Archive for the ‘Updates’ Category

• New Years’ Update: Year-End Lists, So Long Coda

  Date: 2011.01.12 | Category: Press, Thoughts, Updates | Response: 1

  Hi folks, I’ve been MIA lately but it seemed like a good time to catch you up on music-related news–good, bad, and who knows.

  First the bad–you’ll notice the Quintet’s show scheduled for mid-January has been canceled, due to the unfortunate fact of the venue, Coda, following too many clubs to mention into nonexistence. This hits me, and the scene in general, particularly hard, as Coda was the perfect venue for jazz and related musics–the place looked great, treated the musicians well, paid decently, and took an interest in promotion, so of course it couldn’t last in the Bay Area. I was asked recently in an interview to name my favorite venue, and I said, “I used to like Pearl’s, until it closed. Then I liked Octavia Lounge, and it closed. And Anna’s Jazz Island, closed. My favorite venue is any venue that’s open.” So we can tack another on to that sad list.  (Note the title of the Times article: “Death of Jazz Club Underscores a Changing Scene”–I wish that this represented changing. Seems like the same old same old to me.) Oh well–the hunt for places to play continues.

  On a more positive note, my album Contextualizin’ has been featured on several “Best of 2010″ lists recently–the first from The Jazz Page (“Another solid band out of the Chicago area”–close enough, maybe this’ll get us a gig there?–”Ian and the Quintet have a nice sound that can appeal to music lovers across the jazz spectrum and beyond”), and the second from Arnaldo DeSouteiro’s Jazz Station (I also made the trumpet and flugelhorn lists, with some very heavy company, and Adam Shulman was recognized in the electric piano category). Both give me the warm fuzzies, especially since the record was released so early in the year and has been off the jazz blogosphere’s radar for a while. (This would be a good time to put in a word of thanks to Terri Hinte, whose tireless work getting the CD to the right ears has been a huge part of its success.)

  Read the rest of this entry »

• Video: “Sockdolager” (Live @ Coda)

  Date: 2010.06.23 | Category: Gigs, Updates, Video | Response: 0

  Happy summer! For those of you who weren’t able to make it out to our show last week at Coda, here’s the first video from that great evening (great for us, anyway–I leave the musical judgments to you).

  It’s the tune which has recently become our favorite opener, “Sockdolager” (ironically defined as “a decisive blow or answer : finisher”), as heard on Contextualizin’. It features solos from me, Fred, Evan, and Adam (getting his Rhodes on), with Jon’s tidal groove(s) washing over it all.

  Ian Carey Quintet – Sockdolager from Ian Carey on Vimeo.

  Not only was it great to be playing with these guys again, it was also encouraging that we got such a big, enthusiastic crowd out (you can’t miss them on the video), some of whom I think are a sign that the club is taking off–definitely refreshing to see after so many closures of jazz-friendly venues in the recent past.

  Currently, our next scheduled show as a quintet is at Berkeley’s Jazzschool in September, but we’ve got some feelers out for gigs between now and then so I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I’ve got appearances coming up with the amazing Circus Bella and the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (formerly of Pearl’s and Rasselas), so it’s looking to be a busy, musical summer.

  BTW: if you haven’t yet, please take a minute to “Like” my jazz page on Facebook (“You like me! You really like me!”), or follow me on Twitter (which I’m really starting to get into, after years of stubborn resistance). Thanks, and stay tuned for some listening recommendations, more gig video, an upcoming radio interview, and some follow-up thoughts on the jazz funding debate. Cheers!

• Return to Coda + Bonus Video

  Date: 2010.04.25 | Category: Gigs, Press, Updates, Video | Response: 0

  Hi folks–as you can see, the website has a new look (it was long overdue). Let me know if it’s working for you. I’m planning on doing some more regular posting in the future (beyond announcements and self-promotion–because, let’s face it, that gets boring), to share my thoughts on the jazz scene, the trumpet, what I’ve been listening to, etc.

  … RIGHT AFTER I get this self-promotion out of the way: first, I do want to mention that thanks to the great crowd that turned out for the CD release show, we’ve been invited back to Coda on Wednesday, June 16. I’m planning on having some new material ready to debut, so be sure to come down so you can say you were there THE NIGHT JAZZ CHANGED (or something).

  Also, the CD got a really nice review recently from The Jazz Page:

  … the stuff that great jazz is made of, a blend of solid musicianship and writing. Carey’s trumpet and fluegelhorn work has an inviting tone that can attract jazz aficianados and novices alike. The quintet is a terrific assemblage of talented players…

  … you can read the whole thing here.

  Finally, as a reward for making it through the above promos, and as a preview for those who didn’t make it to the release show, here’s another tune from that night, the 5/4 harmonic maze called “Leap Year” (also available on CONTEXTUALIZIN’), featuring the talents of Evan Francis, Adam Shulman, Fred Randolph, and Jon Arkin. Enjoy!

