MAY 2025

THE MAGAZINE OF THE NEW JERSEY JAZZ SOCIETY

JA Z Z a t M c C A RT E R

DIANNE REEVES

MAY 2025 VOLUME 53 • ISSUE 05

IN THIS ISSUE ARTICLES/REVIEWS 10

ON THE COVER _ Dianne Reeves

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Jersey Jazz LIVE!: Danny Jonokuchi Quartet

13

Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon: Behn Gillece, Brian Betz

16

Essentially Ellington Preview: Newark Academy, Jazz House Kids

19

Jazz at McCarter: Dianne Reeves

22

Jazz in Wayne: Big Swingin’ Big Band

27

Rising Star: Kal Ferretti

30

Ross Farm Jazz Festival

35

Sarasota Jazz Festival

39

Other Views

43

Big Band in the Sky

COLUMNS 03

All Thats Jazz

05

Editor’s Choice

37

Pelote’s Place

46

Not Without You!

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ALL THAT’S JAZZ

BY CY DNE Y HA LPIN

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un, don’t walk, to get your tickets to see the new Broadway musical Just in Time starring Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin! “But much like the very performer whose

story it tells, the show goes on to defy all expectations in favor of an utterly electrifying experience,” says Entertainment Weekly critic Shania Russell. And I couldn’t agree more.

Jonathan and his fellow cast mates, the set (Derek McLane), the costumes (Catherine Zuber), the lighting (Justin Townsend), and the band (Musical Supervision & Arrange-

ments Andrew Resnick)—which includes trumpeter and NJJS favorite Summer Camargo—are swingin’.

Treat yourself to,“a dazzling and immersive love letter to live performance.”—The Washington Post. Justintimebroadway.com

T

here will be money WON! NJJS’s 2025 Juried Scholarship Competition - which will award a $1,000 and a $500 prize in three categories: Jazz Instrumental Performance, Jazz Vocal Performance, and Original Composition - received 26 entries! That’s a 46% increase in participation over last year. The category breakdown is as follows: Instrumental Performance - 16, Vocal Performance - 3, Original Composition - 7. The entries breakdown by college is: William Paterson University - 16, Princeton - 6, Rutgers - 3, New Jersey City University - 1.

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ALL THAT’S JAZZ This year marked our first year with the additional category of Jazz Vocal Performance, thanks to the generosity of Board members Mike Katz and Jackie Wetcher. We received three vocal entries.

Along with the cash award, winners will receive guidance, mentorship and the opportunity to perform with industry professionals at our November 2nd LIVE! concert, and coverage in Jersey Jazz.

This competition is being judged by our prestigious panel of professional musicians, educators and industry leaders comprised of: Don Braden » World class tenor saxophonist, flutist, composer and educator Mariel Bildsten » Trombonist, bandleader, sidewoman, and educator Ted Chubb » Princeton University Lecturer of Music - Jazz Trumpet, composer, educator,

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and arts administrator Jason Olaine » Vice President of Programming, Jazz at Lincoln Center The Board and I would like to thank them for their guidance and participation in this initiative. We’d also like to thank Nan Hughes Poole and NJJS Board Members Cynthia Feketie, Mike Katz, and Jackie Wetcher for their generous support of this Competition.

If you’d like to support the growth of our prize offerings for 2026, donations can be made via our website njjs. org/Donate. Please note “Scholarship Fund” where indicated. Donations can also be mailed: NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Ste. 217, Summit, NJ 07901.

Don’t hesitate to contact me at pres@ njjs.org if you have any questions.

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on’t miss out on spectacular music at our Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts. Plan to join us

Sunday, May 4th as we present the Larry Fuller Trio with pianist Larry Fuller, bassist Lorin Cohen, and drummer Carmen Intorre, Jr. The Rising Stars opening act will showcase the Metuchen High School Jazz Sextet. For more information about this concert and these artists, click here: njjs.org/larry-fuller-trio-at-may-jersey-jazz-live/ Additional funding for this concert has been provided by Tony Freeman and NJJS Board Member Cynthia Feketie. The Board and I thank them for their generosity and support.

Jersey Jazz LIVE! Is held at Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. There is FREE street parking. $15 NJJS Members, $20 Non-Members, $5 Child/Student w/ID. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. These events are well attended, plan accordingly. For advance ticket sales: ticketleap.events/

tickets/new-jersey-jazz-society/ jersey-jazz-live-larry-fuller-trio

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ave the Date! Sunday, June 8th at 3:00 p.m., for Jersey Jazz LIVE! featuring the Danny Jonokuchi Quartet. The other members of the quartet are pianist Hyuna Park, bassist Liany Mateo, and drummer Kevin Congleton. The Rising Stars/ Opening Act will showcase the Alex Marichal Trio. For more information on these artists please see page 10.

Additional funding for this concert has been provided by jazz advocate and NJJS member Lynne Mueller. The board and I thank her for her generosity and support. For advance ticket sales: ticketleap.events/ tickets/new-jersey-jazz-society/jersey-jazz-live-danny-jonokichi-quartet

The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing. — S. Brown

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

BY SA NFO RD JOS EPHSON

I

n 1946, Gerry Mulligan moved from Philadelphia to New York to join Gene Krupa’s band. His first arrangement for the band was “Disc Jockey Jump”, a tune co-written by Mulligan and Krupa. It became a hit.

At the Jazz at Lincoln Center Family Concert, “Who is Gerry Mulligan?” on Saturday, April 5, the JALC Future of Jazz Orchestra led off with “Disc Jockey Jump”, followed by Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton’s “How High the Moon”, arranged a year earlier by Mulligan for the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra.

The concert was hosted by dancer/actor DeWitt Fleming, Jr., who did an excellent job of explaining the multidimensional brilliance of Mulligan’s career: composer, ar-

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ranger, baritone saxophonist, and bandleader. (Full disclosure: I am the author of Jeru’s Journey: The Life and Music of Gerry Mulligan, published in 2015 by Hal Leonard Books).

From “How High the Moon”, the concert moved on to Mulligan’s time with the Claude Thornhill band, and

the orchestra performed Mulligan’s arrangement of Noel Coward’s “Poor Little Rich Girl.” Mulligan was a fan of the Thornhill band when he was in high school. “The sound of the band was beautiful,” he said. “I always thought that Claude approached writing for the band as if it were an orchestra, even though there were no strings.”

Mulligan met Gil Evans while both were arranging for Thornhill, and that meeting, Fleming pointed

out, led to the development of the historic Birth of the Cool nonet led by Miles Davis. That band, Fleming said, “created a whole new style: cool jazz.”

Davis gave Mulligan the nickname, Jeru, and the next piece performed by the JALC orchestra was “Jeru”, one of three tunes written by Mulligan for the 12-track Birth of the Cool recording (He arranged three others).

The concert then followed Mulligan to California where he arranged

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JALC Future of Jazz Orchestra. Far left in second row: Bill Crow. Middle of first MAY row:2025 Ted Nash

PHOTO BY LEAND RO BADALOTTI

JALC Future of Jazz Orchestra Salutes Gerry Mulligan

05

EDITOR’S CHOICE

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James Haddad, left, and Jason Marshall, playing “Line for Lyons”.

cello. Nobody had a sound like that.”

The concert continued with Mulligan’s “Bweebida Bobbida”, representing his concert jazz big band, and concluded with an amazing solo on his “Apple Core” by tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover. While most of the Future of Jazz Orchestra included young rising stars, there were two veterans who actually played with Mulligan. Of special significance was the presence of 97-yearold bassist Bill Crow, a member of the original concert jazz band as well as several other Mulligan mu-

sical groups. When Crow was introduced, the entire orchestra stood up to pay homage to a living jazz giant.

The orchestra was conducted by 64-year-old multireedist Ted Nash, who played alto saxophone in the new big band Mulligan formed in the late ‘70s. Mulligan’s big band arranging, Nash told me, was “as close to perfect as you can get.”

When Mulligan introduced his new big band in 1979, the lead trumpeter was Laurie Frink, the only female in the band. I’m pleased to report that six of the 18 Future of Jazz

members on April 5 were women: trumpeter Kal Ferretti, trombonist Lexi Hamner, alto saxophonist Emma Lacy, Glover, bassist Brandi Disterheft, and drummer Maria Marmarou.

Ferretti is this issue’s Rising Star (see page 28). When I asked her if she was familiar with Laurie Frink, her response was affirmative. “I’m lucky that a lot of my mentors studied with her,” she said. “Ingrid Jensen studied with Laurie. Dave Douglas studied with her, Tatum Greenblatt, Alex Norris. All of her teachings have been heavily ingrained in me.”

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Later the same day, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra performed a concert entitled “Extended Masterpieces in Jazz: (Ralph) Burns, (Duke) Ellington, (Gil) Evans, (Gerry) Mulligan), and (Chico) O’Farrill. The Mulligan compositions were “K-4 Pacific” and “O’er the Hills and Out o’ the Woods.”

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PHOTO BY LEAND RO BADALOTTI

for the Stan Kenton band before launching his now-famous pianoless quartet. One of his best-known compositions, written and arranged for Kenton, was “Walkin’ Shoes’, the next piece played at JALC. It was followed by, perhaps the highlight of the concert, Mulligan’s “Line for Lyons”, with trumpeter James Haddad and baritone saxophonist Jason Marshall demonstrating the counterpoint technique employed so successfully in the pianoless quartet by Mulligan and Chet Baker.

In addition to his skills as an arranger and composer, Mulligan changed the role of the baritone saxophone in jazz. Before Mulligan, Fleming explained, the baritone was known “for the low notes, growls. But Gerry Mulligan made it a little more soft and gentle.” Pianist Bill Charlap has described Mulligan’s playing as “a baritone saxophone sounding like a

ABOUT NJJS

F

ounded in 1972, The New Jersey Jazz Society has diligently maintained its mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form—jazz. To accomplish our mission, we produce a monthly magazine, Jersey Jazz; sponsor live jazz events; and provide scholarships to New Jersey college students studying jazz. Through our outreach program Generations of Jazz, we provide interactive programs focused on the history of jazz. The Society is run by a board of directors who meet monthly to conduct Society business. NJJS membership is comprised of jazz devotees from all parts of the state, the country and the world.

MEMBER BENEFITS

JOIN NJJS

You become an integral part of the NJJS community, and the history and future of jazz

Family/Individual $45 (Family includes to 2 Adults and 2 children under 18 years of age) Family/Individual 3-Year $115 Musician Member $45 / 3-Year $90 (one time only, renewal at standard basic membership level.)

Youth $15 - For people under 21 years of age. Date of Birth Required.

Give-A-Gift $25 - Members in good standing may purchase unlimited gift memberships.

Applies to New Memberships only.

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Access to 11 Digital Issues of our Award Winning Jersey Jazz Magazine — Featuring Articles, Interviews, Reviews, Events and More Discounts to our Jersey Jazz LIVE! Sunday Concerts Discounts at NJJS Sponsored Concerts & Events.

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FREE Listing on NJJS.org “Musicians List” with Individual Website Link FREE Gig Advertising in our Monthly eBlast THE RECORD BIN

Visit www.njjs.org or email info@njjs.org for more information on our programs and services NJJS.ORG

A collection of used CD’s & LP’s available at reduced prices at specific events and through mail order njjs.org/shop

Members at Bandleader level and above and Corporate Memberships receive special benefits.

Please contact Membership@njjs.org for details.

The New Jersey Jazz Society is qualified as a tax exempt cultural organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Federal ID 23-7229339. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

For more Information or to join, visit www.njjs.org

JERSEY JAZZ

MAY 2025

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Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society VO LU M E 53 • I SSUE 05

NJJS org

Editorial Staff

New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2025

EDITOR

PRESIDENT

Sanford Josephson, editor@njjs.org

Cydney Halpin, pres@njjs.org

ART DIRECTOR

EXECUTIVE VP

Michael Bessire, art@njjs.org

vicepresident@njjs.org

CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR

TREASURER

Mitchell Seidel, photo@njjs.org

Mike Katz, treasurer@njjs.org

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

VP, MEMBERSHIP

Bill Crow, Joe Lang, Vincent Pelote, Gilda Rogers, Jay Sweet CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Leandro Badalotti, Richard Conde, Chris Drukker, Marguerite LaFountaine, Carol LoRicco, Jerris Madison, Ben Mini, Ed Newman, Paige Purcell, Stephen Splane, Cody Williams, Anna Yatskevich WEBMASTER

Christine Vaindirlis

382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07901 973-229-0543 • info@njjs.org Membership fee is $45/year.

All material in Jersey Jazz, except where another copyright holder is explicitly acknowledged, is copyright ©New Jersey Jazz Society 2025. All rights reserved. Use of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the NJJS.

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Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com

VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING

Mitchell Seidel, music@njjs.org RECORDING SECRETARY

Irene Miller Jack Stine

Prism Digital

is published monthly for members of The New Jersey Jazz Society

VP, PUBLICITY

CO -FOUNDER

WEBSITE DESIGN

Jersey Jazz (ISSN 07405928)

membership@njjs.org

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Mike Katz

Advertising DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

Cydney Halpin, advertising@njjs.org ADVERTISING RATES

Full Page: 135, Half Page: 90, 1/3 Page: $60, 1/4 Page: $30 $

$

For reservations, technical information and deadlines contact advertising@njjs.org or visit njjs.org/Magazine/Advertise.

Make a payment online at njjs.org/advertise via the red Submit Payment button, or via check made payable to NJJS, 382 Springfield Ave., Suite 217, Summit, NJ 07901.

DIRECTORS

Jay Dougherty, Cynthia Feketie, Paul Flexner, Pete Grice, Carrie Jackson, Caryl Anne McBride, Robert McGee, James Pansulla, Stew Schiffer, Elliott Tyson, Jackie Wetcher ADVISORS

Don Braden, Mariel Bildsten, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, Jason Olaine JERSEY JAZZ

MAY 2025

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JerseyJazz LIVE! LARRY FULLER TRIO SUNDAY, MAY 4 3:00 PM

Madison Community Arts Center 10 KINGS ROAD, MADISON, NJ FREE STREET PARKING ON KINGS ROAD $

15 MEMBERS | $20 NON-MEMBERS $

Made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts.

5 CHILD/STUDENTS (WITH VALID I.D.)

Danny Jonokuchi Quartet: An ‘Intimate Breakdown’ of Big Band Arrangements Expect an Intermingling of American Songbook Standards and Jazz Classics

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hen trumpeter/bandleader/ vocalist Danny Jonokuchi takes the stage at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert on June 8 at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center, he will lead his quartet in tunes he recorded on his last two albums, A Decade (Bandstand Presents: 2024) and Voices (Outside in Music: 2023).

Plus, he’ll add some originals.

A Decade intermingled some American Songbook standards such as Rogers and Hart’s “This Can’t Be Love” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark” with jazz classics

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such as Kenny Barron’s “Voyage” and Tadd Dameron’s “Lady Bird”.

Reviewing the album for AllAboutJazz, Jack Bowers wrote that “Skylark” was “taken at a brisker than usual pace,” adding that “Lady Bird” was played by “a superb ensemble that swings its backside off.” He also gave a shout out to Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Like Someone in Love.” The chart, he wrote, was “radiant and charming.”

Jonokuchi first appeared in Jersey Jazz as our March 2021 Rising Star after his virtual big band won the Count Basie Great American

Swing Contest for its 15-piece version of Basie’s “One O’Clock Jump”.

One of the judges, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, said, “There was a clear-cut winner. All the judges took a look at the videos independently, and it was a unanimous decision.”

Originally from California, Jonokuchi majored in Jazz Studies at Temple University’s Boyer School of Music and stayed in New York after graduation. “I would look up where the big bands were playing,” he said, Danny Jonokuchi

“and introduce myself. I went to the Village Vanguard on Monday nights.

After a couple of years of going and learning, I had a last-minute opportunity to play with the band.” Luis Bonilla, who was second trombonist in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra for nearly 20 years, calls Jonokuchi “a young performer who has an insurmountable amount of talent.”

In Madison, Jonokuchi’s quartet will be doing “an intimate breakdown” of his big band arrangements. He will be joined by pianist Hyuna Park, bassist Liany Mateo, and drummer Kevin Congleton.

Mateo, who grew up in Jersey City, was Jersey Jazz’s Rising Star in October 2023. She received her Bachelors Degree in Jazz Studies from Michigan State University in 2020, and, during her senior year, was recognized as the Outstanding Bassist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s

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PHOTO BY LOV E IMAGE RY

JERSEY JAZZ LIVE!

Alex Marichal

JERSEY JAZZ LIVE! inaugural Jack Rudin Championship, a competition among students from 10 nation-wide colleges and universities. Mateo has recorded or performed with such artists as pianists Arturo O’Farrill and Matthew Whitaker, violinist Regina Carter, and vocalist Catherine Russell.

Reviewing O’Farrill’s 2023 Blue Note album, Legacies, Frank Alkyer of DownBeat wrote that the rhythm section of O’Farrill on piano, his son, Zack, on drums, and Mateo on bass “cook through Herbie Hancock’s ‘Dolphin Dance’ with surprising angular twists and turns. On O’Farrill’s own ‘Blue State Blues’, you can practically hear the smiles from the trio as they rip through these blues with a sense of pure joy.”

Park won First Place in the International Women in Jazz Festival in 2018. She has played with bassist Linda May Han Oh, trombonist Bonilla, and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring,

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among others, and performed at such venues as Birdland, The Django, and Joe’s Pub. Herring calls her, “a beautiful new voice on the piano. She plays with a feeling and maturity that is rare.”

Congleton, a regular in Jonokuchi’s big bands, graduated from the University of North Texas and was the drum chair in its prestigious One O’Clock Lab Band. He has performed with pianist Gordon Webster and tenor saxophonist Joe Manis and has appeared at such venues as Birdland, The Blue Note, and Mezzrow.

On June 8, the Danny Jonokuchi Quartet will be preceded by a Rising Stars opening act featuring a trio led by trombonist Alex Marichal, a senior at Mount Olive High School. Marichal has been a member of the New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble and is currently part of the Jazz House Kids Big Band that will be competing this month at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition

(see page 16). He will be joined by fellow Mount Olive student, Ansh Parikh, on bass and Montclair State drummer Alex Kavlakian. Parikh is also a member of the JHK Big Band, and Kavlakian, a graduate of Rahway High School, was the winner of the 2025 James Moody Jazz Scholarship.

The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $15 for NJJS members and $20 for non-members. Student admission

is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase. To order tickets in advance, click here: ticketleap.events/tickets/newjersey-jazz-society/jersey-jazzlive-danny-jonokichi-quartet

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Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by NJJS member Lynne Mueller.

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JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON Vibraphonist Behn Gillece Will Preview Selections from His New Album, Pivot Point

V

Behn Gillece

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ibraphonist Behn Gillece’s 2024 Posi-Tone Records album, Stick Together, was described

by AllAboutJazz’s Kyle Simpler as “a delightful collection of music, which not only highlights his musical talent but also shows his skills in composition and arrangement.”

