Press Release by: Kevin Brady
November 2007 - After a successful tour of Ireland earlier this year leading jazz pianist & composer Bill Carrothers will be returning to perform in trio format with drummer Kevin Brady and double-bassist Dave Redmond. This new trio will be performing a mixture of jazz standards and original compositions by all three musicians. The tour will be promoting the debut album release from drummer Kevin Brady entitled - ' Common Ground '.
The album was recorded in January at the 6YO Studios in Galway. It is one of many album releases to be made available through the Livingroom Project Music Collective. For more details visit the following website: www.livingroomproject.com (“Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award”) Pianist Bill Carrothers has been described as an 'unsung hero of 21st Century piano'.
The 43 year old American has been playing professionally for 25 years. His rise to his current popularity has hardly been typical. He started out with lessons from his church organist at age five, and eventually was turned on to jazz by his piano teacher, the late Bobby Peterson, who introduced young Bill to Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and most importantly, Miles Davis. Starting with Davis' Greatest Hits, he was mesmerized: "I wore it out. I listened to it 100 times. I'd never heard anything like that before."
After playing in his high school jazz bands, Carrothers moved on to the jazz program at North Texas State on a scholarship. However, he found the formality of college music studies frustrating. "I decided that the best way to learn it was to start buying every kind of jazz music I could find and start listening to it..." Gradually, Carrothers gained experience playing with visiting artists like James Moody and Billy Higgins, and recorded a well-received CD (A Band in All Hope) in 1986.
By 1988, he'd had enough of college studies and headed to New York, where he recorded with Gary Peacock and Bill Stewart, and had gigs at the Village Gate, Birdland, and Visiones. But the big city never felt like home, and after five years, Carrothers gave up on the Big Apple, and moved out of the city. He now makes his home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
He has won many awards including Grand Prix de l'académie Charles Cros in 2004, Top 10 in Jazz Magazine, Le Monde, and Jazziz Magazine and was also nominated for the 2005 French "Grammy" equivalent, Les Victoires du Jazz. Leading Irish drummer Kevin Brady recently won a Performance and Touring Award from the Music Network towards a promotional tour of his debut album entitled ‘Common Ground’. It will be produced by the 'Livingroom Project Music Collective' (www.livingroomproject.com)
Brady is a member of two of the most successful jazz groups in Irish Jazz, the Hammond organ trio Organics and the Phil Ware Trio. Kevin says ' I am delighted to have the opportunity to perform with Bill again, the experience of performing and recording with such a talented musician as him has really broadened my horizons musically.” Along with Brady, they will also be joined by bassist Dave Redmond, one of the the most talented on his instrument in Ireland. Bill Carrothers Quote | Penguin Guide to Jazz ‘Carrothers is a class act, already endowed with a formidable breadth of experience, and able to fit with most contemporary music situations.’ Kevin Brady Quote | Sunday Independent 'One of the most gifted drummers to emerge in recent years '
For more information: Bill Carrothers Tour of Ireland November 2007