THE MUSIC OF BENNY GOLSON
Eddie Henderson – trumpet | Ralph Moore – tenor saxophone | Steve Davis – trombone | Mike LeDonne – piano | Buster Williams – bass | Carl Allen – drums
“Among jazz’s greatest living composers.” – The Washington Post The music of jazz legend Benny Golson is celebrated and performed by the New Jazztet featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist Mike LeDonne, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Carl Allen with special guest Ralph Moore on tenor saxophone. This group recorded together under Golson’s leadership in 2008, which resulted in the acclaimed album, New Time, New ’Tet. Golson is one of the most important contributors to jazz history as a player and the jazz canon as composer writing such enduring classics as “Killer Joe,” “I Remember Clifford,” “Along Came Betty,” “Stablemates,” “Whisper Not,” “Blues March,” “Five Spot After Dark,” and “Are you Real?” among quite a few others. He also was a major influence on the tenor saxophone playing in the bands of Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Earl Bostic, and Art Blakey. The full impact of his career on American culture is hard to summarize but Downbeat called him “a defining voice of modern jazz.”
***PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows | Fees Apply To All Tickets
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CHARLES MCPHERSON
Reverence | Record Release
Charles McPherson – alto saxophone | Terell Stafford – trumpet | Jeb Patton – piano | Peter Washington – bass | Billy Drummond – drums
“No jazz musician of the past 60 years has more palpably channeled the sound of Charlie Parker than alto saxophonist Charles McPherson.” – Jazziz
Alto saxophonist and bebop legend Charles McPherson celebrates the release of his new Smoke Sessions album, Reverence, with his quintet featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Jeb Patton, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Billy Drummond. One of the most acclaimed and beloved voices in jazz, McPherson’s rich musical style is rooted in the blues and bebop and has influenced and inspired generations of musicians and listeners for over six decades. He has performed at concerts and festivals around the world with jazz greats like Barry Harris, Billy Eckstine, Nat Adderley, Jay McShann, Phil Woods, Wynton Marsalis, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. In a recent review, Downbeat states, “As a still-vibrant jazz veteran with ties to innovators like Charles Mingus and Lionel Hampton, McPherson’s writing carries on the traditional weight of bebop and swing, buoyed with an inventive, contemporary spark.”
***PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows | Fees Apply To All Tickets
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ODE FOR JOE: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF JOE HENDERSON
Nicholas Payton – trumpet | Walter Smith III – tenor saxophone (Wed – Fri, 4/17 – 4/19) | Melissa Aldana – tenor saxophone (Sat – Sun, 4/20 – 4/21) | Renee Rosnes – piano | Peter Washington – bass | Al Foster – drums
An all-star group performs the music of Joe Henderson, one of the most distinctive and admired artists in jazz history. Henderson was a prolific composer who wrote numerous jazz standards and was a transcendent soloist who left a discography of classic albums. The Guardian called him “a giant of the jazz saxophone.” The New York Times added, “Mr. Henderson was unmistakably modern,” and quoted the great Benny Golson, “Joe had one foot in the present, the other in the future, and he was just a step away from immortality.” Pianist Renee Rosnes and drummer Al Foster each spent significant parts of their careers working alongside Henderson. They celebrate Henderson’s April 24th birthday.
***PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows | Fees apply to all tickets
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PAQUITO D’RIVERA QUINTET
Paquito D’Rivera is a living monument of Latin jazz. Born in Havana in 1948, he was introduced to music at an early age by his father, who is a classical saxophonist but also with a clear passion for listening to jazz. During his studies at the Havana Conservatory of Music he met Chucho Valdés with whom in 1967 he created the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. But it was in 1973 that the two laid the foundations for their legend: they founded the group Irakere, mixing jazz, rock, classical and Cuban music. A mix with Western music certainly not too pleasing to the Cuban regime: it was precisely the continuous interference of the communist government that pushed D’Rivera to ask for political asylum from the United States in 1980.
Even in his new homeland he soon emerged as a beacon of Latin jazz . He collaborates with McCoy Tyner, George Coleman, Chick Corea, Tito Puente, Astor Piazzolla, while in his formations he welcomes young musicians, projecting them towards international fame (Michel Camilo, Danilo Pérez, Hilton Ruiz, Claudio Roditi). In 1989 he joined one of the most amazing Afro-Latin orchestras that have ever graced the stage, the United Nation Orchestra created by Dizzy Gillespie, of which he himself became director after Gillespie’s death.
He is the only artist who can boast of having won the Grammy Award for both jazz, Latin and classical music. And D’Rivera has won quite a few awards: the last two at the 2023 Latin Grammys for the best Latin jazz/jazz album ( I Missed You Too!, with Chucho Valdés) and for the best contemporary classical composition (the Concerto Venezolano , recorded by trumpeter Pacho Flores..
The Band:
Paquito D’Rivera: clarinet/saxophone | Jose Rivero: piano | Gaston Joya: double bass | Sebastian Laverde: vibraphone | Mauricio Zottarelli: drums
***Website requires translation
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HARRY ALLEN & ROSSANO SPORTIELLO
Award-winning pianist, composer and educator, Rossano Sportiello is one of the world’s leading jazz piano players on the scene today, specialized in the styles from Harlem Stride Piano to Bebop to Contemporary Jazz.
A swinging jazz saxophonist, Harry Allen is a highly regarded performer whose musical inspiration and interpretive approach come from the giants and innovators of mainstream saxophone, including Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Illinois Jacquet, and Lester Young. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Allen has generally eschewed the modern, avant-garde, and impressionist schools of jazz of John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and Ornette Coleman.
***Dinner is required with all reservations.
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