EMQ

EMQ 2007 NEWSLETTER
(More photos coming soon)

EMQ

Dear Friends,

I hope you enjoy this latest installment of the Eric Mintel Quartet newsletter. Usually I would do our newsletters every few months to keep you posted on the latest with the quartet but lately it's been more like once a year as the quartet continues to keep a very active performing and touring schedule. I left off with you last December so I'll try and pick up where I left off. If you see references to EMQ that's short for the Eric Mintel Quartet but you already knew that. 2007 started off with the recording of our latest CD Times Change. We spent one full day on January 15 recording the tunes in either one or two takes and the next day mixing and mastering. We recorded 18 tunes and revisited some songs I wrote a while ago like Boogie Sugar, Philadelphia Rush Hour and the Paul Desmond classic Take Five. I was very happy when Marian McPartland heard that we were going to record a new album and asked me if I would like to record one of her songs called Ambiance. Which we did. We decided on 13 tunes and over 70 min of music. Joining me on the record are the great Nelson Hill on alto sax, the incredible Dave Antonow on bass and Mr. Time Dave Mohn on drums. The music was elevated to another level and we captured the pure joy of playing together and the raw spontaneous energy which is so important in jazz. We recorded at Morning Star Studios in Springhouse, PA. Dave Brubeck called me to say that he loved the new album. Dave and I talked at length about the quartet and what direction we're heading. Dave also wrote the liner notes to the CD and said "This new CD by the Eric Mintel Quartet is absolutely wonderful. Each member of the Eric Mintel Quartet are talented and gifted individuals. This is a very strong group". Also joining in on the other half of the liner notes was XM Satellite Radio Jazz Programmer Maxx Myrick who said "this CD is like waking up to a sunny day".

Times Change is in heavy air play on XM Satellite Radio and several jazz stations around the country including WKAR in Michigan, WRTI in Philadelphia, WPKN in Bridgeport, CT, WICN in Boston, MA, WBGO in Newark, NJ and several jazz stations on the West Coast. Thank you to all who have purchased the CD. We're very glad you're enjoying it. We'll be recording another album in January or February of all new material.

In April we performed on the Homegrown Music program
on WVIA in Pittston, PA near Scranton, PA.

The show was hosted by George Graham and will air sometime in January or February of 2008 last I heard. We'll keep you posted. We had a three camera crew filming the quartet performing my tunes and some classic standards. We had a great time and George and the gang at WVIA were great and captured the energy of the quartet on film. Thanks George and Karyn.

We continued to keep busy for the first half of the year with concerts in the tri-state area and into New England. The quartet performed for the Rutgers Jazz Festival on the main stage at the Gordon Theater on the campus of Rutger's Camden campus.

We made the front cover of the Courier Post newspaper with the headline "Jazzin' it Up The Eric Mintel Quartet grooves at the Gordon Theater. Entertainment reporter Dana Ford wrote a great story on the quartet. Also performing that night was Terrance Blanchard who I met in Boston at the Regatta Bar years ago where he was performing with his group. Nice cat and a great player.

In May we performed at the first annual Longwood Gardens Jazz and Wine Festival. The event was put together by my very good friend and jazz cat Warren Oree who is also bassist and leader of the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble and co-founder of Lifeline Music Coalition along with his partner Graziella D'Amillio. The event was an incredible success with over 1,500 people in attendance that day. Also on the bill was Denise King, Arpeggio and others. After the concert Dave Mohn and I hopped in the car to go see Dave Brubeck perform in Bryn Mawr that night. The concert took place at the Bryn Mawr Cathedral. The DBQ opened with a jazz set. In early April, Dave was recovering from an ankle injury. He was incredible that night. At 86 he is playing with more energy than ever before. His musical ideas still continue to grow and hearing Dave, Bobby Millitello, Randy Jones and another friend of the EMQ Mike Moore on bass, was a real treat. The second set consisted of Brubeck's the Gates of Justice which he performed with the incredible Singing City choir which was conducted by Brubeck's manager and conductor Russell Glloyd.

