Tom Lellis/Toninho Horta Quartet
Featuring Jamey Haddad
Tuesday, May 20
7 PM
$25
Tom Lellis
TomTom Lellis began singing professionally at the age of 15 in Cleveland, Ohio. By age 21 he was the "house singer" at the 5th largest nightclub in the U.S. (Three Rivers Inn , Syracuse NY) with a big band on bills with Ray Charles and Gregory Hines and later in clubs across the U.S. including Las Vegas' Frontier Hotel. Tom began intensive piano studies at age 24 with Bill Dobbins while performing together. Three years later he was opening for Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith and other jazz greats. After moving to New York his versatility as singer and singer/pianist allowed Tom to perform in venues from the Blue Note to the Millennium at the Waldorf Astoria leading his big band as well as touring the U.S. and Europe.
As a lyricist, he first put lyrics to and recorded works by McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck and others. His debut album on Inner City Records in 1981 became a fixture in London's jazz discos and featured world-class musicians, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Eddie Gomez. Double Entendre, also with these musicians, was released in 1991 in the U.S. and in Japan where the press sighted him as "rare and gifted" and for "producing an ideal vocal form". With the release of his 1993 Concord recording Taken to Heart, Tom expanded to Brazilian music. The collaboration with guitarist and composer, Toninho Horta resulted in "Mountain Flight" and inclusion in the Latin Real Book and CD, two more inclusions in the All Jazz Real Book (Sher ) and on the new CD Southern Exposure. Concord's Jazz By The Fire CD released in 2000 features Tom. He was voted to the Down Beat International Critic's Poll and dubbed by numerous writers and critics as a "triple threat". Tom's release, Skylark is with the world's preeminent jazz orchestra, the 52-piece, stringed, Netherlands Metropole Orchestra conducted by John Clayton Jr. with orchestrations by Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, has been called the "most requested recording in years" at New York's WBGO radio.
Tom's new Adventure Music recording Southern Exposure, the latest documentation of his Brazilian and jazz influences, features Toninho Horta, Romero Lubambo, Dave Kikoski, Kenny Werner,Tommy Campbell, Jamey Haddad, Kip Reed, Tony Marino, Frank Colon and Jeremy Steig, Roseanna Vitro, Chris McNulty and Full Voice.
www.tomlellis.com
Toninho Horta
toninhoThey were a group of childhood friends, all raised together in the land-locked, mountainous, mineral rich Brazilizan state of Minas Gerais. The first name that sprang to international attention - and stays there as the foremost current ambassador of Brazilian song - is Milton Nascimento. Joining him are songwriters Beto Guedes and Lo Borges, poets Ronaldo Bastos and Fernando Brant, and a slew of instrumentalists like Wagner Tiso and Robertinho Silva. And at the side of all of them is a musician who appears on more albums than most anyone in all Brazil, as arranger, as song- writer, as sparkling instrumentalist - Toninho Horta. Toninho Horta is, quite simply, a master whose harmonic sensibility, whose fantastically inventive chording, whose unfailing musicality have made him a session player and a arranger in constant demand for well over two decades.
To hear him play live is to be stunned by the alternately lyrical and rythmic lines he is capable of, and at the ability of a musician to think so originally, so complexly on his feet. As a writer, Toninho's musicality has produced standards that top the list of the best-loved songs in Brazil.
His story is somewhat typical of the artists of his generation. Like all Brazilians, he grew up with the music of his region everywhere about him: the folkloric traditions of former slaves, the religious music of a deeply religious land, a glorious tradition in samba, and as a youth at a time of worldwide flux, he grew with an ever widening exposure to foreign forms. He and his Minas friends were first introduced to American jazz in the 1950's, cool jazz, like that played by Chet Baker (whose phrasing as a singer and instrumentalist made a tremendous impression) and Miles davis, or by richly harmonic masters like Duke Elington. Then came the rock and roll of a later generation - especially a group cited by nearly every Brazilian of the time, The Beatles, with their allembracing concept album and adventouresome musical vision. This varied exposure filtered through some of the most singular musical sensibilities in Brazil, and the loosely knit clutch of musicians came to be known as the Corner Club, or in Portuguese, the Clube da Esquinha. His successes came early, with a first composition, written when he was only thirteen, beung picked up by local bands, and a later one, "Litoral", becoming an instant standard for its twenty-year-old composer. Given his early recognition as a guitarist to watch, Toninho appeared in the bands of many of Brazil's greatest singers. He even fronted Milton Nascimento's first appearance in Rio, in 1970. since that time he has played with and arranged for Maria Bethania, Elis Regina, Gal Costa and many others.
In a short time, absorbing the world of music, he was invited to perform with Milton Nascimento and some of Brazil's most popular artists. In 1976, he recorded with Nascimento along with the famed musical duo of Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, gaining widespread recognition in the Brazilian music industry and the momentum to undertake projects abroad. Following his first self titled release, Terra dos Passaros, Horta's interests expanded to include the countercultural rock music of Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel and Led Zeppelin. Somewhere in this haze of time, a bit of American music spirit slipped into his bloodstream, and to this day he still has flashbacks.
www.toninhohorta.com.br
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Jamey Haddad
JameyA world class musician, native Clevelander Jamey Haddad spent most of 2003 and 2004 on tour with Simon and Garfunkel enhancing their world famous music with his percussion. That tour included an appearance in downtown Cleveland at Gund Arena. Jamey Haddad has been a professional jazz musician for over 25 years and has enjoyed a wide and diverse career. He has toured and recorded with many greats including Carly Simon, Joe Lovano, Paul Winter, Kenny Werner, and Dave Liebman.
Jamey Haddad wears many hats.... he is a great jazz drummer, he has invented and patented several percussion instruments, and he has performed worldwide with musicians spanning four different continents. An author and lecturer, he is considered an authority on musical cultures and their rhythmic base. Currently he is teaching at the Berklee School of Music and at Oberlin and he continues to tour as the leader of his own group, and as a special guest, nationally and internationally.
Don't miss the dynamic vocals of Tom Lellis with world class Brazilian guitarist Toninho Horta along with drummer/percussionist Jamey Haddad and electric bassist Kip Reed, all of whom are featured on recent CD's from Lellis, live at Nighttown on Tuesday, May 20th.
For More information and to buy ticket visit: http://www.nighttowncleveland.com/
| Tom Lellis/Toninho Horta Quartet posted on Tuesday May 06, 2008 |
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