Jazzy ‘Invention’: Hear some new music by the Michael Anthony Quartet

Jazz guitarist Michael Anthony will bring his quartet to the Outpost on Thursday.

By David Steinberg / For The Journal
PUBLISHED: Friday, November 14, 2014 at 12:01 am
If you attend the Michael Anthony Quartet’s Thursday, Nov. 20, jazz concert, you’ll hear two brand-new pieces. Premieres, you might say.

One is Anthony’s “Invention for Jazz Trumpet and Guitar.” Anthony is the guitarist, Paul Gonzales the trumpeter. Included are bassist Milo Jaramillo and drummer Andrew Poling.

The “Invention” idea comes from Baroque composer J.S. Bach, who wrote two-part and three-part inventions for keyboard, Anthony said.


“That means one hand would begin the piece and the other hand would enter and copy that phrase. The two hands would then, in essence, have a conversation. What we call counterpoint,” he said.

“I gleaned from that basic concept. I open with 20 bars on guitar and at bar 21 the trumpet enters and simulates what I play in my first few bars.”

Anthony continues to play as accompanist for Gonzales. Then Poling enters, and is followed by Jaramillo.

“Each entry is a momentary feature. In other words, they’re playing the solo and we’re in the accompaniment mode,” Anthony said.

After those solos, the bass and drums assume the accompaniment and the trumpet and guitar takes on the melody.


“The pieces morph from a classical feel to a jazz feel and leads again to an improvised trumpet solo,” Anthony explained.
read more: http://www.abqjournal.com/495887/entertainment/albuquerque-jazz-19.html

Quartet tackles Cole’s ‘unforgettable’ catalog

Guitarist Michael Anthony, left, and pianist, John Proulx, will perform a tribute concert to Nat King Cole. (Courtesy Of Victoria Rogers)
By David Steinberg / For the Journal on Fri, Apr 5, 2013

Nostalgia is in the air.

The music of the late jazz legend Dave Brubeck recently was featured in concerts in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

A musical tribute to the swing bands of the 1940s is coming to town.

And tunes associated with Nat King Cole, a popular balladeer and jazz artist in the mid-20th century, will be presented at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 7 at the Bosque Center.

That concert will have a quartet with vocalist-pianist John Proulx, guitarist Michael Anthony, drummer Cal Haines and bassist Colin Deuble.

“My grandfather was a jazz guitarist so I grew up listening to a lot of Nat King Cole music. I heard a lot of Cole recordings as a child – ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right,’ ‘Paper Moon,’ ‘Mona Lisa,’ ” Proulx said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “…This music is part of my history.”

He said an example of the resurgence of nostalgia is a new television show that’s set in Las Vegas, Nev., and spotlights the Rat Pack. The Rat Pack, which included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., appeared together on stage and in film.

And, with current popular singers Diana Krall and Michael Bublé still singing standards from that era, Proulx said, “it’s opening doors for lesser-known artists like myself to do this kind of music.”

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Birmingham, Ala., in 1919. In the late 1930s, he played piano as the leader of a jazz trio in Southern California. Boosting his career were appearances on radio shows.

Read more: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/04/05/entertainment/quartet-tackles-coles-unforgettable-catalog.html