Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present
Larry Vuckovich
A Celebration of Blue Balkan
and Lifetime Achievement Award
Larry Vuckovich celebrates his landmark recording Blue Balkan, featuring Bobby Hutcherson, which was the first to fuse Balkan ethnic music with American Jazz, and will celebrate the 40th anniversary next year. He will be joined by Eric Golub (violin), Vince Delgado (Middle-Eastern percussion), Coralie Russo (oud), & Jeff Chambers (bass). The day after this show, he will leave for Serbia to perform at the Nišville Festival, where he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from his former country, Yugoslavia, for being the only jazz musician from those parts who has performed in the US with numerous greats & received top reviews from the NY Times & other major publications.
$25 General Admission
Larry Vuckovich has won acclaim from critics and jazz audiences for his deeply imaginative style and repertoire heard at prestigious North American and European jazz clubs, concert halls and festivals. The New York Times notes that his unique outlook and collection of influences “set him apart from most pianists who are heard regularly in New York.” The Village Voice comments on his “book of piano gems that will keep you guessing.” The Toronto Globe and Mail calls him “a musician who sits apart from the rest by virtue ... of his taste for both the exotic and the exquisite.” He has played with jazz greats from several influences: Dexter Gordon, Philly Joe Jones, Mel Tormé, Don Byas, and Red Norvo to today’s artists: Charlie Haden, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby McFerrin, Tom Harrell, and Charles McPherson. He led the Keystone Korner house trio in San Francisco for five years, before moving to the New York scene, where he played at all the top clubs. When he returned home, Larry later headed the Grand Hyatt’s Club 36 music program, which during his tenure, became a San Francisco Jazz Festival venue. Larry presented weeklong theme shows there and at Kimballs East/West, Yoshi’s, and The Bach, and was artistic director of the former Napa Valley Jazz Festival in Yountville. He also performed as a guest of Marian McPartland on her NPR show, Piano Jazz. larryvuckovich.com
Eric Golub is a multi-faceted string improviser who has been performing and recording on jazz viola and violin for more than 35 years, including featured performances alongside such artists as Tom Harrell, Bobby Hutcherson, Solar Plexus and Sadao Watanabe. Eric's unique style draws upon his unusually diverse expertise in world music traditions, including Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese idioms, even as a traditional Hawaiian singer. He contributes his authentic gypsy fiddle improvisations to Larry Vuckovich's music, most notably his seminal recording “Blue Balkan." soundcloud.com/eric-n-golub
Vince Delgado is a master percussionist and composer who has played music for over 71 years. He was an aspiring Jazz drummer at the age of 11 and played swing music in Jr. High School and High School . At the age of 18 he studied Japanese classical music for five years. In 1965 he began studying North Indian Classical music on the Tabla and studied for 13 years. He helped establish and became the first director of the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1968. He has been playing traditional Middle Eastern Music for 58 years as well as being featured on numerous recordings as a percussionist. He has performed in Istanbul, Paris, London, Mumbai, Bogota, Mexico City and other cities around the world with many luminaries including Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan, Necati Çelik, Halil Karaduman, John McLaughlin, Paul Winter Consort, Mickey Hart, Harry Partch, Simon Shaheen, and Larry Vuckovich. He has been studying and playing the Kanoun, a 78 stringed Middle Eastern zither, since 2005, and continues to play with his mostly Latin Jazz Trio as a percussionist. vincedelgado.com
Coralie Russo has been playing and performing Egyptian, Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, Armenian, Syrian and Persian Music on the Oud, an 11-stringed lute, for 35 years. She has studied with master musicians John Belizekjian, Necati Çelik, Georges Lammam and Haig Manookian. She has performed with Jazayer, Coral Rose, Aywah Dance Company and the Gypsy Caravan and currently plays with Vince Delgado’s Mid-East Tapestry Quartet and other local Mid-Eastern traditional ensembles, as well as Larry Vuckovich’s Blue Balkan and Crosswinds Jazz ensembles. She has extensively studied dance in the Flamenco and Middle Eastern traditions.
A talented and versatile bassist, Jeff Chambers is known for his impeccable timing, dynamic rhythms and improvisational dexterity. Chambers musical style is both lyrical and playful. With his distinct touch, smooth sound and innovative sensibility he travels the vast tradition of rhythm-fueled bass playing, skillfully referencing his predecessors while exploring new musical territory.
Chambers masterfully breaks the conventionally accepted boundaries of his instrument and forges new melodic possibilities. According to San Francisco Chronicle music critic Phil Elwood, "Jeff Chambers makes playing upright bass look and sound so easy with his rhythmic sense and melodic vocabulary." jeffchambersjazz.com.