Nicolas Bearde Comes to the Cadillac Hotel

Nicolas Bearde performs for the "Concerts at the Cadillac", series this Friday, August 24th, at the Cadillac Hotel, 380 Eddy Street, SF, between 12:30 and 1:30 PM.  Even Bobby McFarrin says Nicolas Bearde has "a deeply soulful voice", and is "a uniquely versatile entertainer".  Mr. Bearde will be accompanied by the fabulous Tammy Hall on piano and Tony Saunders on bass.

Internationally acclaimed jazz recording artist, songwriter and educator, Nicolas Bearde , blends genres of jazz, soul and blues as he takes you on a musical journey. An original and current member of Bobby McFerrin's renowned vocal ensemble, "Voicestra" for over two decades, Nicolas has also carved out a remarkable solo career, and made a notable contribution to the music world with his soulful style of jazz, known as the "Nicolas Bearde Jazz Experience".

A seasoned and highly respected showman on stage, Bearde's personality and sense of humor, manifest themselves in his expressive ballads and up-tempo tunes, with an engaging rapport that captures and draws the audience into his performance. His artistry transcends his vocal performances.

With classic stylings and cool interpretations of jazz standards and blues - a sound that one reviewer described as "smooth and buttery", Nicolas is the definitive jazz romantic. Wherever he performs, audiences are drawn in as he lands energetic vocals and stuns with masterful simplicity. He’ll steam you up with an original soulful song like Love Me, pull you into the nuanced emotion of Bill Wither’s Can We Pretend, or captivate you with a stirring rendition of Naima, a John Coltraine ballad. Combining his original music with songs from the Great American songbook and hit tunes by an eclectic group of writers such as Burt Bacharach, Rogers and Hart, Duke Ellington and Jon Lucien, Nicolas brings a tenderness and delicacy to classic ballads, like no other.

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, now living in the San Francisco/Bay area, Nicolas has made the world his musical home.  After his service in the military, where he spent 2 years in Japan, and several years in Los Angeles, working the R & B circuit he decided that it was time to start expanding his musical palette. He began developing his jazz chops, and devising a more intimate approach to performing. when he became a regular vocalist at Pasand's famed nightclub on Union Street in San Francisco in the early 80's.

His life took another creative direction in 1985 when he became part of "Jukebox", a radio play starring Danny Glover. At Glover's recommendation, Bearde began studying with renowned acting teacher, Jean Shelton, and a year later, he went out for his first audition and was cast in the Athol Fugard play Master Harold…and the boys. His portrayal was so convincing, that his South African cast mate, during the auditions, asked what part of Africa he was from. He went on to do 4 plays that first year, and knew he was on a new path. Even as Bearde concentrated on acting – primarily theatre-though he later expanded into film and television,  he continued to sing. In 1984, he hooked up with singer Molly Holm and her vocal group “Jazzmouth”, a group known for scatting over changes and innovative, close harmony jazz pieces.Through that relationship with Molly, he got connected with Bobby McFerrin, and in 1986 became part of this ground-breaking a cappella group. "During that first year, McFerrin and the singers worked around the Bay Area without a name for the group, playing concerts for a couple of hours at a time, with the audience surrounding us," Bearde recounts. "It had such a positive impact on Bobby, he decided to commit to making it a real project".


A brief hiatus was followed by an arduous series of auditions and performances before the group jelled in 1989, with Bearde on board. Today that entity is known around the world as the renowned vocal ensemble,  "Voicestra" with which Nicolas continues to tour yearly at major concerts throughout the world, depending on McFerrin's schedule.

When Bobby decided to take a break from the group in the mid-90's, Bearde and other members of Voicestra branched off into a smaller unit called SoVoSò. "We followed in the improvisational tradition of Voicestra, but added more gospel, Latin and R & B elements," he says.

SoVoSò went on to win numerous awards and honors, among them 1st-place at the renowned a cappella summit CASA awards, and nominations for "Best Group", "Best Album" and Nicolas as "Best lead vocalist". Throughout the 1990's, while developing his acting skills and sideline, and participating in the a cappella adventures of Voicestra and SoVoSò, Bearde continued to do his solo thing.

Nicolas started Right Groove Records in 1997 in order to launch his solo projects, starting with "Crossing the Line". The album was a superb showcase for Nicolas' songwriting skills as well as his masterful singing, and it landed in the Top 10 on British Soul charts, garnering glowing reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

It would be a few more years before Bearde produced the follow-up, "All About Love", with a more unabashedly romantic repertoire, which was added to, both smooth jazz radio formats nationally, and Beach Music play lists in the Carolinas. His original tune "Summer Sunday" hit #1 on the Beach Music charts for 8 weeks running in the summer of 2005.

Nicolas completed his third album, "Live at Yoshi's - a Salute to Lou" in October 2007 - an outgrowth of a "Tribute to Lou Rawls" live show that he had been presenting. It was recorded live at YOSHI'S, Oakland, California's famed jazz club and has been picked up by radio in the UK, Poland, Macedonia, Switzerland, South Africa and Russia. His live shows garner a wide audience who appreciate his musical vision and savor his exceptional skills.

Besides maintaining this busy sideline as an actor and voice-over artist, he continues to write music and perform concerts at clubs and Jazz festivals around the country. Bearde has compiled an impressive list of credits that includes film roles in True Crimes with Clint Eastwood, Final Analysis with Richard Gere and Kim Basinger, roles on the television series Nash Bridges and Monk, plus television and radio commercials for GMC, E-Loan and Traveler’s Insurance.

Drawing from his vast repertoire of jazz, blues, R&B and big band sounds, Bearde's solo releases have earned accolades and a large international fan base, from Tokyo to New York, and from Belarus, Croatia, and Germany to Russia where he recently took Moscow by storm when he performed at the "Classics and Jazz" music festival on the palace grounds of Catherine the Great.

Nicolas' unmistakable voice will soon be heard on his upcoming 4th album, which will showcase his timeless and diverse song stylings, and be supported by TV appearances and radio promotion.

Guitarist Jimmy Herring's "Subject to Change Without Notice"

Subject To Change Without Notice is the second solo album from American guitar hero Jimmy Herring which features mostly all original tunes as well as highlights such as amazing covers of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Hope, George Harrison's Within You Without You and Jimmy McGriff's Miss Poopie. Joining Jimmy on lead guitar are such top notch musicians as Neal Fountain and Etienne Mbappe on the bass, Jeff Sipe and Tyler Greenwell on drums, Matt Slocum on piano and keyboards. Making special guest appearances on the album are Bela Fleck on banjo, Bill Evans on saxophones, and Nicky Sanders on the violin and Carter Herring on the cello.

Herring's website rightly notes that he is "a peerless musician, possessing formidable technical resources, ample imagination, and improvisational grace, Jimmy Herring has thrived alongside some of the most demanding and iconic figures in contemporary music. From his ongoing role as lead guitarist in Widespread Panic to his stints with the Allman Brothers, the Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, and his co-lead trio Project Z, Herring has consistently elevated any number of musical environments with his fearless, fluid, and responsive guitar work.

When working on his own music, he continues to challenge himself. For his second solo album, Subject to Change Without Notice —available via Abstract Logix on August 21, 2012—Herring set out to make an instrumental album inspired by the first-person soulfulness of the human voice. “Nothing will ever be the human voice,” he reflects. “But I want to get as close as I can to that sound with a guitar. That’s the most wonderful instrument of all.” The result is eclectic and wide-ranging, but tied together with an uncommon melodicism and uncluttered compositional clarity rare in instrumental music.

Rather than hiding behind dense harmonies and unrelentingly complex rhythmic figures, Herring lets his music draw breath, with an immediacy and warmth stoked by his love of plainspoken Americana, country, and folk forms. “If it were all jazz harmony and lots of notes,” he explains from his home in Atlanta, Georgia, “it would only express one piece of what I love about music. I want my music to make you feel something. From all my experiences and all that I’ve taken in, that’s what I’m hanging on to as I get older. You can impress people with technical things, but it doesn’t make them feel anything. Technique is a tool. No one cares if you can play 64th notes if you have nothing to say.”

