Internationally renown photography Jim Dennis is celebrating his 50th Anniversary. Historic.
Jim Dennis delights international photography lovers for over 50 years.
Jim Dennis is a renowned Bay Area Photographer whose work has spanned over thirty years, with exhibits ?at a variety of artful venues across the nation including: ?Kodak Gallery , New York, New York?Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois?The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California?Dennis, a native of San Francisco recognized at an early age that he was visually oriented and ?was excited to discover that he could capture on film, elements that provoked thought and stirred emotion.
As a young staff photographer with Eastman Kodak, Dennis photographed people and places across the world:?the Taj Mahal in India; life in Morocco; cultural portraits in Turkey. He also photographed the Indy 500 and Grand Prix Races, a cattle round-up in Wyoming and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. His personal extensive travels have provided him with opportunities to capture exciting photographic images in such places as Haiti, Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, France, Italy, Britain, the Bahamas,Brazil, Costa Rica and the Ivory Coast.
Jim Dennis’ technical skills in photography were honed at Eastman Kodak where he collaborated with engineers?developing state-of-the-art photographic equipment and products. He regularly attends professional development seminars and workshops to stay abreast of new developments in the photography world and has taught technical skills in photography to students at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. Additionally, he studied with the famed San Francisco photographer Ruth Bernhard in developing his creative skills.
In addition to his personal clients, present corporate clients include: Pacific Bell, Pacific Gas and Electric, American Airlines, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, East Bay AIDS Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, City of Oakland, Oakland Unified School District, Walter Kaitz Foundation, World Savings Bank, KTVU-Channel 2, Highland Hospital and the Port of Oakland.
Eric Murphy
Gallery Curator, Joyce Gordon Gallery
406 Fourteenth St.
Oakland, CA. 94612
UC Jazz Ensembles to perform at
Yoshi’s in Oakland
Monday, October 27, 2008
A Fundraiser and Night of Jazz in honor of Robert Cole, Director of Cal Performances and Student Musical Activities with optional Pre-Concert Dinner and Silent Auction
Enjoy a lovely dinner, silent auction and or a marvelous concert.
10 pm General Admission is $15
10 pm Student is $10
Let’s join and save the music program together. With your assistance we can keep this musical tradition alive despite the economic conditions and perhaps especially because of the economic condition. A thriving culture, celebration of music has long brought joy and a wonderful quality of life to our State. We need musicians of fine quality and people who enjoy and appreciate great music. Please support our effort to keep the UC Jazz Ensembles program going. Funding for this fine music program has been truly needed.
To RSVP for the Dinner and Shows package and for more information about opportunities for sponsorship, program ads, auction donations and contributions in honor of Robert Cole and UC Jazz in general, please go to ucjazz.berkeley.edu or call (510) 643-2662.
In his words: While every new season is a challenge and an opportunity, the 2008/09 Season takes on particular meaning for me as it is the last in my 23-year tenure as Director of Cal Performances. Therefore, I hope you’ll agree that it is a special one indeed, and unlike any other in our history! It is a season that has been specifically designed to please you in ways both large and small, including the return of many of the great artists that have been associated with Cal Performances over the years, the introduction of exciting new talents in their Bay Area debuts, and the inclusion of specially requested works on the programs of our Chamber Series and more.
Mr. Moore is Director of UC Jazz Ensembles at UC Berkeley. Aside from his administrative duties, he offers his skills as the Percussion Director of UC Jazz Ensembles Advanced Combo II and the Improv Workshop.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Ted Moore has toured the world with Paul Winter, Marian McPartland, Stan Getz, Joe Williams, Eric Gale, Jack Wilkins, Gene Bertonzini, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. For several years, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, performing timpani and percussion with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, as well as touring and recording with one of Brazil’s leading saxophonists, Victor Assis Brasil. Mr. Moore has composed original scores for several films and television series, including the NOVA science series on PBS. MORE
Thank you all for your support of UC Jazz Ensembles!
