiana, he was arrested for possession of two marijuana joints, and given the stiff sentence of five years in the infamous Angola prison. Released after three and one-half years, and disgusted with the racist attitudes in the south, Charles left for New York City.
Restarting his musical career, he played various gigs in New York, and some road trips, backing people like Johnny Taylor, Clarence Carter and O.V. Wright. In 1972, brothers Aaron and Cyril had formed a group called the Soul Machine, and took their act to New York where they joined-up with Charles. The three of them played various places around the city, with Charles on sax, Aaron on piano and Cyril on drums. At one point, they started working on Mardi Gras Indian songs they had learned from their uncle, Big Chief Jolly, and even called themselves the Wild Tchoupitoulas. By 1976, Art, Aaron and Cyril were all in New Orleans, where Big Chief Jolly wanted his nephews to make a record of Mardi Gras Indian songs. Charles returned to work on the album, making it the first time all of the brothers worked together on a project. The Wild Tchoupitoulas album was the beginning of the Neville Brothers as a group.
On his own, Charles has played and recorded with Ramsey McLean & the Survivors, which featured Charles' daughter Charmaine on vocals. In 1994, he recorded and played with the American Indian group called Songcatchers. He also formed his own group called Diversity, which features a mixture of jazz and classical musicians. In 1991, Charles Neville & Diversity released their first recording. Drawing from his experiences at the Dew Drop Inn, Charles conceived and arranged the music for a musical called Shangri-La.
MICHELLE COLTRANE BAND. Michelle Coltrane, born in Paris, France, and is the only daughter of Alice and John Coltrane. While living in Japan Michelle worked as a DJ. She performed and arranged background vocals for prominent artists. Eventually, finding work in voiceovers, Michelle was featured on two Chevrolet commercials. She was also hired to write a song for the theme park called "Color the Night" which was featured at Space World Amusement Park in Japan.
She has toured the US and France as a soloist, and has performed with such artists as Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, Ronnie Laws, Billy Childs, Jack DeJohnette, Marvin Smitty Smith, Reggie Workman, The Gap Band and with the McCoy Tyner Trio at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Her first CD, I THINK OF YOU, is a classic and contemporary jazz collaboration with musician and composer Scott Hiltzik. The recording was well received by Jazz Times and won a YES Award, presented by blues artist Barbara Morrison. Michelle was a featured performer at the 2013 Panama Jazz Festival, and recent appearances include shows at The John Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles, The Miami Jazz Festival, Vibratos in Bel Air Ca., H. O. M. E. (House of Music & Entertainment) Beverly Hills, Ca., Bar 1912 in Beverly Hills, Ca. and Yoshis Jazz Club,Oakland Ca.
Michelle honed her skills as an Emcee to many John Coltrane Scholarship events at the Wiltern Theatre and The House of Blues in Los Angeles. During the late 1990s Michelle co-hosted a radio program on 90.7 FM for 5 years, "Straight No Chaser" with Maggie Le Pique, interviewing artists such as Charlie Haden, Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Stanley Clarke and many others.
Michelle's new band a collaboration with Shea Welsh guitarist and MD. Michelle and Shea have composed new material and are arranging new and classic standards to create the bands unique modern and retro sound.
Some of the new musicians we have been working with are Ryan Cross, Tim Lefebvre, Cameron Graves, and Kamasi Washington.
FUNK FILHARMONIK MEMBERS – Members of the Funk Filharmonik will be taking the stage with various friends. On one of those magical Monday nights in 1985 at Canterbury Ales in Huntington a popular musicians hang featuring the Jim Pin 5 + 2 – 1 Band. A five piece horn section, with whom the rhythm section had recently been rehearsing squeezed into the jam packed club in front of the club's infamous ultra-compact fold down stage. When they punched out the last note of Tower of Power's "What is Hip," the crowd went wild, and what was to eventually become Funk Filharmonik was born." It all actually started out as nothing more than a rehearsal band simply for the enjoyment of playing this music," said Lee Finkelstein.
Ozzie Melendez, the band's musical director (producer, arranger, composer of the newly released CD entitled "Everybody Get Down) and trombone player approached the band's former tenor sax player Alex Stewart with the idea of a band that could genuinely duplicate the sounds of Earth Wind and Fire and Tower of Power. They presented the idea to drummer Lee Finkelstein and bassist Rich Ebler of the Jim Pin Band. As it turned out, Lee and Rich had visions of the same band for years. An immediate alliance was formed. "I was so excited," recounts Ozzie, "that I went home, and the very next day started transcribing six of my favorite Tower of Power tunes." When Gary Smith, of The Brokerage Pub and long-time pillar of Long Island's live music scene heard the line up of this band, he booked them sight unseen, without a demo tape. Many of Funk's members had performed regularly at The Brokerage and Gary knew the caliber of musicians he was dealing with.
Funk Philharmonia (as they were originally called) first gig was on November 21st 1985. Since that first gig, there have been surprisingly few changes in the band's line up, especially for a group of this size. Funk Filharmonik's big, fat, fiery horn sound and chunky rhythmic vibe has become a magnet for musicians and music lovers of all stripes, from jazz hipsters to rockin' bikers, from students to teachers, youngsters to oldsters, fans of jazz, funk, soul, R & B, listeners, dancers, to some of the most well know musicians in the NY Metropolitan area.
Funk Filharmonik has influenced many other local bands and fueled the resurgence of horn bands on L.I. Their performances have become a local hang for so many players. One never knows who is in the audience and might come up to sit in with the band, particularly when they gig in Manhattan. The band does, after all, feature some of Long Island's hottest and most in demand players. Collectively, they've recorded and continue to perform with the icons of popular music, including Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Tower of Power, Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, Blues Brothers, Aretha Franklin, John Mayer, Bootsy Collins, Steve Cropper, Shaggy, the Winans, Mariah Carey, The Allman Brothers, John Oates, Eddie Floyd, Huey Lewis, Michael Bolton, Queen Latifah, and so many more.
Some of Funk Fil's members have also played and recorded and continue to play with jazz and Latin giants including Tito Puente, Willie Colon, Freddie Hubbard, Jonathan Butler, Marc Anthony, Lionel Hampton, Jennifer Lopez, the Brecker Brothers, and a list that goes on and on. Their talents have added to countless TV and Broadway shows, and commercial jingles. At any given moment, these guys might be off performing as a band, as a horn section, or individual players in the far corners of the world playing in such diverse settings as presidential inaugurations, midnight sun concerts in Sweden's Arctic Circle, or spiritual drum and dance ceremonies of Ghana, West Africa. Funk Filharmonik also prides itself in the many benefits they and their loyal following of funksters have supported for humanitarian and environmental causes.
FIREY STRING SISTAS! Highly intuitive and energetic, the Firey String Sistas! is a refreshing alternative to the standard Jazz band. Committed to pushing the limits of string playing to the next level since 2011. Founder, cellist Nioka Workman, violinist Marlene Rice, bassist, Melissa Slocum,vocalist, pianist Mala Waldron and Dorota Piotrowska subbing for drummer Karina Colis present performances that are compelling, incorporating aspects of world music , women's culture and string improvisation. The ensemble presents original compositions, American songbook standards, world music and Jazz. "Women, Wine & Song", "Blues Mama & her Roots", and the popular holiday favorite "JOYOUS!", are some of the ensembles popular programs.
Nioka Workman a native New Yorker, bassist father, Reggie Workman (J. Coltrane) and uncle, Arthur Harper (J.Johnson). Nioka is the founder at Firey String Company home of the Firey String Sistas!, producing a yearly season of events for female string improvisers. Nioka has film/TV credits on Saturday Night Live, PBS and NBC. The Blues Series and upcoming Firey String Sistas! CD release; "That's What She Said", are her latest achievements. As composer, Nioka has received commissions for solo performances, collaborations with Alvin Ailey II Co., Joffrey Ballet Co. and yearly work with Marlies Yearby. Awarded a grant from the American Composer's Fund.. Nioka currently tours with various projects including the Firey String Sistas!
