March 16, 2015
Church on Monday was voted Best Jazz Band and Best Ongoing Residency as part of the 2014-2015 Austin Music Awards. The band and Elias also placed in the Top 10 in the following categories: #1 Best Jazz - Church on Monday #1 Best Ongoing Residency - Church on Monday #2 Best Horns - Elias Haslanger #5 Band of the Year - Church on Monday #5 Musician of the Year - Elias Haslanger #7 Album of the Year - LIVE at the Gallery Thanks to the Austin Chronicle and all of the readers who voted for the group! Review the full list of winners >> here |
January 16, 2015
Elias has been nominated for the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame as part of the Austin Chronicle's annual music poll. The winners of the awards are listed online and in the Chronicle during SXSW which provides a great opportunity for sharing the band's music with a wider audience. Austin Band of the Year >> Church on Monday Austin Musician of the Year >> Elias Haslanger Austin Album of the Year >> LIVE at the Gallery Best Performing Bands >> Jazz >> Church on Monday Best Austin Musicians >> Horn(s) >> Elias Haslanger Best Ongoing Residency >> Church on Monday Hall of Fame >> Elias Haslanger |
January 10, 2015
Church on Monday featuring Elias, Jake Langley, Dr. James Polk, Daniel Durham, and Scott Laningham performed with Susan Voelz, violin, Brian Standefer, cello, Karla Manzur, vocals, Grace Park, vocals, Emily Hello, vocals, and Betty Soo, vocals for Alejandro Escovedo's 3rd Annual ACL Live at the Moody Theater show. The audience reception was fantastic as the band delivered a sweeping review of Alejandro's music that included a improvised re-enactment of Hurricane Odile, which Alejandro and his wife Nancy lived through during their honeymoon. Read the Austin-American Statesman review of the show >> here |
December 23, 2014
Elias and Church on Monday will perform with legendary singer and songwriter Alejandro Escovedo at Austin's ACL Live at the Moody Theatre on January 10, 2015. Alejandro's annual show at Austin's best venue will feature a lineup of classic Alejandro music arranged specifically for Church on Monday. Buy tickets >> here Find out more about the Always A Friend Patron Program |
September 30, 2014
Elias and his band Church on Monday celebrate 2 years in residency at The Continental Club Gallery in Austin, TX. Performing to a packed house every Monday night, the band has earned a reputation as regularly putting on one of the best shows in Austin, a town full of bands and amazing musicians. Featuring the great Dr. James Polk on B3 organ, Jake Langley on guitar, Daniel Durham on bass and Scott Laningham on drums, Church on Monday has become an Austin institution. |
August 10, 2014
Elias performed in front of a sold out audience with legendary singer and songwriter Alejandro Escovedo at Austin's Cactus Cafe. The intimate showcase featured a variety of songs from Alejandro's vast repertoire and highlighted Elias's improvisational and accompaniment skills. |
July 11, 2014
Elias was invited to perform with Sheryl Crow, Doyle Bramhall II, and Grupo Fantasma as part of Austin City Limits 40th Anniversary Special. The two hour special, slated to air in prime time on October 3, celebrates the long history of the legendary show that is regarded world-wide as the best music programming that TV has to offer. |
June 6, 2014
LIVE at the Gallery spends 12 weeks on the JazzWeek national radio charts climbing as high as #14 with heavy airplay across the United States and Canada. JazzWeek was founded in August 2001 after trade publication The Gavin Report ceased publishing a jazz radio chart, and has published weekly jazz radio airplay charts since that time. LIVE at the Gallery continues to be a top seller at CD Baby and across the world via iTunes. |
May 28, 2014
DownBeat magazine, the world's preeminent jazz and blues publication, has reviewed LIVE at the Gallery and given it 4.5 stars. Truly a testament to the dedication and camaraderie of Elias's band Church on Monday, DownBeat cites Sonny Rollins as an influence and calls the recording "one of the most enjoyable, raucously swinging, unpretentious yet adventurously soulful albums I've heard in a month of Sundays." "Haslanger's freewheeling licks roar with virtuosity and infectious joie de vivre." Michael Jackson, DownBeat |
May 22, 2014
Both Church on Monday and LIVE at the Gallery are EDITORS' PICKS for CD Baby, the world's largest online retailer of independent artist releases. Critical reviews for LIVE at the Gallery Austin Chronicle review: http://bit.ly/Ri19Cz Examiner.com review: http://exm.nr/1vRJuSA All About Jazz review: http://bit.ly/1ocMLdp Blog Critics review: http://bit.ly/1jKu5Q6 Bop-n-Jazz: http://bit.ly/1t2hKX8 Seattle-PI review: http://bit.ly/1naagl9 |
May 4, 2014
Elias performed with the great jazz vocalist Carmen Bradford for the Austin Jazz Society's 2nd season kickoff. Carmen, Elias and the band played to an appreciative and enthusiastic audience who were treated to a wonderful set delivered by one of the premiere jazz singers on the scene today. Carmen Bradford spent 9 years touring with the Count Basie Orchestra and has played with a long list of jazz luminaries. Her soulful and sophisticated approach has touched people across the world. |
April 14, 2014
Black Fret, Austin's non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the arts, named Elias and Church on Monday as one of its inaugural nominees to be considered for a $10,000 grant. Black Fret's mission is to help Austin musicians achieve their goals by offering mentoring and a cash award that artists can apply to recording, promotion, or any activity the artist feels will best help the advance their career. Finalists for the award will be announced in November at the Black Fret Ball. |
March 6, 2014
Elias Haslanger and Church on Monday will play a showcase at the music industry's biggest event, SXSW on March 13 @ 11pm at The Elephant Room in Austin, TX. Elias and the band will also kick off this year's festivities by playing a set at the Austin Music Awards. Joining Elias and Church on Monday will be the great trumpeter Ephraim Owens and legendary Asleep at the Wheel bandleader, Ray Benson. |
