The Jon Hatamiya-Kyle Athayde Big Band has a date this Sunday, April 2, at the Blue Whale in Little Tokyo’s Weller Court.
Composer, vibrophonist, multi-instrumentalist and #27 ranked Super Smash Bros Melee player Athayde is in town for this gig, to be staged at one of the finest jazz venues in Los Angeles.
Joining Hatamiya on trombones will be Ido Meshulam, Matt Corrigan and Jake Kraft. On saxophone will be Alex Hahn, Chris Sullivan, Ramsey Castaneda, Henry Solomon and Adam Schroeder.
The trumpet section will consist of Ryan DeWeese, Blake Martin, James Blackwell, Michael Stever and Harry Ostrander.
The band is rounded out by: Jacob Mann (piano), Colin Cook (guitar), Ellie Athayde (bass) and Colin McDaniel (drums).
The band will be presenting two new sets of original compositions and arrangements for big band.
Showtime is 9 p.m.; $15 at the door, 21 and over. The Blue Whale is located at 123 Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka St., Suite 301, in Little Tokyo. For more information, call (213) 620-0908 or visit www.bluewhalemusic.com.
Trombonist, composer, and B.A.C. endorsing artist Hatamiya is one of the most promising trombonists to come out of the Sacramento area and is rapidly making a name for himself on both the New York and Los Angeles music scenes. He was recognized in the Aug. 1, 2011 edition of Jet Magazine as the only trombonist on Wynton Marsalis’ list of “Who’s Got Next,” which highlighted the next generation of emerging jazz artists. Hatamiya also received a 2015 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award from ASCAP for his merits as a composer and arranger.
Still early in his career, Hatamiya has already performed with a variety of artists reflecting his wide musical interests, including Dianne Reeves, James Moody, Greg Osby, John Daversa Progressive Big Band, Bob Mintzer Big Band, Dave Matthews Band, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Marsalis, among others, and at venues such as Yoshi’s San Francisco and Oakland, the Jazz Standard in New York, the Monterey and Montreal Jazz Festivals, Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Staples Center.
Hatamiya is also active as an educator, having been on faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop as a mentor fellow in 2012-2013, and as a composer and bandleader with the New York-based jazz-rock fusion septet XD 7 (with two self-released recordings), the California-based modern jazz quintet Nice Young Men, and the Jon Hatamiya Big Band, as well as several other small ensembles under his own name.
He received his Bachelor of Music degree in jazz trombone performance from Manhattan School of Music, where he received the John Clark Award for excellence in brass performance among graduates, his Master of Music degree in jazz studies from the University of Southern California, and began additional studies at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance in 2016.
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