SPF 2022: Saturday Feature Concert

6^th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival

The Solo Jazz Piano Festival is one of the solid cornerstones of the VJC’s programming. Now in its 6th year, it has presented some of the world’s top pianists including NEA Jazz Masters Toshiko Akiyoshi and Joanne Brackeen; jazz legends Stanley Cowell, Luis Perdomo, Helen Sung, Kirk Lightsey, Orrin Evans and George Cables; emerging artists have included Christian Sands, Julius Rodriguez, Miro Sprague, Franz Robert, Kris Adams and Craig Taborn. Renowned piano-educators David Berkman and Kenny Werner have also been presented.

Because the piano is an instrument that has an expansive range, it conveys harmony, melody and rhythm all at the same time. One of the greatest piano legends of all time, Oscar Peterson, stated: “I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea.”

Set I
Xavier Davis
“Xavier Davis simply knows how to make every note on his instrument sing, and he invariably finds the richest area of the keyboard for voicing his chords.” – Bob Blumenthal, in liner notes to Davis’ Life Lessons
Xavier Davis is also a Grammy-award winner due to his appearance as a member of the Christian McBride Big Band’s 2012 album The Good Feeling. His talent became broadly recognized after joining the ensemble of the legendary vocalist Betty Carter while in his early 20s; Ms. Carter heard and chose Davis after hearing him play with his college jazz band at the 1994 IAJE Jazz Convention. Davis’ resume includes 3 releases as a leader, his newest called Rise Up Detroit is with a jazz rhythm section plus a string quartet and features violin icon, Regina Carter. He also appears as a sideman on over 60 recordings including releases with the Betty Carter, Christian McBride Big Band, Freddie Hubbard, Tom Harrell, Regina Carter, Stefon Harris, Abbey Lincoln, Wynton Marsalis, Don Byron, Nat Adderley, Nicholas Payton, Jon Faddis, Joe Chambers, Dave Stryker, Jimmy Greene, Steve Turre, Al Foster, Jeremy Pelt, Ron Blake and many others. The son of two music teachers, Davis says he “has teaching in his genes.” He is currently a professor of music at Michigan State University and taught for six years at the Julliard School. He has received two CMA New Works Grants and several DownBeat recognitions.  

Set II
Benny Green
“It is rewarding to see, when he plays live, the precision of his touch and the economy of his playing, supported by the virtuosity at his command and his intensity in expression. Benny Green is now part of the Olympus of piano jazz, of jazz itself…Benny Green is magic!” –Jazz Hot
Green is the official “protégé” of piano giant Oscar Peterson according to the All-Music website; testament to this legacy is a two-piano album featuring the two pianists and a rhythm section. To add to that legacy Peterson’s bassist, Ray Brown, choose Benny Green to be the pianist in his group; together they went on to record nine albums. Green’s music is based on the muscular, hard-swinging tradition of Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson, but it is also steeped in the soulful sounds of Bobby Timmons and Wynton Kelly. He is particularly appreciated by the jazz cognoscenti for the trio work he did as a young man with Christian McBride and Carl Allen or Russell Malone – their recording of That’s Right and their live-at-the-Vanguard release, Testifyin,’ are especially gratifying. Green has recorded about twenty albums as a leader. Some of the artists with whom he has recorded as a sideman include Paul Quinichette, Gene Ammons, Ralph Moore, Russel Malone, Etta Jones, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Betty Carter, Bobby Watson’s Horizon, Houston Person, Steve Turre, the Mingus Dynasty band, Brian Lynch, Joe Henderson, Etta Jones, Ray Brown Trio, Milt Jackson, Lew Tabackin, Ann Hampton Callaway, Al Cohn, Freddie Hubbard, Flip Phillips, Diana Krall, Mark Murphy, John Pizzarelli, Anat Cohen, Kenny Burrell and Terence Blanchard.