Jeremy Cohen ViolinJazz & Friends Celebrate Joe Venuti - 100 Years
Official Nominee - 2006 JPF Music Awards [read more]
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World Premiere Screening at Globians Film Festival August 12th 2005 in Potsdam, Germany
Portions Also Shown at the 2005 Tiburon International Film FestivalGala Opening
- DVD Highlights - |
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 Kickin' the Cat (Venuti)
Jeremy Cohen, violin; Larry Dunlap, piano Runnin' Ragged(Venuti)Jeremy Cohen, violin; Larry Dunlap, piano Doin' Things (Venuti-Lang)The ViolinJazz Quartet In a Sentimental Mood (Ellington)Jeremy Cohen, violin; Paul Mehling, guitar; Dean Reilly, bass -videoclip- Oh, Lady Be Good! (Gershwin)Dix Bruce, guitar; Robert Young, alto saxophone; Cohen, Mehling, Reilly Humoresque (Dvorak-Venuti)ViolinJazz Quartet Wild Dog (Venuti-Lang)ViolinJazz Quartet Goin' Places (Venuti-Lang)Jeremy Cohen, violin; Paul Mehling, guitar; Robert Young, bass saxophone Satan's Holiday (Venuti)ViolinJazz Quartet Honeysuckle Rose (Waller-Razaf)ViolinJazz Quartet; Paul Anastasio, violin Paul Mehling, guitar; Robert Young, alto saxophone Dean Reilly, trumpet Sweet Lorraine (Parish-Burwell)Jeremy Cohen, violin; Larry Dunlap, piano; Dix Bruce and Paul Mehling, guitars; Dean Reilly, bass All of Me (Simons-Marks)ViolinJazz Quartet and Friends |
NOW AVAILABLE FROM VIDEO ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL -- A celebration of jazz violin legend Joe Venuti (September 16, 1903 - August 14, 1978), marking the date of his 100th birthday.
This film features works by Joe Venuti and Cohen's ViolinJazz arrangements as well as rare archival photographs and film footage. Executive Producer/Director: Lauren Speeth. Co-director/Cinematographer: Dan Coplan.
Performers include elfenworks client Jeremy Cohen and his ViolinJazz Quartet (Larry Dunlap on piano, Dix Bruce on guitar and Jim Kerwin on bass) and guest artists such as: noted jazz violinist, Paul Anastasio, Venuti alumnus, bassist Dean Riley, guitarist Paul Mehling, and reed player Jim Rothermel.
The Performers
Jeremy Cohen, violin - Jeremy Cohen's performances of jazz and classical violin have earned him nationwide accolades and his eclectic style reflects his admiration for violinists ranging from Fritz Kreisler to Joe Venuti. A classically-trained violinist, Cohen's teachers included Itzhak Perlman, Anne Crowden, and Daniel Kobialka. In addition to his own recordings with his ViolinJazz Quartet and Quartet San Francisco, and his work on motion picture and TV soundtracks, Cohen has performed and recorded with a wide variety of artists. On stage he was the solo violinist in Broadway productions including Forever Tango and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He has performed as soloist with numerous symphony orchestras around the country, and has toured with the Turtle Island String Quartet, the Hot Club of San Francisco, the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Cohen is currently Resident Artist and String Coordinator at the Henry Mancini Institute at UCLA and Guest Artist in Residence at Mills College. He is also on the faculty of the Jazz School in Berkeley, California, and is a former faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop. For more information, visit the artist's website at www.violinjazz.com.
Larry Dunlap, piano - Pianist, composer & arranger Larry Dunlap is at home in jazz, classical and popular styles of music. He lives in the San Francisco area with his wife Bobbe Norris, renowned jazz and cabaret vocalist. Larry has appeared with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth since the early 1980s and has performed extensively with many other well-known musical artists including Mark Murphy, Art Farmer and The Pointer Sisters. He has composed music for small and large jazz groups, chamber and symphonic orchestras and is in demand as an arranger and pianist. Larry's recordings include several CDs by the Cape Verdian composer Armandio Cabral. With his wife he has a record company which has released several of their recordings, most recently Bobbe Norris' Out of Nowhere.
