Author: Kelley Dawkins

You can find Julius Rodriguez in many places. You could walk into a packed jazz haunt and bear witness to him behind the piano with energy practically surging from his fingers through the room. You might scroll up on social media and catch him alternating from drums to bass to guitar at the speed of a jump cut. You may also step onto festival grounds and see him on stage either solo or accompanying another likeminded visionary, jamming like his life depends on it. No matter where, the New York-born and Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer electrifies any lane. By doing so, he also transcends perceived boundaries between genres and styles, redefining the music to mirror his own fluid creative inclinations and delivering a sound that’s solely his alone.

Richard Bona is a Grammy-winning musician, one of the most accomplished international bass players, composers and multi-instrumentalists. With his unique sound and vocal gift he is continuously representing his African origins. Bona’s music addresses the continent’s traditions, culture, beauty and issues. His purpose, and the way he connects with his audience has turned him into a staple name in world, jazz and Afropop music.

He is currently producing and recording for Latin and Brazilian artists in the realm of pop, Brazilian songbook, Flamenco and Caribbean music.

Richard Bona has toured, composed, recorded, and created musical forms of art with the greatest: Herbie Hancock, Harry Belafonte, Steps Ahead, Quincy Jones, Chick Corea, Buena Vista Social Club, Cesária Évora, Sting, Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin, Chucho Valdés, George Benson, Oumou Sangaré and many more. Along the diverse notable collaborations Richard has also taught Jazz Improvisation at NYU and is constantly teaching and mentoring young talents throughout the world. He’s also a TED speaker and ambassador for various non-profit projects.

He is highly involved in developing better music business practices and ethics. His Signature Series collaboration with Italian-based MARKBASS has positioned him as one of the most creative and best-selling bass amp and bass guitar tailor-made manufacturers in the world.

Constantly touring around the world and exploring new musical directions, Richard continues to redefine his sound, while still performing live. He’s currently working on new Afrobeats, Afropop, Latin and Flamenco projects throughout Europe, the US and Latin America.

34-year old Japanese-born pianist Miki Yamanaka has called New York City home since 2012 and in the past decade has wasted no time establishing herself as one of the leading personalities of her generation on the piano and beyond. Critics laud her “light, expressive touch and solidly crafted, mainstream approach” – Mike Jurkovic (All About Jazz), while audiences delight in not only her playing, but her vibrant personality as well. Yamanaka has gained international recognition from her albums as a leader; her most recent and most celebrated release, “Shades Of Rainbow” (Cellar Music), features Jazz masters Mark Turner and her NYC rhythm section, Tyrone Allen and Jimmy Macbride. Additionally, Miki has emerged as a leader of the “New York Scene” via her notable residencies at mainstay West Village sister clubs Smalls and Mezzrow. During the pandemic, she developed a successful in-home live-streaming weekly concert series cleverly titled “Miki’s Mood” where she features a veritable who’s who of NYC talent (including her husband and frequent collaborator – drummer Jimmy Macbride). The series showcases her vast knowledge of Jazz standards and tunes, often featuring themed offerings of various composers from both the Great American Songbook as well as iconic Jazz composers.

As a sideman, Yamanaka has worked with Jazz luminaries such as alto saxophonist Antonio Hart who posits “Miki will be recognized as one of the most exceptional artists of her generation, as she is already one of the most talented and dedicated musicians from Japan.” Other notable bands she currently works in include the Harish Raghavan Quintet and The Mingus Bigband. One of her most respected mentors on piano and organ (Yamanaka also performs on organ frequently), Larry Goldings, once mused, “If only I could have Miki Yamanaka comp behind me!” – a compliment of the highest order from one master pianist to another. She has a myriad of glowing reviews from her recorded work and the iconic Downbeat Jazz magazine has repeatedly awarded her albums high marks.

On top of her exciting work as a bandleader in New York and abroad, Miki can often be found out and about most nights, where her infectious smile and gregarious nature engender fast friends in every audience she encounters. She has many hobbies, including cooking, knitting, and perhaps most visibly, her penchant for wearing her vast collection of kimonos on her gigs, proudly representing her heritage and culture night after night as she dazzles audiences around the world.

Guitarist and singer JOHN PIZZARELLI has been hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.”

Established as one of the prime contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Pizzarelli has expanded that repertoire by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim and the Beatles. In addition to being a bandleader and solo performer, Pizzarelli has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as Natalie Cole, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Wopat, Rickie Lee Jones and Dave Van Ronk, as well as leading jazz artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Ruby Braff, Johnny Frigo, Buddy DeFranco, Harry Allen and, of course, his father Bucky Pizzarelli. He won a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category as co-producer of James Taylor’s American Standard in 2021. A radio personality who got his start in the medium in 1984, Pizzarelli is co-host, alongside wife Jessica Molaskey, of Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli.

He has performed on America’s most popular national television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and Great Performances, as well as the talk shows of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Regis Philbin and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

New Jazz Underground, an American trio, have been described as “an innovative and ultra creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of Jazz and beyond”. Their music signals a merging of traditional sensibilities in Jazz with the modern influence of swing, hip-hop, house/afro-beat, and afro-cuban music. Listeners were introduced to the trio’s undeniably fresh sound through viral videos of the band performing in their living room. Millions viewed videos such as: “they can hate but we still swingin’”, “f**k/s**t/c**t/jazz”, “sad boy jazz”, as well as many others featuring the band’s exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and raw ambition in sound.

Abdias Armenteros (Saxophonist/Composer), Sebastian Rios (Bassist/Composer), TJ Reddick (Drummer) have each been lauded as some of Jazz’s most promising young artists in their own right. After meeting while students at The Juilliard School, the trio began playing in the parks of NYC during lock-down in 2020. They shortly began posting to their Youtube channel that has since grown to over 85k+ subscribers. Releases such as “MF Doom Suite”, “Harlem to Havana”, and “cook/swing/work/relax” fully demonstrate the trio’s reverence towards Jazz’s icons, yet still contend in a vision to establish their own voice in the expression of new sounds that transcend genre lines. New Jazz Underground is the 2023 DCJazzPrix™ Winner. Rios is a 2024 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award Winner. Both Reddick (BM’ 20) and Armenteros (MM’ 22) are Juillard School Graduates. Armenteros is the youngest member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Reddick and Rios have played as sidemen for the likes of Jon Batiste, Sullivan Fortner, Emmet Cohen, and ELEW, among many more. Rios is a long-time student of the legendary bassist, Ron Carter. The group most recently was featured on NPR Music for their release “Cook/Swing/Work/Relax.”

The trio not only performs, but boast their composition and production skills across a variety of mediums. Rios was a featured composer for the 2019 “New Dances”, the first ever collaboration between the Jazz and Dance divisions at The Juilliard School. He was also commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center to write a Suite to be performed by the trio at the 2023 Caramoor Jazz Fest. Rios’ compositions for the collective bring forth each member’s sound in a way that transcends the sum of their individual efforts. These gestures of collective musical identity are made real through the vehicle of composition tailored to each member’s unbridled talent, inspiring skill set, and transformative emotion. Creating a new standard for Jazz presentation through their online videos, New Jazz Underground have blazed a path for young Jazz musicians in the modern music landscape. Each video is produced independently, all video and music production are done in-house. Their videos attract millions of music fans through their seemingly clickbait presentation. However, when audiences click they are met with an authentic musical expression steeped in both modernism and tradition that provides a soulful perspective to a deeper world of music. Listeners who wouldn’t normally enjoy Jazz are brought into the music creatively through young artists who are dedicating their lives to its legacy and promise of new creative paths.

NJU has a keen interest in helping students, not much younger than themselves, to develop a deeper understanding of Jazz music and the elements surrounding the creative process. Armenteros, Rios, and Reddick each have their own student studios as well as years of experience teaching students from middle school through college in topics such as Jazz history, theory, and application. Rios developed the program, “Creative Video in Modern Music” to teach intermediate to advanced Jazz students to produce their own music, and have a better understanding of the modern media landscape. Dynamic and powerful performers, New Jazz Underground possess far-reaching talents that are re-energizing the contemporary music world from the inside out. They dedicate themselves to the music continually and serve as a burgeoning benchmark for the future of Jazz to come.

Kat Edmonson is an award-winning songwriter and singer “with an equal foothold in jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop” (The New York Times). Raised on the music and film of the early-to-mid-twentieth century, Kat is a rare artist who embodies the spirit of the past while remaining resolutely au courant. She performs original songs and familair classics in her live show, interweaving humorous anecdotes, philosophical musings, and her love of film with disarming candor and vulnerability. Her longtime band members’ keen and sensitive accompaniment allows Kat to freely veer off-script as she’s often inclined to do. She has been featured on Austin City Limits, Tiny Desk Concerts, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Tonight Show.

Kat’s sixth studio album Holiday Swingin’! A Kat Edmonson Christmas Vol. 1 was released in November of 2021 and was included on the NY Times list of “13 Albums That Revisit (and Redefine!) Holiday Classics” and was described by Jazziz as “impeccably hip”. In 2020, the vintage-pop and jazz artist was on a 40-city tour promoting her new critically acclaimed album Dreamers Do when the pandemic struck. Kat quickly transformed her living room into an attractive set where she performed live every Sunday night at 7PM ET. Drawing from her love of old variety shows, Kat dubbed her livestream The Kat Edmonson Show. Her modern-day variety show ran for 66 episodes.

Kat’s fifth album, Dreamers Do (2020) combines mid-20th century Disney songs (from Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, Babes in Toyland), with familiar classics (“What A Wonderful World” as well as “All I Do is Dream of You” from Singin’ in the Rain), and features two new, original songs (“Too Late to Dream” and “Someone’s In The House.”) The LP, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart, takes place in a single night, from bedtime till morning. “It’s about our concepts around dreaming- all of the wonderful things, the fearful things, and the things that keep us awake in the middle of the night,” Kat explains of the music, “It’s also about the quiet power of merely having a dream. There are interludes between the songs indicating different points in this nocturnal journey and if someone wants to listen to the entire record as an experience, it’s available to them.” Of Dreamers Do, American Songwriter says, “terrific!” and UNCUT calls it a “Bewitching songcycle from a masterful vocalist.”

Recently, The Songwriters Hall of Fame awarded Kat the Abe Olman Scholarship Award for Excellence in Songwriting. “Intuitive about melody and handy with a turn of phrase (The New York Times), the songsmith has been writing ever since she was a little girl, having published over 40 songs to date. JAZZIZ magazine says, “…her lasting contribution might very well be her songs.” NPR says, “she’s a savvy student of ’60s film soundtracks, jazz-pop stylists and Brill Building songcraft, nodding to her influences at every turn. But her take on those stylized musical languages is so fresh and fluent that the referencing never feels cumbersome.” Her original song “Lucky” was featured in the Coca-Cola “Footprints” ad from the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Jacky Terrasson, the most widely travelled of all jazz pianists, is the “piano player of happiness”, according to Telerama magazine in France. He is an exhilarating musician, one of those who play their public straight to euphoria.

Born in Berlin, of an American mother and a French father, he grew up in France, in Paris. He started to learn the piano when was 5 and after studying classical piano in school, he began to study jazz, in particular with Jeff Gardner. His encounter with Francis Paudras (whose movie, “Round Midnight”, tells the moving story of a lasting friendship with Bud Powell) will be an important part of his initiation in jazz. Jacky then leaves for the United States to attend the Berklee College of Music. In 1993, after he wins the prestigious Thelonius Monk Award, he begins touring with Betty Carter. He then decides to move to New York, where he still lives today.

Exactly one year after his triumph in the Thelonius Monk competition, Jacky Terrasson was introduced in the New York Times Magazine as one of the 30 under 30, that is to say one of the 30 artists most likely to change American culture in the next 30 years, and signed with the prestigious Blue Note label.

He made three first trio recordings for Blue Note (Jacky Terrasson, Reach, and Alive). He then devoted himself to several collaborations: “Rendezvous”, with Cassandra Wilson, and “What it is”, with Michael Brecker and Mino Cinelu. Beginning in 2001, he records “A Paris” for Blue Note, a very personal interpretation of classics of French song; “Smile”, (winning him Best Jazz Album of the Year, 2003 Victoires du Jazz and a Gold Django), and finally a solo album, “Mirror”.

