See What's Coming Up At Birdland: Jazz Programming August 12th - August 25th

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater have revealed all jazz programming running August 12th - August 25th.

Performers appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include James Carter Quintet, Frank Perowsky Jazz Orchestra, Birdland Big Band and Jihee Heo Quartet.

Downstairs at Birdland Theater catch Lew Tabackin Trio, Donald Vega Quartet, Billy Hart Quartet, and Mingus Orchestra.

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, Esteban Castro and The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.

Kindly keep me posted if you want to cover any of these shows!

Jazz Programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater August 12th - August 25th

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

August 19 (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 20 (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 20-24 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (8/20-22); 5:30 & 8:30 & 10:30 PM (8/23); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (8/24) – Birdland Jazz Club
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. This week, they headline. Expect some featured guest artists who drop in weekly from iconic television bands (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live) and touring pop 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!”
$45 tables / $35 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 21 (Wednesdays) 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 21 (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 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 Sheryl Bailey.
*Guitar night streams live every week at: YouTube.com/RadioFreeBirdland
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 22 (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 that for decades has 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 23-25 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Mingus Orchestra
Celebrating the music of its founder Sue Mingus's late husband, this 10-piece ensemble—the sister group to both the larger Mingus Big Band and smaller Mingus Dynasty—explores lesser-known works by the great bassist/composer with unconventional orchestrations and fiery imagination. For decades, the Orchestra, Big Band, and Dynasty held a famed weekly residency in New York City until the COVID-19 pandemic put them on pause. The Orchestra's Birdland performance in 2022 marked its public re-entrance, and it honored its namesake with a knockout performance. Charles Mingus laid his legacy in powerful bass playing, groundbreaking compositions of visionary genius, and an openness to the individual personalities of his group's members. The Mingus Orchestra continues this legacy with a cast of New York's most inventive, accomplished jazz musicians. Sue Mingus passed in September 2022; with each performance, the group honors her legacy, too.
$35 tables / $25 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 24 (Saturday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Esteban Castro Trio
A force of indomitable technique, extraordinary passion, and expansive imagination, the 21 year-old Esteban Castro is a jaw-dropping pianist whose capacities on his instrument defy categorization. The First Prize winner at the 2019 MSM Precollege Philharmonic Concerto Competition, the 2017 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition, and the 2016 Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition, as well as the recipient of 15 Downbeat Student Music Awards, Castro has worked with musical heroes Ambrose Akinmusire, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Peter Evans, Gilad Hexelman, Billy Drummond, Mark Shim, and Ted Nash, among many others; he has performed to sold-out audiences at The Blue Note, The Montreux Jazz Club, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, as well as in Switzerland, Italy, France, Peru, Canada, and Puerto Rico. He returns to Birdland for two Saturdays in August. Castro is a Young Steinway artist.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 25 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Jihee Heo Quartet
Born in South Korea and based in New York, Jihee Heo is a swinging piano player whose new recording, “Flow” (Origin, 2024) presents the classic jazz trio sound, recorded at historic Rudy Van Gelder studios with the excellent rhythm team of Alex Claffy (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums). Her third full-length album and the second piano trio recording she has released, “Flow” sees Heo developing in the direction of straight-down-the-middle playing—which she has honed at prestigious venues and festivals such as Smalls, Mezzrow, Zinc Bar, The Django, Washington D.C. Jazz Festival, Leverkusen Jazz Festival, International African Arts Festival, Jersey Shore Festival, Bergen Pac, Harlem Stage, and Jacques Pelzer in Belgium.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

August 25 (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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