Wed

2/8/2012

8:00pm

Jazz

Hot Club of Detroit

With special guest Zach Brock

Sold Out

• $30 Assigned Rows 1-2
• $20 Assigned Rows 3-5
• $15 General Admission
• $10 Student

• Zach Brock, violin
• Evan Perri, guitar
• Julien Labro, accordion
• Paul Brady, guitar
• Shawn Conley, bass

Event Details

 

Read Hot Club of Detroit's NPR feature here.

More than seven decades after the innovations of the Quintette du Hot Club de France, featuring guitar virtuoso Django Reinhardt, combos called Hot Clubs carry on the gypsy jazz sound around the globe - in Tokyo, San Francisco, Seattle, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and many other locales. None, however, offers a fresher take on the tradition than the Hot Club of Detroit, led by fast-fingered Reinhardt disciple Evan Perri. Hot Club of Detroit has headlined nearly every jazz festival, club and concert hall in Southeast Michigan as well as various venues throughout the country. Read their NPR feature here. This performance is made possible with support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Special thanks also for support from 

Zach Brock

One of the most virtuosic and emotive voices of contemporary jazz violin, Zach Brock has followed a path which embraces not only jazz, but also classical, world, and popular music. From critical acclaim as a bandleader to international exposure in collaborations with Stanley Clarke, Grazyna Auguscik, and Frank Vignola, Zach continues to gain admiration from both jazz purists and music enthusiasts alike.  Zach’s repertoire includes re-workings of songs by Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Phil Markowitz, and Zbigniew Seifert, in addition to an evolving catalogue of his own compositions. His latest CD The Magic Number, with bassist Matt Wigton and drummer Fred Kennedy, offers a telling glimpse of why Zach is being heralded as "the pre-eminent improvising violinist of his generation." (Neil Tesser, Chicago Examiner)

Born in Lexington, Brock grew up in a family of musicians and was performing publicly by the age of six. He became serious about jazz while in high school and moved to Chicago to continue his classical studies with the ulterior motive of participating in the city’s jazz scene.  As a sophomore in college, Brock was in a serious car accident that sidelined him for three years. By the time he was able to finish his degree, Brock had already launched headlong into his professional career.

In 2005 The Coffee Achievers, Brock’s first quartet, made their Carnegie Hall debut at the invitation of trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas. Six months later they played at the Ouro Preto Jazz Festival in Brazil. Zach moved to New York a few months later and the second chapter of his early career began.

The Magic Number, Zach’s first recording as leader since 2007, distinguishes itself immediately through its unusual instrumentation: an acoustic trio that counterbalances the absence of a chordal instrument with the addition of wordless vocal harmonies, pitched percussion, and extended instrumental techniques. It is the first recording of Zach’s to feature his own compositions alongside classic and modern jazz standards and it was funded entirely by fans’ donations made through the micro-funding website Kickstarter. The title of the CD was inspired by Zach’s recent work as a sideman with the iconic Bob Dorough, a Miles Davis collaborator and Schoolhouse Rock! originator. The trio made their international debut at the 2010 Toronto Jazz Festival.

Zach Brock also tours and records with a diverse roster of artists that includes Stanley Clarke, The Magic Number, Frank Vignola, and Snarky Puppy.

For more information, please visit www.zackbrock.com

Evan Perri

Although he claims to have no Gypsy blood in him, Hot Club founder Evan Perri spent nearly six years roaming the campuses of five different colleges in search of the right music program. He studied jazz at Berkelee College of Music, Musictech College in Minneapolis, and Western Michigan before settling in at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the son of a jazz guitarist, but Evan did not pick up a guitar until age 16 and never heard a Django Reinhardt recording until his twenties. However, while still a fan of greats like Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell, he vividly remembers hearing Django for the first time and thinking, "This is it. This is what I've been looking for." The HCOD was born out of his desire to recreate the sound he describes as "Parisian Café 1936, but with better sound equipment" in Detroit. A dedicated student of Reinhardt and the gypsy guitar tradition, Evan is currently playing the "Model Jazz" guitar made byManouche Guitars.

Julien Labro

Since 1998, Labro's reputation as a formidable and dazzling musician has continued to grow on this side of the Atlantic. Labro entered Wayne State University under Soave's tutelage to master the bayan (classical accordion) and its repertoire, and discovered the bandoneón (tango accordion). Labro was the winner of WSU's Concerto Competition in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and was recipient of the Lawson Scholarship in 2002, the prestigious Presidential Endowed Scholarship in 2003, and the Presser Scholarship in 2004. Labro was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda Honorary Musical Fraternity in 2004, and was recognized by the United States Achievement Academy as a Collegiate All-American Scholar in 2003 and 2004. Labro, a 2005 Magna Cum Laude Bayan Performance graduate of WSU holds a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies (2007), and in Music Composition (2010).

Labro has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, and has performed in France, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, Andorra, Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Finland and Sweden. Stateside, he has been a guest artist with several symphonies and chamber groups such as the Grosse Pointe Symphony, the Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony, the Saginaw Symphony, the Bijou Orchestra, the Linden String Quartet, and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. Labro also performed at the International Finnish Accordion Festival, and the International Las Vegas Accordion Convention, where he was featured with accordion legends Dick Contino and Art Van Damme.

Labro has made numerous radio and television appearances in the United States and Europe, and has played and been interviewed on Radio France, Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR, WDET-Detroit's Ed Love and Martin BanDycke Shows, WFJ-AM's Mitch Albom Show and Fox-Detroit News. On a creative level, Labro has been enlisted as an arranger for several professional ensembles, most recently for Ensemble Vivant of Toronto, led by international pianist Catherine Wilson.

Paul Brady

In 2005 Paul Brady graduated from DePaul University with a degree in jazz studies. During that summer he performed with the Hot Club of Detroit for the first time. Within weeks following that performance at the Detroit Jazz Festival, the band was asked to record for Mack Avenue Records and Brady was invited to be a full time member. From 2005 to 2007, Brady was also on the faculty at the David Adler Center for Music and Arts in Libertyville, Illinois. There he taught guitar, bass and jazz improvisation while freelancing as a guitarist in Chicago.

As a classical guitarist, Brady made his recital debut as a part of the Adler Center's Faculty Concert Series, which included performances of chamber music with Mezzo soprano Cecila Hall and members of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Brady has also studied conducting with Michael Lewanski and Kenneth Kiesler. 

An active producer, Brady co-organizes the Detroit Django Reinhardt Festival along with HCOD leader Evan Perri. The two continue to bring this festival into the mainstream by prompting sponsorship and bringing in nationally known guest artists, who have included Howard Alden, Frank Vignola, Anat Cohen, James Carter. 

Shawn Conley

Shawn Conley studied with George Wellington, Sr. for the first five years of his life as a bass player. During that time he won a position in the Honolulu Symphony, and both the State and Southwest divisions of the MTNA solo staring competition. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, under the tutelage of Paul Ellison. Shawn was awarded a Wagoner Fellowship to study a year in Paris, where he received both performance and teaching diplomas from Francois Rabbath. Uopn returning from Europe, Mr. Conley returned to Rice University to work with Paul Ellison toward his Master of Music degree. In June 2007, he was a winner in the International Society of Bassists Scott LaFaro Jazz competition.