December 9, 2011 at 8 p.m.
Tickets $25 – $130
John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County and Larry Rosen, together with presenting sponsor TotalBank, present JAZZ ROOTS: A Larry Rosen Jazz Series – DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS on December 9, 2011 at 8 p.m. in the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall of the Adrienne Arsht Center..The program will celebrate the Crescent City’s unique musical and cultural contributions, featuring an extraordinary line up of the best artistic talent New Orleans has to offer. Grammy- and Billboard- Award winning trumpeter/composer/bandleader Irvin Mayfield will bring the essence, spirit, and soul of the bayou and its distinctive jazz sounds to Miami when he leads his Grammy Award-winning New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) in its Arsht Center debut. A spirited, swinging world-class band steeped in the tradition of New Orleans style jazz, blues, and spirituals, the 20-piece orchestra was awarded a 2010 Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble for its critically-acclaimed recording Book One. Throughout the evening the NOJO and a New Orleans’ favorite — trumpet virtuoso KERMIT RUFFINS — will offer a lively exploration of jazz, from its beginnings in New Orleans to its current popularity throughout the world.
Special guest MARCIA BALL – who is featured in Clint Eastwood’s documentary film Piano Blues – is a keyboard master known for her foot-stomping, soul-stirring music; slice-of-life lyrics; and melodic, storytelling vocals. She will perform her signature Louisiana-Texas style of music, which includes elements of zydeco, swamp blues, Louisiana blues and boogie woogie. The evening will kick off in grand style with a true taste of Carnival revelry, featuring New Orleans’ renowned Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians who will appear in full dress, sharing their cultural heritage and indigenous sounds and bringing Miami a sizzling Mardi Gras party.
Tickets range from $25 to $130 and may be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center box office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at www.arshtcenter.org.
“We are very proud to present the Arsht Center debut of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Irvin Mayfield in a spectacular program that will place the spotlight on the unique style of jazz that will be forever linked to New Orleans — the birthplace of jazz,” said M. John Richard, president and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. “In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, NOJO has become a musical beacon for the city, and Mayfield’s musical virtuosity, as well as devotion to jazz and his hometown of New Orleans have established him as one of the young giants in the world of jazz,” Richard added.
A protégé of fellow trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Grammy and Billboard Award winner Irvin Mayfield is one of his generation’s most talented and versatile jazz artists. As part of the new jazz vanguard, the 33-year old Mayfield represents the continuity of the unfolding jazz legacy of New Orleans. The multi-talented trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader creates and records new music, tours globally and develops creative programming as a way to expand jazz audiences. His music, which draws from all aspects of New Orleans life and culture, re-imagines unique New Orleans jazz styles and blends them into an authentic 21st century jazz sound. In addition to his work as Founder/Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Mr. Mayfield also leads his own band, the IRVIN MAYFIELD Quintet, and co-founded Los Hombres Calientes with legendary percussionist Bill Summers. In 2008, MAYFIELD was appointed as the first Artistic Director of Jazz for the internationally acclaimed Minnesota Orchestra. In addition, he was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Council on the Arts until 2016. MAYFIELD’s latest commission, the Elysian Fields Jazz Suite, served as the musical platform for the orchestra’s renwowned 2010 “Road to Carnegie Hall” tour, which included engagements around the globe prior to its final performance at New York’s storied concert hall.
Founded in 2002 by IRVIN MAYFIELD, the NEW ORLEANS JAZZ ORCHESTRA (NOJO) is one of the most well-known jazz ensembles of our time, regularly performing at premiere venues and performing art centers across the U.S. and abroad. Under Mayfield’s leadership, NOJO has developed into an internationally sought-after big band, spreading a brand of jazz that is inspired by both the jazz traditions of New Orleans and its democratic pull toward the modern. Comprised of New Orleans musicians, the 16-piece ensemble includes such respected artists as pianist Victor Atkins, saxophonist Ed “Sweetbread” Petersen, and clarinetist Evan Christopher. In 2010, the NOJO won a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble for their critically acclaimed recording, Book One, on the World Village label. Under the artistic direction of IRVIN MAYFIELD, the NOJO is creating a permanent national performing arts and education organization to nurture, promote and present jazz — America’s own native musical form, with roots in the birthplace of jazz. In addition to being a jazz ensemble, NOJO harnesses the “universal language” of music, bringing together the forces of New Orleans’ unique international reputation to build a new model to proliferate jazz.
