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Please join the Ridgefield Park Concerts, Arts & Culture as we present the Gandharva Earl Sauls Trio featuring the great Rob Reich on guitar for an evening of swinging jazz with songs by George Gershwin, Carla Bley, Jimmy Webb, Jack Bruce, Jimmy Garrison, Steve Winwood and Ridgefield Park's own Gandharva Earl Sauls.
We highly encourage you to pick up dinner at one of Ridgefield Park's great restaurants to enjoy while taking in the tunes!  BYOB. Admission is free - However a $20 donation is suggested to support the musicians.
When:             Sunday, March 24
Where:            Ridgefield Park Civic Center                         159 Park Street                         Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660
Time:  Doors Open at 6:30 P.M. - Performance:  7:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem and the American Society for Yad Vashem announce the American Premiere of Lera Auerbach's Symphony No. 6, "Vessels of Light," on April 19th, 2023 at Carnegie Hall. This moving, large-scale symphonic work for solo cello, choir and orchestra, was inspired by the heroism of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Vice-Consul to Lithuania, who saved thousands of Jewish refugees during WWII. Ms. Auerbach was approached by world-renowned Japanese-American-Israeli cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper to write the work, which will be performed at Carnegie Hall with Ms. Cooper as soloist, together with the New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Constantine Orbelian. Tickets are on sale at https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/04/19/A-Concert-for-Sugihara-0700PM.

Chiune Sugihara, who, alongside the Honorary Dutch Consul Jan Zwartendijk, issued thousands of life-saving exit visas, acted in direct defiance of their governments' policy, rising above the terror of the Nazi regime and helping thousands of Jews fleeing Europe. Ms. Cooper's husband's father, Irving Rosen, was the recipient of one of Sugihara's visas. In her words: "Chuine Sugihara's story deeply touched me, and I felt utterly compelled to help bring this incredible story forward. I could not stop thinking about how my husband and children are alive, that they exist, because of this man's bravery."

In her monumental work, Symphony No. 6, "Vessels of Light" for Violoncello, Choir and Orchestra, Lera Auerbach weaves a multilayered tapestry of words and music with Yiddish poetry, the art of Japanese Kintsugi, the mystical Shevirat ha-kelim ("breaking of the vessels"), and the silent words of biblical Psalm 121 in a work she dedicates "to Chiune Sugihara and all those who risk everything to save others." The Symphony was commissioned by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and the American Society for Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem has recognized Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions during this dark chapter of our recent history.

The Carnegie Hall program will also include "Guardian Angel" by Karen Tanaka, a piece symbolic of Sugihara acting as a guardian angel to the refugees. It was inspired by a passage from the Old Testament in Exodus: "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared."

The world premiere performance of Symphony No. 6, "Vessels of Light" took place on November 5, 2022 in Kaunas, Lithuania, where these life-saving visas were issued. Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan attended the performance together with many dignitaries and members of the diplomatic corps from around the world. This performance kicked off the international tour. Upcoming concerts include Prague on March 27, 2023, with the Czech Radio Philharmonic, the US West Coast premiere with Neal Stulberg conducting the UCLA Philharmonia and Chamber Singers on May 18, Festival Napa Valley on July 18, Warsaw, with Sinfonia Varsovia, on October 8, 2023, and the final concert of the year with the Dresden Philharmonie on November 11. Concerts resume again in 2024 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Germany, conducted by Alan Gilbert, on January 11 and 14; the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin, in the fall of 2024, and more performances to be announced. Kristina Reiko Cooper will be the cello soloist in all of these performances.

On the January 6 edition of the WBGO Journal, we have tributes for several jazz legends and we visit the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City

On this edition of The Art of the Story. the new documentary "Clemente" is now available on the History Channel

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.”

Jazz guitarist Abe Ovadia will perform at the Englewood Public Library on Sunday, September 12 at 5 p.m. on the library’s front plaza. The concert series is free and open to the public. Registration is required for this concert and is available on Eventbrite or go to tinyurl.com/abeovadia. This concert is part of the Second Sunday concert series co-sponsored by Age-Friendly Englewood and the Friends of the Englewood Library. Please bring your own chair and/or blanket. Since his New York City arrival in 2009, Abe Ovadia has emerged as one of the preeminent guitarists on the New York City jazz scene, winning Best Guitarist in the 2016 Hot House Jazz Awards, and frequently performing at its top venues such as The Blue Note & The Iridium. As Musicvox Guitars describes, Ovadia is a "Jazz phenom, one of the most innovative guitarists of our time." Abe is a graduate of Berklee College of Music later on earned his master’s degree in jazz performance from the highly acclaimed jazz program at New York University. In 2010, Jeff Levenson of Warner Bros. Records honored Abe as a “Promising Artist of the 21st Century” which lead to an international tour. His music has quickly gained the respect of his peers and jazz veterans alike, such as Grammy-award winning trumpeter, Brian Lynch who said, “It has been very enjoyable to play with him, as well as to perform his original music. He is playing at a world-class level.” Abe has developed a unique identity on the guitar and as a bandleader, featuring an innovative and emotionally charged energy that is unrelenting. For further information on the concert, please e-mail programming@englewood.bccls.org; or visit https://www.abeovadia.com. The Englewood Public Library is located at 31 Engle Street, Englewood, NJ.