Marlene Rice, has traveled around the world, from the month she visited and performed in Japan in the early 1990's, to her performances in France, Italy, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Trinidad and into Central/South America. One of her personal highlights took place at the Kennedy Center with her mentor, jazz violinist John Blake, during the performance of his "Celebration Of The Fiddle From Africa To America". Ms. Rice is currently a teaching artistinresidence, and string department director, at the Cecily Tyson School of Music.
Mala Waldron, is a native of NYC whose first paid gig was at the Elk's club with a local R&B band at age 15. Later, enrolling at SUNY Old Westbury she studied jazz piano, voice & composition with Makanda Ken McIntyre, Richard Harper, Warren Smith and Amina Claudine Myers, earning a B.A. Degree. She currently balances local performances with regular tours in Europe and Asia. Career highlights include opening at the Diet Coke Women in Jazz Festival (JALC) for Patrice Rushen, being guest arranger/vocalist with James "Jabbo" Ware's "Me, We & Them Orchestra," and appearing in the documentary, "The Girls in the Band." CDs featuring Mala's work are "Lullabye," (solo debut and tribute to godmother, Billie Holiday), "He's My Father," (duo project with father, pianist/composer, Mal Waldron) and "Always There," named one of JazzUSA's Top 10 CDs of 2006. A new solo project entitled, "Deep Resonance," will be released soon.
Melissa Slocum has performed worldwide with Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Woody Shaw and Hank Jones. She has recorded with Kevin Mahogany, Ralph Peterson, Howard Johnson, Dakota Staton, Charli Persip and DIVA. Ms. Slocum performs with orchestras and Baroque ensembles, holds a DMA in double bass performance and is the bassist for Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.
Dorota Piotrowska originally from Poland is known on the New York jazz scene for her swing feel and compositions that encompass modern themes rooted in traditional rhythms. Ms. Piotrowska earned a B.A. in Jazz Performance with a concentration in drums at The New School in 2012. Since arriving in the US in 2010, Dorota has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and has been touring extensively in Europe, Asia and US.
GARY SMULYAN & FRIENDS Baritone Saxophonist born April 4, 1956, in Bethpage, New York. The gifted multi-instrumentalist started his music career by first learning alto saxophone during his teenage years on Long Island. Today he is critically acclaimed across-the-board and recognized as a major voice on the baritone saxophone. His playing is marked by an aggressive rhythmic sense, an intelligent and creative harmonic approach – and perhaps most importantly – a strong and incisive wit. While still in high school, he had the chance to sit in with major jazz artists such as legendary trumpeter Chet Baker, saxophonist Lee Konitz, trombonist Jimmy Knepper and violinist Ray Nance. After graduating high school he attended SUNY-Postsdam and Hofstra University before he joined Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd in 1978. It was a remarkable collection of young musicians who ultimately would find themselves in the forefront of present-day jazz. Joining Smulyan in the band were saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer John Riley, who would eventually become a fixture in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. In 1980, unlike many of his colleagues and peers Smulyan didn't have to go very far to move into New York City proper where he became part of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra then under the direction of Bob Brookmeyer, tonight's commissioned artist, composer and guest conductor.
Smulyan also found work with other important large ensembles including the Mingus Epitaph band and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Gradually establishing himself the talented Smulyan was asked to share the stage and the recording studio with a stunning potpourri of luminaries including: trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Stan Getz, pianist Chick Corea, timbales king Tito Puente, and R&B/Blues and soul icons Ray Charles, B.B. King and Diana Ross. Smulyan, in addition to performing and recording in support of a myriad of people began to accumulate a discography as a leader. At this point in his career he has at least 10 recordings out under his own name. Meanwhile he continues to play with wide variety of artists – each presenting him with an opportunity to fully express himself. In addition to his work on Monday nights with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Smulyan remains close with Lovano, working with him in his nine-piece Nonet; then there is the exhilarating and liberating Dave HoJland Octet and the seminal bassist's Big Band. Beyond that, Smulyan has also enjoyed stints in the cooperative Three Baritone Saxophone Band as well as working with powerhouse tenor saxophonist George Coleman in his octet and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band that, similar to the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, is comprised of some of the world's best players. No matter who he is performing with – or whether he is leading his own band at the time – Smulyan brings to the stage the spirit, style and savvy of a deeptoned master of bebop.
"Gary Smulyan's lineage comes more from musicians like Cecil Payne, Leo Parker, Pepper Adams, Serge Chaloff and Nick Brignola – the few baritonists that dared to master the tricky, chromatic music known as bebop," wrote All About Jazz's Francis Lo Kee in a review. "Indeed …Smulyan is fluent in the language." He was heavily influenced by Adams who was known as "The Knife" for his hearty tone and the energy of his rhythmic playing style. Smulyan's Homage was recorded following Adams' death, and every track on the recording, released in 1994, is written by Adams. Similarly, Smulyan organized the Three Baritones Band, which places him in the company of two of his seniors – Ronnie Cuber and Nick Brignola. The group released Plays Mulligan in 1998, the date serving as a tribute to the late Gerry Mulligan, one of the foremost baritone saxophonists in jazz history and a mentor for many artists, including Smulyan. "Smulyan's tone seems to get bigger and his ideas more expansive from album to album," wrote long-time critic Doug Ramsey in Jazz Times magazine. In 1995, WBGO, the all-jazz, Newark, N.J.-based NPR station voted Smulyan's Saxophone Mosaic as one of the best 25 CDs of 1995; two years later the Boston Globe selected the baritone saxophonist's Gary Smulyan with Strings as one of the 10 best jazz CDs of 1997. Always in search of new ideas, in 2008 Smulyan released High Noon – The Jazz Soul ofFrankie Laine; it is a nine-piece band tribute to the prolific 1940s and 1950s pop singer Frankie Laine who died in 2007 at age 93. "This is the kind of album whose melodies linger after the session's over," wrote another long-time critic, Owen Cordle of Charlotte News and Observer.
These days Smulyan the Long-Island native lives in Amherst, Mass., with his wife, pianist and conductor Joan Corna- I chio. He is a faculty member of William Paterson University and serves as artistic director at Berkshire Hills Music Academy in South Hadley, Mass. The baritone saxophonist, who is capable of doubling and tripling on other reed and wind instruments, is a four-time winner of the Down Beat Readers Poll and a multiple winner of numerous other official polls including the Jazz Journalists Award for Baritone Saxophonist of the Year. He is a five-time GRAMMY® award winner for his work with B.B. King, Lovano, Holland and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. At press time the group was up for a third GRAMMY® for its Monday Night at the Village Vanguard release. Last month, Smulyan's band played at the 2009 Century Jazz Festival, teaming up with the Centry Foundation to raise money for student scholarships. Tonight marks the first Columbia and Jazz Series appearance of Smulyan.
THE ELECTRIX is a group of accomplished musicians, each with a lifetime of diverse experience in the music field. The Electrix have been together since 1995 and are recognized as one of the leading jam bands performing classic rock of the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers, other related genres of music, and original compositions. The Electrix weave in and out of intense jams with an incredible amount of enthusiasm and feeling, adding their own interpretation and style. The Electrix have had the opportunity to share the stage and perform together with such notables as the late drummer Levon Helm {The Band}, the late fiddle player Vassar Clements {Old & in the Way}, pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage {The New Riders of the Purple Sage}, and guitarist/vocalist MichaelFalzarano {Hot Tuna & New Riders}. The Electrix have opened for The New Riders of the Purple Sage, The David Nelson Band, Railroad Earth, The Robbie Krieger Band, Commander Cody and have been involved in shows with Jorma Kaukonen, Peter Rowan, Umphrey's McGee, David Gans and the late Dick Latvala.
