THE MAGAZINE OF THE NEW JERSEY JAZZ SOCIETY
JON FADDIS HONORS MILES DAVIS
NOVEMBER 2026 VOLUME 54 ISSUE 10
IN THIS ISSUE ARTICLES/REVIEWS
O N T H E COVE R _ Jon Faddis
NJJS.ORG
COLUMNS
09
Jersey Jazz LIVE!: April Varner
03
All That’s Jazz
11
Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon: Celebrating Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five
05
Editor’s Choice
45
Pelote’s Place
48
Not Without You!
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
15
TD James Moody Jazz Festival: Jon Faddis Honors Miles Davis
21
TD James Moody Jazz Festival: All-State Jazz Ensemble and Choir
27
Jazz at Kean Stage: Monty Alexander
32
Giant of Jazz: Cyrus Chestnut
37
Florida Jazz Festivals: Suncoast
41
Florida Jazz Festivals: Hollywood
47
Big Band in the Sky 02
ALL THAT’S JAZZ BY CY DNE Y HA LPIN
And just like that, the Holiday Season is upon us!
T
he New Jersey Jazz Society celebrated its 54th birthday in October with its continued mission of promoting and preserving jazz, which is a testament to the enduring commitment of our Board, our members, event attendees, community funders, and the generosity of individual donors. With a renewed commitment to these founding tenets, and the previously mentioned support, we have expanded our Juried Scholarship Competition, continued our Rising Stars/Opening Act at our Jersey Jazz LIVE! events, and continued to publish 11 issues annually of our award-winning digital magazine Jersey Jazz. We simply couldn’t have done all of this without your support!
NJJS.ORG
Please consider helping NJJS continue its performance and educational initiatives by donating directly online with a tax-deductible donation. Today to our “Look What We’ve Done ... together!” fundraising campaign either by mail, or anytime online at www.njjs.org via the red “Donate” button conveniently located at the top right-hand corner of our website homepage, or at the bottom of the page if accessing via your phone. Would you like to maximize the impact of your gift? Many of you work for employers that have a matching gift program—that will double the impact of your gift for free—by completing and submitting a simple form. Check with your Human Resources Department for further information. You can also make a tax-efficient gift from your IRA today!
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) , also known as IRA CharitableRollovers, are the savviest way for individuals 70.5 or older to use their IRAs to maximize their charitable giving. Your IRA donation is a generous way to fulfill your required minimum distribution for the year. Gifts generated directly from your IRA will save you on taxes while helping NJJS fulfill its mission to promote and preserve jazz. Every donation—large or small—gets us closer to our $25,000 fundraising goal. If you’ve already contributed to this campaign, we thank you. If you haven’t already done so, please consider a tax-deductible gift (to the extent allowed by law) before December 31. On behalf of my fellow Board members, we thank you for all you do to support jazz music and education.
Together we’re preserving the future of this uniquely American art form.
T
he November 1st LIVE! concert will present trumpeter, composer, educator Ted Chubb leading a quintet of amazing cats featuring music from his latest album Live at the Statuary. For tickets: Events. ticketleap.com/tickets/new-jersey-jazz-society/jersey-jazz-liveted-chubb-live-at-the-sanctuary Our 2025 programming will conclude on December 6 with our NJJS Annual Meeting featuring the 2025 Downbeat Magazine Critics’ Poll Rising Star Female Vocalist of The Year, April Varner. An afternoon with Varner is the perfect “gift” to give yourself and friends for the holidays! (See article on page 09). For tickets: Events.ticketleap. com/tickets/new-jersey-jazz-society/ jersey-jazz-live-april-varner-duet
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
03
ALL THAT’S JAZZ If you’ve attended these events, you know they’re a great value and that the talent of our featured performers and the showcased Rising Stars is incredible. If you haven’t yet attended a LIVE! event, come be a part of the musical celebration, and bring a friend! Admission is $15 members/$20 non-members/$5 Student/Child. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. concerts begin at 3:00 p.m. Refreshments are available for purchase. Madison Community Arts Center, 10 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Free street parking is available.
T
hank you to all who attended the 2026 NJJS Juried Scholarship Winners Showcase. It was a wonderful afternoon of excellence, proof that jazz is alive and well and firmly in the hands of
NJJS.ORG
the next generation of musicians. Congratulations to the winners: pianist Jasper Zimmerman/Princeton University, guitarist Sally Shupe/ William Paterson University, Allison Jiang/Princeton, Kyra Cioffi/WPU, Nicholas Thorpe, Rutgers University, and Simon Bahadoran/WPU. The Board and I wish to thank our world class judges Don Braden, Champian Fulton, Ted Chubb, Jason Olaine, and musicians Caili O’Doherty, Mary Ann McSweeney, and Karl Latham for their tireless dedication to NJJS, the competition, and the craft. Special thanks to Nan Hughes Poole for her generous multi-year donations in support of this initiative, and to NJJS Board Members Cynthia Feketie, Cydney Halpin, Mike Katz, James Pansulla, and Jackie Wetcher for their addition-
al generous support of this Competition. And thank you to all the NJJS members and non-members who’ve donated to this initiative.
I
t was a pleasure to participate as a media sponsor with the Chatham Historical Society as they presented “The Jazz Night in Cha-
tham” concert featuring Mike Davis and the New Wonders in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. Congratulations to L-R: Tom Salvas, Karen Hoerrner, Mike Davis and Amy Crandall on a wonderful event. “There is always, always something to be grateful for.”—Unknown
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
04
EDITOR’S CHOICE BY SA NFO RD JOS EPHSON
Saint Peter’s Church Celebrates 60 Years of Jazz
T
he first Jazz Vespers in New York took place in October 1965 at 5 p.m. in the Advent Lutheran Church at 93rd and Broadway in Harlem. The Rev. John Garcia Gensel knew that to hold a church service for jazz musicians, he needed something other than a Sunday morning service. “When you play until 4 a.m.,” he explained, “there’s no way church at 9 a.m. will work.” In May 1966, Rev. Gensel moved his Jazz Ministry to Saint Peter’s Church at 54th and Lexington. On Monday night, October 26, Saint Peter’s Church celebrated 60 years of jazz at its Heart of the City gala honoring vocalist Catherine Russell and New York State Senator Liz Krueger and featuring performances by pianists Bill Charlap, Aaron Diehl, and Arturo O’Farrill. Charlap recalled growing up
NJJS.ORG
in Saint Peter’s neighborhood, living in the East 50s before moving to East 62nd Street. “It was a tough neighborhood,” he said. “You needed diplomat plates to park on our block.” He then played piano solos of Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields’ “Sunnyside of the Street”, Burton Lane’s “How About You?”, and Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.” The late pianist Sir Roland Hanna was known for connecting the worlds of jazz and classical music. Four years ago, Aaron Diehl performed Hanna’s 24 Preludes in their totality in a concert at New York’s Kaufman Music Center. At the SPC gala, he treated the audience to Hanna’s riveting “Prelude No. 7,” after performing one of his original compositions and Ellington’s “Kinda Dukish.” When Russell accepted her
award, she said, “It’s amazing to be part of this community.” There was a unique connection because her mother, Carline Ray, a ground-breaking bassist, vocalist, and educator, was an active member and parishioner of Saint Peter’s Church. “I’ve had the privilege of working with all of you,” she added, “so this is extra special.” Arturo O’Farrill has often performed at Saint Peter’s Church’s Jazz on the Plaza concerts, and he treated the gala audience to his sizzling Afro-Latin music with a quartet featuring his sons, Adam on trumpet and Zack on drums, along with bassist Walter Stinson. During the cocktail hour, guests enjoyed the swinging sounds of the Heart of the City House Band: clarinetist/saxophonist Evan Arntzen, trombonist Ron Wilkins, pianist/melodicast Luther Allison, drummer/ tambourine player Joe Saylor, and bassist/sousaphonist Jen Hodge (See interview with Hodge on page 37). The
band then led guests into dinner with a New Orleans-style second-line parade. The Saint Peter’s Jazz Vespers program that Rev. Gensel started 60 years ago is still going strong. The November schedule will feature pianists Alan Broadbent and Hyuna Park, bassist Jay Leonhart, violinist Tomoko Omura, and multi-reedist Jasper Dutz, in a tribute to Billy Strayhorn. And, there is a gradual comeback planned for the Wednesday Midday Jazz series, suspended by the pandemic and Saint Peter’s devastating flood in 2021. There will be a Midday performance by pianist Billy Stritch on November 18 and a Yuletide Celebration on December 16. NJJS President Cydney Halpin and I were guests at the gala of Lynne Mueller, Jazz Event Planner for the Metuchen Arts Council and a member of the event’s Artistic Committee. The evening was hosted by Michael Gargiulo, Co-Anchor of WNBC-TV’s Today in New York.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
05
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. Fan $75 - $99 Jazzer $100 - $249 Sideman $250 - $499 Bandleader $500+ Corporate Membership $1000
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. MUSICIAN MEMBERS
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
NOVEMBER 2026
06
Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society VO LU M E 54 • I SSUE 10
NJJS org
Editorial Staff
New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2026
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 EDITORS
TREASURER
Joe Lang, Vincent Pelote, Ricky Riccardi Andrew Schinder, Jay Sweet
Mike Katz, treasurer@njjs.org
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
membership@njjs.org
Margherita Andreani, Rudy Lu, Rodrigo Lopez, Bob Palmieri, Steven Sussman WEBMASTER
VP, MEMBERSHIP
VP, PUBLICITY
Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com
VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING
Christine Vaindirlis
music@njjs.org
WEBSITE DESIGN
RECORDING SECRETARY
Prism Digital
Irene Miller CO -FOUNDER
Jack Stine
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Advertising Jersey Jazz (ISSN 07405928) is published monthly for members of The New Jersey Jazz Society
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 2026. All rights reserved. Use of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the NJJS.
NJJS.ORG
Mike Katz
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
NOVEMBER 2026
07
JerseyJazz LIVE! TED CHUBB
Live at the Statuary SUN DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 3 :0 0 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.)
