Live Jazz in New York

Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso moved from Detroit, Michigan to New York City in 1989 to join Vince Giordanos Nighthawks, and has since enjoyed performing and recording with many greats, including Ralph Sutton, Dan Barrett, Milt Hinton, Bob Haggart, Dick Hyman, Catherine Russell, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Kat Edmonson, Elvis Costello, Linda Ronstadt, Leon Redbone, Wycliffe Gordon, Bob Wilbur, and Kenny Davern. Notable engagements include a week in Dizzys Club Coca-Cola with Wynton Marsalis celebrating Louis Armstrongs Hot 5s and 7s; leading The EarRegulars at the Detroit Jazz Fest, Moab Music Fest, and the Bohm Ragtime and Jazz Fest in Hungary; and jazz festivals and concerts in New Orleans and all over the world. At home in New York City Kellso has been leading The EarRegulars at the Ear Inn on Sunday nights since 2007. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Jon plays with Giordanos Nighthawks at Birdland. Jon can also be seen performing at all the great NYC venues, including Dizzys, Cafe Ornithology, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Mezzrow. Jon-Erik can be heard on several television and movie soundtracks, including Ghost World, The Aviator, Mildred Pierce, and Bessie with Vince Giordanos Nighthawks. He can also be heard and seen in Revolutionary Road, Boardwalk Empire, for which the Nighthawks won a Grammy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Martin Scorseses Killers of the Flower Moon.Jon is on well over a hundred recordings, including several as a leader. The latest, Jon-Erik Kellso and the EarRegulars: Live at the Ear Inn is on Arbors Records.

About The Yardbird Big Band, conducted by Alto Saxophonist David DeJesus, brings together some of the best musicians in New York City to play the music of Birdlands namesake, alto saxophone icon Charlie Parker. This 11-piece ensemble performs new big band arrangements of Charlie Parkers most famous compositions.

About Every Friday, and for two headlining weeks a year, the BBB roars into action playing a thrilling and original mix of jazz, funk, Brazilian, Latin and world music for sold-out audiences. Featured weekly guest artists drop-in from television bands (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live) and pop music touring bands (Rob Thomas, Rod Stewart). Come see for yourself why Time Out New York called the BBB, a completely unique experience... there isnt another band like this anywhere, and yelp.com proclaims, if you hear one band in NYC make sure this is it... and prepare to be blown away!

It was the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of, and then some. In his interview for Vintage Guitar magazines February 2016 cover story, Pat Metheny was asked to name some younger musicians whod impressed him. The best guitar player Ive heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso, said the jazz-guitar icon and NEA Jazz Master. This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult.Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of [John Scofield] and a little bit of [Bill Frisell], he continued. Whats interesting about Pasquale is that he doesnt sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his modelwhich is an incredible model to haveis Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. Hes the most significant new guy Ive heard in many, many years.As hes done with many rising jazz stars, Metheny later invited Grasso over to his New York pad to jam and share some wisdom. Hes since become a generous presence in Grassos life, and his assessment of Grassos playing isno surprisespot-on. Born in Italy and now based in New York City, the 30-year- old guitarist has developed an astounding technique and concept informed not by jazz guitarists so much as by bebop pioneers like Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and the classical-guitar tradition. His new digital-only EP series, available beginning in June from Sony Masterworks, showcases Grasso in the solo-guitar format, where his intensive studies of both midcentury jazz and classical meld into a signature mastery that is, remarkably, at once unprecedented and evocative.

A true multi-hyphenate, Christian Wiggs is a vocalist, bandleader, lyricist, producer, director, artist manager, educator, record label executive, founder and CEO of Bandstand Presents and host of Jazz Tonight on PBS.Born to a choreographer, Wiggs immersion into theatre and the jazz tradition has led to a remarkable career as an artist, leading and featured with ensembles on prolific stages such as Birdland, Blue Note, Dizzys Club and SXSW.Producing chart topping records for the most sought-after names in jazz and reaching millions of viewers with his PBS television show, Wiggs manages GRAMMY and Tony Award-winner Bryan Carter, Emmet Cohen and serves as the musical manager for global icon Jeff Goldblum.As an educator, Wiggs is the co-founder and Executive Director of Global Jazz Workshop alongside Artistic Director, Chad LB. A tone and delivery akin to Kurt Elling, but with more of a James Moody flexibility.- George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly