Presented by Rochester Classical Guitar

Korean guitarist, Bokyung Byun, the grand prize winner of the 2021 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, will be teaching a master class to four guitarists from the Greater Rochester Area.

Praised by Classical Guitar Magazine as “confident and quite extraordinary,”   Bokyung enjoys a reputation as one of the most sought-after guitarists of her generation. Byun holds the distinction of being the first female winner of the prestigious JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, where Falletta herself described  Byun’s performance as "stunning, showcasing her gorgeous tone, immaculate technique, and sophisticated musicianship.”

Free and open to public!

🎉 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Jazz Festival (Nov. 25 - 28) 🎉

Veteran guitarist Michael Musillami’s career spans more than 35 years and includes extensive work as a performer, bandleader/composer and educator.

In addition to his flagship trio, which celebrates its 20th anniversary as a working unit in 2022, he has earned international acclaim as the leader of groups ranging from duo to octet featuring a wide-ranging list of prominent collaborators.

Critics have called his music "truly original" (Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic.com), "challenging and adventurous" (Bill Beuttler, Boston Globe), "scintillating and provocative" (Bill Milkowski, The Absolute Sound) and "honest, frequently surprising and consistently exciting" (Ron Wynn, JazzTimes).

He's also a longtime guitar instructor and ensemble director at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, and founder/manager of Playscape Recordings, a highly regarded independent label that has released nearly 50 independent jazz recordings since 1999.

Featuring: Michael Musillami (guitar/composer), Joe Fonda (bass), & George Schuller (drums)

Tickets: $20 / Special four-show price! $55

🎉 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Jazz Festival (Nov. 25 - 28) 🎉

Joe Fonda and Bass of Operation is a unique quartet with Jeff Lederer playing clarinet, flute & piccolo, Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon, Harvey Sorgen on drums and Joe Fonda on bass. The ensemble plays compositions by bassist Harvey Sorgen.

The texture and sound of the combination of the bassoon with either clarinet, flute or piccolo gives the quartet a chamber music feeling. Fonda’s compositions are a perfect fit for this unique chamber ensemble sound. Join us for a thrilling musical experience!

Tickets: $20 / Special four-show price! $55

🎉 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Jazz Festival (Nov. 25 - 28) 🎉

In 2019 trombonist Joe Fiedler released Open Sesame, packed with inventive jazz readings of material drawn from his longstanding “day job” as an EMMY-nominated music director and staff arranger for the famed children’s show Sesame Street. The effort was equally beloved by lay listeners and the jazz world alike. DownBeat praised the music’s “diverse aesthetic,” in which Fiedler blends “elements of funk, rock, free-jazz and New Orleans polyphony into a potent mix that gives depth and texture to the lighthearted compositions.” When Fiedler and the band toured the music, including a stop at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola with guest luminaries Wynton Marsalis and none other than Elmo himself, the realization set in that the project would be no one-off. “I have these songbooks from the Sesame Street office,” Fiedler says, “and if you whip through the first 30 tunes, absolutely everyone knows them. But there are six or seven thousand songs they’ve done over the past 50 years, with plenty of gold in there to do a second album for sure.”

Following up 2019’s warmly received Open Sesame, the EMMY-nominated Fiedler highlights an expansive trombone voice, richly interpretive arrangements and keen orchestration chops on Fuzzy and Blue (available from Multiphonics Music on November 12, 2021).

Featuring:
Joe Fiedler - trombone
Jeff Lederer - tenor/soprano sax & clarinet
Sean Conly - bass
Michael Sarin - drums

Tickets: $20 / Special four-show price! $55

🎉 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Jazz Festival (Nov. 25 - 28) 🎉

A 25-year veteran New York based artist, Phil Haynes is featured on more than 65 LP, DVD and CD releases by numerous American and European record labels. His recording credentials include many of the seminal musicians of this generation: saxophonists Anthony Braxton, Ellery Eskelin, and David Liebman; trumpeters Dave Douglas, Herb Robertson, and Paul Smoker; bassists Mark Dresser, Ken Filiano, and Drew Gress; keyboard artists David Kikoski, Denman Maroney, and Michelle Rosewoman; vocalists Theo Bleckman, Nicholas Horner, and Hank Roberts; violinist Mark Feldman, and the composers collective Joint Venture.

Current Haynes touring ensembles include his: romantic ‘jazz-grass’ string band, Free Country, featuring vocalist/cellist Hank Roberts; definitive saxophone trio, No Fast Food, w/ NEA jazz master David Liebman; bluesy ‘power organ unit’, The Hammond Brothers, featuring young B-3 master Paul Bratcher, as well as the classic piano trio, Day Dream, a cooperative w/ Yamaha artist Steve Rudolph.

Tickets: $20 / Special four-show price! $55

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

Trumpeter and composer Michael Sarian has been praised for his "unique compositional and instrumental voice... reminiscent of [his] lyrical contemporaries such as Ralph Alessi, Ambrose Akinmusire or Avishai Cohen...certainly deserving of a large audience and much recognition." (Friedrich Kunzmann, All About Jazz)

Born in Toronto and raised in Buenos Aires, Michael relocated to New York City in 2012, where he studied with Laurie Frink, Alan Ferber, Brad Shepik, Ralph Alessi and Mike Rodriguez. Michael has performed at some of the most iconic international stages, including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Getxo Blues Festival in Spain, Teatro Colón in Argentina, and at some of New York City's most beloved venues such as the Blue Note Jazz Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, BRIC JazzFest, The Beacon Theater, and Central Park SummerStage. He has appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck with John Schaefer, NPR's World Cafe, and many more.

Michael's artistic output is as diverse as his background: his second quartet album is set for release in 2022 with ears&eyes Records, has released several duet recordings with pianist Matthew Putman on 577Records, electronic avant-garde music with Barcelona based pianist Olec Mün on piano and coffee records (with a second set for release in 2022), and several albums with his septet Michael Sarian & The Chabones, most recently LEÓN in 2018 with ZOHO Music.

He also performs regularly with his big band, Michael Sarian & The Big Chabones, is a stable member of The NYChillharmonic, the Bette Smith band, among other collaborations and projects. In 2020, Michael was a semifinalist at the prestigious DCJazzPrix, a 2020 Performer-Composer in Residence at Westben Centre for Connection & Creativity, and artist in residence at Culture Lab LIC for the winter/spring 2022 season.

Tickets: $20

Join us on the second Sunday of each month from 12–5pm for live music & 10% OFF EVERYTHING in-store!

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

Hailed by Downbeat for its “deft analysis of choice repertoire,” and by the Chicago Reader for its “diversity of approaches to all kinds of source material,” the Joe Policastro Trio is a Chicago-based alternative jazz trio led by bassist Joe Policastro features guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery. While firmly rooted in jazz, the band’s open-minded, inclusive nature draws upon a wide array of musical styles and sources while still keeping the aesthetic of an acoustic trio intact.

True bands are a rarity in jazz these days, especially ones who hone their craft as consistently as this one does. For over a decade, the band held court thrice-weekly at Pops For Champagne. Beyond Chicago, the band has been extensively playing together throughout the US and Canada having even performed for President Barack Obama.

As sidemen, Joe Policastro (bass - Pat and Debby Boone, Sheila Jordan, Phil Woods, Diane Schuur), Dave Miller (guitar - Clarice Assad, Patricia Barber, Algernon), and Mikel Avery (drums - Joshua Abrams, Theaster Gates, Rob Mazurek) have shared the stage with a wide array of musicians but dedicate collectively to this trio. Whether highlighting the original music of its members, re-contextualizing modern music, or performing jazz classics of the likes of Thelonious Monk, Chico Hamilton, or Charles Lloyd, the trio readily displays its singular approach, sound, texture, and simultaneity.

Tickets: $20

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

Lou Grassi (drums) is internationally known for his work in both the traditional and the avant-garde jazz worlds. He has literally played from Ragtime to No-Time - he toured with Ragtime pianist Max Morath and is the leader of the Dixie Peppers. He has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of outstanding artists including Marshall Allen, Billy Bang, Karl Berger, Borah Bergman, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell, The Copascetics, James Garrison, Charles Gayle, Burton Greene, Urbie Green, Gunter Hampel, Johnny Hartman, Fred van Hove, Joseph Jarman, Sheila Jordan, William Parker, Perry Robinson, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, and Mark Whitecage. Lou appears on more than 80 recordings including more than 30 as a leader or co-leader.