  Ian Carey Quintet: Leap Year from Ian Carey on Vimeo.

• Site News

  Date: 2010.04.22 | Category: Updates | Response: 0

  I’ll be doing some work on the website, so things may be a little janky for the next couple of days. Please bear with me, and in the meantime, you can keep up to date at my Facebook page.

• CONTEXTUALIZIN’ Now Available!

  Date: 2010.02.16 | Category: Updates | Response: 0

  Friends and Listeners,

  Well, it’s been a long and winding road since the Quintet headed into Bay Records for 11 hours and 13 bagels’ worth of recording last May, but our new CD, Contextualizin’, is finally available for sale and download, and should be hitting the airwaves at a jazz radio station near you.

  There are two options for purchasing online: CDBaby, where both actual copies of the CD (yes, people still buy those!) and MP3 downloads are available; and the iTunes Store.

  Please pick up a copy or four, and if you enjoy what you hear, you can leave a review at either CDBaby or iTunes. (You can even leave one if you don’t like it!)

  Also, if you’re in the Bay Area, you can support local record stores by picking up the CD at Groove Yard (Oakland), Rasputin (San Francisco, Berkeley, San Lorenzo, or Mountain View), Amoeba Records (Berkeley), or The Jazzschool Store.

  UPDATE 2/17: All About Jazz is featuring the album’s title track as its free download of the day! Hop to it!

  GIG UPDATE: Don’t forget our Bay Area CD Release show is scheduled next month for Wednesday, March 10 at the beautiful Coda in San Francisco.

  And in the meantime, I’ll also be joined this Wednesday, Feb. 17 in an evening of standards and jazz classics by pianist Michael Coleman (of Beep) and bassist Noah Shencker at Sundance Kitchen restaurant, steps from Japantown and Fillmore Street in the Kabuki Cinemas building. Come on down!

• Update + CD Press Release

  Date: 2010.01.27 | Category: Press, Updates | Response: 0

  Hi Folks, Happy New Year to you all! As you’ll see in the press release below, the Quintet’s new album hits radio & retail in just under a month, which I’m excited about. We still don’t have a venue for a CD release show (RIP Anna’s), but are following up on several leads, so you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime, here’s the official press release announcing the new record:

  Ian Carey Quintet to Release Second CD, “Contextualizin’,” February 16

  Band Led by Trumpeter/Composer Ian Carey also Includes Evan Francis, Adam Shulman, Fred Randolph, & Jon Arkin

  January 21, 2010

  Ian Carey’s 2006 debut, SINK/SWIM, drew some critical attention to the Oakland-based trumpeter’s original music and forward-thinking quintet, but his new recording, Contextualizin’, is sure to turn heads in the direction of this gifted jazz trumpeter/composer. The new CD will be released by Carey’s Kabocha Records imprint on February 16.

  “Sometime when I was in my twenties,” says Carey, now 35, “I realized that there are so many great, amazing players out there that the context in which I do what I’m doing is going to be how I differentiate myself, and for me that’s writing my own tunes and doing my own things within them.”

  Carey’s striking compositions–and one standard, “Just Friends”–are performed by the tight group of improvisers with whom he recorded SINK/SWIM (also on Kabocha) and has frequently worked in Bay Area club settings for the last six years. Saxophonist and flutist Evan Francis is his fiery front-line partner; Adam Shulman switches between piano and Fender Rhodes (playing with “understated virtuosity,” in the leader’s words); bassist Fred Randolph and drummer Jon Arkin ground and propel the music.

  In the CD notes, Carey describes his realization that “What I played would help shape how I played (and vice versa, as it turned out). A song could be a story in itself, or a vehicle to inspire improvisational storytelling. (And sometimes, when everything is happening just right, it can be both.)”

  The dropped “g” in the CD’s title, Carey adds, “is a play on the high-concept, analytical stuff that people come up with to talk about their music.” But when it comes to the music itself, Carey “asks deep musical questions,” says composer/educator Bill Kirchner, “and comes up with compelling answers.”

  Born and raised in a musical family in Binghamton, New York, Ian Carey moved with his family to Folsom, California (near Sacramento) in time for high school, where he was inspired to begin studying jazz trumpet seriously. He studied classical trumpet for two years at the University of Nevada in Reno (also performing with the Reno Philharmonic), then enrolled in the New School in New York City and earned a B.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music.

  At the New School Ian studied trumpet with Cecil Bridgewater, Vincent Penzarella, and Charles Tolliver and composition with Bill Kirchner and Maria Schneider, as well as taking small group classes with Joanne Brackeen, Andrew Cyrille, Billy Harper, and Reggie Workman. He also performed with the likes of Eddie Bert, Rory Stuart, and Ravi Coltrane, and at venues such as the Blue Note and Smalls. Carey led his own Brooklyn-based quartet for several years before moving to San Francisco in 2001.

