Tag: Dazzle Jazz

Musical Style: Blues, Soul Blues
Johnny Rawls is a soul blues legend. In fact, the term “soul blues” was invented to describe his music. With a career spanning more than 50 years, he’s done it all. He’s an internationally recognized recording artist, music producer, and songwriter who tours extensively throughout North America and overseas.
The Blues Music Awards, Blues Blast Awards, Living Blues Awards, and the W. C. Handy Awards have all acknowledged Johnny with multiple awards and nominations, including Soul Blues Album of the Year and Soul Blues Artist of the Year. Living Blues Magazine described him as a “soul-blues renaissance man” when he was featured on the cover in 2002. Johnny is honored to be mentioned on two markers along the Mississippi Blues Trail – one in Hattiesburg, MS marking the Hi-Hat Club, and another in Rocklin ME marking the migration of blues from Mississippi to Maine.

When Keyon Harrold is listing the influences that he turned to during the creation of his rich and evocative new album Foreverland (January 2024 / Concord), he cites the likes of Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, Fela Kuti, John Coltrane, and, for a second, he becomes vulnerable — the list is too basic, too serious music listener starter pack. But, out of that moment of insecurity, he spins an indelible flex: “You are what you eat, and I have a pretty strict diet in dope shit.”

Taking in Keyon Harrold’s career to-date, it’s clear that the “world-class trumpeter” (Essence) and composer is very serious about that diet. He’s a jazz musician but in the most expansive sense, working with a list of dream collaborators: generational legends Keith Richards and Diana Ross; rap stars like Mac Miller and Nas; neo-soul icons Erykah Badu and D’Angelo; and modern soul stars Black Pumas and Leon Bridges. His circle of regular collaborators is formidable and includes his music industry mentor Common (who hired him for his first touring gig), his New School classmate Robert Glasper, and GRAMMY winners Maxwell, PJ Morton, Gregory Porter, and YEBBA.

There’s also his extensive touring and recording work with pop music royalty, Jay-Z and Beyonce. And, while it’s perhaps lazy to compare Keyon to Miles Davis, the connection is a little more apropos than at first glance: Harrold contributed all of the trumpet playing in Don Cheadle’s GRAMMY-winning Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, playing to match Cheadle’s on-screen performances.

Keyon has recorded two acclaimed solo records, 2009’s Introducing Keyon Harrold and 2017’s breakthrough release The Mugician, which established Keyon as “a certified legend in the game” (Okayplayer). Featuring Pharoahe Monch, Gary Clark, Jr., Big K.R.I.T., Guy Torry, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Robert Glasper, the record garnered praise from The New York Times (“stirring…consolidates elegy and exhortation”) and Billboard (“equal parts music and magic”).

However, the origins of Foreverland begin not at the crest of a professional and artistic high but in the doldrums of COVID-19 lockdown. A pandemic birthday found Keyon adrift. It was a period of stagnation, of exhaustion in the wake of challenges both universal (global health catastrophe, racial injustice) and personal (the passing of his mother, the highly publicized and racially charged assault of his 14-year-old son).

Looking for a break and a fresh perspective, a recommendation from his brother and a friend had him headed to Vegas. But instead of the tables, Keyon hit the studio. After months of isolation, it was invigorating to reconnect with friends after so long apart. This camaraderie was the creative spark Keyon needed. The sessions were loose and exploratory, but with an artistic focus he hadn’t felt in years.

The resulting music was mesmerizing. Keyon embraced a less-is-more attitude: “It was almost minimalist in a way. I wanted it to sound as if it’s easy but there’s more complexity deep within, to pull melody and beauty out of the abstract.” He allowed harmonic structures to vamp, slowly thickening harmonies for maximum emotional impact.

“Each song has a harmony that evokes a mood,” Keyon says. “I invite you to live in this tonality with me. It’s not about a million notes a second, it’s about finding the right mood to open people’s chakras. The color of each mood gives me solace — it allowed me to reignite the hopes I had, to begin digging out of a down period.”

With live music on pause, the rare luxury of time allowed Keyon to sculpt these largely improvised sounds into a shape that evoked and conveyed each emotion he was grasping at. It was a deliberate and thoughtful process. Says Keyon: “It took me a long time to say what I want to say, to really hone in on what I do. I want to make songs that hit like pop radio but have a depth of color and character, to embrace the genius in simplicity.”

Foreverland is reflective, immediate and uplifting. Keyon harnesses the raw expression of those original Vegas takes and creates a dreamy yet tactile landscape of sound. It provides the perfect canvas for his playing, his tone projecting a creamy clarity but navigating ambiguous waters with an open-hearted hopefulness. “What I can offer as a musician who plays an instrument with no words is an honest conveyance of emotion,” says Keyon. “Some of these notes, I play them because there’s not a better word.”

Foreverland is a family affair — pretty much every musician who appears on the record is a longtime friend, and Keyon accounts the record’s warmness to this dynamic. “It’s like the ingredients of a great meal: you don’t need just any pepper, you need a certain kind. Every musician on this record is a rare and essential element.”

Each collaboration brings Foreverland into further focus. PJ Morton lends a wistful vocal to the nostalgic “Beautiful Day,” a track that radiates positivity as it revels in the gifts of everyday existence. Elsewhere, Common and Robert Glasper contribute to the sweep and poetry of the almost mystical album opener “Find Your Peace,” a track that exhorts listeners to embrace their own agency and summon their inner strength. Meanwhile, the Laura Mvula-featuring title track is the very quintessence of the word lush — stacks of vocal harmonies stretch endlessly in a spiritual merger between Pharoah Sanders’ skybound jazz odysseys and the warm invitation of vintage soul.

“Don’t Lie,” which features the emerging young singer Malaya, pairs a levitating keyboard figure with a stuttering rhythm that’s part Art Blakey drum fill, part J Dilla sample chop. Against much of the album’s tranquility, it portrays an internal tumult — the kind that Keyon feels is necessary for growth. “The operative word in testimony is test. The troubles are troublesome but they’re part of my walk, and there’s value in having a different experience, good or bad. It gives me a deeper context to pull from and enrich the message of my music.”

“Pictures,” Foreverland’s penultimate track, is the sonic articulation of the internal recalibration that follows these tests. Keyon’s yearnful singing on the track is ever more poignant when considering his mother’s passing: “When I miss you, images shout in a quiet room / I’ll atone / I’ll fix everything that’s wrong.”

Even apart from its compositional intricacies and stylistic innovations, Foreverland is a triumph of resilience and empowerment. “What will be said when you’re gone?,” says Keyon. “If you’re not living life — getting beat up, getting your heart broken, winning, losing — what are you doing? What about your life can people learn from? If you don’t put yourself in the ring sometimes, there won’t be anything.” On Foreverland, Keyon takes life’s challenges head-on — and emerges, in both music and in life, with a renewed sense of purpose.

Musical Style: Jazz, Vocal Jazz
Named by her jazz loving grandmother, Jazzmeia Horn was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1991. She grew up in a close church-going family singing gospel music.
Ms. Horn graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which was attended by other great artists such as Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones, and Erykah Badu. In 2009, she enrolled at The School of Jazz at The New School in New York City.
Ms. Horn won the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition and, shortly after, was signed by Concord Records. In 2017, she released her debut album, A Social Call, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Ms. Horn continued to tour nationally and internationally, honing her vocal, performance and writing skills, to get across her message about the global need for love and social change in the world. In 2019, she released Love and Liberation which also received a Grammy nomination. The following year, she published her book, Strive From Within: The Jazzmeia Horn Approach, while recording her big band album, Dear Love.
Dear Love, an album of encouragement through poetry and spoken word addressing the aspects of her community, her love and herself, was released in September 2021.
All while performing, writing, and preparing for a fall 2023 release of her new album, Ms. Horn is teaching students and conducting outreach programs across the globe through The Jazz Horn International Vocal Initiative.

Born in Harlem and raised on the Upper West Side of NYC, Bobby Broom took up guitar at 12 and five years later, in 1977, made his first appearance with Sonny Rollins at Carnegie Hall. Even prior to that auspicious start, he had dedicated himself to the art, culture, and life of jazz, with the goals of learning to express himself within the idiom, while honoring its historical traditions and spirit.

Nearly 50 years later, Bobby has amassed a formidable jazz pedigree, working closely with historic figures such as Rollins, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Stanley Turrentine and Kenny Burrell, as well as many of his contemporaries. To date he has made fifteen leader recordings and has traveled to perform, as an accompanying musician and with his own ensembles, in countries on

five continents.

Broom is a tenured Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University and has devoted much of his career to jazz education. He began teaching at the tertiary level under the direction of NEA Jazz Fellow and saxophone great Jackie McLean at University of Hartford. Bobby has also worked with high school students through the Herbie Hancock (formerly Thelonious Monk) Institute and currently, with the Ravinia Jazz Mentor Program.

Musical Style: Jazz Fusion
“Noy is a true experimentalist who lives on the common ground shared by Thelonious Monk, James Brown, Jimmy Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Stevie Ray Vaughn.” – Rock & Blues Muse
Born in Israel, Oz Noy started his professional career at the age of 13 playing jazz, blues, pop and rock music. By age 16, he was playing with top Israeli musicians and artists. By age 24, he was one of the most established studio guitar players in the country. Oz was also a member of the house band on Israel’s top-rated television show for more than two years. With 8 studio albums and 9 solo albums, his prolific talent shines.
Since his 1996 arrival in New York, Oz has made a huge impact on the local and international music scene. His unique and intoxicating style has broken all the rules of instrumental guitar music by focusing on the groove.
Oz Noy has performed, toured and recorded with Richard Bona, Chris Botti, Gavin DeGraw, Harry Belafonte, Cyndi Lauper, Clay Aiken, Akiko Yano, Wonder Girls, Toni Braxton, Phoebe Snow, Nile Rogers, Mike Clark, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Dave Weckl, Mike Manieri, John Patitucci, The East Village Opera Company, Roger Glover, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, The Gil Evan Orchestra, Warren Hayes, Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers, Umphrey’s Mcgee, Allen Toussaint, Eric Johnson, Mike Stern, John Abercrombie, Wallace Roney, Steve Lukather, John Medeski, Chris Potter, Fred Wesley, Tom Scott, Don Was, Nelly Furtado, Natasha Bedingfield, Phillip Phillips, Andy Grammer, Angelique Kidjo, Matisyahu, Jennifer Hudson, Henry Butler, Gart Hudson, Don Henley, Patti Austin, Take 6, Michael Buble, Josh Groban, Phil Ramone, Paul Shaffer, Dweezil Zappa, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Sting, Steve Perry, Allison Krauss, Foreigner, Patty Smyth, Wiz Khalifa, Shelea, Jordin Sparks, Average White Band, Christopher Cross, TYP, Betty Buckley, Idina Menzel, Luke Nelson, Justin Timberlake, Bonnie Raitt, Lizzo, Dave Mathews, Cat Stevens, Scary Pockets among others.
Oz also conducts periodic master classes at The Collective School of Music (New York City), Musicians Institute (Los Angeles), and others.
Jimmy Haslip was born December 31st, 1951 in the Bronx, New York. He grew up in Huntington, Long Island. In 1963 at the age of 13, he became interested in electric bass and has now been playing for 47+ years. Jimmy left New York in 1969 playing music in San Francisco, New Orleans, Denver and Dallas before moving on to Los Angeles in late 1975, where he began touring and recording with many different popular artists.
In 1978 Jimmy Haslip met guitarist Robben Ford and keyboardist Russell Ferrante and formed a group to record Robben’s first solo recording on Electra-Asylum. This critically acclaimed album, called The Inside Story became a landmark recording. That album led to the formation of The Yellowjackets and in 1980 they recorded a debut album for Warner Bros. Records.
Jimmy is actively composing, arranging, producing and performing with Yellowjackets, the two time Grammy winners.
Hailing from South Africa, and completing his music degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston Anton Fig’s career as a drummer has spanned decades; he’s worked alongside artists like Ace Frehley, Link Wray, Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, Madonna, Mick Jagger, and countless more. His technical proficiency, distinctive style, and deep musical knowledge ultimately earned him the nickname “The Thunder from Down Under.” But if you’re David Letterman, you might have called him “Anton Zip” or “Buddy Rich Jr.” when Fig, Paul Schaffer, and the World’s Most Dangerous Band were serving as Letterman’s house band.
It was in 1986 that he joined the Late Show with David Letterman – a position held for 29 years until the show ended! During that run he played with the worlds’ greatest musicians including Miles Davis, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennet, Steve Winwood, to name just a few. When the Letterman Show ended, Anton toured extensively with guitarist Joe Bonamassa as well as playing on most of his albums and live projects since 2006.
Anton recorded an instructional video – “In the Groove Late/Night Drumming” – and was voted #1 Best Rock Drummer in Modern Drummer’s Readers Poll 2010.
He also played many memorable live concerts including Live Aid, The Concert for New York City for 9/11, Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert, and countless Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards shows.
Oz Noy, guitar
Jimmy Haslip, bass
Anton Fig, drums

