Concert Dates: 08/25/06 - 08/26/06
Ticket Cost: $15.00 plus $10.00 minimum
Show Time(s): 9:00pm and 11::00pm
Event Description:
Pianist extraordinaire Larry Willis brings his Trio and hard-bop sound to popular jazz venue Twins on U for two nights. Featuring jazz heavyweights Steve Williams on drums and Steve Novosel on bass.
Larry Willis’ extraordinary versatility as a pianist ranges from rock and pop — he spent 7 years as keyboardist for Blood, Sweat and Tears — to African, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music. He has been music director at Mapleshade Records since 1992. From composing to arranging to playing; in big band, orchestra or trio settings, Willis is one of the most in-demand jazz pianists today.
Artist / Group Bio:
Larry Willis was born in 1942 in Manhattan’s Harlem. Surprisingly, he entered music not as a pianist but as a voice major, first at New York’s High School of Music and Art for gifted students, then at the Manhattan School of Music. His senior year in high school, at 17, he had his first recording date, a classical gig with the Music and Arts Choral Ensemble singing a Copland opera conducted by no less then Leonard Bernstein.
At the beginning of that senior year Larry started playing the piano — no lessons, no teacher, just figuring it out by himself. By the end of the winter, he was playing his first professional gigs in a jazz trio with two of his classmates, Al Foster on drums and Eddie Gomez on bass. No one knew it then, but that little trio was probably the most distinguished high school jazz group in the country.
Soon after entering the Manhattan School of Music, Larry switched from voice to music theory. For one, he was running head-on into the all-too-evident barriers facing black musicians in the classical world. On the positive side, Larry’s interest in jazz was turning into passion. A fellow student, Hugh Masakela, heard him jamming with Al Foster. Hugh was so impressed that he hooked Larry up with John Mehegan, the legendary New York jazz piano teacher. Those were Larry’s first-ever lessons. By the end of that year at the Manhattan School, at age 19, Larry was playing regularly with Jackie McLean, the great alto saxophone innovator.
A remarkable entry into jazz: a kid of 17 decides to play the piano for the first time; four months later, he’s playing gigs with a soon-to-be world class trio. A year and a half after that, he’s making jazz history with the next giant of the alto after Bird. Talk about a natural gift! A year after Larry’s graduation in 1965, Jackie gave him his first recording date—Right Now, on Blue Note—and on that first date recorded the first two pieces in a continuing stream of Willis compositions.
Since then, Larry has played on more than 300 records. He’s played or recorded with almost every great jazz musician of the modern era, stars like Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Woody Shaw, Hugh Masakela, Cannonball and Nat Adderley, Stan Getz, Art Blakey, Art Taylor, Clifford Jordan, Carmen McRae, and Shirley Horn. His most recent CDs include a Larry Willis Quintet and four Larry Willis Trio recordings plus two solo sessions (labels are Audioquest, Steeplechase, Evidence and Mapleshade).
Another facet of Larry’s genius is his composing and arranging for orchestras and big bands. He’s always had a very special gift for arranging strings, strings that form a gorgeous, open framework for jazz improvisation. His first major string works were symphonic arrangements for a Brooklyn Symphony concert with the Fort Apache Band in 1994. Since then he’s done gem-like string quartet and quintet arrangements for three Mapleshade jazz CDs: John Hicks’ Trio Plus Strings (#05532), Sunny Sumter’s Sunny (#05932), and Monica Worth’s Never Let Me Go (#06732). Recently, he wrote larger scale arrangements for albums by Roy Hargrove, Vanessa Rubin and Joe Ford, among others. Larry composed an orchestral suite in four movements for the Florida Southern College Symphony Orchestra and then performed it in concert. He was also featured soloist with an Italian chamber orchestra, performing his own compositions.
Larry is a three-time Grammy nominee with Fort Apache as well as pianist on two of their New York Jazz Critics Award-winning CDs. He’s was also on Roy Hargrove’s Grammy-winning Crisol Band CD and toured for three years with Roy. Currently, he is touring actively with his own Trio and Quintet as well as with Fort Apache from time to time. In the coming year Larry will be touring Israel and Europe.
Larry has been music director at Mapleshade since 1992. His contributions there are immeasurable. Though everyone at Mapleshade is a music lover and a fan, Larry’s the professional. As such, he’s in charge of making sure their music keeps on getting better —and he’s done just that. He produces most of the recordings, as well as playing on many of them, always with the same selfless, inspiring dedication that makes him one of the most in-demand pianists in jazz today.
Artist's Website: http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/artists/larry_willis.php
Twins Jazz Address: 1344 U Street, NW, 2nd Floor Washington DC 20009 U.S.
About the Venue: This place is a true homegrown jazz lounge. Owned and operated by real life Ethiopian twin sisters, Kelly and Maze Tesfaye, Twins Jazz is a Washington, DC treasure. Avant-garde artists, minor legends and the best of the local scene regularly take the cramped stage at Twins Jazz, one rickety flight of steps above U Street. At a club with a two-drink minimum per set and the action mostly on stage, nobody's really looking for the waitstaff to ply them with food and drinks. Committed listeners dine on the Ethiopian cuisine served here, but the main focus is the music. The space is intimate, creating a strong connection between audience and performers. The walls have paintings by local artists and photographs of jazz musicians, (many by Joseph Beasley, professional photographer and Twins soundman) and the bar in back is built within a cave-like molding, embedded with colored ceramic tiles. The back bar is also a good place to sit and listen to the music, especially if you're there by yourself. Twins is also home to jam sessions every Sunday evening, when locals display their chops on standard material as supportive patrons nurse their drinks.
Phone: 202 234-0072
Venue Website: http://www.twinsjazz.com
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