JazzReach Launches 2011-2012 National Tour w/ Metta Quintet 11/29

On November 29, the New York City-based nonprofit JazzReach launches its 2011-2012 national touring season with a special one-night-only event at The Jazz Standard in New York City. The event will feature Metta Quintet, JazzReach's acclaimed resident ensemble, performing repertoire from their forthcoming CD release, Big Drum/Small World, a project that explores the globalization and ever-broadening definition and sound of jazz. The album (the band's third) will be released in February in partnership with independent music and video distributor The Orchard. A portion of all net proceeds from the Jazz Standard event and sales from the CD will directly benefit JazzReach's committed national endeavors in arts education.

Following the Jazz Standard event, JazzReach's 2011-2012 touring season continues with events scheduled to take place in over 17 communities nationwide. The season will feature performances of JazzReach's signature live multi-media educational programs for student audiences, informative clinics, master classes and workshops for student bands and ensembles and main-stage performances for all audiences. All JazzReach activities are carried out exclusively by Metta Quintet and are presented in partnership with some of the country's leading performing arts centers and presenting organizations. This season JazzReach aims to serve over 30,000 young people who would otherwise not have access to jazz, live music and/or the arts.

Some notable season highlights include the inaugural presentations of two new live multi-media educational programs: Ellington! and MiLes Davis and the Blue Flame Incident, which aim to celebrate and promulgate the legacies of jazz icons Duke Ellington and MiLes Davis respectively. JazzReach founder Hans Schuman says of the new programs, "These artists are among the most important in music history and sadly, due to limited time and funding, are often omitted from students' American history and social studies curricula. This is where JazzReach steps in." Like all of JazzReach's live educational programming, these new programs creatively merge live music with video projections, live narration and lighting design to create educational experiences that are as immersive as they are informative.

Since its inception, JazzReach has served over 255,000 young people nationwide. "From grand 1,800-seat symphony halls, modern and refurbished theaters to 200-seat black box theaters, we're here to serve as many young people as possible," Schuman says. "So whomever shares our convictions and mission to make the arts a greater part of everyday life, these are our partners."

As a not-for-profit organization, JazzReach relies solely on its friends and supporters to make its programs possible. Some of the high profile artists who have leant their support to the organization in the form of benefit concerts and advocacy include Bruce Hornsby, Brad Mehldau, Jack DeJohnette, Christian McBride, Raul Midon, Jason Moran, Antonio Sanchez, Sam Yahel, John Patitucci, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, John Scofield, Nick Payton, Ravi Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jane Monheit to name a few.

Listing Details:

Metta Quintet
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Jazz Standard
116 E. 27th Street (b/w Park and Lex)
Two sets: 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20

About JazzReach

JazzReach is a New York City-based nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation and teaching of jazz music. For over 16 years, JazzReach has provided essential, high quality, all-original arts-education opportunities for young audiences nationwide that aim to foster a greater appreciation, awareness and understanding of the art form. The organization serves between 25,000 and 30,000 young people nationwide annually through its educational programs and encourages and invites all to participate regardless of economic status, physical ability, race, religion, age or sexual orientation.

JazzReach was founded on the observation that in spite of the art form's prominence in both American and world culture, many students across the country simply have no access to jazz. At its core, JazzReach wholeheartedly believes: that learning about music and the arts is essential to a well-rounded education; that all young people are entitled to access to the arts and our nation's diverse cultural heritage; and that a more culturally informed, aware and engaged society is a richer, more vital society.

About Metta Quintet

All of JazzReach's artistic programming is carried out exclusively by Metta Quintet, the organization's official resident ensemble: Marcus Strickland (tenor/soprano saxophone), Greg Ward (alto saxophone), David Bryant (piano), Joshua Ginsburg (bass) and Hans Schuman (drums).

A cohesive, tight-knit unit, Metta Quintet is fueled by a collective, open-minded musical curiosity and a shared dedication to exploring new artistic territory while maintaining a passionate commitment to arts education, fostering new audiences and nurturing young talent. Through the commissioning of new works and the creative integration of live performance, captivating video projections and stunning lighting design, Metta Quintet is committed to challenging convention and expanding the boundaries of live jazz performance.

The group released its critically acclaimed debut recording Going to Meet The Man (Koch) in 2002 featuring eight commissioned works by composers Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Larry Goldings and George Colligan. All works were inspired by short stories by celebrated American author James Baldwin. In July 2006, Sunnyside Records released Metta Quintet's second CD Subway Songs, which features eight all-original commissioned compositions inspired by the many facets of the New York City Subway experience.

In February 2012, the quintet will release the globally-themed project Big Drum/Small World (in partnership with The Orchard), which features a diverse array of dynamic new music by renowned composers from five different countries. The project explores the globalization and ever-broadening definition and sound of jazz.

About Hans Schuman, Founder, JazzReach & Metta Quintet

Born in Lansing, Michigan, Hans Schuman began playing drums at the age of 13 while growing up in Tucson, Arizona. After high school, Hans enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Upon receiving his Bachelor's Degree in Professional Music in 1990, he moved to New York City where he went on to play with colleagues, friends and luminaries Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Reed, Wynton Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, Larry Goldings, Antonio Hart, Christian McBride, Don Braden, Stefon Harris, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Joshua Redman, among many others.

In 1994, with proceeds from the reluctant sale of an inheriTed Steinway Grand Piano, Schuman founded JazzReach out of a small home office. "With little more than a set of drums, a deep passion and love for this great art form and an inherent desire to share it with young people, I established JazzReach as a means to ensure that new, informed audiences for jazz continued to be cultivated," he says. "Jazz music at its best, like all great art, vividly reflects the highest levels of creative expression, and in turn has this unique capacity to uplift and illuminate all that's possible in the realm of artistic and aesthetic self realization."

Schuman is proud to play Zildjian Cymbals, Tama Drums, Vic Firth Sticks, Brushes and Mallets, Evans Drum Heads and use Calzone Cases exclusively.

www.jazzreach.org