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE! April Varner: ‘A Major New Voice in Jazz’
A
pril Varner won the Blues Alley Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition in 2023, so it was only natural that she would make an album of music associated with Fitzgerald. When Ella (Cellar Music Group) was released in March of this year, Jersey Jazz’s Joe Lang wrote that Varner “has taken each selection to different places than Ella did, but does so with a jazz sense that her inspiration would admire ... She swings, is comfortable at any tempo, has a true jazz sense in her phrasing, and has an imaginative approach to each song. She is indeed a major new voice in jazz.” On Sunday, December 6, Varner, accompanied by pianist William Hill III, will sing selections from Ella and her newest Cellar Christmas album,
NJJS.ORG
Winter Songs Vol. 3, at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center. Winter Songs Vol. 3 will feature holiday standards as well as “some newer sides of my voice with songs by Dolly Parton, Joni Mitchell, and even an original composition written by Broadway legend, Jason Robert Brown (winner of three Tony Awards).” Musicians featured on Winter Songs Vol. 3 are: pianist Caelan Cardello, bassist Isaac Beaumont, guitarist David Rosenthal, drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., trumpeter Sam Butler, alto saxophonist Garrett Fasig, tenor saxophonist Boyce Griffith, trombonist Andrew Danforth, and special guests, Jason Robert Brown (piano) and Andy Arthur Smith
(vocals). Cardello, Butler, and Fasig also arranged some of the music; Owens is the album producer. When Varner released Winter Songs, Vol. 2, in November 2025, Lang singled out her extended scat chorus on “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “her haunting take on Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah,’ adding that, “the 11-tune program provides Varner ample space to demonstrate her vocal prowess at a variety of tempos.” The 29-yearold Varner, who grew up in Toledo, Ohio, was a classically trained singer studying Vocal Performance at Indiana University when the assistant director of a group called
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
09
PHOTO BY MARG HE RITA ANDR EANI
She’ll Sing Songs from ‘Ella’ and Her Newest Holiday Album
JERSEY JAZZ LIVE! The Singing Hoosiers convinced her to join that jazz ensemble. “I especially loved the freedom jazz gave me,” she recalled. At the end of her freshman year, she made the decision to become a jazz major. After graduating from Indiana in 2020, Varner moved to New York and earned her Masters in Jazz Voice at the Manhattan School of Music. She studied there with Grammy-nominated singer/ composer Theo Bleckmann, who said she was “already fully formed and ready to take on the world. She really has a voice, and she loves jazz.” In 2024, Varner released her first Cellar Music album, April. DownBeat Magazine gave it 4 1/2 stars and named it one of the Best Albums of 2024. The New York City Jazz Record called her a “deeply emotional and persuasive singer ... mature beyond her years and unquestionably on the road to stardom.”
NJJS.ORG
bers are: pianist Jacob Salinas, drummer Kingston Howard, bassist Jordan Taylor, guitarist Jake Rea, trombonists Luvans Lafleur and Tobias Raabe, and alto saxophonist Gabrielle Williams.
William Hill III
Hill III, 22, is originally from Detroit. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and is currently a graduate student at Juilliard. Reviewing his 2025 self-released album, Keep It Movin’, Paul Rauch of AllAboutJazz wrote that the recording, “has the sound of a modern jazz trio that has been on the road for years, paying dues, with Hill’s personal contribution behind the piano possessing remarkable maturity. For a young artist somewhat unknown to the public, casting an ear on those
who came before them is inevitable. In Hill’s case, the playing has been frequently compared to Oscar Peterson, while fragments of the late, great Mulgrew Miller might come to mind. In any case, the point is made— Hill, no matter what his age or level of practical experience, can play.” Varner and Hill III will be preceded by a septet from the West Orange High School Jazz Band, which took second place among the largest schools in this year’s New Jersey Association of Jazz Education (NJAJE) Festival competition. The band mem-
: 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, log onto Events.ticketleap. com/tickets/new-jersey-jazz-society/ jersey-jazz-live-april-varner-duet : 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, and the Summit Foundation.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
10
JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON Celebrating the Louis Armstrong Hot Five’s Centennial The Role of Armstrong Will be Played by Trumpeter Andrew Stephens
L
Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, from left: clarinetist Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong, guitarist Johnny St. Cyr, trombonist Kid Ory, pianist Lillian Hardin Armstrong.
NJJS.ORG
ouis Armstrong remains a beloved figure in 2026, best known for timeless hits such as “What a Wonderful World,” “Hello, Dolly,” and “La Vie En Rose.” Millions of fans still listen to his music, the airport in his hometown in New Orleans is named after him, and the home he lived in for the last 28 years in Corona, Queens, is now a museum (Full disclosure: I joined the staff of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2009 and am now Director of Research Collections). But most of the general public is not aware that Armstrong might very
well be the most influential musician of the 20th century. One can name hundreds of important instrumentalists and hundreds of important vocalists, but Louis Armstrong is the only figure who completely changed the way people played music on their instruments, and he completely changed the way people sang. He did it over the course of three years in Chicago with a studio band: the Hot Five. The very first Hot Five session took place on November 12, 1925, but it wasn’t released until early 1926, making 2026 the centennial celebra-
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
11
PHOTO COU RT ESY O F TH E LOUIS ARMST RO NG H OUSE MUSE UM.
BY RI CKY RI CCARDI
JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON tion for the music that would go on to change the course of jazz and American popular music. It is that period of Armstrong’s career that will be the focus of a very special “Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon” concert at Toms River, NJ’s Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts at 3 p.m. on November 8. The Tri-State area is filled with great trumpeters, but not everyone can pull off the music of Armstrong’s Hot Five period, which requires complete command of the instrument. For the Grunin Center show, the role
of Armstrong will be played by the incredible Andrew Stephens. Stephens might not be a household name yet, but neither was Armstrong at the time of the first Hot Five session. Stephens came up in the traditional jazz camps that were popular in California, and eventually graduated from Julliard, where he proved that he could truly do it all (He has finished second in the prestigious Carmine Caruso Trumpet Competition). “I love all styles of jazz, and probably feel the most at ease playing be-
“ THE ROLE OF ARMSTRONG
WILL BE PLAYED BY THE INCREDIBLE ANDREW STEPHENS.” NJJS.ORG
Andrew Stephens: “Music of the Hot Five is the most fulfilling and fun for me to play.”
bop,” Stephens said, “but the music of the Hot Five is the most fulfilling and fun for me to play.” Though he’s listened to Armstrong’s 1920s recordings since he was a teenager, Stephens said he has “truly become obsessed with it in the last four years. It’s what I listen to on the subway, on planes, with friends, long drives, basically any chance I get. There was only so much listening I could do before I needed to play this music, because it is still very obscure despite its massive influence.”
Last year, with the Hot Five centennial gearing up, Stephens assembled a group of like-minded musicians who loved this music as much as he did and began writing arrangements of Armstrong’s 1920s work, sometimes faithfully transcribing them from the original records; other times coming up with fresh takes on familiar favorites. “Beyond my own personal enjoyment in playing these songs, I want to bring them out into the light and back into the standard
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
12
JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON repertoire,” he explained. “The music of the Hot Five and Seven is so unique, every song has elements of true weirdness and pure brilliance, always in perfect harmony. It hits you right between the eyes, makes you dance, and is as deep, challenging, and interesting as anything I’ve ever played.” Stephens will be assisted on November 8 with his regular crew, made up of some of the finest young traditional jazz musicians on the New York scene, including Sam Chess on trombone, Evan Arntzen on clarinet, Brennen Ernst on piano, Devan Kortan on banjo, and Jen Hodge on bass (See interview with Jen Hodge on page 37). Don’t expect to hear “What a Wonderful World” at this show; instead Stephens and his cohorts will set the Grunin Center stage ablaze with their performances of “Cornet Chop Suey,” “Potato Head Blues,” “West End Blues,” and many others classic
NJJS.ORG
numbers that will serve as a testament to Armstrong’s enduring legacy. This music is in very good hands, thanks to Stephens and his group. “Ultimately I am running this project in order to play as much of this music as I can, and to bring it the recognition it deserves from the jazz community and the public at large,” Stephens said. : The Louis Armstrong Hot Five celebration will be presented at 3 p.m. on the Grunin Center’s Main Stage on November 8. The Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series is sponsored by the Wintrode Family Foundation and supported by the New Jersey Jazz Society. The Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts is located at College Drive on the campus of Ocean County College in Toms River. For more information or to order tickets, log onto grunincenter. org or call (731) 255-0500.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
13
Upcoming Events You’ll Love Cécile McLorin Salvant
A winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition at age 21 and a three-time GRAMMY Award recipient, she brings a singular clarity and curiosity to everything she sings.
Sun, Nov 1 at 6:00 PM MEDIA SPONSOR:
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
The Brandenburg Concertos
The Brandenburg Concertos stand at the pinnacle of Baroque musical art. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, these six masterpieces showcase irresistible melodic invention, extraordinary contrapuntal brilliance, and dazzling instrumental imagination —works that have achieved true musical immortality.
Sun, Dec 14 at 7:30 PM
WXPN WELCOMES
Rufus Wainwright Wanted: Judy Garland
MEDIA SPONSOR:
with Princeton Playhouse Sinfonia led by Solon Snider Sway and Ruth Ochs
Praised as “the greatest songwriter on the planet,” by Sir Elton John, Rufus Wainwright joins the Princeton Playhouse Sinfonia for a special one-night-only engagement performing selections from his albums Rufus does Judy at Carnegie Hall and Want One, Want Two, and beyond.
Thu, Nov 19 at 7:30 PM Pride Night Happy Hour starting at 5:30 PM.
Stories for a Saturday Night
An Evening with Ira Glass
The legendary host of This American Life brings a night of storytelling in the style he pioneered on his hit radio show: funny stories with feelings. His program is heard each week by over three million listeners and has won the highest honors in broadcasting, including three Emmys (for a TV adaptation), eight Peabody Awards and the first Pulitzer Prize ever given to a radio show or podcast.