Musical Style: Jazz Harp
The sonically innovative harpist, Brandee Younger, is revolutionizing harp for the digital era. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists. In 2022, she made history by becoming the first black woman to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Ever-expanding as an artist, she has worked with cultural icons including Common, Lauryn Hill, John Legend, and Moses Sumney. Her current album, Brand New Life, builds on her already rich oeuvre, and cements the harp’s place in pop culture. As the title of the album suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths–artistic, personal, political, and spiritual. On this album, Younger salutes her musical foremother, the trailblazing harpist Dorothy Ashby, while also speaking to the sentiments of more recent generations. “We’re bringing new life to Dorothy Ashby’s popular and previously unreleased compositions. We’re creating new life…for the instrument,” Younger said. Brand New Life is an album about living fully, in neon bright color.
In March of 2022, Younger flew to Chicago and began recording Brand New Life in the home studio of her long time collaborator and friend, Makaya McCraven, who both produced and played drums on the album. In the Windy City, Younger hoped to harness some of Ashby’s funky energy from a recording she did there nearly five decades before. Younger gathered artists who have had a sense of kinship with Ashby; from the internationally-lauded neo-soul bassist/vocalist/rapper Meshell Ndegeocello, to her long-time bassist Rashaan Carter, plus the legendary rapper and producer Pete Rock and the talented contemporary producer 9th Wonder. The latter producers introduced hip hop and R&B listeners to Ashby in the 1990s and early 2000s via slick samples. Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s 1992 release, “For Pete’s Sake,” samples Ashby’s 1968 hit “Come Live With Me.” 9th Wonder’s remix of singer Amerie’s 2003 R&B classic “Why Don’t We Fall in Love,” also includes a Dorothy Ashby sample from “Come Live With Me.” With Younger’s solo rendition of this heavily sampled song on Brand New Life, she builds a sonic bridge between generations. “I wanted everyone on the record to have a special connection to Dorothy [Ashby],” she said. For the project, Younger also recorded a number of Ashby’s compositions that were never recorded before, alongside Ashby fan favorites and Younger originals.
The emotional complexity of the album is stunningly captured in the title track, “Brand New Life,” an original co-written by Younger and singer, Mumu Fresh. “This love is so deep, time and space couldn’t keep you away from me,” Mumu Fresh sings. Younger’s playing paints lush details over Mumu Fresh’s smooth vocals leaving nothing to be sonically desired. Against the backdrop of current social issues–climate change, racism, health disparities, and women’s rights–the song speaks to a desire that many people have for change, for something new in the world. “Brand New Life” reaches listeners at the level of the human.
Love is a subtle but insistent thread throughout the album. The opening track, “You’re a Girl For One Man Only,” is a previously unrecorded Dorothy Ashby composition. Sonically, it is tender and evocative of a first kiss or the early seasons of new romance. Younger recalls the original song’s lyrics’ more traditional message of romantic longing that we still hear in popular music today. Boy chases girl. Girl succumbs. In Younger’s version, there is a sense of agency and exploration. Younger creates a mesmerizing atmosphere. In the second half of the track we are met with a delicate dance between Joel Ross on vibraphone and Younger on harp, the two instruments pining through the melody.
Brand New Life is part of her steadfast efforts to amplify the contributions of black women harpists and to keep their legacies alive. Her care for and attention to Dorothy Ashby as a musical ancestor has been consistent throughout her career. Akin to the popular hashtag, #CiteBlackWomen, which demands that consumers credit and recognize black women for their intellectual labor, Younger urges us to recognize Ashby’s contribution to the American songbook. The album is part of a larger project of recognizing not only the history of innovators of distinguished harp – a history that places Ashby and Younger together on a continuum – but also the presence of everyday black women.
“Running Game” was an obscure seven-inch single release originally entitled “Double Talkin’” and featured Ashby on piano. In the song’s intro, we hear what sounds like a casual conversation at a black women’s beauty salon or at a social gathering of sorts where women freely share advice and observations on life with one another. The voices in the intro are of Younger’s mother and aunt. Younger sets up listeners by reading the lyrics from Ashby’s original. “Every man I meet is double talkin.’ Where did the good men go?” The women candidly respond to the song lyrics. One says, “As far as game, men have been running game since day one.” The track leads into, “Running Game,” a ballad with inflections of Negro spirituals and the blues. Here, Younger’s expressivity on her instrument is incomparable. As the strings (arranged by DeSean Jones) hum behind her, the “double-talking” gold-digging man comes into full view. “Running-Game” ends on a note of optimism, of marching forward despite life’s struggle.
Younger was born and raised in Hempstead, New York. As a teen in the early 1990s, she bopped to the beats of artists like LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, and Busta Rhymes. Among these hip hop greats, she discovered Ashby’s music by way of hip hop legend Pete Rock. She began playing harp at the age of eleven and eventually enrolled at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford in Connecticut where she studied classical music. It was through the encouragement of legendary saxophonist Jackie McLean that she made her first foray into jazz with the harp.
Hearing Ashby for the first time led her to envision new possibilities for herself as a harpist. “She was covering all of these popular tunes and soundtracks [of the time] and I wanted to do that. She’s playing pop, jazz and everyone’s sampling her–DJ Premier, Pete Rock, J. Dilla. Hearing, then seeing her as a Black Woman, while I’m this random little isolated black girl playing a harp by myself was everything to me.” Younger forged her way with a small but mighty group of black women harpists as examples—Sarah Lawrence from her hometown, Ann Hobson-Pilot, Dorothy Ashby, and Alice Coltrane—who were consistent sources of inspiration.
In 2006, after graduating from the Hartt School, Younger went on to develop a name for herself on the jazz and commercial recording scene in New York City. To date, her performance roster is fierce. As a side-woman, she has played alongside jazz icons such as Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette and Reggie Workman. Younger’s commitment to carrying the torch can also be seen through her work as a performer and educator. In 2008, she earned a Master of Music from New York University’s Steinhardt School. During this time, she began to work seriously as an educator. She has been guest faculty and lecturer at numerous universities including but not limited to Berklee College of Music, Princeton University, Howard University and Tulane University. Currently, she serves as teaching artist faculty at New York University and The New School.
In 2020, Younger was named winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll in the category of “Rising Star” harpist. Her work as side-woman is evidence of Younger’s undeniable presence in the sound of contemporary jazz today. In recent years, she has appeared on albums by Lakecia Benjamin, Robert Glasper, Jeremy Pelt, The Baylor Project and Makaya McCraven, just to name a few. In addition to her contributions as a side-woman, Younger’s commitment to honoring the legacy of black women harpists can be seen through her curatorial work. She has curated a number of performances dedicated to honoring the work of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. This work speaks to her dedication as a purveyor of black music and history.

Musical Style: Jazz
“Run the Gauntlet” emerges as the latest album from Kris Davis, accompanied by the extraordinary talents of bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake. Seamlessly melding composition with improvisation, this album stands as a testament to Davis’ singular voice within the jazz landscape.
The title, ‘Run the Gauntlet,’ serves as a metaphor for overcoming challenges to achieve one’s goals. In this project, Davis pays homage to six trailblazing women pianists who have left an indelible mark on her journey as a pianist and composer: Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Renee Rosnes, Angelica Sanchez, Marilyn Crispell, and Sylvie Courvoisier. These remarkable women not only navigated the male-dominated field of jazz but also profoundly influenced Davis’s development as a pianist and composer. By dedicating the album to these extraordinary women, Davis honors their resilience and groundbreaking contributions as leaders in the jazz community.

Kris Davis, piano
Robert Hurst, bass
Johnathon Blake, drums

“A phenomenal talent whose feel for classic soul music is bone deep…This woman is on fire.” — The New York Times
Morgan James is a Juilliard trained singer, songwriter, actress and recording artist in New York City.
Morgan is currently on tour supporting her fifth studio album, “Nobody’s Fool”. She independently released her studio albums of original soul music, entitled Memphis Magnetic, and A Very Magnetic Christmas recorded to analog tape in Memphis, Tennessee. Other albums include “Reckless Abandon”, which prompted the Huffington Post to call MJ the “Brightest Breakout Artist of the Year”. In addition to her original music, Morgan co-produced and starred in an all-female concept recording of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. Morgan has taken on full album covers of the Beatles’ iconic ‘White Album’, Joni Mitchell’s “Blue”, Jeff Buckley’s “Grace”, and many more. Morgan recorded two full-length albums with Epic Records: “Hunter” and “Morgan James Live, a celebration of Nina Simone“. All of her music can be found on all streaming platforms, and hard copies on her website or at shows.
On Broadway, Morgan was in five back-to-back original companies: The Addams Family (starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth), Wonderland, Godspell and Motown: The Musical, and as a guest at Kristin Chenoweth’s For The Girls.
With viral sensation Postmodern Jukebox and with her own YouTube channel, Morgan’s music videos have accumulated more than 285 million views (and climbing).

