Dear Friends,
In the 2nd and 3rd week of July, my band, "Common Language", will be
performing at a series of venues. The band is made up of 2 young
BURNING cats from the United States - Alex Wintz on guitar and Katie
Thiroux on upright bass and vocals (both of them have won awards from
DOWNBEAT magazine, at the age of 18!); they will be joining me, Soh
Wen Ming on drums and my long time musical companion and friend Chok
Kerong on piano and Rhodes.
I hope to see all of you at at least one, if not more of these
performances... it's definitely going to be an exciting two weeks for
us, we'll do our best to tear it up on stage for all of you!
Venues, Dates and Times
Common Language will be performing at a series of venues over the 2nd
and 3rd week of July. The list of venues and performance times are as
follows:
Jazz@Southbridge
Date: 10th and 11th Of July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 9:30pm
Address: 82B Boat Quay
Tel: 6327-4671
Website: http://www.southbridgejazz.com.sg/
Barstop
Date: 12th of July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 8pm
Address: 8 Devonshire Road
Tel: 6735-6614
Website: http://www.imaginings.com.sg/
Esplanade Outdoor Theatre - Stage@Powerhouse
Date: 13th 14th and 15th of July
Time: 13th and 14th – 3 sets, 1st set 7.30 - 8.15pm., 8.45 - 9.30pm,
10-10.45pm;
15th –2 sets, 1st sets starts at 7.30 pm
Website: http://www.esplanade.com.sg
BluJaz
Date: 20th July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 9:30pm
Address: 11 Bali Lane
Tel: 6292-3800
Timbre
Date: 19th and 21st of July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 9.30pm
Address: 45 Armenian Street (The Substation Garden)
Website: www.timbre.com.sg
A bit more information about the musicians:
Alex Wintz:
Alex Wintz is a guitar player originally from Jersey. He has already
at a very young age performed with some of today's best musicians as
well as at world class venues in New York City and New Jersey. Born in
California, and raised in New York and northern New Jersey, Alex began
learning guitar at the age of 4. He has had the opportunity to be
mentored by some great teachers including Vic Juris
http://www.vicjuris.com/ , Mick Goodrick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Goodrick , and Tim Miller
http://www.timmillermusic.com/ .
Awards and recognition Alex have achieved includes
? The New Jersey All State Jazz Band
? The New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band Classic
? New Jersey Performing Arts Center Composition award,
? 2006 Level II ARTS awards Winner,
? 2006 Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship, a substantial scholarship
to the Berklee School of Music before entering his senior year, New
Jersey Region Band,
? 2006 Most Outstanding Jazz Soloist in High School category in the
Downbeat Student Music Awards
? Outstanding soloist at the New Jersey-International Association for
Jazz Education (NJ-IAJE) jazz festival for 2 years straight!
He has also performed at NJPAC, the Knitting Factory, Jazz at Lincoln
Center, Symphony Space, The Dancing Goat, IAJE, the Monterrey Jazz
Festival, and the Borgata Casino. He is extremely proud of these
awards however he also knows that these awards MEAN NOTHING and that
it is the search for enlightenment in music that is most gratifying.
Alex is 19 and currently pursuing a degree in Berklee School of Music.
Katie Thiroux:
Katie Thiroux, a bassist and vocalist from Los Angeles, California, is
the recipient of the Phil Ramone Presidential Scholarship. She began
her musical studies on the violin at the age of 3, switching to string
bass while in elementary school. She is a 2006 graduate of Los Angeles
Hamilton High School Music Academy, where she performed with two
acclaimed vocal jazz ensembles. She performed at the 2004 and 2005
International Association for Jazz Education conferences, and was a
featured vocalist at the past three Monterey Jazz festivals. For four
years in a row, Thiroux was selected to be a member of the elite
Gibson/Baldwin Grammy National Honor Jazz Ensemble. She has also
received fellowships to the prestigious Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz
Colony, and the Vail Jazz Festival. In 2005, Thiroux received the
Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for Outstanding Vocal
Performance.
Katie is 19 years old is considering pursuing music education as a
major at Berklee
Chok Kerong:
Chok Kerong began playing the piano at the age of 4, and hasn't looked
back since. As an improviser, his style is described as "muscular and
risk-taking", and influenced by the likes of Chick Corea and Herbie
Hancock. He has played at many jazz clubs in Singapore, and has also
worked in studio on albums by Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah, Sheikh
Haikel, Parking Lot Pimp and Penny Tai.
Kerong's versatility as a pianist has allowed him to perform in a wide
range of genres that includes acoustic jazz, rock/pop and soul/R&B. In
2002, he performed at the Esplanade's Music Box Festival in a trio
format featuring Eddie Layman drums and Dr Tony Makarome on bass. In
2004, he performed on electric organ with Andrew Lim on guitar and Soh
Wenming drums at "JazzUp," a jazz festival held at the Arts House. He
also performed at the CHIJmes Jazz Festival (CHIJazz) that year with
Soh Wenming on drums and Joshua Wan on bass. In 2005, Kerong performed
at SPH's Gift of Music Concert
http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_051107_001.html with
multi-talented Singaporean musicians. He also performed with Joshua
and Wenming at "Jazzpiration," a jazz festival organised by South-East
CDC held at East Coast Park, as well as "Rhythms and Rhapsodies," an
arts festival organised by the National University of Singapore.
In 2006, Kerong performed at the Mosaic Music Festival
http://www.mosaicmusicfestival.com/2006/prog1D.html held at the
Esplanade. He played keyboards for Michaela Therese and Vanessa
Fernandez, popular band EIC and Sheikh Haikel's Hip-Hop Festival. He
was also featured in his own performance leading a jazz trio
comprising Dr Tony Makarome (bass) and Andrew Lim (guitar). Earlier
this year, he performed at the ASEAN Rocks!
http://www.aseanrocks.com/openday.html music festival held at the Hard
Rock Café. Recently, Kerong has been performing more often as an
organist, drawing upon the innovations of Larry Young, Jimmy Smith,
Larry Goldings and Sam Yahel.
Soh Wen Ming:
Wenming is currently attending the Berklee College of Music and is a
recipient of both the Berklee World Scholarship Tour Scholarship and
the Singapore National Arts Council Overseas Grant. While still in
Singapore, he spent a three year stint with noted Singaporean drum
instructor Anthony Fong and later engaged the late, great Edmond
Branson Jr as a teacher and mentor. Currently studying at the Berklee
College of Music, Wenming has had the opportunity to study with great
musicians such as Jon Hazilla, Dave Samuels and Ralph Peterson Jr.
Wenming has worked with numerous people in the Singapore jazz scene
such as Jeremy Monteiro, Christy Smith, Rick Smith, Joshua Wan, Aya
Sekine, Tony Makarome, Timothy O Dwyer and Andrew Lim. He is a member
of two permanent groups – WIRED (featuring Chok Kerong on keyboards
and Joshua Wan on bass) and the Andrew Lim Trio (featuring Chok Kerong
on organ and Andrew Lim on guitar). He returned last December as a
drummer for Corinne May's sold-out concert at Esplanade.
When not playing jazz, Wenming also finds time to be involved in many
other kinds of music. He has performed with Corrinne May, local RnB
band "Fuse", noted pop/rock band Parousia and top 40's band "EIC".
Thanks all you guys, hopefully i'll be seeing you all soon!
Wen
In the 2nd and 3rd week of July, my band, "Common Language", will be
performing at a series of venues. The band is made up of 2 young
BURNING cats from the United States - Alex Wintz on guitar and Katie
Thiroux on upright bass and vocals (both of them have won awards from
DOWNBEAT magazine, at the age of 18!); they will be joining me, Soh
Wen Ming on drums and my long time musical companion and friend Chok
Kerong on piano and Rhodes.
I hope to see all of you at at least one, if not more of these
performances... it's definitely going to be an exciting two weeks for
us, we'll do our best to tear it up on stage for all of you!
Venues, Dates and Times
Common Language will be performing at a series of venues over the 2nd
and 3rd week of July. The list of venues and performance times are as
follows:
Jazz@Southbridge
Date: 10th and 11th Of July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 9:30pm
Address: 82B Boat Quay
Tel: 6327-4671
Website: http://www.southbridgejazz.com.sg/
Barstop
Date: 12th of July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 8pm
Address: 8 Devonshire Road
Tel: 6735-6614
Website: http://www.imaginings.com.sg/
Esplanade Outdoor Theatre - Stage@Powerhouse
Date: 13th 14th and 15th of July
Time: 13th and 14th – 3 sets, 1st set 7.30 - 8.15pm., 8.45 - 9.30pm,
10-10.45pm;
15th –2 sets, 1st sets starts at 7.30 pm
Website: http://www.esplanade.com.sg
BluJaz
Date: 20th July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 9:30pm
Address: 11 Bali Lane
Tel: 6292-3800
Timbre
Date: 19th and 21st of July
Time: 3 sets, 1st set starts at 9.30pm
Address: 45 Armenian Street (The Substation Garden)
Website: www.timbre.com.sg
A bit more information about the musicians:
Alex Wintz:
Alex Wintz is a guitar player originally from Jersey. He has already
at a very young age performed with some of today's best musicians as
well as at world class venues in New York City and New Jersey. Born in
California, and raised in New York and northern New Jersey, Alex began
learning guitar at the age of 4. He has had the opportunity to be
mentored by some great teachers including Vic Juris
http://www.vicjuris.com/ , Mick Goodrick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Goodrick , and Tim Miller
http://www.timmillermusic.com/ .
