JAZZ STANDARD Celebrates 50 Years of Impulse! Records and The Blue Note Records Debut of Ambrose Akinmusire
Best Jazz Club 2008 (New York Magazine)
JAZZ STANDARD, one of the nation's premier jazz
clubs, presents another month of great jazz in April. From April 20 – 24, we celebrate
the 50th anniversary of Impulse! Records with exciting new interpretations
of classic 1960s studio albums by such legends as John Coltrane (Africa
Brass, 4/20), Gil Evans (Out Of The Cool, 4/22) and Oliver
Nelson (The Blues and The Abstract Truth, 4/23). Guitarist Russell
Malone will hold forth with his trio (4/7–4/10), followed by Ambrose Akinmusire
and his quintet (4/14–4/17), heralding the release of the trumpeter's Blue Note
label debut When The Heart Emerges Glistening. Our celebrated "Mingus Mondays"
residency continues in April with the Mingus Orchestra (4/4) and the Mingus Big
Band (4/11, 4/18, 4/25). Below is a complete schedule of April performances at
Jazz Standard. For everything else, visit
www.jazzstandard.com.
|
ALL SHOW TIMES: 7:30 & 9:30PM + 11:30PM ON FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS
Jazz Standard is located at 116 E. 27th Street (between Lexington
and Park)
Train 6 to E. 28th Street
NEVER A MINIMUM
Student Discounts (restrictions apply)
Enjoy "NYC's Best Barbecue" (Time Out New York) from BLUE SMOKE
and an extensive wine, beer and cocktail list
Jazz for Kids every Sunday – Open for lunch at 1pm, music from 2–3pm
For reservations call Jazz Standard at 212.576.2232 or visit www.ticketweb.com
Artists and schedules are subject to change
|
APRIL 2011 SCHEDULE
4/1 – 4/3 SFJAZZ Collective: The Music of Stevie Wonder
Mark Turner – tenor saxophone
Miguel Zenon – alto saxophone
Avishai Cohen – trumpet
Robin Eubanks – trombone
Stefon Harris – vibes
Edward Simon – piano
Matt Penman – bass
Eric Harland – drums
Now entering its eighth year of creative adventure, the SFJAZZ Collective is an
all-star ensemble comprising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in
jazz today. Each year, the Collective performs an entirely new list of compositions
by a modern jazz master along with new pieces by its members, honoring the music's
recent history while affirming the group's commitment to jazz as a living, ever–relevant
art form. After exploring the work of jazz giants like Ornette Coleman (2004), Thelonious
Monk (2007), and Horace Silver (2010), the SFJAZZ Collective now takes on the songs
of pop music icon Stevie Wonder for its spring 2011 tour. While Wonder represents
a departure from previous, his work has had a profound impact on musicians in diverse
genres and on the whole of American culture. Maybe you've heard "Superstition,"
"Sir Duke," and "Blame It On The Sun" before – but you've never heard them arranged
and played like this!
Music Charge: $30
4/4 Mingus Orchestra
Our "Mingus Mondays" residency continues this month with two exciting sets of music
by the Mingus Orchestra. The group will bring its singular blend of jazz and "non
– jazz" instruments (oboe, French horn) to bear on some of Charles Mingus' most
classically–influenced compositions.
Music Charge: $25
4/5 – 4/6 Jeremy Pelt Quintet
Jeremy Pelt – trumpet
JD Allen – tenor saxophone
Danny Grissett – piano
Peter Washington – bass
Darrell Green – drums
Jeremy Pelt, a DownBeat "Rising Star" on trumpet for five years, "has kept
together his working band for some three years now," noted Jeff Krow in a glowing
online review of Pelt's latest CD, The Talented Mr. Pelt. "They just keep
on getting tighter in their interplay. They swing hard, and they swagger in their
arrangements. Pelt is at the peak of his powers with the power and range of Lee
Morgan and Freddie Hubbard in their seminal years." This week, the spotlight is
on the Jeremy Pelt Quintet and the music of The Talented Mr. Pelt – don't
miss it!
