Friday - Saturday July 31 - August 1
Freddy Cole Quartet with special guest Harry Allen (7/31-8/1)
Jon Hendricks calls him “a real Prince of Song, upholding a noble tradition as only he can.” Abbey Lincoln declared that he “bears a standard and is an inspiration to those of us who love the music.” Now in the sixth decade of his performing career and “back home” on our always-welcoming stage, Lionel Frederick “Freddy” Cole is a nonpareil vocal interpreter of The Great American Songbook and a superbly swinging pianist. Freddy’s special guest for this Jazz Standard engagement will be the masterful tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, whose discography as both leader and sideman includes the 2008 releases Stompin' The Blues (with Joe Cohn) and the Japan-only Viva! Bossa Nova. “Harry’s playing is nothing less than perfect!” (John Pizzarelli)
Tickets: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Sunday August 2
Closed for Private Event
Monday August 3
Mingus Orchestra
Our Monday night residency celebrating the life and music of jazz giant Charles Mingus (1922–1979) continues tonight with the colorful and exploratory sounds of the Mingus Orchestra. With its variable jazz-band-plus instrumentation, the Orchestra brings to life some of the most challenging and classically oriented compositions in the canon of the late bassist and composer.
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday August 4
SOMI
East African singer Somi is originally from Rwanda and Uganda, but has made West Harlem her home over the past five years. Her critically acclaimed albumRed Soil In My Eyes(Harmonia Mundi, 2007) maintained a spot in the top 10 world music charts for several weeks after its release while she performed to audiences across four continents. She has since worked with or performed alongside the likes of Paul Simon, Hugh Masekela, Randy Weston, Amel Larrieux,John Legend,Roy Hargrove, Idan Raichel, and Mos Def. Her new albumIf The Rains Come Firstis scheduled for release in October 2009 on the progressiveObliqSoundlabel, Somi's new work showcases her whimsically clever songwriting & pure vocal beauty against electro-acoustic soundscapes that offer a modern look at classic soul and Africa's future. So be one of the first to hear it, and join us for an intimate glimpse of her new musical journey.
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Wednesday August 5
Sasha Dobson
Sasha Dobson was born to sing. The native of Santa Cruz, California was just twelve years old when she made her first appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival with her late father, pianist Smith Dobson. In 2006, Sasha made a triumphant return to Monterey, this time with her own band and the songs from her enchanting album, Modern Romance (Secret Sun Recordings). Her next CD, a collection of pop/rock Dobson originals entitled Burn, is due out early next year. “A young singer trained in the verities of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Sasha Dobson is starting to make music that’s more about her own time.” (Ben Ratliff, The New York Times)
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday August 6 - 9
Ernestine Anderson Quartet plus Special Guest Houston Person (7:30 & 9:30 ONLY)
Ernestine Anderson, who left her Seattle hometown at age 18 to tour with the Johnny Otis band, today looks back on six decades of a life in music. Her lengthy discography includes four Grammy-nominated albums: the Concord releases Never Make Your Move Too Soon (1981) and Big City (1983) and two CDs released on Quincy Jones’ Qwest label, Now and Then (1993) and Blues, Dues and Love News (1996). Her latest release A Song for You (HighNote) has garnered rave reviews from jazz critics. Ernestine has sung it all, from intimate trio formats to swinging big band dates, from Ellington to Sting—always with sly wit and seductive sophistication. Veteran saxophonist Houston Person – long associated with another great singer, the late Etta Jones – will be at Ernestine’s side for this special Jazz Standard engagement. “She’s one of the few singers we have left from the Dinah Washington school and era, and nobody who hears her has to be told why she’s special.” (Ben Ratliff, The New York Times)
Tickets: $30 - PURCHASE NOW
Monday August 10
Mingus Dynasty
This seven–piece group represents the kind of small band that Charles Mingus led, night after night, from the seediest jazz cellars to the world’s most prestigious concert halls. Formed in the wake of Mingus’ untimely death in 1979, Mingus Dynasty continues to uphold his high standards of intensity and unpredictability, wit and musicianship.
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday - Wednesday August 11 - 12
Sean Jones Group
The music captured on Sean Jones’ fifth album, The Search Within (Mack Avenue), represents “an assessment of where I am in the present as well as how I’ve learned from my mistakes and triumphs as a way of looking into the future. It’s a spiritual and sonic journey for me.” This reflective attitude only deepens the trumpeter’s expressive range, from straight-up swing to down-home groove to lyrical balladry. The Search Within features members of the working band that will join Sean for this Jazz Standard gig, plus special guests Gregoire Maret (harmonica), Erika Von Kleist (flute), Kahlil Bell (percussion) and Carolyn Perteete (vocals). “There are few trumpet players as good as Sean Jones. It’s hard to choose the best feature of this album, his playing or his compositional skills.” (Bob Karlovits, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review)
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday August 13 - 16
Steve Kuhn Trio featuring Steve Swallow & Al Foster
With the release of his superb new album Mostly Coltrane (ECM), Steve Kuhn completes a life circle: He was 22 years old and a recent Harvard graduate when, for a few unforgettable months in 1960, Steve became the pianist for the John Coltrane Quartet, preceding McCoy Tyner. The new recording offers a program of tunes either composed by or strongly associated with the saxophonist including “Central Park West,” “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes,” and “I Want To Talk About You.” For this Jazz Standard run, Steve Kuhn will be joined by the exceptional rhythm team of drummer Al Foster (Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, many more) and bassist Steve Swallow, who worked with Stan Getz, George Russell, and Art Farmer prior to his long association with Carla Bley. The Steve Kuhn Trio, wrote Nate Chinen in The New York Times, is “an effortlessly modern enterprise, with roots stretching through a tangle of post-bop traditions. For any admirer of jazz piano, or articulate small-group jazz in general, it's something that shouldn’t be missed.”
