Monday, June 1
Mingus Big Band
Our “Mingus Mondays” residency continues every week in June at Jazz Standard, beginning with a pair of smoking sets by the mighty Mingus Big Band. Tonight’s lineup will feature acclaimed pianist Helen Sung, soulful saxophonist Craig Handy, and brass veterans Ku-umba Frank Lacy and Earl McIntyre. “The huge group performs some of Mingus’ most complex works with spirit, virtuosity, and plenty of color.” (Scott Yanow, AllMusic.com)
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday, June 2
KAT EDMONSON plus special guest KATE SCHUTT
The Austin, Texas singer Kat Edmonson is just 25 years old—but at age four, she was already “hip to the dip” from watching classic Hollywood musicals on TV. “That’s actually where I learned all of the jazz repertoire: Gershwin tunes, Cole Porter tunes, Rogers & Hart tunes, all sung by Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong…I started singing those songs, and I decided then that was something that I could do. It wasn’t a question of whether or not I would. It was something that felt pretty innate.” The Houston Chronicle compared Kat to a latter-day Peggy Lee, and praised her debut album, Take To the Sky, as “an engaging listen from start to finish, an artful showcase for Edmonson’s zippy vocal stylings. She moves easily from coy to sensual to sassy and puts her own spin on standards such as ‘Summertime,’ ‘Charade,’ and ‘Just One of Those Things.’”
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Wednesday, June 3
Melissa Morgan Quartet
Singer Melissa Morgan is a newcomer with an old-school pedigree: Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson were among the first jazz voices she ever heard emanating from her grandmother’s LP collection. On her Telarc debut CD, Until I Met You, Melissa makes that organic, unforced style her own and reintroduces it to a new generation of listeners. In its review, Down Beat wrote: “Melissa Morgan is a consistent joy, and unlike some singers, she commands the band, not the other way around. Given the spicy edge in her sexy voice, her dry allure and the way she pops the words like a whip on a gospel choir, Morgan’s time has come.”
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday, June 4 - 7
Trio Da Paz
With superb musicianship and true three-way collaboration, Trio da Paz has been updating the infectious, uplifting spirit of Brazilian jazz since 1990. Individually, the three members have worked with artists ranging from Michael Brecker and Kathleen Battle (Rombero Lubambo) to Joe Henderson and Yo-Yo Ma (Nilson Matt) to Astrud Gilberto and Tom Harrell (Duduka da Fonseca). The Trio’s 2002 album, Café, included guest performances by Grammy Award winners Dianne Reeves and Joe Lovano; the group’s latest release is the scintillating Live at Jazz Baltica (MaxJazz, 2008). “A distinct and sometimes dazzling flair for sophisticated jazz interplay and improvisation…” (Mike Joyce, The Washington Post)
Tickets: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Monday, June 8
Mingus Dynasty
Mingus Dynasty is the original Mingus legacy band, formed not long after its namesake’s death in 1979. The current lineup upholds the high standards of musicianship and excitement established by past lineups, which have included jazz greats like Jimmy Knepper, Dannie Richmond, Joe Farrell, Jack Walrath, and George Adams.
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday - Thursday, June 9 - 11
South African Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (Solo)
Jazz Standard is proud to present Abdullah Ibrahim in three special evenings of solo piano performances. Born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1934, he was known professionally as Dollar Brand in 1959 when he recorded the first South African jazz album, Verse One, with the Jazz Epistles. With the sponsorship of Duke Ellington, the pianist released his American debut album in 1963 and performed at the 1965 Newport Jazz Festival. In the course of his fabled career, Abdullah Ibrahim has collaborated with Elvin Jones, Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri, and Max Roach; on his own, he has released more than 40 albums including the newly released shimmering solo piano set Senzo (Sunnyside Records, 2009). “With his soulful melodies and gently rolling township grooves, there are few musicians in jazz who can make you feel that essentially all is right in the world like Abdullah Ibrahim.” (The Times UK Online)
Tickets: $30 - PURCHASE NOW
Friday - Sunday, June 12 - 14
Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya
Abdullah Ibrahim has been creating and leading great jazz bands since his early years in his native South Africa. A role call of Ekaya’s past members would include saxophonists Carlos Ward and John Stubblefield, bassists Cecil McBee and Buster Williams, and drummer Ed Blackwell, just to name a few. African Marketplace (Discovery, 1979) and Water From an Ancient Well (Tiptoe, 1985) are among the many fine recordings by this wonderful group, which blends straight-ahead jazz and exploratory improvisation with the classic South African “township” groove.
Tickets: $30 - PURCHASE NOW
Monday, June 15
Mingus Big Band
The mighty Mingus Big Band has forged an international reputation for its powerful section work and fearless soloists. ”…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…It is great to hear Mingus’ music this way: not as revival or pastiche, but a recrafting of the principles and passions of a crucial period in jazz history.” (John Walters, The Guardian)
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday, June 16
Marian Petrescu Plays Tribute To Oscar Peterson
Born in Bucharest, Marian Petrescu has been attracting critical and audience attention since the age of 15, when he made his first appearance at Finland’s Pori Jazz Festival in 1985. There, under gray and rainy skies, a new jazz star was born, possessed of dazzling technique, strong classical background, and an interpretive ability both dynamic and nuanced. A spontaneous one-day recording session held during the Django Festival in Oslo, Norway resulted in Body and Soul (Hot Club Records), Marian’s first album as a leader. His musical journey continues with the June release of a new Resonance Records CD, The Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson, and his Jazz Standard debut – a different kind of tribute to the late great piano giant, this time in a quartet format.
