THE JAZZ NETWORK ~ "A GREAT PLACE TO HANG"
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Jeff Lofton
Austin, Texas
United States - Share
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- Married
- Where are you located?
- Austin, Texas USA
- Tell us a little about you....
- www.myspace.com/jeffloftonquartet or www.jefflofton.com
“Listen up, Miles Davis fans,” the Austin American Statesman wrote of Jeff Lofton, “…the virtuoso studied music composition and jazz at the University of South Carolina… with decades of experience under his belt, … Lofton recently relocated to Austin where his smooth jazz sounds can be heard as he leads the melodic Jeff Lofton Group.”
Lofton's recent All Miles 1950's show at the Elephant Room in Austin, Texas, featured music written by, or made popular, by Miles Davis and performed with the distinctive style of Davis' three different eras of the 1950s.
"In the early 1950s Miles' sonatas mixed with early bebop writing/playing reflects a faster, more Dizzy Gillespie style," Lofton says. "It involves playing many notes to achieve a solo interpretation. In the mid-1950s, Davis created more space in his music. Fewer notes were used and more emphasis was put on the notes he does play. The late 1950's were more Avant Garde, as well as modal concepts as heard in the album Kind of Blue."
Last fall Lofton’s Miles Davis tribute show kicked off a Sunday Night Jazz series at the historic Victory Grill, one of the few remaining juke joints from the Chitlin’ Circuit. The show’s great reception led it to an encore performance at the Elephant Room, and it’s now back again with new songs. The Jeff Lofton Quintet also includes Austin musicians Sam Lipman on saxophone (www.myspace.com/samlipman); Marc Devine on piano (www.marcdevine.com); Chris Budhan on bass (www.myspace.com/cbudhan); and Steve Schwelling on drums (www.myspace.com/steveschwelling).
“Jazz is a backdrop for popular American music,” Jeff Lofton said in a recent interview with The Monitor (http://www.thev247.com/entertainment/jazz_2162___article.html/music_lofton.html). “Some people think it’s too complicated, sophisticated, or hear one artist playing avant-garde jazz and say, ‘I don’t like it.’ But it’s a myriad of cultures and diversity and connected to other music.”
Since relocating to Austin last year, Lofton has shared the stage with the Marc Devine Trio at Reed’s Jazz and Supper Club, the Sean Hopper Quartet at Central Markets, and frequently sits in at the Elephant Room’s Mike Mardecai Jazz Jam on Monday nights. The Jeff Lofton Quartet’s other Austin performances include Central Market Westgate, Central Market Central, Club 40, Club 1808, Jerry’s Artarama Artist Festival and a Barack Obama fund raising event. Recent Texas shows outside of Austin include Kirby's Fine Dining in San Antonio, Cine El Rey historic theatre and Espana Mediterranean Cuisine in McAllen, and Shenanigan’s in Brownsville.
Lofton debuted his first jazz CD, Jazz Therapy, in 2005, with the Jeff Lofton Quartet. The self-produced CD mixes old style be-bop with modern forms of jazz in the tradition of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. In addition to Lofton on trumpet, the CD also includes Roland Haynes on piano, Reggie Sullivan on bass and Kenneth Salters on drums.
Born in Germany to American parents, Lofton grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, where he studied music at the University of South Carolina. Playing trumpet for nearly thirty years, Lofton has spent time on the road in Chicago and New York City. He has performed with such musical talents as Austin’s own guitarist Jim Mings, saxophonist Rene Sandoval, Ron Westray and Wycliff Gordon of the Wynton Marsalis septet, Fred Wesley of the James Brown horn section, Fred Hampton of the Chicago A.A.C.M., and South Carolina musicians Skip Pearson, Robert Gardner, Dr. Dick Goodwin, Dr. John Enkey, Teddy Linder and many others.
Lofton also works as an R&B and hip-hop producer, producing such artists as Legend and The Gutsmen. As a winner of the juried competition, Lofton was an artist in the music category of the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Arts in Education Roster. The program provides grants for work in educational settings statewide. He currently leads jazz clinics for high school students in Austin.
