George Garzone to Lead Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors at Cafe 939
The Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors. Front row, from left: Anastassiya Petrova, Ilya Blazh, Milena Casado. Back row, from left: George Garzone, Matt Stubbs, Noam Tanzer, Faris Ishaq.
Image by Alex Kawasaki
Fresh off two performances together at the 2019 Monterey Jazz Festival, faculty saxophonist George Garzone will lead his sextet of international graduate students from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in a program of his music. The concert, titled the World of Garzone, takes place in the Red Room at Cafe 939 at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, October 7, and will also be streamed live and broadcast by New York’s WBGO as part of the eighth season of the Checkout—Live at Berklee. Tickets are $10 and $5 with Berklee ID. The show is seated.
Garzone is a member of the Fringe, a legendary free jazz trio founded in 1972 that performs regularly throughout the Northeast. The group, which also includes bassist John Lockwood and drummer Bob Gullotti, has released nine albums. Garzone has released seven records under his own name and has contributed to over 30 more recordings.
A member of the Grammy-winning Joe Lovano Nonet, Garzone has performed as a member of the Gil Evans Orchestra, Carla Bley Big Band, and the Woody Herman Band, as well as with Medeski, Martin, and Wood. He has guested in many situations, touring Europe with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and performing with Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Rachel Z, and John Patitucci, among others.
A sought-after jazz educator, Garzone is one of the founding professors of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, under the artistic direction of Danilo Pérez. He has pioneered the triadic chromatic approach, and his students have included Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis, Luciana Souza, Donny McCaslin, and Pérez, to name a few.
The Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors are: Faris Ishaq (Arabic flute, Palestine), Matt Stubbs (clarinet, U.S.), Milena Casado (flugelhorn and trumpet, Spain), Anastassiya Petrova (piano, Kazakhstan), Noam Tanzer (bass, Israel), and Ilya Blazh (drums, Russia).
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI) is a performance program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines, with pianist and composer Pérez as its founder and artistic director. The BGJI provides a comprehensive contemporary music environment where students are given opportunities to explore their creativity to the highest level possible, advance the power of music as a tool for the betterment of society, and connect musical creative thinking with the natural environment.