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Nuvo Jazz Quartet

NuvoJazz

Saturday November 3rd, 8pm, Inside concert

Expansive re-constructions of late-Romantic classics by Faure, Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff, Ladino folk music, plus original Brazilian and Turkish style compositions

Nuvo Jazz Quartet

The NUVO Jazz Quartet features expansive re-constructions of late-Romantic classics by Faure, Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff, Ladino folk music, plus original Brazilian and Turkish style compositions. You'll also hear a vocal blues suite by Ornette Coleman, Thelonius Monk, and McCoy Tyner.

  • HOUSE CONCERT HOST QUOTES:
  • "The standing ovation at the end of the1st set said everything that needs to be said about the NUVO's performance..." - Brad Gallien ("Concerts Off The Circle" house concerts)

    "The NUVO Jazz Quartet's concert was both intriguing in its diversity of songs, and entrancing in its performance. The jazz re-interpretations of classical works ranged from lyrical to powerful, and the set of variations on "Claire de Lune" was especially noteworthy. Our audience loved the performance and ended the evening with a standing ovation. They even demanded an encore!" -Markus Fromherz ("Live At Amaranta" house concerts)

  • Musicians
  • Michael Smolens -arranger/composer, piano, melodica, alto flute, dumbek, voice

    Justin Ouellet -violin, viola, melodica

    Aaron Germain - acoustic and fretless electric basses, acoustic guitar, gimbri

    Marlon Aldana - drumset, cajon, dumbek

  • BAND MEMBER BIOS:
  • Michael Smolens - A composer/arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist who has performed for nearly four decades, Smolens' artistic sensibility freely incorporates colors, moods, and arranging concepts from a multitude of influences. His primary sources of inspiration include: contemporary jazz, modern vocal flights, 20th-century classical, North Indian classical, African music, modern Brazilian music, accompanied Sufi poetry, and stage magic. Michael holds two music degrees from UC Santa Cruz, and has studied with some of the most innovative jazz teachers, including Art Lande, Allaudin Mathieu, and Kenny Werner. His works have been commissioned by Meet The Composer, National Public Radio, the Occidental Choir, UCSC Dance Dept., and numerous Bay Area solo vocalists.

    Michael has recorded six CDs in various formats from duo to large ensembles and they feature jazz legends Stefon Harris (vibes), Paul McCandless (reeds), and Zakir Hussain (tablas). He has also performed and recorded with members of Bobby McFerrin's "Voicestra" and folk/jazz/storyteller legend Claudia Schmidt. Other ensembles he leads include the West-African trio Bal du Kor, Brazilian trio Brisas do Brasil, the New American Songbook Project, earPlay Jazzquintet, KRIYA Octet, and the vocal Mirabai Ensemble.

    Michael is a senior-level teacher, working with individuals and groups since 1974 and coaching other teachers since 2000. He has published and lectured extensively on the art of practicing, and is adjunct faculty at Sonoma State University and JFK University.

    Justin Ouellet -Co-director of orchestral & chamber music studies at Oakland School for the Arts, Justin Ouellet is quickly garnering a reputation as a top performer as a cross-over artist in the classical and non-classical worlds. He has worked with an array of conductors including the award winning Gerard Schwarz, John McLaughlin Williams and Arnie Roth as well as performed alongside musicians around the world including the Alexander String Quartet, Wayne Lin, Kimberly Fisher, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Emil Miland.

    As an orchestral & chamber musician, Justin has performed throughout the United States in halls such as Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and internationally in the countries of Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Switzerland. As a non-classical musician Justin has been a featured artist alongside some of the San Francisco's preeminent performers such as Kev Choice, Josh Jones, Cava Menzies, Rob Reich, and more. Justin can be heard on recent recordings by Cava Menzies, Roscoe Mitchell & Undercover Presents as well as a co-produced EP for Anna Oiseau.

    Aaron Germain - Spending 20 years as a busy hired gun bass player, Aaron has been through all sorts of adventures; traveling the world and learning from the masters. Growing up in Massachusetts, he cut his teeth playing upright and electric bass in bands ranging from jazz, blues, funk, reggae, Senegalese mbalax; all while driving to New York and Boston, and all over New England. From the beginning he learned to be picky about quality, but not genre. Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2000, his adventures continued, and he quickly found himself working over time, sometimes playing two or three gigs a day. He entered the world of salsa and Afro-Cuban music, Brazilian forro music, Caribbean steel pan music; he found himself accompanying Indian kathak dancers, veteran calypso singers from Trinidad, or navigating through dense, odd-meter jazz compositions.

    Over the years, Aaron has performed with instrumentalist such as: Barry Finnerty, Scott Hamilton, John Handy, Tommy Igoe, Stanley Jordon, Yusef Lateef, Nguyen Le, Jeff Massanari, Paul McCandless, Jason Marsalis,Melba Moore;, Andy Narell, Akira Tana, and Michael Wolff. And vocalists, including Jacqui Naylor, Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Washington, Paula West, and Mary Wilson.

    He has performed at notable local venues such as The Fillmore, Herbst Theatre, The San Francisco Jazz Festival,Yoshis (Oakland SF); New York venues including Blue Note, The Blues Alley, Scullers, Zanzibar Blue; and Japanese venues Le Club Jazz (Kyoto), Cafe Yorozuya (Kobe), Z Imagine (Tokyo), Donfan (Tokyo), MEG (Tokyo) and Bar T.T. Funk (Tokyo).

    Marlon Aldana - Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, 1988. Musician, mixing engineer, and architect. At a young age Marlon started drumming and experimenting with Latin music as a self-taught musician, later studying jazz, rock and funk styles with numerous teachers around Mexico. He received a degree in architecture with a specialty in combining music and sculpture concepts and worked as a session drummer with different pop and rock artists around Mexico.

    Since he moved to the US in 2012, he is been part of a variety of projects with different genres including jazz, Afro-Cuban, funk, reggae, electronic, folk, and many others. Aldana was introduced into the flamenco world by Maestro Jason McGuire "El Rubio", which became his teacher and mentor. In 2014 Aldana became part of the company Caminos Flamencos and The Jason McGuire Trio, combining flamenco, jazz and Latin music. He currently lives in Oakland, CA where he works as a musician and graphic designer with several local and touring artists.

    To see and hear samples of the group in its earlier trio form, please visit this link:

    NUVO Jazz Quartet

     

     

     

     

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