The Jazz Cruise lineups are comprised of the very top jazz musicians in the world. Over the years, several musicians have become mainstays of the cruise and return nearly every year. Another large group of musicians are frequent, though not perennial participants, and, whenever possible The Jazz Cruise features a musician who is either new on the scene or simply new to the cruise. This combination of musicians creates excitement and enthusiasm, while maintaining a solid base upon which the aura of the cruise is built.
Our Constellation of Stars
Chucho Valdes
In a career spanning more than 60 years, both as a solo artist and bandleader, Mr. Valdés has distilled elements of the Afro-Cuban music tradition, jazz, classical music, rock, and more, into a deeply personal style. Winner of seven GRAMMY® and four Latin GRAMMY® Awards, Mr. Valdés, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science last year and was also inducted in the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.
His most recent project on record, Jazz Batá 2, revisits a revolutionary idea Mr. Valdés first recorded in 1972: a piano jazz trio featuring batá drums, the sacred, hourglass-shaped drums used in the ritual music of the Yoruba religion in Cuba, in place of the conventional trap set. Jazz Batá 2 won a Latin Grammy as Best Latin Jazz album and was selected as one of Billboard magazine's list of The 50 Best Latin Albums of the Decade.
These days he appears energized by his much-awaited reunion with his old friend and bandmate, the extraordinary clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Paquito D'Rivera. They have rarely played together for the past 40 years, and since their reunion, they have wasted no time in making appearances.
Paquito D’Rivera
Paquito D’Rivera
Paquito D’Rivera has won a combined 11 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards (5 Grammy and 9 Latin Grammys). He is celebrated both for his artistry in Latin jazz and his achievements as a classical composer. He is the recipient of the NEA Jazz Masters Award 2005 and the National Medal of the Arts 2005, as well as the Living Jazz Legend Award from the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. in 2007.
Born in Havana, Cuba, he performed at age 10 with the National Theater Orchestra, studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music, and at 17, became a featured soloist with the Cuban National Symphony. As a founding member of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, he directed that group for two years, while at the same time playing both the clarinet and saxophone with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra.
His numerous recordings include more than 30 solo albums. In 1988, he was a founding member of the United Nation Orchestra, a 15-piece ensemble organized by Dizzy Gillespie to showcase the fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with jazz. A Grammy was awarded the United Nation Orchestra in 1991, the same year D’Rivera received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Carnegie Hall for his contributions to Latin music. Additionally, D’Rivera’s highly acclaimed ensembles- the Chamber Jazz Ensemble, the Paquito D’Rivera Big Band, and the Paquito D’Rivera Quintet are in great demand world wide.
In addition to his extraordinary performing career as an instrumentalist, Mr. D’Rivera has rapidly gained a reputation as an accomplished composer. The prestigious music house, Boosey and Hawkes, is the exclusive publisher of Mr. D’Rivera’s compositions. Recent recognition of his compositional skills came with the award of a 2007 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition, and the 2007-2008 appointment as Composer-In-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Kenny Barron
Kenny Barron
Honored by The National Endowment for the Arts as a 2010 Jazz Master, Kenny Barron has an unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms. The Los Angeles Times named him “one of the top jazz pianists in the world” and Jazz Weekly calls him “The most lyrical piano player of our time.”
Philadelphia is the birthplace of many great musicians, including one of the undisputed masters of the jazz piano: Kenny Barron. Kenny was born in 1943 and while a teenager, started playing professionally with Mel Melvin’s orchestra. This local band also featured Barron’s brother Bill, the late tenor saxophonist.
Following stints with Ron Carter in the late seventies Kenny formed a trio with Buster Williams and Ben Riley which also worked alongside of Eddie Lockjaw” Davis, Eddie Harris, Sonny Stitt and Harry “Sweets” Edison. Throughout the 80’s Barron collaborated with the great tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, touring with his quartet and recording several legendary albums including “Anniversary”, “Serenity” and the Grammy nominated “People Time”.
Kenny Barron’s own recordings have earned him nine Grammy nominations beginning in 1992. Barron consistently wins the jazz critics and readers polls, including Downbeat, Jazz Times and Jazziz magazines. The famed Spanish ceramist Lladro honored Mr. Barron with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater SUNY Empire State in 2013 and from Berklee College of Music in 2011. In 2009 he received the Living Legacy Award from Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame and won a MAC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. He is a six-time recipient of Best Pianist by the Jazz Journalists Association.
Whether he is playing solo, trio or quintet, Kenny Barron is recognized the world over as a master of performance and composition.
Christian McBride
CO-HOST
Christian McBride
Christian McBride is an 8-time Grammy® Award winning bassist/composer and the host of NPR’s Jazz Night in America. Since the early 1990’s Christian McBride has recorded on over 300 dates as a sideman, as well as being a leader from his debut recording in 1995. Aside from various stints with Sting, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard and George Duke, McBride has been artist-in-residence and artistic director with organizations such as Jazz House Kids, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Jazz Museum in Harlem, Jazz Aspen and NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center -- Newark). McBride is the new artistic director of the historic Newport Jazz Festival, replacing the iconic George Wein. In addition, McBride hosts “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on Sirius/XM and DJs at clubs as DJ Brother Mister. Christian’s Jazz House Kids will be performing on the cruise.
Kurt Elling
Kurt Elling
Renowned for his singular combination of robust swing and poetic insight, two-time Grammy® winner Kurt Elling has secured his place among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. Declared “the standout male vocalist of our time” by The New York Times, Elling has garnered unprecedented accolades, including a fourteen-year run atop the DownBeat Critics Poll, a dozen Grammy® nominations, and eight Jazz Journalists Association awards for “Male Singer of the Year.”
Kurt has toured the world in a variety of contexts, including UNESCO-sponsored “International Jazz Day” performances in Havana, Cuba, in St. Petersburg, Russia, in Melbourne, Australia and in Washington DC. He has twice performed at the White House, including a performance in collaboration with the late Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra for President Obama’s first State Dinner. He has served as Artist-In-Residence at the Monterey and Singapore Jazz Festivals.
The Jazz Cruise proudly counts Kurt among those very special performers who make the cruise special every year. We call them the Pillars of The Jazz Cruise.
Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias
Hot off her 2022 GRAMMY® win for Best Latin Jazz Album for Mirror Mirror, (also recently nominated for a Latin GRAMMY®) internationally acclaimed recording artist, pianist, singer, composer and arranger Eliane Elias’ distinctive musical style and artistry is one of the most celebrated and recognizable sounds in jazz and Brazilian music. She blends her Brazilian roots and alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz, her classical and compositional skills, while she consistently displays her pianistic mastery and ability to integrate the many artistic roles she takes on.
With 31 albums and over 2.4 million albums sold to date, Eliane Elias has a strong presence on Spotify with over 600,000 monthly listeners and over 27 million Spotify listens of her song “Little Paradise.” She has toured 74 countries, is a four-time Gold Disc Award recipient, a three-time Best Vocal Album winner in Japan and winner of the 2018 Edison Lifetime Achievement Award in Holland, to name a few accolades.
Catherine Russell
Catherine Russell
Vocalist Catherine Russell is a native New Yorker, born into musical royalty. Her father, the late Luis Russell, was a legendary pianist / composer / bandleader, and Louis Armstrong's long-time musical director. Her mother, the late Carline Ray, was a pioneering vocalist / guitarist / bassist who performed with International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Mary Lou Williams, and Sy Oliver. Catherine’s professional life began early. After graduating with honors from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she toured and recorded with Carrie Smith, Steely Dan, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Levon Helm, Toshi Reagon and Rosanne Cash, among others, appearing on over 200 albums.
In 2022, Catherine Russell released Send For Me, her 8th album as a leader, receiving rave reviews in national media outlets; The Wall Street Journal, Relix, No Depression, JazzTimes, WBGO, Pop Matters, and others, while also performing a concert for NPR Tiny Desk (Home).
With universal acclaim, Catherine Russell has performed on four continents. She's been a hit at major Jazz Festivals including Monterey, Newport, North Sea, JazzAscona, Montreal, Bern, Rochester International, Panama, Tanglewood, and at sold out venues like The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Scullers in Boston, The Dakota in Minneapolis, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in NYC, SFJazz in San Francisco, and Pasadena Pops in Los Angeles. All Music Guide says, "Russell emerged as a retro old school vocalist for the ages."
Her repertoire features a selection of gems from the 1920s through the Present; vital interpretations, bursting with soul and humor. With an off-the-beaten-path song selection, sparkling acoustic swing, and a stunning vocal approach, Catherine Russell has joined the ranks of the greatest interpreters and performers of American Popular Song.
Artemis
Jazzmeia Horn
Jazzmeia Horn
Jazzmeia Horn won the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015. Her repertoire includes jazz standards and covers of songs from other genres, including by artists such as Stevie Wonder. She has been compared to jazz vocalists such as Betty Carter, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson.
Horn moved to New York City in 2009. She attended the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. During her first semester in New York City, she formed a trio featuring Javier Santiago, Nadav Lachishe, and Cory Cox.
Her first live radio show was in the fall of 2009 on the Junior Mance WBGO radio show in Newark, New Jersey, and she has performed at The Apollo, Ginny's Supper Club, and the Metropolitan Room. Horn has since received many accolades from jazz critics. In 2014, Horn toured internationally in England, France, Russia, South Africa, and Austria.
She was featured as one of the stars in South Australia's Generations in Jazz 2017, singing with artists such as James Morrison, Wycliffe Gordon, Gordon Goodwin, and Ross Irwin among others. In 2017 Horn also released her first album. Entitled A Social Call, it was ranked the number 1 album for 2017 on the JazzWeek website. The album tour took her throughout the U.S., Asia (Macau), and Europe (London, Paris, and Milan).
A Social Call earned Horn her first Grammy nomination in 2018. She performed at the 60th Grammy Award Ceremony was met with much admiration from the audience. Her follow-up album, Love & Liberation, earned Horn her second Grammy nomination in 2020 for best jazz vocal album.
John Pizzarelli
John Pizzarelli
John Pizzarelli, world-renowned guitarist and singer, is a prime contemporary interpreter of the Great American Songbook, with a repertoire that includes Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles. He has been hailed by The Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and repopularizing jazz.” The Toronto Star pegged him as “the genial genius of the guitar.” (TJCHOF)
John’s “formal” musical education was held on the road with his famous father, the legendary Bucky Pizzarelli. The teaching produced great results, accelerating John’s ascendancy in the music world. Following high-profile collaborations with Sir Paul McCartney and Michael McDonald, John has created musical tributes to both Nat King Cole and, more recently, Pat Metheny. And, in addition to working with James Taylor, George Shearing, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Frigo and various orchestras, John performs with his wife, vocalist Jessica Molaskey. (TJCHOF)
John Clayton
BIG BAND DIRECTOR
John Clayton
One of the pillars of The Jazz Cruise for 20+ years, Bassist, Composer, Arranger and Producer, John Clayton, is a busy man. With a Grammy on his shelf and nine additional nominations, artists such as Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, and Charles Aznavour have had spots on his crowded calendar. In 1985 John, co-founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and rekindled The Clayton Brothers Quintet. In addition to individual clinics, workshops, and private students as schedule permits, John also directs the educational components associated with the Centrum Jazz Festival and Workshop, and Vail Jazz Workshop. Career highlights include arranging the 'Star Spangled Banner" for Whitney Houston's performance at Super Bowl 1990 (the recording went platinum), playing bass on Paul McCartney's CD “Kisses On The Bottom,” arranging and playing bass with Yo-Yo Ma and Friends on "Songs of Joy and Peace," and arranging playing and conducting the CD "Charles Aznavour With the ClaytonHamilton Jazz Orchestra," and numerous recordings with the Clayton Brothers, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Milt Jackson, Monty Alexander and many others.
John’s contribution to the education of young musicians is legendary and he has recently added Creative Director of Vail Jazz Organization to his many titles and undertakings.
Jeff Hamilton
Jeff Hamilton
Drummer Jeff Hamilton has been honing his big band skills since the tender age of 8, earning him a presence on the stage with legends like Ella Fitzgerald, the Count Basie Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney, Monty Alexander, and Diana Krall. Featured in nearly 200 recordings – including 16 Grammy® Award-winning titles – with the likes of Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Mel Torme and Herb Ellis, Jeff also teaches, arranges, and composes for the drums.
John is also the co-leader of the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (the Grammy®-nominated big band that provides backup for Diana Krall), The Jeff Hamilton Trio featuring Tamir Hendelman and John Hamar, has been a pillar of The Jazz Cruise for nearly two decades. For years, Jeff has served as the untitled co-producer of The Jazz Cruise aiding our staff with insights and ideas that have made The Jazz Cruise so special.
One needs to arrive at a Jeff Hamilton event early enough to secure a seat as virtually every drummer on the ship will be there to watch and admire.
Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Jazz trumpeter and composer Randy Brecker has shaped the sound of jazz, R&B and rock for more than four decades. His trumpet and flugelhorn performances have graced hundreds of albums by a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen to Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa. His 19 Grammy® nominations and 7 awards is testament to his talent.
After performing and touring with others, Randy and his brother, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, were ready to front their own group, the Brecker Brothers Band. A band of immeasurable impact and influence, they released six albums and garnered seven Grammy® nominations between 1975 and 1981. Their eponymous first record, which Randy wrote, arranged, and produced, featured his now classic composition “Some Skunk Funk.” Without apology, we hold Randy in the highest possible regard as a musician and a person.
Wycliffe Gordon
Musical ambassador and interpreter of “America’s” music, Wycliffe Gordon is one of the world’s most renowned and award-winning jazz trombonists touring today. Wycliffe tours as a soloist and regularly with his quintet headlining at legendary jazz venues. Wycliffe is a former member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Named “Trombonist of the Year” by Jazz Journalists Association for an unprecedented 14th time in 2021, Downbeat Critics Poll has named Wycliffe “Best Trombone” six times and he has been the recipient of the “Louie Award”, the International Trombone Award and the “Satchmo” Award.
Wycliffe has sailed on more programs and Jazz Cruises sailings than any other musician. He has performed in every configuration imaginable and is the guardian of The Jazz Cruise Gospel Hour, one of the most cherished and beloved elements of The Jazz Cruise. (TJCHOF)
Lewis Nash
Lewis Nash
Lewis Nash is one of jazz’s most recorded musicians, appearing on over 500 recordings including 10 Grammy® winners and numerous Grammy® nominees. 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 Grammy®s with Nancy Wilson and McCoy Tyner, and again in 2010 with Dee Dee Bridgewater and James Moody.
A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Lewis first gained international recognition as a member of vocalist Betty Carter’s trio. 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. Lewis is now as well known and beloved for his dedication to jazz education as he is to performing. (TJCHOF)
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. Now with the release of his debut recording for Mack Avenue Records, Riley’s New Direction is an engaging, wide-ranging recital that distills a lifetime of experience into a swinging body of new music that defines what a big tent the music of New Orleans has always represented stylistically and spiritually.
Anat Cohen
Ever charismatic, prolific and inspired, Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Anat has been declared Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association every year since 2007 and has also been named the top clarinetist in both the readers and critics polls in DownBeat for multiple years running. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Anat a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors.
Anat was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and raised into a musical family. She attended the Tel Aviv School for the Arts, the "Thelma Yellin" High School for the Arts and the Jaffa Music Conservatory. Anat began clarinet studies at age 12 and played jazz on clarinet for the first time in the Jaffa Conservatory’s Dixieland band. At 16, she joined the school’s big band and learned to play the tenor saxophone; it was this same year that Anat entered the prestigious Thelma Yellin school, where she majored in jazz. After graduation, she discharged her mandatory Israeli military service duty from 1993-95, playing tenor saxophone in the Israeli Air Force band.
Anat has collaborated regularly with one of her heroes, Cuban-American clarinetist-saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, who introduced her onstage at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex as “one of the greatest players ever of the clarinet.” Having first appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2007, she had the honor of being the music director for the Newport Jazz Festival Now 60! all-star band that toured the U.S. on the occasion of the festival’s 60th anniversary in 2014. In 2017, Anat played all the major European festivals as part of the all-star, all-female band called ARTEMIS alongside the likes of Renée Rosnes and Cécile McLorin Salvant. She has also toured in a duo with acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch, as well as with iconic Cuban singer Omara Portuondo.
John Patitucci
Acoustic and electric bassist John Patitucci has been at the forefront of the jazz world for the last 30+ years and active in all styles of music. He is a 4-time Grammy award winner, has been nominated over twenty times and has played on many other Grammy award-winning recordings. He has performed and/or recorded with jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Kenny Garrett, Victor Feldman, Nancy Wilson and countless others. John has also performed and/or recorded with pop artists such as Natalie Cole, John Mayer, Alicia Keys, Joni Mitchell, Bono, Sting, Norah Jones, James Taylor, Carole King and Paul Simon.