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Wednesday, June 17
Jerome Sabbagh Trio
One Two Three (Bee Jazz/Sunnyside) is Jerome Sabbagh’s third album under his own name—and a fine showcase for his ongoing progress as a soloist, composer, and bandleader. This “refreshing, cliché-free young tenor and soprano saxophonist” (Owen Cordle, JazzTimes) takes clear-headed command of the trio format to deliver distinctively soulful interpretations of timeless standards: “Body and Soul, “Turn Out the Stars,” “Boo-Boo’s Birthday,” “Chelsea Bridge.” “In a trio, most of all, the sparseness of the setting casts a shining light on the basic elements of jazz: melody, rhythm, harmonic ideas,” says Jerome Sabbagh. “It’s an opportunity to understand who you really are and to work on becoming who you want to be.”
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday, June 18 - 21
Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy
In June, two-time GRAMMY Award nominee Dave Douglas will release a new Greenleaf Music album, Spirit Moves – his first studio album in three years and the debut recording of his thrilling Brass Ecstasy band. Over the past several years, Brass Ecstasy has brought audiences to their feet with performances at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Willisau Festival, and the Reggio Calabria Jazz Festival. On Spirit Moves, Dave Douglas pays homage to the brass instruments with eight new original compositions and three arrangements of classics by such disparate artists as Otis Redding, Hank Williams and Rufus Wainwright. “He has a…technique that means he can accomplish anything that his great imagination leads him to. But this does not mean that he is just a great technician blowing lots of notes; just the opposite, he is a warm, reflective player who combines the creativity of Miles Davis with the technical ability and range of the finest players.” (Tony Dudley-Evans, Artistic Director, Budvar Cheltenham Jazz Festival)
Tickets: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Monday, June 22
Mingus Orchestra
Sue Mingus assembled this ambitious repertory group that de-emphasizes solo improvisation to focus instead on Mingus’ more classically influenced compositions. “One of several bands entrusted with the daunting task of preserving Charles Mingus’ raucous, bighearted legacy, the ten-piece Mingus Orchestra has all the depth and muscle needed to render the master bassist-composer’s tempestuous fantasias.” (Time Out New York)
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday, June 23
EMILIO SOLLA'S NY TANGO JAZZ PROJECT
The Emilio Solla Story (Part One): “I started studying piano at age 8 in Buenos Aires and I’m still trying to learn! I had classical training, but what really got me was the folk music from the northwest of Argentina. I’ve been playing, arranging, and recording with all styles of singers since 1983, from rock to tango, from folk to jazz. After moving to Barcelona in 1996, I played my own music at clubs and festivals throughout Europe, Japan, and New York – everything from being a guest pianist with Edinburgh Chamber Orchestra to conducting my own tango big band arrangements with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center. I have five CDs in my name on Fresh Sound Records. I am so thankful to whoever gave me the skill to put sounds together in a way that sometimes can touch people’s souls.”
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Wednesday, June 24
Alex Blake Quartet
What do Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Sun Ra, Manhattan Transfer, Astrud Gilberto, and The Last Poets have in common? They all have turned to Alex Blake as a source of musical versatility, strength, and originality. A native of Panama, Alex moved with his family to the US at age seven and was playing professionally at age twelve; his eclectic discography encompasses sessions ranging from Jimmy Buffet and Janis Siegel to Don Pullen and Carlos Garnett. Jazz Standard regulars will know Alex from his past appearances with pianist Randy Weston, with whom Alex has recorded six albums including Spirits of Our Ancestors (1991) and Khepara (1998). This special one-nighter finds the veteran bassist at the helm of his own outstanding quartet, featuring the inventive English saxophonist Chris Hunter (Mike Westbrook, Gil Evans, Michel Camilo).
Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW
Thursday - Sunday, June 25 - 28
JOEY DEFRANCESCO TRIO
When the powerhouse jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco takes the stage, he’s standing on some big shoulders: Father “Papa John” DeFrancesco was himself a legendary Philly-area organ player, and grandpa Joe DeFrancesco was a multi-instrumentalist who worked with the Dorsey Brothers. On Joey D!, his latest High Note album, Joey DeFrancesco (along with tenor man Jerry Weldon and drummer Byron Landham) applies his technical mastery and unerring sense of swing to tunes ranging from “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to Gene Ammons’ “Blues Up and Down.” In a review of a recent show at the Jazz Showcase, Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune notes "the sheer profusion of his ideas and the whirlwind nature of his finger work reminded listeners why he is the despair of uncounted jazz organists."
Tickets: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW
Monday, June 29
Mingus Dynasty
Named for the classic Columbia album Mingus Dynasty released a half-century ago, the music of this fiery septet “has enormous energy,” says Sue Mingus. “It really demands that individual musicians come in and play themselves, tell who they are. There are lots of open spaces.”
Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW
Tuesday - Friday, June 30 - July 3
Jeff "Tain" Watts 4 + 1 with special guest Nicholas Payton
Whether as an invaluable sideman or take-charge leader, Jeff “Tain” Watts’ presence on stage is a sure sign of high-energy, high-quality music in the offing. Tonight, Tain has assembled one of his best-ever bands, featuring the articulate saxophonist Marcus Strickland and New Orleans trumpet star Nicholas Payton. Watts, his latest CD released through Dark Key Music, blends percussion with politics, swing with sarcasm, and improvisation with irony on an all-original program. “More and more I am enjoying composition as much as playing,” says Tain. “All good music has a common ground, whether it’s Beethoven, Ellington, or Prince...It’s all good. I’m just trying to be musical.”
Tickets: $30 Friday - PURCHASE NOW