Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jacques Butler was born on April 29, 1909 in Washington, D.C. but didn’t pick up the trumpet until his late teens. He began playing professionally with Cliff Jackson and Horace Henderson in New York City, then joined Marion Hardy’s Alabamians in 1931 for a year.

Leading his own ensemble in New York and touring from 1934-1935, Jacques also made recordings with Willie Bryant before relocating to Europe in 1936, where the two performed together until 1939. During that period he played with Frank “Big Boy” Goudie as well as with his own bands. He would tour Scandinavia before WWII and in 1940 he became well known in the Norwegian jazz community, and while visiting Oslo he recorded one 78 rpm. Returning to New York City that same year he played and recorded with Mercer Ellington, Art Hodes, Mezz Mezzrow, and Bingie Madison.

After a brief stay in Toronto he moved back to Europe in 1950, remaining there until 1968 as a regular at the La Cigale club in Paris, France. He appeared in the 1961 Paul Newman/Sidney Poitier film Paris Blues. In the 1970s he came home to the States and was seen working often in New York City, as a sideman with Clyde Bernhardt among others, and in the studio.

Trumpeter and vocalist Jacques Butler, who was sometimes listed as Jack, died in 2003. The date of his death is unknown.

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CYRUS CHESTNUT

Ellington 125 | Duke Ellington Sacred Concert

Cyrus Chestnut is a jazz pianist, composer and producer. In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for Time, wrote: “What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon notes and play space.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chestnut worked with Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, and other bandleaders. He joined the band of jazz vocalist Betty Carter in the early 1990s and appeared on her 1992 album It’s Not About the Melody. That same year, he recorded his first albums as a bandleader, The Nutman Speaks and Nut. Chesnut has continued to work and record as a bandleader into the 21st century.

In 2006, Telarc released Genuine Chestnut, his first album for the label. On it he is accompanied by his regular trio of Michael Hawkins, bass and Neal Smith, drums. Additional artists on this session include Russell Malone, guitar and Steven Kroon, percussion. It includes jazz interpretations of some well-known pop numbers of the past half-century, including “If”, the early 1970s soft-rock ballad by Bread. “This song has been with me ever since the sixth grade,” Chestnut recalled, “I had to play it for my English teacher’s wedding. I’ve played it in many and various contexts. I actually played it in a Top 40 band when I was just out of school. A lot of time has passed, but then recently I just started thinking about it again.” Chestnut’s own “Mason–Dixon Line” is one of the album’s high points, a joyful bebop number.

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ALI RYERSON

Performing for nearly five decades, jazz flutist Ali Ryerson consistently ranks among the top flutists in the Downbeat poll. An international touring/recording artist, she’s released 15 albums including Brasil: Quiet Devotion.

The Hartford Currant wrote, “She is all about the music, she serves it, molds it, makes it her own. She is at the mercy of her instruments, which she plays with such amazing proficiency that you forget that she is not glued to them.”

Ali Ryerson Quartet featuring Ricardo Peixoto, Leco Reis & Nanny Assis

Two shows: 4:00pm & 6:00pm | Fees Apply

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TYRONE JACKSON

The name Tyrone Jackson is the quintessential jazz piano player. His boundless creativity coupled with harmonic mastery, utilizes the piano as a blank canvas.  Jackson is nationally recognized and has traveled the world as a solo artist and sideman.

As a composer, Jackson has composed original music for Pulitizer Prize winning author Natasha Tretheway’s book of poems “Native Guard” turned theatrical play, Pearl Clege’s play, “Tell Me My Dream”, “Ethel” and this year’s Alliance Theater production of “Nick’s Flamingo Grill.” Jackson has recorded 4 Albums—“Dedicated”, “Another Voyage”, “Melody In Nede”, and new release “From The Mind Of.”

Lavahi is a scholar-artist on a mission to better society from the inside out. Through her music, scholarship, and performance, LAVAHI is building a platform to nourish the heart and mind, empathize our human experiences, and vibe together. As a daughter of jazz, the culture heavily informs her ideology and influences her sound. Acrobatic scatting, compelling chords, and the art of improvisation evoke that classic traditional aesthetic and set her contemporary sound apart from the norm of mainstream neo-soul, hip hop, and R&B. And with her satisfying blend of analog and digital sounds, LAVAHI shows that the lineage of Black sound is not linear but ever folding and stretching.

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DOUBLE N TRIO & NEGRONI’S TRIO

The Double N Trio is headed up by Noah Nipp, hence the double “n” in the groups name.

Negroni’s Trio is a jazz band that plays piano jazz, Latin jazz, hard bop, jazz instrument, and soul jazz. The band is made up of Jose Negroni on piano, Nomar Negroni on drums, and Josh Allen on bass. They have been active since 2002 and have released nine albums, including New Era, Esperanzas/Hopes, and Piano – Drums – Bass. Their songs include “Esperanzas”, “El Incomprendido”, and “Sunny”.

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