CONCERT: Alex Harding and Organ Nation


CONCERT
Alex Harding and Organ Nation
Friday, December 8, 2017
RSVP on Facebook
Purchase tickets: alexharding.eventbrite.com

Doors at 7:00pm
Performance at 8:00pm

About the performers:

ALEX HARDING – BARITONE SAX
A powerful and innovative saxophonist, Harding’s musical expression and the dynamism of his performance touches the human spirit and soul. He studied early on with Yusef Lateef, Beans Bowles and Herbie Williams, and played with Wynton Marsalis and Donald Byrd while still in high school. Harding was part of the Sun Ra All-Star Project that premiered at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. More recently he has performed with the Roy Hargrove Big Band and with Aretha Franklin.

Alex Harding studied music in his early years with Yusef Lateef, Beans Bows and Herbie Williams, and played with Wynton Marsalis and Donald Byrd while still in high school. After settling in New York in 1993, and a stint touring with Phatoms, a Haitian group, Alex joined Julius Hemphill’s Saxophone Sextet. He also began performing with Muhal Richard Abrams, Craig Harris, Lester Bowie, Frank Lacey, Oliver Lake and David Murray’s Big Band.

In 1996, Alex joined Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Group and appeared with the Mingus Big Band, Jayne Cortez Firespitters and Lester Bowie’s Hip-Hop Philharmonic. He also recorded with Greg Osby, Frank Lowe, David Lee Roth and Rodney Whittaker. The following year, Alex recorded At Doctor King’s Table with the Julius Hemphill Sextet, a CD with Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Group, and he made his debut with the Sun Ra Arkestra under Marshall Allen’s leadership. In 1998, Alex was part of the Sun Ra All-Star Project that premiered at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. More recently Alex has performed with the Roy Hargrove Big Band and with Aretha Franklin. Alex Harding has recorded several CD’s for CIMP label and since 2008 he has performed on Broadway and toured with the (3) Tony Award winning show FELA!!!!

JIM ALFREDSON – ORGAN
Jim Alfredson (Lansing, MI) comes from a musical family. His father earned a living as a professional musician for many years and encouraged Jim’s talents from a very young age. Some of Jim’s earliest memories include pulling on the drawbars of his father’s Hammond B3 at the age of four.

Jim began writing his own songs at the age of eight on a Yamaha organ. A score of synthesizers and multitrack machines followed until he came full circle at sixteen and began lusting after the sound of the Hammond organ once again. Jim has immersed himself in the study of the mighty Hammond B3 ever since, dedicated to uncovering new directions within the deep tradition of the instrument.

For 10 years, Jim served as organist and musical director of the highly successful, award-winning rhythm & blues band Root Doctor (1999 – 2009).

In 2010, Jim joined the touring band for blues singer Janiva Magness. He is on the road most of the year with that band, touring all over the world. He is featured on Ms. Magness’ latest Alligator Records release “Stronger For It”.

“… Jim Alfredson … is a remarkable organist who seamlessly synthesizes several generations of keyboard influences ” ~ Downbeat

When he’s not on the road, Jim lives with his beautiful wife Alison in Lansing, MI. Besides practicing, listening, and performing music, Jim enjoys cooking, home improvement, and spending time with his daughters Zora, Stella, & Scarlett. Jim is also a piano tuner / technicianin the Lansing area.

Jim is a Hammond-Suzuki endorsed artist and plays the Hammond XK-3 with the full XK System and the Leslie 3300 on most organissimo gigs. After years of lugging around a real B3, Jim applauds the new Hammond organs not only as back-savers, but extremely flexable instruments that still retain the classic Hammond tonewheel sound. For his shows with Janiva Magness, Jim is using the Hammond SK2.

Jim is also endorsed by Casio and uses their wonderful line of Privia digital pianos on the road with Janiva and organissimo, as well as in his home studio.

And Jim is endorsed by Neo Instruments, makers of the Ventilator rotary speaker simulator. Read his review of the unit here.

In 2009 Jim released a very limited edition solo CD dedicated to the memory of his father called In Memorandom. You can keep up with Jim at his Facebook page.

DJALLO DAKATE – DRUMS
Djallo is a master percussionist, skilled in diverse musical genres: rag-time; be-bop; swing; blues; gospel; rhythm n’ blues; soul; funk; rock; fusion; reggae; avant-garde; Afro-Cuban; Brazzilian; West African; New Orleans; and techno.

Mr. Dakate has performed with Kenn Cox, Charles Gabriel, Marcus Belgrave, Wendell Harrison, Faruq Z. Bey, A. Spencer Barefield, Thornetta Davis, Teddy Harris Jr., Marion Hayden, Kenny Werner, Sundiata Keita, Dennis Coffey, Barrett Strong, Rod Williams, Alvin Waddles, Jessica Care Moore, Burnt Sugar, Aril Brika, Karrem Baaqi, Ralphe Armstrong, Taslimah Bey, The Nomads, Martha and the Vandells, The Monday Milkman, Pamela Wise, Jazzhead, In The Tradition, Temesgen, Randal V. Wilson, The Black Bottom Collective, and Ras Kente & The Take No Prisoners Posse.