May 15, 2002

Happy Mid-May everyone. Please check out our growing JAM Gallery of photos and anecdotes about the last month. We have been working hard to record our thoughts about this very first JAM and indeed, if you go to the gallery you 'll get an idea of what went on.

Also check out our links and Events pages to see what's going on. There may even be a slide show.

Well, as the first ever JAM shrinks in our rear view mirror, we once again thank everyone who was part of making it such a great experience. We left a wake of happy students, satisfied audiences and hopefully more enlightened members of the business community as we spread the word about Jazz music. As someone once said, a picture is worth a thousand words so well be posting images and movies here for you to see the reality of what can happen when you pay respect to the music, artists and heritage of Jazz music.

It's been a whirlwind of activity here in Marin with so many great Jazz Appreciation Month activities going on. This is in addition to the fine gigs that musicians like Mel Martin, Naim Satya, and many others did during the month. We close out the month tomorrow (April 30) at Martin Luther King Academy in Sausalito with a mini-concert for the mini-people at the elementary school.I will be joined by Kamal Abdul-alim on trumpet a music teacher at MLK who just happens to be a former New Yorker who has played with many great artists including Sam Rivers, and the late Bill Barron. We'll be there at 1 pm. For information call 415 456-0614 or email dartanyan@dartanyan.com

April 16, 2002

Well, taxes are done and it's time to JAM. For those of you lucky enough to be reading this in the Bay Area, you can tell your friends that a scheduling snafu at Cafe Amsterdam in Fairfax is leading to the reunion of some great musical friends. Dartanyan will be playing an impromptu session at the Cafe tonight (Wednesday April 17) with old friends Barry Finnerty and Archie Williams on guitar and Sly Randolph (the Great!) in the drum chair.

Those of you with knowledge of fusion-Jazz history will know that Barry Finnerty, a Bay Area native, created a stellar career for himself in the 70's and 80's. as one of the premier musicians combining the best of bebop and many of the world's musics into a style that attracted the Brecker Bros. ,

Chico Hamilton and scores of other luminaries. Barry and I met when I was playing with Bill Chase in 1973. We spent many hours in Chicago between gigs and recording sessions absorbing wisdom and music from mentors like Hamilton and Arnie Lawrence, the great alto player and teacher now working in Tel Aviv.

It's all happening because of a happy accident. Come and celebrate with us tonight and hear one of fusion's premier players up close and personal.

We've heard from lots of our Jazz musician friends but now one of my computer buddies John Catalano from Proline, a maker of fine computer components turned in this link to great Jazz (and more) in Albuquerque, N.M. (Hey it ain't Marin but many of us DO travel don't we ?) Follow this link, it's worth it and highly recommended.

Kit Walker, the incredible(!) composer and keyboard artist will join Dartanyan and Friends Saturday April 27th for what will be a adventuresome gig at Cafe Amsterdam in Fairfax, CA. Kit will join master drummer Sly Randolph, and trumpeter Warren Gale, a bandmate of the late Joe Henderson and a masterful soloist. In addition to our bop-oriented standards we will add (sane volume) electronica and more seductive dance rhythms to the mix.

Also: Make sure to check out Mel Martin at the No Name Bar in Sausalito this Saturday night.

With music piracy an ongoing crime against all of us as Jazz artists I suggest you go learn to protect yourselves and these guys are here to help.

March 29, 2001

Wow, it's getting close and the excitement is definitely building. I talked to John Hasse, creator of JAM and J.B. Dyas, Executive director of the Brubeck Institute in Stockton and there is a LOT of stuff getting ready to happen. Festivities started last nite in Washington D.C.(March 28th) with a kickoff by Branford Marsalis. Man, they're even going to put Louis Armstrong's original trumpet on display in the museum.

J.B.Dyas over at the Brubeck Institute, a new 'old' friend, has done a masterful job of bringing the magic of Jazz into the 11th grade curriculum. A great example for any educators out there looking to bring America's greatest artistic contribution into greater focus.

What a great week, Meredith Pike-Baky my partner in producing JAM events has formulated what promises to be some great writing exercises with 6th and 7th graders at Bayside Elementary School.We will be doing some very exciting things with Jazz music, terms and history to give a new flavor the the materials to be learned and described. Stay tuned on this one... We will have students from The Branson School working with us to document the whole experience.

...upcoming: comments from John Hasse, curator, Smithsonian Museum of American music and Founder, Jazz Appreciation Month.

March 13, 2001

JAM is here for all players so here's Mel Martin, the Novato-based Saxophone master. He wrote in after seeing my first article in the Marin Independent Journal.

"It was good to see your article in the IJ today. I was not aware that April is Jazz Appreciation month so I thought I would alert you to some of my activities in Novato and Marin. Bebop and Beyond was recently awarded a grant from the California Arts Council to work directly with the schools here in Novato in the specific area of Jazz Improvisation.

In other words we are going to be coaching the upcoming middle and high school programs. I have been offering private jazz workshops here for a number of years, first at the Osher Community Center and then at my studio in Novato.

I am currently formulating a program which I would like to see culminate in a community based jazz concert by the end of the year. It would feature Bebop and Beyond and three student combos which we will have been working with."

--Mel Martin