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The following is a list of live jazz events taking place in Connecticut, primarily the Greater Hartford area, as well as central and western Massachusetts. The choice of shows listed here is not meant to be all-inclusive. Changes and mistakes can happen, so please use the contacts to verify information before venturing out to a show. HJS encourages jazz enthusiasts everywhere to Support Live Jazz. Send new listings, corrections and comments about this calendar to JazzInCT@yahoo.com. When submitting listings for the calendar, please submit them using the format below, and include relevant links. July, 2010 Monday, July 26, 2010 - 6 pm - FREE MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ IN BUSHNELL PARK A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Bushnell Park Pavilion - Hartford Broadcast live by WWUH Radio Brandee Younger Trio (6 pm) Carolyn Leonhart - Wayne Escoffery Quintet (7:30 pm) Monday, July 26, 2010 - 8:30 pm - 11 pm - FREE HARTFORD JAZZ SOCIETY'S MONDAY NIGHT JAM - description - schedule A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Black-eyed Sally's - 350 Asylum Street - Downtown Hartford The primary purpose of this series is to give students (K-12 and college) a weekly opportunity to hone their artistry by performing onstage with experienced jazz musicians in an actual club setting. It is universally recognized that this kind of actual working experience is essential to the development of all jazz musicians. Scheduled musicians play an opening set beginning at approximately 8:00 pm. Following an opening set, students are invited to sit in for a hard-blowing jam session sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is an ideal opportunity for young musicians to challenge themselves and learn from the pros. Students are highly encouraged to attend both the opening set and the jam session. Please note that the jam sessions are not intended to be unstructured, "free for all" events but are carefully coordinated by a veteran musician to ensure the best learning experience. Most Mondays, parking is readily available within a block or two. After 6:00 pm, metered on-street spaces are FREE. Cancellation of a Monday Night Jam due to inclement weather or a major holiday is always possible. To confirm whether or not the Monday Night Jam will be held, please call Black-eyed Sally's at 860-278-7427. Thursday, July 29, 2010 – 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm – FREE SHACK - featuring trumpeter Stephen Haynes, bassist Adam Kubota, guitarist Kevin O'Neil, and drummer Andy Chatfield Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Gengras Courtyard (or inside the Museum Café if it rains)) - 600 Main Street – Downtown Hartford This FREE performance by "Shack" will be followed by screenings of the 2010 Summer Film Program at 7:30pm, featuring the best in independent and art films, productions from the international scene and cinema classics: Thursday, July 29 - "Barking Water" (2009, United States). Film discussion takes place after film screening. Admission to the film is $9 general admission, $8 seniors/students w/ID. Saturday, July 31, 2010 - FREE NICKI MATHIS w/NZINGA'S DAUGHTERS BAND 10th Annual Music From the African Diaspora Bushnell's Belden Theater – Hartford 860.747-9383 August, 2010 Monday, August 2, 2010 - 6 pm - FREE MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ IN BUSHNELL PARK A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Bushnell Park Pavilion - Hartford Broadcast live by WWUH Radio New Directions Jazz Ensemble (6 pm) Greg Osby Five (7:30 pm) Monday, August 2, 2010 - 8:30 pm - 11 pm - FREE HARTFORD JAZZ SOCIETY'S MONDAY NIGHT JAM - description - schedule A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Black-eyed Sally's - 350 Asylum Street - Downtown Hartford The primary purpose of this series is to give students (K-12 and college) a weekly opportunity to hone their artistry by performing onstage with experienced jazz musicians in an actual club setting. It is universally recognized that this kind of actual working experience is essential to the development of all jazz musicians. Scheduled musicians play an opening set beginning at approximately 8:00 pm. Following an opening set, students are invited to sit in for a hard-blowing jam session sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is an ideal opportunity for young musicians to challenge