He has been active as a composer with sixteen solo recordings of his own and has been commissioned to write for various chamber music groups. John has performed as a soloist with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony of Norway, the St. Louis Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra. In early 2020, John’s composition, a protest piece entitled Hypocrisy, was premiered in Toronto and performed by the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, along with Danilo Perez, Brian Blade and Mr. Patitucci. After touring with the award-winning Wayne Shorter Quartet for over 20 years, John continues to tour with his own projects, including the John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet, his Brazilian Trio, Children of the Light Trio, and a special collaboration with the Harlem String Quartet as a composer and a performer. John’s 16th recording, a solo bass album entitled Soul of the Bass was released in 2019, and a remixed and remastered version of his Brazilian trio record, Irmãos de Fé, was released in 2020. Mr. Patitucci composed his first film score for a documentary entitled Chicago America’s Hidden War, which was released in May of 2021. In 2022, John released an album that resulted from a 2021 tour of Italy with saxophonist Chris Potter and drummer Brian Blade, entitled Live in Italy.
Sean Jones
Trumpeter Sean Jones is a musical chameleon, comfortable in any musical setting no matter the role or genre. After a six-month stint with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis offered him a permanent position as lead trumpeter of the ensemble, a post he held from 2004 until 2010. In 2015, Mr. Jones was tapped to become a member of the SFJAZZ Collective. During this time, he has managed to keep a core group of talented musicians together under his leadership, forming the foundation for groups that have produced and released eight recordings on Mack Avenue Records. His most recent is the 2017 release Sean Jones: Live from Jazz at the Bistro.
Jones has been prominently featured in recordings and performances with many major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Wilson, and Marcus Miller. He was selected by Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter for their A Tribute to Miles tour in 2011. He has also performed with the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown symphony orchestras, as well as Soulful Symphony in Baltimore and a chamber group at the Salt Bay Chamberfest.
Jones is an internationally recognized educator. He is president of the Jazz Education Network and holds the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies at The John Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. As well as artistic Director for the NYO JAZZ Program of Carnegie Hall. Previously, he served as chair of the Brass department at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Shelly Berg
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Shelly Berg
Shelly Berg is the dynamic Music Director of The Jazz Cruise and has once again curated an amazing line-up of performances for the cruise, as well as being a gifted member of our All Stars. A Steinway piano artist and a five-time Grammy®-nominated arranger and orchestrator, Shelly has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists including Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Niki Haris, Arturo Sandoval, Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, Seal, Ledisi, Pharrell Williams, Renée Fleming, and James Galway.
An award-winning educator with over 40 years of leadership in higher education, Shelly Berg is the Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He also hosts “Generation Next” on Sirius XM Real Jazz, serves as artistic advisor for Jazz Roots at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, and is on the board of SFJAZZ. (TJCHOF)
Houston Person
Houston Person
Houston Person is a legend in jazz. After years as producer and house tenor for HighNote Records and touring with the late Etta Jones, Person is now known as a master of popular songs played in a relaxed, highly accessible style reminiscent of the great Ben Webster.
Houston’s appearances as sideman are legion, and include recordings with Etta Jones, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Dakota Staton, Horace Silver, Charles Earland, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. As a record producer, he has worked with many artists, including Etta Jones, Freddy Cole, Charles Brown, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Dakota Staton, and Ernie Andrews.
The Jazz Cruise knows him best as the most influential person in the history and development of the program. From the start (2001), Houston has been the heart and soul of the cruise, offering his music in a style that makes everyone happy. His grace and leadership have kept The Jazz Cruise on the right track for more than 20 years.
Patrick Bartley
Patrick Bartley, Jr. is a Grammy®-nominated and award-winning saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer/arranger, and is known most notably for his extreme versatility, powerful sound, and unabashed soulfulness in every context. Originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Patrick is now gaining recognition as an emerging artist in New York City, and has most notably been featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as a member of Jon Batiste and Stay Human.
Patrick has recorded and performed alongside such renowned musicians as Dave Matthews, Steve Miller, The Chainsmokers, Jon Batiste, and Wynton Marsalis, and has performed at world-renowned venues such as The STAPLES Center, Madison Square Garden, and the legendary Apollo Theater. Patrick's television and other media appearances include Good Morning America (ABC), The Talk (CBS), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS), as well as being featured on the soundtrack to Cafe Society, a film by Woody Allen.
Throughout his secondary and post-secondary educational years, he has been featured as a member of the Grammy Jazz Ensemble, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, Vail Jazz Workshop All-Stars, and has received two Downbeat Student Awards in the Jazz Soloist category. Patrick also enjoys performing in a wide range of musical styles, including classical, Afro-Cuban, Japanese music, and various types of electronic music. Patrick intends to pursue his passion for Japanese music and continue pushing his original music project, the "J-MUSIC Ensemble", which focuses on bringing new perspectives to modern Japanese pop, indie, and art music.
Ken Peplowski
In addition to recording over 50 of his own CDs, master clarinetist Ken Peplowski has worked and recorded with Mel Torme, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Madonna, Hank Jones, Dave Frishberg, Rosemary Clooney, Tom Harrell, James Moody, Cedar Walton, Houston Person, Steve Allen, Bill Charlap, Woody Allen, Marianne Faithfull, Isaac Delgado & Erich Kunzel. (“Although not all at once” says the very clever musician. He is currently the artistic director of the Sarasota Jazz Festival, the Newport Beach Jazz Party, Oregon Jazz Festival, and the jazz director of the Siletz Bay Music Festival.
Ken’s contribution to The Jazz Cruise over the years is among the most influential and important of any musician. He performs at more different shows than anyone, curates and hosts the Welcome Show, and provides levity and fun wherever he goes.
