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In Feb-March 2010 I'll be touring with the Sony Music Korean jazz pianist and composer, Jangeun Bae. We will perform as a Jazz Trio with my dear friend Criag Butterfield. The Group will offer master classes, concerts and clinics at USC in Columbia, SC, NIU in DeKalb, IL, and possibly other institutions of higher education. The trio will also be performing in various jazz venues TBA.
Eddie Gomez announces 10-Day Tour in Mexico: From November 25 to December 5 I will be on Tour in Mexico with the great jazz legend Eddie Gomez and his jazz trio, which includes Stefan Karlsson on piano and myself on drums. We will perform concert and master classes at UNICACH in Chiapas, XV San Miguel de Allende International Jazz and Blues Festival, II JazzUV International Jazz Festival in Xalapa, The Centro Morelense de Las Artes in Cuernavaca, The Escuela Superior de Musica in Mexico City, and we are closing the tour with two dates at the Papabeto in Zona Rosa, Mexico City.
Got a new edorsment deal with LP!!!!
Got the Cobb Grant! I'll be in Mexico this summer for 7 weeks. I will be a guest lecturer & performer at JazzUV in Xalapa, Veracruz for 3, then I'll be a guest clinician at UNICACH in Chiapas, in addition I will be visiting the amazing cities of San Cristobal de Las Casas and Oaxaca. During the whole time I'll be organizing an exchange program between various universities and N.I.U.
I'll be playing with the great Stefan Karlsson the third week of February: Feb. 15: The Three Quartets revisited at The House Cafe in DeKalb (4:00 pm); Feb. 18: Tribute to Bill Evans at NIU School of Music Recital Hall at 8:00 PM; Feb. 20: Stefan Karlsson Trio Concert Master Class @ UW-Whitewater: Light Recital Hall @ 10:00 AM. The first NIU Jazz Lab Band Tour went really well, it was an amazing experience, and I'm looking forward to making it happen again. The kids worked really hard and played really well together, by the end of the tour the band was sounding so much better, with a real sense of blend, balance and groove. Here it is, a slide show of this unforgettable week: This coming weekend I'll go back to Denton, TX to celebrate the careers of Neil Slater, Jim Riggs and Paris Rutherford. I will have the honor to perform in the University of North Texas '90's Alumni Band. The concert takes place at the University of North Texas Coliseum on November 22 @ 7:30 PM.
I just came back from Korea and Japan, where I played with Jangeun Bae Jazz Trio and Sextet and with Hiro Morozumi Jazz Trio & Quartet. Both projects will
continue in the near future, doing tours in Mexico and the U.S. that will include shows at the San Migue de Allende Jazz Festival 2009, the JAZZUV in Xalapa, Veracruz, the UNAM in Mexico City, NIU and USC. More news to come starting in the Fall of 2009. The NIU Jazz Lab Band under my direction performed with
guest artist Allen Bizzutti last November 8, 2008 at the NIU School of Music Concert Hall. Some videos of this event footage will be posted on Youtube very soon.
Rodrigo
has become a member of MUJAM (Músicos
de Jazz de México). Thanks to Agustin Bernal, funder of MUJAM who
invited me to participate in this incredible project. Birch
Creek Percussion/Steel Band Summer Camp Week 2: My dear friend and
colleague from NIU, Robert Chappell, invited me to participate as part
of the faculty again, so I will be performing and teaching drum set during next year's edition of the renowned percussion camp
at The Birch Creek Music Performance Center. I'll be playing drums with
the Facutly Group and I'll be teaching drum set lessons/master classes. (July 13-18, 2009). This
coming Fall '08, as the director of The NIU Jazz Lab Band, I'll take take the group to its first International Tour to Mexico. The tour will include performances at the newest jazz program in Mexico, JazzUV in Xalapa, Veracruz, where the first JazzUV Festival will take place, in addition the Lab Band will perform at the XIV San Miguel De Allende International Jazz & Blues Festival, in San Miguel De Allende, Guanajuato. More
news to come.... Past News On
July 25 I'll take off for a 18-day tour to Korea & Japan, playing
in two projects: The Jangeun Bae Jazz Trio & The Hiro Morozumi Jazz
Trio. In
Seoul, Korea, the group lead by Korean jazz pianist, Jangeun Bae, will
be doing a 3-day recording for the EBS Space TV Series, where we
will perform 3 concerts to record a TV show to be broadcasted in July 31,
then we will perform two concerts as a Jazz Trio at the KT Art Hall in Seoul,
and 1 master class (TBA). In addition the Trio with Jangeun Bae, Craig Butterfield and I will try to go into the recording studio to get some tracks down for a later production of an album. In
Tokio, Japan, the group lead by Japanese pianist, Hiro Morozumi, will
perform 3 concerts, 1 master class @ Miles Cafe & Ringoya in Tokio and Chiba, in addition the trio will go to the studio to record the second album of the Hiro Morozumi Jazz Trio. Rodrigo
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"You play because you must.
I was drawn to the instrument when I was a kid. I loved the way drums and cymbals looked, the way they smelled, the way they sounded. Once I began playing and studying, there was no turning back.
I had several goals.
To learn the language of music and percussion.
To reach for completeness as a player -by developing my hands, arms, feet, and back, by gaining full technical control- by becoming as consistent as is humanly possible.
To try for the romance of the violin, the impact of brass, the tenderness of guitar.
To feel and bring all kinds of emotions to performances.
To make music work and sound great.
To instill in the musicians the feeling that they want me back there.
To never cheat audiences."
-Tony Williams
Background Music: How Deep Is The Ocean performed by Stefan Karlsson, Kelly Sill & Rodrigo Villanueva
