Grammy award-winning bassist John Benitez, born in Rio Piedras Puerto Rico, started playing gospel music in church at the age of thirteen. Already a gifted musician, John began his formal education at “Escuela Libre de Musica” followed by study at the University of Puerto Rico and later the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music with master bassist Federico Silva.

By age nineteen, John was the first-call bassist in San Juan’s thriving Jazz and Latin music scenes. He performed with, among others, such well-known artists as Chick Corea, Lucecita Benitez, Batacumbele, Lalo Rodriguez, Cuco Peña, Roberto Roena, and Justo Betancourt. In his early twenties, he toured with Batacumbele to Columbia, South America where he continued to play and study music. Always in demand, John was asked to play with some of the top names in the country like Joe Madrid and often accompanied international touring artists like trumpeter “Chocolate” Armenteros.

In 1993, John move to New York and attended the City College of New York where he studied with the legendary acoustic bassist, Ron Carter and later with the contra bass guitarist Anthony Jackson. His education, however, was not limited to formal classroom study. John learned on the bandstand performing with some of the finest Jazz and Latin musicians including, Wynton Marsalis, Tito Puente, Michele Camilo, Dave Valentin, Eddie Palmieri, Bobby Watson, David Sanchez, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Danilo Perez, Kenny Kirkland, Will Calhoun, Vinny Valentino, Chucho Valdez, Don Pullen, Dave Samuels, and Mongo Santamaria, to name just few.

He recorded with Roy Hargrove’s Crisol band (whose recording, “Habana,” was awarded the Grammy for best Latin jazz performance in 1997), David Sanchez (the Grammy nominated, “Obsesion”) Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz, Antonio Hart, the Tropi-Jazz All Stars,

the Mingus Big Band, the Caribbean Jazz Project, and Eddie Palmieri.

John has participated in two instructional videos with master percussionist Giovanni Hildalgo and Cuban drummer Ignacio Berroa. He can also be seen on the national tv and cable shows, Good Morning America, The Today Show and BET On Jazz.

As a sideman and a featured special guest, John has performed in all of the major jazz festivals and venues around the world including Turkey, Jordan (where he played for the royal family), South America, Canada, Norway, Finland, and all over Europe. John was chosen by the United States Information Agency and the Kennedy Center to represent the United States as a Jazz Ambassador on a tour of South America.

John has played and recorded with some of the finiest Jazz, Latin, and R&B musicians and has learned something from each and every one of them. This diversity of influence and experience is reflected in his latest project and first recording as a leader, “Descarga in New York,” released in August 2001 on Khaeon World Music. Together with his Trio (the gifted pianist/composer Luis Perdomo and the powerhouse drummer Dafnis Preito) and special guest percussionist, Richie Flores and the tenor saxophonists Ravi Coltrane, John has created a strong musical statement which highlights his prodigious talents as a bassist–both acoustic and electric-composer, arranger, and and producer.

Benitez was the bassist on Ray Barretto’s last record “Standards Rican-ditioned,” in 2006, which was a set of jazz standards performed by an all Puerto Rican ensemble, which incidentally included the late Hilton Ruiz on piano.

Although Benitez is extremely fluid in the jazz idiom, he excels at interpreting the rhythms and styles of his native Afro-Caribbean region and the entire Pan American music book. As he puts it himself, “For me it’s all the same, one great dance music, all the Caribbean, South America and New Orleans are but an extension of African music, music with that special bounce. That’s what I like the most.” John Benitez, an excellent example of a true musician, an educator, artist, gentleman and a spiritual human being.

]]> http://www.gaudeamus.fm/new-cd-in-our-playlist-john-benitez-purpose/feed/ 0 http://www.gaudeamus.fm/one-more-album-in-our-playlist-serendipity-by-anthony-geraci/ http://www.gaudeamus.fm/one-more-album-in-our-playlist-serendipity-by-anthony-geraci/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:41:10 +0000 admin http://www.gaudeamus.fm/?p=4008 One more great album came to our postbox. This time it’s ‘Serendipity’ by Anthony Geraci.

About Anthony:

If you were to think of any modern Blues Legend chances are that Anthony Geraci has backed them up. Muddy Waters, B.B., King, Otis Rush, Big Mama Thorton, Chuck Berry and countless others have had Anthony’s fiery piano accompanying them. Anthony has been nominated for two 2008 W.C. Handy and the Blues Foundation awards for best Blues Album (My Life, My Friends, My Music; Severn Records) and for Song of the Year (The Last Words of a Fool) with Sugar Ray and the Bluetones. Anthony was also nominated for a Grammy in 2000 for his work on Super Harps I (Telarc Records) that also features James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Billy Branch, and Sugar Ray Norcia. You can also hear him on Ronnie Earl’s first two releases on the Black Top record label; They Call Me Mr. Earl, and Smokin’. Anthony’s first all Jazz CD Serendipity will be released summer 2011.