The Electrix have established themselves with repeat performances in some of the most popular and biggest festivals such as The Great South Bay Music Festival, The Oysterfest, The Riverhead Blues Festival, Bradstock, Cedar Beach Music Festival, Dead Of Winter Show, Jerry Jam, Alive After Five and play in a wide variety of venues – 89 North, Brickhouse Brewery, Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, Sunset Grill, KJ Farrell's, Teddy's, Sullivan Hall and many more all over the Long Island and NYC areas, and have recently added Mexicali Live in New Jersey to their list. The Electrix also perform as The Acoustix, an acoustic trio version of the band, with a bluegrass sound and repertoire.
The musicians are…
Jim Fleming – Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Fiddle & Vocals
Ray Kairys – Electric & Acoustic Bass Guitar
Jeff Naimoli – Drums, Percussion & Vocals
Mike Nicita – Drums & Percussion
And various guest Guitarists & Keyboardists
REGGAE JAZZ It's reggae, it's jazz- it's reggae jazz, and it could be said they were made for one another. The mad professors of Reggae Jazz Ensemble breathe new life into old music, leaving no style untampered with in their irreverent pursuit of tastefully enlightened musical fun. Ska, rock-steady, go-go, hip-hop, spirituals, be-bop, funk & acid-jazz collided at a party with the Beatles in Motown- and something new was born… Embracing musical improvisation as a path toward spiritual discipline, RJE explores compositions of their own design along with those of others including Parker, Coltrane, Miles, Evans, Bonfi, Marley, Ranglin, Gaye, Lennon and McCartney- utilizing them as points of departure in their "search for the new land."
David Berg- guitar
Jay Orig- keyboards
Brendan Moynihan- bass
Drew Bertrand- drums
TRANSMORPHEOUS TRANCE DANCE. Full Moon Trance Dance is monthly event developed by Elyce Neuhauser. She has been growing this idea for a few years, first with recorded music, then with live drums, and now with the addition of Transmorpheous- a group of live musicians. The evening always takes place at a special outdoor or indoor venues; the first event with a full band was July 1st in Oyster Bay (Long Island) at a beautiful private home with a huge, grassy lawn surrounded by trees. (It is also the location of Everveda, an Ayurvedic day spa run by Jill Talve.)
The night begins with Elyce and the musicians' arrivals around 5:00-5:30 pm to set up PA, instruments, tables with vegetarian food, lots of water, a fire pit, some wine, candles and pillows and blankets (the squish zone, a place to hang out before, during and/or after the dance). The gate opens at 6:30 ($25 admission, $40 for two; attendees are asked to bring a vegetarian dish/snack to share). The musicians get some drum tracks going, some ambient loops sneak in, and the music evolves into an inviting jam. At around 7:30, we all drop to silence. Elyce (with wireless mic headset) narrates a loosely guided hour of moving meditation into free form dance, like a yoga class but without mats or poses and based on the elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air (and a return to Earth at the end).
Simultaneously, the musicians create music based on the tempos and tonal centers of the elements, live and improvised in real time. The dancers begin with slow, grounded motions and get more physical as it progresses. Through Elyce's verbal guidance and the live music, the participants connect with energy and emotion through motion and sound. After an hour-plus, we take a break, enjoying spirited talking, eating, drinking. At 9:00 the musicians play another set – open, improvised music for dancing, joined by more drummers and special guest musicians who will be playing at these events in the near future and throughout the year. The music winds down around 10:00. We watch the full moon rising above the trees. Howling optional!
Elyce Neuhaser, a dedicated yogi for over years, is an E-RYT 500 hour registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance , certified with Shiva Rea's Samudra School of Living Yoga and Suzanne Cardinal's Into This World Yoga, studies with international meditation teacher Lorin Roche, and incorporates JourneyDance, Nia Refined Flow, and The Groove Method. She is a certified Essential Thai Yoga Massage practitioner and a Reiki Level I practitioner, a certified NSCA and AAPTE/Hofstra personal trainer, certified Pilates instructor, and an award-winning writer currently writing for LI Yoga Magazine, and has led classes at the Omega Institute since since 2009.
Steve Finkelstein, world percussionist and environmental educator, is a founding member of Long Island's Funk Filharmonik. Transmorpheous is a consortium of musicians including Premik Russel Tubbs, Mark Rechler, Douglas "Coyote" Baldwin, Edgar Patterson Mills, Stephanie Carlin, Mark Bonder, and many others who, collectively, have worked with Carlos Santana, Ravi Shankar, The Neville Brothers, Dave Valentine, Ray Charles, and many others too numerous to list. In addition, they bring a variety of skills, backgrounds, and sensibilities to these trance dances, from fractal artist to environmental educator, from audio video specialist to certified Five Rhythms facilitator, from architect and real estate designer to practicing Buddhist.
Full Moon Trance Dance is all about creating a healthy, sustainable, connecting, ongoing, stimulating, positive alternative to clubs where we can build community and celebrate life.
VOICES OF HUNTINGTON GOSPEL CHOIR. During December of 2014 Huntington Town Board member Tracey Edwards met with the Huntington Ecumenical Ministerial Alliance, where Rev. Jerry Artis served as Secretary, and asked if they could ask members and others who so desired to come together to form a joint Gospel Choir to sing at the Town's Black History program. The Alliance consented and the response produced 38 singers.
Our first performance was the the Town's 2015 Black History program where we sung two selections. We named ourselves The Huntington Community Choir. The components of our group were from Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, Bethel A.M.E. Church, a member of the Unitarian Church, and Love of Christ Fellowship Church.
We changed our name to Voices of Huntington and we performed again this year at the Black History Program. We now perform upon request whenever feasible under the Direction of Sister Dolores Simmons of Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church.
There is no prouder or more colorful fraternity of musicians than the one that distinguished founder and member Roswell Rudd dubbed the Trombone Tribe. What glorious, high-spirited, sensual sounds they make, on an instrument that is fiendishly difficult to master. Such trombone legends as J.J. Johnson, J.C. Higginbotham, Jack Teagarden, Vic Dickenson, "Tricky" Sam Nanton, Dickie Wells and Frank Rosolino have brought to jazz a daunting range of expression, creating moods and telling stories with the most deeply personal voices. Among contemporary players, no one has carried on that tradition more winningly or inventively than Ray Anderson. For more than three decades, in an astonishing range of styles and settings, he has conjured sounds that move and delight, adding new wrinkles to jazz expression even as he celebrates jazz tradition.
The trombonist has gracefully bridged swing and bop and free jazz, blues and gospel and New Orleans funk. "I feel like a spiritual son of that city," he says. Described by pre-eminent jazz critic Gary Giddins as "one of the most compellingly original trombonists," and by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD as "the most exciting slide brass player of his generation," Anderson is by turns a supremely lyrical player and footloose innovator, a bold texturalist and polished nostalgist. Since emerging from Chicago's Hyde Park in the mid '70s, he has broadened the trombone's sonic scope with his extended techniques and reawakened interest in the instrument with his musical personality, which you can instantly identify from a single plunger-muted growl or teasingly bent phrase. "Anderson always stands ready to blow open a melody, plump each note until it bursts, turn each whisper into a scream," said online magazine Signal to Noise. "He tempers his impish, unruly tendencies with a fondness for songlike melody and funky riffs, but his solos still have an unpredictable edge." When he performs live, the unpredictability factor is maximized.
