PRESENTED BY LOVIN’ CUP & BOP SHOP RECORDS

Albert is back out on the road in 2026 and 2027 performing tracks from his newest album, “Lay It Down” recorded at the legendary Konk Studios in London.

Double Grammy winner with Earl Scruggs and Brad Paisley, Albert Lee has played with everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Eric Clapton, to the Everly Brothers to Emmylou Harris. He was a member of The Crickets in the post-Buddy Holly era, and forged an impressive solo career along the way.

From Mark Knopfler’s blistering Setting Me Up to Jimmy Webb’s soaring piano ballad Too Young To Die, to The Everly Brothers’ storming hit The Price Of Love, Albert’s latest album sees his triumphant return to the studio, recording live, as one of the greatest guitarists ever.

Don’t miss the man known as “Mr. Telecaster,” one of the legendary guitarists of rock and roll, rockabilly and country music.

“The ultimate virtuoso. His skill is extraordinary, his ear is extraordinary and he’s gifted on just about every level.” – Eric Clapton

“When Saint Peter asks me to chronicle my time down here on earth, I’ll be able to say – with pride if that’s allowed – that for a while I played rhythm guitar in a band with Albert Lee.” – Emmylou Harris

“Albert is one of the most talented, all-around musicians I’ve ever met- sings, writes, and he’s also an accomplished keyboard player. Add humble, self-effacing and good-natured, and you have a great role model for the journeyman player. “– Dave Edmunds

Links: https://albertleeofficial.com/

New Album – Lay It Down – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mwj_eim4Y3OERtH4FAq9clJXo-hcf73UU

The Cryers open the show at 7pm.

Doors @ 6:00pm | $40 ADV / $50 DOS
Show @ 7:00-9:30pm

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble was formed in 1974 shortly after Sir Kahil El’Zabar graduated from Lake Forest College, with the goal “To combine concepts of African American music with its earlier roots in traditional African music, to produce new motifs and sounds true to their origins yet firmly pointed in a new artistic direction ”of enlightenment and deep listening.” Half a century later and the rich, compelling, ever-evolving sound they are known for, is still going strong. Together with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is one of the two remaining original groups active in the world today that were nurtured in the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians).

“I knew in my heart, this band would endure,” El’Zabar attests. “My concept was based in logic as it pertains to the history of Great Black Music.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOfq6F6BxSA

In other words, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and polyphony among the players for highly developed ensemble dynamics. They are strong individual soloists with an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness and deep spirituality. Alongside multi-faceted El’Zabar, the EHE’s current line-up includes Corey Wilkes on trumpet, who has worked with numerous jazz masters, including Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling, and Kevin Nabors on tenor sax, who has performed with Roy Hargrove, Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake, and KRS-One. They whip up an electrifying mix of spiritual jazz and African rhythms built around fundamental brass improvisations and a swing-induced groove. The resulting trance-like fervor, transports one into a mind opening journey of spiritually enlightened deep listening.

Sir Kahil El’Zabar was Knighted by the Council General of France for his Global contributions to the Arts. He has performed with luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Pharoah Sanders, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Archie Shepp, Eddie Harris, Donny Hathaway, Paul Simon, Ntozake Shange, Nona Hendryx, Neneh Cherry, Lester Bowie, Hamiet Bluiett, Malachi Favors, Billy Bang, and Gene Ammons, to name a few. Dr. El’Zabar holds a PhD from Lake Forest College in Inter-Disciplinary Arts. He taught music at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln, and University of Illinois Chicago. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the National Task Force for Arts Presenting in Education.

Corey Wilkes, one of the most sought after trumpeters in the world today, is an alumnus of the famed Berkley School of Music. He’s a former associate professor of jazz trumpet at Roosevelt U., 2008-2016. He is a current member of the world famous AACM. Mr. Wilkes had the honor of being chosen to replace the late, great Lester Bowie in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He is currently starring in a reoccurring role in the hit TV show,”Empire”. Wilkes has played with the greats— Roy Hargrove, Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith, James Carter, Bilal, Roscoe Mitchell, and Nona Hendryx.