Sat, Nov 21 at 7:30 PM Cécile McLorin Salvant.
EXPLORE THE SEASON AND BUY TICKETS
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL BY SANFORD JOSEPHSON
I
Jon Faddis Celebrates Miles Davis with Music from Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue
“The French Horn and Tuba Added Different Colors, Different Textures, Different Blends, Different Everything”
NJJS.ORG
n 1949, a group of jazz musicians who hung out in pianist/arranger/ composer Gil Evans’ West 55th Street apartment began thinking about forming a band, based on the arrangements some of them had written for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. The result was a nine-piece ensemble consisting of trumpet, tuba, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, trombone, French horn, piano, bass, and drums. The leader was trumpeter Miles Davis, who secured a recording contract with Capitol Records. The album was recorded in three different sessions. Four of the six horns were the same on all three sessions: Davis on trumpet, Bill Barber on tuba, Lee Konitz on alto saxophone, and Gerry Mulligan on baritone saxophone. J.J. Johnson played trombone on two sessions; Kai Winding on the other. There were three different French horn players: Junior Collins, Sandy
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
15
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL Siegelstein, and Gunther Schuller. The rhythm section consisted of Al Haig or John Lewis on piano; Nelson Boyd, Al McKibbon or Joe Schulman on bass; and Kenny Clarke or Max Roach on drums. The one vocal, Jimmy Van Heusen and Eddie DeLange’s “Darn That Dream”, was sung by Kenny Hagood. The Birth of the Cool recording, resulting from that band’s music, was released by Capitol Records in 1957, and on Thursday, November 12, at the TD James Moody Jazz Festival at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, trumpeter Jon Faddis will continue the jazz world’s celebration of Miles Davis’ centennial birthday year with performances from that now-classic album as well as Davis’ 1959 Columbia album, Kind of Blue, featuring Davis’ sextet. (Davis would have turned 100 on May 26, 2026). The sound of the Birth of the Cool ensemble, according to Faddis, “was
NJJS.ORG
different. It was new—the French horn and tuba added different colors, different textures, different blends, different everything. And, it was beautiful music, bringing more of a classical European language into jazz. That was the modus operandi of John Lewis, adding things like French horn and tuba.” At NJPAC, the Birth of the Cool band will be: Faddis on trumpet, Bob Stewart, tuba; Erena Terakubo, alto saxophone; Gary Smulyan, baritone saxophone; Steve Turre, trombone; John Clark, French horn, Mike LeDonne, piano, Todd Coolman, bass; and John Riley, drums. The bulk of the composing and arranging for Birth of the Cool was done by Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, and Gil Evans, but Mulligan (in his oral autobiography) pointed out that Davis took the project “out of the basement and put it into a rehearsal hall ... He was the one who started making the phone calls and getting
From left, Birth of the Cool band members Miles Davis, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan
the players together and reserving the rehearsal studios and generally assuming the role of the leader.” Creating a new pathway for jazz, Faddis said, “was one of the things Miles did throughout his career. We had this and then his quintet with Trane; following that we had more collaborations with Gil
Evans, Sketches of Spain, Porgy and Bess, large ensembles, and the modal Kind of Blue, which some have said started with Miles’ soundtrack for (the film), Elevator to the Gallows. “Then, we had his next great quintet with Trane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie (Hancock), Ron (Carter), and Tony (Williams). And, then we
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
16
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL had Bitches Brew. So, he was chasing things left and right. That’s like six times that he changed the direction of jazz. And, it was a big influence on everyone who played it at that time.” For the NJPAC performance of music from the Kind of Blue sextet, Faddis will add one of his former students, Sam Dillon, on tenor saxophone. The original band members, in addition to Davis, were John Coltrane on tenor, Cannonball Adderley on alto saxophone, Paul Chambers on bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums, and Bill Evans or Wynton Kelly on piano. In his book, 3 Shades of Blue (Penguin Books: 2024), James Kaplan pointed out that “Kind of Blue’s release did not make the earth move,” but one reviewer captured its significance. “This is one of Miles’ great records,” wrote the San Francisco Examiner’s C.H. Garrigues. “It is perhaps his greatest record since his days with Bird ... Buy it and play it,
quietly, around about midnight ... you will agree that this is jazz which, in all likelihood, will never be duplicated.” And, AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine, reflecting on it years later, wrote, “It’s an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album. To be reductive, it’s the Citizen Kane of jazz—an accepted work of greatness that’s innovative and entertaining ... It’s hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection.” The 73-year-old Faddis, who was born in Oakland, CA, began playing trumpet as an eight-year-old, motivated by seeing Louis Armstrong perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. Two years later, he discovered Dizzy Gillespie and, as a teenager, met and sat in with Gillespie. “I first heard Dizzy Gillespie on record when I was maybe 10 years old,” he said. “When I first started playing trumpet, some mysterious records started showing up in the little record
Miles Davis with bassist Paul Chambers and pianist Bill Evans at Kind of Blue recording session.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
17
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL pile we had. One of them was a Dizzy recording that had some of his big band stuff on there. My trumpet teacher was Bill Catalano, and, as part of our lesson, we started studying Dizzy’s phrasing, harmonies, rhythms and his solos; and I started listening to his music all the time. “When I was 12, my parents took me to hear him at a supper club in San Francisco called Basin Street
West. That was the group he had with (saxophonist) James Moody, (pianist) Kenny Barron, (bassist) Chris White, and (drummer) Rudy Collins. Dizzy walked past the table where we were sitting, and my father yells out, ‘Hey Diz, my boy’s a trumpet player.’ Dizzy stopped and looked at me and sort of went, ‘Oh yeah!’, and I froze. I couldn’t get a word out if you paid me, but I told myself, ‘the next time I
Dizzy Gillespie and Jon Faddis at Town Hall, June 1991.
“ FADDIS’ PROFESSIONAL CAREER
BEGAN WITH LIONEL HAMPTON’S BIG BAND IN 1971.”
meet Dizzy, I ‘m going to talk to him’.” The next time was three years later when Faddis was 15. “I had just started high school that September in Pleasant Hill, CA,” he recalled, “and my mother took me to the Monterey Jazz Festival where Dizzy was playing. I took all of my Dizzy Gillespie records—53 or 54. We were on the fairgrounds, and they had all these booths where they were selling food and jazz memorabilia, and I bought a Dizzy Gillespie for President pin and a sweatshirt with his picture on it. Then, my mother said, ‘There’s Dizzy.’ My mom got the records, and somehow
I started talking to him. He sat down on the grass, and he autographed each and every one of the record jackets, and I started singing the solos to him.” A couple of weeks later, Faddis’ mother took him to see Gillespie at San Francisco’s Jazz Workshop. “I took out my horn,” Faddis said. “He still had Moody, but he had a little bit different rhythm section—Mike Longo on piano, Jymie Merritt on bass, and Candy French playing drums. During an extended bass solo on ‘A Night in Tunisia’, he walked by the table, and I said, ‘Dizzy, are you going to play the ending?’ He looked at me and said,
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
18
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL ‘You got your horn. You do it.’ I got my horn out, and I played the ending; and he invited me up to play with him. We played ‘Satin Doll’ and a tune that had just come out on record, ‘The Song is Ended (The Melody Lingers On)’, and the last tune on that record, ‘Get That Money Blues’ by Jimmy Owens.” Faddis’ professional career began with Lionel Hampton’s big band in 1971. “That got me to New York,” he said. “I was also playing with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis and doing a little bit of studio work. I met Clark Terry. He was a good mentor and took me to NBC and introduced me to Snooky Young, who was one of my main heroes. He also introduced me to a guy in the NBC band, Lew Soloff, and he was instrumental in getting my name spread around. I found out that Dizzy was going to be doing two weeks at the Village Vanguard in January 1972. I quit Hampton’s band because I didn’t
NJJS.ORG
want to miss one night of Dizzy. But I started playing regularly with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, started playing a little bit with Chuck Mangione and with Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. “Dizzy started to let me sit in whenever he was playing around New York, and sometimes I would drive out of town to Pennsylvania, Boston, and upstate New York.” (In the early 1970s, I often saw the 18 or 19-year-old Faddis sit in with Gillespie’s quartet at the Half Note on West 54th Street. The other band members were guitarist Al Gafa, bassist Earl May, and drummer Mickey Roker). Faddis has been a Professor of Music in the Jazz Studies program at SUNY Purchase for 27 years, having started as an Artist in Residence in 1999. His proteges, in addition to Sam Dillon, include vocalists Samara Joy and Lucy Wijnands and trumpeter Brandon Lee.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
19
Louis Armstrong Hot Five Centennial Celebration featuring Andrew Stephens Sunday, November 8 Click on the QR code to purchase tickets or visit grunincenter.org For the complete performance schedule, visit grunincenter.org. Grunin Center Box Office Hours Thursday-Friday Noon-5:00pm by phone only 732-255-0500 College Drive ✦ Toms River, NJ Contact the Box Office four weeks prior to any show to arrange for disability and accessibility services.
