(SOLD OUT | 6:30pm & 8:30pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Matthew Whitaker Organ Trio!

Matthew’s musical journey began at age 3 with a keyboard gift from his grandfather. He’s now an artist, captivating audiences globally and appearing on notable T.V. shows like Showtime at the Apollo, the Today Show, Ellen, and a feature on 60 Minutes.

Matthew is a versatile artist, starring, producing, and scoring the All-Arts Emmy-nominated documentary “About Tomorrow” and scoring the film “Starkeisha,” which is currently streaming on Hulu. He also appeared in and contributed music to the Emmy-winning Apple T.V. commercial “The Greatest.” Matthew made his musical director debut for the award winning “Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For.” A musical on the life of pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn, which premiered in Pittsburgh, PA, in the fall of 2023. He’s had guest soloist appearances with orchestras and symphonies including Aspen Chamber Symphony, under the baton of guest conductor, Marin Alsop, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, CN, Alexander Shelley, conductor. He also composed a song for the 82-piece Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was included in the aforementioned All-Arts documentary, “About Tomorrow.”

Beyond music, Matthew advocates for persons with disabilities, consulting with companies to improve accessibility features.

He is a three-time ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award winner, with three studio albums as a leader; “Outta The Box,” “Now HearThis,” and “Connections.” His fourth recording, “On Their Shoulders: An Organ Tribute,” an homage to some of Matthew’s heroes on the instrument, will debut in early Summer 2024. Matthew has collaborated with industry greats like bassist, composer, and producer Derrick Hodge; pianist, composer, and musical director Ray Chew; pianist, multiple Grammy-award winning composer, vocalist, and band leader Jon Batiste; Grammy-award winning bassist Christian McBride; and NEA Jazz Master, violinist Regina Carter.

($10 -$20 | 10:30pm Show) Following the Tucson Jazz Festival’s programming, keep the night going with the Alex Kautz Quartet for the TJF Late Night Jazz Jam! All TJF Artists are invited to these jam sessions. You never know who will show up, but we can always guarantee that YOU should!

($30-$40 tickets | 6:30pm & 8:30pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Miki Yamanaka!

**MIKI YAMANAKA**

34-year old Japanese-born pianist Miki Yamanaka has called New York City home since 2012 and in the past decade has wasted no time establishing herself as one of the leading personalities of her generation on the piano and beyond. Critics laud her “light, expressive touch and solidly crafted, mainstream approach” – Mike Jurkovic (All About Jazz), while audiences delight in not only her playing, but her vibrant personality as well. Yamanaka has gained international recognition from her albums as a leader; her most recent and most celebrated release, “Shades Of Rainbow” (Cellar Music), features Jazz masters Mark Turner and her NYC rhythm section, Tyrone Allen and Jimmy Macbride. Additionally, Miki has emerged as a leader of the “New York Scene” via her notable residencies at mainstay West Village sister clubs Smalls and Mezzrow. During the pandemic, she developed a successful in-home live-streaming weekly concert series cleverly titled “Miki’s Mood” where she features a veritable who’s who of NYC talent (including her husband and frequent collaborator – drummer Jimmy Macbride). The series showcases her vast knowledge of Jazz standards and tunes, often featuring themed offerings of various composers from both the Great American Songbook as well as iconic Jazz composers.

As a sideman, Yamanaka has worked with Jazz luminaries such as alto saxophonist Antonio Hart who posits “Miki will be recognized as one of the most exceptional artists of her generation, as she is already one of the most talented and dedicated musicians from Japan.” Other notable bands she currently works in include the Harish Raghavan Quintet and The Mingus Bigband. One of her most respected mentors on piano and organ (Yamanaka also performs on organ frequently), Larry Goldings, once mused, “If only I could have Miki Yamanaka comp behind me!” – a compliment of the highest order from one master pianist to another. She has a myriad of glowing reviews from her recorded work and the iconic Downbeat Jazz magazine has repeatedly awarded her albums high marks.

($5 -$10 | 10pm Show) Following the Tucson Jazz Festival’s programming, keep the night going with the Max Goldschmid Quartet for the TJF Late Night Jazz Jam! All TJF Artists are invited to these jam sessions. You never know who will show up, but we can always guarantee that YOU should!

