Congratulations to director of undergraduate studies, Lissa Fleming May, who has been selected as one of 25 recipients of the Jazz Journalists Association 2013 Jazz Hero award.

JJA’Jazz Heroes’ are activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz who have had significant impact in their local communities. The ‘Jazz Hero’ awards, made on the basis of nominations from community members, are presented in conjunction with the Jazz Journalists Association’s annual Jazz Awards honoring significant achievements in jazz music and journalism.

May’s past work include serving on the “Network with an Expert Team” for the Jazz Education Network, being the North Central Division representative on the National Association for Music Education Jazz Education Council, being the chair of the jazz committee for the Indiana State School Music Association, as well as a board member for the Indiana Music Educators Association and Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble.

May is also active as a clinician and guest conductor throughout the Midwest. Her publications include compositions for jazz band and concert band and articles in numerous journals. She is the author of Getting Started with Jazz, a 1992 MENC publication, and most recently wrote the chapter “Indiana Avenue and Crispus Attucks High School” for David Baker: A Legacy in Music by Monika Herzig.

Read more about Dr. May and the award >

Photo by David Belove

Trombonist, composer, arranger, and band leader Wayne Wallace, one of the more respected exponents of African American-Latin music in the world today, is the Jacobs School of Music Jazz Department guest in residence April 4-8.  His visit to Bloomington will culminate in a performance as guest artist with the Latin Jazz Ensemble directed by Michael Spiro.Activities open to all Jacobs School students are as follows:

Thursday, April 4
8:30 pm MA452: Trombone Master Class: Jazz Trombone Techniques

Friday, April 5
2:45 pm MA 405: Improvisation Class: Developing a Personalized Practice Schedule         Bring your horn!

Saturday, April 6
1:00 pm Sweeney Hall: Your Toolbox Survival Kit for the Music Business

Monday, April 8
2:30 pm MA007: Arranging Class–Afro-Caribbean Arranging Techniques

8:00 pm MAC stage: Guest Artist performance with the Latin Jazz Ensemble directed by Michael Spiro

During his visit, Wallace and the Latin Jazz Ensemble will spend time at Echo Park studios in Bloomington to record a few of his works, giving Jacobs School students an opportunity to experience working with such a legendary performer in a real-world session environment.

About Wayne Wallace

Five-time Grammy nominee Wayne Wallace is one of the more respected exponents of African American-Latin music in the world today. He is known for the use of traditional forms and styles in combination with contemporary music, and has earned recognition with his recent placement in the Downbeat Critics Polls under the trombone and producer categories.

Wallace is an accomplished arranger, educator, and composer with compositions for film and television. He has also received grants from the Creative Work Fund, the National Endowments for the Arts, the Lila Wallace Foundation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Wallace has performed, recorded and studied with acknowledged masters of the Afro-Latin and Jazz idioms such as Aretha Franklin, Bobby Hutcherson, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Escovedo, Santana, Julian Priester, Conjunto Libre, Whitney Houston,Tito Puente, Steve Turre, John Lee Hooker, Con-funk-shun, Francisco Aguabella, Manny Oquendo and Libre, Max Roach, the Count Basie Orchestra and Orestes Vilató. This experience has provided a solid foundation for Mr. Wallace’s current explorations of the intersections of diverse cultural styles, and rhythmic concepts.

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, May 29th 1952, at an early age Wallace was exposed to Blues, Country and Western, R&B Jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career in a unique way. His studies of Afro-Latin music and Jazz have included several trips to Cuba, New York, and Puerto Rico.

Wallace is widely respected as a teacher and historian and is currently an instructor at San Jose State University, Stanford University and the Jazzschool in Berkeley. He has conducted lectures, workshops and clinics in the Americas and Europe since 1983 and is a member of the Advisory Committees of the San Jose Jazz Society and the Stanford Jazz Workshop.

As the head of his own record label, Patois Records, Wallace has created a unique company with a passionate mission of developing and chronicling the multi-lingual styles of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. Patois Records is gaining attention in the industry and internationally. Under his direction the label has released 10 different recordings to critical acclaim. The labelʼs oeuvre currently contains recordings by Mr. Wallace, Marc and Paul van Wageningen, vocalists Kat Parra, Alexa Weber-Morales, and Kristina.

Mr. Wallace is an endorser of Conn-Selmer trombones.

The Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce that vocalist, pianist, and composer, Peter Eldridge will join the Steve Zegree Vocal Jazz Camp on the Bloomington campus this summer, June 23-28, 2013.

“Peter is a wonderful addition to our stellar staff that includes Duane Davis, Ly Wilder, Tim Noble, Michael Wheaton, Dominick DiOrio, and Patrice Madura,” said Steve Zegree. “We look forward to his energy and creativity being a part of the week.”

About Peter Eldridge

“A superb musical alchemist, Peter Eldridge synthesizes modern jazz with not only pop but also R&B and latin music.  The results are varied and dynamic but also aesthetically focused, as Eldridge’s mellifluous baritone and urbane lyrics brim with pop accessibility”(JazzTimes).  Peter Eldridge ranks “in the celebrated tradition of melodic poets, most famously represented by such disparate voices as Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and Steely Dan – singer/songwriters who create catchy, beautiful tunes with insightful lyrics that are both personal and universal” (allmusicguide.com).  Mr. Eldridge continues to draw on his many talents as he pursues an eclectic mix of activities, including composing, performing, arranging, recording, as well as teaching (the Manhattan School of Music, head of the graduate jazz voice department).  He has released four solo recordings so far: Stranger in Town, characterized by its bittersweet swing and called the Best Jazz CD of 2001 by Boston radio station WICN; Fool No More, full of Peter’s evocative original music in a sophisticated pop setting, released in the same year (both on the independent label Rosebud Records); Decorum, a 2005 release of originals which Downbeat was noted as saying, “If musical intelligence and artistry were prompters to marketplace success, Decorum would grant him stardom. . . .strong, far-ranging voice . . hauntingly wistful”: and finally the latin-inspired Mad Heaven, which was released last year on the Palmetto label. Jazz Review said of the album, “Mad Heaven showcases Eldridge as a major player in vocal jazz, an artist of extraordinary depth and conviction”.

Peter is also a co-founding member of the double-Grammy winning New York Voices, which has recorded seven studio albums (including their just released, ‘New York Voices Live with the WDR Big Band Cologne’).  The group has made numerous guest appearances, and toured internationally for well over two decades, with appearances including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Kennedy Center. In addition, compositions by Mr. Eldridge have been included on albums by other artists: ‘Minds of Their Own’, written with Brazilian composer-performer Ivan Lins, was included on Nancy Wilson’s R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal) on the MCG Jazz Label, which won the 2004 Grammy award for Best Jazz Vocal Album; ‘Difficult’ was recorded by Cuban saxophonist-clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera for his The Jazz Chamber Trio, a 2005 release on Chesky Records; ‘Postcards and Messages’ was recorded on Denise Donatelli’s 2012 Grammy nominated  album ‘Soul Shadows’, and ‘Difficult’ was also used in comedian Zach Galafianakis’ DVD ‘Live from the Purple Onion’. Jane Monheit, who was at one time one of Mr. Eldridge’s many talented students, features Peter’s song ‘Surrender’ as the title track on her acclaimed 2007 CD and also features the Eldridge duet ‘Around Us’, based on a James Thurber quote, on her 2003 Encoded Music DVD, Live from the Rainbow Room.  Jane and Peter also recorded a duet for her most recent album Home entitled “It’s Only Smoke”.  One of his many choral pieces, simply entitled ‘Prayer’, was recently recorded by New York City’s own Marble Collegiate Sanctuary Choir, on its recording With Many Voices.
In spring 2008, Peter was invited to join Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks, and Mark Murphy for a ‘concept concert’, the Four Brothers.  He is also a member of the vocal group Moss, which combines the talents of Luciana Souza, Kate McGarry, Theo Bleckmann, and Lauren Kinhan.  The debut album by Moss was named one of the best CDs of the past decade by Downbeat.  Peter continues to perform with his own band in venues in New York and internationally. He has also recently begun a new duo with bassist Matt Aronoff called ‘Foolish Hearts’ which just released its first studio project (an EP entitled New Definition) and has already had two tours of Europe and the States.  Peter has also worked with Bobby McFerrin (lending his voice to McFerrin’s recent ‘Vocabularies’ project), Michael Brecker, Meredith Monk, Fred Hersch, George Benson, Kenny Werner, David Byrne, Jim Hall, Larry Goldings, the Roches, Jonatha Brooke, Bill Charlap, Betty Buckley, Joshua Redman, Janis Siegel and many others.  Peter recently wrote the musical score with composer/conductor Adam Waite for the PBS documentary film, ‘No Job for a Woman’, which tells the account of women reporters in WWII, as well as writing his first full-fledged musical with Chicago playwright Cheri Coons about the life, loves and art of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.  Peter’s music was recently featured in NYC’s Playwright’s Horizons production of a new play called THIS by Melissa Gibson. He is regularly asked to lead master classes and workshops around the world, and as guest conductor has directed All State groups including New York, Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

