October at Smoke Jazz Club to Feature Monk Tribute, Peter Bernstein Album Release & More

SMOKE Jazz Club will continue its 25th anniversary season with a month of both legendary artists and young jazz luminaries. October begins with the award-winning David Weiss Sextet (Oct 2) celebrating the release of Auteur, its first album in a decade.  Peter Bernstein convenes a remarkable all-star quartet featuring legendary drummer Al Foster to celebrate the release of his stunning album Better Angels on the club’s eponymous label SMOKE Sessions Records (Oct 9-13). SMOKE also welcomes back audience favorites: Emmet Cohen at the helm of his Trio (Oct 3-6), gospel-tinged pianist Cyrus Chestnut and his Quartet (Oct 16-20), and trumpeter Nicholas Payton leading his improvisational project Nouveau Standards (Oct 30-Nov 3). For the complete October schedule and most updated calendar, please visit SMOKEjazz.com. 
 
October 2024 Concert Schedule (subject to change):
 

Wed October 2: David Weiss Sextet Auteur album release

David Weiss – trumpet
Myron Walden – alto saxophone
Ron Blake – tenor saxophone
Victor Gould – piano
Eric Wheeler – bass
E.J. Strickland – drums
 
 
Trumpeter David Weiss is the creative force behind some of the most consistently creative and rewarding ensembles. The acclaimed David Weiss Sextet celebrates its fourth release Auteur (Origin). Formed in 2000, this group’s focus is new music and exploring novel compositional concepts and styles. Over the years, they have released several important and critically acclaimed albums and have developed their own distinctive sound that The Village Voice says, “stretch hard bop’s kind-of-unstretchable formula.” Auteur is a showcase of original music including never before-recorded compositions from Freddie Hubbard and Slide Hampton. Performing this music is an impressive edition of Weiss’s award-winning band with alto saxophonist Myron Walden, tenor saxophonist Ron Blake, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Eric Wheeler, and drummer EJ Strickland.
 

Thu-Sun October 3-6: Emmet Cohen Trio featuring Buster Williams

Emmet Cohen – piano
Buster Williams – bass
Joe Farnsworth – drums
 
Pianist Emmet Cohen leads a trio with drummer Joe Farnsworth that features special guest bassist Buster Williams. Called “one of the finest piano players to emerge in decades” by All About Jazz, Cohen has earned a dedicated and passionate following and has attracted new audiences to jazz. He has accompanied numerous jazz luminaries and plays with the command of a seasoned veteran. Downbeat observed that his “nimble touch, measured stride, and warm harmonic vocabulary indicate he’s above any convoluted technical showmanship.” His trio is one of the hottest ensembles in jazz today and melds all styles of jazz: stride, swing, bebop, free, and contemporary, with an emphasis on the Great American Songbook.
 

Wed-Sun October 9-13: Peter Bernstein Quartet featuring Al Foster Better Angels (Smoke Sessions Records) album release

Peter Bernstein – guitar
Aaron Goldberg – piano
Vicente Archer – bass
Al Foster – drums
 
Guitarist Peter Bernstein celebrates the release of his new album Better Angels (SMOKE Sessions Records) leading a quartet with pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Vicente Archer, and featuring legendary drummer Al Foster. Bernstein “stands head and shoulders above the crowd,” reports All About Jazz, with The Times (UK) adding, “Bernstein is a master of straight-ahead swing with submerged complexities, which is a way of saying that, while his music is advanced, the listener never feels shut out.” Stereophilecalls his featured guest Al Foster “one of the great living drummers in jazz.”
 

Wed-Sun October 16-20: Cyrus Chestnut Quartet

Stacy Dillard – tenor saxophone
Cyrus Chestnut – piano
Gerald Cannon – bass
Chris Beck – drums

Cyrus Chestnut, the soulful and brilliant jazz pianist, leads an exciting quartet with saxophonist Stacy Dillard, bassist Gerald Cannon, and drummer Chris Beck. “His brand of crisp articulation and blues-inflected harmony evokes another era… multifaceted and dynamic…” says The New York Times. Inspired by gospel music throughout his life, Chestnut infuses his swinging, classically trained style with a warm gospel sound. He draws on a range of musical influences while never straying too far from the blues, which The New York Daily News says makes him “the rightful heir to Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Erroll Garner.”
 

Wed-Sun October 23-27: Tribute to Monk featuring Joe Lovano, Kevin Hays, Doug Weiss & Al Foster

Joe Lovano – tenor saxophone
Kevin Hays – piano
Doug Weiss – bass
Al Foster – drums

 
A dream quartet featuring Joe Lovano, Kevin Hays, Doug Weiss, and Al Foster explores the brilliant music of Thelonious Sphere Monk, one of the great geniuses and innovators of modern music. Lovano is “one of the great connectors in the history of New York jazz over the last few generations,” reports The New York Times, and “long considered one of the great saxophonists of his generation,” according to PBS News. This reunion with legendary drummer Al Foster, who JazzTimes calls “a not-so-secret special groove ingredient enlivening performances and sessions by a long list of heavy hitters,” is not to be missed. Joining Lovano and Foster are an inspired duo of frequent collaborators and beloved artists in pianist Kevin Hays and bassist Doug Weiss.
 

Wed-Sun October 30-November 3: Nicholas Payton + Nouveau Standards

Nicholas Payton – trumpet
Kevin Hays – piano
Vicente Archer – bass
Bill Stewart – drums
 
 
Grammy Award-winner Nicholas Payton leads his Nouveau Standards project featuring straight-ahead, improvisational music showcasing the virtuoso multi-instrumentalist exclusively on trumpet. Backed by an all-acoustic quartet of renowned instrumentalists, including pianist Kevin Hays, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Bill Stewart, Payton explores a repertoire steeped in tradition but with a nod toward the future. This quartet honors the greats through fresh takes on standards but also through original “nouveau” classics. Payton is a master trumpeter who brings insight, inspiration, and passion to a wide spectrum of Black American Music. He is widely considered one of the most important artists of our time. In a review, the Chicago Tribune states, “No descriptive label or category could be affixed to Payton’s solos, which were as brashly original as they were technically imposing.”

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