RUSSELL MALONE
“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.
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KURT ELLING SUPERBLUE AT UNION CHAPEL
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.
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BILL FRISELL
When it comes to the world of jazz-guitar, nobody does it quite like Grammy Award winning artist, Bill Frisell. Renowned as one of the globe’s most talented players, his 40-year career has seen him revolutionise both the jazz and blues genres.
With his catalogue being described by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade”, his productions span from smooth jazz riffs to moody blues solos. A legendary performer, heading to Union Chapel for his only confirmed UK show of the year.
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ANAT COHEN & MARCELLO GONÇALVES
The perennial winner of “Clarinetist of the Year” titles from DownBeat, JazzTimes, and the Jazz Journalists Association, Fresh Air’s Terry Gross credits Cohen with “bringing the clarinet to the world” and The New York Times hails her a “Master.”
Acclaimed clarinetist Anat Cohen and 7-string guitarist Marcello Gonçalves team together in a series of intimate, lyrical duets. Breathtaking melodies, Brazilian grooves, and elements of jazz highlight the intricate talents of both Cohen and Gonçalves. In their second duo album, Reconvexo, Brazilian 7-string guitar player Gonçalves and New York-based clarinetist Cohen turn their attention to music from the Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) songbook. Against the backdrop of a country and world turning inward, the duo set out to record an album inspired by the beauty of Brazil and the spirit of its people. The result is at once intimate and virtuosic, mournful and hopeful, soaked with the feeling expressed uniquely in the Portuguese language as saudade – bittersweet, at once deeply happy and sad, and full of emotion.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lee L. Blair was born on October 10, 1903 in Savannah, Georgia and was a left-handed autodidact on banjo, aside from a few lessons taken from Mike Pingitore, the banjoist for Paul Whiteman. He played and recorded in New York City, New York with Thomas Morris’s Seven Hot Babies in 1926, then played with Charlie Skeete in 1926-28, before playing and recording with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers in 1928-30.
In the Thirties he went on to play with Billy Kato, then played and recorded with Luis Russell and Louis Armstrong from 1935 to the end of the decade. He worked part-time in music through the 1940s, then joined Wilbur De Paris’s New New Orleans Jazz Band in the 1950s at Jimmy Ryan’s Club on West 52nd Street in New York City.
The summer of 1957 had him touring Africa with the DeParis band for the State Department. During the 1960s he played less, concentrating on raising chickens on his farm in Belmore, Long Island, but appeared at the 1964 World’s Fair in a trio with Danny Barker and Eddie Gibbs. He freelanced around New York with Hank Duncan and others until his death.
He never recorded as a leader, but appears on record with Morris, Morton, Russell, Armstrong, and De Paris, as well as with Dick Cary, Pee Wee Erwin, and Leonard Gaskin among others. He is honored in the jazz section of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, GA.
Banjoist and guitarist Lee Blair, who never recorded as a leader, transitioned on October 15, 1966 in New York City.