Dix Bruce, guitar - Dix Bruce, a composer, writer and award-winning guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area, was born and raised in the Midwest. His interests in American folk music, jazz, and composition are blended into a unique vocal and instrumental sound. His compositions are fresh and his energetic, exuberant stage personality, along with his driving rhythm and lead guitar work, set the tone for a warm and exciting performance. He began playing guitar at age twelve. After college he relocated to the Bay Area where his interest in hybrid acoustic string music led him to David Grisman's prototype quintet in the mid-1970s. Bruce eventually teamed up with Grisman and edited the magazine Mandolin World News from 1978 to 1984.
Jim Kerwin, bass - Jim Kerwin was born in San Francisco and began playing music in high school dance bands. He gravitated to the bass because it was that part of the music that felt good. His passion for the bass and everything that goes with it has led him across many musical borders. He has performed and recorded with renowned musicians from many genres ‹ jazz violinist Svend Assmussen, Klezmer clarinetist Andy Statman, bluegrass singer Del McCoury, bassist/composer Edgar Meyer, as well as Bonnie Raitt and rock drummer Hal Blaine.
Paul Anastasio, violin - Paul Anastasio began playing the violin at age nine and he was soon drawn to the sounds of fiddle tunes, bluegrass music and hot swing. In his early 20s Paul began studying jazz violin with the great Joe Venuti. His first job on the road was with Merle Haggard's backup band, 'The Strangers'. Following six months with Merle, Paul went to work with the western swing band 'Asleep at the Wheel' and jobs with Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers and Loretta Lynn followed. In 1992 a chance encounter with Mexican violinist Juan Reynoso turned his life upside down ‹ Paul began to travel to southwestern Mexico to study Juan's remarkable regional fiddling style. Now, six years after his first encounter with Juan, Paul has spent fifteen months in Mexico, recorded nearly 2000 hours of music, and transcribed over 500 pieces from Mexico's Hot Lands. He continues to be one of the late Joe Venuti's biggest fans and is preparing an online Venuti museum, soon to be up and running at JoeVenuti.com.
Dean Reilly, bass and trumpet - Dean Reilly grew up in the state of Washington where his father led his own dance band. Dean tried several instruments but settled on bass after seeing and hearing Jimmy Blanton with Duke Ellington in 1940. His many musical associations include Georgie Auld, George Barnes, Teddy Wilson, Earl Hines, Irene Kral, Peggy Lee and Cal Tjader. Dean's extraordinary bandsmanship has made him one of the busiest musicians in jazz today.
Paul Mehling, guitar - Guitarist Paul Mehling has been the leader of the 'Hot Club of San Francisco' for eleven years and has recorded seven CDs in the gypsy-swing tradition of Django Reinhardt and the 'Hot Club de France'. A professional musician for over 25 years, he plays violin, mandolin, tenor and plectrum banjos. Internationally recognized as one of the leading players in the gypsy tradition, he is equally known for his contributions to teaching this unique style. He received a citation for excellence in jazz education by the IAJE in 1997 and teaches for the Jazz Masters Workshops produced by Bruce Foreman (JazzMastersWorkshops.com). Paul authors the column 'Gypsy Guitar' for Flatpicking Guitar magazine and has produced two videos for Homespun Tapes, with a third due out later this year.
Robert Young, alto and bass saxophones - Performances have taken Robert Young to Edinburgh, Toronto, Tokyo, and Osaka playing wind instruments and piano. He currently plays saxophones, cornet and/or piano with the 'Black Diamond Blue Five', the 'Usonia Jazz Band', Clint Baker's 'Café Borrone All-stars', Tom Sharpsteen's 'Orlandos', and the legendary 'Eldorado Syncopators'. He has been accompanying soloists and choruses professionally for over 25 years. He studied organ with David Britton and John Fenstermaker, holds Colleague and Associate performance certificates from the American Guild of Organists, and currently serves St. Patrick's church in Kenwood, California as organist/choirmaster. Young is an active autominologist.
We gratefully acknowledge the generous assistance of Swing Cat Enterprises in providing materials used in this film.
