Palmetto Records Founder Matt Balitsaris on Tuesday, October 24 at Free Noontime Jazz Clinics at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus
At its free jazz clinics in October, Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus will feature musicians with extraordinary links to jazz history in addition to being outstanding in their own right: Ravi Coltrane, son of the legendary saxophonist, and Matt Balitsaris, guitarist, composer and founder of Palmetto Records.
The separate appearances are part of the Jazz Clinic and Concert Series, sponsored by the Campus music department to provide students with exposure to top talents, who perform and discuss their music, often playing with and giving feedback to the students.
The clinics are free and open to the general public. They take place on various Tuesdays, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., in room 106 of the Humanities Building on Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus.
Ravi Coltrane headlines the program on October 3. A tenor and soprano saxophone player, bandleader and composer, Coltrane is the son of musical giant John Coltrane and was named after Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. In addition to working and traveling with his own group, he has recently made several guest performances with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Michael Brecker and Branford Marsalis. In 2002, he launched his own recording company, RKM Music, and also produced Legacy, a four-disc, thematic study of his father's career, for Verve. February 2005 saw the release of his fourth album as leader, In Flux, of which Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote, “It's a record that you can point to and say: 'This is what jazz sounds like now in New York.'"
Matt Balitsaris leads the clinic on October 24. He began his career as a guitarist and composer in the late seventies, and over the 20 years he worked as a performing artist, he performed on nine albums as leader or co-leader. In 1992, he founded the now renowned jazz label, Palmetto Records, ranked in DownBeat Magazine's Critics' Poll as among the finest record companies worldwide. At Palmetto, he has produced records for many top musicians, including Andrew Hill, Doctor Lonnie Smith, Bobby Watson, Javon Jackson, Steve Swallow, Sam Newsome, Lee Konitz, Dewey Redman, Fred Hersch, Larry Goldings, Matt Wilson, Ben Allison and Jazz at Lincoln Center's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
The Brooklyn Campus music department offers programs leading to a B.A. in traditional music studies, a B.F.A. degree in Jazz Studies and a B.S. in Music Education in Urban Schools. For further information about the clinics or the music department, call Professor Robert Aquino at (718) 488-1668.
Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.
For more information contact Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services.
