Franz Jackson Jazz Celebration 2011

CQG - The Chris Greene Quartet

Chicago, IL

(www.chrisgreenejazz.com)

Chris Greene - saxophones; Damian Espinosa - piano, keyboards;

Marc Piane - bass; Steve Corley - drums, percussion

As soon as the Chris Greene Quartet takes the stage, jazz and rock audiences alike notice something different – something besides the fact that they’re seated next to each other. The jazz crowd can’t help but sense the charisma and electricity, not always seen in a jazz band, that emanates from the quartet even during the saxophonist’s most committed solos. And those fans accustomed to the high energy and loose hi-jinks of a rock band suddenly find themselves diving deeper into improvised music than they might have thought possible. At a time when jazz continues to seek new audiences, the Chris Greene Quartet sits poised on the future’s cusp. In much the way that classical composers have historically used native folk elements as the basis for their art, the CGQ uses familiar modern materials – the funk and hip-hop he heard growing up – as a bridge between jazz and other genres.

Jenna Mammina

(with Bob Dogan and Dan Shapera)

San Francisco, CA

(www.jennamammina.com)

A picture may paint a thousand words, but a word can tell the whole story. “Exquisite!” says author/radio host Ben Fong-Torres, former senior editor of Rolling Stone Magazine and perennial king of what’s hot and what’s not. He’s talking about pop/jazz vocalist/songwriter Jenna Mammina and he is not alone. Hailing from Michigan, home to luminary vocal legends like Aretha Franklin, Betty Carter, and her mentor, Abbey Lincoln, Jenna’s mixed heritage household and neighborhood surrounded her with a vast array of diverse culture and music. Her parents, Ben and Grace, both accomplished musicians in their own right, nurtured all four siblings to cultivate their own breed of musical talent, culminating in the creation of their own independent record label Mamma Grace Records. And the rest is HERstory...

Recognized as one of the leading women of jazz/pop crossover for three years in a row by Jazziz Magazine, she recently shared the honor of both the cover and an original song “A Love that Lasts”, included alongside Diana Krall and Norah Jones. Her song “Contradictions” was included on the 2004 KKSF Aids Relief Sampler CD, featuring Joe Jackson and Brenda Russell. Other accolades bestowed upon Ms. Mammina include Jazz Performer of the Year for the SF Weekly, a nomination for Best Jazz Album for her sophomore CD, Meant to Be, by the California Music Awards, and the Goldy Award for her tireless work with children through her nationally acclaimed program Scat for Cats. Jenna’s first album, Under the Influence, was one of the most widely praised debuts in recent memory, earning a four-star review in Japan’s most prestigious jazz magazine, Swing Journal.

Bob Dogan (Piano): Growing up near 63rd St. and Cottage Grove Ave., pianist Bob Dogan

came under the influence of the crop of jazz greats who performed at the many flourishing

clubs in the neighborhood (including the Pershing Hotel, where Ahmad Jamal famously held

forth). Virtually all of those venues are gone now, but the infectious energy and outsize

personality that lit them up lives on in Dogan’s playing. A fluent, two-handed threat, he

combines bop school finesse with modern harmonies, still influenced by his onetime teacher,

Jaki Byard. Boasting past ties with the likes of Maynard Ferguson and Ira Sullivan, he’s the

best kind of old school musician: classic without being nostalgic.

Dan Shapera (Bass): Dan Shapera has been a staple on the Chicago jazz scene

for decades. Having played not only with Franz, but also Gene Ammons, Chet Baker,

Jim Beebe, Jodie Christian, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Art Davis, Barrett Deems, Bud

Freeman, Von Freeman, Art Hodes, Pat Mallinger, Willie Pickens and countless other

Chicago jazz icons, Shapera has developed a reputation as a go-to bassist for

musicians of a variety of styles.

"Franz Jackson: Milestone" CD Release Party

Yves Francois

Trumpeter Yves Francois has been active on Chicago's jazz scene since the '70s.

Yves is a huge fan of early jazz and started out as a jazz/blues trumpeter. He is still

active today as Yves Francois et Rocambu Jazz, a swinging group that still plays

jazz & blues but also highlife and Caribbean. In the '80s Yves issued two LPs, in

tiny quantities, on Franz Jackson's Pinnacle label. Yves Francois himself was

influenced by the great jazz musicians he heard first in records (Louis Armstrong,

Frankie Newton, Oran “Hot Lips” Page, Booker Pittman, King Oliver, Duke Ellington,

Slim Gaillard, etc), then live. He was helped by tenor sax and clarinet legend

Franz Jackson. The musician who Yves was most touched by was the legendary

trumpeter Oran “Hot Lips” Page, whose plunger work made Yves work primarily with the plunger mute and growl, and a blues oriented intonation (curiously enough Page, as well as Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington and another musician Yves played with, tenor saxophonist Paul Bascomb, also recorded rumbas and calypsos, unlike most jazz musicians from his generation). Yves was also influenced by his family as well. Being French and the family growing up in Africa, Yves also listened to African, Caribbean and Arabic music as well as jazz and French chanson and tango. This gives Francois’ Rocambu Jazz a sound not quite like any other band. The band members come from many different musical backgrounds to bring about this reworking of older urban populist music with a jazz background. Check out Yves' website: www.yvesfrancoisjazz.com

Judi K.

Judi K, one of the top swing singers around today, is a delightful and very musical

vocalist who always makes a strong impression. Jethro Burns (of the famed Homer and

Jethro) was a guest at one of the annual recitals at the school where Judi K. taught folk

guitar. After hearing her sing with her students, he asked her to sing a song with him and

soon said to her, “I think I can put you to work.” It was an important turning point in Judi’s

life for the next two years she worked local concerts and clubs, and finally orchestra hall

with Burns until cancer took his life. Judi found herself at Andy’s Jazz Club’s Jazz at

Noon and was asked to sing a tune with Franz Jackson and the band which was the

beginning of what would ultimately turn out to be a nearly daily performance alliance with

Jackson and trombonist Jim Beebe’s Chicago Jazz working corporate events, weddings, and ongoing gigs at Dick’s Last Resort and Braxton Seafood Grille which continued for several years. She worked briefly with Gary Miller’s Celebration Dixieland Band, toured with cornetist Connie Jones (“a crash course in learning to sing with a full band”), went back with Miller and then back to Beebe, who quickly hired her to sing with his jazz group. When Beebe’s health declined, resulting in his retirement and death two years later, Judi K. took time off from music to care for him. Now that she is back, she is singing in prime form. Her recordings, ‘It’s Been A Long, Long Time’ and ‘I’m Nobody’s Baby’, are from a few years ago and feature her interacting with the likes of Beebe, Jackson, Jethro Burns, Truck Parham, Connie Jones, Dan Barrett, Sonny Turner, the Dick Kress Big Band and many others. She is currently performing for jazz festivals such as the LaCrosse Jazz Festival and the Pecos Valley Jazz Festival in New Mexico, as well as outdoor concerts and private affairs. With her very attractive voice, desire to grow, driving swinging style, and her rare ability to bring out the beauty in the lyrics that she interprets, it seems certain that the best is yet to come for Judi K. and her many fans.

Billy Nicks

Billy “Stix” Nicks (William Tyrel Nicks) was given nickname “Stix” when he was in high

school because of his obsession of always carrying around drum sticks practicing on

anything in reach. Self taught, Billy was finally equipped as a professional at age 17.

His quartet played at weekly dance parties for all the local high schools and his first

band, “The Blue Notes,” played parties around town from 1953 to 1955. They were

known for their showmanship and were called the Whopper Bopping Show

Stoppers.Nicks and “The Rhythm Rockers” came into their own on the summer of 1954

and were first hired to do the grand opening Saturday afternoon teen dance party show

for Club 46 WNDU which led to a year-long contract with WNDU. He toured and recorded with Jackie Ivory and the Gents of Soul as well as Jr. Walker and the All-Stars where he appeared on the songs such as “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You” and others. He has played the Apollo Theater as well as venues in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angles and Detroit and performed with Wilson Picket, The Staple Singers, Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jr., The Fifth Dimension, Leontyne Price, James Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, The Five Stairsteps, The Spinners, The Temptations, The Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Dee Dee Warwick, Jerry Butler, Adam West & Frank Gorshen to name a few. He also was a member of Dick Clark’s National Band Stand TV show. Nicks is actively playing and touring with his own groups “The Rhythm Rockers”, the “Billy Nicks Jazz Trio“ and the reformed “Jr. Walker All Star Band”. Nicks has also branched into promotion of other artists and music publication. Nicks also teaches at his privately owned studio and affiliated groups as the Percussion Studio Director of Nicks Music Studio in South Bend, IN. Nicks’ lifelong loyal relationship with the University of Notre Dame since 1955 brought him a teaching position of percussion at UND from 2004 to present. You can read more about Billy on his website: www.billynicks.com

Eric Schneider

Eric Schneider was born and raised in the Chicago area. A prodigy, he was able to play

melodies on the piano at age three. He started piano lessons at five, clarinet lessons at age

ten and saxophone lessons at fifteen. After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in

Advertising from the University of Illinois, he moved back to Chicago and joined Jim Beebe’s

Chicago Jazz Band. An audition tape sent to Earl “Fatha” Hines resulted in a four-year world-

wide engagement, as well as the album Eric and Earl (Hines insisted on second billing).

With Hine’s blessing, Eric accepted an offer to join the Count Basie Orchestra and toured with

Basie for two years and recorded three albums including the Grammy Award-winning 88

Basie Street. He has recorded two other albums as a leader and many others as a

sideperson. After six years of more than forty weeks per year of traveling, Eric stopped leading the nomadic life, but not before working with Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Benny Goodman, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughn, Rosemary Clooney and Billy Eckstine. These days, by choice, he works primarily around Chicago in a myriad of musical settings. Touring again is not out of the question, especially if golf or skiing can be incorporated into the trip.