Piedmont Piano is pleased to present
Dena DeRose Trio
American vocalist and pianist Dena DeRose returns from Austria to perform with bassist Peter Barshay and drummer Akira Tana to present new material for Dena's new recording on HighNote due out later this year! Come hear songs by Bob Dorough, Alan Broadbent, Al Cohn, and others, including a few penned by DeRose herself! Guaranteed to be swingin', fun, and intense as this trio has been together for over 15 years!
$20 General Admission
It’s no small accomplishment to be thought of as “The most creative and compelling singer- pianist since Shirley Horn”, but that’s exactly how Joel Siegel of the Washington City Paper described Dena DeRose. If she comes to your city and you want to catch the show, go early, because the room is going to be packed. She not only awes her audiences and music critics with her facility on the piano and her swinging, soothing vocal style but, as Richard Scheinin of the San Jose Mercury aptly put it, “... she exudes joy ... what soul!”
DeRose has appeared in the Downbeat Magazine ‘Critics Awards’ listing as an ‘Artist deserving wider recognition’ every year since since 1998. Articles and CD reviews have appeared in most jazz publications and online sites such as JazzTimes, Downbeat, Jazz Is, All About Jazz, Jazz Hot, Jazz Podium, Jazz It, and her music can be heard on most jazz radio in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, and many online jazz radio stations, apple music, pandora, spotify, youtube, etc.
As a recording artist, DeRose has 14 CDs to her credit and will go into the studio to record this Oct for her 3rd release for HighNote Records that will feature songs from Alan Broadbent, Bob Dorough, Mark Murphy, Al Cohn, Marvin Hamlisch, and a few penned by DeRose.
A Professor of Jazz Voice at the KUG Jazz Institute in Graz, DeRose moved from NYC to Austria where she’s lived for the past 14 years continuing to perform as a leader around the world at many of the great International Jazz Festivals and clubs like Birdland (NY), Birdland Theater (NY), Bluenote (NY), Jazz Standard (NY), Mezzrow (NY), Smalls (NY), Yoshi’s (SF), Jazz Showcase (Chicago), Jazzland (Vienna), Duc des Lombards (Paris), etc. denaderose.com
A veteran bassist who has established a strong reputation over the years from his sideman work on both the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes, Peter Barshay has performed with such jazz luminaries as Kenny Barron, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Werner, Shirley Horn, Woody Shaw, Pharoah Sanders, Blue Mitchell, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Johnny Griffin and Bobby McFerrin.
Barshay’s numerous appearances at clubs and jazz festivals have taken him around the world, helping to establish his reputation as a solid, reliable bassist. Having soaked up a lifetime of sounds on both coasts -- everything from salsa and straight ahead to funk-fusion, avant garde and music derived from the Afro-Cuban and Brazilian traditions -- he brings a wealth of experience to the musical table.
Born and raised in California, Akira Tana earned degrees from Harvard University and the New England Conservatory of Music. Tana has worked with Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims, Hubert Laws, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, The Paul Winter Consort, Paquito D'Rivera, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, Lena Horne, The Manhattan Transfer, Ruth Brown, Charles Aznavour, Maurice Hines, and Van Dyke Parks. He has appeared on over 150 recordings.
Tana co-led a quintet with the bassist, Rufus Reid called TanaReid, has five releases, Yours and Mine and Passing Thoughts, on Concord Records and Blue Motion and Looking Forward, and Back to Front, on Evidence Music. On Sons of Sound, Akira has two releases as a leader, Moon Over the World and Secret Agent Men. The third US releasee on Sons of Sound as a leader is a project by the Secret Agent Men Band playing themes from the movies of James Bond, entitled Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, featuring the vocalist, Annie Sellick. Just released in Japan is a project entitled JAZZaNOVA on Vega Records that features the vocalists, Claudio Amaral, Claudia Villela, Jackie Ryan, Carla Helmbrecht, and Sandy Cressman. Guest artists include Branford Marsalis and Arturo Sandoval. This project will be released in the US in 2017. A recent release as a leader is a recording entitled Otonowa, which features jazz interpretations of Japanese folk and pop melodies that date as far back as the 1800s. The newest release for Otonowa, the group’s name, is Stars Across the Ocean. This group has completed four tours of Tohoku performing and teaching for communites still rebuilding from the Earthquake/Tsunamai of 2011. An active teacher and clinician, Tana has taught at Rutgers University, Queens College, Jersey City State College, New York University, and is currently on the faculty at San Francisco State University and the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA.
Mr. Tana is a product endorser of YAMAHA DRUMS, SABIAN CYMBALS, and VIC FIRTH STICKS. akiratana.com