Desert Wind Jazz Bio ♪ [From the Program Notes - Jazz Concert, March 6, 2010]
Live music from Desert Wind has lifted audiences throughout the country. Jazz flutist Andalin Bachman, with solid jazz roots and adorned with the "Selmer Award for Excellence in Jazz Performance", the Intermountain Collegiate "Best Jazz Solist" Award and several scholarships including one from the Salt Lake Tribune for Jazz Studies, has teamed up with an unstoppable group of musicians.
Former Los Angeles resident, Isaiah Stewart has been drumming professionally since he can remember, and was a regular in many of the same L.A. and Hollywood jazz clubs as Kenny G, Richard Elliot, Freddie Hubbard, Tom Browne and Jeff Lorber. Isaiah has studied with many of the world's most renowned drummers including Dave Weckl, Billy Cobham, Steve Gadd, Tony Williams, Dennis Chambers and Terry Bozzio. He has studied jazz and compositional musical theory since the age of 10 and composed numerous songs. One of Utah's most in-demand drummers, Isaiah has worked as a studio musician for over 15 years, completing session work on numerous commercial jingles and film scores.
Bassist Berno Danylik is originally from New Jersey, where he studied jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music. He continued as a serious working musician with cover bands that played the "club scene" throughout New Jersey, New York and Long Island. Interestingly, this East Coast gem found himself on the other side of the country in the Los Angeles Cherokee Studios doing recording sessions with the likes of Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum. Having worked as a lead singer, acoustic and electric bass player and movie songwriter, Berno is an exciting find in Salt Lake City, and a great addition to Desert Wind!
Glue it all together with Alan Scott Bachman's dazzling keyboard work, and you have a seriously exciting band. Originally from Rochester, New York, Alan studied at the Eastman School of Music. He crossed the country for law school, and in Portland he first started the band "Desert Wind". Passionate musician that he is, Alan played music with a Greek band on the Las Vegas strip. Alan has 124 songs in the current BMI Works Catalog with many soon to be added. He has produced twelve Desert Wind CDs and numerous projects for other artists. His CDs are sold through International Distributors and can be digitally downloaded at iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, MediaNet, Amazon and elsewhere throughout cyberspace.
Andalin is a native Salt Laker, who was a jazz music major under the direction of William Fowler at the University of Utah. She received rave reviews in the "Jazz Voice" for her local performances and is a well known and respected jazz artist in this community. Following a Telluride Jazz Festival performance, the Denver Post called Andalin's flute performance "fiery, seductive, and strong!"
March 6, 2010 PROGRAM - Notes
1. All Blues (Miles Davis) "'I know what I've done for music, but don't call me a legend. Just call me Miles Davis," said jazz great Miles Davis.
2. Sunny (Bobby Hepp) Written the day after U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assasinated and Hepp's older brother Harold was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hepp said he wants us to "look at the bright side."
3. Autumn Leaves [w/ V'Sham Ru (Music by Joseph Kosma) Originally a 1945 song Les feuilles mortes, this jazz standard stems from the1946 film Les Portes de la Nuit and later from the 1956 film Autumn Leaves with English words written by Johnny Mercer. Just for fun, and to give Andalin a chance to play some jazz at a Jewish event, Alan Bachman set this music to the words of V'sham Ru (which is shared at this Concert.)
4. Take Five (Paul Desmond) - made popular by Dave Brubeck
5. Downtown Beladi (Alan Scott Bachman) From Desert Wind's "Flute Fest" CD.
6. Satin Doll (Duke Ellington & Billie Strayhorn)"Duke Ellington's pre-eminence in jazz is not only because of the very high aesthetic standard of his output, not simply due to his remarkable abilities as a pianist, composer and bandleader, but also to the fact that he has extended the boundaries of jazz more than any other musician, without abandoning the true essence of the music." - from G. Eddie Lambert's book "Duke Ellington" (1998, Scarecrow Press).
