Interests:Acoustic fingerstyle guitar music, movie marathons, art and design, literature, anime and stand-up comedy.
For international purchases of my CD as well as bio and audio previews, log on: www.cdbaby.com/azsamad. For orders in Malaysia, e-mail me at talktoazsamad at yahoo dot com for details!
CD is also available at The Guitar Collection (Subang Jaya, Sunway Pyramid, 1Utama, Midvalley and Taman Tun), Guitar Store (Cheras & Desa Sri Hartamas branches) and at all my shows!
I have three performances coming up, one with the San Jose State University (SJSU) Jazz Orchestra and two featuring solo and small group jazz settings! I'm very excited about my upcoming Graduate Recital which is the culmination of my time at SJSU doing my Masters in Music focusing on jazz guitar performance. The recital will feature many facets of my playing style from my solo steel-string acoustic guitar material to the jazz repertoire that I love very much. It's going to be fun. Please tell your friends and come in big buses and vans to the event! Fun Fun Fun!
Shows:
1. SJSU Jazz Orchestra @ Senzala Brazilian Restaurant
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Time: 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Senzala Brazilian Restaurant 250 E Java Dr. Sunnyvale, CA
The SJSU Jazz Orchestra is the featured big band of the week performing at Senzala in Sunnyvale. Admission is a $5 cover with food or $10 without food.
Be sure to check out the jam-sessions every Tuesday as well!
Official FB Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=268068843268
--------
2. Afternoon Listening Hour Concert Series at SJSU Concert Hall (Solo and w/ Kiyoe Wakabayashi Banda Brasileira)
Photo by Albert Ng.
San Jose State University School of Music and Dance Presents:
AN EXCITING AFTERNOON CONCERT FEATURING:
AZ SAMAD performing contemporary acoustic fingerstyle guitar original compositions influenced by the works of guitarists such as Eric Roche, Thomas Leeb, Don Ross and Alex De Grassi.
Vocalist KIYOE WAKABAYASHI leading Banda Brasileira through an exciting set of Sambas, Bossa Novas and Choro music!
Banda Brasileira:
Kiyoe Wakabayashi - Vocals Az Samad - Guitar David Aguilar & Mason Hutchinson - Percussions with special guests TBA!
ALL AGES & FREE ADMISSION!
Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:15 noon - 1:15pm SJSU Concert Hall San Jose State University
About Kiyoe Wakabayashi:
Kiyoe is a San Francisco-based jazz vocalist. She has performed at various festivals and venues throughout California, and performs in Japan from time to time. She has performed with some great Jazz musicians, including the late Smith Dobson, Herb Ellis, the late Bob Florence, etc. She also has sung in a premier vocal Jazz ensemble group, Vocal Flight, directed by Michelle Hawkins. Vocal Flight recently became one of the 6 finalists in the national competition hosted by Berklee School of Music. She has studied jazz vocals with Madeline Eastman, Dina De Rose, Gail Dobson, and vocal coach Jane Sharp. She is continuing studying music at SJSU graduate school, and is currently focusing on jazz piano and harmony studies with Bay Area premiere pianist, Frank Sumares.
San Jose State University School of Music and Dance Presents:
AZ SAMAD - GRADUATE RECITAL
Join Az as he performs an exciting set of music from his original solo guitar pieces to contemporary jazz compositions by Wayne Shorter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, McCoy Tyner, Steve Swallow and John Coltrane.
Az Samad - Steel-String, Nylon-String and Electric Guitars Faris Jarrah - Trombone Adam Everett - Drums David Aguilar - Drums and Percussions
Sunday, April 11, 2010 1:00 pm SJSU Concert Hall San Jose State University
This performance is in partial fulfillment of the Master of Arts degree. Az Samad is a student of Rick Vandivier.
It's the first Moonshine of the year and we're starting it off with a stellar line-up. Come and check out the talents of quirky instrumentalist Az Samad, rock & roll folk hero Azmyl Yunor, pop-in-cheek singer-songwriter Paolo Delfino and alternative indie favorites Stonebay.
this past year has been an interesting rollercoaster ride. on a musical note, i've been writing a lot of new material, probably the most in a long time. i currently have enough material for the next CD (and actually have demoed the tracks for a running order) but am working on refining the arrangements. teaching wise, i've encountered an amazing variety of settings and students from new private students to colorful large groups. am looking forward to the guitar class next year as well. from a student's perspective, i've had a super duper range of lessons as well - this year, i started playing classical guitar again which has been a really awesome experience that is now shaping my fingerstyle and jazz playing a lot. being blessed with amazing teachers is really life-changing as well.
some of the musical highlights of 2009: played with the symphony orchestra (twice!), played in the big band (5 concerts!), played in a musical (the world premiere even!), recorded in tuscon, arizona (in a really cool studio for singer-songwriter tara linda), was a keyboard tech for an opera production (yup!), teaching assistant for group guitar classes and jazz improv classes at my uni, performed for a radio show in SF, studied with don ross, thomas leeb, teja gerken, rick vandivier, steven lin, bill kanengiser, jimmy wyble, john stowell, scott tennant, ron burczon, muriel anderson, grisha goryachev and even learned in a workshop taught by julian lage and taylor eigsti (and got to jam with taylor and got tips from mr. lage). also got my first accordion lesson from tara linda and a bajo-sexto lesson (traditional mexican 12-stringed instrument) from grammy nominee and uber music guru, max baca!
also, life on non-musical notes have been harmonically hip and melodically flowing as well. hehe.
here's to the new year. may the universe be kind and loving to every one of us. peaceful and happy thoughts to you.