Nature's Table was a whole food restaurant and live music venue in Urbana, Illinois from 1979 until May, 1991.

Fourth Annual Nature's Table scheduled for Friday, 7/30/2010 and Saturday, 7/31/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Machota
Cell: 217/722-8601
Email: thetable@naturestable.net

6/8/2010

IRON POST AND COWBOY MONKEY TO HOST NATURE'S TABLE 2010 REUNION CONCERTS

Performances in Downtown Urbana and Champaign to Feature Jazz and Blues
Performers from Music Venue's Past

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The fourth annual Nature's Table reunion is scheduled to be held Friday,
July 30, at The Iron Post in Urbana, Illinois, and Saturday, July 31,
at Cowboy Monkey in Champaign, Illinois.

Nature's Table was a whole food restaurant and live music venue in
Urbana, Illinois from 1979 to 1991. The restaurant featured live
music seven nights a week, including an eclectic mix of jazz, folk,
blues, bluegrass, and experimental music. Besides providing a space for
local acts, Nature's Table also featured national touring artists.

When the University of Illinois reclaimed the property in 1991, the
community lost a unique local resource.

Terry Masar, former owner of the restaurant, felt that the time had come
to reunite some of the artists who had performed at the venue many years
ago, and in 2007 organized the first reunion concert in Champaign.

This year's Friday jazz reunion event is being held at The Iron
Post in downtown Urbana, the venue most actively hosting jazz in the
Champaign-Urbana community for the past several years.

Scheduled to appear at the Friday event are the Traditional Jazz
Orchestra, the Jack Webb Band, and the Kelly Brand Quartet.

The Saturday event will be held at Cowboy Monkey in downtown Champaign.
Cowboy Monkey is on the site of the original Blind Pig, which featured
live jazz and blues music in the 1990s.

Scheduled to perform for the Saturday event are The Freak Brothers and
a reunion of the blues band The Mudhens.

"We've had great music and turnout for the past reunion events. We're
very fortunate this year to have some great bands and musicians from
the restaurant's past coming back to town to perform," Masar says.

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SCHEDULE (subject to change):

Friday, July 30

5:00-7:00
- The Traditional Jazz Orchestra
* Tom Birkner (cornet)
* Randy Salman (clarinet)
* Morgan Powell (trombone)
* Mike Miller (banjo)
* Dan Anderson (bass)

7:30-9:00
- The Jack Webb Band
* Guy Senese (cornet)
* Ron Dewar (clarinet)
* John Sexton (trombone)
* Mike Miller (banjo)
* Dan Anderson (bass)
* Scott Mordecai (drums)

9:30-??
- Kelly Brand Quartet
* Art Davis (trumpet/flugelhorn)
* Kelly Brand (piano)
* Kelly Sill (bass)
* Phil Gratteau (drums)

Saturday, July 31

8:00-9:00
- The Freak Brothers
* Jay Rosenstein (guitar/vocals)
* Kevin DeForrest (bass/vocals)
* Bruiser Rummenie (guitar/dobro/vocals)
* Jeff Magby (snare drum)

9:00-12am?
- The Mudhens
* Scott Portzline (bass)
* Tom "T-Bone" Miller (drums)
* Kevin DeForrest (vocals)
* Bruiser Rummenie (guitar)
* Peter Roubal (tenor sax)

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Admission is $10 each night.

Additional information about Nature's Table is available at the following
website:

http://www.naturestable.net/

# # #

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule
an interview, please call Jeff Machota at 217/722-8601 or e-mail
thetable@naturestable.net.

The Iron Post is located at 120 South Race Street in Urbana,
Illinois.

Cowboy Monkey is located at 6 Taylor Street in Champaign, Illinois.

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ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

About Kelly Brand

Kelly Brand, a native of Evanston, Illinois, received her B.A. at
the University of Illinois, Champaign. While there she performed in
innovative jazz bands led by John Garvey and saxophonist Ron Dewar.
After college Kelly returned to Evanston and began her performing career
in the Chicago area while continuing to study at the Chicago Musical
College with the renowned teacher Ms. G. Golub.  In 1982 Brand married
bassist Kelly Sill and in 1990 their daughter Naomi was born.

