Hello everyone!
“Laboring in the pits” this October and November will the Miami City Ballet Orchestra, performing Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, which has a substantial tenor sax part (not jazz!). A drop-dead gorgeous piece of music with a world class ballet company. Later in the season (April) will be Leonard Bernstein’s ballet version of the same plot, “West Side Story Suite.” That’s kind of jazzy if you know what I mean. A very special piece of music with some iconic saxophone passages.
For most of December I will be up in the Western New York region, one show booked with the band “Star People”, featuring some of the finest musicians in town, at the Pausa Art House in Buffalo (yes – jazz!). In March organist Jim Gasior and I will be playing the lunch set at Jackson Memorial Hospital in downtown Miami, part of the Miami Jazz Cooperative’s celebrated Jazz at Jackson series. More winter and spring dates are in the works – stay tuned to the upcomeing shows tab on my homepage.
Many teachers and former students have asked about the status of the Jazz Chord/Scale Handbook, which is currently out of print. I have decided to self publish a new edition of the book, which will feature expanded content and revisions reflecting my experience of teaching theory over the twenty years since the original edition. Please stay tuned for information on who to obtain the new manuscript, and feel free to contact me if you wish to pre-order.
Fans of my dear friend and mentor Ron Miller will be excited to hear that The Regions Tribute to Ron Miller is now available digitally on Spotify, with other outlets soon to come. Former students of Ron’s have banded together to create an album of some of his iconic tunes, under the direction of producer Jon Gilutin. This pandemic project was done all remotely in our individual home studios and it sounds pretty awesome thanks to Jon’s keyboard and production prowess. These are all new approaches and fresh arrangements on ten great tunes!! My particular contribution was on the tune “Men in White.” Hope you like it.
Slightly less recent developments:
I am also pleased to see the release of Cheap Thrills featuring the music of tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza by the South Florida Jazz Orchestra. I was a treat to lead the sax section on this recording. I’d also like to shout out Troy Robert’s newest album Best Buddies with the great guitarist Tim Jago. .
Even older but not too old stuff:
I’m very happy to announce Brian Lynch’s new big band album The Omni-American Book Club has won the Grammy award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording. You can hear me blow alongside Dave Liebman on the 4th track “The Trouble With Elysium.” Crazy chords! The sax section is all Frost alums and my former students, anchored by lead Alto Tom Kelley. Frost jazz sax alum Michael Thomas’ Terazza Big Band has also been nominated in the same category, and features another of our NY based sax alums, Troy Roberts (not to mention a number Frost grads on other instruments filling out the band)
Please check out the the South Florida Jazz Orchestra’s’ wonderful new release of the music of Gary Lindsay, “Are We Still Dreaming”. I’m supremely honored to be performing on this recording alongside so many gifted musicians. Gary’s music is beautiful, unique, and eminently satisfying on every level. This recording is long overdue. Still waiting to hear about the release of the SFJO’s recording of the music of Rick Margitza. Stay tuned! I hear it will be soon!
And still older links (these will take a while to load – be patient!:
Presentation at the 2018 IASJ meeting
JEN Conference presentation Jan 2018
Topic: Upper Structures: The Unifying Element Between Chords, Scales, and the Melodic Line
Also:
Miami Sax Quartet You Tube channel
Gary Keller is a 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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