Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present
Anne Sajdera Ensemble
New Year CD Release & Anne’s Birthday Party
Created from of a chance meeting at a jazz club in Prague 2014 and with their new release due out in November of 2018, Anne Sajdera's newest project features two award-winning young composer/instrumentalists from Prague: Miroslav Hloucal (trumpet) & Jan Fečo (alto sax), a special guest appearance by the renowned sax player Bob Mintzer, as well as some of the finest musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area. The ensemble performs original compositions, driving arrangements of traditional Roma melodies, as well as music of modern jazz masters like Herbie Hancock & Kenny Kirkland - at times lyrical, at times angular, yet always rooted in the rhythm, this ensemble reveals a skillful and inspiring sound that reaches musically across two continents and several cultures.
$20 General Admission
"Sajdera has a natural musical ability, an incisive touch, and is a deft improviser." -Amy Duncan, Jazz History Online
"Sajdera is a gifted composer...a great plesaure to hear." -TheJazzPage.com
Number 5 for Best New Talent 2012 -Jazz Station Blog
Pianist/composer Anne Sajdera performs regularly in the Bay Area - as leader of her own ensembles and performing with other artists such as Alexa Weber Morales, Sandy Cressman and Terrence Brewer. She has performed in many of the Bay Area's most frequented performance venues including the San Jose Jazz Festival, Fillmore Jazz Festival, The California Jazz Conservatory, Herbst Theater in San Francisco and the nationally recognized SFJAZZ. Her first release (Azul, 2012 Bijuri Records) features the legendary percussionist Airto Moreira, among others, and received a place on one of JAZZIZ Magazine's 2012 Top Ten Critic's Polls and Latin Jazz Corner's Great Latin jazz albums for the same year. She is also one of the 2018 InterMusic SF grant awardees. annesajdera.com
A native of Chrudim, Czech Republic, Miroslav Hloucal (b. 1983) began his musical career in Prague performing with the Roman Pokorny Quartet in 2007, and in that same year toured & recorded with American guitarist Hiram Bullock. A sought after sideman by luminaries of the Czech jazz scene, most recently Hloucal has performed and recorded with the Gustav Brom Czech Radio Big Band, Arturo Sandoval, Ondřej Pivec, Emil Viklicky, Karel Růžička and also with vocalist Ondřej Ruml's latest release, which features the legendary drummer Peter Erskine. Also, included in his lengthy discography is a CD featuring his own ensemble, Infinite Quartet entitled Speak Slowly (2009, Animal Music). Hloucal is the 2017 winner of the OSA (Czech performing rights organization) Composer's Competition, for his jazz tune "Butterfly Effect" and is a composer-in-residence for the Gustav Brom Czech Radio Big Band. A graduate of the Jaroslav Jezek Conservatory, Hloucal became a professor in the jazz department at Prague's International Conservatory in 2011 and went on in 2012 to win first prize in the Jazz Prix 2012/Jazz an der Donau competition with his own quintet.
The youngest successor of the Fečo family of musicians, multi-instrumentalist Jan Fečo (b. 1990) established his own quartet in 2010, focusing on his primary inspirational elements of contemporary jazz & hard-bop. With additional influences spanning the musical spectrum from Latin American music to hip-hop, he also weaves in Romani (Gypsy) folk melodies to create a uniquely authentic jazz perspective. A graduate of the Jaroslav Jezek Conservatory, Fečo won Best Soloist in 2011 at International Jazz Fest in Nový Hrad (Czech Republic), in 2012 his ensemble won first place in the Czech Jazz Contest (Prague) and in 2013 his ensemble was one of the four young artist ensembles from across Europe performing at the Getxo Jazz Festival (Spain). A first-call sideman as both an alto player and acoustic bassist, Fečo performs with the Gustav Brom Czech Radio Big Band, Kristina Barta & Miroslav Hloucal, among others. He also hosts the jam session at U Malého Glena in Prague.
Gary Brown is a skilled and versatile bassist on both acoustic and electric basses, his clear solid foundation as well as his melodic rainbow of color and counterpoint established him as a much sought after component for major recording, performance and production projects around the world. While enrolled in San Jose State University's Art/Design/Music program Gary came to realize that music was his true calling and made the decision to make it his life and his career. he has brought a unique sound and approach to each and every endeavor he has been involved with. In the past 30 years Gary has recorded and performed with such notable artist as Flora Purim & Airto, Steve Winwood, George Duke, Santana ,Lyle Mays, Azar Lawrence , Narada Michael Walden, Gregg Rolie, Dianne Reeves, Roy Ayres, Ernie Watts, Jeff Beck ,Torninho Horta, Larry Coryell, Phararoh Saunders, Eddie Henderson Andy Narrell, Pete and Sheila (Sheila E.) Escovedo. Bernie Worell , Patrice Rushen. Gary has composed music for film and television with Pray for Rain, a film and soundtrack production team whose credits include work for major cable networks HBO, Lifetime, Showtime and Cinemax, as well as for the major television networks ABC, NBC and CBS credits include the cult film Sid & Nancy, The Linguini Incident (starring David Bowie), Straight to Hell, Trust Me, Zandalee (with Judge Reinhold and Nicholas Cage) The Fox television series Key West to name a few. Currently dividing his time performing with Greg Rolie , Narada Michael Walden, the Rebeca Mauleon Group, Akira Tana, Babtunde Lea, Gary continues to compose, perform and produce with various artists and is writing music for his first solo project.
A native of the Bay Area, Deszon Claiborne began his musical career at the early age of ten. Virtually self taught in the beginning, he went on to study with world-renowned drummers such as Richard Peterson, Rick Quintinel ( Chuck Brown school of Drumming ), James Levi , Billy Cobham and Kenneth Nash , an experience which provided him with a strong foundation in jazz, rhythm & blues and world music. He has had the pleasure to perform or record with the following artists: Peter Apfelbaum, Don Cherry, Charles brown, Angela Bofill, Les McCann, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Robin Ford, Boz Scaggs, Greg Howe, Henry Butler, Giovani Hildalgo, Kai Eckhardt, John Handy, Taj Mahal, Donald Harrison, Rodney Franklin, and may others. In addition to his performing and recording credits, Deszon is also an educator. He has taught both private and group lessons to students of all ages and levels, youth to adult, and beginning to advanced. Deszon has also participated in music education programs in the Bay Area over the last 20 years, including Berkeley Jazz School, Jazz Camp West, Stanford Jazz Camp, Lafayette Summer Music camp, Moody's Jazz Camp, Just Say Jazz, and Adventures in Music.