This concert celebrates Jazz Revelation Record’s 2009 CD release, titled “Dedication,” with performances from the very artists on the album! Each year, Jazz Revelation Records releases a compilation album featuring enrolled Berklee students, compositions and performances. This year, the show will be featuring Emi Inaba, Billy Buss, Alex Wintz, Randy Runyan, Lucas Ellman, and Eli Winderman’s “DOPAPOD.”

The Performers:

Alex Wintz

Alex Wintz
Guitar

Born in California and raised in the New York/New Jersey area, Alex Wintz began learning guitar at the age of four. He has had the opportunity to be mentored by such great teacher/musicians as Vic Juris, Mick Goodrick, Don Braden, Ron Jackson, Hal Crook, and Dave Santoro. He currently attends the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. Awards of note include being a 2006 NFAA ARTS Awards Winner for Jazz, 2006 Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellow, winner of the 2007 Berklee Guitar Achievement Award, and recipient of Most Outstanding Jazz Soloist category in the Downbeat Student Music Awards. He has had the opportunity over the years to perform at the Monterrey Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Most recently, Alex was a semifinalist in the Montreux International Guitar Competition in Switzerland. His trio currently performs regularly in the Boston area.

Emi Inaba

Emi Inaba
Piano

Emi’s compositions display a wide range of colors and expressions reflecting her uniqueness and command of classical and modern jazz, creating the next generation of contemporary music.
Before moving to London in 2001, Emi had already won numerous national piano competitions in her native Japan. In London, she continued to perform in world-renowned venues such as The Royal Albert Hall and The Jazz Café, and participated in a number of charity concerts and cultural festivals both in the UK and Japan. In 2006, she received sponsorship to record her first CD in the UK.
Following on from her classical music training, Emi’s tastes were increasingly influenced by jazz and contemporary styles. Emi relocated to the USA in 2007 on a scholarship from Berklee College of Music where she is currently pursuing a degree in jazz composition.
Emi’s unique versatility as a composer and pianist is reflected in her current involvement as the leader of two groups: a classical/jazz septet; and a jazz/fusion quintet, featuring EWI (electric wind instrument).

Billy Buss

Billy Buss
Trumpet

Playing trumpet since the age of nine, Berkeley, California native Billy Buss has received numerous awards, including the Berklee College of Music’s full-tuition Jimmy Lyons Scholarship, two Outstanding Performance/Soloist awards from DownBeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards, as well as the Gold Award in Jazz from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and recognition from the White House as a 2006 Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
His endeavors have allowed him the opportunity to perform at the New Orleans, Monterey, Umbria, Montreux and JVC Jazz festivals; the Dubrovnik Summer Music Festival in Croatia; numerous festivals in Japan; and a variety of clubs in New York.
Billy is currently in his final year at Berklee, where has played in a variety of ensembles, including the Berklee Rainbow Band under the direction of Phil Wilson, the Joe Lovano Octet, and the Dave Santoro Berklee Scholarship Jazz Ensemble. Currently, Billy plays in the Terri Lynne Carrington Ensemble and Greg Hopkins’ Concert Jazz Orchestra.

DOPAPOD

DOPAPOD

DOPAPOD is a four-piece experimental funk group out of Boston MA. The band’s live shows showcase their meticulously crafted compositions as well as their commanding ability to improvise as both individuals and as one unit. However, despite the band’s strong musicianship, the ultimate goal each night is to keep people dancing, entertained, and intrigued. The band first came into being in October of 2007, when keyboardist Eli Winderman (Philly, PA) and drummer Michelangelo Carubba (Buffalo, NY) began jamming, writing and eventually playing shows. Eli and Mikey performed as a duo for the following months until March of 2008, when they expanded their sound with the addition of guitarist Rob Compa (Rochester, NY). DOPAPOD also recently added the talents of Chuck Jones on the bass. DOPAPOD is currently writing new songs as well as preparing older tunes to be recorded for their debut album, which is tentatively slated to be released in the spring of 2009.

Lucas Ellman & Esperanto

Esperanto is a Boston-based quartet featuring woodwind player Lucas Ellman, drummer James Krivchenia, bassist Joshua Hari Brozosky, and pianist Shanley Wang. Playing a mixture of refreshing originals and unique arrangements, Esperanto pays respects to both established musical traditions while expanding forth into the uncategorized world of progress.
The band plays a wide variety of music, anywhere between re-imagined jazz standards by anyone from Duke Ellington to Wayne Shorter and arrangements of modern artists such as Radiohead. But above all else, the musicians all want to enjoy themselves when they play, and that enthusiasm always comes through in their performance.

Randy Runyon

Randy Runyon
Guitar

Randy Runyon, from Washington D.C began playing guitar at the age of 11. He grew up listening to bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix. Once in High School, Randy discovered his love for Jazz, and began studying with Baltimore great, Carl Filipiak. In 2005, he came to Berklee College of Music on scholarship. Since entering college Randy has had the opportunity to perform with Terri Lyne Carrington at the Blue Note and Iridium Jazz Clubs in NYC, with Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker, Mark Walker, Joe Lovano, and with Tiger Okoshi at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Thailand Jazz Conference in Bangkok, the IAJE convention in NYC, and the International Trumpet Guild in Alberta, Canada. Performing with Randy is his band, Animal Zoo, whose music combines jazz, rock and funk. Randy will be releasing his album in late 2009.

Berklee Performance Center
Thursday, April 23
8:15PM