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Frank Potenza Trio with special guest, Holly Hofmann, flute

 with Joe Bagg, organ and John Ferraro, drums

Jazz Wednesdays  is pleased to present Frank Potenza Trio with Holly Hofmann. Critics have labeled Holly the most authoritative, swinging flutist in jazz today. Guitarist Frank Potenza is a protégé of the late Joe Pass and an active educator, composer, and performer with seven solo albums to his credit. Potenza chairs the Studio/Jazz Guitar Faculty at Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California.

Using the name which means “The Musical Friends,” the Trio explores musical collaborations beyond flute, violin and viola and features Cynthia Ellis, flute, Jeanne Skrocki, violin and Janet Lakatos, viola. Special guest will be harpist Michelle Temple. The group swept first prize at the National Flute Association’s Chamber Music Competition and has performed at NFA conventions in Columbus , Dallas and San Diego.

Karen Gallinger Quartet
with Tom Zink, keyboard, Chris Wabich, drums, bass tba.

Jazz Wednesdays is pleased to present Karen Gallinger. Long regarded as one of Southern California’s finest jazz vocalists, Karen Gallinger is a performer who blends artistic passion and mastery of her craft into a dynamic and unique package.

Lanny Morgan Quartet
with Lanny Morgan, alto sax, Marty Harris, piano; Putter Smith, bass; Frank Capp, drums

Jazz Wednesdays is pleased to present Lanny Morgan. A brilliant bebop alto soloist, Lanny  has been on the scene as a leader of his own group and a solo performer in the US and abroad since 1969, playing every major jazz club and festival that exists and guesting as soloist/clinician at colleges and universities in nearly every state of the union.

Jazz Vocalist Jamie Shew Sextet with Roger Shew, bass, Eric Dries, piano, Matt Otto, saxophone, Mike Scott, guitar, and Jason Harnell, drums.
Jazz Wednesdays is pleased to present Jamie, Director of Vocal Jazz Studies at Fullerton College, who is an accomplished teacher, composer and arranger and performs regularly in the greater LA area

Jazz Wednesdays is pleased to present Luther Hughes. Leader in his own right and former bassist to the late Gene Harris, Luther Hughes has played bass with some of the biggest names in jazz in a career spanning over 30 years. Joined by Glenn Cashman, tenor sax, Bruce Babad, tenor sax, Ed Czach, piano,and Paul Kriebich, drums, the group will play great jazz inspired by the music of Cannonball and Coltrane as well as new arrangements of some classic jazz standards.

Bearfoot Bluegrass presented by Laguna Beach Live! Sunday, September 7, 2008 on the Magnolia Patio at Aliso Creek Inn: concert 4 - 6 pm and BBQ 3 – 7 pm. Adults $10 adv. and $12 at the door; children 12 and under $5 adv. and $7 at the door.

Bearfoot, earning one of roots music’s most prestigious awards – Telluride Bluegrass Band Champions – an honor they share with artists like Dixie Chicks and Nickel Creek, is deeply American music. Airy Northern ballads are tempered by back-alley Southern blues, while jazz stomp meets Appalachian breakdown, the whole fused with a signature sexy bluegrass passion. Boasting five distinctive lead voices, this young group from Anchorage Alaska showcases a remarkable breadth of rich, original songs and their arrangements soar with smoky, spacious lyricism.

Triada Guitar Trio

First Sundays, a free afternoon of music and art at the Laguna College of Art & Design, 2222 Laguna Canyon Rd.

Concert is 3:00 to 4:30 pm with Triada Guitar Trio.

Come early to enjoy the exhibition in the Art Gallery, which opens at 2:00 pm.

Established in 2001 (and known first as the BG Brothers), Triada consists of the brothers Chekardzhikovi: Nikola, Vasil and Petar from Bulgaria. The three are former members of the guitar quartet Four of a Kind, an ensemble which included their sister Petya Chekardzhikova. A heavy schedule of concerts, TV and Radio appearances in Bulgaria led to appearances in Europe from 1994 to 1996 when Four of a Kind twice toured Belgium and Holland under professional management, presenting concerts in Brussels (Palais de Beaux-Arts), Antwerp, Liege and Leuven, among others. Since coming to the Unated States, the brothers have performed in California, Wisconsin, Indiana, Colorado, Texas and Hawaii. In March 2004, Triada won first prize in the Third Annual Guitar Ensemble Competition in Brownsville, Texas.
The three brothers studied guitar since early childhood with professor Ljuben Haralambiev in Varna, Bulgaria. In America, they have studied as Graduate students at California State University, Fullerton with professor David Grimes. The brothers have also participated in master classes with internationally-known guitarists, such as Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (USA), Pavel Steidl (Czech Republic), Ana Maria Rosado (USA), Joaquin Clerch (Cuba), Eric Franceries (France), Aldo Lagrutta (Venezuela), George Vassilev (Bulgaria) and Costas Cotsiolis (Greece).

Serena McKinney, violin
Katie Adarauch, viola
Arnold Choi, cello

Among the swiftest rising young chamber ensembles today, the Janaki String Trio brings together three virtuoso musicians whose passion and commitment have captivated both audiences and presenters alike. Founded at The Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles in early 2005, the group has won a number of competitions including the Grand prize at the 59th Annual Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and the inaugural BMI Foundatino Commission Prize. In March 2006, the threesome came to national attention as the first string trio ever to win the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The ensemble takes its name from the Sanskrit word Janaki (YAHN-uh-kye), which symbolizes self-realization — the underpinning artistic and spiritual ideal entwining composer, musician and listener.

Drew Mays

April 5, 2008, 8:00 pm at Laguna Beach Artists’ Theatre

2007 winner of the van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Amateurs

Drew Mays was granted a full scholarship to the University of Alabama School of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1982 with summa cum laude honors while studying with Amanda Penick, chair of the piano department.  He continued his studies at the Conservatory for Music in Hanover, Germany studying with Bernd Goetzke, a pupil of Arturo Michelangeli; then moved to New York City and began a Master of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music studying with Nina Svetlanova.  His Master’s degree was completed at the University of Alabama again with Amanda Penick in 1987. His formal debut was in Grand Rapids, Michigan as the first prizewinner of the Young Keyboard Artists’ Competition. 

After completion of his musical training, Dr. Mays attended the University of Alabama School of Medicine from 1987 until 1991.  He served his residency at UAB in the Department of Ophthalmology.  His residency was followed by a fellowship specializing in glaucoma at the University of Florida.  Currently he practices in Birmingham with a faculty appointment at UAB within the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital.  He also has a private clinical practice.

Dr. Mays returned to playing the piano in 2002 after a 15-year absence. He was awarded second prize in the 2006 Rocky Mountain Amateur Piano Competition. In 2007, he was awarded first prize in the Van Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs.  Since winning the Van Cliburn competition, he has played across the country, including engagements in Washington, D.C at the Smithsonian Institute, in Oakland, California, at his alma mater, the University of Alabama and in his hometown of Birmingham.  He received a tribute by Senator Jeff Sessions addressed to the President and entered into the Congressional log.  Senator Sessions acknowledged Dr. Mays’ accomplishments in medicine and music and recognized him as an outstanding citizen of the state of Alabama. He and his wife, Dr. Therese Mays, MD live in Birmingham and have four children.

In The News:

Doc wins Cliburn Amateur

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Non-pro pianists shine in Fort Worth
01:37 PM CDT on Monday, June 4, 2007

By SCOTT CANTRELL / Classical Music Critic FORT WORTH–Dr. Drew Mays, an ophthalmologist from Birmingham, Ala., took the $2,000 first prize Sunday evening in the Van Cliburn Foundation’s Fifth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. In the competition’s final round, held Sunday afternoon at Texas Christian University’s Ed Landreth Auditorium, Dr. Mays played Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata and the Liszt Mephisto Waltz No. 1.The $1,500 second prize went to Mark Fuller, an attorney from Phoenix, Ariz. The $1,000 third prize went to Clark Griffith, a composer and retired Internet technology administrator from Fort Worth.The Cliburn-sponsored competition defines an amateur pianist as someone who doesn’t make a living as either a performing pianist or piano teacher. Many of the 75 contestants who started out on Monday, including Dr. Mays, have advanced training in piano but have pursued other fields of work, ranging from railroad manager to psychotherapist. As usual, medical professionals were generously represented.While professional piano competitions focus on players under age 30, the Cliburn Amateur has 35 as its minimum age. This year’s contestants came from Italy, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela and Australia as well as the United States.Most of the prizes were awarded by a jury dominated by pianists (including four past gold medalists of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition). In picking the winners, these jurors were asked to consider the finalists’ performances in preliminary and semifinal rounds as well.A press jury prize, voted by a separate panel of music journalists from New York to Portland, Ore. (and including this writer) was based on the final round only.Hosted by Steve Cumming, the Sunday-evening festivities included two-piano, eight-hands performances by Cliburn medalists Olga Kern, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Jon Nakamatsu and José Feghali of the waltz from Gounod’s Faust and Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever.Prizes were presented by Cliburn Foundation president Richard Rodzinski, chairman Alann Bedford Sampson, jury chairman John Giordano and Mr. Cliburn himself. The first prize was named in honor of Mr. Rodzinski, recognizing his two decades at the foundation’s helm. Dr. Mays also won:

•Best performance of a work from the romantic era: Dr. Mays•Audience Award: Dr. Mays