In late May I got an email from Festival Productions in New York City asking if I would like to perform at the JVC Jazz Festival in June. I said an enthusiastic yes! The festival came to Philadelphia on June 8th. Macy's was the major sponsor of last year's JVC Jazz Fest. We performed at the Macy's Superstore in Philadelphia with the JVC backdrop and logos everywhere. The EMQ was also featured in a full page ad in the June issue of Jazz Times Magazine. It was an incredible event. After the show Rick White, festival producer, came over to me and said "Wow." Rick was very happy with the turn out and the performance by the quartet. I'm hoping to get to Newport this year or Saratoga or the many great jazz festivals Festival Productions has.

The summer was spent performing in many outdoor concerts too numerous to mention here but all very well attended and a lot of fun. I'm always writing new material and always working on different arrangements of standard tunes and the summer concerts were a way of presenting some of the new material I've written and which the whole quartet contributed to.

In September we held the 4th annual Morrisville Jazz Festival in memory of Mike Sherlock in Williamson Park in Morrisville, PA. The festival was held on Labor Day Monday September 3 and featured the Eric Mintel Quartet and the Brubeck Brothers Quartet featuring Chris Brubeck and Dan Brubeck along with Chuck Lamb on piano and Mike D'Amico on guitar. It was a great day and what made it even better was the generosity of Morrisville Borough and their great Mayor Tom Wisnosky and all the volunteers that made it all possible. Chris and Dan were such a joy to work with. Chris is one of the nicest guys I've ever met and one hell of an arranger, trombonist and bass player. Dan is an incredible drummer but also a great guy. We had a great time listening to them, hanging after the concert and had a great photo together after the concert. Chris has kept a very busy schedule with performances all over the country and the world. Thanks to Chris, the EMQ is doing a Brubeck program at Montclair State University in April 2008. The concert is part of the Performance Art series where we will share the stage with a professional dance troupe led by Tito Del Saz from NYC. They will modern dance as we improvise on numbers like Take Five, Koto Song, Three To Get Ready and Unsquare Dance. They have already started rehearsals. The shows run for 4 nights in a row. Since we will be in Montclair, we will be working with students in some of the local schools with workshops on jazz and will also perform assemblies at some of the surrounding schools. Everything will be posted on our web site soon.

In October I celebrated my 40th birthday. My wife Darby threw a surprise Birthday Party for me at our home. She put everything together making phone calls and getting everyone together. It was a great night celebrated with all of our friends and extended family of the quartet. Thank you my love. Also in October I was very pleased to get an email from the Yamaha corporation of America saying that I have achieved status as a Yamaha Artist. I'm now endorsing Yamaha grand pianos and keyboards. Yamaha is an incredible company and I've played their instruments for years. You can see my page on the Yamaha site by clicking on this link:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Search/SearchDetail/0,,CNTID%25253D%252526CTID%25253D501398%252526CNTYP%25253DARTIST,00.html?selectContentType=-1&checkboxLegacy=on&selectSearchArea=-1&textKeyword=mintel

On November 23rd the quartet performed for the 5th year in a row at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA. Every year we kick off our holiday tour from Bucks and this year was no exception. We premiered a new choral piece I wrote titled "Thank You Very Much" which was also arranged by my friend Corey Axler. Joining us that night was the great Council Rock HS South vocal ensemble led by Corey Axler. Jon Lee, Aaron and Dan made our concert possible. Thanks Jon for providing me with the new Yamaha baby grand from Nolde's Pianos in Flemington, NJ. We'll see you next year.

After the concert at Bucks we hopped on a plane for North Carolina, flying first into Atlanta, then flying to Asheville, NC then in a car for a two and a half hour drive up through the mountains of North Carolina on our way to Blowing Rock to the Hayes Performing Arts Center. As we were driving into Blowing Rock we kept going higher and higher. We passed one thousand foot elevation signs then two thousand then three thousand. Around every corner we thought oh there's the hotel but no, keep going. Oh wait there it is up there, no keep going. Finally at almost four thousand feet we reached the town of Blowing Rock and an incredible cultural community there. We eventually did reach our hotel. Two miles down the road was the Hayes Performing Arts Center where the quartet performed that night. Actually we had about 2 hours of rest before we went on. The Hayes Center is practically brand new and state of the art. Jeff Clark is the director and a great guy to work with. Jeff and the gang made our performance there very enjoyable and had exactly what we needed for our backline. We had a great audience who came out and gave us a standing O at the end. Jeff emailed me a few weeks later to say that our concert was one of the most exciting musical events to happen there this year and he was still getting positive comments weeks later. Thanks Jeff, we'll see you next year.

From December 3 -8 the quartet went on a small tour of New England with concerts in Hudson, NY, Manchester, VT, Colby Sawyer College, NH Chandler Music Hall VT, Danbury Library, CT and Norfolk Library, CT. I had rented a Chevy Suburban for the trek through New England rather than getting on a plane and worrying about flight delays, baggage etc.

We arrived in Hudson, NY on December 4 for our performance at the Hudson Opera House. The town was very small but has a very hip cultural scene happening. After checking in to our nice B&B they arranged for us, we got in a little nap then headed down the block to the Opera House. We conducted a pre-concert jazz talk then went into the concert which was very well attended. Thanks to Gary and Joe, we hope to see you next year. Early the next day we headed to Manchester Vermont to the Manchester Elementary School where we conducted an all day clinic culminating with an assembly for the entire school. We talked about improvisation, jazz scales and applied what we talked about to the actual performance. We performed two songs with the jazz band "Hot Chocolate" from the Polar Express and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy". Sue Schiffman has done an incredible job of giving the kids a great foundation in jazz and hopefully they took some of the ideas Nelson, Dave, Dave and I gave them and can apply it to improvising.

After the clinic we headed to New London, NH and Colby-Sawyer college for another concert that night. We arrived around 4:30pm and stayed in a house that the campus recently purchased. After settling in we headed over to the concert. The concert that night took place in Wheeler Hall. We had a packed house of very knowledgeable jazz fans and EMQ fans. On the tour we performed a lot of the music of Vince Guaraldi but also tried new things that I wrote including a new piece called Ten on One. Thanks Sharon and Susan for everything, we'll see you next year. You're the best. The next morning we had a very nice breakfast provided by the college then headed to Randolph, VT and Chandler Music Hall. I have to say that while we were in New England and that far North there was snow everywhere but on the roads. The week before we left for the tour NH and VT had gotten a big snow storm but most of it was cleared by the time we got there. On the way to Randolph I had specific directions to the place we were to stay....Maple Cake Farm. After heading down a long country road that we thought the farm was on, we quickly decided it was not right because suddenly it became a snow covered dirt road heading straight into the woods. We turned around and stopped in to Floyd's General store where the man behind the counter, a man named Al who was also the town Fire Chief, set us straight to where we had to go. We arrived at the farm which was practically in the middle of nowhere with snow and trees as far as the eye could see. We had the farm all to ourselves.

All during the trip Nelson was yelling "I want to see some Moose"but the only thing we saw were moose crossing signs. This was the second time I was at the Chandler Music Hall since 1999. Before the concert we went to the Randolph HS to work for an hour or so with the jazz students of jazz studies teacher Josh Stumf. We all played along on the blues and on several tunes trying to give the kids a foundation on which to improvise. They did a great job. Josh has them working hard and these kids are a dedicated bunch. Back at Chandler Hall, Becky, Mimi and our sound crew did an incredible job of getting everything right for the concert and we had a lot of fun. Thanks Becky! The next day we left the farm and headed to Worcester, MA for a radio interview with the quartet on WICN New England's Jazz Station.

We arrived at WICN and met jazz host Tyra Penn. Tyra had great questions for the quartet and also played selections from Times Change. If you're ever in Massachusetts tune into WICN 90.5FM and listen to some great jazz. It's also a public radio station and any support you can give will be most appreciated. One thing we mentioned on the air was the importance of public radio for jazz artists like myself and others and giving us an outlet for our music to be heard. Thanks Tyra, we hope to see you soon. After the interview at WICN we headed west to Danbury, CT and the Danbury Public Library. Unfortunately a snow storm came out of nowhere and as a result, we were stuck on 84 W for 3 1/2 hours making it to Danbury with minutes to spare for the gig but we made it. Waiting for us was a full house of fans eager to hear the music of the EMQ. I don't know why but I thought it was appropriate and I played "Almost Like Being in Love" where the first goes "What a day it has been, what a rare mood I'm in" and let me tell you the mood was not happy being stuck in traffic that long. We made it through and had a great concert thanks to the Friends of the Danbury Library and Maryellen DeJong. After a great night's sleep we headed off to Norfolk, CT to the Norfolk Library.

