All about Don Preston

THE DON PRESTON TRIO
 
 
DON PRESTON
AKA BIFF DE BRIE, DOM DE WILD, OGO MOTO, UNCLE MEAT

Don Preston

 – piano, hats, IPOD, magic

Anders Swanson
 – acoustic bass, magic notes

SATURDAY, NOV 5th 8PM
@
South Pasadena Music Center and Conservatory
1509 Mission Street,
SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030


http://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Pasadena-Music-Center-Conservatory/249447501844
$10.00 GENERAL ADMISSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUNDAY, NOV 6th @ 3PM


Performing at ALVAS 
(The best venue in the Los Angeles area with a GREAT Steinway piano –
DON PRESTON)

Alvas Showroom
1417 W. 8th Street,
San Pedro, Ca 90732
http://www.alvasshowroom.com/calendar.php

CLICK ON DON PRESTON
Ticket Price $20.00

Please call: 1-800-403-3447 for reservations and more information
Complimentary coffee, tea and "Alvas" bottled water are provided.
Bring your own Food & Drinks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About Don

Donald Ward Preston also known as Dom DeWilde or Biff Debrie born September 21, 1932 in Flint, Michigan. Preston is an American rock and roll musician. Preston was born into a family of musicians and began studying music at an early age. His father was the composer-in-residence for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

At 12 years old he was thrown out of school for hypnotizing several students and a nun. The nuns used to beat his hands with a big ruler when he made mistakes playing the piano. Because of this weird treatment he began to like strange and dissonant music. Preston later did a stint in the army, serving in Trieste, Italy. Upon his return to Detroit during the early '50s, Preston associated with pianist Tommy Flanagan. He also sat in with Elvin Jones and others at the city's West End Cafe where Yusef Lateef conducted twice-a-week jam sessions with Milt Jackson's brother, bassist Ollie Jackson. 

Preston moved to Los Angeles in 1957 where he hooked up with pianist Paul Bley, bassist Charlie Haden, and others who were hearing jazz in new ways. Many will recognize Preston from his long collaboration with Frank Zappa as the first full time keyboardist with the Mothers of Invention. The original MOTHERS OF INVENTION did not have a full time keyboardist.Preston performed and recorded with Zappa until 1974.

He is a co-founder of the GrandMothers along with Jimmy Carl Black and Bunk Gardner wh ich performed original compositions and music that they had performed with the Mothers of Invention between 1967 and 1969.

In 2002 that band disbanded and reformed with new members and changed their name to THE GRANDE  MOTHERS RE:INVENTED. That ensemble performed the music of Frank Zappa that they had performed and/or recorded between the years 1965 thru 1983.The GMSRI has performed over 140 concerts in 18 countries since 2003.

Often compared to Cecil Taylor for his style of attacking the keys with intense passion, Preston’s solos also reflect intellect, technical skills and a storyteller's way with a line. His playing, like his compositions, ranges across panoramas of mood and emotion, all colored with the freedom that comes from possessing remarkable facility.

 He also has scored more than 20 feature film scores and 14 plays. He's the winner of numerous awards, and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. Known to jazz and keyboard aficionados for his pioneering contributions in the use of synthesizers and piano, legendary clarinetist and composer John Carter dubbed Don Preston the “father of modern synthesis.”

 Don has performed with artists like:

Joe Beck, Paul Bley, Carla Bley, Bobby Bradford, John Carter,  Nat King Cole, Andrew Cyrille, Billy Daniels, Art Davis, Don Ellis,Connie Francis, Flo and Eddie (Howard Kaylan & Mark Volman of The Turtles)  Charlie Haden, Zakir Hussain, Al Jarreau, Elvin Jones, Yusef Lateef, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Charles Lloyd, Herbie Mann, Michael Mantler, Meredith Monk, Vaughn Monroe, J.R. Montrose,Lou Rawls, Emil Richards, Nelson Riddle, Shorty Rogers, Johnny Ray,  Leo Sayer, Frank Zappa

Don Preston is no relation to the Don Preston who played lead guitar for Joe Cocker and Leon Russell in the 1970s, and who appeared with Russell at the Concert for Bangladesh.

 THE DON PRESTON TRIO features the amazing eyes, ears and hands of acoustic bassist Anders Swanson and his Grande Mothers cohort drummer/percussionist Christopher Garcia.