Niladri Kumaar The Space Between the Notes Fri, Nov 6 @ 7:30PM
nov 6 – 22 christian mcbride jesse cook gregory porter
Miles @ 100 with Jon Faddis & Friends Celebrating Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool Nov 12 @ 7:30PM Gregory Porter with special guest Madeleine Peyroux Fri, Nov 13 @ 8PM Jesse Cook Forever Live Sat, Nov 14 @ 8PM Bruce Hornsby with Christian McBride One on One Sun, Nov 15 @ 3PM
charles lloyd
ben vereen
New Jersey Symphony Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances with Christian McBride and Eric Jacobsen Nov 19 @ 1:30PM Sun, Nov 22 @ 2PM
Charles Lloyd Quartet with Bill Frisell, Larry Grenadier & Kweku Sumbry Sat, Nov 21 @ 3PM Ben Vereen’s 80th Birthday Concert with Karrin Allyson, Shoshana Bean, Melba Moore, Stephanie Pope, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lillias White & more Sat, Nov 21 @ 8PM Wallace Roney Jr. Quartet Dorthaan’s Place Jazz Brunch Sun, Nov 22 @ 11:30AM & 1:30PM Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition Sun, Nov 22 @ 3PM The American Song series at NJPAC is presented, in part, through the generous support of the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the David S. Steiner and Sylvia Steiner Charitable Trust, the Joan and Allen Bildner Family Fund, the Smart Family Foundation/David S. Stone, Esq., Stone & Magnanini
@NJPAC • njpac.org • 1.888.MY.NJPAC • 1 Center St., Newark
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
All-State Ensemble and Choir Will Collaborate on John Legend’s ‘Ordinary People’ “It’s an Intense Rehearsal Schedule, But I’m Sure the Kids Will Be Up to the Challenge” Ordinary People”, a ballad about an up-and-down romance, was released as the second single on John Legend’s 2004 inaugural album, Get Lifted (G.O.O.D. Music/SonyUrban Music/Columbia). It became his signature song. On Friday evening, November 13, the New Jersey High School All-State Jazz Ensemble and Choir will per-
NJJS.ORG
Michael Philip Mossman
form Michael Philip Mossman’s arrangement of it at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center as part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival. “This a rare opportunity to collaborate with both big band and jazz choir,” said Mossman, a jazz trumpeter and Professor of Jazz at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Mossman is Conductor of the
All-State Jazz Ensemble, and “I just happened to have an arrangement of ‘Ordinary People’ I had done for a professional jazz choir and a German Youth Orchestra some years back.” The All-State Jazz Ensemble will also perform Mossman’s arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” (Mossman played in Gillespie’s band), Ray Bryant’s “Cuban Fantasy”, To-
shiko Akiyoshi’s “Long Yellow Road”, and Thad Jones’ “All My Yesterdays.” “Cuban Fantasy,” said Mossman, “is a classic Afro-Cuban piece made famous by the Machito Orchestra. Playing with the Machito Orchesta was my first serious gig when I got to New York (in the early 1980s).” Mossman played lead trumpet and solo trumpet in Akiyoshi’s Jazz
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
21
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
Lori Lynch
Orchestra, and “It’s amazing how many of my students haven’t heard of her,” he said. “Her contributions are very, very important. She’s someone who really opened the door for a lot of young composers. She was not only a composer but a player. She played piano with Mingus, and she played
NJJS.ORG
at a time when it was really unusual for women. She played with some pretty salty guys, and she learned how to be a really tough bandleader.” Akiyoshi, who will turn 97 on December 12, was discovered in 1952 by Oscar Peterson when he was on a Jazz at the Philharmonic Tour in Japan. She moved to New York in 1959. Then, in 1972, she and her second husband, saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin, moved to Los Angeles and formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. The All-State Jazz Choir will be conducted by Lori Lynch, Director of the University Chorus at Rowan University. She said the choir’s performance will include “some terrific jazz vocal arrangements by arrangers that I really respect from the jazz repertoire.” There will be two arrangements by the New York Voices’ Darmon Meader: Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” and “Smack Dab in the
Middle,” composed by Jesse Stone under the pseudonym, Charlie Calhoun. “We’re doing a Paris Rutherford arrangement of ‘Green Dolphin Street” (Bronislaw Kaper/Ned Washington). His arrangements are just fantastic for vocal jazz. We’ll also be singing an arrangement of ‘God Bless the Child’ (Billie Holiday/Arthur Herzog, Jr.) by Steve Zegree. A newer thing that’s come out is ‘From the Start’ by the singer, Laufey. The arrangement is
by Michele Weir; music and lyrics are by Laufey and Spencer Stewart. And, we’ll be doing a fun piece called ‘Stand Up and Make a Change’, written by Ly Tartell and Greg Jasperse.” At the time of our interview, the choir had one rehearsal, with a second planned for the week of October 19. “Then, we have the three-day experience,” Lynch said. “We have a rehearsal and performance in Atlantic City (at the New Jersey Edu-
“ SOME TERRIFIC JAZZ VOCAL
ARRANGEMENTS BY ARRANGERS THAT I REALLY RESPECT FROM THE JAZZ REPERTOIRE.” JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
22
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL cation Association Convention) and then the following week at NJPAC. I’m very encouraged with the kids. They came in, having worked on the pieces on their own. It’s an intense rehearsal schedule, but I’m sure the kids will be up to the challenge. I know it’s a lot of music to learn in a very short amount of time, but I think they’ll do a great job.” Lynch spent 33 years in the Roxbury Township School District as the Lead Teacher in Performing Arts and the Director of Choral Activities. She retired in 2017 and has been at Rowan for eight years. “I really enjoy teaching kids of all different levels,” she said. “It’s interesting teaching kids who are a little bit older. I’m working with a lot of student teachers who are getting ready to go into the music education field. I’m also working with the University Chorus where there are students from all
NJJS.ORG
The All-State Ensemble and Choir will collaborate on Michael Philip Mossman’s arrangement of “Ordinary People” from John Legend’s debut album, Get Lifted.
different kinds of majors who are just really interested in keeping up their singing. They were very involved in the arts in their high schools. It’s an interesting cross section.” Mossman rotates serving as Director of the Queens College Jazz
Studies program with three other faculty members: alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, drummer Dennis Mackerel, and music theorist Mark Anson-Cartwright. “I also teach a 9 a.m. Jazz Theory course at Juilliard,” he said. “It sounds like a punishment, but my students all show up early for class.” The charts for the NJPAC performance, he acknowledged, “are difficult,” but, “we’ll have two or three days of very intensive rehearsal all day long, getting them to understand what they have to be ready for.” In 2013, Mossman was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his “Afro-Latin Suite.” In addition to playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Machito, and Toshiko Akiyoshi, Mossman performed with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, pianist Horace Silver, baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, and trumpeter
Jon Faddis, among many others. He was also Director of Blue Note Records’ “young lion” group, Out of the Blue, in the 1980s. “Blue Note,” he recalled, “had gotten back in the business of recording new music. There was a national audition. People were invited to audition live, and it was like a shootout. We chose six guys, and we did four albums for Blue Note.” The other five musicians were saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Ralph Bowen, pianist Harry Pickens, bassist Robert Hurst, and drummer Ralph Peterson. Mossman was part of Mulligan’s big band in the mid-’80s and was a member of the band that did a “Rebirth of the Cool” tour in 1992. Other members of that band included alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, trumpeter Art Farmer, and trombonist Rob McConnell. Playing with Silver in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, he added, was “a wonderful experience.”—SJ
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
23
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL ALL-STATE JAZZ ENSEMBLE
ALL-STATE JAZZ CHOIR
Jerry Xu, Alto Saxophone, Cherry Hill High School East
ALTOS
Noah Tamiso, Alto Saxophone, Newark Academy
Jesse Burden, Tenor Saxophone, Holmdel High School Hayden Moon, Trombone, Millburn High School
Eli Wunder, Baritone Saxophonist, Ridgewood High School
Brandon Shyu, Trombone, Livingston High School
Noah Harris, Bass, Somerville High School
Alex McMillen, Trombone, Shore Regional High School
Ace Leigh, Bass Trombone, Cherokee High School
Thomas Berei, Trumpet, Mountain Lakes High School
Vir Mehrotra, Drumset, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South
Connor Li, Trumpet, Livingston High School
Brody Frers, Guitar, Ridgewood High School Jay Fang, Piano, Bridgewater-Raritan High School Jay Thatte, Tenor Saxophone, Newark Academy
NJJS.ORG
Lucas Comesana, Trumpet, Princeton High School Lukas DeBlasio, Trumpet, Somerville High School Brangel Neris, Trumpet, Clifton High School
Bihana Noel, Orange High School Abigail Skye Fauci, East Brunswick High School Elsie Sarfo, Piscataway High School Natsuki Mori, Tenafly High School Ellie Kim, Cresskill High School Alexis Burchell, Pascack Valley High School Shantal Estevez, Perth Amboy High School Rachel Enache, Florence Twp Memorial High School
Cadence Szewc, Hunterdon Central Regional High School Madison Moran, Rahway High School
Leo Amankwah, Orange High School
INSTRUMENTAL QUARTET
Amruth Gani, East Brunswick High School
Anthony Yanes, Rahway High School Christian Douze, Rahway High School
Isabella Garritano, Cresskill High School Zienne Ababa, Hopewell Valley Central High School
BASS
Synsere Hancock, Rahway High School
SOPRANOS
Prav Deshpande, Bass, Holmdel High School Jake Julius, Drumset, Livingston High School Charles Budzinski, Guitar, Livingston High School Brian Zhang, Piano, Holmdel High School
Olivia Betancourt, Warren Hills Regional High School
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
24
TD JAMES MOODY JAZZ FESTIVAL
All performances at NJPAC unless otherwise noted.
NOVEMBER 6
NOVEMBER 15
Sitar player Niladri Kumaar
Vocalist/pianist Bruce Hornsby and bassist Christian McBride
NOVEMBER 7
Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars Bethany Baptist Church NOVEMBER 12
Catherine Russell
Miles @100 with Jon Faddis & Friends NOVEMBER 13
All-State Jazz Ensemble and Choir Vocalist Gregory Porter NOVEMBER 14
Vocalist Catherine Russell: “Who is Louis Armstrong?” (WBGO Kids’ Concert)
NOVEMBER 19-22
New Jersey Symphony: “Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances” NOVEMBER 21
Saxophonist/flutist Charles Lloyd Ben Vereen’s 80th Birthday Concert NOVEMBER 22
Trumpeter Wallace Roney, Jr. Dorthaan’s Place Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition
Guitarist Jesse Cook For more info or to order tickets, go to njpac.org or call (888) 696-5722. Wallace
NJJS.ORG Roney, Jr.
JERSEY JAZZ
OCTOBER 2026
25
WA LL ACE RONEY, JR . P HOTO BY RUDY LU
TD James Moody Jazz Festival
JerseyJazz LIVE! APRIL VARNER SUN DAY, D E CE M B E R 6 3:0 0 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.)
