Preview: Jeanne Ouderkirk Returns to Jazz on Jay, with Her Quartet – July 10, 2025
She’s back…
Singer Jeanine Ouderkirk first played Jazz on Jay in 2020 and returned as a sub in 2023, stepping in for the ailing Perley Rousseau of Sonny & Perley.
Thursday, she leads her own band, singing her own favorite repertoire, including fresh tunes from a new album.
Photo By Eric Jenks
Ouderkirk’s quartet comprises two thirds of the Killdeer Trio: guitarist Wyatt Ambrose and bassist Evan Jagels; with drummer Matt Niedbalski in for Killdeer’s Sebastian Green.
A prodigy who played piano and clarinet by 10, she played bass clarinet and baritone saxophone at 15 and was mainly a singer by 20; but she was a professional years earlier.
“I played bari(tone) sax, clarinet, and flute in a pit orchestra for a high school show when I was 16,” says the multi-skilled Ouderkirk. She played 12 performances of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in Caffe Lena’s black-box theater, plus rehearsals, for $100. “It was such a thrill dragging all those instruments up the narrow stairs of this amazing old club.”
After working with band teacher Mark Beaubriand at Saratoga Springs High School, she studied bass clarinet and voice at Crane School of Music where she earned a BA in Music Business and MA in Music Education. She also took weeklong intensives with singers Bobby McFerrin and Rhiannon. No, not Rhiannon Giddens; Ouderkirk studied with the single-named Hawaiian singer who works with McFerrin.
She learns songs on paper first, choosing “Whatever I love, whatever speaks to me from the page.”
She says, “I really love how the form (of a piece) is the canvas and there’s beauty in the counterpoint of the melody and the bass.” She also values the rhythms and colors that emerge as she works on tunes.
Thursday, she plans to sing “Half Joni (Mitchell) tunes and half standards from my new album, ‘Nightingale,’” a collaboration with pianist Tedd Firth.
The album grew from a musical theater gig with Firth, a Hudson Falls native who now works in New York as Michael Feinstein’s arranger and pianist. “I met him when I was hired to play bari(tone) sax in a big band behind the singer Tony DeSare,” says Ouderkirk, “at The Strand Theater in Hudson Falls.”
She and her band will improvise “a lot on the standards (from the album) and less on the Joni Mitchell collection.” Reconsidering, she says, “Well, I will accidentally improvise some of her melodies because they are so challenging and interesting to chase her phrasing.”
Busy as singer and player, Ouderkirk plays a busy schedule after Thursday’s Jazz on Jay concert:
July 11 and 25; and Aug. 8: Mittler’s Market, Saratoga Springs 5 p.m.
July 12: Olde Bryan Inn, Saratoga Springs 6 p.m.
July 19: Adirondack Winery, Queensbury 4 p.m.
July 24: The Glen Eddy, Niskayuna 7 p.m.
July 26: The Bourbon Room, Glens Falls 9 p.m.
Aug. 8: Ophelia’s on Broadway, Albany 9 p.m.
Jazz on Jay free concerts are noon to 1:30 p.m. at Jay Square, the new park space opposite Schenectady City Hall. The rain site is Robb Alley at Proctors, 432 State St. Seating is provided indoors at Robb Alley, but patrons are invited to bring their own seating and refreshments to Jay Square.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District and sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, The Schenectady Foundation, Price Chopper/Market 32, MVP Health Care, Schenectady County, Schenectady City Hall, and Proctors Collaborative. This blog is a series media sponsor.
Jazz on Jay continues Thursday, July 17 with the Art D’Echo Trio.
Review: Winelight at Jazz on Jay in Proctors GE Theater, Thursday, July 3, 2025
Reaching back to 70s and 80s smooth jazz, mainly through the music of Grover Washington Jr., Winelight played that easy-going style to mellow effect Thursday at Jazz on Jay. They showed their reverence for fluid soul-jazz-pop tenor player Washington by naming themselves after one of his songs – they played that one, of course – and by starting their 90-minute show with “Just the Two of Us,” a Washington/Bill Withers co-write.
Winelight – From left, keyboardist/singer Azaam Hameed, saxophonist Allen Halstead, drummer Ben Rau, bassist Michael Hurt, and guitarist Joe Finn
Drummer Ben Rau sang the jazz-pop antique “When You’re Smiling;” but keyboardist Azzaam Hameed sang more: “Summertime,” “Make Me a Memory” and “You Bring Me Joy,” his low-pressure baritone easing through the songs. Instrumentally, they followed small-band conventions of unified opening statements, solos to develop ideas further, then back together to close.
Allen Halstead
The slower-than-most “Winelight” used a different opening to interesting effect; Michael Hurt’s bass and Hameed’s keyboards flowing low while drums – mostly cymbals, actually – paired higher up with Joe Finn’s guitar, the whole thing forming a platform for reedman/frontman Allen Halstead’s alto.
Joe Finn
Workmanlike, non-stagy, they calmly stood and delivered although guitarist Finn’s energy engaged the band, the crowd and the music in his kinetic playing in Freddy Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower” and George Benson’s “Affirmation.” Here he used Benson’s alternating chord-strumming and note-picking style very well. Solos were crisp and brief; Halstead’s alto superbly lyrical in “Summertime,” gruffly persuasive in Carlos Santana’s “Europa.” Bassist Michael Hurt was a model of taste and touch, always there, always solid but never claiming much attention.
Michael Hurt
The music moved so easily, with so little friction, that rough spots felt welcome. Halstead struggled a bit with intonation and changed reeds on both alto and tenor. They mixed up the solo order in “Summertime” and glanced around in silent negotiations for what came next. More common were echoes where a riff on one instrument brought an answer from another.
Most songs cruised on smooth-jazz style mid tempos, though the show’s middle section slowed some; then they built things back up. Their closer “Mr. Magic” pumped a bit harder than most performers play or sing it, bumping up from a deep-funk opener to a spirited, happy close with handclaps from the crowd joining in strong.