Anderson also has distinguished himself as a composer of witty, challenging tunes – nearly 100 now. As revealed by titles like "Disguise the Limit," "The Alligatory Abagua," "The Gahtooze," "If I Ever Had a Home It Was a Slide Trombone," "Raven-a-Ning" (a play on Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-a-Ning" written for his son Raven) and "Snoo Tune" (written for his daughter Anabel), the trombonist possesses a lighthearted outlook. But as much cutting up as he does, he says, "I most certainly don't play joke music. I'm much too aware of the giant shoulders I'm standing on, all the great players who have given so much to music, and the spiritual responsibility of the musician." He has shared his gifts in a dizzying assortment of groups, including his own Slickaphonics, Alligatory Band, Pocket Brass Band and Lapis Lazuli Band (featuring Amina Claudine Myers); the longstanding cooperative trio BassDrumBone (featuring Mark Helias and Gerry Hemingway), and ensembles led by Charlie Haden, Pierre Doerge, Roscoe Mitchell, George Gruntz, David Murray, Barry Altschul, Bennie Wallace, Henry Threadgill, John Scofield, and Sam Rivers. He's a member of the all-trombone foursome SlideRide and has mastered the duo format opposite bassist Mark Dresser, tuba master Bob Stewart and guitarist Steve Salerno, a member of Anderson's quartet and quintet, who appeared on Anderson's acclaimed live recording, "Bonemeal," recorded in 2000 and released on the Raybone label. Anderson's duties as Director of Jazz Studies at Stony Brook University have cut a bit into his recording output in recent years, and the virtual disappearance of jazz from major labels has led to his recording for a variety of independent labels. But he continues growing as an artist on record and performance stages. On the heels of his appearance on Rudd's acclaimed "Trombone Tribe" (Sunnyside) and "Hear You Say: Live in Willisau" (Intuition) his terrific co-led quartet date with longtime crony Marty Ehrlich, Anderson is marking 2011 with three equally outstanding gems: "The Other Parade" (Clean Feed), by BassDrumBone, "Love Notes," a self-released set of standards with Salerno, and "The Sweet Chicago Suite," a new Pocket Brass Band CD (also on Intuition).
Born in Chicago in 1952, Anderson is the son of theologians. He took up the trombone in fourth grade, seduced by his father's Trad-jazz recordings and the extraordinary playing of trombonists like Vic Dickenson and Trummy Young. "The sound of the trombone was appealing to me," he says. "All the people I heard play it sounded like they were having fun." At the University of Chicago Lab School, one of his classmates was another future trombone great, George Lewis. His teachers included Frank Tirro, who went on to become dean of the Yale Music School, and Dean Hey, who introduced young Ray to musicians as diverse as John Cage and Archie Shepp. As teenagers, Anderson and Lewis were exposed to the exploratory, groundbreaking (and star-gazing) sounds of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, with whose illustrious members (notably Anthony Braxton), Anderson later played extensively. At the same time, he had his head turned by the popular, groundbreaking sounds of James Brown, Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. He played in R&B bands while attending college in Minnesota and Los Angeles and funk and Latin bands while living in San Francisco.
On the West Coast, he also hooked up with three standout members of the progressive jazz community, tenor saxophonist David Murray and drummers Charles Moffett and Stanley Crouch (now a leading critic and author). In 1973, Anderson moved to New York. He studied and played with the eminent reed player, composer and music theorist Jimmy Giuffre, joined drummer Barry Altschul's trio and played for three years with Braxton's quartet. His made his album debut on blues great Luther Allison's "Night Life" and has appeared steadily on record ever since. From the late '80s to mid '90s, he turned out a remarkable series of albums for Gramavision. He also has recorded for such prestige European labels as Enja and Hat Art. In the spirit of Louis Armstrong, Anderson is an exuberant performer who demonstrates that being an entertainer doesn't have to compromise one's stature as a serious artist. "When human beings laugh or smile, they are in a state of grace," he says. "I insist on having fun when I play and if the band enjoys itself, the audience does, too. But music contains every feeling and emotion; it's ultimately an expression of love. It's the healing force of the universe, as Albert Ayler said. My music is about inclusion. I always want to bring everyone along on the trip. I want to move people also. I once described the Pocket Brass Band as having one ear cocked to the thump of the second line dancers' feet and the other tuned to the music of the spheres. That describes all my music. I want to have it all."
Shenole Latimer Award winning saxophonist and educator Shenole Latimer has gained recognition for his playing style and engaging stage presence. Latimer's passionate approach to playing the saxophone shows influences drawn from the likes of Michael Brecker, Branford Marsalis, and Dexter Gordon. However, Latimer clearly exhibits the gift of being able to effectively communicate with and affect his audiences through a voice and style that is uniquely his own.
Shenole is also a passionate educator, having recently stepped down from his role as Education Director at East End Arts in Riverhead. His education programs — "What's All That Jazz About" – has been presented up and down the east coast. For the last several years, Shenole has helped The Coltrane Home develop its Legacy Education Project and directed the facilitator training program designed to inspire fun and creativity.
Premik Russell Tubbs A composer, arranger, producer and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist performs on various flutes, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, wind synthesizers, and lap steel guitar.
Premik's May of 2008 schedule led him to perform in Sting's Rainforest Foundation Fund benefit concert Some Kinda Legacy at Carnegie Hall followed by extensive touring with Russian legend Boris Grebenshikov beginning in London at the Royal Albert Hall, continuing on to Dublin, Kiev, Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, ending the year in Vienna. In 2008 he accompanied both Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar on tamboura at the Kimmell Center in Philadelphia and on various occasions in 2009 he accompanied on flute and saxophone the contemporary Rabindrasangeet vocalist Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya. May of 2009 brought Premik to California for the Narada Michael Walden Foundation, Let the Sunshine In benefit concert. May of 2010 Premik played at Carnegie Hall in the The Rainforest Fund's 21st Birthday Celebration Benefit Concert. June of 2010 Premik, brought in a trio to play at Sting & Trudie Styler's NYC apartment (private dinner- fund raiser) following the Jazz at Lincoln Center performance of Twin Spirits, a celebration of composer Robert Schumann's 200th birthday. On April 17th, 2014, Premik will return to the stage of Carnegie Hall for his 4thConcert for the Rainforest, again hosted by Sting.
Premik, in conjunction with jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer heads Bangalore Breakdown, an exciting, world music ensemble. They just released their first CD, titled Diary, in 2008. Premik and Uli will soon be releasing their own collaborative CD entitled Passport to Happyness. Premik also leads Journey to Light Ensemble,, a world, jazz, East-West sextet featuring some of the top New York players. The sound is electro-acoustic, that of contrasting soundscapes reaching for new sonic dimensions, with inspiration rooted in the cutting edge jazz/fusion groups of the past. Journey to Light explores the beauty of Indian ragas, the harmonic dynamism of Western orchestrations, the improvisational freedom of jazz and roll it all into a joyful nonstop music exploration.
In 2004, Premik had released his own album, Mission Transcendence, a soulful melding of East /West, jazz and world styles. Previous solo releases include Transformation-Dawn, Run to Tomorrow's Sun, A New World of Peace and Endless Energy, Sleepless Speed. In October of 2009 Pratyavartana, a collaboration album by Premik Russell Tubbs and Steve Booke was released. Pratyavartana is Sanskrit for 'homeward journey.'
Premik has worked with Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Ravi Shankar, Narada Michael Walden, Clarence Clemons, Ornette Coleman, Jackson Browne, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lonnie Liston-Smith, Sting, Billy Joel, and James Taylor, just to name a few. He is equally adept in pop, R&B, jazz, world and experimental genres.
James Oshisky, Ph.D. is a psychologist and educator who believes in the unique power of music to bring people together in community experiences. His teaching style is uplifting and encouraging. Jim is the author of Return to Child, a book on music improvisation using the methods of cellist David Darling and the organization Music for People. He drums, sings, and plays guitar. Jim teaches both psychology and music improvisation classes at Adelphi University.
