Out of those 25 musicians, there were only three spots taken by drummers: Paul Motian, Roy Haynes, and… Ari Hoenig!

Ari is certainly in fine company; we’re talking about two of the greatest drummers in jazz history here. Paul Motian (number one on the list!) was 70 when he passed away shortly after the article came out, and a legend in jazz drumming with nearly 40 albums as a bandleader; Roy Haynes (at number five) started making a name for himself with Lester Young, and Charlie Parker in the late 1940’s, and is still going strong with his band Fountain Of Youth at 86 years of age!

So what about this “young legend”, Ari Hoenig? TimeOut said Ari “works in what could be termed the mainstream jazz idiom, performing a conventional blend of nimble up-tempo standards and ballads; inventive originals, some with a punky or fusiony bent, season the mix. What’s really special about Hoenig, though, is his improvisational flair: the drummer’s daringly off-kilter punctuations, subtly elastic tempos and melodic tom-tom workouts make his gigs anything but routine. If you want to hear what famed critic Whitney Balliett meant when he called jazz ‘the sound of surprise’, head to Smalls (club in New York City) on a Monday, and get there early to secure a good view of the drummer.”

Ari has been an Enlightened Planet favorite for a long time now. March 2012 will mark his third visit to Thailand in the past four years, and for this tour we’ve added shows at the Cotton Club in Japan and at the Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore as well. He’ll be leading a stellar band: Gilad Hekselman on guitar, Orlando le Fleming on bass, and Shai Maestro on piano.

Gilad Hekselman is a phenomenal young guitarist. In 2011 he contributed some wonderful work to Ari’s CD “Lines of Oppression”. Gilad also released his third CD as a bandleader, the incredible “Hearts Wide Open”, which was selected among the “Best of 2011” by The New York Times, and jumped up the charts at iTunes and Amazon. In an interview in September last year Pat Metheny named Gilad as one of the “great young players out there”. And recently, Guitar Aficionado magazine included Gilad in their article “Five Contemporary Jazz Guitarists Worth Exploring”. I expect great things from Gilad in the future!

Orlando le Fleming is “a major talent with the keenest of ears, deeply expressive technique, and a penchant for challenge”, according to All About Jazz. Orlando is another veteran bandmate of Ari’s, providing most of the bass work for “Lines of Oppression”, and is a key member of other top flight groups with Jonathan Kreisberg, Will Vinson, Lage Lund, and David Sanchez. He is also developing into a fine bandleader in his own right, with his 2010 CD debut “From Brooklyn With Love”.

Shai Maestro is the newcomer to this team, and is building an impressive resume himself. Only 25 years of age, Shai was a featured member of Avishai Cohen’s band since 2007, with the latest recorded effort being 2011’s “Seven Seas”. Recently, he left to pursue bigger plans for his own Shai Maestro Trio, and their first CD will be released in April 2012.

The Ari Hoenig Quartet starts their Asian tour with three nights at the Cotton Club in Tokyo, Japan, March 10, 11, and 12, before jetting to Bangkok, Thailand for workshops at Silpakorn University on March 14, and performance at Mello Yello on March 15. They wrap up with a performance at the Mosaic Music Festival at the Esplanade Recital Studio in Singapore on March 17, and a workshop with the Bright Young Things jazz mentorship program on March 18. Please use the links provided for more information on tickets and times!

I wasn’t interested in just one musical genre. I wasn’t interested in just one nationality, or just one instrument, or just one record label… I wasn’t interested in JUST ONE of anything. I wanted EVERYTHING.

I wanted to present artists who were masters of their instruments, artists who were incredible composers, artists who had created phenomenal recordings, artists with the intellect and the strength to take on a challenge, and artists who were confident enough to build on those skills and those past glories, and continue innovating and producing new works in their own chosen paths.

Stanley Jordan is clearly one of those artists.

Stanley Jordan came to prominence with the release of his 1985 debut gold-selling album Magic Touch, a revolutionary project that dually placed him at the forefront of re-launching legendary Blue Note Records into a contemporary entity in jazz and beyond, as well as establishing the then-twenty- something Jordan as among the most distinctive and refreshing new voices of the electric guitar.

Key to Jordan’s fast-track acclaim was his mastery of a special “tapping” technique on the guitar’s fretboard instead of conventional strumming and picking. While a handful of other virtuoso players were using similar techniques, Stanley’s fluid and melodic use of tapping captured the imagination of listeners via his inherent warmth and sensitivity.

But the success of that first release created a bit of a trap for a musician who was known for his eclectic interests. Because he debuted on the Blue Note label, he was marketed as a jazz progressive when what he was trying to stress was music beyond stylistic boundaries. Subsequent albums found Jordan caught in a frustrating web of wanting to usher his audience into deeper levels of his artistry while record companies craved more of the stuff that had whisked him to the top of the charts.