In South Carolina, The Jeff Lofton Quartet had a strong local following from a long-running Friday night show at Meritage in the Vista, as well as performances at Mac’s on Main. Lofton is also well known for the Jazz Therapy Jazz Quintet featuring himself and Skip Pearson performing on Sundays at the club Group Therapy. Other groups Lofton has played with include Defellas (an avant guard jazz group), Deja Voodoo (a hip hop/jazz fusion group) and Wadada (a reggae group).
- How did you hear about the Jazz Network?
- friends on the site
- Website:
- http://www.jefflofton.com
Jeff Lofton's Photos
INSPIRATIONAL CORNER
Uncle Hugh 'Peanuts' Whalum is my 80 year-old uncle who has FORGOTTEN more about jazz than I've even learned yet! He released his CD "Introducing Hugh 'Peanuts' Whalum" after gigging in the St. Louis scene for over 55 years! Needless to say his voice, his saxophone, his piano... like a fine, aged Merlot. His energy?! I dare not try and keep up. I'm on stage falling asleep by the time he gets going good – cut from a different cloth. Arnette, Coleman, Hamp, Hank... fine cloth.
Why do I bring them up? Because they represent something really important that we now get to enjoy, like they did back then, but now through technology on sites like this, that we've been missing.
The good news, since family – in this case JAZZ FAMILY – and relationships are much more important, more fulfilling... is that I feel RICHER knowing and following you guys music on THE JAZZ NETWORK!
Sincerely,
Kirk WHALUM
www.kirkwhalum.com
"Congratulations on your creativity, energy and dedication to Jazz, knowing and have worked with your Dad ~ its all in the genes".
~Clem De Rosa
Professional Musician, Educator, Arranger, Composer and Band Leader
Birthdays
Birthdays Today
ADVERTISE YOUR ARTISTRY, BUSINESS OR EVENT HERE ON THE JAZZ NETWORK!
Give the gift of some of The Jazz Network Members music for the Holidays!!
Just click your favorite artist, its as easy as 1-2-1-2-3-4!! :-)
Available on iTunes and www.fredricklevore.com
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The Jazz Network Holiday Promotion offers its members a spot on the front page to display your CD cover for immediate click-thru for purchase for holiday gifting! Feel free to contact Jaijai for details for now is a good time to start promoting Holiday sales!
If you have interest in having a featured spot, want to be spotlighted, promote a 'gig' or CD release party with a flyer or banner, stream your gigs live from a venue worldwide, give a shout-out for any reason ~ post a press release...have a business we should know about?... or even a "sneak peek" of your upcoming release? How about managers looking for artists, or indie labels looking for submissions...This is the place to do it!
Jaijai is also making herself available to help you promote your artistry with marketing tips that will take you to the next level.
If you are interested in becoming a client, please let her know.
If you want your page designed with your CD cover and special slideshows, or that 'extra special touch' Jaijai will also lend her design skills to those that want that 'extra splash' to their pages.
Contact her here on the site to discuss your creative thoughts!
Happy Networking!
:-)
Artwork courtesy of Jeff Laibson
SPOTLIGHTED ARTISTS
Finding THE JAZZ NETWORK has been an amazing experience for Musique Noire. The opportunity to not only gain exposure among the jazz community, but to also learn and network with others in the jazz world has been invaluable. It is a place where we are all treated equally, whether one is a major label act or an indie artist, whether one plays traditional jazz or any of the "branches" of the jazz Family "tree".
Musique Noire is honored to be spotlighted here and are deeply grateful to Jaijai for creating this wonderful world. We're here to stay!
~ Musique Noire
Jaijai, what a wonderful mission you've undertaken to create such a place for artistic minds to meet and share their hearts. A place to renew faded determinations, and revive lessened momentums. A place to display our wares and reconfirm to one another that we actually are on the right track.
I commend you, Jaijai, for caring so much that you created this castle of the heart for all of us. I want to share my praise for all of the new friends as well as old friends that I've met and will meet here in our castle. Here we can garnish the where-with-all, the strength, the conviction, and the selflessness through our symbiosis, to share our gift to the world with an unbiased agenda.
