THE JAZZ NETWORK ~ "A GREAT PLACE TO HANG"
-
Larry Vuckovich
Calistoga, CA
United States - Share
Larry Vuckovich's Page
Profile Information
- Marital Status
- married
- Where are you located?
- San Francisco area
- Tell us a little about you....
- San Francisco-based pianist Larry Vuckovich has played with many of the great jazz masters, from Dexter Gordon, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Niels H. Orsted Pedersen to Bobby Hutcherson, Charlie Haden, Tom Harrell, Charles McPherson, and others. Larry returned to New York in October, 2007, for the first time since he worked there at the top clubs, from 1985 to 1990, to present a quartet at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola and record with Marian McPartland for her NPR Piano Jazz show (air date: May, 2008).
His piano trio CD, Street Scene (Tetrachord Music, 2006), with its film noir flavor, featuring Larry Grenadier and Akira Tana with percussionists Hector Lugo and Vince Delgado on Latin Jazz selections, received top critical acclaim and placed #1 on XM Satellite Radio for six weeks and in the Top 10 of the JazzWeek and college radio jazz charts, remaining on the charts for four to five months. His current CD, High Wall (Tetrachord Music, 2008) is a followup to his previous film noir tribute, and includes two rhythm teams of Larry Grenadier with Eddie Marshall; and Paul Keller with Chuck McPherson, and includes appearances by percussionists Hector Lugo and Vince Delgado.
Larry Vuckovich is also a pioneer in world music jazz, after the 1980 release of his Blue Balkan LP on Inner City Records, featuring Bobby Hutcherson on vibes and marimba. and Erik Golub on violin. Gary Giddins in the Village Voice named his CD release of this recording, with additional new material, as one of the top CDs of 2002.
Larry Vuckovich, who was born in Yugoslavia, arrived in San Francisco in 1951, in his early teens, at the height of a flourishing jazz scene. Classically trained but an ardent jazz fan (thanks to Armed Forces radio), he began hanging out at clubs like the Black Hawk and the Jazz Workshop. Here he heard such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bill Evans. At the Black Hawk he met Cal Tjader and Vince Guaraldi, who was Cal's pianist at the time. Larry later became Guaraldi's only piano student. During this period he was studying music at San Francisco State University where John Handy was a major influence on the school's jazz program. John brought visiting greats, including Milt Jackson, Rahsan Roland Kirk. Micky Roker, Bob Cranshaw, Larry Gales, and others, who, like John, performed with the students.
Larry began his professional career in 1959 with the legendary Lester Young inspired tenor saxophonist Brew Moore. He began subbing for Guaraldi in 1960 accompanying singers David Allyn, and Irene Kral. Around this time he also performed with John Handy and Monk Montgomery. In 1963 while accompanying Mel Torme he developed a close musical rapport with him and was his first call pianist in San Francisco.
Two years later, he began a 25-year association with vocalist and lyricist Jon Hendricks, appearing with him at major festivals and clubs around North America and Europe. He performed in Hendricks' long-running musical stage production, "Evolution of the Blues," and also appeared on two Hendricks recordings.
Besides touring with Hendricks, in the late '60s Larry led the house band at what was then Germany's top jazz club, The Domicile, in Munich. While there, he backed visiting jazz musicians, including Lucky Thompson, Slide Hampton, Pony Poindexter, Clifford Jordan, and Dusko Goykovich. Larry was a member of Dusko's International Quintet, recording a live album at the Domicle. It was also at the Domicile, where he worked with master drummer Philly Joe Jones, with whom he went on to tour Europe. He also performed with Dexter Gordon in Austria and in Copenhagen at the famous Montmartre jazz club.
Later in the '70s Larry worked with Philly Joe again in San Francisco as house pianist for five years at Keystone Korner. He also worked there with jazz masters Arnett Cobb, Buddy Tate, Charles McPherson, Leon Thomas, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Scott Hamilton until the club closed in 1983. A CD released on Savant Records featuring "Cleanhead" Vinson, recorded live at Keystone Korner, includes a rhythm section of Larry Vuckovich with James Leary and Eddie Marshall.
Two years later, Larry moved to New York where he appeared at major jazz clubs, including the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Bradley's Zinno, West End, Hanratty's, and others. Some of his musical associations there included Billy Higgins, Cecil Payne, Al Cohn, Curtis Fuller, Milt Hinton, Mel Lewis, Michael Moore, Tom Harrell, and Charles McPherson (the latter two have appeared on Larry's CDs). During his five years in New York, he received excellent reviews from the New York Times and the Village Voice from such critics as John S. Wilson, Jon Pareles, and Gary Giddins.
In 1990, Larry returned to San Francisco where he is one of the mainstays of the jazz scene. Fans remember his years as house pianist at Club 36, Grand Hyatt Hotel, where he presented top jazz programs with world-class musicians. He was also music director for the West Coast Jazz Festival and Napa Valley Jazz Festival, and has appeared numerous times at Monterey, San Francisco, Sonoma and San Jose jazz festivals. His Young At Heart Ensemble, a tribute band to Pres, Basie and Bird, featuring former Basie drummer Harold Jones, was a hit at the San Francisco Jazz Festival honoring critic Phil Elwood. His CD "Reunion" with Jon Hendricks, featuring the Young At Heart Ensemble, with guests John Santos and Orestes Vilato on Latin Jazz selections, received heavy airplay, reaching the Top 25 on national jazz charts.
He appears at major San Francisco venues such as, Yoshi's and Jazz at Pearl's, and in concerts at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Herbst Theater and Palo Alto Jazz Alliance. Larry presented a successful piano clinic on the styles of Bill Evans, Erroll Garner, Bud Powell, and Red Garland at the 2005 IAJE convention in Long Beach. His outstanding trio, including Isla Eckinger on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, received a standing ovation.
Larry recently was honored for his many years contributing to San Francisco's rich jazz scene. He had a special day named for him on his birthday, December 8, 2007, and was honored as a jazz pioneer at the new Fillmore Jazz Heritage Center, opened in November, 2007, housing a second location for the famed Yoshi's jazz night club, and signifying a rebirth of an area that was once the epicenter of Bay Area jazz.
Larry lives in Calistoga in Napa Valley, California, with his wife, Sanna Craig (who is a vocalist, percussionist, producer, and co-partner in their label, Tetrachord Music). He has a son Alexi who is a talented young classical and jazz pianist, and a stepson jazz guitarist Josh Workman. Larry also appears at jazz venues in Napa Valley, including the two major concert halls, The Napa Valley Opera House and COPIA . He appears in Napa Valley regularly with top Bay Area instrumentalists and vocalists including his own ensembles, such as, Blue Balkan, Young At Heart, and La Orquesta El Vuko.
- How did you hear about the Jazz Network?
- Jae Sennett on JPL (Jazz Programmers List) e-mail posting
- Website:
- http://www.larryvuckovich.com
Larry Vuckovich'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
<"
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"
googled77eeec400d24e5e.html
Comment Wall (26 comments)
You need to be a member of THE JAZZ NETWORK to add comments!
Join this network
I thought you'd get a kick out of this one.
All the best from Sanna and me,
Larry
I have your recent CD sitting on my desk. It was sent to me, from my friend Herb Wong. I love "Dexter's Mode". Good luck with it.
Jane
281 Peters St., SW Atlanta, Ga.Tel 404/524-7247
2007 Winner of a Soul-PatrolAward for #7Best Jazz Release, and celebrating his 8th CD, “Imbued With Memories”, Chip Shelton makes his Atlanta Performance Debut with a rhythm section of top Atlanta Musicians.
Chip Shelton info: www.chipshelton.com
CD Release info: www. Summitrecords.com
Email: chipflutes@aol.com
Electronic Press Kit: www.sonicbids.com/chipshelton
Info: www.studio 281.com
More Info: www.soul-patrol.com/
www.thejazznetwork.ning.com
How great that we have Paul Keller in common. He is the swinginest boy around. I haven't played with him in awhile, and miss that. I am on faculty at Michigan State University and so have a lot of playing time with Rodney Whitaker, who has also spoiled me for other bass players.....so so swinging. What is the name of your new disc with Paul? Love to you Larry. Summer is here, time to practice, gather concerts unto myself........
best
sunny
Hope you had a great time with Marian.
My best,
Jaijai
I wanted to make sure I had the time correct for your time with Marian, can you please confirm that with me so that I can be exact about when people can tune in?
Have a great time with Marian!
Thanks,
Jaijai
My best and have a ball on the show,
Jaijai
View All Comments