Notorious Jazz

HEIDI MARTIN ENSEMBLE
2023-11-08 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Keystone Korner Baltimore, 1350 Lancaster Street, Baltimore, MD, 21231, United States
Ensemble: Janelle Gil, Romeir Mendez, Justin Faulkner, Paige Brown, Tim Warfield & Clarence Ward, III
A treat in store for jazz-vocals fans released at the end of this month this from American singer Heidi Martin full of original, involving compositions with some very sensitive accompaniment by among others guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Eric Harland recorded in a New York studio last summer. At times you land as if in Joni Mitchell territory time-travelling as the record dips and darts into unexpected areas and sharing the same oblique poeticism of Mitchell and a certain spirit of adventure musically and lyrically that lifts the spirits. If you’re into Dena DeRose, Patricia Barber or Tierney Sutton step this way.

LAUFEY
2023-11-07 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave NE, Atlanta, GA, 30307, United States
Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) is a 24-year-old, Los Angeles-based singer, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist whose jazz songs are about young love and self-discovery. Raised between Reykjavík and Washington, D.C. with annual visits to Beijing, the Icelandic-Chinese artist grew up playing cello as well as piano and became hooked on the jazz standards of Ella Fitzgerald after digging through her father’s record collection.
In 2020, while still a student at Berklee College of Music, Laufey released her debut single “Street by Street,” which went on to top the Icelandic radio charts. Following the release of her 2021 Typical of Me EP, Laufey was named Best New Artist in Jazz and Blues at the Icelandic Music Awards and hosted her own show on BBC Radio 3/BBC Sounds. Her debut full-length Everything I Know About Love, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart, and the lead single “Valentine” peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. In 2022 Laufey was the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify, with 425 million streams across all platforms.

JAZZMEIA HORN
2023-11-07 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, United States
With Frost Jazz Orchestra, the Frost Sextet, The Dafnis Prieto Artist Ensemble | John Daversa and Chuck Bergeron, directors
Billboard says she is “the jazz world’s most exciting young vocalist” and DownBeat praises herfor striking “a deft balance between mid-century jazz and contemporary neo-soul.” Award-winning vocalist Jazzmeia Horn joins forces with Frost Jazz Orchestra for an evening of jazz.

GEORGE COLLIGAN
2023-11-03 20:30 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | The Side Door, Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, 06371, United States
George Colligan – piano | Nicole Glover – saxophone | Alex Claffy – bass | Kush Abadey – drums
George Colligan is not only one of the great jazz pianists of his generation, but he has earned an international reputation as a multi-instrumentalist (drums, trumpet, organ, keyboards), composer, accompanist, teacher, and bandleader, as well as popular blogger. Winner of the 2015 DownBeat magazine Critics Poll (Keyboard), he has had a long association with living jazz legend Jack DeJohnette; recent touring took Colligan around the U.S. with “An Evening with Jack DeJohnette and Savion Glover.” He has also recently toured the U.S. and Canada as a leader with his trio featuring legends Buster Williams and Lenny White. With over 130 albums to date as an accompanist, Colligan has worked with a long list of jazz greats, including John Scofield, Buster Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Chris Botti, and many others. His latest album, “King’s Dream” (PJCE Records 2022) is his 36th as a bandleader.
Colligan, a New York resident for 15 years, now resides in Portland, Oregon where he is a Full Professor at Portland State University. He has recently won two Region Arts and Culture Council grants, A South Arts Jazz Road grant, and a PSU Faculty Development grant. Colligan recently won the PSU College of The Arts Dean’s Council Award for Research, Scholarship and Creativity(2020), and also won the Researcher of the Year Award from the PSU College Of The Arts(2021).
Ticket Fees: $2.58~$3.56

HENRY MANCINI 100TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
2023-11-03 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Adrienne Arsht Center | Knight Concert Hall, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL, 33132, United States
Starring Monica Mancini with special guests John Pizzarelli, Shelly Berg, Gregg Field and Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute
From “Moon River” to “The Pink Panther Theme,” “Baby Elephant Walk” and “Days of Wine and Roses,” Henry Mancini composed some of the most beloved music of our time, while revolutionizing the art of film scoring.
The Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra will be joined onstage by Henry’s daughter, two-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Monica Mancini, and eight-time Grammy winner Gregg Field, plus other surprise guest artists in a multimedia event to kick off the centenary celebration of Mancini’s birth.

RUSSELL MALONE
2023-11-03 19:30 - 2023-11-04 23:00 (America/New_York) | The Velvet Note, 4075 Old Milton Parkway, Alpharetta, GA, 30005, United States
Russell Malone is one of the signature guitar players of his generation. The several recordings since 1992, Malone is as well-known on the international circuit for helming a world-class quartet and trio as he is for his long-standing participation in Ron Carter’s Golden Striker Trio, and his recent consequential contribution to the musical production of the likes of Sonny Rollins and Dianne Reeves, who recruited Malone for his singular tone, refined listening skills, limitless chops, and efflorescent imagination.
In all these circumstances, Malone addresses the tradition on its own terms, refracting the vocabularies and syntax of such heroes as Charlie Christian, Chet Atkins, George Van Eps, Johnny Smith, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino, and George Benson into an argot entirely his own. A master of all tempos, a relentless swinger, he spins his stories —in idioms ranging from the urban and down-home blues, country, gospel, various corners of the American Songbook, and hardcore jazz—with a soulful, instantly recognizable instrumental voice, and seasons them with sophisticated harmonies that are never “too hip for the room.”

EBBAN & EPHRAIM DORSEY: HOMECOMING
2023-11-03 19:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | Keystone Korner Baltimore, 1350 Lancaster Street, Baltimore, MD, 21231, United States
The multi-talented siblings have been playing together since they were 10 and 11. They continue to strive with their gifts as they travel, playing with some of the best local, national and international recording artists. Their performances can be described as two different voices coming together to create a healing, ethereal, and emotional experience for the listeners, as well as themselves.
Ebban Dorsey, 19-year-old alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, is from Baltimore, Maryland and has studied with Blake Meister, Carl Grubbs, Tim Green, and Gary Thomas. Ebban has gained a lot of experience playing Jazz and has even performed with Carl Grubbs, Gary Bartz (Performed on a live recording for the documentary titled, “Blues Chronicles”), Kamasi Washington, John Lamkin, Warren Wolf, Benito Gonzales, Kenny Garett, Tia Fuller, Sean Jones, Wycliffe Gordon, Tanya Darby, Erica Von Kleist, Mimi Jones, Shamie Royston, Reginald Thomas, Allison Miller, José James, Matthew Stevens, The Chuck Redd Band, Christian Scott, and many more. She was a member of NYO Jazz 2020 as well as NYO Jazz 2021 and recorded an album with the 2021 Jazz band. She has also performed a jazz rendition of “This Land is Your Land” at the Baltimore Orioles stadium as part of the “Women of Music” concert series, and later performed the national anthem alongside Ephraim Dorsey for the 2020 season opener. Ebban Dorsey is an extraordinary musician with a bright future ahead of her.
Ephraim Dorsey, 20-year-old tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, is from Baltimore, Maryland and has studied with Blake Meister, Carl Grubbs, Tim Green, and Gary Thomas. Ephraim has gained a lot of experience playing Jazz and has performed with Carl Grubbs, Gary Bartz (Performed on a live recording for the documentary titled, “Blues Chronicles”), Kamasi Washington (participated in a film project entitled, “As told to G/D thyself”’, which is available for viewing on iTunes and the Apple Store), Kenny Garett, John Lamkin, Warren Wolf, Benito Gonzales (Performed with at the twins Jazz Club), Kris Funn, Sean Jones, Wycliffe Gordon, Erica Von Kleist, Reginald Thomas, The Chuck Redd Band, Christian Scott, and many more. He was a member of NYO Jazz 2021 and recorded an album with the 2021 Jazz Band. Ephraim is a passionate Jazz musician and aims to share his gift with the rest of the world.
Ticket Fees: $1.70~$3.46

THE BAYLOR PROJECT
2023-11-03 19:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, 900 West End Avenue SW, Atlanta, GA, 30310, United States
Join us for The Gathering 2023 kick off with a concert to benefit Hammonds House Museum featuring 6X Grammy Award nominated husband and wife duo, The Baylor Project, at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on the campus of Morehouse College at 8:00 PM. In addition to an evening of amazing and masterful performance, there will be a silent auction, an opportunity to win a fine art print by one of Atlanta’s critically acclaimed visual artists and VIP meet and greet with The Baylors at a pre-reception at 7:00pm.
A husband. A wife. An astonishing duo built on love, family, faith, culture and community.
These are the things that power The Baylor Project featuring Jean Baylor and Marcus Baylor. This enticing collaboration is steeped in the heart and soul of jazz. As the children of Pastors, Marcus’ and Jean’s musical roots were planted deep within the church, and it was there that the road was paved for the influence of jazz, gospel, blues and soul to make it’s mark. Their debut CD “The Journey“, released on their own label, Be A Light, topped the Billboard Jazz Chart at Number 8 in 2017 and a year later garnered 2 GRAMMY® Nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance. Two years later during one of the most challenging years in recent history, The Baylors released their single, “Sit On Down” in 2020 which earned a 3rd GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance, solidifying The Baylor Project as an undeniable force. Their second album, “Generations,” released in 2021 earned the duo its first NAACP Image Award win for Outstanding Jazz Album-Vocal and it’s 4th GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. And their first live album, “The Evening : Live At APPARATUS” earned The Baylors their 5th and 6th GRAMMY® Nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo.
Marcus and Jean Baylor signed an exclusive distribution agreement, in partnership with their artist-owned label, Be A Light with Motown Gospel (a division of Capitol CMG/Capitol and Universal Music Group) making The Baylor Project’s catalogue available for the first time across all streaming platforms.