($30-$40 tickets | 6:30pm & 8:30pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents renowned Count Basie vocalist Dennis Rowland with the 17-piece Century Room Jazz Orchestra!

**DENNIS ROWLAND**

Dennis Rowland is beloved by jazz devotees and theatergoers around the globe. The Detroit native and Phoenix, Arizona resident was the voice of the world-renowned Count Basie Orchestra between 1977 and 1984, where he shared the stage with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams and Tony Bennett. He is also featured on the Basie Band’s Grammy award-winning record “On the Road”. An electrifying live performer, Rowland has performed at major jazz festivals, with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and at Arizona’s jazz clubs and performing arts venues.

**THE CENTURY ROOM JAZZ ORCHESTRA**

Inspired by the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the 17-piece CRJO performs classic big band repertoire every Monday night at the Century Room. The CRJO is an intergenerational band and features a mix of professionals, educators, and students who all share a love of big band music. Expect selectins from the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Thad Jones/Mel Louis Jazz Orchestra and much more.

(SOLD OUT | 6:30pm & 8:30pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Stephane Wrembel and his band!

**STEPHANE WREMBEL**

Stephane Wrembel is quite simply one of the finest guitar players in the world. The breadth and range of his playing and compositions are unmatched. This prolific musician, composer, educator, and musical director has released a steady stream of music since 2002 truly making his mark as one of the most original guitar voices in contemporary music.

His live performance is unparallel. He has headlined Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall in NYC and The Lyon Opera House in France. He has toured and/or shared stages with master violinist Mark O’Connor, Sam Bush, Stochelo Rosenberg, Esperanza Spalding, and Al Di Meola. He has dazzled audiences at Montreal Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Django Reinhardt Festival in France, Ellnora Guitar Festival, Caramoor Jazz Festival and many others. He has toured Canada, France, Israel, UK, India and Nigeria.

Born in Paris and raised in Fontainebleau, the home of Impressionism and Django Reinhardt, Wrembel first studied classical piano, beginning at the age of four. But in his mid-teens, he discovered that he had an affinity for guitar. As a big fan of Pink Floyd, he “spent hours learning David Gilmour’s style,” he said. “So I had a classical background, a passion for rock music, and then I found out about Django. I fell in love with the very strong impressionist feel in his music.”

Reinhardt, long regarded as one of the most influential musicians and composers of all time, was a Sinti (a Roma group from Western Europe). Wrembel immersed himself in Sinti culture, spending “six, seven years going to the camps. I started learning the atmosphere of what it really means to play Sinti-style guitar. I learned from the masters such as Angelo Debarre and Serge Krief. That’s how you learn this music because it is specific to a culture. Music is not only the notes. Without the culture, something is missing.”

(SOLD OUT | 6:30pm & 8:30pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents New Jazz Underground!

**NEW JAZZ UNDERGROUND**

New Jazz Underground , an American trio, have been described as “an innovative and ultra creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of Jazz and beyond”. Their music signals a merging of traditional sensibilities in Jazz with the modern influence of swing, hip-hop, house/afro-beats, and afro-cuban music. Listeners were introduced to the trio’s undeniably fresh sound through viral videos of the band performing in their living room. Millions viewed videos such as: “they can hate but we still swingin’”, “f**k/s**t/c**t/jazz”, “sad boy jazz”, as well as many others featuring the band’s exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and raw ambition in sound.

Abdias Armenteros (Saxophonist/Composer, 25), Sebastian Rios (Bassist/Composer, 27), TJ Reddick (Drummer, 25) have each been lauded as some of Jazz’s most promising young artists in their own right. After meeting while students at The Juilliard School, the trio began playing in the parks of NYC during lock-down in 2020. They shortly began posting to their Youtube channel that has since grown to over 85k+ subscribers. Releases such as “MF Doom Suite”, “Harlem to Havana”, and “cook/swing/work/relax” fully demonstrate the trio’s reverence towards Jazz’s icons, yet still contend in a vision to establish their own voice in the expression of new sounds that transcend genre lines.

