By Kevin Downey

If Mozart were alive today, he’d undoubtedly be a DJ mixing tunes for a gyrating crowd in Ibiza. If Beethoven were alive, he’d be posting new music on Facebook.

These scenarios play out for fun in the minds of classical music fans. But there’s a serious question underlying this fun: Where are today’s great classical music composers?

Here’s an answer: One of them is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, and his white-hot career has been taking off since early this decade, with some performances in Arizona. He’s a DJ mixing electronica who also performs with world-class orchestras, often on digital drums or a laptop.

His name is Mason Bates and he’ll be in the North Valley in late February for four performances as part of the month-long Arizona Musicfest. His music is ethereal, gorgeous, lush, and intoxicating.

“I started on the piano, but I always knew I wanted to compose,” says Bates. “I found a way to combine both in a crazy concerto I wrote in 1998 for synthesizer, which I performed with the Phoenix Symphony in 2001 with [Musicfest artistic director] Robert Moody.”

Bates, a 32-year-old Virginia native with a shaggy early-Beatles haircut, is also a straightforward classical music composer. He’s a composer-in-residence at the California Symphony and, beginning next fall, he’ll be composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony. Since 2000, he’s been composer-in-residence at New York’s prestigious Young Concert Artists. He’s a composer who performs. When he does, it’s largely to get a firsthand feel for how electronic music fits in with classical instruments.

“The world of electronics is unmapped territory in the concert world,” says Bates. “When I’m in the percussion section with the laptop, it’s for technical reasons—I like to take cues from the conductor. But it’s also a musical decision—electronics need to operate within the orchestral setting in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the orchestra.”

Bates will perform his pieces, including “Rusty Air in Carolina” commissioned in 2006 by the Winston-Salem Symphony, at this season’s Arizona Musicfest.

Arizona Musicfest performances run Feb. 1–March 7 in venues throughout the North Valley. Mason Bates will perform with the Arizona Musicfest All-Star Orchestra conducted by Robert Moody: A World Class Opening on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Opera Grand and Glorious on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Orchestra Fireworks on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m.; and Symphony Fantastique on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. All performances are at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, 25150 N. Pima Rd., Scottsdale. Box office: (480) 488-0806. Visit masonicelectronica.com to sample Mason Bates’s music.

By Kevin Madness

Out here, tall cacti stand in stately fashion, looming over beautiful desert flowers and angular agaves. Away from the city lights, the sky is clear and panoramic. The nature here seems at once uninterrupted and spectacularly assembled.

Within the Desert Botanical Garden, there is a stage—not the large steel assembly typically seen at concerts but a natural platform subtly located behind a butte lined in saguaros. It is here that there will be music.

As part of the Music in the Garden and Jazz in the Garden concert series, the native flora will sway with the sounds of a different performer each week. With wineglasses in their hands and the desert soil beneath their feet, audiences will bear witness to the best American, Latin, Irish, and jazz musicians in Arizona and beyond.

Music is meant to be experienced, not simply heard. Here, it can be experienced in the perfect setting, away from the stresses of the city, amongst the majesty of nature. Throughout February, the DBG will continue its winter concert series with Sunday afternoon concerts aimed at entertaining the entire family. In the spring, they will host the Friday evening series, Jazz in the Garden, a more sophisticated 21-and-up weekly event that offers jazz, blues, and wine before a stunning sunset. Both events will feature catering from the café and a chef-attended table making special dishes.

“I think we offer something that no one else does in the Valley,” says Katharine Spratt, entertainment coordinator for DBG. “We have an amazing lineup of talented musicians that are as diverse as the people who live in the Valley.”

Spratt, a music lover, grew up attending concerts at the DBG and now helps select the performers for the concert series. Even with adept performers and a fantastic venue, Spratt says it’s something else that makes the concerts special. “The people who come are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” she says. “It makes for a wonderful atmosphere.”

It’s important to consider that, beyond entertainment, the concerts are a means of support. Ticket sales raise funds for DBG, the area’s singular preserve for rare and endangered desert plants.

“It’s a nice symbiotic relationship between the garden and the community,” Spratt says. “It’s a way to enjoy music and also to get desert wildlife preserved.”

For the players, it’s a chance to showcase their music in front of a large audience (the venue seats 450) and also to perform within an exotic and uniquely local ambience.

It will be Solomon Douglas’s first visit to the garden. He will be leading his quartet through 1950s jazz standards in the garden on March 13. For Douglas, a pianist and bandleader out of Seattle who tours constantly, the performance will be an opportunity to make a strong impression with a new audience.

“As long as I’m connecting with individuals in the crowd through my playing, I’ll be inspired, and the music will be great!” he says. “The venue makes a big difference; my music, being the music of smoky bars, speakeasies, and brothels, will be a delightful contrast to the springtime Arizona weather.”

In terms of atmosphere, playing the garden stage will be an exciting change of pace.

COST: Members: $14/Non-Members: $20

**Must be 21 years or older to attend concert.

Ticket price includes Garden admission.

TICKETS: Order tickets online at dbg.org, by phone at (480) 481-8188, or through the Admissions Box Office. For groups of ten or more, call (480) 481-8104 to learn about discounted group tickets.

Music in the Garden

Sunday afternoons: noon–2 p.m.

Feb 7 Brazen Heads—Irish Rock

Feb 21 Cascabel—Latin/rock/pop

Jazz in the Garden

Friday evenings: 7–9 p.m.

March 5 Nina Curri and the King Snakes—blues/jazz/roots

March 12 Solomon Douglas Quartet—jazz/blues/big band

March 19 Big Pete Pearson—blues/boogie/soul

April 2 Hot Club of Phoenix—acoustic/swing/jazz

April 9 Pete Pancrazi—jazz guitar/bossa nova

April 16 Fuerza Caribe—Latin/jazz/salsa/mambo

April 30 Huneybrown—jazz/R&B/blues

May 7 Armand Boatman’s Be-Bop Revolution—jazz

May 14 The Del Rayz, featuring members of Sistah Blue—blues/boogie/jazz

May 21 Cinco de Moio—Latin/jazz/lounge

May 28 Dennis Rowland—jazz/R&B/soul

Friday evenings: 7:30–9:30 p.m.

June 4 Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns—R&B/soul/funk

June 11 The Bad Cactus Brass Band—jazz/funk/blues

June 18 The Jump Back Brothers—roots/blues/rockabilly

June 25 Big Nick and the Gila Monsters—Chicago blues

For more information and directions, call (480) 941-1225 or visit dbg.org.

By Kevin Downey

Photos by Paige Dutcher

After hearing Bill Dutcher strum his acoustic guitar—and smack and finger-tap it, too—at venues like Cave Creek Coffee Co., it becomes immediately clear that we’ve got an extraordinary musician performing a rarely heard but intoxicating style of music right here in the North Valley.

That’s most obvious when Dutcher, who relocated here from Ohio in 2005, pulls out his harp guitar—a fairly ordinary-looking acoustic guitar except for a gargantuan second six-string arm sprouting from the top of it.

Dutcher, who in November released his second CD, Finding Time, is one of about fifty people on the planet who plays the harp guitar professionally. The sound is lush—melodic and ethereal.

“When you say you’re a solo acoustic guitarist, the impression a lot of people have is a guy strumming chords and singing into a microphone,” says Dutcher. “My approach is to break that mold.”

Dutcher plays all styles of acoustic guitar but notably uses the finger-tapping technique perhaps made most famous by the late Michael Hedges. Hedges was a guitarist who inspired Dutcher in the mid-1990s to become a solo modern acoustic guitar player. Prior to that, Dutcher, a married father of two, played anything but acoustic guitar. As guitarist for the indie rock band The Crunch, he slashed and thrashed on electric guitars. Since then, Dutcher has become a singer-songwriter. He’s performed on the soundtrack for the film Paper or Plastic?. He performs at corporate events and private parties, and he’s planning a tour of the Southwest for 2010.

Around the North Valley, Dutcher’s best known for a standing Friday night gig at Cave Creek Coffee Co., where he landed a regular spot only days after arriving in Arizona in 2005.

“That has really helped my career in terms of getting national exposure,” he says. “I’ve met people from around the globe who just breeze through that room.”

More information about Bill Dutcher, including his performance schedule, can be found at billdutcher.com. He performs most Fridays (7–10 p.m., adults 21 and over) at Cave Creek Coffee Co., located at 6033 E. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek. (480) 488-0603

By Kevin Downey

Walk down Becker Lane in Scottsdale any night and, in barely a minute, you’ll realize there’s something special and uniquely Western happening on this quiet little street off Scottsdale Road, one block north of Shea Boulevard.

Every night, the twang of guitars fills the air, and if that doesn’t give you a clue about what’s shaking on Becker Lane, the sea of cowboy hats and the rhythmic shuffling of cowboy boots should do it.

This is the iconic and lively Handlebar-J, a partially outdoor bar and restaurant that since the 1960s has been solidifying its stature as a hotbed for country music and a hotspot for country-western dancing.

“During the season, we have music every night,” says Gwen Herndon, owner of Handlebar-J since the mid-1970s. “It’s really good country music. The musicians can play anything—they’re really good. They play country-western music unless someone requests something else.”

Most nights, the music at Handlebar-J is played by topnotch musicians, including Herndon’s brothers, who not surprisingly call themselves The Herndon Brothers. One of the brothers, Ray, recently released a CD, Livin’ the Dream. He tours for months most years, playing guitar for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.

The music at Handlebar-J is no-holds-barred country, played exceptionally well. Even noncountry music fans will find themselves tapping their toes.

Add to that an upbeat atmosphere and steaks big enough to feed entire families. Handlebar-J is a fun-and music-filled saloon tucked away on a dimly lit street—hidden from the general eye but worth discovering or rediscovering.

“It’s a really popular place with tourists and locals because it’s a one-of-a-kind place,” says Herndon. “During the season, it’s quite busy, and we have pretty good-sized parties, too.”

Handlebar-J, is located at 7116 Becker Lane, Scottsdale. (480) 948-0110. Lunch begins at 11 a.m., and dinner starts at 4 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 5 p.m. Sundays. Live music begins at 8:30 p.m. every night, with a $5 cover charge on Fridays and Saturdays. For the performance schedule and other information, visit handlebarj.com.

By Kevin Downey

The summer in the North Valley is always a good time to head up to Sedona to see the majestic red rocks and experience the decidedly cooler temps—a bonus on top of the beauty. Add to that a flow of lush classical music, and the reasons to head north mount.

The eighth annual Red Rocks Music Festival kicks off on August 30 and continues through September 6. But these concerts aren’t only for those of us willing to take a road trip—The Red Rocks Music Festival has events scattered throughout the Valley.

The idea behind the festival is to bring the highest-caliber musicians to as many Arizonans as possible, focusing mostly on classical music but with several touches of jazz.

“The musicianship is outstanding,” says Red Rocks Music Festival executive director and founder Moshe Bukshpan, a classically trained violinist originally from Israel.

Bukshpan regularly performs at music festivals around the country. “We play in small venues, so we can reach as many communities as we can,” he says. “We are also trying to reach diverse audiences—people who like classical and people who like jazz.”

This year’s festival has three distinct programs. Sisters Yuki and Tomoko Mack play piano with performances of music by Johannes Brahms, George Gershwin, and others. The pianists will hold performances in Sedona and Scottsdale. ASU professor Nancy Buck, a violist, performs “Classical Meets Jazz” with the Russell Schmidt Trio in Anthem, Phoenix, and Sedona. The third program celebrates the 200^th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn and includes performances by legendary violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi.

“The players are outstanding,” says Bukshpan. “Some of them are literally world renowned. Borivoj Martinic-Jercic, for fifteen years, was the concertmaster at the Phoenix Symphony. And Ashkenasi for 30 years played with the Vermeer Quartet—one of the finest groups in the world.”

Red Rocks Music Festival: Most events are $25–$35 and $10 for students and kids. redrocksmusicfestival.com

Yuki and Tomoko Mack, Duo Pianists – Aug. 30 at the Sedona & Verde Valley Jewish Community Center, 100 Meadow Lark Drive in Sedona; Aug. 31 at Steinway of Phoenix, 14418 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale.

Classical Meets Jazz Pt. II – Sept. 1 in Anthem (info at acnv.org), Sept. 2 at the Phoenix Art Museum, and Sept. 6 at the Sedona & Verde Valley Jewish Community Center.

Mendelssohn Birthday Celebration – Sept. 3 at Valley Presbyterian Church, 6947 E. McDonald Dr., Paradise Valley; Sept. 5 at the Sedona & Verde Valley Jewish Community Center.

By Cassaundra Brooks
Arizona has been serving up some incredible talent in recent years, and singer-songwriter Dawn Jameson is a prime example. The beautiful blonde songstress has been rocking elite crowds at local hot spot Barcelona for over two years now, first fronting the band Envy and now alongside American Idol Season 7 finalist David Hernandez in the newly formed band Generation.

“I remember wanting to sing at Barcelona so bad, but they already had a house band,” Jameson says. “The Law of Attraction proved me right again, as out of the blue, I received a message on MySpace from the guitarist…asking me if I’d like to front their band!”

Jameson didn’t need any coaxing. Within just a couple of weeks, the former music director and worship leader for her church was in the position she’d long envied. When the band was offered a deal to go to Vegas last year, Jameson opted out in favor of caring for her mother, who is fighting cancer. As her two bandmates headed for Vegas, Jameson’s music career took its own favorable turn when she joined forces with Hernandez to front Barcelona’s newest house band.

