Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nelson Riddle was born Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. on June 1, 1921 in Oradell, New Jersey and later moved with his family to Ridgewood. He began taking piano lessons at age eight and trombone lessons by age fourteen. After his graduation from high school Nelson spent his late teens and early 20s playing trombone in and occasionally arranging for various local dance bands, culminating in his association with the Charlie Spivak Orchestra.
In 1943, Riddle joined the Merchant Marines, studied orchestration under Alan Shuman, joined Tommy Dorsey in 1941, drafted into WWII shortly before the end of the war. Upon discharge he moved to Hollywood and started his arranging career for radio and record projects.
In 1950, Riddle was hired by composer Les Baxter to write arrangements for a recording session with Nat King Cole, becoming his first association with Capitol Records. He would go on to work with Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Kate Smith, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Keely Smith, Sue Raney, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney, Ed Townsend and Frank Sinatra, who reluctantly but successfully re-launched his career with the Riddle arrangement of “I’ve Got The World On A String”.
Riddle would arrange for such films as High Society with Bing Crosby and Paint Your Wagon with Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg, in conjunction to leading his successful orchestra.
Arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator Nelson Riddle, whose career spanned over four decades, passed away on October 6, 1985 of cardiac and kidney failure at age 64.
ALLAN HARRIS
250 Years of Black Music: From Spirituals to Soul
The evening is a journey through the sounds that carried us through slavery, Reconstruction, jazz, blues, gospel, civil rights, soul, and beyond. These songs are more than entertainment. They are history lessons, survival codes, prayers, love letters, protest marches, and declarations of humanity.
Cover: Free | Tickets Required
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pablo Aslan was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 5, 1962 and began playing bass in his youth. He received his music education at University of California – Santa Cruz, CalArts and UCLA, and in the 90’s in the clubs of New York.
Pablo has led several groups like New York Buenos Aires Connection, Avantango, and New York Tango Trio, which included musicians such as the late Thomas Chapin, pianist Ethan Iverson (now of The Bad Plus), drummer Kenny Wollesen, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and bandoneonists Raul Jaurena and Tito Castro.
Aslan has worked with Yo Yo Ma, Lalo Schifrin, Pablo Ziegler, Osvaldo Golijov, Arturo O’Farrill, Emilio Solla and Fernando Otero. In 2009 he released “Tango Grill” that was nominated for both a Grammy and Latin Grammy. He has collaborated with Paquito D’Rivera, “Tango Jazz” Live at Jazz @ Lincoln Center” and also for a tribute to tango master Astor Piazzolla on the 90th anniversary of his birth. Bassist Pablo Aslan continues to champion the fusion of jazz and tango as he records, performs and tours.
BILLY CHILDS TRIO
Billy Childs has emerged as one of the foremost American composers of his era, successfully marrying the musical products of his heritage with the Western neoclassical traditions of the twentieth century in a powerful symbiosis of style, range, and dynamism.
Thus far, in his career, Childs has garnered seventeen Grammy nominations and six Grammy awards including two for Best Instrumental Jazz Album (Winds of Change in 2024 and Rebirth in 2018), and two for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist (including New York Tendaberry from Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, featuring Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma). In 2006, Childs was awarded a Chamber Music America composer’s grant, and in 2009 was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2013 he was awarded the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. He has also been awarded a composers award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2015). In 2018, Childs was named “Outstanding Alumnus” of the Thornton School of Music (sharing that honor with, among others, Morton Lauridsen, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Marilyn Horne). Childs has also served as president of Chamber Music America (2016-2022).
Born in Los Angeles, California he entered USC as a composition major, graduating four years later with a bachelor of music in composition under the tutelage of Robert Linn. Since then Mr. Childs has received a number of orchestral and chamber commissions from, among others: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Monterey Jazz Festival, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the American Brass Quintet, the Ying Quartet, the Lyris Quartet, Anne Akiko Meyers, Rachel Barton Pine, and Inna Faliks.
As a pianist Childs has performed with, among others, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Renee Fleming, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, Chick Corea, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, the Dorian Wind Quintet, Ying Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, and Dave Holland.
Childs’ solo jazz recording career includes four critically acclaimed albums on the Windham Hill Jazz label and two volumes of Chamber Jazz music (Lyric, Vol. 1, 2006 and Autumn: In Moving Pictures, Vol. 2, 2010). Childs expanded upon his talent for seamlessly straddling the lines between jazz and classical worlds with a collection of re-imagined Laura Nyro compositions for Sony Masterworks, released in September 2014. Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, was produced by Larry Klein and features as guest artists, among others: Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Wayne Shorter, Alison Kraus, Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, Esperanza Spalding, and Lisa Fischer. In 2017, Childs released the first of his three Mack Avenue recordings, the Grammy Award-winning Rebirth, which was followed by 2020’s Acceptance and 2023’s Grammy Award-winning The Winds of Change.
Childs is an in-demand clinician, whose recent invitations include working with students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, masterclasses at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, and an educational residency at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
Tickets: $35.00 +$7.00 fee
Showtimes: 7:00pm & 9:30pm
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THEO CROKER
Grammy-nominated trumpeter, composer, producer, and bandleader Theo Croker continues to expand the boundaries of modern jazz with his new album, Dream Manifest (Dom Recs / Fat Beats, June 13). Hailed by the LA Times as “a path to jazz greatness,” the project blends jazz, experimental hip-hop, and cosmic soul into a genre-defying sonic journey.
Singles like the high-energy “We Still Wanna Dance” (produced by D’LEAU), the soulful “High Vibrations” (featuring Malaya), and the hypnotic “Crystal Waterfalls” showcase Croker’s dynamic vision — a sound both timeless and forward-facing (Wall Street Journal). NPR describes his vibe as “chill,” driven by a “clear musical approach and determination,” qualities that have made him a standout collaborator with Ari Lennox, Common, J. Cole, Jill Scott, and Wyclef Jean.
Croker’s live performances are cinematic and immersive, guided by a producer’s mind and a jazz artist’s spontaneity. As DownBeat notes, he “layers music and lyrics with the deft touch of a hip-hop producer and the spontaneity of a jazz trumpeter.” His trumpet becomes both melody and texture within a rich production landscape performed live with his acoustic band.
In 2025, he premiered Dream Manifest at London’s Barbican Theatre with designer Nicholas Daley. The Evening Standard called it “jazz, just not as we know it,” while Jazzwise praised its emotional depth and “total stage control.”
Tickets: $37.54 ($30.00 + $7.54 fees) | $54.54 ($45.00 + $9.54 fees)
Discounter Parking: $18.80 ($15.00 + $3.80 fees)
$20.00 Minimum Per Person
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