Sunday, July 23, 2023
Silver Serenade: The Horace Silver Project
Led by trumpet player Tim Clarke, some of Western New York’s most prominent musicians celebrate the musical legacy of Horace Silver by performing his most popular and lesser-known works. Silver’s soulful music has made a lasting impact and continues to be recorded and performed by musicians worldwide. The quintet consists of Andy Weinzler on saxophone, Tim Clarke on trumpet and flugelhorn, Joe Goehle on bass, Harry Graser on piano, and Dan Hull on drums.
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Singer/Saxophonist Camille Thurman with George Caldwell and Friends
Camille Thurman is an American jazz musician, composer, and member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Her first two albums, released by Chesky Records in 2018 and 2017, peaked at #3 and #25 respectively on the Billboard jazz albums chart.
Buffalo pianist George Caldwell studied at Memphis State University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He was awarded a Ralph Bunche Fellowship for his academic work at Rutgers University and has since garnered additional prestigious awards throughout his career. After a brief stint with Clifford Jordan, Caldwell followed Mulgrew Miller as the piano chair with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He then spent seven years with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Frank Foster. Some of the many great artists with whom he has shared the bandstand include Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, Joe Williams, George Benson, Kenny Garrett, Art Blakey, Savion Glover, Lou Rawls, Lionel Hampton, George Coleman, Louis Smith, Joe Newman, Roy Hargrove, Bobby McFerrin, Max Roach, and Jon Faddis.
Sunday, August 6, 2023
Singer Heather Bambrick with Trumpeter Chase Sanborn
JUNO Award–nominated vocalist Heather Bambrick prides herself on being an entertainer through and through. From her skillful, effortless interaction with audiences to the variety and breadth of her material, Bambrick performs with the goal of leaving audiences feeling better after her shows than before they arrived. This is why her concerts have been described as what happens when “Ella Fitzgerald meets Carol Burnett at a Newfoundland kitchen party.”
It’s not only audiences who appreciate Bambrick’s talent. Critics and industry professionals place Heather on the top rung of the musical ladder. “Heather hits every right note,” says Mark Rheume of CBC Radio. WholeNote Magazine calls her “one of the finest jazz singers in this country,” and All About Jazz says her voice is a “paragon of clarity” and that “she’s the real deal in every way.”
As one of Canada’s top jazz vocalists, Bambrick has collaborated with Phil Nimmons, Fred Hersch, Gene DiNovi, Guido Basso, Ann Hampton Callaway, Carol Welsman, Jackie Richardson, Ian Shaw, and the late Rob McConnell and Peter Appleyard. She’s a founding member of vocal ensembles the Beehive Singers and Broadsway and has appeared as a guest performer with numerous jazz ensembles as well as with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.
Jazz trumpeter Chase Sanborn was born and raised on the outskirts of New York City. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and began his professional playing career in San Francisco. An early career highlight was a year spent touring North America and Europe with Ray Charles.
As a commercial session player, Chase has spent the bulk of his career working in the recording studios, theaters, and jazz clubs of Toronto. He has appeared as a featured soloist with a host of big bands, including Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass and the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra, and he has released five albums as a small group leader. He can often be found these days working with vocalist extraordinaire Heather Bambrick.
Sunday, August 13, 2023
Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop
The Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop is an ensemble of like-minded composers and performers. This group of talented artists has cultivated a unique sound through collaborative compositional, programming and performance opportunities. The group has worked with many literary and theatrical artists to create new work with a contemporary jazz style. For this concert the group will perform collaborations with poets and literary artists.
