2012 Harlem Jazz Shrines Fes­ti­val Highlights:

Small’s Par­adise: (Re)Created

Pre­sented by Jazzmo­bile
Harlem, USA, 2309 Fred­er­ick Dou­glass Blvd., 2^nd Floor
The Magic John­son The­ater Build­ing
(Entrance on W. 124^th Street)

 

Small’s Par­adise (Re)Created is pre­sented by Jazzmo­bile in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Depart­ment of Gov­ern­ment and Com­mu­nity Affairs Depart­ment at the City Col­lege of New York.

The sec­ond annual Harlem Jazz Shrines Fes­ti­val salutes the pio­neer­ing spirit of Small’s with a series of sen­sa­tional con­certs, jam ses­sions and spe­cial pro­gram­ming for youth and seniors. When it opened, Small’s Par­adise — like its sis­ter club Minton’s would later — served as an incu­ba­tor of a new and evolv­ing Amer­i­can musi­cal ped­a­gogy open to all who felt the groove. That learn­ing expe­ri­ence con­tin­ues today when Jazzmo­bile trans­ports jazz lovers to the days of the Renais­sance with a 21st Cen­tury twist. With its first-class musi­cal acts, elab­o­rate floor­shows, danc­ing wait­ers and famously inte­grated audi­ence, Samll’s Par­adise per­son­i­fied the excite­ment of Harlem nightlife dur­ing the “Roar­ing Twen­ties”. Jazzmo­bile will re-imagine the par­adise that was Small’s at the Harlem USA com­plex (home to the Magic John­son The­ater). Spe­cial guest cura­tors, urban inno­va­tors, Revive Music and Monique Mar­tin breathe new life into a jazz tradition.

 

Harlem After Dark, curated by Revive Music
Mon­day, May 7, 9 p.m. | $10 | Door

 

Harlem After Dark is a jour­ney back into the hey­days of Harlem. Revive Music teams up with Jazzmo­bile and the Harlem Jazz Shrines Fes­ti­val to present a ret­ro­spec­tive show that revis­its the famed nightlife of 1930s Harlem. Under the back­drop of a recre­ated night club, Revive Music will show­case the tal­ents of pianist Johnny O’Neal (famous for his appear­ance in the movie Ray for his por­trayal of pianist Art Tatum), vocal­ist Sasha Vasan­dani, famed poet Umar Bin Has­san from the Last Poets and the tap danc­ing troupe Sole Soci­ety as they visit the works of Duke Elling­ton, Thelo­nious Monk, Dizzy Gille­spie and the poetry of Langston Hughes.  Join­ing these spe­cial guests will be an all-star band fea­tur­ing trum­peter Duane Eubanks, alto sax­o­phon­ist Sharel Cas­sity, tenor sax­o­phon­ist Stacy Dil­lard, trom­bon­ist Mike Dease, bassist Paul Sikivie and drum­mer Sharif Zaben.  A Late Night Jam follows.

 

A Harlem Hot Spot, co-curated by Monique Mar­tin
Hosted by Liza Jessie Peter­son
Fri­day, May 11,  7 p.m. | $10 | Door

 

Fea­tur­ing Will Cal­houn, drums, indige­nous per­cus­sion, loops; Marc Cary, key­boards; Bur­niss Travis, bass.

Marika Hughes, cello/vocals, Char­lie Burn­ham, vio­lin, Robin Macatan­gay, gui­tar, Fred Cash, bass,Tony Mason, drums

Cel­e­brat­ing the inno­va­tion that the leg­endary Small’s Par­adise was known for, cel­list Marika Hughes brings her band Bot­tom Heavy on a shared bill with genre defy­ing drum­mer Will Cal­houn and friends for an  evening of spir­ited music, move­ment and bit of may­hem to keep it fresh.  Dancers and sur­prise guests add to the music, joy and fun that made Small’s legendary!

 

Trib­ute To Club Harlem: Cel­e­brat­ing Cecil

Pre­sented by Harlem Stage
Harlem Stage Gate­house, 150 Con­vent Avenue
Tues­day, May 8, 8 p.m. | Wednes­day, May 9, 8 p.m. | $10

 

Fea­tur­ing Vijay Iyer, piano; Craig Taborn, piano; Amina Clau­dine Myers, piano and spe­cial guest, Amiri Baraka

Club Harlem, a long-forgotten lit­tle jazz haunt on 145th Street, was Cecil Taylor’s first live per­for­mance gig, where he’d play an upright that had just 8 work­ing keys on a good night, for just $50 a week.Three of today’s most cel­e­brated pianists honor the titanic cre­ative force of Cecil Tay­lor in two evenings of solo and duet work, pref­aced by a poetic invo­ca­tion by renowned poet/playwright/activist, Amiri Baraka. Lux­u­ri­ate in an avalanche of free-style, Taylor-inspired poly-rhythms and tone clus­ters. Join us after Wednes­day night’s per­for­mance for Decod­ing Cecil, a dis­cus­sion led by scholar and musi­cian George Lewis with the artists.

Pre­sented by Harlem Stage in part­ner­ship with Issue Project Room and the Cen­ter for Jazz Stud­ies at Colum­bia University.

 

Wycliffe Gordon’s Jazz à la Carte

Pre­sented by the Apollo The­ater
Apollo The­ater 253, West 125th Street
Sat­ur­day, May 12, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. | $10, Pre­mium $25

 

Fea­tur­ing Wycliffe Gor­don, Creator/Music Direc­tor; Ken­neth L. Rober­son, Director/Choreographer, Mau­rice Hines, Host; and spe­cial guest, Savion Glover.

Also fea­tur­ing Juil­liard Jazz Orches­tra; Theresa Thoma­son, vocal­ist; Aaron Diehl, piano; Philip Dizack, trum­pet; Natalie Cress­man, trom­bone, vocalist; and the Apollo Dancers

In the 1930’s Frank Schiff­man and Leo Brecher opened the Apollo with “Jazz à la Carte,” a vari­ety show fea­tur­ing Ralph Cooper, Benny Carter Big Band and “16 Gor­geous Hot Steppers.”  This clas­sic Apollo enter­tain­ment makes a come­back under the guid­ing genius of com­poser, per­former, arranger extra­or­di­naire, Wycliffe Gor­don and fea­tures a hit parade of top con­tem­po­rary tal­ent. Ken Rober­son pro­vides the evening’s show-stopping chore­og­ra­phy.  Con­sum­mate song, dance and show­man Mau­rice Hines is mas­ter of ceremonies.

 

Trib­ute To Monroe’s Uptown House:The Mosaic Project

Pre­sented by Harlem Stage
Harlem Stage Gate­house, 150 Con­vent Avenue
Thurs­day, May 10, 7:30 p.m. | $10

 

Fea­tur­ing Terri Lyne Car­ring­ton, drums; Lizz Wright, vocal­ist; Nona Hendryx, vocal­ist; Ingrid Jensen, trum­pet; Tia Fuller, sax­o­phone; Helen Sung, piano; Mimi Jones, bass; Nir Felder, gui­tar and more

Clark Monroe’s Uptown House, or sim­ply Monroe’s, was, along with Minton’s, one of the two prin­ci­pal clubs in the early his­tory of bebop­jazz. It was also “home” to Bil­lie Hol­i­day, who had an apart­ment upstairs. This incred­i­ble set, with its pow­er­house line-up of instru­men­tal­ists and vocal­ists, cel­e­brates the fecun­dity of Monroe’s and the great­ness of female artistry – past and present – riff­ing live and in the flesh on the extra­or­di­nary suc­cess of Terri Lyne Carrington’s recent Grammy-winning release, The Mosaic Project

 

Trib­ute to Club Havana San Juan

Pre­sented by Harlem Stage
Harlem Stage Gate­house, 150 Con­vent Avenue
Sat­ur­day, May 12, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. | $10

 

Fea­tur­ing Havana San Juan Orches­tra led by Louis Bauzo; Alfredo “Freddy” Lugo, per­cus­sion; Johnny Almen­dra, percussion

Havana San Juan was a club that opened dur­ing the height­ened pulse of the 1960’s. Located on 138th Street and Broad­way in Harlem, it was a haven for iconic music celebri­ties such as Machito, Sammy Davis Jr., Celia Cruz, Frank Sina­tra and Tito Puente. The place gave birth to “Clas­sic Salsa,” a music and dance that has united gen­er­a­tions and cul­tures with its infec­tious spirit and rhythms. Under the inspired lead­er­ship of Louis Bauzo, the all-new Havana San Juan Orches­tra authen­ti­cally recre­ates and revives the pas­sion­ate sounds of the “Golden Era” of Latin Music.

 

Danc­ing Mambo/Park Palace Live!

Pre­sented by Jazzmo­bile
Harlem USA
Sun­day, May 13, 4 p.m. | Sug­gested Dona­tion of $10

 

Fea­tur­ing Bobby Sanabria’s Mul­ti­verse Big Band and spe­cial guest Candido

Located in East Harlem at the north­west cor­ner of 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, the Park Palace was the “go-to” place for a grow­ing Latino pop­u­la­tion.  It was here, in 1940 that Machito and his Afro Cubans made their debut and the dynamic “mambo” dance move­ment was born.  This big band event under the direc­tion of drum­mer, per­cus­sion­ist, com­poser, arranger and mul­ti­ple Grammy-nominee, Bobby San­bria, pays trib­ute to the influ­ence of Afro-Cuban music as it made its way to New York and defined an era.

 

BLAZING TONGUES: THE SINGERS & WRITERS OF LENOX LOUNGE

Pre­sented by Harlem Stage
Lenox Lounge, 288 Lenox Avenue (Mal­colm X Blvd.)
(Betw. 124th & 125th Streets)

 

The his­toric Lenox Lounge, with its famous Zebra Room, has been giv­ing it up to jazz lovers since 1939.  A hotbed for jazz leg­ends, it was also a favorite haunt for Harlem Renais­sance writ­ers, James Bald­win and Langston Hughes, among them.  Fea­tur­ing some of today’s great­est mas­ters of word and song, these sets recre­ate the cel­e­brated inter­sec­tion of music and lit­er­a­ture at the Lounge.

 

Tulivu-Donna Cum­ber­batch & Beareather Reddy
Tues­day, May 8, 7 p.m. |  $10 plus $16 drink minimum

The music of Ella Fitzger­ald and writ­ings of Paule Marshall

 

Gre­gory Generet /Directed by Tamara Tunie

Fri­day, May 11, 7 p.m. |  $10 plus $16 drink minimum

The music of Johnny Hart­man and writ­ings of Ralph Ellison

Pre­sented by Harlem Stage in part­ner­ship with Lenox Lounge, Colum­bia University’s Cen­ter for Jazz Stud­ies (CJS) and Insti­tute for Research in African Amer­i­can Stud­ies (IRAAS). 

 

JAZZ AND THE SPIRIT:
THE ARTS OF HARLEM IN THE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IMAGINATION

Pre­sented by Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity
Abyssin­ian Bap­tist Church, 132 W. 138th Street
(Betw. A.C. Pow­ell, Jr. Blvd. and Lenox Avenue)
Mon­day, May 7, 6 p.m. | Free

 

From the Spir­i­tu­als, through Blues and Jazz and right on up to Hip Hop, reli­gion has occu­pied a place of priv­i­lege in black musi­cal reper­toires. At the same time, Harlem has in many ways fig­ured pre­em­i­nently as a sacred place and space in Amer­i­can his­tory. Wed­ding these themes together, his­to­rian, Josef Sorett, along with a dis­tin­guished group of pan­elists, explore the spir­i­tual dimen­sions of Harlem’s aes­thetic lega­cies and con­tem­po­rary vitality.

Pre­sented by Insti­tute for Reli­gion, Cul­ture and Pub­lic Life with Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity School of the Arts Office of Com­mu­nity Out­reach; Insti­tute for Research in African Amer­ica Stud­ies; Cen­ter for Jazz Stud­ies & Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity Office of Gov­ern­ment & Com­mu­nity Affairs. 

