($20-$30 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Detroit vocalist Jesse Palter brings her neo-jazz original songs to the Century Room along with her amazing band featuring Taber Gable (piano) Ben Williams (bass) and Jonathan Pinson (drums).

**Jesse Palter**

Detroit born multi-genre artist, Jesse Palter, has been in the entertainment industry the majority of her life. She began singing publicly at age five, studying piano at age six, she attended the University of Michigan School Of Music as a Jazz Major, won Outstanding Jazz Vocalist at three consecutive Detroit Music Awards, shared the stage with genre legends and headlined at legendary clubs like NYC’s Blue Note and festivals such as The Red Sea Jazz Festival. Her original music has been featured on a variety of television shows and commercials including The Real World, 90210 and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. On July 19th, 2019 she released her album “Paper Trail” to critical acclaim on Artistry Music, (a division of Mack Avenue Music Group), selected as LA Weekly’s Album Of The Week.

Since the Covid pandemic, Jesse has been writing, producing and releasing music independently, including her soulful quarantine-inspired singles, “Better Days” and “2020 Vision”. Her swinging retrospective jazz album, Nothing Standard, was released in March of 2022 and has amassed over 3 million Spotify streams.

($20-$30 tickets | 7pm & 9pm sets) Join us in the Century Room for the return of two powerhouse award winners, Lois Mahalia and Luis Muñoz performing music from their latest album, “Glimmering Path.”

Lois Mahalia (vocals) Daniel Zimmerman (guitar) Doug Martin (piano) Randy Tico (bass) Luis Muñoz (drums)

**Lois Mahalia**

Lois Mahalia was born in British Guayana. She began singing and performing on stage at the age of five with her brothers. When she was thirteen she moved to the US and continued singing in churches with her musical family. She has done extensive work as a session artist and has performed, recorded, and toured with artists such as Kenny Loggins, Joe Sample (of the Jazz Crusaders), Michael McDonald, Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Norma Gimble, and Joe Walsh of the Eagles. She has been touring with The New Luis Muñoz Quartet since 2019, and is the featured singerr in Mr. Munoz’s last two CD’s: The Infinite Dream 2019, named among The Ten Best Records of the Year in Jazziz Magazine, recieving 3 ACAM Award nominations, including for Jazz Record of the Year.

**Luis Muñoz**

Luis Muñoz is a composer, producer, arranger, and percussionist from Costa Rica. He has performed in some of the best Jazz Festivals and theaters in the US and abroad, including The Litchfield Jazz Festival, The Queen Mary Jazz Festival, THe National Opera House in Costa Rica, The Moss Theater (Santa Monica), and the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, CA.

He has realeased 10 CDs of award-winning original compositions. His 2015 CD “*VOZ” (*Claudia Acuña, Magos Herrera, and Téka) was called “a perfect album- five stars” by the Latin Jazz Network, it was included in the Best CDs of the Year by Jazz Magazine. VOZ won two ACAM Awards (Association of Composers and Musical Authors) in Latin America, including Jazz CD of the Year.

($20-$30 tickets | 7pm & 9pm sets) Join us in the Century Room for the return of two powerhouse award winners, Lois Mahalia and Luis Muñoz performing music from their latest album, “Glimmering Path.”

Lois Mahalia (vocals) Daniel Zimmerman (guitar) Doug Martin (piano) Randy Tico (bass) Luis Muñoz (drums)

**Lois Mahalia**

Lois Mahalia was born in British Guayana. She began singing and performing on stage at the age of five with her brothers. When she was thirteen she moved to the US and continued singing in churches with her musical family. She has done extensive work as a session artist and has performed, recorded, and toured with artists such as Kenny Loggins, Joe Sample (of the Jazz Crusaders), Michael McDonald, Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Norma Gimble, and Joe Walsh of the Eagles. She has been touring with The New Luis Muñoz Quartet since 2019, and is the featured singerr in Mr. Munoz’s last two CD’s: The Infinite Dream 2019, named among The Ten Best Records of the Year in Jazziz Magazine, recieving 3 ACAM Award nominations, including for Jazz Record of the Year.

