Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present
Shanna Carlson and Hugo Wainzinger Bridges Quartet
The Bridges concept is a musical journey through the Americas with original compositions by Shanna Carlson (vocals) and Hugo Wainzinger (guitarist/composer/arranger), featuring songs from their latest CD Lost In Your Eyes. They’ll be joined by stellar musicians: Larry Dunlap (piano), Jeff Chambers (bass), and Raul Ramirez (drums/percussion).
$20 General Admission
With a warm, slightly husky and intimate voice, Shanna Carlson delivers a lyric invested with her love of song. A natural balladeer, who also swings like mad and has a playful side. A native San Franciscan, she played piano from a young age and later became a songwriter and band-leader.
Shanna has two of her own CD's as well as two compilations. Her vocals have been heard on radio stations both nationally and internationally, as well as in movies, television shows and most recently her title song from her latest CD, Lost in Your Eyes, as a promo for a theater company in Olympia, WA.
An educator at heart, she loves to relay tales of a song’s origins or a golden nugget of information about the writers and/or lyricists. Shanna also coaches privately and, for 14 years, accompanied and taught at Jazz Camp West (now Living Jazz)in La Honda, California. Giving back is something that comes naturally and she enjoys working with Young At Heart Project, an organization that brings professional musicians into senior facilities.
Shanna has played on some of the most respected stages in jazz: Yoshi’s, Dizzy's, Enrico's, The Stanford Jazz Vocal Series, The Topeka Jazz Workshop, and the San Jose Jazz Festival, to name but a few. She performs on the West Coast as well as England, Sweden and Switzerland. shannacarlson.net
Hugo Wainzinger is a composer, guitarist, and arranger. Born in Argentina, he was exposed to a wide variety of music since childhood. He absorbed many musical styles, making him uncommonly versatile as an arranger, largely through the influence of his mother, a passionate bolero singer.
A prolific composer as well as a wide-ranging performer, he spans the spectrum from classical to jazz to contemporary and world music. Frequently performing as a soloist, he also plays with both Latin and American artists at various Bay Area venues and festivals including the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Hugo composed the music, arranged and produced the Lost In You Eyes CD with Ken Mckenzie as lyricist and Shanna Carlson as the vocalist.
In addition to his active career as a composer and performer, he engineers and produces recording projects at Heartstrings Music Studios in Mountain View, California. hugowainzinger.com
Pianist, composer and arranger Larry Dunlap has a multifaceted career that includes extensive work in the fields of jazz, classical and popular music. Larry lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Since the early 1980s Larry has been pianist in North America with the British singer Dame Cleo Laine and her musician husband Sir John Dankworth. His past work has seen him appearing and/or recording with jazz vocalists Mark Murphy, Ernestine Anderson and Joe Williams as well as instrumentalists Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Ralph Towner, Ernie Watts, Bud Shank and Larry Coryell, to name a few.
Larry has composed works for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles of all sizes as well as many songs. In the pop music field Larry has toured with The Pointer Sisters, Country Joe McDonald and others. Larry transcribes and edits music for publications from Sher Music Company. These include The New Real Book, Volumes 2 & 3, The Standards Real Book, The European Real Book and others. He is currently at work writing book in vocal accompanying. baymusic.com/larry-dunlap-trio-or-quartet
A talented and versatile bassist, Jeff Chambers is known for his impeccable timing, dynamic rhythms and improvisational dexterity. His musical style is both lyrical and playful. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area but began his career in Milwaukee when he had a chance to play full time with the renowned pianist/vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery, which offered him an invaluable education and a quick entrance into the international world of jazz. He went on to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Concord Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Fujitsu Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival and countless others.
Jeff has played with great jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Harris, Benny Carter, Tommy Flanagan, Dakota Staton, McCoy Tyner, Joe Williams, Kenny Burrell, Makes Moody, Milt Jackson, John Hendricks, Abbey Lincoln, Ernestine Anderson, Mel Lewis, Ahmad Jamal, Russell Malone and many others.
Chambers teaches privately but has taught bass, improvisation and combo direction at various institutions including the Brubeck Institute, San Francisco State University, Jazz Camp West, Berkeley High School to name a few. jeffchambersjazz.com
Raul Ramirez is from the port of Callao, Peru and began playing the Peruvian cajon on the streets of his hometown. As he matured as a musician he played in local radio orchestras and performed with many of the legendary Peruvian artists before moving to the USA in 1973. He arrived in the Bay Area during the post-hippy jazz renaissance and worked with jazz-rock jam bands organized by Grateful Dead collaborator Merl Saunders. In the Bay Area he became an important figure in the music scene working with George Duke, Mad and Eddie Duran, Denise Perrier, Lady Memphis, Frank Jackson, Eric Schifrin, The Bobs, Pedro Vargas, Piero, Susana Baca, Eva Ayllon, Cecilia Bracamonte, Houston Persons, Pete Escovedo and The Oakland East Bay Symphony and many others. raulramirezmusic.com