See What's Coming Up At Birdland August 5th - August 18th

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater has revealed jazz programming running August 5th - August 18th.

Performers appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Bruce Harris, Wayne Tucker Sextet, James Carter and Frank Perowsky Jazz Orchestra.

Downstairs at Birdland Theater catch Tyreek McDole Quintet, The String Queens, Lew Tabackin Trio, Donald Vega Quartet and Billy Hart Quartet.

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

Jazz Programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater August 5th - August 18th

August 5 (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

August 6-10 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (8/6-8); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (8/9-10) – Birdland Jazz Club
Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra
The great New Orleans trombonist, producer, composer, and educator Delfeayo Marsalis is a powerful force in the music world. With over 120 recording credits as a producer (including one GRAMMY Award and several nominations) and nearly 50 recordings as a trombonist, Delfeayo could be said to have made his mark. But in 2000, this committed educator created the Uptown Music Theatre, a non-profit that leads musical theater training for youth, and in 2008 he formed the UMT's sister organization: the Uptown Jazz Orchestra. As the jazz arm of his grand endeavor, this 18-piece band upholds the traditions of New Orleans swing, ensemble riff-playing, and infectious, soulful dance music that form the foundations of American jazz. With a star-studded cast, they never fail to amaze.
$45 tables / $35 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 7 (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

August 7 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with guitarists Jimmy Bruno and Pasquale Grasso
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 Alex Raderman, perform tunes from the standard repertoire, bringing in special guests weekly. Tonight, catch guitarists Jimmy Bruno and Pasquale Grasso.
Guitar night streams live every week at: YouTube.com/RadioFreeBirdland
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 8 (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 is 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 has 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).
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 8 (Thursday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Tyreek McDole Quintet
Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Tyreek McDole is a 24 year-old Haitian-American artist raised in Florida and based in New York. The 2023 winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, McDole offers audiences the gift of impeccable tone paired with charismatic, big-hearted lyricism, full of bluesy feeling. Also a talented drummer and trumpeter, McDole's musicality is broad, and with an easygoing stage presence, it's no wonder why he's shared performances with artists such as Theo Croker, NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz, Rodney Whitaker, Rockelle Fortin, Winard Harper, Marcus Printup, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, Victor Goines, Isaiah J. Thompson, Ben Allison, and Matt Wilson on stages such as The Blue Note, Dizzy's Club, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Minton's Playhouse. Expect a warm feeling from this fabulous young artist!
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 9 (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

August 9-11 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM - Birdland Theater
The String Queens
Few ensembles can perform repertoire from such a wide range of genres and time periods—from the Baroque era to the 1920s Jazz Age to the world of contemporary pop—and deliver all of them authentically, with a personal style and a tight-knit ensemble sound. But The String Queens can—and they do. A dynamic trio of violin, viola, and cello that inspires diverse audiences to love, hope, feel, and imagine, this Washington, D.C., based group has been featured at concert halls across America, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Their performance, dedicated to Vice President Kamala Harris, at the official Presidential Inauguration in January 2021—and their performance at Wimbledon in June 2021—both served as highlights of this terrific group's upward trajectory. Their latest album, “Rise,” was released in 2022. Enjoy these brilliant and innovative performers as they continue on their mission.
$35 tables / $25 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 10 (Saturday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Bruce Harris
A virtuosic trumpet player whose love of the jazz tradition led Wynton Marsalis to name him in Ebony Magazine as one of 5 young jazz musicians to know, the beloved Bruce Harris is an artist, educator, and curator based in New York City. Regular performances at New York's most prestigious venues, including Smalls, Smoke, Dizzy's, Ginny's, Minton's, and Rockwood place Bruce squarely in the center of the city's booming music scene; and appearances on CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon have placed him in an international limelight. Harris has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Dr. Billy Taylor, The Count Basie Orchestra, Barry Harris, Roy Hargrove, and Tony Bennett. His first recording as a leader, “Beginnings,” was released on Posi-Tone; his second, “Soundview,” was released on Cellar Live and La Reserve. His latest work is “The Lighting of the Lamp” (La Reserve/Cellar Live, 2022) with co-leader Grant Stewart. Harris is sure to delight audiences with swinging lines and a clear tone.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 11 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Wayne Tucker Sextet
The fantastic Wayne Tucker's contemporary stylings combine the best in jazz trumpet tradition with the smooth stylings of Stevie Wonder and other soul greats. A trumpeter, composer, arranger, violinist and vocalist based in NYC, Tucker has released 4 albums under his name and performs regularly with his band, The Bad Mothas—gaining local fame when, during the first summer of the pandemic, they set up at the entrance to Brooklyn's Prospect Park and began playing every day with the group. The trumpeter for jazz legends Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Cyrille Aimée; pop legends Taylor Swift, David Crosby, Elvis Costello; R&B giants Ne-Yo and Gabriel Garzon-Montano; hip hop big-wigs Jidenna and Ryan Leslie; and rock band Brass Against; Tucker continues to present tasteful, grooving music that transcends genre boundaries and speaks directly to the heart.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 11 (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