**Luis Muñoz**

Luis Muñoz is a composer, producer, arranger, and percussionist from Costa Rica. He has performed in some of the best Jazz Festivals and theaters in the US and abroad, including The Litchfield Jazz Festival, The Queen Mary Jazz Festival, THe National Opera House in Costa Rica, The Moss Theater (Santa Monica), and the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, CA.

He has realeased 10 CDs of award-winning original compositions. His 2015 CD “*VOZ” (*Claudia Acuña, Magos Herrera, and Téka) was called “a perfect album- five stars” by the Latin Jazz Network, it was included in the Best CDs of the Year by Jazz Magazine. VOZ won two ACAM Awards (Association of Composers and Musical Authors) in Latin America, including Jazz CD of the Year.

($25-$35 | 7pm & 9pm shows) Bassist, composer and bandleader Marcos Varela brings his San Ygnacio Project to the Century Room! Conjuring up images of his hometown San Ygnacio, Texas, Marcos brings an array of original compositions and beloved standards that evoke the desert landscapes of southern Texas

**Marcos Varela**

**Bassist/composer Marcos Varela, a Creative Capital Award winner, has toured and recorded with jazz luminaries like Geri Allen, Leslie Odom Jr., and the Mingus Big Band. His debut album, “San Ygnacio,” praised by Ron Carter, earned critical acclaim, with Jazziz Magazine calling it one of the top releases of 2016 and NPR Music naming it a “Top Debut.” Varela, also an accomplished composer for Domenica Scorsese’s film “Roots in Water,” teaches at the New School and Montclair State University. He is endorsed by NS Design, Aguilar Amplification, Kolstein, D’Addario strings, Fishman, Mono Creators, and Fodera.**

($20-$30 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Director of Jazz Studies at ASU Michael Kocour makes the trip down to Tucson for a swingin’ night of organ-led jazz! This time he teams up with saxophone phenom Brice Winston, Century Room Creative Director Arthur Vint and fellow ASU educator Jeff Libman on guitar!

**Michael Kocour**

***Michael Kocour is a jazz pianist, organist and composer. He also serves as Director of Jazz Studies in the School of Music at Arizona State University.***

***An active performer for more than three decades, Kocour has appeared at venues around the world and has been a guest on Marian McPartland’s internationally syndicated NPR program “Piano Jazz.” Among the many artists and ensembles with whom he has appeared with are Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Lovano, Eddie Harris, James Moody, Eddie Daniels, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Ira Sullivan, Carl Fontana, Dewey Redman, Lew Tabackin, and the Chicago Symphony.***

***His recorded work as a studio musician includes soundtracks to two major motion pictures, and numerous television commercials. Kocour has also released six critically acclaimed CDs as a leader.***

Tuesday October 29th

Doors 6pm | Show 7pm

Preferred Seating: $30
General Admission: $20

21+

—KASSA OVERALL—Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions. He previously released four critically acclaimed projects: I THINK I’M GOOD, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, Shades of Flu and Shades of Flu 2. On ANIMALS, his Warp Records debut, Kassa pushes his kaleidoscopic, subversive vision further. He layers Roland 808s against avant-garde drumming in the vein of his mentors Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, the latter of whom he studied with at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Virtuoso musos appear alongside rap poets, including Danny Brown, Wiki, Lil B, and Shabazz Palaces. Top-flight jazz improvisation weaves in and out of orchestral string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff. The album’s diverse, all-star roster of collaborators includes several of his close friends, like vocalists Nick Hakim, Laura Mvula, Francis and the Lights, and jazz stars like Theo Croker and Vijay Iyer.

ANIMALS pushes Kassa’s message further too, the title a loaded metaphor for the paradoxes of his life as an entertainer and as a black man in America. ANIMALS is the sound of an artist aware of the cost of embodying one’s natural self in the public eye, a deep reckoning with the two-sided truth that to perform one’s freedom for an audience can mean succumbing to life inside a cage.