Azzaam Hameed
The only non-smooth aspect of the show was a double venue change that confused some fans who wandered in late. Storm warnings drove the show indoors at Proctors, but the customary Robb Alley rain site on the (north) State Street side was busy with activities around the Proctors Main Stage matinee of Beauty and the Beast; so Proctors GE Theater (south, Smith Street side) hosted the show. Some Beauty and the Beast-bound fans heard the music in the GE Theater and wandered in for a bonus smooth-jazz prelude. They also had to leave in the middle of one show to hit the other, but the veteran Winelight quintet took these defections in their easy-going stride.
Ben Rau
Apologies to Ben Rau for profiling the wrong Ben Rau in my preview, posted Wednesday. I Googled around, found the wrong one and should have checked. The correct Ben Rau, whose beats were always correct and who enjoyed the show more than anybody, hails from Troy, taught music in Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk schools and plays also with the Soul Survivors, Georgie Wanders Orchestra and RK Jazz and Blues.
Preview: Jazz on Jay Presents Versatile Veteran Combo Winelight
Winelight takes its name from a Grover Washington Jr. tune that blends jazz with soul; a comfortable creative neighborhood for these five skilled players and singers: Azzaam Hameed, keyboards; Ben Rau, drums; Joe Finn, guitar; Michael Hurt, bass; and Allen Halstead, saxophones.
“Winelight is a collaborative effort,” stresses Halstead who organized the band in late 2024.
Halstead started playing Catskills resorts while barely old enough to drive and graduated with a MA in Music from Florida State University. There, he also played with jazz and soul giants Stan Kenton, Ella Fitzgerald and Lou Rawls. Halstead cites Gato Barbieri, Stan Getz, Gene Ammons and Grover Washington as inspirations. With versatility in mind, he’s found like-minded colleagues on the local scene.
Allen Halstead, left; and Azzaam Hameed
Hameed first played in a Pentecostal church before classical training at Union College broadened his musical influences. Pianists McCoy Tyler, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Sample, George Duke and Lonnie Liston Smith inspired him, plus singers Johnny Hartman, Lou Rawls and Joe Williams. He has played locally in jazz, R&B, soul and pop groups for decades.
Rau’s broad musical and cultural background includes Ghanian, German and British influences, particularly the London and Berlin club scenes. Diverse and driving, his playing echoes house, techno and straight-ahead styles.
Connecticut-born Finn started playing – and giving lessons! – at ten. Earning a BA in Music at SUNY Plattsburgh, he trained with Roy Burns, James Spaulding, Jim Miller, Billy Hawkins and Kirk Nurock. His string of six albums began with “Straight Ahead” (1991) and his quartet won the BET network’s 1998 Jazz Discovery Showcase.
Hurt started playing trumpet in eighth grade and trained in voice, singing madrigals and other choral styles in high school. Moving to guitar, and then to bass – and from folk to classical to jazz – he studied music education at SUNY Buffalo. Like his bandmates in Winelight, Hurt values versatility.
“The performance Thursday will not only include some Grover Washington tunes,” says Halstead, “but will also include tunes by other artists; no originals.” They’ll play Washington’s “Winelight,” of course, plus “Mr. Magic,” Bill Withers’s “Just the Two of Us,” “Sugar,” “Affirmation” and “Europa.”
“Each tune is open to improv by the members,” adds Halstead, who plays tenor, alto and soprano saxophones in Winelight. “There is no real leader,” he explains. “We all chime in.”
Jazz on Jay free concerts are noon to 1:30 p.m. at Jay Square, the new park space opposite Schenectady City Hall. The rain site is Robb Alley at Proctors, 432 State St. Seating is provided indoors at Robb Alley, but patrons are invited to bring their own seating and refreshments to Jay Square.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District and sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, The Schenectady Foundation, Price Chopper/Market 32, MVP Health Care, Schenectady County, Schenectady City Hall, and Proctors Collaborative. This blog is a series media sponsor.
Jazz on Jay continues Thursday, July 10 with the Jeanine Ouderkirk Quartet.
Trombone Shorty knows how to bring a fine, fun finale.
Closing Sunday’s second day of the Saratoga Jazz Festival with explosions of funky riffs, his infectious dance joy made the seats in the Saratoga Performing Arts Center superfluous.
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue
Hours before the New Orleans trombonist, trumpeter, leader and party catalyst celebrated his New Orleans hometown – where he owns closing-set honors at Jazz Fest – the Saratoga fest’s sunny Sunday began with the cerebral, traditional Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty Combo. Trumpeter-singer Bria Skonberg’s spirited Louis Armstrong/New Orleans-inspired highlight set bridged the gap between listening calmly to the Combo’s or unanimous crazy with Trombone Shorty.
“So this is what daylight looks like,” joked Todd Coolman of the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty Combo, addressing front rows students in Institute T-shirts, wryly implying that a jazzer’s life is a night life.
Leading off on the Charles R. Wood Jazz Discovery Stage (hereafter “the Wood”), the eight-piece Combo (the festival’s only local act) members each honored a personal mentor or inspiration.
From left: Bill Cunliff, Dave Stryker, Todd Coolman (obscured – we’ll give him his own photo below). Dennis Mackrel, Dave Greene, Steve Davis, Clay Jenkins
Bassist-leader-wit Coolman noted the challenge of living up to his name and introduced “Whims of Chambers” (bassist Paul) in a bustling big-band arrangement. All soloed, warming up; later songs swung shorter. Guitarist Dave Stryker chose George Benson’s “My Latin Brother” and led a breezy bossa reading. Trombonist Steve Davis honored Curtis Fuller with a robust “Mister L,” and pianist Bill Cunliffe led Tommy Flanigan’s “Eclipso.” Trumpeter Clay Jenkins chose Thad Jones’s spry “Lets;” somebody should use that to brand a perfume. But I digress.
Next came sort of battle of (string) bands: guitarist Al Di Meola’s acoustic quartet on the Amphitheater Stage (hereafter the Main) and harpist Brandee Younger on the Wood.
Al Di Meola, with sheet music
Di Meola introduced his International bandmates before feigning fear of ICE and anglicizing their names. His brilliantly-played, intricate music didn’t engage as well as that quip, though. It was perfect, but felt remote, cold on a warm day.
Brandee Younger was warmth itself on the Wood, avoiding the harp’s almost-too-easy glissandos for more imaginative phrasing, except in fellow harpist Alice Coltrane’s exotic “Turiya and Ramakrishna.” She played Stevie Wonder’s romantic “If It’s Magic” straight-up, for example, then deconstructed and re-built it. She said her “Gadabout Season” depicts joy, then swept us away with sounds that felt like hope.
DJ Logic (with mic, center right at rear) and Friends; Gregoire Maret in front of him and to his right
Turntablist DJ Logic chose well the band he called his Friends; a stage-filling crew whose jazz, R&B and pop skills layered beats and themes in hip-hop structures. First among equals, harmonica wizard Gregoire Maret (he’s played this festival with straight-ahead jazz stars) contributed the most fiery and inventive playing to busy, bustling upbeat/get-down hybrid sounds.
“Wish me luck,” asked Bria Skonberg after introducing “Cornet Chop Suey,” a Louis Armstrong song she said trumpeters had been trying to play (and failing, she implied) for a century. She nailed it, of course, and everything else she played or sang in the single strongest, most entertaining set all day, until Trombone Shorty.
New Orleans sound and spirit shaped her show, as it did her recent album made there. “Do You Know What it Means” echoed Louis Armstrong’s playful-melancholy trumpet, her vocal evoked Billy Holiday. Her plunger-mute solo lit up Sidney Bechet’s “Petite Fleur” and she put a swampy spin on Artie Shaw’s “Comes Love,” harmonizing her trumpet with Birsa Chatterjee’s tenor. Modern material – her own “Elbow Bump” early, John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” (she’s a newish mom) and the COVID-inspired “In The House” – had heft and force like the antiques. Listening close and sharing riffs, her band was aces all the way: Chatterjee, drummer Darrian Douglas, bassist Mark Lewandowski and pianist Mathis Picard.
Bria Skonberg, above; with band, below
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson celebrated her 30-year-old “New Moon Daughter” album, harmonica ace Gregoire Maret guesting with her guitar-dominated band. While “The Last Train to Clarksville” and “A Little Warm Death” cruised mid-tempo, Wilson’s superbly rich voice sounded most persuasive on downbeat tunes “Love Is Blindness,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” with a tasty Charlie Burnham violin break, and “Death Letter.”
Gary Bartz, right – with, from left, Paul Bollenback, guitar; Reuben Rogers, bass; and Kassa Overall, drums
I was glad to reach the Wood in time to hear veteran saxophonist Gary Bartz swing “My One and Only Love” to heart-touching effect, then flow through linked alto-sax showcases. Rapid runs gave drama, tender passages expressed the love he put into words. Singing “The Song of Loving Kindness” in an enveloping, warm coda, he stretched the mood in sax choruses.
Cory Wong
As with Lettuce on Saturday, Cory Wong played Sunday’s funk slot for fun, force and fire. The guitarist-leader seldom soloed, and didn’t have to; his big band blasted repeating short riffs that built high energy grooves with a sax break here, a keyboard thing over there, relentless drums and bass under everything. As with Lettuce, songs flowed Into songs.
La Excelencia
The Wood Stage closed with a big band, like it began. But the 11-piece Latin La Excelencia got everybody dancing, unlike the cerebral Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty Jazz Combo. Horns blasted from behind and percussionists between them and the singers up front ganged up on the beat – all bouncing hard to emphatic conducting by pianist Willie Rodriguez. The New York-based band sang for social justice, as the String Sisters and Gregory Porter did Saturday, wrapping messages in irresistible salsa and meringue beats. The grassy area before the stage filled from their first song, the air dusty and full of smiles.
“We meet again!” saluted Trombone Shorty, slide-horn in one hand high over his head, trumpet in the other. He instantly owned the place, closing the festival in sweaty, exuberant, virtuoso triumph. Like Wong’s band, they built big energy from small, short, staccato riffs. Nobody played very long – except for a late, blistering Pete Murano guitar solo and Shorty’s dazzling “how’s-he-doing-that?” rotary breathing trumpet display that held a note, unbroken, for several minutes. (He inhales through his nose while blowing through the horn.)
Nearing 40, he played with Bo Diddley at Jazz Fest at four, led his first band two years later, played Lincoln Center at 13 and became a national star touring in Lenny Kravitz’s band – and seemed at the peak of his powers Sunday.
His songs rang with fun, good-time anthems of superb, spirited skill. They worked also because Shorty himself had such a fine time; giving permission to jump around. He’s shuffled his band some since playing The Egg in 2023, but it remains a model of unity and uplift.
Of his own songs, “I Want My Heart Back” and “Lifted” were best. But he did the rotary breathing thing in Allen Toussaint’s “Here Come the Girls,” collapsing to his knees against Joey Peebles’ drum riser afterward; and led a three-horn parade off the stage and though the yelling, arm-waving, dancing crowd, jamming on “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Like Gregory Porter who danced some Motown steps in his soul medley Saturday, Shorty put his feet where his music was, dancing James Brown steps in his encore medley of George Clinton’s P-Funk demand “We Want the Funk” and Brown’s boast “Sex Machine.”
He should come back to close next year: June 27 and 28. This one had maybe the best-ever weather and lots of music to match.
For all its stylistic variety, the 48th Saratoga Jazz Festival was maybe most “jazzy” in music urging social justice.
Festival producer Danny Melnick introduces Saturday’s first act at the Saratoga Jazz Festival
Saturday of the weekend-long two stage festival opened with the String Queens. The violin-viola-cello trio medleyed “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “America the Beautiful” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” anthems for equality. They also blended Pachelbel’s Canon with the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” and swung together 90s R&B and hip-hop; also “Summertime” with “Human Nature,” then “Isn’t She Lovely.” Most was, flowing smoothly, but pizzicato cello punched up “My Favorite Things” as violin and viola bowed hard, making fiery sound of the classical-into-jazz philosophy violinist Kendall Isodore called “putting some stank on Mozart.”
The Striing Queens – From left: Kendall Isidore, violin; Sharp, cello; Dawn Johnson, viola
The first of six acts on the Charles R. Wood Jazz Discovery Stage (hereafter the Wood) they set a daylong tone for free-range repertoire and music as social justice message; as singer Gregory Porter and blues guitarist-singer Gary Clark Jr. later followed.