Ken Filiano (bass) performs throughout the world, playing and recording with leading artists in jazz, spontaneous improvisation, classical music, world/ethnic music, and interdisciplinary performance. Ken leads, and composes for, his quartet with Michael Attias, Tony Malaby, and Michael T.A. Thomspon. Some of the artists that he has performed and/or recorded with: Bonnie Barnett, Bobby Bradford, Roy Campbell, John Carter, Nels Cline, Connie Crothers, Ted Dunbar, Giora Feidman, Bob Feldman, Dennis Gonzalez, Vinny Golia, Lou Grassi, Fred Hess, Jason Hwang, Joseph Jarman, Raul Juarena, Joe Labarbera, Joelle Leandre, Frank London, Tina Marsh, Warne Marsh, Dom Minasi, Hafez Modirzadeh, Butch Morris, Barre Phillips, Don Preston, Bob Rodriguez, Roswell Rudd, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Elliot Sharp, Paul Smoker, Chris Sullivan, Richard Tabnik, Peeter Uuskyla, Fay Victor, Biggi Vinkeloe, Kenny Wessel, Andrea Wolper, Saco Yasuma, Pablo Ziegler, Carlos Zingaro.

plus special guest pianist Simone Weissenfels

Tickets: $20

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

"The team has a Mingusy feel, mixing loose post bop with gut level swing and blues. Vlatkovich uses his trombone in a variety of moods, making it cry on “Exposed to Higher Concentrations…” and swinging with all get out on “The Snakes Always Talk…” while he uses warmth and space with Short on “Wanted Tambourine Player Hair Stylist.” He can growl with the best on a plunger during the frisky “Communicating Their Silence” and wrestles with the rhythm on “May I Have A Few More Polka Dots.” Fun music with one foot in the tradition and the other stepping into an elevator shaft."
–George W. Harris, jazzweekly.com

Featuring:
Michael Vlatkovich – trombone / compositions
Johnathan Golove – electric cello
Damon Short – drums

Tickets: $20

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

Think of the human voice in music. The most primal of instruments, it can melt you or move you to tears on the spot. Then it’s the saxophone, one-step removed from the human voice, and the next most powerful messenger in music. Johnny Hodges, Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, Pharoah Sanders, Oliver Lake, King Curtis, Tim Berne, John Butcher - to name only a few of the many singular voices on the instrument who, with one short phrase or even one sound, can take your breath away, or excite and inspire you to great heights.

Multiply that power, that capability, times 4, and you have a saxophone quartet. Rova Sax Quartet: a group that can move you the way an Eastern European choir of voices can move you, but also a group with force, a force that can feel as if it's tearing the walls of the listening space down, or that can simulate the complex sound of a machine, or one of nature’s wild phenomena, or conversely, the almost-silent overlapping sound patterns heard with eyes closed in a field in the wilderness.

Rova Sax Quartet's musical goal has always been, since 1978, to instigate, to challenge, and to inspire. The group explores the synthesis of composition and collective improvisation, creating exciting, genre-bending music. Rova:Arts, formed in 1986, acts as the umbrella organization for the musicians, facilitating the goals and productions and tours, the collaborations and special projects.

With a 40th anniversary on Feb 4, 2018, Rova is one of the longest-standing groups in the music movement that has its roots in post-bop, free jazz, avant-rock, and 20th century new music; Rova draws inspiration from the visual arts, contemporary poetry, contemporary dance. We listen closely and deeply appreciate both the traditional and the pop music styles of Africa and Asia. And then there is the blues; always a key.

Featuring: Bruce Ackley – soprano saxophone / Steve Adams – alto saxophone / Larry Ochs – tenor saxophone / Jon Raskin – baritone saxophone

Tickets: $25

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

Born in 1971 in Beckenham, England, Richard Smith started early and first picked up the guitar at the age of 5 with his father teaching him his first chords and songs.

After some early solo performances and six years of working as a trio with two of his brothers, Rob and Sam in the 90's, Richard moved to Nashville, TN. in January 2000,

In 2001 he won the national fingerpicking championship and has since forged a career as a solo artist, performing all over the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia and Brazil, releasing solo records, duet and ensemble records.

