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“Bill Frisell, …is probably the most important and innovative exponent of jazz guitar in his generation.” The Atlantic The Bill Frisell Trio with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston joins a rich legacy of three-member groups: the trios of Nat Cole, Hank Jones, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans and many others. It’s a heritage all but defined by the tensions between tradition and individuality, continuity and change, that have always informed jazz and spark every performance by the Frisell Trio. “All three of these musicians have a deep sense of structure along with their exploratory approach to making music, so they can elaborate but never move too far away from what they need to do to serve the song. This trio is a sterling example of balancing that architectural sensibility with the spirit of spontaneity at the same time,” says Lee Townsend, producer of the Trio’s new recording Valentine. Frisell, whose eternally boyish appearance and folksy way of talking belie a probing intellect, is attuned to the mysterious but scientifically grounded strength of the combination of three improvising musicians. The trio configuration is, after all, a musical permutation of the “power of three” central to every field from mythology and religion to mathematics and physics since Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made up the triumvirate of Greek Gods. As with every triangle, the Bill Frisell Trio draws its strength from having three separate sides (the musicians, each with his own sensibility) connected by three vertices (the harmony, melodies, and tempi of the material). Frisell, as the leader and chief composer, established the framework of meticulous untidiness and open-eared generosity, playing with economical wisdom and unforced daring. Thomas Morgan plays in and around Frisell’s guitar lines, supporting them and building from them in counterpoint that sounds both wholly organic and full of surprise. And Rudy Royston brings a third layer of feeling to the group while holding everything together. “The music is about everyone trusting each other to the point where everybody’s in the state of mind where you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and you feel safe enough to try anything. It’s … the trust that makes risks possible,” says Frisell. The result is a vivid demonstration of the capacity of masters like Frisell, in the manner of Ellington, to push themselves, their collaborators, and their audiences to unexpected heights through the ever-restless force of their creativity. After more than two years playing jazz clubs and concert halls across the United States and throughout Europe performing a repertoire they varied every night, the Bill Frisell Trio has gelled as a group dedicated to fluidity and spontaneity.

To most of us, the adventures of trailblazing trumpeter, vocalist and songwriter Bria Skonberg are borderline unbelievable. “I play jazz because it’s the closest I can get to flying.…spreading joy, relating the human experience, and putting good into the world to counteract the negative. I want to make music that makes people feel, and think.”– Bria Skonberg Described as “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” (Wall Street Journal) she recently sang the music of Aretha Franklin alongside Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, played with U2 at the Apollo, sat in with the Dave Matthews band, was a featured guest with Jon Batiste and performed the Star Spangled Banner at Madison Square Garden for a NY Rangers game. A bandleader since her teens, Bria has performed festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and over a hundred more. In 2016 Bria released her debut LP on Sony Masterworks which won a Canadian JUNO award and made the Top 5 on Billboard jazz charts; her music has over 10 million streams on Spotify. A 6x Downbeat Rising Star, further accolades include the Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing Award, Best Vocal and Best Trumpet from Hot House Jazz Magazine and Outstanding Jazz Artist at the Bistro Awards. The “shining hope of hot jazz” (NY Times) has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages. She has been on faculty at the Teagarden Jazz Camp (2008-present) and Centrum Jazz Camp, performs outreach on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center, is currently developing educational activities for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and co-directs the New York Hot Jazz Camp she co-founded in 2015. In 2018 Lincoln Center sought out her leadership for a tribute to the first integrated all female big band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, which launched her acclaimed group Sisterhood of Swing. In 2019 she was a featured member of Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour for 26 dates alongside Cecile McLorin Salvant, Christian Sands, Melissa Aldana and Jamison Ross. Bria is a member of the Town Hall Ensemble, an all star cast directed by Steven Bernstein that celebrates the cultural and musical history of New York city. She tours constantly bringing her own signature sound of fiery trumpet playing and smoky vocals together with storytelling and adventurous concoctions of classic and new.

World-renowned guitarist and four-time GRAMMY nominee Stanley Jordan returns to the Emelin to channel the late, great Jimi Hendrix in his show called “Stanley Jordan Plays Jimi.” This is a tribute show, but it’s not pure imitation. Instead Stanley builds on Jimi’s legacy in a myriad of creative way. As Stanley explains it, “This is my fantasy Jimi Hendrix concert if Jimi were still alive and playing today. By re-imagining his music and channeling his persona I try to bring that fantasy to life.” It may be surprising that a rock legend like Hendrix would get so much love from a jazz legend like Jordan. Stanley’s 1985 album Magic Touch was #1 on Billboard’s jazz chart for 51 weeks, and Stanley has shared the stage or recorded with jazz artists such as Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Billy Cobham. But again, hearing it from Stanley, “I actually played rock and blues before I played jazz. In fact, Jimi’s constant searching for new sounds inspired me to move toward jazz in the first place.” It may also be surprising that Stanley Jordan would take on a project like this. After all, Stanley is a well-known guitarist with a signature style, has four GRAMMY nominations, a cameo in a Blake Edwards film Blind Date), and a host of TV appearances over a long career including “Jimmy Fallon,” “David Letterman,” “Jay Leno” and “Johnny Carson” to name a few. Stanley explains he took on a project like this because, “I feel a strong connection to Jimi Hendrix because he was the first guitarist I emulated as a child. Out of love for Jimi and his music I feel a strong desire to try to keep his legacy alive.” In recent years, Stanley has performed with many artists in the rock and jam-band worlds, including the Dave Matthews Band, Umphrey’s McGee, Moe. and more. Stanley says, “Returning to my rock roots has been an absolute joy artistically, and with this project, I’m taking that to a new level.”

Featuring Music from Copland House Siwoo Kim and Suliman Tekalli, violins Kathryn Lockwood, viola Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello Michael Boriskin, piano PROGRAM Gabriela Lena Frank: Four Folk Songs John Musto: Piano Quintet (World Premiere) Leonard Bernstein: Piano Trio Ticket holders are invited to a post-performance ‘OFFBEAT/ONSTAGE’ talk with the artists. Three vibrant works trace personal journeys of three generations of important composers, and their connections to inner selves, outer worlds, and the relationships between them. The iconic Leonard Bernstein’s early Piano Trio, written as a teenager in the 1930s, mirrors the creative tensions, evolution, and emergence of an extravagantly-gifted young artist discovering his artistic voice. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Four Folk Songs for Piano Trio is centered around identity, roots, and the composer’s engagement with the traditions of her Peruvian-Chinese-Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. Highlighting the program is the World Premiere of Emmy Award-winner John Musto’s Piano Quintet, a new chamber version adapting his orchestral Sinfonietta celebrating life and commemorating the loss of a close friend.

Guitar virtuosos Martin Taylor, Frank Vignola, and John Jorgenson create musical magic with “one night, three award-winning guitarists, eighteen strings”. The Great Guitars™ traces its colorful heritage back to the 1970s when the legendary jazz guitarists of that era toured the world and recorded together. Award-winning guitarist Martin Taylor, who replaced Herb Ellis to become part of the original group in the 1980s with the legendary Barney Kessel and Charlie Byrd, has revised the format for the 21st century-enlisting two of today’s top jazz guitars players to co-create a brilliant program displaying guitar mastery, emotion, humor and musical fireworks. Combining Taylor’s award-winning virtuosic fingerstyle with Vignola’s jaw-dropping technique, and Jorgenson’s incredible musical versatility, the concert features solo, duet, and trio performances by these three acknowledged masters of fingerstyle, jazz and gypsy guitar. Between them, these three guitar greats have worked with artists ranging from Tommy Emmanuel to David Grisman, Donald Fagen to Wynton Marsalis, and Bonnie Raitt to Bob Dylan. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Pat Metheny calls Martin Taylor “one of the most awesome solo guitar players in the history of the instrument”, while Jeff Beck says, “he out-shreds all of us – I’ve never seen anything like it”. Taylor is widely recognized as the world’s foremost exponent of solo fingerstyle jazz guitar playing, with a record 15 British Jazz Awards, Top 10 albums in the USA and Europe and an MBE from the Queen of Great Britain. His innovative online guitar school now teaches guitarists in over 60 countries. Frank Vignola is highly regarded as one of the most accomplished, multi-dimensional players in the world today. Les Paul added him to his “Five Most Admired Guitar List” for the Wall Street Journal while The New York Times deemed Vignola as “one the brightest guitar stars.” John Jorgenson, known for his blistering guitar licks and mastery of a broad musical palette, has earned a reputation as a world-class musician, as evidenced by his collaborations with Earl Scruggs, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan and many others.

