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News :: Press Releases For Immediate Release: November 17, 2006
The Jazz Museum in Harlem invites lovers of jazz and Harlem to the final three discussions of 2006 of the Harlem Speaks series. The next session of Harlem Speaks will take place at The Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church, 1975 Madison Avenue (NE corner of 126th and Madison), from 6:30pm-8:30pm. A native of Toronto, Canada, moved to New York City at the age of 19. He met the legendary pianist Teddy Wilson soon thereafter, and began intensive studies with the master of piano touch and harmonic voicings. He continued his apprenticeship with another master pianist and arranger, Mary Lou Williams. The lessons, skills and techniques Carnegie learned with these and other instructors, including J. Lawrence Cook, have been distilled in his book, Ross Carnegie’s Teaching Method, Book One: Introduction to Modern Harmony. Carnegie has led small groups and jazz orchestras under his banner at venues nationwide. He is particularly proud of his tenure at the Riverboat Club at the Empire State building, where his ensemble played for standing-room-only audiences. Perhaps his most memorable career moment occurred in 2001, when he performed at the Waldorf Towers of the illustrious Waldorf Astoria. That night, he was literally on top of the world. In addition to weekly live performances in Nordstrom, an upscale retail establishment located in the Westchester Mall in White Plains, New York, Carnegie gives individual lessons at his private studio located in the historical Striver’s Row section of Harlem. He employs a method called DPT, which stands for Diagnostic Prescriptive Teaching. No matter the level of the student, Carnegie designs a curriculum tailored to meet his or her goals and aspirations. He provides caring and compassionate instruction to all from beginners who have never touched the ivories, to classical graduates of Juilliard, who use his approach to harmony to transform their theoretical knowledge and practical understanding of scales and chords into an ability to improvise. Eddie Locke, guest of Harlem Speaks on December 7, 2006, was part of the very fertile Detroit jazz scene of the late 1940s/early 1950s. He had a variety act with fellow drummer Oliver Jackson from 1948-53 called Bop and Locke, while freelancing with other Detroit musicians. After moving to New York in 1954, he played with Dick Wellstood, Tony Parenti, Henry “Red” Allen, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Teddy Wilson, Roy Eldridge and Coleman Hawkins, becoming a regular in the latter's group during the 1960s. In addition to recording with Lee Konitz, Tiny Grimes and Earle Warren, Locke was with Roy Eldridges's band at Ryan's throughout the '70s, and he remains active today. National Basketball Association Hall-of-Famer and all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Harlem Speaks special guest on December 21, 2006, has had a long love affair with jazz, which began in his youth—his father was a Juilliard-trained jazz trombonist and vocalist. The Harlem born and bred giant, who moved back home recently, is completing a documentary that explores the relationship between jazz music, hip-hop and basketball titled, On the Shoulders of Giants. “We want to show how hip-hop, which kind of fuels today’s basketball stars, is directly related to jazz. When we show that connection we find that things haven’t changed at all.” “One of the professional teams that was considered to be the best team played out of Harlem,” Abdul-Jabbar recently told Hoopsworld.com. “They played out of the Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, which was a dance hall and a place where prominent jazz musicians played. The Renaissance team would play before the main attraction when they played their home games. They would play one half of the game, then they would have one minor band, then they would play the second half of the game and then they might have Duke Ellington until 3am.” The documentary, which will feature a soundtrack by Herbie Hancock, is slated for release in February 2007. _____________________________________________________________ Benny Powell, one of the most versatile trombonists and jazz lecturers on the contemporary music scene, was the special guest on November 9, 2006. Of Powell, jazz critic Nat Hentoff has written: "Benny Powell's playing has always had a flowing coherence. The stories he tells are not fragmentary; they're complete . . . his tool is writing and arranging." Powell kept the audience at rapt attention for over two and half hours, with stories of his native New Orleans, his induction into the name-band big leagues with Lionel Hampton and then of course his 13 years with Count Basie. Especially fascinating were his memories of Lester Young when they toured together. His later years in the recording studios in NY and LA, as well as the Broadway Theater made for a historical mosaic and a thoroughly human story all at once. Powell now devotes a large portion of his time to a broad range of educational endeavors. He regularly presents an oral/musical history of African American music, “J.11 Stories”; has taught at Barry Harris' Jazz Cultural Theatre, Jazzmobile, and Long Island University; and is currently a professor at The New School. Powell is also a committed activist on behalf of jazz related causes. In 1978, he founded the non-profit Los Angeles Committee on jazz, and has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. The Harlem Speaks series, supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced by the Jazz Museum in Harlem's Executive Director, Loren Schoenberg, Co-Director Christian McBride, and Greg Thomas Associates. The next session of Harlem Speaks will take place at The Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church, 1975 Madison Avenue (NE corner of 126th and Madison), from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Transportation:
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