REVIEWS
"Preston not only brought his skewed piano sensibility into the creative jazz context, he lugged along a little of his zany synthesizer as well……..touching on all these associations (Carla and Paul Bley, John Carter, Zappa and Cole Porter), showing what he can do twisting a standard around and delving a bit into his own compositional bag as well. Preston resides on the edge of tonality, toying with it."
DOWNBEAT

"revisiting choice moments of weirdness and glory, as well as dig into original works and unlikely standards, is not to be missed. The range of program is somewhat camouflaged by the seamless interply of Preston and his cohorts. They possess a cohesion born of fluidity that is reminiscent of Paul Bley’s 60’s trios, but they have their own crisp edge. It is a high common denominator for such a diverse program."
JAZZTIMES

"best known as the first synth wielding Mother of Invention – Frank Zappa's
keyboardist aide de camp, to others he is an avowed New Music experimentalist,
whose work in theatre, and with assorted sonic daredevils is the stuff of underground
acclaim…….in the jazz orbit Preston's credits have included Gil Evans, Carla Bley,
Buell Niedlinger, Michael Mantler, John Carter, and Bobby Bradford"
DOWNBEAT

"Don is one of the pioneers in that whole area, I don't think he gets nearly enough
credit for the contributions he has made and the vast amount of knowledge
he has acquired in electronic music."
JOHN CARTER

"the guy that really impressed me was Don Preston, I didn't know what that stuff was when I heard it on Frank Zappa's records. I said, "Man!"
GEORGE DUKE

"Preston demonstrated anew that he is one of the most consistently exciting
keyboardists anywhere, he plays with an intensity and a rhythmic vitality
that approached the demonic, at climactic moments smashing the keys
with a forearm and elbow, as if the piano were just not instrument
enough for him"
LA JAZZ SCENE

DON PRESTON AND MONTY PYTHON???????????


FROM THE LINER NOTES OF STRICTLY COMMERCIAL BY TERRY GILLIAM


http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/docs/Strictly_Commercial_liner_notes.html

"No matter how much my body decays, I have been unable to remove one particular shard of memory that remains firmly stuck — festering in my brain as a result of Frank Zappa.

It was 1967. I had just left America for England. One autumn evening, wandering through Hyde Park, I bumped into Frank's manager whom I knew from my former life in Los Angeles. The Mothers were performing at the Albert Hall the following night. Did I want to see them? You bet.

The Royal Albert Hall is a great Victorian monument . . . all red and gold and encrusted with elaborate decoration. With its tasteful boxes ringing the vast domed amphitheatre it represented to me all that was cultured, refined, and civilised . . . the product of generations of decent British citizens and their gracious rulers. but that night this proud testimonial to respectability had been usurped by The Mothers of Invention . . . a hairy three-ringed circus with Frank as the ringmaster.

The band roared and crashed about the stage. They were blasting out their familiar raucous songs with Frank controlling it all with his cool, knowing smile. The audience, by American standards, was subdued and Frank seemed frustrated by his inability to get them on their feet. Whether it was planned or an inspired act of desperation I'll never know but, suddenly in the middle of a song the keyboard player (THAT WOULD BE DON PRESTON – ED NOTE) abandoned his ivories and began to clamber up and over the speakers and other piles of electronic gear. An expectant ripple spread through the crowd. For a moment he disappeared — lost in the darkness. Then a spotlight managed to pick him out — a small motley figure climbing onwards and upwards — up the back of the auditorium — towards the gigantic mountain of brass pipes that comprised the great Albert Hall organ. The audience cheered him as Frank cranked up the band. You can do it! Climb you bastard! Yes! Yes! With the mob chanting and clapping this musical Quasimodo gained the summit and plunked himself down at the keyboard. There was a momentary hush as he grappled with the stops. And then the most glorious, outrageous sound ever heard erupted . . . no . . . it wasn't Elgar or Bach or even Saint-Saens . . .

It was a great thundering musical nose-thumbing fart. He was pounding out "Louie, Louie" on that great Victorian organ. The barbarians had taken over! It probably felt like that the day they hoisted the Hammer and Sickle over the Winter Palace. The cobwebs were being blown away. The iconoclasts were king! It was utterly silly and wonderful . . . and we laughed and cheered and Frank's cool, knowing smile widened ever so slightly.

I decided it was worth staying in England.

When it came to slaughtering sacred cows with such crude, yet perfect musical precision there was no one better than Frank. I wonder what songs he's teaching the angels right now? Good luck God! You've got your hands full this time."

 Terry Gilliam

 

Dr. Dot massaging Don Preston (who is making a goofy face for the camera)

 

BP is burning endangered sea turtles alive!

 


News has just emerged from the Gulf Coast that BP is burning endangered sea turtles alive. 

A boat captain who has been leading efforts to rescue the endangered turtles says BP has blocked his crews from entering the areas where the animals are trapped, effectively shutting down the rescue operation. 

BP is using "controlled burns" to contain the oil spill. Shrimp boats create a corral of oil by dragging together fire-resistant booms and then lighting the enclosed "burn box" on fire. If turtles are not removed from the area before the fire is lit, they are literally burned alive. 

I just signed a petition telling BP to stop burning endangered sea turtles alive. To learn more and take action, click on the link below'

 

 

 

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/bp_endangered_turtles/ 

Please help save the Sea Turtles

Save Sea Turtles - Defenders of Wildlife

Take Action for Sea Turtles
 

Oiled kemp's ridley sea turtle


Young turtles like the Kemp’s ridley above are especially imperiled by oil on beaches and in the water. Loggerheads, now listed as threatened, need new protections in the wake of the Gulf offshore oil disaster.

