Maria Schneider Orchestra, Christian Sands Trio, and More Play Birdland This Month

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater have announced programming running March 11th - March 24th.

Performers appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include Maria Schneider Orchestra, Emilio Solla & La Inestable de Brooklyn, Christian Sands Trio, and Canadian Jazz Collective.

Downstairs at Birdland Theater catch Tedd Firth, Hot Club of Cowtown, Michael Kanan Trio, and Joe Alterman Trio.

Repeat engagements for the rest of the period include Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, The Andersons, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Frank Vignola's Guitar Night, The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band, Birdland Big Band, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and Loston Harris Duo.
 

Jazz Programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater March 11th - March 24th 

March 11 (Monday) 5:30 & 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
Catch Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks every Monday evening in January at 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!
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 12  (Tuesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
The Andersons Play Richard Rogers
Juilliard-trained identical twins Peter and Will Anderson have been hailed as “virtuosos on clarinet and saxophone” by The New York Times. Their passion for classic jazz shines through each time they perform. Sharing the stage with some of the biggest acts in straight-ahead jazz—including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Paquito D'Rivera, and Wynton Marsalis—the brothers constitute a formidable force in front of an audience. They've headlined shows at Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and live on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion Radio Program. Birdland welcomes them every Tuesday in March. Spotlighting the music of legendary American composer Richard Rogers, the Anderson Brothers will deliver some straight-down-the-middle swinging.
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 12-16 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (3/12-14); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (3/15-16) –Birdland Jazz Club
Maria Schneider Orchestra
The legendary, groundbreaking composer and arranger Maria Schneider returns to Birdland this February. Ms. Schneider's music, which has received 7 GRAMMY wins and 14 nominations across jazz, classical and arranging categories, is regarded as some of the most evocative work of our contemporary artistic world. Her most recent project, the double-album Data Lords (2020)—called “the most daring work of Schneider's career” by esteemed critic Nate Chinen—was a Finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. It pits the digital world against the natural one in musical form to warn listeners of the profound dangers of Big Data and reacquaint them with their essential lifeforce. A living icon of music, Ms. Schneider's week-long engagement is not to be missed.
$50 tables / $40 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 13 (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 13 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with special guests Audra Mariel and Chris Flory
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 Quartet, featuring pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Gary Mazzaroppi, and drummer Vince Cherico, will perform tunes from the standard repertoire, bringing in special guests weekly. This week it's Audra Mariel and Chris Flory. 
*Guitar night streams live every week at YouTube.com/RadioFreeBirdland
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 14 (Thursday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band
Led by veteran trumpeter Simon Wettenhall and Grammy winning pianist Conal Fowkes, The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band are a New Orleans style Jazz band which for decades have been Woody Allen's band of choice for his movies, concert tours and weekly performances. The band have appeared on all the premiere concert stages of Europe and the United States. Band members have appeared in and provided music for Woody Allen movies including: Wild Man Blues, Sweet and Lowdown, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine, Cafe Society, Magic In The Moonlight, and A Rainy Day In New York. With Conal Fowkes (piano/vocals co-leader), Simon Wettenhall (trumpet/vocals co-leader), Tom Abbott (clarinet), Harvey Tibbs (trombone), Josh Dunn (banjo), Brian Nalepka (bass/vocals), Kevin Dorn (drums).
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 14 (Thursday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Tedd Firth
Tedd Firth is a renowned pianist, musical director, arranger and orchestrator. The consummate accompanist, Firth has worked with superstars Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Maureen McGovern, Marilyn Maye, Joshua Bell, and many others. He has performed and/or recorded with jazz luminaries John Pizzarelli, Houston Person, Frank Wess, Mark Whitfield, Red Holloway, Benny Golson and Joe Morello. Firth recently served as the musical director for the original Broadway cast of Into The Woods and for Michael Feinstein's “Jazz and Popular Song” concert series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is both a leader in his field and a truly humble music-maker. Appearances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, Birdland, the Iridium, and the White House. Firth brings a sensitive, swinging trio to serenade the Birdland Theater.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 15 (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!”
$35 + $25 food/drink minimum