Drawing from his deep love of great singers and direct songwriting, Herring has put his masterful chops in service of pure melody. While Subject to Change Without Notice investigates a number of different styles, it is given coherence by Herring’s unerring melodic sensibility and expressive guitar tone. He boldly resists the urge to needlessly complicate his music. “I’ve always loved simple songs,” he says. “Some people don’t expect that when you do an instrumental record, but big, open-hearted melodies are just as important as anything else. Man, a simple song with basic chords, that’s just a beautiful place to be.”

Producer John Keane was an ideal ally in this fruitful endeavor. Not readily associated with instrumental music, Keane (who is also a remarkable pedal steel player and recording engineer) is best known for his production and engineering work with such song-driven outfits as REM, the Indigo Girls, and Cowboy Junkies, to name but a few. His touch was essential to realizing Herring’s vision of an instrumental album possessing genuine emotional depth.

“Keane is absolutely brilliant,” Herring says, enthusiastically. “Through learning Widespread’s material, I had the studio records that they made with him. They just blew me away. Then when I made the Dirty Side Down record with him and Panic, I was in awe of his ideas and his engineering. He’s every bit as good an engineer as any musician is on his or her instrument. And I love his steel playing. It’s not a virtuoso sound: It’s a texture within the music that brings this hymnal, angelic quality. It’s ethereal, and I wanted that element in the music I recorded.”

Keane appears on two of Subject to Change Without Notice’s 10 tracks. Throughout the entire album, Herring is supported by a core cast of musicians that mixes familiar faces with intriguing new voices. Longtime co-conspirator Jeff Sipe (who Herring played with in Project Z and the Aquarium Rescue Unit) contributes most of the drumming. “There’s only one Jeff Sipe,” Herring says. “He understands the music on a whole other level. He’s turned me on to so much. He’s not gonna just stop. He’s going to be evolving when he’s 80.”

Sharing bass duties are Jimmy Herring Band member Neal Fountain and Etienne Mbappe, who Herring met when doing a few shows opening for John McLaughlin’s current ensemble. “It’s amazing to me that Etienne, who is one of the most in-demand bass players in Europe, expressed interest in playing on this album even before I asked him,” Herring remarks. “I mean, he got on a plane from Poland and flew to Atlanta to play with us. I suppose I’m attracted to music from other cultures and I find it intriguing that maybe he, being from Africa and living in Paris, is equally curious about our redneck take on fusion.”

Fountain proves equally adept on his cuts. “I’ve known Neal for 20 years,” Herring says. “There are some tracks here, like our cover of Jimmy McGriff’s ‘Miss Poopie,’ that we’ve played live for a while now. Neal’s pocket on that is so amazing.” Fountain also appears on “Curfew,” a country stomp whose rollicking rhythm masks a devilishly difficult chord progression and features a dazzling Béla Fleck solo. Longtime Herring associate Matt Slocum contributes an array of keyboards—from frothy Hammond B3 to evocative acoustic piano, and Tyler Greenwell, of the Codetalkers and the Tedeschi Trucks band, contributes drums to two tracks, Ike Stubblefield on the B3 organ on “Aberdeen” and “Miss Poopie” and Jimmy’s son Carter Herring plays cello on “Within You Without You” and “Hope”.

More than any one instrumental voice, it is the eloquence of Herring’s compositions that form the forefront of Subject to Change Without Notice. While the album storms out of the gate with a brisk, gypsy-jazz-inflected swinger called “Red Wing Special” (with guest fiddle from Nicky Sanders of the Steep Canyon Rangers), it then relaxes into an evocative headspace courtesy of the evocative textures and powerful melodies of the widescreen “Kaleidoscope Carousel” and the gospel-tinged “Aberdeen.” The album also cycles through elegant acoustic moments (“Emerald Garden”) and churning gutbucket funk (“Bilgewater Blues”).

