March 1, 2005

The hot SFJAZZ Collective with Joshua Redman
back by popular demand at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• SFJAZZ Collective with Joshua Redman
• Tribute to John Coltrane
• An all-star octet featuring Bobby Hutcherson and Nicholas Payton
• The band returns to Santa Barbara invigorated with three new members
• Saturday, April 9
• 8 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $45 / UCSB students: $19
• Tickets & Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

The SFJAZZ Collective, the eight-piece all-star band led by talented tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, returns to Santa Barbara by popular demand on Saturday, April 9 at 8 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Boasting an incomparable array of generations and styles, the group includes one of the architects of modern jazz, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson; trumpeter Nicholas Payton, who often earns comparisons to Louis Armstrong; and acclaimed pianist Renee Rosnes, well-known for her impressive tenures with both the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Variety hails the group—the resident band of the esteemed SFJAZZ, the leading non-profit jazz organization on the West Coast—as “challenging, unconventional, sophisticated and unpredictable.”

In 2005, the Collective highlights the work of jazz icon John Coltrane with new arrangements by Grammy-winning arranger Gil Goldstein of Coltrane’s signature pieces as well as eight new compositions by each band member. Redman says, “Coltrane represents the highest level of commitment and intensity in jazz—always searching, never resting. It’s an enormous challenge for us as musicians—and one we’re greatly looking forward to.”

For this season the Collective also welcomes three new rising stars to its ranks. Trombonist Isaac Smith has played with the likes of Chick Corea, Patti LaBelle and Ray Charles, and with cutting-edge groups including the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Village Vanguard Orchestra and Mingus Bing Band. New Zealand-born bassist Matt Penman is a compelling composer whose “vivid, reflective...crafty writing” (All Music Guide) gained him a nomination for his homeland’s Best Jazz Album of the Year before he attended Berklee School of Music. Drummer Eric Harland, one of New York’s hottest session players who has already performed with legends McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson and Wynton Marsalis, has been called “an agile and graceful drummer” by The New York Times.

The SFJAZZ Collective’s ‘50s and onward aesthetic lives and breathes in the person of vibes giant Bobby Hutcherson. From the early days of the jazz avant-garde to post-bop and beyond, “Hutch” has been one of modern jazz’s most far-reaching performers, as well as one of the music’s greatest virtuosos. Along with Gary Burton, the other seminal vibraphone talent of the ‘60s, Hutcherson helped modernize his instrument by redefining what could be done with it sonically, technically, melodically and emotionally.

A Bay Area native, composer and saxophonist Joshua Redman began his musical career in 1991. Having just graduated from Harvard with plans to pursue a law degree, he instead went on tour and recorded with his father, the legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman, as well as with other noted musicians including Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Elvin Jones and Paul Motian. Redman has garnered numerous honors in his career, including multiple first-place finishes in the Rolling Stone Critics Poll, the Jazziz Readers Poll, and Downbeat’s Critics and Readers Polls. As Peter Watrous of The New York Times writes, “There’s only a handful of naturally gifted musicians, and Joshua’s one of them. Every time you hear him, he’s at a higher level.”

One of the brightest new trumpet stars to emerge in the 1990s, Nicholas Payton combines references to his New Orleans heritage with the Young Lions’ brand of hard bop and a warm sound. He has toured with Marcus Roberts, Jazz Futures II, Elvin Jones, and worked with the Jazz at Lincoln Center program. He has recorded with Jones as a leader on Verve, and with the New Orleans Collective on Evidence. Payton’s Place, which featured cameos by Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove, appeared on Verve in 1998; Nick@Night followed two years later. A commission to explore the works of Louis Armstrong resulted in the 2001 recording Dear Louis. The Chicago Tribune says, “Surely no trumpeter today captures [Louis] Armstrong’s radiant tone and brilliant, high-register technique as masterfully as Payton.”

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miguel Zenón studied saxophone at the famed Ecuela Libre de Musica, an institution that boasts such distinguished alumni as tenor saxophonist David Sanchez, percussionist Richie Flores and bassist John Benitez. The Boston Globe hailed his CD Ceremonial as “the coming-out party of Miguel Zenon, a bright new jazz talent.”

Pianist Renee Rosnes plays an advanced and flexible hard bop style. Rosnes has recorded and performed with a wide variety of artists including Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, J.J. Johnson and Robin Eubanks. She also has recorded many excellent sessions for Blue Note as a leader, including Renee Rosnes: Life on Earth, which Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times chose as one of the Top 10 most compelling CDs of 2002.

The concert by SFJAZZ Collective is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCBX Public Radio. Tickets are $45 for the general public and $19 for UCSB students.

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

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