KESWICK THEATRE
291 Keswick Ave., Glenside, PA
TUES., AUG. 19, 8 PM
Tickets on sale NOW!
Thunder happens when three premier bassists Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten team up for concert dates. The Thunder Tour comes to Glenside's Keswick Theatre on Tues., Aug. 19 @ 8 PM.
The new Thunder CD, releasing August 12, gets the showcase treatment. The three played together in October 2006 at the Bass Player Live! Concert in NYC and quickly realized that there was room for them to operate together rather than compete with each other. Each of us has reached a certain point and I think that we are all celebrating what we've accomplished with the bass, says Clarke. This record is a picture of three guys moving forward, both as individuals and as a group. But Thunder isn't just about the lower frequencies keyboardists Chick Corea and George Duke and trumpeter Michael Patches Stewart join in on the CD. On Thunder, Miller revisits his classic Tutu, Clarke samples “Lopsy Lu" and all three contribute new work.
Jazz/funk fans can also expect selections from their individual current efforts - Clarke's The Toys of Men, Miller's Marcus and Wooten's Palmystery.
Stanley Clarke exploded into the jazz world in 1971 when he left his Philly roots for NYC and immediately landed gigs with Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and a budding pianist/composer named Chick Corea. They all recognized his ferocious dexterity and ability to propel the bass into a viable melodic soloist role. These attributes bore fruit when Clarke and Corea formed the seminal jazz-fusion band Return to Forever. They recorded eight albums, two of which went gold and one winning a Grammy.
Clarke single-handedly started the 1970s “bass revolution," paving the way for all bassist/ soloist/bandleaders to follow with 1974s release of his eponymous Stanley Clarke album, which featured the crossover hit, “Lopsy Lu." In 1976 he released School Days, its title track now a bona fide bass anthem. He teamed with George Duke, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and more - was Rolling Stone's first Jazzman of the Year - and bass winner of Playboy's Music Award for 10 straight years. In recent years, Clarke turned his boundless creative energy to film and TV scoring. In April 2008, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Philadelphia's University of the Arts, his alma mater.
Marcus Miller came from a musical family in Jamaica, NY. By age 13, he was already proficient on clarinet and piano and had begun composing, but bass guitar was his true passion. As a teen, he worked regularly in NYC bands and soon played and wrote for flutist Bobbi Humphrey and keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith. Miller spent the next few years as a top studio musician, working with Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Grover Washington Jr., among others.
In 1981, he joined his boyhood idol Miles Davis and spent two years with the fabled star. “He didn't settle for anything mediocre," Miller recalls. “And this helped me develop my style. In 1986, Miller collaborated again with Davis, producing the landmark Tutu album, the first of three Davis albums he produced. He appeared as a bassist on over 400 recordings by artists as diverse as Joe Sample, McCoy Tyner, Mariah Carey, Bill Withers, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Frank Sinatra, LL Cool J and Luther Vandross. Solo albums include 1993's The Sun Don't Lie, 1995's Tales and M2 ("M-squared"), which earned him the 2001 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.
Following his stunning show at the Keswick in April, Victor Wooten is back for the thunder. Regarded as one of the most influential bassists since the late Jaco Pastorius, Wooten is known for both his solo work and tours and as a member of Grammy-winners Bla Fleck & The Flecktones.
Wooten released his acclaimed solo debut, A Show of Hands in 1996. Momentum and accolades built with touring and the release of What Did He Say? in 1997, the Grammy-nominated Yin-Yang in 1999 and Live In America in 2001. He won two Nashville Music Awards for Bassist of the Year and is the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazines Bass Player of the Year. With the honors came gigs with Branford Marsalis, Bruce Hornsby, Chick Corea, Dave Matthews and Prince. The April release of his Palmystery CD coincided with the release of his novel, “The Music Lesson", the story of a struggling young musician visited by a mysterious music teacher who guides him through a spiritual journey in music and life.
The theme in Wooten's novel may well serve as a prelude to the one-time concert experience that is SMV The Thunder Tour a spiritual journey in music!
Tickets are $40.00 and can be ordered online @ keswicktheatre.com, via 24-Hr. Phone-Charge (215-572-7650), and at the box office Mon.-Sat. from 10 AM to 5 PM.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