($20-$30 | 7pm Show ) Welcome back Rachel Eckroth and her new project Saints of Paris featuring drummer John Hadfield. This Grammy-Nominated duo will team up with some surprise guests for a night of spooky grooves and improvisation.

John Hadfield (drums/percussion) and Rachel Eckroth (organ/synths)

($20-$30 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Los Angeles-based drummer Anthony Fung returns to the Century Room for a very special two-night residency! Night one features bassist Max Gerl & John Escreet on keys. On night two, the band is joined by very special guest Brice Winston!

Link to night two:

https://link.dice.fm/wb3a8daa64ff

ANTHONY FUNG

Anthony Fung is a Canadian-born drummer, composer, producer, and bandleader currently based in Los Angeles, CA. He has established himself as an accomplished musician, earning multiple degrees and performing at renowned festivals and venues worldwide.

Anthony is an alumnus of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, where he earned a master of music (M.M.) degree while studying and performing with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chris Potter, Billy Childs, and many others. Prior to this, he obtained both his bachelor’s (B.M.) and another master’s (M.M.) degree from Berklee College of Music, mentored by the esteemed Danilo Pérez.

($20-$30 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Los Angeles-based drummer Anthony Fung returns to the Century Room for a very special two-night residency! Night one features bassist Max Gerl & John Escreet on keys. On night two, the band is joined by very special guest Brice Winston!

Link to night one:

https://link.dice.fm/wb3a8daa64ff

ANTHONY FUNG

Anthony Fung is a Canadian-born drummer, composer, producer, and bandleader currently based in Los Angeles, CA. He has established himself as an accomplished musician, earning multiple degrees and performing at renowned festivals and venues worldwide.

Anthony is an alumnus of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, where he earned a master of music (M.M.) degree while studying and performing with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chris Potter, Billy Childs, and many others. Prior to this, he obtained both his bachelor’s (B.M.) and another master’s (M.M.) degree from Berklee College of Music, mentored by the esteemed Danilo Pérez.

($35-$45 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Armen Donelian & Dominique Eade!

**ARMEN DONELIAN**

Since 1975, pianist, composer and Fulbright Scholar Armen Donelian has distinguished himself In 25 countries as a featured solo pianist, band leader, educator and with Jazz legends including Sonny Rollins. Donelian’s distinctive music blends diverse influences from his Armenian origin, his Classical technique and his association with many of the biggest names in Jazz. And according to Metronom magazine, “He achieves this fusion in such a natural way that one can tell it’s a master’s work.” armendonelian.com

**DOMINIQUE EADE**

Dominique Eade is an extraordinary vocalist, composer, improviser and RCA recording artist. Poetic and passionate, Dominique blends musical virtuosity with a songwriter’s straightforward emotional sensibility. She creates music that has garnered critical acclaim, earned the admiration of her peers, inspired audiences and served as a creative signpost for generations of singers. dominiqueeade.com

($40-$50 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Herlin Riley Quartet!

**HERLIN RILEY**

Since coming of age in the nurturing environment of a very musical family and a distinguished bloodline of drummers, New Orleans native Herlin Riley emerged from that most creative era of all things rhythmic in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, to enliven the ensembles of such influential and demanding improvisers as pianist Ahmad Jamal and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis through his commanding yet elegant rhythmic presence.

His authoritative style of melodic percussion is deeply imbued in the fertile creative soil of the Crescent City, encompassing as it does the entire length and breadth of America’s ongoing musical journey.

($30-$40 tickets | 7pm & 9pm 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.

($30-$40 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Dennis Rowland with the 17-piecve CR 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.

($35-$45 tickets | 7pm & 9pm 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.”

($25-$35 tickets | 7pm & 9pm 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 | 7pm & 9pm 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.

($35-$45 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Caity Gyorgy!