The covers assayed on Subject to Change Without Notice represent three key pillars of Herring’s musical sensibility. George Harrison’s “Within You, Without You” pays homage to both Herring’s love of melodic pop and of traditional Indian music and an expertly executed reading of the melody followed by a blistering modal solo played over a drone. Herring’s articulation throughout Subject to Change Without Notice—sometimes achieved with the use of the Stratocaster’s whammy bar (a device Herring has only recently begun experimenting with)—is consistently impressive, displaying a previously unheard, movingly vocal quality. “Miss Poopie,” learned from a Jimmy McGriff recording, acknowledges Herring’s debt to classic jazz, but is rendered with both authority and imagination. “A good cover,” says Herring, “is faithful to the original melody, but hopefully casts it in a new light and brings something unique to it.”

Herring pays tribute to the immense compositional and technical influence of John McLaughlin with a rendition of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “Hope,” with a searing solo statement from guest saxophonist Bill Evans. “The original recording is a mantra of sorts, it’s only 2 minutes long it didn’t have any solos on it,” says Herring with a smile. “I knew I one day wanted to record one of McLaughlin’s songs, but then I say to myself ‘Why bother? John McLaughlin already did the best possible solo on his version.’ But John didn’t play a solo on this one!”

From first note to last, Subject to Change Without Notice is marked by a careful balance of improvisational fervor and song-like delicacy. “Every one of my collaborators on this record surprised me,” says Herring. “They all took the time to compose their own parts. I needed people to not just hack away to playing away at a chart, but to come up with cohesive parts that fit into the music like the pieces of a clock. They all rose to the occasion.

“These are not necessarily complicated songs,” Herring continues, getting at the core of what makes Subject to Change Without Notice so refreshing. “When I started playing with Bruce Hampton in ’89, his band was all about simplicity. One of the biggest lessons I learned was the simpler the music was, the easier it is to be yourself. It’s easier to stretch it, to bend it, and to inject your personality into it. The more complicated it is, the easier it is to be a prisoner to it. With simple music, you can improvise around and within the melodies.”

“The album jumps genres, but that’s not really intentional,” Herring concludes. “I was just trying to express the other parts of music that I love that I’m not necessarily known for, things I haven’t done before. But it’s ironic: I play instrumental music and all I want to do is be a singer. I’m 50 now, and the older I get the more I want to be the singer. I want to play melodies that have substance.”

Creating a Modern Electronic Drum Kit

Back in 1987, I was blown away by Bill Bruford's first Earthworks group, Kazumi Watanabe's trio with Jeff Berlin and of course, David Torn's "Cloud about Mercury" band with Mark Isham and Tony Levin, featuring Bruford's post Patrick Moraz/King Crimson era Simmons SDS7 electronic drum kit. I was so enamored of this new technology and music, that I soon embarked on creating my own version. Thanks to a basic 5 piece, Simmons SDS 9 kit given to me by my good friend Stephen Bray, I was off and running. The addition of 5 more Simmons pads, (courtesy of my chums at Guitar Center), Roland's newest MIDI drum brain, the PM-16, the Roland TR-505 drum module, and a Yamaha TX-7 synth, I was able to duplicate many of the sounds and patterns played by Bruford on his Yamaha DX21, Simmons SDS 7 and MTM modules.

The advent of the more affordable Roland, Yamaha, Akai and Alesis drum brains, soon led to the demise of the overpriced and unreliable Simmons. When Bruford debuted the new $10,000 SDX in 1990, it was already too late, despite its computer and sampling capabilities. The SDX would infamously fail Bruford at a Yes show at Madison Square Garden. Bruford was done, never to play electronic drums again and Simmons would never recover.

Bruford went on to form an all acoustic version of Earthworks in 1999, however I had stayed true to the world of electronic percussion, creating the Drummstick and following the path of Futureman of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. "The Beast", as Bruford once called the Simmons kit, would now sit idly by, as the more mobile Drummstick rig became my instruments of choice.

