with the law firm at city hall
o hello. i didn't see you come in.in high school, i met otto ehling. he is a prodigious pianist in both romantic classical and jazz worlds. we've remained close friends since. about the same time, i met the wonderful bass player carter wallace, who was then getting his undergrad degree with a mutual friend the piano player nick paul. not sure what's happened to nick. carter has always soloed like a singer, not a bass player, and i mean that in the best possible way. later in high school, i met the guitar player adam ratner at some fancy-pants jazz competition or other. we were both playing in an 'all-star' big band, and on the gordon goodwin tune 'a few good men' we received orders to engage each other in 'battle jazz.' we didn't keep close contact for a few years.later, back from my first year at conservatory, i wanted to set up a west coast group. i have always built groups around my friends, so otto got the first call, he invited adam, and carter came right aboard, pirate that he is. since then, we've played original music, and jazz standards twice a year. that much space between gigs makes it a really interesting and special thing--we need to re-learn how to listen to and play with each other. we have, with one exception, been presented exclusively through ruth price, the director of la's jazz bakery. she has been exceedingly kind to us, and every summer and every winter, she's kind enough to call and ask if we'll come play. unable to find a concise name, we adopted 'woodford, ehling, ratner, & wallace.' catchy, right?the bakery lost its lease two-ish years ago, in a pretty disgusting display of money-grubbing and bigotry. it has been replaced by a furniture store, who's chairs i have personally...christened. and so ruth began the 'movable feast,' where other local venues (the grammy museum, the boston court theatre, musicians institute, zipper hall at the colburn school) offer their services, through which ruth presents big name artists, to help fundraise for a new location. it is a testament to her good nature to bring the four of us unknowns into a fundraising endeavor. in a happy turn of events, los angeles has reached out to help its greatest jazz-listening venue (distinct from venues that are also bars/restaurants/furniture stores): culver city gave it a very reasonable price on a public lot on washington blvd, not far from its old home; the annenberg foundation, unsolicited, offered a very handsome seed-fund; other super ridiculously cool exciting news i'm not allowed to share yet.cut to present. culver city presents a music festival yearly. this is year 17. ruth has been asked to program the final two events. the final show is conguero legend poncho sanchez. the penultimate show is: us! she called and offered us the night, on the condition (from culver city) that we be accompanied for a few songs by a vocalist. ruth chose the great dwight trible, a fantastic singer and legend in his own right.this will be an extremely fun show, with some lovely music. what's more, its free and all-ages.
woodford, ehling, ratner & wallace, with dwight trible
thursday, august 18, 7-9pm
culver city music festival
jazz bakery's movable feast
culver city city hall courtyard
9770 culver blvd, 90232
free, all-ages
more information can be found here:jazz bakery, artist info