GRAHAM DECHTER WITH THE LARRY FULLER TRIO PLAYS PETE CARLSON’S JAZZ FOR JAZZ LOVERS

On Thursday evening February 19th at 7:30pm the talented Graham Dechter and Larry Fuller Trio will take center stage at Pete Carlson’s Jazz for Jazz Lovers Series. Concert tickets are $25.00 and students and active military are free. The quartet includes Graham Dechter on guitar, Larry Fuller on piano, Katie Thiroux on bass, and Matt Witek on drums.

Graham Dechter is an accomplished player, composer, and arranger who performs with swinging authority and seasoned maturity. Graham has been a member of the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra for 10 years and shows a deep reverence for jazz guitar tradition playing warm toned ballads, bossas, be-bop, and blues. As a soloist and accompanist, Dechter imbues his enthusiasm with a bluesiness in his playing that follows in the lineage of his jazz guitar heroes like Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel, Grant Green, and Herb Ellis. Graham likes to live in the swinging realm influenced by Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and Ben Webster. Dechter has made 2 recordings with the talented Tamir Handelman, John Clayton, and Jeff Hamilton. He continues to marvel with clean, beautiful lines playing at a high level of intensity with a warm and joyful feeling.

Larry Fuller is a world class pianist rooted in the hard swinging tradition of main stream jazz. Larry plays the history of jazz with great chops and class that is a marvel to hear. Fuller started very young performing professionally at the age of 13 after studying jazz for 2 years. Fuller was raised in Ohio and played his first gigs in Detroit and Ann Arbor Michigan. At 23 years old in 1988 he moved to Seattle and became Ernestine Anderson’s pianist and musical director traveling and performing world-wide. During a 6 year association he worked with the vocalist Ernestine Anderson who earned a Grammy Nomination on her recording “Now and Then”. In 1994 for the next 4 years Larry toured and recorded with the Jeff Hamilton Trio in the US and Europe making 3 recordings. In 1998 Fuller made his own recording as a leader entitled “Easy Walker” with Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton. He received the Golden Ear Seattle Jazz Award for best recording in the Northwest. In 2000 Larry joined Ray Brown’s Trio and played for 2 years until Brown’s death in the summer of 2002. For 9 years from 2005-2013 Fuller performed with guitarist John Pizzarelli’s Quartet touring the US, Europe, Japan, and South America with whom he made 3 recordings. Larry tours and records as a band leader and in September 2014 he released his own recording entitled “All About Jazz”. Fuller has played with Harry Sweets Edison, Stanley Turrentine, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Herb Ellis, Marlena Shaw, Kevin Mahogany, John Clayton, John Heard, Benny Golson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Emily Remler, Jimmy Witherspoon, Eddie Harris, Anita O’Day, Steve Allen, Ron Carter, Nicholas Payton, and John Legend.

Bassist and vocalist Katie Thiroux is an outstanding jazz and classical musician. She began playing the violin at the age of 4 switched to bass at 8 and studied vocals and performed with the LA Opera and Opera Pacifica at the age of 10. Katie was influenced by an early Lionel Hampton recording and pursued her love for jazz studying with vocalist Tierney Sutton at the age of 12. Thiroux attended Hamilton’s High School Academy of Music and received the LA Jazz Societies Shelly Mann New Talent Award. Katie was honored by the National Foundation of the Advancement of the Arts and won the Down Beat Magazine Award for bass and vocals. Thiroux received mentorship at the Brubeck Institute and Vail Jazz Workshop studying under John Clayton. As a high schooler she performed with jazz musicians like Ron Stout, Jack Nimitz, Charlie Owens, and Barbara Morrison. In her Senior Year she received the Phil Ramone Presidential Scholarship attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of 6 awards given to top incoming freshman with full tuition paid. She soon played with the likes of Branford Marsalis, Dr. Billy Taylor, Terry Lynn Carrington, and Greg Osby. In her last semester of college Katie accepted a musical professors’ position at Berklee International School in Ecuador privately teaching 30 bass and vocal students. She returned to Southern California and received a Master’s Degree at Bob Cole’s Conservatory of Music at Cal State Long Beach on a full scholarship. Since graduating Katie has appeared at jazz festivals all over the world. Thiroux formed her own quartet with Graham Dechter, Roger Neumann, and Matt Witek releasing a new recording this month. Katie presents music workshops and it is her passionate belief to give exposure to jazz history, culture, and styles to keep the music alive and thriving. Thiroux has performed with Bill Cunliffe, Geri Allen, Helen Sung, Tamir Handelman, Eric Reed, Brian Lynch, Terrence Stafford, Jeff Clayton, Charles McPherson, Ken Peplowski, Mundell Lowe, Larry Koonse, Lewis Nash, Jeff Hamilton, Niki Harris, and Tierney Sutton. Katie cites her influences being Ray Brown, John Clayton, Paul Chambers, Israel Crosby, Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, and Anita O’Day. On Thiroux’s new recording she performs the “The American Song Book” and pays tribute to Count Basie, Burt Bacharach, and Hal David, Rodgers and Hart, Earl Hines, Charlie Parker, and Duke Ellington. Katie’s swinging bass, clear vocals, and inspired arrangements is all part of her knowledge, perserverance, and fervor for making music. She is a rising force on todays music scene.

Drummer Matt Witek, a New York native is an LA based drummer. A graduate of Berklee College of Music Matt has studied under drummer Jeff Hamilton and completed his masters degree at Cal State Long Beach on a full scholarship. Witek has toured with John Pizzarelli, Graham Dechter, and Larry Fuller, and has worked with John Clayton, Harry Allen, Bucky Pizzarelli, Larry Koonse, Anthony Wilson, Bill Cunliffe, and Gary Smulyan. Matt has played jazz festivals and jazz venues throughout the world. Witek’s playing is described as meticulous, and flexible and plays with a pulse that is embellished with meaningful touch. Matt pays careful attention to detail and vocabulary.

Enjoy listening to these four talented musicians who will show where jazz is headed for the future. Non-profit concert proceeds supports music education for young musicians in the Coachella Valley. Pete Carlson’s Golf & Tennis is located at 73-741 Hwy 111 in Palm Desert, CA. Phone # 760-568-3263 and website www.petecarlsonsgolf.com. Don’t miss it!!!