Tracy Hamilton walks the balance between music and Spirit and expresses those passions equally. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, Drum Circle Facilitator, musician, Reiki Master and ceremony officiant. Her regular events include community drum jams, spiritual gatherings and Rhythmic Ritual circles. Tracy loves to hold and be a sacred space for people to express themselves soulfully. For more information, you can visit her website at: www.sacredspaceceremonies.com
Mala Waldron Jazz/Soul Vocalist, pianist and composer, is a native of New York City. Her musical approach reflects the many varied genres of music she was exposed to as a youngster including jazz, soul, classical & calypso. The daughter of renown jazz pianist/composer Mal Waldron, she credits both parents (her mother, Ellie, being a fine jazz pianist & vocalist) with giving her a strong foundation in jazz and a solid work ethic.
She began classical piano lessons at the age of 7, later at the age of 15 she joined her first band, a local R&B group, which was signed very quickly to RCA records. After graduating from high school, wanting to expand her formal knowledge of music, she attended SUNY, College at Old Westbury where she studied jazz piano, voice and composition in a program chaired by multi-reed player Makanda Ken McIntyre. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Ms. Waldron has been invited to perform at venues all over the world including in France, Italy, Japan, China & Malaysia (HENNESSY-MOET Jazz Tour), the Catania Jazz Fest (in Sicily, Italy) and Russia. She has also participated in numerous jazz festivals including the Annual Diet Coke Women in Jazz Festival (Jazz at Lincoln Center) where she opened for Patrice Rushen. Mala is proud to have participated in the WBGO Kids Jazz Concert Series leading an all-female ensemble at the Newark Museum.
Mala's Featured recordings include a duo project with her father entitled, "He's My Father,"her solo debut, "Lullabye,"and her first U.S. release, "Always There" which made JazzUSA's 2006 Top 20 Jazz CDs list. Mala is currently putting the finishing touches on her next recording, an EP entitled, "Deep Resonance."
Nioka Workman
An innovative cellist from a family of celebrated bassists; uncle Arthur Harper (J.J. Johnson) and father Reggie Workman (John Coltrane). Nioka has worked hard to develop a distinct, original sound and style of her own. She performs regularly on acoustic and electric cello. Very experienced in many forms, Nioka has credits in music, dance, performance art, theater and television. Having recorded with several artist including most recently with her Firey String Sistas! she has recording credits with NeoSoul and R&B artists India Arie and Joe. She has toured throughout Europe and the USA appearing on Canal + and the Chris Rock Show promoting a Sony Music CD by spoken-word artist Saul Williams. They also performed at the world famous Montreaux Jazz Festival with Live Human, Ronnie Size, Nikka Costa, Blackalicious , Michael Franti/Spearhead. Very familiar with urban forms, Nioka joined a mini tour with Kanye West, Jay-Z and Common performing at a Pepsi Smash Festival. In theater, 2015, Nioka composed musical scores for the Mingus Takes readings directed by Talvin Wilkes.
She performs regularly in a one man show with singer Artuo Padilla and pianist Dan Furman. She has also appeared at Hudson Opera House with John Kelly's 'Escape Artist'. Nioka's chamber and orchestral experiences include performances with the New York Women's Ensemble, Opera Ebony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Trilogy Opera Company, the Avery Brooks/Craig Harris Project (Harlem Gatehouse), Cassandra Wilson's Traveling Miles Orchestra (Chicago/Lincoln Center) , David Murray's 'A Salute to Duke Ellington' Orchestra, the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra and a featured Jazz solo with the Uptown String Quartet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Jazz and new music groups have included Anthony Braxton, Anthony Davis/Molissa Fenley's 'Hemisphere', Butch Morris Conductions, and recording/performances with Greg Osby's 'Symbol of Light' project at Joe's Pub and the Village Vanguard. The Cooper Moore's Keyboard Project at Son D'Hiver Festival France won the best project in All About Jazz. Her TV and film credits include appearances on Oxygen, Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live and music for the Maid of Manhattan. Nioka studies the moving body connected to sound.
In 2013, Nioka received the American Composer's Forum Award/Live Music for Dance to create an electronic score for "Malignant" by Thread's Dance Co. director Karen Charles, performances in Minneapolis and Atlanta. More commissions of Nioka's music include compositions for the Joffrey Experience, Alvin Ailey ll and solos with the Errol Grimes Dance Company. Her work has premiered at the Joyce Theater, Late Nite in Minneapolis, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Rush Arts Gallery, Blue Heron Theater, Symphony Space and Martha Graham Studios. Nioka works extensively with Rent choreographer, Marlies Yearby. Her work on "Woomen" has evolved into healing, sound and movement workshops. Nioka performs regularly with her Firey String Sistas! As a producer, she creates a yearly season for female string improvisors at the Firey Strings Company. She is dedicated to 'giving back' community. She has begun to create a library of new works, arrangements, CDs and workbooks through the Firey Strings Company. Nioka's passion for the cello, it's evolution and endless possibilities keeps her busy extending into the future.
Nioka is a native New Yorker, has attended the High School of Music & Art. She has a BM from the Aaron Copeland School of Music, Queens College and Suzuki Certification from School for Strings in New York.
Steve Finkelstein. Voted best percussionist on Long Island in 1999 and member of Long Island's Funk Filharmonik, Steve has worked with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion , Grammy award winner Dave Valentine, Randy Brecker, Cyrile Neville, Jonathan Butler, Debbie Gibson, Mary Wilson and the Supremes, and countless other local and national acts. He studied drumming and culture in West Africa and has been known to bang on everything from bicycles and bones to trees and trash… including- literally – the kitchen sink!
The Constituents (with Clifton Torres and Malik McReary)
Clifton Torres aka CT was born on 1977 in the south Bronx NY….the birthplace of Hip-Hop music. At the age of 16 he began to write creatively on his own and began creating music to accompany his writing 1 year later. In 1996 he founded the organization and music label Constituent Recordz. Constituents is not only a music label but rather a progressive hip-hop movement and a collaborative music coalition. It is also an organization designed to inspire and assist young artists to achieve their dreams of becoming successful musicians and artists. The non-profit side of the organization is called Constituents For Life. Constituents For Life is the facet of the organization that seeks to develop positive changes and outreach in our communities. These goals will be accomplished through social and cultural awareness working with kids and sharing positive ideas and values.
Malik McReary is Constituents main and most consistent artist. He has not only collaborated on, written, and performed a variety of songs with CT as a member of the music coalition but has co-written, written and produced songs on his own as well as collaboratively with CT and other artists. As a valued co-founder and core member of the team many of the ideas and inspiration for numerous songs have actually been to his credit. Trife continues to write and create music and has always been a staple of the Constituents family and its forward progress.
Mikah Feldman-Stein is a Producer, Composer, and Performer from Huntington, NY. A recent graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Mikah is now working on Long Island as a Technical Designer at Nassau Community College, building studio spaces for their Sound Recording Technology Program. This past year, Mikah taught a course on home recording and music production at Wesleyan University, using Ableton Live as the primary software for this exploration. In addition, Mikah has been Head Engineer at Red Feather Studios for the past three years, training over 40 Wesleyan students to be more effective audio engineers.
Last year, Mikah lead a workshop on electronic music performance at the first John Coltrane Music Festival in Heckscher Park. He hopes to take this year's workshop one step further, with a greater emphasis on live electronic improvisation as well as alternative methods of performance, including movement-based performance, and integration of music with visuals. Some of his music can be found on soundcloud.com and at mikahfsmusic.com.
Willie Steel. A musician, teacher, and head of the Willie Steel Band (one of the last great territory bands on Long Island, NY), Willie Steel operates under an abiding principle – truth in music. For over 25 years, he has led bands of all types (blues, rock, jazz, country, bluegrass, Hawaiian, soul, funk, r&b) at clubs as well as at corporate events, festivals, and private events, including weddings, fundraisers, bar mitzvahs, and parties.