 

THE SAVOY KING

Pre­sented by Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity
Cowin Audi­to­rium, Teacher’s Col­lege at Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity
Fri­day, May 11, 6 p.m. | $10

 

A Fea­ture Doc­u­men­tary Film

Writ­ten, directed, and pro­duced by Jeff Kaufman

Exec­u­tive Pro­duc­ers: Jamal Joseph & Voza Rivers & The New Her­itage Film Group

The Savoy Ball­room was a pop­u­lar dance venue from the late 1920s to the 1950s, where many dances, such as the Lindy Hop, were born.It was known down­town as the “Home of Happy Feet” but uptown, in Harlem, as “the Track.” This fea­ture doc­u­men­tary cel­e­brates Swing-era drum­mer and band­leader Chick Webb, who led the Savoy’s best-known house band, songstress Ella Fitzger­ald, and the glory that was the Savoy Ballroom.

Pre­sented in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity School of the Arts Office of Com­mu­nity Out­reach; Cen­ter for Jazz Stud­ies; Insti­tute for Research in African Amer­ica Stud­ies, Teach­ers Col­lege Office of School & Com­mu­nity Part­ner­ships & Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity Office of Gov­ern­ment & Com­mu­nity Affairs.

 

Late Nights at the Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival:

Minton’s Play­house: Leg­ends on the Bandstand

Pre­sented by Jazzmo­bile
Minton’s Play­house, 206 W. 118th Street
(Betw. A.C. Pow­ell, Jr. Blvd and St. Nicholas Ave.)

 

Minton’s was famous for its jam ses­sions in the early 1940’s, where Thelo­nious Monk, Kenny Clarke, Char­lie Parker and Dizzy Gille­spie pushed the bound­aries of the art and pio­neered bebop. An all-star line-up of today’s keep­ers of the flame pays trib­ute to the club’s illus­tri­ous past in four inspired and inno­v­a­tive sets.

 

Stan­ley Crouch with Jazz Drummers

Wednes­day, May 9,  7 p.m. | $10

 

With an eclec­tic and intrigu­ing vision, Stan­ley Crouch sits down for a talk with Jazz drum­mers, Charli Per­sip and Ben Riley.

 

T.K. Blue: Hon­or­ing the Music of Char­lie Parker
Wednes­day, May 9, 10 p.m. | $10

 

Blue brings some­thing new to the old music. His recent release, Latin Bird, was hailed as “first rate” with “an abun­dance of siz­zle and inven­tion.” T.K. Blue–alto and soprano sax, flute, leader, James Weidman—piano, Essiet Essiet—bass, Willie Martinez—drums, Roland Guerrero—percussion, and spe­cial guest Steve Turre–trombone and shells.

Late Night Jam Fol­lows at Red Rooster

 

The Jeremy Pelt Group: Hon­or­ing the Music of Dizzy Gille­spie
Thurs­day, May 10, 10 p.m. | $10

 

The Jeremy Pelt Group sound some of Jazz’s best notes, offer­ing spon­tane­ity and pre­ci­sion in the vein of Gille­spie, one of the most influ­en­tial play­ers in the his­tory of jazz. With Ger­ald Can­non (bass), Roxy Coss (tenor sax), Louis Hayes (drums), Mike LeDonne (piano).

Late Night Jam Fol­lows at Red Rooster

 

Barry Har­ris: Hon­or­ing the Music of Thelo­nious Monk
Fri­day, May 11, 10 p.m. | $10

 

Barry Har­ris, a jazz musi­cian who worked along­side pio­neers from Cole­man Hawkins to Miles Davis and roomed with Thelo­nious Monk, has been play­ing the piano for 77 years.  Who bet­ter than a mas­ter to pay trib­ute to a master?

Late night Jam Fol­lows at Red Rooster

 

Winard Harper: Hon­or­ing the Music of Max Roach
Sat­ur­day, May 12, 10 p.m. | $10

 

With his Jeli Posse, drum­mer, com­poser and band­leader Winard Harper, one of the true great band­lead­ers who sits behind a drum kit, brings his relent­less exu­ber­ance to hon­or­ing the guy who rewrote the rules of drum­ming in the 1940’s and spent the rest of his career break­ing musi­cal barriers.

Late Night Jam Fol­lows at Red Rooster

 

SHOWMAN’S LATE NIGHT JAZZ

Pre­sented in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Apollo The­ater
Showman’s Jazz Club, 375 W. 125th Street
(Betw. Morn­ing­side & St. Nicholas Avenues)

2 DRINK MINUMUM PER SET, PER PERSON

 

Over a famed bar, pho­tos of a pan­theon glow: Sarah Vaughan, Lionel Hamp­ton, Pearl Bai­ley, Eartha Kitt, Duke Elling­ton.  Showman’s was a hang­out for Apollo enter­tain­ers sixty plus years ago, when it was lit­er­ally right next door to the famed the­ater. In 1988 it moved to its present loca­tion, where this inti­mate room remains one of Harlem’s pre­mier jazz clubs.   A Ham­mond B-3 organ anchors the stage and will be a focal point for five nights that show­case some of the hottest small com­bos mak­ing the rounds today.

 

Danny Mixon
Tues­day, May 8, 8:30 p.m., 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m. | No cover

 

Ham­mond B-3 organ­ist and pianist Danny Mixon played with Charles Min­gus and was Betty Carter’s accom­pa­nist for years. The New York Timescalls his style, “strongly rhyth­mic, stud­ded with insis­tent riffs, some­times slid­ing into unex­pected gospel settings.”

 

Lon­nie Young­blood & The Blood Broth­ers
Wednes­day, May 9, 8:30 p.m., 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m. | No cover

 

Nick­named the “Prince of Harlem,” Lon­nie “Young­blood” plays with uncom­mon, jaw-dropping style, and his blend of emo­tion and tech­ni­cal savvy have made him one of the great­est sax­o­phon­ists and vocal artists around. 

 

Lou Volpe Trio
Thurs­day, May 10, 8:30 p.m., 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m. | No cover

 

Lou Volpe is a gui­tarist who, in the mold of George Ben­son and Pat Marino, has the groove down pat, but with the har­monic and melodic sen­si­bil­i­ties to make his flights of vir­tu­os­ity all his own.

 

Cyn­thia Hol­i­day
Fri­day, May 11, 9 p.m., 11 p.m. | No cover

 

A soul­ful singer and song­writer, Cyn­thia Hol­i­day swings, teases and reaches highs and lows, con­tin­u­ing the great tra­di­tion of jazz women who sing the Blues.

 

Sarah McLawler and Les Femmes Jazz
Sat­ur­day, May 12, 9 p.m., 11 p.m. | No cover

 

Sarah McLawler is one of the liv­ing leg­ends of Amer­i­can jazz and player of the Ham­mond B-3 organ. She is the com­poser, con­duc­tor and per­former of her cur­rent all women’s jazz ensem­ble–Sarah McLawler and Les Femmes Jazz. In her wide-ranging career, Sarah has worked with many of the greats in the busi­ness, includ­ing Dinah Wash­ing­ton, George Ben­son, Pearl Bai­ley, Nat King Cole, Dionne War­wick, Glo­ria Lynn, Max Roach, Milt Jack­son, Erroll Gar­ner, Art Tatum and many, many more.

 

 

Late Night Jam Ses­sions at Ginny’s Sup­per Club

Pre­sented by Jazzmo­bile
Red Rooster, 310 Lenox Avenue
(Betw. 125th & 126th Streets)
Wednes­day, May 9-Saturday, May 12 | 11 p.m. | $10

 

Call­ing all musi­cians! The tra­di­tion of the late-night jam con­tin­ues at one of Harlem’s newest entries on the music land­scape, Ginny’s Sup­per Club.Located down­stairs at Mar­cus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster, Jazzmo­bile will bring the bold­est musi­cians to the stage backed by a stel­lar house band.  Musi­cians from the Minton’s Play­house sets, TK Blue (5/9), Jeremy Pelt (5/10), Winard Harper (5/12) will roll through join­ing some of New York’s most fear­less, willing-to-take-chances jazz players.  

 

APOLLO MUSIC CAFÉ

Pre­sented by Apollo The­ater
Apollo The­ater, 253 W. 125th Street

 

Apollo Music Café fea­tures per­for­mances by ground­break­ing artists in the inti­mate, lounge-like set­ting of the Theater’s third floor Sound­stage. It is a favorite des­ti­na­tion for music lovers of all kinds—from Harlem tastemak­ers to tourists to the down­town hip­ster set. These Fri­day and Sat­ur­day night sets are Harlem Jazz Shrines exclusives!

 

Kel­lylee Evans

Fri­day, May 11, 10 p.m. | $10

 

Vocal­ist Kel­lylee Evans, a multi-award win­ning vocal­ist, seam­lessly fuses jazz and her own unique style of “soul pop.” Nina, her new release, is a beau­ti­ful trib­ute to one of jazz’s great­est vocal­ists and pianists, Nina Simone.

 

 

Marc Cary: Cos­mic Indige­nous with Awa Sangho, Daniel Moreno, Sameer Gupta and Igmar Thomas
Sat­ur­day, May 12, 10 p.m. | $10

 

Marc Cary’s group Cos­mic Indige­nous cap­tures the ele­ments and ener­gies of cul­tural sounds infused with the essence of Africa, India, Native Amer­ica and beyond. Pianist Marc Cary was hailed by Down Beatas one of the most, “multi-dimensional key­board play­ers on the scene today,” whose music reveals those multi-dimensions in sen­sual liv­ing color. Marc Cary’s con­tin­ual search for his musi­cal iden­tity has brought him to all cor­ners of the earth, quench­ing his thirst to bring forth indige­nous music in all of its forms.

 

 

Small’s Par­adise Education/Public Pro­grams

When Small’s Had it All
Wednes­day, May 9, Thurs­day, May 10, Fri­day, May 11 10 a.m. | Reg­is­tra­tion Required

 

Poet/actor/narrator Daniel Carl­ton will illu­mi­nate the his­tory of this famous venue with the superla­tive pre­sen­ta­tion, “When Small’s Had It All*,” an inter­ac­tive, mul­ti­me­dia the­atri­cal work that salutes and recre­ates the elec­tric atmos­phere of the club with music, visu­als and storytelling. 

For Grades 6 –12

Reg­is­tra­tion Required:  Teach­ers Call 212 866‑4900 ext. 31

Com­mis­sion­ing sup­port from Char­lie Parker Jazz Fes­ti­val 20th Anniver­sary, and City Parks Foun­da­tion and Jazzmobile.

 

Film Screen­ings for Harlem Seniors 
Curated by Maysles Cin­ema
Wednes­day, May 9, Fri­day, May 11,1:00 p.m. — 3:00 p.m.

 

Jazzmo­bile and The Maysles Cin­ema will present an exclu­sive show­ing of selec­tions from Bill Miles’ “I Remem­ber Harlem” for Harlem elders.  “I Remem­ber Harlem” traces Harlem’s 350-year his­tory, evok­ing one of America’s most vibrant and volatile communities.

 

I Remem­ber Harlem: The Early Years (1658–1930)
William Miles, 1980, 60 min.

 

A his­tory of Harlem, begin­ning when the Dutch set­tlers take it over from the Lenape Indian Nation, and fol­low­ing up to the end of World War I, when Harlem becomes the cen­ter of two African Amer­i­can move­ments, one polit­i­cal and one artistic.

 

I Remem­ber Harlem: The Depres­sion Years: (1930–1940)
William Miles, 1980, 60 min.

 

The story of Harlem dur­ing the Depres­sion. Eth­nic divi­sion, riots, Father Divine, Joe Louis, the WPA. Told by the peo­ple who lived it.

 

I Remem­ber Harlem: Toward Free­dom (1940–1965)
William Miles, 1980, 60 min.

 

Harlem, from Adam Clay­ton Pow­ell and the Apollo The­atre, through World War II’s seg­re­gated army and food rationing, to the begin­ning of Bebop music and the arrival of Mal­colm X.

 

Jazz Lun­cheon for Harlem Senior Cit­i­zens
Thurs­day, May 10 1:00 p.m. — 3:00 p.m.(By Invitation)

 

With its first-class musi­cal acts, elab­o­rate floor­shows, danc­ing wait­ers and famously inte­grated audi­ence, Small’s Par­adise per­son­i­fied the excite­ment of Harlem nightlife dur­ing the “Roar­ing Twen­ties”.  Jazzmo­bile re-imagines the par­adise that was Small’s with lunch and a floor show for Harlem elders.

 

After School Dance Demon­stra­tion
Thurs­day, May 10 4:00 p.m.