David Sancious & Will Calhoun

 David Sancious (Peter Gabriel, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck etc) and Will Calhoun (Living Colour, B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jaco Pastorious, Jack Dejohnette, Herb Alpert etc…) come together for an evening of pure, spontaneous music.............. David Sancious was born in Long Branch, New Jersey on November 30th 1953 to Jimmie and Stelma Sancious. David’s father was an electronics engineer and his mother a school teacher.  An early interest in music was shown when at 4 years old David was able to pick out a few notes on a small plastic guitar his parents had given him, and play along to a Calypso record his father used to play frequently.  Two years later when the family relocated from Asbury Park to Belmar ,N.J. , a piano was included along with the purchase of the new house. After the boxes and furniture were brought in , his mother sat at the piano and began to play beautiful classical piano selections, much to his amazement. The effect was instantaneous . “Music became the most interesting and beautiful thing in the world to me, and being able to express all that beauty and magic was all I wanted.” After teaching David herself for the first year, his mother made arrangement for piano lessons with a focus on classical piano repetoire.  Being the youngest of three boys and having a father and mother with very different musical tastes, the house was filled with music of all genres. Everything from Mozart to James Brown on a daily basis. Early musical influences ranged from the piano preludes of Chopin and Beethoven to the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Folk music , R&B , and Rock were equally influential . The folk music of Odetta and the blues stylings of B.B. King inspired him to take up the guitar at 9 years old. “I played acoustic guitar for a few years and made some progress. Then one day my brother came home with the first Jimi Hendrix album ( “Are You Experienced” ) and instantly I became very serious about the guitar “.  After several years of playing keyboards and guitar in Jazz , R&B , and Rock Bands on the Jersey shore area, David met Bruce Springsteen at the entrance to a club where Bruce was organizing a jam session. The result was an invitation to join a new band that Bruce was putting together. This eventually became “Bruce Springtsteen & the E Street Band”, and after recording three albums and touring the country, with Bruce, he left to form the group "Tone" and recorded several albums. The first recordings ( “Forest of Feelings” ) in 1975, followed by (“Transformation: the Speed of Love”), ( “True Stories “ ), ( “ Just as I Thought “ ), and ( “ The Bridge “ ) showed David’s skills as a composer for the first time, and led to his being considered one of the most talented and sought after keyboard players in the music industry.” I’ve always been inspired and motivated by the composing aspect of music, and I’ve always thought of myself as a composer who plays well , rather than a person who is just proficient on a given instrument. The recordings attracted the attention of artist the world over. Recent recordings include (" 9 Piano Improvisations "), ( " Cinema " ), and (" Live in The Now "). Peter Gabriel , Sting , Bruce Springsteen, , Eric Clapton , Jeff Beck, Seal and others, have used his talents as pianist, synthesist, guitarist, arranger, and producer on recording sessions and concert tours, playing an eclectic and diverse range of music.................. Will Calhoun, the widely acclaimed drummer from the Bronx, New York, graduated from the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he received a Bachelors degree in Music Production and engineering. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Buddy Rich Jazz Masters Award for outstanding performance by a drummer.  Special Kudos for Will's drumming virtuosity include: • Best New Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine's Readers Poll. • Number One Progressive Drummer by Modern Drummer Magazine's Readers Poll three times. • Best Drummer by Rolling Stone Magazine's Critics Poll. Will Calhoun's unique blend of improvisational and hard rock drumming can be found on each of Living Colour's four Epic releases: the ground breaking multi-platinum debut, Vivid, the critically acclaimed sophomore LP, Time's Up, the Biscuits EP, and Stain, as well as their latest release on Sanctuary Records, CollideØscope. A prolific song writer, Will has co-written many Living Colour compositions and wrote the critically acclaimed song, Pride, on the Time's Up album and Nothingness on the Stain album. As a member of Living Colour, Will received a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance by a group and another Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Living Colour also won an International Rock Award for Best Rock Band.. In addition to his work with Living Colour, Will has recorded and/or toured with diverse artists including B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jaco Pastorious, Harry Belafonte, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Dejohnette, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, The Allman Brothers, Lauryn Hill, Marcus Miller, Dr.John, Carly Simon, Herb Alpert, Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, Wayne Shorter (on the Grammy-winning CD "High Life"), and recorded with rappers Run-DMC and Public Enemy. As a producer, player, and songwriter, Will has worked on Herb Alpert's Grammy-nominated CD, Colors. During Will's down time he has managed to record two solo projects Housework and Drum Wave. These discs provide an alternate canvas for his acoustic drumset artistry as well as his push for electronic tonal expressions. Will, Doug Wimbish, and Vinx joined forces to form the groundbreaking Ambient World Music band JUNGLE FUNK. Their live CD Jungle Funk is available on Zebra Records in the States. The group combines mastery of technology with musicianship. This rare and cutting edge disc was given the Album of the Year mention in Australia. Will's first jazz CD as a bandleader is entitled The Will Calhoun Quintet: Live at the Blue Note. The disc is an adventurous journey through Will's approach to acoustic Jazz, World and Ambient music. The line-up features Bobby Watson-sax, Terrell Stafford-trumpet, John Benitez-bass and Orrin Evans-piano. Will's song writing, arrangements and drumming on this CD are ground breaking. Although this was Will's first attempt at fronting a jazz group, Down Beat Magazine, Jazz Times, and BillBoard Magazine have given the CD top ratings. Drum Magazine's readers poll voted Will's CD 1st runner up for Drummer/Band leader. Will has worked with rapper Mos Def, both as a producer and performer. Will brought together an all-star lineup for this project, featuring artists like: Bernie Worrell on keys, Doug Wimbish on bass, Doc Know, the guitarist from Bad Brains, and other special guests. The Band is titled Black Jack Johnson, and several tracks from this band were featured on Mos Def's CD The New Danger. Keep your eyes and ears open for a full length Black Jack Johnson CD. It will be in the usual cutting-edge Calhoun fashion. For all you Living Colour fans, the band is touring again and working on new material. They have performed regional U.S. tour, as well as tours in South America, Australia and Europe over the past several years. Check the Tour Schedule page often for updates. One of Will's latest creations is his follow-up release on the Halfnote label: Native Lands. Native Lands can be described as Jazz meets World, meets trance-inducing Urban music. This is a double package - CD/DVD in which Calhoun marries his far reaching interests in a genre-bending collection that taps key expressionists from various backgrounds. Among those contributing are Pharoah Sanders, Mos Def, Buster Williams, Stanley Jordan, Kevin Eubanks, Marcus Miller and Wallace Roney, as well as Nana Vasconcelos from Brazil and Cheick Tidiane Seck from Mali. The album includes a DVD with over ninety minutes of music videos and documentary materials that chronicle the last ten years of Will's life and travels. Will is presently touring in support of this project with his group, variously called "AZA" or "Native Lands", which features various artists from the album and other outstanding musicians. Not many artists have the vision and artistic energy to be Grammy winners and contribute to so many genres: jazz, rock, hip-hop, ambient, et al, while concurrently producing, touring, creating new projects, working on films, and continually pushing the envelope. Will Calhoun has this creative vision, and he is doing an extraordinary job keeping music a spiritual and motivating force in his life. 

• http://www.willcalhoun.com/