Willie Steel's journey began under the tutelage of the renowned Billy Bauer. Willie studied with him for six years until Billy pronounced, "you've had enough." In the early days, Willie split his time between writing music, fronting bands, and playing gigs of all kinds and in all directions – as far north as Maine, as far south as Puerto Rico, and west to Chicago, Memphis, and Mississippi.
Willie Steel is the founder of Huntington Bay Music Store in Huntington, NY, which he ran for 10 years. Since he sold the store, Willie focuses on playing gigs with some of the most talented musicians on Long Island as well as teaching scores of students all things musical. As Billy Bauer did for him many years ago, Willie imparts this knowledge to his students – what music is and a bunch of "hows" – how to learn it, study it, practice it, and appreciate it.
Kirsten Maxwell. Described as "magnificent," brilliant," and dubbed the Judy Collins of 2015, Kirsten Maxwell has "a voice reminiscent of the great folk ladies of the 60s." "If I could sing like her, I'd give up the violin," said Chris McKhool, Sultans Of String. Proving her excellence in craft and performance, Kirsten Maxwell was named winner of RISA's, Rhode Island Songwriting Association's, Annual Songwriting Contest and ultimately, won an opening slot in Stone Soup's 2016 season.
Find her debut album, CRIMSON online at www.cdbaby.com/cd/kirstenmaxwell. Visit www.kirstenmaxwell.com for more information.
Toby Tobias. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Toby has immersed himself in all genres of American Music of the last 50 years. His interest in African Rhythms & World Music, coupled with his keen ear for highly intuitive arrangements, has been the hallmark of his writing and performance styles, and he has garnered a strong following of listeners on Long Island and beyond. A graduate of the prestigious Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem Israel, he continues to search for material that stays as close to his musical roots as possible while at the same time reaching for new and exciting musical universes. His music school, geared toward guitar players and songwriters, is located in Northport.
Patricia Shih wrote her first song at age 12 and hasn't stopped since. At the age of 15, she signed a recording and management contract with Unicorn Records of Washington, D.C. as half of a duo. This marked the start of her professional career. A 45 RPM record was released a year later and numerous T.V., radio, concert and club performances followed. Included are an international radio broadcast on the Voice of America and appearances at the legendary Cellar Door, where the duo was runner-up to Emmy Lou Harris in the competitive "Best of the Hoots." Several years later, Ms. Shih began her solo career in California, notably on her own PBS special "Patty Shih – Music from the Gallery." Soon after, she returned to the east coast and settled in Huntington, N.Y. A multi-instrumentalist, Ms. Shih plays 6 and 12 string guitars, piano, and Marxophone, and she has eight albums to her credit.
More info at www.tobytoby.com and www.thetunetutor.com
Michelle Coltrane, born in Paris, France, and is the only daughter of Alice and John Coltrane. While living in Japan Michelle worked as a DJ. She performed and arranged background vocals for prominent artists. Eventually, finding work in voiceovers, Michelle was featured on two Chevrolet commercials. She was also hired to write a song for the theme park called "Color the Night" which was featured at Space World Amusement Park in Japan.
She has toured the US and France as a soloist, and has performed with such artists as Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, Ronnie Laws, Billy Childs, Jack DeJohnette, Marvin Smitty Smith, Reggie Workman, The Gap Band and with the McCoy Tyner Trio at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Her first CD, I THINK OF YOU, is a classic and contemporary jazz collaboration with musician and composer Scott Hiltzik. The recording was well received by Jazz Times and won a YES Award, presented by blues artist Barbara Morrison. Michelle was a featured performer at the 2013 Panama Jazz Festival, and recent appearances include shows at The John Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles, The Miami Jazz Festival, Vibratos in Bel Air Ca., H. O. M. E. (House of Music & Entertainment) Beverly Hills, Ca., Bar 1912 in Beverly Hills, Ca. and Yoshis Jazz Club,Oakland Ca.
Michelle honed her skills as an Emcee to many John Coltrane Scholarship events at the Wiltern Theatre and The House of Blues in Los Angeles. During the late 1990s Michelle co-hosted a radio program on 90.7 FM for 5 years, "Straight No Chaser" with Maggie Le Pique, interviewing artists such as Charlie Haden, Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Stanley Clarke and many others.
Michelle's new band a collaboration with Shea Welsh guitarist and MD. Michelle and Shea have composed new material and are arranging new and classic standards to create the bands unique modern and retro sound.
Some of the new musicians we have been working with are Ryan Cross, Tim Lefebvre, Cameron Graves, and Kamasi Washington.
John Ambrosini Improvisational jazz pianist/composer/educator John Ambrosini writes, performs, and teaches in the nyc area and has played with a wide variety of jazz, folk, and pop artists, including; Drew Gress, Ratso Harris, Deanna Kirk, Dave Binney, Mike Moreno, Ferenc Nemeth, Massimo Bialcati, Jim Cammack, Frank Bellucci, William Galison, Brad Mason, Pete Seeger, Joey Arias, Marcus Mclaurine, and many others. John's consistency of tone, strong sense of time, and commitment to improvisation of both jazz standards and pop/folk classics has made him a significant up and coming player in the nyc improvisation scene.
John's discography as composer and pianist includes 'storybook', 'soulmaking', 'be as you are', 'nine stories, and 'sketches of you' – which was premiered at Trinity Church in November 2012. Production is underway to record 'sketches of you' for jazz quintet and string quartet – expected release in Fall 2013. John's recordings can be heard at www.johnambrosini.com as well as www.cdbaby.com/jmoore. There are also many live performances which are viewable on 'youtube'.
His unique compositions have been heard on radio and television and his song 'homeless' was featured and performed at the Kennedy Center by the Harlem School of the Arts Choir. He studied piano with Fred Hersch, Harold Danko, Kenny Werner, JoAnne Brackeen, and Jean Michel Pilc; and, studied composition, arranging, and orchestration with William 'Bill' Holland. He also plays guitar and sings with the acoustic trio 'the taylor brothers' performing original songs, and creative covers of classic pop and rock songs. Huntington, Long Island is where John and Lorraine call home; and, they share life with their two children Alexondra and John and their dogs 'roodles', 'scout', and 'laika'; and cats 'mufasa' and 'nala'.
STEVE SALERNO (GUITARIST/COMPOSER) is an active performer of both Jazz and Classical music. He has performed internationally as well as throughout the U.S. with many top musicians including Jaco Pastorius, John Abercrombie, Mark Dresser, Eric Marienthal, Regina Carter, Lonnie Plaxico, Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler, Matt Wilson, Mark Helias and Adam Nussbaum. He is a member of the Ray Anderson Quartet, Paul Smoker Notet, Mala Waldron Quartet, Blue Pipa Trio, has a duo with Christopher Lamb (of the NY Philharmonic), another duo with guitarist, John Abercrombie and leads a variety of groups, including his jazz quartet, Exiles. Among his latest recordings is Mala Waldron's Always There, Paul Smoker's Mirabile Dictu, Min Xiao-Fen's Blue Pipa Trio, and Ray Anderson's Love Notes. He is a member of the classical group, The Constellation Trio. He was music director for the PBS special Shoreline Sonata, which features the Constellation Trio. Salerno is also a member of the Musician's Advisory Board for D'Addario Strings and author of Planet Wave's Chord Master (an 8,000 chord voicing dictionary) that was recently voted the Number 1 music application for Apple's iPhone 2010!
Premik Russell Tubbs A composer, arranger, producer and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist performs on various flutes, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, wind synthesizers, and lap steel guitar.