My mentor, Daisaku Ikeda says of art: "A beautiful flower delights and refreshes the hearts of all people equally, no matter what soil it grows in. That is the power of beauty. The same is true of great art. It is this spirit that the German poet Heinrich Heine sang of when he wrote that once the peapod bursts open, the sugar peas inside are for everyone to enjoy."
Let's be audacious, my friends!
Buster Williams
"It was a pleasure to be featured on the Jazz Network Main Page. This Network is a unique forward step for independence, contact and conversation between artist, promoters/agents and fans.
Thank you Jaijai for offering a professional meeting place. I've met new musicians and rediscovered old friends I haven't seen or heard from in years. May we all continue to expand this network.
~ Will Calhoun
"I think that what Jaijai Jackson has done with the Jazz Network shows how the eternal love for this music is passed down from generation to generation. The fire her father lit in her has burned brightly and has inspired her to pass this torch on to future generations. I'm very proud to be featured and I'm very happy that Jazz has a voice and spirit like Jaijai looking after it."
~ Ron Kearns
I am so honored to be on The Jazz Network with so many wonderful and dedicated musicians. Jazz is the truly American art form and as I travel to other countries I find that their appreciation for jazz is really uplifting. There are so many excellent jazz musicians around the world now and The Jazz Network is helping us to find each other. Thank goodness for people like Jaijai who have dedicated so much time and effort to keep the jazz community together and for opening doors to us that we may never have found.
Regarding education in jazz, having done Master Classes in many places I find students need to take time and learn from the Masters and LISTEN. They should go back in history to appreciate ALL styles of jazz and its development. They need to learn melodies and lyrics (yes, even instrumentalists need to know lyrics) and that jazz is not just a series of modes and riffs. I think The Jazz Network can be an excellent tool for that also.
Thank you Jaijai...you are awesome!
~ Lenore Raphael
"Thank you Jaijai for creating a space for the likes of me! I truly enjoy being featured here and really hope it can give me new contacts and opportunities.
Keep up the good work!"
~ Patrick Rydman
Sweden
"The Jazz Network has come into being at just the right time. I believe that we are forever in need of spiritual and artistic enrichment and the way I see it, music, particularly jazz music, is all about the spirit. The Jazz Network allows us to reach out to our fellow artists across the world, in a way that has not been seen before, enlightening us as to who's out there making hip and happening music and helping to shape the culture. Whether artists approach this music from traditional perspectives or attempt to create new and radical sub-genres of jazz, the Jazz Network
is providing exposure, performance and recording opportunities that we might never have found on our own.
The Jazz Network is an amazing resource for the Jazz community. I'm
honored and happy to be a part of it.
Jaijai, thanks for your faith and what you're doing for the jazz community"
Best,
Nicolas
It’s a rare occasion when you meet someone who you feel a real connection to … Someone who possesses a kind spirit, unyielding generosity and a dedication to the jazz community beyond expectations.
Jaijai, thank you so much for creating such a fantastic website for the jazz community. You’ve helped artists connect with each other around the world.
I’m proud to have The Jazz Network be the first site to promote my latest recording. Words cannot express my gratitude to you for your dedication to the music and the artists.
With much love and gratitude,
Denise Donatelli
Hi Jaijai,
Stopping by to show you some love and tell you just how much I appreciate all you've been doing here, not just for me but for this incredible community of jazz musicians. I see that The Jazz Network is growing in leaps and bounds daily and want you to know that I recognize the importance of what's going on here, musicians having a place to connect with each other, young musicians having a place to meet and be mentored by musicians who have been around the block. You've created a beautiful space here and it's obvious that folks are feeling very much at home. Thanks for sharing your time, your heart, your soul. This is a huge commitment and you've taken it on with such determination. I wish you and The Jazz Network continued success and support you in all you're doing.
~ Marcus
© 2008 Created by Jaijai Jackson aka. "Woman of Jazz"
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Comment Wall (13 comments)
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Love the music!!
Ken
I love your sound.
Ken
Tanks for add my.
Vere nice sound and playing !
Peace,jazz.
Vitaly
Love the feel of the music.
Will
BC
Thanks for the ad request.
Peace,
James
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