 Constantly touring with a repertoire of fingerpicking classics, originals, fiddle tunes, blues,  Joplin rags, jazz standards, classical repertoire and everything from pop to Sousa marches,

Richard has also performed or recorded along the way with Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Tommy Emmanuel, Suzy Bogguss, Steve Wariner, Jimmy Fortune, Earl Klugh, Martin Taylor, Joscho Stephan, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, John Schneider, Lee Roy Parnell, Brent Mason, Rory Hoffman and a host of others.

Tickets: $20

🍂 This show is part of Bop Shop Records’ 40th Anniversary Fall Jazz Concert Series 🍁

Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated, Echo Award-winning bassist/composer Stephan Crump is an active bandleader with twelve critically-acclaimed album releases in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. Known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull, his focus on creative instrumental music has led to collaborations with many of the leading lights of his generation, most notably Vijay Iyer, in whose trio and sextet Crump plays a dynamic, founding role.

He can also be heard as long-standing member of Jen Chapin Trio, Ches Smith Trio, Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Liberty Ellman Sextet, Secret Keeper (duo with Mary Halvorson), his own Rosetta Trio (with Jamie Fox, Liberty Ellman), his Rhombal quartet (with Ellery Eskelin, Adam O’Farrill, Tyshawn Sorey), as well as co-led ensembles with Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock, Cory Smythe, Eric McPherson, Mat Maneri, and Okkyung Lee.

“As a bassist and composer, Mr. Crump avoids obvious routes but manages never to lose his way”
-The New York Times

“strikingly fresh and unobvious compositions…an impressive and original voice”
-The Wire

“I am tempted to call Rocket Love my favorite solo bass recording of all time. At a minimum, it is the most varied and fun.”
-PopMatters

Tickets: $20

NDY (Not Dead Yet) is a duo based in Kansas City, comprised of Michelle Allen McIntire and David D. McIntire, who have been musical collaborators and partners in life for three decades. Their music is rooted in improvisatory freedom grounded by a deep sense of compositional form and unity. Drawing on a wide range of timbres and musical ideas (both acoustic and electronic), NDY creates compelling soundscapes drawing from a variety of influences and styles. Their explorations of drones, free improvisation and electronic pop offer an intriguing and distinctive blend of ingredients. Operating as a “core” duo, NDY often collaborates with other musicians in performance, including Phillip Marshall, members of EIO, percussionist Jennifer Wagner and others.

David D. McIntire was born in upstate New York and has had some training on the clarinet. He has maintained his livelihood for over four decades through performing, teaching, composing, and writing about music. He played clarinet and saxophone with several groups in the Rochester scene that embrace spontaneity, including the Colorblind James Experience, the Hotheads and the Whitman/McIntire Duo. In 2012 he formed the Ensemble of Irreproducible Outcomes (EIO), a trio of composer/performers devoted to indeterminate music. He and Michelle operate Irritable Hedgehog, a label specializing in minimal and electroacoustic repertoire, whose releases have been widely praised for their excellence and historical significance.

Michelle Allen McIntire is an artist/educator with a vast range of musical experience in vocal performance, keyboard and musical theatre, as well as being an accomplished songwriter. In November of 2019 Michelle suffered a stroke while driving home from a vocal competition in Iowa and began a long process of regaining her abilities as a keyboardist and singer. The journey of her ongoing recovery has deeply informed the music of their collaboration. In 2022 she and David will launch Orange Heifer, a label focused on distinctive songwriting. Upcoming releases will include recordings by Phillip Marshall, Michelle’s own music and other artists.

Watch: "Lament" - https://vimeo.com/654986078

Tickets: $20

Charlie Ballantine is acclaimed as one of the finest and most versatile  young guitarists on the scene today. JAZZ TIMES MAGAZINE hails his playing as “teeming with intricate grooves and maniacal precision his guitar work is both beautiful and complex” and VINTAGE GUITAR MAGAZINE described his style by stating “Jazz, rock, and folk music peacefully coexist in Charlie Ballantine’s world”. 