Premik's May of 2008 schedule led him to perform in Sting's Rainforest Foundation Fund benefit concert Some Kinda Legacy at Carnegie Hall followed by extensive touring with Russian legend Boris Grebenshikov beginning in London at the Royal Albert Hall, continuing on to Dublin, Kiev, Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, ending the year in Vienna. In 2008 he accompanied both Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar on tamboura at the Kimmell Center in Philadelphia and on various occasions in 2009 he accompanied on flute and saxophone the contemporary Rabindrasangeet vocalist Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya. May of 2009 brought Premik to California for the Narada Michael Walden Foundation, Let the Sunshine In benefit concert. May of 2010 Premik played at Carnegie Hall in the The Rainforest Fund's 21st Birthday Celebration Benefit Concert. June of 2010 Premik, brought in a trio to play at Sting & Trudie Styler's NYC apartment (private dinner- fund raiser) following the Jazz at Lincoln Center performance of Twin Spirits, a celebration of composer Robert Schumann's 200th birthday. On April 17th, 2014, Premik will return to the stage of Carnegie Hall for his 4thConcert for the Rainforest, again hosted by Sting.
Premik, in conjunction with jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer heads Bangalore Breakdown, an exciting, world music ensemble. They just released their first CD, titled Diary, in 2008. Premik and Uli will soon be releasing their own collaborative CD entitled Passport to Happyness. Premik also leads Journey to Light Ensemble,, a world, jazz, East-West sextet featuring some of the top New York players. The sound is electro-acoustic, that of contrasting soundscapes reaching for new sonic dimensions, with inspiration rooted in the cutting edge jazz/fusion groups of the past. Journey to Light explores the beauty of Indian ragas, the harmonic dynamism of Western orchestrations, the improvisational freedom of jazz and roll it all into a joyful nonstop music exploration.
In 2004, Premik had released his own album, Mission Transcendence, a soulful melding of East /West, jazz and world styles. Previous solo releases include Transformation-Dawn, Run to Tomorrow's Sun, A New World of Peace and Endless Energy, Sleepless Speed. In October of 2009 Pratyavartana, a collaboration album by Premik Russell Tubbs and Steve Booke was released. Pratyavartana is Sanskrit for 'homeward journey.'
Premik has worked with Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Ravi Shankar, Narada Michael Walden, Clarence Clemons, Ornette Coleman, Jackson Browne, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lonnie Liston-Smith, Sting, Billy Joel, and James Taylor, just to name a few. He is equally adept in pop, R&B, jazz, world and experimental genres.
Neo Funk Behold, Neo Funk! This band of six musicians brings new life into classic tunes. All six of these musicians are under 19 years old- but don't let that fool you. When you hear these old souls play, you would think that they have been playing for years. You definitely have to hear it to believe it! The amazingly tight rhythm section combined with two extraordinary horn players makes an almost deadly combination that is sure to get everyone on their feet and dancing. Neo Funk is here to funk things up! Members from left to right:
Mark LoPresti – Saxophone
Matthew Saltzman – Trumpet
Asa Brown – Drums
Josh Meehan – Guitar
Jordan Simpson – Bass
Greg DeRosa – Keyboard
Hofstra University Jazz Sextet This version of the Hofstra University Jazz Sextet is made up of current members of the Hofstra Jazz Ensemble. Following the Liberal Arts tradition, this particular group is composed of 3 music majors, 1 business major and 2 high school students.
They are:
Jacob Fruchtl- Alto Saxophone
Daniel Hirsch- Trumpet
Matthew Ho – French horn and vocal
Robert Buonaspina – Piano and Viola
Phillip Bonanni – Bass
Michael Shapira – Drums


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|Home > Emmet
♀ Emmet (girl)
What does Emmet mean?
Emmet [em-met] as a name for girls (also used more generally as boys' name Emmet) means "entire, universal". Emmet is a variant form of Emma (Old French, Old German).
VARIANTS Emmott, Emmot, Emmette, Emmett
ALTERNATIVE FORMS VIA EMMA Em, Ema, Emmalee, Emme, Emmelyn, Emmi, Emmie, Emmy▲, EmmyeCREATIVE FORMS
(female) Eimet, Elmet, ..
(male) Emed, Emmeth, .. MIDDLE NAME PAIRINGS
Emmet Maelyn (E.M.), ..
How popular is Emmet?
Emmet is an uncommon given name for females but a very popular last name for both adults and children (#72237 out of 150436, Top 48%). (2000 U.S. CENSUS)
Which version is better?with its source form and related girl names. Popular related forms of Emmet (OUTSIDE TOP 2000) rated in the Top 2000 are Emma (#1 FROM CURRENT RECORDS), Emmy (#616), Emmalee (#970), Emmie (#1074), Emme (#1438) and Ema (#1469). Other forms, like Emmye, are uncommon. Usage of these relations of Emmet was widespread in the 1880s (MEDIAN #1171) and has become significantly reduced since (#928, ▼78%). Emma has been the most well-known version, though Emmy has become popular as well, while Emma has become less contemporary. (2015 U.S. SSA RECORDS)
Similar Names
Emmet is alike in pronunciation to Amit. Other recommended names are Edme, Edmea, Edmee, Eimer, Ember▲, Emer, Emmely, Emmey, Emmlee, Esme▲ and Esmee. Like Emmet, these names are not commonly used.See names in meaning and etymology.

subset: commoncrawl


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- Price AED 1,800
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- Letter of credit - Import
- Letter of credit- export
- Definition: Letter of credit Types of LC
- Parties involved in L/C
- LC opening procedure in banks
- UCP-600 (To eliminate risk)
- Scope of UCP
- Shipping documents to clear goods from port
- Shipping guarantees
- Trust receipts financing (LC +Open A/C)
- Collection products
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- L/C Discounting at bank risk or customer Risk (with recourse and without recourse)
- Factoring /Invoice discounting
AAC is a worldwide, one-stop management consultancy services provider company who offer the better quality service to their esteemed clients. AAC is a team of well qualified management and business professionals geared up to spear head and partner your plans, progress, and profitability in business. If your quest is for:
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Skip to comments.Myanmar protesters hit 100,000 mark
Posted on 09/24/2007 5:07:09 AM PDT by nuconvert
Myanmar protesters hit 100,000 mark
As many as 100,000 anti-government protesters led by a phalanx of Buddhist monks marched Monday through Yangon, the largest crowd to demonstrate in Myanmar's biggest city since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the military.
From the front of the march, witnesses could see a one-mile stretch of eight-lane road was filled with people.
Some participants said there were several hundred thousand marchers in their ranks, but an international aid agency official with employees monitoring the crowd estimated said the size was well over 50,000 and approaching 100,000.
It was the latest in a series of protests that began Aug. 19 as a movement against economic hardship in the Southeast Asian country after the government sharply raised fuel prices. But arrests and intimidation kept demonstrations small and scattered until the monks entered the fray.
The usually iron-fisted junta has so far kept minimal security at the protests, and diplomats and analysts said Myanmar's military rulers were showing the unexpected restraint because of pressure from the country's key trading partner and diplomatic ally, China.
The march kicked off, like the previous ones, at the Shwedagon pagoda, a historical center for political movements as well as the country's most sacred religious shrine. Some 20,000 monks took the lead, with onlookers joining in on what had been billed as a day of general protest.
In the central city of Mandalay, meanwhile, 500 to 600 monks set off shortly after noon on their own protest march.
The monks, who took over a faltering protest movement from political activists, already had managed to bring people into the streets in numbers not seen since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising snuffed out by the army at a cost of thousands of lives.
On Sunday, about 20,000 people including thousands of monks filled the streets in Yangon, stepping up their confrontation with authorities by chanting support for detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The increasingly confrontational tone of the anti-government protesters has raised both expectations of possible political change and fear that the military might forcefully stamp out the demonstrations, as it did in 1988.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of protocol, said the regime is under pressure from China to avoid a crackdown just as its larger neighbor has pressured it to speed up other democratic changes.
"The Myanmar government is tolerating the protesters and not taking any action against the monks because of pressure from China," the diplomat told The Associated Press. "Beijing is to host the next summer's Olympic Games. Everyone knows that China is the major supporter of the junta so if government takes any action it will affect the image of China."
China, which is counting on Myanmar's vast oil and gas reserves to help fuel its booming economy, earlier this year blocked a U.N. Security Council criticizing Myanmar's rights record saying it was not the right forum.
But at the same time, it has employed quiet diplomacy and subtle public pressure on the regime, urging it to move toward inclusive democracy and speed up the process of dialogue and reform.
Josef Silverstein, a political scientist and author of several books on Myanmar, said it would not be in China's interest to have civil unrest in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
"China is very eager to have a peaceful Burma in order to complete roads and railroads, to develop mines and finish assimilating the country under its economic control," Silverstein said.
The movement seemed to gain momentum Saturday, when more than 500 monks and sympathizers went past barricades to walk to the house where Suu Kyi is under house arrest. She greeted them from her gate in her first public appearance in more than four years. But access to her home was barred Sunday.
The meeting symbolically linked the current protests to Nobel laureate's Suu Kyi's struggle for democracy, which has seen her detained for about 12 of the last 18 years
China involved in Myanmar/Burma internal affairs ping
These are Buddhists who are marching now.
Has there been that much civil unrest? How about some of the other "minorities" in Myanmar, like the Muslims - are they somehow also involved in this "unrest"?
It wold be interesting to see how much of the "unrest" is a clandestine civil war.
Once one monk started protesting, all the others were bound to follow. You know: "Monk, he see; monk, he do."
Burmese military threatens monks
Thanks a lot! You're a great crowd! Don't forget to tip the veal!
I'm more worried about our internal affairs and China. Does Myanmar have billions of dollars trade deficit with them? No, it's we USA consumers who are building China's military threat.
China want to keep its proxy/client regime from doing something stupid. A regime change at this moment will create problems for China.
India should get involved......."covertly" and speed up the fall of the junta. One less Chinese satellite state around our neck.
And more likely Aung San Suu Kyi will be pro-India then pro Chinese because of her Indian connection.
China is awfully greedy.
India and US should get together to work on Burma. I wonder why it doesn't. India is trying to reconcile with the junta to minimize the influence of the Chinese (which is a bad idea). For US, Burma isn't important anyways.
Burma is China's ticket to entry into the Indian ocean. They are building naval bases there. Even America's ally Thailand is concerned and is trying to get on to China's good side. Chinese strategy to to whittle away American influence on Asia inch by inch without drawing any international attention.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Looks like Wimbledon Apartment Homes is no longer available on Rent.com which means this information is likely out of date.
Apartment living has never been better than at Wimbledon Luxury Apartments in Victorville California. We invite you to experience the convenience, beauty and spaciousness of Wimbledon Apartments. And enjoy a natural, soothing environment to welcome you home after a hectic day. We give you the luxury of choosing from three separate floor plans - a total of 288 units - all designed for your comfort and convenience. This apartment community was designed with modern elegance and special amenities - all at an affordable price. Relax by the sparkling pool or spa, and take a leisurely stroll thru the beautifully landscaped apartment grounds. Call or come by today and you'll discover Wimbledon Apartments is the perfect home for you.
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TV spin-off from Joel Zwicks movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Its easy to see why this spin-off from Joel Zwicks movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding lasted just seven episodes before the axe fell. While it does retain many of the films stars, including Nia Vardalos, Louis Mandylor and Lainie Kazan, it lacks the sparkle of its cinematic inspiration, meaning that the endless jokes about our heroines overbearing Greek family simply look tired. Vardalos is appealing enough and bags the small handful of decent lines, but quite why she seems to be playing an entirely different character (albeit with exactly the same family as she had in the film), complete with all-new husband, is something
of a mystery.


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Featured Stories
Google has developed a new way to view your mailbox called Inbox by Gmail. On Friday, June 23, 2017, this new, alternative service will be available for all email users at UA Little Rock. You may choose to use Inbox, continue to use the traditional Gmail interface, or switch between both as desired.
For many students and faculty, the IT Services computer lab, located on the first floor of the Ottenheimer Library, is a critical tool they…
Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus now available to students, faculty, and staff free of charge.
Stop. Think. Connect. Protect yourself and help keep the web a safer place for everyone.
This is a security vulnerability bulletin providing details about the Shellshock bug, our response, and what you may need to do about it.
No central university services or applications have been identified as vulnerable. What else do you need to know about Heartbleed?
If you are experiencing a problem with technology at UALR, we want to help as soon as possible. We also want you to stay informed throughout the entire process. To that end, we have expanded the ways you can contact us so we can provide the best service, faster.
Subscribe to our mailing lists today to receive news about new services, or alerts about outages and warnings.
We have a number of log-in accounts at UALR, and knowing the correct username and password to use with an application can sometimes be confusing. To improve the experience for all users of UALR applications, IT Services is modifying key support information, beginning with our log-in screens themselves.


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The display and use of drug information on this site is subject to express terms of use. By continuing to view the drug information, you agree to abide by such terms of use.
GENERIC NAME: OLSALAZINE - ORAL (ohl-SAL-uh-zeen)
BRAND NAME(S): Dipentum
Medication Uses | How To Use | Side Effects | Precautions | Drug Interactions | Overdose | Notes | Missed Dose | Storage
USES: Olsalazine is used to treat a certain type of bowel disease called ulcerative colitis. It does not cure ulcerative colitis, but it may decrease symptoms such as stomach pain, diarrhea, and rectal bleeding caused by irritation/swelling of the colon/rectum. After an attack is treated, olsalazine is used to increase the amount of time between attacks.Olsalazine is a salicylate anti-inflammatory drug. It is believed to work by blocking the production of certain natural substances (e.g., prostaglandins) that may cause pain and swelling.OTHER This section contains uses of this drug that are not listed in the approved professional labeling for the drug but that may be prescribed by your health care professional. Use this drug for a condition that is listed in this section only if it has been so prescribed by your health care professional.This medication may also be used to treat another type of bowel disease called Crohn's disease.
Report Problems to the Food and Drug Administration
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit the FDA MedWatch website or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Selected from data included with permission and copyrighted by First Databank, Inc. This copyrighted material has been downloaded from a licensed data provider and is not for distribution, except as may be authorized by the applicable terms of use.
CONDITIONS OF USE: The information in this database is intended to supplement, not substitute for, the expertise and judgment of healthcare professionals. The information is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, drug interactions or adverse effects, nor should it be construed to indicate that use of particular drug is safe, appropriate or effective for you or anyone else. A healthcare professional should be consulted before taking any drug, changing any diet or commencing or discontinuing any course of treatment.
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Use the pill identifier tool on RxList.


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The Daily Docket: Pemco Creditors Demand Payment
Creditors of Pemco World Air Services Inc. want Sun Capital Partners Inc., pay back two years' worth of management fees. Deutsche Bank AG won an auction for a loan portfolio sold by Capmark Financial Group Inc. subsidiaries. Retired partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP are getting their own seat on the firm's unsecured creditors committee.


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eCl@ss in procurement
Concentration and centralization of procurement volumes is a basis, if not the main basis for realization of potential savings in procurement. Department-wide and company-wide analysis of purchasing portfolios based on a neutral, reliable and widely spread classification system, such as eCl@ss, allow comparison of products offered by various suppliers, increase competition among suppliers and help consolidate the supplier base.
A.T. Kearney Europe, one of the eCl@ss cooperation partners, noticed that a reduction of procurement costs by 1% has the same effect on earnings as a 20% increase in turnover (depending on industry sector).
eCl@ss and process management
Locating the required purchased articles quickly and safely, describing them clearly and comprehensively, triggering an electronic order with a single click, finding your correct applicable order number both on delivery note and invoice (electronically) ... If processes run like this, then you will save processing and transportation costs – as well as your supplier. If processes run like this, eCl@ss is likely to be used as well.
Success stories of a successful introduction of eCl@ss you can find here ...