Sheila Jordan Headlines Jazz Workshop Performance

Sheila Jordan(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Legendary jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan headlines the Hudson Jazzworks’ 7th annual Hudson Jazz Workshop Performance featuring Armen Donelian, Marc Mommaas, and participants in the workshop, on Sunday, August 11, 2013, at 3:30pm, at the Hudson Opera House. There will also be a free “Meet the Artists” symposium before the performance.

Special guest artist/clinician is the renowned vocalist and NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan. Jordan traces her jazz legacy back to Charlie Parker, who was her mentor. For 10 years, Jordan was married to Charlie Parker’s pianist, Duke Jordan. She has also been closely associated with avant-jazz and free-jazz artists such as Lee Konitz, Roswell Rudd, Steve Kuhn and Steve Swallow.

The Hudson Jazz Workshop offers a weekend immersion in jazz performance, improvisation and composition in a focused atmosphere conducive to intensive study and nurturing support. They work primarily through the medium of duo and trio playing and enrollment is limited to ten participants.

The Hudson Jazz Workshop was founded in 2007 by co-directors pianist Armen Donelian and saxophonist Marc Mommaas. HJW participants, many of them working professionals, have been attracted from as far away as Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Japan and Norway to study alongside their counterparts from the Manhattan School of Music, the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, William Paterson University and other notable American institutions.

An eclectic musician, Armen Donelian has performed and recorded in 23 countries throughout the world, been a featured solo pianist, leader of his own quintet and trio, and played with Jazz masters including Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Billy Harper, Mongo Santamaria, Paquito D’Rivera, Ivo Papasov and Night Ark. A graduate of Columbia University, Armen has received numerous grants and awards, including six Fulbright Awards for work in Armenia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Greece and six Jazz Performance Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts to present concerts and master classes in New York City. Called “A pianist with a crystalline touch, but a penchant for avant gardism,” by the New York Times, Armen Donelian is composer of more than 90 works, and has produced twelve critically acclaimed recordings for the Sunnyside, Playscape, Odin and Atlas labels.

Saxophonist/Composer Marc Mommaas comes from an artistic background. His mother was an opera singer/pianist and his father a well-known painter in the Dutch art scene. Mommaas studied in Amsterdam and moved to New York City where he received a full scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music. His releases have garnered him critical acclaim from Downbeat, Jazztimes, Jazzimprov, All About Jazz and numerous online platforms.

The Hudson Opera House, a multi-arts center and major downtown anchor, is housed in an 1855 building that was once City Hall.

 

 

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