Ultimately, like Bruford, I too returned to the world of acoustic percussion. With a home studio and the space to practice, the beloved Gretsch returned with a vengeance. That being said, as an audio engineer and a musician playing both the Drummstick and later the Zendrum, I had been spoiled by the awesome sounds they generated, the reverb and delay at my fingertips, not unlike the days of the Simmons kits. This wasn't always possible at many of the venues I played at, and my desire for the best aural experience I could create gnawed at me whenever I encountered those challenging gigs.

Bruford retired from live performances in 2009; I had the pleasure of seeing him and speaking to him before his show with Michael Borstlap in Bath in 2007, not knowing it would be one of his last. I loved his symmetrical drum set-up, his last unique drum configuration. Once again, I used an old chess adage, and that is to "understand a grandmaster, play his games and repertoire to get inside his head". And so it was with Bruford. No drummer has influenced me more. From the Roto-tom kit 1980s, the Simmons of the 1990s, to the symmetrical set-up of the 2000s.

Following my most recent creation,  the "Indian Subsonic Bass Drum Sound" kit based on the amazing sounds and kits of Trilok Gurtu, I found that once again, the desire to control the audio became paramount, next to performing naturally. It soon became clear that to achieve that consistent sub-sonic sound would require the very best mixing, not always possible or practical at most of the venues or musical situations I find myself in. What to do? Well, it was time to revisit the world of electronics and "V-Drums". After some research, my path was clear: Convert the kit to a V-Drum kit...

In 1997, Roland's new "V-Drums" revolutionized the world of electronic drums, wiping out the rubberized world of Roland, Alesis, Simmons, Yamaha, Dauz, and others. Newer trigger technology, coupled with the advent of "mesh drum heads", did away with the "practce pad" feel and response of electronic drums. The Roland V-Drums, like all new technology, wasn't cheap either ($7000!), so drummers and drum companies started to convert regular acoustic drums into V-Drums. Companies like Hart Dynamics, Ddrum and Pintech jumped on board, offering even hybrid kits. The jury may be out, but in my experience with using triggers on acoustic drum heads, they just didn't seem to track as well as on mesh heads. The other issue for drummers using hybrid kits is there is no way to control the acoustic volume, especially in settings where volume is an issue; apartments and clubs where you have to smack the heads to trigger them properly. With that in mind, I went for Hart Magnum Mesh heads and Ddrum triggers for the "Trilok Kit" and mated them to my newly minted Alesis Trigger I/O. The result was 90% successful...

 Every drum triggered extremely well, except for the kick drum. No matter how I adjusted it, the Ddrum Red Shot didn't seem to like the DW5000 bass drum pedal. One of the things I noted during my research was that many of the DIY drum trigger folks would mount the trigger inside the shell with the piezo placed on  a bar, mounted on two L-Brackets, and a piece of foam covering the pick-up. Using an adjustable drum muffler from an old snare drum, one of my Pintech triggers and an L-Bracket, I drilled several holes to both mount the muffler, the L-Bracket and the 1/4" jack for the piezo. This allowed me to adjust the sensitivity of the Pintech, (attached by velcro to the muffler). I used some zip-ties to secure the 1/4" jack to the L-Bracket and positioned it so would mount flush to the shell of the bass drum. I also used one of the tom leg holders to attach the "Trick Floor Tom - Bass Drum Converter.

The LP Claw system that came with it, also never felt right, so this was a real improvement moving the holder to the bottom of the drum. Not only did it work, it was even better than the Ddrum Red Shots. Nothing like having a piezo right under the fingertips/sticks, just like the Drummstick and Futureman's new "Drumitar". This got me thinking... Could I create a symmetrical "V-Drum" kit, made up of smaller acoustic drums with Pintech triggers, mesh heads and adjustable drum mufflers? The answer is yes of course! Ironically, I had most of the tools and the ingredients already. There was no way I was going to use the Gretsch kit; it's way too beautiful and sounds totally amazing as is.

