Burnett Thompson Trio

Pianist Burnett Thompson is joined by Jon Irabagon on saxes, Kiera Thompson, clarinet, and bassist Alex Blake as they launch the new album An Ancient Yule. <br>With An Ancient Yule, the thousand years from 400 to 1400 A.D. of Byzantine, Medieval, and early Renaissance Christmas melodies comprise a wealth of melodies, rhythms and emotions. Origins range from Istanbul, Bucharest, and Sofia, to London. <br>An Ancient Yule is the logical successor to the series of recent albums issued by composer/pianist Burnett Thompson. <br>Autumn in Yunnan云南秋日 delved into the complex web of folk melodies of southwestern China. Reformation: Age of Mayhem presented folk and liturgical music of Middle Europe of the late Renaissance, while American Rhapsody offered 17th century melodies of Native American, Africans, and Europeans in the Americas. <br>Burnett Thompson has allowed music <br>to draw him into countless corners of the planet, from the mountains of Yunnan, <br>China to the mews of London, cellars of Vienna, medinas of north Africa, and back <br>to the alleys of Beijing. He is the founder and director of Piano Jazz DC, now in its 12th season. <br>Extended Bio: Burnett Thompson, pianist, <br>composer, educator, splits his time between New York, Washington, DC, <br>numerous European capitals, and major cities in China. His work in China has <br>included lectures, master classes and performances in Xiamen, Ningbo, Chengdu, <br>Wuhan, Shenyang, Dalian, Beijing, Kunming, Shenzhen and Shanghai. He has <br>been funded by the Chinese government and universities, the U.S. State <br>Department, and is on the Fulbright Specialist Program roster. The Shanghai <br>premiere of his Shakespeare Sonnet Song Cycle was performed in Mandarin in <br>April, 2011. He is currently Director of Programming for Castleton in <br>Performance, the Piano in the White House, Piano Jazz at the Arts Club, Jazz on <br>Jackson Place, and the Hill Center Concert Series. Mr. Thompson speaks Mandarin <br>and German. He performed regularly with Chinese erhu soloist Ma Xiaohui in <br>China, Canada and the U.S., most recently at Carnegie Hall. Further performances <br>with Shanghai-based jazz vocalist Coco Zhao, Tango specialist Juan Pablo Jofre <br>Romarion, Flamenco guitarist Abraham Carmona, and the New Columbia Swing <br>Orchestra have made for a lively and varied performance schedule. He has been <br>instrumental in bringing noteworthy performers to the U.S. from China, and has <br>brought them to the attention of the international media, including NPR, the <br>Washington Post, Sing Tao Daily, WPFW radio and the World Journal. Mr. <br>Thompson&#39;s activities include performing, arranging, media relations and concert <br>management. Mr Thompson recently performed concerts and lecture <br>performances at Liaoning Grand Theater in Shenyang and Wuhan Xintiandi, as <br>well as Dalian University of Technology, Shenyang Normal University, Liaoning <br>University, Shenyang Conservatory, Wuhan Conservatory, Wuhan High School for <br>the Arts, Jiang Han University in Wuhan, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai <br><br>Conservatory Preparatory School, and East China Normal University. From 2002 <br>to the present, Burnett Thompson has enjoyed a productive relationship with <br>numerous cultural institutions in Washington, DC. He has performed his own <br>scores for numerous silent films of Lubitsch, Murnau, Eisenstein, D.W. Griffith, <br>and numerous other silent films of Japan, Portugal, and Brazil. The Embassy of <br>Austri, The Freer Gallery, Goethe German Cultural Institute, the National Gallery <br>of Art and the Library of Congress have all participated in these screenings. His <br>most recent project in this area is the Silent Shakespeare and the Sonnets series <br>hosted by the Shakespeare Theatre and numerous other venues. In 2000, he was <br>commissioned to write an orchestral work for the National Chamber Orchestra, for <br>which he composed his Concerto for Orchestra and Improvised Piano. The work <br>was trashed by the press, but remains much adored by the composer. During the <br>same time period, he hosted performance tours of the Smithsonian&#39;s Piano 300 <br>collection. In the late 90&#39;s, he began a unique collaboration with Lorin Maazel. <br>Mr. Thompson assisted Mr. Maazel in an educational enterprise, working with <br>school children of all ages in a novel general music program. He also played <br>chamber music with Mr. Maazel, arranged, produced and performed in several <br>recording projects of Mr. Maazel&#39;s own compositions, in addition to production of <br>an orchestral concert with tenor Jose Carreras. Burnett Thompson was educated at <br>the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna, Austria, and the New England Conservatory <br>of Music as a student of the German pianist and educator Veronica Jochum. <br>Further studies included work with pianist William Masselos, and Jazz and <br>Western theory with Steven Strunk. In 1981 he founded the Foggy Bottom <br>Chamber Music Society. Comprised of himself as pianist with members of the <br>National Symphony Orchestra, the group was regularly coached by Mstislav <br>Rostropovich and performed in a documentary about the eminent cellist. At the <br>same time, for 17 