More Smooth Jazz Action To Come!

Marvin, Dave Koz and the Movies

 

Celebrate the music that made movies great! Grammy-nominated saxophonist Dave Koz joins Marvin Hamlisch and your PSO in a concert featuring memorable songs from the silver screen. Hear Marvin’s own Academy Award-winning song, “The Way We Were,” as well as other classics “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz and “Somewhere” from West Side Story. Tap your feet along to music from The Pink Panther, James Bond and more. This concert is pure entertainment!

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7:30 00
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 8:00 00
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 8:00 00
Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 2:30 00

Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, 600 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222

Down The Rhodes – The Fender Rhodes Story

Producers Gerald McCauley and Ben Bove recently completed a documentary film about the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano. They are very proud of this work! The DVD will be available online (mid Sept.) at www.FenderRhodesStory.com.

This is the documented story of the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano: The Inventor, The Musicians, CBS / Fender employees. The movie tells the inside story of how the Rhodes became the most successful Electric Piano of our time.

The introduction of electric instruments mainstream music and Rhodes use. The movie shows different Rhodes models throughout the generations, performances by musicians on Rhodes and interviews with George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Greg Phillinganes, Marcus Miller, Jeff Lorber, Rodney Franklin, George Benson, Joe Sample, Ellis Hall, Jerry Peters, Ronnie Foster, Bob James, Herbie Hancock, Ray Manzarek, John Novello, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Ramsey Lewis, Maurice White, Larry Dunn, Allee Willis, Lalah Hathaway, Les McCann, Vince Wilburn Jr., Quincy Jones, Don Grusin, Dave Grusin, Rami Jaffee, Michael Bearden, Eumir Deodato, Onaje Allan Gumbs, David Paich, James Poyer, D’Angelo, Donald Fagen, Robin Lumley, Steve Molitz….

Playboy Jazz Festival Presents Jazz On Film With Archivist Mark Cantor

The Playboy Jazz Festival’s annual ‘Jazz on Film’ night, presented by noted jazz archivist Mark Cantor, on Thursday evening, June 10th at 7:30 p.m., will celebrate the legacy of jazz with a move to a new location in Mid-City Los Angeles this year. A longtime fixture at LACMA’s Bing Theatre, the event will be held in cooperation with the Ebony Repertory Theatre at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center on Washington Boulevard. Admission is free, although tickets are required and available on a first come, first serve basis. Tickets will be available beginning at noon on June 10th at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center box office.

There is a limit of 4 tickets per person. Known for his extensive collection of rare jazz films and documentaries, Cantor will share a series of rarely seen performances celebrating some of the most important as well as the sometimes forgotten names in jazz. The Nate Holden Performing Arts Center was formerly the site of a popular Los Angeles playhouse, surrounded by the city’s top jazz clubs during Los Angeles’ golden era of jazz in the 50’s and 60’s in the heart of city. During that time, Mid-City Los Angeles (Washington Boulevard between La Brea and Crenshaw) was home to such legendary venues as the Parisian Room, The It Club, and the Hillcrest club, where many of the greatest names in jazz came to play on a regular basis.

‘Jazz on Film’ will feature archival footage of a variety of artists who appeared at these clubs, such as Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon and Miles Davis to name a few. There will also be film clips of performances by such notables as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Louis Armstrong, Mel Tormè, Dinah Washington and more.

Saxophonist Mindi Abair to Appear in Upcoming Adam Sandler Movie

Next year, saxophonist Mindi Abair will be sharing the big screen with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in a movie called Just Go With It. Abair will be playing herself as a wedding band member. Abair says the singer in the band even performs a rap with her name in it, saying “Playing sax with care is Mindi Abair.”

“Adam and I have a long history,” Abair says. “I toured with him for a summer when he did a full music tour of the US. I then recorded vocals and saxophone on his CD What’s Your Name?, which is now platinum. He called me ‘The Big Man’ in his HBO special as I came out to play the ending sax solo of the night on a Bruce Springsteen song. I was his Clarence Clemons. He wanted to put a disclaimer in the credits for that special saying that I really did play the saxophone. It wasn’t a joke that a blonde came out at the end of the show and rocked out on sax. It was real. We had everyone coming backstage after the shows saying how it was amazing how much I looked like I really played the sax. They thought it was a joke.”

More recently, Abair sang with Sandler last year when he received his lifetime achievement award at the MTV Movie Awards. “Adam’s been a friend for a long time,” Abair says. “ He’s always used his friends in his movies and for his projects. I’m lucky to be his friend. And I definitely took the cue from him in my own career. I’ve made records with my friends, toured with my friends, and surrounded myself with people I love and respect. He was a great role model for that.”

Source: Concord Music Group