Anthony is an original member of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, and Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. He also was the leader of his own band “Little Anthony and the Loco-Motives” that toured extensively in the Northeast United States and Canada, where they played at the Montreal Jazz Festival, and many Labatt Blues Festivals throughout Quebec. Their two records on the Deluge Label Can’t Take It, and Don’t Wait on Me, both received rave reviews.

Anthony has toured extensively in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South America, Lebanon, and the United States, playing such premiere Festivals as The Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Zouk Mikael Festival (Beirut, Lebanon,) The North Sea Jazz Festival (The Netherlands,) Rome (Italy) Olympic Stadium Blues Festival, Free Jazz (Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil,) The Peer Rhythm and Blues Festival (Belgium,) The Newport Rhythm and Blues Festival(Newport, Rhode Island) and many more. Anthony was also an original member of the first House of Blues (Cambridge, MA.) Blue Monday All-Star Band and occasional “Blues Brother” member with Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, and James Belushi.

In September 2005 Anthony played for over 250,000 people at Festa Do Avante in Lisboa, Portugal and returned again in 2007. In summer 2006 Little Anthony and the Locomotives rejoined to play at the Mt. Tremblant International Blues Festival (Tremblant, Quebec) to overwhelming critical acclaim.

‘Close Enough’ Van Kemenade in different settings with: Ernst Reijseger – Ray Anderson – Han Bennink – Cappella Pratensis – Frank Möbus – EL Periquin – Ernst Glerum – Serigne Gueye – Wiro Mahieu – Borderhopping – Angelo Verploegen – Louk Boudesteijn.

‘Who Is In Charge?”

Ray Anderson – Han Bennink – Frank Möbus – Ernst Glerum – Paul van Kemenade

At the moment Dutch altosaxophonist/composer/organiser/workshopleader Paul van Kemenade (1957) is working with his international quintet with trombonist Ray Anderson – drummer Han Bennink – guitarist Frank Möbus – bassist Ernst Glerum – Van Kemenade (USA/BRD/NL). He is also playing frequently in duo with German pianist Stevko Busch; with the German quintet Borderhopping; with his own Dutch Quintet (they had their 25-year anniversary in 2007) and initiates a lot of (inter)national projects.

Paul’s other private projects such as a duo with cellist Ernst Reijseger; the duo concerts with japanese pianoplayer Aki Takase; duos with pianists Michiel Braam and Harmen Fraanje; with the ’Three horns and a bass’ project ; with a new project with renaissance vocal group Cappella Pratensis and flamenco-guitarist El Periquin; with his stringproject with a.o. Pierre Blanchard; with the ‘Two horns and a bass’ project (trio Vloeimans / Mahieu / Van Kemenade) and more new projects in progress – you will find under the banner Private Projects.

In all the groups and projects, as well as in his compositions,Van Kemenade tries to blend elements from the European improvised music with American jazz, African-, Spanish-,classical- and popmusic, making all of this into a cocktail in its own right. Since 1994 Paul has frequently cooperated with South African musicians Feya Faku, Louis Mhlanga, Sydney Mnisi, Zim Ngqwana, Sonti Mndebele and later on with McCoy Mrubata, Buddy Wells, Mark Fransman and others. Since 2002 he worked with the Senegalese trio ‘Les Frères Guissé’ . He did projects with (inter) national topmusicians such as David Murray and Jamaaladeen Tacuma and performed with vocal groups, stringsensembles and played schoolconcerts mingled with African vibes.

1. My father
2. Travelling through the?
3. Chasing the unreachable
4. Impro I
5. Listen to me again
6. Life through your eyes
7. A song for Anto
8. Autumn Colours
9. Impro II
10. Pearl Games
11. Breathe Freely
12. Inside a Dream

A week ago we recieved a new album from a band New Tricks. It is called ‘Alternate Side’. Recording conditions (music was recorded in drummer’s apartment), playful sight at music and even design of CD box completely matches outlook on jazz in radio station Gaudeamus. So after a few hours of listening to the ‘Alternate Side’ we have added all tracks from it to our playlist.

The music of New Tricks is energetic in improvisational meaning of the word. You have to turn on your brain trying to feel everything collected in the sound of the band. Otherwise it may also be used as a great set of tracks for a true free jazz fan’s party. The album is full of wonderful solo’s. Sometimes trumpet freezes tenor saxophone, and sometimes vice versa. And all this happens on the strong and powerfull background of the drums and bass.

New Tricks are:

Ted Chubb – trumpet

Mike Lee – tenor saxophone

Kellen Harrison – bass

Shawn Baltazor – drums

Yeasterday we recieved a package with a CD called “FUSK”. The album is recorded by:

Kasper Tom Christiansen – drums

Philipp Gropper – saxophone

Andreas Lang – bass

Rudi Mahall – bass clarinet

Kasper Tom is the leader of FUSK. He plays the drums and composes the music. He has a diploma in music from the “Carl Nielsen Academy of Music” in Odense, Denmark. Kasper is of the new generation of musicians that fuse music from many directions and makes it in his own way. Tomas colaborated with Tobias Delius, Axel Dorner, Havard Wiik, Kasper Tranberg, Henrik Walsdorff, Uffe Steen, Marek Kadziela and Mads la Cour.

FUSK is a new Berlin-based quartet with a fresh and exciting collaboration on the European jazz scene. It is a debut CD of the band full of internal energy, also loaded with many short lyric moments but not sentimental. Music is painting a picture of ordinary ambience from the very first till the last tune. All tracks have been already added to Gaudeamus playlist.

A package reached us today from Colin Webster with an album “Koi Bombs” recorded by Colin Webster, Mark Holub and Toby McLaren and released jus a few month ago. The album is now available from Gaffer Records http://www.gafferrecords.com/ and at gigs. Here is quote from Colin’s blog:

We had the launch party at Stoke Newington International Airport. It was a great night, great bands, and a large and receptive crowd!

The trio also played the legendary Boat-Ting (improv club on a boat on the Thames) earlier in the week. The intimate dimensions of the venue really suited us, and the set was very powerful. We hadn’t played together for over a month, so things were fresh and firing! We also played a set the following week at Rays Jazz Cafe in central London. The polite coffee shop atmosphere was slightly at-odds with our outlandish improvisations, but after a bit of an apologetic start we got into it. Here’s a clip of the trio from the album launch:

The radio show “Taran’s Free Jazz Hour” tonight at 21.00 (GMT +02:00) on jazz radio Gaudeamus. (The repeat of the show is on Saturday at 19.00 (GMT +02:00)

EDGETONE RECORDS

 drudgery: Josh Allen – tenor saxophone/ Randy Hunt – double bass/ Timothy Orr – drums, percussion, bowed cymbals, bells, gongs, resonating devices

ohio grimes and misted meanies: John M. Bennett – words, voice, objects/ Ben Bennett – invented devices/ Bob Marsh – guitar/ Jack Wright – saxophones

SETOLA DI MAIALE
the leuven concert: jean michel van schouwburg, vo/ jean demey, b/ kris vanderstraeten, perc

gluck auf: nicola guazzaloca, p/ edoardo marraffa, as, ss, ts

RE:KONSTRUKT
the sun the moon and the stars: korhan futaci, vo, sax/ umut caglar, g/ barlas tan ozemek, g/ yasemin mori, vo/ julien boneoui, dr, vo

kendra steiner
micro-saxo–phone: alfred23harth, sax

CLEANFEED
tim berne’s insomnia: baikida carroll, tpt/ michael formanek, b/ marc ducret, g/ dominique pifarely, vln/ erik friedlander, cello/ chris speed, cl/ jim black, dr/ tim berne, as, bari sax

a little house: angelica sanchez, p

LEO
can you hear me?: joelle léandre tentet

COLIN WEBSTER | GAFFER RECORDS
koi bombs: colin webster, ts/ mark holub, dr/ toby mclaren, fender rhodes, juno 60

CLYDE REED
west coast art trio: bruce freedman, sax/ stan taylor, dr/ clyde reed, b

WIG
repeat that, repeat: ig henneman tentet - Ilse van de Kasteelen – voice Michael Moore – clarinet, bass clarinetAb Baars – clarinet Hein Pijnenburg – bass clarinet Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort – flutes Mary Oliver – violin, viola Ig Henneman – viola Tristan Honsinger – cello Wilbert de Joode – bass Fred van Duynhoven – drums

AMIRANI
forgiving july: angelo contini, tbn/ gianni mimmo, ss/ stefano partor, vln

7TFJH2011

Today we got a package with Roger Baird’s Black and White Trio’s album “Spirit Door” (2006). It a superb recording for avangarde and free jazz lovers.

The album is recorded live at the Denman Island Hall August 9, 2006, Denman Island, B.C.