Alex Harding was the most sought after baritone saxophonist in New York City. In recent years, Alex has moved back to his hometown of Detroit and still is one of the busiest musicians in the world. He studied privately for many years with the legendary baritone saxophonist, Hamiet Bluiett. Alex was the band director of the Tony Award winning Broadway hit, ”Fela”. He has worked with legends such as Dollar Brand, Sun Ra, Hamiet Bluiett, James Carter, Roy Hargrove, Oliver Lake, Joe Bowie’s Defunkt, and Aretha Franklin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoQZmiJgNc

Tickets are $30 in advance and $30 at the door. Doors open at 7pm, and concert will begin at 8pm.

Stephan Crump is a Grammy-nominated bassist and composer, collaborator and bandleader, soloist and educator, based in New York City since 1994. A Memphis native, Crump fell for New York’s fecund scenes during his first semester at Amherst College, when he would drive hours to play late-night, weekday gigs in the West Village. He knew this is where he’d make his life and career. Working beyond genre, he has become a crucial component of multiple New York music communities in and beyond jazz. For two decades, Crump recorded and toured as a third of Vijay Iyer’s acclaimed trio, helping to build that band’s global reputation. Meanwhile, many of his own ensembles—Rhombal, with Tyshawn Sorey, Ellery Eskelin, and Adam O’Farrill; Secret Keeper, with Mary Halvorson; Rosetta Trio, with Jamie Fox and Liberty Ellman—prize versatility and voicings in a manner that more traditional configurations often do not. His Borderlands Trio, with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Eric McPherson, brings this same mentality to a more familiar setting. Other collaborators have included Miguel Zenón, Gordon Gano, Patti Austin, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Wadada Leo Smith, Jim Campilongo, David Gilmore, Sam Newsome, Steve Lehman, Cory Smythe, Ingrid Laubrock, Okkyung Lee, Mat Maneri, and Ches Smith. Crump’s physical and emotional connection to the bass is abundant through the new sextet Slow Water, which explores ecology and environment through composition and group communication. He teaches On Magnetism, a course in connecting more deeply through one’s instrument, after a lifetime of doing just that, and lives still in Brooklyn with his wife and collaborator, the singer Jen Chapin, and their two sons.

Tickets are $20 in advance or at the door
Half price for students with ID
Doors at 7pm, concert begins at 8pm

A vital force in Brooklyn’s creative music community, Dan Loomis is a bassist, bandleader, and composer whose work bridges jazz, chamber music, theater, and spoken word. His projects often weave music with storytelling and history, exploring how sound can illuminate resistance, the natural world, and collective imagination. Loomis has released more than a dozen recordings as a leader and co-leader of collaborative ensembles including Spoke and The Wee Trio.

In 2020 he premiered Job’s Trials: A Jazz Song Cycle, an original musical-theatrical work that reimagines the biblical narrative as a meditation on radical resistance. He followed with REVOLUTIONS, an immersive chamber-jazz and spoken word project honoring the heroes of the Haitian Revolution and the South American independence movements.

Equally active as a collaborator, Loomis performs regularly with the Joel Frahm Trio, Trio Incognito, and the Theodicy Jazz Collective. His upcoming projects include Mycelium Trio, a reimagined jazz power trio, and Songs for the Mother Tree, a chamber-jazz work exploring humanity’s interwoven relationship with trees. Over the course of his career he has performed with artists including TS Monk, Brad Mehldau, Gary Burton, Tigran Hamasyan, Vadim Neselovskyi, and Wycliffe Gordon.

Tickets are $25 in advance or at the door
Half price for students with ID
Doors at 7pm, concert begins at 8pm

Charlie Ballantine - guitar
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Paul Wells - Drums

Named as one of the top 200 living guitarists by All About Jazz Magazine and a Rising Star in the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, 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 Detroit Jazz Festival, Indianapolis Jazz Festival, Rochester 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, and Amanda Gardier helping to further solidify him as a creative force and  put him in the highest of ranks as a performer.  

Watch the last time charlie was here, awesome show. This tour will focus on his Bob Dylan recording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bneyxW44R_k

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 are $25 at the door, or online.
Doors open at 7pm, and concert will begin at 8pm.

Barry Altschul, Drums

Jon Irabagon, Saxophone

Joe Fonda , Bass
"There is more to creative mastership than the surface of satisfaction and political certainty. The music of Joe Fonda is part of a living tradition of belief and dedication. Future historians will be surprised at the breadth of Mr. Fonda's offerings. This is a real virtuoso and composer of the highest order."

• Anthony Braxton, 1996