Morgan James will host a VIP Meet and Greet before her show at Dazzle – for information or to purchase a seat for the VIP Meet and Greet go to https://www.dazzledenver.com/morgan-james-vip-meet-and-greet/

For more information, please visit www.morganjamesonline.com. @morganajames

Cyrille Aimée grew up in a multilingual household full of music where dancing was an everyday activity, soundtracked by the Afro-Caribbean sounds of her mother’s native Dominican Republic. The family home was in Samois-sur-Seine, the location of the Django Reinhardt Festival, and the teenage Cyrille would climb out of her bedroom window at night to mingle with the players, igniting a passion for jazz.

Moving to New York City, her talents quickly gained her a reputation among her peers as a matchless interpreter of song. She performed and recorded with Roy Hargrove and stole the show in front of the notoriously hard-to-please crowd at the Harlem Apollo. Steven Sondheim invited her to star in a tribute at New York’s City Centre, backed by Wynton Marsalis. Her 2019 album Move On featured versions of Sondheim’s songs which received praise from Sondheim himself, and her version of “Marry Me a Little”, was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award.

At the height of her New York success, new horizons beckoned. Visiting New Orleans, she fell in love with the energy and diversity of the city and made it her home. Linking back to New York to connect up all the dots, she teamed up with producer/multi-instrumentalist Jake Sherman, and together they have created her latest album, A Fleur de Peau. to be released on a new label, the London-based imprint Whirlwind Recordings Combining the depth and sophistication of jazz, the immediacy of pop, the irrepressible dance rhythms of the Caribbean, it’s more intimate and more accessible than anything Cyrille has done before.

Musical Style: Jazz hip hop fusion
Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions.
On his first two studio albums GO GET ICE CREAM AND LISTEN TO JAZZ and I THINK I’M GOOD, Kassa layered virtuosic drumming, meticulous production techniques, and incisive lyricism to establish himself as a rhythmic innovator and visionary poet, using his voice to address the injustices of the carceral system, the pharmaceutical industry, and anti-black racism, while wrangling with the perils of his own mental illness.
On ANIMALS, his Warp Records debut out May 26, Kassa pushes his kaleidoscopic, subversive vision further. He layers Roland 808s against avant-garde drumming in the vein of his mentors Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, the latter of whom he studied with at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Virtuoso musos appear alongside rap poets, including Danny Brown, Wiki, Lil B, and Shabazz Palaces. Top-flight jazz improvisation weaves in and out of orchestral string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff. The album’s diverse, all-star roster of collaborators includes several of his close friends, like vocalists Nick Hakim, Laura Mvula, Francis and the Lights, and jazz stars like Theo Croker and Vijay Iyer.
ANIMALS pushes Kassa’s message further too, the title a loaded metaphor for the paradoxes of his life as an entertainer and as a black man in America. ANIMALS is the sound of an artist aware of the cost of embodying one’s natural self in the public eye, a deep reckoning with the two-sided truth that to perform one’s freedom for an audience can mean succumbing to life inside a cage.

Musical Style: Jazz
Scott Amendola, Ben Goldberg, & Todd Sickafoose play the music of Thelonious Monk, and more!

Scott Amendola, Ben Goldberg, and Todd Sickafoose have been playing music together in various forms for nearly 30 years. Together as a trio they bring virtuosic mastery of their instruments, along with band sensibility to create a playful, and thoughtful musical experience. Thelonious Monk’s music has captured their collective heart ever since they all heard him as young upstarts. Along with original music, the trio will journey through all kinds of moods, and musical landscapes.
“If Scott Amendola didn’t exist, the San Francisco music scene would have to invent him.” 
Derk Richardson, San Francisco Bay Guardian . For Scott Amendola, the drum kit isn’t so much an instrument as a musical portal. An ambitious composer, savvy bandleader and capaciously creative foil for some of the world’s most inventive musicians, Amendola applies his rhythmic virtuosity to a vast array of settings. His closest musical associates include guitarists, Nels Cline, Jeff Parker, Charlie Hunter, Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades, violinists Regina Carter and Jenny Scheinman, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, players who have each forged a singular path within and beyond the realm of jazz.
Todd Sickafoose is a Tony and Grammy award-winning composer, producer, orchestrator, bandleader and double bassist. He produced and co-arranged all three albums of the Broadway hit Hadestown and also produced Anaïs Mitchell’s album Young Man in America. Since 2004, Sickafoose has recorded and performed internationally with artist/activist Ani DiFranco. Straddling the worlds of folk, indie rock, jazz and chamber music, his own band Tiny Resistors has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Stern Grove Festival, Angel City Jazz Festival and been featured on many “Best-Of” lists including the Village Voice and JazzTimes. Writing for Tiny Resistors, he recently created Bear Proof, a long-form chamber jazz hybrid commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation.
Clarinetist / composer Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano. Since 1992, when his group New Klezmer Trio “kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music” (SF Chronicle), Ben has shaped a career through curiosity and experimentation. The New York Times says Ben’s music “conveys a feeling of joyous research into the basics of polyphony and collective improvising.” Downbeat Magazine has twice named him Rising Star Clarinetist.
Scott Amendola – drums/percussion/electronics
Ben Goldberg – clarinet
Todd Sickafoose – bass

Join multi award-pianist and composer Charu Suri, who has made history by performing four times at Carnegie Hall as the first Indian jazz artist to do so, in her debut at Dazzle. Charu blends Indian ragas (modal scales) with jazz and has composed five albums, including her latest, RAGS & RAGAS, which was recorded with Steve Gadd, John Patitucci, and Joe Lastie. Join her in a very special evening, relax and listen to her unique world that New York City Jazz Record says defies Rudyard Kipling’s saying, “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”

