Jane Monheit, Amanda Green & Friends, and More to Play Birdland This Month

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater have announced jazz programming running February 21 through March 5.

Performers appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include Jane Monheit, Earl McIntyre's Tribute!, Amanda Green & Friends, James Carter "Lookin at the Lock" Music of Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band.

Downstairs at Birdland Theater, catch John di Martino Duo, Lauren Henderson Quartet, Dena DeRose Trio + Special Guests, Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, Charu Suri Quartet, Ben Allison Quartet and Sara Caswell Quartet.

Repeat engagements include David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Frank Vignola's Guitar Night, Birdland Big Band and Arturo O'Farrill & The Latin Jazz Orchestra.

Jazz Programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater February 21 through March 5

February 21 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Theater
John di Martino Duo
John di Martino is a veteran pianist whose Grammy-nominated work with Freddy Cole, Bobby Sanabria, Issac Delgado, and Ray Baretto, as well as his work as a leader with star-studded groups, makes him a stunning pianist to witness. Described as a "shape-shifter" for his creativity across musical genres, di Martino recently gifted us with a new quartet release entitled Passion Flower. Featuring the music of the late, great American composer Billy Strayhorn, the deft pianist brings together some of our generation's most masterful musical minds. In February, join John for two Tuesdays as he performs in an intimate duo setting.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 21-25 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (2/21-23); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (2/24-25) - Birdland Jazz Club
Jane Monheit
With a robust, sultry tone and an uplifting stage presence, Jane Monheit has become a household name among contemporary jazz fans over the last 15 years, who have come to identify her with the living tradition of swinging vocalists. Performing standards from the Great American Songbook in a way that is both all her own and yet deeply dedicated to the great achievements of the Master Singers, Monheit has been the vocalist of choice on recordings by the great Terence Blanchard (Let's Get Lost), Tom Harrell (Wise Children), Harold Mabern (Afro Blue), David Benoit (Two in Love and Believe) and others. As a leader, she has released 13 full-length albums; for her last engagement at Birdland Jazz Club, she celebrated the release of her latest album on Club44 records, Come What May (2021). As her first recording in five years, Come What May captures Monheit at her peak: sharpened by years on the road, and yet calm, since pandemic touring schedules have allowed her to stay more frequently inside, nourished by the closeness to her loved ones. Performing with her long-time group that features her husband, Rick Montalbano, on drums as well as Michael Kanan on piano and Miles Okazaki on guitar, Monheit will bring audiences into her world for this surely captivating week.
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 22 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Theater
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 18th 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!
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 22 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with special guest Sheryl Bailey
It's the best jazz guitar lover's show in the world. Frank Vignola's virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world's top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Les Paul, the Boston and New York Pops, and more. Every Wednesday at 8:30pm in the Birdland Theater, Frank leads "Frank Vignola's Guitar Night at Birdland." Inspired by journeyman jazz guitarist John Pisano's now famous Los Angeles Guitar Night, the Frank Vignola Trio, featuring bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer Vince Cherico, will perform tunes from the standard repertoire, inviting up a rotation of special guest guitarists.
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 23 (Thursday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Lauren Henderson Quartet
A jazz singer with a truly sultry sound, Lauren Henderson fulfills the mission of the jazz tradition with her love of traditional forms and her forward-thinking approach. Henderson's music runs the gamut-from the hip and highly swinging, to the funky 1970s, to contemporary pop soundscapes, and back again-within an album and sometimes within one song, and always retaining naturalness and ease. Praised by The New York Times and The Financial Times, and reaching the Top 5 of the Jazz Charts, the vocalist conjures late-night pictures with her stellar cast of jazz's young stars as she sings her way through the African Diaspora, diving into her Panamanian, Montserratian, and Caribbean roots and her North American upbringing in such selections as "Todo Tiene Su Final," "Alma Oscura," and her arrangement of Amy Winehouse's "Love Is a Losing Game."
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 24 (Friday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
The Birdland Big Band
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 isn't another band like this anywhere," and why yelp.com proclaims, "If you hear one band in NYC make sure this is it... and prepare to be blown away!"
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

February 24-26 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Dena DeRose Trio + Special Guests
An artist of the highest order, Dena DeRose has been called "the most creative and compelling singer-pianist since Shirley Horne." Performances at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Umbria Jazz Festival, Red Sea Jazz Festival, The North Sea and The Hague Jazz Festivals, The Jazz Cruise, and Jazz Baltica Festival-among many others-have brought DeRose worldwide fame. Her most recent recording, 2020's Ode to the Road (aptly titled for a tourless year of release), features her long-time compatriots, the rhythm team of bassist Martin Wind and drummer Matt Wilson, as well as collaborators trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and saxophone legend Houston Person. DeRose has long straddled the line between modernism and tradition, and with marvelous arrangements and technical grace, she hones a clear vision of contemporary music. With Special Guests: Steve Wilson (sax, 2/24), Scott Robinson (sax, 2/25), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet, 2/26).
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 26 (Sunday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Earl McIntyre's Tribute!
Earl McIntyre is a brass artist who has performed with the world's greatest jazz brass masters: Howard Johnson's Gravity, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, and Slide Hampton's World of Trombones. His recording Brass Carnival & Tribute! is a celebration with two ensembles: Brass Carnival, which plays "the various kinds of carnival music, painted on a Jazz canvas"-whereas "Tribute! is a smaller group that pays tribute to my many influences." With McIntyre's hip compositional slant, this is sure to be a soulful, grooving evening.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 26 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill-leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (The New York Times)-leads the GRAMMY award winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), who bring together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world's most accomplished solo musicians. Twelve years of critically-acclaimed performances internationally have firmly established the ALJO as the standard-bearer for creative interpretation of Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente, Frank "Machito" Grillo, and Chico O'Farrill, as well as the driving force behind new commissions from Latin music's most talented composers and arrangers.
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

Monday, February 27 at 7pm - Birdland Jazz Club
Amanda Green AF! "Merry February"
Come catch the post-post Holiday Spirit and join Birdland favorite, two-time Tony-nominated and Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer Amanda Green and her Amazing Friends on her least favorite month, for an evening of her hilarious and moving songs. Guest performers include Tony Nominee Jenn Colella, Stephen DeRosa, Curtis Moore, and Tamika Lawrence. Musical Direction by James Sampliner.
$40 + $20 food/drink minimum

