self promotion/fyi

[David Chevan <chevan...>]

Fellow jewish music-ers,

I wanted to let you know what I'm up to as a performer so, here's my early
fall newsletter.  Any questions, please write back.

David chevan's FaLL newsletter #1

What a summer!  For the most part its been quite good and interesting.
After a week on Cape Cod with my family (where I did not play even one note
and only listened to music that my children requested) I am fully rested for
the next fifty-one weeks and ready to embark on an active and interesting
series of fall activities.  First,  the fall schedule for the SCSU Creative
Music Orchestra.  There will be three concerts this fall, all to be held on
Tuesday evenings at 8:00 p.m. in the Charles Garner Recital Hall in Engleman
Hall.   The dates are October 13, November 10 and December 8.   With 1998-99
marking the centennial of George Gershwin and Duke Ellington's births you
can imagine there will be quite a bit of his music mixed in with our usual
assortment of world and contemporary traditions on our programs this year.
I'm in the process of commissioning several new arrangements of Gershwin and
Ellingtonia from Jim Fryer and Will Bartlett.  Rehearsals for the orchestra
start September 1st so watch out!! I've mentioned this before, if you know
of any student musicians who will be attending SCSU this fall, please give
them my name and suggest that they contact me.  We can always use new
members.  Along the same lines, the ensemble is open to members of the
community of ALL levels.  If you are looking for an opportunity to have a
creative musical experience please let me know.  My office phone number is
392-6630 and the voice mail is ALWAYS ON.

The response to  AVADIM HAYINU, the new CD that Warren Byrd and I released
this summer has been quite positive.  The New Haven Register and the
Connecticut Jewish Ledger both published extensive articles about our
activities and these have already lead to two scheduled fall presentations
and others are in the works.  The first presentation is an Interfaith
Service in the chapel on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall on Sunday,
September 13 at 5:00 p.m.  Choate Rosemary Hall is located at 333 Christian
Street in Wallingford.  For further information please call (203) 697-2653.
The second presentation will be at a luncheon on Monday, October 19 for the
National Council of Jewish Women at Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden.
I think you have to be a member of the organization for that one, but you
could call the synagogue at (203) 288-3877. The title of our CD, AVADIM
HAYINU, comes from a song sung every Passover to commemorate the Jewish
liberation from slavery.  The phrase means, "once we were slaves," and the
song continues with the words, "now we are the children of free people."
This, in a direct way, summarizes the the message of our music.  The music
itself is a series of jazz interpretations of Jewish and African-American
sacred melodies.  If you are still interested in obtaining a copy of the CD
you can purchase it directly from either Warren or myself at our gigs or
sending a check for $16 to me at P.O. Box 6183, Whitneyville, CT 06517.

I am happy to report that BASSOLOGY is still going strong.  So strongly,
that we were just voted #2 in the jazz category of the New Haven Advocate
Grand Slam.  I especially liked the way the Advocate described us:
"Bassology, led by local music instructor David Chevan, is more of an
acquired taste, much less predictable and refreshingly progressive while
being steeped in jazz and ethnic folk traditions."  Thank you New Haven
Advocate and thank you to everyone who voted for us.  I can assure you that
we'll make every effort to acquire some taste and continue to lack
predictability (which I guess makes the band, in a way, quite predictable--
oh, the paradox of it all).  A little more seriously, the latest word at
Charlie B's is that there are about to be new owners, again.  So far,
BASSOLOGY will continue to be featured on alternating Friday nights, but at
the moment we are only booked through the end of September.  We will be
playing at Charlie B's on Friday September 11 and Friday September 25 (the
other two Fridays feature my piano buddy, Rex Cadwallader).  Please come out
and support us as we show the new management our mix of hard driving jazz,
swing, funk, klezmer, blues, and smooth balladry (don't forget the wonderful
voice of Ron Braggs).   Charlie B's is located at 1157 Chapel Street in New
Haven.  The phone number at Charlie B's is 203-776-1234.

The BASSOLOGY trio is also going strong.  We play every Saturday evening in
Avon in the tavern at the Avon Old Farms Inn.  The trio features me along
with the talents of Chris Casey on piano and Ron Braggs on drums and
singing.  We play from 7 to 11 p.m. and reservations are recommended.  By
the way, the food here is fantastic, Ron and I both recommend "Mom's
Meatloaf," the garlic mashed potatoes are not to be believed. The Inn is
located at the corner of Routes 10 and 44 in Avon and the phone number is
(860) 677-2818.




Bassologically yours,


David Chevan
David Chevan
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent St.
New Haven, CT 06517

(203) 392-6630

chevan (at) scsu(dot)ctstateu(dot)edu