Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Jam Packed Jam Session Honors Castellanos

Jazz musicians from all over Southern California and beyond flocked to El Camino in Little Italy last night for a mega-jam session in honor of Gilbert Castellanos' 39th birthday. Local KSDS afternoon jazz personality Ron Dhanifu emceed.

Castellanos, expanding his New Latin Jazz Quintet to a sextet with the addition of tenor saxophonist Brian Levy, set the bar very high with a fully charged opening salvo of material fusing the harmonic complexity of be-bop with the rhythmic fire of Afro-Cuban music.

Castellanos' trumpet bristles with fiery ideas delivered at a breakneck tempo, capturing the joy of life by living it all in the moment. He began with a lesser-known Tadd Dameron tune, flying through the changes while dropping quotes from Miles Davis ("Four"), and Charlie Parker ("Segment"), before yielding to Levy's Dexter Gordon meets Sonny Rollins essay. Pianist Irving Flores is something to experience: he can take any material — filter it through his rock-solid montuno prism, and get people dancing.

Rob Thorsen kept the time like an atomic clock.

The rhythm tandem of Mike Holguin's drums and the congas of Charlie Chavez tattooed the joint with intricate unison metrics that left more than a few patrons slack-jawed and bleary-eyed.

After the first set, dozens of players lined up for the chance to join the festivities. Levy and Los Angeles tenor-man Michael Mayes joined Chris Burgess (also on tenor) for a dreamy version of Joe Henderson's "Recordame," sounding very Horace Silver-ish and prodding each other into ascending degrees of expression.

Just in from NYC, doublebass phenomenon Danny Weller joined drummer Fernando Gomez, setting the stage for flautist Dave Millard. Mayes, an unknown altoist, and pianist Rick James threw down a free-wheeling take on "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise," a tune that always brings Coltrane to mind.

San Francisco bassist Ben Wanicur and drummer Bob Daniels were switching out the rhythm chairs when I left around 11:30.

There were still scores of excellent musicians waiting for a chance to shine in the dimly lit, packed to the gills El Camino aisles.

Happy Birthday, Gilbert!

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

For nutty pies at Pizza by Aromi in La Mesa

Sicilian cousins add to the Italian goodness they dish out around Lake Murray

Jazz musicians from all over Southern California and beyond flocked to El Camino in Little Italy last night for a mega-jam session in honor of Gilbert Castellanos' 39th birthday. Local KSDS afternoon jazz personality Ron Dhanifu emceed.

Castellanos, expanding his New Latin Jazz Quintet to a sextet with the addition of tenor saxophonist Brian Levy, set the bar very high with a fully charged opening salvo of material fusing the harmonic complexity of be-bop with the rhythmic fire of Afro-Cuban music.

Castellanos' trumpet bristles with fiery ideas delivered at a breakneck tempo, capturing the joy of life by living it all in the moment. He began with a lesser-known Tadd Dameron tune, flying through the changes while dropping quotes from Miles Davis ("Four"), and Charlie Parker ("Segment"), before yielding to Levy's Dexter Gordon meets Sonny Rollins essay. Pianist Irving Flores is something to experience: he can take any material — filter it through his rock-solid montuno prism, and get people dancing.

Rob Thorsen kept the time like an atomic clock.

The rhythm tandem of Mike Holguin's drums and the congas of Charlie Chavez tattooed the joint with intricate unison metrics that left more than a few patrons slack-jawed and bleary-eyed.

After the first set, dozens of players lined up for the chance to join the festivities. Levy and Los Angeles tenor-man Michael Mayes joined Chris Burgess (also on tenor) for a dreamy version of Joe Henderson's "Recordame," sounding very Horace Silver-ish and prodding each other into ascending degrees of expression.

Just in from NYC, doublebass phenomenon Danny Weller joined drummer Fernando Gomez, setting the stage for flautist Dave Millard. Mayes, an unknown altoist, and pianist Rick James threw down a free-wheeling take on "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise," a tune that always brings Coltrane to mind.

San Francisco bassist Ben Wanicur and drummer Bob Daniels were switching out the rhythm chairs when I left around 11:30.

There were still scores of excellent musicians waiting for a chance to shine in the dimly lit, packed to the gills El Camino aisles.

Happy Birthday, Gilbert!

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tribute to John Coltrane featuring Azar Lawrence & Alphonse Mouzon

Next Article

Bassist Leading New Jam Session At Turquoise Cafe

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader