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Commissioned Pieces Showcased at 2016 Newport Jazz Festival

9/26/2016

Peter Apfelbaum, Ben Williams, Sullivan Fortner and Tyshawn Sorey
Presented Newly-Commissioned Works at 2016 Newport Jazz Festival®
with Support from the Doris Duke/George Wein Artist Commission Fund

Wilco’s Nels Cline Introduced New Music from “Lovers” in Newport,
Made Possible by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Grant

Peter Apfelbaum (credit: Ayano Hisa)

Ben Williams (credit: Jacqueline Marque)

Sullivan Fortner (credit: Richard Conde)

Tyshawn Sorey (credit: Brian Lima)

Nels Cline (credit: Jacqueline Marque)

NEWPORT, RI, September 26, 2016 – Continuing its six-decade long tradition of presenting new music and emerging artists alongside some of the biggest and brightest stars in the world of jazz, the 2016 Newport Jazz Festival® presented by Natixis Global Asset Management introduced four newly-commissioned pieces by pianist Peter Apfelbaum, pianist Sullivan Fortner, drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Ben Williams, plus new music from Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke/George Wein Artist Commissioning Fund.

Randy Weston Presents Master Class with Special Guest Candido at Medgar Evers College, September 20, 5:00 pm

9/19/2016

Jazzmobile To Be Honored At The 31st Annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation ALC

9/9/2016

Jazzmobile To Be Honored At The 31st Annual
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation ALC
The Jazzmobile All-Stars, Featuring Winard Harper, Jimmy Owens Larry Ridley, Antonio Hart, Danny Mixon And Charenee Wade,
Will Perform Celebrating 50 Years Of Jazzmobile

Rep. John Conyers, Jr. Will Present 2016 CBCF Jazz Legacy Awards To Jazzmobile And Jazz Legends, Jimmy Owens And Joe Ford
And Also Pays Tribute To The 90th Birthday Of John Coltrane

Jimmy Owens (Photo credit: Stephanie Myers)

Charenee Wade

Antonio Hart

Harlem USA, September 9 – Rep. John Conyers, Jr., (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, will once again serve as the Honorary Host of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference Jazz Issue Forum and Concert. The events will take place during the CBCF’s 46th Annual Legislative Conference, September 14-18, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (WEWCC), 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, DC 20001.

The 2016 ALC Jazz Concert, presents the Jazzmobile All-Stars: trumpeter Jimmy Owens, alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, pianist Danny Mixon, bassist Larry Ridley, drummer Winard Harper, and vocalist Charenee Ward; and the Washington Renaissance Orchestra, led by drummer/Artistic Director Nasar Abadey, and pianist/Musical Director Allyn Johnson, with special guest, alto/soprano saxophonist Joe Ford.

The concert will be held on Thursday September 15, from 8:00 to 10:30 pm, in Ballroom A of the WEWCC. Doors open at 7:00 pm. At 7:30 pm, WPFW radio host Candy Shannon will conduct a Meet the Artist Conversation with Mr. Abadey and Mr. Johnson.

More Than 24,600 Jazz Fans Turned Out for 2016 Newport Jazz Festival

8/22/2016

More Than 24,000 Jazz Lovers Turned Out for the 2016 Newport Jazz Festival®

Festival Set for August 4 – 6 in 2017

Monty Alexander (Photo by: Ayano Hisa)

Norah Jones (Photo by: Ayano Hisa)

NEWPORT, RI, August 22, 2016 – More than 24,600 Jazz lovers – including a sold out audience on Saturday – turned out at Fort Adams State Park and the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino July 29 – 31 for the 2016 Newport Jazz Festival® presented by Natixis Global Asset Management. Among the audience were more than 3,400 students who took advantage of specially-discounted $20 tickets, which the Festival has sold over the past three years to help build younger audiences.

10th Annual Great Jazz on the Great Hill

8/4/2016

10th Annual Great Jazz on the Great Hill

LIVE PERFORMANCES BY THE JIMMY HEATH BIG BAND AND OTHERS IN CENTRAL PARK

New York ― On Saturday, August 13, the 10th annual Great Jazz on the Great Hill concert in Central Park celebrates the 90th birthday of jazz legend Jimmy Heath ― this National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master will perform with his Big Band.

For ten years, the Central Park Conservancy has brought free music to the Upper West Side. Presented in partnership with Jazzmobile, this year’s lineup will include special guests Antonio Hart (tenor saxophone) and Jeb Patton (pianist); plus Billboard chart topper, R&B, Blues and Jazz vocalist Alyson Williams. Ms. Williams will also serve as the concert’s Emcee. WBGO FM host Sheila Anderson will introduce a tribute to Jimmy Heath, with even more special guests!