Brand is an active performer on the Chicago jazz scene playing frequent
club and concert dates.  In 1999 Kelly joined Marion McPartland on stage
at Ravinia for a double piano jazz performance.  Ms. McPartland wrote
for the notes on Brand's first CD: "a fine young pianist who plays with
elegance and sensitivity."

In 2001 and 2003 Brand was awarded residencies at Ragdale, an
internationally acclaimed artists' retreat. She was chosen as one of
the ten top Chicago jazz pianists who performed at Symphony Center for
Marshall Field's Great Day of Music in 2003.  Kelly has also performed
at the Jazz Showcase, played on Joe Segal's All Star Caribbean Jazz
Cruise and has performed a number of times at Ravinia and the Chicago
Jazz Festival both as a leader and sideman.

Brand continues to be in demand for performances in public venues and
private events as a soloist, bandleader, and sideman. In addition she
is an experienced teacher and clinician and taught for the Merit School
of Music.  Currently Kelly is a teaching artist in the Ravinia Music
Discovery Program and also plays and conducts clinics in the Chicago
schools with Pangaea featuring Ari Brown, Kelly Sill, and Avreal Ra. They
are sponsored by the International Music Foundation, an umbrella group
of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

"There was a strong sense of community within the jazz players in the
early seventies. We spent a lot of time together playing and listening to
'sides' or at clubs. We were profoundly influenced by some exceptional
musicians and leaders like Jim McNeely, Ron Dewar and John Garvey.

If there was a group that we wanted to hear at the Jazz Showcase in
Chicago we'd often pile into someone's old car and drive to Chicago. We'd
stay for both sets and drive back to Champaign in the wee hours of
the morning.

Garvey and Ken Farrantino's big band and also great combos would often
play at Treno's and the Thunderbird -- popular hang outs. A young woman,
Toni Caputo, ran a great jazz club called Caputo's for several years,
bringing in acts like Sonny Rollins, Rhasaan Roland Kirk, and [Charles]
Mingus. One night The Memphis Nighthawks, a great skiffle band led by Ron
Dewar, was playing and Mingus came in to listen (he was palying there the
next night) He was really digging it and the 2 of us started dancing. As
big as he was he started kicking his legs in the air and yelling 'kick
that mule'! Often the sidemen from these great bands would come jam with
us after their gigs 'till the sun came up."

Additional information about Kelly Brand is available at the following
website:

http://kellybrand.com/

About Art Davis

Art Davis has been a leading jazz trumpet voice in Chicago since the
late 1970s. He has recorded with numerous artists and ensembles in the
area, including The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Kelly Brand Nextet and Janice
Borla. He has toured with Ray Charles and Rosemary Clooney and performed
with such artists as Frank Sinatra, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie and
Nancy Wilson.

Art received his degrees at the University of Illinois in Champaign
and obtained a master's degree in musicology with emphasis in
ethnomusicology. For many years he has studied West African percussion
with such noted teachers as Gideon Alorwoyie and Abubakari Luna.

As a performer, Art is noted for playing in a variety of styles from
early jazz to Avant-garde. He is currently a professor of Jazz Studies
at Northern Illinois University where has taught for over thirteen years.

About Kelly Sill

Bassist Kelly Sill has worked for over 30 years in the Chicago area as
a house bassist for Rick's Cafe Americain, George's, The Jazz Showcase,
Pop's for Champagne, and The Green Mill. He has performed extensively at
concert venues such as the Chicago Jazz Festival, Ravinia, the Red Sea
Jazz Festival, the Elkhart Jazz Festival, and Orchestra Hall (Symphony
Center) in Chicago.