Event and Sponsorship Information
Member Support Services Find out about the UC Jazz Club membership benefits, and how you may wish to contribute and interact with other volunteer and member companies.
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About the UC Jazz Ensembes
The UC Jazz Club was founded by the students of UC Jazz Ensembles and its faculty. Our goal is to share our fine tradition of Jazz with our members and the community at large.
UC Jazz Ensembles have been teaching students since 1966. We hope our members will enjoy our monthly newsletter, our performances and most importantly we hope you will support our effort to expand our popular program.
We invite donors and volunteers to continue to support our growing program and to join us now.
The UC Jazz Club offers several unique sponsorship opportunities which will support us in our goal to remodel the UC Jazz studios.
With your support we will also maintain and grow our current resources in the studios. This includes the purchase and maintenance of our equipment, expanding and renovating our practice areas, adding to our jazz library and ultimately making recordings of our big band and ensembles live performances.
Our goal is to uphold the UC Jazz tradition which has enchanted the world. We have taught students how to carry on this wonderful musical tradition with great success. Jazz has become mainstream and is becoming increasingly popular.
Please contact Ted Moore, director of UC Jazz Ensembles to learn about the program. You may also contact RioVida Networks for assistance to set up interviews with the faculty, students and fund-raising committee.
Ranie Smith, Executive Director of the UC Jazz Club, honored Stanley Jordan at one of the first Ranie’s Jazz Salon functions. He held the function at Jim Dennis Photography Studio. Everyone had a wonderful time and I encourage you to get in touch with us to be put on this special invitation list. The gatherings are for UC Jazz Club members and the press only. Lloyd Gregory and Rolando Morales were present at the function to honor Stanley Jordan.
Stanley Jordan performs “All Blues” of his “State of Nature CD”
Stanley Jordan, world renowned musician and now holistic philosopher, has released a new CD “State of Nature”. It is a true gift.
“State of Nature” promises to become a hit. It combines Jordan’s magical ability to compose music that inspires and refreshes with his amazing musical skill. When listening to the album you are taken on a magical journey that is both uplifting and enlightening. Stanley brings nature to life and urges us to embrace it while at the same time enjoying our humanity as part of nature. The CD starts with “A Place in Space” which is fun to listen to. It evokes a feeling of bouncing harmoniously in space among many other stars and planets. This composition is melodic and modern. It immediately demonstrates Jordan’s ability to play guitar in a way that hardly anyone else can match. The notes are bouncing, echoing, flowing, and they create a feeling of richness and fullness that reminds us that we are part of a very big mysterious world. Jordan asks us with his commentary in the liner notes to become conscious and aware of this vast and mysterious Universe. He suggests that as we become aware of the infinite vastness of space we will naturally grow to love and care for our precious planet, our home called Earth.
He continues on with “All Blues”. This composition brings us right back down to earth with its bluesy and smoky sound. It reminds us that we are part of everyone and everything. We are part of the All. Stanley Jordan invites us along this musical journey and into his musical mind with the accompanying poem in the liner notes: “Universal and cool, blowing indigo riffs to syncopate the primordial swing. Hip changes reverberate for Miles and stretch modal and blue across the landscape of now.” Like his music, Stanley Jordan is so very, very cool!
With “Forest Garden” Jordan increases the sophistication in this haunting and beautiful sonata by bringing in natural sounds of birds, the sound of a breeze in the leaves and wolves howling in the background. His guitar sounds classic and pure. Meta Weiss on cello perfectly compliments Stanley’s harmonies, and percussionist Hartt Steams is breezy, transporting you to this peaceful outdoor garden setting. Here Stanley succeeds in creating a feeling of refreshing peace. In his poem he describes the feeling: “In a perfect state of original oneness all things and beings in the garden simply are. The arrival of humankind brings a new awareness and a new capacity for compassion.”
Jordan then brings us the moving and mournful popular love song “Insensatez” by Jobim, who not only mourns his lost love but also his own behavior that brought about the loss. Stanley Jordan’s rendition of the song is beautiful. In his liner notes he reminds us that often our callous behavior is unintended. He muses that perhaps we shut down our empathy precisely because we are so sensitive, too sensitive to allow ourselves to feel the pain we cause others because it might become too overwhelming.
We are healed by the next piece which is the wonderful “Mozart’s Piano Concierto #21- Andante in F” played flawlessly by Jordan as a celebration of our own potential for greatness. We can bask in the perfection of Mozart’s composition while realizing how complex and wonderful we are. Within each of us slumbers this great potential.
Stanley Jordan and Mozart’s Piano Concierto #21
“Song for my Father” is included as a tribute to David Jordan, Stanley’s own father. This Horace Silver classic is a perfect fit on this wonderful journey. Peaceful, energetic and playful, it lets us all wander down memory lane. Stanley Jordan, Song for my Father – live in Paris “Mindgames 1, 2, & 3” are Stanley Jordan’s own brief compositions which bring nice transitions between songs. Stanley urges us to take mental breaks and to exercise our minds regularly. Read the full poem in the liner notes. Stanley is not just an amazing musician but also a wonderful poet and philosopher.
“Ocean Breeze,” composed by Jordan and sitarist Jay Kishor, is a perfect meeting of East and West. It is harmonious and serene. Stanley brings cool Western poise to this song and Jay’s sitar brings Eastern serenity. Together they refresh our spirit.
Jordan’s composition “Healing Waves” is beautiful, and promises to be an instant classic. In true Stanley Jordan style it combines abstract music with rich melodies and harmonies. It is at once demanding and soothing. It evokes many feelings, assisting with the release of emotions and eventually bringing one back to a harmonious, peaceful and centered place. If you like classical music you will definitely love this piece.
“Shadow Dance” displays the richness of the full Stanley Jordan sound. It may be a little reminiscent of Kitaro or of Santana. This piece is melodic, beautiful and rich, yet easy to listen to. I needed to sit back and listen to it over and over again. Jordan bares his soul with this song and allows us to delve deeply into our own. In his liner notes poem he ends: “Time Passes. Somewhere in the distance I hear bells. A ray of golden light has pierced the gray clouds and awakened me.” This song is like a cosmic and mystical journey home.
After another “Mind Games” break we come to “Prayer for the Sea,” another original on this CD. It is modern, and Stanley succeeds in bringing out his abstract musical style in a deeply harmonious way. This song is relaxing like a day at the beach on a sunny Spring afternoon. It is also reminiscent of the first song “A Place in Space” on the album, yet this time is feels close and cozy. Prayer for the Sea reminds us that we need to care for ourselves, our home “Earth” and especially our oceans which cover 70% of the earth. Let’s become aware and conscious of the need to preserve water before it becomes another “oil crisis. “
“State of Nature” ends with the old-school hit “Steppin’ Out” and brings the CD to a joyous ending. After this musical journey I am ready to embrace my humanity and Stanley Jordan’s CD and I are ready for “Steppin’ Out”. I am energized yet relaxed. What a great musical experience!
Stanley Jordan came to prominence with the release of his 1985 debut album Magic Touch, which sold over 500,000 copies. Magic Touch placed him at the forefront of re-launching the legendary Blue Note Records into a contemporary entity of jazz and beyond, as well as establishing Stanley Jordan as among the most distinctive and refreshing new voices of the electric guitar. He has enchanted millions of listeners around the world ever since.
I recommend that you go out and buy Jordan’s new CD. It is totally worth it and available at all major music retail outlets. If you can catch his show try to see him. Stanley is once again proofs to be amazing!
Over the course of five major recordings and several smaller independent releases, Stanley has explored earthly and astral musical trailways. Because of the extraordinary originality of his approach to guitar, Stanley has been looked upon first and foremost as a musical original, orbiting in an artistic universe without predecessor or immediate successor.
With his groundbreaking 2007 album, “State Of Nature” his debut for the Mack Avenue label, Stanley Jordan makes another bold step by using his music to musically illustrate profound and unifying truths about man’s relationship to nature and humankind.
