The Django Announces March Line-Up: Celebrating Women's History Month

Liya grigoryan (mar 3), Sasha berliner (mar 4), lezlie harrison (mar 19), roxy coss (mar 25), and more.

By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jan. 27, 2022

The Django Announces March Line-Up: Celebrating Women's History Month Image

THE DJANGO, downtown Manhattan's premier jazz club, is commemorating Women's History Month by hosting more than 20 leading female jazz artists on its stage during March from Lezlie Harrison (3/19) and Roxy Coss (3/25) to emerging artists Marianne Solivan (3/5) and Endea Owens (3/11), to name a few. A special tribute concert for trombonist Slide Hampton (1932-2021) is slated for March 8th featuring an Octet performing Hampton's own orchestrations. The Django's weekly Mingus residency continues every Monday with two sets: Mingus Big Band (3/7, 3/21 and 3/28) and Mingus Orchestra (3/14). The Ken Fowser Quintet returns for its weekly Friday night show (3/4, 3/11, 3/18 and 3/25). Other recurring monthly gigs include: guitarist Mark Whitfield 3/10, vocalist Sachal Vasandani 3/16, the collective unit The Django All Stars (3/3 and 3/24), and Latin jazz Tuesdays "Martes Latinos" 3/01, 3/15 and 3/29.
Below is a complete schedule of March performances at The Django.

When: Monday-Saturday (times vary nightly) Closed 2/21-22 for private events.

Where: The Django, 2 Avenue of the Americas (Cellar Level), New York City, NY, Trains: A/C/N/Q/R/W to Canal, 2/3 to Franklin, 1 to Chambers

Tickets: $25 Cover Charge per person (not including two-drink minimum).
To reserve, visit TheDjangoNYC.com or call 212.519.6649.

Health + Safety Protocols: The Django regularly updates its COVID protocols and procedures based on CDC, federal, state, city and other scientific data. At this time, COVID vaccination cards are required.

Artists and schedules are subject to change

MARCH SCHEDULE:

3/01 MARTES LATINOS

The Django brings back its popular Tuesday Latin jazz concert series each month. This week The Django celebrates the end of Carnival Brazilian celebration!

The Brazilian Trio featuring Helio Alves, Nilson Matta and Duduka Da Fonseca

7:00pm
Helio Alves - Piano
Nilson Matta - Bass
Duduka Da Fonseca - Drums

Pianist Hélio Alves, bassist Nilson Matta and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca are The Brazilian Trio and have been playing together since 1993. Hélio Alves and Nilson Matta are both from São Paulo, Brazil, and Duduka Da Fonseca is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Trio started playing in New York City doing small gigs around Manhattan. Sometime in the mid 90s the trio was invited to do two concerts with master tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson and since then the trio has performed all over the United States, Europe and South America. The Trio has three CDs recorded; FORESTS (ZOHO), CONSTELAÇÃO (MOTEMA) and ÁGUAS BRASILEIRAS (ZOHO). Their album FORESTS was nominated for a Grammy.

Fabiana Masili and "Carnafolia"

10:00pm
Fabiana Masili - Vocals
Livio Almeida - Saxophone
Hélio Alves - Piano
Gili Lopes - Bass
Samuel Martinelli - Drums

Fabiana Masili is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Musical from her earliest years, she started playing the organ at the age of eight and began working professionally and singing in bands at 15.

3.02 The Pete Malinverni Trio featuring Anais Reno

7:00pm
Pete Malinverni - Piano
Anais Reno - Vocals
Ugonna Okegwo - Bass
Aaron Seeber - Drums

Pete Malinverni has been a mainstay on the NYC Jazz Scene since the early 1980s, his 15 recordings as a leader having received excellent notices and heavy airplay. Originally from Niagara Falls, NY, Pete came to the great crucible of jazz that our city is, and has shared club bandstands and stages with the likes of Mel Lewis, Vernel Fournier, Joe Lovano, Charles Davis, Gary Smulyan and so many others, adding, in each instance, his own inimitable style, rooted firmly in the tradition yet always reaching for the new thing.

3.02 Richard Cortez

10:00pm
Richard Cortez - Vocals
Gabe Medd - Trumpet
Noah Halpern - Trumpet
TBA - Saxophone
Robert Edwards - Trombone
Evan Main - Piano
Alex Tremblay - Bass
Eric Hallenbeck- Drums

Following a raucous, sold-out New Year's Eve celebration on our stage, The Django is thrilled to welcome back radically queer jazz song interpreter Richard Cortez. Cortez spent the pandemic setting the underground music scene ablaze with his provocative and high-energy horn driven shows. Cortez, known for his ambition and extensive knowledge of The Great American Songbook, currently performs four weekly residencies (Club Cumming, REBAR, and more) with his band that features some of New York City's most celebrated jazz musicians. Richard breathes exciting new life into this beloved timeless material, forever reminding us that as we progress as a society - so do our stories told within these sacred songs. According to Get Out Mag, "Richard Cortez is entertaining New York's nightlife in an original way.

3/03 Liya Grigoryan

7:00pm
Liya Grigoryan - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

Pianist/composer Liya Grigoryan was born in Yerevan, Armenia, and grew up in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. At age five, Grigoryan began taking part in piano competitions and performance tours throughout Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and Scotland. In 2010, she moved to Amsterdam to pursue degrees at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Grigoryan has won high-profile international competitions and awards, including the Leiden Jazz Award and the Keep an Eye International Jazz Award, and has taken part in exchanges at the Manhattan School of Music and the Hudson Jazz Workshop. She performs actively in the Netherlands and across Europe, and has appeared on top stages including Bimhuis, the Concertgebouw and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

3/03 The Django All Stars

10:00pm
Ken Fowser - Saxophone
Mark Whitfield - Guitar
Anthony Wonsey - Piano
Alexander Claffy - Bass
Joe Farnsworth - Drums

The Django All Stars is a collective unit comprised of some of the best musicians in NYC. All of them have led multiple gigs at The Django, and have performed throughout the world. This super group represents straight ahead and modern jazz at its finest.

3/04 Ken Fowser Quintet

7:00pm
Ken Fowser - Saxophone
Artists - TBA

Ken Fowser is the Music Director of The Django, and performs every Friday night on our stage with special guests each week. Since his arrival on the New York scene in 2005, Ken Fowser has continued to steer traditional harmony in uncharted directions. His lyrical approach to line construction and depth of harmonic sensibility allows him to record and play all over the world. A prolific composer, Fowser has celebrated four cooperative releases on Posi-tone Records, co-led with vibraphone virtuoso, Behn Gillece. His debut release as a leader, Standing Tall earned him the #1 spot on Jazz Week Radio Chart seven weeks in a row. Fowser enjoyed both downtown and uptown residencies at iconic New York venues, hosting the session at Smalls Jazz Club every Tuesday for four years and playing the late set at Smoke Jazz and Supper Club every Friday for two years.
House Museum, Jazz at Lincoln Center and many more! Individually, members of the Gotham Kings have compiled a diverse resume of collaborations with top artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Michael Feinstein, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, The Colbert Show and more.

3/04 Sasha Berliner Quintet

10:00pm
Sasha Berliner - Vibraphone
TBA - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

Sasha Berliner is a musician, composer, producer, and band leader from San Francisco, CA. Post-graduation, Sasha's music work remains primarily based in New York City. In addition to performing internationally with her own project, Sasha Berliner Azalea, her recent notable performances and recordings have been with musicians such as Tyshawn Sorey, Nicholas Payton, and Quincy Davis. She is an endorsing artist for Vater and Marimba One, and is a faculty member at the Mallet Lab percussion intensive, where she gives masterclasses and clinics. She has also lead masterclasses and Q&As at esteemed universities like MSU Denver and Berklee College of Music.

3/05 Steve Slagle Band Into the Heart of It cd release

7:00pm
Steve Slagle --Alto Saxophone
Bruce Barth--Piano
Ugonna Okegwo--Bass
Byron Landham--Drums

Saxophonist, flutist and composer Steve Slagle makes his home in New York City. He has released 20 albums as a leader, and performed on countless others. His many original compositions are published by Slagle Music, BMI worldwide. Slagle was musical director of the Mingus Big Band for many years, and wrote many of the band's arrangements, as well as playing and arranging with Joe Lovano's Nonet. He has received two Grammy Awards for recordings with each of those groups, and continues his association with them. As a leader, Slagle reflects new sounds/arrangements and compositions with his original voice and truly unique bands. He lives in 'Alto Manhattan' the name used for upper Manhattan on the Hudson River.

In 2021 Slagle's monumental recording, Nascentia (Panorama 1010), featuring a suite for three horns and music that reflects the positivity of a new-birth, in these historic times. In February 2022, Into The Heart Of It (with special guest Randy Brecker), Slagle's first ever album of ballads, will be released.( Panorama 1010)

3/05 Marianne Solivan Quintet

10:00pm
Marianne Solivan - Vocals
Leandro Pellegrino - Guitar
Steve Wood - Bass
Jay Sawyer - Drums

Vocalist Marianne Solivan has been one of the leading vocalists in the NY jazz community for the past 10 years. As an energetic powerhouse vocalist Solivan brings passion and nuance to every performance. Consistently surrounded by a who's who of great musicians she has built a reputation of presenting unique repertoire in a personal way. With two critically acclaimed discs under her name and numerous guest performances on others she has been able to tour worldwide for numerous years including France, Italy, Czech Republic, Japan, Lebanon & Russia amongst them.

3/07 Mingus Mondays: Mingus Big Band

7:30 + 9:30pm

The Django welcomes the Grammy award-winning Mingus Big Band to its stage every Monday night. The "city's hardest big band (Time Out New York)," celebrates the music of composer/bassist Charles Mingus, who died in 1979. Under the artistic direction of Sue Mingus, this 14-piece band performed Thursday nights from 1991 to 2004 at Fez under Time Cafe in New York City. It maintained weekly performances in the city from May 2004 until October 2008, when it began "Mingus Mondays" at Jazz Standard where it alternated with the Mingus Orchestra and Mingus Dynasty. Mingus Mondays became a NYC institution and Monday night stronghold for over 12 years, halted only by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mingus Big Band tours extensively in the United States and abroad, and has 11 recordings to its credit, six of which have been nominated for Grammys.

3/08 David Hazeltine Trio

7:00pm
David Hazeltine - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

David Hazeltine is one of a handful of contemporary pianists who has mastered all of the major musical skills, from improvisation and technique, to accompaniment, arranging, and composition. Even more impressive, David is the rare artist able to innovate in each category. It is no surprise that he's the most recorded contemporary jazz pianist of our time, having recorded 35 CDs as a leader and hundreds more as a sideman, on various major labels globally. A Milwaukee native, David was playing the clubs as a preteen, and before he came of age he was already grabbing the attention and respect of jazz legends like Sonny Stitt, and Chet Baker. They urged him to make the move to New York City, which he did in 1992.

3/08 Celebrating the Slide Hampton Octet

10:00pm
Sam Dillon - Tenor Saxophone
Frank Basile - Baritone Saxophone
Nick Marchione - Trumpet
Bruce Harris - Trumpet
Rob Edwards - Trombone
James Burton - Trombone
Mike Karn - Bass
Charles Ruggiero - Drums

Celebrating the Slide Hampton Octet aims to honor and preserve the vast musical legacy of the great trombonist/composer/arranger/conductor Slide Hampton who died in 2021. The band performs repertoire from Hampton's powerhouse octet of the late '50s-early '60s. Thanks to Slide's magnificent orchestrations, eight musicians often sound like a full big band of 16. The band's 2019 recording Slide's Blues (SmallsLive Records) features Slide himself as a guest soloist on two selections.

3/09 Imani Rousselle

7:00pm
Imani Rousselle - Voice
TBA - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

Imani Rousselle is a Texas-born vocalist and composer currently living and operating out of NYC. Though she has studied in classical, jazz, and R&B styles of singing, Rousselle performs and composes rock, blues, folk, country, fusion, and more. Rousselle believes music to be a distillation of a spirit, and so choses never to limit the sound in which the expression breaks free. She has released this spirit through writing and singing with bandmate Jackson Shepard under Human Bloom, and also solo compositions. Rousselle earned a Bachelor of Music from Columbia College Chicago, also receiving a minor in management, an additional minor in environmental studies, and is currently working on a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music. While in Chicago, Imani performed on many stages around the city including the legendary Jazz Showcase and The Green Mill, and since moving to New York just a few months before the global shutdown, she was able to sing on stages including Dizzy's Jazz Club, Clements Place, the Schomburg Center in Harlem, and more. She has performed alongside great musicians including Stefon Harris, Casey Benjamin, Marc Carey, Jaleel Shaw, Cory Henry, and is looking forward to the living of life with renewed fervor for togetherness and creation.

3/09 J. Hoard

10:00pm
J. Hoard - Voice
TBA - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

J. Hoard is a Brooklyn-based artist. In one performance you are given the core of the Black church and the allure of "The Great White Way" (Broadway). His original compositions and arrangements easily shift genre to articulate his vivid songwriting. This eclecticism has yielded collaborations with artists such as Black Coffee, Chance the Rapper, Brasstracks, and hip-hop royalty Jean Grae & Quelle Chris. Additionally, he has worked closely with a host of jazz/experimental artists such as Sonnymoon, Javier Santiago, Jose James TheLessonGK, and music legend Meshell Ndegeocello.

3/10 Julieta Eugenio Trio Jump cd release

7:00pm
Julieta Eugenio - Saxophone
Matt Dwonszyk - Bass
Jonathan Barber - Drums

JUMP is the debut album from astounding tenor saxophonist and composer Julieta Eugenio, who began her music journey in Argentina before relocating to New York City almost a decade ago. At the height of the pandemic, Eugenio began collaborating with bassist Matt Dwonszyk and drummer Jonathan Barber, meeting regularly to workshop her music. The trio soon developed an intricate trio chemistry forged around Eugenio's brilliant and insightful compositions. Once it was safe to do so, the group hit the studio and recorded eight originals that cover a range of sentiments, from the introspective "Tres" to the ambiguously funky "Raccoon Tune." The strength and maturity of Eugenio's tenor concept comes across on two standards that round out the album; "Flamingo" and "Crazy He Calls Me." This group takes the tenor-bass-drums trio configuration to new heights, covering a broad sonic palette and cementing Eugenio's reputation as a composer and saxophonist.

3/10 Mark Whitfield Quartet

10:00pm
Mark Whitfield - Guitar
Artists - TBA

The Django is thrilled to welcome back Mark Whitfield as part of a monthly residency. Whitfield graduated from Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music, the world's foremost institution for the study of Jazz and modern American music in the spring of 1987. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his to his native New York to embark on a career as a Jazz Guitarist that afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with legendary artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Carmen McRae, Gladys Knight, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Smith, Clark Terry, Shirley Horn, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine and his greatest teacher and mentor George Benson.

In 1990 The New York Times dubbed Whitfield "The Best Young Guitarist in the Business". Later that year, Warner Bros. released his debut album The Marksman. The success of his debut release led to a recording career that has produced a total of 14 solo recordings and a myriad of collaborative efforts with some of the most important artists in recent years; Sting, Steven Tyler, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, John Mayer, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott, Diana Krall, Christian McBride, Chris Botti, Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton.

