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Welcome to The West Coast Jazz of George Kahn

SIXTH ANNUAL HOLIDAY JAZZ AND BLUES REVUE - DECEMBER 14

Let the holiday season begin...with an evening of great Jazz that's also a benefit for the Los Angeles homeless community. For the 6th consecutive year, Jazz Pianist George Kahn returns to the CATALINA JAZZ CLUB with The PATH Ventures Holiday Jazz Revue on Wednesday evening, December 14th.

The PATH Ventures Holiday Jazz Revue will feature George Kahn on piano with an all-star band of LA studio musicians. Special guests include: vocalists Courtney Lemmon, Gina Saputo and Dianne Wright, with Larry Klimas on sax, Lyman Madieros on bass, and Evan Stone on drums, plus special guests.

George Kahn's “Jazz and Blues Revue” has been described as “a journey through blues and jazz, from New York to Los Angeles, from the Andrew Sisters to the Pointer Sisters; Music at the intersection of Jump Street and Boogaloo Avenue”. Path Ventures, a community development corporation created by PATH in 2005, focuses on the construction of quality affordable housing for individuals and families in the Los Angeles area.

Dinner/show tickets are $75 per person in advance. Tickets for the show only (if available) will be $25 each at the door.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 14TH, 2011
DINNER @ 7:00 PM + SHOW STARTS AT 8:30 PM
Catalina Bar and Grill
6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA (one block east of Highland; park on N. McCadden Place)
Purchase Dinner/show tickets by December 3
To RSVP, Call: Elisabeth Walker at 323-644-2209
or contact the Catalina Bar and Grill to RSVP for the show only
CATALINA JAZZ CLUB

George Kahn To Be Featured Guest Artist At The Catalina Jazz Club 25th Anniversary Concert

On Monday evening, October 17, the Catalina Jazz Club will host their 25th Anniversary Bash, benefiting the California Jazz Foundation. The evening will be under the musical direction of Grammy-nominated jazz artist John Beasley, and will feature Jazz pianist, George Kahn and his group.

The event will be an all-star evening of Jazz, featuring a long list of renowned players that have performed at the Catalina Jazz Club over the years. Doors open at 7 PM and music begins at 8 PM.

George Kahn has a long history of performing at Catalina, beginning in 1998. Catalina Bar & Grill has certainly lived up to its slogan "Nothing But The Best In Jazz" by presenting a veritable 'Who's Who' of Jazz legends. The tentative list of performers for the 25th Anniversary bash include (in alphabetical order) John Beasley, David Benoit, Brian Bromberg, Stanley Clarke, Ndugo Chancler, Peter Erskine, George Kahn, Lainie Kazan, Mike Lange, Hubert Laws, Barbara Morrison, Lee Ritenour, Tierney Sutton, and members of The Yellow Jackets.

The California Jazz Foundation will be the beneficiary of all proceeds from the door at this event as well as a silent auction filled with wonderful items. The Foundation is a charitable, nonprofit organization created to aid and assist California Jazz musicians with financial or medical crisis. Established in 2006, The Foundation was formed to fulfill an unmet critical need to help these talented artists who have given us so much pleasure over the years. Suggested minimum donation for this event is $25, and the proceeds go to The California Jazz Foundation.

Catalina Jazz Club [Website] [Map]
6725 West Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood California 90028
(One block EAST of Highland Ave.)
Phone: (323) 466-2210 for reservations
info@californiajazzfoundation.org

Interview With George Kahn

Listen to this great interview with George Kahn by Alton Patton for the LILAL Network. It is long (about an hour), but has four tracks from the album and well worth a listen.
Listen or download the interview here.

It's Here!

George Kahn The new album, SECRETS FROM THE JAZZ GHETTO is now available for purchase at CDBABY and Amazon. Digital downloads are available at CDBABY and will soon be available on iTunes and other internet music sites.

West Coast Jazz pianist George Kahn carries the tradition of jazz greats like Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi and Horace Silver into the 21st Century with his latest release, SECRETS FROM THE JAZZ GHETTO. George's 7th album is a 2-CD set, filled with 26 tracks that feature some of the best jazz musicians on the west coast playing his original music.

Included is a retrospective of songs from Kahn's previous recordings, plus 6 new compositions that were recorded live in the studio in 2009. The music covers a range of styles, from bebop to Cool Jazz to Latin, Bossa Nova and contemporary jazz. Tierney Sutton, Eric Marienthal, Justo Almario, Andy Suzuki, Brian Bromberg, and Alex Acuna are just a few of the artists that join George on this compilation. The album also features new renditions of two of the greatest jazz standards, “Over The Rainbow” and “My Funny Valentine”. For a free download of NEW music from the upcoming album, grab the Download of the Month from the link above.

Hearst Castle, August 2008

George Kahn @ Hearst Castle George Kahn @ Hearst Castle George Kahn @ Hearst Castle
George kicks off his WEST COAST JAZZ WORLD TOUR 2008-2009 with a performance at the Hearst Castle, August 2008

A Magical Night at Catalina Bar and Grill

The CD release party for SECRETS FROM THE JAZZ GHETTO was an amazing success. A solid group of George Kahn fans - new and old - turned out in Hollywood last night to celebrate the album and party with me and the band. Catalina's is such a great club - wonderful piano, great sound system, lighting, ambiance... it is just a wonderful place to play and hear music.

The night started with the trio (myself, Karl Vincent and M. B. Gordy) playing "Eleanor Rigby", off the Cover Up! CD. Then Larry Klimas came on stage and joined us to play am arrangement of "Over The Rainbow". Larry was channeling Stan Getz, I think, and did a beautiful job. Then John Fumo joined us onstage to complete the Quintet, and we ran through a selection of originals from the new album. Some old songs ("Millennium Schmellenium", and "Freedom Vessel") and some new ("Waltz For Diana") were played. Roberta Donnay, my friend from San Francisco, joined us for the ballad "Out Of Time", and then came back to sing the new Bossa Nova, "Sombras De Noite" with Justo Almario joining us on a rare flute performance. It was great to hear Justo play the flute again, he plays all the wind instruments, including an amazing clarinet, and this was an especially beautiful solo.

Once Justo was onstage with us, all bets were off. Justo switched to Tenor sax, and joined in on burning versions of "Wes' Coast", and "Soul Sauce". Then Larry came back on stage and all three horns played on the new song, "Wayne's World", dedicated to Wayne Shorter. Larry and M.B. both played their asses off on solos.
Finally, Roberta joined us again onstage and sang "Compared To What?" with the whole band joining in.

By 10:00 PM we had to wrap it up. I had revealed some (but not all) of the Secrets, and even spoke a little bit about the Jazz Ghetto (this is a work in progress). And before everyone left, they all got "party favors" - either a poster, a Midnight Brew coffee mug, or a Cover Up "floaty" pen. It was a great night, filled with old and new friends, (Bob Claster, my friend from Junior High School took the award for the oldest friend), and wonderful music.

Uncover One of the Greatest Secrets in 21st Century Jazz!

George Kahn For years I have wanted to record jazz versions of the songs I grew up with rather than the usual jazz "standards". To pull this off, the band and arrangements need to be cool AND hip, so I enlisted the help of my friend Brian Bromberg as bassist and producer. We put together an all-star band with Alex Acuña (from Weather Report) on drums and percussion and other top LA session musicians; Justo Almario on sax, John Fumo on trumpet, and Pat Kelley on guitar. Together, we bring a fresh spin to songs by Cream, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, John Mayer and some jazz standards, as well as originals that I think will become standards of their own. George Kahn In addition, Courtney Lemmon joins in on a rollicking version of Bill Wither's "Use Me". The album comes with an 8 page photo booklet by Mark Berndt in the style of the classic Blue Note recordings of the late 50's. The first time my wife heard the album, she said it made her feel like she was fresh out of college again (in a good way).

Please take a little time and explore my new website. Click on any of the albums to get more detail and background on each project, visit the History of West Coast Jazz, listen in or buy some of the music - and if you want me to keep in touch with you, please join my monthly email newsletter. I promise not to spam you or sell the list - no kidding!
And thanks for visiting.