Join us on Sunday, July 21 at 3PM for the fourth concert of our 27th Season, when we present a jazz performance through the auspices of the Juilliard School in New York City.
2013 is the third year Friends of Music has ventured out of our classical chamber music comfort zone to include a jazz concert in the series. The audience for this concert includes very few of our regular attendees, but it has grown each season and we are happy to make new friends. We take this as proof that word has spread among jazz fans in our region of the caliber of the talented artists the Juilliard School has sent to perform for us all in Stamford.
To learn more about Juilliard Jazz Studies, please visit the School’s Web site at juilliard.edu.
To read more about the featured performers, please see below.
The program for July 21 is listed below.
The Julliard Jazz Ensemble
Set 1
| “One by One” (ca. 1963) | Wayne Shorter (1933 – ) |
| “Is That So? (ca. 1965) | Duke Pearson (1932 – 1980) |
| “Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)” (1945) | Ruth Lowe (1914 – 1981) |
| “Brigas Nunca Mais” (ca. 1974) | Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927 – 1994) |
| “I Mean You” (ca. 1951) | Thelonious Monk (1917 – 1982) |
Intermission
Set 2
| “Straight Street” (ca. 1957) | John Coltrane (1926 – 1967) |
| “Reflection in Three” | David Baron |
| “Flying” | Luca Santaniello |
| “Whatever Happens” | Jordan Pettay |
| “Seven Steps to Heaven” (ca. 1974) | Victor Feldman (1934 – 1987) |
July 21, 2013 Performers
Born in Kansas and raised in Texas, Jordan Pettay has been playing the saxophone since the age of eleven. She is an alumnus of the Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Dallas, which has produced many premiere performers such as Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones, and Eryka Badu to name a few.
Winner of several Downbeat Student Music Awards, Jordan’s experience as a student includes a residency at Jazz Aspen under the direction of Christian McBride, and participation in the Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute. In 2012, Jordan was the first student to be awarded the Gerry and Franca Mulligan Scholarship at the Juilliard School.
Jordan has had the great privilege of performing with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Benny Golson, Terence Blanchard, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Kurt Elling to name a few, playing at venues such as Radio City Music Hall, the Apollo Theater, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, The Allen Room, Alice Tully Hall, The Blue Note, and Giants Stadium. Jordan has traveled both nationally and internationally to Japan, Korea, the Cayman Islands, Georgia, Utah and Nevada, performing and teaching with Juilliard Jazz.
Thomas McEvoy is a jazz pianist based in Manhattan. He began playing at the age of four, and earned his Master’s Degree from Juilliard in 2009 where he studied with Kenny Barron.
Thomas has performed at many of New York City’s top jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, Birdland, Dizzy’s, Smalls, and Smoke, and he has toured in Europe, South America, Central America, Canada, and most of the United States.
While at Juilliard, Mr. McEvoy performed and/or studied with Benny Golson, Gerald Wilson, Joe Wilder, Christian McBride, Terence Blanchard, Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green, Kenny Washington, and Steve Turre. His musical influences are the jazz masters, particularly Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Kelly, Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington.
Presently Thomas McEvoy stays busy performing with his trio and working as an in-demand sideman.
Originally from Simsbury, Connecticut, bassist David Baron has performed or recorded with numerous jazz greats including Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Cobb, Eric Reed, Benny Green, Jimmy Greene, Wycliffe Gordon, Walt Weiskopf, Carl Allen, Geoff Keezer, Bill Evans (saxophonist), Carla Cook, Curtis Fuller, Ron Blake, and many others.
In 2009, Baron was selected as one of fifteen semi-finalists from around the world for the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition, one of the most prestigious jazz competitions in the world. As part of the competition, he performed at Baird Auditorium at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History with drummer Carl Allen and pianist Geoff Keezer. In 2011, Baron won second place for the International Society of Bassists’ Scott LaFaro Jazz Competition. During the summer of 2009, David Baron toured Russia with vocalist Carla Cook and saxophonist Bill Evans. Tour stops included Moscow, Krasnodar, and Irkutsk. Most recently, he performed with Herbie Hancock at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as part of a concert held for the 75th birthday of Ron Carter.
Mr. Baron has not only proven himself as an accomplished performer, but also as an inspiring educator. David currently is a faculty member of the Harlem School of the Arts where he teaches jazz ensembles and bass students. David has taught jazz workshops at The Trinity College in Melbourne, Australia; Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, and has presented masterclasses at numerous other institutions.
In 2011, Baron was selected to participate in Carnegie Hall’s Brad Mehldau Master Classes. Four piano trios from the New York area performed at Le Poisson Rouge. David has studied with many great jazz artists including Ron Carter, Reuben Rogers, Ray Drummond, Ben Wolfe, Jimmy Greene, Jeff Campbell, Harold Danko, Bill Dobbins, and renowned classical bassist James VanDemark.
David Baron holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance from the Juilliard School. He currently resides in New York City.
Luca Santaniello is a drummer, composer and educator living in New York City since 2001. His proficiency in many different musical situations and settings, and his strong skills and versatility on the drums have earned him wholehearted praise in the United States, Europe and South America.
Mr. Santaniello graduated from the Juilliard School where he attended the prestigious Artist Diploma Program and during his time at Juilliard he had the opportunity to refine his already unique compositional skills with masters like Terence Blanchard and Ron Carter.
Throughout his continuous journey in search of music knowledge Luca Santaniello had many excellent teachers and mentors including legendary pianist Barry Harris and drummers Kenny Washington, Billy Drummond and Carl Allen. Over the years Mr. Santaniello has built an impressive performance resume appearing in the finest New York City Jazz clubs and venues and touring most of Europe and South America with jazz legends including Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove, Lee Konitz, Joe Locke and many more.
Luca Santaniello’s bebop-influenced style coupled with his deep classical training has helped to shape his sound and has given birth to a refreshing new voice in jazz. His exposure to dynamic modes of playing and to musicians with accumulated experiences only promoted the development of his own distinct musical personality expressed through performance and composition.