IU Jacobs School of Music professor Michael Spiro, a seven-time Grammy nominee, is having a huge impact on Bloomington’s local and regional music scene since being hired to teach at the school in 2011.

With the formation of the IU Latin Jazz Ensemble, the IU Hand Drumming Ensemble, and other musical projects, he has significantly changed the balance of experiences any percussion or jazz student can expect from their studies.

Audiences attending Jacobs School jazz events will have noticed changes this semester as well, with the inclusion of the Latin Jazz Ensemble, led by Spiro, on a rotating basis Monday nights in the Musical Arts Center.

Spiro’s impact took another leap forward recently with the forming of Ritmos Unidos, a high-energy ensemble comprised of Jacobs faculty and alumni that mixes Latin jazz, American funk, Brazilian pop, and other syncretic styles. Members of the ensemble, with a name that loosely translates as “rhythms together,” are Michael Spiro, Mike Mixtacki, Joe Galvin, Jamaal Baptiste, Pat Harbison, Nate Johnson, Joel Tucker, and Jeremy Allen.

The ensemble released its first CD in January: iFunklorico!. The title is an amalgam of the words “funk” and “folkloric” and represents the fusion of different styles and influences in the group’s performances.

As word has spread about the band, audiences have grown significantly. A website and Facebook page have come to life as well.

“In my humble opinion, this project has a good deal of significance both to IU and to Bloomington in general,” said Spiro. “It may be the first band in the Jacobs School’s history that consists of just faculty, alumni, and current students of the school. I think that’s kind of a big deal, actually, in that it demonstrates how our music is supposed to be learned, taught, and, of course, performed — the older generation teaching and mentoring the younger generation, on the bandstand.

“Ritmos Unidos is fairly unique in that it plays music from throughout the Caribbean and South America, we don’t just play one style of Latin music. We sing in at least four languages (English, Yoruba, Portuguese, and Spanish), and our repertoire includes an enormous variety of different styles of Latin music, all of which we play with stylistic integrity and understanding. I don’t know if we are the only Latin band ever formed in Bloomington, but I am quite sure we are the first to play both Latin music for dancers (salsa), and Latin music for listeners (Latin Jazz).”

• Listen to sample tracks and buy “iFunklorico” >
• Ritmos Unidos promo video >
• Watch an introduction to the group >
• Ritmos Unidos promo podcast >

ENSEMBLE PHOTO

HeraldTimesOnline.com

Ritmos Unidos mixes Latin sounds into unique music

There’s little room for musical stubbornness in Aruba, where several genres of Latin music are part of the tiny island’s culture.

Local Latin band Ritmos Unidos is no different. Jamaal Baptiste, born and raised in Aruba, added to the group’s global approach to music that infuses jazz, R&B, salsa and other Latin styles.

