February 24, 2004
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

The hot SF JAZZ Collective with Joshua Redman makes its Santa Barbara debut at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• SF JAZZ Collective with Joshua Redman
• An all-star octet featuring Bobby Hutcherson and Nicholas Payton
• The band’s Santa Barbara debut in its inaugural season
• Tuesday, March 30
• 8 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $40, $35 / UCSB students: $19, $16
• Free public Meeting-the-Masters with Joshua Redman event on Monday, March 29 at 7 pm at the Marjorie Luke Theatre
• Tickets & Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

The SF JAZZ Collective, a new eight-piece all-star band led by talented tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, will make its Santa Barbara debut on Tuesday, March 30 at 8 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Boasting an incomparable array of generations and styles, the group includes one of the architects of modern jazz, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson; trumpeter Nicholas Payton, who often earns comparisons to Louis Armstrong; and one of the hottest sidemen in jazz, drummer Brian Blades. For its inaugural season, the Collective will pay tribute to the genius of Ornette Coleman and perform new works by the band members. The San Francisco Chronicle hails the group as “a high-powered octet...featuring a first-call cast of musicians.”

The SF JAZZ Collective’s ‘50s and onward aesthetic lives and breathes in the person of vibes giant Bobby Hutcherson. From the early days of the jazz avant-garde to post-bop and beyond, “Hutch” has been one of modern jazz’s most far-reaching performers, as well as one of the music’s greatest virtuosos. Along with Gary Burton, the other seminal vibraphone talent of the ‘60s, Hutcherson helped modernize his instrument by redefining what could be done with it sonically, technically, melodically and emotionally. Musical director Joshua Redman asserts, “For all of us, Bobby Hutcherson will be the spiritual center of the band. He is our resident master, our sage and our hero. In spite of being the elder statesman, Bobby also represents the youthful exuberance of the band. He’s a warm, nurturing, upbeat and vital presence.”

A Bay Area native, composer and saxophonist Joshua Redman began his musical career in 1991. Having just graduated from Harvard with plans to pursue a law degree, he instead went on tour and recorded with his father, the legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman, as well as with other noted musicians including Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Elvin Jones and Paul Motian. Redman has garnered numerous honors in his career, including multiple first-place finishes in the Rolling Stone Critics Poll, the Jazziz Readers Poll, and Downbeat’s Critics and Readers Polls. As Peter Watrous of The New York Times writes, “There’s only a handful of naturally gifted musicians, and Joshua’s one of them. Every time you hear him, he’s at a higher level.”

One of the brightest new trumpet stars to emerge in the 1990s, Nicholas Payton combines references to his New Orleans heritage with the Young Lions’ brand of hard bop and a warm sound. He has toured with Marcus Roberts, Jazz Futures II, Elvin Jones, and worked with the Jazz at Lincoln Center program. He has recorded with Jones as a leader on Verve, and with the New Orleans Collective on Evidence. Payton’s Place, which featured cameos by Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove, appeared on Verve in 1998; Nick@Night followed two years later. A commission to explore the works of Louis Armstrong resulted in the 2001 recording Dear Louis. The Chicago Tribune says, “Surely no trumpeter today captures [Louis] Armstrong’s radiant tone and brilliant, high-register technique as masterfully as Payton.”

Drummer Brian Blade grew up in Shreveport and New Orleans, where he developed his powerfully swinging percussive trademark under the watchful eyes of Ellis Marsalis and New Orleans Dixie-drum masters Johnny Vidacovich and Herlin Riley. In demand by both jazz and non-jazz musicians, Blade has toured or recorded with Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois and his hero Joni Mitchell. Blade has shown deep musical instincts and a phenomenal gift for playing fascinating textural music.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miguel Zenón studied saxophone at the famed Ecuela Libre de Musica, an institution that boasts such distinguished alumni as tenor saxophonist David Sanchez, percussionist Richie Flores and bassist John Benitez. The Boston Globe hailed his latest CD Ceremonial as “the coming-out party of Miguel Zenón, a bright new jazz talent.”

Pianist Renee Rosnes plays an advanced and flexible hard bop style. Rosnes has recorded and performed with a wide variety of artists including Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, J.J. Johnson and Robin Eubanks. She also has recorded many excellent sessions for Blue Note as a leader, including Renee Rosnes: Life On Earth, which Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times chose as one of the Top 10 most compelling CDs of 2002.

Trombonist Josh Roseman is a composer, bandleader and producer who has been featured regularly with great improvisers like Steve Coleman, Don Byron, Steve Turre, Lester Bowie, John Zorn and David Murray. Roseman was co-founder of jam band pioneers the Groove Collective and the Brooklyn Funk Essentials, and has frequently been heard live and on record with artists like Charlie Hunter, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Cibo Matto and the Skatalites.

Bassist Robert Hurst is a highly respected and recognized young composer, educator and recording artist. Among his extensive performances on major motion pictures and television soundtracks, he has for over eight years performed, directed, arranged and composed for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The group is the newly created resident band of the esteemed SF JAZZ, the leading non-profit jazz organization on the West Coast. In earlier publicity about the group, its title was billed as the “SF Modern JAZZ Collective,” but the modern was dropped to make the name a bit less cumbersome. Nonetheless, “‘modern’ was a good word to use,” SF JAZZ Executive Director Randall Kline says, “because in addition to meaning ‘contemporary’ or ‘leading-edge,’ it also addresses the changing nature of what we consider modern. Modern art museums deal with this same kind of gray area all the time. They represent the capital-M ‘Modern’ art of the ‘50s—which dovetails perfectly with an era of the jazz repertoire that we’re interested in—but they also champion the most exciting new currents in art. So, in the same vein, it makes perfect sense for the SF JAZZ Collective to represent that same range of time—from what was considered ‘modern’ or ‘avant garde’ in the ‘50s to the most vibrant new music happening now.”

The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation SAGE program and the Marjorie Luke Theatre will present a Meeting-the-Masters event with Joshua Redman on Monday, March 29 at 7 pm at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, 721 E. Cota St. This evening is free and open to the public. Redman will teach a Master Class with the UCSB Jazz Ensemble, which will be followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Although this is the SF JAZZ Collective’s first visit to Santa Barbara, A&L has previously presented the Joshua Redman Quartet on January 27, 2000 and Nicholas Payton as part of the Newport Jazz Festival on April 7, 2000.

The concert by SF JAZZ Collective is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by the Daily Nexus, KCLU Public Radio, and Borders. Tickets are $40 and $35 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.