Ken Cook Trio and special guests; A North Bay Jazz Series Concert
FRI JULY 21 SHOW @ 7:30pm
North Bay Jazz Series: Now & Future
featuring Ken Cook - piano, Kendrick Freeman - drums, Sascha Jacoben - bass, Deborah Winters & Chris Saunders - vocals
MUSICIANS
Ken Cook: Pianist, educator, composer and arranger, has been an active musician in the Bay Area music scene for over 15 years. A graduate of the Jazz Studies program at the New England Conservatory with studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ken spent close to twenty-five years on the east coast, freelancing, touring, recording and teaching. He has performed in Europe, Latin and South America and much of the eastern United States with various groups including the great New Orleans singer, Johnny Adams. He performs regularly with his own trio and continues to perform with Jazz, Brazilian and Afro Cuban artists. He developed an exciting duo project with Turtle Island String Quartet founder Mark Summer. He is an active clinician and educator and currently holds the Jazz Piano chair in the Jazz Studies Department at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, CA.
Kendrick Freeman is a Bay Area drummer, percussionist and teacher. He has a background in both drum set and hand drums, having studied with American drum set artists and musicians from Ghana, Congo and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on the music of Haiti. His drum set and traditional studies inform each other and he has been flexible enough to work with a range of artists in a number of styles and settings. Some examples include dobro ace Rob Ickes, string wizard Joe Craven and Americana singer/songwriters David Jacobs-Strain, Keith Greeninger and Sean Carscadden. He has been a member of guitarist Ricardo Peixoto’s quintet for the last 5 years and works with Fula Brothers, an African rooted trio led by Malian ngoni player Mamadou Sidibe. Kendrick has received study grants from the National Endowment For The Arts for work with drum set artist George Marsh and The Alliance For California Traditional Arts for part of his 8 years and counting apprenticeship with Haitian master drummer Daniel Brevil. He has performed with Haitian dance companies Group Petit La Croix, led by Blanche Brown, and Portsha Jefferson’s Oakland-based company Rara Tou Limen. He teaches privately and leads an ensemble at Sonoma State University for Doug Leibinger in the Jazz program.
Chris Saunders nicknamed “Big Skin", early in life, is a prolific singer-songwriter, cornet and flugelhorn player. He has fronted and performed with many bands over the span of 40+ years cultivating a style that has been described as one foot in the Blues and the other in Jazz, Rock, Cabaret, and experimental music. He is a pinch of Howlin’ Wolf and a dash of Tom Waits. He cites the music of Louis Armstrong, Dr. John, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstein, Mel Torme, Captain Beefheart and Jimmy Witherspoon as being fundamental to his development as a vocalist, Cornetist, Writer and artist. His immense reservoir of soul and soaring melodic mastery is further deepened with his wry sense of humor. His gift of stage comedy and his mercurial improvisation abilities are true crowd pleasers. As a player in the SF Bay Area scene, he has shared the stage and recording studio with many A-listers as well as notable sidemen and studio musicians over his long Career. Chris has been on stage, in studio and/or played with the likes of Michael Bloomfield, Tom Waits, many of the original Sons of Champlain as well as the
band, Ed Kelly, Shanti, Les McCann, “Ramblin” Jack Elliot, Jay Thomas, Vernon Black, Michael Blakeman, Kit Walker, Paul McCandless, David Motto, Andy Ostwald and many of the other wonderfully talented local musicians in the greater bay area. Chris started performing at age 10. He performed at the Fillmore in 1967 and impressed Bill Graham. One of the moments that same day kept him going to this day, when Howlin’ Wolf and his band shook his hand after
the gig with high compliments and words of encouragement. He has 4 recordings available in CD or download format. His most current release is titled "Outside My Window", on the Bmoki Music label featuring the great musicianship and vast experience of Michael Aragon- drums, Ken Cook-piano, Rob Fordyce-electric bass and Luis Carbo-Percussion. Outside My Window is a partial departure from most of Chris’s earlier original recordings with songs by artists such as Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Percy Mayfield, Eddie Harris/Gene McDaniels and Herbie Hancock.
Deborah Winters latest release, Lovers After All, for the Jazzed Media label, Deborah joined forces with trumpeter/arranger/producer Peter Welker and a stellar cast of Jazz luminaries from San Francisco, New York, Boston and LA. This lofty big-band excursion traverses the vast expanse of jazz history – from the 40s to the present – from some of the best-loved standards to rarely heard gems. In choosing the songs in this recording, Deborah and Peter sought out jazz composers whose pieces provided the ideal platform to showcase her extraordinary versatility and her trademark feeling of intimacy. A Bay Area native, Deborah began to perform in San Francisco over 3 decades ago with her guitar and original songs. As she expanded to include Jazz and other contemporaries she met the highly acclaimed pianist/arranger Frank Martin, with whom she collaborated and recorded her first release “live in session.” She released her second original CD, “Inspired.” with award winning producer/arranger Gary Malkin. In the last few years she has become a regular cast member of the Cole Porter Society, founded by Noah Griffin, performing in major venues throughout the bay area including performances with grammy winning jazz pianist, Laurence Hobgood. In past years, other collaborations with notable Bay Area greats have included legendary drummer Tony Williams, singer Bobby McFerrin and Brazilian guitarist Jose Neto. Variety and versatility characterize Deborah’s ongoing performance schedule as she continues to inspire and uplift her audiences at Bay Area music festivals, concert halls, churches and house concerts. Her jam-packed teaching schedule attests to the profound impact she has on developing up-and-coming vocalists in a broad array of musical styles. Her reputation as one of Marin County’s top voice coaches was acknowledged in the Pacific Sun’s annual Best of Marin awards, where she was voted as one of the top three in the Best Vocal Coach category.
Sascha Jacobsen, a 2022 Latin Grammy Nominee, was born into a musical family, going as far back as his great, great, great, great-grandfather, who was a bassist for the Moscow Opera. His mentors have been Michael and James Finley, John Brecher, Nico Abondolo, and Dennis Trembly, as well as Wolfgang Guttler and Shinji Eshima. He completed a Master's degree at the University of Southern California and has served on the faculty at The California Jazz Conservatory, Humboldt State University, Laney College, Golden Gate Bass Camp, and the Sequoia Chamber Music Festival. Sascha has performed with Kronos Quartet, Rita Moreno, Hugh Jackman, Martin Short, Mandy Patinkin & Patti LuPone, Marc Shaiman, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrew Lippa, Eddie Duran, Dave MacNab, Tim Weed, Tango masters Raul Jaurena, Pepe Motta, and Maria Volonte, Flamenco greats Chuscales, Jose Luis Rodriguez, and Juanito Pascual, as well as Grammy winning artists Mads Tolling and Tupac Mantilla, and many others. He was a founding member of the Classical Revolution movement, which has spread around the world and has performed with Adam Theis and the Jazz Mafia. Sascha also performed as principal bass with the Santa Cruz Symphony, and the American Musical Theatre in San Jose, and as a section member of the Monterey Symphony and the Sarasota Opera, as well as on the world premier production of Rita Moreno's Life Without Makeup, Martin Short’s Fame Becomes Me, and Hugh Jackman In Performance, recorded the new cast album of A Chorus Line, and has toured the world with the Argentine Tango group: Trio Garufa. He is the founder of the Musical Art Quintet which performs his original works. Strad Magazine say his music is "...Stylish and Vigorous...beautifully arranged". SF Bay Gaurdian says “composer-bassist Sascha Jacobsen's concoctions hop nimbly through a world of styles while impressing with ear-catching intricacy and handsome technique.”. East Bay Express says “Classical Music is sexy again”. SF Weekly says: “Classical training and a taste for evocative melodies underpin this sound”. Sascha’s passion for music and dance has led him to collaborate with great dance groups such as The Flamenco Theatre Company of San Francisco, Tango Fatal with Choreographer Jorge Torres (Forever Tango), The Island Moving Company, San Jose Dance, and the Chitresh Das Dance Company with Jason Samuels Smith. He is in demand as a performer, composer, and arranger with commissions from the San Francisco Arts Council, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, San Jose Dance, San Jose Youth Symphony, Berkeley Youth Symphony and SF Friends of Chamber Music. Sascha is also dedicated to teaching and has coached the students at SF School of the Arts, Sacred Heart College Prep, Oakland School for the Arts, Balboa High School, St. Ignatius Prep and talented private students.
ABOUT NORTH BAY JAZZ THEN AND NOW SERIES Our newest Jazz program, “North Bay Jazz, Now and Future” premieres with five concert dates, each event featuring a talented and diverse lineup of North Bay Artists. The concerts will also provide performance and mentoring opportunities for young emerging talent. Mentorship has always been a key theme in jazz history, offering opportunities to aspiring musicians to experience performing the music on the band stand with their contemporary heroes. Our program continues this community-minded mentoring tradition. and strengthens our holistic approach to supporting artists and the art form. Our concert s, in this series, present multiple generations of performers exploring different genres of Jazz.
ADMISSION
General $23, Reserved $30
Student/Senior $18