“Now that I’ve been here for two years, I hear the stuff and I pick up on it, and I’m moving with them, and they’re grooving with me,” said Baptiste, a 24-year-old student studying jazz at IU Jacobs School of Music. “So being in the group, it’s a growing experience.”

The man responsible for forming Ritmos Unidos is Michael Spiro, a seven-time Grammy nominee, percussionist and Jacobs professor. When he was hired to work as a full-time professor in 2011, he needed to have a performing outlet, even though he still performs and lives in San Francisco six months of the year.

Forming a band can be tricky, though. It was important to have members who weren’t planning to relocate for good in the near future.

“Like anything you start, you take some time to see who is in the area, what sources there are,” said Spiro, who didn’t know anyone in Bloomington when he began teaching full-time at Jacobs. Eventually, he got in touch with Jacobs jazz professors Pat Harbison and Jeremy Allen. The three of them began looking for complementary members.

Members Mike Mixtacki and Joel Tucker played in Spiro’s Latin Jazz Collective at IU, and in fall 2011, one semester after moving to the United States, Baptiste auditioned and got into Spiro’s big band as well. That same semester, Spiro asked Baptiste if he wanted to play with Ritmos Unidos.

“Who wouldn’t want to play with faculty?” said Baptiste, who’s also a recipient of the 2012 David Baker Scholarship award. “I told everyone back home, ‘I’m joining a band with the faculty members.’”

With the exception of Mixtacki teaching percussion at Northern Illinois University, the rest of the members live and work in or close to Bloomington.

After writing enough of their own original songs, Ritmos Unidos — which, translated from Spanish, means “rhythms together” — released its first album of five tracks in January. They called the album “¡Funklorico!” The term forms the words “funk” and “folkloric.” Recording arts major Steve Veldman asked Spiro if the band wanted to record a song for his graduating senior project, and so Spiro decided that if they were going to record a song, they should record a bunch of songs. He decided it was time to make a CD.

Up until that point, the band played twice outside the state — once at Northern Illinois University and at the Jazz Education Network Conference in Atlanta, Ga., earlier this year. There was no point in consistently leaving the state for performances before the band had an album, he said.

“I also think we’re going to have a high degree of longevity because we don’t make our living playing music,” Spiro said. “And if we did, then we’d have to leave Bloomington, and you can’t make any money in Bloomington. So people would have to leave.”

Spiro said there’s no other band like Ritmos Unidos in the area. The musical style is hard to match to begin with, and Ritmos Unidos has the benefit of eight different musicians whose backgrounds range from rock to Afro-Cuban folkloric music.

“I don’t know that anybody, including myself, knew the degree to which we’d be able to (musically) move things around,” he said.

For Harbison, who started playing jazz in the Louisville, Ky., area, playing in Ritmos Unidos allowed him to go outside his comfort zone at an age when most musicians are “packing it in.”

“You know, it’s interesting because in the final analysis, when we got the band together, we got people in their twenties all the way up to their sixties, and it’s just a real diverse set of musical backgrounds and different ages,” said Harbison, who recently turned 58.

Playing with older musicians is nothing new for Baptiste, who’s taken three of Harbison’s jazz classes at Jacobs. In Aruba, he learned what is called a “performance practice” from mentors — keeping your eyes open and never doing your own thing unless you’re performing by yourself.

“At the end of the day, it’s an art, but it’s also entertainment,” he said.

The band

Michael Spiro, Mike Mixtacki, Joe Galvin, Jamaal Baptiste, Pat Harbison, Nate Johnson, Joel Tucker and Jeremy Allen.

Learn more about the band, hear their music or buy their CD or tracks online at http://ritmos-unidos.com.

Joe Galvin, left, Michael Spiro and Mike Mixtacki perform on Feb. 15, at Players Pub. Electrical issues prevented their band, Ritmos Unidos, from playing until later in the evening, so the three performers started the show with an acoustic set. Rabi Abonour | Herald-Times

Michael Spiro performs with Ritmos Unidos, a band he founded. Rabi Abonour | Herald-Times

Jeremy Allen performs with Ritmos Unidos. Rabi Abonour | Herald-Times

Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2013