Birthday wishes will fill the air at Jazzcultural (349 West 46th Street) as pianist and composer George Cables prepares for his 81st birthday from Nov. 13–14, with one show each late night 10:30 p.m.–midnight. The veteran will be joined by bassist Alexander Claffy and drummer Winard Harper.
Pianists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea were his early influences, but he pointed out, “I never really listened to pianists when I was coming up. I would probably say I’ve been more influenced by Miles or Trane and their whole bands rather than by any single pianist. The concept of the music is more important than listening to somebody’s chops, somebody’s technique. The way Miles’s band held together, it was just like magic. You were transported to another world.”
On this joyous occasion, patrons will experience Cables’s brilliance, he plays with a smooth intensity — his right hand playing the melody, while his left is busy hitting chords. His dexterity is so amazing, it seems as if he has three hands working those 88 pearly keys. One thing for sure: This young senior isn’t ready to yield to a mere numerical birthday when he has so many ideas and compositions dancing in his head yet to be heard.
For reservations, visit jazzcultural.com.
Having won a Tony Award and three Grammy awards, NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater’s wings are forever expanding toward new horizons. She dazzles audiences with her colorful storytelling and engaging sassy talk, a humorous approach used by the legendary Pearl Bailey.
The singer/songwriter’s cohesive trio, with pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Amina Scott, and drummer Shirazette Tinnin, will appear Nov. 12–14 at Birdland (315 West 44th Street), with two shows each night.
Jazz police need not attend. The tradition of jazz will be adhered to, but it’s a fact that Dee Dee loves to swing — crossing over to R&B on her album “Yes, I’m Ready” to exploring her African and Milian ancestry on “Red Earth: A Malian Journey,” the Grammy-winning “Dear Ella,” and her latest album “Elemental” (Mack Avenue Records, 2026) ,where she and pianist Bill Charlap have a jazz tete-a-tete.
For reservations, visit birdlandjazz.com
The following evening, Nov. 15, Birdland will spotlight the Jason Marshall Quartet at the 5:30 p.m. early show. Marshall is my favorite baritone saxophonist — well-established in the jazz community, he has yet to receive his real accolades as a premiere voice on the big, bold baritone saxophone.
Since 2003, Marshall has built a wide-reaching career as a performer, composer, arranger, educator, and cultural voice. His work honors the legacy of Black American music through joy and complexity, spanning styles and generations with integrity and soul. He carries the hard be-bopin’ style of Leo Parker, groove of Harry Carney, and intense curiosity of Hamiet Bluiett.
“I have been entrusted with an aptitude for music so that I can be about the work of wellness in my community and in my environment,” as said in his bio. “I gather the pieces of our fractured history together in the vibrations of our ancestors that we might fashion an accurate map of the way forward. Together.”
Jason’s published essays about John Coltrane, Hampton Hawes, Lee Morgan, and Stanley Turrentine honor Black music luminaries and their continued resonance. His writing is an extension of his role as a cultural historian, forming a bridge between music, culture, and identity. Rhythms swinging across genres, boundaries intersecting with hues beyond the rainbow can be expected at Marshall’s early show.
For info, got to Birdlandjazz.com.
The season’s most prized concert ticket is Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life Performances — 50th Anniversary Tour” at Madison Square Garden, on Nov. 19. A new four-song EP was released for the occasion. This national tour celebrates the 50th anniversary of his landmark 1976 album “Songs in the Key of Life,” which won a Grammy for Album of the Year. In total, Wonder holds 25 Grammy Awards, plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1996).
It was 1963, and Little Stevie Wonder was part of the Motown Revue. My friends and I yelled and clapped, watching him perform his big hit “Fingertips” (debut album “The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie,” Tamla Records), his harmonica solos drove us buckwild as we sat in the $1.50 sky-high balcony seats of the Apollo Theater. Would you believe that practically every kid in my projects purchased a harmonica — we would play that 45 rpm record over and over, just playing along on his solos; all out of tune, but it sounded great to us.
From Detroit’s Motown hit factory, Little Stevie has become one of the most prolific artists in music history, a career spanning more than six decades with more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Stevie has influenced generations of musicians around the world in varied genres, using the roots of Black American music as his creative focus (R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz).
Wonder’s albums were sparked by his use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments. He reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B while enticing people to the dance floor. As the O’Jays sang, there’s a “Message in our Music” — Wonder crafted his albums into vivid social themes that still represent America’s soundtrack, documenting the experience and injustices of a people still yearning for equality, struggling every day, just “Living for the City.”
In this 50th year, “Songs in the Key of Life” is even more resonant now, acknowledging Stevie as a true visionary while America has remained content in yesterday’s injustices and its myth about “Make America Great Again.” No: Stevland Hardaway Morris peeped your cards half a century ago and it’s all here in “Keys of Life.” The truth doesn’t need to be protected, just shared.
This album is an artistic statement containing two discs with 21 songs, complex lyrics that capture your heart, spark attention, demand movement, and share hope: ”If It’s Magic,” so beautiful it draws tears; “Knocks Me Off My Feet,” all about love; the hard truth of inequality in “Village Ghetto Land”; he’s packin’ his bags for “Saturn,” enough is enough; and “Black Man,” their many contributions to America. We all have a favorite Stevie song, perhaps many from this celebratory album, which he will be performing in its entirety, but just like a jazz musician, he never plays anything the same way twice. Be assured that it will be hard-hittin’ in the groove like only Stevie can do.
Tickets are selling fast, so make that call quick.