In March 2021, we enjoyed a wonderful variety of performers and look forward to the same in 2022. Come see and hear local actors, singers, dancers, musicians, and poets as they showcase their talents at our second annual March Medley.

Jazz Jam Sessions are hosted by Winard Harper & Friends every Friday from 8 pm and Sunday from 7 pm with special guests. https://www.facebook.com/MooresLounge/photos/4560695590658429

John Pizzarelli, the world-renowned guitarist and singer, has established himself as a prime contemporary interpreter of the Great American Songbook and beyond, with a repertoire that includes Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and The Beatles. He has been hailed by The Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.” The Toronto Star pegged him as “the genial genius of the guitar.” And The Seattle Times saluted him as “a rare entertainer of the old school.” In addition to the music of Nat King Cole, he has celebrated the work of composer Richard Rodgers with his GRAMMY Award-nominated With a Song in My Heart, toured the globe performing shows centered on Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mercer and John McCartney, bringing his unique style to a broad range of music and styles. His recordings range from torch ballads to classic swing, from bold originals to holiday fare, and the Fab Four. His two-disc set, Live at Birdland, seamlessly blends James Taylor folk with Gershwin and Van Heusen standards, in addition to his own original compositions. John has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as James Taylor, Natalie Cole, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Wopat, Rickie Lee Jones and Dave Van Ronk, as well as leading jazz artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Ruby Braff, Johnny Frigo, Buddy DeFranco, Harry Allen and, of course, Bucky Pizzarelli. In 1997, Pizzarelli made his Broadway debut in the musical Dream, a revue of Johnny Mercer songs. He led a 40-member live orchestra at Radio City Music Hall in Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way in 2003. Pizzarelli received the 2009 Ella Fitzgerald Award from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, joining a select group of past winners including Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr. John has performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Conan,” and “Great Performances” as well as “Leno” and “Letterman.” His themed shows, often performed with his wife Jessica Molaskey, suggest there is no limit to Pizzarelli’s imagination or talent. The New York Times called their recent “My Generation” show “brilliant.”

Featuring Music from Copland House: Carol Wincenc, flute Benjamin Fingland, clarinet Curtis Macomber and Suliman Tekalli, violins Melissa Reardon, viola Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello Michael Boriskin, piano Program Joan Tower: Petroushskates Charles Tomlinson Griffes: Poem Pierre Jalbert: Crossings Samuel Barber: Canzone Percy Grainger: Three British Folk Songs [arr. Paul Dunkel] Aaron Copland: Sextet Ticket holders are invited to a post-performance ‘OFFBEAT/ONSTAGE’ talk with the artists. Westchester has been home to one of the richest musical legacies in America, as generations of composers found inspiration and solace here. As Aaron Copland said, ”I moved to this county to avoid the interruptions of the city; the woods, the quiet and the privacy, were essential for my creative work.” Music from Copland House’s eclectic, entertaining program journeys across 100 years of music by Westchester natives or transplants, ranging widely from Gilded Age Romanticism to mid-century Modernist and neo-Stravinskian romps, and embracing the sounds of vibrant folk songs, British fifes, and languid ballads. The concert features a trio of Pulitzer Prize winners (Aaron Copland, Joan Tower, and Samuel Barber), Old and New World masters (Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Pierre Jalbert) and one genuine, undefinable maverick (Percy Grainger). You won’t “hear” Westchester again in quite the same way again!

For more information, please visit — https://www.soapboxgallery.org/events/james-carney-quartet2-25-22