The Ddrum D2 14" x 16" floor tom had already been converted via the aforementioned method. I also had the snare drum as well, a 5" x 10" PDP "popcorn", however this time I removed the Red Shot trigger and added the Pintech. Once again, I drilled the holes and after a few adjustments, it worked as well as the Red Shot, with the added feature of plugging the 1/4" jack directly into the shell.

 All I needed now were more mufflers,  L-Brackets and 4 more toms. It also dawned on me that I could duplicate the actual sizes of Gretsch toms and the symmetrical look and feel. Turns out that Ddrum makes an "Add-on Pack" for the D2 kit, featuring a 7" x 8" tom and a 12" x 14" floor tom. I got a great deal from "2kool4skool" on ebay and got a used 5 piece D2 from Guitar Center.

The Ddrum add-on pack also comes with double tom stands, so serendipitously, my Ultimate Support cymbal arms will fit nicely with them, solving the cymbal placement issue for me. A trip to Sam Adato's Drum shop and I got all the lugs, clamps, and claws I needed. 4 more mesh heads and I would be good to go!

The Ddrums soon arrived and the mesh heads from Guitar Center showed up around the same time. I decided however, to use the Ddrum Red Shot triggers on the Ddrums instead of the Pintechs. Less holes to drill, plus the Red Shots seemed to work great. In another experiment, I hooked up my Roland TD-7 to the triggers, but they didn't work anywhere near as well as the Alesis Trigger I/O, (with the exception of the "Reverb" kit).

The Ddrum bass drum was huge, so I opted for the converted D2 floor tom/bass drum. Using the Roland FD-7 Hi-Hat trigger pedal, a Pintech "Dingbat" trigger bar and my Hosa snake, I was actually able to re-create a trigger set-up that would mirror the Zendrum.  I now had an electronic-acoustic hybrid kit, virtually identical to the Gretsch kit; silent mesh heads that could be unleashed with my audio set-ups. The Alesis Trigger I/O was programmed use the "Dingbat" as my sample trigger device, and I selected the MIDI note numbers to correspond to each and every drum and "Triggerlicious" was born.

The conversion has been a success; I even used it in a session the following weekend and it performed like a champion. You can indeed, convert an acoustic drum kit to a "V-Drum" electronic kit with all the features you can imagine and more. All it takes is a great MIDI interface, mesh heads, great triggers, an inexpensive drum kit and the desire to be just a little creative...:)

Garrin Benfield Heads to NYC

After extensively touring the country, one of the Bay Area's best musical talents is off to NYC at the end of August. I once had the pleasure of having Garrin join bassist Edo Castro and me for a truly fun-filled performance at Duboce Park several years ago. About his final Bay Area shows, Garrin writes, "I've got a few more gigs in San Francisco before I once again relocate to New York City. My next show in San Francisco will be at Dolores Park Cafe on Friday, August 10! What can I say about this homey venue that has hosted so many memorable nights over the years? Please come out and say see you later before Jason and I take off!" If you haven't seen Garrin before, tonight is your chance. One fine example of Benfield's work, is a video shown below, "Walking Time Blues" and is among my favorites.

Garrin's website sums up his latest efforts: “The Wave Organ Song is Benfield’s fifth full length CD of original songs. He gained notice in 2000 with his stark tribute to Matthew Shepard, “What You’re Hiding”, which was used in a production of the Laramie Project. In 2002, after recording his second CD, “Nowhere is Brighter” with Bonnie Raitt’s rhythm section and guest Boz Scaggs, Benfield took up a relentless touring schedule, both as a solo artist and with his band. Some of these increasingly improvisation-heavy sets were documented on the 2003 release “August Live”. 2004 saw the release of “Where Joy Kills Sorrow”, and Benfield’s first foray into live improvisational looping, which enabled him to tour solo but with added layers of beats, bass lines and the searing lead guitar Benfield’s hardcore fans have come to expect. Playing eclectic sets at hundreds of shows every year, Benfield has become an underground favorite at festivals, rock clubs, coffeehouses and house concerts.

