Heaven and Hell
Tom’s new cd is now out! Lots of info and a discount (put ‘heaven’ in the promo code) at: www.OmniTone.com/heavenandhell
Julius Watkins Jazz French Horn Festival!
After a ten-year break, the 6th one will be in Seattle on October 3, 2009—Tom Varner, John Clark, Vincent Chancey, Adam Unsworth, and more! Info is at:
www.cornish.edu/music/watkins, and an Earshot piece on the event is at http://www.earshot.org/Publication/pub/09september.pdf , page 9.
Tom Varner Tentet—OmniTone CD release celebration! Come to Tom’s performance of his new work and cd Heaven and Hell, at Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Festival, Good Shepherd Chapel in Wallingford, October 29, 2009. More info is at www.Earshot.org , and an earshot 2008 interview about the piece, from the time of its premiere and recording, is at http://www.earshot.org/Publication/pub/08april.pdf, also on page 9. This concert will feature NY trumpet master Russ Johnson, and Seattleites Mark Taylor, Eric Barber, Byron Vannoy, and more.
In Fall 2005, Tom Varner moved to Seattle with his wife Terri and kids Jack and Hope. Read about the move — and a lot more — on the Earshot Jazz website or click here to download an Acrobat PDF copy of the article about Tom in the January Earshot Jazz newsletter [5 pages] or a copy of the entire January newsletter [24 pages].
What the critics say...
"If
a young Duke Ellington were writing 'Harlem Airshaft' today, it might
sound something like this disjunctive, spirited and humorous 15-part
mental soundtrack of urban living by the brilliant French horn player,
composer and arranger Tom Varner. What a complex, delicious suite!"
—Down Beat- "The French horn in contemporary jazz is Tom Varner." —Berendt/Huesmann, The Jazz Book
- "Varner is the most convincing jazz French horn player I've ever heard." —CD Review
- "Varner's smooth lines not only close the gap that Julius Watkins left behind; they establish, finally, the French horn as a solo instrument for contemporary jazz." —Jazz Podium
- "Tom Varner turned in the most inspiring set. Breaking up bebop phrases with long melody notes, Varner is now at the point where his lines, complicated but logical, hurtle to their destiny." —Peter Watrous, The New York Times