ALAN GRESIK'S SWING ORCHESTRA

Grammy Award-winning bassist Christian Dillingham is equally at home in two musical worlds. His parents spun jazz records around the house, while his mother was an avid pianist who loved to play Chopin and Debussy. These childhood experiences left a deep impression and ended up as the foundational philosophy of his career in music. Dillingham is that rare musician who excels in an orchestral setting, yet has an intuitive feel for nuance and the improvisational skills necessary to play jazz. A native of Brookfield, Ohio, Dillingham played in rock and jazz bands throughout high school. He became serious about music as a career while at Youngstown State University, studying under the instruction of Tony Leonardi and Micah Howard. After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Music degree in Music Performance with an Emphasis on Jazz, Dillingham’s education continued at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he worked with Jeffrey Turner, principal bass of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and subsequently received a Master’s of Music degree in Music Performance. He also attended the National Repertory Orchestra Festival in Breckenridge, Colorado and the School for Improvisational Music in New York. Upon graduation, Dillingham was invited to play in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and moved to the city to perform with them for the next two seasons. Since then, he has made frequent appearances in Chicago’s vibrant classical scene, playing with the Lyric Opera, the Grant Park Symphony, and the Chicago Opera Theatre. Dillingham is also a member of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Matt Jones Orchestra, and the Chicago Philharmonic. He appears on albums by the Chicago Sinfonietta and Camerata Chicago. At the same time, he became a regular presence in Chicago’s rich jazz community, performing at Fred Anderson’s iconic Velvet Lounge, the Green Mill, the Jazz Showcase, Constellation Chicago, Hungry Brain, Andy’s Jazz Club, Elastic Arts and other Chicago venues as well as at the Chicago Jazz Festival. Dillingham has played and recorded with dozens of musicians, including John Legend, Kirk Franklin, Herlin Riley, Peter Bernstein, Kevin Mahogany, Willie Pickens, Dee Alexander, Victor Goines, Bobby Broom, Sean Jones, Greg Ward and Mike Reed. He currently performs with a number of diverse projects crossing genres from jazz, classical and roots to the avant-garde and leads his own band, which features his original compositions. In fall of 2020 he joined the faculty at Indiana University teaching jazz bass.

Grammy® Nominated vocalist and composer Carmen Lundy began her professional career in Miami, FL when there were very few young, gifted and aspiring jazz vocalists on the horizon. Over four decades later, Ms. Lundy is celebrated throughout the world for her vocal artistry and is highly regarded for her jazz innovation. A native of Miami, Florida, Carmen Lundy’s path to being one of today’s most talented and respected jazz singers began at age six, with her first piano lessons. She was deeply inspired by her mother who was then lead singer in the gospel group, The Apostolic Singers. Ms. Lundy attended The University of Miami as an Opera major, but soon discovered that jazz was where her talent really shone. While working steadily in the Miami Jazz scene, she graduated with a degree in Studio Music and Jazz, one of the first singers to do so. Lundy then moved to New York City in 1978, and in 1991 relocated to the Los Angeles area and continued her storied career, impressing the notoriously critical jazz cognoscenti and audiences alike. Currently on the Afrasia Productions label, Carmen is a 2021 Grammy® Nominated artist for her 15th album Modern Ancestors, for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Her previous release, 2017’s Code Noir, debuted at #6 on the Billboard Jazz Chart to both critical and popular acclaim. Carmen’s full discography consists of “Good Morning Kiss”, “Moment To Moment”, “Night And Day, “Old Devil Moon”, “Self Portrait”, “Something To Believe In”, “This Is Carmen Lundy”, “Jazz and The New Songbook – Live at The Madrid”, “Come Home”, “Solamente”, “Changes”, “Soul To Soul” and “Code Noir”. All have topped the Best Albums and Top Ten Albums lists on Billboard, JazzWeek, Downbeat, and JazzTimes. Among Lundy’s other awards and recognitions are a Grammy® Award for Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project, 2011 Grammy® Winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album, which features the Carmen Lundy composition “Show Me A Sign” (from the Lundy album “Solamente”). In January 2018, Carmen Lundy received the RoundGlass Music Award for her song “Kumbaya” from Code Noir. In 2016 she was honored with the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz by Black Women In Jazz and The Arts, in Atlanta, GA. Additionally, she was honored with Historymaker status by the esteemed The Historymakers® organization, the nation’s largest African American video oral history collection based in Chicago, IL. Among other recognitions, especially rewarding was Miami-Dade’s County Office of the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners proclaiming January 25th “Carmen Lundy Day”, along with handing Ms. Lundy the keys to the City of Miami. As a composer, Ms. Lundy’s catalogue numbers over 150 published songs, one of the few jazz vocalists in history to accomplish such a distinction. Her compositions have been recorded by such artists as Kenny Barron, Ernie Watts, Terri Lyne Carrington, Straight Ahead and Regina Carter. Carmen’s far-reaching discography also includes performances and recordings with such musicians as brother and bassist Curtis Lundy, Ray Barretto, Bruce Hornsby, Mulgrew Miller, Kip Hanrahan, Courtney Pine, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Randy Brecker, Oscar Castro-Neves, Robert Glasper, Jamison Ross, Patrice Rushen, and the late Kenny Kirkland and Geri Allen among others. Teaching, too, is an important activity. Ms. Lundy has given Master Classes in Australia, Denmark, Russia, Japan, Switzerland, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities around the world. Since its inception in 1998, she was Resident Clinician at Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for 18 years. She has also been guest artist and clinician with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Ms. Lundy is also a gifted actress having performed the lead role as Billie Holiday in the Off-Off Broadway play “They Were All Gardenias” by Lawrence Holder, as well as the lead role in the Broadway show, Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Ladies”. Additionally, Carmen Lundy is a celebrated visual artist. Her works have been exhibited in New York at The Jazz Gallery in Soho, The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, and at a month-long exhibition at the Madrid Theatre, Los Angeles.

ALFONSO PONTICELLI PERFORMS EVERY WEDNESDAY!

CHICAGO CELLAR BOYS PERFORMS EVERY TUESDAY!

JOEL PATERSON & FRIENDS PERFORMS EVERY MONDAY!

PAPER MACHETE PERFORMS EVERY SATURDAY!

CHRIS FOREMAN PERFORMS EVERY FRIDAY!

ALAN GRESIK'S SWING ORCHESTRA PERFORM EVERY THURSDAY!