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