When Gillece appears with guitarist Brian Betz on June 1 at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts in Toms River, NJ, he will be playing some music from Stick Together, but he’ll also be performing selections

from his new Posi-Tone album, Pivot Point, which is being released this month. “It’ll be a great mix of material,” he said, “and we’re looking forward to sharing it with the audience.”

Pivot Point is Gillece’s eighth album as a leader, and six of the seven tracks are original compositions by him or two of his band members, saxophonist Willie Morris and pianist Jon Davis. They are joined on the recording by bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston. The one jazz standard on the album is

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PHOTO BY ANNA YATSKEV ICH

He Will Be Joined by Fellow Rowan University Jazz Studies Faculty Member, Guitarist Brian Betz

JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON Herbie Hancock’s “Toys”, which Gillece described as “a brilliant composition that has long been one of my favorite tunes to play.”

Inspired by vibraphone legends such as Milt Jackson, Gary Burton, and Bobby Hutcherson, Gillece has dedicated himself to pushing his instrument’s boundaries. A winner of DownBeat Magazine’s 2018 Rising Star Vibraphonist award, Gillece has performed at such venues as Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Smalls, Mezzrow, and Smoke jazz clubs in New York City.

Betz has released six albums as a leader on the Dreambox Media la-

bel. Reviewing his album, Dichotomy, Nic Jones of AllAboutJazz wrote that Betz’s “slightly oblique feel for harmony might put some listeners in mind of Jim Hall; this is best exemplified by his solo reading of Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Chelsea Bridge’. His innate feel for that composer’s sometimes melancholy moods is joy for the ears.”

A two-time winner of the Betty Carter International Jazz Competition, Betz was also a runner-up in the Henry Mancini Jazz Competition.

He has appeared at such jazz events as the Exit Zero Festival in Cape May, NJ; the Berks Jazz Festival in Reading, PA; and the Clifford Brown

“ GILLECE HAS DEDICATED HIMSELF TO

Brian Betz

PUSHING HIS INSTRUMENT’S BOUNDARIES.”

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Jazz Festival in Wilmington, DE. Gillece and Betz are Jazz Studies faculty members at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. Gillece teaches vibraphone, jazz ensemble, and music theory; Betz teaches jazz guitar and improvisation.

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The New Jersey Jazz Society is a proud supporter of the Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series, which is made possible through funding from the Wintrode Family Foundation and the Ocean County College Foundation. The Behn Gillece/Brian Betz. concert begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 1, in the Gia Maione Prima Foundation Studio Theatre (Building 12). The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts is located on College Drive on the campus of Ocean County College. For information and tickets, log onto grunincenter.org or call (732) 255-0500.

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SUNDAY, MAY 18TH 12:30PM TO 12:30AM

THREE WEST CLUB 3 WEST 51ST ST (NYC)

www.GothamJazzFestNYC.com ww

ESSENTIALLY ELLINGTON PREVIEW Newark Academy and Jazz House Kids Represent New Jersey at EE’s 30th Anniversary

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azz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary, so this year there are 30 finalists instead of the usual 15. The contest used to last three days; now it will be spread over five days and will include two rounds. In the past, each school band has performed three selections. This year, each band needs a fourth selection, to be played only if it reaches the second round. Two New Jersey bands made the roster of 30 finalists—last year’s first place winner, Newark Academy; and Jazz House Kids. Here is how they’re preparing.

Newark Academy

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PHOTO BY FI SK FOTO LLC

Newark Academy Chameleon Jazz Band, directed by Julius Tolentino, at left.

Newark Academy’s jazz band, Chameleon, won first place at the 2024 Essentially Ellington, but the band lost 11 seniors to graduation. “Last year was an exceptional year,” said 16

ESSENTIALLY ELLINGTON PREVIEW

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a Short Hills resident. “Happy Go Lucky Local” will feature Collins-Siegel on bass, Nicholas Thorpe (West Orange) on piano, and Jay Thatte (Livingston), on tenor saxophone.

If the band reaches the next round, it will have to sub its fourth selection for one of the preceding three. For Newark Academy, that will be “Rockin’ in Rhythm”, composed

by Ellington, Harry Carney, and Irving Mills. Collins-Siegel will be featured on piano along with several short solos by other band members.

Every Essentially Ellington finalist receives a visit from a member of the JALC Orchestra who serves as a clinician, helping the band prepare for the competition.

NA’s clinician this year was alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino.

Jazz House Kids

The Jazz House Kids Big Band is

Jazz House Kids Big Band, directed by Nathan Eklund, second row, far right.

returning to the Essentially Ellington finals for the first time since 2022. “It’s an incredible opportunity,” said Nathan Eklund, Coordinator of the JHK Big Band program.

“We only have a few students who are returning from the last time we were here, so it’s going to be a

new experience for most of them.”

The three first round selections are: Ellington’s arrangement of W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues”, Ellington’s “Portrait of Sidney Bechet”, and Gerry Mulligan’s “Bweebida Bobbida”.

“St. Louis Blues” will feature vocalist Zuri McCune, a Newark

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PHOTO BY RIC HARD CO NDE

Julius Tolentino, NA Jazz Director. “After losing that many kids who were invested in the program, you just want to make it back again, especially in the 30th anniversary year. It was very nerve wracking until we found out that we made it. These kids have really stepped up; we’re excited to be back.”

The three NA selections for the first round are Ellington’s “Blues for New Orleans”, “I Like the Sunrise”, and “Happy Go Lucky Local”.

“Blues for New Orleans”, Tolentino said, “was a tune Ellington wrote for his New Orleans Suite. It features the Hammond B3 organ, and Ben Collins-Siegel, our pianist, plays organ as well. It will also feature our alto saxophonist, Ethan Tai.” Collins-Siegel lives in Maplewood; Tai is from Bernardsville. “I Like the Sunrise” will include a solo from the band’s vocalist, Akshra Yagnik,

ESSENTIALLY ELLINGTON PREVIEW

SUNDAYJAZZ

Behn Gillece & Brian Betz resident, along with five other soloists: tenor saxophonist Jacob Cordeni (Ridgewood), trumpeter Lucas Comesana (Princeton), pianist Zohar Cabo (New York City), clarinetist Ben Sherman (Brooklyn), and guitarist Jake Lopez (Wayne).

Sherman will be the prominent soloist on “Portrait of Sidney Bechet”, this time on tenor saxophone.

There will also be solos by bassist Sam Konin (Lawrenceville) and pianist James Pakhomou (Cedar Grove).

Although Mulligan performed “Bweebida Bobbida” with his concert jazz band in the 1960s, the rendition to be played by the JHK band, Eklund pointed out, is “an earlier version that he did when he was playing in Elliot Lawrence’s band.” Soloists will be trombonist Alex Marichal (Mount Olive), guitarist Desmond Diehl (Basking Ridge), James Pakhomou on piano, and tenor saxophonist

Kristian Greene (New Windsor, NY).

If Jazz House Kids reaches the second round, the fourth selection will be Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia”. It was performed by Gillespie’s big band, but, explained Eklund, “We’ve actually converted it into a vocal chart, featuring Zuri.” The Jazz House Kids JALC clinician is baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela.

In addition to the two New Jersey bands, there are two finalists this year from New York: Susan E. Wagner High School from Staten Island and Celia Cruz High School from the Bronx. “We actually did a collective day together at Newark Academy where we played for each other,” Eklund said. “It was an opportunity for our students to interact and kind of see other students who are committed to this music the same way they are. It was really motivating and inspiring for all the groups.”-SJ

Sunday June 1 • 3:00pm For the complete performance schedule, visit grunincenter.org.

College Drive • Toms River, NJ NJJS.ORG

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Box Office Hours for Spring 2025 Thursday-Friday 12:00pm-5:00pm by phone only 732-255-0500 and one hour prior to show time in venue lobby

ADA wheelchair and companion seating is available.

PH OTO BY JE RRIS MAD ISON

JAZZ AT McCARTER Dianne Reeves: A Storyteller Who Moves Easily Across Musical Boundaries “Jazz is Music That is Always Evolving and Sits Firmly in the American Songbook”

BY GILDA RO G ERS

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azz vocalist Dianne Reeves is a consummate storyteller who lives in a state of “peace and grace.” As a unique song stylist, she can whisk you away and take you places through songs that warm your heart. This is her gift to the world.

Reeves, a five-time Grammy Award winning artist, will grace the stage at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton on Saturday June 7, along with Brazilian guitarist, Romero Lubambo. That is one of three Jazz in June concerts at McCarter. The other two are bassist Stanley Clarke on

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June 1 and vocalist Stella Cole on June 5. In a telephone interview from her home in Colorado, Reeves confirmed storytelling is on the musical menu.

She was delighted to talk about her longtime friendship with Lubambo, who has played on many of her 20-plus albums. As a matter of fact, Reeves and Lubambo were part of a trio back in the early ‘90s called Strings Attached, with the late guitarist Russell Malone.

Re the duo with Lubambo, Reeves said, “I like the paired down set. Our show together is amazing. It is the

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stories we tell, and it is more intimate and allows me to react to the audience; and it’s a lot of fun and different from when I travel with a larger band.”

Reeves was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2018. She believes that, “Jazz is music that is always evolving and sits firmly in the American Songbook.” However, when it comes to how she was shaped

Guitarist Romero Lubambo has played on many of Reeves’ 20-plus albums.

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as an artist, she was influenced by artists not necessarily associated with jazz. “In the late ‘60s and ‘70s there were artists like Marvin Gaye and the great Aretha Franklin, and there were no cultural fences between the music and the people who enjoyed one or the other,” said Reeves. “The first time I saw Ella Fitzgerald,” she added, “that opened me up to the freedom

of jazz.” She was surprised to see how this music could be interpreted.

Born in 1956 in the Motor City of Detroit, Reeves was indoctrinated into the world of music by her family of storytellers, starting with her parents who were musically inclined.

