Born in Worcester, MA in 1967, Steve was raised in Binghamton, NY and graduated in 1989 from The Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute (University of Hartford, CT). It was Mc Lean’s guidance and recommendation that helped Davis land his first major gig with Art Blakey in NYC in Dec 1989. Steve returned to Hartford in 1992 to join Mc Lean’s sextet and begin teaching alongside his mentor at both the Hartt School and Artist’s Collective. Davis has resided in Hartford ever since.
Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today’s leading improvisers on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990’s while working with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea’s Origin and the cooperative sextet, One For All. Steve has appeared in Downbeat Magazine’s Reader’s and Critic’s Polls numerous times, winning the TDWR (Risng Star) Trombone Category in 1998.
In fall 2008, Davis released OUTLOOK (Positone Records) featuring his exciting, new quintet. He also followed in his mentor Curtis Fuller’s footsteps by joining saxophone legend Benny Golson and The New Jazztet. In addition, Steve collaborated with all-time great pianist Hank Jones on a brand new CD, ELOQUENCE set for release Spring 2009 (Jazz Legacy Productions). Along with Davis and Jones, the stellar line-up includes Nat Reeves (bass), Joe Farnsworth (drums) and special guests Steve Nelson (vibes), Roy Hargrove (trumpet) and John Lee (electric bass).
April 19, 2009
Jazz Café proudly presents a night of Jazz/Soul and Funk with saxophonist extraordinaire, Javon Jackson and his band, with special guest, the legendary Soul/Jazz keyboard innovator, Les McCann, with a quartet of shows, Friday, December 12th and Saturday, December 13th with a 7:30 PM and a 10:00 PM show both nights.
Tickets are $30 Available at Music Hall Box Office, or Ticketmaster.com.Jackson will fill the estimable shoes of sax man Eddie Harris as they perform songs from McCann’s monster-selling Jazz Album, “the 1969 live masterpiece, “Swiss Movement”, as well as work from Javon Jackson’s interpretations of the work of Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and McCoy Tyner, culled from his latest recording, “Once Upon A Melody”.
“Swiss Movement Revisit” pays tribute to the 1969 album that included the definitive Les McCann and Eddie Harris composition, “Compared To What.” Pianist McCann will reprise his role, playing alongside tenor saxophonist Jackson, a former Jazz Messenger, who adds youthful vigor to McCann’s classic Jazz Soul landmark, transporting it to new heights.
Born in 1935, the self-taught McCann burst onto the scene in the late 50’s and early 60’s in Los Angeles, playing all the joints on the Sunset strip, McCann became known for his soulful grooves and pioneering the advent of electronic keyboards in jazz like the Fender Rhodes, Clavinet and the synthesizer.
Javon Jackson cut his musical teeth as a member of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. As a member of Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Javon Jackson has toured and recorded many albums with the legendary drummer. In addition to Blakey, Jackson has toured and recorded with the likes of Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Betty Carter, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Richard Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Fuller and Stanley Turrentine.
As a recording artist, Jackson has appeared on over 125 recordings. Additionally, he has enjoyed a successful career as a bandleader, recording and touring throughout the world. Javon’s current musical group, The Javon Jackson Band, incorporates many styles including jazz, funk, R&B and rock.
His latest recording, Once Upon a Melody, finds Javon returning to acoustic jazz after a series of popular jazz-funk recordings. In addition to two originals, Javon includes tunes by the legendary Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter. In addition, Jackson covers music from the songbook of artist Corinne Bailey Rae. Joining him on Once Upon a Melody are Eric Reed on piano, Corcoran Holt on bass and drummer Billy Drummond.
The current Javon Jackson Band’s line up set to perform at Jazz Café is:
Kenny Davis on electric bass
Carl Allen - Drums
David Gilmore - Guitar
Javon Jackson - Tenor Sax
Les McCann - Piano & Synths
Jazz Café at Music Hall
350 Madison Ave.
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 887-8500
www.jazzcafedetroit.com
www.musichall.org
December 8, 2008
We’ve hosted over 5,000 International, National and Detroit-based jazz artists in less than the 2 years we’ve been open. We’ve received calls and emails from tens of thousands of other musicians that would love to perform at the Jazz Cafe. Who would you like to see and hear? Let us know…
Tagged: Who would you like to see at Jazz Cafe? November 19, 2008
Laconic yet agile, serious yet playful, studied and still hip, Victor Goines creates straight-ahead jazz that neither kowtows to fads nor buckles under the weight of tradition.
-Times-Picayune on Victor Goines
Jazz Café at Music Hall is extremely proud to present The Victor Goines Quartet for 4 performances, Friday, November 28th and Saturday, November 29th at 10 PM and Midnight each night.
New Orleans native Victor Goines, a saxophonist/clarinetist has been a Wynton Marsalis sideman for years, performing on many of his 1990’s albums including, “Unforgivable Blackness” and “Joe Cool’s Blues”, comes to Detroit with his latest incarnation of The Victor Goines Quartet for two nights, Friday and Saturday, November 28th and 29th at 10PM and Midnight. Goines is also an educator who has taught Jazz Studies and Mathematics as well as performing with many of the greatest names in Jazz like, Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton , or Rock royal ,Bob Dylan and musical hybrid, Lenny Kravitz- not to mention Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles who are a quick six on the Goines collaborative short list.
Goines is renown for his woodwind versatility on various saxophones and on the clarinet which he plays with almost mathematical precision, displaying a phrasing that seems to ethereally float over the rhythm section.
Goines was born in 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana and is currently lives in Fayetteville, Georgia. He often travels to New Orleans to perform and teach and was formerly a mathematics instructor at St. Augustine High School, an Adjunct Professor at Xavier University and a member of the faculties of Loyola University and the University of New Orleans. He joined Wynton Marsalis’ Septet in the fall of 1993 and toured with the band through the fall of 1994. Mr. Goines performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at the 1999 Grammy Awards, with Wynton Marsalis’ group accompanying the Alvin Ailey Dance Company at the debut of Mr. Marsalis’ piece Sweet Release, toured nationally with Marcus Roberts and The Academy Of The Ascension as well as toured nationally and internationally with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
Goines is currently the Director of Jazz Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, as well as an Education Consultant for Jazz at Lincoln Center.
During his career Mr. Goines has also performed with Terence Blanchard, Bo Diddley, Freddie Hubbard, Branford Marsalis, Freddie Green, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and many others.
Victor Goines has also recorded the scores for the motion pictures, Undercover Blues, When Night Falls On Manhattan and Rosewood, for the television production of Moonlight Over Miami and The Big Easy (USA Cable Network, 1996)
The Victor Goines Quartet: Victor Goines, Saxophones, Reggie Thomas, piano, Rodney Whitaker, bass, and Herlin “Homey” Riley on drums.
(Bios upon request)
More on Victor Goines may be found here: http://victorgoines.com/biography.htm
Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door and are available at The Music Hall Box Office or at Ticketmaster.com.
Jazz Café at Music Hall
350 Madison
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 887-8500
www.musichall.org
www.jazzcafedetroit.com
October 27, 2008