Music Charge: $20
4/7 – 4/10 Russell Malone Trio [7:30pm & 9:30pm Only]
Russell Malone – guitar
David Wong – bass
Darrell Green – drums
A significant presence on the New York scene for more than two decades, guitarist
Russell Malone is widely acclaimed for his "exceptional harmonic ingenuity and finesse"
(The Washington Post). Following Volumes One and Two of Live At Jazz Standard,
Russell's latest MaxJazz CD is the studio set Triple Play. It features such
infectious, bluesy originals as "Tail Feathers" and "Butch and Butch" alongside
his lyrical treatment of "Unchained Melody." The music of Russell Malone, says
The Village Voice, is "mainstream jazz at its most inventive. The guitarist
inevitably makes the straight and narrow seem bent and wide, all while swinging
viciously."
Music Charge: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday
4/11 Mingus Big Band
Congratulations once again to the Mingus Big Band, winners of the 2011 Grammy Award
for Live at Jazz Standard as Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Grammy voters
heard "an almost flawless slice of some of Mingus's finest work" (PopMatters.com)
– as will those listeners who join us tonight for two explosive sets by the boldest
big band in the business!
Music Charge: $25
4/12 – 4/13 Ben Allison Band
Michael Blake – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Steve Cardenas – guitar
Jason Lindner – piano, synthesizer
Ben Allison – bass
Rudy Royston – drums
Hailed by JazzTimes as a "visionary composer, adventurous improviser, and
strong organizational force on the NYC jazz scene" and by The Boston Globe
as "one of today's best young jazz musicians," Ben Allison celebrates the release
of his 10th album on Palmetto Records called Action-Refraction
at Jazz Standard. (His previous release, Think Free, reached #1 on
the CMJ National Jazz radio charts and remained in the Top 20 for over three months.)
This edition of the Ben Allison Band offers an adventurous yet accessible sound
and includes in its ranks such acclaimed player/leaders as saxophonist Michael Blake
and keyboard ace Jason Lindner. From Donny Hathaway to Neil Young covers, "Ben Allison,"
wrote Kevin Le Gendre at BBC.com, "decisively shuffles the pack – texturally
and compositionally – all the while retaining something of himself, the sign of
a musician rapidly nearing a creative peak."
Music Charge: $20
4/14 – 4/17 Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet
Ambrose Akinmusire – trumpet
Walter Smith III – tenor sax
Sam Harris – piano
Harish Ragahavan – bass
Justin Brown – drums
Jazz Standard and Blue Note Records celebrate the April 5 release of When The
Heart Emerges Glistening – the tour de force Blue Note label debut of
trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire. The 12–song disc includes 10 of the leader's
original tunes and stellar performances by his close–knit working quintet. The
Los Angeles Times named Ambrose Akinmusire one of its 2011 "Faces to Watch,"
and offered this description of a 2010 L.A. performance: "Akinmusire and his band
demonstrated a remarkably fluid, adventurous interplay and patiently imaginative
way with melody that sounded as steeped in the music's history as it was hard–wired
with the sound of something new. With a chameleonic tone that can sigh, flutter
or soar, Akinmusire sounds less like a rising star than one that was already at
great heights and just waiting to be discovered."
Music Charge: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday
4/18 Mingus Big Band
The Washington Post says: "The best jazz orchestra in the world bears the
name of the Mingus Big Band. A remarkable high standard of musicianship, energy
and consistency!"
Music Charge: $25
4/19 Malika Zarra
Malika Zarra – vocals
Jean-Christophe Maillard – guitar
tba – piano
Mamadou Ba – bass
Harvey Wirht – drums
Brahim Fribgane – oud, percussion
New York-based Moroccan singer, composer, and producer Malika Zarra is a musical
enchantress who was called "Morocco's Jazz Jewel" by CNN International. Malika's
velvety, sinuous mezzo-soprano voice demonstrates a rare ability to communicate
both powerful and subtle ideas and feelings in Berber, Moroccan Arabic, French and
English and has been adored at nightclubs and festivals the world over. This appearance
at Jazz Standard is a special one, celebrating the release of her newest CD,
Berber Taxi, on the Motéma Music label.
Music Charge: $20
4/20 – 4 /24 IMPULSE! NIGHTS
This week, Jazz Standard heralds the 50th anniversary of Impulse! Records
– one of the most important label names in jazz history – with a series of dynamic
live performances of classic Impulse! studio albums. First Impulse: The Creed
Taylor Collection, slated to be reissued as a box set, celebrates the Impulse!
Records founder Creed Taylor. Taylor (who turns 82 this year) made an indelible
mark in jazz history by signing John Coltrane in 1961 and producing this first series
of now-legendary studio recordings for the label.
