|
Clazzical Notes Goes
Three Flights Up
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Charles Owens
JAZZ CLARINET
Philip O’Connor
CLASSICAL CLARINET
Theo Saunders
JAZZ PIANIST
Vicki Ray CLASSICAL PIANIST
Bubba Jackson MODERATOR
at The
Pasadena Museum of California Art
490 East Union Street, Pasadena
ARTIST BIOS
Charles Owens
JAZZ CLARINET
“…his ballads are stunning.”
–Los Angeles
city beat
 Charles
Owens is a master woodwind musician who maintains professional
proficiency on tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophones, clarinet,
flute, oboe, bassoon and English horn. His skilled musicianship and
rare ability to produce original sounds on all of these instruments
places him in demand as a first-call studio musician, a popular
nightclub/concert performer, and a jazz artist of international
repute. Owens has toured, performed and recorded with an impressive
array of artists including Lorenz Alexander, Bobby Bryant, Terry
Callier, John Carter, the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Miles Davis,
Marvin Gaye, Dave Grusin, Eddie Harris, Gladys Knight, James Newton,
the Buddy Rich Band, and Barbra Streisand. He has played on numerous
hit records including the Grammy Award winning Ellington album, Hot
and Bothered, featuring his baritone solo on "Sophisticated Lady."
Owens also tours the United States and Europe with his own group,
which produced two albums on Discovery Records.
Throughout his career Owens has maintained a dedicated commitment to
education. If asked what he likes most about being a musician, he
immediately replies, "Teaching!... Sharing techniques and experiences
with young players expedites their careers and assures that jazz will
endure." In addition to private teaching, Owens, James Newton, Red
Callender and John Carter co-founded the successful Wind College in
1981. For the past four years the Los Angeles Jazz
Society "Jazz in Schools" Program has employed Owens as leader of an
entertaining group of musicians who present free interactive jazz
concerts in Los Angeles elementary schools. These concerts are
designed to stimulate jazz awareness and create a future audience.
BACK TO TOP
Philip O’Connor
CLASSICAL CLARINET
Recognized
as a leading figure in contemporary music.
 Philip
O'Connor is a Frank H. Buck Foundation Scholarship winner. This
provided Phil with the unique opportunity of studying the clarinet and
saxophone at California State University, Hayward (Bachelor of Arts),
the Manhattan School of Music (Master of Music), and at University of
Southern California (Advanced Studies Performance Certificate).
Phil has been fortunate to perform with many of southern California's
fine ensembles, some of which include recent performances with the
symphony orchestras of Long Beach, Pasadena, and Santa Barbara, the
Los Angeles Opera, Opera Pacific, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and
dedicated chamber orchestra concerts with Jacaranda, XTET, and Mladi.
Recognized as a leading figure in contemporary music, Phil is a member
of the highly acclaimed ensemble XTET. Phil has been involved in
numerous live radio broadcasts for WQXR (New York), KJAZ, KMZT, and
many others. As a clarinetist, he can be heard performing on numerous
motion picture soundtracks, and television shows.
Phil is currently a professor of clarinet for the Old Town
Conservatory of Music in Pasadena, and at the colleges in Riverside,
California. Phil is a former student of Hal Stein, William Trimble,
and Joe Henderson (saxophone), Ralph Martin, John Phillips,Don
Carroll, William Wohlmacher, Peter Simenauer, Charles Russo, and
Yehuda Gilad (clarinet).
BACK TO TOP
Theo
Saunders JAZZ PIANIST
 In
California since 1985 this native New Yorker has captivated audiences
on four continents and more than twenty countries. He has graced the
stages of the world's most prestigious Jazz festivals, Night Clubs,
and Concert Halls. From the Montreaux Jazz Festival to Carnegie Hall
with the Village Vanguard in New York and the Jazz Bakery in Los
Angeles included in the many venues in which he has performed .
Leonard Feather considered by some the foremost Jazz authority in the
world describes Theo in a Los Angeles Times review thusly.." A
rhythm team composed of Theo Saunders on piano provided blistering
support on the up tempos, with exemplary solos"...And Downbeat
on a critique of Theo's " Three for All" CD states: "The real value of
Saunder's writing, along with his playing, constitute the albums chief
virtue". Josef Woodward in the Los Angeles Times says of
Saunders : "Pianist Saunders powers of interpretation and invention
are forces to be reckoned with; On an average night he's provocative,
on a good night he's mind bending.
I might add when Theo performs audiences are amazed at his remarkable
facility and the torrent of notes that always fit the mood of the
tune, every note and chord is perfect
Saunders wrote the musical score for Leonard Nimoy's A Passionate
Journey Into The Life Of Van Gogh. He was musical director for
singer-actress Lanie Kazan...He also was musical director of the play
"Peace Child" in the United States and USSR.
Theo's biographical sketch appears in People in Jazz—Jazz keyboard
improvisors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. And these
are but a few of the vast accomplishments of this major talent. Some
selected artists that he has performed with are: Freddie Hubbard,
Charles Lloyd, Bob Brookmeyer, Harold Land, Buddy Collette, Chris
Connor, Zoot Sims, Teddy Edwards, and many many others. There are
three recordings as leader:
"Sueblue" (Discovery), "High Standards (Polydor), and "Three For All"
(Blue Chip Jazz). He has been a sideman on many CD's ....If this isn't
enough His diverse musical talents have been utilized as musical
director for opera and dance productions, He has performed on PBS as a
member of the "Jazz Tap Ensemble" (Pianist).
I would rank him right up there with the great keyboard artists of my
time, and that my friends, has been quite some time.
BACK TO TOP
Vicki Ray
CLASSICAL PIANIST
 Pianist
Vicki Ray performs widely as a soloist and collaborative artist. She
is a member of the award winning California E.A.R. Unit and Xtet. As a
founding member of PianoSpheres, an acclaimed solo piano series
dedicated to exploring the less familiar realms of the piano
repertoire, her playing has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times for
"displaying that kind of musical thoroughness and technical panache
that puts a composer's thoughts directly before the listener." A
long-time champion of new music Ms. Ray has had works written for by
composers John Adams, Paul Dresher, Stephen Hartke, Kamran Ince, Shaun
Naidoo and many others. In 1989 she was the first place winner in the
National Association of Composers USA competition for performers of
contemporary music. Ms.Ray has been featured on the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, with Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra, the German ensemble Compania and the Blue Rider Ensemble of
Toronto with whom she made the first Canadian recording of Pierrot
Lunaire.
Ray has played on various national and international festivals
including the Salzburg Festival, the Berlin 750 Jahre Festival and the
Ojai Festival where she premiered a new concerto with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle. Her solo recording from the left
edge, a collection of works written for her by composers living in
California can be found on the CRI label. As a pianist who excels in a
wide range of styles Ms.Ray's numerous recordings cover everything
from the semi-improvised structures of Wadada Leo Smith to the twisted
groove base of John Adam's Road Movies, from the elegant serialism of
Mel Powell to the austere beauty of Morton Feldmans' Crippled
Symmetries. Ms. Ray has been a member of the piano faculty at the
California Institute of the Arts since 1991.
BACK TO TOP
|
