Program
HANDEL Messiah
Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra, Kent Tritle, Nola Richardson, Heather Petrie, Joshua Blue, Enrico Lagasca
New Year’s Eve at Smoke is one of the highlights of the year, and a jazz party like no other with great food and drink, a festive atmosphere, and the perfect band with special guest jazz vocalist Carla Cook joining the Eric Reed / Vincent Herring Quintet with Jeremy Pelt. 7PM Show Details: Your $250 ticket (plus tax & tip) includes a 3-course holiday dinner and one show 930PM Show Details: Your $350 ticket (plus tax & tip) includes a 3-course holiday dinner, two shows, a midnight celebration, hats & noise makers When Carla Cook sings, she swings. The Washington Post says, “She has sass that enlivens her impeccable diction, and tremendous soul that lets her swagger with gutbucket finesse, but it’s all buttressed with sparkling optimism and innocence.” Her improvisational style is steeped in the swing tradition yet eclectic and brimming with fresh interpretations. Cook will be joined by Smoke’s Coltrane Festival “Countdown 2024” band, the Eric Reed/Vincent Herring Quintet featuring Jeremy Pelt, and Smoke’s Coltrane Festival “Countdown 2024” core ensemble. JazzTimes reports, “Pelt is a technical marvel. He executes intricate solos with ease, plays gorgeous ballads in a tasteful manner, and never lacks flair or sensitivity.” Audiophile Audition adds he has “the power and range of Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard in their seminal years." The group is co-led by the perpetually swinging Eric Reed, who All About Jazz says “has fully established himself in the forefront of jazz pianists,” and the fiery Herring who “has firmly established himself as one of his generation’s masters,” adds The New York City Jazz Record. It also includes one of the elite musicians working today, drummer Joe Farnsworth.
Countdown 2024 at Smoke continues with an all-star sextet with two special guests: Trumpeter Eddie Henderson and trombonist Steve Davis. This outstanding group is co-led by pianist Eric Reed and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring with the unbeatable rhythm team of bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Downbeat writes, “Henderson's muscular chops and round sound are astonishing for an 83-year-old and lovely to behold.” Steve Davis, who spent some of his formative years honing his craft and earning his reputation with a trio of giants: Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, and Chick Corea, “has established himself as one of the most accomplished and lyrical improvisers on his instrument, as well as a prolific composer,” reports JazzTimes. *PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows
Smoke’s annual year-ending festival celebrating the music of John Coltrane, Countdown 2024, gets off to an auspicious start with the one and only George Coleman leading an exceptional quintet featuring guitarist Peter Bernstein, pianist Emmet Cohen, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnworth. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Coleman is still making some of the most inspired music of his celebrated career, including work with B.B. King, Miles Davis, and Herbie Hancock, among many others. Downbeat reports, “When you hear the tenor sax of George Coleman, you know it’s him within a few notes. That deep park of a tone evokes a time and place—be it his historic work with Max Roach, Chet Baker, and Miles Davis, or as a leader in his own right.” *PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows
“An established force in contemporary jazz.” – Financial Times Trumpeter Marquis Hill, one of the leading trumpeters of our time, leads an adventurous group featuring vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Michael King, bassist Junius Paul, and drummer Kendrick Scott. His promise was recognized by winning two highly prestigious competitions: the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition (2012) and the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition (2014), which helped launch a career that continues to impress. Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Hill credits many of that city’s great artists for helping foster his development. Players like Von Freeman, Bobby Broom, and Willie Pickens, just to name a few. The New Yorker says, “His performances and recordings reveal a smart post-bop player who circumvents genre clichés by incorporating elements of hip-hop and contemporary R. & B.” Downbeat adds, “The groove-laden arrangements provide the perfect soundscape for Hill’s fluid improvisational style, which, with its glass-like lucidity, recalls the crisp elegance of hard-bop stalwart Donald Byrd.” *PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows
“His quartet has often been hailed as one of the leading bands in jazz.” – The New York Times NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart leads his acclaimed quartet in their Smoke debut, an acclaimed group that includes saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street. A legendary drummer, Hart collaborated with some of the essential artists in music history, including Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Shirley Horn, Jimmy Smith, and Wes Montgomery. Detroit Free Press explains, “Freedom, discipline, daring, passion, swing, broken rhythm, orchestral textures, interactive sparring, shocking dynamics, astounding creativity and authority. Want to know what jazz is really about? Listen to Billy Hart.” *PLEASE NOTE: All 7PM and 9PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows
The Jazz Gallery presents Songs of the Season Silver Bell(e)s & Holiday Harmonies – A Very Special TJG Holiday Concert We hope you'll join us as some of our favorite singers & musicians present a festive holiday program to close out 2023 Tickets are on sale now!
