What's up:
4.27.12
Another schooI year comes to a close - the Frost School of Music is a wonderfully intense and stimulating place, but yes it is nice to put it on hold for a few months and get away from Miami. Congrats to all my students for a spectacular year, and welcome to next year's new arrivals. We have a stellar class coming in in 2012-13. Stay in touch with the jazz sax studio by visiting our facebook page.
I recently posted on YouTube a recording of Ron Miller's Small Feats, made in Helsinki back in 2003. This live recording was made off the board during my gig there with the stellar Finnish rhythm section of Jarmo Savolainen, Uffe Krokfors, and Markku Ounaskari. Jarmo died tragically in 2009. When I recently rediscovered this recording I was reminded of how amazingly he played each and every time he sat at the piano. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltCmDtZFBw
The Keller/Roberts Tough Tenors band will be returning to the VanDyke Cafe Wed, May 2 - if you missed it the first time around, we hope you can come to the sequel. Great band featuring Emmet Cohen on organ and Dan Susnjar on drums.
Looking forward to my trip to the University of Brazil in Brasilia, where I will be teaching and performing during the last week of May. Joining me will be three fine Brazilian musicians:
Serge Frasunkiewics on piano,Oswaldo Amorim on bass and Leander Motta on drums. The highlight will be a concert at Casa Thomas Jeffereson on Friday evening, June 1st.
Other highlights:
The second South Florida Jazz Orchestra recording is in the can, this one featuring some (most?) of the most amazing jazz trumpeters in the nation, Brian Lynch, Jason Carder, Wayne Bergeron, Augie Hass, Alex Norris, Greg Gisbert, and Cisco Dimas. SERIOUS! The raw tracks sound awesome - looking forward to the final mix. This will be a great record. We also just completed the latest Jaco Pastorious Big Band record featuring Richard Bona and Peter Erskine. The main body of the album was recorded live in Japan, but we added another track in the studio, the classic Come On Come Over (one of Jaco's favs), featuring Will Lee. Will and Peter killed it, to say the least.
This summer I will be representing the Frost School at the IASJ annual workshop in Graz, Austria, with our fine tenor player from Poland, Marcin Kaletka, joining me as the the Frost student representative. Also I will be visiting former student Jesse Milliner and presenting a concert/master class for his program at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany.
Want a first hand look at what we do here at Frost? Our Frost YouTube channel says it all! If you have not visited yet, please take a moment to check it out. It is updated with new videos weekly. Amazing music is being made here in Miami!
More Links (or use the menu bar at the top of the page):
You can now visit and subscribe to the Miami Sax Quartet YouTube channel
Featured videos:
Sweet Bread
Iberia Suite: Pamplona
Twinkle Variations
Seventh Sign
Both Gary Keller and the Miami Saxophone Quartet are Conn-Selmer endorsed artists. This means added support for clinics/concerts. Contact Gary Keller or visit www.connselmer.com for details.
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Miami Sax Quartet at the 2010 Rochester Jazz Festival
Two sold out sets at the Montage Club! Look for the MSQ at more festivals this year... Link to photos
Click here to get to Gary Keller's MySpace page for calendar, sound, and video clips.
Villa Lobos Fantasia
Those of you who know me as a jazz saxophonist may be surprised to find me performing a "classical" concerto, but I enjoy the challenge from time to time. Recently I performed the original Villa Lobos Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra with the UM Frost Symphony (April 18th, 2009). This was one of very few performances of the piece exactly as written by Villa Lobos, in the original key (one step higher than the published version), and to the best of my knowledge the only one in the US. My thanks to Dale Underwood for his research into this piece and for loaning me his copy of the original score and parts, and to Thom Sleeper and the Frost Symphony Orchestra for the opportunity to debut the original version with orchestra. For program notes and a review of the performance click here. To view the video click here.
The Miami Saxophone Quartet:
The Miami Sax Quartet's new CD Fourtified topped out at #14 on the jazz week charts, and was in the top 50 for its entire 8 week 2009 radio promotion. More at: www.miamisaxquartet.com
"The saxes are the drawing card here, and
they never fail to please, individually or
collectively... an album as persuasive as it is
stylish and engaging."
Fourtified features new arrangements and original compositions from Ed Calle (Dancing on a Cloud, Spunky) and Gary Lindsay (Dave Brubeck's It's a Raggy Waltz, Blue Rondo a la Turk, and Ron Miller's Seventh Sign). Also the Paquito De Rivera original, Wapango, and Gary Lindsay's Jazz Suite for Double Quartet, a joint work with the Bergonzi String Quartet. Also lending their talents to our latest effort are Chuck Bergeron, Jim Gasior, Richard Bravo, Dan Warner, Lee Levin, and Mike Harvey. Available for sale or download at our favorite retailer cdbaby, or as always, amazon, iTunes, or your favorite on-line music service.
Both Gary Keller and the Miami Saxophone Quartet are Conn-Selmer endorsed artists. This means added support for clinics/concerts. Contact Gary Keller for details.
"Infectiously joyful arrangements,
soulful improvisations, fine musical prowess, and four of the finest
saxophone players in the business--the Miami Saxophone Quartet."
Dave Martin - WUCF FM Orlando, F
The Miami Saxophone Quartet's third CD recording Midnight Rumba features the quartet joined by the inimitable Arturo Sandoval (trumpet/flugelhorn/piano) and singing sensation Jon Secada, who performs Ed Calle's arrangement of Jon's hit song "Angel." The all-star Latin percussion section of Lee Levin, Richard Bravo, and Luis Gonzales helps out on Calle's catchy songo "Rice and Beans." Gary Lindsay's arrangements of "A Night In Tunisia" and "Early Autumn" feature Arturo. and bassist Chuck Bergeron joins in on Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma." Also featured is Ed Calle's first original composition for the quartet, " The Iberia Suite," Gary Lindsay's soulful arrangement of James Taylor's "Benjamin," and Peter McGuiness' lush arrangement of "My Ship." Click here to BUY IT NOW. Complete info at www.miamisaxquartet.com.
All Miami Saxophone Quartet CD's are available on iTunes and most other digital distribution outlets. To purchase hard copies, please visit our favorite distributor, CDBaby. Gary Keller's recordings are available from the The Music Resource. Of course everything can also be purchased at Amazon.com.
Gary Keller plays Selmer saxophones, and custom mouthpieces by Francois Louis, Ralph Morgan, and John Thomas.