JEAN CHAUMONT
2023-11-03 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Coffee Oasis, 822 Burwell Street, Bremerton, WA, 98337, United States
French jazz guitarist and composer who started playing guitar at fourteen years old, after eight years of piano training. Two years later, he began formally studying jazz music. He received a degree in jazz musical studies from the Conservatory of Orsay in 2004, later rounding out this academic training by playing extensively in France with musicians such as Fiona Monbet, Ibrahim Maalouf, Armel Dupas, and Karl Jannuska in venues such as Festival Jazz à Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Charlie Jazz Festival, Salle Pleyel, and Sunset/Sunside. Alongside his performance work, Chaumont was commissioned for various compositions and arrangements including the scoring of “Le Bonheur en Suspens,” a full-length French documentary for France 3.
Chaumont moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 2014. He began composing for his debut album, The Beauty of Differences, which was released on 15 June 2018. It received critical acclaim including a four-star review from Down Beat magazine and remained in the top 100 in jazz radio airplay for ten weeks in the United States, according to JazzWeek. The Beauty of Differences features a core band with bassist Ike Sturm, saxophonist Sam Sadigursky, pianist Michael Bond, and drummer Rudy Royston as well as Tierney Sutton, Vinod Gnanaraj, John Hadfield, and Enoch Smith Jr. as guests. Its proceeds will finance the excavation of wells in the Sakata region of Malawi, Africa through the Villages in Partnership organization.
Admission: $5.00 Donation ~ Cash Only | 25 and Younger: Free | Youth Arrive At 6:00pm For A Free Dinner

NOEL FREIDLINE & MARIA HOWELL
2023-11-03 08:00 - 2023-11-04 17:00 (America/New_York) | Middle C Jazz, 300 South Brevard Street, Charlotte, NC, 28202, United States
A jazz Celebration of Stevie Wonder featuring special guest Adam McKnight.
For over 35 years, Maria Howell, this petite North Carolina native, who splits her time between both the east coast and the west coast, has developed her career as a singer, actor, and voiceover artist. Her debut acting role was the choir soloist in the Oscar Nominated film, “The Color Purple”. She has gone on to appear in hit TV shows as Lifetime’s “Army Wives”, NBC’s “Revolution”, and CBS’s “Criminal Minds”. Feature films…“The Blind Side”, “Hidden Figures”, and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. As a song stylist, Maria has shared the musical stage with legendary artists as, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Ray Charles, Earl Klugh, brothers Ronnie and Hubert Laws, and veteran actor/singer, Keith David.
Pianist, vocalist, writer, arranger and educator, doesn’t come close to all things Noel Freidline! As a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of North Florida, with a BA in Music, Noel has been the bandleader of The Noel Freidline Quintet for over 26 years. He has numerous recordings to his credit, and has performed at jazz festivals from the Jacksonville Jazz Festival (FL)…to the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland)…not to mention, a 3-year stint at the world famous Bellagio in Las Vegas, as the house band, leading his NFQ, where he performed for actress Julia Robert’s surprise 35th birthday party.
Noel was named Best Jazz Musician by Charlotte Magazine in 2006 and in 2009 and was named “Best Musical Director”, by the Metrolina Theatre Association of the Carolinas. In 2011 Freidline was chosen for the Blumenthal Performing Arts Association – Center Stage Award (Charlotte, NC), in recognition of his excellence in service to the arts. And in May, 2015, Noel Freidline was inducted into the Jacksonville Jazz Hall of Fame.

RENÉ MARIE
2023-11-01 19:30 - 2023-11-05 23:00 (America/New_York) | Harold & Dorothy Steward Center For Jazz, 3536 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63103, United States
In a span of two decades, 11 recordings, and countless stage performances, vocalist René Marie has cemented her reputation as not only a singer but also a composer, arranger, theatrical performer and teacher. Guided and tempered by powerful life lessons and rooted in jazz traditions laid down by Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and other leading ladies of past generations, she borrows various elements of folk, R&B, classical, and country to create a captivating hybrid style. Her body of work is musical, but it’s more than just music. It’s an exploration of all corners of the human experience, an affirmation of the power of the human spirit.
While neither of her parents were formally trained musicians, radio and records of all kinds – blues, folk, bluegrass and classical – made up the soundtrack to her childhood. René had just one year of formal piano training at age nine, then another year of lessons at age 13. During her teenage years, she sang in a few R&B bands at musical functions in her community. She composed and sang her first piece with a band when she was 15.
But René put her musical aspirations aside to make room for the obligations and responsibilities of adulthood. She married a former bandmate when she was 18, and by the mid-1990s, she was the mother of two and working in a bank. When she was 41, her older son convinced her to start singing again, and she took a few tenuous steps into her local music scene, singing for tips one night a week in a hotel bar. It would be several months before she actually earned any real living as a singer.
René made a series of profound course corrections that steered her back toward a full-time career in music. René’s self-produced CD, Renaissance, was released in 1999 and soon after in 2000, she signed onto the MaxJazz label and recorded four more over the next four years.
Perhaps more than most artists, René understands music’s capacity to heal and inspire. Not only has she herself been the beneficiary of it, but she has made every effort along the way to extend those same benefits to others.
Prepaid Parking: $15.00

TYSHAWN SOREY TRIO
2023-10-31 20:00 - 2023-11-05 23:30 (America/New_York) | Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue S, New York City, NY, 10014, United States
At 43, Tyshawn Sorey is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and professor of contemporary music. Sorey has received accolades for performances, recordings, and compositions ranging from improvised solo percussion to opera, with work in best-of lists for both classical and jazz music.
A Newark native, is among the most formidable denizens of the in-between zone. Here is an extraordinary talent who can see across the entire musical landscape.

KURT ELLING SUPERBLUE AT UNION CHAPEL
2023-10-31 19:00 - 22:30 (Europe/London) | Jazz Cafe London, 5 Parkway, Camden,, London NW1 7PG, United Kingdom
Grammy winner Kurt Elling is without question today’s preeminent male jazz vocalist, renowned worldwide for his unparalleled virtuosity and flair for trailblazing artistic exploration.
From his stunning reinvention of timeless standards to his own captivating original songcraft, the Chicago-based musician has fused his dazzling talents across a panoply of musical approaches, emblazoning each with signature imagination, insight, and emotional intelligence.
He presents his stunning new LP, SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree.
The follow up to 2021’s remarkable SuperBlue, the album once again sees Elling joining forces with producer/guitarist Charlie Hunter and multi-instrumentalist duo drummer Corey Fonville and bassist-keyboardist DJ Harrison for a kaleidoscopic collection of new songs, surprising covers, and dynamic reinventions.

CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE'S NEW JAWN
2023-10-29 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | City Winery Atlanta, Ponce City Market, 650 North Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA, 30308, United States
Christian McBride is an eight-time GRAMMY Award winning bassist, composer, and bandleader. McBride is the Artistic Director of the historic Newport Jazz Festival, New Jersey Performing Arts center (NJPAC) and the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Christian is also a respected educator and advocate as the Artistic Director of Jazz House KiDS, and the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions. In addition to consistent touring, McBride hosts NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” and “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM. Whether behind the bass or away from it, Christian McBride is always of the music. From jazz, to R&B, pop/rock, hip-hop/neo-soul, to classical, he is a luminary with one hand ever reaching for new heights, and the other extended in fellowship—and perhaps the hint of a challenge—inviting us to join him.
Doors ~ 6:30pm

PETER WHITE, MINDI ABAIR, VINCENT INGALA
2023-10-29 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, CA, 92660, United States
Over the years, Peter White has maintained a reputation as one of the most versatile and prolific acoustic guitarists on the contemporary jazz landscape. Armed with an unparalleled combination of lyricism and energy, he combines elements of jazz, pop and classical guitar to create a sound that is singular and at the same time accessible to a broad audience.
Born in 1954 in Luton, a small town north of London, White and his family moved to nearby Letchworth shortly after he was born. As a child, he learned to play several musical instruments, including the clarinet, trombone, violin and piano. And of course, like so many youngsters growing up during the heyday of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, he gravitated to the guitar.
He learned his first chords on an acoustic guitar, then bought his first electric guitar in his early teens and studied the recordings of the reigning guitar gods of the day – Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. But his musical aspirations ultimately veered back in an acoustic direction following an accident that doomed his beloved electric guitar. The axe was destroyed in a fire, one that White’s younger brother Danny – an aspiring pianist – accidentally started.
“The funny thing is that Danny didn’t actually admit to setting that fire for at least twenty-five years,” says White. “I had been kind of obsessed with the electric guitar at that point in my life, so that episode kind of forced me to go back to playing the acoustic. In retrospect, that’s a good thing.”
Indeed, White’s interests after the accident shifted more toward the music of acoustic artists like Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. Plugged or unplugged, he had decided by his late teens that music was his calling, and his first professional gig was at a holiday resort in England when he was 19 years old.
Barely a year later, he was invited to join Al Stewart’s band as a keyboardist for a tour of England, Scotland, and the U.S. in 1975. In addition to opening for artists like Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel and Queen, White worked with Stewart in the studio in the making of Year of the Cat, which became a huge hit for Stewart in 1976. The tour and the album marked the beginning of a twenty-year association with Stewart. In that time, the two musicians co-wrote numerous songs, including Stewart’s 1978 hit, “Time Passages.”
By the beginning of the ‘80s, White and Stewart had relocated to Los Angeles, formed a band called Shot in the Dark, and established a music publishing company called Lobster Music. Around the same time, Danny White – he of the burning guitar incident several years earlier – formed a group called Matt Bianco, which included a talented Polish singer named Basia Trzetrzelewska. Danny White and Basia splintered off to launch the singer’s solo career with the 1987 debut album, Time and Tide, which featured Peter White on guitar.
After fifteen years as a backup musician and a session player, White launched his solo recording career with the 1990 release of Reveillez-Vous (French for “Wake up,” a title chosen by White in honor of his French mother). The album included several unused songs that White had written for Stewart, and it became a favorite among contemporary jazz radio stations.
He followed with three records on the Sindrome label – Excusez-Moi (1991), Promenade (1993) and Reflections (1994) – before signing with Columbia for the 1996 release of Caravan of Dreams. He maintained an ambitious release schedule through the ‘90s and beyond, but also found time to appear on recordings by many of his friends, including Dave Koz, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Jeff Golub, Lee Ritenour, Kirk Whalum, Boney James and many others.
On the road, he has participated in numerous “Guitars and Saxes” tours with the aforementioned players, and has established an annual “Peter White Christmas Tour” – the latter enterprise fueled by the success of his two highly regarded holiday albums, Songs of the Season (1997) and A Peter White Christmas (2007).
Good Day, released in 2009 on Peak Records, a division of Concord Music Group, was White’s first collection of original songs in several years. “I just started going through my backlog of material – songs that I’d never finished, some going as far back as ten or fifteen years – and I discovered that I had a lot of gems that I really wanted to show to the world,” he says. “I wanted to record them in my own time and in my own way, without any outside influence or interference.”
White released Here We Go in 2012 on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group. The 11-song set, produced by White and DC (George Benson, Larry Carlton, Bob James, Patty Austin), featured several high-profile guest musicians, including saxophonists David Sanborn and Kirk Whalum, and pianist Philippe Saisse, and included a range of original material written in the recent and distant past. “I wanted variety,” says White. “I wanted songs that moved me, in the hopes that they’ll move the listener as well. I’m on a journey, and I want to bring with me anyone who’s willing to follow.”
Smile, released on October 7, 2014, is the final CD in White’s trilogy of albums consisting entirely of his own material. Co-produced with DC, the recording features ten tracks – some were written recently, some White wrote along the way with close friends and some were from the vault. Special guests include Mindi Abair (vocals), Rick Braun (horns), Euge Groove (soprano sax) and Philippe Saisse (keyboards, piano and orchestra programming). White’s daughter, Charlotte, plays violin on one song.
In a career that spans nearly four decades, over a dozen solo recordings and countless performances, White insists that it’s the faces in the crowd and the fans that keep the experience fresh. “I’ll play a live show, and someone will come to me afterward and say, ‘Oh, I loved this CD,’ or ‘This song helped me through a bad time,’” he explains. “Or I get emails from people saying, ‘Oh, I love the way you covered one of my favorite songs on your record back in 1994.’ The idea that someone can write me an email and tell me about something I did on a record that was released fifteen years ago – you can’t buy that. That’s priceless. That’s what keeps me going – the idea that people out there really care about what I do, the idea that I’ve made a difference for someone.”
Parking: $30.00 advanced purchase | $35.00 day of
Valet: $40.00 advanced purchase | $45.00 day of (if not sold out)

TONY HIGHTOWER
2023-10-29 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Middle C Jazz, 300 South Brevard Street, Charlotte, NC, 28202, United States
Singer/Songwriter Tony Hightower is taking up the mantle to be a bridge that ushers R&B audiences into Jazz…Real Jazz. With years of experience as a musical performer and actor with familiar roots that place him firmly within the music’s firmament, Atlanta-native Hightower is still just getting started on this benevolent turn in his journey. And he is bringing a lot of young people with him.
​His sophomore project, LEGACY, finds Hightower exploring Jazz vocal stylings from a dazzling prism of angles. The 10-song album moves confidently and assuredly from original compositions such as the soulful scat-laced “All to the Good,” the seductive Brazilian bossa nova of “Rendezvous” and the tender carnal Jarreau-esque love beg “I Need You” to swingin’ covers of Earth, Wind & Fire’s classic Skip Scarborough-penned “Can’t Hide Love,” a mean shuffle boogie groove through Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” and a smoldering upright bass accompanied tiptoe through the 1929 Andy Razaf standard “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good To You” made further famous in 1944 by one of Hightower’s greatest and earliest Jazz vocal heroes, Nat “King” Cole. That one’ll make the women wiggle.

RUSSELL MALONE
2023-10-28 19:00 - 2023-10-29 22:30 (America/New_York) | Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20007, United States
“Obviously, we are in the capable hands of a master. Absolutely fluid touch and beautiful integration between moving lines and harmonic cadences. The sound of the instrument is well-balanced throughout the entire register. The relaxed quality of everything that’s being played gives it such a warm feeling. To play that stuff is extremely hard. This is an absolute master, the best of the best.”— Kurt Rosenwinkel, responding to Russell Malone’s solo performance of “Remind Me” on Playground [MaxJazz, 2004], in a DownBeat Blindfold Test.
Russell Malone is one of the signature guitar players of his generation. The several recordings since 1992, Malone is as well-known on the international circuit for helming a world-class quartet and trio as he is for his long-standing participation in Ron Carter’s Golden Striker Trio, and his recent consequential contribution to the musical production of the likes of Sonny Rollins and Dianne Reeves, who recruited Malone for his singular tone, refined listening skills, limitless chops, and efflorescent imagination.
In all these circumstances, Malone addresses the tradition on its own terms, refracting the vocabularies and syntax of such heroes as Charlie Christian, Chet Atkins, George Van Eps, Johnny Smith, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino, and George Benson into an argot entirely his own. A master of all tempos, a relentless swinger, he spins his stories —in idioms ranging from the urban and downhome blues, country, gospel, various corners of the American Songbook, and hardcore jazz—with a soulful, instantly recognizable instrumental voice, and seasons them with sophisticated harmonies that are never “too hip for the room.”
“I take pride on being open enough to play with anybody,” says Malone, citing encounters with such diverse artists as B.B. King, Andy Williams, James “Blood” Ulmer, and Ornette Coleman. “I love to swing, but I won’t turn up my nose at any style of music—or any other musician—because it’s different. I’ll play with anybody, if the music is good.”
Ticket Fee: $7.00 | $15 food/beverage minimum per person not included in ticket price.

