THE HARDEN PROJECT
The spirit of music brought them together and the spirit of love binds them together. When you go to experience The Harden Project you will feel the love of music encapsulated in this couples musicianship. The core of The Harden Project consists of vocalist Ja’Nia Harden and keyboardist John Harden II. These two artists skillfully and fearlessly play off of each other and displays fluent chemistry during their performances.
Their influences range from Bobby McFerrin, Dinah Washington, Al Jarreau, Jimmy Smith, Robert Glasper, Soulive, and Bobby Floyd. The couple blends their influences and life experiences to create soulful groovy sometimes enchanting compositions. They are not afraid of being transparent and open while performing.
The goal of the project is to bring soul-stirring, emotion-provoking, life-influenced music to the world. The Harden Project features fusion based music of all genres, heavily influenced by jazz, social music, and soul.
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BEN BEAL
Ben first fell in love with jazz in his early teens. His first piano teacher filled his ears with George Shearing, Oscar Peterson, and many more. Other passions such as foreign languages and history revealed themselves around this time, but it took just two days as a history major at the University of Massachusetts to realize that music needed to be his focus and life’s work.
Since moving to South Florida four years ago, he has become one of the area’s most in demand jazz pianists and vocalists for both public and private events and concerts. He has performed at many of South Florida’s historic venues including the Adrienne Arsht Center, North Beach Bandshell, Ball and Chain, and Le Chat Noir. Recent performance highlights include the Groundup Festival on Miami Beach with acclaimed pianist Shelly Berg, 2 extended tours with Miami funk outfit Soulpax, the Oceanside Jazz Festival in San Diego, California, and the Jazz Educator’s Network Conference.
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MARCUS MILLER, TANK & THE BANGAS, SOUL REBELS, DJ LOGIC
The opening of our free concert series, SummerStage and long standing programming partner, Blue Note Jazz Festival, has assembled a group of performers that stretch the boundaries of jazz and funk to incorporate the wide variety of African Diaspora sounds. “Laid Black” multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller has collaborated closely with artists who can be called legends without any hyperbole: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross, Wayne Shorter, and David Sanborn– to name a few.
The two-time GRAMMY winning artist’s chops are deadly serious, but he still knows how to keep it loose, counting “Da Butt,” the tongue-in-cheek anthem from Spike Lee’s School Daze, among his impressive songwriting credits. The evening also features two New Orleans-based SummerStage alumni: Tank and the Bangas, the NPR Tiny Desk contest-winning ensemble that fuses funk, soul, hip-hop, rock, and spoken-word poetry into an unforgettable performance, fresh off a GRAMMY win for leading lady Tank’s spoken word album; and The Soul Rebels, an eight-piece ensemble revolutionizing the conventional brass band framework to inject new life into sounds from across the pop spectrum. DJ Logic will be on the ones and twos between sets.
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NICOLE HENRY
Since her debut, Nicole Henry has established herself among the jazz world’s most acclaimed performers, possessing a potent combination of dynamic vocal abilities, impeccable phrasing, and powerful emotional resonance.
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FRAN VIELMA JAZZ ORCHESTRA
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