Subject: FIVE WEEKS FOR MILES / Sat Salsa @ Lula Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 18:29:47 -0400 From: The BROWNMAN Organization: Brownman Music Inc. -- http://www.brownman.com To: Brownman's Big Ass Mailing List Hey gang, And a big welcome to all those who are new on the Big Ass Mailing List. (Particularly all the new Europeans I met while on tour this month!). Having just returned from a month long European tour centred around the Baltic States feat. Deniss Pashkevich - tenor sax monster from Latvia (the king of Latvia!) - I'm all totally jet-lagged... needing a nap at 6pm is definitely *not* cool. The tour was insanely good - more on that at the end of this email in Brown News... but first lemme plug 2 things - the FIVE WEEKS FOR MILES show and MARRON MATIZADO at Lula this Saturday... =========================================================== FIVE WEEKS FOR MILES - Every Friday in Oct @ Trane Studio http://www.brownman.com/PressReleases/FiveWeeksForMiles.html =========================================================== This Fri Oct 1st marks the start of the FIVE WEEKS FOR MILES show I'm producing. I'll lead 5 different all-star ensembles through 5 historic eras of jazz which Miles Davis catalyzed & immortalized with his presence. This is happening every Friday in October at the Trane Studio. The very detailed press release (link below) has alllll kinds of info about this event - times, ticket prices, who's performing (some of Canada's top-shelf jazz musicians - and each week is a different band), and a little synopsis about each night and what that era was in the Miles historic time-line. Please check it out. Paying tribute to the greatest icon in jazz history is no small task and I hope you'll come check out the artistry of these assorted killer ensembles. http://www.brownman.com/PressReleases/FiveWeeksForMiles.html ---------------------------- Week 1 - Oct 1, 2004 "Young Miles" - The Bird Years At 17 years of age Miles would travel across the river from his home in East St. Louis, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri to hear well-known jazz musicians play in clubs. Mesmerized by their talent and style, he would listen to their all night jam sessions until Charlie "Bird" Parker arrived in St. Louis with the Billy Eckstine Band in 1944. Bird was the creative force behind a new form of jazz later to be dubbed "bebop" and the young Miles would become fascinated with it's complex melodic and harmonic structure leading Miles to follow Bird across the country until he was allowed to substitute for his trumpet player at the time - Dizzy Gillespie. His tenure as Bird's sideman would most exemplify this hard-swinging period of his life. Nick "Brownman" Ali - trumpet Bobby Brough - alto saxophone Eric Boucher - piano Michael "Danger" Herring - upright bass Archie Alleyne - drums * - and I'll be we're all wearing suits ala Miles 1947... that alone might be worth seeing. With a tie. A black tie. Um... the one tie I have says "hip-hop underground biggup"... would Miles have worn that in '47? Uh... what time does Wal-mart close? =========================================================== Sat Oct 2 MARRON MATIZADO (8-piece salsa band) @ Lula Lounge =========================================================== Salsa Saturday at Lula featuring MARRON MATIZADO in it's 8-piece permutation. Hope to see you out! http://www.brownman.com/matizado for band info http://www.lula.ca for venue info Ricky Franco (Mexico) - vocals / guiro Alex Naar (Panama) - vocals / campana Brownman (Trinidad) - trumpet / flugelhorn / musical director Marcus Ali (Trinidad) - alto sax / bari sax / flute Glenda Del Monte (Cuba) - piano Alberto Campuzano (Venezuela) - electric bass Johann Aguirre (Peru) - congas Alex Godinez (Peru) - timbales / kick / snare =========================================================== BROWN NEWS - freshly back from the Euro-tour... =========================================================== What a tour! These Baltic Sea bad-boys can *really* play. Aivar Vassiljev on drums, Mihkel Malgand on basses and my new brother - Deniss Pashkevich on tenor - some of Europe's finest, all living in the Baltic Sea States (and, I might add, all FREE of Soviet occupation and fantastically independent, unique, self-contained microcosms of their own... Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia... *sighing deeply*). I was honored to arrive and find that the group was NOT going to perform under the name "Baltic Sea Jazz All-Stars", but instead all the billings were for the BROWNMAN QUARTET! Complete with 4 foot posters papering venues with my ugly mug on it. I had no idea, but dug the prospect of making these guys play my own tunes. English in email wasn't always clear when this tour was getting booked and that detail was never pointed out - that it would be *my* band... I was under the impression I would be a "special guest" of the All-Stars. I had brought a book of my own tunes on a whim thinking "wouldn't it be nice if we played a tune or two that I wrote"... thank god I brought the books - cuz we ended up playing MOSTLY my tunes. A huge honor to have had this ultra-talented crew at my disposal. Deniss' ultra-capable management (that's you Laura!) had us bouncing all over multiple countries gigging multiple times a day... there was even one day with FOUR gigs within 24 hours... and my face - hamburger. At the end of the tour the group recorded a disc scheduled for release in the New Year, likely on Deniss' own label. I would encourage all to check him out at http://www.DenissJazz.com and Aivar at http://www.JazzBrother.com I had to cross an ocean to find 3 new brothers... in the Baltics... who knew! The tour was a large success and hopefully will lead to additional European work... *fingers crossed*. Would love to get back over there... the people, the culture, the food, the architecture... very seductive. *But*, despite the great beauty I saw and experienced - Toronto's mah home... and it's nice to be back... back in the fray with no time to catch mah breath... just how I like it. :) =========================================================== UPCOMING =========================================================== Every Fri in Oct - FIVE WEEKS FOR MILES @ Trane Studio Sun Oct 24, 1-4pm - NICK ALI TRIO Jazz Brunch @ Revival Sat Oct 30, 1-5pm - Jazz For Herbie @ The Rex (fantastic fundraiser) Tue Nov 09, 9pm - NICK ALI TRIO hosts the Jazz Jam @ The Rex Nov - GRUVASYLUM give a jazz-hip-hop workshop at a school T.B.A. Nov - RITA DI GHENT & SPRAWL INDIGO theatre performance Dec - CRUZAO represents Canada at the HAVANA JAZZ FESTIVAL Jan - CRUZAO's SECOND CD! Recording begins... Jan - CRUZAO double-header @ the Rex feat. new material!! =========================================================== Thanks again for all the support gang... and remember - there are 3 things the general public can do to support the purveyors of "art music" (uh, the assumption here is that if you give enough of a rat's ass about *mah* brown butt to be on this list, then you're intrinsically interested in supporting the artform for which said brown butt is party to) 1 - check out live music... 2 - purchase some art for your disc player... 3 - and tell people what you heard and why you liked it. Art music is an underground and I thank each and every one of you on the Big Ass Mailing List for YOUR support of THIS artist's music. Maybe my time in Europe has made me all gushy and touchy-feely melancholic (and lord I hope it wears off soon), but as I sit here writing this particular mailout hugging my pillow, humming kum-bah-ya to myself as I reach for a tissue... well... I... *sniff*... I... I love you guys... Hope to see you soon! A'ight... I'm out. Peace. - Brown ---- If there's a heaven, they must have one hell of a big band... ---- brownman@brownman.com 416-738-9449 (24 hr number - leave message and I'll be paged) The BrownZone : http://www.brownman.com Gig Schedule : http://www.brownman.com/GigSchedule.htm Every Fri this Oct - FIVE WEEKS FOR MILES show @ Trane Studio http://www.brownman.com/PressReleases/FiveWeeksForMiles.html