By Ami Stix
Resident guest artist Russ Gershon
Students will spend the week in intensive study with this year’s Artist-in-Residence, Russ Gershon, the American saxophonist and composer. Jazz Week is a longstanding LHS tradition and has included the likes of David Berkman, Makoto Ozone, Herb Pomeroy and Jiggs Whigham.
Mr. Gershon is an American saxophonist and composer. He is the founder of the large jazz ensemble Either/Orchestra the Grammy-nominated ten-piece jazz ensembles which Downbeat.com called “the best little big band ever,” and the Chicago Tribune described as “the future of big-band music.
As well as appearing with headliners like Cab Calloway and the Four Tops, Russ has played countless gigs as saxophonist and arranger in just about every genre imaginable. He was nominated for a Grammy in Arranging for his composition “Benny Moten’s Weird Nightmare” in 1992. Russ has been a visiting educator at scores of colleges including Harvard, Tufts and the New England Conservatory, and currently teaches jazz, pop and classical music history at Lasell College. Currently, he is singing, playing and arranging for the Latin Bugalu revival band Lookie Lookie, and playing and arranging for vocalist Gabrielle Agachiko.
Perhaps the most unexpected excursion in Russ’ career has been his long journey into Ethiopian music. Entrances by the sounds of Ethiopian pop and jazz from the turn of the 1970s, he began arranging these exotic songs for the Either/Orchestra. Soon after, French researcher and producer Francis Falceto, who has almost single-handedly put Ethiopian music on the world stage, heard about the Either/Orchestra’s work and contacted Russ. Francis encourage Russ’ interest in the music with access to rare recordings and information, and invited the E/O to be the first non-Ethiopian band to play in the “Ethiopian Music Festival” of 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Jazz Festival Concert
April 17, 2014 @7:30pm, LHS Auditorium
This is a rare opportunity to see LHS students playing with a world-class musician after a week of learning and collaboration in the intimate setting of the high school’s auditorium. A unique concert not to be missed by the community and students—whether or they are musicians, jazz lovers or new to the form.
LHS JAZZ WEEK
AT-A-GLANCE
Jazz Nite 3
April 2
Commons ll
7:30pm
Jazz Festival Concert
April 17
LHS Auditorium
7:30pm
Jazz Nite IV
May 23
Discovery Day
12-3pm
Swing Nite
June 5
Fiske Gymnasium
7-10:30pm
