Join us on Thursday, March 9th at 12:00 PM CST for the Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Clinic hosted by Steve Masakowski featuring Seva Venet and Claude Carré for the Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival in the Third-Floor Performance Center at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
The Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Clinic is free and open to the public.
For more info, click here.
View the full schedule here.
About
The Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival was organized to preserve the importance of art, education and culture, which will erode in time, if not cherished and celebrated to evolve the youth of a new generation. We are also creating opportunities for musicians to have another work outlet, bringing music as a community outreach to senior citizens and also generating another resource of revenue for the economic development of our great city of New Orleans. It was Mr. Barker’s greatest wish that the Banjo and Guitar be the instruments of choice to carry the tradition forward.
One of the goals of the Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival is to generate funds to develop and implement sustainable outreach to senior centers in the Greater New Orleans Area to reconnect our seniors to the style of music that many grew up loving. This was very important to Danny Barker and this festival is a vehicle to keep his dream alive. Most important, is the music and education component which explains the origin and development of the music over the years. By offering workshops, master classes, and clinics, this is a “hands on” approach to instruction and education. The application of this music is endless and thought provoking.
Steve Masakowski
Steve Masakowski has long been regarded as one of the top Jazz artists from New Orleans. Born and raised in New Orleans, Steve Masakowski has played guitar with most of the city’s greatest musicians including Alvin “Red” Tyler, Ellis Marsalis, Danny Barker, Earl Turbinton, and James Black. He has also performed with Grammy Award-winning artists Bobby McFerrin, Nicholas Payton, Allen Toussaint, Dianne Reeves, and others at major festivals around the world. As a recording artist, he has released numerous CDs including two on the prestigious Blue Note Records label. He has been an active member of, and composer for the award-winning New Orleans jazz group, Astral Project.
He has twice been voted “Best Guitarist,” and won “Best Contemporary Jazz Group” three times by Gambit and Offbeat magazines in their annual reader’s polls. He has published lessons in Guitar Player magazine and authored the book, Jazz Ear Training – Learning to Hear Your Way Through Music for Mel Bay Publications. He is frequently recognized by Down Beat magazine as Talent Deserving Wider Recognition. Steve has participated in numerous Jazz concerts and workshops at major universities including Princeton, the University of Chicago, and the University of Indiana. Steve is currently on the faculty at the University of New Orleans where he holds the position of Coca-Cola Endowed Chair of Jazz Studies.
Seva Venet
Seva Venet was introduced to the New Orleans traditional jazz style while playing for several years in a band in Los Angeles with Mike McClelland, a George Lewis-style Albert system clarinetist. In New Orleans, Seva found his teachers of New Orleans jazz in Tuba Fats and his Chosen Few band. Seva’s next apprenticeship in New Orleans music began in 2006 working with Benny Jones and Uncle Lionel Batiste in the Treme Brass Band. Seva has also gained much professional development working with Lionel Ferbos’ bands from 2007-2013. Over the course of 6 years with Lionel Ferbos’ Louisiana Shakers and the Palm Court Jazz Band, Seva got the invaluable experience of playing with several veteran musicians including Lionel Ferbos, Peter Badie, Wendell Eugene, as well as Ernie Elly, and Lars Edegran. Seva has also worked on four tours playing banjo and guitar, three tours with mentor Shannon Powell and his All-Stars, and one with an All-Star band including Juanita Brooks, Lars Edegran, and Wendell Brunious. Some of Seva’s current mentors include Dr. Michael White for whom he holds down the banjo chair in his various bands. Greg Stafford also uses Seva for his Jazz Hounds gigs.
Seva’s dedication to traditional New Orleans Jazz, especially through teaching, concerts, and presentations of New Orleans string bands, the banjo in New Orleans, and the music and legacy of Danny Barker has become what he is known and appreciated for the most. Also, since its inception in 2016, Seva has been part of the Danny Barker Guitar and Banjo Festival as a performer and workshop presenter in public schools and colleges including the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and the University of New Orleans (UNO). Seva’s string bands have played many concerts and venues including concerts at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Preservation Hall, the Palm Court Jazz Cafe, Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, Satchmo Festival, French Quarter Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Seva has taught music to hundreds of schoolchildren. Many of his students have performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Also, he has conducted many educational workshops on traditional New Orleans jazz for groups visiting New Orleans from around the globe.
Claude Carré
Haiti-based Claude Carré is a guitarist, composer, educator, writer, co-founder of the Haiti Jazz Club, and collaborator with the annual Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival.