Kelly's experience as a sideman includes work with a many of the biggest
names in jazz, including Hank Jones, Woody Shaw, Dave Liebman, Eddie
Jefferson, Snooky Young, Cedar Walton, Red Rodney, Eddie Harris, Johnny
Hartman, Tommy Flanagan, Joe Henderson, Billy Eckstine, Don Menza, Clark
Terry, Jerome Richardson, Barry Harris, Conti Condoli, Ruth Brown, Cissy
Houston, Art Farmer, Red Holloway, Donald Byrd, Ira Sullivan, Anita O`Day,
Freddie Hubbard, Herb Ellis, Bobby Watson, Jackie McLean, Dakota Staton,
Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Bill Hardman, Charlie Rouse, Clifford
Jordan, Morgana King, Barney Kessel, Urbie Green, Scott Hamilton, Chris
Conner, Chris Potter, Mel Lewis, Art Blakey, Louis Bellson, Ernie Watts,
Sadao Watanabe, Jim McNeely, Mose Allison, David Newman, Ed Thigpen,
Marvin Stamm, Sonny Fortune, Bob Mintzer, Lew Tabackin, Harry Allen,
and Charles McPherson.  To name but a few.

About Phil Gratteau

Drummer Phil Gratteau has been playing drums professionally for over
thirty-five years since his graduation from the University of Illinois
School of Music in 1972. His first "gigs" were playing weekends with his
father's small dance combo at age 13. After college his career got going
on a high note when he took over the drum chair in the Judy Roberts Band
during four of her most popular and successful years. After that full-time
position, he freelanced in all kinds of settings-- clubs, "jobbing",
accompanying national acts, jazz education, and recording. When the
Chicago club Andy's opened in the late 1970's, Phil got to regularly
perform with Chicago's "Elder Statesmen" of jazz; Eddie Johnson,
Johnny Board, Don De Michael, John Young, Von Freeman, Truck Parham,
Lynn Halliday, Wilbur Campbell and more. He also has played extensively
with his contemporaries and friends from the "Champaign days"; Kelly
Brand, Kelly Sill, Art Davis, Ron DeWar, Eric Schneider, Dennis Luxion,
Dan De Lorenzo, Tim Green and Jim Cox.

National acts Phil has performed, accompanied or recorded with include
Marian McPartland, Joey De Francesco, Joe Henderson, Richie Cole, Jimmie
Heath, Steve Allen, The Smothers Brothers, Andy Williams, Debbie Boone,
Perry Como, and Bob Hope. He also has recorded scores of jazz educational
"play-alongs" for Frank Mantooth, Bill Harrison, and Greg Fishman and
is a twenty year veteran with the Ken Arlen Orchestra, one of Chicago's
top contemporary/special event organizations.

"My memories of Champaign/Urbana all seem to revolve around the great
open, welcoming musical scene there--from experiencing and playing
'New Music' with composers like Ed London, Sal Martorano, and the U of
I percussion ensembles under Tom Siwe, to jam sessions and tutoring and
gigs with Ron Dewar, Ric Bendel, Don Heitler, 'Count' Demon, Jim McNeely,
Jon Burr, 'The Bridgewaters', Nate Banks, Ron Elliston, Woody Woodward,
et al, and of course the one and only John Garvey! Coming back to play at
'The Table' was always a special musical and social reunion for me."

About the Jack Webb Jazz Band

Over thirty years ago in C-U, a great New Orleans style jazz band got
stuck with a name they couldn.t shake. Formed in Urbana in 1978/79 to
celebrate the early ensemble style of New Orleans jazz, all the original
group is travelling -- from Arizona, Washington state, and Chicago to join
the celebration of the great years at Natures Table in the NT reunion...

