Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Jazz on tap at three Topeka venues



Acts include Sons of Brasil, Stan Kessler & Harry Miller, Kim Park

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
A weekend of jazz begins Friday with the Washburn University Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival capped by a Sons of Brasil performance in White Concert Hall, continues Saturday with Stan Keller and Harry Miller at London's,  and  ends Sunday with saxophonist Kim Park at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center for a Topeka Jazz Workshop Inc. Concert Series show.
Sons of Brasil have been performing Brazilian music since 1991 after Kansas City, Mo., drummer Doug Auwater became so intrigued by the nation's music he learned to speak Portuguese so he could make annual pilgrimages to Rio de Janeiro to play with and learn from the finest musicians of that city.
Auwater's shared his love of Brazilian music with fellow Kansas City jazz players who formed the Sons of Brasil: Danny Embrey, guitar; Gary Helm, percussion; Stan Kessler, trumpet and flugelhorn; Greg Whitfield, bass; and Roger Wilder.
The Sons of Brasil will headline a 7:30 p.m. Friday concert in White Concert Hall, doors to which will open at 7. Admission is free, but donations are welcome to support the festival, which is coordinated by Craig Treinan, WU's director of jazz studies. The Washburn University Jazz Ensemble I and the WU Jazz Combo will precede the Sons of Brasil on the stage.
Also preceding the evening concert will be a full day of performances and education involving younger students musicians who from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. will perform 30-minute sets of jazz for nationally recognized jazz educators: Wayne Goins, director of jazz studies; Kansas State University; Arthur White, director of jazz performance studies, University of Missouri – Columbia; and Todd Wilkinson, director of jazz studies, Ottawa University.
The clinicians will critique the group and work with them to improve their performances.
Participating high schools are: Basehor-Linwood High School; Junction City High School; Goddard High School; Rock Creek High School; St. George; Seaman High School; Sumner Academy, Kansas City, Kan.;Topeka High School; Topeka West High School; Wamego High School; also Washburn Rural High School. Also participating will be Seaman Middle School and the Kansas City Kansas Community College Jazz Band and Jazz Combo.
Audience members can watch the student performances throughout the day at no cost.
The Sons of Brasil brass player Kessler then will return to Topeka on Saturday to perform an 8 p.m. show at London's Live Jazz Cafe, 115 S.E. 6th, with St. Louis-born, New York City-based jazz pianist Harry Miller. Miller, an alumnus of Maynard Ferguson's Big Bop Nouveau Band, has recorded albums as a band leader and soloist. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the cover charge is $10.
Then from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday in one of the ballrooms at the Ramada, 420 S.E. 6th, saxophonist Kim Park will be joined by the Joe Cartwright Trio for the penultimate concert of the 42nd annual Topeka Jazz Workshop Inc. Concert Series.
Park was born into a jazz household. He is the son and protege of the late John Park, the legendary lead alto saxophonist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

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