Jazz

Tomorrow night at 8pm, The Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY will present the world premiere of “Trill 101” - a performance piece that marks the culmination of a year-long, Skidmore-commissioned, multidisciplinary project developed by Melanie Charles and the Make Jazz Trill Again family in collaboration with Skidmore students and faculty.

Larry Tye ("Satchel," "Bobby Kennedy") has penned a portrait of the longtime kings of jazz—Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie—who, born within a few years of one another, overcame racist exclusion and violence to become the most popular entertainers on the planet. The book is "The Jazzmen."

Saratoga Performing Arts Center will be filled with craft vendors and jazz enthusiasts for this weekend’s 47th annual Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival. Dozens of artists will play, from world-renowned performers to amateurs. This year’s headliners include Nora Jones, Laufey, and Lake Street Dive. WAMC’s Samantha Simmons spoke with Sara Caswell, who will be playing on the Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage Saturday at 11 a.m.

The 47th Annual Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival is taking place June 29 and 30 at SPAC in Saratoga Springs, New York. Festival Presenter and Producer Danny Melnick and Vice President of Artistic Planning at SPAC Christopher Shiley join us with a preview.

This Saturday, March 23 at 8pm - the stage of The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Massachusetts will spring to life as Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III re-vive and re-imagine classics from The American Songbook.“Sing & Swing” is part of a “Jazz at Lincoln Center presents” touring initiative that features up-and-coming musicians who have been identified as rising stars by that venerated organization.

Beat Scientist, Drummer and Producer Makaya McCraven will perform at The Zankel Center at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York on Saturday, February 17. In advance of that exciting concert, on Thursday, February 15, Makaya will be in conversation with Skidmore Angus McCullough at The Tang Teaching Museum. Makaya McCraven's latest album, "In These Times," is the triumphant finale of a project 7+ years in the making.

The Grammy nominated vocal supergroup, säje, is the brainchild of vocalist/composers Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick, and Erin Bentlage. Born out of close friendship and deep admiration, these world-renowned artists, composers, and arrangers have come together to explore, create, and celebrate the music that moves them. Their debut album is now out.The band explores the edges of jazz and pop with a combination of inventive covers and brilliantly written originals.They will be performing at the Spa Little Theatre on Saturday, November 11 at 7 p.m. and we welcome Sara Gazarek to The Roundtable.

A Place for Jazz is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to presenting the best in Jazz. It was founded by Butch Conn in 1987. Programs include concerts, public workshops, school-based clinics, a Jazz website and general support of Jazz and its musicians. Bill McCann and Tim Coakley join us.

The Bearsville Jazz & Art Festival will be happening this Sunday, September 3rd. Attendees can celebrate Labor Day Weekend in the Park at Bearsville Theater with world-class Jazz plus painting demonstrations by the Woodstock School of Art in the heart of the Catskills. To tell us more we welcome Lizzie Vann, owner of the Bearsville Theatre and historian and writer Tad Wise.

On Sunday, August 6 The Aaron Diehl Trio will perform a jazz program that includes Sir Roland Hanna’s 24 Preludes at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood at 8 p.m.