8.18.12 Joshua White / Jeff Denson Project with Walter Smith III + Dan Schnelle

Since his 2nd place honors at the 2011 Thelonious Monk Competition, Joshua has surfaced as a new force in modern jazz. He began formal piano training at the age of seven, and three years later was playing organ and piano for the Encanto Southern Baptist Church in San Diego. His early piano playing was heavily influenced by the piano works of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, but also by Gospel music from artists such as Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin, and the Mississippi Mass Choir. His love of jazz began in 2005, when Joshua attended the UC San Diego Summer Jazz Camp and was exposed to pianists Mike Wofford and Eric Reed.

Joshua has performed and recorded with artists such as Gilbert Castellanos, Mark Dresser, Charles MacPherson, Marshall Hawkins, and Daniel Jackson. Recordings of Joshua include “The Time is Now,” a release by Karin Carson which features a rhythm section of Josh, Christian McBride and Gregory Hutchinson. Since his recent accomplishment at the 2011 Monk Competition, Joshua has gained national attention, receiving praise for his performance from the NY Times and Jazz Times.

Joshua’s performance borrows from Wayne Shorter’s sense of continual melody, Richard Davis’ rhythmic freedom, Duke Ellington’s hard swing, and Tony Williams’ absolute insistence of textures and colors. His playing facilitates the direction of the music, all the while supporting and creating.

Joshua White website

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Jeff Denson is a world renowned double bassist and composer who has performed in many of the worlds top jazz festivals such as the Berlin Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival Paris and the Montreal Jazz Festival to name a few. Jeff, a native of the Washington, D.C. Area, has actively performed in a myriad of genres ranging from jazz, classical and contemporary orchestral and chamber music, to R&B and pop. He has done extensive freelance work throughout the US, Europe, and Canada and has performed and/or recorded with distinguished musicians such as Bob Moses, Joe Lovano, Carl Allen, Kenny Werner, Anthony Davis, Geoffrey Keeser, Claudio Puntin, Lionel Loueke, Dan Weiss, Ralph Alessi, Charles McPherson and Lee Konitz. Jeff has received rave reviews in such periodicals as the Washington Post, NY Times, DownBeat Magazine, and has received such prizes as the German Cultural Award in 2006. Jeff also has the unique distinction as being a member of the Lee Konitz New Quartet. Jeff’s work with Lee Konitz is of particular importance due to its extraordinary originality of concept and group interaction and compositional improvisation, but also due to the fact that according to the legend himself, this is the “first actual band” that Lee Konitz has ever had. The Lee Konitz Quartet has garnered much international critical acclaim, including most recently winning the French Jazzman Magazine’s “Album of the Year Award 2010.”

Jeff has composed and arranged for jazz ensembles ranging in size from big band to trio as well as for string ensembles, solo double bass, and a chamber opera for Soprano, Baritone, Woodwind Trio, String Quartet, and Piano and Double Bass soloists. His compositions have been broadcasting on radio stations across the USA and Europe, and on television networks such as PBS in the USA and Arte in France, ORF in Austria and WDR in Germany.

Jeff Denson website

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From a young age, Walter began taking music very seriously. “My first gig was playing at a McDonalds in Houston with another saxophone player. I took a solo on “Blue Bossa.” It was terrible. People clapped, and I figured if I could get away with that and get applause, how could I fail?”

Walter Smith III began playing the saxophone at the age of 7 in his hometown of Houston, TX. At Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, in 1998, Smith received a Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship from IAJE and NFAA; the NFAA Young Talent Award; a full tuition scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music; and a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts medal. Walter Graduated from Berklee in 2003 with a degree in Music Education.

Walter has performed all over the world participating in numerous national and international festivals as well as famed stages in the U.S. such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Smith has shared the stage and/or appeared on recordings with many jazz notables including Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Eric Reed, Mulgrew Miller, Joe Sample, Bob Hurst, Myron Walden, Walter Beasley, Lewis Nash, Terri Lynne-Carrington, and a host of others.  To date, Walter has appeared on over 75 recordings that are released worldwide.

Walter’s debut recording as a leader was released in March of 2006 on the Fresh Sound New Talent label and features many of the brightest young jazz talents. His sophomore release, titled “Live in France”, was released in October of 2009 to critical acclaim. His most recent album, “III”, was released in September of 2010 and was the #3 best seller on itunes in the U.S. for it’s first week. It features Ambrose Akinmusire, Jason Moran, Joe Sanders, and Eric Harland.

Over the past few years, besides leading a quintet, Walter is/has been a member of several amazing groups (recording and touring) including the Terence Blanchard group, Eric Harland’s quintet, Ambrose Akinmusire’s band, Christian Scott’s group, the Sean Jones sextet, Jason Moran’s Big Bandwagon (In My Mind:Monk at Town Hall), and the Christian McBride situation band.

Walter Smith III website

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“Some drummers bang their drums, but Schnelle held to the background, making himself known but not overwhelming the rest of the group, playing with a sensitivity that supported the others while keeping impeccable time.” – Bill Leikam, All About Jazz

 ”Schnelle is an up-an-comer himself, a serious player no matter the setting – and a lot of fun to watch too.” - Brick Wahl, LA Weekly

Dan Schnelle is one of the most talented, in-demand drummers in the Los Angeles area. Known for an intuitive ability to do precisely what is necessary for each performance, Schnelle understands how to make other musicians comfortable, while bringing enough of the unexpected to his playing to keep it consistently exciting. Unsatisfied with the idea that the drum set is merely a time-keeping device, Schnelle is thoughtful about how this unique instrument, with its nearly limitless variety of sounds, can be tastefully and effectively deployed in a wide variety of musical situations. Years spent collaborating with some of the best musicians in Los Angeles (and beyond) have earned him a reputation as a hard-working, professional, and creative team player; one who is, above all, committed to musical excellence.

Schnelle began learning to play the drums in his hometown of Merrick, New York, at the age of ten. He progressed quickly, and by high school, was studying with two important and widely respected teachers, Al Miller and Dom Famularo. Together these men opened Schnelle’s ears to the music of Buddy Rich, Max Roach, and Steve Gadd. Later, he would attend USC’s Thornton School of Music, where he was exposed to a much broader perspective on jazz (and music as a whole), thanks in part to close interaction with such masters as Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Erskine, Ndugu Chancler, Aaron Serfaty, John Clayton, Alan Pasqua, and many others. In his final years at USC, Schnelle was named a Louie Bellson Scholar, an honor bestowed on only one drummer each year. And after earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies, Schnelle was selected to attend the Henry Mancini Institute, where he performed and studied with Vince Mendoza, Billy Childs, Dave Leibman, Harold Jones, and Doc Severinsen.

Even as a student in Los Angeles, Schnelle was already working regularly around town. He has since toured throughout the US and abroad, in all kinds of performance situations, including major jazz festivals. Notable collaborators have included Josh Nelson, Dayna Stephens, Walter Smith III, Perry Smith, Nick Mancini, Mahesh Balasooriya, Tom Luer, Matt Zebley, Gary Fukushima, Andy Langham, Anthony Wilson, Ben Wendel, Larry Koonse, the Industrial Jazz Group, and many others.

Nowadays Schnelle maintains a busy playing schedule while simultaneously working as a dedicated music educator; he understands that effective pedagogy is a way of not only giving back to the art form but also continuing to expand his own playing. As such, he has been an instructor at the Henry Mancini Institute, the South Pasadena Music Center and Conservatory, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (where, in addition to drum instruction, he has led student big bands and combos). Schnelle also has an extensive roster of private students.

Dan Schnelle website