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The John Birks Gillespie Auditorium, dedicated
to the late jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, is located within the
New York City Baha’i Center. Beginning on January 6, 2004,
the anniversary of Dizzy’s death, his former pianist and
musical director, Mike Longo, is presenting weekly jazz concerts every Tuesday evening at 8:00 and 9:30 PM.
You will literally be transformed by the
thundering swinging sound of The New York State of the Art
Jazz Ensemble.
You won’t want to miss their next appearance on Tuesday,
July 29, 2008.
The NYSAJE will be featured on some Tuesday nights, and other major jazz artists such as Charlie Persip, Warren Chiasson, Chip White, Freddie Hendricks, Benny Powell, Annie Ross, Jimmy Owens, Daoud David Williams and many others will headline on other Tuesdays. Check the schedule below for the exciting lineup of upcoming shows.
Admission is $15.00 per show, $10.00 for students.
Tickets will be sold at the door. Advance tickets may be purchased
by credit card only by calling 212-222-5159.
July 1: Flutist Chip Shelton's Ensemble “PeaceTime”
Chip Shelton has performed or recorded with Ron Carter, Jimmy Heath,
George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Louis Hayes, Doug Carn, Ted Curson, Harold
Mabern, Antonio Hart, Ryo Kawasaki, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Roy Meriwether,
Peter Bernstein, Stephen Scott, D.D. Jackson, Eric Lewis, Rodney Jones,
Bob Baldwin, Jazz For Peace Big Band, NY Jazz Flutet, and many more. Chip
Shelton-led Groups, be they small or large, feature a boundless collective
of world class Jazz Practicioners who have a common commitment to
authentic interpretation of the genre, while tastefully expanding
individuality and creativity of the group and it's members. The ensemble
members bring their collective mindset, having performed with the majority
of the "Legends of Jazz", to this unique setting where they have the
freedom to let their experiences express creatively, making for a
memorable musical and visual panorama. Recent performance calendar
includes many NY area appearances, Maui, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,
Albuquerque, Cincinnati, Baltimore-Washington, and feature-performances at the Soul Patrol
Convention, the National Flute Association Convention, and the Jazz Improv
Convention and Festival.
July 8: NO SHOW—Bahá'í Holy Day
July 15: Drummer Warren Smith's Composers' Workshop Orchestra
A founding member of the Composers Workshop Orchestra, a New York based
cooperative group dedicated to performing original jazz compositions of
its membership, Warren Smith is a tasteful and disciplined New York based
drummer and percussionist with a long history of pitching in on various
masterworks, from the recordings of soul queen Aretha Franklin to the
avant-garde saxophone maverick and fascinating composer Sam Rivers. Warren
Smith has also been a longtime member of one of the great percussion
projects, the Max Roach M'Boom ensemble of drummers. He has collaborated
with Anthony Braxton, Charles Mingus, Henry Threadgill, Van Morrison,
Count Basie, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, and many others. His vibraphone
playing is so lauded that he was chosen to play the role of Milt Jackson
in a group paying tribute to the Modern Jazz Quartet. You won't want to
miss what promises to be a stimulating musical evening!
July 22: Vocalist Gail Allen
July 29: Mike Longo's 18-piece Big Band “The NY State of the Art Jazz
Ensemble” with vocalist Miss Hilary Gardner
HEAR NEW COMPOSITIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR HILARY!
This is the big band that thrilled a sold-out house this past October at
Dizzy Gillespie's birthday celebration and was voted "Band of the Year" in
the 2004 Brazilian Jazz Poll. You will be delighted by the NYSAJE's
repertoire from their latest CD "Oasis", that topped the charts at # 7 in
December 2004 and remained in the top 20 for an unprecedented 16 weeks.
And you won't want to miss Hilary Gardner's renditions of some jazz
classics as well as some new compositions and arrangements. Mike Longo
has performed with a list of jazz legends that include saxophone great
Cannonball Adderley, Henry Red Allen, Coleman Hawkins, George Wettling,
Gene Krupa, Nancy Wilson, Gloria Lynn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Joe Williams,
Jimmy Rushing, James Moody and many others. It was in the mid-60s when
Longo's trio was playing at the Embers West, that Roy Eldridge told Dizzy
Gillespie about this new pianist he had heard. Dizzy came to hear him
play and soon asked him to become his pianist. This started a life-long
musical relationship and friendship. From 1966 through 1975, Longo worked
exclusively as Dizzy's pianist and musical director. Mike left the
Gillespie group officially in 1975 to venture out on his own, but
continued to work for Gillespie on a part-time basis until his death in
1993. Since that time Mike has recorded numerous albums and CDs on
various labels with some 45 recordings with artists such as Gillespie,
James Moody, etc. At present he has over 20 solo albums to his credit.
He is sought after as a music instructor and is in demand for jazz clinics
and concerts at universities and music schools throughout the world, and
has appeared regularly at the Lincoln Center's new jazz room “Dizzy's Club
Coca-Cola.” Longo is founder and President of Consolidated Artists
Productions (CAP), an independent recording label, dedicated to allowing
artists to pursue the types of projects that are in line with their career
objectives. All of the artists represented by CAP (over 70) are
extraordinarily talented, both as composers and performers. Longo's latest
venture, Jazz Tuesdays, is dedicated to allowing artists to retain
creative control of their work and providing students and the general
public with an opportunity to hear “world class jazz at affordable
prices.”
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