Eight area jazz crews perform Sunday in the 2nd Galway Jazz Festival, presented free by Capital District Jazz Ltd.
The Cock ‘N’ Bull outdoor performance area; roofed artists’ shed in the background. Photo provided
From 11:30 a.m. to likely past 9 p.m., the festival presents these local and regional jazz artists:
11:30 a.m.: The Vinnie Marotta Trio
12:15 p.m.: Michael Benedict and Bopitude
1:30 p.m.: Tarik Shah Quartet
2:45 p.m.: Out of the Box
4 p.m.: The Jeannine Ouderkirk Quartet
5:15 p.m.: Keith Pray’s Listen!
6:30 p.m.: Hot Club of Saratoga
8 p.m.: Brass Machine
The Cock ’N’ Bull Facebook page explains the event this way.
Rain or shine (indoors if inclement weather). A very family friendly venue and event so come one, come all! This event is made possible through donations, if you’d like to make a tax deductible donation visit www.cdjazz.org
PLEASE CALL AHEAD TO HELP THE VENUE PREPARE 518-882-6962
Feel free to bring lawn chairs and make a day of it, but no outside food or drinks are allowed. They will however be available for purchase throughout the day.
Partial view of Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble, shown here playing indoors. Photo provided
The Cock ’N’ Bull (5342 Parkis Mills Rd., Galway) has long presented music in its converted barn dining and music room. It continued presenting music during COVID by adding an outdoor performance space whose roofed area accommodates even Keith Pray’s (17-piece) Big Soul Ensemble in its last-Tuesday-of-the-month residency.
A highly efficient sampler presenting selected artists from the area jazz scene, this festival – like most multi-act productions – offers the opportunity for tasty surprises. Find an act you hadn’t previously heard, fall in love, and go catch them elsewhere, down the road.
Preview: Keith Pray’s Ortet plays Jazz on Jay, Thursday, July 9, 2026
Keith Pray leads his Ortet organ trio today with guitarist Michael Novakowski and drummer Chad Ploss on a musical path he began exploring after seeing organist Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith in New York. Pray recalled, “His music was hypnotic, funky as could be and profoundly creative…The (organ) is like a full orchestra: It can whisper, roar and everything in between.”
Since moving here from New York and becoming a leading voice on saxophone, “The organ has proved to be a muse,” said Pray, “providing many new compositions.” In addition to his own sax-powered bands, large and small, plus guest spots, he built an organ trio about eight years ago. This sparse but powerful format features drums, guitar and the organ playing both melody and bass lines.
Keith Pray. Photo provided
Pray first bought an organ hoping to persuade keyboardists in his bands to play it. Exploring it himself, starting in late 2016, he played his first live organ gig four months later. He recorded an organ trio album in August 2021: “Down the Middle,” his sixth (of 12) as a leader.
Today, Ortet will play “what I feel fits the moment, likely some Jimmy Smith, some originals, maybe some James Brown and/or Beatles.” Pray said In general, the Ortet plays “soul jazz in the style of the classic organ trios of the 60’s &70’s.”
Playing these standards, “I always try to play them differently; some days more extreme than others,” he explained, noting there’s lots of room to improvise.
Pray has taught saxophone at SUNY Oneonta and jazz history and arranging at SUNY Schenectady County Community College. He directs Schenectady City School District’s high school bands and the SUNY Albany Jazz Ensemble. His master classes and clinics include the Proctors Summer Jazz Institute for nine seasons and co-founding All Ears Jazz to develop jazz education workshops.
Both Pray and drummer Chad Ploss trained at the Crane School of Music. Inspired by Motown, heavy metal, the Roots and area percussionist Andy Hearn, Ploss also plays with Raisinhead, in Family Tree jams and other groups.
Guitarist Mike Novakowski also plays in several bands including the trio Katalyst and the Teresa Broadwell Band.
Pray performs through the summer with his trio, quartet, Big Soul Ensemble and the Ortet; he also guests with Bobby Previte’s Quartet A and the Upstate Composers Orchestra. He’ll play the free admission Galway Jazz Festival at the Cock ’N’ Bull on July 12 with his new band Listen!
“This group plays my compositions that are written more like ‘normal’ jazz tunes (than free jazz),” said Pray. “But (they) can be more fluid in form, forcing us to listen to each other more intently and hopefully helping to keep things from going as expected.”
Jazz on Jay continues July 16 with the Ragtime Windjammers.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District.
Moving singer Shiri Zorn into Proctors GE Theater for Thursday’s Jazz on Jay show made double sense; extremely hot weather outside, extremely cool music inside.
Between guitarist Chad McLoughlin at stage left and percussionist Brian Melick stage right, Zorn sat throughout. Gesturing with long-fingered expressive hands, her controlled, cozy voice never pushed things; melodic motion and delivery in emotion both understated and subtle.
Shiri Zorn, above; the trio, below; from left: Brian Melick, Zorn, Chad McLoughlin
Mostly seated, McLoughlin played understated and subtle, too; high- and mid-range chords under everything, single-note runs in a clean, clear tone in solos. Across the stage, Melick again proved he should be in every band. Zorn rightly called him a “one-man-show,” a singularly musical beat magician. Melick’s mastery of tones underlined each song, adjusting the tone on the cajon where he sat by pressing or releasing his heel against its wood surface. Otherwise, his feet engaged a kick-drum pedal against the back of the cajon and the hi-hat.
Chad McLoughlin, above; Brian Melick, below
Zorn started soft, sparse and slow with “The Nearness of You,” upshifting into a light bossa and stretching “en-cha-a-a-nt” across a handful of notes, then skatting a repeating coda.
“Just In Time” flowed faster at first, Zorn fulfilling her promise to take it apart and sing it back together. McLoughlin opened it up in a kinetic solo and Melick stroked snare and cajon with brushes in a brisk beat rush.
Then Zorn challenged the audience – ever-growing as late-comers drifted across State Street from Jay, where the show wasn’t – to recognize her next tune. She sang its familiar words almost unrecognizably slowly, almost. Both words and melody charmed until, after a calm coda, Zorn asked its title and writer. “”For No One,’ by Paul McCartney,” sang out Dave Vroman a few seats down my row. Dave sang with my brother Jim in bands for years, including the Auratones, which Jim reunited as a surprise for my 50th birthday party. But I digress; and the crowd was delighted by Zorn’s graceful interpretation.
Citing 6/8 Afro-Cuban rhythms and preceding the tune with a poem that set up its theme of love without possessiveness, Zorn next sang “Alone Together,” saluting both McLoughlin’s guitar solo and the explosive break Melick added near the end. Here’s where Zorn dubbed him a “one-man show” and invited him to explain the cajon, the boxy instrument/seat that supplied many of the beats he created Thursday. He also played thumping melodies on molded clay udu drum at times, mostly early and late in the 90-minute set.
After the energetic “Alone Together,” “Born to Be Blue” relaxed both band and audience, a mellow 2 a.m. blues with Melick keeping time on snare and hi-hat, McLoughlin using his volume pedal to shape his notes. It moved in subtle, slow simplicity until Zorn skat-sang through the late verses and coda.
In Jobim’s “How Insensitive” (and Jobim’s later “No More Blues”), Zorn sang in both English and Portuguese, fine and fluent in both languages and tunes. Melick played the snare with his hands in “Insensitive,” also fluently, both McLoughlin and Zorn quietly persuasive in caressing the melody.
Now, everybody sings “Fly Me To the Moon,” but Zorn said they’d perform it in seven, demonstrating this combination of waltz time and four-beats before playing it that way, in what felt Latin and energetic. Melick’s cajon break brought big applause here, well deserved.
Medleying “You Don’t Know What Love Is” with “Yesterdays” (no, not the Beatles’ “Yesterday”) worked well, the slow swing of the former riding on Melick’s softly propulsive brushed snare then flowing straight into the slower-at-first latter; it then sped up. All three really soared here, so Zorn encouraged the audience to participate in the blood drive upstairs. “We’ve got your blood pumping now, so go donate!” she urged.
Echoing the guitar-and-vocal duet of “Detour Ahead” she’d recorded on her debut album “Into Another Land” with George Muscatello, Zorn and McLoughlin charmed this one together. Melick accompanied them at his quietest and most discreet with hand-bells and softly brushed cymbals.
Zorn introduced Jobim’s upbeat “No More Blues,” noting our troubled times provoke too many blues. She sang this brisk bossa at a winning pace as Melick blasted through a volcanic cajon break. Zorn, Melick and McLoughlin balanced beautifully, as they had throughout.
Jazz on Jay continues Thursday, July 9, with Keith Pray.
Saratoga-accessible, New York City hip, Jeanne O’Connor sings fresh tunes from her new album Friday at Caffe Lena – her 15th showcase here since moving from New York; you know, that other jazz city.
Her “The Sweetest Sounds” album releases next year, so this preview unwraps a new package, each song a surprise.
Friday, she sings with well-known area talents bassist Todd Coolman, guitarist Dave Stryker and drummer Bob Halek, plus pianist Ted Rosenthal, subbing for John di Martino, who played on the album. She’ll also bring up special guests Amy London and drummer Sam Zucchini. Both Coolman and Stryker played Sunday at SPAC’s Saratoga Jazz Festival with the Skidmore Jazz Institute All-Star Band, and London sings with O’Connor in the Royal Bopsters, a New York City vocal quartet.
Jeanne O’Connor. Photo provided
Even before moving to Saratoga Springs, O’Connor performed here regularly, at Justin’s in Albany, Upbeat on the Roof at Skidmore’s Tang Teaching Museum, “A Place For Jazz” in Schenectady and shows sponsored by the Swingtime Jazz Society and the Saratoga Arts Festival.
In New York, she’s sung at Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, the Blue Note, Birdland and the Rainbow Room.
Both regional artists and New York-based players support O’Connor on “The Sweetest Sounds” – as if she recorded it aboard a Hudson River Dayliner.
In addition to those local stars onstage with her at Caffe Lena Friday, the album features New Yorkers percussionist Mino Cinelu, pianist John di Martino, trumpeter Randy Brecker and keyboardist/accordion player Gil Goldstein. Both Brecker and Goldstein played often with O’Connor’s late husband Don Grolnick, a respected keyboardist, producer and composer whose credits include top pop and rock stars James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Roberta Flack, Barry Manilow (who sang his farewell to Albany this week on his final tour), Steely Dan and others. Valued also in the jazz world, he played with Steps Ahead, Dreams, the Brecker Brothers, John Scofield, Billy Cobham, Dave Holland and many more.
O’Connor honors her late husband’s memory on her new/unreleased album by singing their collaboration “Medianoche” from his Grammy-nominated album of the same title. Here O’Connor’s emotionally complex performance leaves the listener with uplift.
Poignant power marks other new tunes, and local connections. Our own pianist/composer/bandleader Peg Delaney wrote the vocal skat section of the album’s title track and opener. And O’Connor wrote lyrics to a melody by too-soon-departed area pianist Scott Bassinson for “My October Song.” Saxophonist Keith Pray, who played on many Bassison recordings, plays on “My October Song” and “The Sweetest Things.”
“This album brings together songs that have lived with me over time — from the Great American Songbook to contemporary classics and original material,” says O’Connor in the news release announcing both album and show.
“The Sweetest Things” collects Songbook classics including the title track (Richard Rodgers), “The Great City” (Curtis Reginald Lewis), “Charade” (Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer), “Baltimore Oriole” (Hoagy Carmichael/Paul Francis Webster), “My Ship” (Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin), “Once Upon A Time” (Charles Strouse), and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart).
Both originals are collaborations: “Medianoche (Don Grolnick/Jeanne O’Connor), and “My October Song” (Scott Bassinson/Jeanne O’Connor).
The contemporary pop tunes swing in classic style: “Wichita Lineman” (Jimmy Webb [we were born on the same day, but I digress]) and “Save The Country” (Laura Nyro).
How very cool that the album closes with Nyro’s upbeat number, a bright ray of hope.
Show time for Jeanne O’Connor Friday at Caffe Lena (47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs) is 8 p.m., doors 7:30. Admission $27.11 members, $30.37 general, $15.18 children and students. 518-583-0022 www.caffelena.org
Later, Jeanne O’Connor sings all over the place, usually in duos with pianists:
July 31 at The Olde Bryan Inn in Saratoga Springs
Aug. 23 at The Roosevelt Room in Troy
Sept. 17 at the Van Dyck Music Club in Schenectady
Oct. 18 and Dec. 20 at the Market Bar in Saratoga Springs
A Cool Voice on a Hot Day; Jazz on Jazz Likely to Move Indoors Thursday
Shiri Zorn trusts her voice so completely that she sings with only minimal accompaniment.
Thursday at Jazz on Jay, she sings with guitarist Chad McLoughlin and percussionist Brian Melick, the same trio format as on her albums “Into Another Land” (2022) and “Looking for the Light” (2025).
“Shiri is my favorite kind of singer (and human, for that matter)—open-minded, creative, and honest,” singer Tierney Sutton told Downbeat. “Zorn’s voice is cool, calm and cerebral, her tone pure,” wrote the magazine’s Allen Morrison. “She articulates lyrics with perfect diction and scalpel-like precision.”
Shiri Zorn. Photo provided
Zorn studied classical piano before singer Cleo Laine’s intimate style and freedom inspired her to sing, at 14.
“I grew up listening to Carole King, the Beatles, Leonard Cohen as well as classical music,” said Zorn. She also noted the jazz singers Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae, and Middle Eastern music, as important influences. After studying voice and piano at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she studied vocal technique with Greta Matassa in Seattle, then Tierney Sutton, who produced the vocal tracks on Zorn’s debut album.
Zorn didn’t grow up performing in bands, instead honing her solo technique with key mentors. “My first real band was with George Muscatello,” the ingenious Albany jazz guitarist and longtime Skidmore faculty member.
In her current trio, she replicates the dynamic style of her earlier trio with Muscatello. “We will be playing only standards,” said Zorn of Thursday’s show. “I always try to find a new way to introduce music that has essentially been written around 100 years ago and ask myself how I can make it relevant to me, my life experience and my work.”
She’ll apply this inventive approach to standards including “The Nearness of You,” “Alone Together,” “Fly Me to the Moon” and “How Insensitive.”
This worked well last August when she helped percussionist Brian Melick, who is playing in her trio Thursday, to open for Edmar Castaneda at Proctors in a Music Haven presentation. I reported that she sang sweet but bluesy and hailed her remarkable voice and how her expressive hands add to its effect.
Jazz on Jay continues next Thursday, July 9 with Keith Pray.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District.
Sponsors are the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation and The Schenectady Foundation. We also receive support from Schenectady City Hall and this website.
Show time is 12 noon at Jay Square opposite City Hall. Weather site: Robb Alley at Proctors, where seating is provided.
Hoke's Jukebox 