Emmet Cohen
CO-HOST
Emmet Cohen
Jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen is one of his generation’s pivotal figures in music and the related arts. Leader of the Emmet Cohen Trio and creator of the “Masters Legacy Series,” Cohen is an internationally acclaimed jazz artist and dedicated music educator. Winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and the Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association, Emmet is also an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Indianapolis. Emmet Cohen has performed, recorded, or collaborated with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Christian McBride, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart, Herlin Riley, Lea DeLaria, and Bill T. Jones. The Jazz Cruise is fond of claiming to provide Emmet with his first professional gig and we consider him to be a true “son” of the cruise. Emmet is also assisting The Jazz Cruise with lineup selection.
Renee Rosnes
Renee Rosnes is one of the premier jazz pianists and composers of her generation. Upon moving to New York City from Vancouver, Canada, she quickly established a reputation of high regard, touring and recording with such masters as Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, J.J. Johnson, James Moody, and legendary bassist Ron Carter. She was a charter member of the all-star ensemble, the SFJAZZ Collective, with whom she toured for six years.
Ms. Rosnes has released 17 recordings, and has appeared on many others as a sideman. In 2016, Written in the Rocks (Smoke Sessions) was named one of ten Best Jazz Albums of the Year by The Chicago Tribune, one of the Best Albums in all genres of music by The Nation, and was awarded a 2017 Canadian Juno (her fifth Juno award). JazzTimes wrote, “Ms. Rosnes delivers conceptual heft, suspenseful compositions and mesmerizing performances,” and DownBeat praised it as “an exceptional achievement” stating “Rosnes is a virtuoso composer.” The band’s most recent session, Beloved of the Sky (2018) draws inspiration for the title track from Canadian painter Emily Carr, and features master musicians Chris Potter, Steve Nelson, Peter Washington and Lenny White.
Renee has produced concerts at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Renee is also the music director for ARTEMIS, a new all-star international band featuring the vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, clarinetist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller.
Nicole Glover
Nicole Glover is a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator currently based in New York City. Growing up in Oregon, she was introduced to the music through her father’s record collection, and studied in programs dedicated to learning jazz music and priming students for touring and performing, such as the award winning American Music Program and Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. She moved to the East Coast to attend William Paterson University, where she studied with Mulgrew Miller, Harold Mabern, and Rich Perry, and assumed permanent residence in NYC in 2015. She established herself as a rising saxophonist and indemand sideperson, performing throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and working with esteemed artists such as with Christian McBride, Al Foster, Victor Lewis, George Cables, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Billy Hart, Esperanza Spalding, Renee Rosnes, Kenny Washington, Reggie Workman, Gene Perla, George Colligan, Ben Wolfe, Ulysses Owens, Mike Clark, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Joe Farnsworth, Allison Miller, Joel Ross, Geoffrey Keezer, David Weiss, Luis Perdomo, Aaron Diehl, Jason Brown, Rodney Green, and Bill Goodwin. Additionally, she joined Latin Grammy winning artist Buika for her 2019 world tour, and was invited to join Blue Note supergroup ARTEMIS beginning in 2020.
Nicole is also an experienced educator and clinician. She is currently teaching at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, and has participated in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s "Jazz For Young People" educational outreach program.
Ingrid Jensen
Canadian Ingrid Jensen has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, she went on to record three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, soon becoming an in-demand trumpet players on the global jazz scene.
After a teaching stint in Europe as the youngest professor in the history of the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria , Ingrid settled in New York City in the mid-1990s where she joined the innovative jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider (1994-2012) and Darcy James Argue (2002-present). More recently, Ingrid has performed with the Grammy-winning Terri-Lyne Carrington and her Mosaic Project, Helen Sung’s Sung with Words project and the highly acclaimed all-star ensemble, Artemis.
Jensen is also a dedicated jazz educator, having taught trumpet at the University of Michigan and Peabody Conservatory, performing and lecturing as a guest artist with the Thelonious Monk Institute High School group featuring Herbie Hancock, and performing and teaching at the Centrum Jazz Workshop, The Dave Brubeck Institute, the Banff Centre Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music and the Stanford Jazz Camp and the Geri Allen Jazz Camp for young women. She is currently on faculty at both Purchase College, and is serving as Dean of Jazz Arts at Manhattan School of Music.
Noriko Ueda
Bassist Noriko Ueda was the B.E.S.T. scholarship recipient for the Berklee College of Music in Boston where she majored in Jazz Composition, graduating in 1997. After moving to New York, Noriko has performed at many historical jazz venues include “Carnegie Hall”, “Blue Note New York”, “Jazz at Lincoln Center - Dizzy’s Club”, “John F. Kennedy Center”, "Hollywood Bowl", “Birdland”, "Small's" and "Blue Note Tokyo".
She has performed, toured and recorded with various groups including the legendary “Frank Wess Quintet” and his Nonet, "Kenny Barron Quintet", "ARTEMIS", “Ted Rosenthal Trio”, “The DIVA Jazz Orchestra”, “Five Play”, “Grady Tate Band”, “Harry Whitaker Band”, Makoto Ozone and Terumasa Hino.
Her first leader Trio album “DEBUT” features Ted Rosenthal (piano) and Quincy Davis (drums) has released from the Japanese record company “Terashima Records”. Other highlights of her career include touring Japan with Ted Rosenthal Trio 13 times and his CD “Out of this World” which reached #1 on the national jazz radio charts and being featured on Japanese documentary TV show called “ Gutto Chikyu-bin” which introduced the life as a jazz musician in NYC.
Noriko was the winner of the third annual BMI Foundation's Charlie Parker Jazz composition Prize for her original big band piece "Castle in the North”.
