Joey DeFrancesco Trio @ Jazz Forum This Weekend!

Joey DeFrancesco Trio

“He has dominated the instrument and the field as no one of his generation has.” – Chicago Tribune

“Mr. DeFrancesco is a deeply authoritative musician, a master of rhythmic pocket, and of the custom of stomping bass lines beneath chords and riffs.” – New York Times

Multi-instrumentalist, singer and Grammy nominee Joey DeFrancesco was born in 1971, signed his first record deal at age 16, and has since recorded and performed with Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith, Elvin Jones, James Moody, Ray Charles, and countless more. Loved by musicians, critics, and audiences, he has won the DownBeat Critics Poll nine times and has won the Readers Poll every year since 2005.

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Paul McCandless & Charged Particles
Known for soaring lyricism and gorgeous compositions, multi-instrumentalist and composer Paul McCandless plays soprano, tenor, and sopranino saxophones, oboes, English horn, bass clarinet, penny whistles, and a collection of folk flutes. As a leader, McCandless has released 30 records. As a collaborator and solo artist, he has performed on more than 200 albums and appeared with such renowned all-star musicians as Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Wynton Marsalis, Lyle Mays, Mark Isham, Steve Reich, Al Jarreau, Bruce Hornsby and many more.

Charged Particles features three of the country’s virtuosos playing jazz while crossing stylistic boundaries and blending diverse traditions to create engaging new sounds. Murray Low is a keyboard wizard with dazzling Latin-jazz technique and imaginative improvisational skills. Aaron Germain is an inventive and sophisticated acoustic and electric bassist.  Along with fiery drummer Jon Krosnick, these players are making some of the most electrifying jazz in the country today.

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Paul Meyers: World on a String
Guitarist Paul Meyers has performed and/or recorded with an ever-growing list of jazz greats such as Geri Allen, Harry Allen, Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Ray Drummond, Clare Fischer, Sonny Fortune, Eddie Gomez, Annie Ross, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Mays, Rufus Reid and Steve Wilson. He has released numerous CDs of his own, including four solo guitar CDs. A very active player in New York’s vibrant Brazilian jazz scene, Paul was a member of Terra Brasil. He later co-led Brasil & Company with Vera Mara, and they released a highly regarded CD as well.  He has performed in New York and Tokyo with the great Tango-jazz pianist and composer Pablo Zeigler and is featured along with Stephon Harris on the live CD Tango meets Jazz. Paul has also performed in great Brazilian ensembles with Paul Winter at his Winter Solstice concerts and in small groups. Paul continues to perform regularly in and around the NYC area with his own groups and as a sideman with many others. At the Jazz Forum, he will feature Helio Alves, piano, Greg Jones, bass, and Vanderlei Pereira, drums.  

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Alexis Cole & Her Trio
Called “one of the great voices of today,” by Jonathan Schwartz, Alexis Cole has been compared to classic jazz singers such as Sarah Vaughan and Anita O’Day. She’s performed with the Boston Pops and New York Philharmonic on stage at venues from Avery Fisher Hall to the Kennedy Center. She records for Motéma Music, NY, Chesky Records, NY and Venus Records, Japan. Her eleven recordings, which feature musical luminaries such as Fred Hersch, Eric Alexander, Bucky Pizzarelli, Anat Cohen, Matt Wilson, Harry Pickens, Don Braden and Pat LaBarbara, have received high praise in the jazz press and are spun on radio world-wide. In addition to her many performances on great stages, Alexis can be seen at top jazz venues like Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, The Jazz Standard, Blues Alley, and Billboard Live, Tokyo. Cole is the recipient of a Swing Journal Gold Disk award, and was a winner of the NY Jazzmobile and Montreux Jazz Festival vocal competitions, and a finalist of the Sarah Vaughan Competition. Alexis studied voice and piano at the University of Miami and William Paterson University, and holds a Masters of Music from Queens College. She has also trained in Indian Classical singing at the Jazz India Vocal Institute in Mumbai. She heads the Jazz Voice Program at SUNY Purchase. She performs and conducts master classes around the world.

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Jon Faddis Quartet
“He’s the best ever, including me!” — Dizzy Gillespie

“…the world’s greatest trumpeter … the greatest trumpeter on the planet for decades … brash soloistic logic and breathtaking technical acuity …” — Time Out New York

Jon Faddis is a Grammy Award–nominated jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer and educator. Born in Oakland, California, he began playing trumpet at age eight, inspired by an appearance of Louis Armstrong on the Ed Sullivan Show. After playing with Charles Mingus in his early 20s, Faddis became a noted studio musician in New York, recording with numerous jazz luminaries, including Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Burrell, Charles Mingus, Oscar Peterson, and Lalo Schifrin, among others. His original compositions may be heard on his Grammy-nominated Remembrances (Chesky 1998), Hornucopia (Epic 1991), Into the Faddisphere (Epic 1989), and Teranga (Koch 2006). In addition to forming his own quartet, Faddis has directed several orchestras, including the Grammy-winning United Nation Orchestra, the Dizzy Gillespie 70th Birthday Big Band, the Carnegie Hall Centennial Big Band, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra of New York. Faddis has also served as guest conductor and featured guest with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Jon Faddis has an enduring commitment to the education of young musicians, and frequently conducts clinics and master classes, devoting personalized attention to teaching the next generation of jazz musicians. The quartet will feature Jon Faddis (trumpet), Andrew Latona (guitar), Malik McLaurine (bass) and Anwar Marshall (drums).

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Roger Davidson Quartet
Feat. Harry Allen
Commonly termed a classical artist, Roger Davidson has developed a fearlessly eclectic reach, both as a composer and pianist. Roger’s acclaimed catalog ranges from chamber, symphonic, and choral pieces to jazz, tango, Klezmer, children’s music, a wide span of Latin and Brazilian projects. He started playing piano at four, and taking violin lessons at eight. Following his university education, Roger, at the suggestion of early baroque music scholar Sidney Beck, went to Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where he began writing choral music and earned a master’s degree in choral conducting in 1985. Roger then began a professional jazz career when he attended the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University in California, studying under visiting teachers Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, and James Moody. As a jazz pianist, Roger went on to be mentored by Helen Keane, who later produced his first jazz album.

Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen has over 30 recordings to his name. He has performed at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide, frequently touring the United States, Europe and Asia. Harry has performed with artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Flip Phillips, Scott Hamilton, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison and Kenny Burrell, among others.

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Lenore Raphael Quartet
Feat. Doug MacDonald
Lenore Raphael, is an internationally renowned jazz Pianist, Steinway artist, radio host and jazz teacher and has been critically acclaimed as one of the best pianists in the jazz mainstream today. Lenore has recorded 10 critically acclaimed CDs on the Swingin’ Fox Music label. Some of her recordings have reached Top 10 airplay and her 2006 recording “Invitation” and 2012 recording “Loverly” were up for Grammy nominations. Lenore now has her own radio show called “Lenore Raphael’s JazzSpot” on purejazzradio and other stations on the internet where she interviews and performs with famed jazz artists and up and coming ones as well. Along the way she has performed and recorded with such greats as Clark Terry, Warren Vache, Howard Alden, Harry Allen, Bucky Pizzarelli, Jack Wilkins and more.

Originally from Philadelphia, Doug MacDonald began his guitar career in Hawaii and has played with Joe Williams, Carl Fontana, Jack Montrose, Carson Smith, Jack Sheldon, Bob Cooper, Ross Tompkins, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, and Ray Charles. Doug also began recording and performing with his own trio and quartet, as well as his 13-piece ensemble, The Jazz Coalition. Doug has released 12 recordings.

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