JAZZ AT KEAN STAGE Pianist Monty Alexander: Blending the Music of Jamaica with the Swinging Sounds of American Jazz “Spirit, You Can’t Touch it, You Can’t Smell it, You Can’t Explain it, But That’s What I was Playing” BY ANDRE W SCHI NDE R
M
onty Alexander grew to become one of the most legendary pianists in jazz, in part, by marrying the pleasure points of two musical worlds. A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Alexander grew up listening to the island’s celebrated local music— reggae, calypso, folk. At the same time, he became a huge jazz fan at an early age, influenced by his music enthusiast parents, and was sure to catch heroes, Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole, whenever they crossed the Caribbean into Jamaica. By blending Jamaica’s native sounds with tradi-
NJJS.ORG
tional American swing, Alexander became an icon, creating a unique and irresistible take on jazz music. Alexander turned 82 this past June (He was famously born on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and titled a 2024 album in the event’s honor). Into his eighth decade in the music industry, he has recorded well over 75 albums as a leader and countless others performing with some of the most legendary artists of any genre. And yet Alexander shows no signs of slowing down, brimming with the energy and creativity of an artist half his age. He
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
27
JAZZ AT KEAN STAGE will be performing at the Enlow Recital Hall at Kean University in Union, NJ, the afternoon of November 22. Not only will audience members be treated to jazz music of the highest caliber, but they will also inevitably experience the pure delight that has become Alexander’s signature. “The main point of what I do, is to do what my heroes of music did,” Alexander said. “Bring people joy. Bring a sense of upliftment. Bring positive vibrations. So, when I play, I bring a level of sincerity and excellence with the performance. But at the same time, I try not to take myself too seriously. We’re here to bring joy.” Last month, Alexander released his latest album, A Jamarican in Paris (Peewee, 2026). It is a characteristically strong release. Recorded in Paris (as the title implies), it furthers the construction of the bridge between the two sides of Alexander’s musical
NJJS.ORG
and cultural persona. For instance, the album opens with an explosive cover of reggae legend Burning Spear’s seminal song “Marcus Garvey.” But in the middle of the take, Alexander and his rhythm section segue into the iconic opening bars of Miles Davis’ “So What.” Alexander has made such fluctuations a hallmark of his output. At presstime, the album ranked Number 1 on the JazzWeek chart. “I’m in my 80s, my Jamaican history means a lot to me, and that informs a lot of what I do,” he said. “So, it just came to me as I was in that recording studio in Paris that I want to play more music where I blend swinging jazz along with roots Jamaica stuff. I came up with this clever idea where I remembered that wonderful piece of music by the great George Gershwin, ‘An American in Paris.’ And I’m that guy, but with two residences.” Regarding the fusing of Burning
Alexander’s Harlem-Kingston Express combined Jamaican and American rhythm sections.
Spear and Miles Davis, “It’s a touch of madness!” Alexander explained. “Because I’m a little kooky, right? I could go on and on about my friendship with Miles. I knew the man really well. I never talked about it to people at the time, but I did. Burning Spear came after I left Jamaica. A true Rastafarian up in the country parts. Just like Bob, when Bob Marley started. I preceded those men, so I have a sense of personal connection. Marcus Garvey, who’s from the Parish of Saint Ann in
Jamaica, was an emancipator. They put him in jail because he started the Back to Africa Movement. And if there were two Black men who were so angry and rebellious about the way they were being treated, that were at the top of the heap as far as who were complaining about being disrespected, it was Marcus Garvey and Miles Davis. “I had a dream that Miles and Marcus Garvey were hanging out,” he continued. “Near the end of his life, Miles started listening to reggae mu-
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
28
JAZZ AT KEAN STAGE
Young guitarist Marel Hidalgo will open for Alexander’s trio.
sic, got taken into the whole thing. So, I had enough reasons for me to just instantly and spontaneously put that together. Sometimes I’m playing a gig live, and I feel that it’s Miles and Marcus Garvey hanging out together. To me, reggae rhythms and swinging pulsation in jazz—it’s just your heartbeat.” Alexander took up piano at an early age in Jamaica, and by the time
NJJS.ORG
he was a young teenager had already developed a reputation as being prodigious. By age 14, he largely eschewed formal education to serve as a first-call pianist at the legendary Studio One in Jamaica, working with such luminaries as producer Sir Coxsone Dodd and saxophonist Roland Alphonso. “I’m the kid sneaking out of school when nobody could see,” he said.
“Where is Monty? Well, I’m at the studio hanging out with the brothers—a lot of them were rasta, you know? It was all a beautiful blend. I call it an accident. It all came together where rhythm and blues met. Nobody’s analyzing it. And next thing you know, this whole thing was born in Jamaica.” The Alexanders moved to Miami, FL, in 1961. A young Alexander, still a teenager, began gigging in local nightclubs and began to establish a name for himself both within the local scene, and ultimately when he (inevitably) relocated to New York. Established jazz stars took notice of him whenever they caught a performance— legends like Quincy Jones, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and Frank Sinatra. “Sinatra saw me playing in a bar down in Miami Beach, and he was with his friend, a guy named Jillian Rizzo,” Alexander began. “Jillian had a club in New York up on 52nd Street called
Jilly’s. When they saw me playing, they both said, ‘Get this kid to New York,’ because they wanted somebody in that bar. The capacity was like 80 people, and it was packed! They wanted music that was uplifting and swinging, and I guess that’s what I was doing. I’m not going to play a brooding song. “You felt the effervescence of the music because that’s what I did, and I had a trio. Bob Cranshaw was playing with me, and we were swinging. I met Miles there; he came and saw me play. Les McCann, Oscar, Miles, and Quincy, and all these great men of music. I had to make sure I didn’t let it go to my head! It wasn’t about studying their music, like copying what they played. I would hear it, and it would just inspire me. And there’s this word—‘spirit.’ You can’t explain it. Spirit, you can’t touch it, you can’t smell it, you can’t explain it, but that’s what I was playing. I was playing mostly something
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
29
JAZZ AT KEAN STAGE from the spirit, you know? And that’s when I tell people, without getting too carried away, I say, ‘That’s the spirit from the Creator.’ God gives us a spirit, you know? No matter what religion you are, it’s a spirit, you know? The word is blessed all the way.” Besides Sinatra bringing the teenage Alexander up to New York, the music veterans generously helped Alexander establish himself as a viable working musician. McCann referred Alexander to his record label, and at a mere 20 years old Alexander recorded his first leader album, Alexander the Great (Pacific Jazz, 1965). In addition to Davis, Alexander kindled a lifelong friendship with Brown; and Peterson and Jones opened more industry doors for him. “I have no idea what they saw in me, you know?” Alexander said. “It never went to my head, but it had me wondering, ‘Man, what is it that
NJJS.ORG
I do that makes Quincy want me on his next record?’ I recorded a couple of albums with Q. My confidence was building all the time. “Oscar was the descendant of Art Tatum,” Alexander continued. “Oscar had this magnificent combination of Franz Liszt classical style, as well as barrel house boogie-woogie. That was Oscar. And, Oscar saw me playing, and he hooked me up with his record label. And I made about 10 albums at a German label called MPS.” During the 1960s and ‘70s, while Alexander was perfecting his craft of uplifting swinging jazz, a musical revolution brewed in his homeland. Reggae music was booming internationally, led by icon Bob Marley, and it was inevitable that the rising Jamaican pianist would incorporate his ancestry into his repertoire. “I’m in Miami, playing in these bars—this is 1961, 1962, and all of a
A Jamerican in Paris features a segue between Burning Spear’s “Marcus Garvey” and Miles Davis’ “So What.”
sudden, I’ll hear Desmond Dekker singing ‘Israelites’! I had no idea that American people would pick up on this incredible piece of real, raw expression. Not complicated chords and all that, but people singing social statements. “I saw this thing happening little by little, and people loving the
rhythms. When Bob Marley talks about ‘One Love’ and ‘Three Little Birds’ and all these different songs, that was pure genius, you know? But let me tell you, this whole reggae thing, to me, if I try to analyze—and I don’t like to analyze—it’s just a feeling. It was a wonderful combination of where rhythm and blues meets calypso. It was all natural.” Alexander continued to record straight-ahead jazz music during the 1970s, including with the longtime rhythm section of John Clayton (bass) and Jeff Hamilton (drums). Their recordings during this period included the classic live album Montreaux Alexander (MPS, 1977), recorded at the famous jazz festival. Also, during this period, Alexander recorded his first album with Jamaican guitar legend Ernest Ranglin (with whom he first played at Studio One as a child living in Jamaica), Rass! (MPS, 1977).
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
30
JAZZ AT KEAN STAGE Alexander and Ranglin would go on to record several more albums together. By the late 1990s, Alexander’s output fully incorporated his Jamaican heritage. Stir It Up: The Music of Bob Marley (Telarc Jazz, 1990) featured his beautiful interpretations of the music of Jamaica’s most famous son. Alexander partnered with seminal Jamaican dub masters Sly & Robbie for a series of albums and live concerts. Finally, he formed the reggae-jazz fusion band The Harlem-Kingston Express, which combined Jamaican and American rhythm sections to create a dazzling mishmash of both traditions. “The grooving and the swinging, it’s all the same to me, you know?” he said. “People think it’s so different. It’s not. Everybody needs to put you in a box, what type of musician you are. I don’t deal with the box. I just defy, you know? And if they don’t know what box to put you in, then they don’t know
NJJS.ORG
how to promote you. And that’s a crime. Alexander continues to tour and perform tirelessly and, after a long, distinguished career, collect accolades. In 2022, the Jamaican government awarded him the prestigious Order of Jamaica for a lifetime of promoting jazz and Jamaican music. Last month, during the A Jamarican in Paris release party in Paris, France conferred its Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) on him. “It’s amazing how all these years go by,” he said. “But I have so many things to do, I don’t even have them mapped out exactly. But the new record seems to have been well-received,
and I keep going. The idea is just to get on the bandstand with a great drummer and a great bass player, and, and when I play, take it wherever, you know? To feel the Jamaican spirit!” Young guitarist Marel Hidalgo will open for Alexander’s trio at the Kean University performance. Alexander lauds Hidalgo as a young talent who is an heir apparent to the Jamaican guitar tradition established by figures like Ranglin. “I adore Marel,” Alexander said. “He’s very special. He reminds me of me when I was 17, 18. He’s going to bring his music, and I’ll be doing my part, and hopefully the people come!” : Kean University’s Enlow Recital Hall is located at 1000 Morris Ave. in Union, NJ. The Monty Alexander concert begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 22. For more information or to order tickets, log onto keanstage.com or call (908) 737-7469
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
31
GIANT OF JAZZ
“For Some People, There’s Graduate School. The Betty Carter School Was My Graduate School” BY JAY SW E E T
NJJS.ORG
P
ianist Cyrus Chestnut was surprised to learn he would receive the 2026 Giants of Jazz Award. Despite a remarkable career spanning more than four decades, collaborations with some of jazz’s most celebrated figures, and an extensive catalog of acclaimed solo recordings, Chestnut still sees himself as a student of the music. “I’m still so blown away,” he said. “It’s hard to believe. I still see myself as that little kid trying to get into the Vanguard to see Cedar Walton, or putting my suit on, trying to get in the back to see Art Blakey.” Chestnut will be celebrated at the Giants of Jazz concert, hosted by bassist John Lee, on Saturday, November 28, at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC), joining a distinguished list of musicians recognized for their contributions to jazz. “To join a legacy of great musicians, great contributors to humanity, I do not
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
32
PHOTO BY STEV EN SUSSM AN
Cyrus Chestnut: Inspired by Thelonious Monk and Mentored by Betty Carter
GIANT OF JAZZ take it lightly,” he said. “I feel it’s very humbling, and I’m very honored and very appreciative of this honor. Really all I’ve wanted to do is to be able to change the world through music.” Born and raised in Baltimore, Chestnut grew up in a household where music was an essential part of everyday life. His mother sang at home and in church, while his father played piano at church and became his first music teacher. “Music was always in the house,” Chestnut recalled. “My mom tells the story that when she was carrying me, she would sit by the piano and sing, and my father would play. He would place me in a bassinet beside the piano and begin playing, and the sound of music immediately captured his attention. I would hear the music, and I would stop and get very still.” His father’s efforts, Chestnut said, gave him something far more valuable than material wealth. Shortly before
NJJS.ORG
his death, Chestnut’s father reflected on the decision to introduce his son to music. “He said, ‘I could have left you a monetary inheritance, but I felt if I got you into music that you’d be okay…” Chestnut “will be eternally grateful that he saw something in me.” Church also became an important training ground for music. Beyond developing his piano technique, Chestnut learned to improvise, accompany singers, support a congregation, and respond instinctively in the moment. “I learned improvisation in church because there were times when I was just asked to play something. I didn’t have time to open up a book and figure out what to play. I had to start playing. There’s a joy that comes out of playing in the church for me, and that joy follows me even to this day.” Alongside his church experience, Chestnut, at the age of nine, received formal classical training at
the Peabody Institute’s pre-college Peabody Preparatory program. He studied European composers from different historical periods, including Gregorian chant and was encouraged to create music based on what he learned. “From an early age, I was always put into really creating things.” Classical discipline, church improvisation, and the blues combined
to form the foundation of his musical identity. Equally important was the joy he associated with playing. Although gospel dominated the Chestnut household, and classical music shaped his development, the curious young pianist also had access to other music. Records by King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, and Little Richard sat tucked away in the family collection,
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
33
GIANT OF JAZZ and Chestnut began exploring them. However, Thelonious Monk’s music would dramatically influence his direction. While browsing through records at a local F.W. Woolworth store, Chestnut noticed an album featuring a pianist whose image immediately captured his imagination.
“There was something about the piano, something about that picture that just grabbed me,” he recalled. “At nine years old, trying to pronounce Thelonious Monk, was not necessarily an easy task. The record was Monk’s Greatest Hits (Columbia Records: 1969), and with some assistance from
As a nine-year-old, Chestnut “really enjoyed listening” to the Monk’s Greatest Hits album.
NJJS.ORG
his mother,” Chestnut purchased it for $1.99. “All I knew, I just really enjoyed listening to the record,” he said. “Monk’s music was original, and everything he played had conviction.” That artistic freedom left a lasting impression. “I heard this freedom in his music. I felt this freedom, and so I was just drawn to it.” Soon, Chestnut searched the radio dial for more jazz and discovered Robert Ford’s programming on Baltimore station WBJC, 91.5 FM. He made it a habit to listen, especially on summer afternoons, but while he continued studying classical music, he gradually shifted toward jazz. “I was practicing more Bud Powell than Bach,” he recalled with a laugh. During high school, Chestnut’s abilities caught the attention of the band director, who recruited him for the school jazz ensemble. Chestnut played piano in the jazz band, bari-
tone horn in the concert band, and, eventually, trombone in the marching band. His musical curiosity even extended to the acoustic bass, although his small stature as a child had made the instrument impractical. “I was so into the bass that I would take a guitar and turn it vertical and try to play it.” To advance his training, Chestnut enrolled at Berklee College of Music where he found himself surrounded by an entirely new musical environment. “When I got there, it was all of this new music. I learned things, and I really grew up, being in Boston. It was the first time away from home.” At Berklee, he earned the Eubie Blake Fellowship and the Oscar Peterson Scholarship while continuing to develop as a performer. His musical life in Boston reflected the two worlds that had shaped him. He played jazz at Wally’s Café while staying committed to church music, sometimes
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
34
GIANT OF JAZZ having to air out his smoke-filled suit after a club performance before returning to church the next morning. During his Berklee years, he also had a memorable first encounter with one of jazz’s most demanding and influential vocalists: Betty Carter. Chestnut remembers boasting to his fellow students that he would find a way to sit in with Carter when she visited Berklee for a master class. When her regular pianist was unavailable, someone called out Chestnut’s name, and he suddenly found
himself accompanying the legendary singer. Carter called “Body and Soul,” a standard he knew well. But when she changed the key, the young pianist panicked. “I played it in one key; she sang it in another key,” he recalled. Somehow, they made it through the performance, and the audience responded enthusiastically. Chestnut, however, was convinced he had failed. “I was really upset with myself. I had to go back and face Betty, because I knew she was gonna give me a good piece of her mind.”
“ HIS CAREER HAS BEEN
DEFINED BY REFINING THE SOUNDS OF HIS YOUTH.” NJJS.ORG
Chestnut at the Keystone Korner in Baltimore
Instead, Carter embraced him. “She gave me a big hug and said, ‘You were wonderful.’” That early encounter would foreshadow one of the most important professional relationships of Chestnut’s career. After moving into the professional jazz world, he worked with vocalist Jon Hendricks, performed with
trumpeter Terence Blanchard and saxophonist Donald Harrison, and completed a brief stint with Wynton Marsalis. A second meeting with Carter at Washington, D.C.’s One Step Down club eventually led to an invitation to join her band. After five days of rehearsals, Chestnut embarked on a month-long West Coast tour and six weeks of one-night engagements in Europe. “For some people, there’s graduate school. The Betty Carter School was my graduate school. She demanded originality, constant awareness, and an ability to make every composition personal. She always kept me in creative mode,” Chestnut explained. “My whole life since has always been about creativity. Not just doing what was done. I had to be creative.” As Chestnut’s reputation grew, opportunities emerged for him to record as a leader. His early projects included The Nutman Speaks, The Nut-
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
35
GIANT OF JAZZ man, and Another Direction for the small Japanese Alfa Jazz Label. A significant turning point came through his relationship with Atlantic Records executive Yves Beauvais, who invited him to submit recordings that Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegun eventually heard, as he sought to revitalize the label’s jazz catalog. “He played it for Ahmet, and Ahmet said, ‘He’s a go.’” The resulting relationship with Atlantic produced a substantial series of recordings and introduced Chestnut to a wider audience during the jazz revival of the 1990s. Although he emerged during the era often associated with the jazz “Young Lions,” Chestnut has never seemed particularly interested in labels or status. Instead, his career has been defined by refining the sounds of his youth: gospel, blues, swing, and classical influences with an adventurous approach to improvisation encouraged by Betty
NJJS.ORG
“ I’M STILL THAT LITTLE KID, TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT.” Carter and others. For Chestnut, the intent has always been to honor the musicians who came before him while continuing to develop his own voice. The acknowledgment from musicians he admires still carried tremendous weight. It also reinforced his belief that artistic growth never ends. “We’re ever evolving,” he said. “There is a process, and so I’m on a journey. Being given a pat on the back at certain stages of the journey makes me very happy. It inspires me to keep chugging along, keep working.” The Giants of Jazz concert will undoubtedly be a night of acknowledgment and celebration, as Chestnut has participated in previous Giants of Jazz celebrations, sharing the stage
with musicians he continues to admire, such as bassist Rufus Reid. He has also watched fellow artist, Paquito D’Rivera, receive recognition last year. “I’ve been in the court supporting the honoree,” he said. “But it’s like, ‘Oh gee, here I am, the honoree.’ I guess it’ll really hit me once it all happens. To be in a situation where the generations can come together, for an event like this, it’s really special.” For a musician who still considers himself a student, the Giants of Jazz Award offers an opportunity to reflect on the people and experiences that shaped his journey. Chestnut sees the award not as a place to settle, but as encouragement to keep going. “People have been healed. They’ve
been inspired because of music. And there’s a great power in it,” he said. “You use this power to enlighten and inspire humankind ... I’m still that little kid, still trying to figure it out, and perhaps when I finally do, it will be time to join Thelonious Monk in the great jazz gathering beyond. Until then, I’ve got a lot of work to do by changing the world, one rhythm, one melody, one harmony at a time.” : The South Orange Performing Arts Center is located at One SOPAC Way in South Orange, NJ. The Giants of Jazz concert begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 28. For more information or to order tickets, log onto sopacnow.org or call (973) 313-2787.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
36
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: SUNCOAST Jen Hodge Celebrates 30 Years as a Bassist
“I’m Just There (Suncoast) to Play Bass in Various Situations ... I’m Pretty Excited to Play with These Folks” BY SA N FO R D JOS E PH SO N
G
rowing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, 11-year-old Jen Hodge was asked to choose a musical instrument to play in her school band. “I was into listening to rock music—The Beatles and The Who and that kind of thing,” she recalled. “Guitar wasn’t offered for the school band, but electric bass was. Nobody ever wants to play bass, so when I made bass my first choice, the music teachers at the school thought that was great. I wound up playing in all the school ensembles.”
Hodge switched to upright bass when she was 16. “I was introduced to jazz through school and schoolmates, so I started playing upright, and I was also able to dabble in classical music.” This month, she is celebrating 30 years as a bass player and will be one of the featured performers at the Suncoast Jazz Festival in Clearwater Beach, FL. Seven years ago, Hodge relocated to New York City and has become a regular in the city’s traditional jazz community. “I moved to New York in mid-November 2019, which seemed
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
37
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: SUNCOAST
At Middlesex County Jazz Festival in Woodbridge: From left, Broadnax, Hodge, Nasser, Yamin, James, Ferretti.
like a great idea at the time. I got a few great months in, and I was on top of the world.” Then Covid arrived, “and I had to drop and leave in March 2020, but I came back in July 2021.” When Hodge self-released her album, All’s Fair in Love and Jazz, in
NJJS.ORG
2018, Canada’s CBC News described her playing as “prohibition-era music with a modern twist.” When she self-released The Girl in the Groove two years later, Jazz Lives’ Michael Steinman called her “the real deal ... Her new CD is lively, varied, and flavorful.”
Now, more than six years later, Hodge is planning to record a new album for Turtle Bay Records in January. “I’ve got some new material that I’m prepared to try out,” she said. “It will be half original tunes and half arrangements of tunes I didn’t write. And, I have a heavy hitting lineup of folks to play: Andrew Stephens on trumpet, Jay Rattman on reeds, Sam Chess on trombone, Brennan Ernst on guitar, Jon Thomas on piano, and Kevin Dorn on drums.” At the Suncoast Jazz Festival, which features more than 75 performances from November 20-22 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, FL, Hodge will be holding down the bass for several different combinations of performers. The headliners are guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli and clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, but the lineup includes several other jazz luminaries includ-
ing clarinetist Dave Bennett, guitarist Diego Figueiredo, vibraphonist/ drummer Chuck Redd, vocalist/ pianist Champian Fulton, violinist Jonathan Russell, trumpeter James Suggs, clarinetist/saxophonist Dan Levinson, and vocalist Molly Ryan. “I’m just there to play bass in various situations,” she said. “I have played before with Anat Cohen,” she added, “not on her gigs but as side people. I imagine we’re going to be playing some of her Brazilian repertoire. I’m pretty excited to play with these folks.” November will be a very busy month for Hodge. On Sunday afternoon, November 8, she will be part of the centennial celebration of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts in Toms River, NJ, hosted by Ricky Riccardi (see page 11). Joining her for that performance will be Stephens
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
38
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: SUNCOAST on trumpet, Chess on trombone, Evan Arntzen on clarinet, Ernst on piano, and Devan Kortan on banjo. On Friday, November 13, Hodge will be celebrating her 42nd birthday with a concert at the Jalopy Theatre & School of Music in Brooklyn, featuring the same band that will be on her Turtle Bay album: Stephens, Rattman, Chess, Thomas, and Ernst, and Dorn. “Expect music and anecdotes from the past three decades of bass playing,” she said. Her career, she added, has taken her “everywhere from the
Yukon to Hong Kong, from Andalucia to Arkansas, from hippie weddings in the woods to the swankiest metropolitan hotels, and from the humblest dive bars to the Grammy Awards (She was on the Creciendo album, Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats, nominated for Best Children’s Album last year). On October 26, she was part of the Heart of the City house band at the celebration of 60 years of jazz at Saint Peter’s Church (see Editor’s Choice, page 05). In September, Hodge performed
“ THE MULTI-GENERATIONAL ASPECT
OF ELI YAMIN’S JAZZ & BLUES BAND WAS IMPORTANT TO HODGE.”
NJJS.ORG
On November 13, Hodge will celebrate her 42nd birthday with a concert at the Jalopy Theatre & School of Music in Brooklyn.
with pianist Eli Yamin’s Jazz & Blues Band at the Middlesex County Jazz Festival in Woodbridge, NJ. In addition to Yamin, the other band members were drummer Dwayne ‘Cook’ Broadnax, saxophonist Zaid Nasser, trumpeter Kal Ferretti, and vocalist Jazmine James.. Their ages range from Ferretti and James, in their 20s, to Broadnax, in his 60s. The multi-generational aspect of this group was important to Hodge. “I think this is a really crucial element of the jazz art form,” she said. “Even from the earlier days of jazz, there were multiple gen-
erations participating—the element of younger people making innovations, playing with people who’ve been around for a long time. Eli hires older folks and younger folks, and it was cool for me because I was the person right in the middle, age wise. (Ferretti was a Jersey Jazz Rising Star in May 2025; Nasser is the son of bassist Jamil Nasser, who played for many years with pianist Ahmad Jamal). : For more information or to order tickets to the Suncoast Jazz Festival, log onto suncoastjazzfestival.com.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
39
Anat Cohen
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: SUNCOAST
John Pizzarelli
Suncoast Jazz Festival Highlights FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 3:45-4:45 PM
» Dan Levinson’s Palomar Jazz Band with Molly Ryan
5:00-6:00 PM
» John Pizzarelli Trio: ‘Dear Mr. Sinatra’ (Dinner)
6:15-7:15 PM
» Chuck Redd, James Suggs, James Wall,
Champian Fulton, Jen Hodge, Eddie Metz
» The Women of Jazz: Anat Cohen, Champian Fulton,
5:30-6:30 PM
» Dan Levinson’s Palomar Jazz Band
8:00-9:00 PM
» Anat Cohen, Champian Fulton, Jen Hodge,
Jen Hodge, Allison Nash, Molly Ryan with Eddie Metz
with Molly Ryan (Dinner)
Chuck Redd, John Pizzarelli Trio: ‘Dear Mr. Cole’
8:45-9:45 PM
» Anat Cohen/Diego Figureido
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22
10:00-11:00 PM
» John Pizzarelli Trio, ‘Dear Mr. Bennett’
10:15-11:15 AM
» Dan Levinson’s Palomar Jazz Band with Molly Ryan
10:15-11:15 AM
» Jonathan Russell, John Merrill, Jen Hodge
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21
NJJS.ORG
4:15-5:15 PM
10:00-11:00 AM
» Dan Levinson’s Palomar Jazz Band with Molly Ryan
11:30 AM-12:30 PM »
12:30-1:30 PM
» Champian Fulton, Jen Hodge, Eddie Metz
12:45-1:45 PM
» Molly Ryan, Dalton Ridenhour, Jen Hodge, Eddie Metz
3:00-4:00 PM
» John Pizzarelli Trio: ‘Dear Mr. Bennett’
2:00-3:00 PM
» Tribute to Ken Peplowski: Adrian Cunningham,
Champian Fulton, James Suggs, Jen Hodge, Eddie Metz
Dave Bennett, Dan Levinson, La Lucha
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
40
ANAT COHEN PHOTO BY ROD RIGO LOPEZ ; JO H N PI ZZA R E L L I PH OTO BY LOV E I MAG E RY
Three locations: Sheraton-Haley’s, S T Bear’s Deb, Pepper’s Place
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: HOLLYWOOD Vocalist Kandace Springs: ‘Now I’m Doing Jazz. I Don’t Want to Do Anything Else’
You’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna cry. We can take you to so many different places. It’s kind of Norah Jones meets Roberta Flack meets Ella Fitzgerald meets Luther Vandross. It’s just a good time.” That’s Kandace Springs talking about her upcoming November 21st performance at the Hollywood (FL) Real Jazz Festival. Springs is often described as a “soul/jazz” singer, but that’s an oversimplification. She grew up in Nashville, TN, greatly influenced by her father, Scat, a singer with his own band who also
sang backup for such stars as Aretha Franklin and Garth Brooks. “My dad was an amazing singer,” she said. “He taught me how to sing and how to play the piano a little bit. Growing up I listened to straight up jazz. I listened to Ella, Oscar Peterson, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone. I was advised to try hip hop to reach the bigger masses, but now I’m doing jazz. I don’t want to do anything else.” The 37-year-old Springs’ latest album, Lady in Satin (SRP Records) is an update of songs sung by Billie Holiday on her 1958 Columbia album of
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
41
PHOTO BY BOB PALM IERI
“A Stunningly Good Voice, Very Pure and Controlled, Soaring and Dipping with No Apparent Effort”
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: HOLLYWOOD the same name. “It takes a brave and confident singer to offer a fresh look at a revered Billie Holiday album,” Jersey Jazz’s Joe Lang wrote in his June 2025 review. But Springs, he added,”has undertaken such a challenge, and she has succeeded in giving her own life to the 12-song program of Great American Songbook classics.” AllAboutJazz’s Pierre Giroux agreed. The album, he wrote, “shines with sumptuous beauty and reverence while bearing Springs’ delicate emotional imprint.” Lady in Satin was recorded in
“ I FIRST HEARD
Espino, Portugal, with the 60-piece Orquestra Classica de Espinho. Holiday’s album was also recorded with a full orchestra, 40 pieces directed by Ray Ellis. The idea for Springs’ album came up unexpectedly. “Growing up, I listened more to Sarah and Ella than Billie, but after the offer came from the orchestra, I said, ‘Well, let me think about it.’ I didn’t want to be like her. I had to make it my own.” The critics agreed that she accomplished that. “Her voice,” Lang wrote, “is richer and deeper than that of Hol-
NORAH JONES ON THE RADIO WHEN I WAS 13.” NJJS.ORG
Springs performing on Sanborn Sessions iday so there was no chance of her attempting to channel Lady Day.” Giroux pointed out that, “This is not an imitation. It is an interpretation.” There was actually a Billie Holiday connection to Springs’ first studio album, Soul Eyes (Blue Note: 2016). The title track was written by Mal Waldron, once a Holiday piano accompanist, and a review in The Guardian pointed out that “Springs’ version balances Holiday’s arching long-note turns with spar-
ingly scattered R&B inflections, as Terence Blanchard’s sumptuous trumpet-fills glide around her.” Springs’ second Blue Note album, Indigo, released in 2018, featured a duet with the late Roy Hargrove on “Unsophisticated”, a tune written by Springs, Evan Rogers, and Carl Sturken. In November of 2018, Springs performed at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and received an enthusiastic review from the UK Jazz News’ Peter Jones. “She has a stunningly good
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
42
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: HOLLYWOOD voice,” he wrote, “very pure and controlled, soaring and dipping with no apparent effort. It was this extraordinary vocal facility that made her command of the ballads so effective, and there were a lot of them.” Among the ballads he singled out were “Mal Waldron’s gorgeous ‘Soul Eyes,’ the title track of her eponymous debut album ... ‘The Nearness of You,’ an acknowledgement of the influence of Norah Jones ... Her own lovely ballad, ‘Unsophisticated,’ dedicated to the late Roy Hargrove, who died not long after recording this tune on her recent album, Indigo.” The Women Who Raised Me, Springs’ fourth album (Blue Note: 2020) featured collaborations with Jones (“Angel Eyes”), alto saxophonist David Sanborn (“I Put a Spell on You”), and bassist Christian McBride (“Devil May Care”). “I first heard Norah Jones on the radio when I was 13,” Springs
NJJS.ORG
recalled. “Fast forward, and I got to meet her when I ran into her randomly at the Nashville airport. I got her number, and I texted her, so we did ‘Angel Eyes,’” adding that Hoagy Carmichael’s “’The Nearness of You” from the 2002 Jones Blue Note album, Come Away with Me —“That’s the one that got me into her.” Springs met Sanborn on a cruise ship, and, in addition to recording “I Put a Spell on You,’ he invited her to be a guest on Sanborn Sessions, his digital music and conversation internet series. At one point in the program, Sanborn said, “I would love it if you did a solo version of (Duke Ellington’s) ‘Solitude’.” She did, and the result was show-stopping. No article about Kandace Springs would be complete without a mention of her interaction with and endorsement by Prince. “I was living in New York at the time—2014,” she
Hollywood Real Jazz Festival
All performances, at ArtsPark in downtown Hollywood, are free. For more information, go to hollywoodartsparklive.com.