Allison Miller
Drummer, composer, arranger Allison Miller is descended from a long line of musicians on the maternal side of her family. Her grandmother was a professional organist in Oklahoma, whose sister was a professional singer. Her mother is a classical pianist and choral director. Miller has a cousin who she described as "a very famous opera singer".
Miller was raised in the Washington, D.C. area, and began playing drums at the age of 10. She attended West Virginia University. Within two months after graduation,[2] she moved to New York City to study with Michael Carvin and Lenny White, and began her career as a freelance drummer. She has also worked as a producer, composer, and teacher.
She has recorded six albums as a leader: 5 AM Stroll, Boom Tic Boom, No Morphine-No Lilies, Live at Willisau, Otis Was a Polar Bear, and Glitter Wolf as well as working as a session musician. Her work with bands has included forming the band Honey Ear Trio with Rene Hart and Erik Lawrence, Holler and Bam with Toshi Reagon, and her own band, Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom.
Miller has performed with songwriting vocalists Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant, and Erin McKeown, and toured with avant-garde saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, organist Doctor Lonnie Smith and folk-rock singer Brandi Carlile. Miller is an original member of Artermis
Tamir Hendelman
As leader of his own trio, and as a long-time member of the Jeff Hamilton Trio and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, pianist-composer Tamir Hendelman is known for his dynamic and sensitive touch, and his imaginative arranging. He has performed with Benny Golson, Eddie Henderson, Houston Person, James Moody, and Sean Jones, recorded and arranged for Richard Galliano, Lori Bell, Graham Dechter and Claudio Roditi and toured with Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Roberta Gambarini and Tierney Sutton. In recordings conducted by John Clayton, he appears with Paul McCartney, Michael Buble and Diana Krall. A featured soloist with the Winston-Salem Symphony on Rhapsody In Blue, he performed a 2018 tribute to Jobim with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 2020 Tamir Hendelman debuted an online solo piano series celebrating jazz artists and the Great American Songbook.
Taylor Eigsti
GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti started playing the piano when he was four years old. Growing up in Menlo Park, CA, Eigsti was quickly labeled a prodigy, and has since released 8 albums as a bandleader, in addition to appearing on over 60 albums as a sideman. One of Eigsti’s first professional performances was on The Jazz Cruise.
Eigsti recently won a 2022 GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his most recent album “Tree Falls”, released in 2021 on GSI Records. In addition to this recent honor, Eigsti has garnered 3 individual GRAMMY® nominations over the years for his work as a recording artist and composer, including Best Instrumental Composition, and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Eigsti has also been featured on several other GRAMMY® nominated albums by Gretchen Parlato and Julian Lage, and co-wrote a featured composition with Don Cheadle for the GRAMMY® - winning soundtrack to the motion picture “Miles Ahead” (2017).
In addition to touring with his trio and quartet and larger ensembles, Eigsti has also been a long-time member of the regular touring bands of Chris Botti, Eric Harland Voyager, Gretchen Parlato, and Kendrick Scott Oracle, among many others over the years. Most recently Eigsti has been a regular touring member of two-time Academy Award nominated composer and trumpeter Terence Blanchard’s E-Collective band featuring the Turtle Island Quartet, in addition to touring in a duo context with Rolling Stones’ long-time vocalist Lisa Fischer.
James Morrison
James Morrison
Perhaps best known as a trumpet virtuoso, James Morrison is, by anybody’s standard, a virtuoso in the true sense of the word. His showmanship extends to playing tuba, trombone, saxophone, clarinet, double bass, guitar and piano during his stellar international career. He is renowned as one of the finest jazz players Australia has ever produced.
He has played alongside the best jazz musicians of our time, including Ray Brown, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, and Wynton Marsalis. Now 58, James Morrison’s career has included much more than just jazz… he’s a pilot, rally driver, sailor, author and even an inventor. Transporting James to the United States each year to sail on The Jazz Cruise would seem to be an extravagance, but the larger cost would be doing the program without him.
Jeffery Miller
Jeffery Miller
At the age of 19, Jeffery Miller stepped onto the stage of the famed Apollo Theatre, and he brought the house down. The now 3-time Grammy-nominated trombonist was proudly introduced by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), announcing that Jeffery was a recently admitted student on a full scholarship at The Juilliard School. Not his first performance on a great New York stage, when he was just 15, Mr. Miller performed at Carnegie Hall at the celebration of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s 50th anniversary. He also performed with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for their sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, while on tour with Arcade Fire.
Miller has shared the bandstand with many seasoned veterans including studio sessions with Donald Harrison Jr., Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), Delfeayo Marsalis, and Herlin Riley. He played trombone in the 2014 Grammy Band. Jeffery Miller has been featured with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra Opus Ball) and the Wynton Marsalis Septet (Abu Dhabi Festival 2017). He was featured on International Jazz Day 2016 at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, a special event curated by Jon Batiste. He was the official composer and music director for The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit production of Measure for Measure in 2019.
Jeffery has been recognized with numerous awards and scholarships – among them, the 2014 and 2015 Young Arts Merit Awards in Jazz Trombone and he was the recipient of 2013 ASCAP Louis Prima Award. In May of 2018, Jeffery graduated from The Juilliard School with his Bachelor's in Jazz Studies. And he received one of the first-ever Joseph W. Polisi “Artist as Citizen” awards from the man himself, Joseph Polisi, who stepped down as President of The Juilliard School that year. He has been nominated for 3 Grammy award before the age of 25 (Jon Batiste, John Legend).
Niki Haris
Niki Haris
Niki Haris is a multi-talented singer, dancer, actress and choreographer. She is the daughter of Grammy® Award-nominated jazz pianist Gene Harris. Best Known as “The BIG VOICE” behind Madonna for over 18 years, appearing alongside her in the movie “Truth or Dare” and many of her videos. Her vocal collaborations read like a “Who’s Who” of the music business. From working jazz greats like Stanley Turrentine, Joe Sample and the Jazz Crusaders to recordings with Ray Charles to Mick Jagger and from Whitney Houston to Sheryl Crow, and many others.
Niki’s talent and versatility has never been more in view than her history on the jazz programs of Jazz Cruises. Over the years, she has performed on The Jazz Cruise, Blue Note at Sea, The Smooth Jazz Cruise and The Signature Jazz Cruise. No other vocalist can make that claim.
Matt Wilson
Few musicians embody the spontaneous energy of jazz quite like Matt Wilson. The New York-based drummer combines buoyant zeal, idiosyncratic style, infectious humor, joyous swing, and an indomitable spirit of surprise, making him one of the most in-demand players and educators in jazz today. Wilson was named 2018 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and his album, Honey And Salt (Music Inspired by the Poetry of Carl Sandburg), won 2018 Album of the Year. He has appeared on over 480 albums and has released 16 acclaimed recordings as a leader. A renowned educator, Wilson is on a tireless mission to foster a lively and deep connection between music and people, whether they be playing or listening to it. Wilson is on faculty at the New School, San Francisco Conservatory, SUNY Purchase and Sarah Lawrence College.
Ada Rovatti
Italian native Ada Rovatti started her musical path on classical piano and only in her late teens she discovered saxophone and jazz. She has performed in important festivals all over the world with an impressive and diverse list of artists and bands such as: Mike Stern, John McLaughlin, Anne Ducros, James Moody, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Patti Austin,
Joe Bonamassa and many others.
Ada has six recordings under her name and has appeared as a guest on multiple artists’ works including the Grammy®-winning recording by husband Randy Brecker – 34th N Lex, John McLaughlin’s Industrial Zen, Brecker Brothers Band Reunion with whom she extensively toured. She also appeared in the movie Mona Lisa Smile featuring Julia Roberts. Her recording co-leading with Randy Brecker, Brecker Plays Rovatti, has received rave reviews and great radio broadcasts.
Jon Hamar
Jon Hamar earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Double Bass Performance from Eastern Washington University under the tutelage of Roma Vayspapir and Kelly Ferris. In 2001 Hamar relocated to Seattle, Washington, and was in high demand as a freelance bassist. Hamar performed for four years with jazz and blues great Ernestine Anderson and Northwest notables Greta Matassa, Jim Knapp, Randy Halberstadt, Dawn Clement, Kelley Johnson, and John Hansen. Jon also performed regularly in an orchestral setting, recording on movie soundtracks, and playing recitals and concerts around the Northwest.
In 2012 Jon joined the faculty at the Centrum Jazz Workshop under the Artistic Direction of John Clayton. While living in Seattle, Jon taught at Central Washington University, Northwest University, and Edmonds Community College and maintained a private studio. In the Fall of 2015, Hamar joined the faculty of Natalie Haslam School of Music at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.
Jon began performing with the Jeff Hamilton Trio in July of 2018. The same year, he toured Europe with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Jeff Hamilton and John Clayton, featuring renowned vocalist Cecil McLaren Salvant. You can hear Jon with the Jeff Hamilton Trio on the 2020 release “Catch Me if you Can” and on the most recent Jeff Hamilton Trio holiday album release entitled “Merry and Bright,” released in November 2021.
Dan Wilson
Growing up in Akron, Ohio, Guitarist Dan Wilson spent most of his youth within the church community, where his musical path began. Traces of his major guitar influences – including Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, and George Benson to name a few – can be discerned through his playing, but his musical identity has been shaped by everything from gospel and blues to traditional jazz, hip-hop and horn players like Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
After graduating from Hiram College, Wilson made his recording debut with pianist Joe McBride and performed to worldwide acclaim with Joey DeFrancesco and Christian McBride’s Tip City, eventually recording his debut as a leader To Whom It May Concern.
Wilson had been playing with DeFrancesco for a few years when he met bassist, composer, arranger, Christian McBride. From there, Wilson went on to tour with McBride’s trio Tip City, eventually leading McBride to serve as producer on "Vessels of Wood and Earth" and release the album on his newly formed imprint Brother Mister Productions through Mack Avenue Music Group.
Benny Benack III
Benny Benack III
By age 31, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III has proven to be that rarest of talents: not only a fiery trumpet player with a stirring command of the postbop trumpet vernacular in the vein of Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard, but also a singer with a sly, mature, naturally expressive delivery in the post-Sinatra mold, performing standards and his own astute songs with a thrilling sense of showmanship. This duel-threat ability was recognized by the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll where he appeared as not only the #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist, but a top Rising Star Trumpeter as well. His superb intonation and bracing virtuosity enable him to handle astounding feats of originally composed vocalese (complex solos with written lyrics). On top of it all, he’s a highly capable pianist as well.
Benny has performed internationally as an Emcee/Host for the Youtube sensation Postmodern Jukebox, and achieved his own viral success amassing millions of views for his crooning alongside the Grammy-award winning “8-Bit Big Band”. In early 2020 he released A Lot of Livin’ to Do, the follow-up to his well-received 2017 debut One of a Kind. This sophomore effort, richly varied in mood and brimming with bop inflection, features bassist extraordinaire and Jazz ambassador Christian McBride (whose Grammy-award winning Big Band frequently calls upon Benny in the trumpet section) and drummer/producer Ulysses Owens, Jr., as well as the radiant Takeshi Ohbayashi on piano and Rhodes. His vocalese duet on “Social Call” from this album alongside fellow young star vocalist Veronica Swift became an instant smash hit single, being transcribed and learned by Jazz vocalists around the world.
Carl Allen
With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades. Allen joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation, served as his Musical Director for eight years, and recorded several recordings with the trumpeter including Double Take and Life Flight. Allen also played with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Lena Horne, Ruth Brown, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Mike Stern, Nellie McKay, Terence Blanchard, Phil Woods, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Henderson, Billy Childs and many others. Allen’s phenomenal sideman discography also includes Jackie McLean (Dynasty), Donald Harrison (Indian Blues, Noveau Swing), Donald Byrd (A City Called Heaven), and Art Farmer (The Company I Keep).
Allen maintains an exhaustive schedule of recording, touring and teaching. He remains active as a sideman with Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Benny Golson and others. As a leader most recently leading The Carl Allen Quartet as well as The Art of Elvin, a tribute band dedicated to his two drum influences, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones was started after the passing of Elvin Jones in 2004.
Peter Martin
Peter Martin
Peter Martin is an acclaimed jazz pianist, composer, arranger, educator and entrepreneur.
Peter Martin performed on and arranged Dianne Reeves’ Grammy®-winning release A Little Moonlight and appeared in George Clooney’s 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck, as well as being the featured pianist and an arranger on the Grammy®-winning soundtrack. Peter has also performed, toured, and recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Chris Botti, Betty Carter, Christian McBride, and Joshua Redman, as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
Peter attended the Juilliard School of Music and has been on the faculties of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Northwestern University, Tulane University, the University of New Orleans and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. He has performed workshops and master classes at institutions worldwide, including Oberlin College, Duke University, the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshops, Steinway Piano Gallery, the Rotterdam Conservatory, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow.
Steve Wilson
Steve Wilson
A musician’s musician, Saxophonist Steve Wilson has brought his distinctive sound to more than 100 recordings led by such celebrated and wide-ranging artists as Chick Corea, George Duke, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, Dianne Reeves, Bill Bruford, Gerald Wilson, Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson, Charlie Byrd, Billy Childs, Karrin Allyson, Don Byron, Bill Stewart, James Williams, and Mulgrew Miller among many others. Wilson has eight recordings under his own name, leading and collaborating with such stellar musicians as Lewis Nash, Carl Allen, Steve Nelson, Cyrus Chestnut, Greg Hutchinson, Dennis Irwin, James Genus, Larry Grenadier, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley, Nicholas Payton, Orrin Evans, Ugonna Okegwo and Bill Stewart.
Wilson was a member of the Blue Note 7, an all-star septet assembled to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records in 2009. The project culminated in a successful 50-city tour of the U.S., and their recording Mosaic. Also that year Wilson made his orchestral debut performing Heitor Villa Lobos’ Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra. By popular demand he returned to the VMF in 2010 performing a commissioned work Sweet For Duke for Saxophone & Chamber Orchestra by Jonathan Ragonese.
Warren Wolf
From the young age of three years old, Warren Wolf has been trained on the Vibraphone/Marimba, Drums, and Piano. Under the guidance of his father Warren Wolf Sr., Warren has a deep background in all genres of music. After graduating from Baltimore School for the Arts in June of 1997, Warren headed north and enrolled at the Berklee College of Music.
During his time at Berklee were musicians such as Jeremy Pelt, John Lamkin, Darren Barrett, Wayne Escoffery, Richard Johnson, Kendrick Scott, Walter Smith, Jason Palmer, Rashawn Ross and many others. Through those musicians Warren became an active performer around the Boston area, gigging frequently on the Vibraphone, Drums and Piano. After graduating from Berklee in May of 2001, Warren became an active musician on the Boston local scene and an instructor at Berklee College of Music. Eventually, Warren became a full-time musician while still maintaining a profile in education.
Musicians that Warren has played with or recorded with are Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Jeremy Pelt and “Creation”, Nicholas Payton, Tim Warfield, Adonis Rose, Donal Fox, Anthony Wonsey, Aaron Goldberg, Cyrus Chestnut, Lewis Nash, Willie Jones, Eric Reed, Mulgrew Miller, Terri Lyne Carrington, Yoron Israel, Larry Willis, David “Fathead” Newman, Stefon Harris, Reuben Rogers, Kevin Eubanks, Curtis Lundy, Steve Davis, Duane Eubanks, Ron Carter, Wycliffe Gordon, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spaulding and many others.
Gary Smulyan
Gary Smulyan
Baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan is critically acclaimed across-the-board and recognized as the major voice on the baritone saxophone. Gradually establishing himself as a young player, the talented Smulyan was asked to share the stage and the recording studio with a stunning potpourri of luminaries including: trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Stan Getz, pianist Chick Corea, timbales king Tito Puente, and R&B/Blues and soul icons Ray Charles, B.B. King and Diana Ross.
Smulyan, in addition to performing and recording in support of a myriad of people has a distinguished discography as a leader, with over 10 recordings under his own name. Meanwhile he continues to play with wide variety of artists – each presenting him with an opportunity to fully express himself. In addition to his work on Monday nights with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Smulyan remains close with Joe Lovano, working with him in his nine-piece Nonet; then there is the exhilarating and liberating Dave Holland Octet and the seminal bassist’s Big Band. Beyond that, Smulyan has also enjoyed stints in the cooperative Three Baritone Saxophone Band as well as working with powerhouse tenor saxophonist George Coleman in his octet and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band that, similar to the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, is comprised of some of the world’s best players.
The baritone saxophonist, is a four-time winner of the Down Beat Critic’s and Reader’s Poll’s and a multiple winner of numerous other official polls including the Jazz Journalists Award for Baritone Saxophonist of the Year. He is a six-time Grammy award winner for his work with B.B. King, Lovano, Holland and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.