Jazz Weekend 2019

Join us to catch this fantastic lineup:

Camila Meza & The Nectar Orchestra: Sat 1pm

Camila Meza, equally prized as a vocalist, guitarist and composer, has brought a sound full of warmth, intricacy and rhythmic clarity to the New York jazz scene ever since her arrival from Santiago, Chile in 2009. Inspired by jazz, South American music and American popular song of many eras and genres, she has uplifted audiences worldwide with her rare combination of talents: assured and beautiful singing; highly advanced guitar; and vividly colorful, melodic songwriting that reveals complex layers with every listen. Her latest album, Ámbar, released on Sony Masterworks, features her group The Nectar Orchestra, an 8-piece group consisting of guitar/voice, piano, bass, drums with string quartet.

Camila Meza & The Nectar Orchestra:

Camila Meza – Guitar & Vocals
Eden Ladin – Piano
Noam Wiesenberg – Bass, String arrangements
Keita Ogawa – Drums
Tomoko Omura – Violin
Fung Chern Hwei – Violin
Benni von Gutzeit – Viola
Brian Sanders – Cello

 

Wayne Escoffery Quartet: Sat 2:45pm

Downbeat Critics Poll Winner and Grammy Award-winning tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery is one of the jazz world’s most talented rising stars and in-demand sidemen.

For the past decade, Escoffery has toured the globe with trumpeter Tom Harrell, recorded seven CDs with The Tom Harrell Quintet and co-produced four of those releases. He has also been a member of The Mingus Dynasty, Big Band and Orchestra since 2000 and has made several recordings with that group. He has recorded and performed internationally with the who’s who in jazz including Ron Carter, Ben Riley, Abdullah Ibrahim, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, Al Foster, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Rufus Reid, Wallace Roney and Herbie Hancock.

Wayne Escoffery Quartet:
Wayne Escoffery – Saxophone
David Kikoski – Piano
Ugonna Okegwo – Bass
Ralph Peterson – Drums

 

Chano Domínguez – Piano Ibérico: Sat 4:30pm

For over 40 years, internationally acclaimed jazz pianist Chano Domínguez has integrated the rhythms and languages of jazz and flamenco, placing him among the most influential musicians in the history of flamenco-jazz.

He has released over 20 albums as a bandleader, and has collaborated extensively with other jazz artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Joe Lovano, Chucho Valdes, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Piano Ibérico features Chano’s trio of piano, bass and percussion augmented by flamenco singer Ismael Fernandez and flamenco dancer Sonia Olla.

This performance of Chano Domínguez’s Piano Ibérico has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2017 New Jazz
Works program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Chano Domínguez – Piano Ibérico:
Chano Domínguez – Piano
Sonia Olla – Dance
Ismael Fernandez – Vocals
Alexis Cuadrado – Bass
Jose Moreno – Percussion

Nate Smith + KINFOLK: Sat 7:30pm

Since moving from Chesapeake, Virginia to New York City in 2001, Nate Smith has helped reinvigorate the international jazz scene with his visceral style of drumming by playing with such esteemed leading lights as guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Dave Holland, saxophonists Chris
Potter and Ravi Coltrane, and singers Patricia Barber, Somi, and José James.

The New York Times described Smith as “a firecracker of a drummer.” Smith’s rising career reaches a new benchmark with the release of his bandleader debut, KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere, on which he fuses his original modern jazz compositions with R&B, pop, and hip-hop.

 

John Ellis & Double-Wide: Sun 1pm

Gifted, versatile saxophonist/clarinetist/composer John Ellis occupies an imaginary (and extremely imaginative) space directly between the celebratory, welcoming spirit of New Orleans and the edgy, frantic streets of New York City. Ellis expresses a keen intellect and easy
virtuosity while maintaining a mischievous gleam in his eye and never letting tongue stray far from cheek. That dichotomy perfectly encapsulates his group Double-Wide’s split metropolitan personality, with a chainsaw-juggling balance of bayou brass, raucous gospel, and devil-may-care modern jazz.

John Ellis & Double Wide:
John Ellis – Saxophone
Matt Perrine – Sousaphone
Alan Ferber – Trombone
Gary Versace – Organ and accordion
Jason Marsalis – Drums

 

Nicole Zuraitis: Sun 2:45pm

Grammy-nominated vocalist, pianist and songwriter, Nicole Zuraitis blends clever songwriting skills, an effervescent presence and dazzling vocals in a consummate package that has thrilled audiences around the world. While pursuing a career that has spanned jazz, pop and classical, Nicole has collaborated with Cyrille Aimee, Thana Alexa, Dave Stryker, Livingston Taylor, Tom Chapin, Omar Hakim, Melanie Safka, Helen Sung and Bernard Purdie. She is the vocalist for the world-famous Birdland Big Band in New York City and her latest album Hive Mind won Best Jazz Album in the 2018 International Music and Entertainment Awards.

Nicole Zuraitis:
Nicole Zuraitis – Voice/piano
Idan Morim – Guitar
Alex Busby Smith – Bass
Dan Pugach – Drums

 

 

Dafnis Prieto Sextet: Sun 4:30pm

Cuban drummer, composer, bandleader and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow Dafnis Prieto’s revolutionary drumming techniques and compositions have had a powerful impact on the Latin and jazz music scene, nationally and internationally.

His latest big band album Back to the Sunset recently won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Since his arrival to New York in 1999, Prieto has worked in bands led by Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Eddie Palmieri, Chico and Arturo O’Farrill, Dave Samuels and The Caribbean Jazz Project, Jane Bunnett, D.D. Jackson, Edward Simon, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Roy Hargrove, Don Byron, and Andrew Hill.

Dafnis Prieto Sextet:
Alex Norris, Trumpet
Roman Filiu, Alto Saxophone
Peter Apfelbaum, Tenor Saxophone
Osmany Paredes, Piano
Johannes Weidenmueller, Bass
Dafnis Prieto, Drums

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