Help Save Loggerheads

 

Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to list loggerhead sea turtles as endangered.

Please help us send 50,000 messages by Monday, June 14th. Take action nowand encourage a friend to do the same.

Forward this message



As a career biologist, former Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Executive Vice President of Defenders of Wildlife, I’m no stranger to animals in distress.

But what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico right now is an unprecedented ecological disaster. It is threatening sea turtles, sperm whales, dolphins, brown pelicans, Atlantic bluefin tuna and scores of other species… along with entire ecosystems. 

Today you can help me save one of most visible victims of the Gulf offshore oil disaster: imperiled loggerhead sea turtles. 

Urge the Obama administration to improve protections for these amazing seafarers by listing them as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Please take action now.

Today I’m in the Gulf, meeting with senior officials in charge of the oil clean-up and response. Tomorrow I’ll be on one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s response boats, surveying the damage… and dreading the sight of sea turtles, birds and other wildlife caught in the massive oil slick that’s growing by the day in the Gulf.

I’ll be working with government officials for as long as it takes to protect the wildlife that are innocent victims of BP’s negligence – all the wildlife victims. But today I need your help to save one species in particular: loggerhead sea turtles.

Help ensure loggerheads get the life-saving protections they need. Please send your message to federal officials now.

Loggerhead sea turtles were in trouble before the Gulf oil spill disaster. 

The number of female loggerheads nesting on Florida beaches – one of the most important habitats for the species – has declined by 50 percent in the past decade. Scientists and government officials have sounded the alarm about what this could mean for the future of the ancient sea mariners. The National Marine Fisheries Service is now proposing to upgrade protection for loggerheads from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

These turtles need our  help even more now.

The world’s second-largest loggerhead nesting area is on the beaches of the southeastern United States, the vast majority of which includes Florida’s central Atlantic beaches.

This area is expected to be threatened by the horrific oil slick, depending on how much of the slick gets picked up by the Loop Current — a powerful ocean current that could bring the slick around the southern reaches of the state, through the sensitive coral reef and mangrove areas of the Everglades and the Keys, and then into the Gulf Stream and up the east coast of Florida.

The spill could not have happened at a worse time: loggerheads and other sea turtles — as well as many shorebirds — are in the peak of their nesting seasons right now. 

Oil is extremely toxic to loggerheads and other species. Exposure can cause skin loss, poisoning, drowning and death… which is exactly why we need every available tool to help save the lives of individual loggerheads and save this species from extinction.

Today you can do something concrete to help save wildlife impacted by the disaster in the Gulf by helping to save loggerhead sea turtles from extinction. Please take action now.

We’ll do everything we can to save the lives of wildlife impacted by this environmental catastrophe. I hope you will too.

With Gratitude,

Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders of Wildlife

Jamie Rappaport Clark
Executive Vice President
Defenders of Wildlife

P.S. Please be sure to follow our blog (http://www.defendersblog.org) and updates on Facebook andTwitter. I’ll be posting from the Gulf all week as we work to protect coastal wildlife from toxic oil.

P.P.S. Please forward this email to at least 3 friends and help us hit our goal of 50,000 messages by next Monday (June 14th).


Tell the Bahamas to Stop Killing Sea Turtles

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists all seven sea turtle species as 'threatened' or 'endangered.' Five of the seven species inhabit the Bahamas — green, loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill, and olive ridley sea turtles. Since sea turtles are known to migrate between waters of the U.S. and Bahamas, turtle conservation efforts in the US are hindered by the lack of adequate protections in the Bahamas.

The Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources has proposed a rule that will enhance sea turtle conservation by prohibiting all harvest, purchase, and sale of sea turtles and turtle products.

We need your help to convince the Bahamas to move forward with this rule to protect sea turtles. Please take action today to help us get better international protection for these ancient mariners.

CLICK   HERE   to sign 

 

Hurry and Help to Protect Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtles

Pacific leatherback sea turtles need your help right now.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the government agency responsible for fisheries management, is considering allowing hundreds of miles of fishing lines and baited hooks to be set inside the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area off California and Oregon under what is known as an "Exempted Fishing Permit." The permit would be for the catch of swordfish, but would also allow for the catch of up to five endangered leatherback sea turtles, a short-finned pilot whale and other marine life as well.

 

 Click  HERE to sign the petition. If you live outside the US, just make up an address, it's urgent. 

x

 

 

 

Protect Sea Turtles (sign please)


What could a Pacific leatherback sea turtle possibly have in common with a T-rex? Granted the docile and majestic turtle doesn't connote the same thrilling terror as one of the most fearsome predators of all time, yet the two lived side-by-side some 65 million years ago. In fact the very first sea turtles began to evolve around 110 million years ago.
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Thanks πŸ™‚

 

  <  I LOVE turtles