Equipped with an impressive body of original compositions on albums like “Vonnegut” and “Cold Coffee”, Ballantine also displays a great reverence for the jazz tradition through the inclusion of standards like ‘My One and Only Love’, ‘East of the Sun’ and an entire double album dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk released September 2021.  “In the vein of fellow guitarists like John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, Ballantine reconciles his educational background in jazz with the stylistic background of his instrument. He approaches the gratifying tonal and harmonic language of rock/roots with the groove, ambition and improvisational focus of a jazz musician.” - JAZZIZ MAGAZINE

After graduating from the Jacobs School of Music under the direction of David Baker, Ballantine relocated to Indianapolis and quickly developed a name for himself with a string of high energy performances at clubs like the Jazz Kitchen and Chatterbox Jazz Club. After releasing two solo albums Ballantine was able to attain global recognition with his award winning third album “Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan” which ALL ABOUT JAZZ named in their top ten jazz albums of the year. “From the opening bars of "The Times They Are a-Changin'" it is clear that something special is happening” - ALL ABOUT JAZZ

Although primarily a front man for his own projects with tours and frequent appearances throughout the US and Canada at venues and festivals such as the Indianapolis Jazz Festival, The Winnipeg International Jazz Festival and The Elkhart Jazz Festival, Ballantine also has an extensive list of side man credits having performed with names like Rob Dixon, Emmett Cohen, Dave King, Frank Glover, Steve Alee, and Rahsaan Barber helping to further solidify him as a creative force and  put him in the highest of ranks as a performer.

"Befitting a guitarist from America's heartland, Charlie Ballantine mixes jazz, folk-rock, surf/instro, blues, pop, and country into a simmering pot of guitar sound and style." - Vintage Guitar Magazine

Tickets: $20

Presented by Lovin’ Cup & Bop Shop Records

For more than eleven years, Northcoast Americana band Hey Mavis has been weaving a musical tapestry and igniting a following of dedicated fans. With heartfelt vocals, honest songwriting, blazing instrumental solos, and an undeniable onstage musical chemistry, this quartet is the definition of great Americana music.

Banjoist/songwriter Laurie Michelle Caner and violinist/fiddler Eddie Caner formed Hey Mavis while serving as artists-in-residence in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Producer Don Dixon (REM/Smithereens/Red Clay Ramblers) “discovered” the group on a local Christmas compilation CD and went on to produce their first two albums, both of which hit the top 10 on the national Folk DJ-L radio charts and amassed favorable reviews across the globe. Hey Mavis’s third release, produced by Yonder Mountain String Band’s Adam Aijala, features guitar playing by Aijala as well as a title track co-written by Chuck Auerbach, who has written lyrics to several Black Keys songs.

Hey Mavis has appeared on NPR’s Mountain Stage, NPR’s Whad’ya Know?, PBS’s Applause and PBS’s Songs from the Center. The group has performed standing-room-only shows at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival as well as nine consecutive sell-out concerts in their hometown of Akron Ohio. In 2018, Melissa Etheridge hand-picked Hey Mavis to be one of the headliners for her music cruise.

Hey Mavis’s latest release, Silver Ribbon Dream—Songs & Stories of the Ohio & Erie Canal, is a book/CD of original songs by Hey Mavis songwriter Laurie Michelle Caner with illustrations by nationally-acclaimed artist Leandra Drumm. Funded by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reviews have ranged from “unconventionally beautiful” to “startlingly original.” Hey Mavis has scheduled performances of the work in cities throughout the East and Midwest through 2020, including appearances with several symphony orchestras. Concerts featuring the work include an exhibition of Drumm’s artwork alongside featured stories, history, and technology of the canal.

“This crew could single handedly ignite a whole new folk music scare. Killer stuff.” ~Midwest Record

Doors @ 6pm | $15 general admission
Show @ 7-10pm

Dan Atkinson is a trombonist and bandleader of Bangers and Mash. He is currently a senior at Honeoye Falls Lima HS, and soon to be pursuing a degree in Jazz Performance at the Eastman School of Music. He's been playing trombone for 8 years, and is excited for the many more to come.

Milt Mashner is one of the founding member of the jazz quartet Bangers and Mash. He has been a music educator for 38 years, teaching in public school as well as through his private studio and the Nazareth College Preparatory Department. Milt has served as Music Director and Organist at several churches in the Rochester area. He loves to play the piano professionally, arrange hymn tunes, and create music. Milt is a founding member of the Angelus Trio with his daughters Melissa and Melanie. The Angelus Trio performed traditional repertoire arranged for flute, harp, and piano for several years before Melissa and Melanie pursued their music careers in other states.

Stephen Burke is a Rochester native, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is an original member of local Americana/Folk-rock bands The Honey Smugglers and A Girl Named Genny. He is also a former member of local folk-punk outfit Elephino. Bangers and Mash is Stephen's first foray into the world of jazz but he is thrilled to join such talented and experienced players. Stephen works as an attorney and lives in Brighton with his partner Claire, daughter Ruby, and dog Bowie.

Alec Drummond has been a percussionist since age 10. Now retired after a lifetime in Financial Services, he finally has time to PRACTICE! He's thrilled to re-invigorate his love for JAZZ by supporting Bangers and Mash.

📺 Watch: Bangers & Mash perform "Strasbourg St Denis" by Roy Hargrove

Tickets: $10

Presented by Lovin’ Cup & Bop Shop Records

Featuring Mike Bond, Ryan Devlin, Gene Perla, & Adam Nussbaum

Ryan Devlin (sax) has performed with Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Jerry Bergonzi, Jerry Weldon, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, the Florida All-State Jazz Band, and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Now studying at New England Conservatory for a Master's Degree, and promoting his new recording "A Series Of Circumstances."

Mike Bond (keys) has performed with Savion Glover, Conrad Herwig, Mark Gross, Joe Ford, Bruce Williams, Joe Magnarelli, Duane Eubanks, Jean Chaumont, Billy Kilson, and Josh Evans. At Rider University, he accompanies singers during their lessons and provides vocal coaching. His new recording is "The Honorable Ones."

Gene Perla (bass) has recorded and/or performed with Elvin Jones, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Stone Alliance. He's taught music and music business at Lehigh University and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. Adam Nussbaum has recorded and/or performed with Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Michael Brecker, 'Toots' Thielemans, Gary Burton, Art Pepper, and Joe Henderson.

Adam Nussbaum (drums) has recorded and/or performed with Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Michael Brecker, 'Toots' Thielemans, Gary Burton, Art Pepper, and Joe Henderson.He's presented master classes at Berklee, NYU, SUNY, The New School, University for the Arts, and numerous conservatories around the planet.

Tickets: $20 advance / $25 day of show

Featuring Christophe Rocher (clarinets) & Harvey Sorgen (drums).

Finding the trace, taking the path, connecting the beginning to the horizon to be better carried deep into the present.NEW ORIGIN vibrates the space-time through a free, colorful music connecting the United States to Europe, learned music and wild freedom.

Tickets: $20

Featuring: Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar), Dave Ballou (trumpet, coronet), Michael McNeill (piano, compositions), and Shelly Purdy (vibes, percussion)

Allegories puts pedal steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn, trumpet virtuoso Dave Ballou, and exploratory percussionist Shelly Purdy in the context of Michael McNeill’s rich piano harmonies and dynamic compositions. Stretching out over grooves and across soundscapes, and even stopping along the way to deconstruct the odd standard, the quartet brings together the players' diverse experiences and broad imaginations into heady and visceral brew.

Watch: Double Memory, As a Metaphor

Tickets: $20

Peter Holsapple has been creating great music since 1970. He’s a member of The dB’s and Continental Drifters, toured on the Green tour with R.E.M., and participated in the writing and development of Out Of Time. He also works as an auxiliary musician with Hootie And The Blowfish. Check out his latest releases on Bandcamp.

On this summer house concert tour, Peter will be visiting every phase of his career (except maybe the 50-year-old album itself). House concert shows will allow Peter to go on about the process that goes into his writing and recording, until that gets boring, and then he’ll tell some war stories. He’ll have some cool new songs to play, in anticipation of a solo recording later this year. Two-and-a-half hours provides an ample showcase of what’s made Peter semi-famous: “if you’ve been on the fence about coming to see me play for decades, here’s your chance to finally right that wrong and commit to an evening getting familiar with what you’ve been missing. It is quite good, so I’m told.”

