I just want to take a moment...
... to talk about Revive Music Group and the Harlem Evolution Series Jam Session. I mentioned some of the other things I've been involved in with Revive in my last blog; the Revive Da Live Big Band/Carefusion Jazz Fest 2010, and "The Revivalist" video feature on Okayplayer. In addition, my album release event in 2009 was booked & promoted by Meghan Stabile (CEO & co-founder of Revive Music Group). Meghan Stabile & Igmar Thomas started this weekly jam about 2 years ago, to create a session that showcased the best players on the scene & created a setting that encouraged creativity and improvisation across multiple genres of music. I've attended this session many, many times, and have had the pleasure of running the session a couple times (most recently with EJ Strickland, Curtis Lundy & Chris Rob), and consider it to be the best jam session in New York City. So I was surprised to see this announcement on Facebook today:
The Evolution Jam Session Announcement
by Meghan Stabile on Monday, January 31, 2011 at 4:00pm
First i want to say, thank you to all of the musicians that come out on a weekly basis to Jam at Creole. This night has grown into something very special for our community of players and now to sustain the night and in order to keep this night going we have to start charging. Over the past year we have taken pride in keeping the event free for all .... however, it's killing the night... we don't want to be another live music event or jazz venue that fails and we also don't want to charge people $20 cover charges either - this night is a very special night - We have a community that supports this night and we need to keep it going so if that means spending a little change to see and play w/ some of the top musicians in the jazz scene today... then would hope all would understand why we have to charge now. Starting Feb. 1st - Cover charge is $5 for general public and $3 for musicians, every week.
Thank you for taking the time to read and see you tomorrow night !
~Meghan
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT SESSION! There aren't any other places or situations I know of where anyone can show up and see cats like Curtis Lundy, Marc Cary, Robert Glasper, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Maurice Brown, Orrin Evans, Lawrence Fields, John Davis, Ben Williams, Burniss Travis, Joe Blaxx, etc. play for FREE, let alone sit in with them. And the beautiful thing about this session, whether you are in the audience or sitting in, is that the rhythm section is different every week, so you will not hear the same cats playing the same music every week (like most jam sessions in NYC). So first off, I want to give credit to & thank Meghan & Igmar, along with all the musicians in the RDL/Creole family that have made the Harlem Evolution Session such a great success- thank you for giving musicians a place to play (when everything else was whack) and for all the great music our ears have been blessed with. And secondly, I urge anyone reading this post who loves & appreciates truely great live music (of ANY genre) to come out to Creole and ENJOY what's happening there.
The Harlem Evolution Series Jam Session presented by Revive Music Group, every Tuesday, 9pm-12am at Creole, located at:
2167 3rd Ave @ E. 118 Street, New York, NY 10035.
Call 212-876-8838 for more information.
Thanks for posting, Chelsea.
ReplyDelete