Can’t recall seeing so many Sun Ra T-shirts anywhere; artists who came closest to that beyond-free-jazz icon were post-bop saxophonist Kenny Garrett who opened on the Amphitheater Stage (hereafter the Main) and Texas bluesman Clark, who closed there 11-1/2 hours later.
Kenny Garrett, center, saxophone
Parker-and-Coltrane disciple Garrett blew straight-ahead with confident force and free imagination, balancing spicy post-bop fire with the sweetness of Flora Purim-era Return to Forever fusion via Melba Santos’s vocals, an effective mix.
Kenny Garrett and Melba Santos
Yo-yo-ing back to the Wood, I found Julius Rodriguez igniting a thrilling debut set, augmenting his trio with Artemis tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover in her best ‘Trane mode. The young pianist noted, “Kenny must be done; y’all are over here!” He then made it the place to be, to hear the most impressive new-to-me keyboard talent since Emmet Cohen, with blinding velocity or a tender touch, fertile melodic and harmonic imagination. Ballad-poignant in “Love Everlasting,” he also captured the late Roy Hargrove’s playful spirit in “Like You Dig.” He later guested with Veronica Swift while Glover played with her regular band, Artemis – “two paydays,” joked a fan.
Julius Rodriguez, piano, left; and Nicole Glover, tenor saxophone, center
Julius Rodriguez
For another pianist to follow Rodriguez could have seemed unfair, but veteran Latin-style virtuoso Michel Camilo held his own on the Main. Speed and soul in his explosive, pounding opener yielded beautifully into the gentler Argentine “A Place in Time.” But he mostly played spry and brisk, hands often rising shoulder high to pound the keys.
Michel Camilo
Michel Camilo Trio – From left: Camilo, piano; Ricky Rodriquez, bass; Mark Walker, drums
Saturday featured strong singers Nicole Zuraitis (on the Wood), Veronica Swift and Gregory Porter (both on the Main). Another newbie, trumpeter Keyon Harrold also sang as did his young sister Mayala, while Zydeco star C.J. Chenier (both on the Wood) sang as much as he played accordion.
Nicole Zuraitis, left; with Alex Busby, bass; Dan Pugach, drums; and Idan Morim, guitar
Like the String Queens, singer-pianist Nicole Zuraitis strayed from the jazz book, aiming her rich croon at Dolly Parton’s country hit “Jolene,” joking around in “I Like You a Latte,” goofy Valentine to the barista days of drummer-husband Dan Pugach, and medleying her own “20 Seconds” into “Wichita Lineman.” Guitarist Idan Morim closed her set with a blues, out of step with prior songs, but strong.
Idan Morim
Keyon Harrold, second from right, in fabulous pantaloons, with, from left, Shedrick Mitchell, piano; Andrew Renfroe, guitar; Dan Winshall, bass; and Charles Haynes, drums
No one capitalized more on the better-than-forecast weather than trumpeter-singer Keyon Harrold who brought a sunny vibe to the Wood. In billowing MC Hammer pants, he played agile trumpet, said “jazz lets the sunshine in” and sang in what seemed extemporaneous praise of the beautiful day. Singing sister Malaya duetted most persuasively in “Forever Land,” before Keyon’s trumpet Valentine’d the tender “Her Beauty Though My Eyes.” He’d brought the fierce earlier.
Malaya sings; Keyon Harrold, right, plays
Having admired and enjoyed Artemis at A Place for Jazz last fall, I opted instead for Veronica Swift and stayed for her full set in part to see if she spontaneously combusted.
Veronica Swift
“Animated” doesn’t come close: she dramatized everything with a Broadway diva’s intensity that would have seemed overdone if the music hadn’t worked. With the chops to be any kind of singer she wants, she seemed at times aspiring to be the next Patti Lupone, whom I once spotted in a Grateful Dead SPAC show; but I digress.
While her “Strangers in Town” true-tale torchy ballad and the Latin shuffle “The Sports Page” brought out her musical theater brass, Swift also sang, strong and rocking, “Sing” by her drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls) and Queen’s “Dreamers Ball” and “Just Stay Alive.” She went autobiographical with “Born in a Trunk” about touring with her singer parents, Stephanie Nakisian, in attendance, and Hod O’Brien, RIP.
The contrast couldn’t have been greater between Swift’s powerhouse theatricality and the laid-back buttery croon of Gregory Porter who followed two acts later on the Main after a deliciously relentless funk-fest by Lettuce.
Lettuce – From left: Eric “Benny” Bloom, trumpet; Ryan Zoidis, saxophones; Nigel Hall (obscured), keyboards and vocals; Adam “Shmeeans” guitar; Erick “Jesus” Coomes, bass and hair; unidentified camera-person; Adam Deitch, drums
The Boston sextet jammed in soundcheck, “til we get it right,” then flowed straight into their set. Festival producer Danny Melnick went to the mic to introduce them, smiled and waved them on. In an earth-shaking riff explosion, Eric Coomes’s seismic bass hit like the thunderstorm that mercifully never happened Saturday. Groove melted into groove, like a P-Funk show; storming from sonic overwhelm to simmering at less heat, and surprising late with Tears For Fears’ pop hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”
Per tradition at the Wood, Louisiana accordionist-singer C.J. Chenier closed with dance music that got the crowd up and happy. Their Zydeco zip had substance, though; they made dance-y music with veteran skill and conviction. Like others Saturday, they medleyed songs in jaunty jigsaw fluency, stacking “Bring It On Home To Me” with “It’s Alright” and “I Got a Woman.”
C.J. Chenier
Gregory Porter agleam in white, with band, from left: Chip Crawford, piano; Jahmal Nichols, bass; Tivon Pennicott, saxophone; Ondrej Pivec, organ
Cancelled flights consigned Porter and band to driving eight road hours to hit the Main 20 minutes late. They finished on schedule; less professional/more egotistical cats might have demanded their full set. Porter noted a sore backside at first but left the stage so happy he came down front first to shake fans’ hands. In between he crooned love songs; everything was a love song from the pathos of “Holding On” and “If Love is Overrated” to the universal compassion of ”Liquid Spirit,” the anti-poverty “Take Me to the Alley” and deceptively soft-spoken “Musical Genocide.” He wrapped this around a classic soul medley, “My Girl” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” then everybody sang “Keep Your Head to the Sky” in shared hope. Generous with voice and feeling, Porter, as always, was distinctly un-showy, apart from dancing Motown steps dance break.
Gregory Porter
Gary Clark Jr.
A change to more-dramatic stage lighting signaled bluesman Gary Clark Jr.’s Saturday-closing set, a rousing blues-and-beyond riff blitz. Adding three women singers to his combustible quartet of guitarist King Zapata, bassist Elijah Ford, drummer JJ Johnson and keyboardist Dayne Reliford sweetened his bracing blend of forceful guitar blasts and fervent vocals from baritone to sky-scratch falsetto. Guest trumpeter Keyon Harrold also boosted the high end.
Clark sang persuasively of romantic angst in “Fall for That” and contentment in “This Is Our Love,” and rage at injustice in “Don’t Owe You a Thing” and the mad-sad “What About Us.” He earned attention, as well as demanding it, in “The Guitar Man,” a mantle his playing deserved, big time.
Gary Clark Jr. sings, second from left, as trumpeter Keyon Harrold, second from right, guests
Keyon Harrold was right; belying the forecast, it WAS a beautiful day. The only raindrops I saw dotted my windshield on the way home.
The String Queens
Kenny Garrett
Taking a bow – Nicole Zuraitis – she’s the one in black – and band
Applauding Nicole Zuraitis
Veronica Swift
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff, guitar, left; Erick “Jesus” Coomes, bass
C.J. Chenier, accordion, with his Red Hot Louisiana Band
REVIEW: Jeff “Siege” Siegel Quartet at Jazz on Jay, Thursday, June 26, 2025
Jeff Siegel Quartet – From left, Siegel; Chris Pasin, Rich Syracuse and Francesca Tanksley
A special sense of occasion enriched Thursday’s Jazz on Jay show by drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel’s quartet of veteran straight-ahead players.
Philip Morris honors Tim Coakley
Coakley holds his plaque
The jazz community of musicians and fans filled Proctors Robb Alley, the series rainsite, to honor area jazz hero Tim Coakley as well as to hear the show. The drummer, long-tenured WAMC DJ and sparkplug of A Place for Jazz received a plaque from Proctors CEO Philip Morris and the plaudits of many friends including fellow Gazette retirees. Coakley has probably never been photographed so much in his long life as he was Thursday.
Siegel and pianist Francesca Tanksley, bassist Rich Syracuse and trumpeter and flugelhorn player Chris Pasin quickly turned the concert from social gathering into richly musical event. Longtime friends, the four are also fans of one another whose warm mutual regard filled the bandstand, and the house.
They played only originals, of a varied but mostly modernist mode; post-bop mid- and uptempo romps, entrancing ballads, a funk outburst and an Asian meditation.
“A New Freedom” hit a high altitude right out of the box; Pasin flying his flugelhorn confidently through and around the melody; he switched to trumpet later in the tune and was eloquent on both. Tanksley showed a profound McCoy Tyner influence in emphatic, pulsating chords and centrifugal scalar runs. Syracuse played just as swiftly while Siegel’s beat held everything together, and up.
“Inner Passion” honored Siegel’s recently deceased South African trumpeter friend Feya Taku (as “Ballad of the Innocent” did later), a mid-tempo waltz with a quiet ballad feel, a showcase for lyrical touches.
The uptempo “Finnegan’s Wake” – describing Syracuse’s grappling with James Joyce’s hallucinatory novel – opened things up again, highlighted by the bassist-composer’s droll solo.
Things went from high to higher as Siegel’s march-beat launched “Meter Made,” Pasin’s pun-title reflecting his admiration for the Meters whose New Orleans funk inspired it. Pasin plays this happy street-parade rip with all his bands, and it works with all of them; Thursday, it was full of playful spirit.
Siegel also kicked off “Dance In the Question,” a complex, episodic number with varied cadences. Tyner-esque piano power balanced a quiet trumpet interlude, a dancing bass break, then a drum solo with piano and bass support.
Siegel avoided imposing a drummer-centric over-emphasis on rhythm; the quartet grooved like a well-balanced machine, though this particular line-up had never played in public together before Thursday. Several trio sections where Pasin laid out proved they could have killed the place with piano, bass and drums only. But then we’d have missed the horn player’s melodic mastery, rhythmic push, going uptempo, and sweet simplicity on ballads.
Unaccompanied piano introduced “Ballad of the Innocent” that flowed into understated reverie where Pasin’s trumpet, shorn of his customary fire, ruled through simple phrasing and beautiful tone. Like the earlier “Question,” “Glimpse” used episodic structure to portray succeeding moods, Siegel clanging the bell of his ride cymbal to drive the hot spots to spirited effect.
The meditative “Pagoda” tastefully steered clear of stereotypical Asian imitations; but Pasin’s trumpet explored melodic variations in a sequential way that tastefully echoed the tiered roof structure of this familiar temple design.
Their concluding “Threads” stretched out from a cyclic bossa trio introduction as Pasin added bebop spice; then the whole thing flew in a happy upbeat bustle. Siegel caught the audience response to this driving flow and kept stretching things by cueing his band mates for more. At one point, he cued Pasin who had left the stage and had to hustle back to help build an extended coda that found his trumpet vamping on top as the rhythm section simmered below.
Afterward, the many musicians and fellow newspaper retirees in the crowd clustered around Tim Coakley in affectionate congratulation – another warm coda.
Jazz on Jay continues with Winelight on Thursday, July 3.
First Festival Sponsored by GE Vernova After 27 years under Freihofer Logo
By the time New Orleans giant Trombone Shorty blasts his last notes Sunday night on his slide-horn, 21 other acts – jazz, semi-jazz, or not jazz at all – will have played the 48th Saratoga Jazz Festival at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Biggest and by most measures best jazz blast hereabouts, it’s the first sponsored GE Vernova, and an enticing mix of instruments, voices, styles and sounds.
Trombone Shorty – Seen here playing The Egg in September 2023
On the two stages, this one skews young, mostly; a few including saxophonists Gary Bartz (84). Al Di Meola (70), Cassandra Wilson (69) and Kenny Garrett (64) are around non-musician retirement age.
Veronica Swift. Photo supplied
Veronica Swift (31) and Julius Rodriguez (26) clock in at the opposite demo. But this year’s line-up lacks the youth movement box-office power of last year’s hit, Icelandic pop singer Laufey (26) who drew hordes of fans younger than commonly turn up here. (She plays SPAC Aug. 9: A Night at the Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra – between a Gershwin and Bernstein program Aug. 8 and classic rockers Chicago Aug. 10.)
Staggered start times allow fleet-footed fans to catch at least some of everybody. Tough choices remain, however; choosing between acts playing simultaneously on the Amphitheater (I’ll call it the Main, in reviews) and Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage (likewise, the Wood). Tasting at least a bit of every artist, you’ll walk about 11,000 steps daily, in a beautiful place full of happy people, and worth it for what awaits on both ends.
Bria Skonberg – Playing A Place for Jazz last fall
The lineup includes superb singers Cassandra Wilson – my pick set of the Festival – Gregory Porter, Veronica Swift and Nicole Zuraitis; plus Bria Skonberg who also plays trumpet as well as she sings.
Terrific guitarists play both days: bluesman Gary Clark Jr., fusion force of nature Al DiMeola, funk-riffer Cory Wong and Dave Stryker (in the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars). Wilson’s band also features fine guitarists Marvin Sewell and Brandon Ross.
Al Di Meola. top. Photo supplied
Cory Wong, second from top. Photo supplied
La Excelencia. Photo supplied
Bands range from trios, notably Michel Camilo’s, to the 11-piece La Excelencia.
Gary Clark Jr. Photo supplied
Stylistic border-patrol purists might object to the zydeco of C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, blues by Gary Clark Jr., Cory Wong’s fiery funk; maybe Lettuce, too. But I expect to enjoy all four.
Brandee Younger. Photo supplied
There’s a harpist, Brandee Younger; and a turntablist, DK Logic; the all-women ensembles Artemis and the String Queens, and the elder-statesman saxophonists Gary Bartz and Kenny Garrett. But apart from the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars, perennial favorites for their virtuoso tribute sets, no local acts will appear.
DJ Logic. Photo supplied
The crowds, however, are heavily non-local, pilgrimaging to Saratoga primarily from Northeastern cities; but also even from overseas. These are the most rainbow crowds this side of Schenectady’s Music Haven, and about the friendliest, too.
SATURDAY SET TIMES
Amphitheater Stage
1 p.m.: Kenny Garrett – Now 64, the Detroit saxophonist played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Miles Davis and others, and has led his own bands since 1984
1:45 p.m.: Michel Camilo Trio – Dominican-born pianist and composer, classically trained, bebop-inspired
3:30 p.m.: Veronica Swift – She began singing with her jazz musician parents Hod O’Brien and Stephanie Nakasian
5:15 p.m.: Lettuce – Upbeat funk, with horns, by energetic Boston band
7 p.m.: Gregory Porter – A bass-baritone voice like butter, especially great on ballads, famed for his hat
9 p.m.: Gary Clark Jr. – Texas blues guitarist, fire and soul, variety and force
Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage
11 a.m.: The String Queens – Classically-trained, soul-inspired string players; one of two all-women crews today
12:20 p.m.: Julius Rodriguez – Young Juilliard-trained pianist of Haitian descent
1:40 p.m.: Nicole Zuraitis – Grammy-winning singer and pianist with classical training and big-band experience
3 p.m.: Keyon Harrold – Trumpet ace with jazz pedigree as one of 16 musical siblings, and crossover ambitions; first gig was with rapper Common
Artemis – Pianist/leader Renee Rosnes at left, playing A Place for Jazz last fall
4:20 p.m.: Artemis – All-woman virtuoso quintet of composers and bandleaders in their own right(s)
5:40 p.m.: C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band – Accordion-playing and singing son of Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier
SUNDAY SET TIMES
Amphitheater Stage
12:30 p.m.: Al Di Meola Acoustic Band – Last time here, he played solo; now he brings a fuller sound
2:10 p.m.: DJ Logic & Friends – Innovative turntable artist hybridizes hip-hop with jazz
3:50 p.m.: Cassandra Wilson – Celebrating her best ever album, “New Moon Daughter,” 30 years after release
5:30 p.m.: Cory Wong – Fiery funk guitar with fast urban energy
7:15 p.m.: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue – He owns the honored Sunday night closing-set spot at Jazz Fest in his hometown of New Orleans; here, too
Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage
11:45 a.m.: Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars – Educators and performers play “lessons” from jazz tradition
1:10 p.m.: Brandee Younger Trio – Young harpist, fresh from a triumphant recent show at The Egg with Ravi Coltrane
Veteran Saxophonist Plays Sunday at 48th Saratoga Jazz Festival Presented by GE Vernova
Saxophonist Gary Bartz was 36 when SPAC presented its first jazz festival; he’d just released “Music Is My Sanctuary,” his 13th album in 10 years. His 31st as a leader hits next month.
“Before AND after,” he laughed when asked if he’d practiced his horns before our phone interview last week, or would do so afterward.
“Before AND after,” he stressed, as hard-working at 84 as when he came up with the Big M’s of jazz, mentors and band-mates Max Roach, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner. Bartz played SPAC’s jazz festival in Tyner’s band years ago, and plays Sunday leading his own.
Bartz recalled a star-studded history over the phone from home in Oakland, musing on the physics and mysticism of music.
Gary Bartz, at right, plays alto saxophone with McCoy Tyner, left, at piano. Photo supplied
“I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody this, but I dreamt I had played with Miles before I had ever played with him,” Bartz said. “So, when I started playing with him, it was like I had already played with him so I wasn’t in awe, like most guys were.”
Bartz said, “I started studying when I started listening. The greatest study of all Is listening, even more than playing your instrument, because you can do that 24 hours of the day.” He said, “You can dream music even if you can’t play it, but you can dream you’re playing it. When you get to play a song, when you get to the horn, you’ve already done it.”
CHARLIE PARKER DREAMS
His jazz dreams began at Sunday dinner in his grandmother’s Baltimore home, where his uncle Leon “Sharp” Bartz also lived – “Sharp” because he brought back from New York visits both sharp clothes and records unavailable in Baltimore.
