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MIT presents jazz artists Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Judi Silvano in
world premiere of major wind ensemble composition May 11
Week-long MIT residency to also feature Werner's Boston solo piano
debut May 8
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For Immediate Release: March 30,
2007
Contact:
Mary Haller
Director of Arts Communication
MIT Office of the Arts
20 Ames St., Rm E15-205
Cambridge, MA 02139
e-mail haller@media.mit.edu
(617) 253-4006
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Cambridge, MA... Three celebrated jazz artists -- pianist Kenny
Werner, saxophonist Joe Lovano, and vocalist Judi Silvano --
will make a rare joint concert appearance at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) on Friday,
May 11 at 8 p.m. at Kresge
Auditorium (48 Massachusetts Ave.). The concert will feature the trio in
the world premiere of Werner's "No Beginning, No End," a
30-minute composition for the MIT Wind Ensemble.
The piece is based on a poem titled "Death is Not an Ending," that
Werner wrote after the death of his 16-year-old daughter, Katheryn, in a car
accident in October 2006. "I
wrote the poem on a trip to Puerto Rico that my wife and I made to heal ourselves," he
said.
While Werner, Lovano and Silvano have a long history of collaboration, they've never performed together in conjunction with a large
ensemble or orchestra. "This event is unique in their history of performance together," said Frederick Harris, Jr., director of MIT's
Wind Ensembles.
"Kenny Werner is one of the most gifted and sophisticated composers/pianists working in jazz today," said Harris. "We are honored
to have him write this important piece for MIT. It's a priceless opportunity for the students to work so closely with all three of these
major artists."
The second half of the concert will feature all three artists performing with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble.
Also, Matt Glaser, violinist and chair of the String Department at Berklee College of Music, along with Lovano
and Werner, will perform the Boston premiere of "Moonsculptures" by MIT Professor Peter Child.
The concert is presented in honor of the 80th birthday of Bradford Endicott,
MIT Class of 1949, a founding member of the Council for the Arts at MIT. Tickets
are $5 and are available at the door or online at http://zaptix.com .
Werner, Lovano and Silvano will be artists-in-residence at MIT from May 7-11,
where they will conduct master classes and attend rehearsals of their works.
Werner presents CD release concert at MIT May 8
On Tuesday, May 8, Werner will present his Boston solo
piano debut in MIT's Killian
Hall (Rm 14W-111, 160 Memorial Dr.) at 8pm. Admission
to this event is free. The performance celebrates the release of "Lawn
Chair Society," Werner's new CD on Blue Note Records. "I'm very
proud of the music I composed for this CD," says Werner, "and I
am also quite proud of this collection of brilliant musicians performing on
it: Dave Douglas, Chris Potter, Scott Colley and Brian Blade. This is one
of my best works and I want everyone at the concert to have it." Copies
of the CD will be available for $10.
For more information on these MIT concerts, call (617) 253-2826 or visit http://web.mit.edu/arts.
Artist's Bios:
 Kenny Werner
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Jazz pianist/composer Kenny Werner has been on the national and international scene for over 25 years.
He has performed/recorded with such jazz giants as Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Joe Lovano, Sonny Fortune, Lee Konitz,
Bobby McFerrin, Joe Henderson, Gunther Schuller, Dave Holland, Charlie Haden, and Toots Thielmans and has led his own
trio for over 20 years. A published author, he has written several articles and his book, "Effortless Mastery,"
has changed many musicians’ conceptions about how to practice, play, and listen. The "Effortless Mastery"
method takes concepts from Eastern philosophy, Christian and Jewish mysticism, and ancient disciplines such as Yoga and Tai
Chi in order to demonstrate how to remove creative blocks in our everyday lives.
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 Joe Lovano
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Joe Lovano, a premiere tenor saxophone player since the 1970s, has received a number of Grammy nominations
for his work on Blue Note. His 1996 album "Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard" was named Jazz Album of the
Year by readers of Downbeat Magazine. The son of respected Cleveland saxophonist Tony "Big T" Lovano, Lovano's
introduction to jazz began with bebop, but he developed an interest in the jazz experimentation of the 1960s through musicians
such as John Coltrane, Jimmy Giuffre and Ornette Coleman. His musical education continued at Boston's Berklee School of Music
where he discovered and incorporated incorporation free and modal expressive devices into traditional chord-change improvisation.
His wife is vocalist Judi Silvano.
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 Judi Silvano
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Jazz vocalist Judi Silvano holds a degree in music and dance from Temple University. She launched her career in New York
City in 1976 as an improviser—first of dance and later in jazz. An alchemist of music and movement, her career as a choreographer
and dancer led her to NYC's downtown music scene toward a long-term collaboration with saxophonist Joe Lovano that began in 1980.
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 Matt
Glaser
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Violinist and educator Matt Glaser has performed at Carnegie
Hall with Stéphane Grappelli and Yo-Yo Ma, and at the Boston Globe Jazz
Festival with Gunther Schuller. He has been featured on the Grammy Award-winning
soundtrack for "The Civil War" and the soundtrack for "King of
the Gypsies." Other notable performances include collaborations with the
New York All-Stars, Bob Dylan, Lee Konitz, David Grisman, and the International
String Quartet Congress. Glaser is the author of "Jazz Violin" and "Jazz
Chord Studies for Violin." He served on the board of advisors for Ken Burns' "Jazz" documentary
and appears as a narrator in the film. Glaser has taught at the Mark O' Connor
Fiddle Camp, University of Miami, American String Teacher Association conferences,
and he is currently the Chair of the String Department at Berklee College of
Music. |
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