7. Straight, No Chaser (Thelonious Monk) This jazz standard was first recorded on Monk's in 1951. It has been recorded numerous times by Monk and others and is one of Monk's most covered songs. Music educator Mark C. Gridley wrote about Monk's composition style: "Monk employed simple compositional devices with very original results. His Straight, No Chaser involves basically only one idea played again and again, each time in a different part of the measure and with a different ending.
8. Witchcraft (Cy Coleman) At the first Grammy Awards, Frank Sinatra was nominated for six Grammy awards, with his recording of *Witchcraft* nominated for Song of the Year.
9. Stella by Starlight (Victor Young)Featured in , a 1944 film released by Paramount Pictures, this song was originally played in the film as an instrumental without lyrics. It is rated one of the most popular jazz standards, ranked number 10 by the website. Recorded by many of the jazz greats including Harry James, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Bud Powell, Stan Kenton, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Ray Charles and many more.
10. Under the Stars (Aashish Khan) Written by Aashish Khan, winner of India's highest music awards. Coming to play with Desert Wind in Concert, June, 2010.
11. Desert Breeze (Alan Scott Bachman) From Desert Wind's "World Dance: 2 CD Set"
12. In the Mood (Joe Garland) Made popular by famous band leader Glenn Miller
INTERMISSION
13. On Green Dolphin Street (Branislau Kaper) Introduced as the main them of the1947 MGM film, Green Dolphin Street, this song was not a hit for a decade, when Miles Davis' recording established this composition as a jazz classic. It's tricky and fun for the musicians play, with a latin theme and swing verse.
14. So What? (Miles Davis)"It's not what you play, it's what you don't play." ~Miles Davis
15. Song for my Father (Horace Silver) First recorded in 1964, Horace said, "I've always tried to write the kind of music that would stand the test of time. Always, in the back of my mind, I would be thinking, 'Will this stand up 20, 30 years from now? I've tried to write songs that would be easy to listen to, and easy to play. To do all of that, it's a difficult task. It's easy to write something simple but dumb, or something that has depth but is too complex. But simplicity with depth, that's the hardest thing for me to do."
16. Misirlou (Original Greek composer - Unknown) Recorded on Desert Wind's "Gaia, Earth Goddess: Dances of Transformation" CD
17. Level Five (Alan Scott Bachman) Alan developed the basic concept for this song while still in his twenties. Just this week he completed the tune for this jazz concert.
18. Take the A Train (Billy "Sweet Pea" Strayhorn) This 1939 jazz standard was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. It is arguably the most famous of the many compositions to emerge from the collaboration of Ellington and Strayhorn.
19. Girl from Ipanema (Antonio Carlos Jobim)This well know bossa nova song was won a grammy award in 1965 and made the "girl" for who it was written, Helo Pinheiro, a celebrity. Great wedding dance song.
20. Bouree (Bach) Alan will demonstrate this song as originally written by Bach. Then Desert Wind will follow with a swing version made popular by Jethro Tull.
21. Black Orpheus (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
Written for the 1959 film Black Orpheus, this has become a favorite in jazz circles. It was first popularized by recordings of the jazz saxophonist Stan Getz which started a Bossa Nova dance craze in America.
22. Fly me to the Moon (Bart Howard)
This is probably Desert Wind's most requested wedding song. Tonight they will perform the popular Quincy Jones arrangement which was recorded by Frank Sinatra and played by the Astronauts of Apollo 11 on their lunar orbital mission and again on the moon itself by the astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Perhaps one of Frank Sinatra's most famous jazz recordings, and most requested wedding song.
23. Pachelbel's Canon
Desert Wind's jazz take on Pachelbel's Canon in D, as done in jazz style by Bob James.
24. Besame Mucho (Consuelo Velasquez) This Spanish language song written in 1940 by a girl just fifteen years old, has come to be regarded as a jazz classic and is often performed instrumentally. The lyrics reflect the innocence of youth:
Besame, besame mucho,
Como si fuera esta noche la ultima vez.
Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
As if tonight was the last time.
25. Mack the Knife (Kurt Well)
Introduced to the United States hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1956, this song was popularized by Bobby Darin who recorded his version at Fulton Studios in New York City, December 19, 1958.