“One of those Sundays, I put on a Charlie Parker record and that was it – and it still is,” said Bartz.”I didn’t know it was a saxophone, I didn’t know if it was a man or a woman, I didn’t know what it was. It was just the most beautiful thing I had every heard and I made up my mind right then: That’s what I want to do.”
He was six years old.
Lessons with a Mr. Holloway downtown taught him to read music, play pop songs and transcribe records by Charlie Parker, Tiny Bradshaw and Louis Jourdan. “Those were the best teachers because you can’t really teach this music,” Bartz said. “The only way to learn this music is to do it.”
Bartz left Baltimore after high school for Juilliard whose Eurocentric curriculum “made me understand the universality of music,” said Bartz.
He said, “Music is nothing but sound, put in a pleasing manner that people like; it sounds good.” He said, “How you do it, that’s up to the individuals. You can do it like Sly Stone, you can do it like Stravinsky.”
When Bartz met trombonist Grachan Moncur III and drummer Andrew Cyrille at Juilliard, “Becoming friends with them, I found out about the jam sessions and started meeting musicians and learning New York.”
SOUNDING LIKE HIMSELF
“As young musicians, when we were coming up, our main thing was to sound like ourselves,” he said. “We wanted people to hear us and immediately to say, ‘Well, that’s so and so.’ You hear a note or two of Miles Davis and you know that’s Miles. You hear Bird or Dizzy or Bud Powell and you know them, within a few notes. That’s what we were looking for.”
“He was my idol,” said Bartz of Wayne Shorter, recalling how trumpeter Lee Morgan introduced them when Bartz sat in a Morgan gig featuring Shorter. “Wayne took a break on ‘A Night In Tunisia’ and it changed my life. Just that one break…It made my eyes pop with the melodies. Whenever I think of Wayne, I think of possibilities.”
Bartz learned fast in his first bands; Max Roach, then Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Abbey Lincoln was singing with Roach then; years later, Bartz often worked with singers, notably Andy Bey. Bartz’s evolving style includes bebop note cascades, sensitive ballads and close accompaniment for singers and fellow players.
Bartz said. “It was easier when I started playing with McCoy and Miles and other people because I had already been taught the proper way by Max and Art. I was very lucky, that was a golden age.”
Max and Miles inspired Bartz as bandleader. “They were similar in the way that they treated their band members, like family,” he said. “It was always comfortable.”
Thelonious Monk strongly influenced Bartz as composer. Bartz wrote “Uncle Bubba” on McCoy Tyner’s “Dimensions” album to honor Monk and Sonny Rollins. “I loved the way Monk and Sonny played together,” he said. Monk’s nieces and nephews called him Uncle Bubba, as did Lester Young’s, as Bartz learned later. “To me, the name Uncle Bubba was universal because I’m sure many families had an Uncle Bubba.”
SPIRIT IN SOUND
Bartz has called Malcolm X and John Coltrane Buddha figures for “the way they made me feel, that I was in the presence of a spiritual being.” Bartz sees music as spiritual, mystical. “The Sufis believe that the big bang happened because of a note,” he said. “Like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan could sing a note and make a glass shatter; that’s how powerful sound is.”
Bartz learned how powerfully unifying music can be alongside Miles. “Playing the Isle of Wight in 1970 (with Miles’s Bitches Brew band), there were over 600,000 people, and I saw how music unites.”
To build that unity, Bartz emphasizes deep knowledge through shared focus.
TOTAL FOCUS
“I need a band that can hear and that knows the music so they don’t have to turn the pages and look at (sheet) music,” said Bartz. “If you are reading something and trying to listen, part of your brain is on the paper, the other part is in the melody. This music needs total focus, and it has to be your full attention.”
Over 30 albums as leader and 100 as sideman, Bartz has used that focus to build unity while maintaining his independence. “I appreciate the fact that I was able to record what I wanted to record,” he said. “Wait until they hear the new record! I think they’re gonna be shocked!”
Called “Damage Control,” it’s due next month; recorded in Los Angeles with many musician friends. “Maybe people won’t be so shocked,” he mused, reconsidering.
“They know I might do anything.”
Gary Bartz. Photo supplied
Bartz plays Sunday at 4:10 p.m. at the Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage with Kassa Overall, drums; Paul Bollenback, guitar, and Reuben Rogers, bass.
Preview – Jeff Siegel Quartet at Jazz on Jay, Thursday, June 26, 2025
Making music with modern masters, plus conservatory training, taught tradition to the all-star members of the straight-ahead style Jeff Siegel Quartet. With big-name credits as players, they all also boast ambitions and achievements as composers.
“Likely ninety percent of the songs (they’ll play Thursday) will be originals, versus standards,” says Siegel, the well-traveled drummer, composer and teacher. His quartet features pianist Francesca Tanksley, trumpeter Chris Pasin and bassist Rich Syracuse, his longtime bandmate in Lee Shaw’s trio.
Jeff Siegel. Photo, and fan-dog, supplied
Siegel has toured Europe 30 times as leader or co-leader, plus shows and festivals in Africa and South America; the latest with the Levin Brothers right after their Caffe Lena show. He has also worked with Ron Carter, Kenny Burrell, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Golson, Sheila Jordan, Helen Merrill, Mose Allison, John Medeski, Arthur Rhames, Dave Douglas, Stefon Harris, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Kurt Elling, Ravi Coltrane, Ryan Kisor, Hal Galper, Dena DeRose and other straight-ahead players, plus avant garde explorers Wadada Leo Smith and Baikida Carroll.
With a Masters in jazz from Queens College, Siegel teaches at SUNY New Paltz, Western Connecticut State University, Vassar and the New School. His albums showcase original compositions including “King of Xhosa” (2017) with South African trumpeter Feya Faku (sadly, recently deceased), “London Live” (2018), “When You Were There” (2019) and “Brazilian Conversations” with the Levin Brothers and Emilio Martins (2025).
Pianist Francesca Tanksley was born in Italy, grew up in Germany and trained at Berklee. In New York she played with Melba Liston, then in Billy Harper’s quintet; and has also worked with Clifford Jordan, Cecil Payne, Bill Hardman and Erica Lindsay. She leads her own quintet, co-leads the Erica Lindsay/Howard Johnson Quintet and teaches at Berklee and Bard College. Her debut album “Journey” hit in 2002.
After training at the New England Conservatory, trumpeter and flugelhorn player Chris Pasin played in Buddy Rich’s big band, accompanying singers Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan and others. His albums “Detour Ahead” (2009) and “Random Acts of Kindness” (2015) showcase originals while “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (2017) reinvents Christmas music and “Ornettiquette” (2018) celebrates Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Don Cherry.
Siegel’s longtime bandmate with Lee Shaw, bassist Rich Syracuse played Jazz on Jay last Thursday with Steve Horowitz and has played for ballet and opera companies in addition to jazz giants Nick Brignola, Mose Allison, Kurt Elling, the Brubeck Brothers, both Brecker brothers, Jimmy Cobb, Bernard Purdy, Eddie Henderson, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Warren Bernhardt, John Medeski and many more. He teaches at Skidmore, Bard, SUNY New Paltz and the Hotchkiss School.
They all also value spontaneity and freshness. “Each time we perform a piece, whether a standard or original, should involve solos and interplay and even melodic interpretation that is different,” says Siegel. “All of our concepts of studying music come into focus no matter what music we are playing.”
Jazz on Jay free concerts are noon to 1:30 p.m. at Jay Square, the new park space opposite Schenectady City Hall. The rain site is Robb Alley at Proctors, 432 State St., Schenectady. Seating is provided indoors at Robb Alley, but patrons are invited to bring their own seating and refreshments to Jay Square.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District and sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, The Schenectady Foundation, Price Chopper/Market 32, MVP Health Care, Schenectady County, Schenectady City Hall, and Proctors Collaborative. This blog is a series media sponsor.
Jazz always gangs up on the calendar around SPAC’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, Saturday and Sunday, June 28 and 29.
Stay tuned for festival info with a Gary Bartz interview.
We’ve talked about Mark Kleinhaut’s new In This Moment trio debuting at Spring Street Gallery on Wednesday. Lots more follows.
Thursday is a coin-toss: the Royal Bopsters sing at Caffe Lena (47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs), while Joe Barna adds four-time Grammy winning saxophonist Ralph LaLama to his band at the Van Dyck (237 Union St. Schenectady).
The Royal Bopsters; Jeanne O’Connor second from left. Photo supplied
Area singer Jeanne O’Connor is the familiar face and voice in the New York-based Royal Bopsters, which she calls “a bebop vocal quartet.” The New Yorker hails them as “expert practitioners of vocalese,” the jazz art of adding lyrics to instrumentals, as practiced by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross and Manhattan Transfer.
O’Connor has previously played Caffe Lena with her New Standard band and a trio with Peg Delaney and Pete Toigo.
The Royal Bopsters – O’Connor, Amy London, Tomas Cruz and Dylan Pramuk – will sing with pianist Will Gorman, bassist Dean Johnson and local hero drummer Bob Halek. They’ll likely sing “But Not For Me,” Freddy Hubbard’s “Red Clay,” Tadd Dameron’s “Our Delight” and “On a Misty Night,” Tito Puente’s “Cuando Te Vea” and some originals. ”I will probably sing a new version of ‘The Sweetest Sounds,’ co-arranged by Peg Delaney and John DiMartino – part of a new solo CD I am working on,” says O’Connor. The Royal Bopsters followed their self-named debut album (2015) with “Party of Four” (2020).
The Royal Bopsters perform as part of the Caffe’s Peak Jazz series. 7 p.m. $34.72 general, $30.37 members, $17.35 children and students. 518-583-0022 www.caffelena.org
Joe Barna, performing last summer Jazz on Jay
Also Thursday, area drummer, composer, bandleader and jazz catalyst Joe Barna welcomes guest tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama to the Van Dyck, joining Barna, keyboardist John Esposito and bassist Jason Emmond. Since training at SUNY Schenectady and SUNY Purchase, Barna has become one of the busiest and most valued jazz heroes hereabouts, leading or contributing to several bands and presenting shows in new venues.
Ralph Lalama. Photo supplied
Lalama came up through the Woody Herman, Buddy Rich and Mel Lewis big bands but most often plays in smaller groups such as Barna’s. He’s led or guested on a dozen albums since 1985, earning four Grammys along the way. “Staycation” (2022), perfect title for a COVID-time album, is his latest. Small plates in the upstairs music room; full dinners downstairs. 7 p.m. show, doors 6:30. $20 advance, $25 door. 518-630-5173. www.stellapastabar.com
WAMC jazz DJ and A Place for Jazz maestro Bill McCann hosts this show, a presentation of the NPR station’s new WAMC On the Road series of remotes.
COZY JAZZ FESTIVAL ENCORES AT SKIDMORE
As part of its annual summer Jazz Institute, Skidmore presents two groups next week after each played SPAC’s Saratoga Jazz Festival. Both shows are free; both start at 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, July 1, the all-women Artemis quintet plays the Zankel, and on Thursday, July 3, the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars returns to campus to play there.
Artemis at A Place for Jazz last fall; Renee Rosnes at left
Next Tuesday’s show marks the third by Artemis since they played A Place for Jazz last fall. Pianist, composer and leader Renee Rosnes leads Ingrid Jensen, trumpet; Nicole Glover, saxophone; Noriko Ueda, bass; and Allison Miller, drums.
Skidmore Jazz institute Faculty All-Stars at Saratoga Jazz Festival 2024
On Thursday, the Zankel presents the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars: bassist, leader and dry-as-the-Sahara host Todd Colman; Jimmy Greene, saxophone; Clay Jenkins, trumpet; Steve Davis, trombone; Dave Stryker, guitar; Bill Cunliffe, piano; and Dennis Mackrel, drums.
NEARBY…
Keyboardist/composer/everything man Jon Batiste plays Saturday at Tanglewood, coincidentally the first day of the Saratoga Jazz Festival. Always brilliant, Batiste is sometimes jazz, as when he played in Cassandra Wilson’s band at The Egg, his area debut. A graduate of Skidmore’s Jazz Institute, he bravely filled in for the irreplaceable Sharon Jones, fronting the Dap Kings to close SPAC’s 2018 Jazz Festival.
Hoke's Jukebox 