Category Archives: Newsletters

Fairbanks’ Follow-ups, Fund-awards, ‘Formances, Photos (for February)

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Street Beat poses with the hosts of Televen TV network's
Dear Friends,

Jeff Fairbanks here, with a short, overdue newsletter hinting at some long stories – with new pics and videos to help tell them. Thanks for your continued interest in my music. You’ll notice a new letterhead above, “Street Beat/ Project Hansori/ Jeff Fairbanks”. This hopefully reflects my multiple (and very different) musical projects, while streamlining with reverbnation.com’s musician profile layout.

STREET BEAT BRASS VENEZUELA TOUR RECAP:
January 14-21, 2015 Street Beat Brass toured Venezuela at the invitation of the US Embassy to that country. I was joined by band mates Jason Wiseman, Mike Webster, James Rogers, and Vin Scialla. We gave performances including at Simon Bolivar University, El Hatillo town square, and live on the Televen network TV show “Vitrina” (we are pictured above posing with the show’s hosts). We also gave a masterclass with students of El Sistema, the internationally-renowned public music education program that groomed LA Philharmonic conductor prodigy Gustavo Dudamel. We interacted with the Jazz big band at Simon Bolivar University. Since our return, we got to reunite with the latter band and catch a couple concerts during its tour of NYC. Besides all this, we had much interaction with regular Venezuelan people, who proved to be very warm and welcoming. After some concerts, there were long lines of people waiting for autographs and photo ops, who would thank us in English. Needless to say the trip was very successful and rewarding.

NEW PICS AND VIDEOS:
Photos (from the tour):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1539681736291860.1073741839.1458930071033694&type=3
Videos (from the tour):
http://youtu.be/AZ-SwZyNito?list=PLtkT1Y3rV866NOybLA9Lu1U4IbrIWlJYz. (More to come so check back in).
New videos (SBB live in NYC): http://youtu.be/G2xKay2smZo?list=PLtkT1Y3rV866NOybLA9Lu1U4IbrIWlJYz

UPCOMING PUBLIC SHOWS:
Street Beat – Sunday March 15 @8pm at The Penrose
1590 2nd Ave New York, NY
https://www.facebook.com/events/316604508538259/

Street Beat – Friday April 10 @11:59pm at Rockwood Music Hall, NYC
196 Allen St New York, NY
https://www.facebook.com/events/444635825683892/

JFUND AWARD
I am thrilled to have received a JFund (Jerome Fund for New Music) Award from the American Composers Forum. Over the next several years I will compose a piece for a combination of Korean instruments that will feature multi-instrumentalist Gamin (http://gamin-music.com/), with whom I’ve had the privilege of collaborating and of studying Korean wind instruments over several years. I anticipate the eventual premier to happen in South Korea at a venue TBD. Read the announcement from ACF here: http://composersforum.org/press/acf-announces-2014-jerome-fund-new-music-recipients

SHOWS SINCE LAST NEWSLETTER (October!):

Project Hansori, my Jazz big band gave a powerful performance at the 4th annual Sounds of Arts Festival presented by Multicultural Sonic Evolution (MuSE), on 11/19/14 (pictured above). All the other goings-on including Street Beat’s recent tour have prevented me from even posting pictures from that concert!

Street Beat Brass played at Choga restaurant/ night spot in Greenwich Village on 12/12/14 and 1/6/15. We also played a high-energy show for a packed house at Rockwood Music Hall on 1/2/15. I’m posting more videos as they come in. For now, check out the ones I’ve already posted (linked above as well): http://youtu.be/G2xKay2smZo?list=PLtkT1Y3rV866NOybLA9Lu1U4IbrIWlJYz. Also, SBB also had a last-minute appearance this past Friday at the LREI school in the Village. Sorry this newletter couldn’t get out in time!

I’m so glad to have your interest and support. Greater NYC residents, please do say Hi at an upcoming show if you’re free.

Thanks,

Jeff Fairbanks
Composer, Performer, Bandleader
Project Hansori, Street Beat Brass
www.fairbanksmusic.com
www.streetbeatbrass.com

Venezuela Tour, Grammy Voting & More: Nov ’14 newsletter

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DSC_9247November 2014

Dear friends of Street Beat, Project Hansori and my other musical surfacings:

Below are two announcements of things where although local attendance isn’t possible, something major is happening. But first, I’ll start with something that folks around NYC certainly can attend.

BIG BAND CONCERT:
A long-awaited Project Hansori performance happens this month at the Sounds of Arts Festival presented by Multicultural Sonic Evolution (MuSE). Project Hansori’s program “Land Bridge” –connecting East Asia and North America in a Jazz setting– kicks off the festival which encompasses eight performances over six days in Queens. This festival usually sells out so it’s wise to buy tickets now (link below).

Wednesday Nov 19 @8pm
The Secret Theatre (in the Big Theatre)
4402 23rd Street, Long Island City, NY 11101
Tickets: General Admission $15 advance / $20 at the door, Seniors & Students with ID $12
Purchase tickets at http://musesoaf2014.brownpapertickets.com/
For more info about the festival visit http://musefriends.org/MuSE/Festival.html

GRAMMY VOTING:
My arrangement of John “Dizzy” Gillespie’s Manteca for Dave Chamberlain’s Band of Bones’ latest record Caravan has made an initial step in the Grammy awards process. NARAS members have until this Wednesday 11/5 to vote to include it on the ballot for potential Grammy nominations. Here’s the official listing:

Field: Composing/Arranging
Category: Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
MANTECA
Jeff Fairbanks, arranger (Dave Chamberlain’s Band Of Bones)

Parts of the album are also being considered in two other categories –  my friend Chris Rinaman’s arrangement of How Deep is the Ocean? (Best Arrangement Instruments and Vocals), and the album Caravan itself (Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album).

VENEZUELA TOUR:
What I hinted at last month is now official: Street Beat Brass will tour Venezuela this January, sponsored by the US State Department! Our tour runs Jan 14-21, and includes performances at the San Sebastian Cultural Festival and more, and teaching masterclasses for students including those of El Sistema (the iconic program that groomed LA Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel). I’m now working on setting up a NYC ‘send-off’ show (TBA) near the start of our tour. Links to our members:
Jason Wiseman www.facebook.com/jason.wiseman.9484?fref=ts
Mike Webster www.michaelwebstermusic.com
James Rogers www.facebook.com/james.rogers.79?fref=ts
Vin Scialla www.facebook.com/vin.scialla?fref=ts
Street Beat Brass Band www.streetbeatbrass.com

STREET BEAT OCTOBER RE-CAP:
It’s worth briefly re-capping Street Beat’s October schedule, which was jam-packed with a dozen gigs, including our third-in-a-row appearance the annual All Nite Soul festival. We also had not-so-private birthday parades around Manhattan streets, stormed offices, and entertained crowds at various Oktoberfest events. A slightly disturbing Halloween event we were potentially asked to do luckily fell through. The photo above, from Shawna Ryan at Big Personality Media, is from our gig at LIC Landing which provided a great backdrop of the NYC skyline.

Thank you for your interest in my music. See you on 11/19, or at our TBA pre-tour send-off show!

Jeff Fairbanks
Composer, Performer, Bandleader

Oceans of Outstanding October Outings (Fall ’14 newsletter)

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Street Beat riding the elevator to a recent Manhattan gig. October 2014

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Since my Summer newsletter I’ve had much brewing behind the scenes, but now have some very visible activities to share. Read on for upcoming shows from Project Hansori and Street Beat (two very different bands I lead), two new albums I’m on, and a potential international tour for Street Beat.  Pictured: the latter band catching an elevator up to a recent private gig at Round Hill Music.
First, Street Beat has three weekends of public appearances at some major NYC events, including the All Nite Soul Festival. Many of you have never seen this band live since to this point we’ve largely performed at various private events (—these running the gamut from flash mobs to funerals, parades to proposals).
This is not official yet, but an opportunity is now developing for Street Beat to perform on a US State Department-sponsored international tour this winter. I can’t make an announcement yet, but I’m excited about this prospect and want to share at least share this much.
See Street Beat’s brand new Facebook page and Like it to get updates on our activities as they are posted. www.facebook.com/streetbeatbrass This band’s full site is www.streetbeatbrass.com.

