Chelsea Table+Stage continues its special partnership with Jazz Foundation of America with a concert series, taking place every Wednesday in April with shows at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM. Each presentation will benefit the JFA Musicians’ Fund, which provides financial assistance to musicians in crisis. The series will feature guitarist Russell Malone Quartet (April 6), vibraphonist Stefon Harris (April 13), saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman (April 20), and pianist Sullivan Fortner (April 27).
100% of ticket sales will support JFA artists and provide life-changing assistance to hundreds of jazz and blues musicians struggling due to illness, old age, lack of work, natural disaster, and the devastating effects of the pandemic. JFA also hosts free jazz and blues concerts through its Gig Fund and Jazz and Blues in the Schools programs providing much needed work for musicians, while also enriching the community. jazzfoundation.org
The schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, April 6—RUSSELL MALONE QUARTET
Russell Malone is one of the signature guitar players of his generation, known for his for his long-standing participation in Ron Carter’s Golden Striker Trio, and his recent contribution to the musical production of the likes of Sonny Rollins and Dianne Reeves. He has played with artists as diverse as Harry Connick, Jr, Diana Krall, B.B. King, Andy Williams and Ornette Coleman. Malone’s latest recording is Time for the Dancers on High Note Records.
Wednesday, April 13—STEFON HARRIS + BLACKOUT
Educator, vibraphonist and composer Stefon Harris is a seven-time Best Mallet player named by the Jazz Journalist Association, the recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, DownBeat’s Critics Poll Winner for Vibraphone (2015, 2013) and 2014 Expanded Critic’s Poll for Vibes from Jazz Times. He won a 2014 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album for Wonder: The Songs of Stevie Wonder as a member of the SF Jazz Collective. Harris
Wednesday, April 20—CAMILLE THURMAN with THE DARRELL GREEN QUARTET
As an composer, saxophonist, vocalist, and interpreter of the jazz tradition, Camille Thurman has amassed several distinctive honors: 2021 recipient of the SOUTH Arts Jazz Road Creative Artistic Residency, DownBeat’s Critics Poll Nominee for Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist and two-time winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award. Thurman was the first woman in 30 years to tour and perform full time with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a saxophonist/woodwindist. A bandleader, she has headlined concert venues and jazz festivals around the world including the Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall. Her most recent project, Fortitude, is a collaboration with master drummer Darrell Green and his quartet. Thurman was chosen by the U.S. State Department under the Fulbright Scholarship grant to tour Paraguay and Nicaragua as a bandleader.
Wednesday, April 27—SULLIVAN FORTNER TRIO
Sullivan Fortner is a pianist, composer, band leader and Grammy Award-winning artist out of New Orleans. He praise as both key player and producer for his collaborative work on The Window (Mack Avenue, 2018), alongside multi-Grammy winner, vocalist-composer Cecile McLorin Salvant. As a solo leader, he has released Moments Preserved (Decca, 2018) and Aria (Impulse!, 2015) and has earned recognition in multiple DownBeat Critics Poll categories. In addition to associations with such diverse voices as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, Etienne Charles and John Scofield, Fortner’s frequent and longtime collaborators have included Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Peter Bernstein, Nicholas Payton, Billy Hart, Christian Scott, Fred Hersch and the late Roy Hargrove.
Tickets are $45, which includes a $15 food/beverage credit. Reservations: chelseatableandstage.com @chelseatableandstage
Chelsea Table+Stage is located at 152 West 26th Street (between Sixth and Seventh Avenues), downstairs inside the Hilton New York Fashion District.