Jazz in the Valley Takes Over Poughkeepsie August 21, Noon; Early Bird Tickets Extended to August 14

8/4/2016

TRANSART & Cultural Services’ Jazz in the Valley Returns to Poughkeepsie for the 16th Annual Celebration of America’s Music
at a One-Day Concert Featuring Traditional and Modern Jazz Styles
on Sunday, August 21, Noon, at Waryas Park

Jazz in the Valley Presents
Randy Weston & the African Rhythms Trio with Alex Blake and Neil Clarke;
Jazz By 5: Javon Jackson, Randy Brecker, George Cables, Eddie Gomez and Jimmy Cobb; Craig Harris; Chico Alvarez & the Palomonte Afro-Cuban Big Band; Charenee Wade

Early Bird Tickets: $40 through August 14
General Admission: $50 in Advance; $60 at the Gate
Students with Valid ID: $20
(845) 384-6350 / www.jazzinthevalleyny.org

Randy Weston

Charenee Wade

Javon Jackson

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, August 4, 2016 – In a hamlet 75 miles north of New York City in the heart of Dutchess County, in the Queen City of the Hudson, otherwise known as Poughkeepsie, TRANSART & Cultural Services brings together some of the best and brightest established stars and emerging artists for the 16th annual celebration of Jazz in the Valley, which takes place on the banks of the Hudson River at Waryas Park on Sunday, August 21, Noon – 6:00 pm.

This year’s musical extravaganza features Randy Weston & the African Rhythms Trio with Alex Blake and Neil Clarke, Craig Harris, Chico Alvarez & the Palomonte Afro-Cuban Big Band, Charenee Wade and the festival’s Artistic Director Javon Jackson, who has put together a special supergroup, Jazz By 5, with Randy Brecker, George Cables, Eddie Gomez and Jimmy Cobb.

Catch Pianist Axel Tosca TONIGHT at The Zinc Bar, 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm

8/4/2016

Pianist Axel Tosca Presents Music from His New Self-titled CD
at The Zinc Bar TONIGHT

The Zinc Bar
82 West Third Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 477-ZINC (9462)

Set Times: 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm

Cover Charge: $15.00

NEW YORK, NY, August 4, 2016 – THIS JUST IN … Axel Tosca, the Cuban-born, New York-based piano virtuoso, brings the music from his self-titled ALFI Records album to life at a one-night only concert TONIGHT, Thursday, August 4, 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm, at The Zinc Bar, 82 West Third Street in Greenwich Village. Fresh off a stellar concert at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, Tosca takes the stage with his trio featuring drummer Amaury Acosta and bassist Josh Crumbly.

Tosca was born into a musical family. His mother is internationally-acclaimed singer Xiomara Laugart, known as “The Voice of Cuba.” His father is singer/songwriter Albert Tosca. Since the age of seven, when Axel shifted his focus from guitar to piano, he has absorbed a variety of musical styles from Cuban hip hop to Latin jazz through studies at some of Cuba’s most prestigious music schools. After relocating to the United States in 2005, he performed for two years in the Las Vegas show “Cuban Night.”

Though steeped in jazz traditions, Axel doesn’t look like a cerebral jazz composer in a dark flannel suit. With a shock of day-glow yellow hair (or sometimes red) standing straight up and a matching goatee pointed straight down, he looks more like a madcap scientist experimenting with things that could potentially bubble up. “Axel Tosca” is a clearly thought out, richly-scored addition to contemporary jazz, incorporating beats from around the world woven into soulful, melodic and complicated structures.

The nine tracks on “Axel Tosca” are a virtual culinary tour of Latin America, Africa, Asia and American funk rhythms. They include “Accent,” “Siboney,” “One for Grew,” (by Robert Glasper), “Fulani in Love,” “Hologram,” “Afri Asia,” “Estrella,” “Vibe” and “Rio.”

For tickets and more information, go to www.zincbar.com or call (212) 477-ZINC.

For more information on Axel Tosca and ALFI Records, please visit www.alfirecords.com.

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NJF Presents Solo Piano Concerts at Storyville / Toshiko Akiyoshi Celebrates 60th Anniversary of Performing at Newport Jazz

7/29/2016

Alone @ The 88s: Solo Piano at Storyville

The solo piano setting, the most intimate and intimidating format in jazz, demands a mastery of rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics and orchestration, with nowhere to hide. And when you are called to play solo piano on a festival stage – especially one as significant at the Newport Jazz Festival – your ability to capture, hold and win the crowd is crucial. The international piano players assembled for the festival’s solo spotlights offer a kaleidoscope of keyboard complexity.

Just a couple of years after the birth of the Newport Jazz Festival, a diminutive, Japanese Berklee College pianist named Toshiko Akiyoshi performed a set of no-nonsense, Bud Powell-pranced bop selections that let the world know she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Six decades later, Ms. Akiyoshi has more than delivered on her promising potential. This Grammy-winning NEA Jazz Master, along with her husband, the enterprising saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin led the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band from the seventies to the nineties. It was in that large ensemble that Akiyoshi cemented her reputation as an inventive, first-rate composer, able to combine the distinct musical styles of Duke Ellington, her former employer Charles Mingus, and the rich, ancestral Japanese folk music of her heritage. That brilliant blend of East and West is aurally illustrated on her recordings including Kogun, Sumi-e, and Long Yellow Road. And even though she recorded a number of excellent quartet, trio and solo albums: The Toshiko Trio, Finesse, Toshiko Akiyoshi at Maybeck, and Toshiko Akiyoshi Solo, her composing, bandleading and arranging duties, overshadowed her keyboard prowess.