Pianist/vocalist/songwriter MARCIA BALL’s groove-laden New Orleans R&B and driving Gulf Coast blues have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. Raised in Louisiana, BALL is famed for igniting a full-scale roadhouse rhythm and blues party every time she strolls on stage. Throughout the course of her forty-year career, the multiple Grammy nominee has brought her unique blend of Louisiana swamp blues and Texas roadhouse boogie to the club scenes in both New Orleans and Austin, Texas, as well as festivals and venues throughout North American and Europe. Her exquisite piano playing and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans and Gulf Coast R&B with the deep songwriting tradition of her native Austin, Texas. BALL’s 2008 release, Peace, Love & BBQ debuted at number one on the Billboard Blues Chart and also garnered a Grammy nomination. She has won eight Blues Music Awards and two Living Blues Readers’ Poll Awards. In 2010, MARCIA BALL was inducted into the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame. USA Today describes her as “a sensational, saucy singer and superb pianist…where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet.”
KERMIT RUFFINS is “an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too abstruse in his material,” says The New York Times.
The jazz trumpeter, singer and composer from New Orleans. whose work has been greatly influenced by Louis Armstrong, is a mainstay on the New Orleans music scene and at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. While still in high school, the young RUFFINS co-founded the Rebirth Brass Band, which was inspired by New Orleans’ renowned Dirty Dozen Brass Band. In 1992, he founded the Barbecue Swingers, a traditional jazz quintet, whose name references the trumpeter’s famous barbecues between sets when the band performs local gigs. Since the early 1990s, RUFFINS and his Barbecue Swingers have played a weekly show at Vaughan’s Bar in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood. More recently, RUFFINS was lifted into the national spotlight when he appeared as himself in HBO’s acclaimed drama series, ‘Tremé, set in post-Katrina New Orleans.
BIG CHIEF MONK BOUDREAUX AND THE GOLDEN EAGLES MARDI GRAS INDIANS is one of the greatest and most inspiring voices in the Mardi Gras Indian nation. BIG CHIEF MONK is a gifted storyteller renowned for sharing stories in song from his lifetime in the tradition. On every Mardi Gras day in New Orleans, people come from around the globe to march from MONK’s house to the corner of 2nd and Dryades streets with MONK in full suit. He has been featured in full regalia on the cover of USA Today, as well as on the Conga Square Poster of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. BIG CHIEF and his gang recorded the ground-breaking album Lightning and Thunder, and then he went on to record under his own name, as well as with his friend, Big Chief Bo Dollis.
JAZZ ROOTS also features an in-depth educational partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools which will bring more than 900 music students to the Center for a unique behind-the-scenes experience, including a pre-concert sound check and a Q&A session with featured artists followed by a workshop with a local jazz expert that will highlight the music, the artistic process and the practical skills needed for a career in the arts. In addition, the Center has developed a curriculum which will be distributed to 800 music, English and social studies teachers throughout the MDCPS school system, potentially serving 24,000 children.
Heralded by Quincy Jones as “the most important new concert and educational jazz series in America!” JAZZ ROOTS has the unique distinction of being the only major jazz series in America that has sold-out nearly every concert since its inception.
JAZZ ROOTS: A Larry Rosen Jazz Series is presented by TotalBank, a subsidiary of Banco Popular Espanol, S.A. WPBT Channel 2, WDNA 88.9 FM Serious Jazz, WLRN 91.3 FM, and Capsule Media are media sponsors of JAZZ ROOTS.