Acclaimed jazz pianist Michael Wolff returns to his Bay Area roots with a July 21st concert at Piedmont Piano in Oakland, joined by Michael Barsimanto on drums and Peter Barshay on bass. The upcoming concert kicks-off a busy period of performances, recordings and collaborations for Wolff, including a Berkeley benefit concert to raise funds for a scholarship in his mother's name. All details follow below.
Michael Wolff AT PIEDMONT PIANO - JULY 21STSOMETHINGELSEREVIEWS.COM / ALL ABOUT JAZZ completed an expansive two-part interview with Wolff last month. Here are links to Parts 1 and 2:
By Nick DeRiso, 5/25/11
http://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/05/25/something-else-interview-jazz-pianist-michael-wolff/
Watch Michael Wolff perform ‘St Thomas' at a recent show in Denver:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siUU61PFIRg
Wolff recently completely a pair of successful Spring gigs at Vitello's in LA, which Don Heckman's International Review of Music praised as "an occasion to celebrate." Preview and review coverage for Wolff's March show ranged from a ‘Preview Pick of the Week' via International Review of Music to a ‘Featured Preview' in LAJAZZ, to preview postings via NPR.org Music News, LA Weekly, Broadwayworld - Los Angeles, and more. Greg Burk covered via METALJAZZ as well:
http://www.metaljazz.com/2011/04/la_previews_april_1521_proverb.php
Other notable upcoming Wolff appearances/activities include:
August 3-7: Wolff travels abroad for performances at Outreach Music Festival in Innsbruck, and Schwaz, Austria.
September 30th: Benefit at the Berkeley Jazz School in Berkeley, California, to raise funds for a Scholarship in Wolff's mother's name for the Sanville Institute, a PHD program in social work. Wolff's mother, Elise Blumenfeld, was a PHD social worker. Wolff did a similar benefit in her name last year, which raised over $10,000 for the Scholarship fund. Additional details and band line-up tbd.
http://www.jazzschool.com/html/events_live.html
October 7th and 8th: Wolff Trio returns to his beloved Knickerbocker in NYC - more details coming soon.
October 24: Wolff comes to Yoshi's in San Francisco as a featured soloist with The Diablo Valley Night Jazz Band. Wolff will perform under the direction of Rory Snyder, his old friend from their UCLA days.
Wolff is also currently involved in three recording projects: He's working on a trio album this weekend with Mike Clark and Chip Jackson, which Wolff describes as "an acoustic, funky album." He'll then head into the studio to record a new solo piano album in the months ahead. Finally, in August, Wolff will begin work on a quartet album in Los Angeles, with renowned trumpeter Mark Isham.
Visit http://www.michaelwolff.com/tour/index.php for all upcoming tour dates.
Sampling of clips for Wolff's April show in LA:
LA WEEKLY MUSIC EDITOR Brick Wahl included the show in his widely-read ‘BRICK'S PICKS OF THE WEEK' column:
http://www.laweekly.com/2011-04-14/music/brick-s-picks-jazz-friends-with-benefits/
Videos