New Jazz Underground is the 2023 DCJazzPrix™ Winner. Rios is a 2024 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award Winner. Both Reddick (BM’ 20) and Armenteros (MM’ 22) are Juillard School Graduates. Armenteros is the youngest member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Reddick and Rios have played as sidemen for the likes of Jon Batiste, Sullivan Fortner, Emmet Cohen, and ELEW, among many more. Rios is a long-time student of the legendary bassist, Ron Carter.

($30-$40 tickets | 6:30pm & 8:30pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Arcoiris Sandoval Sonic Asylum Trio!

**ARCOIRIS SANDOVAL**

Arcoiris Sandoval is a jazz pianist, composer and Fulbright award recipient currently residing in New York City originally from Tucson, Arizona. She leads her own trio and quintet project called Sonic Asylum and is the Co-Director of an award winning multimedia orchestra called The D.O.M.E. Experience along with bassist Mimi Jones which aims to raise environmental and social awareness through the integration of orchestral composition, choreography and cinematography. She toured, recorded and was the MD for acclaimed vocalist Allan Harris for over five years and performs occasionally with The Mingus Big Band. She has written, conducted and performed string arrangements with vocalist Tammy McCann at Lincoln Center which were also performed at the Music Institute of Chicago. In 2022, she was the keyboardist for an orchestral tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center.

She obtained her Master’s degree in jazz piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and has won 2013 and 2015 ASCAP young jazz composer awards in addition to being a semifinalist at in the Montreux Solo Jazz Piano competition in 2012, a participant in the Mary Lou Williams Festival as well as the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program and the Metropole Orkest Arrangers Workshop directed by Vince Mendoza featuring guest artist Richard Bona. She was also a finalist at the inaugural Ellis Marsalis Jazz Piano Competition in summer 2018. One of her arrangements was performed by the Metropole Orkest at the 2016 BBC Proms tribute to Quincy Jones. She has also performed at major festivals throughout the world including Umbria Jazz Festival with Allan Harris, NYC Jazz Piano Festival, Vermont Jazz Center Solo Piano Festival, Tucson Jazz Festival where she performed with legendary jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb in 2015 and in 2017 she opened for Tower of Power with Lonnie Plaxico, as well as Telluride Jazz and many others.

In 2018, she released her debut Sonic Asylum Trio album entitled “First Voyage” featuring Marty Kenney on bass and Allan Mednard on drums which won a Global Music Award. Her Sonic Asylum trio and quintet project has performed at NYC Winter Jazzfest in 2024, the Kennedy Center, Vermont Jazz Emerging Artist festival and she won a Chamber Music America Performance Plus grant for this ensemble to work with Billy Childs. Her original composition “Journey to Agartha” is now published in Terri Lyne Carrington’s compilation called “New Standards, 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers”.

**SONIC ASYLUM**

​Arcoiris Sandoval began her Sonic Asylum project in 2016 performing for the Milt Hinton jazz festival held at Baruch College in Manhattan. It was an all star quintet featuring Jaleel Shaw, Mark Turner, Nate Smith and Mimi Jones performing her original music. Since then, Sonic Asylum has performed at the Kennedy Center, Vermont Jazz Festival, and regularly around NYC venues as a trio, quartet and quintet. She has held a Sonic Asylum trio residency with Marty Kenney on bass and Kenneth Salters on drums at Zinc Bar since 2022. Her debut trio album First Voyage featuring Marty Kenney on bass and Allan Mednard on drums won a Global Music Award in 2018 and her Sonic Asylum quintet recently received a Chamber Music America Performance Plus grant in 2021 to work with Billy Childs. Her original composition “Journey to Agartha” is now published in Terri Lyne Carrington’s compilation called “New Standards, 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers”. Her trio was recently a featured artist at NY Winter Jazzfest for 2024.

($5 -$10 | 10pm Show) Following the Tucson Jazz Festival’s programming, keep the night going with the Chris Peña Organ Trio for the TJF Late Night Jazz Jam! All TJF Artists are invited to these jam sessions. You never know who will show up, but we can always guarantee that YOU should!