Early Jazz: From New Orleans through the Harlem Renaissance
By 1927 the Harlem Renaissance in New York City was in full swing. One December afternoon that year, Duke Ellington gathered up some of his favorite musicians and won an audition to be the leader of the new house band at the legendary Cotton Club. As an added bonus, radio broadcast technology had recently advanced and the Cotton Club would be sending Ellington’s music to radio receivers in parlors throughout the country. Jazz would become America’s original contribution to the musical lexicon and could be enjoyed regardless of culture, class, or race. The Cotton Club, a venue for a primarily white audience, invited New York’s downtown society to join in the festivities of the music that had recently completed its quarter-century journey from its source, New Orleans.

The music of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th Century was a mixture of what was likely the most culturally diverse city in America. This blend of French, English, Spanish, Caribbean, African, French-Canadian, Native American, as well as other cultures set the stage for a unique music to emerge, Jazz.

This concert will follow the evolution of Jazz from its origins in New Orleans through the Harlem Renaissance in New York.

About the performers...

Winston Stone (clarinet) graduated from the State University of New York with a Bachelor of Music degree in music education and a Masters of Music degree in clarinet performance. Originally from New York City, Winston has performed at Carnegie Recital Hall, Town Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall as well as in numerous Off-Broadway theaters. Mr. Stone’s other credits include principal clarinet in the Brooklyn Opera Society, Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra, Manhattan Savoyards, Atlantic Wind Symphony and the American Concert Band. Concurrently, Mr. Stone was a solfeggist for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Winston was also a featured tenor saxophone soloist at the Mobile Jazz Festival.

Since coming to Dallas, Mr. Stone as performed with such noted artists as Ray Charles, James Taylor, Bernadette Peters, Johnny Mathis, Paul Anka, Maureen McGovern, Mel Torme, Natalie Cole, Steve Allen, Mac Davis, Ben Vareen, Carol Channing, Tommy Tune, Jim Nabors, Harry Blackstone and Jerry Lewis. Mr. Stone has also performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Fort Worth-Dallas Ballet, Richardson Symphony, Dallas opera, Casa Manana Musicals, Fine Arts Chamber Players (Dream Collectors), and Texas Winds. Mr. Stone has performed with the prestigious Grand Teton Music Festival chamber music series and the Arundel Music Festival at Arundel Castle, England and as a soloist was heard in an acclaimed performance of Artie Shaw’s Concerto for Clarinet with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. For nine years he was an instructor of woodwinds, music theory and composition at Cedar Valley College and currently is a lecturer of music at U.T. Dallas.

Nick DiGennaro (guitar) has enjoyed performing professionally for over thirty years. He graduated from Beaver College in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance. Though specializing in solo guitar and small ensembles, his performing experience includes playing mandolin in Don Giovanni with the Dallas Opera and Feste Romane with the Dallas Wind Symphony. He has played guitar with the Fort Worth Pops Orchestra and the Richardson Symphony and has given two solo concerts sponsored by the Dallas Classical Guitar Society. He has backed such notes artists as Roger Williams, Vic Damone, David Brenner, Diahanne Carroll and Bo Didley.

Stone Savage (double bass) studied bass with Clifford Spohr and Tom Lederer of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and also with Stuart Sankey at the University of Texas and Thomas Martin of the Guildhall School of Music. He is known primarily as a jazz musician, but has played a wide variety of music including rhythm and blues, country and bluegrass. He has a long association with jazz saxophonist Louis Hubert and James Clay. Currently a freelance musician in the Dallas area, he often works with multi-reed player Winston Stone and pianist Tommy DeSalvo. He has played gigs with Sammy Price, Freddie Cole, Red Garland, Jaki Byard and Cedar Walton. He is also a composer. The West Dallas Suite (1989) as well as theme music for two shows on Public Radio: Texas Bound and the Writer’s Studio.