3/11 Ken Fowser Quintet

3/11 Endea Owens & The Cookout

10:00pm
Endea Owens - bass
TBA - Vocals
TBA - Saxophone
TBA - Piano
TBA - Drums

Lincoln Center's emerging artist of 2019 and Detroit native Endea Owens, is a vibrant up and coming bassist. She has been mentored by the likes of Marcus Belgrave, Rodney Whitaker, and Ron Carter. She has toured and performed with Jennifer Holliday, Rhonda and Diana Ross, Jazzmeia Horn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Steve Turre, and Lea DeLaria from the Netflix original series "Orange is the New Black". Endea is the bassist for Jon Batiste's Stay Human and the house bassist for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

3/12 Ed Cherry Trio

7:00PM
Ed Cherry - Guitar
TBA - Organ
TBA - Drums

Ed Cherry is an American jazz guitarist and studio musician. Cherry is perhaps best known for his long association with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, with whom he performed from 1978 until shortly before Gillespie's death in 1993. Since that time, he has worked with Paquito Rivera, Jon Faddis, John Patton, Hamiet Bluiett, Henry Threadgill, and Paula West. He has recorded a number of albums as a leader, his most recent Soul Treeand It's All Good for Posi-tone Records.

3/12 Sarah Hanahan Quintet

10:00pm
Sarah Hanahan - Alto Saxophone
Steve Davis - Trombone
Donald Vega - Piano
Nat Reeves - Bass
Eric McPherson - Drums

Sarah Hanahan is an up-and-coming jazz saxophonist in New York City currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at The Juilliard School. In 2015, Sarah was awarded a full scholarship to study jazz performance at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz within the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford). Her college professors include well-known jazz saxophone performers Javon Jackson and Abraham Burton.

3/14 Mingus Mondays: Mingus Orchestra

7:30 + 9:30pm

The Django welcomes a Mingus ensemble to its stage every Monday night celebrating the music of composer/bassist Charles Mingus, who died in 1979. Assembled in 1999 by Sue Mingus, the 10-piece Charles Mingus Orchestra plays with the intensity of Mingus Big Band, with a focus on composition and exploration of Mingus' more diverse works. Its distinctive sound and textures emerge from an expanded repertory and more exotic instrumentation including bassoon, bass clarinet, French horn, and guitar - instruments not heard in the Big Band, and mostly non-traditional to jazz and modern improvisational music. The other six instruments are chaired by musicians that also perform in Mingus Big Band, and include drums, bass, trombone, trumpet, alto and tenor saxophone, with additional doublings on flute, soprano and clarinet.

3/15 MARTES LATINOS

The Django brings back its popular Tuesday Latin jazz concert series each month.

Kalí Rodríguez-Peña Melange cd release
7:00pm
Kalí Rodríguez-Peña - Trumpet
Kazemde George - Saxophone
Gabriel Chakarji - Piano
Bam Bam Rodríguez - Bass
Zack O'Farrill - Drums
Victor Pablo García - Percussion

Since moving to New York City in 2014, Cuban trumpeter Kali Rodriguez-Peña, has been blending traditional sounds from his native country with the influences of some of his heroes like Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, and the compositional style of Wayne Shorter's music, along with elements of R&B and Hip Hop. Solidly established on the scene, he is poised to become one of the leading voices of a generation of young talented Cuban musicians who are taking their best shot in the Big Apple.

Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Kali has played with renowned Cuban and international musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Arturo O'Farrill, Paquito D'Rivera, Chucho Valdés, Olga Tañón, Anat Cohen, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Michel Camilo, Miguel Zenón, Jeff "Tain" Watts, David Murray, Cándido Camero, Bobby Carcasses, among others. In March of 2016 he was selected as a finalist for the National Trumpet Competition. In Havana he won top prizes at the annual Jojazz contest for improvisation and best small combo. He arranged and produced his own album Gente de Colores in 2011. He has also performed in some of the top venues and festivals of the USA and Canada including Montreal Jazz Festival, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Exit Zero Jazz Festival, Symphony Space, Birdland, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Black Cat (SF), Freight and Salvage (Berkeley), and Dieze Once (Montreal), to mention just a few. In 2019 he graduated from the renowned Manhattan School of Music where he was awarded a full scholarship and studied under the tutelage of Jon Faddis and Stefon Harris. He has also been a guest lecturer at the University of California, Riverside on Cuban music and Jazz. Kalí also participated as a guest performer in the album Familia by Grammy-winning artists Arturo O'Farrill and Chucho Valdés, as well as Michel Camilo's latest release Essence.

Maria Raquel

10:00pm
Maria Raquel - Vocals
Itai Kriss - Flute
Cesar Orozco - Piano
TBA - Bass
Pablo Bencid - Drums

Maria Raquel is a Colombian singer based in New York since 2016. She has participated in festivals such as the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, the Summer Arts Festival, Color Es Festival and the Primavera Fest. She has taken her talent from Colombia to Germany, Israel, Netherlands now the United States. Her powerful voice makes her an outstanding ambassador of Latin music in the world.

3/16 Georgia Heers

7:00pm
Georgia Heers - Voice
TBA - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

Georgia Heers is a vocalist and composer residing in Harlem. She recently moved to New York City from Greenville, South Carolina, to pursue her graduate studies at The Juilliard School. She aims to dedicate her life exploring the depths of music spanning across the African Diaspora. Georgia believes deeply in the healing components of music and artistic creation to cultivate community and healing.

3/16 Sachal Vasandani Presents...

10:00PM
Sachal Vasandani - Vocals
TBA - Vocals
Victor Gould - Piano
Alex Claffy - Bass
Domo Branch - Drums

It was has quickly become a monthly engagement at The Django, Sachal Vasandani returns to our stage with surprise guest vocalists. This new series features Sachal sharing the stage with different emerging singers each month exploring, improvising, and celebrating each other. Sachal is recognized for his singular voice, with a tone and unique phrasing that mark him as one of the most compelling artists on the scene today. Thoroughly rooted in jazz, Sachal has the swagger to front the most swinging big bands and the vulnerability to present definitive takes of classic ballads. His deeply creative approach to improvisation across lyrics, melodic changes and time signatures is always soulful, and he has come to be regarded as one of the eminent vocal improvisers of his generation. Sachal's 2018 release, Shadow Train (GSI), celebrates twin themes of romance and respect with an open spirit. Songs like Abbey Lincoln's "Throw it Away" highlight this: Sachal's performance is equal parts virility and empathy. The Nat "King" Cole classic, "Unforgettable," is honored with a spare, haunting style, and is revered by listeners with nearly a million streams across platforms since its release in 2019.

3/17 Miki Yamanaka Trio

7:00pm
Miki Yamanaka - Piano
Matt Penman - Bass
TBA - Drums

Miki Yamanaka is a New York-based pianist from Kobe, Japan. After moving to New York City in 2012, she has studied piano with Jason Lindner, Jeb Patton, and Fred Hersch, and Organ with Sam Yahel and Larry Goldings. In 2015 she was one of three pianists selected to participate in "Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead", an intensive composition residency at the Kennedy Center. She earned her Master of Music degree from Queens College, receiving the Sir Roland Hanna Award. Miki has appeared in concert with many notable musicians including Steve Nelson, Victor Lewis, Antonio Hart and Peter Bernstein. She became one of the busiest pianists in NYC, holding residencies at Smalls and Mezzrow Jazz Clubs, and having multiple one-week-long engagements at Dizzy's Club. She is the current pianist in the Philip Harper Quintet, the Roxy Coss Quintet and the Antonio Hart Group. Her latest release (Outside in Music, 2021) features Orlando le Fleming (bass), Mark Turner(saxophone).

3/17 Chelsea Baratz

Chelsea Baratz - Saxophone
TBA - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

Described by Urban Music Scene as "consummate, thoughtful and prodigious", saxophonist Chelsea Baratz wields formidable genre-defying sensibilities and songwriting chops that cut at the knees of convention. The music chose the Pittsburgh born-and-raised saxophonist at an early age; out of that Steel City creative fire came an amalgam of influences that molded her signature versatility and musical sensitivities. Chelsea was educated by the elites of modern Pittsburgh jazz royalty, which included Roger Humphries, Dwayne Dolphin, and Sean Jones.

Chelsea continued her musical pilgrimage when she relocated to New York City in 2006. While studying at the New School, Chelsea recorded her debut album In Faith. Chelsea has worked with such illustrious names as Aretha Franklin, Talib Kweli, Om'mas Keith, Kali Uchis, Matt Schofield, Orin Evans, Ben Williams and Dezron Douglas, among many others. Most recently, Chelsea continues to grace the stages & personnel lists with artists of critical acclaim such as Maurice Brown's The Mood, Brandee Younger's Somewhere Different, and Emmaline's current single Get Lost.

3/18 Ken Fowser Quintet

3/18 Akiko Tsuruga Quintet

10:00pm
Akiko Tsuruga - Organ
Jerry Weldon - Saxophone
Joe Magnarelli -Trumpet
Charlie Sigler - Guitar
Carmen Intorre Jr - Drums

Raised in Osaka, Japan, this talented musician began studying the organ at the age of three, at the famed Yamaha Music School. After discovering her passion for jazz very early on in her musical journey, Akiko launched her career immediately after graduating from the Osaka College of Music. While living and playing in Osaka, she had many opportunities to perform with world- renowned jazz musicians from the United States. Meeting Grady Tate, in particular, was a life-changing event for Akiko.

a??After landing in the mecca for jazz, New York City, it didn't take long for Akiko to make her mark - It was during these early years that she had the great pleasure of sitting in, playing gigs, and eventually recording with jazz greats such as Frank Wess, Jimmy Cobb, Grady Tate and other top NY musicians. Her reputation ultimately drew attention of Lou Donaldson as he chose her in 2006 as his quartet's organist.

a??But it was the meeting of organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith that proved to have the greatest impact on Akiko's musical development and career. He became an important mentor to Akiko, and she considers him her greatest influence. She flourished and continued to be a constant draw on the NY jazz scene.

a??Akiko has 10 albums as a leader to her credit both the U.S. and Japan. Her debut album in the U.S., Sweet and Funky, was selected as a "Best Album of 2007" in Downbeat Magazine. Her albums have constantly placed in the Top 10 on the National Radio Jazz Chart. Akiko also received the "Swing Journal Rising Star Award" (Japan) in 2010, Hot House Magazine "Best Organist' in 2017, and the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll 2020 Rising Star Organ.

