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  • The seventh annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival begins this weekend at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and as usual it presents a broad view of the…
  • 22-year-old aron! built an audience online, got signed to Verve Records by channeling the American songbook through his original tunes, without ever trying to sound “modern”. Leo Sidran revisits their recent Third Story Podcast interview together ahead of aron!'s upcoming NYC performance at Mercury Lounge on April 14th.
  • Pianist Randy Ingram celebrates a lifelong influence on Sound Within, joined by Bill Evans alumni Joe La Barbera and Rufus Reid. The album reflects Ingram’s long journey to honor Evans while sounding unmistakably like himself.
  • Sets at 7.30pm + 9.30pm ET
    John Escreet -piano
    John Hébert -bass
    Damion Reid -drums

    Pianist John Escreet, hailed by Time Out London as a “transatlantic jazz genius,” continues his artistic ascent with the bold, exploratory new album Seismic Shift (Whirlwind Recordings). It is Escreet’s ninth album as a leader but his first at the helm of a trio, and also one of the first to see release since his move to the West Coast in early 2020.

    The UK native, former Brooklynite and now Los Angeles transplant teams up with fellow Angelenos Eric Revis (bass) and Damion Reid (drums) for a set brimming with fire and invention. Seismic Shift offers ground-shaking evidence that Escreet, with his limitless technique, harmonic imagination and refined grasp of the improviser’s art, ranks as one of the top pianist-auteurs of our time. Equally at home in mainstream, electric, avant-garde and world jazz contexts, he has also built a reputation as a versatile sideman and collaborator with credits including Antonio Sanchez, Tyshawn Sorey, Amir ElSaffar, David Binney, and Evan Parker to name a few.

    The world of Seismic Shift is on one level what the title implies: it involves tumult, rupture, earthquake. Escreet and his colleagues unleash a lot of power, whether freely improvising, sculpting sound with extended techniques, or for that matter playing elegant tonal harmony. “Any music I present needs to be varied,” Escreet says. “There needs to be beauty alongside the wild moments, moments of tonality against moments of abstraction. Most of all, any idea put forward, whether composed or improvised, needs to have clarity and purpose.”
  • Two Nights of Music from The Afro Pan-Latin Diaspora: Roots, Improvisational Music and Beyond For the past year, the Ori-Gen Collective -- a diverse, New York-based group of Latino music makers including multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winners -- has been developing platforms to explore and present new combinations of Latin American roots music, jazz, and technology in contemporary pan-Latin music. This September, the Ori-Gen Collective will celebrate this vision with two nights of music from some of the most innovative and forward thinking artists from the Afro Pan-Latin Diaspora. The Festival takes place at Drom [85 Avenue A, NYC] on September 9th - 10th. Night One features a Brazilian percussion and vocals duo with Rogerio and Anne Boccato, Argentine bassist Pablo Aslan & Piazzollazo's tribute to Astor Piazzolla, the dreamy, tropical soul of Miami/Venezuelan project Bacalao Men, and Argentine singer Sofia Rei brings her acclaimed mix of folklore and futurism to a duo with multi-instrumentalist JC Maillard. Night Two features Argentinian-NYC experimental duo Chuño; Latin GRAMMY Award winning percussionist, composer, and arranger Samuel Torres collaborating with pioneering Afro-Peruvian jazz guitar fusionist Eric Kurimski; celebrated singer, ethnographer and musical polyglot Kavita Shah with Cape Verdean guest singer Fantcha; and GRAMMY-award winning vocalist/violinist from NYC's own Flor de Toloache, Mireya Ramos. September 9th: 7:00 pm Rogerio and Anne Boccato 7:30 pm Sofia Rei and JC Maillard 8:00 pm Pablo Aslan & Piazzollazo 9:00 pm Bacalao Men September 10th: 7:00 pm Duo Chuño 7:30 pm Samuel Torres Duet with Eric Kurimski 8:00 pm Kavita Shah 9:00 pm Mireya Ramos
  • God Doesn’t Mean You Get To Live Forever

    Starring former Art Blakey and Duke Ellington trombonist Gregory Charles Royal and "America's Psychologist" Dr. Jeff Gardere; featuring AU Hogan, Anya Caravella, and New Jersey's own Anointed Friends Gospel Choir.

    Would you still believe in God if it meant no everlasting life? What if God Doesn’t Mean You Get To Live Forever!

    Set in a quaint Baptist church where you, the audience, are the parishioners. The lively pastor and congregation get an unexpected visit from Reese Noel, a famous pop singer who lures their favorite son and Gospel musician Q. astray. After a whirlwind night of partying at Jazz and Dance clubs, Reese proffers to Q. the idea that his belief in God doesn’t have to mean a promise of everlasting life. However, an unspeakable tragedy sets everyone back on their heels. The church Deacon, played by “America’s Psychologist” Dr. Jeff Gardere, tries to make sense of it all. Powerful Gospel, Jazz, and Pop music with a boxed Soul Food sampler to set the flavor of this immersive experience just right.

