Jazz@StBarney's welcomes two instrumental giants of the local scene at 7:00, Saturday, February 25, when guitarist JOAN GRIFFITH and pianist LAURA CAVIANI reunite for an evening of Sambanova, their stellar 2008 CD offering.

Joan Griffith is known in the Midwest as a teacher, performer and composer. She has toured and recorded extensively as a classical and jazz guitarist, a bassist and a mandolinist. Her 2011 CD, A Girl Named Vincent, with Prudence Johnson, the 2008 jazz CD, Sambanova, with pianist Laura Caviani, her 2009 CD Alma Brasileira with recorder player Clea Galhano and CD Enter You, Enter Love, with Lucia Newell, feature many of her own compositions. Enter You, Enter Love was chosen as one of the top ten best recordings for 1996 by KBEM. Her choral composition Sweet Noel won the 1998 Christmas Carol Contest sponsored by the American Composer's Forum and the Plymouth Music Series.

Joan directs the Macalester Mac Jazz workshop and is also a studio instructor there teaching electric bass, electric guitar and jazz improvisation. She is also the head of the jazz studies department at the University of St. Thomas, an instructor of guitar and bass at the College of St. Catherine and roster artist in jazz for COMPAS, the Minnesota State Arts Board and Young Audiences. Her performances on mandolin include the Minnesota Orchestra's 1999 performance and recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde under the direction of Eiji Oue, as soloist with the South Dakota Symphony on their premiere recording Journey to the Badlands and as a featured artist in the chamber music series of Minnesota Orchestra's SommerFest.

Laura Caviani has performed and recorded for over 15 years. The Minneapolis Star Tribune hailed her debut CD, Dreamlife as "...in a word, outstanding". Marian McPartland called it "...sparkling and inventive". Her second release, As One, was touted as "stunningly fresh" by Jazz Times. Her holiday album, Angels We Haven't Heard, was considered "this season's finest new jazz cd of holiday music" by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Star Tribune claimed her solo release, In Your Own Sweet Way was, "...poised right where the salon meets the saloon, with as much spunk as serenity." Going There, her fifth recording as a leader, is already receiving wide praise. Bob Protzman, Downbeat Contributor and WQLN-FM host called it "...piano trio jazz of the highest order."

As a sideman, Ms. Caviani has recorded and toured with the 2002 Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson (Concord Records) whose band, according to the Wall Street Journal, "...could waltz into any New York nightclub and tear up the joint...". Ms. Caviani has shared the stage with other greats as Toots Theilemans, Bob Mintzer, and Dave Liebman. Locally, she has recorded with numerous musicians, including Pete Whitman's Quintet and Xtet, and the jazz orchestra JazzMN, all on the Artegra label. She has also recorded with Twin Cities jazz vocal greats: Lucia Newell, Prudence Johnson, and Voice Trek.

In '97, Caviani received a grant from the Atlantic Center for the Arts to study with renowned pianist and composer JoAnne Brackeen. The following year, she was selected to study in Japan at the Akiyoshidai International Art Village.

As a composer, her commissions include numerous works for jazz ensembles and smaller jazz combos (some of which are currently available through Increase Music and Really Good Music) as well as orchestral works for both the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.

Caviani has both a bachelors of music in Composition from Lawrence University, and a masters of music in Improvisation from The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She has taught at a number of schools, including St. John's University, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, The University of St. Thomas, and many middle schools in Minneapolis through the "Harman How to Listen Program", an outreach program co-founded by Wynton Marsalis. Currently, she is on faculty at both Carleton College and St. Olaf College, both located in Northfield, MN.

Listen to Joan and Laura playSambanova #1 in C

© 2008 Joan Griffith

The concert is at St. Barnbas Lutheran Church, 15600 Old Rockford Road in Plymouth. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for Twin Cities Jazz Society members and $5 for students. There's no need to call ahead; tickets are always available at the door.

St. Barnabas Center for the Arts is a program of St. Barnabas Lutheran Church supporting the arts through education, nurturing and sharing of creative works.