3/19 Chris Lewis

7:00pm
Chris Lewis - Saxophones
Sean Mason - Piano
TBD - Bass
TBD - Drums

Chris Lewis has quickly established himself as an in-demand saxophonist and educator on both coasts of the United States. Lewis has played and worked with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Eric Reed, Terell Stafford, Delfeayo Marsalis, Rodney Green, Michael Buble, John Beasley's MONK'estra and the GRAMMY-Award Winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among numerous others. Lewis is an alumnus of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance (formerly the Thelonious Monk Institute), where he was selected by jazz luminaries Herbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter to study under their tutelage. In addition to attending the Hancock Institute, Lewis is also an alumnus of Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia and is currently working on his postgraduate studies at the Juilliard School.

3/19 Lezlie Harrison

10:00pm
Lezlie Harrison - Vocals
TBA - Guitar
TBA - Organ
TBA - Drums

Lezlie Harrison is her own personal renaissance. Her constant state of evolution and growth brings with it, gifts for those paying attention. As a vocalist both bold and subtle, her vulnerability attends to the fragile matters of our collective human affairs while her optimistic momentum inspires us to rise above any tribulation to rejoice. Be it Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Soul, The American Song Form, original compositions, or any song in ANY form, Lezlie will imbue it with her distinctive stamp and make a very personal delivery. On the planet's premier jazz radio station, WBGO, her voice as a regular curator and presenter reveals the love and pride with which she regards America's classical music. Hyper-active on the New York and global jazz scenes, Lezlie is also, along with the late Dale Fitzgerald and trumpeter Roy Hargrove, a member of the triumvirate responsible for launching New York's world-renowned Jazz Gallery club. On occasion Lezlie lends her regal presence to the stage as an actress, bringing to those endeavors, the same sense of organic elegance that she brought to the runways and photo studios of Paris some years ago. By way of her childhood in New York and North Carolina or her maturation in New York, Boston or on stages throughout Asia, Russia, Europe, and elsewhere, Lezlie shows aesthetic evidence that she is a recipient of the lessons of dignity, integrity, and grace bestowed upon her by her elders and fine-tuned by her own history.

3/21 Mingus Mondays: Mingus Big Band

3/22 Michael Weiss Trio: Persistence cd release

7:00pm
Michael Weiss - Piano
Paul Gill - Bass
Pete Van Nostrand - Drums

Persistence, Weiss's fifth recording as a leader and first on the Cellar Live label dropped February 18, 2022, and brings together all the qualities that have made him such a valued member of New York's jazz community since the 1980s. Pianist, composer, arranger and educator Weiss has forged a formidable career working in the bands of jazz legends Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Slide Hampton, Frank Wess, the Heath Brothers, George Coleman, the Jazztet, Charles McPherson, Jon Hendricks, Lou Donaldson, Junior Cook, Bill Hardman, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Mingus Epitaph Orchestra. He has also performed with Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Clark Terry, Clifford Jordan, Phil Woods, Pepper Adams, Ron Carter, David Newman, Gerry Mulligan, Nancy Wilson, Randy Brecker, Donald Byrd, Joe Wilder and other high profile jazz recording artists. Weiss was a 1989 prizewinner in the Thelonious Monk Institute's International Piano Competition and won the 2000 BMI/Thelonious Monk Institute's Composition Competition grand prize presented to him by Wayne Shorter. According to George Coleman, "Michael is very inventive and creative, and he has been for a very long time. He's harmonically adept and has a fantastic right hand. He's gifted. He deserves more attention."

3/22 Jeffery Miller

10:00pm
Jeffery Miller - Trombone
Chris Bittner - Saxophone
Sean Mason - Piano
Philip Norris - Bass
Charles Goold - Drums

Born and raised in New Orleans by his maternal grandparents, trombonist and singer Jeffery Miller understands that you don't get to where you want to be without sacrifice. When jazz vanguard Wynton Marsalis hand picked him out of high school to join him at Juilliard, Jeffery knew that he would have to leave his aging grandparents behind to chase his dream in New York. Now 25, Miller has scored three GRAMMY® nominations in 2019 for contributions to projects by Jon Batiste and John Legend. Graduating from Juilliard with both his bachelor's and master's degrees (in 2018 and 2020 respectively), he's set on a path to make his mark as a solo artist merging two musical souls. One remains deeply rooted in the melodic jazz trombone that rings closer to home, and the other in his voice echoing the sound of contemporary R&B artists like Ty Dolla $ign and Frank Ocean. Both are intertwined by a tale of two cities and the people in them who make Jeffery Miller who he is today.

