COLD NIGHTS, HOT SOUNDS AT JAZZ STANDARD IN FEBRUARY!

COLD NIGHTS, HOT SOUNDS AT JAZZ STANDARD IN FEBRUARY!

· JOEY CALDERAZZO TRIO
· ESPERANZA SPALDING
· BLUE NOTE RECORDS 70TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION featuring
AARON PARKS, LIONEL LOUEKE & ROBERT GLASPER
and
· MINGUS MUSIC, EVERY MONDAY NIGHT

Jazz Standard, New York City’s “Best Jazz Club” (New York Magazine) serving “NYC’s Best Barbecue” (Time Out New York) from Blue Smoke with its signature style of warm hospitality, presents another month of great jazz in February.

The wonderful pianist Joey Calderazzo and his trio will hold forth on February 4-5. Esperanza Spalding, bassist/vocalist extraordinaire, rolls in on February 12-15. From February 24 through March 1, Jazz Standard will host “New Voices Of Blue Note,” celebrating the seventieth anniversary of this great American jazz label with music by pianist Aaron Parks (2/24-25), guitarist Lionel Loueke (2/26-27), and pianist Robert Glasper (2/28-3/1). “Mingus Mondays” continue weekly with performances by Mingus Dynasty (2/2, 2/23), Mingus Orchestra (2/16), and Mingus Big Band (2/9). Below is a complete schedule of February performances at Jazz Standard, along with information on the musicians.

ALL SHOW TIMES: 7:30 & 9:30 PM + 11:30 PM ON FRIDAYS & SATURDAYSJazz Standard is located at 116 E. 27th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues in ManhattanNEVER A MINIMUMStudent Discounts (restrictions apply)Enjoy MOUTHWATERING BARBECUE FROM BLUE SMOKE and an extensive wine, beer and cocktail listJazz for Kids every Sunday resuming January 11th – Open for lunch at 1 PM, music from 2-3 PMFor reservations call Jazz Standard at 212.576.2232 or www.ticketweb.comArtists and schedules are subject to change

FEBRUARY SCHEDULE

2/1 CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT

2/2 MINGUS DYNASTY

Jazz Standard presents the music of legendary bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus every Monday as performed by three great Mingus groups including Mingus Dynasty, Big Band, and Orchestra. In praise of the album I Am Three, Paul Olson wrote in All About Jazz of the “fiercely emotional commitment on the part of the musicians to the composer’s music…One never gets the impression these players are covering Mingus because it’s a gig. And it’s this unity of purpose that energizes I Am Three, and makes it much more than just another tribute album. The composer is alive on these recordings.”
Music charge: $25

2/3 MATTHEW SHIPP TRIO
· Matthew Shipp – piano
· Joe Morris – bass
· Whit Dickey – drums

Matthew Shipp is among the leading lights of a new generation of jazz innovators. Over the course of a 25-year career, he has reached the Holy Grail of Jazz: He possesses a unique and identifiable style on his instrument, a sound that is his creation and his alone. Shipp’s lengthy and eclectic discography ranges from solo piano outings (One, 2006) to the hip-hop-meets-free-jazz sounds of Antipop Consortium vs. Matthew Shipp (2003). This special Jazz Standard one-nighter celebrates the Thirsty Ear release of Matt’s latest CD, Harmonic Disorder, which the artist describes as “a continuation of the great piano trio tradition – artists such as Bud Powell, Bill Evans, and Ahmad Jamal – but played with our own language and in our own very unique way.”
Music charge: $20

2/4-2/5 JOEY CALDERAZZO TRIO
· Joey Calderazzo – piano
· Boris Kozlov – bass
· Jeff “Tain” Watts – drums

Joey Calderazzo is one of the finest jazz pianists of his generation. Now into the second decade of his professional career, he continues to sustain a trajectory of growing command and maturity as a composer, performer and leader. Joey was just 22 when he joined the quintet of the late great Michael Brecker in 1987 and performed on the latter’s 1988 album Don’t Try This at Home. Brecker also produced and played on In the Door (1990), the first of Calderazzo’s three Blue Note releases as a leader. Joey later became a valued member of the Branford Marsalis group (an association that continues to the present day) and in 2002 he signed with Marsalis Music. His most recent CD, Amanacer (2007), features duo and trio performances with singer Claudia Acuña and guitarist Romero Lubambo.
Music charge: $20

2/6-2/7 CINDY BLACKMAN QUARTET

Cindy Blackman is one of the most creative and versatile drummers on the scene – a complete musician who can shift effortlessly from straight-ahead jazz to rock to funk, always playing with taste, time, and power. Cindy has gigged and/or recorded with such jazz leaders as Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Sanders, and Sam Rivers; she enjoyed an eleven-year association with funk-rocker Lenny Kravitz and performed on the first two CDs by English pop-soul singer Joss Stone. Cindy Blackman’s expansive double CD Music for the New Millennium is “inspired post-bop,” wrote Troy Collins in AllAboutJazz.com. “A persuasive reminder of her technical prowess, it reveals a stylistic allegiance to past masters while keeping an eye to the future.”
Music charge: $30

2/8 RASHIED ALI QUINTET
· Lawrence Clark – tenor saxophone
· Josh Evans – trumpet
· Greg Murphy – piano
· Joris Teepe – bass
· Rashied Ali – drums

Rashied Ali is one of the most influential musicians to emerge from that turbulent, liberating decade of the 1960s. He moved to New York in 1963 where he worked with trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Paul Bley before joining John Coltrane in 1965 for the sessions that produced Trane’s Meditations. The saxophonist and drummer later joined forces for a series of outer-limits duets released as Interstellar Space. Rashied went on to play with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, and James Blood Ulmer, among many others; he founded a Soho jazz club, Ali’s Alley, and an independent label, Survival Records. Appearing with his quintet at the 2007 Lake George Jazz Festival, the Rashied Ali Quintet played “‘Free Jazz’ – free from fear, free from boundaries, and free to explore…He is a card-carrying member of that hallowed fraternity of drummers over age 70 that can tear it up like an offending paper bag.” (J. Hunter, AlbanyJazz.com)
Music charge: $25

2/9: MINGUS BIG BAND

The year 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of a pivotal point in Charles Mingus’ career. In 1959, Mingus released the Atlantic album Blues And Roots. He then signed a prestigious contract with Columbia Records and released, in rapid succession, two of his most fully realized albums, Mingus Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty. Tonight, the Mingus Big Band carries on in the restless, explosive, soul-searching tradition of its namesake.
Music charge: $25

2/10 – 2/11: KENNY WERNER TRIO featuring Johannes Weidenmueller (bass) and Ari Hoenig (drums)

Jazz Standard welcomes back Kenny Werner, one of the most lyrical interpreters and composers to be found in Our Music – “a true innovator with a delicate touch and a vivid imagination…” (Jazziz) Kenny was a child prodigy who made his first recording at age 11 and went on to perform and record with Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, and the Mel Lewis Orchestra (among many others) while honing his skills as a solo and duo pianist. He joined the faculty of The New School’s jazz department in New York City in 1987 and remains a leader in jazz education to the present day. The beautiful, exploratory music of the Kenny Werner Trio offers what Bob Blumenthal described in The Boston Globe as “an ever-evolving definition of the spontaneity that remains at the heart of jazz…”
Music charge: $25

2/12-2/15 ESPERANZA SPALDING [7:30 & 9:30 ONLY]
· Esperanza Spalding – bass, vocals
· Ricardo Vogt – guitar
· Leo Genovese – piano
· Otis Brown – drums

In May 2008, 24-year-old Esperanza Spalding took one giant career step forward with the stunning sophmore album Esperanza (Heads Up International). With her potent instrumental chops, a siren voice spanning three languages, and composing/arranging skills that tied together the best elements of both old and new schools, Esperanza was a
heartfelt and refreshing approach to jazz that incorporated elements from soul, pop, world music, and more. The material ranged from the Wayne Shorter/Native Dancer classic “Ponta de Areia” to a startling interpretation of “Body and Soul” (“Cuerpo y Alma”) – sung in Spanish and played in 5/4 time. “They say you’re never supposed to apologize for your art, and I’m totally unapologetic,” Esperanza proudly declares. “I have complete confidence that this is the best record I could make…and I have the same confidence that it’s just the beginning.”
Music charge: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday

 

2/16 MINGUS ORCHESTRA

Had American symphony orchestras not discriminated against African-American musicians throughout much of the 20th century, Charles Mingus might have led an entirely different career. Mingus was as much a student of Beethoven and Debussy as of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington, and his classical aspirations found their outlet in dozens of compositions written for a sort of jazz-band-plus that included non-jazz instruments like bassoon, oboe, and French horn. It is to this often-overlooked portion of Charles’ legacy to which the Mingus Orchestra is devoted.
Music charge: $25

2/17 HELEN SUNG QUARTET
· Seamus Blake – tenor saxophone
· Helen Sung – piano
· Ben Williams – bass
· Eric Harland – drums

Jazz giant Kenny Barron says: “I first heard Helen Sung when she was a student at the Monk Institute. I was impressed with her flawless technique, imagination, great harmonic conception and real understanding of the language of jazz. I expect great things for Ms. Sung and great, challenging music from her.” That promise has been fulfilled continually by Helen’s scintillating live performances and by the series of albums that led up to her latest and most fully-realized recording: Sungbird (After Albeniz). Her first release for Sunnyside Records, Sungbird is Helen’s ingenious extension and elaboration on España (Opus 165), a six-piece work for solo piano created by the 19th century Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz. “Clearly a superb jazz pianist with a splendid trail of achievements of significance as a performer, composer, and jazz educator… Helen Sung is an immense talent.” (Dr. Herb Wong, Jazz Education Journal)
Music charge: $20

