Reviews
Galveston County Daily News
Jazz man not singing the blues
By Katherine Adams
Correspondent
Published January 18, 2008
GALVESTON — Even a hurricane can’t keep a real jazz musician from New Orleans down for long. Jazz guitarist Chris Cortez, who came to the Houston area when his wife’s offices were flooded in Hurricane Katrina, simply picked up here where he left off in New Orleans.
Cortez and his band will be headlining at The Strand Theater, where the Galveston Island Jazz Ambassadors are having their third annual Jazz Festival on Saturday.
“We moved to Houston and found some great musicians to work with here,” said Cortez. “I’ve been a professional musician all my life. I started when I was 9 years old, and now I’m 51.”
Cortez, who has five nationally released jazz albums on his own label, called Blue Bamboo, said he and his band mates are happy to be playing for jazz enthusiasts in Galveston.
“My band mates are bassist Glen Ackerman, drummer Joe Slezack, and we have a special guest named Will Cruz, who is a Latin percussionist,” he said. “I was asked to play something with a Latin feel, and so I engaged Will. This is our first performance at The Strand, so we’re very happy about it.”
Cortez said his record label was expanding and he was pursuing more local artists to record.
“This has been a really fun expansion project,” he said. “I have my own recording studio. I’m trying to engage local musicians.
“So far, Woody Witt, Mike Wheeler and Joe Locascio are recording new CDs on my label, which is great. It’s been an ongoing enterprise. It’s been a whole lot of fun.”
Cortez’s latest album, “Awakenings,” is different from his other albums.
“This is a new musical concept for me,” he said. “This album is sort of a Latin acoustic jazz fusion. It’s instrumental, where the other albums featured my vocals. I’m just playing the guitar on this one. It really has a sound of its own. It’s all instrumental — no vocals and no synthesizers or other machines.”
He said he may sing at the show at The Strand, but he wanted to keep his guitar playing at the front and center of his performance.
Previously, this event was outdoors.
The concert will open with Madrid Café regulars K.C. and the Jazzmen.
Other scheduled performers are the Norma Zenteno Band, Houston saxophonist Kyle Turner, Houston guitarist Joe Carmouche, College of the Mainland music professor Sparky Koerner and Galveston trumpet player Patrick Williams.
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Of Note
Other performers at the Galveston Island Jazz Ambassadors’ third annual concert Saturday will include:
• K. C. and the Jazzmen
This group plays regularly at the Madrid Café in Galveston and is a fairly new group on the scene that plays straight-ahead jazz and will definitely get the audience ready for what will be happening the rest of the day.
• The Norma Zenteno Band
A very popular group around the Houston area. Zenteno has been around Houston performing for quite some time and is a multiple Houston Press Music Awards winner. Zenteno is a very talented songwriter and has released several CDs, the latest of which is titled “Endulzame” (Spanish for “sweeten me”).
• Kyle Turner
Born in Houston, Turner began playing the saxophone at a very young age. When in high school, under the tutelage of James P. Mosely and Alan Beverly, Kyle quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young saxophonist in the Houston area. His music covers a large range, i.e., straight-ahead jazz, fusion, R&B, gospel, blues and smooth jazz. He has performed with such artists as: Kirk Whalum, Johnnie Taylor, Debarge, Bobby Lyle, Chris Walker, Peter White, Joe Sample and Luther Vandross to name a few.
• Joe Carmouche
Another Houstonian, Carmouche began teaching himself to play the guitar when he was 10 years old. His influences include B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and George Benson.Being an innovator, Carmouche uses different guitars, various picking techniques and numerous left- and right-hand tricks to create different tones and effects.
• Sparky Koerner
A local favorite best known as a professional trumpet player but also as an educator. He is a professor of music at College of the Mainland, where two of the bands under his direction have won first place honors at various jazz festivals throughout Texas. In addition, he is the leader of “Sparky’s Jazz Express,” a jazz quartet that specializes in not only traditional, straight-ahead jazz but also great Latin tunes and beautiful ballads.
• Patrick Williams
A Galvestonian is known throughout Texas and the nation as a very fine trumpet player and is considered a technician with impeccable skills. He has shared the stage with jazz greats and R&B greats, including: Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder and Sammy Davis Jr.
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At A Glance
WHAT: Third Annual Jazz Festival
WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: The Strand Theatre, 2317 Ship’s Mechanic Row
TICKETS: $20 and may be purchased at www.thestrand.com, The Strand Theatre box office or charged by phone at 409-763-4591
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On The Web
For information about Chris Cortez, go to www.bluebamboomusic.com or www.chriscortez.net