3/23 "Terreno Comum" featuring Alexia Bomtempo

7:00pm
Alexia Bomtempo - Vocals
Orrin Evans - Piano
Leandro Pellegrino - Guitar
Luques Curtis - Bass
TBA - Drums

Pianist-composer Orrin Evans unveils his new Brazilian project for the first time on The Django stage. Born out of a commissioned project by The August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Terreno Comum is a powerful collective comprised of some of the most acclaimed musicians in modern jazz and Brazilian music. With Evans as musical director, this new quintet features Brazilian-American singer-songwriter Alexia Bomtempo, bassist Luques Curtis, drummer Clarence Penn and São Paulo-born guitarist Leandro Pellegrino. The song list includes beautiful arrangements of Brazilian standards giving an opportunity for all to shine. Their debut album will be released on Evans' label, Imani Records, later in 2022. While the members of Terreno Comum may come from disparate backgrounds - Alexia from Rio de Janeiro, Leandro from São Paulo, Luques from Hartford, Clarence from Detroit, Orrin from Trenton - they share a musical "common ground" (the English translation of the band name). Hear their masterful interpretations of soothing bossa novas and alluring sambas in their Exit Zero Jazz Festival debut.

3/23 Lucy Wijnands Quartet featuring Omer Avital

10:00pm
Lucy Wijnads - Vocals
TBA - Piano
Omer Avital - Bass
TBA - Drums

Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, she got her start performing with her father, master of stride piano, Bram Wijnands. Now a recent graduate and former Ella Fitzgerald scholar at the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase, emerging jazz vocalist Lucy Wijnands has been named the 1st place winner of the 4th annual Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition. Wijnands has received the 2020 President's Award for Achievement for the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music as well as a Downbeat Student Music Award as Outstanding Jazz Vocal Soloist. In the fall of 2020, Wijnands performed in Tokyo, Japan, serving as an ambassador for Purchase College as their Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and recipient of the President's Award of Achievement. Wijnands has completed a five-month residency with the Birdland Big Band and has performed with musicians as acclaimed as Jon Faddis, Joe Lovano and Kenny Washington. In 2016, marking the beginning of her professional jazz studies, she appeared in concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Appel Room. Wijnands is now working on her debut album, You'll Never Walk Alone with an interdisciplinary approach to jazz music.

3/24 Adi Myerson

7:00pm
Adi Myerson - Bass
TBA - Piano
TBA - Drums

She was born in San Francisco, CA, and at the age two, relocated with her family to Jerusalem, Israel, where she grew up. In August 2012 she moved to New York to continue her studies at The New School and later on at Manhattan School of Music for her MM. According to Downbeat, her music is "intuitive and perspicacious, that displays a musical maturity that belies her newcomer status." Meyerson is a 2020 recipient of the NYFA Women's Grant.

3/25 Ken Fowser Quintet

3/25 Roxy Coss Quintet: Disparate Parts cd release

10:00pm
Roxy Coss - Saxophone
Alex Wintz - Guitar
Miki Yamanaka - Piano
Rick Rosato - Bass
Jimmy Macbride - Drums

Musician, composer and activist Roxy Coss has performed around the world as a bandleader and a side musician with jazz legends such as Clark Terry, Billy Kaye, Maurice Hines, Rufus Reid, Louis Hayes, Gene Perla, Claudio Roditi, Willie Jones III, Jeremy Pelt, Darcy James Argue, and is a member of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra. A recipient of an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, the Downbeat Critics' Poll listed Coss as a "Rising Star" on Soprano Saxophone the past seven years, called her "an exceptional young talent", and Jazziz Magazine listed her an "Artist to Watch in 2019". She is also the recipient of the Hot House Magazine & Jazzmobile "Tenor Saxophone" Award in 2019. The Roxy Coss Quintet, featuring some of the world's finest young musicians, is the first-ever recipient of the Emerging Artist Project, a four-year grant from the Local 802 Musicians Union. Catch their album release show celebrating Roxy's sixth recording as a leader, Disparate Parts (Outside in Music), releasing March 25, 2022. The new recording encompasses original music by Roxy and several other members in the band, exploring differing identities, soundscapes, textures, and grooves.

3/26 TBA

3/26 Mariel Bildsten

10:00pm
Mariel Bildsten - Trombone
Bruce Harris - Trumpet
Erena Terakubo - Alto
Ruben Fox - Tenor
Sean Mason - Piano
Marty Jaffe - Bass
Charles Goold - Drums

Mariel Bildsten is a trombonist, based in New York City. Mariel currently works as a bandleader and side-woman, playing in jazz big bands and small groups, as well as Afro-Latin music, rock, funk, and R&B bands. She is the lead trombonist in Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and tours internationally with the rock band Brass Against. She has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, London's O2 Arena, the Apollo Theater, Birdland Jazz Club, Smalls Jazz Club, and Smoke Jazz Club, among other venues and festivals. Mariel has also performed alongside Jennifer Hudson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, Wycliffe Gordon, Brian Lynch, Cyrus Chestnut, and Frank Lacy. Her own groups, ranging from duo to septet, have headlined jazz festivals, played around the country, and perform regularly in New York City. Her debut record Backbone (2020) received rave reviews.

3/28 Mingus Mondays: Mingus Big Band

3/29 MARTES LATINOS

The Django brings back its popular Tuesday Latin jazz concert series each month.

7:00pm Elio Villafranca Quartet
Elio Villafranca - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums
TBA - Percussion

Born in the Pinar del Río province of Cuba, Steinway Artist, Grammy Nominated, and 2014 JALC Millennium Swing Award! recipient pianist and composer Elio Villafranca was classically trained in percussion and composition at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba.

Since his arrival in the U.S. in mid 1995, Elio Villafranca is at the forefront of the latest generation of remarkable pianists, composers and bandleaders. His concert Letters to Mother Africa was selected by NYC Jazz Record as Best Concerts in 2016. In 2015, Mr. Villafranca was among the five pianists hand-picked by Chick Corea to perform at the first Chick Corea Jazz Festival, curated by Chick himself at JALC. Elio Villafranca's album Caribbean Tinge (Motema), received a 2014 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Nomination by the German Records Critics Award, and selected by Jazz Times and DownBeat magazines for a feature on their very competitive section Editor's Pick. He also received a 2010 Grammy Nomination in the Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year category. In 2008 The Jazz Corner nominated Elio Villafranca as pianist of the year. That year, Mr. Villafranca was also honored by BMI with the BMI Jazz Guaranty Award and received the first NFA/Heineken Green Ribbon Master Artist Music Grant for the creation of his Concerto for Mariachi, for Afro-Cuban Percussion and Symphony Orchestra. Finally, his first album, Incantations/ Encantaciones, featuring Pat Martino, Terell Stafford, and Dafnis Prieto was ranked amongst the 50 best jazz albums of the year by Jazz Times magazine in 2003. He is based in New York City and he is a faculty member of Temple University, Philadelphia, The Juilliard School of Music, New York University, and Manhattan School of Music in NYC.

10:00pm Los Hacheros

Jeremy Bosch - Vocals
Itai Kriss - Flute
Eddie Venegas - Violin and Trombone
Jacob Plasse - Tres
William Ash - Bass
Marcos Lopez - Conga
Carlitos Padron - Bongo
Jacob Plasse (Tres)

Brooklyn's Los Hacheros are modern day torchbearers of the Golden Age of Latin music. Their beat revives folkloric styles like Son Montuno, Guaracha and Salsa, and often combines them with Bomba, a fiery rhythm from the mountains of Puerto Rico.

3/30 Holly Bean Trio

7:00pm
Holly Bean - Piano and Vocals
Alexander Claffy - Bass
Keith Balla - Drums

Jazz pianist, vocalist, and visual artist Holly Bean has been playing the piano since the age of three, though she was mostly self-taught until meeting former Jazz Messenger and world-renowned pianist Donald Brown during her undergraduate studies at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. With years of classical voice experience and independent piano study under her belt, Holly's musical expression transformed and flourished rapidly under Brown's instruction, and after just two years of studying the jazz idiom she was performing at international jazz piano competitions and moving to New York City to pursue her music career as member of the rare breed of jazz singer-pianists. Holly has performed as artist in residence at venues such as the Woolworth Building and Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island). The up-and-coming artist is now set to perform her Django debut!

3/30 Misha Piatigorsky Trio featuring Kennedy

10:00pm
Misha Piatigorsky - Piano
Kennedy - Vocals
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

Misha Piatigorsky is a pianist, composer, and producer living in NYC. He concertizes internationally with his trio, frequenting clubs and concert halls throughout Europe, USA, and South America. He is known for his unique melodic and harmonic language that keeps the audience on their feet. His infectious energy radiates any room he plays. Misha spent eight years being the music director for legendary jazz vocalist Mark Murphy and in 2004 won the prestigious Thelonius Monk Competition as a composer. Misha is the founder of the new highly sought-after speakeasy, The Daddy Rabbit.

3/31 Dan Aran Band

7:00pm
Dan Aran - Drums
Itai Kriss - Flute
Alon Yavnai - Piano
Matt Clohesy - Bass
Samuel Torres - Percussion

In the past two decades Dan Aran has been touring, recording, and performing with artists such as Harry Whitaker, Natalie Merchant, Stacey Kent, Adam Birnbaum Trio, Kevin Mahogany, Peter Bernstein, Joe Magnarelli, Wayne Tucker, Madeleine Peyroux, and many others. From playing 1920's music with The Michael Arenella Dreamland Orchestra, to Middle Eastern and Latin grooves with Itai Kriss's TELAVANA, Dan's versatility and ability to play different styles is what makes him unique.

3/31 Ian Hendrickson-Smith

10:00pm
Ian Hendrickson-Smith - Saxophone
TBA - Piano
TBA - Bass
TBA - Drums

New York City-based saxophonist and flutist Ian Hendrickson-Smith returns to The Django this month leading his own quartet. He is mostly noted for his remarkable tone, soulful approach and blues-driven melodies. Equally adept on all the saxophones, Ian stays very busy doing what he loves and loves staying busy! Currently, you can find Ian playing on the road with The Roots or on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Hendrickson-Smith's extensive recording experience includes the release of 12 jazz records as a leader. His most recent, The Lowdown (Cellar Music 2020) is currently charting at #18 on the national jazz charts.

To learn more, visit TheDjangoNYC.com

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