Musical Style: Jazz
Nduduzo Makhathini grew up in the lush and rugged hillscapes of umGungundlovu in South Africa, a peri-urban landscape in which music and ritual practices were symbiotically linked. The area is significant historically as the site of the Zulu king Dingane kingdom between 1828 and 1840. It is important to note that the Zulu, in fact the African warrior code, is deeply reliant on music for motivation and healing. This deeply embedded symbiosis is key to understanding Makhathini’s vision.
The church also played a role in Makhathini’s musical understanding, as he hopped from church to church in his younger days in search of only the music. The legends of South African jazz are deep influences as well, Bheki Mseleku, Moses Molelekwa, and Abdullah Ibrahim. “The earlier musicians put a lot of emotions in the music they played,” he says. “I think it may also be linked to the political climate of those days. I also feel there is a uniqueness about South African jazz that created an interest all around the world and we are slowly losing that too in our music today. I personally feel that our generation has to be very conscious about retaining these nuances in the music we play today.”
Through his mentor Mseleku, Makhathini was also introduced to the music of John Coltrane’s classic quartet with McCoy Tyner. “I came to understand my voice as a pianist through John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme,” he says. “As someone who started playing jazz very late, I had always been looking for a kind of playing that could mirror or evoke the way my people danced, sung and spoke. Tyner provided that and still does in meaningful ways.” Makhathini also cites American jazz pianists including Andrew Hill, Randy Weston and Don Pullen as significant influences.
Active as an educator and researcher, Makhathini is the head of the music department at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape. He has performed at renowned festivals including the Cape own International Jazz Festival and the Essence Festival (in both New Orleans and South Africa), and in 2019 made his debut appearances the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, as well as Jazz at Lincoln Center where he was a featured guest with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on their 3-night musical celebration The South African Songbook in Rose Theater. He is a member of Shabaka Hutchings’ band Shabaka and the Ancestors appearing on their 2016 album Wisdom of Elders, and has also collaborated with artists including Logan Richardson, Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen, Stefon Harris, Billy Harper, Azar Lawrence, and Ernest Dawkins.
In addition to producing albums for his peers (such as Thandiswa Mazwai’s Belede and Tumi Mogorosi’s Project Elo), Makhathini has released eight albums of his own since 2014 when he founded the label Gundu Entertainment in partnership with his wife and vocalist Omagugu Makhathini. Those albums earned him multiple awards and include Sketches of Tomorrow (2014). Mother Tongue (2014). Listening to the Ground (2015), Matunda Ya Kwanza (2015); Icilongo: The African Peace Suite (2016) Inner Dimensions (2016), and Reflections (2016). His 2017 album Ikhambi was the first to be released on Universal Music South Africa and won Best Jazz Album at the South African Music Awards (SAMA) in 2018. His Blue Note debut Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds was released in 2020 to wide critical acclaim earning many end of the year “Best Of” lists.

Musical Style: Jazz
Singer Tierney Sutton and pianist Tamir Hendelman have a musical relationship that goes back over 20 years. While Sutton racked up 9 Grammy nominations for her 14 albums as leader, Hendelman was arranging, recording and performing with Barbra Streisand and Natalie Cole, leading his own trio, and being the featured pianist of the Jeff Hamilton Trio and Grammy-Winning Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. And along side all this, Tierney and Tamir still found time to tour as a duo in Italy, Japan, China and throughout the U.S.
Yet it was the pandemic that cemented and deepened the partnership of these 2 LA-based artists. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Tierney and Tamir created and presented live-streamed themed shows as well as creating “By Request” video dedications for fans around the world.
Says Sutton: “This is truly one of my very favorite projects. No pianist in the world swings harder than Tamir and he’s an encyclopedia of songs so I’m able to be so free and improvisational. This project is a joy.”

Alumni of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance and 1st Place Winner in the Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition, Alex Hahn is a Grammy Award Winning saxophonist, composer, and educator based in Southern California. Hahn has performed and recorded with notable names such as Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, and has recorded on Michael Bublé’s last three Grammy Nominated Albums including “Higher,” which won a Grammy Award in 2023. Hahn is also a featured soloist on the Eddie Murphy movie Coming 2 America. Hahn currently serves as the Director of Jazz at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
He is an endorsed artist with Eastman Winds, D’Addario Woodwinds, and Key Leaves.
About Childhood Melodies: La Reserve Records
Childhood Melodies, my fifth studio solo album, features original arrangements of the music from my childhood. Growing up with two musician parents who were also music educators, music has always been a huge part of my life. My family loved to listen to artists like Barbara Streisand, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and songs from classic Disney movies. At an early age, these melodies helped shape my musical personality. Each song on this album has a unique story of when and where I first heard it, how it has influenced me musically, and how it has been significant in my life.

Musical Style: Jazz
Hailed as a “Sax Phenom” by the New York Daily News, Chad LB has toured globally as a bandleader and with superstars ranging from Chris Botti to Taylor Swift. Chad has been a featured soloiston 2 GRAMMY-winning albums and in concert with premiere ensembles like the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Multi-Grammy winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. No stranger to the big screen, Chad has made appearances on numerous TV shows with pop icons and rock legends like Don Henley, as well as the Hollywood film “Here Today” with Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish.

