Jazz Outside (September 27, 2012)
When: Thursday, September 27th
Every Thursday
Sept 27th, 8-11PM
Gates open at 7:30pm
Where: Kenny Dorham's Backyard
1106 East 11th Street
Featuring:
- Children's Programming: Ortega Elementary Gospel Choir and Band
- James Robinson's Mars at Midnight
- Eastside Blues Syndicate
- Special Guests
Cost: A $5 donation is suggested to help DiverseArts continue it’s work promoting local arts and artists. Children have free admission.
Contact: Harold McMillan Director@diversearts.org
B.Y.O.B (cans and plastic only). Soft drinks and snacks available for purchase.
Bring your own lawn chairs and blankets.
James Robinson “J-Rob” is a young, sultry soul singer with a voice like butterscotch that is taking the music scene by storm. The gritty, heartfelt, soulful melodies of this Memphis-based entertainer will take you to a place in your soul and mind that you have never been before. James has performed extensively throughout major music scenes in Austin, Memphis, and New Orleans, and has appeared several times, and has several singles in rotation, on the only soul station of Austin, KAZI 88.7 FM.
He has worked with Free Sol, producer Steve McKie (producer for Jill Scott, John Legend, and Common), Johnathen Rychmond (producer for Eric Benet and Valencia Robinson), Wizz Dumb, Willie Pervear (producer for Memphis Records), Hezekiah, Niko Lyras, Al Capone, and opened for Dwele and Blues legends Bobby Blue Bland and Bobby Rush,. James’s debut release, Longtime Coming is available on Browns Town Music.
The East Side Blues Syndicate is a true family affair. Born out of the weekly 'Blue Monday' Blues Jams at The Historic Victory Grill in Austin, TX, the ESBS has quickly developed a fierce reputation for being one of the truly unique acts to come out of Austin's East Side in quite some time.
Led by Matthew Robinson's blues-hound vocals and guitar, Jose "Sweet Tone" Ruiz' lightning quick jazz harmonica, Roland Lawes' latin and caribbean influenced percussion, Harold McMillan's melodic bass lines, and Mike Blue's striking and soulful guitar work, the band transforms obscure blues tunes and originals with each member's collective vision and taste.
The result? A soul band? Yes. A blues band? Yes. A jazz quintet? Most certainly.
Something you've heard before? Absolutely not.
Also performing is the Ortega Elementary Gospel Choir & Band, a talented group of 45 2nd- through 5th-graders who specialize in African-American spirituals, sharing the history of slavery-era “code songs” and freedom songs from the Civil Rights era. The choir’s harmonies are accompanied by foot-stomping and hand-clapping, as well as bass, snare and floor-tom drums and choir director on baritone guitar. The Superstar Choir guarantee that their historically-rich music will “make you want to move!”
