Max De Aloe: armonica cromatica e fisarmonica
Lorenzo Cominoli: chitarra semiacustica e acustica
Attilio Zanchi: contrabbasso
“City of Dreams” oltre ad essere il titolo, molto evocativo, di un apprezzato disco del chitarrista americano Garrison Fewell, vuole essere un progetto-tributo al mondo musicale di questo grande artista prematuramente scomparso.
Tuti e tre i musicisti hanno avuto modo di frequentare e collaborare personalmente con Fewell e di conoscerne, oltre che la sua grandissima umanità anche il mondo musicale sfaccettato, profondo e sempre mutevole.
La “Città dei Sogni” immaginata da De Aloe, Zanchi e Cominoli racchiude quindi, non solo, brani originali firmati da Fewell, ma anche classici che lui amava particolarmente e brani scritti da altri amici musicisti e inseriti in suoi dischi… tutte tessere di un variopinto mosaico che rappresenta la poetica musicale di quello che è stato, non solo un grande musicista, ma anche un amico, un maestro e un uomo speciale.
La serata è organizzata in collaborazione con www.glbsound.com
Special Guest: Isabella Du Graf
Free listening here: www.soundcloud.com/isabelladugraf
Isabella’s interest in music was evident even in her early years: she started piano lessons at five, picked up the clarinet, played saxophone and sang in the school choir. But a pivotal moment when her sister Lauren Du Graf won the “Best Soloist” award at the the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, focused Isabella and set her on a widening path of artistic growth and recognition.
She started singing with her school’s jazz band, and jumped at every opportunity to practise and perform. At 14, she recorded her first album, “Blame It on My Youth.” At 16, she won the jazz vocalist competition hosted by the Seattle Kobe Sister City Association, earning her a trip to Kobe, Japan where she performed with Minoru Ozone, an esteemed and popular Japanese television organist and jazz club owner, at the Kobe Jazz Centennial Celebration.
That same year, Isabella was a featured singer in a musical production that saw her sharing the stage with 10-time Grammy Award winner and virtuoso American vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin, best known for his 1988 hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
Then came September 2005, memorable for the best Alto jazz vocalist award won by Isabella during the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival – a feat that duplicated older sister Lauren’s four years before! Isabella was featured on the cover of the monthly Earshot Jazz magazine which raved, “Du Graf has the chops and soulful confidence to win over even the most exacting and critical audiences.”
The year 2006 confirmed Isabella’s standing as an artist of note. At the 2006 Essentially Jazz Competition held at New York City’s Lincoln Center, she won the Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Vocalist Award for her “soulful” rendition of Duke Ellington’s “Rocks in My Bed.”
“Ms. Du Graf is a spoonful of the outstanding talents coming out of the Pacific Northwest,” said Wynton Marsalis, Lincoln Center’s Artistic Director of Jazz and another Grammy Award recipient. The award gained her further national attention as her performance was featured in the 2007 documentary, “Chops”. By 2006, then a high school senior, Isabella was recognized by Downbeat magazine, a prestigious national magazine devoted to “jazz, blues and beyond,” as the Outstanding High School Jazz Vocalist Student Music Award winner. She garnered the same award the following year, this time at the College level.
And in an appearance that introduced her to an audience of over 40,000 Seattle football fans, Isabella performed the US national anthem at the Qwest Field Stadium before an NFL Seahawks-LA Raiders game, in the process chalking up another milestone experience.
Isabella recorded her second album, “Live at Egan’s,” in 2007 and is finishing her debut album of originals (Love Love? Love.).
She has a Bachelor’s Degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, with a major in Jazz Performance, and has returned to Seattle where she resides.