São Paulo born and New York based guitarist/composer, Vinicius Gomes explores the dialogue between modern jazz and Brazilian music, as registered on his debut album, "Resiliência" (2017- Blackstream), "Changes" (2020-FreshSound), in collaboration with spanish saxophonist Santi De la Rubia featuring drummer Jorge Rossy and bassist Doug Weiss and the most recent release "HOME" (2022-Greenleaf) in duo with Korean singer Song Yi Jeon. His career includes collaborations with mexican singer/composer Magos Herrera, recording her latest album "Aire" (National Sawdust Tracks), grammy Award winner drummer Edu Ribeiro’s trio, recording the album "News", drummer Duduka da Fonseca, recording his latest album "Quarteto Universal" (Sunnyside), pianist/composer Guillermo Klein, pianist/composer Jon Cowherd, saxophonist Seamus Blake, cuban singer Melvis Santa brazilian accordionist Toninho Ferragutti (recording two albums including the Brazilian Music award winner “A Gata Café”), Zizi Possi (as a guitarist and musical director), orchestras such as São Paulo State Symphony (OSESP), Orlando Symphony and many others. Vinicius is featured as a collaborator in more than 30 records by artists from all over the world. His latest project "Home" in collaboration with korean singer/composer SongYi Jeon has been critically acclaimed by publications such as Downbeat magazine (4.5 stars "Home glows from within and impresses on multiple levels. A powerful empathetic link binds SongYi Jeon and Vinicius Gomes as they explore a near perfect example of a duet project" - Josef Woodard). The album was picked "Jazz album of the year 22" by Star Revue magazine. Vinicius was part of the Focus Year Program in Basel- Switzerland, where he won the 2019 Keep An Eye Award in Amsterdam. Vinícius possesses a masters degree in music from the University of São Paulo (2012) and an Artist diploma from the New York University (2020). He has been performing extensively worldwide in festivals such as Carnegie Hall Citywide (NY), Newport Jazz, Winter Jazz Fest (NY), Jarasum Fest (Korea), Vienna Jazz (Austria), Offbeat (Switzerland), Riviera Maya Jazz (Mexico), Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Savassi Jazz (Brazil), Ilhabela in Jazz (Brazil), Festival de Jazz de Buenos Aires (Argentina) and others. Vinicius has performed with his own projects and as a collaborator in important venues such as Dizzy's Club (NY), Smalls (NY), Jazz Gallery (NY), Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Bellas Artes (Mexico City), National Sawdust (NY), Blue Note (NY), Duc Des Lombards (Paris), Sunset Sunside (Paris), JazzStation (Brussels), B-Flat (Berlin), Zigzag (Berlin) Bird’s Eye (Basel), Porgy And Bess (Vienna), UC Berkeley Theater and many others. Vinicius has performed in more than 20 different countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and has been traveling extensively within the US as well as Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Korea, India and many others.
Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) and Mary Halvorson (guitar) will perform brand new compositions, as well as music from their most recent release, Searching For the Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic Records, 2021). An eagerly awaited follow-up album to 2017’s Crop Circles, the duo presents intricate compositions, telepathic interplay, riotous and ferocious fun: acoustic piano and electric guitar duets have rarely provoked such pleasure. Courvoisier and Halvorson mine the jazz canon for inspiration while finding ways to playfully disrupt each other’s style. Giovanni Russonello, New York Times Top jazz albums of 2021: “The simpatico is now utter and a wonder. Both are players in the New Jazz world who value strong writing and how it connects to improvisation that is not defined or bounded by sets of chord changes.” - Will Layman, PopMatters ★★★★ Courvoisier and Halvorson have a chemistry that brings out something new in both of them. The sounds they make here are both familiar and alien at the same time. This is a totally involving and, in its own warped way, beautiful session of music. - Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz Pianist-composer Sylvie Courvoisier, a native of Switzerland, has earned just renown for balancing two distinct worlds: the deep, richly detailed chamber music of her European roots and the grooving, hook-laden sounds of the downtown jazz scene in New York City, her home for more than two decades. Few artists feel truly at ease in both concert halls and jazz clubs, playing improvised or composed music. But Courvoisier – “a pianist of equal parts audacity and poise,” according to The New York Times – is as compelling when performing Stravinsky’s iconic Rite of Spring in league with Flamenco dancer-choreographer Israel Galván and pianist Cory Smythe as she is when improvising with her own widely acclaimed jazz trio, featuring bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Then there are her ear-opening collaborations with such avant-jazz luminaries as John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Ned Rothenberg , Susie Ibarra, Fred Frith, Christian Fennesz, Mark Feldman, Ken Vandermark and Nate Wooley . In music as in life, Courvoisier crosses borders with a creative spirit and a free mind; her music-making is as playful as it is intense, as steeped in tradition as it is questing and intrepid. JazzTimes has said: “Courvoisier keeps you on the edge of your seat because it feels like the piano cannot contain her. Her careening solos seem to overwhelm and overflow the keyboard and keep spilling.” Guitarist, composer and MacArthur Fellow Mary Halvorson has been called “NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “the most forward-thinking guitarist working right now” (Lars Gotrich, NPR.org) and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). Halvorson’s most recent releases, Amaryllisand Belladonna, showcase her string quartet writing deftly interpreted by The Mivos Quartet, alongside a new sextet featuring Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). The twin debuts for Nonesuch Records, released in May 2022, were called “...new landmarks in Halvorson’s already inimitable discography” in a five star review by The Guardian. Collaborative projects include the longstanding collective ensemble Thumbscrew (also with Formanek and Fujiwara), and a chamber-jazz duo with violist Jessica Pavone. Over the past two decades Ms. Halvorson has also performed in bands led by Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Trevor Dunn, Tomas Fujiwara, Ingrid Laubrock, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith and John Zorn, among others.
Kalia Vandever is an American trombonist and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her approach to the trombone is distinctive and defined by her sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational voice. She leans into the challenges of the instrument and allows patience and melody guide her process. In her compositional practice, Kalia draws from her love of songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. She released her debut ensemble album, "In Bloom" in 2019 which has been described as "the rise of an exciting voice for the music" (Seton Hawkins, Hot House Jazz Magazine). Her sophomore album, Regrowth released in May, 2022 on New Amsterdam Records and "confirms her strengths as a composer and bandleader with a distinctly contemporary point of view." (Nate Chinen, WBGO Jazz) Her debut solo album,We Fell In Turn featuring her works for trombone, voice and electronics released on AKP Records in March, 2023.
“I ain’t got no f*cking other plan,” says the legendary Bettye LaVette. She’s talking about her 61-year storied career, beginning in 1960’s Detroit, with a resurgence in the mid-2000’s. For her latest LP, simply titled LaVette!, she teamed once again with producer Steve Jordan for a special release on Jay-Vee Records, the label founded by Jordan and Meegan Voss. An interpreter without peer, Bettye chose to record an album of songs written by Randall Bramblett. “I think he’s the best songwriter I’ve heard in the past 30 years,” says LaVette, “and I just discovered him eight years ago.” “Bettye LaVette is like a combination of Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis,” says Jordan. “When I prepare a band for her, I make sure we have it together. When she joins us, we’re only gonna get one or two takes, because she puts her heart and soul into each performance.” The late, great George Jones, called her "a singer's singer". Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Bettye’s parents, Louisiana migrants, ran a club out of their home. They sold corn liquor and chicken sandwiches and spun records for the Black auto-parts workers and traveling gospel groups who didn’t have a hangout to kick back in and call their own. She was a toddler, listening in on old folks' business; learning old folks' ways. Some of that was conversation, observing the interactions, the repartee; some of it was the 78s that spun on the family’s jukebox — a trove of blues, gospel, country & western, and the latest R&B that filtered through AM radio playlists. “When Bettye gets a hold of a song, it becomes her song,” Jordan explains. “It’s like she wrote it. She’s a great messenger, a communicator, an interpreter. “I’m very happy with what we’ve done,” Bettye adds. “It is very, very difficult to please an old woman, but I’m nearly excited.” She is a six-time Grammy nominee, has recieved a Pioneer Award from The Rhythm & Blues Foundation, has won several Blues Music Awards, has been inducted into The Blues Hall Of Fame and received the Legacy Award from the Americana Association. Bettye is one of very few of her contemporaries who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 1960s and is still creating vital recordings today. She and her full band will be presenting songs from the new album as well as some older favorites.
Simple Trio will be going into the studio right after this concert, and so will be playing a bunch of brand new music! Doyeon Kim and Henry Fraser will play an improvised set to start the evening off!
Celebrating their new album "Radiance"