JOHNNY O’NEAL TRIO

After more than 45 years as a professional pianist, vocalist and entertainer, Johnny O’Neal has earned the title of “master” with fellow musicians and audiences around the world. Highlights of his awe-inspiring career include stints with Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as well as a Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 on solo piano opening for Oscar Peterson and induction into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998. While playing with Blakey, he accompanied some of the great jazz divas, including Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. O’Neal has also been tapped for appearances by Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Nancy Wilson, Anita O’Day, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Stitt, Benny Golson, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Clark Terry, among others.

Performances in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan, China, Israel and South Africa have gained him an international following, and he is beloved by audiences around the U.S. Yet, he remains a fixture on the New York jazz scene, regularly playing in local clubs or stopping by a jam session to check out the young talent. A stint in his band has become a coveted apprenticeship among young players, comparable to that of Betty Carter or Art Blakey. He is the tie that binds the classic jazz traditions to the evolution of the form, making him legendary in his own right.

The Detroit native considers himself a piano player first, but was encouraged to sing in his sets more by Joe Williams. He recalls Williams advising him, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” Astonishingly, he is largely self-taught. His playing evokes the influences imbued in him by his idols Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, with a nod to bebop master Barry Harris (who first heard O’Neal play as a teenager in Detroit). He has reshaped these elements into his own very swinging and melodic approach.

In live performances, he is apt to catch his audience off-guard with his blues shouting, soulfully rendered yet unpretentious vocalizations or seemingly effortless scatting. No two sets are ever alike. O’Neal explains, “I’m a tune guy. I know 1,500 songs. My father was a pianist and singer who emphasized that learning lyrics creates dynamics and a better interpretation of melody. I rehearse so that the bassist, drummer and I can get familiar with each other’s styles—not to set the songs we’ll play.”

Cover: $25.00 ($3.50 fee)

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BAPTISTE HERBIN

Baptiste Herbin Trio ft André Ceccarelli releases his new album “Django!” For this new album, Baptiste, for the first time, called upon an artistic director. He found in Daniel Yvinec an enlightened and stimulating interlocutor, who after hearing him play a Django theme during a jam session, suggested the subject of this album to him.

Together, they then shape a repertoire that draws a fascinating universe around the guitarist; some of his emblematic compositions skillfully rethought, intoxicating musette waltzes, to which are added a choro dedicated to him by Herbin, the moving homage of the pianist John Lewis, and a stunning reinterpretation of “Night and Day” in which Baptiste takes up the original solo of Django harmonized for two saxophones with an elegance and a naturalness that confirm the merits of the enterprise.

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CLAIRDEE

In a career spanning some four decades, the vivacious Clairdee has performed as an internationally touring artist who’s collaborated with some of America’s most celebrated jazz masters, including Dick Hyman, Bucky Pizzarelli, Houston Person, Cyrus Chestnut, Russell Malone and Ken Peplowski.

Deeply informed by the music’s departed masters, Clairdee puts a personal stamp on whatever she sings, a gift aptly described by the inimitable Nancy Wilson, who declared that “in the tradition of all great vocalists she infuses each song with her own unique style while always remaining true to the song itself.” Equally at home singing various idioms in an array of settings, in addition to leading her own world-class band, Clairdee works with symphony orchestras, big bands, and intimate duos.

Clairdee’s discography as leader includes four highly regarded albums on her Declare Music label. “A Love Letter to Lena,” garnered international press and was acknowledged in three categories in the 2020 Grammy® first round nominations.

Tickets: $30 per show

Seating is first come, first serve. Recommend arriving early.

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MARVIN “SMITTY” SMITH

The drummer was exposed to music at a young age, receiving formal musical training at the age of three. After graduating from Waukegan East High School, Smith attended Berklee School of Music, graduating in 1981. Smith has recorded 200 albums with various artists, as well as two solo albums. He has toured with, among others, Sting, Dave Holland, Sonny Rollins, Willie Nelson and Steve Coleman. He is a former member of The New York Jazz Quartet, and was the drummer for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno band, led by Kevin Eubanks, from January 30, 1995 until the show’s end on May 29, 2009. Smith was also the drummer for the Jay Leno Show band in 2009-10.

Chris Lowery – trumpet
Dale Fielder – alto
Alex Johnson – tenor
Lemar Guillary – trombone
Adam Ledbetter – piano
Rene Camacho – bass
Christian Moraga – percussion

$25 1st Set Inside Seating (+$4.25)
$20.00 2nd Set Inside Seating (+A$4.25)
$15.00 Patio Seating (+$4.25) | A live video concert you are NOT inside the club

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BILLY CHILDS

Six Time Grammy Winner and seventeen time nominee Billy Childs has emerged as one of the foremost American composers of his era, perhaps the most distinctly American composer since Aaron Copland – for like Copland, he has successfully married the musical products of his heritage with the Western neoclassical traditions of the twentieth century in a powerful symbiosis of style, range, and dynamism.

He has received 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, the National Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Orpheus Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Isidore Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, the Ying Quartet, the Lyris Quartet, Anne Akiko Meyers, Rachel Barton Pine, and Inna Faliks. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Disney Concert Hall.

Jimmy Johnson ~ Bass
Justin Brown ~ Drums
Andrew Renfroe ~ Guitar
Billy Childs ~ Rhodes

$40.00 1st Set Inside Seating (+$4.25 fee)
$35.00 2nd Set Inside Seating (+$4.25 fee)
$20.00 Patio Seating (+$4.25 fee) | Live video concert and you are NOT inside the club

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