Producing fresh covers of current hits from the stage and working on original numbers for her upcoming solo album keeps Jameson busy. While her Barcelona repertoire spans a wide range of popular music, Jameson’s own R&B/pop style has been influenced by musical powerhouses like Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera, and Alicia Keys. Like Keys, Jameson finds inspiration sitting behind a piano, where she uses her ability to play by ear to compose songs and instrumental accompaniments that she hopes will come across as fresh and challenging for the listener.

“I am determined to make an impact on the music industry,” Jameson says. “I want my songs to be heard all over the world and influence people I probably won’t ever meet.”

Jameson says she has always known she was born to perform; she recalls putting on concerts for her Barbie dolls.

“My favorite thing in music is being able to express yourself and get lost in your emotions,” she says. “There is no other high like the roaring applause of an audience after I perform a song!”

Whether writing by herself or co-writing with friend John Fielding of the band Bombing Neverland, penning love or revenge songs as her mood determines, songwriting is a passion of Jameson’s that provides another outlet for her creativity. Performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and singing with Gene Simmons on his reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels stand out for her, but there’s a good chance her most memorable musical moment is yet to come. She is currently working with producer Ryan Greene of Crush Recording and hopes to soon work with a major label to get a wider listening audience.

When Jameson isn’t completely enveloped in music, she models. She has teamed up with local fashion designer Vmarie and is involved with several local charities, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, for which she will serve as celebrity judge during their upcoming fund-raising event Karaoke Idol. See Jameson and Generation at Barcelona every Friday and Saturday from 7:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., and check out her musical prowess performing with DJ Brazilia as the band Dawl at the elite Liquid Pool Party on June 6 (liquidpoolparty.com). And keep your eyes and ears peeled—you could be seeing Dawn Jameson’s face on the cover of more magazines or hearing her sweet voice through your car radio.

For upcoming performances and information about Dawn Jameson, visit her official MySpace page at myspace.com/dawnjameson.

By Kevin Madness
Photo courtesy King Lawrence Photography
David Hernandez began his singing career at the age of 6, running around his mom’s apartment imitating the classic R&B voices blasting from the box: Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Gerald Levert. The music made a strong impression on Hernandez and helped shape the voice that eventually would be heard by millions of Americans.

We know David Hernandez from his successful run on American Idol’s season seven, where he wowed the judges and TV audience with his soulful rendition of “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” and landed a coveted spot in the Top 12. The Valley native’s Idol experience may be over, but the whirlwind life it created for him is not. Hernandez’s post-Idol adventures have included performing with other Idol alums during a 21-city tour, an appearance on Ellen, and opening for John Legend at the recent presidential inauguration. He can sometimes be found headlining a live band at Barcelona in Scottsdale, but he also relishes opportunities to travel overseas to sing. When he isn’t singing, he enjoys dabbling in acting.

“This has really been the ride of a lifetime,” Hernandez says. “My only wish is to be able to enjoy the moments more. It’s always the journey that’s the most remarkable part.”

Hernandez’s incredible ride has taken him to Los Angeles, the nexus of the entertainment industry, where he is adjusting nicely to LA life and is poised to release his first album.

First order of duty: get signed. “Most people don’t understand, but getting signed is not easy,” Hernandez says. “There are a million and one people trying to get signed right now. It takes time. Things are gradually moving in a great direction right now, though.”

While Hernandez’s unwavering voice and smooth personal style alone might be enough to bag a record contract, he can also write his own songs, and entertains the dream of someday writing for other artists as well.

“I have a couple of grit and grimy songs I recently recorded—more mainstream,” Hernandez says. “It really just depends on where I am at in my life, [but] at the end of the day, my R&B roots always shine through.”

Capturing inspiration in verse is elemental in songwriting. For Hernandez, that inspiration largely comes from his childhood and the influence of growing up with a divorced single mother. Hernandez feels that he can turn any hardship or struggle into lyrical inspiration and, in turn, pass that inspiration on through song.

“When people say, ‘David, your voice touched me’ or ‘your song moved me,’ that’s where I get excited about what I do,” Hernandez says. “To know that music can move mountains the way it does just blows my mind.”

And if performing can be a metaphor for life, Hernandez offers some heavy counsel.

“Trust yourself. Follow through. The audience can spot a fraud from a mile away, so just be you.”

By Tyson Qualls

The Arizona Music Fest has produced spectacular entertainment for nearly twenty years. This year continues that tradition with an extremely talented trio of artists. Pianist Navah Perlman, violinist Giora Schmidt, and cellist Zuill Bailey combine to produce a remarkable sound that has been perfected over the course of their ten years of performing together.