This Franco-American national has never stopped dazzling us, either by his prestigious collaborations, with greats such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Jimmy Scott, Charles Aznavour, Ry Cooder… or with his minimalist and energetic music hammered out with drummer Leon Parker and bassist Ugonna Okegwo, in a trio that was considered one of the best jazz trios of the 90s. And this intuition, this instinct, this openness, leads him to the discovery of the great burgeoning talents of his many groups (talents such as those of Eric Harland, Ben Williams, Jamire Williams, and Justin Faulkner).

In February 2012, Jacky Terrasson signed with Universal Jazz France. His first recording, “Gouache”, will appear in Fall 2012, and it is a joyous celebration of his 20-year career. In this recording, he is surrounded by the pride of the upcoming New York jazz generation, but also by Michel Portal, Stéphane Belmondo, Minino Garay, and singer Cecile McLorin-Salvant.

He performs regularly in solo and in trio in the great jazz festivals (Montreal, San Francisco, Montreux, North Sea Jazz, Marciac); and in the most prestigious Piano festivals (Klavier Ruhr Festival, Lucerne, La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins). He also plays regularly in Asia, mostly in Japan, South Korea and in China, in Europe and the United States.

If we were to describe his playing, we would compare Jacky Terrasson to Bud Powell for his carefully controlled velocity on the piano keys, to Ahmad Jamal for his sense of phrasing, but also for his knowledge of the great French composers savants, such as Ravel, Fauré and Debussy. Through his fingers, as he mingles and melts the colors and the inventions of the great pianists of yesterday and today, Jacky creates his own style, all in subtleties, freshness, facility and ease, with the desire to rewrite and reinvent, again, every day and forever.

In 2015, Jacky Terrasson signed with the prestigious label Impulse! and released “Take This”. He is also the musical Ambassador for Krug’s Champaign and will tour worldwide for an unique journey and experience that pairs Musi and Champaign.

In 2016, Jacky releases “Mother” on Impulse! with his long-time partner and friend, the trumpet player Stephane Belmondo.

In 2019, Jacky releases “53” on the mythical label Blue Note, a trio album, his favorite format.

Musical Style: Contemporary Jazz

Guitarist and Producer Adam Hawley has burst onto the contemporary jazz scene as a celebrated and innovative artist, composer and producer. Handpicked by Maurice White (founder of Earth, Wind, & Fire) he first debuted on the legend’s label Kalimba Music. Now, helming his own record label MBF Entertainment, Adam’s six albums and work as a producer has spawned an incredible 16 Billboard #1 Hits. Before embarking on a solo career, Adam appeared with a who’s who of legendary artists including Dave Koz, Brian Culbertson, Jennifer Lopez, Brian McKnight, Lalah Hathaway, & Natalie Cole, to name a few.

Throughout their storied 43-year history, the Yellowjackets have recorded 26 albums, received 18 Grammy® nominations – won 2 – performed countless sold-out tours, and enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim and commercial success.

The Yellowjackets formed in the late 1970’s as the backup band for guitarist Robben Ford. They recorded their first album together in 1980. Shortly after that recording, however, Ford decided to part ways and go in a different musical direction. As a result, the modern day Yellowjackets were formed — a trio with Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson. Since then, and with the addition of Bob Mintzer, the Yellowjackets have gained and maintained prominence as one of jazz’s most influential and loved groups.

Over the years the band has undergone numerous lineup changes. Never failing to rise to the inevitable challenges of adjustment, the Yellowjackets – Russell Ferrante, William Kennedy, Bob Mintzer – have maintained an extraordinarily high quality of musicianship that is the rival of many but a surprise to no one who knows and appreciates the band and their music.

The most recent addition to the band adds Australian bass player Dane Alderson in to the mix. With his exceptional rhythmic sensibility and natural disposition toward groove, Dane brings a new energy to the band and adds a youthful approach to the music.

The Yellowjackets album “Raising Our Voice” was released in Fall 2018 and features special guest vocalist Luciana Souza. Their album “Jackets XL with the WDR Big Band” was nominated for a Grammy® in 2021.

Their latest album “Parallel Motion” was released in fall 2022 and is a true testament to the longevity and resilience of a band who debuted over 40 years ago. Consistently reinventing themselves through elevated instrumentation in their signature electro-acoustic soundscape, the current lineup showcases a collective at their prime. This album features 9 new original compositions and guest vocalist Jean Baylor (4x GRAMMY® Award Nominee of the Baylor Project and R&B duo Zhané) on “If You Believe.”

Avishai Cohen is globally recognized as a musician with an individual sound and a questing spirit, an ever-creative player-composer open to multiple strains of jazz and active as a leader, co-leader and sideman.

In his new album, Naked Truth (released in 2022), you find a raw beauty and vulnerability in Avishai Cohen’s trumpet sound. Very much music-of-the moment, found and shaped in the course of a remarkable recording session in the South of France, Naked Truth takes the form of an extemporaneous suite. For most of its length the Israeli trumpeter painstakingly leads the way, closely shadowed by his long-time comrades — pianist Yonathan Avishai, bassist Barak Mori and drummer Ziv Ravitz — who share an intuitive understanding, hyper alert to the music’s subtly-changing emphases.

Avishai describes the album as the outcome of a “two-year meditation. I had been sitting with the main motif of Naked Truth since the start of Covid. The eight note motif you hear at the start of Part II was the beginning of the whole process. I wouldn’t say the motif has been ‘haunting’ me exactly, but it’s been accompanying me through this whole period and everything that I came to assemble for the album revolved around those eight notes and all the possibilities within them.”

“Cohen is a multicultural jazz musician, among whose ancestors is Miles Davis. Like Davis, he can make the trumpet a vehicle for uttering the most poignant human cries.” — Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes

Praised for its authentic, soulful, and orchestral sound, The String Queens (TSQ) is a dynamic trio that creates stimulating musical experiences that inspire diverse audiences to love, hope, feel, and imagine! With an array of repertoire spanning from the Baroque era to the Jazz Age to today’s Billboard Hot 100 Chart, TSQ performs versatile programs that take listeners on a rousing musical journey through time and a multitude of musical genres.

Based in Washington, D.C., TSQ has been featured in performances at renowned concert halls and venues across America, including Carnegie Hall in New York City and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the nation’s capital. Notable appearances include a special performance dedicated to Vice President Kamala Harris at the “We Are One” Presidential Inauguration Concert in January 2021 and rendering a spotlight presentation of TSQ’s electrifying arrangement of Harry Styles’s hit song “Golden” for the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament “The Championships, Wimbledon” in June 2021. As an ensemble who frequents the D.C. jazz scene, other headlining performances include multiple appearances at the DC Jazz Festival and the Capital Jazz Fest.

Recognized by D.C.’s leading news network WUSA9 as “school teachers by day and concert performers by night”, TSQ’s dedication, service, and innovative work in the field of music education has been acknowledged by the DC Jazz Festival with the “Jazz Education Award” in 2022, Carnegie Hall with the “Music Educators Workshop” Keynote Address in 2021, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with the “Aspire

Award” in 2020, Washington Performing Arts’s “Mars Arts D.C” Resident Ensemble in 2019 and 2020, and most recently, a partnership with the Save The Music Foundation to present a series of professional development workshops for performing arts educators around the country on “Social Emotional Learning in the Arts Classroom” and “Trauma-Informed Centered Arts Classrooms” as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2022, TSQ released its third album titled “RISE”, which was made possible by a Sphinx Organization MPower Artist Grant. With this album, TSQ sought to sonically address the problems that are currently plaguing the world by creating unique arrangements of timeless classics rooted in hope, joy, peace, and love. Featuring original compositions by Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Richard

Smallwood, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and more, “RISE” takes listeners on a musical journey that starts in a field of loss and hopelessness and ends in a fortress of faith, triumph, and fortitude. Previous albums from TSQ include a self-titled EP released in 2019 and a holiday EP titled “Our Favorite Things” released in 2020. All TSQ albums are available on its website and all major digital music platforms.

Musical Style: Blues

Kent Burnside was born in 1971 in Memphis Tennessee, and spent his early years in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He is the oldest Grandson and one of the closest pupils of the legendary R.L. Burnside

Kent first heard the blues while watching his grandfather R.L. perform on the family farm to the locals. Kent used to sell sandwiches to audience members for a dollar a piece during these performances.

The first lesson RL taught Kent was that to be a bluesman you have to find your own rhythm on the guitar. You can’t play someone else’s rhythm – as rhythm comes from your heart.