RVANews

Selba – more jazz than anywhere else in Richmond

Aaron Williams — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:00:34 +0000

Bogart's moved, Cous Cous no longer has music and The Camel is hosting fewer jazz events than in the past. Opened in July, Selba is quickly turning into the most consistent jazz venue in Richmond. With jazz five nights a week and a sunday piano brunch, it's tough to miss out on the music.

The live music schedule as of now is as follows and usually the musicians/groups playing are listed on selba's facebook page:
Tuesday-Thursday 6-9 p.m.
Friday-Saturday 7-10 p.m.
Sunday Piano Brunch 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Wednesday Night Jazz Jam 9p.m. - 12 a.m.

The man behind the bookings and even sometimes the piano is Brian Mahne. A student in the VCU jazz program, Mahne's professional career as a pianist started years before he began classes. In his short time at Selba, he has created an impressive schedule of music that includes pianists Larri Branch, David Tenenholtz, Bryce McCormick and countless other musicians.

Wednesday nights, Mahne teams up with bassist Andrew Randazzo and drummer CJ Wolfe to host a jazz jam session. Vocalists, saxophonists, trumpeters, trombonists and guitarists get an opportunity to sit in and perform jazz standards. Crucial for the development of jazz musicians, this is the jam session Richmond has lacked and needed for the past few years.

Just a few steps inside the front door is a baby grand piano. In Richmond, very few venues that aren't the Jefferson hotel have pianos. To make things better, the band is amplified through ceiling speakers in every corner of the restaurant. Jazz can be heard everywhere from the smoking room to the garden room and even in the bathrooms. Yes, Selba has a plush smoking room and even a large climate controlled indoor garden room. I'm fairly certain there is no other place in the world with jazz, a smoking room and a garden room all under one roof.

With really great parking for a restaurant in the fan, high quality food, classiness and live music, hopefully Selba will become a popular downtown spot for suburbanites and the jazz schedule will continue to grow.

Selba is good for Richmond and it is definitely good for jazz. When asked about the future, Mahne enthusiastically replied, "We are planning to start having late night trio's/quartets on Fridays and Saturdays as soon as business picks up enough to support it. I'm excited to start booking groups in such a new amazing venue for the Richmond jazz scene."

Click here for Nathan Cushing's preview of Selba.

Booking Contact:
Brian Mahne
selbabooking@gmail.com

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Listening Back: Devonne Harris’s Reeverb + 2 bonus sets

Dean Christesen — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:00:21 +0000

In Listening Back, we chronicle the happenings at The Camel’s free weekly jazz series on Tuesday nights. Be there if you can. But if you can’t, stop by here every Saturday for a recap in sights and sounds. This week, Devonne Harris's Reeverb continued the series, and we give you two bonus sets from Brooklyn's Suite Unraveling and Richmond's Ombak, captured at The Camel the night before.

photos by Amber Smith

It's about time that drummer and multi-instrumentalist Devonne Harris had a night to himself. He's one of Richmond's most in demand drummers as a side man, but the guy has plenty going on for himself. An active composer, jazz hip hop melder, beat maker, and now record label producer of his own Reeverb Music (Food For The World Productions), his many talents really shined on Tuesday.

First up, his Reeverb Trio was classic Devonne Harris: always in the pocket, yet always going somewhere new. With bassist Andrew Randazzo, keyboardist Brian Mahne, and saxophonist Tim Turner, the group warranted yelps and "oh shits" from the crowd around just about every corner.

Listen to the Devonne Harris's Reeverb Trio featuring Tim Turner:
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/Devonne%20Harris%20and%20the%20Reeverb%20Jazz%20Group%20020111.mp3|titles=Live at The Camel February 1 2011|artists=Devonne Harris's Reeverb Trio featuring Tim Turner]

With drummer Corey Fonville at his side, Devonne manned his laptop, cueing his own original beats minus the drums. It was a playground for Fonville, who grooved incredibly hard with the pre-constructed tracks.

Listen to Devonne Harris "DJ Harrison" and Corey Fonville:
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/DJ%20Harrison%20and%20Corey%20Fonville%20020111.mp3|titles=Live at The Camel February 1 2011|artists=Devonne Harris "DJ Harrison" and Corey Fonville]

One night earlier on Monday, Brooklyn's Suite Unraveling, Ombak, and SCUO played The Camel. As a bonus this week, take a listen to two of the sets. (SCUO performs at The Camel on Tuesday and so will be featured on next Saturday's Listening Back)

Listen to Suite Unraveling:
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/Suite%20Unraveling%20013111.mp3|titles=Live at The Camel January 31 2011|artists=Suite Unraveling]

Listen to Ombak:
[audio:http://media.rvanews.com/Ombak%20013111.mp3|titles=Live at The Camel January 31 2011|artists=Ombak]

On Tuesday, Jazz By Numbers (Bryan Hooten, SCUO, Trio of Justice, Scott Clark 4tet) continues the free series. The Camel is located at 1621 W. Broad St. in Richmond, VA. More information is available at thecamel.org.

Listen back to other gigs in Richmond

VCU Jazz Orchestra I stands and delivers

David Tenenholtz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:20:18 +0000

On Thursday evening's concert at the Singleton Center, the music performed by VCU's Jazz Orchestra I displayed a varied program consisting of three staples of Ellingtonia along with a cross-section of big band writing. The program covered much swinging repertoire, in addition to Latin and contemporary styles. There were two classy vocal features, and even some high-pressure sight reading. Led by the jovial director Antonio Garcia, the Jazz Orchestra I made the selections look easy.

The ensemble opened the show with two famous arrangements by Duke Ellington, the first of which was "Cottontail," including all the classic solos performed from transcriptions. The orchestra's soloists captured the spirit of those gems well, and these included trumpeter Sam Koff, tenor saxophonist Chris Sclafani, baritone saxophonist Brendan Schnabel, and pianist Brian Mahne. The second Ellington selection had a backstory that Garcia imparted to the audience: the ballad "Isfahan" that appears as a part of The Far East Suite was actually originally titled "Elf" and was penned years before the Middle/Far East tour that the Ellington organization did in 1963. Alto saxophonist Suzi Fischer provided a warm-toned reading of the ballad's celestial melody, more than just nodding at Johnny Hodges's recorded version. She embodied his lyricism and finesse.

Vocalist Gianna Barone sang with pep on the uptempo "How High the Moon," arranged by Quincy Jones. Her spritely vocalizing was further enhanced by the joyful way she "lived the lyrics" with her expressions.

An inventive tune called "Papier Maché" by composer David Leone, had an arrangement by Ed Palermo that called for additional flute players. At least one selection of contemporary repertoire is normally included in a university band program nowadays, and "Papier Maché" did display great challenges in rhythmic variety and unexpected sectional changes. Fischer soloed with funky lines, followed by Mahne switching to a keyboard organ for a shredding solo. The tune alternated from bursting brass figures to quirky "tic-toc" imitations, and was held together by a returning vamp. Despite the variety in the arrangement, the overly-dramatic and disjointed ending came off as unintentionally contrived.

The Latin Jazz selection "Floreando" opened the second half of the show, and the descarga (jamming) alternated between tenorist Arrington and altoist Fischer, before a dancing piano solo by Mahne. The trading between the timbales of drummer Kevin Johnson and congas of Dean Christesen were crisp and heated.

An arrangement by Quincy Jones of Ellington's "On the Sunny Side of the Street" had at one time been a feature for Ella Fitzgerald and the Count Basie Orchestra. On Thursday's performance, vocalist Barone worked to capture Ella's style effectively on this swinging number, which also featured a muted solo by trumpeter Lucas Fritz, who imparted the blues that the Basie band knew so well. Director Garcia mentioned that he played with Fitzgerald in the 1980s, and indeed many of the VCU faculty are recognized for their varied and numerous feathers in their caps. Garcia also took time to thank the people that make VCU's music program exceptional. These were the donors, the music organization on campus, front office staff, technical staff, and also the distinguished students that had earned scholarships for the upcoming term.

Once the administrative duties were checked off his list, Garcia then took a chance to test his students in a reading of an original ballad he recently wrote and dedicated to his wife. Members of the audience were outwardly bewildered that sight reading could happen in this performance setting, but the Jazz Orchestra played Garcia's pleasing ballad with impressive skill. Indeed, Garcia's educational purpose is to prepare his students to not be caught off guard when entering the challenging working world. Faculty trumpeter Rex Richardson, filling in the trumpet section, delivered a controlled, lightly bopping improvised solo.

Closing out the evening concert, the whole band dug in on a blisteringly fast riff-based arrangement of their own construction of a tune simply called "Basie" by saxophonist Ernie Watts. Arrington, Fischer, and Mahne each were featured, after which the horn sections built to a rousing shout chorus. As fast as the tune started out, it ended just as abruptly, with a charged-up drum solo by Johnson, who ended his unaccompanied feature with a grand pause followed by a cue to the rest of the orchestra and conductor Garcia for a final note.

A degree program like VCU's prepares the graduates to handle the demands of performing many types of music, and approaching each through the guiding light of experience. Many are already working as musicians, and they are skilled in many facets of music from performance to composition to teaching. With last Thursday's concert, VCU's promising students let their talents as well as hard work get put on display, and the result was a complete pleasure.

David Tenenholtz has written for Jazz.com, The Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Hot Club of France Online Bulletin, and has served as linguistic consultant to Swedish jazz record label Dragon Records. He free-lances on piano throughout Virginia, and leads Petit Machins, a jazz quintet devoted to the music of Miles Davis.