Christian Tamburr is creating intimate concert experiences with some of the genre’s most accomplished musicians
By Kurt Dusterberg
Christian Tamburr occupies a well-traveled lane in the music industry.
He’s performed alongside legends and played in more than 60 countries, but unless you’re a jazz aficionado, you probably don’t know his name. So when the renowned vibraphonist meets people who have seen him perform with his quintet, he’s amused by their reaction.
“They just assume you should be so famous,” Tamburr says, before letting out a laugh. “I’m like, I totally agree, I should be super famous. But I’m really happy doing what I do.”
In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Tamburr has served as the musical director and pianist for Las Vegas magicians Penn & Teller as well as Spanish singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias. But since becoming an Apex resident in 2019, he’s poured his energy into developing a curated series of jazz performances in the Triangle. His guest artists are much like himself, accomplished musicians with elite musical credentials—but perhaps with more name recognition.
For the past five years, Tamburr has hosted sold-out shows at The Cary Theater and Fuquay-Varina Arts Center as part of the Legacy of Jazz series, backed by his quintet. He’s recently broadened his musical offerings to include an ambitious concert series that extends his reach across the Triangle and takes performances on tour throughout the Southeast. The Icons of Jazz shows take place in small, suburban concert settings, where the fit feels natural for jazz performances.
“These artists are creating the music right in the moment based upon what the other people around them do,” Tamburr says. “And to be that close and to be that intimate, you really get to see the subtleties of how that all comes together when presented in a beautiful space, in an intimate environment. The audience has the opportunity to really appreciate that high level of artistry.”
The upcoming schedule includes a performance by Durham couple Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz. The Grammy-nominated artists will perform at the Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex on November 20. In December, the Christian Tamburr Trio will team up with vocalist Shana Tucker for “My Favorite Things: Swinging the Songs of the Season” for two shows in Cary and another in Garner.
“We do all the classic holiday favorites and some new arrangements, with a good bit of audience participation and jingling of passed out jingle bells,” he says. “Then I read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.’ It’s like a variety hour.”
The series reflects a reality about jazz and other genres with niche audiences: Talented artists and dedicated fans are willing to support them, but making a living can still be a challenge.
“It is a hustle,” Tamburr says. “I think we signed up for that on day one. Maybe not. I feel like, day one, we were enamored by the art. But now that I have this sort of network of venues, I can offer these artists an opportunity to come here and play across a couple different venues. It’s lucrative enough for them to make the trip, and then I get the added benefit of getting to perform or collaborate with them.”
This spring, the series will feature Wendy Moten, whose musical imprint includes a runner-up finish on NBC’s The Voice in 2021. The 62-year-old has made a career as a touring musician, most recently with country star Vince Gill earlier this year.
“In those smaller venues, they come there to listen,” Moten says. “That makes a big difference, especially if not everybody knows your name. Ninety percent may have never heard of me. But they’ll get to know me and hopefully we’ll make a connection. And I love that. I love being the underdog and winning them over.”
Tamburr feels the same way. The payoff is big for both the musicians and the audience.
“It’s important to me that all these venues are presenting it at a very high level and giving the audience the ability to experience this,” Tamburr says. “Being able to hear the breath of the audience when that last note of the ballad just fades into the room. Everybody’s just waiting until that applause moment. The audience becomes as much a part of the performance as the musicians on the stage.”
Triangle couple still nurturing a life in music
Keith Ganz and Kate McGarry met at a gig when they lived and worked in New York City. Keith, a guitarist, needed a vocalist and asked his bass player for a recommendation. Kate, it turned out, hit all the right notes.
“We did the gig, and we just hit it off musically,” Ganz says.
They married a year later. That was 23 years ago.
“When you’re playing with someone and you feel like you have the same kind of values in the music, it’s easy for that to translate into life,” McGarry says.
In the years since, both have been nominated for multiple Grammys, the result of a life’s work in jazz. For decades, they recorded, toured, and played in New York clubs.
“We were both there for 10 or 11 years and were very successful,” McGarry says. “We played at all the great clubs and started our recording careers and did a lot of great things. It was all the best things about New York.”
But making ends meet in New York was no easy task.
“So many of the musicians we knew down here, they owned their own homes, and they were doing fine,” McGarry says. “They weren’t scrapping the same way they were in New York.”
Ganz had grown up in Greensboro and attended UNC-Chapel Hill. After visiting friends in Durham in 2009, they jumped at the chance to move to the Triangle.
“Because we had established a certain reputation in New York, we were able to continue touring and we could set up our own tours when we wanted to,” Ganz says. “In jazz, there’s numerous different ways that you work. There’s booking your own gigs, which is mostly touring. Then there’s other people calling you; you’re playing as a sideman, which we both do. Then there’s local gigs and there’s teaching.”
Today, they’re more selective about their opportunities but continue to perform and record together whenever possible.
“I think we’re kind of seen as a nexus of where folk and jazz and singer/songwriter stuff meet,” McGarry says. “We use the influences of a lot of those and interweave them into songs that feel relevant for this moment in our lives.”
Their jazz careers have created a lifetime of memories, including McGarry’s nomination for best jazz vocal album for “If Less Is More…Nothing Is Everything” in 2009. Ganz served as the album’s producer, arranger, and guitarist.
Other recollections remind them that a life in the performing arts comes with challenges. Years ago, Ganz and McGarry were scheduled to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of a State Department program to send jazz abroad. But when unrest broke out in the country, they were hastily rerouted.
“They sent us to Mongolia in December, where it’s -37 degrees during the day,” Ganz remembers. “There’s snow everywhere, you can’t see the road. There’s plumes of smoke from everyone burning stuff for heat.”
But at the end of it all, there was jazz.
“That night, they had us play at a big party with dignitaries,” McGarry says. “We ended up being background music. It was the most demoralizing thing.”
Still, Ganz and McGarry will gladly accept the occasional international mix-up. On balance, a career in music has been its own reward.
“More than whatever successes I’ve had and what fun gigs I’ve had, the most important thing feels like an almost lifelong meditation practice,” Ganz says.