  In addition to leading the quintet heard on Contextualizin’, Carey has played around the Bay Area with the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, 8 Legged Monster, the Realistic Orchestra, vocalist Betty Fu, and pianists Ben Stolorow and the late B.J. Papa. His main focus, however, has been on composing and performing original music with the quintet. In his CD booklet notes, Carey recalls a meeting with the saxophonist Steve Lacy in which Lacy observed that the trumpet “is a discursive instrument — you know, it tells a story.” With those words in mind, Ian Carey aims to say something with his music. He aims to tell stories.

  Media Contact: Terri Hinte
  www.terrihinte.com

• Winter Update + CD Release News

  Date: 2009.12.03 | Category: Updates | Response: 0

  Hi Listeners: I’d like to officially announce the upcoming release of the Ian Carey Quintet’s long-awaited (by me, at least) new album, Contextualizin’, on Kabocha Records, February 16th, 2010.

  

  The album, which was recorded last May at Berkeley’s Bay Records, features my long-time group of Adam Shulman on piano and Fender Rhodes, Evan Francis on alto saxophone and flute, Fred Randolph on bass, and Jon Arkin on drums, playing a set of eight original compositions, plus a re-imagining of the standard “Just Friends.”

  The album will be available for purchase and download at CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon.com and other online outlets, as well as in select Bay Area record stores. (Yes, they do still exist!)

  Stay tuned for announcements about our CD release show, samples, and other goodies. Have a fine holiday season (please go to some jazz shows!), and I hope to see you in 2010!

• 2 Upcoming Shows + September Update

  Date: 2009.09.17 | Category: Gigs, Updates | Response: 1

  
  Hello jazz aficionados, friends, stalkers, and people who stumbled here looking for pictures of “Wynton Marsalis shirtless”:

  First, I’m genuinely stoked (as the kids say) to announce that the new, as-yet-untitled album by the Ian Carey Quintet is nearly finished. (I’m 90% done with mixing, which will be followed by mastering by Bay Area sound guru Ken Lee, then duplication, then…) The disc will feature 8 of my original compositions and one re-invented standard, and I hope to have it out by late fall.

  I also wanted to tell you about a few shows I’ve got coming up which I think you’d enjoy. First up is this Friday, when I’m going to be playing with the Ben Stolorow Quartet, on a double bill with his new project with his sister Stephanie called “Stoli Rose” (Get it?!)

  We’ll be going on second, and playing original music by the band, plus a couple of rarely-heard jazz classics. Come on down!

  WHAT: Stoli Rose + Ben Stolorow Quartet
  WHO: Stephanie Stolorow, vocal; Ben Stolorow, piano; Ian Carey, trumpet; Noah Shencker, bass; Bryan Bowman, drums
  WHEN: Friday, September 18, 8pm
  WHERE: Square One Yoga Collective, Emeryville
  HOW MUCH: $10 (That’s only $5 per band!)

  Next up is a straight-ahead jazz hoedown at the Epicenter cafe with the great Jack Riordan plus Adam Gay and Bryan Bowman. We’ll be hitting the standards/jazz classics shed.

  WHAT: Ian Carey Quartet w/ Jack Riordan
  WHO: Me, trumpet; Jack Riordan, guitar; Adam Gay, bass; Bryan Bowman, drums
  WHEN: Wednesday, September 30, 6-8:30pm
  WHERE: Epicenter Cafe, San Francisco
  HOW MUCH: Free!

• Spring Update: Anna’s 4/15, Make Out Room 5/4, Recording

  Date: 2009.03.24 | Category: Gigs, Updates | Response: 0

  
  Hi listeners–hope you’re enjoying your spring and getting all the stimulus dollars you so richly deserve. It’s been way too long since I posted an update, so here we go: I’m currently about a month into my annual music sabbatical, and enjoying having the time to practice, write, and listen. (And with so many people out of work, I’m definitely not taking it for granted.) It’s also great to be able to get out to hear some of the great musicians around town, and hit some fine jam sessions at places like Savannah’s, Club Deluxe, and 33 Revolutions.

  I have two pieces of musical news to share–first, that the original Ian Carey Quintet (with Adam Shulman, Evan Francis, Fred Randolph, Jon Arkin and myself) has two local shows coming up. The first show:

  What: The Ian Carey Quintet
  When: Wednesday, April 15, 8pm
  Where: Anna’s Jazz Island, Berkeley
  How Much: $10

  Anna’s is a great club, and one of the few jazz-only venues left in the Bay Area, so you should definitely come out to support it (and us)! We’ll be doing a mix of originals, standards, and rarely-heard jazz classics. And the second show:

  What: The Ian Carey Quintet + RW3 (with Kasey Knudsen, Nate Brenner, and Jon Arkin)
  When: Monday, May 4, 9pm
  Where: The Make Out Room, San Francisco
  How Much: No cover

  This will be a fun show in the Mission. We’re sharing the billing with RW3 (a trio featuring Kasey Knudsen, Jon Arkin, and Nate Brenner, all great local improvisers). We’ll probably be doing an all-original, more adventurous set than at Anna’s–so each show should have its own different appeal. I encourage you to compare, contrast, and pester the band with questions about why my charts are so incomprehensible!

