Jazzkickers gigs

Many thanks to all who turned out to hear the Jazzkickers play for the 2009 Employee Giving Campaign on Thursday and Friday. We featured a more blues and samba oriented program this year, with songs such as "Chitlins Con Carne", "Blue Bossa", "Bags Groove", "Black Orpheus", "Motorin' Along", "Beach Fatigue", "Meditation" and "Kelly and Tucker".

The Jazzkickers are Gary Berosik (drums), Steve Proper (bass), Peter Jackson (guitar), Tim Wick (keys), and Gregory Bannister (saxes). (Carmin Pluntz was unable to join us on sax this year.) We play mostly jazz standards from the Real Book and some originals, and tend to play just in the last quarter of each year, doing charity gigs and holiday parties.

Jazzkickers concerts in Eagan

The Jazzkickers gave their annual Employee Giving Campaign concerts at the West Publishing facility in Eagan, MN this week. We played two one-hour sets, including four original compositions ("Snowy Samba" and "Kelly and Tucker" by Tim Wick, and "Beach Fatigue" and "Phrygian Around" by myself). Other songs were "Sea Journey", "Bags Groove", "How High the Moon", "Blue Bossa", "Summer Samba", "Moanin'", "Chitlins Con Carne", and "Autumn Leaves".

The Jazzkickers are: Carmin Pluntz (tenor sax), Gregory Bannister (tenor & suprano saxes, clarinet), Peter Jackson (elec gtr), Gary Berosik (dr), Steve Proper (bs gtr) and Tim Wick (keys). I played a Gibson Les Paul Robot guitar through a custom-built Savage Rohr amp. Many thanks to all who stopped by to listen, and you can find photos here. The Employee Giving Campaign raised over $1.3M in contributions prior to the company match, which is a record.