The Continuum Continues at Newport Jazz Festival

7/28/2016

The Continuum Continues at
Newport Jazz Festival July 29-31

NEWPORT, RI, July, 2016 – For six decades, the Newport Jazz Festival has been a showcase of jazz music’s brightest stars. It’s also been a nexus point where the full extent of the music’s continuum; the inventions, dimensions, styles, syncopations, and sonorities, have crossed stylistic musical barriers. Stefon Harris, Robert Glasper and Kamasi Washington exemplify the very essence of that continuum. In the words of Duke Ellington, they are “Beyond Category.”

Made in the 20th Century, the vibraphone grew up at the same time jazz took shape and its lineage is a select one: from Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson and Roy Ayers. Vibraphonist/marimba virtuoso Stefon Harris is the next step in that legacy, as evidenced by his sideman dates with everybody from Joe Henderson, Kenny Barron (performs at Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday, July 31) and Steve Turre, to his eclectic, jazz tradition-in-transition recordings he released from 1998: In a Cloud of Red Dust, Black Action Figure, Kindred, The Grand Unification Theory, Evolution, African Tarantella: Dances With Duke, and his latest, Urbanbus. On those recordings, Harris laid down some good vibes on 4/4 swing, go-go, Afro-Latin, R&B, hip-hop grooves. And he’ll no doubt do the same when he takes the Fort Adams State Park stage on Saturday, July 30, with his new ensemble, Sonic Creed, consisting of pianist James Francies, vocalist/flutist Elena Pinderhughes, guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Joshua Crumbly and drummer Jonathan Pinson. He credits the jazz aesthetic in the Black church for his wide-open approach to the music.

All Bases Covered at Newport Jazz Festival

7/28/2016

All Bases Covered at Newport Jazz Festival
July 29-31

NEWPORT, RI, July 2016 – For the six decades that the Newport Jazz Festival has been on the scene, the greatest bass players in jazz – from Ray Brown, Sam Jones and Ron Carter, to Percy Heath, Charlie Haden and Jaco Pastorius – have reigned as lords of the lower frequencies on its stage. That reign continues with four deacons of the down beat – Christian McBride, Dave Holland, Eric Revis and Ben Williams.

The time: 1989. The place: Wynton Marsalis’ New York apartment. The occasion: Marsalis and George Wein – the pianist and Newport Jazz Festival founder/impresario – are engaged in a swinging jam session with a teenage Juilliard bassist from Philadelphia named Christian McBride. As evidenced by his rich and riveting basslines, it was clear to both men that this wunderkind would alter the shape of jazz to come at the change of the century, and beyond. Now, McBride – who made his festival debut in 1991 as a member of The Jazz Futures – returns to Newport on July 29 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino and July 30 at Fort Adams State Park as a part of Chick Corea’s Trilogy with the volcanic drummer Brian Blade. His musical heroes range from Ray Brown to James Brown. He’s covered a wide musical spectrum, from straight-ahead and big band, to fusion and R&B on his CDs as a leader, including Number Two Express, Vertical Vision, The Good Feeling, and his Grammy-winning Live at the Village Vanguard. His sideman gigs include playing with Sting days after 9/11 and performing at the White House. He’s also a media host on his radio shows, The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian, on SiriusXM, and National Public Radio’s Jazz Night in America.

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More Than 24,000 Jazz Lovers Turned Out for the 2016 Newport Jazz Festival® Festival Set for August 4 – 6 in 2017

10th Annual Great Jazz on the Great Hill LIVE PERFORMANCES BY THE JIMMY HEATH BIG BAND AND OTHERS IN CENTRAL PARK

Pianist Axel Tosca Presents Music from His New Self-titled CD at The Zinc Bar TONIGHT The Zinc Bar82 West Third Street New York, NY 10012(212) 477-ZINC (9462) Set Times: 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm Cover Charge: $15.00

Alone @ The 88s: Solo Piano at Storyville

The Continuum Continues at ​Newport Jazz Festival July 29-31

All Bases Covered at Newport Jazz Festival ​July 29-31

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More Than 24,000 Jazz Lovers Turned Out for the 2016 Newport Jazz Festival®

Festival Set for August 4 – 6 in 2017

10th Annual Great Jazz on the Great Hill

LIVE PERFORMANCES BY THE JIMMY HEATH BIG BAND AND OTHERS IN CENTRAL PARK

Pianist Axel Tosca Presents Music from His New Self-titled CD
at The Zinc Bar TONIGHT

The Zinc Bar
82 West Third Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 477-ZINC (9462)

Set Times: 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm

Cover Charge: $15.00

The Continuum Continues at
Newport Jazz Festival July 29-31

All Bases Covered at Newport Jazz Festival
July 29-31