This Saturday's Sheriff Support Group of Altadena Concert in the Park marks the return of Brian Hughes.
Altadena's Brian Hughes has carved out an impressive career in the contemporary jazz arena. His first two albums, Between Dusk and Dreaming and Under One Sky, firmly established him as one of the foremost guitarists and composers in the genre, perfectly blending his fluid and emotive guitar style into an exciting melodic mix of Latin, Jazz and World Music compositions.
After being picked as a winner in JAZZIZ magazine's "Guitars On Fire" competition his subsequent recordings Straight To You, One 2 One, Shakin’ Not Stirred, Along the Way, Live and the concert DVD No Reservations have received critical acclaim and major radio air play from coast to coast. With his sizzling fret work and infectious compositions the media are accurate in saying, "Both a great artist and an accessible one. His passion is so obvious, intense and contagious, that his audience shares it.” Brian has received the SOCAN / BMI "Jazz & Instrumental Composer of the Year" award seven times from 1997 to 2011 and the title track from Shakin’ Not Stirred was featured on an episode of HBO’s "Sex and the City."
Brian has performed at jazz festivals and concerts around the world including concert dates in Germany, Holland and Switzerland, The Providencia Jazz Festival (Santiago, Chile) and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
For the past 25 years Brian has had a parallel career recording and touring with world renowned vocalist Loreena McKennitt, (The Mummer’s Dance). Brian’s skills as a musician (guitars, and, bouzouki) and his production and mixing talents are evident on her current Grammy nominated recording, Troubadours on the Rhine. McKennitt has sold over 15 million albums worldwide and Brian has toured the world several times with her, appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman and receiving a Juno (Canadian Grammy) nomination as "Producer of the Year” for his work on her platinum selling album, The Visit.
Brian has also accompanied Celtic music legends, The Chieftains, on several tours and has produced and mixed several international platinum selling albums for Greek recording artists Alkistas Protopsalti, Evanthia Reboutsika, Yannis Kotsiras and Panayotis Kalantzopoulos, including the soundtrack for "A Touch of Spice," the top grossing film in Greek cinema history.
The Sheriff Support Group of Altadena's summer concert series starts at 7 PM on Saturday, Aug. 3, at Farnsworth Park Amphitheater, corner of Lake Avenue and Mt. Curve Avenue. Get a box lunch from the Park Bench Grill ahead of time, or enjoy food from El Patron Mexican Restaurant, which will be cooking onsite. Beer and wine sales by the Altadena Rotary Club, with consultation from the Altadena Ale & Wine House. Green room refreshments provided by Webster's Fine Stationers.
The summer concert series is sponsored by Warner Bros.; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Michael D. Antonovich; MonteCedro; Rotary Club of Altadena; Athens Services; Georgia Rutherford in memory of Don Rutherford; Toyota of Pasadena; The Printworks; All American Audio Visual; the Altadena Sheriff's Station; El Patron Mexican Restaurant; and Altadenablog.