After a self-imposed exile from the rat race in the 90’s that included a retreat into the mountains of the southwestern part of the US, Stanley Jordan has re-emerged with a new life’s direction. “Most people – if and when they find their calling – come to see themselves in some sort of service capacity,” he states. “Right now I feel a strong desire to bring my music to the people not just for entertainment, but also for inspiration and healing.”

His latest CD release, 2008’s State Of Nature, is a gorgeous and sweeping recording which brings together all these key aspects of Jordan’s approach to life: the musical virtuosity and eclecticism, the love of nature, the drive to learn and evolve and improve.

“Part of the reason I made this album were revelations I discovered in my journey to try to become a better person,” he states. “The other reason is that I discovered some disturbing information about environmental issues… The two main ideas that consumed my thoughts were these: human beings need to get back to nature, which extends to the environment as well as our bodies – the part of nature we carry around with us – and we need to evolve intellectually, spiritually, and politically.”

This thought process led to the underlying inspiration for the song structures and themes of State Of Nature. The resulting music finds Stanley weaving classical, jazz and rock textures to get across his messages of atonement and harmony. Beyond his signature touch technique on guitar, Stanley utilizes other revolutionary techniques, such as playing two guitars at once, playing guitar and piano simultaneously, and incorporating sounds of nature that he recorded himself.

Enlightened Planet is delighted to be supporting the presentation of Stanley Jordan, live in concert, in both Thailand and Singapore.

Please join us on October 7th at M Theatre Bangkok, as Prart Music Group and Singha present the Stanley Jordan Jazz Concert…

Or please join us on October 10th at The Esplanade Recital Studio in Singapore, for A Night with Stanley Jordan, supported by locally based jazz trio Weixiang on piano, Christy Smith on bass, and Eddie Layman on drums.

And I don’t mean just any man, bar, or Friday night.

It’s Friday, September 5, 2008, and I’m going into Harry’s Bar on Boat Quay in Singapore to meet a former colleague for happy hour. It’s an after-work ritual I probably went through a hundred times in the eight years I lived on this island nation, roughly evenly split with visits to the aptly named Ice Cold Beer on Emerald Hill.

I settle onto a bar stool at a small table inside. I’m an “insider” today, forgoing the constant parade of people going by on the path outside for the air-conditioned smoke-free environment in the pub. My friend shows up almost immediately, and we order a pint of Kilkenny (me) and an Archipelago Samui (him) to start off the evening.

I glance around at the familiar surroundings a few times before it gradually dawns on me that there must be SOMETHING GOING ON. A few balloons scattered among the rafters, blue posters up on the walls, a standing sign kind of blocking the entrance way, and the waitress warning us that tonight we have to leave the bar by 8:00pm if we don’t have tickets to the jazz festival.

The JAZZ FESTIVAL?!?

NOW it’s important that I take a closer look at the posters and signs…

THIS is what I’m talking about. Enlightened Planet was founded on the premise that it is too hard for musicians to fly all the way out from the States or Europe to do ONE gig in ONE city in Southeast Asia, and that it would be better for EVERYONE involved if we could make it possible to get multiple gigs organized… better for the artist, better for the promoter, better for the sponsors, and better for the AUDIENCE. So I make it my life’s work to stay in touch with the music scene, particularly the jazz scene, in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul… you get the picture.

So why is it that I am walking into one of my FAVORITE bars in the world and being SURPRISED by a JAZZ EVENT?

Well, let me tell you, it was a great evening. Christy Smith, Eddie Layman and Nicholas Lim, three-quarters of Harry’s house band ChromaZone, were joined by 2007 Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Brian Lynch, tenor sax player Keith Loftis, and trombonist Vince Gardner. The “theme” for Harry’s “first international jazz festival” was a tribute to Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, of which Brian is an alumnus, though of course they strayed from that for a few original tunes as well. Toward the end of the evening Mandy Gaines added her considerable vocal talents to just go right ahead and push things completely over the edge.

Wish I would have known about it sooner… maybe I could have caught Saturday or Sunday night, or the workshop they organized to go along with the shows. Or maybe we could have arranged something for the guys in Thailand as well.

But my hat’s off to Mohan Mulani, CEO of Harry’s Holdings, who not only made this event possible, but was right there in the thick of it. Thanks also to Andrew Koh, General Manager of Harry’s Bar Boat Quay, and of course to Christy Smith who was driving the bass all evening and who was, as I understand it, responsible for getting all these great musicians together.

Now let’s go make some more music…