A2JF 2019
9.19.19 - 9.21.19
Blue LLama Jazz Club
ELIZA SALEM QUARTET
Thursday, September 19th, 2019 5:30pm
Eliza Salem is an in-demand drummer, educator and composer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. As a multi-faceted musician, Eliza strives to explore and reach across the many domains of creative music. Bridging deep grooves and swing, diasporic traditions, song, and colorful improvisatory spaces, Eliza strives to embody empathy, honesty, and patience in every musical and artistic context. This philosophy has allowed them to seek out, learn from, and grow alongside some of New York’s most esteemed and truthful improvisers and artists.
Eliza has taken part in multiple national and international tours including Caroline Davis’s Alula throughout the United States and Australia which featured both Chris Tordini and Noah Garabedian on bass. Eliza also toured with the Marta Sánchez trio featuring bassist Or Bareket in India, with performances at the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi and multiple venues across and outside of the city. Currently, Eliza is a member of the band Careful in the Sun led by Maya Keren, a group that “traverses a verdant landscape of improvisation grounded in loops and songs.”
MILES OKAZAKI
Thursday September 19th, 2019 7:00pm
Miles Okazaki is a NYC-based guitarist originally from Port Townsend, a small seaside town in Washington State. His approach to the guitar is described by the New York Times as “utterly contemporary, free from the expectations of what it means to play a guitar in a group setting — not just in jazz, but any kind.” His sideman experience over the last two decades covers a broad spectrum, from standards to experimental music (Kenny Barron, John Zorn, Steve Coleman, Stanley Turrentine, Henry Threadgill, Dan Weiss, Matt Mitchell, Jonathan Finlayson, Anthony Tidd, Jane Monheit, Amir ElSaffar, Darcy James Argue, and many others). He has released ten albums of original compositions over the last 12 years on the Sunnyside, Pi, and Cygnus labels. In 2018 Okazaki received wide critical acclaim for his six-album recording of the complete compositions of Thelonious Monk for solo guitar, an unprecedented project that Nate Chinen called “the six-string equivalent of a free solo climb up El Capitan.” That year, Okazaki was voted the #1 rising star guitarist in the Downbeat Magazine critic’s poll.
MARION HAYDEN SEXTET
Thursday September 19th, 2019 8:30pm
Born in Detroit, MI, a crucible of jazz, Marion Hayden is one of the nation’s finest proponents of the acoustic bass. Mentored by master trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, Hayden began performing jazz at the age of 15. She has performed with such diverse luminaries as Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Lester Bowie, David Allen Grier, James Carter, Dorothy Donegan, Joe Williams, Lionel Hampton, Frank Morgan, Jon Hendricks, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Willis, Vanessa Rubin, Sheila Jordan, Mulgrew Miller, Annie Ross and many others. She is a co-founder of the touring jazz ensemble Straight Ahead- the first all woman jazz ensemble signed to Atlantic Records. She is a member of the Detroit International Jazz Festival All-Star Ambassadors touring ensemble.
JUSTIN WALTER’S WOODLAND CREATURES
Thursday, September 19th, 2019 10:00pm
Michigan trumpeter Justin Walter's work centers on evocative, intuitive explorations of the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument), a rare wind-controlled analog synthesizer from the 1970s. Its unique, smeared tonality allows for an expressive range of glassy, jazz-like textures, which Walter loops and layers with hushed electronics and twilit trumpet, painting opaque landscapes of resonant beauty. It's a sound both modern and timeless, fusing emotion and technology, gauze and melody, force and fragility.
JORDAN ANDERSON’S SOULFUL TOMORROW
Friday, September 20th, 2019. 5:30pm
Jordan is a Detroit-based pianist, keyboardist, organist and composer. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, he started playing piano at 7 and developed an instant connection to the instrument. His musical upbringing is largely defined by the funky sounds of Minneapolis, the West African music of his Cameroonian mother, and his first jazz teachers, who were Detroit-born musicians. These teachers, Solomon Parham and Kevin Washington, soon became close mentors who helped him navigate the language of Black American Music, preparing him for a subsequent years of mentorship in the city of Detroit. Jordan was awarded his BFA in Jazz Studies at University of Michigan in Spring 2020, where he had the privilege of studying under Benny Green, Andy Milne, and Bob Hurst. In spring 2023 he received his Master’s degree in Jazz Studies at Michigan State University studying with jazz master Xavier Davis. After school he relocated to Detroit where he has immersed himself in the rich traditions of Detroit’ music and mentorship scene, performing and collaborations with some of Detroit’s finest including Rodney Whitaker, Robert Hurst, Vincent Chandler, Wendell Harrison, Karriem Riggins, Desean Jones, and Marion Hayden. He has been a featured performer at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival, Ann Arbor Jazz Festival, and East Lansing Jazz Festival. Jordan is also featured on upcoming releases (Summer 2024) with Detroit-based groups “BIG FELLAS” and Kasan Belgrave.
RON BROOKS QUINTET
Friday, September 20th, 2019. 7:00pm
Ron Brooks began his jazz journey after high school in Ann Arbor. Brooks went to EMU for his undergrad and followed it up with Masters and PHD work at the University of Michigan. While in college, Brooks competed in the Notre Dame Inter-Collegiate Jazz Festival with the Bob James Trio.
After the festival, iconic producer Quincy Jones gave the trio an opportunity to record on Mercury Records. Brooks’ next step was to record with the Contemporary Jazz Quintet, a Detroit-based ensemble that released two fantastic albums on Blue Note Records, followed by one more on Strata Records, the independent jazz label founded by CJQ pianist, Detroit’s own Kenny Cox. 2020 saw the release of The Black Hole, a previously unreleased set from CJQ that had been recorded at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival.
In between then and now, the stage was set for Brooks to enjoy great success in opening Ann Arbor’s own jazz club, The Bird of Paradise, a venue which saw wide recognition for almost 20 years.
THEO CROKER STAR PEOPLE NATION
Friday, September 20th, 2019 8:30 & 10:00pm
Saturday, September 21st, 2019 9:45pm
Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. A GRAMMY Award-nominated artist, composer, producer, thought leader, and influencer, he is a creative who rejects boundaries and lets his voice ring through the music.
After seven years living in Shanghai, Croker's seething original sound crash-landed on 2014's Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted album "Afro Physicist." Following the success of 2016's "Escape Velocity," he soared into a new stratosphere in 2019 with "Star People Nation." The album received a nomination in the "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album'' category at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards. The New York Times called it "an album that ranges from swirling hip-hop beats to driving swing to ravishing passages of African percussion."
JAZZ IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP W/THEO CROKER
Saturday September 21st, 2019 2:00pm
All welcome - registration required
JAZZ IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP W/SEAN DOBBINS
Saturday September 21st, 2019 3:15pm
All welcome - registration required
JAZZ IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP - PERFORMANCE
Saturday September 21st, 2019 5:00pm
Students from both workshops will perform what they learned
TRUNINO LOWE QUARTET
Trunino Lowe is one of Detroit's young promising musicians. Born & raised in Detroit, Michigan and is a proud graduate of Detroit School of Arts. Finding his love for music began early, but it wasn't until he attended DSA where he pursued his career as a professional musician. Lowe spent 2 years at the illustrious Michigan State University under the direction of Rodney Whitaker where he gained new knowledge that expanded his communication and palette with the history of music. Trunino now serves as a bandleader, sideman, composer, and mentor. Mentored by Detroit Trumpeters Kris Johnson, Dwight Adams, Rayse Biggs, and John Douglas. He's a part of the jazz lineage of Detroit and strongly believes in continuing the Legacy.
JESSE KRAMER’S ANTINOUS AS OSIRUS
Saturday September 21st, 2019. 7:00pm
For roughly half a decade, the Roman emperor Hadrian was in love with a man who was not his spouse. Between 125 CE and 130 CE, the Greek youth Antinous became a favorite of Hadrian, and for the final two years of the latter's life they were side by side touring the Roman empire.
After Antinous' surprise death on the Nile, Hadrian was devastated and, in his grief, proclaimed his lover a deity, In turn, priests connected Antinous to the Egyptian god Osiris, lord of the underworld, afterworld, and rebirth.
Et voilà:
Nearly 2,000 years later we have Antinous as Osiris, the latest album by Ann Arbor jazz drummer Jesse Kramer.
SEAN DOBBINS TRIO
Saturday September 21st, 2019 8:30pm
Sean Dobbins got his start as sought-after Detroit area jazz sideman at a young age, when he would regularly play with Blue Note artist Louis Smith. Sean is the recipient of many awards and accolades including the “Woody Herman Jazz Award”, an award for outstanding musicianship, as well as the Louis Armstrong Scholarship.
Dobbins has amassed an impressive list of playing companions. He has performed/toured/recorded with Johnny Basset, Benny Golson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Frank Morgan, Joey DeFrancesco, George Cables, James “Blood” Ulmer, Marcus Belgrave, Larry Willis, Rodney Whittaker, Claude Black, Johnny O’Neal, Paul Keller, Tad Weed, Kurt Krahnke, Jon Hendricks, David “Fathead” Newman, Donald Walden, Cyrus Chesnut, Barry Harris, David Baker, Randy Johnston, Marion Hayden, Mose Allison, and a host of other great musicians.
Sean’s sound can best be described as hard-driving, solid rhythm with refreshing melodic sensibility. Some of Sean’s influences include Art Blakey, Jeff Hamilton, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ed Thigpen, Sonny Payne, as well as Detroit area greats Gerald Cleaver and the one and only Elvin Jones.