Jazz artists The Lao Tizer Band, featuring several Grammy-award-winning and nominated musicians, and Incendio will take the Palmdale Amphitheater stage on Saturday, July 14 as part of the city of Palmdale’s summer concert series.
Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, Lao Tizer is the son of hippies with a Russian-Jewish background. The mix of his ethnic family heritage, parental new age influence and growing up with the sights and sounds of ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture (alongside the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s he heard from his parents), brought him to a place in his artistic life where he was ready to embrace a wider range of influences and stretch himself and his players.
Tizer’s arrangements are taken to the transcendent through the warm and soulful vocals of Tita Hutchison, who sang with the likes of Michael McDonald, Rick Rubin, Michael Jackson and Foreigner, among others. Hutchison joins Tizer’s regular collaborators who are celebrated in their own right: Chieli Minucci, the three-time Emmy-winning and Grammy® Award nominated guitarist and composer; Grammy® Award-winning saxophonist Eric Marienthal, who is a permanent member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band; longtime member and EWI/saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Steve Nieves; and violinist Karen Briggs, who has graced the stage with Yanni, Diana Ross, Wu-Tang Clan, Chaka Khan and more.
Tizer also credits the powerhouse rhythm section (bass players include Grammy® Award nominee Ric Fierabracci and Cheikh NDoye, Grammy® Award-nominated drummer Gene Coye, and percussionist Munyungo Jackson) with underpinning the dynamic force and arrangements for the project.
Opening for The Lao Tizer Band is acclaimed Los-Angeles-based group Incendio. Comprised of Jim Stubblefield (guitar), JP Durand (guitar, guitar synth), Liza Carbe (bass, guitar) and Tim Curle (drums), they perform original “world guitar” compositions, featuring incredible guitar-playing across a variety of genres: Latin, Middle-Eastern, and Celtic grooves. Formed in 1999, the group has nine CDs and two DVDs available internationally, variously hitting the Billboard, CMJ, NAV and Amazon.com charts.
Averaging more than 150 shows a year since 2000, Incendio’s live performance is an explosive improvisatory journey, garnering tremendous audience response in such diverse venues as the Strawberry Music Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., California World Festival, the national Levitt Pavilions and many more across the nation.
“The warmth of the day will give way to a very comfortable evening and some beautiful cool jazz by two amazing groups,” said Palmdale’s Director of Recreation and Culture Keri Smith. “These players are the real deal. They’re multiple Grammy award winners and nominees who have performed with the biggest and best names in the business.”
Tickets are available at www.PalmdaleAmphitheater.com. VIP tickets are $20 and general admission is $15. Parking is free. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the concert begins at 6:30 pm. VIP ticket includes a chair (theater-style, first-come, first-served). General admission, bring your own chair. No outside food or drinks allowed. Concessions will be available, including beer and wine.
