Evan Cobb Jazz

Heavy Brass

evan — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:51:22 +0000

What’s heavier, a pound of brass instruments or a pound of woodwinds? Okay okay, stupid question. I was thinking about heavy brass though because I wanted to tell you about the next featured guest at the Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session. This coming Sunday August 15th, we’ll be featuring trumpeter Matt White at the jam. Matt holds a DMA in jazz from U Miami, teaches at Belmont University, and completely shreds changes. I’ve gotten to hear a lot of him with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra (including tonight, if you feel like coming down to the French Quarter Cafe) and in Cobb’s Mob, and I’m sure you’re going to dig what he plays and what he shares this weekend. So come on out!

Sunday, August 15th 4pm to 6pm at the NJW. FREE!

Site Updates

evan — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:31:30 +0000

Friends,

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally gotten around to updating my website with some pertinent information about the musical universe in Tennessee. If you have a moment, take a look at a very updated LINKS page. I’ve also created an TEACHING page to reflect all of the work I’ve been doing in music education.

Also notice that the CALENDAR has a number of new shows out in Perry County. I’ve been participating in a wonderful summer concert series out there organized by Hugh Waddell. The series has and continues to feature a slew of wonderful diverse artists from all over the musical map.

Don’t forget to put the next Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session on your calendar – Sunday August 15th. Featured guest to be announced soon!

-evan

Next Jam July 18th 2010

evan — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:58:45 +0000

Well after a month away from Nashville for some much needed R & R, Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session ready. This month our featured guest will be the very talented vocalist Christina Watson. She’s one of my favorite singers and also teaches classes at the Jazz Workshop, including one starting in August titled “Introduction to Vocal Literature.” I’m looking forward to learning from her and playing with a hip rhythm section, I hope you are too!

NJW Jam Session

Sunday, July 18th from 4 to 6 pm.

FREE!

-evan

Dave Douglas on Jam Sessions

evan — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:28:54 +0000

Scouring the intraweb for jazz blogs, I came across this recent post from Dave Douglas about jam sessions. Since getting regular jazz jam sessions up and running here and Nashville has been such a focus of this blog, I wanted to link to his article which asks “What is a Jam Session?”.

Raises some interesting questions. In the meantime, please keep coming out to the monthly jazz jam at the Nashville Jazz Workshop – the third Sunday of each month at 4pm. Next one is June 20th!

- evan

Nashville Jazz Workshop May Jam Session

evan — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:42:26 +0000

This coming Sunday, May 16th, is the 3rd installment of the reworked Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session. We’ll be continuing with a constructive format, including speaking about learning tunes, using our ears, and jam sessions in general. The featured guest for this month is none other than the director of the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, Jim Williamson. Rounding out the ensemble will be Joe Davidian, Mike Rinne, and Ted Tretiak. Hope you can make it down – it’s from 4 – 6 and it’s FREE. Oh yeah, it’s BYOB too.

Flood Relief

evan — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:09:19 +0000

Last night Keith Olbermann commented on Countdown that “if there’s anything worse than your community being hit by a disaster, it’s being hit by a disaster while other and bigger disasters unfold.”

Being from the New York area, I’ve been closely following the attempted car bomb plot in Times Square and last night’s resulting arrest. This past weekend I also happened to be in New Orleans for jazz fest, but news was dominated by the unfurling oil spill disaster in the Gulf, which continues to pose imminent ecological and economic catastrophes.

Anyways, since many of you who read this are from out of the Tennessee area and the national coverage seems to be a bit lacking, I figured I’ll post some information about the latest happenings here about the Nashville Flood.

Let me start out by saying that I’m extremely fortunate – I returned from NOLA yesterday to my apartment which is both dry and with power. That is not the case however for many folks. Just a few miles in either direction down the main road off of which I live, large communities are completely flooded. A number of our iconic landmarks have been affected, including the Schermerhorn (where the Nashville Symphony plays), Opryland Hotel, the Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena, and LP Field, to name a few.

It’s going to take time for much of the communities here to recover. As this flood was the result of around 20 inches of weekend rain, this event was not foreseen. MANY people and businesses do not have flood insurance here, as flooding was not seen as any posed threat.

Jazz-wise, everything is canceled for the time being. The Nashville Jazz Orchestra is not playing tonight at the French Quarter Cafe tonight, and the Nashville Jazz Workshop has canceled classes.

If you wish to get involved with help, here is a link that organizes many of the local organizations. You can also text ‘REDCROSS’ to 90999 to donate $10 for relief efforts.

I’ll do my best to keep you updated with stories and efforts as they pertain to this blog.

-evan

Jam Session This Sunday

evan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:00:23 +0000

The second installment of the revamped Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session is this Sunday, April 18th from 4 – 6 pm with featured guest Mason Embry. Mason is a terrific pianist and arranger who will be sharing his talents and experience with jazz standards with us. Be sure to arrive early to get your name on the sign-up list and hear Mason stretch out with a very fine rhythm section. Did I mention this event is completely free?

Oh and here is a sneak preview of this month’s tune that all attendees will be playing:

Download audio file (April-18-Mystery.mp3)

- evan

Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam

evan — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:12:56 +0000

The Return of the Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session

with special guest Joe Davidian

hosted by the Evan Cobb Quartet

On Sunday, March 21st the Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session returns with featured guest Joe Davidian. The jam session will take place from 4 – 6, is free, and participation is designed for musicians of all ability levels. The return of the Workshop Jam Session is a bit reformatted. Besides playing (or singing) a few choice selections, the featured guest artist will be speaking about the songs they selected, learning tunes in general, and their personal experiences with jam sessions. The host band will also provide the guest artist with a new tune (with copies for everyone in attendance) so that the audience can hear how a professional dissects a chart on the fly while on the bandstand! All in attendance at the jam will also receive a copy of a tune (most likely a blues) for them to try in just the same manner as the featured guest. The focus of the workshop jazz jam will be to learn about playing, listening critically, and the process of jam sessions altogether.

-evan

Bob Marley Tribute This Friday

evan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:52:18 +0000

Local production group Kid Electric Concerts puts on a couple of stellar tribute concerts each year, augmented only by the fact that they put them together for charity. Their mission is “to raise funds and awareness for local non-profit and community based organizations who aim to change not only our great city but the world. We celebrate these organizations by putting on creatively themed benefit concerts that showcase Nashville’s best artists and pay tribute to great and timeless music. It is our hope and passion that these concerts motivate our community to get out there and get involved.”

This Friday night it’s a Bob Marley tribute act raising money for HESP, benefitting children in Haiti. It’s going be to a really fun night for a great cause, so I hope you can make it down to 2nd Avenue Live for the show!

- evan

Successful First Jazz Jam Night

evan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:53:00 +0000

The jam session this past Wednesday night at Edgehill Studios Cafe was a rousing success. We had a good turnout, many original works played, and plenty of learning experiences all around.

JC, JW, & EC wail on a new tune

Happily, the jam session is forging ahead! So mark your calendars for the next installment on Monday, March 1st again at 7pm at Edgehill. We’ll be keeping the same format, so be sure to put your name down on the sign-up sheet along with what you want to play. Original tunes and arrangements will continue to get preference.

-evan