Preview: The Kaitlyn Fay Quartet at Jazz on Jay at noon; and the SUNY Schenectady Faculty Jazz Combo with featured guest Jon Faddis at Music Haven at 7 p.m.
Yeah, you can do both.
Kaitlyn Fay Quartet: Vocals with Rhythm Section
Kaitlyn Fay’s music celebrates connection; to family in childhood productions, to area players, and in the link between her well-trained ears and open, expressive heart.
Thursday at Jazz on Jay, she sings with keyboardist Dave Gleason, bassist Dave Shoudy and drummer Bob Halek. She also plays baritone saxophone in both Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble, where she met Gleason and Halek, and in the BWC Jazz Orchestra, where she met Shoudy. Thursday also marks a return: She sang at Jazz on Jay in 2022.
For Fay, singing began as a family thing.
Kaitlyn Fay. Rudy Lu photo
“When I was in elementary school, my (now-retired public school music teacher) mother orchestrated a Von-Trapp-Family-style performance…my parents, me, and both of my siblings…for the school talent show,” recalls Fay. Her parents met while performing musical theater productions, still a unifying family passion. Fay also teaches, in Waterford-Halfmoon, and cites her mother as her first musical inspiration.
“Playing baritone saxophone in my high school’s jazz band, I was drawn to Gerry Mulligan’s playing and the West Coast cool jazz sound,” says Fay, citing saxophonist Joey Berkley as her first jazz horn teacher. “My biggest vocal jazz influences and sources of inspiration have been Ella Fitzgerald and Anita O’Day,” also Jane Monheit among contemporary vocalists. “I have internalized some of the inflections and nuances of jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day, and Blossom Dearie. But I focus my attention more on the harmonic progressions with my ears and the lyrics with my heart.”
“Kim Nazarian was my first vocal jazz teacher,” says Fay, noting Nazarian, of the New York Voices, conducted her in the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Fay studied with Jon Metzger at Elon University, then with Nancy Marano and Pete McGuinness at William Paterson University.
Fay sings classics from the Great American Songbook and jazz standards, plus originals co-written or arranged with Gleason or guitarist Wyatt Ambrose. Both collaborated on her “Cockeyed Optimist” album, released last year. Both this and her earlier “Curiosity” (2013) are available today at Jazz on Jay.
“I like to incorporate space for improvisation wherever possible,” says Fay. “The spontaneity inherent in jazz is my favorite thing about making music with other musicians.”
These particular musicians fit Fay’s approach beautifully. “I have been playing with each of the rhythm section musicians in a variety of groups for the last several years,” she says. “I am fortunate and grateful that they are so often available to be a part of my group’s rhythm section, as they are each in high demand in the Capital Region jazz scene.”
Fay also sings Saturday, Aug. 22 at The Landing Hotel and plays sax Tuesday, Aug. 25 with Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble at the Cock ’N’ Bull. And she often sings with Gleason’s Art D’Echo Trio and Michael Benedict’s Jazz Vibes, alongside Gleason and Shoudy.
Show time for Jazz on Jay is 12 noon at Jay Square opposite City Hall. Rain site: Robb Alley at Proctors; seating is provided indoors.
Jazz on Jay continues Thursday, Aug. 27 with trombonist Alex Slomka and Friends.
Trumpet Master Jon Faddis with Area Jazz Players, Teachers
Eight teachers at SUNY Schenectady County Community College’s Music School also perform actively in its Faculty Jazz Combo. This double-duty virtuoso crew comprises Mia Scirocco, vocals; Dylan Canterbury, trumpet; Brian Patneaude and Music School Dean Christopher Brellochs, saxophones; Kevin Grudecki, guitar; David Gleason, piano; Erik Johnson, bass; and Bob Halek, drums; he’ll move his kit to Music Haven after playing Jazz on Jay with Kaitlyn Fay.
After opening at Music Haven for touring jazz artists, the Combo graduated to headliner status with top-talent guests; trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis in 2024, flautist Nestor Torres in 2025 and trumpeter Jon Faddis tonight.
Jon Faddis. Photo provided
“His playing is defined by his technical mastery, most notably in the upper register,” says Combo trumpeter Dylan Canterbury. He noted that Dizzy Gillespie mentored Faddis as a teenager, nurturing a style that incorporates the trumpet’s entire history.
In addition to prolific recording and performing activity – including his own bands and leading the Carnegie Hall Jazz Ensemble and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars – Faddis also teaches at SUNY Purchase, “He played a key role in the education of countless young jazz musicians, myself included,” says Canterbury. Gillespie taught Jon Faddis who taught Canterbury who teaches at SUNY Schenectady County Community College School of Music – it’s how jazz evolves.
Technically commanding, at home in many styles, Faddis is the ideal collaborator after many projects with Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Stanley Turrentine, Blue Mitchell and David “Fathead” Newman. The versatile Faddis has also supported rock and pop stars Bo Diddley, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Lou Reed, Bette Midler, Frankie Valli and others.
Faddis will perform Thursday at Music Haven with the Combo in two sets; one features students.
“We play a combination of jazz classics and original compositions, or arrangements, by members of the band,” says saxophonist and Dean Christopher Brellochs. “We plan on performing ‘Con Alma,’ composed by Dizzy Gillespie…along with ‘Seven Steps to Heaven,’ which was recorded by trumpet legend Miles Davis.”
Music Haven is in Schenectady’s Central Park. Show time is 7 p.m. Check www.musichavenstage.org for rain site updates, if necessary.
Hoke's Jukebox 