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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/35056/full/35056/s-f-pianist-heads-upward-with-uptown-trio-gig-at-yoshi-s/ <br /><br /> <b>S.F. pianist heads upward with Uptown Trio gig at Yoshi’s</b> <br /> Friday, May 30, 2008 | by <p>greg m. schwartz </p> <br /><br /><p>Some musicians spend decades in pursuit of a dream that never materializes. But 19-year-old pianist and San Francisco native Sam Reider has himself on a fast track to success: His group, Uptown Trio, will headline Yoshi’s jazz club in San Francisco for two June shows as part of a West Coast summer tour.<br /><br /> “I was surprised when I heard from Yoshi’s of all places,” says Reider. “I dropped off a press kit, didn’t hear back for about a month and a half. I really bugged [Yoshi’s artistic director Peter Williams], called him a couple times a week.”<br /><br /> Reider, who was bar mitzvahed at Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, currently is attending Columbia University in New York City, where he’s majoring in English.<br /><br /> Perhaps he should change his major to marketing. He says it was his well-pitched plan for how the group would draw large crowds at Yoshi’s — along with an impressive self-released debut album — that finally won Williams over.<br /><br /> The young pianist told Williams of his connections to San Francisco Day School and the Urban School of San Francisco (he graduated from there in 2007), meaning there are two large communities of students and parents that will come out to support him and the group. Reider has further local recognition from frequent past performances with the San Francisco Jazz All-Star High School Big Band.<br /><br /> Reider was also able to tout his experience putting together a benefit concert last year for the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center. Reider was awarded a grant of $7,500, which he used to book the Great American Music Hall for a concert; he played not only with young musicians, but also veterans such as mandolinist David Grisman and sax player John Handy. The show raised $10,000.<br /><br /> Reider met bandmates Jeff Picker (bass) and Jake Goldbas (drums) — who are also Jewish — when they all were chosen for the rhythm section of the prestigious Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars. The National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) selected them from a highly competitive international pool of high school seniors.<br /><br /> “They chose seven jazz instrumentalists to come form this jazz combo. We started gigging in New York, then played the Monterey Jazz Festival. Then it just turned out that [Picker, Goldblas and I] all went to school in Manhattan,” says Reider of how Uptown Trio was formed.<br /><br /> Picker, from Portland, Ore., and Goldbas, from Simsbury, Conn., were both attending the Manhattan School of Music. Picker has since transferred to Columbia. <br /><br /> “We decided we wanted to try something we’d never done before, which was playing as a trio,” says Reider on how the band’s lineup was selected. “If we can learn to play in a trio first, then we can go beyond ... it’s definitely a different art form than playing in a quintet.”<br /><br /> “We’re all interested in a variety of genres, especially folk music,” Reider adds. “More in the sense of commitment to melody and message in a song. Part of our goal is to make our songs more about the pieces as a whole and less about the individual improvisation.”<br /><br /> The band’s West Coast tour will also hit Santa Cruz and Los Angeles before prestigious gigs in Washington D.C., at the Kennedy Center and the NFAA Gala. Reider also recently taped an appearance on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” program on NPR, which will air later this summer.<br /><br /> The band’s debut album, “Without Strings,” demonstrates a musical maturity that belies the age of its 19-year-old members. The group also has a socially conscious vibe, with album track “Is This America?” featuring sound bites from John F. Kennedy regarding human rights.<br /><br /> “We’re trying to be political, but one thing that we want to work on is, more than preaching politics, we have to do something for ourselves,” says Reider. To that end, the band will be donating some tickets to the Yoshi’s shows to local youth. Reider says the band is also particularly interested in environmental activism.<br /><br /> As to influences, Reider cites Stevie Wonder as his all-time favorite musician, along with Keith Jarrett, the Bad Plus, James Booker, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.<br /><br /> “I definitely want to play music professionally, but I think it’s possible to do other things too,” says Reider of future ambitions that include promoting other bands and learning more about American studies and anthropology.<br /><br /> <br><br /><br /> <b>Uptown Trio </b>will play two shows at Yoshi’s San Francisco on June 9 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $10 and $14. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.sf.yoshis.com">http://www.sf.yoshis.com</a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/uptowntrio">http://www.myspace.com/uptowntrio</a>. </p> <p> </p>

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