Jazz Standard Announces August Concert 2016 Schedule In Harlem

Jazz Standard, one of the nation’s premier jazz clubs, offers another im­pressive month of music with jazz legends and rising stars throughout August. Appearing August 4–7, singer Tierney Sutton spotlights the songs of Joni Mitchell. Drummer Cindy Blackman Santana and her high–energy quartet will perform August 9–10, followed by another drummer, Jazz Standard favorite Jeff “Tain” Watts on August 11-14. From August 18–21, pianist/composer John Beasley will lead his eclectic Big Band playing selections from their recording MONK’estra, and veteran saxophonist George Coleman will make a welcome return to our stage on August 25–28. Jazz Standard’s “Mingus Mon­day” resi­dency contin­ues this month with performances by the GRAMMY Award–winning Mingus Big Band on 8/1, 8/8, 8/15, 8/22 and 8/29. Be­low is a com­plete sched­ule of August per­form­ances at Jazz Standard, along with infor­ma­tion on the musicians.

AUGUST 2016 SCHEDULE

8/1 Mingus Big Band

Our popular “Mingus Monday” residency, honoring the life and music of bassist and composer Charles Mingus (1922–1979), continues tonight with two fiery sets by the mighty Mingus Big Band. “Mingus packed his music so full of life, so full of the noise of the city, that thirty years in the future someone lis­tening to ‘Pithecanthropus Erectus’ or ‘Hog Calling Blues’ or any of those other wild steamrolling things wouldn’t be sure whether that wail and scream was a horn on the record or the red–and–white siren of a prowl car shrieking past the window. Just listening to the music would be a way of joining in with it, adding to it.” (From But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz by Geoff Dyer)

Music Charge $25

8/2 Ulysses Owens Jr. and New Century Jazz Quintet  CD RELEASE

Ulysses Owens Jr. – drums & leader

Benny Bennack III – trumpet

Braxton Cook – alto saxophone

Takeshi Ohbayashi – piano

Corcoran Holt – bass

It’s only for one night…but this much–anticipated Jazz Standard appearance will showcase the music of Ulysses Owens Jr.’s New Century Jazz Quintet as captured on an exciting new album entitled Arise. It’s the drummer’s fifth album as a leader and the third by this group. A graduate of The Juilliard School, a two-time Grammy® Award winner, and an artist “who takes a backseat to no one” (The New York Times), Owens’ extensive résumé includes performances and recordings with such talented contempo­raries as saxophonist Ted Nash, bassist Christian McBride, and singers Kurt Elling and Renee Fleming. “Music is a universal language and has the ability to heal the soul,” says Ulysses Owens Jr. – and his life and career are embodiments of this vision, as he continues to bring inspired and inspiring music to audi­ences around the world.

Music Charge $25

8/3 Bobby Broom Trio

Bobby Broom – guitar

Dezron Douglas – bass

Jerome Jennings – drums

In a career spanning three decades, preeminent guitarist Bobby Broom has embodied the truism that it’s the player not the tune that makes for a memorable performance in jazz. After years as the sideman of choice with the likes of Sonny Rollins, Stanley Turrentine, and Dr. John, the Chicago-based Broom reintroduced himself to the jazz world with Stand!(2001), a brilliant foray into the soul music he grew up hearing in the 1960s and ’70s. The 2014 CD My Shining Hour – hailed by The New York Times as “among the most satisfy­ing jazz guitar albums likely to emerge this year” – was a luxuriantly melodic session featuring Broom’s working trio on a set of nine beloved American Songbook standards. Always warm, lyrical, and grooving, Bobby Broom is a tremendously assured player who can put his stamp on a standard without radically reworking it. Hearing is believing – tonight only, and only at Jazz Standard!

Music Charge $25

8/4 – 8/7 Tierney Sutton’s After Blue: The Joni Mitchell Project

Tierney Sutton – vocals

Mark Summer – cello

Serge Merlaud – guitar

Ralph Humphrey – drums

“Tierney Sutton is the calm current flowing through the turbulent water of jazz vocals,” wrote C. Michael Bailey at AllAboutJazz.com, “making big changes and important recordings without stirring the water too much.” In 2013, this gifted singer released After Blue, a sensual and sensitive collection of songs com­posed by the legendary Joni Mitchell – and Sutton’s first album devoted to the work of a single artist since her 2001 Bill Evans tribute, Blue In Green. A GRAMMY Award nominee for Jazz Vocal Album, After Blue has be­come one of the artist’s most popular recordings. Jazz Standard is proud to present this timeless music live on our stage, with Tierney Sutton’s enchanting voice framed to perfection by cello, guitar, and drums.

Music Charge $30 (Thursday and Sunday)/$35 (Friday and Saturday)

8/8 Mingus Big Band

“I am convinced that the unifying element in Mingus’ music is passion…the basest materials were melted down and purified in the heat of the Mingus furnace. Not a dispassionate note was sounded: Players either stood the heat or left the kitchen. Many who stayed never had finer hours than those Mingus provided.” – Composer/arranger Sy Johnson, from his liner notes to Nostalgia In Times Square / The Immortal 1959 Sessions (Columbia Records, 1979)

Music Charge $25

8/9 – 8/10 Cindy Blackman Santana Group

Cindy Blackman Santana – drums & leader

Zaccai Curtis – piano

Aurelien Budynek – guitar

Felix Pastorius – bass

“I think of playing as controlled freedom,” says virtuoso drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, “and in jazz, that’s exactly what you have…You want the music to grow and breathe, and you want to invite creativity from all the musicians.” In addition to collaborating onstage and in the studio with her own group, she has toured and recorded with artists including Pharaoh Sanders, Cassandra Wilson, Joss Stone, Joe Henderson, Hugh Masakela, and Angela Bofill.  Blackman was the rhythm engine in Lenny Kravitz’s band from 1993 to 2007, through multiple world tours and hit albums; in 2010, she was part of the all–star line-up performing “Bitches Brew,” a tribute to Miles Davis’ seminal fusion album staged at both the San Francisco Jazz Festival and NYC Winter JazzFest. Married to Carlos Santana since 2010, she has been the group’s drummer for the past five years. In a Washington Post review of Cindy’s 2010 album Another Lifetime, Mike Joyce wrote: “It’s a labor of love. Inspired by (and named after) Tony Williams’ groundbreaking ensemble Lifetime, which helped define fusion jazz 40 years ago, the album combines Blackman’s personal perspective with the fierce power and collaborative sparks to get the job done…Blackman consistently shines in this setting – as player, arranger, composer and bandleader.”

Music Charge $30

8/11 – 8/14 Jeff “Tain” Watts Quartet

Explosive power, blinding speed and mastery of complex rhythms and time signatures…A rare sense of ele­gance, trial–by–fire composure, and a gritty street funk…All these elements and more combine in the music of drummer, composer, and bandleader Jeff “Tain” Watts. Over the course of eight albums as a leader and countless collaborations with artists ranging from Alice Coltrane to Harry Connick Jr. to Wynton Marsalis, Tain’s artistic ingenuity has expressed itself in his incomparable technique and unerring sense of swing. This jazz innovator never fails to deliver the percussive magic that has been his trademark in the decades since his emergence on the contemporary jazz scene.

Music Charge $30

8/15 Mingus Big Band

“Charles Mingus was a pre–Bird musician…in his love of pure emotion as exemplified in the blues, the church, and the polyphony of New Orleans; in his willingness to embrace the full panoply of jazz styles; in his absorption of the colors, styles, subtleties, and charms of Ellington and Tatum. He brought all of that into the modern era with individuality and a startling magnanimity of expression.” (Gary Giddins, Riding On A Blue Note: Jazz and American Pop)

Music Charge $25

8/16 Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato With Special Guest Mike Moreno

Glenn Zaleski – piano

Mike Moreno – guitar

Rick Rosato – bass

Colin Stranahan – drums

On Limitless – their second album for Capri Records, released 2013 – the collective of drummer Colin Stranahan, pianist Glenn Zaleski, and bassist Rick Rosato achieved a new level of musicality and sophis­tication. Separately the band members have been turning heads in the jazz world as the first calls for such great musicians as Ravi Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and others, but when all three are together, the special connection between them is readily apparent. Joined by special guest guitarist Mike Moreno, Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato will make their debut as a collective on the Jazz Standard stage. Come see these three rising stars of the New York jazz scene! “Helps set the standard high for not only jazz 20–somethings, but for musicians of all ages.” – The Ottawa Citizen, review of Anticipation (Capri, 2011) by Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato.

Music Charge $25

8/17 Black Art Jazz Collective CD RELEASE

Wayne Escoffery – tenor saxophone

Jeremy Pelt – trumpet

James Burton III – trombone

Victor Gould – piano

Vicente Archer – bass

Johnathan Blake – drums

“Though its name suggests a link to the Black Arts Movement, spearheaded by the poet Amiri Baraka, this ensemble is bound by less contentious aims. The group upholds a vision of jazz derived partly from the racial heritage of its all–star roster [including] the trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, the tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, the trombonist James Burton…and the drummer Johnathan Blake. (The New York Times) This appearance by the hard-driving collaborative ensemble comprised of the finest rising stars on the New York scene heralds the release of BAJC’s debut CD, featuring such memorable original compositions as “Double Consciousness” by Wayne Escoffery and “The Essence of Beauty” by Jeremy Pelt.

Music Charge $25

8/18 – 8/21 John Beasley’s  Big Band plays MONK’estra With Special Guests [Special Guest Vocalist TBA] [8/18]and Regina Carter [8/19 – 8/20]

Woodwinds – Bob Sheppard, Oliver Santana, Bob Malach, Adam Kolker, Dave Rickenberg

Trumpets – Bijon Watson, Shawn Edmonds, Scott Wendholt, Brian Lynch

Trombones – Conrad Herwig, Frank Lacy, Ryan Dragon

John Beasley – piano, conducting, arranging

James Genus – bass

Terreon Gulley – drums

With a music career spanning three decades, John Beasley’s live and studio credits reads like a virtual Who’s Who of Jazz: Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Thad Jones, Hubert Laws, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, and more. He has served as music director for Steely Dan and Queen Latifah; played on the soundtracks of Wall-E, Shawshank Redemption, and Finding Nemo; and composed for TV series “Star Trek,” “Cheers,” and “Fame.” His dynamic big band celebrates the songs of Thelonious Monk and other classic compositions (along with some cracking Beasley originals), giving the tunes a contemporary twist with Afro–Cuban rhythms, hip–hop elements, and traditional big band instrumentation.

Music Charge $35/30 (Sunday Only)

8/22 Mingus Big Band

“For sheer range of expression, Mingus’ work has few equals in post–war American music: furious and tender, joyous and melancholy, grave and mischievous, ecstatic and introspective. It moves from the rap­ture of the church to the euphoria of the ballroom, from accusation to seduction, from a whisper to a growl, often by way of startling jump cuts and sudden changes in tempo.” (Adam Shatz, “An Argument With Instruments: On Charles Mingus” – The Nation, 9.17.2013)

Music Charge $25

8/23 – 8/24 Sachal Vasandani

Sachal Vasandani – vocals

Taylor Eigsti – piano

Joshua Crumbly – bass

Kendrick Scott – drums

Sachal Vasandani has been acclaimed by critics and cheered by audiences for the pure tone and unique phrasing that mark him as one of the most compelling voices on the jazz scene today. His fourth and lat­est album, Slow Motion Miracles (Sony/OKeh, 2015), showcases his original music – memorable melodies framing poetic lyrics – in a flawless production by Michael Leonhart of the Steely Dan touring band. When not leading his own groups, Vasandani has performed as a special guest alongside greats like Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, and Michael Feinstein, to name but a few. A frequent collaborator with musicians of all styles, the singer/composer saw two of his original songs recorded by pianist Gerald Clayton on the latter’s GRAMMY Award–nominated 2013 album Life Forum.

Music Charge $25

8/25 – 8/28 George Coleman Quartet

George Coleman – tenor sax

Harold Mabern – piano

John Webber – bass

Joe Farnsworth – drums

After a rigorous apprenticeship in his native Memphis, including a stint with B.B. King, living legend George Coleman rose to jazz prominence for his solid, soulful playing with the Miles Davis Quintet of 1963–64 and his memorable performances on the classic Miles albums Seven Steps to Heaven (1963), My Funny Valentine (1964) and Four & More (1966). As a leader, Coleman has released such bracing albums as Amsterdam After Dark (1979), At Yoshi’s (1987), and most recently, the critically acclaimed A Master Speaks (2016). We’re pleased to welcome back this “Jazz Master” (as he was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts in April 2015) and his seasoned quartet, including fellow Memphian and longtime pianist Harold Mabern.

Music Charge $35

8/29 Mingus Big Band

“A spirited blend of the lush harmonies and boisterous blues sections, interwoven ensemble passages and sudden tempo shifts that made the late bassist Charles Mingus one of the most challenging and celebrated artists in jazz.” (The Los Angeles Times)

Music Charge $25

8/30 – 8/31 TBA

ALL SHOW TIMES:  7:30 & 9:30 PM

Student Discounts restrictions apply

Enjoy “NYC’s Best Barbecue” (Time Out New York) from BLUE SMOKE

And an extensive wine, beer and cocktail list

For reservations call Jazz Standard at 212.576.2232 or visit www.ticketweb.com

Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street. New York, NY, 10016, www.jazzstandard.com.