MUSIC

Home > MUSIC > Jeff Lofton Quartet

• Tweet
• Outlook
• ICAL
• PRINT
• Email
• Feedback

• RSS

• Official Website
• Add to My Favorites

Jeff Lofton Quartet

Presented by Dean Lofton PR at Momo's Club

September 8-September 22, 2010

Add Review/Comment
Comment on Facebook

Wednesdays, September 8, 15 and 22, Jeff Lofton Quartet, 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., $7, Momo's, 618 W. 6th. Please see www.momosclub.com for complete bill.

Recent media coverage:
- Austin American-Statesman's 2010 Out and About 500: Music
- KUT 90.5 Live from Studio 1A - May 6, 2010, Music with Jay Trachtenberg, (Music Director Jeff McCord hosting)
- Austin American-Statesman feature story, March 7, 2010 Trumpeter's Lofty Goal: Bringing History to Life
- Austin Chronicle cover story, February 12, 2010 Hannibal Lokumbe and Jeff Lofton: Jazz Parrallels
- Austin-Artists.com video interview

Jeff Lofton Biography:

"Listen up Miles Davis fans..." from the Austin American-Statesman and "... channels Miles Davis..." from The Daily Texan were early reviews when Lofton arrived from South Carolina in 2007 as a mostly unknown to Austin's music scene. Word-of-mouth about his unique sound drew jazz fans to Jeff Lofton's 1950s Miles Davis Tribute at the historic Victory Grill in September 2007. Soon his shows were being described as "...crazy good and crazy crowded..." (Austin American-Statesman).

Jeff Lofton's 1950s Miles Davis Tribute has since traveled to Scat Jazz Lounge in Fort Worth and launched a jazz series in collaboration with the University of Texas Blanton Museum's hosting of the "Birth of the Cool" exhibit. The show recently drew a crowd of over 200 to One World Theatre during the opening night of SXSW 2010. In August the show debuted at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York.

In November Lofton released his second jazz album, "Jazz to the People," with nine originals and interpretations of "Georgia on My Mind" and "Crazy." The Austin Chronicle placed "Jazz to People" in the Top 9 Austin Albums of 2009, and chose the Jeff Lofton Quartet as the critic's pick for best jazz band for their annual poll. KUT 90.5 placed "Jazz to the People" in the Top 10 Albums of 2009: DJ Picks.

Called "... a delightfully swingin' affair..." by the Austin Chronicle, the self-produced album is receiving airplay from San Diego to New Orleans to Harlem and abroad. "Jazz to the People" features Alex Coke on sax, Red Young on piano, Chris Jones on bass and Masumi Jones on drums. Danielle Howle performs vocals on Crazy.

In 2008 Lofton performed at the fourteenth annual Jazz at St. James Festival in Austin, which featured jazz legends Curtis Fuller and David "Fathead" Newman. In 2009 the Jeff Lofton Quartet, featuring legendary jazz vocalist Donna Hightower, opened for Javon Jackson at the Jazz at St. James Festival. In June the Jeff Lofton Quartet performed at the San Antonio Arts and Jazz Festival.

To honor Lofton's contribution to the local jazz scene, Austin's mayor proclaimed January 15, 2009, as Jeff Lofton Dayin the live music capital of the world. The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau selected Lofton's original, Shana's Song, for the Austin Music Vol. 8 compilation CD, released in February 2009. The Austin American-Statesman included Lofton in the 2009 Fortunate 500: Music list.

Lofton debuted his first jazz CD, Jazz Therapy, in 2005, with the Jeff Lofton Quartet. The self-produced CD mixes old style be-bop with modern forms of jazz in the tradition of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. Jazz Therapy includes Roland Haynes on piano, Reggie Sullivan on bass and Kenneth Salters on drums.

Born in Germany to American parents, Lofton grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, where he studied music at the University of South Carolina. Playing trumpet for over thirty years, Lofton has spent time on the road in Chicago and New York City. He has sat in with or shared a stage with such musical talents as guitarist Jim Mings, saxophonist Rene Sandoval, Ron Westray and Wycliff Gordon of the Wynton Marsalis septet, Fred Wesley of the James Brown horn section, Fred Hampton of the Chicago A.A.C.M., and South Carolina musicians Skip Pearson, Robert Gardner, Dr. Dick Goodwin, Dr. John Enkey, Teddy Linder and many others.

Lofton also works as an R&B and hip-hop producer, producing such artists as Legend and The Gutsmen. As a winner of a juried competition, Lofton was included on the South Carolina Arts Commission's Arts in Education Roster. Lofton teaches private lessons and has lead jazz clinics for high school students in Austin.

In South Carolina, the Jeff Lofton Quartet had a strong following from a long-running Friday night residency at Meritage in the Vista, as well as performances at Mac's on Main and at the Three Rivers Music Festival. Lofton is also well known for the Jazz Therapy Jazz Quintet featuring himself and Skip Pearson performing on Sundays at the club Group Therapy. Other groups Lofton has played with include Defellas (an avant guard jazz group), Deja Voodoo (a hip-hop/jazz fusion group) and Wadada (a reggae group).