Musical Style: Black American Music
As a leading voice in American popular music, the Grammy Award-winning Nicholas Payton is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, producer, arranger, essayist, and social activist who defies musical and artistic categories. All the while, he honors the tradition of what he terms “postmodern New Orleans music,” as well as the spirit of Black American Music, of which he states, “There are no fields, per se. There are lineages.”
The New Orleans-born Payton has followed his calling since growing up under the tutelage of his parents — acclaimed bassist Walter Payton and Maria Payton, a pianist and vocalist. Already a prodigy before entering the first grade, he began playing trumpet at age four and started performing professionally at age 10. Before the age of 20, he was already in demand by everyone from Danny Barker and Clark Terry to Elvin Jones and Marcus Roberts. Payton released his first album, From this Moment, in 1995 on the famed Verve label. He received his first Grammy nomination in 1997 for the album Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton, and for the category of Best Instrumental Solo, which found him winning the award that year.
Payton has released over 20 recordings as a leader, pushing musical boundaries and showcasing a variety of contemporary and traditional styles, while displaying his ambidextrous ability to play both the trumpet and keyboard at the same time when he’s inspired to do so. He has collaborated with numerous mentors and contemporaries alike, ranging from Common and Cassandra Wilson to Trey Anastasio, MonoNeon, and Jill Scott, to Dr. John, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste of The
Meters, Allen Toussaint, and Abbey Lincoln to name a few. His most recent albums are Quarantined with Nick and Maestro Rhythm King, both released in 2020.
“Everything I write is about life experiences. The music means nothing without life. A life lived. It’s not just notes on a page. It’s not just a technical exercise. It’s vibrations and energy,” Payton says. “And I’m striving to help lift, if possible, raise the vibration of the collective conscious one audience, one album, one song at a time. If I can’t do that, there’s no point in me playing. That’s why I play. It’s about contributing to society and inspiring. That’s my life as an artist, period. Challenging people to think differently, to think critically and to not be slaves to the system and
the status quo.”
In addition to Payton’s work as a performer, he is an equally respected composer, having written The Black American Symphony an orchestral work, which the Czech National Symphony Orchestra commissioned and performed. He led a live concert performance of Miles Davis’ renowned Sketches of Spain with the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland.
“Pretty much all the music that I play is centered in Black culture, Black music. And that’s why I’ve eschewed jazz and came up with the terminology, Black American Music, because I want to be connected to the whole of it,” Payton says about genre. “It’s all the same. John Coltrane and Charlie Parker and James Brown could be neighbors. So what’s the distinction there? The only difference in the music is who they came through, and where they’re from.”
As a leader, Payton’s seminal writings and discussions on the problematics of the term and associations of “jazz” have inspired musicians, researchers, music listeners, and thinkers alike. As such, he termed Black American Music, or #BAM for short, to represent the breadth of improvisational musical creations created by Black people in the U.S., regardless of genre. His introduction of #BAM into the lexicon of popular music discourse landed him an entry in the New York Times’ “The Decade in Jazz: 10 Definitive Moments” in 2019.
“(Black American Music) is … a liberation music, it is our first global recognition in humanizing, if you will, a class of people who were systematically dehumanized for centuries,” Payton says. “The concern for me is to draw from the wellspring of all the great Black ancestors who inspired me to play this music in the first place. And to hopefully keep that energy, that spirit.”
Through his mission-driven work and art, Payton continues to creatively move boundaries, while inspiring and remaining inspired by the pioneering lineage of Black American Music, of which he is a part.

Jane Monheit is a jazz and adult contemporary vocalist with a deep passion for the Great American Songbook. With many highly acclaimed solo albums, countless awards and accolades, and over two decades of international touring experience, Jane has not only been an extremely successful bandleader, but has had the privilege of making music with some of the greatest musicians, arrangers, and producers in jazz.

During her childhood, Jane studied woodwinds and piano, spent a decade performing in award winning choirs, and participated in community theater on Long Island. Throughout all of this, her focus remained on jazz, especially interpretation of the Songbook. At the age of 20, during her senior year at the prestigious Manhattan School Of Music, Jane placed second in the Thelonious Monk Competition, now known as the Hancock Competition. This led to an incredible career trajectory, catapulting Jane into the jazz stratosphere nearly overnight.

By 22, Jane was working with legends such as Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter, and Kenny Barron, recording her first albums, and touring the planet. This led to collaborations with jazz luminaries such as Terence Blanchard, Ivan Lins, Tom Harrell, John Pizzarelli, Christian McBride, Vince Mendoza, Jorge Calandrelli, and many more. Countless television appearances followed, including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The View, and many popular international talk shows. Several successful film soundtracks have also included Jane’s music, including Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow and Never Let Me Go.

After more than twenty years, twelve studio albums and countless recorded guest appearances, Jane has continued to tour the world nearly nonstop, including playing iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, and headlining at nearly every legendary jazz club on the planet, most notably NY stalwarts such as the Village Vanguard and Birdland. In addition to touring, she also writes English lyrics for Ivan Lins, and uses the knowledge and experience she has gained both at Manhattan School Of Music and on the legendary bandstands of the world to educate and uplift students worldwide. Jane resides in Los Angeles with her husband of over twenty years, drummer Rick Montalbano, and their son.

Musical Style: Holiday Show
To watch Stella Cole perform is to be transported back in time. Her sense of joy and wonder is infectious – one look at her massive social media following makes this clear. Take a quick scroll through the comments of any of her many viral videos and you’ll see not only her irresistible charm, but an ability to expose fans of all ages to the wonders of the Great American Songbook, especially when these timeless stories are told honestly by an artist with an uncanny ability to transcend generations.
On her highly anticipated debut recording, Stella is presented performing interpreting a collection of classics in a variety of settings, including many featuring an orchestra arranged by multiple Grammy-winner Alan Broadbent. Featuring songs made famous by everyone from Barbra Streisand (“When the Sun Comes Out”) and Judy Garland (“The Boy Next Door” and a classic re-interpretation of “Over the Rainbow”) to Billie Eilish (“My Future”) and Audrey Hepburn (“Moon River” of course!), it is sure to be one of the most impressive vocal recordings of 2024.
Upon first hearing Stella Cole, one is immediately struck by her rich tone and extraordinary vocal control. However, what is particularly rare is her ability to interpret songs that were initially intended for actors in character in a direct, personally vulnerable way that connects to something within herself, placing her in the lineage of the greatest interpreters of the repertoire. Perhaps most exciting, to her many young fans, who have never heard these songs before, these are Stella Cole songs, which clearly makes her one of the most exciting artists of her generation.

