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Movable Feasts
Click on the images below to find out more about our upcoming Movable Feast concerts.
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Feedback Loop
We have two questions that beg your immediate input:
1) We are looking for additional local venues that can be rented for our Movable Feast concerts. Primarily we need 200-300 seats and, if possible, a great piano. Any suggestions?
2) What features would you like to see in a Jazz Bakery mobile app? We've just begun discussing this inevitability, so now's a great time to add your thoughts to the mix.
Please send feedback tosocialmedia@jazzbakery.organd put "Bridge" in the subject line.
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Q: The Music
And speaking of Quincy Jones, this legendary talent has been a loyal supporter of the Jazz Bakery for years. So when we invited him to contribute a 'mix tape' to our listening blog, it shouldn't have come as a surprise when he said yes. You mustcheck out Q's life-spanning soundtrack for our Artist's Choice series - over 4,000 international listeners have already done so! You never know who'll be the next guest DJ on our Jukebox.
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Some of My Favorite
Spring Songs
"Spring Is Here"
"Some Other Spring"
"Spring Will Be
a Little Late This Year"
"Joy Spring"
(that's a Clifford Brown tune)
"They Say It's Spring"
"Younger Than Springtime"
"Spring Can Really
Hang You Up the Most"
"Spring in Manhattan"
"Suddenly It's Spring"
"It Might As Well Be Spring"
What are your faves?
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Stay in Touch
You're receiving this newsletter because you're a friend of the Jazz Bakery. If this has reached you in error, you may unsubscribe using the link below. If you'd like more information about the new Jazz Bakery please send us an email and we'll be happy to give you more details.
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The New Jazz Bakery Newsletter |
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Number 4 in the official Jazz Bakery newsletter series, this issue ofThe Bridge could be called the "Extended Spring" Edition. Because even if it weren't unseasonably warm this year, things are getting hot at the Bakery. Recent grants have enabled us to book several NEA Jazz Masters for our Movable Feast this year. Fundraising for our new building is off to a propitious start, as they say. Our website is undergoing a makeover, and in just a few weeks, I'm honored that the California Jazz Foundation will pay tribute to me and our work together at their annual "Give the Band a Hand" gala. At this pace, it might as well be summer! |
Wishes Granted
The Jazz Bakery is the fortunate recipient of three generous grants that are helping us lure some luminous jazz icons to Los Angeles this year. NEA Jazz Masters Kenny Barron, Ron Carter and Toshiko Akiyoshi will join our Movable Feast later this season thanks to a recent grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, a matching grant from the Herb Alpert Foundation helped support our collaboration with the Angel City Jazz Festival again last year - and it was your matches that allowed us to receive it. Finally, a Culver CityPerforming Arts grant will bring sublime pianist Alan Broadbent to the Kirk Douglas Theatre on June 12. Copious thanks for these substantial gifts! Everyone come out to the shows and watch us pay it back.
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Party at Frank's
New building update! Now that we're wrapping up the "pianissimo" phase of our capital campaign, at last we can share a few photos from the private fundraiser held lastSeptember 17 at Frank Gehry's offices. (Click here to watch the slideshow.) It was a spectacular evening: the late summer heatwave had just broken, excitement was buzzing about Frank's models for our permanent new home, and then our gracious host memorably broke the ice with a well-timed, amplified F bomb! Everyone should be so lucky to spend a night hanging out at the Gehry compound. The atmosphere positively exudes a deep love for creativity and the arts. But remember - when Frank says now, he means NOW! (All photos © Dailey Pike)
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CJF Tribute
This has to be the most exciting social event on our spring calendar. I am honored that I will receive a lifetime tribute from the California Jazz Foundation on Sunday, April 6.CJF is a nonprofit organization (like us), and their efforts to assist jazz musicians in medical crisis is invaluable to our community. Honestly I'm a little overwhelmed by the attention, but it's a delight to be a part of this annual benefit gala called "Give the Band a Hand." Quincy Jones will introduce me; performances will follow by Jimmy and Tootie Heath, John and Jeff Clayton, Billy Childs,John Beasley, Mike Lang, Gerry Gibbs, Dwight Trible, Tony Dumas, Edwin Livingston, Rickey Woodard, Tom Ranier and more. Advance tickets can be purchased online here, and we hope to see you there.
P.S. For this occasion, Kirk Silsbee has written an in-depth article on me for CJF. You can read it here.
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Spinning a New Web
It's been a year and a half since our new website debuted, and with spring approaching, we thought it was time to give it a makeover. We listened to you and responded to your feedback by making the links larger, easier to navigate, and by giving you faster access to information about our wonderful artists. We're also making the look and feel more spacious and easier to read. We've tried to do a better job of integrating our social media pages, including our new Tumblr Jukebox, as well as the video pages. We hope you like our new website and look forward to your response. Thanks again to our great French Canadian web designer, who can be found atBogue. Thanks also to the tireless Greg Dahl who keeps our website up to date.
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One from the Heart
I have decided to post an ongoing tribute to the early friends of the Jazz Bakery. If you don't see a name you expected this time out, just wait until the next edition of The Bridge...
First there was Maury Hall. Simply put, there would not be a Jazz Bakery if it were not for him! All I ever wanted to do was sing. He badgered me into trying to set up a music policy in three successive locations, every one a disaster. The owners actually disliked the music and left me to pay the musicians. Bad!
Flash forward - a chance encounter led me into starting a series of weekends in a small photography studio (don't worry, Jim Britt comes next). From the beginning, extremely gifted musicians were willing to perform. Maury initiated the concept of our becoming a non-profit. (The local joke being, "Of course - what else?") In an instant, I became a president and he the CEO. Subsequently, Maury saw the Jazz Bakery through its move to a larger space in the actual Helms Bakery building, with a 7-night-a-week presence. That was approximately 1992.
Without Maury's love of music and unflagging enthusiasm, I would have given up early on. He remained active on the board until shortly before the end of his life. I can still see him listening to music, with his eyes closed and head back, madly "conducting." I think he would be proud to think of the Jazz Bakery as part of his legacy.
Next time - stay tuned for the invaluable contributions of Jim Britt, Will Thornbury, Lee Wilder, Wally Marks, Jr. (appropriately known as "Happy Wally") and ... just wait and see!
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As this issue of The Bridge draws to a close, I think I'll sign off with this whimsical movie clip from the 1967 jazz musical The Young Girls of Rochefort, co-written by my old pal, Michel Legrand. You probably know his most famous standard from that film - "You Must Believe in Spring" - which would be an equally thematic send-off for this issue. But I just couldn't resist this brief instrumental, given its title: "Le Pont Transbordeur (The Transport Bridge)."
Let's make the trip together!
Sincerely,
Ruth Price
President and Artistic Director
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