THE HEAVY HITTERS
2023-10-27 20:30 - 2023-10-28 22:00 (America/New_York) | The Side Door, Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, 06371, United States
The Heavy Hitters is a sextet co-led by pianist Mike LeDonne and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. The band is rounded out by some of the premiere purveyors of straight-ahead swinging jazz: Vincent Herring on alto saxophone, Joshua Bruneau on trumpet, Peter Washington on upright bass, and Kenny Washington on drums.
The music is built to tickle your mind, hit you in the heart and get your head swaying back and forth. The Heavy Hitters make soulful kickass swinging music that you might have heard on a Blue Note record back in the day. Not to look back… this is a band that is all about the NOW because it’s happening right now!
The Heavy Hitters have been swinging hard their whole lives! Their debut record was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio, a place we are so lucky to still have up and running and that is putting out the same great sound we have all loved for all these years. It’s a true “Jazz” sound, recorded by some of the greatest jazz musicians of their generation.
Tickets Fees: $3.07~$4:05

AUDREY SHAKIR QUARTET
2023-10-27 20:00 - 2023-10-28 23:00 (America/New_York) | Good Times Jazz Bar, 107 W. Broughton St, Savannah, GA, 31401, United States
Audrey Shakir was born into a musical family in Cleveland, Ohio – her mother was a great pianist, organist and vocal coach, and her father, whose idol was Billy Eckstine, loved to sing. She began her professional career as a pianist in a group that played the tunes of Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and others. Eventually, Audrey started leaning towards Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, all the while adding singing to her playing talents, with the vocal influences of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Joe Williams and Jon Hendricks.
After moving to New York, she was introduced to Barry Harris, which led to numerous gigs with him. While playing the New York scene, she became a regular performer at The Village Gate and had numerous dates at Town Hall, the Apollo Theater and Tavern on the Green among many others.
She has toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, including sold-out performances in New York at the Rose Theatre in Jazz At Lincoln Center, and played to sold-out audiences at the Center’s famed sister nightspot, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.
Audrey Shakir is a world-class vocalist, affectionately known as “Atlanta’s First Lady of Jazz”. She has performed with many noted jazz artists over the years in numerous clubs and concert halls throughout the United States and internationally during her successful professional career. An accomplished pianist in her own right, she has sung with small groups and with large orchestras in intimate and grand settings.
Most recently, she had a tremendously successful tour of Big Band Holidays, featuring Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, including four sold-out shows in New York at the Rose Theatre in Jazz At Lincoln Center, and followed that date up with two evenings of sold-out shows at New York’s famed jazz nitespot, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.
She has entertained at several Jazz Festivals, notably Atlanta and Savannah, and has headlined at clubs and private events in New York and throughout the southeast. Audrey’s CD, If You Could See Me Now, from Hot Shoe Records, has met with great critical acclaim, and she’s heading into the studio soon to record her next CD for Hot Shoe entitled Come Swing With Me, a celebration of the great vocalists of the Big Band Era.
Her Trio: Eric Jones ~ Piano | Marc Chesanow ~ Double Bass | Robert Britton Saunders ~ Drums

JACKIEM JOYNER
2023-10-27 06:00 - 2023-10-28 23:00 (America/New_York) | Middle C Jazz, 300 South Brevard Street, Charlotte, NC, 28202, United States
Contemporary saxophonist, author, and music producer Jackiem Joyner has set the bar high in his close 20 years as a performer. With a number one jazz album, several Billboard chart-topping hits, and a series of critically acclaimed booksto his name, he has shown himself to be the rare artist capable of transcending his instrument and reaching a mainstream audience.
Now, as he begins the 18th year of his career during a time of unprecedented change in the entertainment industry, he remains as focused on his art as ever.
Jackiem was born in Norfolk, VA. At an early age, he began to show signs of the restless creativity that would later define his career. Despite his humble upbringing, he was able to get his hands on a saxophone as a child. The instrument quickly became his constant companion. After years of practice, he emerged in style with 2007’s ‘Babysoul.’ A masterclass in seductive smooth jazz, the album marked the arrival of a brilliant instrumentalist, and set the stage for a prolific recording career that would include Grammy runner ups, hit singles, and no shortage of critical adoration, right up through 2019’s ‘Touch’, and on to 2020’s EP “Journey of Passion”
As a performer, he has toured over 30 countries and performed with the likes of the late George Duke, Marcus Miller, Keiko Matsui, Donnie McClurkin, Angela Bofill, Najee, Kirk Whalum, Peter White, and many others.

CLARK TRACEY QUINTET
2023-10-26 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Spicejazz Soho, 6 Moor Street, London, England, W1D 5NA, United Kingdom
Line-up:
CLARK TRACEY drums
JAMES OWSTON double bass
GRAHAM HARVEY piano
ALEX CLARKE alto/tenor sax
EMILY MASSER vocals
Much acclaimed jazz drummer Clark Tracey has been leading his own bands since 1981 and currently leads an ever evolving quintet as well as tribute bands to his father, the late Stan Tracey. His latest quintet features a few of the most exciting young musicians today.
Alex Clarke on alto and tenor sax is aged 23. She won the Rising Star in the British Jazz Awards 2 years ago and was runner up in the BBC Young Jazz Musician last year. Last year she successfully released her debut CD “Only A Year” with Dave Newton, Dave Green and Clark Tracey.
Emily Masser is an astonishing vocalist, still 19 years of age and attending Trinity. Her vocalese skills have already introduced her to hardened jazzers like Claire Martin and Liane Carroll who have both endorsed her and invited her to sit in with them. Daughter of Dean Masser, her years belie her enormous talent, which began at Chethams School of Music.
Graham Harvey is one of the UK’s most experienced pianists, studied at Berkley, MD of Incognito, Stacey Kent’s pianist and much sought after as a freelancer.
James Owston on bass is 25, a graduate of Birmingham Conservatoire and again a runner up in the BBC Young Jazz Musician Finals a few years ago. Considered by Clark to be one most technically gifted upright bassists in the UK and is now working with a variety of musicians.

WYCLIFFE GORDON & FRIENDS
2023-10-26 17:00 - 2023-10-29 23:00 (America/New_York) | Dizzy’s Club, 10 Columbus Circle, New York City, NY, 10019, United States
Wycliffe A. Gordon jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. Gordon also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano.
His early works as a professional were with Wynton Marsalis, but in 2010 he has expanded beyond swing and has experimented with new instruments. The strongest example of this might be The Search where he plays didgeridoo and covers Thelonious Monk songs. He has also played Gospel music.
In 1995, Gordon arranged and orchestrated the theme song for NPR’s All Things Considered. Gordon’s arrangement and orchestration is the third version of the melody composed in 1971 by Donald Joseph Voegeli (1920–2009).
On September 24, 2004, Gordon conducted the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in the premiere of his new, original score for “Body and Soul”, the 1925 silent film directed by Oscar Micheaux.
He has recently gained more worldwide popularity, being featured in South Australia’s Generations In Jazz 2016 and 2017, playing alongside artists such as James Morrison, Jazzmeia Horn, Gordon Goodwin and Ross Irwin among others. For over a decade, he has also worked with visual artist and educator Ligel Lambert on numerous collaborative projects.

KERMIT RUFFINS & THE BBQ SWINGERS
2023-10-25 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Chickie Wah Wah, 2828 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA, 70119, United States
Halloween Special
American jazz trumpeter, singer, composer, and actor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been influenced by Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan and says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C. He often accompanies his songs with his own vocals. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards though he also composes many of his own pieces.

QUIANA PARLER & THE LAVON STEVENS TRIO
2023-10-25 18:30 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | The Jazz Corner, 1000 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head Island, SC, 29928, United States
As lead vocalist, lyricist, and composer for internationally and critically acclaimed two-time Grammy Award-winning roots music group, Ranky Tanky, Quiana Parler spent weeks at #1 on several Billboard Jazz charts. Quiana has spent over 20 years as the most sought-after vocalist in the Lowcountry. Known locally for years prior, she rose to national prominence after her success on the 2003 season of American Idol. Quiana has worked and collaborated with diverse artists and producers such as Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Bobby McFerrin, Miranda Lambert, David Foster, Walter Afanasieff and many more.
Her performances have been featured on national broadcasts like The View, NBC’s TODAY, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, The Tyra Banks Show, and Saturday Night Live, as well as the Academy of Country Music Awards and the American Music Awards. Lavon Stevens has traveled and performed all over the country including Aspen, Colorado, Atlanta, Georgia and Orlando, Florida. The resort vacation destination of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina has been his home since 1981. He is one of the premier entertainers on Hilton Head Island. He is producing a variety of shows and recording projects including other R&B, Jazz and Gospel artists.
Cover: $10.00 ~ $15.00

MARIE-CLAIRE GIRAUD
2023-10-25 18:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Parker’s At Thompson Central Park, 119 W 56th St,, New York City, NY, 10019, United States
Marie-Claire Giraudis a soprano, jazz singer, musical theater singer, songwriter, composer, playwright, and actor. Born on the island of Dominica and raised in The Bronx. Marie-Claire started her operatic training in Rome, Italy. The pandemic afforded Marie-Claire the luxury of time to reflect, and she overcame obstacles that were blocking her creative path.
With her creativity freed, Marie-Claire wrote her first musical, discovered her true voice of soprano. With the musical finished Marie-Claire has many more projects in the works, screenplays, novels, EP’s, musicals and more.
Program: The Great American Songbook At The Movies

RAVI COLTRANE
2023-10-24 20:00 - 2023-10-29 23:30 (America/New_York) | Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue S, New York City, NY, 10014, United States
He bears the name of jazz royalty, and he’s spent many hours curating, archiving and producing his parents’ recordings. But when he picks up his own saxophones, Ravi Coltrane blows an original and distinctly modern strain of jazz, distilling but never seeking to imitate his family’s adventurous improvising spirits. Now one of today’s top saxophonists.
The Band: Ravi Coltrane – Saxophone | Jonathan Finlayson – Trumpet | Luis Perdomo – Piano | Robert Hurst – Bass | Mark Whitfield Jr. – Drums
All Show Sold Out Except The 10:00pm Shows On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday

BENNY BENACK III
2023-10-22 08:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | NY
The Band: Benny Benack III – trumpet & vocals | TBA – piano | Russell Hall – bass | Joe Peri – drums
By age 32, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the postbop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This duel-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist, but a top Rising Star Trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well.
Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the Youtube sensation Postmodern Jukebox, and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-award winning “8-Bit Big Band”. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and Jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by Jazz vocalists around the world.
Alongside his global touring as a straight-ahead/contemporary bandleader, Benny has appeared as a trumpet soloist in more commercial circles alongside Josh Groban, Ben Folds, fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, Ann Hampton Callaway and more. He’s been featured at Birdland, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Mezzrow, Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle and other leading New York venues, and has also been a special guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops Orchestra, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra and the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his television debut in NBC’s short-lived, SNL-inspired variety show “Maya & Marty” playing in the in-studio band led by acclaimed bassist & Broadway arranger Charlie Rosen. More recent TV credits include “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” where he frequently performs in the House Band. His global recognition has been bolstered by recent live-streaming concerts at Smalls Jazz Club, where he maintains a weekly residency, as well as frequent appearances on fellow young lion Emmet Cohen’s “Emmet’s Place” weekly show.

VERONICA SWIFT
2023-10-21 18:15 - 22:15 (America/New_York) | Middle C Jazz, 300 South Brevard Street, Charlotte, NC, 28202, United States
Veronica Swift’s new eponymously titled album, her third for Mack Avenue Records, is a masterful coming-out story. On her previous albums, Confessions (2019) and This Bitter Earth (2021), she ascended to the upper echelon of early 21st century jazz singers because of her virtuosic brilliance, interpretive ingenuity, bracing songwriting, and keen arrangements. Simply put, Swift is not only one of the most dazzling singers to emerge in her generation, she’s one of the most versatile.
While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows that she’s more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville. She pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre.
Swift describes this personal artistic statement on her new album as “transgenre.” “I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors, and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that tradition,” she says, reflecting on her parents – jazz singer and educator, Stephanie Nakasian, and bebop pianist, Hod O’Brien.
“But as rooted in jazz as I’ve been, there’s a uniquely visceral power in rock and soul music that’s always fueled my creative passion, and rather than mask or confine that part of my identity, the people I admire most show themselves unabashedly and that’s the kind of tradition I want to be a part of.”

EL DEBARGE & AVERY*SUNSHINE
2023-10-20 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, CA, 92660, United States
El DeBarge
Five-time GRAMMY-nominee El DeBarge got his start as the lead singer of the family group DeBarge, who were on par with The Jacksons in terms of sheer family talent, releasing a string of chart-topping hits such as “Rhythm of the Night”, “Stay With Me”, “Time Will Reveal”, “I Like It” and “All This Love”. Known for his unique high tenor register and strong falsetto, DeBarge went solo, collaborating with artists like Dionne Warwick, Chanté Moore and Babyface. His comeback album “Second Chance” was nominated in three GRAMMY categories, and in 2023 Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him 137 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Avery*Sunshine
Singer-songwriter and pianist Avery*Sunshine released her first self-titled album in 2010, which was praised by the media including The Washington Post who called it “a radiant brand of soul”. She’s been a choral director for performances with artists like Michael Bublé, David Foster, and Anthony Hamilton.
Parking: $30.00 advanced purchase | $35.00 day of
Valet: $40.00 advanced purchase | $45.00 day of (if not sold out)

DELFEAYO MARSALIS & MARTHA REEVES
2023-10-20 19:00 - 2023-10-22 23:00 (America/New_York) | Keystone Korner Baltimore, 1350 Lancaster Street, Baltimore, MD, 21231, United States
Motown Meets The Big Easy – Delfeayo Marsalis & Martha Reeves will bring a magical evening, filled with music from two of America’s iconic cities and their complex musical cultures, to Keystone Korner Baltimore!
Grammy-winner Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers and producers in jazz today. Known for his technical excellence, inventive mind and frequent touches of humor, he is “one of the best, most imaginative and musical of the trombonists of his generation,” (Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner). In 2011, Delfeayo and the Marsalis family (father Ellis and brothers Branford, Wynton and Jason) earned the nation’s highest jazz honor – a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award. Marsalis has toured internationally with jazz legends such as Ray Charles, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Slide Hampton, as well as leading his own groups. As a cultural activist, he has founded three non-profits – Uptown Music Theatre, Uptown Jazz Orchestra and Keep New Orleans Music Alive – all of which are designed to strengthen the community in his hometown of New Orleans.
Martha Reeves has made her imprint in the history books and in pop culture for her string of hit Motown songs in the 1960’s and early 1970’s including such hits as “Dancing in the Street”, “My Baby Loves Me”, “Come and Get These Memories”, “Nowhere to Run”, “Quick Sand”, “(Love is Like a ) Heatwave”, “Jimmy Mack” and “Bless You”. Martha was front and center as the lead singer of the legendary Motown girl group, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, who are listed among Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Immortal Artists of all time. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance for “Heat Wave”. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and is also the recipient of the Dinah Washington Award, a Rhythm n’ Blues Foundation Pioneer Award, and a Black Woman in Publishing Legends Award. 2023 marks Martha’s 60th anniversary of her first two albums with Motown both from 1963, Come and Get These Memories and Heat Wave.