**CAITY GYORGY**

Caity Gyorgy (pronounced George) is a 2 time JUNO award winning Canadian vocalist known for singing bebop and swing music. She has performed at jazz clubs and festivals across Canada, Mexico, Japan and the USA and has worked and recorded with incredible musicians including Christine Jensen, Pat LaBarbera, Jocelyn Gould, Ira Coleman, Bryn Roberts and Joe LaBarbera, to name a few.

In addition to being a performer, Caity is an avid writer and composes songs in the style of the Great American Songbook. Her compositions have been sung by other vocalists around the world, and have won multiple awards including the Grand Prize in the jazz category of the 2021 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. She is also a sought after clinician and is currently on faculty as a vocal jazz instructor at the Yukon Summer Music Camp in Whitehorse, Yukon and the Interprovincial Music Camp in McKellar, Ontario.

She is currently signed to Brooklyn label La Reserve Records and has released several albums of original and standard music with them including her two JUNO award winning albums “Now Pronouncing” and “Featuring” and her JUNO nominated album with pianist Mark Limacher titled “You’re Alike, You Two”.

Her upcoming album “Hello! How Are You?” features Caity accompanied by her regular piano trio and will be released on August 9th, 2024.

($40-$50 tickets | 7pm & 9pm shows) Tucson Jazz Festival presents Lewis Nash Power Trio with Bill Easley!

**LEWIS NASH**

“Rhythm Is My Business” is the title of his 1989 debut recording as a bandleader, and legendary drummer Lewis Nash is all about the business of keeping rhythm.

Universally recognized as one of the great drummers in jazz history, his illustrious career now spans over four decades. Nash is one of jazz’s most recorded musicians, appearing on over 500 recordings including 10 Grammy winners and numerous Grammy nominees.

In fact, Nash has the distinction of being the only musician in jazz history featured on the winners in both the “Best Jazz Vocal” and “Best Jazz Instrumental” album categories in two separate years: the 2004 Grammys with Nancy Wilson and McCoy Tyner, and again in 2010 with Dee Dee Bridgewater and James Moody.

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Lewis arrived in New York City in 1981 at the age of 22 and first gained international recognition as a member of vocalist Betty Carter’s trio. This was a pivotal time in his development, as he traveled the world for nearly 4 years with Carter and had the opportunity to meet and engage with many of his musical peers and predecessors. In the years to follow, Nash toured, recorded and performed with many of jazz’s most celebrated icons, and his resume reads like a “who’s who” of jazz royalty. These jazz legends include: Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, JJ Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Tommy Flanagan, Sonny Stitt, Clark Terry, Stan Getz, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Gerry Mulligan, Hank Jones, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Jimmy Heath, Randy Weston, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and many, many more!

**BILL EASLEY**

Bill Easley has had a diversified career as a professional musician. He joined the musicians union, Local 115 in 1959. 2024 marks the 65th year of his professional career. Bill represents the fourth generation of a family dedicated to music. Bill started playing professionally with his parents at the age of thirteen. The Bob Easley Combo played country clubs, dances, and night clubs in and around his hometown of Olean, NY. This early experience gave him the foundation on which to build a long and rewarding career. He moved to New York City in September of 1964. He was a part time student at the Julliard School of Music while getting his feet wet in the uptown Jazz Scene. The U.S. Draft Board had other plans and Bill did his military service with the 9th Army Band in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Easley had traveling and recording experiences with such notables as: George Benson, Ruth Brown, Isaac Hayes, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Bobby Short, Louie Bellson, Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Charles McPherson, James Williams, Sir Roland Hanna, Earl May, Illinois Jacquett, Ron Carter, Frank Foster, Mercer Ellington, Warren Vache, Panama Francis, Grady Tate and many more. In addition to his extensive discography as a sideman, he also has seven recordings as a leader: Wind Inventions, First Call, Easley Said, Business Man’s Bounce, Hearing Voices, Love Stories, and Diversitonic. His arsenal of woodwind instruments includes: Tenor, Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet and Bass Clarinet, Flute and Alto Flute and piccolo.