Perlman first took to the keys at 6 years old. She would begin her performance career at the young age of 14, and her talent for performing led her to study at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. Perlman’s high level of skill has come with an enormous amount of dedication. When asked about the driving force behind her determination, Perlman responded, “My inspiration to have a career as a pianist came from my love of the sound of the piano and the piano repertoire.”

Zuill Bailey is widely considered as one of the most influential cellists of his generation. His unique blend of finesse and personality result in fervent performance. Bailey has played in numerous symphonies across North America. His talent has propelled him to working with such distinguished conductors as Alan Gilbert and Perlman’s renowned father, Itzhak Perlman.

With his intensely mesmerizing style, Giora Schmidt’s violin provides the flourish and bravado. His journey on the violin began at the age of 4. Like Perlman, he was trained at Juilliard, and his training is clearly apparent during his performances. Schmidt has played across the world at some of the most highly acclaimed venues, from the Kennedy Center to Carnegie Hall.

Following their performance at the 2009 Arizona Music Fest, the trio has an exciting trip planned for next year. They are heading out across the world to play Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman. It will definitely be a wonderful experience for all who can attend.

For more information on the 2009 Arizona Music Fest and its performers, visit azmusicfest.org.

By Alana Stroud
Photography by Christine Valenzuela

Don’t confuse Kinch with hobbyist garage bands with no ambition—these guys are hoping for the real deal and are working very hard toward careers as musicians. Members Andrew Junker, vocals and piano, bass player Bryan Witt, drummer Jake Malone, and guitarist Brian Coughlin aren’t exactly hoping to make it big in the traditional sense, although Andrew has admitted, “We’d just like to be able to make enough money to do it full time, put out lots of records, and tour cool places. So yeah, maybe that is making it big.”

Considering the talent the band wields behind their respective instruments, making it big shouldn’t be a hard thing to accomplish. Kinch has been compared to the likes of Ben Folds Five and Oasis as well as The Strokes, a band they list as an influence, and Kinch has opened for bands like Local H. Having recently toured some of the southern states to promote their debut album Advances (which they gladly allow to be downloaded on their Web site at no cost), they have since made their way back to Arizona to continue performing locally in cities like Tucson, Phoenix, and Tempe.

With Andrew’s background in classical piano, Brian’s history playing in a jazz band, and Jake’s appreciation for harder rock, the songs brought to the table aren’t always what end up being recorded. Each member has his own style, and perhaps that’s why Kinch’s sound is so diverse and likeable. Check out the tracks “Girls Are Such a Problem” for a bubbly piano-riddled ditty and “All I Done” for some gripping guitar riffs and stirring lyrics. You’ll soon see what all the commotion is about!

Get a feel for these local rockers on MySpace or at their Web site kinchband.com.

By Kevin Downey

If a cool (air-conditioned) breeze coupled with icy drinks sounds good this time of year, it’ll sound even better accompanied by classical tunes played on a grand piano. That’s just what’s happening every other Wednesday evening through August 20 at Steinway of Phoenix in Scottsdale.

The piano store is holding its first-ever summer concert series inside its elegant shop on North Scottsdale Road. The six-part event, “Steinway Sizzling Summer Series,” is intended for showcasing local and world-class talent, and hopefully will inspire kids to remove iPod ear buds for a few minutes to listen to live music.

“We’re trying to keep live music alive,” says Janet Sandino, event director at Steinway of Phoenix. “We’re trying to get families and children involved in live music. It’s about getting out of the heat and being exposed to a little bit of culture.”

The event is well timed because live music events dry up during the hot summer months, and many families with kids on school break are often hard-pressed to find events that’ll keep every age group entertained. Sandino also emphasized that Steinway of Phoenix is holding the free concerts to showcase talent, not lure in people with the hopes of selling pianos.

“Steinway Sizzling” began on June 11 with local performer and composer Jay Steinberg, and continued on June 25 with Note by Note, a full-length documentary about the making of Steinway pianos.

Thus far, several local kids billed as Little Maestros and 40-year piano veteran Rich Mancini have performed. ASU professor of music Caio Pagano is scheduled for on August 6, followed by the Ritz-Carlton Resort’s house pianist Dan Delaney on August 20. Performances are free, and light snacks and beverages will be served. Each performance will last roughly two hours, with one intermission.

Seating is limited, so Sandino suggests that those wishing to attend make reservations.

Steinway Sizzling Summer Series: Free. Steinway of Phoenix, 14418 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. (480) 951-3337. Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.