The Alphonse Mouzon Jazz Project

For the month of September Global Patriot is teaming up with the 12for12k Challenge in support of Doctors Without Borders. The first event will be held on September 3rd at Anthology, San Diego’s premier jazz venue, featuring The Alphonse Mouzon Jazz Project. Buy Your Tickets Now!

Creating the Jazz Project

Alphonse Mouzon

For more than two decades Alphonse Mouzon has been composing, producing, and playing music for audiences around the world. During his illustrious career Alphonse has played with a veritable Who’s Who of jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Larry Coryell, Stanley Clarke, Nathan East, Al DiMeola, Les McCann and Ron Carter.

Alphonse Mouzon was the original drummer and co-founding member of Weather Report in 1970, and, along with guitarist Larry Coryell, co-founded The Eleventh House, the seminal fusion band of the seventies. From 1978 until the early 80s he played, toured and recorded with Herbie Hancock and had several of his songs recorded by Herbie.

Having worked as a medical technologist at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital after graduating from Manhattan Medical School, Alphonse was eager to support Doctors Without Borders and build a world-class ensemble of musicians for this event. The process of assembling this group of diverse and talented musicians was extensive, but the results speak for themselves.

On Guitar…

Dean Brown

Serving as Musical Director for this event, funk/fusion guitar master Dean Brown is among the most sought after recording and touring guitarists in contemporary jazz, with a credit list that includes two highly acclaimed solo releases, more than 100 major artist recordings (including four Grammy Award winners) and worldwide tours with Marcus Miller, the Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn, Billy Cobham, Bob James, George Duke, and Vital Information, among others. Dean also served as Musical Director for the inaugural North Sea Jazz and Playboy Jazz Cruises hosted by Marcus Miller.

Records such as The Brecker Brothers ” Return of the Brecker Brothers” and “Out Of The Loop”, Marcus Miller’s “The Sun Don’t Lie”, Billy Cobham’s “Warning”, and Joe Zawinul’s “Faces and Places” are just a few out of the long list. His performances include Live DVDs with Marcus Miller, Billy Cobham, Gil Evans, David Sanborn and Friends, Louie Belson, Bob James and Steve Smith’s Vital Information.

On Saxophone…

Eric Marienthal

Since bursting on to the jazz scene playing with Chick Corea’s Elektric Band, Eric Marienthal has gone on to play with a long list of contemporary jazz musicians and has recorded 11 of his own CDs. Eric’s first record, “Voices of The Heart” was, in fact, produced by Chick Corea and recorded live at Mad Hatter Studios in L.A. Eric has played on over 50 GRP records alone including records by Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, David Benoit, Don Grusin, Dave Weckl, John Patitucci, GRP All-Star Big Band and The Rippingtons.

For the past 8 years Eric has been the musical director of an annual fundraising concert for High Hopes. High Hopes is a non-profit organization in Orange County, California that works with people who have suffered traumatic head injuries. With guest artists such as Lou Rawls, Patti Austin, David Benoit, Brian Culbertson, Rick Braun, Vesta Williams, Jeff Lorber, David Pack, Lee Ritenour and many more, these concerts to date have raised well over a half million dollars for this charity.

On Bass…

Byron Miller

Byron Miller was only 18 years old when he was asked to join Roy Ayers Ubiquity, which culminated in three albums and several years of touring. One night in Seattle, Ndugu Chanceler, drummer for the Santana Band, invited Carlos Santana to view Miller while he was playing with Ayers. Carlos was so impressed that he recruited Miller to play on his “Amigos” album.

The ensuing friendship with Ndugu Chanceler was indeed fortunate, as he next introduced Miller to George Duke. The three of them formed the George Duke Band and Miller has since appeared on 14 of Duke’s albums over the past 20 years. Miller has recorded and toured with the Crusaders, Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan, Marvin Gaye and Whitney Houston. He subsequently joined Luther Vandross’ band and was a mainstay of his touring unit for 15 years.

On Keyboards…

John Beasley

Louisiana native John Beasley is a third generation musician. His father is a pianist, bassoonist and composer, his mother a brass instrumentalist, band conductor and orchestrator. His grandfather was a trombonist. Growing up around musicians, Beasley also learned how to play trumpet, oboe, drums, saxophone and flute in addition to mastering keyboards.

John has played, toured or recorded with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Queen Latifah, Christian McBride, Steely Dan, Dianne Reeves, Sergio Mendes, John Patittuci, James Brown, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan and Lee Ritenour to name just a few. As a recording artist, John will release his ninth album Positootly! featuring Jeff “Tain” Watts, Bennie Maupin, James Genus, Brian Lynch, and Munyungo Jackson on September 8, 2009.

Kevyn Lettau

Kevyn Lettau grew up in Berlin, Germany, moved to San Diego at 14, and by age 17 had caught the singing bug and began working with guitarist Peter Sprague singing jazz, R & B and Brazilian music in and around the San Diego area. Her big break came when the legendary Brazilian pianist and bandleader, Sergio Mendes, discovered her. She toured and recorded with Mendes for eight years.

Her inspiration has come from Sarah Vaughan, Joni Mitchelle, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Donny Hathaway, John Mayer, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, James Taylor and Elis Regina. In addition to touring and recording, Kevyn has taught singing for close to 30 years in classrooms, workshops and privately within the States and abroad. She developed the vocal curriculum for the Los Angeles Music Academy and was the head of the Vocal Department for 10 years.

On Easel…

Michael Flohr

It was quite a fortuitous coincidence that Michael Flohr had recently completed a new series of impressionist paintings devoted to the world of jazz when planning for this event began to take shape, and equally coincidental that he had been wanting to work on a project with Anthology. In addition to hosting the evening’s music, the stage will also feature Michael as he paints the musicians in action.

After graduating from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco in 2000 Michael traveled extensively in Europe, studying the work of Manet, Pisarro, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. In Rome, a candlelit exhibition of Monet’s work left a lasting impression, and upon returning home set out to create his own unique style, which has often been described as a combination of avant-garde, abstract expressionism and impressionism.

Tickets available now at Anthology!

The Project Support Team

No event of this scope and caliber can be created by any one person – it takes a team of individuals who are dedicated to the cause and freely volunteer their time and talents. It is with my sincerest gratitude that I thank the artists above and the long list of amazing friends and professionals below for creating this special event – they’re making the world a better place!