Jazz@StBarney's welcomes the Laura Caviani Trio at 7 pm, Saturday, March 13. The trio, featuring Gordon Johnson and Phil Hey, will be performing selections from Caviani's 2006 release Going There, along with compositions by Alec Wilder, Mary Lou Williams, and some classic jazz standards by Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin.

Caviani will also be premiering a new work written especially for St. Barney's.

As jazz pianist, Laura Caviani's recordings have received such praise as "piano trio jazz of the highest order" from Downbeat contributor Bob Protzman, "stunningly fresh" from JazzTimes magazine, and "in a word, outstanding" from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Caviani has extensively toured and recorded with Concord recording artist Karrin Allyson. She's also has performed with many other jazz luminaries, including Toots Thielemans, Stan Getz, Diane Schuur, Bob Mintzer and Dave Liebman. In the Twin Cities, her numerous projects include the Pete Whitman X-tet, whose CD Where's When? received a 4-star review from Downbeat magazine. She holds degrees from both Lawrence University (BM-Theory/Composition) and The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. (MM-Improvisation) She is currently on faculty at Carleton College and St. Olaf College, both in Northfield, MN.

LAURA CAVIANI PLAYS
In the Interim

Eastman School of Music graduate Gordon Johnson (Bass) toured extensively throughout the '70s & '80s with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Doc Severinsen, Roy Buchanan and the Paul Winter Consort. Back home in the Twin Cities, he has performed with many great jazz artists, including Joanne Brackeen, Rosemary Clooney, Herb Ellis, Curtis Fuller, Scott Hamilton, Slide Hampton, Sean Jones, Stacey Kent, Delfeayo Marsalis, Jay McShann, Maria Muldaur, Dewey Redman, Jim Rotondi, Diane Schuur, Ben Sidran, Freda Payne, Marlena Shaw, Toots Thielemans, plus many Minneapolis, St Paul musical artists from many genres. Gordy has produced four critically acclaimed jazz piano trio CDs which include a multitude of local and internationally known pianists and drummers: Gordon Johnson TRIOS, TRIOS V.2, TRIOS Version 3.0 and TRIOS GJ4.

Phil Hey (Drums) has played all across the USA with dozens of Jazz legends, including Charlie Rouse, Benny Golson, Harold Land, Jay McShann, Benny Carter, and, for over 20 years, Dewey Redman. Hey has appeared on more than 100 CDs, including his first as a leader, Subduction, which was named "Jazz Recording of the Year" by The Twin Cities City Pages in 2006. Phil was also their 2006 "Jazz Musician of the Year." His years of study with Marv Dahlgren and Ed Blackwell have also led to a career as an educator at various colleges and universities. He has taught at the University of Minnesota in the Jazz Studies department since 1991, and is currently also teaching Drum Set at St.Olaf College. Hey maintains a busy performance schedule with both his own Quartet and and many other Twin Cities based groups, as well as accompanying myriad touring artists around the US.

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.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from the McKnight Foundation and an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature.

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.

For more information call SBCA Director Jeff Whitmill at (763) 553-3083 or e-mail him.