Star City Blog / Music

Listen to Young Musicians from Around the Country During the 2010 Nebraska Jazz Camp

The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra is pleased to present the 2010 Nebraska Jazz Camp, which will be held this coming week here in Lincoln. NJO is proud to be able to continue to offer this outstanding educational experience for young musicians.

Next week, 45 campers from throughout the state and region will learn from the best local and regional jazz musicians, taking part in master classes, intensive rehearsals, playing in big bands and combos, gaining new knowledge and experience and enhancing their passions for music and the arts.

Celebrate 37 Years at the Zoo Bar with an Anniversary Street Festival July 9 & 10

By Hilary Stohs-Krause

One of the premier blues bars in the Midwest, the Zoo Bar began as a couple of tunes on a jukebox.
   
Larry Boehmer, then an art student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, started hijacking the music, with owner Jim Ludwig’s consent, for about an hour a night, loading the machine full of Chicago blues. As more and more people were attracted to his selections, Boehmer was given the entire jukebox to program.
   
The first live act was booked in 1973, and 37 years later, the Zoo Bar is still going strong. On Friday, July 9 and Saturday, July 10, the venue is hosting an anniversary street festival featuring acts like Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials and locals Son del Llano, in addition to concerts held throughout the week.

Jazz in June Features Jerry Hahn for Final 2010 Performance June 29th

By Tom Ineck
 
After a five-year absence, jazz guitar great Jerry Hahn returns to Lincoln June 29 for the final Jazz in June 2010 performance. He will front a quartet featuring Kansas City stalwarts Joe Cartwright on piano, Tyrone Clarke on bass and Mike Warren on drums.
 
Born in Alma, NE, Hahn grew up in Wichita, KS before moving to San Francisco in the early 1960s. Largely self-taught, Hahn began on lap steel guitar before turning to the more conventional six-string guitar.
 
“There was always a guitar hanging around, and I just picked it up on my own and started playing it,” he said in an interview. “My teacher’s son also played steel and he had a band. I joined the band when I was 11, playing a regular guitar.” It was a western swing outfit called the Bobby Wiley Rhythmaires, touring small-town Kansas and playing live every day on KEDD, Wichita’s first TV station. 

Jazz in June Features Jeff Newell’s New-Trad Octet on June 22nd

By Tom Ineck
 
Jeff Newell’s New-Trad Octet will bring their unique blend of jazz innovation and brass band tradition to the Jazz in June stage June 22. A Nebraska native now living in Brooklyn, N.Y., Newell last performed in Lincoln in January 2006, when the saxophonist made dual appearances as a guest soloist with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and fronted a quintet at the now-defunct downtown club P.O. Pears.
 
The eight-piece ensemble will feature young firebrand Victor Garcia on trumpet, Ryan Shultz on bass trumpet, Mike Hogg on tuba, Steve Million on keyboards, Neal Alger on guitar, Tim Fox on bass and Rick Vitek on drums. The octet, which Newell formed 16 years ago as a vehicle for his arranging skills, has never performed in Nebraska.

Initially, the group blended the traditional “second line” New Orleans brass band with a modern rhythm section and a fresh approach to harmony and improvisation. Gradually, Newell’s interest in early brass bands began to influence the octet’s repertoire, a shift best exemplified on the band’s 2007 CD “Brownstone,” which skillfully marries Sousa marches with the exotic rhythms of the Caribbean.

Jazz in June Features Angela Hagenbach on June 15th

By Tom Ineck
 
Kansas City singer Angela Hagenbach, a longtime Lincoln favorite who has appeared here many times over the last 15 years, will front a sextet for the June 15th Jazz in June performance, which is sure to feature selections from her recent release, “The Way They Make Me Feel.”
 
Hagenbach last performed in Lincoln in 2007, appearing at Jazz in June as a guest artist with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra. A Kansas City native, she initially worked as a fashion model and sang in a pop music band until 1989, when her introduction to the music of Sarah Vaughan inspired her to switch to jazz. She soon began working regularly at Kansas City’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, a gig that lasted four years. She has five recordings on Amazon Records, including the excellent 1994 release “Come Fly with Me” and 2001’s equally stunning “Weaver of Dreams.” Her long-standing love of Brazilian music led to the formation of the popular group Musa Nova, which performed in the region throughout the 1990s.

Jazz in June Features Otro Mundo on June 8th

By Tom Ineck
 
The San Diego-based combo Otro Mundo makes its Lincoln, debut June 8th at Jazz in June. Blending Afro-Cuban rhythms with the sounds of Brazil, Spain, and the Middle East, the group should be a perfect tie-in to “Havana Nights,” a three-month celebration of Cuban culture at the Sheldon Museum of Art.
 
Otro Mundo is a five-piece outfit consisting of founders Dusty Brough on guitar, Kevin Freeby on bass, and Steve Haney on percussion. Flutist and vocalist Rebecca Kleinmann and drummer Julien Cantelm recently joined the band. Their debut, self-titled recording was released in February.

'Jazz in June' Returns to Lincoln June 1st

By Tom Ineck  

Trumpeter Darryl White opens the 2010 Jazz in June concert series with a group resembling the one he fronted here two years ago. The June 1st performance will again feature pianist Jeff Jenkins of Denver, bassist Craig Akin of New York and drummer Brandon Draper of Kansas City, MO., an awesome threesome that comprises a rhythm section of extraordinary technique and versatility.

The new addition is veteran saxophonist Dick Oatts, who over the last 30 years has performed and recorded with such greats as Lou Rawls, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Joe Henderson, Red Rodney, Joe Lovano, Eddie Gomez, and Jack McDuff. Oatts also has seven recordings under his own name on the Steeplechase label.  

Stransky Park Concert Series Lineup Announced for the 2010 Summer Season

The Irvingdale Neighborhood Association is proud to present a variety of Lincoln’s finest local music for a 6th consecutive year of outdoor concerts. Stransky Park is one of Lincoln’s newest parks, featuring a three tier waterfall overlooking the park and playground. 

It is located on 17th & Harrison Streets, two blocks south of Bryan LGH West Hospital. The neighborhood park was built in 2003, with a generous donation by Leonard and Angeline Stransky.  The park offers a large gazebo and is set up for bands to play at conversational volume levels, making it a great place to bring a lawn chair or blanket and an appreciation of great local music.

Danielle Gasparro: A Songbird Alights at Deer Springs Winery May 15th

By Hanna Day-Woodruff

Danielle Gasparro, singer, songstress and piano player, has a voice that is well-paired with a glass of wine.  Her deep, rich, velvet voice lingers and soars so effortlessly that the listener is lulled into a musical reverie.  Luckily for us, she will bestow those dulcet tones upon Lincoln audiences at Deer Springs Winery (16255 Adams St.) on May 15th from 7 – 9 p.m.

Gasparro's voice is her main instrument and is beautifully accompanied by the piano she uses to compose.  Her singing career began in 1998 as she crooned the old jazz standards at various nightclubs in New York City.  Friends eventually persuaded her to focus on her own compositions, leading her to give up jazz to pursue her music in 2002.  Since then, she's been developing her craft, all the while learning to listen to her heart and connect with her audiences.  Her lyrics are clear, easy to access and relate to in context of the struggles of the human experience.

Although they are autobiographically inspired, her lyrical themes are universal: the growth that occurs after heartbreak; the beauty of existence, despite its sorrows; and the rewards of living a life of risk.

Don't Miss 'A Night of Jazz' at the Nebraska Club May 7th

Coming to Lincoln, Nebraska on May 7th, 2010: an exciting night of jazz featuring not just one but three groups: Jazzocracy, Sarabande and Ed Archibald. Presented by JTCoffeeShop.com, the three groups will be performing at the Nebraska Club high on top the US Bank building at 13th and M street, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Tickets will be available at the door for only $10. Music will be from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Be prepared to get your delightful fill of a variety of jazz from Coltrane to Getz to Grover Washington and beyond! Come share your appreciation of Jazz with us.