BENITO GONZALEZ, BUSTER WILLIAMS, LENNY WHITE

Benito Gonzalez – Piano | Buster Williams – Bass | Lenny White – Drums

Pianist Benito Gonzalez “Two times Grammy nominee”is an internationally beloved artist who combines a long lineage of American jazz traditions with rhythms from around the world. He’s worked with dozens of the greats, and he always brings some of the best rhythm section players in the world.

Today a rising tide of young jazz pianists are attempting to find their distinct voices by taking cues from their elders. But only a few take their artistry beyond their predecessors to make bold 88-key statements on their journeys to new vistas, fresh sounds, inspired expressions. That personal-touch devotion to the wonders of the instrument brings with it a certitude of intuitive creativity.

That fortitude fuels Benito Gonzalez, an exhilarating pianist who won the 2005 Great America Jazz Piano Competition and was honored in 2020 to be a Steinway & Sons artist for “his sound [that] is recognizable for the powerful rhythm section and Afro-Latin patterns he prioritizes across his projects.” The Venezuela-born, New York-based artist grew up playing traditional Venezuelan folk music with his family before absorbing the inventiveness of such pianists as Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner,Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett who inspired him to join in the explorations on the instrument.

Gonzalez made his way to U.S. by a serendipitous route when an American cultural ambassador caught one of his trio gigs and later invited him to come to Washington, D.C. He was enlisted to play shows with Ghanaian master drummer Okyerema Asante that led to a recording. “After my first six months here, I decided to stay in this country to learn the music right,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez went on to play with Jackie McLean in 2003, then joined Kenny Garrett’s quartet for seven years until 2013—during which time he garnered two Grammy band nominations. After his stint with Garrett, he played with saxophonist Azar Lawrence’s band and then in 2019 joined saxophone legend Pharoah Sanders as his pianist/musical director.

Through the course of his career, Gonzalez has been instrumental as a sideman in performing and recording with such jazz greats as Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Liebman, Gary Bartz, Curtis Fuller, Al Foster, Lenny White, Billy Hart, Ignacio Berroa, Jeff”Tain”Watts, Buster Williams, Rene McLean, Steve Turre, Delfeayo Marsalis, Hamiet Bluiett, Ron Blake, Antonio Sanchez, Mark Gross, and Azar Lawrence.

Gonzalez also recorded his own albums, including Starting Point (2004) and Circles (2010), then continued his solo career with Dream Rhapsody (2015) with Slavic flutist/vocalist Sisa Michalidesová, and a loving tribute to McCoy Tyner Passion Reverence Transcendence (2018).

With propulsive pulse and Afro-Latin percussive drive, Gonzalez placed rhythm at the core of 2021’s Sing to the World, his fifth album and first released on the St. Petersburg, Russia label Rainy Days Records. He assembled an impressive team of collaborators, including Christian McBride, Essiet Okon Essiet, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Nicholas Payton as well as rising stars Russian drummer Sasha Mashin, trumpeter Josh Evans.

In addition to his slow-to-upbeat originals, Gonzalez added to the set list two compositions that had never been recorded by their composers: Roy Hargrove’s soulful “Father” and the “Tain” beauty “416.” After almost seven years of touring with Kenny Garrett, Benito has added numerous festivals and international jazz club dates to his credit. In 2019 he joined legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders as pianist and musical director.

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CHIEF ADJUAH

Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott) is a two-time Edison Award-winning, six-time Grammy Award-nominated, Doris Duke Award in the Arts awardee. He is a sonic architect, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, designer of innovative technologies and musical instruments (including The Stretch Music app, Adjuah Trumpet, Siren, Sirenette, Chief Adjuah’s Bow and Chief Adjuah’s N’Goni). He is also the founder and CEO of the Stretch Music App and Recording Company. Adjuah is Chieftain and Oba of the Xodokan Nation as well as the current Grand Griot of New Orleans. He is the grandson of Louisiana luminary and legend, the late Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr., Guardians Institute founder and Grand Griot, Herreast Harrison. And is the nephew of Jazz innovator and NEA Jazz Master saxophonist-composer, Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. Adjuah (and his twin brother Kiel) joined his grandfather’s Guardians of the Flame banner in 1989 at the age 5.

Since 2001, Adjuah has released thirteen critically acclaimed studio recordings, four live albums, and one greatest hits collection. He is widely recognized as the progenitor of the “Stretch Music,” style. A 21st-century approach that asserts genre blindness and an ethnomusicological approach to limitless fusion that heralded NPR to hail him as “Ushering in a new era of Jazz” and JazzTimes Magazine to mark him as “Jazz’s young style God.” and “the architect of a commercially viable fusion”. He has collaborated with a number of notable artists, including Prince, Thom Yorke, McCoy Tyner, Marcus Miller, Flea, Eddie Palmieri, Robert Glasper, rappers Mos Def (Yasin Bey), Talib Kweli, as well as heralded poet and musician Saul Williams. Adjuah scores music for his identical twin brother’s, writer/director and visual artist Kiel Adrian Scott, filmic works. Scott is a Directors Guild of America Award recipient whose works have been honored with The Peabody Award and an NAACP Image Award.

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HOUSTON PERSON

He remains the King of the Boss Tenor Sax and nothing, it seems, can stop Houston Person, now in his sixth decade of performing. His latest recording (he’s released over 85 of them), as featured guest on Emmet Cohen’s Masters Series Vol. 5, has rocketed up the Jazz Week charts. In its 4-star review, AllAboutJazz.com applauds Houston’s “master’s flair for swing and blues.” A great friend of The Jazz Forum, Houston is a master’s master.

The tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. He received the “Eubie Blake Jazz Award” in 1982.

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LORI WILLIAMS

Acclaimed international Jazz vocalist Lori Williams has a most impressive resume as a performing artist, music educator, songwriter, producer, musical theater actress, radio host, business owner of PositiveMusicPM.org, and artist-in-residence with over 30 years of experience. Her annual vocal jazz tour and performance at music festivals have taken her to Europe  to perform in Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and Ukraine, Japan, The Caribbean in Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, and across the USA. Her vocal jazz artist residencies have allowed her to work with and mentor students on college campuses in the United States and abroad.

As a veteran vocal music educator and private vocal coach, Lori’s received many honors for her contributions to the arts, including recognition from President Biden. With a B.A. in Mass Media Arts from Hampton University, she hosts a weekly radio program and produces/host events at St. James Live! Jazz club in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the years, Lori has collaborated with a multitude of notable artists and has released multiple CDs, along with singles like “Too Late (It’s My Time)” and “Take My Wings.”

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The Jazz Voyager

Heading upstate New York a day early to catch the early summer of nature on the upper Hudson River and ultimately sit in a little place called the Jazz Forum Arts for an evening of great music. Established in 1985, the club has consistently been bringing talent at the top of their game to Westchester County and they have been instrumental in elevating the community’s appreciation for this unique American art form.

This week they welcome the Bill Charlap Trio for a two-day residency with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington taking the stage with the pianist. It’s a jazz super-group that has dazzled audiences for years and they haven’t lost their touch with an interplay and near-telepathic communication ranking among the best. Not only have they received a Grammy Award but also multiple nominations.

The venue is located at 1 Dixon Lane, Tarrytown, New York 10591. For more information you are invited to visit https://notoriousjazz.com/event/bill-charlap-trio-4.

CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION

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