Awards and recognition Alex have achieved includes
? The New Jersey All State Jazz Band
? The New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band Classic
? New Jersey Performing Arts Center Composition award,
? 2006 Level II ARTS awards Winner,
? 2006 Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship, a substantial scholarship
to the Berklee School of Music before entering his senior year, New
Jersey Region Band,
? 2006 Most Outstanding Jazz Soloist in High School category in the
Downbeat Student Music Awards
? Outstanding soloist at the New Jersey-International Association for
Jazz Education (NJ-IAJE) jazz festival for 2 years straight!
He has also performed at NJPAC, the Knitting Factory, Jazz at Lincoln
Center, Symphony Space, The Dancing Goat, IAJE, the Monterrey Jazz
Festival, and the Borgata Casino. He is extremely proud of these
awards however he also knows that these awards MEAN NOTHING and that
it is the search for enlightenment in music that is most gratifying.
Alex is 19 and currently pursuing a degree in Berklee School of Music.
Katie Thiroux:
Katie Thiroux, a bassist and vocalist from Los Angeles, California, is
the recipient of the Phil Ramone Presidential Scholarship. She began
her musical studies on the violin at the age of 3, switching to string
bass while in elementary school. She is a 2006 graduate of Los Angeles
Hamilton High School Music Academy, where she performed with two
acclaimed vocal jazz ensembles. She performed at the 2004 and 2005
International Association for Jazz Education conferences, and was a
featured vocalist at the past three Monterey Jazz festivals. For four
years in a row, Thiroux was selected to be a member of the elite
Gibson/Baldwin Grammy National Honor Jazz Ensemble. She has also
received fellowships to the prestigious Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz
Colony, and the Vail Jazz Festival. In 2005, Thiroux received the
Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for Outstanding Vocal
Performance.
Katie is 19 years old is considering pursuing music education as a
major at Berklee
Chok Kerong:
Chok Kerong began playing the piano at the age of 4, and hasn't looked
back since. As an improviser, his style is described as "muscular and
risk-taking", and influenced by the likes of Chick Corea and Herbie
Hancock. He has played at many jazz clubs in Singapore, and has also
worked in studio on albums by Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah, Sheikh
Haikel, Parking Lot Pimp and Penny Tai.
Kerong's versatility as a pianist has allowed him to perform in a wide
range of genres that includes acoustic jazz, rock/pop and soul/R&B. In
2002, he performed at the Esplanade's Music Box Festival in a trio
format featuring Eddie Layman drums and Dr Tony Makarome on bass. In
2004, he performed on electric organ with Andrew Lim on guitar and Soh
Wenming drums at "JazzUp," a jazz festival held at the Arts House. He
also performed at the CHIJmes Jazz Festival (CHIJazz) that year with
Soh Wenming on drums and Joshua Wan on bass. In 2005, Kerong performed
at SPH's Gift of Music Concert
http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_051107_001.html with
multi-talented Singaporean musicians. He also performed with Joshua
and Wenming at "Jazzpiration," a jazz festival organised by South-East
CDC held at East Coast Park, as well as "Rhythms and Rhapsodies," an
arts festival organised by the National University of Singapore.
In 2006, Kerong performed at the Mosaic Music Festival
http://www.mosaicmusicfestival.com/2006/prog1D.html held at the
Esplanade. He played keyboards for Michaela Therese and Vanessa
Fernandez, popular band EIC and Sheikh Haikel's Hip-Hop Festival. He
was also featured in his own performance leading a jazz trio
comprising Dr Tony Makarome (bass) and Andrew Lim (guitar). Earlier
this year, he performed at the ASEAN Rocks!
http://www.aseanrocks.com/openday.html music festival held at the Hard
Rock Café. Recently, Kerong has been performing more often as an
organist, drawing upon the innovations of Larry Young, Jimmy Smith,
Larry Goldings and Sam Yahel.
Soh Wen Ming:
Wenming is currently attending the Berklee College of Music and is a
recipient of both the Berklee World Scholarship Tour Scholarship and
the Singapore National Arts Council Overseas Grant. While still in
Singapore, he spent a three year stint with noted Singaporean drum
instructor Anthony Fong and later engaged the late, great Edmond
Branson Jr as a teacher and mentor. Currently studying at the Berklee
College of Music, Wenming has had the opportunity to study with great
musicians such as Jon Hazilla, Dave Samuels and Ralph Peterson Jr.
Wenming has worked with numerous people in the Singapore jazz scene
such as Jeremy Monteiro, Christy Smith, Rick Smith, Joshua Wan, Aya
Sekine, Tony Makarome, Timothy O Dwyer and Andrew Lim. He is a member
of two permanent groups – WIRED (featuring Chok Kerong on keyboards
and Joshua Wan on bass) and the Andrew Lim Trio (featuring Chok Kerong
on organ and Andrew Lim on guitar). He returned last December as a
drummer for Corinne May's sold-out concert at Esplanade.
When not playing jazz, Wenming also finds time to be involved in many
other kinds of music. He has performed with Corrinne May, local RnB
band "Fuse", noted pop/rock band Parousia and top 40's band "EIC".
Thanks all you guys, hopefully i'll be seeing you all soon!
Wen
