Best Jazz Club 2008 (New York Magazine)
JAZZ STANDARD, one of the nation's premier jazz clubs, presents another month of great jazz in October.
The annual Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT) returns to our stage from October 1–4, curated by acclaimed composer/player Dave Douglas. On October 7–8, bassist Joe Martin celebrates his new Anzic Records release, Not By Chance, at the head of an all-star quartet including Brad Mehldau (piano), Mark Turner (tenor saxophone), and Marcus Gilmore (drums).
Acclaimed saxophonist Joshua Redman and his trio take center stage from October 21–25, expanding upon the music of Redman’s latest Nonesuch album, Compass. Appearing October 29–November 1, the New York debut of Go Home, an exciting new foursome featuring guitarist Charlie Hunter, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, clarinetist Ben Goldman, and drummer Scott Amendola.
This month, Jazz Standard celebrates the first anniversary of our ongoing “Mingus Mondays” residency with performances by the Mingus Big Band (10/5, 10/26), the Mingus Orchestra (10/12), and Mingus Dynasty (10/19). Starting Sunday, October 18th, the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra returns for its weekly JAZZ FOR KIDS Sunday brunch/performance series.
Below is a complete schedule of October performances at Jazz Standard, along with information on the musicians. 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 beginning October 18th ─ 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
OCTOBER 2009 SCHEDULE
10/1–10/4 FESTIVAL OF NEW TRUMPET MUSIC (FONT)
Jazz Standard is proud to present the seventh annual Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), conceived and curated by acclaimed player, composer, and bandleader Dave Douglas. This year’s FONT honors the great Bobby Bradford, who will travel from the West Coast to appear on our stage at the helm of two outstanding groups.
10/1 Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet plus special guest Avishai Cohen
Ambrose Akinmusire – trumpet
Vijay Iyer – piano
Chris Tordini – bass
Marcus Gilmore – drums
With Special Guest Avishai Cohen (trumpet)
Music Charge: $25
A “fiercely gifted young trumpeter” (Nate Chinen, The New York Times), Ambrose Akinmusire performed with such renowned leaders as Joe Henderson, Joshua Redman, Steve Coleman, and Billy Higgins while still a student at Berkeley High (Berkeley CA). Ambrose is the winner of both the 2007 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition and 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. In 2007, he released Prelude ... to Cora, his first recording as a leader, on the Fresh Sounds New Talent label. Ambrose also appears on albums by Esperanza Spaulding (Esperanza), Aaron Parks (Shadows), Steve Coleman (Resistance Is Futile), and ijay Iyer & Mike Ladd (In What Language?), among others. Special guest Avishai Cohen is making waves as an improviser, composer and bandleader – on stage and his latest recording After the Big Rain, which “provides a splendid entry point to Cohen’s superb and at times singular musicianship.” (Down Beat)
10/2 Jeremy Pelt with special guests Eddie Henderson and James Zollar
Jeremy Pelt – trumpet
Marc Cary – piano
Vicente Archer – bass
Gerald Cleaver – drums
With Special Guests James Zollar (trumpet), Eddie Henderson (trumpet)
Music Charge: $30
Soon after his arrival in town in 1998, Jeremy Pelt began to attract the attention of some of New York’s leading musicians – first as a member of the Mingus Big Band, then on gigs and recordings with such jazz luminaries as Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, John Hicks, Ravi Coltrane, and Cedar Walton, to name a few. In his Down Beat review of Jeremy’s 2008 Maxjazz CD November, John Murph wrote: “Pelt's deft compositions make November a rewarding disc that invites repeated listens. They’re steeped in modern post-bop, but also evoke a cinematic narrative akin to Wayne Shorter or Bobby Hutcherson…The cohesive energy of Pelt’s new outfit also contributes to this date's lasting impression.”
Jeremy’s special guests tonight are Dr. Eddie Henderson, a veteran of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi sextet who became a jazz/fusion star with his Blue Note albums Sunburst and Heritage; and James Zollar, whose many credits include extensive work with Cecil McBee, Sam Rivers, and the jazz orchestras of Carnegie Hall (directed by Jon Faddis) and Lincoln Center (directed by Wynton Marsalis) as well as an appearance in the Robert Altman film Kansas City.
10/3 Bobby Bradford Quintet featuring David Murray
Bobby Bradford – trumpet
Marty Ehrlich – saxophones, clarinet
Mark Dresser – bass
Andrew Cyrille – drums
With Special Guest David Murray (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet)
Music Charge: $30
Bobby Bradford is one of the most distinctive trumpet voices to emerge from the Sixties avant-garde. The Dallas native grew up playing with other locals such as Cedar Walton and David Newman. In 1953, he moved to Los Angeles where he met and played with Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy, and from 1961–1963 Bradford replaced Don Cherry in the Ornette Coleman Quartet but his longest and best-known association is with the clarinetist John Carter (1928–1991) with whom Bobby recorded such albums as Flight for Four (1969), Tandem (1982), and Comin’ On (1988).
Bobby Bradford’s association with his special guest David Murray goes back decades. In a 1992 New York Times review, Jon Pareles wrote: “[With] such superb musicians, each composition developed depth and humanity…Mr. Bradford’s solos are terse, using short phrases, angular lines and little muttering licks; they seem to spiral inward on themselves. By contrast, Mr. Murray is expansive, crooning melodies on tenor saxophone and dilating outward with hyper-fast streaks, glissandos and long lines that swoop through the instrument’s usual range and beyond.”
10/4 Bobby Bradford Octet featuring David Murray
Bobby Bradford – trumpet
Marty Ehrlich – saxophones, clarinet
Benny Powell – trombone
Baikida Carroll – trumpet
James Weidman – piano
Mark Helias – bass
Andrew Cyrille – drums
With Special Guest David Murray (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet)
Music Charge: $30
Bobby Bradford is back for a second gala night on our stage, this time at the helm of an all-star octet featuring special guest David Murray, trombonist Benny Powell (of the Randy Weston group), multi-reed master Marty Ehrlich, and the great drummer Andrew Cyrille.
10/5 Mingus Orchestra – First Anniversary of “Mingus Mondays” At Jazz Standard!
Craig Handy - tenor & soprano saxophone, flute
Mark Gross - alto & soprano saxophone, flute
Ku-umba Frank Lacy - trombone
Kenny Rampton - trumpet
Lage Lund - guitar
tba - Bassoon
Doug Yates - bass clarinet
John Clark - French Horn
Boris Kozlov - bass
Donald Edwards – drums
“Whenever you feel gloomy about the future of jazz, try to catch the mavericks gathered by Charles Mingus’ indefatigable widow, Sue. Many repertory bands can deliver note-perfect but lifeless reproductions of old glories. Mingus’ heirs stay as true to the restless spirit of the originals as anyone could possibly hope for.” (Clive Davis, The Times of London Online)
Music Charge: $25
10/6 Cuong Vu
Cuong Vu – trumpet, electronics
Stomu Takeishi – bass
Luke Bergman – bass
Ted Poor – drums
Cuong Vu has lent his distinctive trumpet playing to the music of artists ranging from Pat Metheny and Myra Melford to Laurie Anderson and David Bowie. As a leader, each new recording has found Cuong Vu carving out a distinctive sonic territory on his instrument while gracefully transcending all stylistic boundaries. “When he’s on his own, Vu composes and plays a kind of music that is both jazz and not-jazz, post-rock without the pretension, metal without the cookie monster voice. Whatever it is, it’s brilliant.” (Matt Cibula, PopMatters.com)
Music Charge: $20
10/7–10/8 Joe Martin Quartet featuring Mark Turner, Brad Mehldau & Marcus Gilmore
Mark Turner – tenor saxophone
Brad Mehldau – piano
Joe Martin – bass
Marcus Gilmore – drums
Jazz Standard is proud to present bassist Joe Martin in the premier of music from his forthcoming Anzic Records CD, Not By Chance. This all-star ensemble, featuring Grammy-nominated pianist Brad Mehldau, the articulate saxophonist Mark Turner, and thrilling drummer Marcus Gilmore, will dig into Joe’s original compositions – “A Dream,” “Not By Chance,” “The Balloon Song” – for two nights of state-of-the-art modern jazz.
Music Charge: $25
10/9–10/11 Dafnis Prieto “Si o Si” Quartet
Peter Apfelbaum – tenor saxophone
Manuel Valera – piano
Charles Flores – bass
Dafnis Prieto – drum
Live at Jazz Standard, due out in September 2009, by Dafnis Prieto and his “Si o Si” Quartet is simply one of the best albums ever recorded in our room. Apfelbaum, Valera, and Flores play as one voice on Dafnis’ soulful compositions, riding Dafnis’ tricky, fast-flowing rhythmic currents with grace and assurance. On this album, Dafnis Prieto achieves his stated goal: “To have the opportunity of bringing your own ideas, to enrich the way, to awake the beauty of music itself.”
Music Charge: $30 / $25 Sunday
10/12 Mingus Dynasty
“One was struck by how well Mingus’ ensemble arrangements are now played, far more precisely than when he was alive. His original soloists were superb but it has taken 50 loving years for section players to reel off his complex orchestral visions. ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,’ a classic requiem for Lester Young, inspired masterly tenor sax from London-born Wayne Escoffery and a powerful new vocal — ‘he took him a white wife and some saw red/ enough to drive them from their hotel bed’ — by trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy.” (Jack Massarik, London Evening Standard, 7/7/2009)
Music Charge: $25
10/13 Hans Glawischnig Quartet
Dave Binney – saxophones
tba – piano
Eric Doob – drums
Hans Glawischnig – bass
Jazz Standard and the Austrian Cultural Forum proudly present Hans Glawischnig, one of the most in-demand bassists on the scene, leading his own quartet for a very special one-night stand. The high esteem in which the Graz, Austria native is held by his fellow musicians is evident from the personnel on Hans’ 2008 CD Panorama (Sunnyside Records), which includes Chick Corea, Miguel Zenn, Ben Monder, and Marcus Gilmore.
Music Charge: $20
10/14 Pyeng Threadgill
Pyeng Threadgill – vocals
Kevin Louis – cornet, percussion
Tyler Wood – keyboards
Derek Nievergelt – bass
Evan Pazner – drums
Pyeng Threadgill is truly a unique and unclassifiable artist. In the grooves of her forthcoming album, Portholes To A Love & Other Short Stories, Pyeng explores concepts of reality and magic, humanity and nature through her vibrant, caressing vocals, metaphorical lyrics, and the rolling rhythms and revolving countermelodies of her versatile band. Pyeng Threadgill, wrote Neva Chonin at SFGate.com, “understands subtlety. From her sensible shoes and swishing pleated skirt to her elegantly measured phrasing, her approach is both pristine and intimate, supported by arrangements that are inventive but not gaudy.”
Music Charge: $20
10/15 Helen Sung: Sung with Words
Helen Sung – piano
TBA – bass
TBA – drums
Earlier this year, Helen appeared on our stage with a top-shelf quartet to record her first live album (coming soon). After musical travels that have taken Helen from Cape Town, South Africa to Austin, Texas, this outstanding pianist and composer is back at Jazz Standard for a night of liberating, invigorating trio music. “Sung's singing lines and bright, crisp sound come shining through, as fleet and fine as Phineas Newborn. Whatever tune she plays…becomes her own thing.” (Owen McNally, Hartford CT Courant)
Music Charge: $20
10/16 – 10/18 Ben Allison
Jenny Scheinman – violin
Shane Endsley – trumpet
Steve Cardenas – guitar
Ben Allison – bass
Rudy Royston – drums
Think Free, Ben Allison’s new CD – due out 10/13/09 – will be his eighth release on Palmetto Records but his first to be recorded with the lineup he’ll lead this week at Jazz Standard. The album includes four new originals and new versions of three Allison classics, plus a free-improv vignette. One of the true MVPs on the New York scene, Ben Allison was cited in multiple categories (including Bassist and Composer) in the 2008 Down Beat Critics Poll and his album Little Things Run The World reached Number One on the CMJ National Radio charts.
Music Charge: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday
10/19 Mingus Big Band
“The weekly Monday Mingus show at the Jazz Standard is New York’s most transcendent weekly residency. It’s probably the best in the entire world. The group treated what appeared to be a sold-out house to a passionate, frequently ecstatic performance, which wasn’t particularly surprising considering what a treat it must be to play this stuff. It could be argued that there has been no composer in any style of music who has written with such fearlessness, ferocity or consistently counterintuitive creativity since Mingus’ sadly early demise in 1979.” (from Lucid Culture review of Mingus Big Band, 7/27/09 at Jazz Standard)
Music Charge: $25
10/20 Julian Lage Group
Julian Lage – acoustic and electric guitars
Ben Roseth – alto and soprano saxophones
Aristides Rivas – cello
Jorge Roeder – bass
Tupac Mantilla – percussion
There’s no other guitarist on the American music scene who sounds like Julian Lage. His singular style melds strains of blues, classical, folk, and jazz music as he switches deftly from acoustic to electric and back. Sounding Point, the new EmArcy/Universal album by 21-year-old Julian Lage, is the most striking and sophisticated debut by a young instrumentalist in years. The music ranges from through-composed works and impromptu improvisations in duo and trio settings to solo excursions and a finale capped by a masterful rendering of Miles Davis’ “All Blues.” “There’s a palpable joyousness to this music, an optimism and rhythmic buoyancy that help uninitiated listeners join Lage for the ride.” (Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune)
Music Charge: $20
10/21–10/25 Joshua Redman
Joshua Redman – tenor and soprano saxophones
Matt Penman – bass
Gregory Hutchinson – drums
Having turned forty on February 1, 2009, Joshua Redman seems to have embarked on a year–long public celebration of his spectacular musical gifts. Critics hear a musician who just keeps getting better: After Josh’s appearance at Yoshi’s in Berkeley CA, Jim Harrington of the Contra Costa Times was convinced “Redman never has sounded better” and discerned “a mature, confident artist whose body of work someday may stand with jazz’s giants.” At the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan, Nate Chinen of The New York Times heard the saxophonist “making some of the best music of his career…At almost every turn he seemed intensely focused but unpressured and completely in command.” For this Jazz Standard engagement, Joshua Redman will expand upon the music of his latest Nonesuch CD Compass in a three-way conversation with superlative rhythm section of Matt Penman (bass) and Gregory Hutchinson (drums).
Music Charge: $35 / $37.50 Friday & Saturday
10/26 Mingus Orchestra
“Whenever you feel gloomy about the future of jazz, try to catch the mavericks gathered by Charles Mingus’ indefatigable widow, Sue. Many repertory bands can deliver note-perfect but lifeless reproductions of old glories. Mingus’ heirs stay as true to the restless spirit of the originals as anyone could possibly hope for.” (Clive Davis, The Times of London Online)
Music Charge: $25
10/27 Elio Villafranca Quintet featuring Grant Stewart
Grant Stewart - tenor saxophone
Tony Micelli - vibes
Elio Villafranca - piano
Luques Curtis - bass
John Davis - drums
The gifted pianist and composer, Elio Villafranca, first appeared on our stage with his quartet in the “New Dimensions in Latin Jazz Series” in 2007. In the interim, Elio won a Heineken Green Ribbon Master Artist Music Grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC). As a sideman, his credits include gigs and recordings with Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Pat Martino, and Miguel Zenn, just to name a few. “The musical history of Cuba is full of extraordinary pianists,” says saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, “I am certain that Elio Villafranca is amongst the best representatives of the new generation of Cuban pianists and composers.”
Music Charge: $20
10/28 Pamela Luss with Houston Person
Pamela Luss – vocals
Houston Person – tenor saxophone
James Chirrillo – guitar
John Demartino – piano
Ray Drummond – bass
Alvin Atkinson – drums
Tonight, Jazz Standard celebrates the release of Sweet and Saxy, the fourth album by the widely acclaimed vocalist Pamela Luss, on Savant Records/HighNote Records. Produced by and featuring tenor saxophone colossus Houston Person, Sweet and Saxy is a glorious display of the dynamic synergy created by the emerging singer and the veteran horn man. Pamela Luss has appeared at virtually every major venue in New York, including Dizzy’s (and Rose Hall) at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Iridium, Sweet Rhythm, Feinstein’s, and the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Music Charge: $20
10/29 – 11/1 Go Home
Charlie Hunter – guitar
Curtis Fowlkes – trombone
Ben Goldberg – clarinet
Scott Amendola – drums
Go Home brings together Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola’s rootsy, hard-driving grooves with the astute, lyrical interplay of Curtis Fowlkes and Ben Goldberg. This endlessly adventurous quartet builds its improvisations upon Goldberg’s spacious melodies, and the result charts the clarinetist/composer’s creative journey from the esoteric realms of the avant-garde to the simple pleasures of syncopation and melody. Don’t miss the NY premier and debut CD release celebration from this special band.
Music Charge: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday
For more information contact AMT Public Relations.