    Soul Food sampler is included in ticket price; menu can be found at beboptv.com.

  • 6:30pm 3×3 “HEAD IN THE SAND” to Tipping Utopia to Vision Festival by Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks | Yoshiko Chuma - dance / Miriam Parker - dance / Emily Mare Pope - dance / Jason Kao Hwang - violin / Steve Swell - trombone / Christopher McIntyre - trombone

    7:30pm C’est Trois | jaimie branch - trumpet / Luke Stewart – bass / Tcheser Holmes - drums

    8:30pm Unnameable Element | Leo Chang - voice, piri / Chris Williams – trumpet / Lester St. Louis – cello / Miriam Parker – movement

    9:30pm Red Lily | James Brandon Lewis – tenor sax / Kurt Knuffke – cornet / William Parker – bass / Chad Taylor - drums

    10:30pm Nicole Mitchell Ensemble: Dreams of Awakening | Nicole Mitchell - flutes, composition / Ken Filiano – bass / Joshua White - piano / Val Jeanty – electronics, percussion / Terri Lyne Carrington – drums

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    About The Vision Festival

    Founded in 1996, the Vision Festival is New York City's longest continuously running jazz festival. Now in its 26th year, this festival of music, dance, poetry, and visual art is heralded as “one of New York’s most essential art events” (New York Times). Performances feature legendary and emerging stars representing the free jazz, experimental, and avant-garde communities and include Lifetime Achievement honorees like Amina Claudine Myers, Andrew Cyrille, Dave Burrell, Peter Brötzmann, and Milford Graves. This year, we honor Wadada Leo Smith and Oliver Lake.
  • 6:30pm Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few | Isaiah Collier - saxophone / Jordan Williams - piano / Luke Stewart - bass / Tcheser Holmes - drums

    7:30pm SPARKS | Eri Yamamoto – piano / William Parker – bass / Chad Fowler – saxophone / Steve Hirsh - drums

    8:30pm Diaspora Meets AfroHORN | Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet / Francisco Mora Catlett - Multipercussion - / Monique Ngozi Nri - voice, poetry / Sam Newsome - woodwinds / Don Chapman - woodwinds / DD Jackson - piano / Radu Ben Judah - bass / Bob Stewart - Tuba / Roman Diaz - African percussion

    9:30pm Angelia Sanchez Trio | Angelica Sanchez – piano / Michael Formanek – bass / Hamid Drake - drums

    10:30pm Fay Victor's SoundNoiseFUNK | Fay Victor - voice, composition / Sam Newsome - soprano sax, toys/ Joe Morris - electric guitar / Reggie Nicholson – drums / Special Guest: Eddy Kwon – interdisciplinary artist

    ══════════════════

    About The Vision Festival

    Founded in 1996, the Vision Festival is New York City's longest continuously running jazz festival. Now in its 26th year, this festival of music, dance, poetry, and visual art is heralded as “one of New York’s most essential art events” (New York Times). Performances feature legendary and emerging stars representing the free jazz, experimental, and avant-garde communities and include Lifetime Achievement honorees like Amina Claudine Myers, Andrew Cyrille, Dave Burrell, Peter Brötzmann, and Milford Graves. This year, we honor Wadada Leo Smith and Oliver Lake.

    artsforart.org/vision
  • Swiss-born and NYC based guitarist, singer and songwriter Eliane Amherd has made a career out of touring the world, literally and stylistically: Jazz, Funk grooves, Latin and Brazilian rhythms inform Eliane’s stylish, sophisticated retro - pop sound. In LA DÉGUSTATION, her inspirations remain international, but as a songwriter, she turns her lens to her home soil: the complex and diverse “terroirs” of the canton Valais in Switzerland, where wine is business, culture, science, and (nearly) religion. Each of La Dégustation’s tracks is named for a wine produced in her home region. Intoxicating and socially unifying, wine provides the focus for Eliane’s witty explorations of culture, gender, love, politics, history and art. She now presents her NYC album release concert at CITY VINEYARD, the perfect venue for this musical wine tasting. Eliane has performed in New York’s premiere clubs and tours in North- and South America, Canada, Europe and Asia, where she appeared in international Festivals in China, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal and Mongolia. Brazilian bassist Amanda Ruzza (Amy Lee, Leni Stern) and the Grammy award winning drummer Rosa Avila (Andy Williams, Petula Clark ) from Mexico complete Eliane’s power Trio, whose chemistry and astonishing musical range are on display throughout the album and in any live concert setting. “Amherd's music is fun, funky, sassy and cool and deserving of much wider recognition. A mix of soul and funk, aided and abetted by some Latin and Afro beats. At times both Curtis Mayfield and Gil Scott-Heron spring to mind.” - All About Jazz
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