© Andrea Canter
With veteran performers/composers Dave Hagedorn on vibes and Phil Hey on drums, bassist Chris Bates leads his Good Vibes Trio in the headline slot of this weekend’s Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog. Opening will be a band of young jazz veterans, the Cole Mahlum Quartet with Will Kjeer, Ted Olsen and Miguel Hurtado.
Cole Mahlum Quartet (7 pm).
Since graduating from the Perpich Center for Arts Education, guitarist Cole Mahlum has become a busy presence on the Twin Cities Jazz scene, including serving as weekly host of the Sunday afternoon B-3 Organ Jam at Jazz Central. His cohorts this evening include 20-year-old pianist/composer Will Kjeer (Hoaxer, Group 47, Will Kjeer Quartet), bassist Ted Olsen (Javi Santiago, Steve Kenny, Ted Olsen Quartet), and drummer Miguel Hurtado (Javi Santiago, Steve Kenny, Ted Olsen Quartet, Miguel Hurtado Quintet).
Good Vibes Trio (8:30 pm)
Founded by Chris Bates about five years ago, the Good Vibes Trio brings together three of the area’s most respected musicians.
Chris Bates and his brother, drummer JT, grew up with jazz, sons of trumpeter/bandleader Don Bates. He began bass lessons in 4th grade and progressed to jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before returning to the Twin Cities to study with Anthony Cox. A member of the 1990s ensemble, the Motion Poets, Chris was a 1999 McKnight Composer Fellow, and often lends his compositions to the many ensembles that he juggles throughout his busy performance schedule. Over his career, he has played with Mose Allison, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Steven Bernstein, Howard Levy, Michael Attias, Ira Sullivan, Bill Carrothers, Eric Alexander, Ari Hoenig and Tim Sparks, among others. In addition to his local ensemble work (Atlantis Quartet, Red Planet, How Birds Work, Klezmerica, Enormous Quartet, Framework, Leisure Valley, Zacc Harris Group, Dean Granros’ Tall Tales, Bill Simenson Orchestra, Laura Caviani Trio, Fall of the House of Usher, Sister Shaw) and leading Red 5, Good Vibes Trio, and Inventions and Dimensions Trio, he has played solo concerts using both acoustic and electronic instruments, and appears on over 30 recordings. In spring 2013, Chris launched a monthly improvisation series at Jazz Central Studios in Minneapolis, “Magica Improvisado.” Chris also teaches private bass lessons and is an instructor at the University of Minnesota Morris and Shell Lake Jazz Camp.
Assistant Professor of Music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, Dave Hagedorn teaches percussion, jazz studies and world music. His education includes a BS in Music Education from the University of Minnesota, an MM in Percussion Performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston, and a DMA from the Eastman School of Music. Among his performance and recording credits are two albums of duos with pianist Dan Cavanagh; tours with the George Russell Living Time Orchestra; recording with Debbie Duncan; and performances with David Berkman, Anthony Braxton, Gil Evans, Happy Apple, the Out to Lunch Quintet, Thad Jones, Clark Terry, Steve Turre, Kenny Wheeler, Anthony Cox, and Roy Hargrove. Locally he is a member of the X-Tet, Phil Hey Quartet, and the duo SCHAG with drummer Dave Schmalenberger, in addition to the Good Vibes Trio. He released Solid Liquid on the Artegra label in 2003. About two years ago, Dave joined saxophonist David Milne to form the quintet Spiral Visions, celebrating the music of Bobby Hutcherson and Harold Lande. In March 2016, Dave led his St Olaf Jazz Band on a tour of Cuba.
A former student of Ed Blackwell and Marv Dahlgren, native Philadelphian Phil Hey is one of the most esteemed drummers in town. In addition to twenty years of touring with the late Dewey Redman, he has performed many gigs at the Artists Quarter, Dakota and other venues backing touring artists, local vocalists, and small ensembles. For several years, Phil (along with bassist Gordy Johnson) toured with British vocalist Stacey Kent, including gigs at Birdland in New York. He also manages percussion duties for the Pete Whitman X-Tet, Dean Sorenson Sextet, Dave Karr Quartet, and Benny Weinbeck Trio as well as Good Vibes and his own quartet, and teaches at the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, and MacPhail Center for Music. His most recent recordings include a volcanic duo with trumpeter Kelly Rossum, Conflict, and sideman duties for Mary Louise Knutson on In the Bubble. He also contributed to Von Freeman’s Live at the Dakota, rating four stars from Down Beat. City Pages named Phil’s Subduction as its Jazz Recording of the Year for 2006.
Whether listening to the elegance of the Good Vibes Trio live or on the album, one thinks of an updated Bill Evans Trio, but the vibes versus piano gives the music a more translucent quality, where there is less of a defined beginning and end to the tones, such that the ensemble sound is like a multi-voiced chord. Covers or originals, the music is transformed, both by the instrumentation and by the inventive interplay of the ensemble.
Gather your own good vibes and join two outstanding bands at the Black Dog on July 8.
The Black Dog is located at 308 Prince Street, in the Northern Warehouse in St. Paul’s Lowertown Arts District. Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog is curated by Steve Kenny. No cover but tips ($10 suggested) are appreciated to support the musicians and the series. Full schedule at www.saturdaynightjazzattheblackdog.info
