Whats new:
6/14/24
Headed to London next week with students from the UM Frost School of Music to do a joint recording project with students from the Royal Academy of Music – the week features the students, including two days of recording at Abbey Road Studios. I will be making a cameo appearance on Monday June 24th when the band plays a gig at the Vortex Club (see link to shows for details). I’ll be playing the roll of Evan Parker recreating some iconic big band music of Kenny Wheeler from the early ’70’s.
Other summer activities are heating up. I’ll be participating at the Scranton International Jazz Festival again this year (Aug 2-4). The headline act this year is Joe Lovano, one of the most prolific and original saxophonists of my generation. I’ve been acquainted with Joe since a joined the Woody Herman band in 1980, very shorty after he and left, taking over the same 3rd tenor chair. Also this summer I’ll be coaching young jazz players at the Suncliff Fine Arts camp in Derby NY, just south of Buffalo, and towards the end of June I’ll be accompanying some students from the Frost School of Music to London for a joint recording session of the big band music of Kenny Wheeler, organized by Nick Smart, head of jazz at the Royal Academy of Music and a leading proponent of Kenny’s musical legacy.
The new edition of the Jazz Chord/Scale Handbook is selling steadily and getting great reviews. It is available exclusively from Gary Keller Music. Click here for a detailed description and endorsements. The new edition features expanded content and revisions reflecting insights gained from my teaching and performing since the original edition was published in 1998. Price is $30 plus postage and handling, can remit via PayPal or Venmo. To order send an email to gary@garykeller.net with your address and preferred payment method. Please be aware that the current book is substantially expanded and revised from the earlier edition on Advance Music, which is out of print and unavailable. Beware discounted used copies of the old edition, which are now showing up online as people replace their original copies!
I’ll be doing a clinic and playing in the evening at my undergrad alma matter S.U.N.Y. Fredonia Saturday March 2, and also as a jazz camp in Derby NY on Lake Erie August 18-22. Details will be announced and all gigs are posted on the “upcoming appearances” link on my home page.
You will enjoy these inspirational arrangements of holiday music done by the one-and-only Gary Lindsay. Parts were recorded around the US and sent to Gary, who did the rest (clarinet, keyboards, strings, etc.) Beautiful stuff!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGWMYq0fw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTDYpZKZUEI
Some less recent but significant projects:
: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.
Brian Lynch’s new big band album The Omni-American Book Club 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.
Some other places you can check out my playing:
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.
To subscribe to the e-mail list of Gary Keller or the Miami Saxophone Quartet, click here and enter “subscribe” in the subject heading.