This Weekend: David Sanborn – Acoustic Band (Sold Out) @ Jazz Forum

Edward “Ed” Xiques is an American jazz saxophonist born in NY. Xiques received his bachelor’s degree in music from Boston University in 1962, where he played with Jaki Byard and Herb Pomeroy. He worked full-time as a musician from 1968 and since the 90s he has taught music at Vassar College. He is perhaps best known for playing saxophone in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis (Vanguard) Jazz Orchestra.

Featuring Joe Lovano, Lew Tabackin, Gary Smulyan and Judi Silvano.

One of the most commercially successful American saxophonists for six decades and counting, Sanborn is described by critic Scott Yannow as “the most influential saxophonist of pop, R&B, and crossover players of the past 20 years.” Although a jazz musician at heart, Sanborn has transcended genres and musical boundaries throughout his entire career.

A solid fixture of the New York jazz scene and respected world-wide, tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama embodies the best of the jazz sound ideal – great time, great swing, expressed through great melodic ideas. Pianist Dave Lalama is a sought-after accompanist having been musical director for noted Jazz singers; Eddie Jefferson, Dakota Staton and Anita O’Day. Acclaimed vocalist Nicole Pasternak has been delighting audiences in the New York Metro area for years.

Time magazine wrote, “Bill Charlap approaches a song the way a lover approaches his beloved… no matter how imaginative or surprising his take on a song is, he invariably zeroes in on its essence.” In April 2016, Alan Morrison’s five-star review of Notes from New York in Down Beat stated that the new recording is “a masterclass in class.”

Grammy award-winning pianist Bill Charlap has performed with many of the leading artists of our time.

Tony Jefferson, a New York native, is an accomplished drummer and has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene for many years. His passion for woodwinds and his melodic approach on the drums has lead him to doing singing gigs in recent years.

He’ll be joined by James Weidman, piano, Elias Bailey, base and Alvester Garnett, drums.

Renowned for his singular combination of robust swing and poetic insight, GRAMMY winner Kurt Elling has secured his place among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. Declared “the standout male vocalist of our time” by The New York Times, Elling has garnered unprecedented accolades, including a fourteen-year run atop the DownBeat Critics Poll, a dozen GRAMMY nominations, and eight Jazz Journalists Association awards for “Male Singer of the Year.”

Danilo Pérez is a Panamanian pianist, composer, educator, and a social activist. His music is a blend of Panamanian roots with elements of Latin American folk music, jazz, European impressionism, African, and other musical heritages that promote music as a multi-dimensional bridge between people. 

Drum virtuoso and jazz musician Mike Clark gained worldwide recognition as one of America’s foremost jazz and funk drummers while playing with Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters in the early seventies. His incisive playing on Hancock’s “Actual Proof” garnered him an international cult following and influenced generations of drummers.