4/20 Impulse! Nights: John Coltrane – Africa/Brass featuring Dave
Liebman & Ravi Coltrane with Phil Markowitz, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart
Dave Liebman – tenor & soprano saxophone
Ravi Coltrane – tenor saxophone
Phil Markowitz – piano
Cecil McBee – bass
Billy Hart – drums
The sessions that produced Africa/Brass featured the John Coltrane Quartet
with additional brass and reeds arranged and conducted by Eric Dolphy. In his liner
notes to the album's 1995 reissue, David A. Wild wrote: "As a snapshot of where
Coltrane's art stood in the spring of 1961, as an example of his ability to combine
disparate elements into a strikingly unified whole, as a road marker pointing towards
the future, Africa/Brass remains one of the most powerful and compelling
examples of the art of John Coltrane." Two prime exponents of the Coltrane legacy
(now in its 85th year!), Ravi Coltrane and Dave Liebman, along with a
top–shelf rhythm section, will interpret this major work in a quintet setting.
Music Charge: $35
4/21 Impulse! Nights: Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth
Curated by Roy Hargrove
In his liner notes for The Blues and the Abstract Truth, saxophonist and
composer Oliver Nelson described a period of intense soul–searching that began with
his arrival on the New York scene in March 1959: "But…it was not until this LP was
recorded on Thursday, the 23rd of February, 1961, that I finally had
broken through and realized that I would have to be true to myself, to play and
write what I think is vital, and most of all, to find my own personality
and identity." Leading a studio group that included Bill Evans, Eric Dolphy, and
Freddie Hubbard, Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth "is his
triumph as a musician for the aspects of not only defining the sound of an era with
his all–time classic ‘Stolen Moments,' but on this recording, assembling one of
the most potent modern jazz sextets ever." (Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic.com) Grammy
Award-winning trumpeter Roy Hargrove curates and leads an exceptional ensemble to
reinterpret Oliver Nelson's masterpiece for the 21st century.
Music Charge: $35
4/22 Impulse! Nights: Gil Evans – Out Of The Cool
Curated by Ryan Truesdell
Steve Wilson - alto saxophone, flute, piccolo
tba - tenor & soprano saxophone
tba - bassoon
Greg Gisbert, Tim Hagans - trumpets
Ryan Keberle, John Allred - trombones
George Flynn - bass trombone
Howard Johnson - tuba
Ben Monder - guitar
Frank Kimbrough - piano
Kiyoshi Kitagawa - bass
Clarence Penn – drums
Ryan Truesdell – conductor
With Out Of The Cool, Gil Evans applied to his own project the uncanny musical
skills he'd brought to three earlier collaborations with Miles Davis: Miles Ahead,
Porgy and Bess, and Sketches of Spain. For his 1961 date, the composer/arranger
led an augmented studio version of the Gil Evans Orchestra that made its NYC debut
at the Jazz Gallery in late 1960; it included trumpeter Johnny Coles, bassist Ron
Carter, and drummers Charlie Persip and Elvin Jones. "Drawing from such distinctive
composers as Kurt Weill, John Benson Brooks, George Russell and himself, Evans fashioned
a rich, delicate tapestry of sound that becomes a work unto itself." (Michael Cuscuna,
from the liner notes to the 1996 CD reissue) Conductor, composer and curator Ryan
Truesdell has been working on an extensive project with the Evans family for a future
ArtistShare release to unearth some of the lesser-known music of Gil
Evans, and has assembled a superb group to bring Out of the Cool to shimmering
light for one night only!
Music Charge: $35
4/23 Impulse! Nights: Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson – The Great Kai And J.J.
+ The Incredible Kai Winding Trombone
Curated by Robin Eubanks
The group formed by Kai Winding and J.J. Johnson made its Birdland debut in 1954
and played one of the best–received sets at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. The
band broke up soon after, but in 1960 the two trombone masters reunited to record
the very first Impulse! album, The Great Kai And J.J., released in early
1961. The tunes ranged from "Blue Monk" to Hollywood ("Theme From Picnic"),
and the rhythm section included pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer
Roy Haynes. Winding led a four–trombone septet on The Incredible Kai Winding
Trombone, also issued in 1961. Tonight's powerhouse project is curated and led
by Grammy Award-winning trombonist Robin Eubanks.
Music Charge: $35
4/24 Impulse! Nights: Ray Charles – Genius + Soul = Jazz
Curated by Henry Butler
Genius + Soul = Jazz placed Ray Charles at the head of the Count Basie Orchestra
with cornetist Thad Jones, guitarist Freddie Green, and saxophonists Billy Mitchell
and Frank Wess all on board for the date. Charles played Hammond B-3 organ on this
mostly–instrumental set, vocalizing only on two blues numbers, "I've Got News for
You" and "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town." Ray's Latin–soul rendition of
"One Mint Julep" (arranged by Quincy Jones) reached Number One R&B/Number Eight
Pop – the biggest hit single ever to bear the Impulse! logo. Closing out the incredible
5-night run of Impulse! music, the great blues and jazz pianist/vocalist from New
Orleans, Henry Butler, will bring down the house with 2 sets of rousing music celebrating
"Brother Ray!"
Music Charge: $35
4/25 Mingus Big Band
The spirit of the man lives on in his music, and so Nat Hentoff's words from nearly
a half–century ago still ring today: "A remarkable element in Mingus' influence
on his sidemen is his capacity to generate and sustain a fierce collective swing
which is at the same time both loose and what I can best describe as spontaneously
exclamatory. The seeming paradox of Mingus is that so forceful a personality can
create situations which so irresistibly propel his sidemen to be so fully themselves."
(From the liner notes to the 1963 Impulse! LP Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus)
Music Charge: $25
4/26 Berklee Greg Osby Sextet
Over the course of his multi–faceted career, the saxophonist Greg Osby has forged
a formidable reputation as an instrumentalist, composer, entrepreneur, and recording
artist. But he's also a leading music educator who holds a professorship in the
Ensembles Department of Berklee College of Music. Tonight, Jazz Standard welcomes
the professor and a hand–picked group comprised of some of the school's most promising
student players; past performances have featured Berklee alumni like Esperanza Spalding,
Julian Lage, and Kendrick Scott. "You can practice by yourself all you want," says
Greg Osby, "but unless you're playing with and responding to another musician and
contributing to a group, you don't really know what your role is. It's really the
last stage, but the most important stage, of a person's education."
Music Charge: $20
4/27 Darius Jones & Matthew Shipp
Darius Jones – alto saxophone
Matthew Shipp – piano
Pianist Matthew Shipp is one of New York's most talked–about talents, one who has
"not only stretched the definitions of jazz, but also exponentially advanced his
own ideas about it conceptually and technically." (Thom Jurek, AllMusic.com).
Alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones "has the capacity for a proud, rafters–raising
tone on alto saxophone, and as an improviser he's fearless but disciplined." (Nate
Chinen, The New York Times). These two intrepid sonic explorers join forces
for the first time on the expansive 13–part song cycle Cosmic Lieder, set
for April release on AUM Fidelity. The duo will perform this ambitious work, and
extensions thereof, tonight on our stage in a much–anticipated appearance.
Music Charge: $20
4/28 – 5/1 Charlie Hunter Duo featuring Bobby Previte (4/28), Adam Cruz
(4/29), Eric Kalb (4/30), Shawn Pelton (5/1)
Charlie Hunter – 7-string guitar
Bobby Previte – drums (4/28)
Adam Cruz – drums (4/29)
Eric Kalb – drums (4/30)
Shawn Pelton – drums (5/1)
From his seven–string instrument to album titles like Gentlemen, I Neglected
To Inform You, You Will Not Be Getting Paid, Charlie Hunter has always "traveled
to the beat of a different drum." This week, the virtuoso guitarist will perform
in a series of duos accompanied by four of the top percussionists on the contemporary
scene. Bobby Previte moved to New York City in 1979, has since worked with everyone
from John Medeski to William Shatner and "can break your heart with one cymbal crash."
(The Village Voice) A creative force on the international jazz scene for
the last two decades, Adam Cruz "pairs flawless technique and a crystalline touch
with a level of prophetic intuition that is awe-inspiring!" (Modern Drummer)
With his mastery of a deep groove "pocket," Eric Kalb has recorded with John Scofield
and Melvin Sparks, among others. Millions of television viewers have heard Shawn
Pelton's powerhouse drumming with the "Saturday Night Live" band, in which he's
played a key role since 1992. Don't miss this "drummer's delight" weekend with Charlie
Hunter at Jazz Standard.
Music Charge: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday
_________
april thibeault │amt public relations
www.amtpublicrelations.com
*NYU Stern MBA Candidate*
Related Press News:
|
If you would like to collaborate with Jazzitalia, click here.....