years, he hosted a well-known Washington, D.C. night club as <br>the house pianist. Guest artists included Chris Vadala, Keter Betts, Louis Bellson, <br>Pete Barenbregge, among countless others, and it was during this time that he <br>developed his voice as a jazz performer and composer. <br /><br />Alex Blake began his career with Sun Ra and Dizzy Gillespie, eventually pairing with NEA Master Randy Weston’s African Rhythms. He has appeared at most major venues throughout the world, and is known for his powerful and unique approach to the instrument. <br>Together with Burnett Thompson, he celebrates 5 years of collaboration, including eclectic performances of Chinese traditional music, European Renaissance liturgical and folk melodies, and their own compositions. <br><br>Extended Bio: <br>Bassist Alex Blake, born in Panama City, Panama, has a revolutionary playing style and technique distinctly his own. He combines innovative strumming, rapid lyrical notations and percussive slaps on his bass to create a unique and compelling sound. Some have called him “an entire rhythm section”.Alex Blake’s talent is measured by the plenitude of masters who have called upon him over his more than forty-year career for his inventive and passionate playing. In addition to having played with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Sun Ra, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Lenny White, Stan Getz, Harry Belafonte, and the Manhattan Transfer, Alex is a long-time member of NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston’s African Rhythms. <br>In demand for recording, festivals, concerts and clubs both nationally and internationally, Alex leads his own group, The Alex Blake Collective, comprised of notable, eclectic musicians. <br><br>Originally from Panama, Alex Blake became a trumpet player as a young boy before switching to the bass at the encouragement of his father. Beginning with the Ampeg “baby bass,” Alex became immersed in the Latin styles of music, playing salsa, bossa nova and other forms, while developing his signature technique of playing the bass. <br><br>In his interview with Christopher Porter of the Jazz Times, he fondly described the launch of his professional career: “I started playing professionally when I was 12 years old, the music I was playing was Latin, I was playing with great percussionists like Kako and Patato.” <br><br>As a child, he enjoyed the infusion of cultures common in Central America. Acting as a bridge between North and South America, Panama captures a little bit of each culture passing through. It only follows that as one of the building blocks to his character, this environmental influence would later be echoed in his uncanny ability to play every style of music. When he was seven years old, his parents moved to the United States, settling in Brooklyn, his mother was a mathematician, and his father an acclaimed trombone player. Together, they offered him a creative and intellectual foundation that embodied diligence, an unwavering devotion to inventiveness, and excellence. <br><br>In his 2012 interview with Jon Liebman, he recalls his early years: <br>"I left Panama when I was 7 years old, but I still remember it a bit. "When I was coming up, my father played with one of the great musicians of Panama, Victor Boa. I guess he was the equivalent of Duke Ellington in this country. I used to go to rehearsals with my dad. He bought me a toy trombone and I used to play with him. I would go to the rehearsals and sit down with the rest of the guys. They would put out a music stand for me, I’d pick up my toy trombone and play alongside my dad. Those rehearsals marked my first introduction to music. I would sit back and listen to the guys and they would let me get up on stage and sit next to my dad, put some music on a stand for me and I swore I was playing! I thought I was playing along with the big band." <br><br>"We came to the United States in 1958, when I was 7 years old, and my dad started me off on trumpet. I really didn’t want to play the trumpet, but that was the instrument he started me off with. His whole thing was that I would learn treble clef. I played trumpet for a couple of years, but it wasn’t an instrument I really was interested in playing. it was the guitar that I really loved, especially while listening to the Beatles and the Stones and the other bands in the early ’60s. I even tried to build a guitar out of pieces of wood I got from a nearby lumberyard, totally destroying my father’s tools in the process! He saw that and he knew that playing guitar was something I wanted to do. One day, though, my father came home with an Ampeg baby bass. I looked at the bass and, not thinking, I said, “Who’s going to play that?” And he looked at me and he said, “Who do you think?” <br><br>Alex studied privately with some of the great teachers of stringed instruments, composition, theory, as well as arranging. Reggie Workman and Harry Constant at The New Muse in Brooklyn, Melonie Punter and Akua Dixon at the String Reunion and composer/recording artist Richard Davis all helped embolden Alex's novelty. <br><br>He began to collaborate creatively on the inception of some of the more recognized Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Latino Jazz artists including Mongo Santamaria. Machito (Maria Bauza), and Celia Cruz to name a few. By the time he was sixteen, Alex had reached the epitome of "outside" success by Europe touring and recording with Sun Ra. From there, at the ripe old age of sixteen, Alex had moved on to play and tour internationally with Dizzy Gillespie, which catapulted the demand for his ingenuity on the bass, around the world. The calls poured in from Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, and many others who desired his inventive interpretations on the bass. <br><br>After becoming one of the major proponents of the fusion movement In the late 70’ with his writing and performances with Lenny White and Billy Cobham, Alex established himself as a drummer's bassist. His range and ability, flow between melodic, and extremely rhythmic playing, enabling the all-star drummers with whom he played, to express themselves illimitably without having to worry about keeping time. Most of the people who work with Alex consider him an entire rhythm section on his own. His playing embodies rhythm guitar, steady drumming, and lyrical bass line work all in the action of two hands. If you count the scat singing that he throws in over some of his solos, you might be inclined to call him the whole band and give him the horn chair as well. <br><br>Throughout the years, Alex Blake's recording and touring dates have read like a “who's who” of all the “who's” of jazz The depth of his skill demonstrates why so many agree that the creative stylings of Alex Blake, reinvented the bass. <br><br>His talent can be measured by the plenitude of masters who have called upon him for his inventive playing. They include: Dizzy Gillespie, Carlos Santana, Sonny Rollins, Sun Ra, Nancy Wilson, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, McCoy Tyner, Max Roach, Billy Cobham, The Manhattan Transfer, Astrud Gilberto, Pharaoh Sanders, Airto, Harry Belafonte, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Buffett, Jonathan Butler, Betty Carter, Charito Billy Cobham, Celia Cruz, Joey DeFrancesco, Chico Freeman, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Mac Gollehan, Norman Headman Weldon Irving, Ryo Kawasaki Earl Klugh, Pati LaBelle, The Last Poets, Yusef Lateef, Frank Lowe, Carmen Lundy, Manhattan Transfer, James Moody, Sun Ra, Do-um Ramon, Carls Ward, Kazumi Watanabe, Lenny White, Nancy Wilson to name a few. Within the past decade and a half, he has performed with Randy Weston. Each artists chose Alex as a source of ingenuity, inspiration, and versatility. <br><br>He would go onto travel across every continent, focusing on his full-time live performance career, almost exclusively, until the late 70s when he took a break to record and release his first album. <br><br>Christopher Porter of The Jazz Times wrote: "Blake’s first album as a leader, Especially For You (Sony), came out in 1979, but only in Japan; Now Is the Time marks his American debut. Bubble Core co-owner Adam Pierce, who plays vibes, bass and percussion in the dub-jazz duo The Dylan Group, saw Blake in performance and was so knocked out by the bassist that he offered to release an album. While the Bubble Core is eclectic, it has focused mostly on experimental electronica and rock; Now Is the Time marks its first straightahead jazz release—and it’s an auspicious debut." <br><br>In 2002 following the release of his first album, "Now Is The Tme", Mark Corroto wrote, "Randy Weston’s secret is revealed on this live date from New York’s Knitting Factory. But anyone who has seen the tall pianist knows his rhythm secret is Alex Blake." <br><br>As a band leader, composer, songwriter, side man, and educator, Alex Blake’s original compositions encompass a range musical styles. He has recorded on multiple Grammy-winning albums, and was inducted into the Brooklyn Jazz Hall of Fame and Museum, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium in 2011. <br><br>Mr. Blake will be releasing his new album early, 2018. <br><br>He performs at festivals, jazz clubs, and performing arts centers in the U.S. and around the world. His energetic and inventive themes dazzle as well edify audiences about the limiteless potential and timeless legacy of jazz. <br /><br />As the nephew of Hammond B3 Legend Jimmy Smith, <br>Tommy Campbell was born into a musical family and was "surrounded by music and drummers since (he) was two years old." He worked with Dizzy Gillespie over a span of almost two decades, and also the same with Sonny Rollins. Tommy recorded and toured extensively with John McLaughlin and came up though the musicianship ranks with lifelong friend and mentor Kevin Eubanks. Campbells "Vocal~Eyes" is a concept he developed while playing with the Manhattan Transfer and living in New York City. Tommy concentrated on blending the straight up groove of Jazz with vocal melodies and syncopated lyrics and arrangements that pull from BeBop through Ethnic Music, Hip-Hop, and other wide varieties of music. <br>The "Vocal~Eyes" band is pushing new boundaries in vocal/instrumental blending that satisfies the hunger of traditional jazz aficionados, while paving the way for a new, young generation of jazz heads. My goal with this project is to reacquaint all vocalists with the reasons why they became vocalists. After all, the voice and the drum are the first instruments!"