Photo courtesy of the artist. This weekend, The Jazz Gallery walls will shake with a full big band in celebration of what would have been co-founder Roy Hargrove’s 52nd birthday. One of the original purposes of the Gallery space at 290 Hudson Street was to hold rehearsals for Roy’s big band, so this concert seeks to capture the spirit of both Hargrove and the Gallery’s ancestral home. Under the direction of saxophonist Jason Marshall, the band is filled with Hargrove’s longtime collaborators, many of whom can be heard playing “Roy Allan” in the video below. The band will also be joined by t ..read more

Photo courtesy of the artist. Singer-composer Emma Frank uses live performance to document her development the way other artists use the studio. Moments on the bandstand reveal as much or as little of her true self as she’s compelled to share. These days, she’s sharing much more. “I’m just tired of hiding my insecurities from the audience,” she says.  From her home in Brooklyn, the Boston area native challenged herself to track music remotely during lockdown, a process she’d never attempted. “It was a little tricky,” she says. But prolonged self-engagement and reflection gave way to new ..read more

Album art by Cecille McLorin Salvant. As we at The Jazz Gallery continue our 27th year of presenting new jazz, it has been nice revisit some of the many Residency Commission projects from over the years. This weekend, saxophonist Melissa Aldana returns to the Gallery stage to present her 2017-18 commission, Visions. The project began as a reflection on the work of visual artist Frida Kahlo, who had been an important inspiration to Aldana since her childhood. In a conversation with Jazz Speaks, Aldana noted: When I was young, I was really into painting with oil. And I used to do what wa ..read more

Photo by Pavithran Thomas, courtesy of the artist. This week, The Jazz Gallery welcomes pianist Micah Thomas back to our stage for two sets with his working trio. Thomas’s past year has been filled with both challenge and accomplishment; from the pandemic and the loss of his teacher Frank Kimbrough, to the release of his debut album, Tide, and a feature on NPR’s Morning Edition (which you can stream below). For his performance at the Gallery, Thomas will be joined by bassist Dean Torrey and drummer Kayvon Gordon, a trio with ever-deepening rapport. Before hearing them at the Gallery, c ..read more

Photo courtesy of the artist. This Saturday, The Jazz Gallery is pleased to welcome saxophonist Dayna Stephens back to our stage for two sets. Despite the challenges of the past 18 months, Stephens has managed to release three new albums on his new imprint, showcasing different sides of his musical personality. Liberty, released just pre-pandemic, features Stephens in a 3-way rhythmic boxing match with bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric Harland, recorded in the famed Rudy Van Gelder studio. Liberty by Dayna StephensRight Now! was recorded live during Stephens’ debut run at the Village ..read more

Photo by Lauren Desberg, courtesy of the artist. This Friday, October 1, vibraphonist Joel Ross returns to The Jazz Gallery to present his project Praise In The Midst Of The Storm. Commissioned by the Jazz Coalition during the height of the pandemic, Ross premiered this work virtually in July 2020 as part of Rise Up Brooklyn! In a conversation with Jazz Speaks last summer, Ross talked about the project’s source material: The stipulation for the Jazz Coalition is anything related to the pandemic, any feelings I might be experiencing about it, any type of music that might be getting me ..read more

From L to R: Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph, Tyshawn Sorey. Photos courtesy of the artists. This week, acclaimed improvisers Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph, and Tyshawn Sorey come to The Jazz Gallery, performing together as a trio for the first time. Rudolph is the connecting tissue in the ensemble, having invited both Liebman and Sorey to play with him at different residencies at The Stone in recent years. After playing there together in 2016, Liebman and Rudolph recorded The Unknowable (Rare Noise) with percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani. The Unknowable by Adam RudolphLater, during Rudolph’s 2018 Ston ..read more

Photo courtesy of the artist. In July 2020, pianist Fabian Almazan and bassist Linda May Han Oh relocated from their Harlem apartment to Perth, Australia to be close to Oh’s family. Now with their first child in tow, Oh and Almazan have just returned to the United States. After playing a duo show in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month, Almazan will return to The Jazz Gallery stage on Saturday, September 25 with a quintet of long-time collaborators. In addition to the personal milestones of this past year, Almazan has continued to deepen his own musical practice as well. He put together a hybri ..read more

This week, violinist Sana Nagano comes to The Jazz Gallery with her band Smashing Humans, belatedly celebrating the release of their eponymous debut album. Smashing Humans by Sana NaganoBefore the show, we at Jazz Speaks caught up with Nagano to talk about the band’s formation, her work with Karl Berger, and her emotional growth during this time of pandemic. The Jazz Gallery: How are you? Sara Nagano: I’m good, I’m doing well. Have been just busy. It’s been a crazy year and a half. Just learning to manage, settling down. I moved many times during COVID, during the whole year and a half, and I ..read more

Photo by Jimmy Katz, courtesy of the artist. With the COVID-19 pandemic sapped jazz of its lifeblood—live, in-person audiences—musicians improvised new ways of connecting. For guitarist Mike Moreno, that meant starting a podcast and livestream series. From his New York apartment, Moreno and a special guest would chat about life and music, followed by live duo set. Since starting the series in Fall 2020, Moreno has played with a who’s who of jazz guitarists, including the likes of Mike Stern, Mark Whitfield, Ben Monder, Marvin Sewell, Ben Monder and beyond. But while Moreno stretched his work ..read more