However, her jazz bassist uncle, Charles Burrell, who is 104 years old, was very instrumental in introducing Reeves, then just a youngster, to highbrow musical influencers. “My uncle played with a lot of great musicians,” said Reeves. Burrell was a bassist for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Reeves moved to Denver, and, while still in high school, participated in a competition and performed in 1973 in Chicago at the National Association of Jazz Educators Conference. While there, she met the great trumpeter, Clark Terry—the break that every serious musician hopes for.

“Clark Terry had the ability to

find young musicians who had great potential,” said Reeves. Upon hearing her sing, Terry invited Reeves to perform at an engagement with him in Colorado Springs, which was in her backyard. “This was like going to a living school,” she said.

In 1981, less than 10 years after that “grand encounter” with Terry, Reeves signed with Palo Alto Records for her debut album, Welcome to My Love.

Since then, her career has soared. However, keeping it all in the family with the help of her pianist cousin, the late George Duke, Reeves won two Grammys for albums that Duke produced.

In 1987 she signed with Blue Note Records for the self-titled album, Dianne Reeves. That produced the smash hit “Better Days,” co-written by Reeves and Tony Lorich. It is a song that is more R&B, with a gospel twinge, than jazz. “My grandmother was one of the best storytellers,” said Reeves. “She

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JAZZ AT McCARTER

JAZZ AT McCARTER died in the late ‘70s, and I thought, what would be the best way to pay tribute to her.” When Reeves sings this song, it has the power to move people to tears, so have a tissue or handkerchief ready if she performs it in Princeton.

The Grammy wins produced

by George Duke were The Calling Celebrating Sarah Vaughan (Blue Note: 2000), a tribute to the “Divine One”. That album was followed

by In the Moment: Live in Concert (Blue Note Records 2001).

“When I used to do this (Wichita Jazz) festival, it was the first time I saw and met Sarah Vaughan, who was singing with Mr. (Count) Basie,” recalled Reeves. The Wichita Jazz Festival is a staple that dates back to 1968. “That’s where I saw Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Pat Metheny before he was Pat Metheny.”

Clearly, there is no end to what she can do and has accomplished over the

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longevity of her career. In 2005, she appeared in the motion picture, Good Night, and Good Luck, an historical drama film about American television news and the McCarthy era, directed

by George Clooney. Reeves’ singing was interspersed throughout the drama, and the soundtrack included such standards as “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (Nat King Cole/Irving Mills) and Duke Ellington’s “Solitude”. It delivered Reeves another Grammy win for the Best Jazz Vocal Album (Concord Records). The play by the same name is currently running on Broadway with Sarah Vaughan Competition finalist Georgia Heers as the vocalist.

The artists Reeves has performed with include Harry Belafonte, Sergio Mendes, Wynton Marsalis, Gregory Porter, Esperanza Spalding, and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington— another Clark Terry disciple.

What’s next for Dianne Reeves?

The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan was one of Reeves’ five Grammy-winning albums.

“I’ve been out here for a long time,” she said. “There were a lot of dreams that didn’t come true, and there were things that happened that I never dreamed of. So, I am open to the journey to what is already put out there for me to do. I never thought about being the LA Creative Philharmonic Chair of Jazz.” She earned that accolade in 2022, when she became its first jazz leader.

Her last studio album was Beauti-

ful Life (Concord Records: 2014), produced by Terri Lyne Carrington with an all-star cast that included pianist Robert Glasper, Spalding, and Duke.

Reviewing it for AllMusic, Thom Jurek pointed out that, “Throughout her career, Dianne Reeves has, perhaps more than any other vocalist, blurred the line that separates jazz from pop and contemporary R&B, extending the boundaries of each.” Beautiful Life, he wrote, “not only blurs genre lines, but erases them. The end result is glorious, accessible R&B-drenched contemporary jazz that is as sophisticated as it is honest.” That album won Reeves her fifth Grammy Award

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The McCarter Theatre is located at 91 University Place in Princeton. The Dianne Reeves concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. For more information and to order tickets, log onto McCarter.org or call (609) 258-2787.

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JAZZ IN WAYNE Caelan Cardello and Jonny Gittings: From High School Jazz Buddies to Big Swingin’ Big Band “We’ve Always Loved the Classics. We Love Thad Jones, Count Basie, Ellington”

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ianist Caelan Cardello and trumpeter Jonny Gittings met in 2016 when both were members of the New Jersey AllState Jazz Ensemble—Cardello from Teaneck High School and Gittings from Princeton High School. When Cardello heard Gittings perform on trumpet for the first time, he was amazed that, “someone at that age could play that great of a lead trumpet part. I said, ‘Whoa! I like this guy.’ And then, we just started hanging more and really developed

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a friendship. We were roommates during freshman and sophomore year at William Paterson, so we have a very deep connection.”

During the 2019-2020 school year at WPU, Cardello and Gittings started playing on Sunday mornings for church services at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Wayne, NJ. “I remember walking in there for the first time,” Cardello recalled, “and saying, ‘Wow, this is a really beautiful auditorium.’ I thought there definitely could be concerts there.

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BY SANFORD JOS E P HSON

JAZZ IN WAYNE We also had a friend, Trey, who played bass there, so the Sunday church band became a real thing.

From that, Jonny and I thought that maybe we were one step closer to our dream of running a big band.

“In 2020,” Cardello continued, “right before Covid, I did a jazz trio concert at the church, and then Covid happened, but we did do an outdoor concert that summer, in July. The following year, in August 2021, I did another trio concert at the church.

The church has some state-of-theart equipment, a great sound system.

The space is beautiful. The acoustics are great. It just made sense.”

Cardello and Gittings were approached by Patty Slezak, Adult Reference Librarian at the Wayne Library, in December, 2022, proposing a partnership and offering some money and connections to launch a jazz series at the church. “So, the first concert we did there was in May 2023. It

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was a huge success. We had a big audience and donations.” That concert turned into a series with other groups in 2024. And this year the library’s Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon free concert series at Our Lady of Consolation Church includes six events. Two have already been held: Bassist John Lee leading a quartet on February 23 and saxophonist/flutist Don Braden leading a quintet on March 23.

On Sunday, May 18, Cardello and Gittings will lead their Big Swingin’ Big Band of 17 instrumentalists and a vocalist. That concert will be followed by drummer Johnathan Blake on September 21, trombonist Altin Sencalar on October 26, and alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan on November 16.

The 24-year-old Cardello, who will be receiving his Masters Degree from Juilliard this spring, was featured as a Jersey Jazz Rising Star in January 2022. When he was four years old, growing up in Teaneck, he

Jonny Gittings

started studying cello. “That lasted for about six months,” he said. “The teacher informed my parents that every time she showed up, I immediately went to the piano and started playing it. So, they got me a piano teacher, Lauren Hooker.” When Hooker realized Cardello was getting serious about jazz, she suggested he switch to a jazz pianist as an instructor. He

then started studying with Allen Farnham, who recalled that Cardello “always had that spark of improvisational creativity in his playing.”

Cardello recorded an album with veteran bassist Rufus Reid in 2023 called Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello. “It was the result of a duo gig we played early that year,” Cardello said. In a review, Audiophilia’s Antho-

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JAZZ IN WAYNE ny Kershaw wrote: “From the opening notes of Thad Jones’ ‘Mean What You Say’, you’ll know you’re in the hands of a master. Actually, two masters.

Cardello’s opening phrasing is so beautiful, accompanied by a perfectly-voiced left-hand chordal accompaniment. And when either Cardello or Reid solo, it’s tasteful, song appropriate and always leaves you satisfied. Superb musicianship.” Cardello will be releasing his debut album as a leader in August on Jazzbird Records.

Gittings, also 24, grew up in Cranbury, NJ, and began playing trumpet in the fourth grade. “I took trumpet because my older brother did,” he said, “and I started loving jazz right away. My older brother had a lot of CDs—Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, the swing bands. We would listen to the albums together, and we really enjoyed them.” He took private lessons in middle school with trum-

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Caelan Cardello

peter Joe Mosello and guitar lessons from Joseph Frederico.”Caelan brought me into Jazz House Kids after we met. At William Paterson, I studied with Jeremy Pelt.” Added Cardello: “When I heard Jonny play, I said, “We need you at Jazz House.”

Each year, the Monterey Jazz Festival brings together some of the most accomplished high school jazz musicians from across the country to form the Next Generation Jazz

Orchestra (NGJO) directed by Grammy-nominated pianist and composer, Gerald Clayton. In 2018, the summer between high school and college, Gittings was invited to perform as part of that orchestra. “It was quite an experience,” he said, “playing with people from all over the country. We got to tour Japan; and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was in Monterey, so we got to hang out with them.”

As for the repertoire of their big band, Gittings explained that, “We’ve always loved the classics. We love Thad Jones, Count Basie, Ellington.

We’ve always tried to mix classics with some of our own writing. This concert, we’re mostly going back to the classics. The set list isn’t completely finished for the concert, but there will be some Thad, some Basie, and some Mingus stuff.”

The May 18th performance, Cardello said, will feature “a fantastic

More Wayne Jazz Our Lady of Consolation Church isn’t the only place to hear jazz in Wayne. The Wayne Public Library also presents a Thursday night series at 7 p.m. in the library. Next one is May 8 featuring vocalist Kyra Cioffi with pianist Tomoko Ohno, bassist Gabe Schmid-Doyle, and drummer Maria Kolesnik.

And, William Paterson University is in the 47th year of presenting its Jazz Room Series. The last concert in the spring 2025 session is at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 9, featuring vocalist Will Downing.