Ron Carter
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 8:00 PM
»
Dillard Center for the Arts Ensemble (alongside official tree lighting)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21 1:00 PM
»
Vocalist Nicole Yarling
2:00 PM
»
Vibraphonist Warren Wolf
3:00 PM
»
Bassist Chuck Bergeron
3:45 PM
»
Vocalist Kandace Springs
5:00 PM
»
Bassist Chuck Bergeron
5:30 PM
»
Bassist Ron Carter and his Foursight Quartet
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
43
FLORIDA JAZZ FESTIVALS: HOLLYWOOD
recalled. “I had just put out a music video of Sam Smith’s ‘Won’t You Stay with Me?’ I posted it on YouTube, and suddenly it’s retweeted by Prince. Then, he messaged me, ‘Do you want to come sing with me?’ Of course, I couldn’t believe it. We did a show, and he had me play with his band.” At the Hollywood Jazz Festival,
Springs will be performing with bassist Caylen Bryant and drummer Camille Gainer, a group that has been together for seven years. “Our all-girl band is killin’ it,” she said. “These girls can play.” (Bryant is the daughter of tenor saxophonist Lance Bryant). She will be sharing the festival schedule with some heavy hitters, such as the legendary bassist Ron Carter and vibraphonist Warren Wolf, both of whom have been Jersey Jazz cover story features (March 2022 and November 2024, respectively). The original Hollywood Jazz Festival was founded in 1983 by former city commissioner and pianist John Williams. From 1994 through 2005, it was produced by the South Florida Jazz organization but then ceased operations after that. This year’s reborn festival—The Hollywood Real Jazz Festival—is being produced by the Rhythm Foundation for the City of Hollywood. —SANFORD JOSEPHSON
NJJS.ORG
JERSEY JAZZ
On Lady in Satin, Springs offered “a fresh look at a revered Billie Holiday album.”
NOVEMBER 2026
44
PELOTE’S PLACE BY V IN C ENT PELOT E
I
recently received an album by guitarist Jocelyn Gould called Portrait of Right Now. She is one of a number of outstanding women jazz guitarists on the scene today but there was a time when there were very few women playing guitar in jazz. One who I remember fondly, because she counted my guitar hero Wes Montgomery as one of her influences, is the late Emily Remler. Remler was born on September 18, 1957, in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, and started on the guitar at the age of 10. Of course, like most youngsters her age, she listened to pop artists like Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Winter. But, she enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in the 1970s and heard some of the jazz guitar legends including Charlie Christian, Herb Ellis, Pat Martino, and Joe Pass. However, she was deeply affected by John Leslie “Wes” Montgomery and
NJJS.ORG
spent a lot of time trying to emulate his thumb technique and his use of octaves. Because of her early death, her recorded discography is pitifully small, but award winning producer Zev Feldman of Resonance Records discovered previously unheard live
Emily Remler
performances by her trio and quartet (covering the years 1984 and 1988) from the Four Queens Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and he issued them on his label as Cookin’ at the Queens. I was so knocked out to get this that I simply must let everyone who reads this column know about this remarkable album, now thankfully part of the Remler discography. Remler is joined on the 1984 session by pianist Cocho Arbe, bassist Carson Smith, and the late drummer Tom Montgomery (no relation to Wes) who died of a heart attack in 1996. For the 1988 trio performances, she is joined by bassist Carson Smith and drummer John Pisci. Both sets consist of songs from the Great American Songbook—“Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” and “Out of Nowhere”); bonafide jazz standards—“Moanin’,”
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
45
PELOTE’S PLACE “All Blues,” “Tenor Madness”; and compositions by Wes—“West Coast Blues,” and “D Natural Blues”. She even includes a composition by fellow guitarist Pat Martino (“Cisco”). Oddly, even though she has composed a number of originals (e.g., “Ballad for a Music Box,” “The Firefly,” “Perk’s Blues,” “Pedals,” “Five Years,” “Mozambique”), she doesn’t perform any of her own tunes. In spite of her love of all things Wes, her improvisations are definitely her own with some Wes-like octaves mixed in here and there. She has plenty of “chops” combined with good taste resulting in excellent and highly enjoyable music in both sets. I especially like her treatment of Montgomery’s “West Coast Blues,” which she takes at a tempo reminiscent of how Montgomery recorded it for the album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. On the
quartet sides, she splits solos with Peruvian pianist, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Arbe, who is a fine soloist and accompanist. The trio set finds Remler sharing solos with her bassist, the late Carson Smith, who passed in 1997 at the age of 66 from cancer. The drummer in the trio is John Pisci who died in 2011. If you don’t have Cookin’ at the Queens please do yourself a favor and get it if you’re a fan of good jazz and great guitar playing. You’ll see that Emily Remler was a tremendous talent who left us way too soon as she tragically died of a heart attack st the age of 32 on May 4, 1990 while on tour in Australia. I love her playing, and I love her famous quote from a 1982 People Magazine interview: “I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-yearold, heavy-set Black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery.”
NJJS.ORG
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
46
BIG BAND IN THE SKY Keith Ingham: Unparalleled Knowledge of the American Songbook BY JOE L A N G
P
ianist Keith Ingham moved to New York City from London in the late 1970s and quickly established himself as a much in-demand player, working with Benny Goodman, the World’s Greatest Jazz Band, and in small groups and as a solo player. Ingham, who passed away on March 12, 2026 at the age of 84, majored in classical Chinese at Oxford and spent four years in Hong Kong in government service monitoring Chinese airfields while playing piano in clubs. Upon returning to England, he became active on the London jazz scene playing with many top English musicians as well as visiting Americans. It was during this period that he had a short mar-
NJJS.ORG
riage to vocalist Susannah McCorkle. His ability to play a variety of styles enabled him to fit into almost any group. Among the leaders with whom he played and recorded were guitarist Marty Grosz and tenor saxophonist Harry Allen. His two volumes of songs by Billy Strayhorn with Allen are among the best of the dozens of albums on which he appeared. Ingham was an accomplished accompanist and arranger working with singers like McCorkle, Peggy Lee, Maxine Sullivan, Barbara Lea, Joyce Breach, and Nancy Nelson, with whom he appeared frequently at Shanghai Jazz in Madison, NJ. Ingham’s gigs at Shanghai Jazz
were numerous. For many years, he was the attraction there for Christmas Eve. He was always open to requests, and his knowledge of songs from the Great American Songbook and popular songs from English songwriters was deep. He recorded albums devoted to the songs of E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, Johnny Mercer, Leo Robin, Burton Lane, and Jule Styne, among many others. Over many years, I got to know Keith through our shared affection for songs, and it was a rare occasion when he was unfamiliar with almost any request. I do not remember him ever demurring when I asked him for some Noel Coward obscurity. On a personal level, he was witty and conversant with a wide range of issues. The only way to contact him was by phone as he did not do email or social media. Keith Ingham was a unique individual who will be greatly missed.
JERSEY JAZZ
NOVEMBER 2026
47
NOT WITHOUT YOU! Your membership is vital to NJJS’s mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form— JAZZ!
THANK YOU and welcome
to all who have recently joined or renewed their memberships. We can’t do what we do without you!
NJJS org
NEW MEMBERS Enid Edelson NEW JERSEY
RENEWAL MEMBERS William Allen
LONG VALLEY, NJ
Harriet Bloom
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ
Christopher DeVito WARREN, NJ
Ralph Ulman
MORRISTOWN, NJ
David Voorhees HOPEWELL, NJ