Press Release | Click here for Photos of the JazzArt at the Concert
E.J. Gold JazzArt® on Stage with the Vijay Iyer Historicity Trio at Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
January 25, 2011, Grass Valley – When the Vijay Iyer Historicity Trio performs at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, February 2nd through 5th, Nevada County Artist E.J. Gold's JazzArt® paintings will join them on the stage of Mondavi's intimate Vanderhoef Studio Theater.
E.J. Gold's JazzArt® participated in the UC Davis 90.9 KXJZ Studio Jazz Series last month with the Delfeayo Marsalis Octet, and last season with performers Jenny Sheinman, Miguel Zenón and Lionel Loueke.
The Vijay Iyer Historicity Trio consists of Iyer on piano, bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Although he started playing violin at age three, Iyer was more attracted to the piano on which he is self-taught. He holds degrees in Math and Physics and was named 2010 Jazz Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. His album Historicity was named the 2010 Jazz Album of the year by Downbeat Magazine. He's also a jazz composer, and his concerts feature original works as well as classics from Duke Ellington or Michael Jackson.
Vijay Iyer has a unique percussive playing style on the piano, about which he was questioned by Terry Gross of NPR's award-winning interview show, Fresh Air. "It sounds almost aggressive to me," she suggested, "but very like-able." Gross's October 2010 interview with Iyer can be heard or read at npr.org.
"Two great artists on stage! Gold's wildly beautiful jazz art and jazz pianist Vijay Iyer. 'No one on the planet plays like this,' says Signal to Noise, about Iyer's piano. 'See what you've been hearing' is what Gold's newest JazzArt® brings to these super-charged performances," says HEI JazzArt® Curator Beverly Korenwaser. "Four nights of great jazz and magical art and a joyous audience. The sweetness is wonderful!"
JazzArt® painter E.J. Gold is well-known in the jazz community. His portrait of Herbie Hancock is in the Smithsonian -- in the permanent collection of the American Museum of Natural History. He was the Official Artist of the International Association of Jazz Education, and his JazzArt® has appeared on stage with performers Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, Nneena Freelon, Marian McPartland, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane, Toots Thielemans, Roberta Gambarini and many others; and at the Hollywood Bowl, B.B. King's in New York City, the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, Jazz at Lincoln Center and many other performance venues.
Gold will be joined at Mondavi by artists Grace Kelly Rivera, Douglass-Truth, Leila Currah, S.L. Boyd, and R.C. Trice for the off-stage JazzArt® exhibit at the Vanderhoef Studio Theater. Concert-goers will have a chance to look more closely and find out more about JazzArt® at HEI's table in the lobby during the concerts, which start at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Student rates are available and tickets are on sale online at www.mondaviarts.org
For more information on JazzArt®, visit www.hei-jazzart.com, or call 530-271-2239. For more information on concerts at the Robert & Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis, visit www.mondaviarts.org or call 530-754-2787.