An Evening with Monty Alexander and More Coming Up at Birdland
By: Julie Musbach Dec. 22, 2017
Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with the following acts:
January 1 (Monday) at 5:30PM
Sunport JAZZ Festival in NY: "Night At Birdland" with Swingin' Wonderland JAZZ Orchestra
Swingin' Wonderland JAZZ Orchestra (SWJO) formed in 1991 in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Comprised of the area's best musicians, and under the leadership of bandmaster and trumpeter Naoto Sekimoto, SWJO has been pursuing its ideal of being a full-fledged Swing jazz orchestra. SWJO's magnetic appeal stems from its members' collective spirit to play dynamic Swing. Also, SWJO is boosted by a multitude of fans fascinated by the band's intellectual and warm sounds.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 1 (Monday) at 9:00PM and 11:00PM
John Colianni Big Band
The 17-piece John Colianni Jazz Orchestra has been creating a sensation amongst NYC area jazz fans with its fresh and exciting perspective on big band jazz. With a robust book of exciting original arrangements from leader and pianist John Colianni and a multi-generational lineup of top caliber NYC area jazz musicians, the JCJO is creating a unique brand of big band jazz that is really modern and really swings. More than just another jazz repertory big band, the JC jazz orchestra brings to life the timeless essence of the jazz big band tradition - great musicianship, solid blues feeling, harmonic inventiveness, and ferocious swing in a program of original compositions, and creative new arrangements of classics.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 2-6 (Tuesday-Saturday) at 8:30PM and 11:00PM
An Evening with Monty Alexander - From Kingston to Harlem
In a career spanning five decades, pianist Monty Alexander has built a reputation for exploring and bridging the worlds of American jazz, popular song and the music of his native Jamaica, finding in each a sincere spirit of musical expression. Monty has performed and recorded with a wide array of renowned artists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, Ernest Ranglin, Bill Cosby, Natalie Cole, Bobby McFerrin, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare and others. As a leader, Monty Alexander has recorded over 60 albums to date, and has reinterpreted the music of a diverse collection of his favorite artists including Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett and Bob Marley.
All tickets $40, $10 food/drink minimum
January 3, 10 (Wednesday) at 5:30PM
David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band
Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band breathes life and passion into America's own great art form. Now in its 14th year of residency at Birdland, the weekly post-workday engagement is the city's best musical bargain! Tuba player David Ostwald leads a rotating lineup that features talents such as clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist/vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, pianist Ehud Asherie, drummer Marion Felder and more!
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 4 (Thursday) at 6:00PM
Fleurine
Vocalist Fleurine has caused a stir with her new band Boys from Brazil, with Vitor Goncalves on piano and accordeon, Ian Faquini playing the acoustic guitar, Eduardo Belo on acoustic bass and rogerop boccato- percussion and Fleurine singing lead vocals and on guitar.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 5, 12 (Friday) at 5:15PM
The Birdland Big Band
Founded by drummer and musical director Tommy Igoe, the Birdland Big Band features the finest musicians in New York! Celebrating 10 years at the club, the BBB roars into action every Friday, playing the finest Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music from the world's best arrangers. After work or before a show, drinks or a great dinner, come hear one of the world's best drummers driving the hardest swinging band in New York. Experience why the BBB is the must-see weekly jazz event in New York and kick off your weekend with what critics are calling "the best live music bargain in all of NYC!"
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 6, 11 and 13 (Saturdays and Thursday) at 6:00PM
At just 23 years of age Veronica Swift is being recognized as one of the top young singers in jazz. The child of jazz vocalist Stephanie Nakasian and the late bebop pianist Hod O'Brien, Veronica has already appeared at Lincoln Center, Telluride Jazz Festival, Blues Alley, The Jazz Cruise, and Birdland, performing with Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Esperanza Spalding, Joe Lovano, Bob Dorough, Paquito d'Rivera, and other established jazz artists.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 7 (Sunday) at 6:00PM
Ken Peplowski Quartet
By the time Ken was in his early teens, he was experimenting with jazz by playing in the school "stage" bands, and also by jamming with many of the local jazz musicians. After a year of college, Ken joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow. In 1980, Ken moved to New York City,and was soon playing in all kinds of settings, from Dixieland to avant-garde jazz.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 7, 14 (Sunday) at 9PM & 11PM
The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Grammy Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill -- leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (NY Times) -- was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo was Educated at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He played piano in Carla Bley's Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.
All tickets $40, $10 food/drink minimum
January 8 (Monday) at 7:00PM
Gabrielle Stravelli & Billy Stritch "Down for Double"
The Broadway at Birdland concert series is proud to present jazz singer Gabrielle Stravelli with singer/pianist Billy Stritch in "Down For Double." In addition to her recent four-country State Department tour, Gabrielle premiered a new song cycle, Rooms of Light, by world-renowned jazz pianist, Fred Hersch with lyrics by award-winning poet Mary Jo Salter. Billy Stritch is one of the premier singer-pianists on the New York and national jazz and cabaret scene who has worked with Liza Minnelli, Linda Lavin, Marilyn Maye, Lillias White, Paulo Szot, and most recently, toured as Tony Bennett's musical director.
All tickets $30-35, $10 food/drink minimum
January 8 (Monday) at 9:30PM
Jim Caruso's Cast Party
Jim Caruso's Cast Party is a wildly popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night. It's a cool cabaret night-out enlivened by a hilariously impromptu variety show. Showbiz superstars, backed by Steve Doyle on bass, Billy Stritch on piano and Daniel Glass on drums, hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 9-13 (Tuesday-Saturday) at 8:30PM and 11:00PM
Vijay Iyer Sextet
Vijay Iyer's new ECM Records release, "Far From Over," features his dynamically commanding sextet with Graham Haynes on horns, Steve Lehman on alto saxophone and Mark Shim playing the tenor sax, alongside rhythm partners Stephan Crump and Tyshawn Sorey. The music ranges from the thrillingly explosive ("Down to the Wire," "Good on the Ground") to the cathartically elegiac ("For Amiri Baraka," "Threnody"), with melodic hooks, entrancing atmosphere, rhythmic muscle, and an alluring elemental spirit.
All tickets $40, $10 food/drink minimum
January 10 (Wednesday) at 5:30PM
David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band
Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band breathes life and passion into America's own great art form. Now in its 14th year of residency at Birdland, the weekly post-workday engagement is the city's best musical bargain! Tuba player David Ostwald leads a rotating lineup that features talents such as clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist/vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, pianist Ehud Asherie, drummer Marion Felder and more!
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 11 and 13 (Thursday and Saturday) at 6:00PM
At just 23 years of age Veronica Swift is being recognized as one of the top young singers in jazz. The child of jazz vocalist Stephanie Nakasian and the late bebop pianist Hod O'Brien, Veronica has already appeared at Lincoln Center, Telluride Jazz Festival, Blues Alley, The Jazz Cruise, and Birdland, performing with Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Esperanza Spalding, Joe Lovano, Bob Dorough, Paquito d'Rivera, and other established jazz artists.
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 12 (Friday) at 5:15PM
The Birdland Big Band
Founded by drummer and musical director Tommy Igoe, the Birdland Big Band features the finest musicians in New York! Celebrating 10 years at the club, the BBB roars into action every Friday, playing the finest Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music from the world's best arrangers. After work or before a show, drinks or a great dinner, come hear one of the world's best drummers driving the hardest swinging band in New York. Experience why the BBB is the must-see weekly jazz event in New York and kick off your weekend with what critics are calling "the best live music bargain in all of NYC!"
All tickets $30, $10 food/drink minimum
January 14 (Sunday) at 6:00PM
Kurt Elling and Ann Hampton Callaway
Starting in Chicago, Kurt Elling recorded several of his early albums, earned the first of many GRAMMY nominations and catapulted onto the national stage. Elling's recent CD, "Passion World," is a tour-de-force program of love songs from around the world. Performing each song in its native tongue, Elling tells rich stories about musical history on a grand multicultural tour of exotic places and cultures. Tony Award nominee Ann Hampton Callaway salutes songs made famous in films in - Jazz Goes to the Movies. This show explores the fascinating ways jazz and film have come together to tell stories. The playlist includes "Taking a Chance on Love" from Vernon Duke's Cabin in the Sky, "Let's Face the Music and Dance" from Irving Berlin's Follow the Fleet, "This Time the Dream's on Me," from Harold Arlen's Blues in the Night, and "As Time Goes By," the Herman Hupfeld classic from Casablanca. Callaway also performs jazz songs she has recorded for films, including "Come Rain or Come Shine" from The Good Shepherd, starring Robert DeNiro, "The Nearness of You" from Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah, and "Pourquoi," a song she wrote for the new film Blind, starring Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore.
All tickets $30-45, $10 food/drink minimum
January 14 (Sunday) at 9PM & 11PM
The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Grammy Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill -- leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (NY Times) -- was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo was Educated at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He played piano in Carla Bley's Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.
All tickets $40, $10 food/drink minimum
TICKET INFORMATION:
Purchase tickets at: www.BirdlandJazz.com
For more information and reservations call 212-581-3080.
Ticket prices will vary by performer.
At the tables, there is a $10 food/drink minimum per person in addition to the music charge.
At the bar, the music charge will include one complimentary drink with no additional minimum.
ABOUT BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB:
Named for alto saxophonist and jazz pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker who dubbed it "The Jazz Corner of the World," Birdland opened on December 15th 1949. For 60 years it has been home to jazz legends, from Parker, John Coltrane Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Diana Krall and everyone in between. The original 52nd street location was a cultural barometer and meeting place, inspiring the songs "Birdland" and "Lullaby of Birdland," and serving as a regular haunt for celebrities and cultural figures. The modern incarnation is a state of the art nightclub featuring award winning Southern and Cajun cuisine, first rate sound and lighting and a who's who of contemporary musical artists, 7 nights a week.
315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues)
New York, NY 10036
DISCOUNTS AND SPECIALS:
Students (with current ID) & Broadway Theatre-Goers (with Broadway ticket stub from same day of performance): 50% off music charge at 11PM shows only.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Birdland serves American Fare with a Cajun Flair nightly from 5PM until Midnight and until 1AM on Friday and Saturdays.
Parking is available across the street at 332 West 44th Street.
Concert Grand Piano By:
Follow BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB on Twitter: @birdlandjazz, Facebook, Instagram, and on Pinterest
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