STREET BEAT SHOWS: Sunday Oct 5 @ LIC Flea & Food Oktoberfest **TOMORROW** https://www.facebook.com/events/290164301187243
Saturday Oct 11 @ LIC Landing https://www.facebook.com/events/1501620336783152/
Sunday Oct 12 @ All Nite Soul https://www.facebook.com/events/650337948406848/
Saturday Oct 18 @ LIC Flea & Food Oktoberfest https://www.facebook.com/events/270817176450981/

PROJECT HANSORI SHOW Wednesday Nov 19 @ Sound of Arts Festival https://www.facebook.com/events/1553846884844926/ Project Hansori’s first concert in ten months, since our performance at the Asian American Arts Festival at Manhattan’s Children’s Museum of the Arts.

SHOWS AS SPECIAL GUEST Guest appearances with Vin Scialla/ Eric Schugren Project’s WakeUp! CD release: Sun Oct 12 @ City Reliquary Museum (info link TBA) Sun Oct 19 @ Rockwood Music Hall www.facebook.com/events/583227775132845/ Here are some increasingly rare instances of mine as a sideman rather than a band leader.

RECORDING APPEARANCES
My arrangement of John “Dizzy” Gillespie’s Manteca appears on a new record just released by the Band of Bones, called Caravan. This band has eight trombones plus rhythm section. Trombonist Steve Turre and harmonica player Hendrick Meurkens appear elsewhere on the record. This track has recieved quite a but of airplay on the NYC area’s main Jazz radio station, WBGO. http://bandofbones.com/

Guest Appearance on Wake Up!, a new album the by Vin Scialla/Eric Schugren Project, out soon on Liftoff Records. I play trombone on several of the tracks with this fun, organ-backed band. www.facebook.com/wakeupjazz Here’s a sample (I’m not on this track): www.soundcloud.com/liftoffrecords/tc-blues-sciallaschugren

Thanks for your interest in my music. I’d love to see NYC-area fans at one of these upcoming shows – ‘Liking’ the Project Hansori and Street Beat Facebook pages is the best way to receive updates on these.

Thank you,
Jeff Fairbanks Composer, Performer, Band leader

Summer ’14 Newsletter

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SB @CU 2-12-14Thank you for your continued interest in my music. One has much to write about when their previous newsletter was six months prior. My immediate announcement below is a rare public Street Beat appearance, this Sunday night at a Lower East Side brewery. You’ll also enjoy watching and listening to a pair of Korean broadcasts I was involved in, one TV and one radio. HD videos from Project Hansori’s last concert are up. Sadly, in April we lost to cancer a truly individual artist with whom I was privileged to work, Fred Ho. Two articles about his passing are linked, including one from the NY Times.

STREET BEAT at PAULANER BRAUHAUS
Sunday July 13 at (tentatively) 8-10pm
Paulaner Brauhaus: 265 Bowery New York, NY 10002
212-780-0300 www.paulanernyc.com
Join Street Beat Brass Band at the Paulaner Brauhaus in the LES for a post-Germany-final World Cup after party. We hit after the close of Sunday’s match, between 7 and 8pm, and play tentatively until 10pm (depending on game ending time). We’ve done a lot of private gigs lately, but this is the first full-band public performance in some time. If you come early to watch the game there, it will play on two 8-foot screens. So what better world cup atmosphere than a funky brass band at a German biergarten and a room full of over-enthusiastic ex-pats?
https://www.facebook.com/events/490405481103483/

KOREAN TV BROADCAST ON MBC NEWS
The Korean TV network MBC interviewed me about my work exploring Gugak (that country’s indigenous performing arts), and interacting the same with American Jazz. The segment aired on this network’s nightly news show throughout South Korea on 2/10/14. Watch the video:
http://youtu.be/txAilvosDks

KOREAN RADIO BROADCAST and CONCERT
My wife Heun Choi and I joined Korean multi-instrumentalist Gamin and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi on stage 2/7/14 at Flushing Town Hall. The program included my composition Duduk. The concert was later broadcast on the Korean radio station Gugak FM, and can be heard at the below link. After clicking, you’ll  see a list of broadcasts with Korean titles.  Just click the third green button from the bottom. The entire concert will play on just one track.  Duduk starts after 1:02:00; and we’re also heard on an improvised piece after 49:00.
http://www.gugakfm.co.kr/aod_player.asp?Num=389&FileName=20140403-1930

“NEW SOUNDS OF EAST AND WEST” LIVE CONCERT VIDEOS
These were professionally filmed, and then edited by your truly. Due to the time-intensive work, I’ve been able to complete the two songs here. More will follow as I can complete them. Please enjoy and share them. To be notified as soon as I post new videos, just subscribe to my YouTube channel (via the links):
Cumberland Gap
http://youtu.be/CzTDzQriBPo
Kangwondo Arirang
http://youtu.be/hoYXVXMw9O0

ARRANGEMENT ON NEW ALBUM RELEASE
My arrangement of John “Dizzy” Gillespie’s Manteca appears on a new record just released by the Band of Bones, called Caravan. This band has eight trombones plus rhythm section. Trombonist Steve Turre and harmonica player Hendrick Meurkens appear elsewhere on the record. B.O.B. has been playing locally quite a bit, so there are plenty of chances to hear them play music from this new release.
http://bandofbones.com/

PROJECT HANSORI at SOUND OF ARTS FESTIVAL
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 8pm
Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd St Long Island City, Queens, NY 11101
Tickets TBA
Multicultural Sonic Evolution (MuSE) presents a concert of Project Hansori, as part of its 2014 Sound of Arts Festival. This festival will include more than 50 artists and will program the work of only living composers.  I’m happy to be invited as part by my friends at MuSE, a wonderful non-profit devoted to producing artistic events. This is the next concert on the horizon for Project Hansori since its last performance in January at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in Manhattan.
www.musefriends.org

PAST PERFORMANCES
Street Beat played quite a few private events through the winter and spring. We do it all, and couple gems were a proposal in Central Park (orchestrated from Brazil); a party for a German soccer fan club; an Upper East Side rooftop wedding; and an Upper West Side Bat Mitzvah (that unfortunately canceled).
We also gave some public performances including Columbia University in February and May; Sunnyside Gardens Park’s Memorial Day Fair; and a GrowNYC Green Market in June.

REMEMBERING FRED HO
Sadly, composer-activist-baritone saxophonist Fred Ho passed away 4/12/14. He was only 56 years old and had been battling cancer for years. Fred performed as a special guest with Project Hansori on several concerts and on the band’s recording Mulberry Street. Fred was a very unique and charismatic individual who spoke his mind, and who leaves behind a large legacy of his work, which deserves much attention. Below is a NY Times article announcing his death and celebrating him:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/arts/music/fred-ho-56-composer-and-radical-activist-dies.html?_r=1
This announcement by his former student Marie Incontrera is much more personal:
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/a-celebration-of-fred-ho/
His website is out of date but contains much info about his work:
http://www.bigredmediainc.com

Thanks for your interest,

Jeff Fairbanks
Composer, Performer, Band leader
www.fairbanksmusic.com

Jeff’s Jam-packed January Jazz (etc.) Journal

Newsletters

Dear Friends,

Though by the tenth day I figure it’s gotten old for you to hear a new year greeting, I’d like to do so in this first newsletter of what promises to be a year of exciting possibilities for myself and, I hope, for all of you as well. Before I look too far ahead though, I want to turn your attention to something much sooner — tomorrow, in fact!:

SPECIAL CONCERT SATURDAY (TOMORROW!) Saturday January 11, 2014 @12pm-2:15pm (overall event runs 10am-5pm) Asian American Arts Festival at the Children’s Museum of the Arts 103 Charlton St New York, NY 10014 I’m leading a unique quartet performance of all-Eastern instruments and dance for this special date in Greenwich Village. Karen Kriegel (dance), Rami Seo(kayageum), Satoshi Takeishi (percussion), and myself on piri and trombone (well,there is a little Western in there). Actually some bits of America, Middle East and Far East are in the program. See “East Wind” 12-2:15pm in the link: http://cmany.org/events/asian-american-festival-3/. I’m also excited that a local crew from MBS, one of South Korea’s largest boadcasting networks, will be on scene to interview me and film our performance for a possible future TV broadcast. You bet I’ll keep you all posted if/as that develops!

CARNEGIE HALL (with an ENORMOUS big band) …Then later this month I play a smaller role at a bigger venue.  In a bigger (rediculously bigger) band. On January 24th at 7pm I’ll join fellow New York Jazz Academy faculty members and our students in a mass concert at Carnegie Hall.  I’m not featured in this and will in fact be one part of a big ensemble — can you imagine a 75-piece Jazz band? This is what the NYJA is planning. Rumor has it a special guest or two might make an appearance as well.  Check back with http://www.nyjazzacademy.com/ for updates and more details. Meanwhile tentative details are in my show schedule below.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE The Queens Chronicle just published a piece by Tammy Scileppi about my Jazz big band (Project Hansori), and Rene Sing’s newly-released documentary about it called Temple of Memories. Full text also in a recent blog of mine. Here’s a quote from Tammy: “The film is a must-see, entertaining and informative experience for any jazz buff”. Some long-time fans may remember she also wrote a feature about me that appeared on the cover of the Entertainment section of NYC’s Times Ledger in 2011.

SOCIAL MEDIA MILESTONES A day after Project Hansori’s December 19th concert in Sunnyside Queens, thanks to the online buzz around it, several of my social media profiles hit new milestones. Though these stats are not an end to themselves, they are encouraging and show an upward trend. So for what it’s worth… My Reverbnation profile (3 million+ worldwide users) ranked 2nd in World Music for NYC (and 18th nationally), and reached 500 fans. On Facebook, the band’s page hit 100 Likes. All this happening within one day couldn’t escape my notice. Mainly I bring this up to thank all of you —my faithful listeners, fans, friends, and supporters; everyone involved in some way with what I do. Thanks!

SINCE LAST NEWSLETTER Project Hansori’s NYSCA-supported concert on December 19 in Sunnyside, Queens was a smash hit, and an evening of deep playing and listening. Here’s a detailed wrap of it in my blog.  …This same group also performed last week on January 5th as an earlier appearance of mine at the CMA’s Asian American Arts Festival. Though our rehearsal was nixed by several of us having our flights canceled due to a blizzard, the band performed all the material wonderfully!  …Two days later (1/7/14) dancer Karen Kriegel joined me on piri for a short performance at the Asian American Arts Alliance’s January Town Hall meeting  …Back on December 7th, 2013 I joined Rami Seo and her Wolrd Music Ensemble for a performance at a Manhattan public school, where I played piri.

…So it’s been an eventful winter so far. And in 2013 as a whole, quite a lot happened: intense training in Korea; high-profile shows of my music by myself and others (and low-profile shows such as a private Street Beat gig parading around a tiny island); the release of a documentary; press coverage including a feature story; the close of a great composer residency –not to mention an Independent Music Award and an ASCAP Plus award!  Now, beyond the rest of this month’s shows, I look forward to a year of adventures with growing media covereage; developments with all my ongoing ensembles (Street Beat, Project Hansori, and the as-yet unnamed project built around my piri playing, both solo and with collaborators); and new composition activities. I’m glad to have you all on board as things unfold.

Thank you,

Jeff Fairbanks