“Take your time to shine!” encouraged the band evaluator. The shy saxophone player nodded and jumped back into her jazz solo. Constructive feedback and encouragement were the focus of Saturday’s Traditional Jazz Youth Band Festival held at California State University, Sacramento. The event brought elementary school through college level jazz players together for a day of performances, evaluation by professional musicians and educators, clinics and opportunities to jam with the pros. Approximately 200 youth musicians in 30 bands filled the music building with the lively sounds of traditional jazz. Band names were as improvisational and free as the jazz form they play. “Stinky Cheese Hobo

The music recital hall at California State University, Sacramento was filled with the sounds of guests happily chatting and laughing in anticipation of the evening’s presentation, The Art of American Song. Even among the noise of the families and groups of students finding their seats, the empty stage maintained an ethereal glow, with a soft light illuminating a cardboard backdrop surrounding a grand piano. Once the lights dimmed and the crowd fell silent, the hall was entered by two well-dressed faculty members who would be the entertainment for the evening. Hatem Nadim, an accomplished pianist, and Robin Fisher, a well known soprano, took their places on the stage. The smiling Ms. Fish

“Beyond Tango,” pianist Pablo Zielger’s 17-song performance, fused the sharp sexiness of tango music with the jaunty improvisation of jazz to create an enlivened and engaging musical experience at the Mondavi Center on Friday. Zielger began performing classical music at age 14 in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the 1960s, Zielger’s career made the leap to jazz music. Inspired by both classical and jazz compositions, as well as classic tango rhythms, Zielger formed his Quartet for New Tango in 1990. The Mondavi Center’s 1801-seat Jackson Hall was nearly full for the performance, accommodating all ages of music lovers, from the young family to my left to the college-aged women

Composer, arranger and pianist Pablo Ziegler will bring his "Beyond Tango" arrangements of jazz tunes infused with tango rhythms to the Mondavi Center at UC Davis Friday night. He is a 2005 Latin Grammy Award winner for “Bajo Cero,” which won Best Tango Album of the Year. Ziegler was born in Buenos Aires and said he worked with the piano first. “I started at the age of 5,” he said. He studied at the Buenos Aires Music Conservatory and graduated as a piano professor and said that he has been playing jazz music since he was 15. In 1978, Ziegler joined Astor Piazzolla’s quintet and toured with the Argentine composer. Piazzolla is famous for his tango music and bandoneón playing and intro

Sunday afternoon evening , local artist Rebecca Plack will be performing a solo concert at the “Jewish Voices : Songs from the Old World Tunes from the New” benefit concert at the Center at Twenty-Three Hundred on 2300 , a new multi-use venue in Sacramento known for its exceptional lighting and acoustics. Prior to this upcoming event, Plack has sung at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and with the Sacramento Opera. Plack has been performing since she was 8 years old and currently teaches voice lessons to young students at a private studio in Davis. The “Jewish Voices” benefit concert will be hosted by the president of the Mosaic Law Congregation, Deborah Gonzales. The Mosaic

Sacramento, CA — A new music teachers association based in Sacramento is making it easier for parents and aspiring musicians to locate qualified music education programs in their communities. The North American Music Teachers Association (NAMTA) recently launched an online community dedicated to connecting music students with quality teachers and assisting music teachers with the business side of music education. According to David Terry, a Sacramento resident and president of NAMTA, “Parents and students looking for quality music lessons in their communities enjoy free online access to NAMTA, where they can view our member profiles. One of the things parents appreciate about NAMTA is the

The 37th annual Sacramento Jazz Festival & Jubilee marched in today with a parade through Old Town Sacramento. The parade teased onlookers with a taste of the sights and sounds of this year’s Memorial Weekend event. Visitors to the festival can expect about 70 bands playing traditional Dixieland-style jazz, blues, mariachi, Latin jazz, swing, marching band music, zydeco, ragtime and rockabilly in more than 450 sets of live music, according to the event organizers. Advertised special events include a pianorama, Sunday Gospel service and, if you’re feeling that you can never hear enough ribbed metal percussion, there is even a Monday washboard concert.  

Master Barber & Beauty Shop proudly presents JAZZ at the SHOP featuring THE STEVE GUNDHI TRIO. This will be the first of many performances by top Jazz artists at Master Barber & Beauty Shop new location. The new location, which includes a performace stage, is especially designed for performances and events. THE STEVE GUNDHI TRIO features Clark Goodloe on Piano and Nick Uran on Drums. Special guest performance by Spoken Word artist: NSAA (en-sah-ah) $8 donation in advance and $10 donation at the door. Donations will benefit the non-profit organization, CTD Dream Builders. For advance tickets contact (916) 271-2872 or (916) 226-7099. Tickets are sold at Master Barber & Beauty Shop (4340 S

Musical genius and understanding exudes from piano duo Anthony and Joseph Paratore, who performed Thursday, January 14th at the Sacramento Community Center Theater in the Convention Center Complex. It was the first appearance of the internationally acclaimed brothers in Sacramento. The performance consisted of the brothers playing several orchestral compositions on two pianos unaccompanied. The first, a classical score by Sergei Rachmaninov, showed the power and strength of their musical talent with heavy notes and soft undertones. The brothers then played a condensed version of the "Nutcracker" suite which was as beautiful as it was perfectly on-point. After intermission, the Paratores

The Sacramento Community Theatre was a full house providing a warm and enthusiastic welcome to Anthony and Joseph Paratore last night. There were many reasons I loved the concert and I am sure the audience could add many more. The concert was the third program of the Sacramento Community Concerts 2009-2010 season. The two brothers played four music pieces of wide varieties all composed for two pianos, the first half featured Russian composers and the second American. Both Anthony and Joseph were equally skillful and accomplished pianists with outstanding musicality. Yet, they showed contrasting personalities on stage and it made the concert even more interesting. Joseph with long and cu

Not having any relatives west of the Mississippi, my family often traveled up to Portland to spend Thanksgiving with old friends. We'd usually pick up a couple books on tape from the Contra Costa library before heading out on road trips like these, but pianist George Winston's albums Autumn and December always traveled with us. Because of these albums' bonding themes – holidays, family, journeys – the music grew into an important memory from childhood. In some ways, it ceased being art for me, in that I couldn't evaluate it with a critical eye as I developed musically. This isn't to say that I think George Winston is a bad composer or pianist. In the same way I occasionally eat at a child

The use of the word legend to describe an artist often draws cries of hyperbole. In a musical climate where acts become blockbusters seemingly overnight and evaporate into obscurity just as quickly, it's all too easy to forget about a truly enigmatic icon like Dave Brubeck. Aside from a stint in the army during World War 2, the 88-year-old jazz pianist has been composing and performing since he graduated from the University of the Pacific in 1942. This year marks the 50th anniversary of "Time Out," an album for which descriptors like "landmark," "innovative" and "groundbreaking" were coined. Critically panned upon its release, the seven-song exercise in odd time signatures single-hande

A cold and rainy Sunday afternoon seemed to brighten with the warm and transcendent music of Bach’s Goldberg Variations performed by Canadian virtuoso, Angela Hewitt. As I found my seat, an hour before the performance, at the beautiful concert hall at the Mondavi Center in Davis, I saw Hewitt standing on the stage discussing the monumental work she was about to perform. Her lecture demonstrated a deep respect for the composition and skill in translating the complex structure of the piece to a lay audience. Hewitt has played the Goldberg Variations thousands of times since age 16 and she is known worldwide for her performance and interpretation of Bach on the piano. Yet, she stressed she