Benny Green Ft. Peter Washington and Kenny Washington with Special Guest Donald Harrison
(Published: January 27, 2011)

The Benny Green Trio ft. Peter Washington and Kenny Washington with Special Guest Donald Harrison

February 15-16, 2011
$19.50


Make a reservation for this show.

The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley presents jazz pianist Benny Green and his Quartet. Set times Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm. Doors open at 6:00pm on Tuesday and 5:30pm Wednesday. Band members are Benny Green (piano) Peter Washington (bass), Kenny Washington (drums) and Donald Harrison (sax).

His recording career, which includes over one hundred sessions, is very impressive. He has recorded as a sideman with Betty Carter, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Watson, Milt Jackson, Diana Krall, and Ray Brown.

Born in New York in 1963, Benny Green grew up in Berkeley, California, and began classical piano studies at the age of seven. Influenced by his father, a tenor saxophonist, his attention soon turned into Jazz, "I began trying to improvise on the piano, imitating the records I'd been hearing from my father's collection, which included a lot of Monk and Bird... it was a gradual process of teaching myself".

As a leader of his own groups, Benny's recording career began with two albums for the Dutch label Criss Cross: Prelude (1988) and In This Direction (1989). In 1990, Green started recording for Blue Note, releasing Lineage (1990), Greens (1991), Testifiyin' (1992), That's Right! (1993), The Place To Be (1994), Kaleidoscope (1997) and These Are Soulful Days (1999).

In 2000, his debut recording on Telarc Jazz, Naturally was released, which featured bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone, musicians who have both inspired and challenged him to explore new territory. With the 2002 release of Green's Blues, Benny returned to his roots and updated the tradition with an exciting solo collection of jazz standards by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner and George Gershwin, with his highly personal style.

A perpetual student of the history of Jazz piano, Benny Green mentions Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Hank Jones, Ahmad Jamal, Phineas Newborn, Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson as some of his main influences. His approach to Jazz can be resumed in his own words: "... for myself and a lot of musicians I admire, the main focus is to just swing and have fun, and share those feelings with the audience ... and if I'm able to convey that, then I feel like I'm doing something positive."

www.amsartists.com

www.bennygreenmusic.com

More Information: http://www.jazzalley.com

Submitted By:
Dimitriou