Warm-up on the Big Stage (Show at the Blue Note)

The musicians of NYFA‘s cultural diplomacy tour, Brian Lynch’s NYU Afro-Caribbean Jazz Octet, will begin gearing up for their tour in fine fashion with a show at one of the world’s premier jazz venues: the Blue Note Jazz Club.  Coordinated by NYFA’s partners in the NYU Steinhardt Jazz Studies program, the group will play two sets at the Blue Note on Sunday afternoon, April 4th.

The group has used this concert to ramp up its already intense preparations for the cultural diplomacy tour to Latvia.  The group will play a repertoire similar to what it will bring to Latvian audiences in a few weeks, playing works and arrangements by a number of Jazz and Latin luminaries such as Eddie Palmieri, Miles Davis and Lynch himself.  For many of the younger musicians, performing at the storied Blue Note represents the highpoint of their careers to date, and further underscores the kind of effort that developing one’s career as a professional artist entails.  Like many of the thousands of artists NYFA has assisted over the years, these “musical cultural diplomats” are making the very most out of the opportunities that have so recently developed for them.

Brian Lynch has also been blogging about the group’s preparations and offering an in-depth analysis of the group’s musical material…music aficionados should visit and take this chance to see how a Grammy-winning artist gets his band ready for a high-level project:  http://brianlynchjazz.com/education/nyu-ensemble-blog/

Here’s a quick look at a recent rehearsal:

We’ll have more on the Blue Note show for you shortly, including interviews with some of the participants.  Stay tuned!

Advertisement