January 4, 2005
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

Three spectacularly talented jazz men—Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove—featured in the concert “Directions in Music: Our Times” at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• “Directions in Music: Our Times”
• Featuring Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove
• Three jazz greats lead a spectacular quintet
• Thursday, February 10 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $60 / UCSB students: $25
  $100 VIP seat & post-performance reception with the artists
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

One of the most potent forces in jazz, Directions in Music, featuring Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove, will perform its latest show “Our Times” on Thursday, February 10 at 8 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Three spectacularly talented jazzmen—pianist Hancock, saxophonist Brecker and trumpeter Hargrove—lead a terrific quintet whose 2003 CD was a Grammy Award winner and instant classic. This tour explores the works of contemporary composers such as Wayne Shorter, Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. The show promises to be a natural evolution from the distinctive musical minds of three of the strongest voices in jazz today. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praises the group’s “imaginative interpretations, electrically charged playing and individual virtuosity.”

The historic musical collaboration Directions in Music was formed in 2001 to mark the 75th anniversaries of the births of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Three inheritors of the distinctive sound and exploratory spirit of these jazz geniuses decided to come together and pay homage. Keyboardist Hancock was an alumnus of Miles Davis’ renowned 1960s quintet; tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, who came of musical age during the tumultuous 1960s, admits Coltrane is one of his inspirations; and trumpeter Hargrove is a relative newcomer whose mature ballad style recalls Davis at his late 1950s best. In 2001-2002 the group garnered international success on a sold-out tour, and received two Grammy Awards for their CD Live at Massey Hall. Entertainment Weekly wrote about the CD that “this triumvirate exudes post-bop authority and fame going down some dangerous harmonic avenues.”

Herbie Hancock began as a sideman with Miles Davis in the 1960s and he’s now a major force in contemporary music. He’s an acclaimed composer (“Maiden Voyage,” “Watermelon Man” and “Cantaloupe Island”) a virtuoso pianist, an Academy Award-winning soundtrack composer (Round Midnight), and an inventor of classic R&B and Hip-Hop grooves (“Chameleon” and the chart-topping crossover hit “Rockit”). The always innovative Hancock has worked in jazz, fusion, soul-funk, disco and classical (at the age of 11, he performed Mozart’s D major piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and has performed with artists ranging from George Benson to Stan Getz and Quincy Jones. Perhaps the most influential living jazz pianist, Hancock devotes a good portion of his time to music education. The seven-time Grammy winner is also now partner in a new label venture Transparent Music, which released his 2001 album FUTURE2FUTURE.

Tenor saxophonist and composer Michael Brecker is an eleven-time Grammy-winner, and the only person to win both the Best Jazz Instrumental Performance and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo awards two years in a row. As a result of his stylistic and harmonic innovations, Brecker is among the most studied instrumentalists in music schools throughout the world today. He has recorded and performed with a virtual Who’s Who of jazz and pop giants including McCoy Tyner, Bruce Springsteen, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Chick Corea, Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell, Chet Baker, Parliament Funkadelic, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Aretha Franklin and Pat Metheny. He cut his first record as a leader in 1987. Brecker’s seventh solo album Nearness of You: The Ballad Book, featured Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette and James Taylor. In 2003 he released Wide Angles, featuring the 15-piece Michael Brecker Quindectet. Wide Angles was on dozens of Best Jazz Records of the Year lists and was also a double Grammy winner.

In just 14 years as a professional, trumpeter/composer Roy Hargrove has established a reputation as one of the most versatile and hardest working players in jazz. He has released nine albums as a leader and two more as a co-leader and led quartets, quintets, nonets and a big band. In 1996 he went to Cuba, recruited some of the island’s finest players, including piano legend Chucho Valdes, and recorded the Afro-Cuban jazz landmark and Grammy-winning Habana. Over the last three years, the trumpeter has ventured into the black pop mainstream as a collaborator; first with neo-soul godhead D’Angelo on 2000’s Grammy-winning Voodoo album and tour, then via guest shots on albums by Erykah Badu, Common and the Red Hot AIDS awareness organization (Red Hot + Riot). His latest record is the Verve release The RH Factor: Hard Groove.

Directions in Music is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by the Goleta Valley Voice, KMGQ and Ventura Printing. Tickets are $60 for the general public and $25 for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show. $100 VIP tickets include a post-performance reception with the artists.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.