The "Webb Band" attracted dancers and listeners there and at Zorbas
on Green. This was early jazz dedicated to emphasize collective
improvisation, dancers. tempos, and the floating approach of New
Orleans picnic music. The members loved the early bands which worked
for live audiences before recording, for dances, benevolent association
doings, and those events that emerged from the street band tradition,
and associated with the New Orleans funeral parades. Champaign-Urbana
has a long history of great jazz, and fine bands representing the early
jazz tradition. The Webb group built upon, if with a different style,
the dynamic Memphis Nighthawks of the mid 1970's. Dewar, Miller and
Senese helped form and develop the Nighthawks, and will be remembering
their friends from that band, Cornetist Steve Jensen and Trombonist Joel
Heleney, who passed away in the intervening years.

The band was in fact at a loss, trying to find a band name for billing
when they were asked to play during the opening week of Nature's
Table. Members included Ron Dewar-clarinet/soprano saxophone; Mike
Miller-banjo; Scott Mordecai-drums; Guy Senese-Cornet/vocals; John
Sexton/trombone. A number of fine bass players from the area joined
the group periodically, including Dan Anderson, who will play the
reunion. Listening to a rehearsal tape Senese heard a tune ending that
sounded like the "dum, de dum dum" theme of an old detective show. He
couldn't think of "Dragnet". so, named the actor who played the lead,
"Sounds like Jack Webb." It stuck, and despite serious effort, they
couldn't get rid of it. Thirty years later, they can't get rid of each
other, and will provide again the sounds of early jazz for dancing at
the Nature's Table reunion.

About the Traditional Jazz Orchestra

Formed in 2009, the Traditional Jazz Orchestra (TJO) is part of a
long lineage of bands in the history of Champaign-Urbana performing
American music of the early 20th century.  Its immediate predecessor
was The New Golden Rule Orchestra, formed by Professor Lawrence Gushee
and in existence from 1984 to 1994, which at times shared some of the TJO's
current members (Tom Birkner on cornet, Morgan Powell on trombone,
Dan Anderson on bass or tuba, and Mike Miller on banjo).

The TJO's repetoire focuses on music from the 1920s and 1930s, including
music performed by King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton,
Fats Waller, and other popular composers from the period.

Additional information on the TJO may be found at the following site:

http://www.morganpowellmusic.com/tjo.php

About The Mudhens

The Mudhens were one of Champaign-Urbana's most poplar blues bands
from 1985-1990.  Founded by guitarist Bruce "Bruiser" Rummenie and his
bassist and brother Scott Portzline, the band included Tom "T-Bone"
Miller on drums, Bruce "Hollywood" Bethel on sax, and front man and lead
singer Kevin Deforrest. The Mudhens regularly performed at Mabels and the
Alley Cat with their signature brand of upbeat blues and original music.

The band recorded two albums, Have Mercy and Waxing the Cat,
and have not performed together collectively in 20 years.

The current line up will feature all original members with the exception
of Bethel; in his stead, the band will feature C/U jazz stalwart Peter
Roubal on tenor sax.

About The Freak Brothers

The Freak Brothers were originally a side project formed by Jay
Rosenstein of Otis and the Elevators, and Kevin Deforrest and Bruce
'Bruiser' Rummenie of The Mudhens.  All three were good friends, shared
a love of acoustic, American music, and were songwriters with songs that
didn't fit the bands they were in at the time.

The three musicians joined forces in 1990 and got their name "The
Freak Brothers" from one of Kevin's favorite comic books in college.
They played various venues in the C/U scene, most notably Nature's Table,
and culminated with a live "bootleg" album at Channing Murray in 1991 -
with Danny Deckard (of The Mighty Pranksters) on percussion.

Kevin Deforrest currently lives in Colorado and continues his
songwriting/performing career, while Bruiser and Jay have remained in
C/U and recently re-ignited their musical partnership.

The Freak Brothers play their own brand of original and classic acoustic
music—blues/folk/bluegrass/country/gospel—Real music for
real people— handcrafted in small batches.

Blasts from the past . . .

• Pictures!
• The schedule. A work in progress.
• The menu. Mmmmm.
• Jazz Threads page on Nature's Table
• Remembering Nature's Table in Urbana - From WILL-TV's premiere episode of "Prairie Fire", aired 4/9/1992