A Night in Havana: A 90th Birthday Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie, August 28th at the Harris Theater
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- 08 / 02 / 2007
Chicago Jazz Ensemble Artistic Director, Jon Faddis, draws on over thirty years experience in performing with and conducting superb Jazz big bands such as Lionel Hampton's big band and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra (now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra). Faddis served as music director for Dizzy Gillespie's GrammyTM-award winning United Nation's Orchestra, for Dizzy Gillespie's 70th Birthday Big Band, and, after his mentor's passing, Faddis led the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars Big Band. Renowned for his leadership of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Faddis conducted over 40 concerts in ten years at Carnegie Hall, featuring over 135 musicians and 70 guest artists.
This year marks Jazz legend James Moodys 82st birthday and six decades in the music industry. Since the 1940s, saxophone master James Moody has serenaded audiences with his signature song "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation on the chord progressions of "I'm in the Mood for Love." Born in Savannah, Georgia, on March 26th, 1925, and raised in Newark, New Jersey, James Moody took up the alto sax, a gift from his uncle, at the age of 16. A few years later, impressed by saxmen Buddy Tate and Don Byas of the Count Basie Orchestra, he switched to the full-bodied tenor saxophone. Following his discharge from the US Air Force in 1946, Moody joined the influential BeBop big band of Dizzy Gillespie. During that time, he recorded with trumpeter Howard McGhee and vibist Milt Jackson for Dial Records. A year later he made his recording debut as a leader (James Moody and His BeBop Men), using players from the Gillespie band. His now legendary 16-bar solo on Gillespie's "Emanon" alerted jazz fans to an emerging world-class soloist.
In 1986 Gonzalo Rubalcaba met bassist Charlie Haden in Havana. Through Charlie he came to the attention of Blue Note Records' president, Bruce Lundvall, and thus began an association, first with Toshiba/EMI of Japan, and later with Blue Note in the US, which has resulted in eleven discs being released. These collaborations brought Gonzalo this year (2002) both a Latin Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year, Supernova, as well as a Grammy for co-production with Charlie Haden of Nocturne, a Verve release of Cuban and Mexican boleros and ballads. Gonzalo, has to his credit eight Grammy nominations, including four for Jazz Album of the Year. Among other recent honors, in June 2001 Gonzalo received the SFJAZZ Leaders Circle Laureate Award, and in 2002 he performed as Artist in Residence at Montreal Jazz Festival together with Chucho Valdez.
"Ignacio plays with intelligence, taste, fire, and soul. His playing combines the finest aspects of Afro-Cuban and American styles of drumming (...) When you hear him play it just makes you feel good, just like a good hot bowl of gumbo!" - Wynton Marsalis
Ignacio Berroa has been recognized by many as one of the greatest drummers of our times. His numerous contributions to the American music scene have earned him a place among a very selective group of artists known to have set new musical trends for the 20th century. Jazz Legend Dizzy Gillespie best defined Ignacio as:..."The only Latin drummer in the world, in the history of American music that intimately knows both worlds; his native Afro-Cuban music as well as Jazz..." Ignacio Berroa was born in Havana Cuba on July 8,1953 and studied at the National School of Arts and subsequently at Havana's National Conservatory.. After moving to New York in 1980 Ignacio met and had the privilege of working with musicians of the stature of Mario Bauza, among others. It was Mario who introduced him to the late Bebop master Dizzy Gillespie. In August 1981 Dizzy officially invited Ignacio to join his quartet. Later he would also become an integral part of all the important bands Gillespie assembled during that decade,such as "The Dizzy Gillespie's 70th Anniversary Big Band", "Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band" and the Grammy Awar" winner "United Nations Orchestra". But Ignacio's contributions to the arts have not been limited to perform on stage.
Conguero Giovanni Hidalgo was born in Puerto Rico. His father and grandfather had also been a musician, so Giovanni was raised in a household surrounded by drums, bongos, congas and timbales. In 1981, he traveled with the Batacumbele Band to Cuba where he met a musician by the name of José Luis Quintana "Changuito". Together they were able to create a unique style of rhythm and ushered in a new musical era in Latin music. In 1985, Giovanni was performing with Eddie Palmieri at the Village Gate in New York, when the legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie walked in and listened to Giovanni play. So impressed was he with Giovanni, that he told him that someday in the future they must get together and play - this happened in 1988 when Giovanni joined the Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Jazz Orchestra.
The Jazz Institute of Chicago was founded in 1969 by a small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners and musicians who came together to preserve the historical roots of the Chicago's music and to ensure that opportunities for the music to be heard would not be lost in a time when rock was subsuming cultural economics. Among the founding members were trad pianist Art Hodes, Muhal Richard Abrams, who a few years earlier had also co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Harriett Choice, then music writer for the Chicago Tribune, Joe Segal, whose Jazz Showcase has kept the flame for bebop lit for 50 years, Bob Koester, owner of Delmark Records, Don DeMicheal, drummer and editor of Downbeat magazine, jazz promoter and supporter Penny Tyler and several other devoted souls. The operating principle was, and continues to be based on the recognition that all forms of the music should be equally represented in whatever we do. From the Annual Jazz Fair that we began in 1979 to the Chicago Jazz Festival which we began programming in 1979, to the hundreds of concerts and programs presented all over the city, we have sought to open peoples' ears to new music by standing the familiar and the unfamiliar side by side.
For more information, visit www.jazzinstituteofchicago.org
A Night in Havana: A 90th Birthday Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie.
Featuring Jon Faddis, James Moody, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ignacio Berroa, Giovanni Hidalgo and Peter Washington.
VIP Reception and concert tickets: JIC Members $125, Non-members $150, For Gala tickets call: 312.427.1676
Concert tickets $15, $25, $45
Harris Theater
205 E Randolph Drive
Harris box office: 312-334-7777
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 7:00pm
The non-profit Harris Theater partners with an array of Chicagos performing arts and cultural institutions by providing subsidized rental, technical expertise, and marketing support. The Harris Theater allows these remarkable organizations to focus on what they do best-bringing the finest music and dance to the public.Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millennium Park, 205 E.Randolph Drive, Chicago, IL, 60601, 312.334.7777
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