  The other piece of news, and the reason it’s great to have these gigs (besides the fact that it’s great to have gigs at all these days), is that it’ll be a chance for us to get fired up for (drum roll) … recording our second album! That’s right, we’re finally getting back into the studio in May, which is exciting and terrifying (like many things these days).

  Anyway, that’s the latest. Oh, and one other thing: for any of my friends in the East-East Bay, I’m going to be playing a concert at Los Medanos College in Pittsburgh with the LMC Night Big Band on Tuesday, April 7, around 7:30pm. The band is led by local jazz heavyweights Erik Jekabson, Mike Zilber, and Jeff Marrs, and is chock-full of Bay Area talent. (And the Pittsburgh High School Jazz Band is opening up.) So come on out!

• Fall Update, Kind of Blue, Jazz Education

  Date: 2008.10.03 | Category: Thoughts, Updates | Response: 1

  Hi listeners– I know it’s been a while with no updates. Unfortunately I haven’t been performing nearly as often as I’d like lately (an Obama fundraiser here, a street fair there), and with the recent closing of two more San Francisco jazz venues (Jazz at Pearl’s and the Octavia Lounge), prospects don’t seem encouraging. Pearl’s was an especially tough blow, as it was home to the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, which I really enjoyed playing with once or twice a month. But no excuses, we musicians just have to get out there and find new places to play.

  In this month’s JazzTimes and in a post on his blog, the great jazz writer Marc Myers takes a critical look at the cult of adoration surrounding Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue (1959), which has been widely hailed as the greatest (or at least most essential) jazz album of all time. The post is definitely worth a read, as it places the album in the context of its time and looks at factors (on both the musical and the marketing sides) which contributed to its lofty stature.

  After mulling the post over for a few days and seeing Marc accused of being a “reactionary nitpicker,” I left the following comment which sums up my feelings about Kind of Blue, and why, for once, I agree with the “conventional wisdom”:

  I know Marc ISN’T a reactionary nit-picker, so I took this post as a legitimate question, and one that deserves to be asked periodically of any canonical artwork.

  Aside from the question of whether KoB can be separated from its reputation, as I thought about this post I realized the more difficult task for me was separating it from my memories of the record. Although I’d grown up hearing my dad’s copies of the Miles/Gil Evans compilations, KoB was the first jazz CD I bought myself, mainly because of its rep (and despite the cheesy cover the first Columbia CD issue featured). My first listen to it was a sort of rubicon, and maybe because of its reputation, I listened to it with a focus I’d never given any other album. It was moody without being somber; bluesy without being corny; intelligent without being effete; virtuosic without being cold.

  And even though over the years I’ve come to see it in the continuum of Miles’ output (and jazz history in general), it still remains above and beyond for me because of that near-religious response I initially had to it, and which has stuck with me.

  The other records mentioned are great, too, but I hear them as great jazz albums, whereas KoB still feels like the Gutenberg bible (even if I hear it in Starbucks). How much of that is due to the hype-based expectations of a teenager, it’s hard to say–but I’d still rather take it to a desert island than any other jazz record.

  I also read an interesting post by the excellent New York jazz writer Howard Mandel talking about his visit to Berklee College of Music and the incredible number of young musicians still dedicating themselves to jazz even as the market dwindles. It reminded me of my student days, and I left the following comment:

  I’ve often wondered whether it would’ve been helpful for someone to clue me in to the incredible imbalance of supply and demand in the jazz world when I was going into a mountain of debt to finance my jazz education at the New School… (I think I remember my roommate at the time telling me that the average starting salary of a Parsons design grad was over $50,000, and thinking that the average starting salary of a New School Jazz grad would be tips and a beer.) However, I probably wouldn’t have listened if they had, since I was young and invincible and little things (like the fact that there seem to be more people making jazz than listening to it) couldn’t faze me.

  Howard nicely responded with this note: “… I don’t mean to dissuade anyone from studying jazz; as you write the power of jazz to attract the young and invincible is stronger than financial considerations for them. Those of us involved in the music though ought to look at our society clearly, and consider how to work with the gap between what we’re called to do and how we can live. This is what jazz musicians have done since the get-go. I think such reality-checks strengthen the musician and the music. Who said it was gonna be easy?” Damn straight.