Musical Style: Jazz
Christian McBride is an eight-time GRAMMY-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader. He is the Artistic Director of the historic Newport Jazz Festival, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. McBride is also a respected educator and advocate for youth, and serves as Artistic Director of Jazz House KiDS and the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions. In addition to artistic directing and consistent touring with his ensembles, he hosts NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” and “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM. Whether behind the bass or away from it, Christian McBride is always part of the music. From jazz to R&B, and pop/rock and hip-hop/neo-soul to classical, he is a luminary with one hand ever reaching for new heights, and the other extended in fellowship—and perhaps the hint of a challenge—inviting us to join him.

For this show he is joined by four rising young master instrumentalists including saxophonist Nicole Glover, guitarist Ely Perlman, pianist Mike King, and drummer Savannah Harris.
Michael King – keys
Virtuosic pianist Michael King, a Chicagoan native, began playing drums in his local church band at the early age of 4. This fortuitously melodic schooling nurtured an undeniable affinity to the piano and organ, the very seat that he began to occupy, by ear, at age 14. Mr. King is an alumni of Lincoln Park High School and the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory. He was selected to attend the Thelonious Monk Institute and The Ravinia Jazz Scholars program on merit scholarships. Michael has performed with Bobby Watson, Kevin Eubanks, Dave Liebeman, Gary Bartz, Billy Hart, Joel Frahm, Rufus Reid, & Antonio Hart, among others. Currently you can catch Mr. King touring internationally with: DeeDee Bridgewater, Robin Eubanks, Theo Croker’s DVRK FUNK, Soul Understated, & Marcus Printup.
Savannah Harris – drums
Savannah Harris is a New York City-based drummer, composer and producer. Raised in Oakland, California by musician parents, she gravitated towards the drums at age 2. Steeped in a jazz tradition, Savannah views its connection to all forms of diasporic and folkloric music as central to her approach. She’s performed and recorded with indie and experimental artists Helado Negro, Georgia Anne Muldrow, KeiyaA, Nick Hakim, Kate Davis, Justin Allen, and Standing on the Corner. Her jazz recordings include releases from Peter Evans, María Grand, and Or Bareket. She’s performed with Geri Allen, Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Terrence Blanchard, Linda May Han Oh, Billy Childs, Immanuel Wilkins, Joel Ross, and Aaron Parks. Presently, she tours extensively with Christian McBride, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and Kenny Barron. In 2019, Savannah was awarded the Harlem Stage Emerging Artist Award, and she received her master’s in jazz performance from Manhattan School of Music. She was featured twice in the January 2021 issue of Modern Drummer as both a featured artist and a contributing writer. In October of 2021, she debuted her solo piece “With Inner Sound, Truth” commissioned by Issue Project Room as a tribute to composer Ruth Anderson. Savannah was also featured in Sixteen Journal’s “JAZZ” edition, with portraits shot by photographer James Brodribb.
Nicole Glover – saxophone
Saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator Nicole Glover, is based in New York City and has established herself as a rising star and a musician in great demand. Her most recent solo recording is Strange Lands (Savant), with the venerable pianist George Cables. The London Times awarded the album 4 stars, calling it “otherworldly.” It remained near the top of the Jazzweek radio charts for 11 weeks. Nicole is also an integral member of the supergroup ARTEMIS, led by pianist Renee Rosnes. In May 2023, the collective released their 2nd recording, In Real Time, on Blue Note Records.
Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Nicole was a student of the American Music Program, a program dedicated to priming students for a career in jazz. In 2009, she moved east to attend the jazz program at William Paterson University. There, she studied with pianists Harold Mabern, Mulgrew Miller and tenor saxophonist Rich Perry.
Currently, Nicole is a member of an new quintet led by bassist Christian McBride, and she performs often with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. She has worked with drummers Al Foster, Victor Lewis and Kenny Washington, Grammy award winning vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Buika, saxophonist Rudresh Manhanthappa, vibraphonist Joel Ross, and pianists Geoffrey Keezer, Luis Perdomo, and George Colligan among others. She recently performed Mary Lou Williams’ “Zodiac Suite” with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the musical direction of pianist Aaron Diehl.
An experienced educator, Nicole is on faculty at Princeton University, Manhattan School of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a passionate teacher, and has given many masterclasses and private lessons to aspiring musicians all over the globe.
Ely Perlman – guitar
Ely Perlman (b. 1999) is a guitarist, composer, and producer hailing from Tel Aviv, Israel. A third-year student at the Berklee College of Music, Ely Perlman is a member of Christian McBride’s newest band. In addition to collaborating with other acclaimed artists such as Shai Maestro and Ben Wendel, Ely leads multiple musical projects, including a jazz quartet highlighting his compositional vision and an indie band called “SWIMS.” Ely released “All We Got” in 2022, his first single as a singer/songwriter, and is currently working on his self-produced debut album. He received his early musical education at the esteemed Jazz Department of the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, graduating with honors, and at the Center for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv