Yoshi's Oakland hosts an all-star jazz reunion on Wednesday, May 9th, when the Dmitri Matheny Group featuring Dave Ellis presents a world premiere at the storied venue.
The event will feature a stellar line up of musical talent: Dmitri Matheny (flugelhorn), Dave Ellis (saxophones), Matthew Clark (piano), Seward McCain (bass), and Akira Tana (drums), plus surprise guests.
"Yoshi's is very close to my heart," Matheny says. "I'm very proud of our longtime association with the club. It's been the primary venue for our home season, CD release parties, benefit concerts and other milestones since 1989. If you've been there, you know: the Yoshi's audience and atmosphere are the best. So I'm really looking forward to returning on May 9th with this amazing band."
The Dmitri Matheny Group will premiere Crime Scenes, a new work inspired by espionage and underworld movie music. Drawing on classic themes from film noir, B-movies, spy thrillers and crime dramas, Crime Scenes is conceived as a series of dreamlike flashbacks, conceptually linked together to form a story through voiceover narration in the hard-boiled detective style of Raymond Chandler.
The DMG will also perform favorite material from Matheny's nine critically acclaimed CDs, balancing fresh, original works with familiar jazz classics, hard bop, west coast cool and beloved standards from the Great American Songbook.
"Their music is a fertile landscape without boundaries," writes the Oakland Tribune, "earning Matheny and his cohorts a reputation as one of the most eclectic and daring ensembles on today's jazz scene."
All About Jazz agrees: "An all-star jazz band featuring some of the most accomplished musicians in the western United States, the Dmitri Matheny Group is a cohesive and seamless unit, serving up equal parts soulful expression, caressing phrases, imaginative asides, and dedicated lyricism."
Celebrated for his warm tone, soaring lyricism and masterful technique, American musician Dmitri Matheny has been lauded as 'the first breakthrough flugelhornist since Chuck Mangione' (San Jose Mercury News). First introduced to jazz audiences in the 1990s as the protégé of Art Farmer, Matheny has matured into 'one of the jazz world's most talented horn players' (SF Chronicle).
The Yoshi's show concludes a two-week series of tour appearances throughout Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.