MONTY ALEXANDER

Nearly sixty years after he moved to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica, his hometown, Grammy nominated pianist Monty Alexander is an American classic, touring the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. A perennial favorite at Jazz festivals and venues worldwide and at the Montreux Jazz Festival where he has appeared 23 times since 1976, his spirited conception is one informed by the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voicings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition, as Alexander accurately states, “to build up the heat and kick up a storm.” In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to a repertoire spanning a broad range of jazz and Jamaican musical expressions—the American songbook and the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae. Documented on more than 75 recordings and cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing), the Jamaican government designated Alexander Commander in the Order of Distinction in 2000 and conferred on him the national honor of the Order of Jamaica in 2022 for “Sterling Contributions to the Promotions of Jamaican Music and the Jazz Genre Interpretations Globally”. In 2018 the University of The West Indies bestowed him with an honorary doctorate degree (DLitt) in recognition of his accomplishments.

Monty’s latest album (released August 19, 2022) is titled Love Notes and is his first recording featuring his vocals. The release of “Love Notes” will be accompanied by tour dates worldwide. Also in the works is “The Monty Alexander Movie,” a documentary on Monty’s life and music. Directed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Jefferson Miller, and veteran filmmaker Arthur Gorson, the project is currently in production in Jamaica, the U.S. and Europe.

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ARTURO SANDOVAL

A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, on November 6, 1949, just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring Latin influences into American Jazz. Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of twelve, but it didn’t take him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist and composer.

He is one of the most dynamic and vivacious live performers of our time, and has been seen by millions at the Oscars, at the Grammy Awards, and the Billboard Awards.

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CARMEN LUNDY

Grammy Nominated Jazz singer, composer and arranger Carmen Lundy hails from Miami, Florida and received her B.M. degree from the University of Miami.  After an early career in Miami, Lundy moved to NYC in 1978 and in 1985, she released her first solo album entitled Good Morning Kiss, which topped the Billboard chart for 23 weeks.

Currently on the Afrasia Productions label, Carmen is a 2-time Grammy® Nominated artist for her 16th and newest album Fade To Black, released on September 30, 2022, and her previous album Modern Ancestors, both for Best Jazz Vocal Album.  Her 2017 release Code Noir, debuted at #6 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and received both critical and popular acclaim. Carmen’s other releases and discography consist of “Good Morning Kiss” (CLR/Afrasia Productions), “Moment To Moment” (Arabesque/Afrasia Productions), “Night And Day” (CBS/SONY and re-issued by Afrasia in 2011), “Old Devil Moon” (JVC), “Self Portrait” (JVC), “Something To Believe In” and “This Is Carmen Lundy” (both for Justin Time), “Jazz and The New Songbook – Live at The Madrid” (2-disc set and DVD, Afrasia Productions), “Come Home”, “Solamente”, “Changes”, “Soul To Soul” and “Code Noir” (Afrasia Productions). All have topped the Best Albums and Top Ten Albums lists on JazzWeek, Downbeat, and JazzTimes.

Among Lundy’s other awards and recognitions are a Grammy Award for Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project, Grammy Winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album of 2011, which features the Carmen Lundy composition “Show Me A Sign”, with Lundy’s original performance from the album “Solamente” reinvented on the arrangement.

As a composer, Ms. Lundy’s catalogue numbers over 150 published songs, one of the few jazz vocalists in history to accomplish such a distinction.  Her compositions have been recorded by such artists as Kenny Barron, Ernie Watts, Terri Lyne Carrington, Straight Ahead and Regina Carter.  Carmen’s far-reaching discography also includes performances and recordings with such musicians as brother and bassist Curtis Lundy, Ray Barretto, Bruce Hornsby, Mulgrew Miller, Kip Hanrahan, Courtney Pine, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Randy Brecker, Oscar Castro-Neves, Robert Glasper, Jamison Ross, Patrice Rushen, and the late Kenny Kirkland and Geri Allen among others.

Carmen Lundy’s work as a vocalist and composer has been critically acclaimed by Jazz Times, Downbeat, Jazziz, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Washington Post, and Vanity Fair among numerous other foreign publications.  Lundy acted as Resident Clinician at Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for 20 years. She has conducted Master Classes around the world, among them the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Ms. Lundy is also a gifted actress active in theatre. “Acting,” as she told Dr. Billy Taylor in 2006, “helps me to get more comfortable and acquainted with the art of performance.” She performed the lead role as Billie Holiday in the Off-Off Broadway play “They Were All Gardenias” by Lawrence Holder, as well as the lead role in the Broadway show, Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Ladies,” and she made her television debut as the star of the CBS Pilot-Special “Shangri-La Plaza” in the role of Geneva, after which she relocated to Los Angeles, where she currently resides.

Carmen Lundy is a celebrated mixed media artist and painter as well, and her works have been exhibited in New York at The Jazz Gallery in Soho, at The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, and at a month-long exhibition at the Madrid Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.  Several of her sculptures are currently on exhibit at The Carr Center in Detroit, MI.

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JEB PATTON TRIO

Described as both a “young phenom…on piano” and an “absolute great,” Jeb Patton has earned a well-regarded reputation in the international jazz community. The multi-talented Patton is known as a “player of great expression” and “not one to tread the predictable,” as well as a “simpatico accompanist” for The Heath Brothers, an “innovative” arranger, and one who “cuts…[an] impressive swath on his composition, ‘Hanna’s Mood,’” a tribute to his late teacher, Sir Roland Hanna.

Jeb Patton graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree with a major in music from Duke University, where he studied piano with Tibor Szasz, Douglas Buys, and Jane Hawkins. As a member of the Duke Jazz Ensemble under Paul Jeffrey, he performed with and/or arranged for more than 60 professional jazz artists, including 48 musicians from New York and more than 12 international jazz musicians from Italy, Monaco, and Portugal.

Studying under Sir Roland Hanna and Jimmy Heath, Jeb earned his Master of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in 1997 from the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, City University of New York, where he also received the Louis Armstrong Award for composition from the ASCAP Foundation.

Jeb Patton ~ piano | David Wong ~ bass |  Hank Allen-Barfield ~ drums

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SCOTT WENDHOLT / ADAM KOLKER QUARTET

Scott Wendholt, born in Maryland and raised in Denver, he began playing trumpet when he was eight years old. He took a bachelor’s degree at Indiana University in 1987, then played in Cincinnati in the Blue Wisp Big Band of John von Ohlen. He relocated to New York City at the end of the 1980s, where he studied jazz with Dave Liebman and played in a succession of Latin jazz ensembles. He had a house band at Augie’s Jazz Club in Manhattan from 1991 to 1994.

Adam Kolker is a multi-talented performer, composer and arranger. He performed and recorded with latin-jazz artist Ray Barretto from 1994 through 2002 (with whom he received two GRAMMY nominations). He also appears in New York City with groups including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Fred Hersch’s “My Coma Dreams,” the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Bruce Barth, Judi Silvano, Lucia Pulido, and his own groups with John Abercombie and Billy Hart. He has recorded with Bruce Barth, John Hébert, Marty Ehrlich, The Story, Bobby Previte, Gunther Schuller, Bruce Saunders, Frank Carlberg, among others.

Scott Wendholt ~ trumpet | Adam Kolker ~ saxophone, clarinet | Ugonna Okegwo ~ bass | Anthony Pinciotti ~ drums

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