February 28 (first Tuesday night of an upcoming bi-weekly run) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
Catch Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks for their final performance in a highly successful 7-week Tuesday night residency at the Birdland Theater. Giordano, the recipient of a GRAMMY Award for his work scoring the HBO show Boardwalk Empire, is a master composer and arranger whose 11-piece band, The Nighthawks, recreate the jubilant 1920s jazz sound with amazing definition, using violins, tubas, banjos, and collector's item drum sets. The band has provided soundtracks for film and television productions including The Cotton Club, The Aviator, Finding Forrester, Revolutionary Road, Cafe Society, Boardwalk Empire, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and many more. Not to be missed!
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 28 - March 4 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (2/28 - 3/2); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (3/3-4) - Birdland Jazz Club
James Carter "Lookin at the Lock": Music of Eddie Lockjaw Davis
"To hear saxophonist James Carter is to be blown away," says the Washington Post. An indomitable force of imagination and soulful expression, Carter has released 19 records under his own name and nearly 40 as a collaborator with giants of music such as Lester Bowie, Christian McBride, Ginger Baker, Hammiet Bluiett, Steve Turre, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Regina Carter, Benny Golson, Marcus Miller, Madeleine Peyroux, and the World Saxophone Quartet. His playing evokes avant-garde, spiritual, gospel, and modern musical traditions within a single solo. For this week upstairs at the jazz club, Carter will explore the music of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, the gutsy tenor-man known for his blues-soaked melodies and his heartbreaking, heroic improvisations. James Carter (saxophones), Gerard Gibbs (piano) Hilliard Greene (bass), Kahlil Kwame Bell (drums).
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 1 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Theater
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 18th 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!
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 1 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night
It's the best jazz guitar lover's show in the world. Frank Vignola's virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world's top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Les Paul, the Boston and New York Pops, and more. Every Wednesday at 8:30pm in the Birdland Theater, Frank leads "Frank Vignola's Guitar Night at Birdland." Inspired by journeyman jazz guitarist John Pisano's now famous Los Angeles Guitar Night, the Frank Vignola Trio, featuring bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer Vince Cherico, will perform tunes from the standard repertoire, inviting up a different rotation of special guest guitarists each week.
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 2 (Thursday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Charu Suri Quartet
Charu Suri-the classical piano prodigy turned multi-stylist and powerful composer-performs at Birdland one Thursday night in early March. Her latest work, Ragas and Waltzes, finds Suri confidently reinventing styles and fusing musical worlds. The pianist who Birdland favorite and Afro Latin-jazz legend Arturo O'Farill calls "singular" for her pioneering "raga-based improvisations" released the album after a string of other brilliant genre-transcendent recordings, which included The New American Songbook, The Book of Ragas, and The Book of Ragas II. Her latest work employs the great Preservation Hall Jazz Band drummer Joe Lastie, Jr., a beautiful timekeeper who brings expertise and dancing joy to every beat. An evening not to be missed of Suri's compositional and pianistic genius.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 3 (Friday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
The Birdland Big Band
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 isn't another band like this anywhere," and why yelp.com proclaims, "If you hear one band in NYC make sure this is it... and prepare to be blown away!"
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 3-4 (Friday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Ben Allison Quartet
A forward-thinker both composer and bassist, Ben Allison has spent over 30 years developing a unique and fresh artistic vision for the contemporary moment. His efforts have made him the recipient of several awards, including the North Sea Jazz Festival's Bird Award (2005) and Downbeat's prestigious distinction of Rising Star Bassist (2005, 2006, 2007). His projects, which bring to life folksy sonic landscapes for improvisational play, are original, spacious explorations that cross genres and create visceral moods. He is also a member of powerful collaborations: following 2018's Quiet Revolution, his beloved collective trio with visceral saxophonist Ted Nash and wry guitarist Steve Cardenas released Somewhere Else-West Side Story Songs, covering their favorites from the legendary musical. For this engagement at Birdland, Allison brings his own Quartet-which recently put out Moments Inside. The band features two master guitarists-Steve Cardenas and Chico Pinheiro-as well as the generous, creative Alan Mednard on drums.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 5 (Sunday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band
Cuban-born pianist Manuel Valera is a force of nature. His resume a list of living legends-Dafnis Prieto, Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D'Rivera, Brian Lynch, Yosvany Terry, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Lenny White among them-Valera is a writer, leader, and accompanist extraordinaire, and with this Sunday engagement at Birdland, he brings in his large ensemble: the New Cuban Express Big Band, whose 2020 recording Jose Marti en Nueva York and 2022 Distancia are high energy, clean works of modern large ensemble brilliance. Valera's New Cuban Express small ensemble was nominated for 2013's Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Catch his Big Band, featuring New York's finest improvising musicians.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 5 (Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Sara Caswell Quartet
Contemporary violinist Sara Caswell is one of the brightest stars on the instrument today. Nominated for 2018's Grammy award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo-and winner of 2018's Downbeat Critic's Poll award for Rising Star: Violin-Caswell is a moving instrumentalist whose work as a solo artist, a member of the Caswell Sisters, a member of Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society, and one-third of the chamber jazz group 9 Horses is all top shelf. She brings her quartet to Birdland Theater to celebrate the release of The Way to You (Anzic, 2023), her first solo recording in 18 years.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 5 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill-leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (The New York Times)-leads the GRAMMY award winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), who bring together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world's most accomplished solo musicians. Twelve years of critically-acclaimed performances internationally have firmly established the ALJO as the standard-bearer for creative interpretation of Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente, Frank "Machito" Grillo, and Chico O'Farrill, as well as the driving force behind new commissions from Latin music's most talented composers and arrangers.
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

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