Doors: 7:00pm / Music: 7:30pm

Tickets: $20+

Featuring Sean Britt (guitar), Benjamin Young (bass), & Willis Edmundson (piano), plus special guest Bob Sneider

Although he's still in his mid-twenties, jazz guitarist Sean Britt has already established himself as a leading voice on his instrument. His playing pays homage to the canon of guitar giants such as Wes Montgomery while imbibing the post-bop ethos of John Coltrane. Moreover, Britt's artistry transcends these influences as his rhythmic, melodic and compositional approach reflect a distinctly millennial sensibility, neither idolizing nor eschewing the past. Having shared the stage with such luminaries as Stefon Harris, Lewis Nash, Donald Brown and Christian McBride, he has embraced the best of tradition and trend. Consequently, he is steadily approaching notoriety as a must-know player of his generation.

With drummer Willis Edmundson and bassist Benjamin Young, the Sean Britt Trio highlights Britt's technical and compositional prowess. His work with the group reveals an artistic maturity that is at once declarative and explorational, confident but ever-curious.

Tickets: $15

AlbaTrio is comprised of Tommy Lehman on trumpet, Tim Lekan on bass and Anthony Taddeo on drums and percussion (Hey Mavis and Helen Welch). A relatively new trio, the project was started by Anthony Taddeo in 2019 to explore one of his favorite trio formations. The compositions of the group deal greatly with the various nuances of each instrument all while pushing their role in the context of a jazz trio.

Taking from the sounds of Miles Davis, Dave Douglas and Avishai Cohen, AlbaTrio is a trumpet trio that brings a diverse and eclectic sound to the jazz idiom. This particular show in Rochester the trio will be celebrating the release of their first album!

Tickets: $15

Spectrum 3 is lead by Detroit saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Skeeter C.R. Shelton.

Skeeter Shelton is the son of AACM charter-member and percussionist Ajaramu, and was largely raised by organist Amina Claudine Meyers. He grew-up around his parent's collaborators like Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Anderson, Lester Bowie, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons etc. Joseph Jarman, in particular, took an interest in young Skeeter and would play sax duets with him. His early teachers were jazz harp legend Dorothy Ashby and avant-organist Lyman Woodard. He was an original, unrecorded member of seminal Detroit group Griot Galaxy (circa 1974), but left to tour with R&B star Joe Tex for a number of years.

Returning to Detroit upon Tex's death, Skeeter worked in creative music in obscurity for a few decades, but still managed to perform and record with notables like James Blood Ulmer, Faruq Z Bey, Fred Anderson, Hakim Jami, Dennis Gonzales. He also performed in The VIzitors (with the AACM's Dushun Mosley and Kenneth Green), The Street Band The Northwoods Improvisers and the large ensemble, BoxDeserter, with Thollem and Joel Peterson. In the past decade or two, Skeeter has had a slow-burn rise in visibility. In the early 2000's he appeared on record with Blood Ulmer and Hakim Jami. In 2008, he started touring with Thollem and Peterson as The Soar Trio ("the perfect free jazz. gateway band" - Buffalo News), Skeeter's first time performing on the road for an extended period since the 70s. Those tours and several shared bills finally put him on the map in a notable way. This decade he has played with Han Bennink, Elliott Sharp, Hamid Tatsuya Nakatani, James Carter etc.; his most recent release, from late 2021, is a duo record with Hamid Drake.

Spectrum 3 uses the original songs and themes of Skeeter as our foundational material. The trio's rhythm section consists of Joel Peterson on doublebass (Cycle of Rejuvenation Trio with William Hooker, Agape Trio with Alex Harding, Soar Trio and Quintet and BoxDeserter with Thollem, Faruq Z. Bey Quartet, Chatoyant etc.), and James Baljo (ex-Wolf Eyes, Chatoyant, CJS) on drums and percussion.

Tickets: $20

Developing a program of solo piano music is the ultimate challenge for any improvising pianist. Lucian Ban’s mesmerizing new recording of solo piano improvisations, Ways of Disappearing (release date: 5/13/22 on Sunnyside Records), represents a daring addition to the genre and is a powerful and uncompromising statement for his first unaccompanied solo album. Click here to pre-order Ways of Disappearing on Bandcamp.

Watch: 'Ways of Disappearing’ album trailer, RUSH (excerpt)

In Ban’s view “improvisation is just composition in real time” where the performer is utilizing elements developed in practice and applying them in a natural way that fits the emotional, structural, and thematic parameters set by the artist. “If structure (i.e. the tradition) can be learned, freedom is more of an instinct” says the pianist and one has to pose musical questions and, especially when improvising solo, answer them in the act of the performance.

Years of studying the art of the solo piano have made Ban particularly devoted to radical pianists who approach the piano in unique stylistic ways. Ban: “I have always felt closer to a line of jazz pianists that I see as radical, people like Ellington, Monk, Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, Andrew Hill and a few others who challenged the ways piano can be played both in a group or solo setting … for me they pushed the language beyond its defined borders”.

This performance is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Photo by Elmar Lemes

Tickets: $20

“Saxophonist Jon Irabagon is a subverter of the jazz form,” declares Martin Longley in The New York City Jazz Record. “He’s a revolutionary who’s secretly messing with the changes. He might be dismantling the music’s mechanics from the inside, but from the outside he can frequently persuade a crowd that he’s an old- school practitioner. There are few players who can so deftly stride from postbop to free improvisation, avant country to doom metal and then wander from chaotic collage-spraying to sleek-blowing fluency.”

Named one of New York City's 25 Jazz Icons by Time Out New York, Jon Irabagon composes for his ensemble Outright!, which received a 5-star Masterpiece review in Downbeat Magazine for Unhinged (2014), as well as the Jon Irabagon Trio, featuring Barry Altschul and Mark Helias, and his new quartet with Matt Mitchell, Chris Lightcap and Dan Weiss. Irabagon has been an integral part of ensembles such as the Dave Douglas Quintet, the Mary Halvorson Quintet, Septet and Octet, Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, Ralph Alessi's This Against That, Mostly Other People do the Killing and Uri Caine's Catbird.

Matt Mitchell is a pianist and composer interested in the intersections of various strains of acoustic, electric, composed and improvised new music.

Chris Lightcap is an accomplished bassist and composer. His playing is featured on over 80 albums; as a bandleader/composer, he has produced six critically acclaimed albums of original music.

Shifting Foundation grantee Dan Weiss has been hailed as one of the top five jazz drummers in The New York Times, and his large ensemble recording "Fourteen" made the top 10 list of their best recordings of 2014. Weiss’s innovative drumming and forward-thinking compositions have been pushing musical limits for years.

This performance is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Tickets: $20

In April of 2022, Paul Lytton (drums), Ken Vandermark (reeds), and Nate Wooley (trumpet), three key figures of the international experimental music scene, will come together for a unique series of concerts in the United States.  Vandermark and Wooley have been working as a duo for the last seven years, touring in both the States and in Europe, and have released three critically acclaimed albums together.  Both have performed and recorded with Pytton many times, and the three of them issued an album of trio material as part of the double CD, The Nows, in 2012.  The trio’s upcoming tour will be an extremely rare chance to hear Laul Pytton perform in the U.S.  His history connected to improvised music is legendary, and this collaboration with Vandermark and Wooley, two of the most significant cutting-edge musicians of their generations, is sure to be exceptional and one of a kind.

Paul Lytton, a central figure in the British free improvisation movement of the 1960s and 70s which included Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Paul Rutherford, was instrumental in reshaping the way drums and percussion were viewed in free music. He is one of a handful of percussionists from that time whose work allowed the drum kit to become even more free from the timekeeping constraints of jazz up to that point; the instrument becoming less a set of drums and more a series of membranes on which to create an atmosphere. His earliest experiments in homemade instruments and electronics with Evan Parker have spurred generations on to look outside systems with names such as "jazz" and "improv" and to explore new modes of communication in the moment.

Ken Vandermark has been a fixture on the Chicago music scene since the 1990s, and has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compositions, which typically balance intricate orchestration with passionate improvisation. He has led or been a member of many groups, has collaborated with a large number of acclaimed musicians from around the world, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1999, works as a co-curator of the Option Series at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, and directs the musician cooperative, Catalytic Sound. He plays tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and baritone saxophone.

Nate Wooley’s solo playing has often been cited as being a part of an international revolution in improvised trumpet, and has gathered international acclaim.  Time Out New York has called him “an iconoclastic trumpeter”, and Dave Douglas has said, “Nate Wooley is one of the most interesting and unusual trumpet players living today, and that is without hyperbole”.  His collaborative work as a composer has been celebrated by critics and has received grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Tickets: $20