Since the library was undergoing some construction our concert this year was to be held on the campus of the Yale Summer School of Music. The concert was sponsored by the Norfolk Library. Before the concert we met up with our very good friends Andy and Corina Hughes. Andy was instrumental in getting us on QVC a few years ago. It was great to see them again. They took some great photos of the quartet's performance that day and the last concert on the tour. After the concert we said our goodbyes and headed for home and more concerts with Dave Antonow at the helm. Dave was our fearless driver who drove for the entire time on the tour.
We were in good hands. Thanks Dave.

On December 14th the quartet performed at the Alexandria Middle School in NJ. We did a morning jazz clinic working with the choir students of Mrs. Terry Travis and the jazz students of Mrs. Debbie Glick. When we walked in, the kids were already belting out their own improvisations and were getting around very well on their instruments. Debbie has given the kids an incredible foundation in jazz and they are soaking it up. We performed some of the Vince Guaraldi songs with the choir and then did a set on our own and then the jazz band and concert band did some tunes on their own. It was a great day! Thanks Debbie and Terry, we'll see you soon!

December 15 took us to Grace Lutheran Church in Hatfield, PA for another great concert, thank you Pastor Robert Doll and the choir. December 18 I was interviewed by Bill Dautremont-Smith at WDIY Radio in Bethlehem, PA. Bill and I talked about our upcoming concert at the Sellersville Theater and some of the other things going on with the quartet and played music from Times Change and my solo piano CD Silent Night. Thanks Bill. Speaking of the Sellersville Theater. We performed to a full house of fans on Friday December 21. The audience was incredible and fueled us all night long. We performed some new things I've written like Ten on 1 and Without You. We also performed with the Souderton HS Advanced Choir under the direction of Teresa Washam. What a great group of kids and their voices were incredible. They are very dedicated and really came through for us. Thanks Teresa! I also had a chance to perform with my brand new keyboard that night which I had gotten from Yamaha the day before. I now have the new state of the art Yamaha CP300 which has some of the best piano sounds I've ever heard. After the encore, and two standing O's by the great audience with us that night, we were invited for dinner at the Washington House Restaurant which was provided by the Theater. Thanks to all the staff at the theater, let's do it again

On Christmas Eve morning the quartet was invited to perform on the CW 11 Morning News in New York City. We arrived at the television studio at 3am for our load in and sound check at 4:30am. Yamaha provided me with a C7 concert Grand, thank you Anamarie!! The best thing about getting to New York at that time is we made it across town in about 5 min as opposed to an hour of more mid-day. Even at 3am the city was very much alive with the vibrant colors and lights and activity. The quartet did some short promos and then we went live at 8:50am to 9:00am. We performed my new piece Ten on 1 and Vince Guaraldi's Linus and Lucy. Our host, Emily Frances, interviewed me for a few seconds between songs. You can see the perf ormance and interview here at this link. Our performance went out Nationwide and into various parts of Europe. Thanks to Tom Wisnosky without whom this would not have been possible. Thanks go out also to Executive Producer: Emad Ashgar, Celebrity Booker: Spencer Mindich, Producer: Kate Sullivan, Audio Technician: James Boyd and to Bart and the rest of the crew for having the vision to present jazz and for making our day with you very special and an enjoyable end to our holiday tour.
Happy New Year! To watch the performance go to: NEWS

Eric on the phone in VT, booking the next Gig!

2008 is already shaping up to be a busy year. Please keep visiting our web site for the latest goings on with the quartet. Our CD's are available through PayPal on our web site and also through Amazon.com and CDBaby.com and on several music download locations including Apple iTunes. Please keep tuning into XM Radio (Real Jazz XM 70) and request music by the Eric Mintel Quartet. In the meantime may you be blessed with family, good friends and lots of jazz. Happy New Year!

Eric Mintel

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