themselves and learn from the pros. Students are highly encouraged to attend both the opening set and the jam session. Please note that the jam sessions are not intended to be unstructured, "free for all" events but are carefully coordinated by a veteran musician to ensure the best learning experience. Most Mondays, parking is readily available within a block or two. After 6:00 pm, metered on-street spaces are FREE. Cancellation of a Monday Night Jam due to inclement weather or a major holiday is always possible. To confirm whether or not the Monday Night Jam will be held, please call Black-eyed Sally's at 860-278-7427. Thursday, August 5, 2010 - 7-9 PM - FREE PIANIST ADRIAN UNTERMYER TO BE FEATURED AT THE TORRINGTON MAIN STREET MARKETPLACE Live Jazz to Aid Downtown Revitalization Main Street Marketplace – Downtown Torrington Jazz pianist Adrian Untermyer will appear alongside bassist P.J. Duffy as a part of the ongoing Torrington Main Street Marketplace series in Torrington’s historical downtown. The concert will take place on Thursday, August 5th from 7-9 PM, and will help to showcase local businesses and cultural organizations in an open-air market set up in the center of Main Street. The evening will also feature food vendors, artists, artisans and local farmers in an effort to highlight the richness of Torrington and Northwestern Connecticut as a whole. Born outside Chicago and raised in northern Connecticut, pianist Adrian Untermyer graduated from the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in Hartford, CT where he studied with saxophonist Jimmy Greene and the legendary bassist Paul Brown. Untermyer has performed on stages large and small throughout the Northeast, and works extensively as a sideman, arranger, musical director and bandleader. He currently lives and plays in New York City, where he is pursuing a B.A. at New York University while appearing at musical destinations including Limeleaf and the Bitter End. Untermyer also is a frequent performer in and around Torrington, and gives regular concerts at Studio 59, a performance space located in a restored Baptist church in the center of downtown. The Torrington Main Street Marketplace is a European-style market held in the heart of downtown Torrington every Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. through Aug. 26. Each week offers vendors, snacks, live music and a different theme for that night's main event. The event takes place on Main Street, with plenty of parking available throughout downtown. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/tmainstreet05. Friday, August 6 - Sunday, August 8, 2010 LITCHFIELD JAZZ FESTIVAL Kent School - One Macedonia Road - Kent Tickets Friday, August 6 Friday - Sunday, August 6 - 8, 2010 NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL Newport, RI Friday, August 6 Friday, August 6 – Sunday, August 8, 2010 - $25 / $40 / $55 CARAMOOR JAZZ FESTIVAL 149 Girdle Ridge Road – Katonah, New York Friday - Spanish Courtyard Sunday - Venetian Theater Saturday, August 7, 2010 - 5:30 pm - FREE NICKI MATHIS AFRIKAN AMERIKAN JAZZ Taste of The Caribbean & Jerk Festival The Mortensen Riverfront Plaza - Hartford Monday, August 9, 2010 - 7:30 pm - $21 - $71 HERBIE HANCOCK'S THE IMAGINE PROJECT TOUR Tanglewood - Koussevitzky Music Shed - Lenox, MA Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres while maintaining his unmistakable voice. With an illustrious career spanning five decades and 12 Grammy® Awards including the 2007 Album Of The Year for ‘River: The Joni Letters’, he continues to amaze audiences. There are few artists in the music industry who have had more influence on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B than Herbie Hancock. As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, "Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him." Monday, August 9, 2010 - 8:30 pm - 11 pm - FREE HARTFORD JAZZ SOCIETY'S MONDAY NIGHT JAM - description - schedule A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Black-eyed Sally's - 350 Asylum Street - Downtown Hartford The primary purpose of this series is to give students (K-12 and college) a weekly opportunity to hone their artistry by performing onstage with experienced jazz musicians in an actual club setting. It is universally recognized that this kind of actual working experience is essential to the development of all jazz musicians. Scheduled musicians play an opening set beginning at approximately 8:00 pm. Following an opening set, students are invited to sit in for a hard-blowing jam session sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is an ideal opportunity for young musicians to challenge themselves and learn from the pros. Students are highly encouraged to attend both the opening set and the jam session. Please note that the jam sessions are not intended to be unstructured, "free for all" events but are carefully coordinated by a veteran musician to ensure the best learning experience. Most Mondays, parking is readily available within a block or two. After 6:00 pm, metered on-street spaces are FREE. Cancellation of a Monday Night Jam due to inclement weather or a major holiday is always possible. To confirm whether or not the Monday Night Jam will be held, please call Black-eyed Sally's at 860-278-7427. Thursday, August 12, 2010 – 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm – FREE SHACK - featuring trumpeter Stephen Haynes, bassist Adam Kubota, guitarist Kevin O'Neil, and drummer Andy Chatfield Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Gengras Courtyard (or inside the Museum Café if it rains)) - 600 Main Street – Downtown Hartford This FREE performance by "Shack" will be followed by screenings of the 2010 Summer Film Program at 7:30pm, featuring the best in independent and art films, productions from the international scene and cinema classics: Thursday, August 12 - "Reverse" (2009, Poland). Film discussion takes place after film screening. Admission to the film is $9 general admission, $8 seniors/students w/ID. Saturday, August 14, 2010 - 3 pm - 9 pm NEW HAVEN JAZZ FESTIVAL New Haven Green Listening Schedule Neighborhood Music School Jazz Youth Orchestra Saturday, August 14, 2010 - 6 pm Green Open – BYO Picnic! / 7 – 9 pm Music & Dancing on the Green $12 General or 2 for $20 / $8 Students & Seniors or 2 for $12 / Children under 14 FREE - Tickets available at Gate First Congregational Church - 111 Church Drive (Rt. 10) – Cheshire (Rain moves event to Cheshire Academy’s Main Hall) BILL LOGOZZO’S HEARTBEAT DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND New England’s most lovable jazz band! A Great Family-Fun Nite! Saturday, August 14, 2010 – 8 pm - $5 suggested donation A SPLIT PSYCHE The Uncertainty Music Series Never Ending Books - 810 State Street - New Haven Featuring music by A Split Psyche - Keyboards, Vocals, and various electronics. "A Split Psyche is a harsh electronics/ambient noise/performance art project from New Canaan, CT." Plus a special surprise set. The Uncertainty Music Series is a New Haven-based creative music series run by composer Carl Testa that has been presenting concert events since September 2007. The goal of the series is to provide a venue for local and regional artists that may not have the opportunity to present their work elsewhere. Monday, August 16, 2010 - 8:30 pm - 11 pm - FREE HARTFORD JAZZ SOCIETY'S MONDAY NIGHT JAM - description - schedule A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Black-eyed Sally's - 350 Asylum Street - Downtown Hartford The primary purpose of this series is to give students (K-12 and college) a weekly opportunity to hone their artistry by performing onstage with experienced jazz musicians in an actual club setting. It is universally recognized that this kind of actual working experience is essential to the development of all jazz musicians. Scheduled musicians play an opening set beginning at approximately 8:00 pm. Following an opening set, students are invited to sit in for a hard-blowing jam session sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is an ideal opportunity for young musicians to challenge themselves and learn from the pros. Students are highly encouraged to attend both the opening set and the jam session. Please note that the jam sessions are not intended to be unstructured, "free for all" events but are carefully coordinated by a veteran musician to ensure the best learning experience. Most Mondays, parking is readily available within a block or two. After 6:00 pm, metered on-street spaces are FREE. Cancellation of a Monday Night Jam due to inclement weather or a major holiday is always possible. To confirm whether or not the Monday Night Jam will be held, please call Black-eyed Sally's at 860-278-7427. Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - 8 pm - $35/ $45/ $60 RIPPINGTONS Infinity Music Hall & Bistro - Route 44 - Norfolk Over the past two decades, Russ Freeman & The Rippingtons have taken the stage thousands of times throughout the world with just one goal in mind: celebrating the joy of life and music with their ever adoring fans. Complementing his own trademark mix of fiery electric and romantic classical guitars, Freeman’s guest list is truly a smooth jazz fan’s dream. 1-866-666-6306 Friday, August 20, 2010 – 7 pm BILL MAYS AND THE INVENTIONS TRIO – Bill Mays, piano; Marvin Stamm, trumpet and flugelhorn; Alisa Horn, cello Heritage Village - 1 Heritage Way – Southbury 203-264-9644 Friday, August 20, 2010 - 7:30 pm - $? TONY BENNETT Oakdale Theatre - 95 South Turnpike Road - Wallingford 203-265-1501 Friday, August 20, 2010 – 9 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm) - $28 advance / $35 day of show KIM WATERS Toads Place - 300 York St. - New Haven (203) 562-5694 Saturday, August 21, 2010 - 3 pm - 9 pm NEW HAVEN JAZZ FESTIVAL New Haven Green Listening Schedule Robby Ameen Latin Quartet Monday, August 23, 2010 - 8:30 pm - 11 pm - FREE HARTFORD JAZZ SOCIETY'S MONDAY NIGHT JAM - description - schedule A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Black-eyed Sally's - 350 Asylum Street - Downtown Hartford The primary purpose of this series is to give students (K-12 and college) a weekly opportunity to hone their artistry by performing onstage with experienced jazz musicians in an actual club setting. It is universally recognized that this kind of actual working experience is essential to the development of all jazz musicians. Scheduled musicians play an opening set beginning at approximately 8:00 pm. Following an opening set, students are invited to sit in for a hard-blowing jam session sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is an ideal opportunity for young musicians to challenge themselves and learn from the pros. Students are highly encouraged to attend both the opening set and the jam session. Please note that the jam sessions are not intended to be unstructured, "free for all" events but are carefully coordinated by a veteran musician to ensure the best learning experience. Most Mondays, parking is readily available within a block or two. After 6:00 pm, metered on-street spaces are FREE. Cancellation of a Monday Night Jam due to inclement weather or a major holiday is always possible. To confirm whether or not the Monday Night Jam will be held, please call Black-eyed Sally's at 860-278-7427. Friday, August 27, 2010 – 8 pm JIMMY MACBRIDE & FRIENDS SzechuanTokyo - 1245 New Britain Avenue - West Hartford Drummer Jimmy Macbride will be joined by some outstanding young musicians from NYC and Boston: Luke Celenza, keyboard; Matt Knoegel, sax; Benny Benack, trumpet & Raviv Markovitz, bass Saturday, August 28, 2010 – $35-$60 (Free parking) ARTURO SANDOVAL SS&C SummerWind Performing Arts Center – 40 Griffin Road North - Windsor Grammy Award-Winning artist, Arturo Sandoval will be performing an outdoor concert at the SS&C SummerWind Performing Arts Center. Arturo is fluent in at least four musical languages. He can burn through an Afro-Cuban groove, tear up a bebop tune, soar over a Mozart concerto and sooth you with a luscious ballad. In addition to his four Grammy’s, Arturo has won six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award. Opening for Arturo Sandoval will be Ed Fast & Conga Bop. For additional information, or to purchase tickets, please visit www.sscsummerwind.org or www.ticketmaster.com Monday, August 30, 2010 - 8:30 pm - 11 pm - FREE HARTFORD JAZZ SOCIETY'S MONDAY NIGHT JAM - description - schedule A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Black-eyed Sally's - 350 Asylum Street - Downtown Hartford The primary purpose of this series is to give students (K-12 and college) a weekly opportunity to hone their artistry by performing onstage with experienced jazz musicians in an actual club setting. It is universally recognized that this kind of actual working experience is essential to the development of all jazz musicians. Scheduled musicians play an opening set beginning at approximately 8:00 pm. Following an opening set, students are invited to sit in for a hard-blowing jam session sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is an ideal opportunity for young musicians to challenge themselves and learn from the pros. Students are highly encouraged to attend both the opening set and the jam session. Please note that the jam sessions are not intended to be unstructured, "free for all" events but are carefully coordinated by a veteran musician to ensure the best learning experience. Most Mondays, parking is readily available within a block or two. After 6:00 pm, metered on-street spaces are FREE. Cancellation of a Monday Night Jam due to inclement weather or a major holiday is always possible. To confirm whether or not the Monday Night Jam will be held, please call Black-eyed Sally's at 860-278-7427. September, 2010 Saturday, September 4 - Sunday, September 5, 2010 TANGLEWOOD JAZZ FESTIVAL Tanglewood - Lenox, MA Jazz greats highlighting this year’s festival include Kurt Elling. John Pizzarelli, The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, Eddie Daniels, Bob James, Donal Fox, Julian Lage, Jessica Molaskey, and the Laurence Hobgood Trio. All shows will be held in Seiji Ozawa Hall. For additional information, bios, and photos on the performing artists, please review the electronic press kit at tanglewoodjazzfetival.org/presskit. Sunday, September 12, 2010 - 11:30 am - 7 pm JAZZ CRUISE ON THE CONNECTICUT RIVER A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society Featuring: Alvin Carter Project with vocalist Nita Zarif; Dezron Douglas Quartet featuring Abraham Burton, Cyrus Chestnut and Victor Lewis 860-242-6688 Thursday, September 16, 2010 - Closing Reception 5 pm - 8 pm - FREE EXPRESSIONS IN SOUNDS AND MOTION: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF MAURICE D. ROBERTSON Artists Collective (Atrium) - 1200 Albany Avenue - Hartford Discussion with the Artist at 6:30 pm. Wednesday, September 22, 2010 – 8 pm - $10 / $5 students ANTHONY BRAXTON / TAYLOR HO BYNUM Solos / Duos Series Bezanson Recital Hall – University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA The gifted trumpeter and composer Taylor Ho Bynum joins his mentor, and 10-year collaborator, saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton in a rare duet performance. The culmination of Ho Bynum's New England bicycle tour (dates in six states via two-wheels), this historic concert in Amherst pairs "one of the most exciting figures in jazz's new power generation" (Time Out Chicago), with one of the seminal musical figures of our time. "Taylor Ho Bynum is one of those once-in-a-lifetime talents who can play everything and always sound like himself," writes Robin D.G. Kelley. “Remarkable technique, inventiveness, energy...he can really 'talk' with that horn of his and the tunes he's written are mad genius." Bynum's resume includes extensive performances and recordings with Braxton, and the large ensembles of Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor. He is also a member of groups led by Myra Melford, Jason Kao Hwang and Joe Morris. Bynum's most recent releases include a duo with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, Stepwise (NotTwo), Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings' Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12), Positive Catastrophe's Garabatos Volume One (Cuneiform), The 13th Assembly's (un)sentimental (Important Records), and the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet's Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths (Hatology). In addition, he is a curator and vice president of Dave Douglas' Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music), a partner in Firehouse 12 Records, and the president of Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation. "To judge from his album of duets with Anthony Braxton," writes Francis Davis, "Bynum has it all, including a devilish sense of humor…one of the savviest trumpeters to come along in recent years, a growling sound-and-space man in the tradition of Lester Bowie." Anthony Braxton (born in 1945) has had as great an impact on creative music as anyone in the last 50 years. Since moving from his native Chicago, where he was active with The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Braxton has released well over 100 albums, won a MacArthur Award, is a full professor at Wesleyan University and continues to perform, record, write, and influence the course of arts in America. "Whatever one calls it," writes Chris Kelsey, “there is no questioning the originality of his vision; Anthony Braxton creates music of enormous sophistication and passion that is unlike anything else that has come before it." Saturday, September 25, 2010 - 8 pm - $? JANE MONHEIT Warner Theater - 68 Main Street - Torrington 860-489-7180 October, 2010 Thursday, October 28, 2010 – 8 pm - $10 / $5 students FRED FIRTH Solos / Duos Series Bezanson Recital Hall – University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA Guitarist and composer Fred Frith is an icon of avant-garde music. "A musical consciousness of rare intelligence backed with an omnipresent sense of humour," writes Libération, "Frith makes music that is amongst the most powerful and original of the present time". Born in 1949 and raised in Yorkshire, England, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser Fred Frith has been active across a broad spectrum of music-making since the late 1960s, starting with the iconic rock collective Henry Cow. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Frith is internationally renowned as an electric guitarist and improviser, songwriter, and composer for film, dance and theater. Through bands like Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, and Cosa Brava, Frith has managed to keep one foot in the rock world while continuing to branch out into almost every area of contemporary music. His compositions have been performed by ensembles ranging from Arditti Quartet and the Ensemble Modern to the Baroque ensembles Concerto Köln and Galax Quartet, from the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra to ROVA and Arte Sax Quartets, from rock bands Hieronymus Firebrain and Ground Zero to the Glasgow Improvisers' Orchestra. Film music credits include the acclaimed documentary Rivers and Tides, directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, The Tango Lesson and Yes by Sally Potter, and Peter Mettler's astonishing Gods, Gambling and LSD. His vast catalogue of recordings is available on Tzadik, Winter & Winter, ReR, and his own label Fred Records, among many others. Frith has performed and recorded with a who's who of modern music including Lotte Anker, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Sylvie Courvoisier, Alvin Curran, Brian Eno, Evelyn Glennie, Carla Kihlstedt, Katia Labeque, Bill Laswell, Ikue Mori, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, Bob Ostertag, Zeena Parkins, The Residents, Christian Wolff, Robert Wyatt, Otomo Yoshihide, and John Zorn, among many others. Frith is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzels' award-winning documentary film, Step Across the Border. He is currently Chair of the Graduate Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California. "....undying curiosity, bitter wit, child-like sense of play, and creeping melancholy percolate through the guitarist's records," writes Guitar Player. "It might be useful, perhaps, to think of him as a folk musician who makes miniatures of the world around him using scraps torn from corners of the map." November, 2010 Thursday, November 18, 2010 – 8 pm - $10 / $5 students RANDY WESTON Solos / Duos Series Bezanson Recital Hall – University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA After six decades as a professional musician Randy Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers, a true innovator and visionary. "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk," writes Stanley Crouch. In a career that began in the late 1940s, Weston has criss-crossed the globe connecting the African diaspora through sound. "Mr. Weston is a truth seeker who sees a power in music much greater than all of us," writes The New York Times. Born in Brooklyn in 1926, Weston's first recording as a leader came in 1954 on Riverside Records, Randy Weston plays Cole Porter - Cole Porter in a Modern Mood. In the 50's Weston played around New York with Cecil Payne and Kenny Dorham and wrote many of his best loved tunes, "Saucer Eyes," "Pam's Waltz," "Little Niles," and, "Hi-Fly", now all jazz standards. In the 1960s, Weston's music prominently incorporated African elements, as in the large-scale suite Uhuru Africa (with poet Langston Hughes) and Highlife: Music From the New African Nations. On both these albums he teamed up with the arranger and his long-time collaborator, Melba Liston. In 1967 Weston traveled throughout Africa with a U.S. cultural delegation, and decided to settle in Morocco, running his African Rhythms Club from 1967 to 1972. For a long stretch he recorded infrequently on smaller record labels, but made quite an impact with the recording The Spirits of Our Ancestors (1992), which contained new, expanded versions of many of his well-known pieces and featured an ensemble including African musicians and North American such as Dizzy Gillespie and Pharoah Sanders. Randy Weston has made more than 40 albums and performed throughout the world. He has been inducted into the ASCAP "Jazz Wall of Fame," designated a Jazz Master by the National Endowment of the Arts, and named jazz composer of the year three times by Downbeat magazine. He is the recipient of many other honors and awards, including the French Order of Arts and Letters, the "Black Music Star Award" from the Art Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana, and a five-night tribute at the Montreal Jazz Festival. In October 2010, Weston will publish his autobiography, African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston (Duke University Press). Randy Weston appears in Amherst as part of "Art & Power in Movement -Rethinking the Black Power and Black Arts Movements", produced by the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts. Friday, November 19, 2010 TO BE ANNOUNCED A 50th Anniversary event by the Hartford Jazz Society 860-242-6688 December, 2010 January, 2011 February, 2011 Thursday, February 24, 2011 – 8 pm - $12 / $7 students CELESTIAL SEPTET: ROVA SAXOPHONE QUARTET + NELS CLINE SINGERS Magic Triangle Jazz Series Bowker Auditorium – University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA "The Celestial Septet is a vehicle for time and space travel through dense, narrow thickets and airy, wide expanses of boundary-blurred extrapolations of jazz, rock, late-20th-century European modernism and American minimalism, and 21st-century postmodern fusions," writes Derk Richardson in the liner notes of the Septet’s recent New World Records release. "The trip is challenging, but the open-minded listener/traveler cannot help but come through the experience with new perspectives on sound and music." Since forming in 1977, the Berkley-based ROVA Saxophone Quartet has become an important leader of genre-bending music. The Penguin Guide to Jazz calls its music "a teeming cosmos of saxophone sounds" created by "deliberately eschewing conventional notions about swing [and] prodding at the boundaries of sound and space..." Inspired by a broad spectrum of musical influences - from Charles Ives, Edgard Varese and Olivier Messiaen, to John Coltrane, Steve Lacy and Sun Ra - Rova began, in 1978, writing new material, touring, and recording, including adventurous collaborations with guitarists Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith, saxophonist John Zorn, and Italian percussionist Andrea Centazzo. In 1985, the Rova Saxophone Quartet incorporated as the not-for-profit organization Rova:Arts. Founding member Andrew Voigt left Rova in August 1988 and was replaced by Steve Adams. Otherwise, the personnel (Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin and Bruce Ackley) is unchanged. The Nels Cline Singers are a ten-year old, all instrumental trio featuring guitarist Nels Cline, Devin Hoff, bass and Scott Amendola, drums. Born in Los Angeles in 1956, Nels Cline is known for his improvisational work in a wide variety of musical projects, as well as his use of effects pedals and looping devices which give his music a distinct sound. David Carr describes Cline as "one of the best guitarists in any genre." He has played with Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia and the late Eric Von Essen, and has also worked with Willie Nelson, Thurston Moore and the jazz/punk/improv band Banyan. He frequently performs with his twin brother, drummer Alex Cline. He is currently the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band, Wilco. March, 2011 Tuesday, March 29, 2011 – 8 pm - $12 / $7 students AMIR ELSAFFAR’S TWO RIVERS ENSEMBLE Magic Triangle Jazz Series Bowker Auditorium – University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA In 2006, upon receiving commissions from the Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia and from the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), ElSaffar composed Two Rivers, a suite that invokes Iraqi musical traditions and frames them in a modern jazz setting. His 2007 Pi Recordings release, Two Rivers, featuring jazz (Rudresh Mahanthappa, Nasheet Waits, Carlo DeRosa, Amir ElSaffar) and traditional Iraqi musicians (Tareq Abboushi, Zaafer Tawil), was described by All About Jazz as, "a stirring example of the creative possibilities of international jazz in the 21st century." The disc landed on many Top 10 of the year lists. "Two Rivers is a staggering accomplishment," writes The Chicago Reader. After winning the 2001 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet competition, Amir ElSaffar traveled to his father’s homeland to immerse himself in the Iraqi maqam, pursuing masters who could impart this centuries-old oral tradition. "This is new turf," writes The Philadelphia Inquirer, "and it's likely to be a lot for either culture to digest. Yet the feeling and eloquence that emanate from this sextet make the experiment worthwhile." ElSaffar also leads a collaborative quartet with tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh, featuring Mark Dresser, bass and Alex Cline, drums. Their recent release, Radif Suite (Pi Recordings), has already received considerable acclaim. Time Out Chicago calls it "a stunning album...a surprisingly inviting amalgam of influences, merging both Iraqi and Persian modal systems into a continuous whole. The quartet adds a new chapter to the jazz tradition’s ever-evolving history." ElSaffar has received commissions from the Jazz Gallery and Jerome Foundation for the creation of a new work, Within Between, which premiered in February, and from Chamber Music America for a new work for Two Rivers. ElSaffar has also composed for theater projects, including the Wilma Theater's productions of Heather Raffo's Nine Parts of Desire and Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched. He has composed, improvised, and performed on several film soundtracks, and appeared in Jonathan Demme's Oscar-nominated film, Rachel Getting Married. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 – 8 pm - $12 / $7 students MOSTLY OTHER PEOPLE DO THE KILLING Magic Triangle Jazz Series Bowker Auditorium – University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA Deconstructing jazz standards and original compositions, weaving in and out of styles erratically and often humorously, Mostly Other People Do the Killing (MOPDtK) is led by bassist and composer Moppa Elliot and features Peter Evans, trumpet, Jon Iragabon, saxophone and Kevin Shea, drums. "Bolstered by a youthful visceral intensity," writes All About Jazz, "the mercurial quartet has a historically aware yet stylistically irreverent take on the jazz tradition." Mostly Other People Do the Killing formed in the fall of 2003 in New York City. Moppa Elliott met Peter Evans in 1998 at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where both studied. Upon relocating to New York, Elliott met Jon Irabagon and Kevin Shea. Mostly Other People Do the Killing recorded its first eponymous album during the summer of 2004 and released it on Elliott's Hot Cup label. "There’s a bustling, ostentatious impiety in the music of Mostly Other People Do the Killing," writes The New York Times. "It’s a jazz quartet with a diligent grasp of history but an anarchic take on convention." Their most recent release, Forty Fort (Hot Cup), is their fourth. By 2009, they had been voted the winners of the DownBeat Critics' Poll in the Rising Star Ensemble category, and Evans, Irabagon, and Elliott had been mentioned in their respective categories Jon Irabagon won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone competition in 2008, while Peter Evans released his second solo trumpet album on Evan Parker's psi label. The quartet made its first trip to Europe in May 2009 participating in the Moers Festival, Jazzores and Enjoy Jazz Festivals. "While the music is thoroughly modern," writes Cadence, "it references the heyday of New Orleans-style barn burners and several other eras. Evans and Irabagon...thread free passages cleverly into the traditional sounds of the earlier genres. Elliott adds the glue to keep the songs - all his compositions - in tight confinement. He lays down vibrant rhythms around which the horns jostle and cajole taking the pieces to riotous levels while maintaining reference points to earlier periods to depict the illustrious evolution of Jazz." April, 2011 Not able to attend any of the above? Why not visit Louis Armstrong's house in Corona, Queens, New York? Other Regional Jazz Calendars Connecticut Massachusetts New York Jazz Festivals in CT Jazz Festivals Beyond CT Jazz Festivals Around the World - click HERE Ongoing Jazz Series in the Area - and check out the PF Jazz Scene Calendar for detailed listings in the Greater Hartford area Back to the Hartford Jazz Society Home Page |
