Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 12 noon to 2 p.m.
Free
Seating is limited, and on a first come first serve basis.
The National Arts Centre's Manhattan on the Rideau masterclasses link leading jazz faculty members of Manhattan School of Music (MSM) with accomplished music students at the NAC. The sessions use the very latest in broadband videoconference technology to connect teachers and students in real time with high fidelity audio and video. The series is produced by NAC New Media as part of the Hexagon Project in association with MSM.
A masterclass is a one-on-one lesson in which a master musician teaches a selected student or ensemble under the watchful eyes of fellow students and members of the public. The audience can learn from the master along with the talented student in the spotlight. Each masterclass involves 2 to 3 students in succession followed by questions-and-answers.
Inspired by his father, a pianist and vibraphonist, Donny McCaslin started playing tenor saxophone at age twelve and progressed quickly, touring Europe and participating in the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival’s California All-Star band while in high school. After attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he joined Berklee professor Gary Burton’s quintet, with whom he toured for four years.
McCaslin moved to New York in 1991, working with bassist Eddie Gomez before joining the group Steps Ahead, with whom he made the 1995 disc Vibe (NYC Records). Around the same time, he collaborated with fellow New York saxophonist David Binney, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen, in the piano-less quartet Lan Xang.
McCaslin really began turning heads with his solo work in larger ensembles – first with Ken Schaphorst’s big band, and subsequently with the acclaimed Maria Schneider Orchestra, where his performance on the album Concert In The Garden garnered McCaslin a Grammy nomination for “Best Jazz Instrumental Solo” in 2004. In 2005, McCaslin joined the quintet led by the widely lionized trumpeter Dave Douglas. Reviewing the Douglas Quintet in Jazz Times, Josef Woodard wrote of McCaslin: “He’s a versatile player who moves easily between inside and outside musical zones… There’s a fluidity and grace to his playing even when he’s pushing at envelopes.”
In 2008 and 2009, McCaslin won the Downbeat Critics poll for ‘Rising Star on the Tenor Saxophone.’ His 2008 release, Recommended Tools, on Greenleaf Music was in many critics’ top ten lists for jazz record of the year, and in 2009, McCaslin released Declaration on Sunnyside, which features a brass quartet. His latest release is Perpetual Motion (2011).
Series info: www.nac-cna.ca/en/education/masterclasses/master_manhattan.cfm
Event info: http://www2.nac-cna.ca/en/community-programming/event/1839/
Artist info: www.donnymccaslin.com
NAC Fourth Stage
53 Elgin Street
Ottawa