Benfield's sound has been described as Freestyle Acoustic Rock. His music is a blend of moody, guitar driven rock and polyrhythmic groove all run through the filter of a very serious Singer/Songwriter. His talent shines through as a solo artist when he flat-picks his way through complicated and lightning-fast arrangements and also while he uses a Loop Station to create mesmerizing soundscapes upon which he lays blistering rock, blues and jazz licks, darkened by his extensive use of effect pedals. As a bandleader, Garrin can command the attention of seasoned players and improvise with the dexterity and ingenuity of players many years his senior. Improvisation is at the center of a Garrin Benfield concert experience. Whether at a solo show or at a full band event, Garrin twists and turns the tunes each night in an ever-evolving attempt to keep searching for new musical challenges..."

Safe journeys my man...

GARRIN BENFIELD at The Dolores Park Café
San Francisco, CA
Friday August 10, 7:30p

Kevin Coelho's “Funkengruven – The Joy of Driving a B3"

Kevin Coelho is the sort of teenage phenom that the Hammond B3 organ hasn’t seen in decades. It’s a measure of his gifts that the 16-year-old Californian’s debut album, “Funkengruven – The Joy of Driving a B3,” was produced by a renowned master of the B3: Tony Monaco, whose Chicken Coup Records imprint is released “Funkengruven” last month via Summit Records.

“Kevin is a fascinating and brilliant young musician,” says Monaco, who not only helmed the sessions but also lent Coelho the players from his hot touring trio: guitarist Derek DiCenzo and drummer Reggie Jackson. “In a lot of ways, Kevin reminds me of the young me! He has already studied an enormous amount and has a great grasp of what and how he wants to play. He really knows how to play that left-hand bass, which is the key to driving the music. Producing the record for Kevin was a wonderful experience for me, a real gift.” Coelho comes to the San Jose Jazz Festival August 12th.

Classically trained in piano, Coelho fell in love with the sound of the Hammond B3 when he first heard a recording of “Green Onions” by Booker T & the MGs, and he eventually graduated to adoring the records of jazz organists Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith and Don Patterson. The R&B of the ‘60s and ‘70s is a passion, too, with that material ripe for the picking by an imaginative Hammond player, he says about a track from “Funkengruven”: “ `Dock of the Bay’ was an early favorite of mine – and the organ just sounds so good in smooth, mellow R&B like that.”
“Cantaloupe Island,” also on the new CD, was a prime vehicle when Coelho was studying piano. “There’s a lot more to the song than just Herbie’s opening piano lick,” he says. “We turned it into a funk tune by changing the beat and putting a James Brown bass line under it, then did some arranging on the chords at the end, and voilà.”

Coelho, who was born on August 29, 1995, started studying piano at age 6 and began his jazz and organ studies at age 11. Along with Randy Masters and Tony Monaco, his jazz teachers include noted Bay Area Hammond B3 player Wil Blades. The young musician has also had master classes with Larry Goldings and Bennett Paster, among others.

In 2010, Coelho attended and performed at the Eastman School of Music Summer Jazz program as a rare freshman to be admitted. He has participated in and performed at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for the past five years, winning the Outstanding Soloist award multiple times as well as being honored with the prestigious Shape of Jazz to Come award.

With his group The Groove Messengers, Coelho performed at the 2011 San Jose Jazz Festival, and he also played the 2011 Stanford Jazz Festival, as well as at clubs and corporate events across the country in groups with such professional musicians as Charles McCarthy, Akira Tana, Jason Lewis, James Witzel, Ray Scott and Rob Gibson, among others. Coelho attends Los Altos High School in California, where he is a straight-A student.

In July, Coelho made a return appearance at the Luna Pier Bootleggers and Blues Festival in Michigan, and in August, he returns to perform at the San Jose Jazz Festival in California – showcasing material from “Funkengruven” with DiCenzo and Jackson at both shows.