Tickets: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Monday August 17
Mingus Big Band
Much more than a tepid re-creation of its namesake’s glory days, the Mingus Big Band is one of the most dynamic and powerful large jazz groups on the scene today. This year’s personnel have included saxophonists Craig Handy, Vincent Herring and Donnie McCaslin; pianists Dave Kikoski and Helen Sung, and drummers Adam Cruz and Jeff “Tain” Watts. Though the lineup may change, the contagious excitement and the sense of commitment remain. “This is a knockout band, full of players who combine ensemble spirit and instrumental mastery with the quirky roughness and individualistic timbres needed for Mingus’ turbulent scores. (John Walters, The Guardian)
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday - Wednesday August 18 - 19
Ali Jackson Quintet
What do Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, KRS-1, Diana Krall, and the New York City Ballet have in common? All of them have benefited from the percussive flair and astute musicianship of Ali Jackson. On Wheelz Keep Rollin’, Ali’s first studio release as a leader, he creates a sonic space where all the music he loves – including Latin, ‘70s/’80s R&B, and straight-up swinging jazz – can flourish together in harmony. This lineup of the Ali Jackson Quintet features the versatile saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and the prodigiously talented pianist Aaron Goldberg, both established leaders and recording artists in their own right.
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday August 20 - 23
Joanne Brackeen Quartet plus special guest Eddie Gomez
Since her emergence as a leader in the late Seventies, critics and fans consistently have ranked JoAnne Brackeen with Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, and Chick Corea as one of the finest pianists in jazz. The late Bill Evans called her “a pianist–composer of phenomenal capacity” while Tony Bennett hailed “a visionary of extraordinary depth.” In July 2008, Jazz Standard was pleased to present JoAnne Brackeen in a Monday night residency, and the strongly positive response whets our appetite for this four-night stand, with JoAnne joined on the bandstand by the exciting tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and the potent rhythm section of young gun E.J. Strickland on drums and veteran bassist Eddie Gomez, a former mainstay of the Bill Evans Trio.
Tickets: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Monday August 24
Mingus Orchestra
“He left such a diverse legacy. His music includes pieces that are European classically oriented, that are bebop, that are drenched in the blues and gospel, even Dixieland and Latin. Part of the genius of Charles was that he assembled all of these diverse musical genres, and they came out magically Mingus. His sound was so distinctive. You hear three or four notes and you know it is his work, the same way you hear two or three notes of Miles Davis on his horn and you know it’s him.” (Susan Graham Mingus, from an interview with Paul Hallaman)
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday August 25
SACHAL VASANDANI featuring Doug Wamble
The career of Sachal Vasandani has gone from strength to strength in the decade since he was named Down Beat’s 1999 Collegiate Jazz Vocalist of the Year. In 2007, Billboard praised his first Mack Avenue album, Eyes Wide Open, as “a superb debut of distinctive originals and intelligent makeovers that teem with a fresh vitality.” In 2008, Sachal performed with living legend Jon Hendricks at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho. Now the young singer’s many fans are eagerly anticipating his next Mack Avenue album, due out in September. “An impressive and highly original new voice on the jazz scene, Sachal Vasandani etches emotional ambivalence with a rich, deep voice that surfs the vivid nuances of jazz while flirting with pop and blues.” (Minneapolis City Pages)
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Wednesday August 26
Julia Dollison & Kerry Marsh: “The Music Of Maria Schneider”
When Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh came up with the idea of singing her richly complex big band arrangements, “I thought they were absolutely insane!” admits Maria Schneider. “But they sent me an MP3 sample of my piece ‘Journey Home’ with the two of them singing every single orchestrated part. I couldn’t believe they could do it, and the thing that amazed me was how beautiful it was.” For one night only, the Grammy Award–winning composer lends her compositions to vocalists Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh in this very special performance of the music of Maria Schneider – “Hang Gliding,” “Journey Home,” “Sky Blue,” and more.
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday August 27 - 30
Larry Willis Quintet
If pianist and composer Larry Willis were not among the most versatile and respected jazz journeymen of our time, he’d never be able to assemble groups of the caliber of this one: From altoist Joe Ford to percussionist Billy Drummond, it’s truly an all-star lineup, with collective credits far too numerous to mention. As for Larry himself, at age 19 he was playing piano with the late great Jackie McLean; he made his jazz recording debut on McLean’s 1966 Blue Note classic Right Now. The pianist’s extraordinary versatility has served him well in diverse musical settings, from the bands of Shirley Horn and Stan Getz to a seven-year stint with Blood, Sweat & Tears to his own quintets and trios.
Tickets: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Monday August 31
Mingus Dynasty
“His mix-and-match compositional strategies yielded a harvest of wondrous sounds that were like nothing else. There are window-rattling infernos like the gospel/blues blowout he'd pioneered (‘Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting,’ ‘Better Get Hit in Your Soul’), and which dominated jazz sales in this period thanks to later chart-toppers by the likes of Cannonball Adderley. There's the beat-style jazz poetry (‘The Clown,’ with Jean Shepherd) Mingus also helped pioneer in the Fifties. There are the long narrative tales (‘Pithecanthropus Erectus’), which reach beyond Ellingtonian suites in structure and in their development of jazz-derived extended forms. Mingus didn't so much break down categorical labels as magisterially ignore them.” (Gene Santoro, The Nation, 2/18/1999)
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW