Performance Presented in Partnership with Watts Labor Community Action Committee

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007, AT 3 PM

Neighborhood Concerts are made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Los Angeles Philharmonic Affiliates, B.C. McCabe Foundation, MetLife Foundation, David and Linda Shaheen Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

In-demand bassist and Grammy-award winner Christian McBride performs a free neighborhood concert at Phoenix Hall located at the Watts Towers Arts Center on Saturday, February 3, 2007 at 3p.m. Joining McBride for this special performance is drummer Clayton Cameron, saxophonist Rickey Woodard and pianist Gerald Clayton.

This is McBride's first neighborhood concert as Los Angeles Philharmonic's Carolyn and William Powers Creative Chair for Jazz, a position that affords him the opportunity to build upon his career-long commitment to exposing jazz to young people, and supports the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's educational mission of increasing access to music for audiences beyond the traditional concert-going public. During his two-year tenure as Creative Chair for Jazz, which began with the Hollywood Bowl's 2006 summer season, McBride oversees jazz programming at both the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Admission to the concert is free and ample free parking is available at The Center. Ticket information is available by calling 323.563.5639.

Grammy Award-winner CHRISTIAN McBRIDE is THE bassist-in-demand. Over the course of three albums as a leader and over a hundred as a sideman, Christian McBride has arguably become the most acclaimed acoustic and electric bassist to emerge from the jazz world in the 1990's. His passion for musical diversity has led him to work with everyone from Chick Corea to Pat Metheny, from Kathleen Battle to D'Angelo, from Diane Krall to Bruce Hornsby, from Quincy Jones to Sting. Given that the bass is the heart and soul of any music, this makes McBride's versatility all the more impressive. McBride has a recording coming out on Ropeadope that resists pigeonholes. His first release for the label, Live at Tonic, captures his capacious quartet joined by an array of guest artists, including eight-string guitar ace Charlie Hunter, Logic, pianist Jason Moran, violinist Jenny Scheinman, beat boxer Scratch, and Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno. McBride holds Artistic Director posts at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program. In January 2005, he was named co-director of The Jazz Museum in Harlem. While working for the museum in Harlem, McBride has been racking up frequent flyer miles as the second Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. He works with the organization year-round, building on the Philharmonic's presence in the musical community as a leading presenter of jazz.

CLAYTON CAMERON has a dynamic career that has already crossed many barriers in the world of music. Clayton continues to push the envelope of contemporary drumming and brushes to their very limits. After the release of the 1990 video, "The Living Art of Brushes" Clayton has been given the honorary title "Brush Master." Clayton's most recent book, Brushworks, is the definitive reference book on the art of brushes. Born in Los Angeles, California Clayton began playing bongos at the age of seven. By age twelve his fascination with drums became so apparent his parents decided to buy him his first drum set and sent Clayton to music school for drum lessons. Clayton went on to get a degree in music from California State University at Northridge. During college, he played in clubs behind artists and mentors including vocalist O.C Smith, Ernie Andrews, Jimmy Weatherspoon, instrumentalist Teddy Edwards, Larry Gails (of Thelonious Monk fame) and Gerald Wilson. After graduating from college, Clayton moved to Las Vegas to perform nightly with a jazz group called the Kirk Stuart trio. For six nights a week during an eight-month engagement, Clayton played using only brushes, to satisfy the casino's need for a softer sound. While living in Las Vegas, Clayton would go to the Four Queens Hotel for Monday night jazz sessions. During one of these sessions, jazz trumpet legend Clark Terry invited Clayton up to play on a few tunes. In the audience was the music director for Sammy Davis Jr., George Rhodes. After hearing Clayton play that night, George honored Clayton with an audition and hired him as the drummer for Sammy Davis Jr. During those years Clayton also played for Sammy's Rat Pack friends-Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The three toured together in 1988-89 selling out theaters and stadiums alike. In 1990 through 1991 Clayton toured with three legends of the jazz world: George Shearing, Joe Pass and Joe Williams and in 1992 moved to New York City. In April 1993, he started touring and recording with Tony Bennett.

GERALD CLAYTON grew up in a musical family (his father is bassist/composer John Clayton and his uncle saxophonist Jeff Clayton) and was exposed to a variety of musical styles from a very young age. Gerald was the winner of the 2001 Music Center Spotlight Awards and received the 'Outstanding Soloist' Award during the Monterey High School Jazz Competition in 2001 and 2002. He was also selected for the Grammy High School Big Band, comprised of high school students from the entire United States. Gerald was presented with the "level 1" award by the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) in January of 2002. In the summer of 2002, he was named Presidential Scholar in the Arts and was asked to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In June of 2002, Gerald performed at Steinway Hall in New York and was presented with a scholarship award by the Music for Youth Foundation. In September of 2002, Gerald received the Shelley Manne Award for emerging young artists from the Los Angeles Jazz Society. In September of 2006, Gerald received Second Place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Piano Competition. Despite his young age, Gerald has already performed extensively with numerous outstanding musicians in a wide variety of venues. Notable engagements include the performance of a composition for piano and orchestra with the Henry Mancini Orchestra at Royce Hall (August 2002) and Disney Hall (May 2006). The piece was composed by his father and commissioned by the Henry Mancini Institute for that purpose. In the spring of 2005, Gerald was asked to join pianists Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Barron for a series of duo concerts in Europe. He also performed with trumpeter Clark Terry in Switzerland later that year. In the summer of 2006, Gerald performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival followed by a week at New York´s Village Vanguard with The Lewis Nash Quintet. Gerald has also toured extensively with trumpeter Roy Hargrove during the summer of 2006 and most recently performed with Mr. Hargrove's quintet in Brazil in November of this year.

RICKEY WOODARD hails from Nashville and was born into a family of musicians and was taught the saxophone and piano by his father. With his sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles and anybody in the neighborhood who wanted to play or sing, they formed a family band in the roadhouses and clubs of Tennessee. Influenced by the big explosive style of Gene Ammons, Coleman Hawkins and Hank Mobley and the intellectualism of John Coltrane, Rickey has developed a distinctive, soulful and seductive style. By his late twenties he was a permanent member of the Ray Charles Band and toured worldwide for seven years. He currently works with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and Frank Capp's Juggernaut Big Band. Rickey is also a popular visitor to Europe and the UK - and the international jazz festival circuit. In addition to playing the tenor, Rickey also plays the alto and soprano saxophones, along with the clarinet, flute and guitar. Rickey has performed worldwide with such legends as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernestine Anderson, Benny Carter, and Horace Silver.

The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) is a non-profit community-based organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for residents in South Central Los Angeles. Founded in 1965, WLCAC strives to provide a wide range of community services, economic development activities and community preservation initiatives that engage community residents by providing skill training and employment opportunities for community residents. In addition, WLCAC aids and assists the residents of South Central Los Angeles and the surrounding communities in their efforts to improve the economic, social, and physical environment of their communities, and develops and coordinates activities with other community organizations and associations in the furtherance of common goals.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's Neighborhood Concert series, created in 1991, encourages involvement in the classical arts within the increasingly diverse communities of greater Los Angeles. The events take place in churches, schools, and other venues throughout Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable places anywhere to experience music - Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association's involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational programs, community concerts and children's programming, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007, AT 3 PM

PHOENIX HALL AT THE CENTER, 10950 South Central Ave., Los Angeles

Free Neighborhood Concert

CHRISTIAN McBRIDE, bass

CLAYTON CAMERON, drums

GERALD CLAYTON, piano

RICKEY WOODARD, sax

Admission is free and ample parking is available. More information for this concert is available by calling the Watts Labor Community Action Committee at 323-563-5639. Los Angeles Philharmonic information is available by calling 323.850.2000 or visiting the website at LAPhil.com.

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