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JAZZ IN WAYNE vocalist, Kate Kortum. She’s from Houston and just had her debut with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

She’s in my graduating class at Juilliard. She’s phenomenal, a real tour de force.” Reviewing a December 2024 performance by Kortum at Chris’ Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia, the UK Jazz Journal’s Matty Bannond wrote that “her affection for swing-era spirit is audible in each syncopated beat.”

Cardello emphasized that, “Jonny and I are adamant about the band

being young people. We have some people from William Paterson, and I’ve brought in some friends from New York.” Among the band members are two alto saxophonists familiar to Jersey Jazz readers. Zoe Obadia was our Rising Star in September 2022, and Alex Laurenzi led a quartet at the last New Jersey Jazz Society concert before Covid, in February 2020.

Obadia, who has a Masters in Music degree from Juilliard, is from Glen Ridge, NJ. Pianist Bill Charlap

has called her “a natural talent with a beautiful sound.” Laurenzi, from Mountain Lakes, NJ, wrote his Princeton thesis on jazz musicians who were active in the civil rights movement of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.

So, at the February 2020 concert (during Black History Month), he focused on the music of bassist Charles Mingus, drummer Max Roach, and vocalist/pianist Nina Simone.

Cardello and Gittings said they have always talked about being in a

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The Big Swingin’ Big Band TRUMPETS

TROMBONES

SAXOPHONES

RHYTHM SECTION

VOCALIST

Jonny Gittings (bandleader) Austin Ford Miles Keingstein Jack Towse

Nate Jones Marty Scott Jasim Perales Dean Scarlett

Alex Laurenzi Zoe Obadia Alex Delazzari Hunter Pullen (2nd tenor saxophonist tba)

Pianist Caelan Cardello (bandleader) Guitarist Leonid Morozov Bassist Jonathon Muir Cotton Drummer Isaiah Bravo

Kate Kortum

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big band together “as long as we’ve been playing together.” Cardello believes “what we’re doing is not being done anywhere in northern New Jersey. We’re providing the most authentic New York style jazz for free. We want to encourage people of all backgrounds, ages, races to come and support it because it’s very important to keep that sense of community alive.”

The Wayne series has three sources of funding: a grant from the Passaic County Cultural and Heritage Council, the Wayne Library; and donations.

Our Lady of Consolation Church is located at 1799 Hamburg Turnpike in Wayne, NJ. The Swingin’ Big Band concert begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 18. No registration is necessary, and the concert is also available via livestream. For more information, log onto waynepubliclibrary.libcal.com and search for jazz series or call (973) 694-4272, ext. 5401.

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JerseyJazz LIVE! DANNY JONOKUCHI QUARTET SUNDAY, JUNE 8 3:00 PM

Madison Community Arts Center 10 KINGS ROAD, MADISON, NJ FREE STREET PARKING ON KINGS ROAD $

15 MEMBERS | $20 NON-MEMBERS $

Made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts.

5 CHILD/STUDENTS (WITH VALID I.D.)

RISING STAR

PH OTO BY E D N EW MAN

Kal Ferretti: ‘I Love the Trumpet, and I Love This Music So Much’ “A Prime Example of What Can be Attained When Talent and Work Ethic Converge”

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hen she was attending the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, Kal Ferretti rode the subway to Manhattan from her home in Staten Island. The music on her phone was Art Blakey’s Moanin’ (Blue Note: 1958). “I would wear that out every train ride,” she said.

The 22-year-old Ferretti always wanted to play the trumpet, but she soon became bored with performing in a classical setting. “I ended up not totally digging just sitting there in the orchestra,” she explained, “so I got into the idea of playing jazz. To me,

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music is fun, and it was more fun.”

To learn more about jazz, she attended Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz Academy, studying with such faculty members as multireedist Ted Nash, trumpeters Tatum Greenblatt and Kenny Rampton, trombonist Corey Wallace, and pianist Willerm Delisfort.

Greenblatt was also one of Ferretti’s trumpet teachers when she attended the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School in New York. At the Jazz Academy, he remembered, “She stood out as someone with tremendous musical intel-

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Ferretti added, “felt that one of the best ways to teach harmony to young people was by not forcing bebop down their throats, but, instead, teaching them harmony on the most basic level.”

Ferretti graduated from The New School last year and is pursuing her Masters Degree at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, who is MSM’s Dean and Director of Jazz Arts. “Studying with Ingrid Jensen,” she said, “has opened my ears my suggestions and worked tirelessly. She was a pleasure to teach and is clearly on her way to making a name for herself as a jazz trumpeter. Her ability and potential are unlimited.”

Other mentors at The New School included trumpeter Bruce Harris, bassists Reggie Workman and Buster Williams, and drummer Matt Wilson. “David Glasser and Bruce Harris,”

to much more music than I would have imagined. She’s such an amazing mentor. She’s really opened me up to exploring different kinds of music. I couldn’t be more grateful to be here and playing with her.”

For Jensen, Ferretti is “a dream student to watch and listen to. She is filled with a deep sense of musicality and a wonderful positive spirit that is both infectious and inspiring. I am thrilled to be traveling in Kal’s orbit, getting the oppor-

PH OTO BY B E N MI N I

lect and an unshakable dedication. As my student while at The New School, Kal most impressed me with her willingness to address her weaknesses and with her patience in trusting the process. Though she has no shortage of talent, it is her work ethic that is her greatest strength. As a player, she has one foot in the history and one in the future—building upon a well-developed knowledge of the tradition to forge new pathways in the music.”

Another key influence on Ferretti at The New School was saxophonist David Glasser. “He became my main mentor,” she recalled. “I studied extensively with him. He took me under his wing and really showed me what music was about. I’m forever grateful for everything he has done for me.”

Glasser, echoing Greenblatt, described Ferretti as “a prime example of what can be attained when talent and work ethic converge. She followed

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RISING STAR mccarter.org @McCarterTheatre tunity to listen to her play in both small group and big band settings.”

Ferretti has led her big band during Dizzy’s Club’s late-night sessions and is “looking forward to continuing that project in the future.”. On April 5, she performed with the JALC Future of Jazz Orchestra at the “Who is Gerry Mulligan?” Family Concert (See Editor’s Choice, page 05).

On April 21 she played with a group Workman put together for a gig at the New Amsterdam Musical Association (NAMA) in Harlem. This month, she’ll be part of the Cameron Shave Big Band during Dizzy’s late-night set.

The passion Ferretti has for jazz came through clearly in our interview. “I love the trumpet, and I love this music so much,” she said. “It’s my life honor to study people like Kenny Dorham and Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard. Those are my guys. I’ve worn out Quiet Kenny (Dor-

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ham’s 1960 New Jazz release). The same thing with Clifford’s Live at the Beehive (Columbia: 1955) and Freddie Hubbard’s Hubtones (Blue Note: 1963). It’s like playing the trumpet at the highest level, and it’s an honor being around people who have been on these records. I’m lucky to call Reggie Workman a mentor of mine. He played on so many of those records with Freddie Hubbard. I’ve asked him so many questions about that. What was it like being around him? It’s so cool.”

In March, Ferretti was part of a Kenny Dorham Trumpet Summit at Dizzy’s Club. She was selected to play his composition, “La Mesha”, named after his daughter. “My feature was on the final night,” Ferretti said. “La Mesha was his youngest daughter. She was there, and she was crying. She looks just like Kenny Dorham. I felt chills in my body.”—SANFORD JOSEPHSON

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Jazz at McCarter!

Princeton, NJ

Stanley Clarke Sun, Jun 1 at 7:30PM

“The prolific output of Stanley Clarke can soothe you with a gentle bow of the bass… or launch you into an interplanetary future,” raves The New York Times. A four-time GRAMMY winner and 2022 NEA Jazz Master, Clarke is a peerless innovator who redefined the role of the bass in jazz.

Stella Cole

Thu, Jun 5 at 7:30PM To watch Stella Cole perform is to be transported in time. With irresistible charm and a love for the Great American Songbook, she introduces audiences to the timeless magic of jazz.

Dianne Reeves

With Romero Lubambo Sat, Jun 7 at 7:30PM Five-time GRAMMY winner Dianne Reeves is the preeminent jazz vocalist of our time. Renowned for her virtuosity, improvisational brilliance, and seamless fusion of jazz and R&B, she made history as the first artist to win the GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings.

Buy all three events and save 10% Order today for best seats!

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ROSS FARM JAZZ FESTIVAL Dave Stryker Unveils the Future of Jazz in Basking Ridge

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Dave Stryker

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n March 3, 2024, jazz guitarist Sally Shupe of Maplewood, NJ, then a senior at Columbia High School, led a quintet as the Rising Stars opening act at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert in Madison. To celebrate Women’s History Month, the quintet played three tunes associated with female composers: “Blues for Herb” written for guitarist Herb Ellis by guitarist Emily Remler; “Games” by jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby; and “Just Another Day at the Office” by pianist/educator Monika Herzig.

Shupe, now a Jazz Studies major at William Paterson University, is one of several college and high school jazz musicians who will be featured at the first-ever Ross Farm Jazz Festival on May 17 in Basking Ridge.

The headliner at the festival, organized by David Becker, President of Ross Farm, is guitarist Dave Stryker, who will lead a quartet with saxophonist Troy Roberts, organist Jared Gold, and drummer Steve Johns. Stryker also teaches in three New Jersey jazz studies programs: William Paterson, Montclair State, and Rutgers, and he

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Guitarist/Educator Invites His College Student Musicians to Participate in New Event

ROSS FARM JAZZ FESTIVAL

There will also be a local Basking Ridge flavor. The festivities will lead off with a performance by the Ridge High School Jazz Combo and Big

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Ridge High School alumni: Frankie Midnight, left, and Carl Gerhard

Band. And, there will be a segment featuring three Ridge High School alumni: keyboardist/vocalist Frankie Midnight (Occhiogrosso), trumpeter Carl Gerhard, and drummer Josh Conklin.

Alto saxophonist Anish Alur and guitarist Desmond Diehl will be among the Ridge student musicians performing. Alur led a trio at NJJS’ Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert in January.

He was named an Outstanding Soloist

at the Charles Mingus Festival and High School Competition held in February at The New School in New York and was also a member of last year’s New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra led by Gerald Clayton at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Diehl will be a soloist with the Jazz House Kids Big Band as they compete this month at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially

Ellington Competition (see page 16).

According to Dan Zugale, Ridge High School Director of Bands, the 20-piece Ridge Big Band will play about five selections including Sammy Nestico’s “Hey Burner” and Mike Tomaro’s arrangement of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba”. The setlist for the Combo will probably include Arthur Schwartz’s “You and the Night and the Music” and Lar-

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CAR L G ER HAR D P HOTO BY SONJA L EM OI PH OTO G RA PH Y

has coordinated the Ross appearances of the student ensembles he leads: » The William Paterson Brecker Brothers Ensemble, “playing the funky fusion sounds of the Brecker Brothers with songs by (pianist) Dan Grolnick, (guitarist) Path Metheny, and (trumpeter) Randy Brecker.” » The Rutgers Jazz Guitar Combo, “featuring four guitarists blending like a Supersax horn section with bass and drums.” This group will play standards as well as originals

by Stryker, (guitarist) John Scofield, and (pianist) Kenny Barron. » The Montclair State Jazz Quintet, playing music by (tenor saxophonist) Michael Brecker, Stryker, (pianist) Carla Bley, and Metheny.

ry Willis’ “To Wisdom the Prize”.

Midnight graduated from Ridge High School in 2019 and studied Jazz at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts. He regularly performs in jazz, classical, and pop settings and has played recently at Van Gogh’s Ear in Union, the Brightside Tavern in Jersey City, and Seamore’s Supper Club in Brooklyn. His quartet at Ross Farm will include Gerhard, Conklin, and bassist Telvin Palarche.

“After performing all kinds of music around New Jersey and the Tri-State Area,” he said, “I really look forward to finally performing in my hometown. It’s a real full circle moment.”

Gerhard graduated from Ridge High School in 1981 and enlisted in the Navy. While playing and leading Navy bands around the world, he became a

Navy “Mustang”, a term for an enlisted sailor who becomes a commissioned officer. He retired, after 30 years of service, as a lieutenant commander.

“What a great thrill to be invited to play in this festival,” he said. “And performing back in my hometown will be especially rewarding. When I was the Director of Navy Band Northeast in 2010, we were honored to perform to a full house at my alma mater, Ridge High School, in support of Bernards Township’s 250th anniversary celebration. And, most recently, as a member of Roomful of Blues, we were privileged to headline multiple shows during Ross Farm’s great summer concert series. So, coming back home and being a part of Ross Farm’s inaugural jazz fest, and to play with and listen to some of New Jersey’s

RISING STARS: Clockwise, from top left, William Paterson guitarist Sally Shupe, Montclair

State tenor saxophonist Ryan Huston, Ridge High guitarist Desmond Diehl, Ridge High alto saxophonist Anish Alur, and Montclair State trumpeter Will Schetelich.

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ANI SH ALUR PHOTO BY MARGU ERIT E L AFOUN TA I N E; DESMO N D DI E H L PH OTO BY PA I G E PURC E L L

ROSS FARM JAZZ FESTIVAL

ROSS FARM JAZZ FESTIVAL

“ PLAYING NIGHT AFTER NIGHT WITH

SOMEONE LIKE STANLEY (TURRENTINE) WAS AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE.”

best young jazz talent, will be an absolute blast!” Gerhard has also played keyboards with the rock band, Phish.

Stryker was interviewed in the February 2025 issue of Jersey Jazz in connection with his very successful Strikezone Records album, Stryker With Strings Goes to the Movies. At presstime, it had spent 14 weeks on the JazzWeek charts, reaching as high as Number 2. At Ross Farm, Stryker will play some quartet versions of songs from that album as well as tunes from many of his other recordings.

A West Orange resident, Stryker grew up in Nebraska. Early on in his

career he played with jazz organist Brother Jack McDuff. “Jack had previously worked with guitarists like Grant Green, George Benson, and Pat Martino,” he told Jersey Jazz’s Jay Sweet, “so being in his band was a hot seat.” Stryker also spent 10 years with legendary tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. “Playing night after night with someone like Stanley,” he said, “was an incredible experience. Having to follow his solos really pushed me to rise to the occasion.”

The four guitarists in the Rutgers Jazz Guitar Combo are: Christos Kokolis, Christian Orlowski,

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ROSS FARM JAZZ FESTIVAL Noah Pagdanganan, and Siddartha Suppiah. They will be joined by drummer Brydon Bullock and bassist Oluwatayo Adelekan.

The Montclair State Jazz Quintet members are: trumpeter Will Schetelich, tenor saxophonist Ryan Huston, guitarist Levi Taple, bassist Emek Demir, and drummer Eric Dupont. Huston, from Toms River, and Schetelich, from Scotch Plains, performed as part of a Jersey Jazz LIVE! Rising Stars opening act in June 2023.

In addition to Shupe, the William Paterson Brecker Brothers Ensemble will include trumpeter Josh Mercado, saxophonist Nathan Brenson, pianist Nick Scheider, bassist Avishal Seguel, and drummer Luke Richards. According to David Demsey, WPU Coordinator of Jazz Studies, the music that will be played by the Ensemble is from the Michael Brecker Archive on the William Paterson campus. It includes

original ink and pencil copies from the Brecker Brothers and Steps Ahead and copies of pages that were on the music stands at the original recordings and on the road with the bands.

David Becker, the Festival’s organizer, said, “It’s been a goal for many years to host a jazz festival at Ross Farm. We hope this inaugural event will be the start of an ongoing tradition that brings together professionals and emerging artists.”—sj The Ross Farm Music Series is made possible by the generous support of local business sponsors and the Band of Friends, a dedicated group of supporters. Ross Farm is located at 135 North Maple Ave. in Basking Ridge. Gates will open at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 17, and the live music will last from 2-8 p.m. For more information or to order tickets, log onto RossFarm.org or fobsr.eventbrite.com.

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SARASOTA JAZZ FESTIVAL 45th Anniversary Celebration

From left, Gabrielle Cavassa, Philip Norris, Terell Stafford, Joe Farnsworth

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PHOTO BY CAROL LOR ICCO

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he Sarasota Jazz Festival (March 17-22) celebrated its 45th year with performances from three of today’s biggest stars: pianist Emmet Cohen, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, and bassist Marcus Miller.

And, of course, trumpeter Terell Stafford, SJF’s Musical Director, was visible throughout the week, with an especially exciting guest appearance with Cohen, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Joe Farnsworth. That group was also joined by 2020 Sarah Vaughn International Vocal Competition co-winner Gabrielle Cavassa. Alexander played with organist Tony Monaco, trumpeter James Suggs, and drummer Paul Gavin.

In late April, Cohen brought the same trio—with Norris and Farn-

SARASOTA JAZZ FESTIVAL

ERI C ALE XAND ER/JAMES SUG GS PHOTO BY CA RO L LO R I CCO; E MME T CO H E N A N D MARCUS MIL L ER / TEREL L STAFFO RD PHOTOS BY ST E PH E N SPL A N E

sworth—for a four-night engagement at New York’s Birdland. On Wednesday night, April 23, trumpeter/vocalist Bria Skonberg was watching from the bar, and Cohen revealed that she had just guested on the latest edition of his streaming concert series, Live From Emmet’s Place.

Last November, Cohen helped pay tribute to veteran drummer Lewis Nash when he was honored at the Giants of Jazz concert at the South Orange Performing Arts Center. Cohen performed in a trio with past honoree, bassist Rufus Reid, and drummer Evan Sherman. Cohen’s “Master Legacy” album series features partnerships with several jazz legends including bassist Ron Carter and tenor saxophonists Benny Golson and Houston Person.

Top: Eric Alexander, left, and James Suggs; bottom left: Emmet Cohen; bottom right: Marcus Miller, left, and Terell Stafford

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PELOTE’S PLACE

BY V IN C ENT PELOT E

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his month is the 100th anniversary of Fletcher Henderson’s “Sugar Foot Stomp.” That iconic recording by the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra was created on Friday, May 29, 1925, in the Columbia Records New York studio. The musicians in the band were Elmer Chambers, Joe Smith, and Louis Armstrong on trumpets, Charlie Green on trombone, Buster Bailey and Don Redman on alto saxes and clarinets, and Coleman Hawkins on

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tenor sax and clarinet. The four-man rhythm section consisted of leader Henderson on piano, Charlie Dixon on banjo, Rafael “Ralph” Escudero on tuba, and Kaiser Marshall on drums.

The tune originally known as “Dipper Mouth Blues” was given to arranger Don Redman by Armstrong who co-composed it with Joseph “King” Oliver, Louis’s previous employer in Chicago. Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band recorded it twice, once for the Gennett label and a second time for Okeh. Armstrong offered it to Redman who changed the tune’s name to “Sugar Foot Stomp” and fashioned an arrangement for the larger ensemble.

The first thing about this recording that stands out is the sound. Prior to 1925, recordings were made using an acoustical process that didn’t involve microphones. This is one of the first electrical recordings done by the Henderson band, and the Columbia engineers did a marvelous job

capturing the sound of the orchestra.

The performance has a clarinet trio section played by Bailey, Redman and Hawkins. There is a solo by trombonist Green but the piece de resistance of the recording was Armstrong’s three 12-bar choruses in which he reinterprets King Oliver’s original trumpet choruses establishing a tradition in which every subsequent trumpet soloist either imitated or paraphrased. Also noteworthy about

this recording is Redman’s arrangement, especially the way he used the ensemble to support Armstrong’s solo.

In previous Henderson recordings, the ensembles would drop out during Armstrong’s solos with just the rhythm section (especially Marshall’s backbeat cymbals) playing behind the trumpet star. With this recording, Redman finally figured out how to better showcase Armstrong’s innovative and swinging contributions to

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PELOTE’S PLACE the band, keeping Marshall’s backbeat cymbals and adding riffs in the form of short repeated humming figures by the saxophonists that provide both harmonic and rhythmic support.

“Sugar Foot Stomp” is considered one of Henderson’s greatest recordings. Henderson called it one of his favorites. It was a big seller for the time, and it remained in the Columbia catalog for at least 10 consecutive years. King Oliver even made a new recording of it in 1926 for Vocalion/ Brunswick with his expanded orchestra. The piece would find its way into

the band books of several swing era orchestras and was recorded by Benny Goodman (using Fletcher Henderson’s re-working of Redman’s arrangement), Jan Savitt, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Bob Crosby and others. That influence was not limited to American swing bands. Orchestras led by Harry Roy (England) and Fud Candrix (Belgium) were among the non-American big bands that recorded it.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that not everyone shares my love for this recording. The late Gunther Schuller in his book Early Jazz (Oxford

“ ‘SUGAR FOOT STOMP’ IS

CONSIDERED ONE OF HENDERSON’S GREATEST RECORDINGS.” NJJS.ORG

University Press: 1986) finds Henderson’s recording of “Sugar Foot Stomp” to be of “very mixed quality.” Jeffrey Magee in his book The Uncrowned King of Swing: Fletcher Henderson and Big Band Jazz (Oxford University Press: 2005) addresses Schuller’s criticisms of the recording and is much kinder in his assessment, offering his well thought out opinions on Redman’s arrangement. In fact, Magee rightly notes that Redman’s arrangement became the model on which other bands based their versions into the 1940s.

Negative criticisms aside, it remains one of my favorite Henderson recordings with one of my all-time favorite Armstrong solos. On its centennial anniversary “Sugarfoot Stomp” still sounds great and is truly a timeless classic of early big band jazz.

Vincent Pelote is Senior Archivist and Digital Presentation Strategist at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark.

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SandySasso.com for more Sandy info

OTHER VIEWS

BY JOE L A N G

When guitarist Royce Campbell was looking over some big band charts of songs written by his late uncle, Carroll DeCamp, he realized they were worthy of wide exposure. At the suggestion of Bob Bowen, bassist with the Vosbein Magee Big Band, Campbell approached the band’s leader Terry Vosbein with the material. The result is Vagabond (Max Frank Music - 010), featuring Campbell with the 16-piece Vosbein band. The result is an exciting 11-tune program, chock full of inspired guitar work by Campbell supported by the band, which is tight in its ensemble playing and loaded with excellent soloists. This is a fitting tribute to the arranging talent of DeCamp who wrote charts for Stan Kenton and Larry Elgart, among others., as well as having played piano with Wes Montgomery. It is nice to have a new release that carries on the tradition of modern big band music and engages you from beginning to end. maxfrankmusic.com

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In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band and Festival Competition, Blue Engine Records has released Essentially Ellington: The JLCO Recordings, 1999-2025. This is a 166-tune collection of arrangements by bands led by Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams, and others that were recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra over the years for

distribution to the competing high school bands. These arrangements enabled them to hear what the musc sounded like “in a cutting edge context.” This is an eclectic collection that ranges from the familiar to the somewhat obscure, but the consistency of quality performances combined with superb charts makes this a valuable resource. It is an amazing compendium of selections now available for a wider audience of those who love classic big band sounds. (It is only available for streaming on all digital platforms.) See a preview of this year’s New Jersey Essentially Ellington finalists on page 16 Although drummer Joe Syrian calls his band the Motor City Jazz Octet, and it usually includes some of the best jazzers in Detroit, the participating musicians on Secret Message (Circle 9 Records - 90009) are New York City-based. The program has eight selections that span a broad

range of popular music, including “Bye, Bye Blackbird,” “Star Eyes,” and “People Make the World Go Round.”

The basic group includes Syrian on drums, Adam Birnbaum on piano, Paul Bollenback on guitar, Lorin Cohen on bass, Carl Maraghi on alto and baritone saxes, Tim Ries or Dave Riekenberg on tenor sax, Nick Marchionne on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Doug Beavers on trombone, with vocalist Kenny Washington, vibraphonist Joe Locke and percussionist Luisito Quintero added on “People Make the World Go Round.” The charts are stylistically varied and interesting, giving the octet the sound of a larger group. Given this eclecticism, the album defies classification other than it is good and listenable. joesyrianmotorcityjazzoctet.com Guitarist James Zito is not only a fine and creative player, but he has written some terrific melodies comprising half of the 12 selections on Zito’s Jump

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OTHER VIEWS (self-produced). He has surrounded himself with tenor saxophonist/ flutist Chris Lewis, alto saxophonist Joseph Miller, baritone saxophonist Jarien Jamanila, trumpeter Nicholas DiMaria, and trombonist Jack Kotze.

They are used in various combinations with a rhythm section of pianist Luther Allison, bassist Rodney Whitaker, and drummer Joe Farnsworth.

In addition to the six Zito tunes, the program includes “Ready ‘N Able” by Jimmy Smith, “The Nearness of You,” with fine vocalizing by Georgia Heers and Tyreek McDole, and “The End of a Love Affair,” taken at an appropriate uptempo approach reflected in the title. This is a well-conceived and finely executed debut album for Zito as a leader; it should bring him widespread attention. jameszitomusic.com Fun House (self-produced) finds the trio of leader Todd Strait on drums,

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Bill Mays on piano, and Tom Wakeling on bass addressing a 13-song program.

On eight of the selections, which include “Lucky to Be Me,” “Pretty Eyes,” and “Remind Me,” Billie Eidson adds tasty vocals. The instrumental tracks are the Bill Mays whimsical original, “Fun House,” “Satin Doll,” “Little Black Samba,” “Little Rascal on a Rock” and “You’re Nearer.” Strait is a highly musical drummer whose presence is always evident but not dominating.

There is not much new to be said about the marvelous Bill Mays. He is simply one of the most admired and accomplished active jazz pianists, as well as being a fine accompanist for vocalists.

Wakeling supplies strong bass lines.

Eidson approaches each song with respect for the lyrics and a jazz sensitivity. Strait chose well in his song selection, opting for good songs that are not overdone, a refreshing and wonderfully listenable outing. amazon.com

Tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton has recorded in a wide variety of settings as a leader and sideman. On The Slow Road (Cellar Music - 062824) he is the guest artist with the Canadian trio, Trilogy, which includes pianist Miles Black, guitarist Bill Coon, and bassist Jodi Proznick. They provide a winning program of nine tunes, including “Pompton Turnpike,” Jobim’s “Luiza,” “Moose the Mooche”, and

“Thanks for the Memories”. There is also one original by each of the trio members. Hamilton is one of the current masters of the mainstream classic tenor approach of giants such as Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young. He has great tone and an unerring sense of swing. Whether caressing a ballad like “Thanks for the Memories” or taking it up several notches on “Pompton Turnpike,” he hits the right groove and stays there with the trio providing unwavering support. On “Moose the Mooche,” Hamilton sits out, and the trio gives a solid ride to the Charlie Parker bebop classic. The Slow Road is an easy listen, but far from easy listening music, rather it is mainstream jazz at its finest. cellarlive.com Despite having decades in the business, jazz guitarist Steve Luciano has recorded few albums as a leader. On

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OTHER VIEWS Under the Covers (self-produced) he is joined by pianist Mike Avila, bassist Charlie Silva, and drummer Walt Hubbard, with several contributions by reedman Dan Jordan. They are all long time musical associates of Luciano. The tempo is varied from track to track, opening with the relaxed swing of “Chant” and closing with Luciano’s solo take on David Raksin’s lovely ballad, “The Bad and the Beautiful.” Along the way, they visit other tunes such as “I’ll Take Romance,” “Like Someone in Love” and “Love You Madly” as a quartet, while Jordan adds his tenor sax on “Chant,” “Hammer Head” and “On the Stairs,” and his flute on “Caruso.” Three tracks are particularly worth noting.

On “Like Someone in Love”, Luciano opens the song as a solo ballad before the tempo is kicked up with the full quartet present. Luciano adapted the arrangement by Tal Farlow and Barry Galbraith of “Everything I’ve

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Got” for the quartet, and they take it on a swift tour. Luciano’s solo on “The Bad and the Beautiful” fully demonstrates his masterful and imaginative guitar work. All in all, Luciano and friends have created an album to be treasured. (Available in digital format on major streaming platforms) The music of the Gershwins has been the focus of many jazz albums for decades, but George Gershwin’s inventive melodies and chordal structures have proved to be fertile ground for improvisors resulting in limitless interesting interpretations. These songs have been particularly attractive to pianists with a recent one by the English keyboard master, Gabriel Latchin, The Man I Love (ALYS Jazz - 1505) particularly noteworthy.

Latchin, aided by bassist Jeremy Brown and drummer Joe Farnsworth, plays his takes on 10 Gershwin classics, including “Summertime,” “How

Long Has This Been Going On,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So”. Latchin immediately lets the listener know that he is not going to give us the same old same old as he opens “Summertime” with a classical approach inspired by Debussy before letting it evolve into a jazz interpretation. His dreamy approach to “How Long Has This Been Going On” is followed by a spirited “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” The verse to “They All Laughed” is taken as a slow ballad before he lets it swing out. There are Latin influences on “’S’Wonderful and “The Man I Love.” Throughout, Latchin’s improvisational insights are nicely original. Brown and Farnsworth offer consistent beds of rhythmic support. Once, again, the Gershwin tunes have offered a jumping off place for some fine jazz. gabriellatchin.com It is a sad reality that there are many wonderful vocalists across the coun-

try who perform songs from the Great American Songbook, but only have limited opportunities to spread their talents through recordings.

California-based Dawn Lambeth is among those whose talent deserves wider recognition. While I Get Ideas (self-produced) is only her third album—the first two were released in 2004 and 2007—it is well worth the wait. Her band includes Danny Tobias on trumpet and Eb alto horn, Jacob Zimmerman on alto sax and clarinet, Chris Dawson on piano, Luca Pino on guitar, Sam Rocha on bass, and Josh Collazo on drums. As on her previous albums and in her live performances, Lambeth digs deep to find songs that are high quality but underperformed. This time out she has included “Practice Makes Perfect,” “Please Be Kind”, and “Thief in the Night”, among others. Lambeth has a smooth, understated approach that imbues each lyric with a depth of meaning

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OTHER VIEWS that does full justice to the the intent of the lyricists—as if the words were written specifically for her. The band is superb. While Tobias is based in New Jersey, Zimmerman in Seattle, and the others from the Los Angeles area, they mesh perfectly, with Tobias and Zimmerman forming an impressive front line. It is a real treat to have new music from Dawn Lambeth to fill your ears. dawnlambeth.com Last spring, pianist/vocalist Champian Fulton and alto saxophonist/ clarinetist Klas Lindquist performed as a duo at a house party thrown by Scott Asen, founder of Turtle Bay Records. Asen was so impressed with their performance he decided that he wanted to capture the magic he heard on a recording. He had them return to his townhouse in order to record them in the same intimate setting where he first heard them. They laid down the 10 tracks over two sessions.

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This explains the title of At Home (Turtle Bay -25002). The recording documents the musical conversations between these two exceptional artists.

Fulton performs six vocals, “The Very Thought of You,” “You Can Depend on Me,” “Tea for Two,” “Someday You’ll Be Sorry,” “I Was Looking for You” and “P.S. I Love You.” There are four instrumental duos, an original by Fulton and Lindquist, the bluesy “Don’t Do That to Me,” “Serenade in Blue,” “Bésame Mucho” and “My Monday Date.” Fulton is equally impressive as an imaginative pianist and a vocalist who lends a personal touch to the lyrics.

Lindquist is outstanding whether playing alto sax or clarinet. He has great tone on both instruments and seems limitless in his improvisational creativity. At Home is one of those “as good as it gets” albums. turtlebayrecords.com Vocalist Susan Hinkson began singing professionally in a roundabout

fashion. She got a degree in Architecture from Pratt Institute and a law degree from New York Law School that led to an extended stay working in the area of land use policy and regulation for the City of New York.

That was followed by a period of time in the private sector involved with real estate. It was a discussion with an associate from her business life, Richard Barth, that led her to his brother, the jazz pianist Bruce Barth

with whom she developed the singing talent that had been submerged under her professional responsibilities. Eventually, she decided that singing was her new career choice, and her interaction with Barth led to his recommendation that she was ready to make a recording. He gathered alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Adam Cruz to join him in backing Hinkson for her debut recording. Just in Time (Windfall Creations) is remarkably accomplished for a vocalist making her first album. The tunes are all standards, such as “One for My Baby,” “Just in Time,” and “My Funny Valentine.”

While these are all often recorded tunes, Hinkson infuses them with a pleasant freshness. Barth and crew offer her superior support. This may be her first album, but it portends more good sounds to come down the road. susanhinksonmusic.com

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY Jazz Critic Francis Davis

“He Saw Through Fads ... While Conveying, for Even Casual Readers, What Made the Best Jazz So Great” Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue (Columbia: 1959) is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed jazz albums of all time. In 2009, jazz critic Francis Davis wrote the liner notes for Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, reissued in 2008 by Legacy Recordings.

“In terms of where it falls in jazz history,” he wrote, “Kind of Blue is celebrated for being the album that popularized improvising on modes— that is, improvising in the sparest and starkest of scales as an alternative to bebop’s dense thickets of chord changes. But that hardly explains the album’s hold on three successive generations of listeners,” he add-

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ed, “most of whom wouldn’t know a mode from a Mercedes Benz.” Those liner notes won a Grammy Award.

Davis, who has been in home hospice since last fall, living with emphysema and Parkinson’s disease, passed away April 14, 2025, at the age of 78.

The Atlantic’s David A. Graham, responding to news of Davis’ death, said, “I was always impressed by how easily he saw through fads—from the ‘piousness’ of ‘70s fusion to the backward glance of the Young Lions—while conveying, for even casual readers, what made the best jazz so great.”

A Contributing Editor to The Atlantic for more than 25 years, Davis was motivated to become a music

critic after attending a John Coltrane concert while a student at Temple University in 1966. He also worked at local record stores and, after leaving Temple, managed a campus branch of the Listening Booth chain. One of his regular customers was Terry Gross, a host at WHYY, the Public Broadcasting System station in Phil-

adelphia. They became a couple in 1978 and married in 1994. Gross is currently Co-Executive Producer and Host of Fresh Air, a weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues.

“I had a three-hour show five days a week,” Gross told NPR’s Nate Chinen, “so I needed to fill time: I needed film critics and art critics, and music critics. I asked him if he would consider doing a piece on spec where he would choose an out-of-print jazz recording that no one had access to and play excerpts of the album and talk about why it mattered. The script he sent in was so beautifully written.

He started doing that regularly, for a weekly series he called ‘Interval’.”

Davis also wrote about jazz for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1978 to 1983. When Fresh Air went national in 1987, Gross named him its first Jazz Critic. After a year, he left NPR and recommended Kevin

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY Whitehead, who was the reviewer for Cadence Magazine, as his successor. Whitehead held the post for 35 years before retiring last year.

In 2004, Davis became the main Jazz Critic for The Village Voice, succeeding Gary Giddins, and two years later he launched a Jazz Critics Poll at the newspaper. In 2013, the poll moved to NPR Music, staying there until 2020. It continues at ArtsFuse, an online arts magazine, where it is known as the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll.

Reviewing one of Davis’ seven books, Outcats: Jazz Composers, Instrumentalists, and Singers (Oxford University Press: 1992), Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post described Davis as “a sympathetic observer of the complexities of the artistic life. He is a sensitive, knowledgeable, perceptive, imaginative critic, and, even when he’s

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moping, he’s a pleasure to read.”

The New York Times’ Adam Nossiter pointed out that Davis’ criticism “was never just about the music.

A 2000 essay in The Atlantic about Billie Holiday drew out the larger meaning of her life’s work, tying her personality and its context to the sounds she produced.” The song, “Strange Fruit”, he wrote, “ultimately became a way for her to release her anger. Her anger could be unfocused, her racial indignation mixed up with her resentment at her mistreatment by the men in her life, her persecution by the law, and the public’s preference for blander female singers.”

Gross was Davis’ only immediate survivor. On April 16, two days after his death, she told Nossiter, “His brilliance wasn’t in describing technique. He described the meaning of the sound and where it fit in jazz culture, and what it was connected to.”

Guitarist George Freeman

“One of Those Underappreciated Masters”

When guitarist George Freeman released the Southport Records album, All in the Family, in 2015 with his nephew, tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman, AllAboutJazz’s Dan Bilawsky wrote, “There are few things more quintessentially ‘Chicago’ in jazz than the Freeman family.” George Freeman died on April 1, 2025, in Chicago at the age of 97. And though he played with many of the jazz greats, including Charlie Parker, Count Basie, and Dexter Gordon, he was always overshadowed by his older brother (Chico’s father) tenor saxophonist Von Freeman, who died in August 2012 at the age of 89. Chicago Jazz’s Hrayr Attarian once described George as “one of those underappreciated masters, who, alas, are way too common in the annals of jazz.”

As a teenager, Freeman was inspired to play the guitar after hearing blues guitarist T-Bone Walker play at

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY Chicago’s Rhumboogie Cafe. In 1947, tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, a classmate of Freeman’s at Chicago’s DuSable High School, recruited him to tour with the Joe Morris Orchestra. That was short-lived, and he returned to Chicago where he had the opportunity to perform with Parker at the Pershing Ballroom.

In the 1960s, Freeman spent some time in California and played with rhythm and blues vocalist Jackie Wilson, pianist Wild Bill Davis, and organist Richard “Groove” Holmes. Then, in 1969, he returned to Chicago and joined tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons’ band until Ammons’ death in 1974.

Throughout his career, Freeman was an in-demand on-call guitarist in Chicago and recorded several albums as a leader including Introducing George Freeman Live, With Charles Earland Sitting In (Giant Step Records: 1971) and At

Long Last, George (Savant: 2001).

Freeman’s last album, The Good Life (HighNote: 2023) was recorded with two trios—one with organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Lewis Nash and the other with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Carl Allen. It was recorded in May and June 2022, and DeFrancesco passed away in August. It was his last recording date. Reviewing the album for AllAboutJazz, Jack Bowers wrote that, “For guitarist George Freeman, The Good Life has also been a long life. He was a nimble-fingered 95-year-old plectrist when this splendid album was recorded ... everything on offer is exemplary. So, four stars for all-around excellence, plus an unreserved recommendation.”

In addition to his nephew, Chico, George Freeman is survived by another nephew, Mark, and several great-nieces and great-nephews.

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