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To continue safely serving our community of artists and audience members, Arts for Art is filming and releasing new performances on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, February, and March. A pay-what-you-can donation is required to view each video. All donations will go towards AFA’s Artists & Friends Campaign. About Francisco Mora Catlett: Francisco Mora Catlett, drummer, composer and educator. Began his musical career in Mexico City where he worked as a session musician for Capitol Records 1968-1970. Studied at Music School of UNAM. With a grant from the Mexican government from 1970 to 1973 he study drums with Alan Dawson and composition at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He left Mexico City with Sun Ra in 1973 and worked with him until 1980. In 1987 while in Detroit he released his first album as a leader, the Pan-Afro project “Mora!” Among several grants, he received one from the NEA to study with Max Roach in New York City. Mora Catlett worked with several Roach's percussion ensemble M'Boom, appearing on two Blue Moon LPs, 1990's “To the Max” and 1992's “Live at S.O.B.'s” and in addition to composing for Mr. Roach’s Uptown String Quartet. In 1993, he became a visiting professor at Michigan State University. Mora-Catlett played on Detroit’s Techno producer Carl Craig's 1996 jazz/electronica fusion project, “The Innerzone Orchestra” and 1999's “Programmed”. The same year, using Innerzone cohorts Craig Taborn and Rodney Whitaker, Mora Catlett issued a second album, “World Trade Music”. Following Mora Catlett's departure from Detroit in 2000 the Outer Zone Band’s first recording featuring Marshal Allen, Craig Taborn and Carl Craig was released. In New York City Mora-Catlett co-founded the “Oyu Oro Afro-Cuban Experimental Dance Company” with his wife Danys Perez Prades “La Mora” dance-music project experimenting with and music from the African Diaspora that performs nationally and internationally. Mora-Catlett has issued two releases with the “Freedom Jazz Trio. “ New Under The Sun”, recorded in 2010 featured Francesco Tristano, while “Live At The Bronx Museum” showcased Craig Taborn. A new ensemble, the Outer Zone Band’s issued “Andromeda M-31”, featuring Craig Taborn and JD Allen. Subsequent releases included: double Cd, “AfroHORN MX” (2012), AfroHORN "Rare Metal" (2013), and for AfroHORN "At the Edge of the Spiral (2015 -2016). A solo electronic music project recording (“Electric Worlds”) solo project to be released in 2021. Back to Berklee College of Music due to COVID -19 pandemic, enrolling in Composing and Producing Electronic Music I & II, and now preparing for a new Elctronic Music project 2022. In recent years, Mora-Catlett has been featured in “artist residencies” at University of Iowa, Wayne State University, and Booker T. WashingtonHigh School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Long Island University, Brookhaven College, Richard College and others where his presentations often explore the themes of jazz and creativity while highlighting the work of his parents, artists Elizabeth Catlett and Francisco Mora Senior. He has established his own label AACE in order to distribute several of these projects.

Sam Newsome - soprano saxophone / Kirk Knuffke - cornet / Hilliard Greene - bass / Satoshi Takeishi - drums To continue safely serving our community of artists and audience members, Arts for Art is filming and releasing new performances on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, February, and March. A pay-what-you-can donation is required to view each video. All donations will go towards AFA’s Artists & Friends Campaign. About Sam Newsome: New York-based saxophonist and composer Sam Newsome often works in the medium of solo saxophone, an approach for which he gained world-wide critical acclaim with his 2009 recording, Blue Soliloquy: Solo Works for Soprano Saxophone. This recording received a five-star review in Downbeat magazine. Newsome has since released several critically acclaimed solo saxophone CDs: Sonic Journey: Live at the Red Room (2020); Chaos Theory: Song Cycles for Prepared Saxophone (2019); Sopranoville: Works for Prepared and Non-Prepared Saxophone (2017); The Straight Horn of Africa (2014); The Solo Concert: Sam Newsome Plays Monk and Ellington (2013); The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 1 (2012). Ed Enright, from Downbeat magazine, called The Straight Horn of Africa, “a modern masterpiece.” Many of the notes and sounds used in his compositions and improvisations stem from his sound palette of extended techniques and saxophone preparations. Newsome often attaches tube extensions to the neck of the soprano that significantly changes the timbre of the instrument as well as extends the soprano’s range by an octave or two. Conceptually speaking, Newsome sees himself more along the lines of a visual artist who paints with notes and sounds rather than shapes and colors. Newsome has also received numerous accolades for his adventurous work, including this year’s 2020 Instant Award in Improvised Music, along with fellow avant-gardists Peter Brotzmann and John Butcher. He was also named a nominee for Soprano Saxophonist of the Year by the 2020 Jazz Journalist Association. Past recognitions include the 2018 New Music USA Grant, the 2018 Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Music Composition and the 2016 NYFA Fellowship for Music Composition In addition to his solo work, Newsome leads a trio with Hilliard Greene and Reggie Nicholson. He is a frequent collaborator with drummer Andrew Cyrille, vocalist Fay Victor, and tours regularly with Pepperland, a music and dance work by Mark Morris and Ethan Iverson that pays tribute to The Beatles.

Mara Rosenbloom - piano / Sam Newsome - soprano saxophone / Sean Conly - bass To continue safely serving our community of artists and audience members, Arts for Art is filming and releasing new performances on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, February, and March. A pay-what-you-can donation is required to view each video. All donations will go towards AFA’s Artists & Friends Campaign. About Mara Rosenbloom: Pianist, composer, & bandleader Mara Rosenbloom has been called “a whole hearted poet of the piano,” – she is a builder & a synthesist; a fiercely lyrical composer & improviser (All About Jazz). The New York Times has praised her penchant for “full-bore group improvising,” while The Chicago Reader has written that her ensemble “achieves an elusive chemistry and degree of spontaneous interaction that transcends mental boundaries.” With an interest in building community by encouraging honest expression and interactive dialogue through music - human connection has been a focus of Rosenbloom's work throughout the past decade, and as a result, powerful group interaction has become a hallmark of Rosenbloom's sound. Currently Rosenbloom leads both The Mara Rosenbloom Trio (feat: Sean Conly & Chad Taylor), and Flyways, a trio featuring Anais Mavïel & Rashaan Carter. Kicking off 2020, The Mara Rosenbloom Trio received The Chamber Music America Performance Plus Grant, with support from The New York Community Trust & The Doris Duke Foundation: the grant will afford The Mara Rosenbloom Trio the opportunity to develop & record new material under the mentorship of the legendary and luminary Amina Claudine Myers. Beyond her current projects as a leader, Rosenbloom is also a member of William Hooker's Quartet MOON, The Katie Bull Project, and Dawn Drake's global funk ensemble ZapOte, and continues to perform with a variety of musicians across genres, including William Parker, Cooper-Moore, Sam Newsome, Ras Moshe Burnett, Emilie Lesbros, Melanie Dyer, Oxana Chi, Layla Zami, Andrew Drury, Michael Wimberly, Vinny Golia, Ken Filiano, Devin Gray, Claire DeBrunner, Edith Lettner, Billy Mintz, Adam Lane, & Daniel Carter. Her mentors at the piano include the incomparable Cooper-Moore, and the late improvising pianist & life force Connie Crothers.

Karen Borca - bassoon / William Parker - tuba / Hilliard Greene - bass / Jackson Krall - drums To continue safely serving our community of artists and audience members, Arts for Art is filming and releasing new performances on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, February, and March. A pay-what-you-can donation is required to view each video. All donations will go towards AFA’s Artists & Friends Campaign. About Karen Borca: Karen Borca was one of the first musicians to make a mark pioneering the bassoon as a front line instrument in Avant-Garde Jazz and Free Jazz. Borca studied music at the University of Wisconsin with John Barrows and Arthur Weisberg, graduating in 1971. While at the University of Wisconsin, she met Cecil Taylor, who taught at the university during the 1970/1971 academic year. Borca studied with Taylor, played in his big bands, ensembles, and the Cecil Taylor Unit, and was his assistant while he worked in the Black Music Program at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She was an assistant to Taylor's longtime collaborator, saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, while he was artist-in-residence at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont in 1974. Borca married Mr Lyons and played with his ensemble until he died in 1986. She has performed with her own bands in the U.S and Europe, including The Berlin Jazz Festival, The Vision Festival,Jazz Happening in Finland, The Taktlos Festival in Switzerland, The Vision Festival in NYC,The Newport Festival Salute to Women in Jazz and many other clubs, Concerts and venues. She was a featured artist in the international women’s orchestra of soloists and composers, Canaille, which performed at the Calouste Gulbenkian Art Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. She is recorded with her band, CecilTaylor, Jimmy Lyons, Bill Dixon, William Parker, Paul Murphy and others. She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Jyderup Accordeontrat in Denmark in Oct of 2016. More recently on Oct.5, 2019 she performed her compositions/improvisations with her band, the Karen Borca Quartet at Jazz at Atlas in Newburgh, N.Y.. Also on Oct. 24th & 26th 2019, Karen Borca arranged and orchestrated the music of Cecil Taylor for the Karen Borca Big Band. She rehearsed the group and conducted a performance of Mr Taylor’s music with that group for the conference Unit Structures-The Art of Cecil Taylor in New York City. On December 1st, 2020 Borca’s group, including William Parker, Hilliard Greene and Newman Taylor Baker, played a live stream video with Arts for Art celebrating the birthday of Jimmy Lyons. Karen played with Willian Parker and NewmanTaylor Baker at a Riverside Park sculpture on Sept. 12,2021, presented by the Jazz Foundation of America. And, on Oct. 24, 2021, she performed with Hill Greene and Jackson Krall at St Mark’s Church , and later that day at the Catalytic Sound Festival with Fred Lomberg-Holm and Michael Wimberly, at the Fridman Gallary NYC.

Andrea Wolper - voice / Virg Dzurinko - piano / Judith Insell - viola To continue safely serving our community of artists and audience members, Arts for Art is filming and releasing new performances on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, February, and March. A pay-what-you-can donation is required to view each video. All donations will go towards AFA’s Artists & Friends Campaign. About Andrea Wolper: “An audacious artist [who] flouts genre limitations, singing songs for the love of it and delivering an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision” vocalist, composer, improviser, poet Andrea Wolper works “in a milieu that begins with jazz and reaches out to embrace an expressive area that is uniquely her own.” Andrea’s performance credits as a leader in her New York home base include the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Mezzrow, Arts for Arts series, and more, and she has toured across the U.S., in Europe, and beyond. Cadence Magazine called Andrea’s songwriting "easily superior,” and she has been awarded numerous composing residencies. Working frequently as both leader and side-person, Andrea leads her own ensembles; was a founding member of the free improv trio, TranceFormation, with pianist Connie Crothers and bassist Ken Filiano; and appears as a side person across jazz genres, recording and/or performing for artists including Jay Clayton, Will Connell, Bob Gluck, Matt Lavelle, Frank London, William Parker, Patricia Nicholson Parker, and others. Her recordings as leader, co-leader, and side person have landed on a number of "Best of Year" lists, and she is one of the "great jazz singers" in "The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide” (Back Beat Books). Andrea curated the "Why Not Experiment?” music series in New York city, is a past President of International Women in Jazz, and was an Advisor to the Jazz Vocal Coalition. She’s also a writer whose journalism and poetry have appeared in numerous publications; among her works are two books, including "Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives" (with Julie S. Peters; Routledge). Andrea teaches vocal technique and coaches singers in her private studio, and teaches clinics and master classes at colleges and conservatories nationally and internationally. Most recently Andrea has added a film component to her work; information about her music, short films, and more can be found at www.andreawolper.com

Join award-winning pianist and composer Charu Suri, who became the first Indian jazz artist to premiere an evening of work at Carnegie Hall, in an evening of her music that draws from her native Indian rhythms and ragas (modal scales), in an enthralling, energetic and soulful musical experience unlike anything you’ve heard, with glorious Sufi singing on top of it all.

Praised by GRAMMY winners and a winner of several awards for her work, Suri’s ensemble pulls you deep into the heart and soul of the East while pushing the boundaries of a jazz trio. Lyrics or ghazals sung by Falsa, and percussion by Jesse Gerbasi.

Pianist and composer Charu Suri treads fearlessly between genres, pulling global influences that range from the mood-anchoring Indian ragas, Sufi music, to the trio. Her ground-breaking albums, The Book of Ragas, and its sequel, The Book of Ragas vol. 2 have often elicited the response, "I've never heard this type of sound before."

One of the few female composers from India to perform work at Carnegie Hall, Charu has lived in four continents, and writes music that reflect her journey as both a traveler and her training as a classical music piano prodigy. She has been playing the piano since the age of five, and performing since the age of nine, and one of her best memories is winning an international piano competition at the age of 15.

What started purely as an experiment with her "Book of Ragas" has turned into a niche that she is now increasingly becoming known for.

In her latest "Book of Ragas vol. 2," which was highlighted by Jazz at Lincoln Center as an August new release, Suri uses her native Carnatic and Hindustani ragas (modal scales) as the basis for lyrical and energetic piano improvisations, layered by Sufi singing. All About Jazz has praised her for creating a new sound, and her raga compositions have garnered her an Hollywood Music in Media nomination, an International Singer Songwriters Association gold record, and Global Music Awards as well as praise from fellow GRAMMY voting members.

But she is no stranger to the art of the Songbook too (attribute this to her listening to numerous records of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday as a kid). "The New American Songbook" has garnered many awards, including a "Band Single of the Year" crystal trophy for her song, Bluesy, awarded by the International Singer-Songwriters Association (ISSA) in 2021.

Charu has performed at Lincoln Center and other prestigious concert halls around the world, including St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She often performs with her band, and sometimes as a soloist.

Performed through special arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. Nunsense is a hilarious spoof about the misadventures of five nuns trying to manage a fundraiser. Book, Music & Lyrics by: Dan Goggin. Directed by: Michael Schroeder

Soul singer-songwriter Bettye LaVette has been called the High Priestess of R&B. Her "pure Blues growl" and commanding presence have earned this Grammy-nominated performer comparisons to Aretha Franklin and Tina Tuner. Blind since birth, Raul Midón lives in a world of sound. His easy tropical groove, lyrical sophistication, silky voice and flowing electric guitar are his signature.

Anna Mieke
The "Warped Window" (Normal People) singer in concert

Best Emerging Artist Nominee:
2019 RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards

The Wicklow-born artist, an alum of the influential Other Voices festival and one of the new vanguard of Ireland’s folk scene, assembles her band and special guests for a concert series showcasing the tender songwriting and meticulous string instrumentation of her debut album, Idle Mind, and forthcoming new release.
May 19-21

Singer/composer John "Giovanni" Padovano will bring his solo show to 1st Cup Coffeehouse on Sunday , June 12th from 2:00 - 4:00 PM. Padovano is also known as The Ironbound Crooner and aka The Coffeehouse Performer. His music is strongly influenced by his very early years in the Ironbound Section of Newark, NJ. Padovano will perform songs from his original song collections that include the titles: "Dusty Road Session" "solo recordings at Baroque Park," " Poesia and Chanson," "The Coffeehouse Performer," and "Wandering Square Impromptu no. 12". John "Giovanni" Padovano has in the past performed locally at Princeton University and at other places in Princeton. His music is called "Poesia and Chanson".