After a two-year COVID absence, the SALEM ROADHOUSE CAFÉ announces its GRAND RE-OPENING for Saturday, 9 April 2022. The doors open at 7:20 PM. Carrie Jackson — a frequent and beloved performer at the Roadhouse Café for the past 15 seasons — headlines the re-opening along with her Jazzin’ All-Stars Band. The Roadhouse suspended performances early in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic. Carrie Jackson is a top jazz artist performing in the New Jersey/New York area. She pours her heart into classical jazz favorites from soulful sultry pop to poignant mellow gospel. Carrie nurtured her talent in Newark, the Jazz Mecca of New Jersey. Carrie attributes her vocal style to her mentors, the Great Ladies of Jazz: Sarah “Sassy” Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson, and Carmen McRae. The Jazzin’ All-Star Band backs her up, buoys her up, and carries the audience away. One never knows who Carrie may bring along with her, either. As always, the Salem Roadhouse Café is live, intimate, up front, and personal. All ages are welcome. • Triumphal return: 9 April 2022. • SALEM ROADHOUSE CAFÉ, 829 Salem Rd., Union, NJ 07083 • Doors open 7:20PM. Show starts at 7:45PM. • Admission: $20.00. Admission includes show, snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, and dessert. Plan now for an evening of great music in Northern New Jersey’s Most Intimate Coffeehouse™. We ask that patrons wear masks while inside during the show.

Born and raised on the island of St. John, Virgin Islands, Victor Provost is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading voices on the unique, and often misunderstood, steelpan. Victor Provost leads a musical cohort that weaves seamlessly between Caribbean Roots music, straight-ahead Jazz, and World Rhythms. Fronted by the pioneering steel pannist, the group explores the music of the Americas and the diaspora through innovative compositions and thoughtful arrangements. "A serious Jazz improviser..." (The New York Times) "he turns those cultural traditions into virtuosic jazz. "(The Washington Post) Through appearances at concert halls, clubs, and stages throughout the world, Victor has developed a reputation as a “dazzling” soloist, crafting an impressive improvisational voice and style. With a strong foundation in Bebop, a contemporary sensibility, and deep roots in Caribbean music, he seamlessly melds and mixes genres. The Washington D.C. City Paper’s “Jazz Percussionist of the Year” six years in a row, his most recent recording, Bright Eyes, debuted at #5 on the iTunes Top 40 Jazz Charts and was met with praise from The Washington Post, Downbeat Magazine, and Jazz Times. Victor has performed and recorded with Jazz luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis & the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Paquito D'Rivera, Hugh Masekela, Monty Alexander, Joe Locke, Nicholas Payton, David Sanchez, Terell Stafford, Dave Samuels, Steve Nelson, Ron Blake, and Wycliffe Gordon, among others. This engagement is made possible through the Jazz Touring Network program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

On this edition of The Art of the Story, Renee Rosnes talks about latest album Crossing Paths which will be released on Smoke Sessions Records on December 6

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE




REMEMBERING AFRICAN AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO JAZZ
FROM AUTUMN LEAVES TO AFRICAN VILLAGE





On Saturday FEB 18, th from 6:30 pm to 930PM at HARLEM HERITAGE TOURS at 104 Lenox Avenue (115 -116 Street) piano masters Bertha Hope, Denton Darien, saxophone/vocalist John Satchmo Mannan, Alvin Ellington Flythe on tenor sax Tarik Shah on bass and many others will celebrate the music and contributions of Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Horace Silver and others to the Jazz idiom
The concert is live and free The event is supported by the New York State Jazz Literacy & Arts Society, the law firm of Lipsig, Shapey Manus and Moverman and The Jazz Foundation of America
Free live stream connect is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJhOImcp1ed_3JX