2/18-2/22 RANDY WESTON’S AFRICAN RHYTHMS QUINTET
· T.K. Blue – saxophones, flute
· Benny Powell – trombone
· Randy Weston – piano
· Alex Blake – bass
· Neil Clarke – percussion

After contributing six decades of musical direction and genius, Randy Weston remains one of the world’s foremost pianists and composers today. He’s a true innovator and visionary whose music encompasses the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa. In his 83rd year, Weston shows few signs of slowing his prodigious creative flow. His recent recordings including the rare trio date Zep Tepi and Live in St. Lucia, with the African Rhythms Quintet he’ll lead on our stage for this much-anticipated engagement. Duke University Press will publish Randy’s autobiography African Rhythms in 2009. “When Randy Weston plays, a combination of strength and gentleness, virility and velvet emerges from the keys in an ebb and flow of sound seemingly as natural as the waves of the sea.” (Langston Hughes)
Music charge: $25 / $30 Friday & Saturday

2/23 MINGUS DYNASTY

The original Charles Mingus legacy group returns to Jazz Standard for two sets of dynamic jazz-straight ahead, with a few curves…
Music charge: $25

2/24-3/1 NEW VOICES OF BLUE NOTE: A 70TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
On December 23, 1938, Alfred Lion (1909-1987) attended the celebrated “Spirituals to Swing” concert at Carnegie Hall. Two weeks later, on January 6, 1939, he brought boogie-woogie piano masters Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis into a New York recording studio-and Blue Note Records was born. Lion and his partner Francis “Frank” Wolff (1908-1971), “were men of integrity and real jazz fans,” recalled Blue Note recording artist Horace Silver in a 1980 interview. “They gave a lot of musicians a chance to record when all the other companies weren’t interested.” This month, the most august name in jazz label history celebrates its seventieth anniversary (and its twenty-fifth year with veteran music executive Bruce Lundvall at the helm) with a series of special performances by three of the finest new voices on the Blue Note roster.

2/24 – 2/25 AARON PARKS QUARTET
· Aaron Parks – piano
· Mike Moreno – guitar
· Matt Pennman – bass
· Kendrick Scott – drums

A five-year veteran of the Terence Blanchard group, pianist and composer Aaron Parks made a striking Blue Note label debut in August 2008 with Invisible Cinema. On this ten-song collection, the 24-year old pianist and composer explores the common ground that connects his diverse influences: from modern progressive jazz to indie rock and hip-hop, from Herbie Hancock to Radiohead. “Everything is in this mix: classical influence, bop-based grooves, rock attitude, film-score drama, and hip-hop textures… Invisible Cinema is the opposite of a silent film. The soundtrack is provided; the listener brings the visuals.” (The Boston Globe)
Music charge: $25

2/26-2/27 LIONEL LOUEKE TRIO plus special guest GREGOIRE MARET
· Lionel Loueke – guitar, vocals
· Gregoire Maret – harmonica
· Massimo Biolcati – bass
· Ferenc Nemeth – drums

Karibu, the title of the Blue Note label debut from Lionel Loueke, is derived from a Swahili word meaning “welcome.” And as promised, the opening title track welcomes the listener into the musical world of one of the most distinctive new voices in jazz. Lionel’s epic journey has seen him through good times and bad from his native Benin across three continents; brought him under the mentorship of music legends like Herbie Hancock, and ultimately landed him at the most famous jazz record label in the world. Live and in the studio, Lionel Loueke continues to create “capricious harmonic movement and serpentine grooves…music of engrossing intricacy and ambition.” (Nate Chinen, The New York Times)
Music charge: $25 / $30 Friday

2/28-3/1 ROBERT GLASPER TRIO
· Robert Glasper – piano
· Vicente Archer – bass
· Chris Dave – drums

Blue Note recording artist Robert Glasper’s 2005 label debut, Canvas, earned four stars from DownBeat and praise from Time magazine for his “improvisational creativity and technical skill.” Robert further bolstered his reputation in 2007 with In My Element, a beautiful trio set in which he articulated bold ideas about what a jazz piano trio could achieve in the new millennium. “He downplays his technical prowess, preferring instead to emphasize the beauty of his touch and the originality of his harmonies,” a reviewer for The Chicago Tribune observed. “Moreover, he plays with a degree of introspection and intellectual acuity that distinguishes him from many peers.”
Music charge: $30 / $25 Sunday