March 15-17 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Hot Club of Cowtown
One of the most revered groups in Western Swing, the Hot Club of Cowtown is a virtuosic trio performing at the top of their game. Since forming in 1998, the group—an exuberant storm of vocals, fiddle, guitar, and bass—has won a wide range of awards, including both Western Swing Group of the Year and Western Swing Female of the Year (2015, Ameripolitan Music Awards); Best Music Group (2012, Village Voice Jazz and Pop Poll); and induction into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame (2004). 25 years after vocalist and fiddler Elana James joined forces with guitarist and vocalist Whit Smith, the group—which has performed the Glastonbury Festival, the National Folk Festivals of the US and Australia, Midsummer Night's Swing at Lincoln Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and tours with Bob Dylan, The Avett Brothers, and Willie Nelson.
$35 tables / $25 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 17 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Emilio Solla & La Inestable de Brooklyn
Grammy-winning composer Emilio Solla calls this 9-piece orchestra La Inestable de Brooklyn. Comprised of celebrated musicians performing in an unusual configuration—two reedists, one trumpet, one trombone, accordion, violin, piano, double-bass and drums—the group garnered the attention of the The New York Times, which stated that “The virile throb of Astor Piazzolla's nuevo tango was omnipresent in the pianist Emilio Solla's stately pulse.” The ambitious master composer's writing for the ensemble is eclectic: he utilizes small configurations of musicians from out of his larger 9 to represent everything from traditional tango and Latin American sounds to avant-explorations to the classicism of American jazz.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 17 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) brings 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. Thirteen 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.
$40 + $30 food/drink minimum

March 18 (Monday) 5:30 & 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
Catch Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks every Monday evening in January at 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!
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 19  (Tuesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
The Andersons Play Richard Rogers
Juilliard-trained identical twins Peter and Will Anderson have been hailed as “virtuosos on clarinet and saxophone” by The New York Times. Their passion for classic jazz shines through each time they perform. Sharing the stage with some of the biggest acts in straight-ahead jazz—including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Wycliffe Gordon, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Paquito D'Rivera, and Wynton Marsalis—the brothers constitute a formidable force in front of an audience. They've headlined shows at Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and live on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion Radio Program. Birdland welcomes them every Tuesday in March. Spotlighting the music of legendary American composer Richard Rogers, the Anderson Brothers will deliver some straight-down-the-middle swinging.
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 19-23 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (3/19-21); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (3/22-23) –Birdland Jazz Club
Christian Sands Trio
Once a breathtaking piano prodigy employed by the great Christian McBride in his trio and his Inside Straight band, the consummate Christian Sands has since blossomed into a mature voice in music. With his 2020 release “Be Water,” Sands garnered an NAACP Image Award win and a Grammy nomination. His latest recording, “Christmas Stories,” offers fresh takes on classics featuring modern jazz greats Stefon Harris, Marvin Sewell, Keita Ogawa, and Jimmy Greene. Sands is a Steinway Artist and an American Pianists Association Jazz Fellowship Awards Finalist. He brings his group for the week at the jazz club.
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 20 (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 20 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with special guest Tessa Lark
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 Quartet, featuring pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Gary Mazzaroppi, and drummer Vince Cherico, will perform tunes from the standard repertoire, bringing in special guests weekly. This week it's Tessa Lark. 
*Guitar night streams live every week at YouTube.com/RadioFreeBirdland
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 21 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band
Led by veteran trumpeter Simon Wettenhall and Grammy winning pianist Conal Fowkes, The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band are a New Orleans style Jazz band which for decades have been Woody Allen's band of choice for his movies, concert tours and weekly performances. The band have appeared on all the premiere concert stages of Europe and the United States. Band members have appeared in and provided music for Woody Allen movies including: Wild Man Blues, Sweet and Lowdown, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine, Cafe Society, Magic In The Moonlight, and A Rainy Day In New York. With Conal Fowkes (piano/vocals co-leader), Simon Wettenhall (trumpet/vocals co-leader), Tom Abbott (clarinet), Harvey Tibbs (trombone), Josh Dunn (banjo), Brian Nalepka (bass/vocals), Kevin Dorn (drums)
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 21 (Thursday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Michael Kanan Trio
Consummate jazz pianist Michael Kanan has established himself as a voice in modern jazz with his versatility, his gorgeous touch, and his melodic sensibility. A student of the bebop masters, Kanan grew a reputation not only as a modern voice—performing extensively with peers Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Street, and Jorge Rossy—but also as a vocal accompanist, touring the world with contemporary jazz vocal star, Jane Monheit. His own recordings on prominent Barcelona-based label, Fresh Sound New Talent, include The Gentleman Is a Dope and Convergence. He has performed on nearly 50 albums, including several with jazz vocal giant “Little” Jimmy Scott. He brings his swinging trio to Birdland Theater for one night. Don't miss!
$35 tables / $25 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 22 (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!”
$35 + $25 food/drink minimum

March 22-24 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Joe Alterman Trio
Enjoy a night with Birdland favorite Joe Alterman as he celebrates the release of his new recording! Alterman is the pianist who Ramsey Lewis calls “a joy to behold”; who Les McCann calls “a giant”; and whose warm, upbeat pianism calls forth the exuberant wit of Ahmad Jamal, the blues of Red Garland, and the reflections of Bill Evans. An Atlanta native who has been performing in New York City for over ten years, his latest release is Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe (August 2023); he also released Solo Joe: Songs You Know in the same month. His prior recording, The Upside of Down, captured the power of two sets he played at Birdland in 2019 and 2020 in the months just preceding the pandemic. Alterman's expertise lies in his ability to bring the heat on keys, conjuring up the down-home good feelings which we so badly need right about now. Perhaps this is why famed jazz critic Nat Hentoff says that the young pianist “would have been able to hold his own jamming with…Lester Young, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Duke Ellington.” Let Alterman and company swing you out of your seats. Really—don't be surprised if you start dancing!
$35 tables / $25 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 23 (Saturday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Loston Harris Duo
Loston Harris possesses a voice like the great big band singers and the consummate pianism of a Wynton Kelly or a Tommy Flanagan. This combination of outgoing performance and exuberant technical mastery is rare, but Harris has it in spades—and at Birdland, accompanied by the brilliant Gianluca Renzi on bass, Loston will bring his one-two punch to the stage for four Saturday nights in March. Harris's life in jazz has included tutelage with some of the music's greatest masters. He studied with Marsalis family patriarch, the pianist Ellis, on recommendation by the great Harry Connick Jr. after participating in the first Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in Washington, D.C. Since then, Harris has wowed many a special audience: besides tours with the legendary Wynton Marsalis, or an appearance with piano genius Marcus Roberts on the PBS special “Portraits in Blue,” he was also the featured singer at George Clooney's Birthday with John Mayer; Sarah Jessica Parker's private Sex and the City movie after-party; Tom Cruise's ICON Award Ceremony; and the Friar's Club Gala honoring Don Rickles. Don't miss the heavy-hitting crooner!
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 24 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Canadian Jazz Collective (CJC) Septet
The Canadian Jazz Collective is a new group comprised of some of Canada's most esteemed jazz artists. Led by Kirk MacDonald (saxophone), Derrick Gardner (trumpet), & Lorne Lofsky (guitar), and joined by Virginia MacDonald (clarinet), Neil Swainson (bass), Brian Dickinson (piano), and Austrian drummer Bernd Reiter, the exciting group is deeply grounded in the exuberant and profound lexicon of straight-ahead jazz while swinging with a freshly modern commitment. A large band filled with heavy-hitters, they have taken the stage around the world, with performances at Ronnie Scott's, Duc Des Lombards, Germany's Cafe Museum, and Toronto's Jazz Bistro.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 24 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) brings 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. Thirteen 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.
$40 + $30 food/drink minimum

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