Embracing the New Year of 2023, Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater are offering new programs as well as continuing residencies of long-established acts such as David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night, Birdland Big Band and Arturo O’Farrill & The Latin Jazz Orchestra. Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, vocalist Nicole Zuraitis and Susie Mosher’s Lineup also play regular dates, as does the iconic Jim Caruso’s Cast Party.
Here’s the Birdland schedule for the upcoming two weeks of January 2023
January 2 (Monday) 7:00 PM – Birdland Jazz Club — Richard Cortez
A contender in anew crop of vocal talents emerging from the New York City jazz scene, Richard Cortez sings the Great American Songbook with a moving-an activist’s relationship to both his material and his audience. Cortez’s openly gay renderings of standards moves beyond gay-oriented clubs into the mainstream.
January 3 (Tuesday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club — Ben Allison, Ted Nash, Steve Cardenas Play the Music of Carla Bley Healing Power
Earlier this year, boundary-pushing bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Steve Cardenas and saxophonist Ted Nash released Healing Power, honoring Carla Bley, an original writer of evocative melodies and lifelike sonic portraits.
January 4-7 (Wednesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (1/4-5); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (1/6-7) – Birdland Jazz Club — Joe Lovano 70th Birthday Celebration: Streams of Expression
Known for his work with Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Elvin Jones, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Abbey Lincoln, Ornette Coleman, and Diana Krall, Joe Lovano stands as one of the legends of jazz. Birdland hosts this saxophonist’s 70 years with four nights of music.
January 5 (Thursday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater — Swingin’ Sondheim with the Ronny Whyte Quintet
Pianist-singer Ronny Whyte is an ASCAP Award-winning songwriter an inducted into the Cabaret Jazz Hall of Fame, and the star of shows at Carnegie/Weill Hall and New York’s Town Hall-as well as in Paris, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Sao Paolo, Caracas, Johannesburg, and many more. For this one-night engagement he pays tribute to Stepehn Sondheim.
January 6-8 (Friday-Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater Steven Feifke Trio
Pianist-arranger Steven Feifke is a two-time finalist of the Thelonious Monk Competition who favors bluesy, daredevil improvisations. He is also the recipient of the 2020 David Baker Prize in composition from the Ravinia Festival and the musical director for Tony Award-winning actor and singer Santino Fontana.
January 8 (Sunday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club — Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra
Trombonist, composer, arranger and bandleader Reeves has performed with Ron Carter, Pete LaRoca, John Fedchock, Clark Terry, and a long list of other jazz masters. Reeves’s large ensemble is a vehicle for his modern swinging writing. The band has released two recordings: Without a Trace and Portraits and Places, showcasing Reeves’s original music.
January 9 (Monday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater — Ye Huang Quintet
Chinese-born multi-instrumentalist and composer, Ye Huang has performed across the world with Wynton Marsalis, Mike Stern, Dave Weckl, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Daniels and many others. Known for his clarinet, piano, and saxophone playing, Ye is the composer of a wide array of music: four albums, two clarinet sonatas, a clarinet concerto, a 7-movement suite, and an original musical, Jazzing, set to premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai (where he serves as musical director of the big band).
January 10-11 (Tuesday-Wednesday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club — Celebrating the Slide Hampton Octet
The late master trombonist Slide Hampton passed away in November of 2021. In homage to his artistry, veteran drummer Charles Rugierio and saxophonist Frank Basile bring together an octet to play Hampton’s famous 8-piece orchestrations of the 1950s and 60s. The band recorded together in 2019, bringing these arrangements to life for an album entitled Slide’s Blues (SmallsLive), which features Hampton himself on two tracks.
January 12-14 (Thursday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (1/12); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (1/13-14) – Birdland Jazz Club — Delfeayo Marsalis Uptown Jazz Orchestra
New Orleans trombonist, producer, composer and educator Delfeayo Marsalis has over 120 recording credits as a producer (including one GRAMMY Award and several nominations) and nearly 50 recordings as a trombonist. In 2000, he created the Uptown Music Theatre, a non-profit that leads musical theater training for youth. The UMT’s sister organization is the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, which Marsalis formed in 2008 as the jazz arm of the endeavor. This 18-piece band upholds the traditions of New Orleans swing, ensemble riff-playing, and soulful dance music that form the foundations of American jazz.
January 12 (Thursday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater — Alexa Tarantino
Tarantino is a woodwind artist who has been a frequent hire for Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Her command of saxophones, flute and clarinet can be heard on three full-length recordings: Firefly (2021), Clarity (2020) and Winds of Change (2019). Her playing has also led her to such prestigious venues as Umbria Jazz Festival, Jazz in Marciac Festival, the Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl.
January 13 (Friday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater — Magos Hererra
The Latin Jazz Network has called Magos Herrera “one of the greatest contemporary interpreters of song.” The Mexican-born vocalist sings in Spanish, English and Portuguese, blending contemporary jazz musicalities with rhythms and melodies from across the world. She has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Duc des Lombardes, the Montreaux Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and Festival Internacional Cervantino, among many others.
January 14 (Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater — NY Voices
NY Voices was born in 1988 when a group of solo vocalists in New York City decided to join forces. Musical director Darmon Meader attributes their 35 years of success to an enduring chemistry and concept. In the style of vocal groups like Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, NY Voices became well known in the 1990s and 2000s for its “vocalese” improvisations to the work of luminaries such as John Coltrane, Chick Corea and others. Over the decades, they have collaborated with the Count Basie Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, the Metropole Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Big Band and others.
January 15 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM – Birdland Jazz Club — Joey Alexander Trio
Early piano prodigy Joey Alexander recently released Origin (Mack Avenue, 2022) to critical acclaim, featuring his trio of Kendrick Scott and Larry Grenadier, as well as his collaborators Chris Potter and Gilad Hexelman. Now, only 18 years old, he has already lived a musician’s dream life, performing on the world’s biggest stages (Obama’s White House, the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Newport Jazz Festival) with its most revered names (Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Esperanza Spalding), all since the age of 11.
January 15 (Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM – Birdland Theater — Darmon Meader
Darmon Meader is both saxophonist and singer, both arranger and composer, and both producer and musical director. A member and leader of New York Voices, he has toured the world over singing with the group. His solo work and work as an educator includes guest artist and artist residency spots around the country at Northwestern University, University of Georgia and the University of Louisville, as well as internationally at the Inzigkoven Vocal Jazz Workshop in Germany and the IAJE’s Teacher Training Institutes.
For further details and ticketing information, visit www.birdlandjazz.com
Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street, NYC
