1959: The Year That Changed Jazz

If you haven't made it down to SFJAZZ to experience any of the Discover Jazz presentations, now is the time go! Terrence Brewer always manifests an intriguing and informative concert interspersed with historical details that illuminate just how interwoven jazz history and our nation's history really is—making you love this music that much more.

Looking at the albums released that year tells us that 1959 ushered in a transformational development in jazz history: Mile Davis's Kinda Blue, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, Ornate Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, Horace Silver's Blowin' the Blues Away, Bill Evans's Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck's Time Out—legendary albums for a legendary year.

This will be the subject of Terrence Brewer's Discover Jazz concert/presentation this month, and in particular, on November 16th, the legendary saxophonist Joe Lovano will be making a special guest appearance, giving us all a lesson in what this music means for jazz.

Hoping you can be there! It will be a tremendous honor to play alongside a jazz giant such as Joe Lovano, as well as the other amazingly talented artists scheduled for both November 16th and November 30th: Terrence Brewer (of course!), Thu Ho, Rob Dehlinger, Gary Brown, Greg Wyser-Pratte and Sylvia Cuenca.

You can find out more by clicking here.

The music carries on and carries us with it!

3 and 3

My next three performances are with these three extraordinary women!

Sharmila Guha Lash & Friends

Saturday, September 24, 2022, 7pm

Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland

Click here for details and click here for tickets

From sharing the stage with Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Carmen Lundy, to performing with top-shelf jazz musicians in both Northern and Southern California, Sharmila's exceptional vocal skills cross a wide array of genres. For this not-to-be-missed event, Sharmila has curated a fascinating and beautiful set of music largely featuring the works of women composers. A portion of the concert proceeds will be donated to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which serves mid-California and Northern Nevada.

Amelie Anna Hinman

Saturday, October 1, 2022, 6-8:30pm

Broadway Grill in Burlingame

Click here for details

Not only is Amelie an equally gifted vocalist & percussionist, whose talents bring film and video scores to life, but she also has performed and collaborated with jazz great Martin Luther McCoy, and has shared the stage with members of the SFJAZZ Collective. She is the assistant director of the Roots, Jazz and American Music department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and performs regularly throughout the Bay Area with her quintet.

Sandy Cressman

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 6-8:30pm

Mr. Tipple's in San Francisco

Click here for details

Sandy Cressman will be bringing her dynamic and groove-filled Brazilian set to Mr. Tipple's at the end of October. Well-known and well-regarded throughout the Bay Area and beyond for her deep love of Brazilian music, she has collaborated with some of Brazil's finest musicians, including Antonio Adolfo, Deborah Gurgel, Spok and Jovino Santos Neto. She recently received grant funding for a recording project that will feature the music of Milton Nascimento.

Two new YouTube video series on my channel

In case you missed my first piano solo transcription post, you'll now be able to find a few new ones posted right here on my "transcriptions & scores" page, or if you have happen to be on YouTube you'll see them up on my channel.

The latest one is Wynton Kelly's solo on Freddie Freeloader:

And brand new to my YouTube channel is the first edition of "Composing in Action," where I'll post short videos of compositions as I create and write them This first one features a bit of iPad technology called StaffPad:

...I thought of the title for the series after posting the video so not to worry - it will all get straightened out in the end (lol!).

If you would like to be notified when I post new videos, subscribing to my YouTube channel is the best way to do that. Just log in to YouTube, make your way over to my channel and click the subscribe button and the bell.

More to come this fall! Enjoy!