Stacey Kent, Brian Krock Big Heart Machine Ensemble, and More to Play Birdland This Month

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater have announced jazz programming running June 5 through June 18.

Performers appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include Stacey Kent, Brian Krock Big Heart Machine Ensemble, Yellowjackets and Anita Brown Orchestra.

Downstairs at Birdland Theater, catch Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, Loston Harris Duo, Esteban Castro Trio, Senri Oe and Steve Slagle Band. 

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

Jazz Programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater June 5 through June 18

June 5 (Monday) 5:30 & 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
Vince 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

June 6 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
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 Theater, accompanied by the brilliant Gianluca Renzi on bass, Loston will bring his one-two punch to the stage every Tuesday night in June. 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. Indeed it was Marsalis who was responsible for Harris's decision to shift from his first instrument—drums—to piano. An artist with these three perspectives—rhythm of the drums, harmony of the piano, and melody of the voice—can only wow an audience.
$20 + $20 food/drink minimum

June 6-10 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (6/6-8); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (6/9-10) – Birdland Jazz Club
Stacey Kent
A singer of marvelous talent, Stacey Kent's beautiful voice and natural musicality have been the feature of 11 studio albums, including Platinum, Double-Gold and Gold records that have garnered her a much-deserved worldwide audience. With performances in over 55 countries during her stellar career, Kent's global fandom makes perfect sense because of her miraculous fluency singing in French, Italian, German, Portuguese and English. Over the course of two decades as a recording artist, Kent's vision has broadened beyond the Great American Songbook: French and Brazilian classics also feature prominently in her contemporary work. Her latest album, Songs From Other Places, was released September of 2021. Her new studio album, Summer Me, Winter Me, is set for 2023 release, and her recent collaboration with Danilo Caymmi, Um Tom Sobre Jobim, is set for 2023 and 2024 tour. For this special week at Birdland, Kent is backed by a group of her veteran collaborators.
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 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

June 7 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with Mike Stern
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 guests. This month, guitar legend Mike Stern joins every Wednesday! 
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum
 

June 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!”
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

June 9-10 (Friday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Esteban Castro Trio
A force of indomitable technique, extraordinary passion, and expansive imagination, the 19 year-old Esteban Castro is a jaw-dropping pianist whose capacities on his instrument defy categorization. A Finalist in the American Pianists Awards 2023; 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's maturity comes from experience, with performances 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 is a Young Steinway artist.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 11 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Brian Krock Big Heart Machine Ensemble
Nate Chinen puts Brian Krock's Big Heart Machine “near the center of…a new big band resurgence in New York.” Indeed, the release of the group's self-titled debut album in 2018 caught the attention of critics and fans alike, receiving the prestigious Aaron Copland Recording Grant as well as being included in year-end best-of lists, critics polls, and publications like The New York Times, Atlantic, Village Voice, Downbeat Magazine, Stereogum, and WBGO. The music is virtuosic and spacious, filled with a creeping avant-garde dread, riveting experimental passages, dangerous new sounds, and moments of titanic overwhelm. With the 2020 release of Live at The Jazz Gallery, fans around the world have the opportunity to experience the band's live show, featuring a cast of Brooklyn's most innovative musicians and fronted by saxophonist Krock. Don't miss Krock's adventurous compositions!
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 11 (Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Senri Oe “Class of 88” Album Release in the Theater
Celebrated pianist Senri Oe is a long-time legend of Japanese pop music—a pop star who, in 2012, began releasing jazz records with his band. Since 2012, he has offered 7 diverse recordings: from a two-horn quintet release (Boys Mature Slow, his 2012 stateside debut), to a full big band recording (2013's Spooky Hotel), to a straight-ahead trio release (2015's Collective Scribble), to a vocal showcase (2016's Answer July featuring Sheila Jordan, Theo Blackmann, Becca Stevens, and Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices), to his 2019 trio release, Hmmm, with bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Mark Ferber. Oe's new trio sees Ross Pederson on drums joining Senri in the deeply evocative, lively performance of this original material: jazz versions of the songs from his seminal 1988 J-POP recording 1234.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 11 (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

June 12 (Monday) 5:30 & 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
Vince 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

June 13 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
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 Theater, accompanied by the brilliant Gianluca Renzi on bass, Loston will bring his one-two punch to the stage every Tuesday night in June. 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. Indeed it was Marsalis who was responsible for Harris's decision to shift from his first instrument—drums—to piano. An artist with these three perspectives—rhythm of the drums, harmony of the piano, and melody of the voice—can only wow an audience.
$20 + $20 food/drink minimum
 

June 13-17 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (6/13-15); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (6/16-17) – Birdland Jazz Club
Yellowjackets
The Yellowjackets are a household name for jazz fusion fans. The band's original flavor,  beloved for its long and whirling sing-song melodies and undeniable pocket, has been captivating listeners since the group first burst onto the scene in the late 1970s. Originally the rhythm section behind guitarist Robben Ford, the Yellowjackets became its own entity and—adding the then-trailblazing (and now-legendary) saxophonist Bob Mintzer—turned into one of the most original quartets of the last 40 years, recording 30 albums, winning 2 Grammys, and receiving 17 Grammy nominations. Currently, the lineup includes founding member Russell Ferrante on keys, Bob Mintzer on winds, the spectacular drummer Will Kennedy, and the band's newest member, a young Dane Alderson twisting out brilliant basslines.
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 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

June 14 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with Mike Stern
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 guests. This month, guitar legend Mike Stern joins every Wednesday! 
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum
 

June 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!”
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

June 16-18 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Steve Slagle Band
Saxophonist Steve Slagle is storyteller whose robust, unique melodies and open-hearted sound have endeared audiences since the mid-70s, when he began working with legendary forces such as Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, McCoy Tyner, the Mingus Big Band, and Ray Barretto. He has been a saxophonist of choice for the Joe Lovano Nonet, Milton Nascimiento, and even the Beastie Boys, in addition to leading over 20 solo recording projects. A true proponent of the jazz tradition, Slagle's latest release, entitled Ballads: Into the Heart of It, features a swinging ensemble of his close compatriots, including Ugonna Okegwo, bass; Randy Brecker, trumpet; Bruce Barth, piano; and Jason Tiemann, drums. For this weekend engagement at the Birdland Theater, Brecker is replaced by Scott Wendholt, as is Barth by Gary Versace (on Friday and Sunday, with Saturday pianist TBA).
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 18 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club
Anita Brown Orchestra
In 2003, Anita Brown recorded and released her debut and her only large ensemble project, employing some of New York's finest to present her iconically beautiful work, 27 East. The beauty of maturity of Brown's large-scale tone poems have prompted NEA Jazz Master Lee Konitz to call her “an important writer” and trumpet icon Marvin Stamm to put her group “in the same category as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Maria Schneider.” For this engagement at Birdland, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of 27 East, the set of pieces that describe in sonic imagination the Montauk seaside.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

June 18 (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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