#wade dean

[coloredwaitingroom-blog]

University of Pennsylvania's Director of Jazz Wade Dean is waiting in The Colored Waiting Room. 

Be a part of The Colored Waiting Room Project by submitting your response to "What are you waiting for?" through "Submit" on this page or by email to ramseymusic (at) gmail.com. You can also tweet your response by using the hashtag #TheColoredWaitingRoom. 

[nikiaphoenix]

The Nu Cool: Wade Dean

We often reminisce about the heyday of Jazz. Cats like Coltrane, "Bird", Gillespie, and Davis were hot $hit. These legends may be gone but their influence is still here.

I hear it in Wade's music. It's a free form of expression that we need to appreciate more than we do.  Support Jazz. Support real artists.  Be part of the Nu Cool. 

[hearthescene]

Sat. July 16th

Wade Dean Enspiration @LeCochonNoir

5070 Parkside Ave.

Suite 5100E

Philadelphia, PA 19131

[phone]

[rjjohnson-blog-blog]

Lucas Brown Quartet/Wade Dean Enspiration @ Moonstone Arts Center - Philadelphia

On February eleventh, the Moonstone Arts Center, a relatively new venue located inside of Robin’s Book Store at the corner of 13th and Sansom, hosted a double bill consisting of several well-known Philadelphia musicians.  Several members of the audience consisted of musicians from around town who came out to listen to each other’s bands for the night.  In fact, this event was the most well attended event in Moonstone’s history.  Before the first set even began, each chair had been filled, and many audience members found themselves setting up make shift seating around the stage.  Moonstone is certainly a venue which is on the rise.

            Moonstone has been hosting music since 2009.  The venue has, for several years, also hosted a wide variety of literary events such as book signings and poetry readings.  In 2009, the Lucky Old Souls, a group founded by music lover Matthew Feldman, became affiliated with Moonstone.  The group is known for promoting jazz throughout Philadelphia, and began booking jazz on the 2nd Friday of each month. At Moonstone.  This event has become well known amongst musicians, and now amongst concertgoers as well.  Lucky Old Souls also hosts a web radio program, and is in the process of opening a new music venue/restaurant in South Philly.

            The first band to play on Friday night was the Lucas Brown Quartet.  The band consists of pianist Lucas Brown, trumpeter John Swana, bassist Jason Fraticelli, and drummer Wayne Smith.  The band played original compositions all composed by Mr. Brown.  The group has a very cohesive dynamic, which is to be expected from such a strong group of individual musicians.  Brown’s style, reminiscent of jazz great Bill Evans, is a combination of understatement and melodic richness.  On slower tunes, Mr. Brown sometimes let several single notes hang in the air before crafting a solo that gradually built in intensity.  He is not a pianist who feels the need to showcase his chops, despite his obvious technical ability.  John Swana played the EVI (electronic valve instrument) for the entirety of the set.  The EVI is a sort of electronic trumpet, which Swana runs through a series of effects processors an amplifier.  Mr. Swana is considered a master by most of his peers.  His melodic sense is completely his own, and his reputation is recognized by musicians around the New York jazz scene equally as well.  He is a musician that is worth seeing in any band.  Wayne Smith and Jason Fraticelli supported the soloists perfectly.  Mr. Fraticelli at times was able to play a soloists line back to them on the bass.  His accompaniment, along with the flawless drumming of Wayne Smith, provided the perfect atmosphere for this unique music to exist within.

            After a short break, the Wade Dean Enspiration began their set.  The band consisted of alto saxophonist Wade Dean, alto saxophonist Adam Siegel, tenor saxophonist Victor North, pianist Tim Brey, drummer Anwar Marshall, and again bassist Jason Fraticelli.  Dean’s group performed several of his compositions, which were given a unique treatment by using different combinations of the three saxophonists.  The three horns allowed each melody to be harmonized, which provided a fuller sound for each song.  Each musician had solos at various points during the set, which prevented the individual tunes from becoming redundant.  One might compare the sound of the Enspiration to the Brian Blade Fellowship.  Both bands combine jazz tradition with hints of blues and soul influences.  The Enspiration, like the Lucas Brown Quartet, consisted of some of Philly’s best jazz musicians.  Fraticelli, Marshall, and Brey are all busy sidemen on the Philadelphia scene.  This is especially true of Mr. Marshall, who commutes between Philadelphia and New York for gigs.  Dean, besides performing frequently, also is the jazz combo director at UPENN.  His sound displays an obvious command of jazz tradition, but strays from the use of over-played licks and clichés.  This is always a great quality in saxophonists, who are all challenged with developing a unique sound on a very common instrument.  Adam Siegel, a recent graduate of the University of the Arts, has a diverse sound which combines the avant garde influence of players such as Eric Dolphy with the modern aesthetic of New York based musicians such as Mark Turner.  Victor North, who also runs the Tuesday night jam session at Chris’s Jazz Café, received some of the largest crowd reactions of the night.  Hi solos are well crafted, and his command of the instrument allows him to showcase the diversity of sounds that a saxophone can produce.  Overall, the front line of this band is a must see for jazz lovers, especially horn players.