Bergonzi & Geiss to give Masterclass at Blue Note NYC, Saturday, April 23rd at 2PM

Rico Administrator — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:20:23 GMT

On April 23rd, Rico and Selmer will sponsor two great sax artists, Jerry Bergonzi and Philippe Geiss.

Master Class:2:00-4:00 PM
Admission:$5 for students with valid student ID, $10 for general public.
*Non-students who purchased student tickets will be charged extra $10 at the door.
www.bluenote.net

At the Blue Note Master Class, today's most seminal Jazz artists share their knowledge and expertise in a casual and intimate setting of a jazz club. A class consists of a lecture and demonstrations followed by a question and answer session. It is a rare opportunity for aspiring musicians and avid jazz listeners to hear the voice of artists whom they admire and ask what they always wanted to know. Attendants are encouraged to bring their instruments.

Renowned sax artist Jerry Bergonzi is an internationally recognized jazz performer, composer, author and educator. A native of Boston, Jerry began playing the clarinet and alto saxophone at an early age and soon switched to tenor. Bergonzi emerged as a major force on the national jazz scene in 1973 when he joined the Dave Brubeck Ensemble. In the intervening years he has released more than 50 recordings and performed with numerous leading jazz artists including Bill Evans, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Gerry Mulligan, Joey Calderazzo and Mike Brecker. Jerry continues to maintain a busy touring and recording schedule.

Bergonzi is also a world renowned jazz educator. In addition to his private teaching practice in Boston, he travels throughout the US and Europe teaching at clinics, jazz camps and conservatories. He is the author of a series of books with play along CDs and videos entitled "Inside Improvisation." Bergonzi has been awarded three performance grants by the National Endowment for the Arts and also teaches a number of students awarded by the Endowment.

Downbeat magazine wrote about Bergonzi: "This guy is the real tower of power. His bold, penetrating tone and furiously paced streams of notes make for a commanding voice indeed. "

Recently, Bergonzi led a trio at the closing concert of the International Association of Jazz Educators where he was voted the most requested performer by the governing body.

Blue Jackel is proud to release Fast Company, born out of what was originally a Scandinavian jazz tour with Joey Calderazzo, Lars Danielsson and Jukkis Uotila.

Over the last two decades, Philippe Geiss has established an international reputation as a highly versatile virtuoso, having performed on his own and in ensembles in a variety of styles throughout Europe, South America, and the United States. His discography includes more than twenty CDs, in which he performs as both a leader and a sideman, taking in as many genres as he has saxophones.

Geiss has likewise composed and arranged many works for his own performances and for others, as well as scoring a number of European films and television shows. At the same time, he has become the darling of a host of other composers, such as George Aperghis, Pascal Dusapin, Ivan Fedele, and Christian Lauba, all of whom have all written works especially for him.

In 1995 Geiss formed the jazz-based duo, Two to Saxes, with another Rico notable, Jerry Bergonzi, and the two have since performed together throughout Europe and the United States. Jerry and I did a sight-reading of a duet by Etienne Rolin in 1994, and then we fell in love, he says, laughing. With a saxophone duo, the instruments are of course more exposed than they are in a traditional band or ensemble. For the sax lover, its something very special. Each year weve had more and more success with our concerts, and Im sure that we will continue to do great things.

Geiss is also a member of the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, which one might expect to provide a degree of classical balance to his musical endeavors, and at times it does, although the next engagement on May 23 in Lisbon, Portugal, does little to bear that out. There he will join the Orchestra in a performance of Giacinto Scelsis Pranam (1974), a foray into musique concrète for voice, instruments, and tape.

In addition to his activities as a performer, composer, arranger, and recording artist, Geiss teaches at the Strasbourg National Music Conservatory, his alma mater, where he has been on the faculty since 1989. Since that time, he and his three assistants have attracted quite a following, with a staggering seventy-five saxophone students currently enrolled in the program. (Eastman has about twenty and the Royal College of Music, ten.) He works individually with twelve of them and also coaches chamber ensembles.

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Bergonzi & Geiss to give Masterclass at Blue Note NYC, Saturday, April 23rd at 2PM