February 18, 2014
Elias Haslanger and Church on Monday officially launch a Kickstarter campaign for LIVE at the Gallery, the group's follow on to their first CD. Featuring Elias on tenor sax, Dr. James Polk on B3, Jake Langley on guitar, Scott Laningham on drums and Daniel Durham on bass, the live recording captures two exciting nights at Austin's famous Continental Club Gallery. Help push this project to the finish line! UPDATE: CD RELEASE PARTY scheduled for March 31 at 8:30pm at the Continental Club Gallery in Austin, TX BUY NOW >> |
January 11, 2014
Church on Monday debuted this weekend at Austin's iconic venue, the ACL-Live Moody Theater, as part of Alejandro Escovedo's United Sounds of Austin concert. Elias and the band, featuring Ephraim Owens, shared the bill with many musical greats like Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, The Bells of Joy, and others. The concert was a celebration of the rich tradition and history of music that has flourished in Austin since the 1940's. Elias wrote and premiered a new original composition for the program entitled "For Being There" as a tribute to Dr. James Polk and the Church on Monday band. The band's performance was enthusiastically received by the sold out crowd and was favorably reviewed in Rolling Stone magazine who said the band "brought down the house". Read the Rolling Stone article >> here |
September 19, 2013
Elias and his Church on Monday band just completed a very successful two-night recording session at the Continental Club Gallery. Both nights were packed with an appreciative and enthusiastic audience. Click here to read the stellar review by the Austin Chronicle. The sessions were so successful that the band and the club are going to reprise the performance and recording session for one night only on Monday, October 14, 2013 starting at 8:30pm. |
August 13, 2013
Church on Monday LIVE at the Continental Club Gallery Monday, September 16 at 8:30pm and Tuesday, September 17 at 8:30pm has SOLD OUT. Elias and his award-winning band will perform at Austin's world-famous Continental Club for an exclusive two-night recording engagement that will document the group for an upcoming CD release. Seating is now at capacity and we ask those who are attending to respectfully refrain from conversation during the recording. |
June 18, 2013
Elias was chosen to participate in Dell Computer Corporation's latest marketing campaign focusing on personal achievement. The campaign features a video, a series of Facebook and Twitter posts as well as a page on Dell.com and a feature callout in Dell's June 2013 catalog. The story describes three different elements of Elias's life which he's passionate about: Music, Technology and Education. |
April 25, 2013
Elias is featured in the June 2013 issue of Downbeat magazine, the world's preeminent jazz publication. The digital version of the magazine is out now and digital subscribers can download the pdf from Downbeat.com. Elias is also shown playing Macsax Saxophones in half page ads in the June issues of both Downbeat and JazzTimes. The feature is largely due to the success and hard work behind Elias's most recent recording, Church on Monday, which was released in September of 2012 and recently completed an 11-week run on the JazzWeek national radio charts, peaking at #14 with over 163 spins the week of March 4, 2013. Elias continues his residency with the band featuring Dr. James Polk on B3 organ, Jake Langley on guitar, Daniel Durham on bass and Scott Laningham on drums at the famous Continental Club Gallery in Austin, TX every Monday night at 8:30pm. |
March 13, 2013
Elias was voted Best Jazz band in Austin for 2012-2013 by Austin music fans and the Austin Chronicle. The award was presented during the Austin Music Awards, the annual celebration of Austin music and musicians that takes place during SXSW. Elias also placed #9 for Musician of the Year, #7 for Best Album of the Year for Church on Monday, and #2 for Best Horns. Elias also performed an official showcase for SXSW at the Elephant Room that Saturday to a packed house with his band Church on Monday, celebrating the release of his award-winning new recording. |
February 28, 2013
Church on Monday, the latest recording from Elias, climbs the JazzWeek national radio charts to #14 in this, his 5th week on the charts. JazzWeek was founded in August 2001 after trade publication The Gavin Report ceased publishing a jazz radio chart, and has published weekly jazz radio airplay charts since that time. The band featuring Dr. James Polk, Jake Langley, Scott Laningham, and Daniel Durham was named after the recording and they perform weekly at The Continental Club Gallery in Austin, TX at 8:30pm. |
December 18, 2012
Today, Elias was chosen as a finalist for the position of State Musician of Texas by a panel at the Texas Commission on the Arts. This prestigious position has previously been awarded to Lyle Lovett, Ray Benson and Willie Nelson and is a reflection of Elias’s hard work and dedication to advancing the arts in Texas. |
December 8, 2012
Elias was featured on the front page of Life & Arts in the Austin American Statesman today. The article, written by Brad Buchholz, details Elias's love for jazz and reveals a bit about how Elias came to make the new recording, Church on Monday. “This is not so much a modern jazz freakout session as much as it is a swinging, groove thing,” says Haslanger, who hadn’t released an album in six years before “Church on Monday.” “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.” More than that: It’s one of the sweetest, sincere breezes to blow through the Austin jazz world in a long time “You know what I love about jazz?” Haslanger likes to say. “In any one song, you can have a full range of emotions and feeling. Joy. Sorrow. Humor. Sophistication. Elegance. Blues. All of it comes out. … That’s not to say other music doesn’t have it. … But it’s the kind of music that captures so immediately these different ranges, right? In the tempos. Whether it’s soft or loud. In the changes. And it all goes together into this real immediate music. It’s pretty impactful when it’s all done right.” |