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Bio.

Jon Irabagon, born in 1979 , is an American saxophonist.  Jon studied alto saxophone and piano on the highschool.  He had first professional appearances in the Chicago area.  He studied music and journalism at the DePaul University.  In 2001 he moved to New York City and has studied under such divergent artists as Dave Liebman, Wynton Marsalis, Dick Oatts, Jason Moran at the Manhattan School of Music.  After acquiring the Master’s degree in 2003, he continued his studies in the jazz program of the Juilliard School, with Victor Goines as a tutor.

In 2003 the contrabassist and composer Moppa Elliott got him in his quartet Mostly Other People Do the Killing (as well as Peter Evans and Kevin Shea).  Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Jon has performed extensively as both a sideman and as a leader in an ever-expanding range of projects, from the most straight ahead to the most searching.  Jon has studied under such divergent artists as Dave Liebman, Wynton Marsalis, Dick Oatts, Jason Moran and Victor Goines, and has performed and/or recorded with musical luminaries such as Billy Joel, Wynton Marsalis, Bright Eyes, Tom Harrell, Tommy Iago, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Deborah Gibson, John Abercrombie, Frank Wess, Wycliffe Gordon, Renee Fleming, Kenny Washington, Lou Reed, Jenny Lewis, Ron Sexsmith, and Ken Vandermark.  Jon has performed and done clinics and workshops in the United States, Canada, Europe, Macau, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and Japan, and performs regularly in New York City’s top venues such as Birdland, the Jazz Standard, 55 Bar, the Jazz Gallery, Zebulon, Barbes, Sweet Rhythm, and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola.

Irabagon has topped both the Rising Star Alto Saxophone and the Rising Star Tenor Saxophone categories in the DownBeat Magazine Critics’ Poll and been named one of Time Out New York’s 25 New York City Jazz Icons.  Jon was also named 2012 Musician of the Year in The New York City Jazz Record and is an integral member of such high-profile ensembles as the Mary Halvorson Quintet, the Dave Douglas Quintet and Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor, as well as an established bandleader in his own right.

From: http://jonirabagon.com; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Irabagon; https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/jonirabagon

Bio.

Cañizares grew up in Vedado, the neighbourhood next to Havana’s Plaza de la Revolution.  Aged seven, she won a place at the prestigious Manuel Saumell music academy, to study piano and violin.  She won the National Violin Contest of Cuba four times.

Cañizares was 14-years-old when she was offered a scholarship to study in Caracas, Venezuela.  Two years later, a masterclass with a visiting Swiss-based teacher changed her life.  “He told me I was gifted, and encouraged me to apply for a place at his music conservatory.”

In 2000 Cañizares found herself in western Switzerland, where her playing and technique hit a whole new level.  Big name orchestras beckoned: on moving to Lausanne she spent six years contributing note-perfect takes to symphonies, concertos and operas.  Along the way, she began to feel like she was losing something.  Craving a creative outlet, she quit.

“I was so inspired by [French jazz violinist] Stéphane Grappelli.  The possibilities just blew me away.  I wanted to translate this Grappelli universe to my tradition, and make it just as beautiful.”

She assembled a quartet of musicians from Germany, Venezuela and Switzerland (and later Cuba) and named it Ochumare, after the orisha deity of rainbows.  Six months later, they won the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival Competition.  It’s been upwards ever since.  In 2011 she graced Giles Peterson’s Havana Cultura project, and has gone on to share stages with jazz gods including Ibrahim Malouf and Omar Sosa.  More recently, she’s sung in French and Yoruba, the language of her West African ancestors, enhancing the lyrics with AfroCuban percussion.

Two acclaimed albums, 2013’s self-produced Ochumare and 2015’s Invocación, helmed by Alê Siqueira (Roberto Fonseca, Omara Portuondo) have strengthened Cañizares’ reputation as a trailblazer and boundary crosser por excelencia.  Not for nothing was she declared ‘revelation of the year’ by French weekly Le Novel Observateur: with her charisma, tapestry of influences and the ease with which she sings and plays violin simultaneously, Cañizares is a bona fide discovery.

From: http://www.yiliancanizares.com

Bio.

The American jazz drummer Matt Wilson was born in Knoxville, Illinois on September 27, 1964.  He studied percussion at Wichita State University and he moved to New York City in 1992.  He is one of todays most celebrated jazz artists.

Matt is universally recognized for his musical and melodic drumming style as well as being a gifted composer, bandleader, producer, and teaching artist. Matt’s positive energy, sense of humor and ability to explore a broad range of musical settings keeps him in constant demand.  In addition, Wilson’s dedication to jazz has helped establish him as a beloved world ambassador for the music, on and off the bandstand.

Wilson leads the Matt Wilson Quartet, Arts and Crafts, Christmas Tree-O, the Carl Sandburg Project and “Matt Wilson’s Big Happy Family” a 13 musicians band with most of his friends of his referred bands.  Matt is integral part of bands led by Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, Bob Stewart, Denny Zeitlin, Ron Miles, Marty Ehrlich, Ted Nash, Jane Ira Bloom and Dena DeRose among others.  He has performed with many legends of music including Cecil McBee, Herbie Hancock, Dewey Redman, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvis Costello, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, John Zorn, Marshall Allen, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and Hank Jones.  Wilson has appeared on 250 CDs as a sideman and has released 9 as a leader for Palmetto Records as well as co-leading 5 additional releases.

Grammy nominee Matt Wilson was featured on the covers of both Downbeat and JazzTimes magazines in November 2009 and was for 5 consecutive years voted #1 Rising Star Drummer in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll.  The readers of JazzTimes recently chose him as one of the top 4 drummers in the 2010 Readers Poll.  In 2003, he was voted Drummer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association.

From: http://www.mattwilsonjazz.com/about/bio

Bio.

With solid and accomplished musical paths, eight musicians come together to explore different ways of narrate, improvise and interact musically.  With a strong compositional component that can bring together as many good influences as possible, Ensemble Super Moderne stands out for having not one sound but several.

The ensemble brings together some of the most interesting values of the new generation of Portuguese jazz: José Pedro Coelho (tenor saxophone, soprano and clarinet), Rui Teixeira (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), José Soares (alto saxophone), Paulo Perfeito (trombone) Eurico Costa (guitar), Carlos Azevedo (piano and synthesizers), Miguel Ângelo (bass and electric bass) and Mário Costa (drums).

Daniel Carvalho says that “It is not easy to put this group in a particular drawer, easily escape the labels given the diverse influences and styles.  Yet perhaps it can confirm that this jazz is modern. Or even super modern.” and José Carlos Fernandes wrote in TimeOut – Porto magazine that “ESM has marked identity, sound itself and even when calls disparate references, not incur the arbitrariness and the typical self-indulgence very postmodern project”.

On the other hand, Leonel Santos in his JazzLogical website considers that “It is a creative Jazz, generous, exciting, without prejudice to himself, but which are not accepted as ethnic curiosity, that will not stand for the ´lets go, everybody to the stage and then we see what will happen´ and takes risks beyond its borders.” and Rui Eduardo Paes in his review of the ensemble’s album at jazz.pt website wrote “… a ´supermodern´ jazz, in fact, in the sense of what contemporary philosophy will call meta-modern or pseudo-modern.  A jazz that retrieves different formats… “

The Ensemble Super Moderne debut album was nominated the 2014 Best Portuguese Jazz Album (A JazzLogical website initiative).

Bio.

Trumpetist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator Charles Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1942.  His musical career began at the age of 8 when his beloved grandmother, Lela, presented him with his first instrument, a cornet, and the inspiration to learn.

After a few years of college majoring in pharmacy at Howard University, and formulating his trumpet style, Charles began his professional career with the saxophone giant Jackie Mclean.  Making his recording debut with McLean on Blue Note Records in 1964, Charles has since recorded and/or performed with such renowned artists as Roy Haynes, Hank Mobley, Willie Bobo, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Booker Ervin, Gary Bartz, Herbie Hancock, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Oliver Nelson, Andrew Hill, Louis Hayes, Roy Ayers, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, and Max Roach.

Charles Tolliver has been a recipient of the Downbeat Critic’s Choice for the Trumpet category.  In 1969 he formed the quartet Music Inc which has become internationally respected for its innovative trumpet quartet approach.  Charles and his Music Inc, has toured in North and South America, Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan performing at festivals, concerts, radio and television stations.  In 1970 he and his alter ego fellow musician artist Stanley Cowell created Strata-East Records which he has steadfastly kept alive straight into the present.

During the ’80s and ’90s he continued touring with his small group, MUSIC INC, and on a number of occasions performed his large ensemble compositions and arrangements as soloist with practically every European Radio/TV Jazz orchestra.  Having already issued on his Strata-East label two critically acclaimed big band LPs, “Music Inc & Big Band” and “Impact”, now in the new millennium he once again returned to the big band format.  In 2007 he issued on Blue Note Records his big band recording entitled, “With Love” which was immediately Grammy Nominated.  The Jazz Journalists Association presented him with the “Best Large Ensemble of the Year 2007” award for his new tour de force group The Charles Tolliver Big Band.

In an historic reenactment and presentation at Town Hall in 2009 for the 50th anniversary celebration of Thelonious Monk’s historic 1959 Town Hall concert, he was featured performing his definitive transcription of the lost scores of arranger Hal Overton’s orchestrations of Thelonious’ music exactly as it was performed and recorded for the original concert.

Charles Tolliver Tentet will play this reenactment at Angrajazz, celebrating Thelonious Monk Centennial.

From: http://charlestolliver.com

Bio.

Baptiste Trotignon studied piano and classical music since the age of six and discovered jazz and improvisation as a teenager. His first two trio albums in the early 2000’s (followed by two solo piano albums which both received major public and critical acclaim) brought him to people’s attention as one of the most spectacular, complete and charming member of a new generation of pianists, and brought him to perform at many major French or international venues.

He won many awards: Prix Django Reinhardt, Best French Newcomer at 2003 Victoires du Jazz, as well as the Grand Prix at the 2002 Martial Solal International Piano Competition.

Over the years that followed he developed a number of eclectic encounters, performing alongside with artists like Tom Harrell, Stefano Di Battista, Aldo Romano or Brad Mehldau.  Baptiste’s first “American” album, “Share”, recorded in New York in 2008, was a hit and followed by a highly charged live album recorded in London.

After he received in 2011 the Sacem’s Grand Prix (Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music) for his work as a composer, he released in 2012 a stunningly bold album, “Song Song Song”, on which he celebrated his love of the vocalist’s art and invited a prestigious group of artists including Melody Gardot or the author Christophe Miossec. He was also named Composer of the Year at the 2014 Victoires de la Musique Classique for his first major orchestral piece “Different Spaces” (Piano Concerto commissioned by the Orchestre National de Bordeaux) .

After a ballad album recorded with Mark Turner, the 40-year-old musician “Le Monde” has described as “a lesson, a model, perfection from A to Z” continues to play a resolutely open-minded and imaginative music by returning to the trio format in 2014 with “Hit”, inviting drummer Jeff Ballard.

In 2016, he signs with the prestigious label SonyMusic – Okeh Records, and the album “Chimichurri”, duet with Argentinian percussionist Minino Garay, is the first fruit of this new collaboration.

March 16th 2017 Baptiste received the “Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs” , a beautiful annual award of french contemporary music !

From: http://www.baptistetrotignon.com

Bio.

Angrajazz Orchestra is a training/work-in-progress project held by the Cultural Association Angrajazz.  Constituted in July 2002 and formed mainly by Terceira Island’s born musicians, the Orchestra gave its first concert at the 4th Angrajazz.  Claus Nymark and Peter Moreira have been the Orchestra’s musical directors, from the beginning.  In 2006 Angrajazz Orchestra released the CD “Angrajazz Orchestra with Paula Oliveira”.

The Orchestra has played with many well known Portuguese jazz musicians such as Paula Oliveira, Mário Laginha, Zé Eduardo Afonso Pais, Mário Barreiros, Hugo Alves, Luís Cunha, Paulo Gaspar and Ricardo Toscano.  Apart from numerous concerts in Terceira Island, the Orchestra has performed in Lisbon for five times, in Funchal Jazz, and in the islands of São Jorge, São Miguel and Graciosa.

Throughout its existence, Angrajazz Orchestra has carried on monthly working sessions with its musical directors, and also with the guest musicians that have been featured at the Festival.  This fact has made Angrajazz Orchestra become the main “jazz school” in the Azores.  Together, the Angrajazz Orchestra and the Festival, can be considered as the main and most important means of unveiling the jazz music in the Azores.

In the year of 2015 the Angrajazz Orchestra participated in the cultural program “Lisboa na Rua” organized by the Lisbon EGEAC/Cultura agency and by Hot Clube de Portugal.  The Orchestra was part of the cycle “The Art of the Big Band – 5 Jazz Orchestras” together with the Big Band de Jazz do Município da Nazaré, the Thoneline Orchestra – Germany, The Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble LUME and the Orquestra de Jazz do Hot Club de Portugal.

Last year, at the 18º Angrajazz, the Orchestra performed, for the first time in Portugal, the integral of “The Far East Suite” written by the great jazz musician Duke Ellington.  In that occasion the Orchestra featured two very important Portuguese jazz musicians – clarinetist Paulo Gaspar and saxophonist Ricardo Toscano.

This 19º Angrajazz, the Orchestra will perform a program based on the celebration of the 2017 five centennials – Lena Horne; Tadd Dameron, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie