Events
Truesdell at the Jazz Standard
Date: 14 May 2013116 E 27th Street - New York City
Ryan Truesdell - Photo credit: Shaun Mader
Ryan Truesdell, the producer and conductor behind last year’s roundly lauded album, Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans, will play a six-night engagement in May at Manhattan’s Jazz Standard.
Truesdell (pictured above) and his Grammy-nominated Gil Evans Project will begin their stand on May 14 and 15 by featuring the music Gil Evans wrote during his tenure with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. These nights will feature the premiere of a never-before-heard Evans composition, written in 1942, as well as Truesdell’s 2013 Grammy-winning arrangement for “How About You.” The week continues with music from the Evans’ albums Out of the Cool and New Bottle, Old Wine on Thursday (May 16), The Individualism of Gil Evans on Friday and Saturday (May 17-18) and concludes on Sunday (May 19) with performances of the iconic Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaborations Miles Ahead and Porgy & Bess, featuring the trumpeter Greg Gisbert.
The Gil Evans Project features 30 of New York’s top musicians, including Lewis Nash, Donny McCaslin, Steve Wilson, Frank Kimbrough, Jay Anderson and Marshall Gilkes, all of whom will be on hand for the Jazz Standard engagement and are featured on Centennial.

Truesdell, named "Best New Artist" for 2012 in the Jazz Times critics poll, is one of the foremost Evans scholars and the first person outside of the Evans family to be granted full access to the musical archives. He has led his Gil Evans Project in performances during the past year at the Jazz Standard, the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, and the Newport Jazz Festival.
The Jazz Standard is located at 116 E 27th Street in New York City.
For reservations call (212) 576-2232 or visit www.JazzStandard.com. Sets: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. each night, with an additional 11:30 p.m. set on Friday and Saturday (May 17-18).
Centennial is available on iTunes and at www.GilEvansProject.com.
The Girls in the Band
Date: 7 Jun 2013California - North Hollywood
Photo credit: Carol Comer and Dianne Gregg
The Girls in the Band is set to run at New York's Lincoln Center starting today and running throughout next week. In addition to the Lincoln Center screenings, the award-winning documentary film will soon appear for a week-long run at Laemmle Noho 7, a handsome new theater situated in the middle of the arts district in North Hollywood, California. The Girls in the Band tells the story of female jazz instrumentalists and their struggle for recognition from the 1920s to the present. Written, directed and co-produced by Judy Chaikin, the film will premier at the Laemmle during an invitation-only screening on June 4, then run for the general public from June 7-13.
Combining rarely seen archival footage and interviews with musicians including trombonist Melba Liston (pictured above) drummer Viola Smith, saxophonist Roz Cron, bassist Carline Ray and trumpeter Clora Bryant, Chaikin explores how these and other women helped shaped the history of American music, usually in the face of extreme sexism and racism. The film also explores how female musicians of today—Maria Schneider, Anat Cohen, Esperanza Spalding and others—are building upon the legacy of their predecessors.
For more information, go to www.thegirlsintheband.com
The film’s official trailer can be seen here: www.youtube.com
The 35th Playboy Jazz Festival
Date: 15 Jun 2013Hollywood Bowl - Hollywood
Come June 15th and 16th, the Playboy Jazz Festival will celebrate its 35th anniversary with its annual blow-out at the Hollywood Bowl. As usual, the Festival will feature an impressive lineup of talent, but perhaps the most significant mentionable about this year’s affair is the addition of comedian George Lopez (pictured above with Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock), who will be replacing Bill Cosby as the event’s emcee. Cosby had been the emcee for more than 30 years.
Motor City Jazz
Date: 30 Aug 2013Detroit - Detroit
Ahmad Jamal (pictured above) and his quartet will be among the headliners at this year’s Detroit Jazz Festival, set to unfold over Labor Day weekend on four downtown stages. Other headlining acts at this year’s festival include Joshua Redman, John Scofield, Sheila Jordan, McCoy Tyner (with special guest, dancer Savion Glover), Charles Lloyd and Bill Frisell, The Yellowjackets, and The David Murray Big Band (featuring Macy Gray). Another promising attraction is a planned tribute to the late Dave Brubeck, which will feature the Brubeck Brothers Quartet.
The Detroit Jazz Festival is the world’s largest free jazz festival. For more details and a full lineup, go to www.detroitjazzfest.com.
Lady Day Set for New York Debut
Date: 26 Sep 2013422 W 42nd St - New York
After being staged in Paris and London, the musical production Lady Day will make it New York debut when it opens on September 26 at Times Square’s Little Shubert Theatre. Lady Day—Billie Holiday, that is—will be played by Dee Dee Bridgewater (pictured above), who also starred in the leading role during the play’s European runs. Bridgewater—who won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in a Broadway production of The Wiz—was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performances as Holiday at London’s Piccadilly Theatre.
Written and directed by Stephen Stahl, Lady Day, which features 25 songs associated with the late singer, tells the story of Holiday’s attempt to stage one final concert. Previews of the show begin on September 12.
For more information, go to www.ladydaythemusical.com.
Jazz, Miami Style
Date: 1 Nov 2013Miami - Miami
Photo credit: Fabrizio Ferri
Trumpeter Chris Botti (pictured above) is among the artists who will perform at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, in Miami, during the 2013-14 season of “Jazz Roots—A Larry Rosen Jazz Series.” Currently celebrating its fifth anniversary, the jazz and educational series originated at the Arsht Center and has been instrumental in establishing Miami as a viable destination for jazz fans. “Jazz Roots” has sold out more than two dozen concerts since its inception, and is now presented at major performing arts centers in five cities across the country.
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