August 12 (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

August 13 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Lucy Wijnands
“Making art is being lost and found all at once,” muses the talented vocalist Lucy Wijnands—a New York favorite whose recent debut, Something Awaits, marked her transition from sought-after guest singer to leader and creator. The recording featured a “who's who” of swinging creative musicians, including Gadi Lehavi, piano (Ari Hoenig Trio), Omer Avital, bass (Roy Haynes, Kenny Garrett) and Itay Morchi, drums (Johnny O'Neal Trio). With a voice that is both modern and uncannily reminiscent, Wijnands is one of the world's best new jazz voices. An active performer both in New York City and internationally, concerts are both near (West Village favorite Mezzrow) and far (Paris's Sunset-Sunside)—Oakland's The Sound Room and Oslo's Club Gustav. For two early Tuesday evening shows at home in the Theater, the 2021 Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition winner will wow audiences with her natural gift for swinging expression.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 13-17 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (8/13-15); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (8/16-17) – Birdland Jazz Club
James Carter Quintet: “Lookin' at 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 (for such esteemed labels as Atlantic, Sony, and Universal) and nearly 40 more 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. Carter received the prestigious Dr. Alain Locke Award in 2004 for his contributions to African-American culture. His playing evokes avant-garde, spiritual, gospel, and modern musical traditions within a single solo. For this week upstairs at the jazz club, the saxophonist will explore the music of Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, the gutsy tenor-man of Count Basie fame known for his blues-soaked melodies and his heartbreaking, heroic improvisations. James Carter (saxophones); Satish Robertson (trumpet); Gerard Gibbs (piano); Hilliard Greene (bass); Kahlil Kwame Bell (drums).
$45 tables / $35 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 13 (Tuesday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Lew Tabackin Trio
Jazz legend Lew Tabackin is a true original. Since the late 1950s, he has cultivated an expression at once raw, passionate, technically masterful and boundlessly imaginative. Adept as both a flautist and saxophonist, Tabackin's early career included work with jazz luminaries Donald Byrd, Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins, and Clark Terry in the 1960s, as well several years with The Tonight Show band. He formed small and large ensembles with his wife, the masterful pianist and arranger Toshiko Akiyoshi, which toured the world for three decades. Tabackin's playing remains remarkably vibrant, and he continues to perform regularly. For this one-night engagement, Tabackin brings in his trio, which is sure to cook up soulful, unbridled jazz for the modern moment.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 14 (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

August 14 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with special guest Vinny Raniolo 
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 Alex Raderman, perform tunes from the standard repertoire, bringing in special guests weekly. This week, it's guitarist Vinny Raniolo.
Guitar night streams live every week at: YouTube.com/RadioFreeBirdland
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 15 (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).
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 15 (Thursday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Donald Vega Quartet
Nicaraguan-born, Los Angeles-raised, and New York-based Donald Vega is a shining star of jazz piano. Mentored by drumming legend Billy Higgins, taught by piano great Kenny Barron, and regularly employed by bassist extraordinaire Ron Carter, Vega has lived inside the inner circle jazz family for most of his life, and his live concerts and recordings prove as much: Vega's writing, improvisation, and ensemble playing converse joyfully with the history of jazz. On recording, he has teamed up with drum and bass icons Lewis Nash and Christian McBride for Spiritual Nature (Resonance, 2012) and again with Nash for With Respect to Monty (Resonance, 2015), joined by Monty Alexander bassist Hassan Shakur. Vega teaches at The Juilliard School and tours regularly around the globe with the foremost names in jazz. He brings in his quartet for this one-night-only appearance.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 16 (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

August 16-18 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Billy Hart Quartet
One of the art form's greatest drummers and bandleaders, Billy Hart is an imaginative artist whose innovations on drum language of the 1960s placed him amongst modernists Jack Dejohnette, Joe Chambers, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams to bring jazz forward into the 1970s and beyond. Hart was the drummer in Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band and Miles Davis's On the Corner band in the 1970s, recording also with Pharoah Sanders, Stan Getz, Cecil McBee, Kenny Barron, Lee Konitz, John Scofield, and countless others. One of the hardest-working veteran drummers in the music, Hart at 82 years old has been leading and supporting groups of younger stars for the last two decades, with Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson, and Ben Street forming the elder master's quartet. Their music is broad, pensive, and exploratory—and swinging.
$35 tables / $25 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 17 (Saturday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Richard Cortez
A leader in the new crop of vocal talents emerging from the New York City jazz scene, Richard Cortez's golden voice handles the Great American Songbook with a deep emotional intelligence, an unbridled passion for song, and—rare and moving—an activist's relationship to both his material and his audience. Cortez's openly gay renderings of timeless treasures by Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, Jerome Kern, and so many others deliver sweetness, self-assuredness and disarming vulnerability with a well-timed wit. Having stewarded—all simultaneously—a collection of weekly residencies at iconic gay venues across the city—among them Club Cumming, Metropolitan Bar, and Rebar—Cortez has focused and refined his artistry while growing his wide fan-base. Performances in distinguished productions such as Live at Emmet's Place with the Emmet Cohen Trio or Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz at Pride with drummer/bandleader Bryan Carter—not to mention several unforgettable shows at Birdland—have marked the vocalist's career for success. Don't miss this already legendary new voice.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 18 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Frank Perowsky Jazz Orchestra Tribute to Mike Longo and Sam Burtis
Frank Perowsky's Jazz Orchestra pays homage to the great Dizzy Gillespie pianist Mike Longo and the Charles Mingus trombonist and brass artist Sam Burtis with a special Sunday concert. Perowsky's work as a reedist, composer and arranger for the likes of Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Nancy Wilson, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Michel Legrand, Stan Getz, Jimmy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Tito Rodriguez, Johnny Richards, Bill Watrous, Thad Jones/Mel Louis, Roland Hanna, Chico O'Farril, Dr. Billy Taylor, and Liza Minnelli is well known. Well-respected by masters across the genre, his arrangement of “Bouncin' with Bud” was recorded by Buddy Rich on the famous “Class of '78” album, and piano great Roland Hanna recorded Perowsky's “Samba De La Noce” on his album “Double Exposure.” His large ensemble shines the spotlight on Longo and Burtis, who both passed in the last 4 years—Longo, of the first jazz greats lost in the pandemic, and Burtis who passed earlier this year. Celebrate life, music, and the joy of friendship with a heavyweight cast of New York artists.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 18 (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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