Click here for Andrew Gilbert's article (10/1/04) on Mel Martin and The Tenor Conclave.

Bios

Mel Martin has proven to be one of the most versatile and creative musicians to emerge from the San Francisco Bay Area. His virtuosic abilities on woodwinds combined with his vast range of experience have brought him to a position of pre-eminence as one of the most inventive and innovative of performers. His unique abilities as an improviser, arranger and composer have made him a favorite of such greats as Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, and many others.

His work as a leader has been documented on several brilliant recordings with the groups Listen, featuring Mel Martin and his current band Bebop and Beyond as well as his solo recording Other Side Up where he displayed his fascinating abilities as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger/producer, composer and jazz soloist and his popular recording Mel Martin Plays Benny Carter featuring Benny Carter as special guest on the Enja label. He has applied these talents to a wide variety of performing and recording situations including Santana, Azteca, Mongo Santamaria, Boz Scaggs, Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, Denny Zeitlin, Hubert Laws, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, B.B. King, Billy Cobham, Freddy Cole, and the Afro Blue Band as well as a multitude of independent studio projects. In performance Mel displays a rare combination of fiery soloing abilities and telepathic communication and projects a joyously spirited vibrancy to his audiences.

Tim Armacost - Since he landed in New York in 1993, Armacost has quickly developed a powerful presence on the scene. Armacost's debut CD, Fire, on Concord Records, and his follow up Live at Smalls on Double Time Records, marked his emergence as a leader with a clear voice in the resurgent jazz of the 1990's. His current release, The Wishing Well, displays the breadth of his current working unit, featuring Bruce Barth, Ray Drummond, and Billy Hart.

Armacost's career is already distinguished by performance and recording credits alongside the likes of Kenny Barron, Billy Hart, Tom Harrell, Ray Drummond, Roy Hargrove, Paquito D'Rivera, Claudio Roditi, Dave Kikoski, Lonnie Plaxico, Robin Eubanks, Pete Christlieb, Jesse Davis, Randy Brecker, Akira Tana, Valery Ponomarev, Hendrik Meurkens, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and the David Murray Big Band. He has toured throughout East and West Europe, Japan, India, and the United States.

Rob Roth - Tenor saxophonist and arranger Robert Roth has been a Jazz artist and educator since 1988 and has performed internationally as a bandleader and sideman. Currently performing in and around the Bay Area, Rob just returned from a 2-week tour of Portugal with Blue Note recording artist Jacinta Carvalho. A native of Philadelphia, Rob has performed with musicians such as Mikey Roker, Uri Caine, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Shirley Scott, Joey DeFrancesco, Christian McBride, Ralph Peterson, Charles Fambrough and John Swana. He attended the University Of Michigan and is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in Jazz performance.

Other tenor saxophonists that have appeared with Mel Martin and the Tenor Conclave:

Dave Ellis - has long been a key figure in the fertile Northern California jazz scene. His story is a tapestry woven from myriad musical adventures. It begins with his days as a ten-year-old musical prodigy and opens on a new chapter with State of Mind, his debut recording for Milestone, featuring a sterling jazz veteran cast of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassists Peter Washington and Christian McBride, drummers Carl Allen and Lewis Nash, and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring.

He attended the renowned Berkeley schools music programs. He was already a precocious player by the time he got to high school and came under the tutelage of jazz ensemble director Phil Hardymon and his successor, Charles Hamilton. Among the players to come out of that milieu have been saxophonists Craig Handy and Peter Apfelbaum, trumpeter Steven Bernstein, and pianist Benny Green. Graduating in 1985, one year ahead of future star Joshua Redman, Ellis moved on to the Berklee College of Music, where he focused on his composing and arranging skills on all sorts of instruments, in all sorts of styles, and graduated with a degree in music production and engineering. At school and in the rich performing scene around the Boston/Cambridge area, his peers included such leading lights of new generation jazz as Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Mark Turner, Kenny Brooks, Donny Mcaslin, Seamus Blake, and Chris Cheek. He has toured and recorded with the Charlie Hunter Trio, Dimitri Matheny and Bob Weir and Ratdog. He scooped up two 1999 California Music Awards -- for Outstanding Jazz Album and Outstanding Jazz Artist in Northern California and won again for Outstanding Jazz album in 2004.

Larry Schneider - Saxophonist Larry Schneider has worked with some very heavy hitters in jazz. Possibly best known for playing with Horace Silver in the '70s, Schneider has performed with many others, including  Billy Cobham, Pete Escovedo, Ray Obiedo, the George Grunz International Big Band, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra.

Larry may be the Bay Area's most distinguished international exponent of the tenor saxophone: He made two records with Bill Evans and cites Evans as one of his main influences, together with John Coltrane. More recently, he has been leader or sideman on more than a dozen recordings for  SteepleChase, one of Europe's hippest jazz labels, recording with the likes of pianists Andy LaVerne, Richie Beirach and Jim McNeely, guitarist Dave Stryker, bassists Mike Richmond and Steve La Spina, and drummers Billy Hart, Keith Copeland, Adam Nussbaum and Anton Fig. He has toured for the last ten years in Europe as a guest soloist, and performed at both the Montreux and Antibes jazz festivals.

The All-Star Rhythm section is comprised of Mark Levine – piano, Akira Tana – drums and Rob Fisher – bass.

For the schedule of the Tenor Conclave, please go to Events Page.

JOE HENDERSON TUNE LIST

Beatrice Black Narcissus Granted Homestretch If In ‘n Out Inner Urge Isotope Jinirikisha Mamacita Mo’Joe Punjab Recordame Serenity Shade of Jade Step Lightly The Kicker

Blue Bossa Brown’s Town Escapade La Mesha Short Story Passion Dance Ask Me Now Chelsea Bridge Round Midnight Search for Peace You Know I Care Invitation Night and Day Once I Loved Without a Song