The pianist and composer Vijay Iyer brilliantly connects the so-called genres of avant-garde and traditional jazz into one engrossing movement that swings. He and his trio will take audiences on an enthralling music expedition during their engagement at Dizzy’s jazz club (60th Street and Broadway) from June 15–18.
Iyer will be joined by bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Tyshawn Sorey (one of his regulars) on June 16–17, and cornet/flugelhorn Graham Haynes will join in (he has collaborated with Iyer on a variety of projects). These musicians are independent trailblazers, looking to explore new territory regardless of the stage.
As a multimedia explorer, Iyer’s music has more shades than a kaleidoscope, which he consistently demonstrates through countless collaborations with such diverse musicians as George E. Lewis, Imani Winds, Mantana Roberts, DJ Spooky, Amiri Baraka, Henry Threadgill, Burnt Sugar, Reggie Workman, and the Brentano String Quartet.
Two sets each night at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. For reservations, visit 2023.jazz.org or call 212-258-9595.
The George Cables Trio will appear at the storied Village Vanguard (178 7th Avenue South) from June 20–25. Cables has the musical inventiveness to take traveled standards like Johnny Richards’s “Young at Heart” or Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil” and reconstruct them into a swinging new sound. And Shorter’s tunes are so exceptional and hip, it’s not easy to rearrange any of them into something that listeners will respect and groove to.
Cables will be joined by long-time band member bassist Essiet Okon Essiet and the versatile drummer Jerome Jennings. In his earlier years, Cables was a first-call pianist for musicians such as Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, and Art Blakey. He has since become one of the most influential pianists in jazz. As an established elder statesman, his recognition as a NEA Jazz Master is warranted.
For reservations, visit villagevanguard.com.
Some years earlier, not many moons ago, the borough of Queens was home to some of the most influential saxophonists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Some of those musicians included John Coltrane, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Ben Webster, Lester “PREZ” Young, Oliver Nelson, Illinois Jacquet, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Johnny Hodges, Frank Wess, Paul Gonsalves, and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath.
On June 23, music by some of these Queens saxophonists will come to life as Flushing Town Hall (13735 Northern Blvd.) celebrates the 15th anniversary of its resident Queens Jazz Orchestra with “Land of the Giants.” Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist and conductor Antonio Hart will lead the orchestra and select music from a few of the most renowned Queens saxophonists with the sound of big band soul.
In 2008, Heath and Jazz Producer in Residence Clyde Bullard collaborated to co-found Flushing Town Hall’s Queens Jazz Orchestra (the QJO), a 17-piece orchestra dedicated to preserving the heritage of jazz in Queens and nurturing the next generations of jazz musicians. Heath was also QJO’s first music director, leading the orchestra until his passing in 2020. Heath selected Hart, director of jazz studies at the Queens College Aaron Copland School of Music, to be his successor.
“I am forever grateful to Master Heath for taking me under his wing and teaching me ‘Music is Life and Life is Music,’” said Hart, long-time member of the QJO and QJO conductor since 2020. “Coming back to Flushing Town Hall for the annual QJO concert, now for the second time as its conductor, is always a blessing and highlight of my year.”
The QJO will perform at 8 p.m. For more information and tickets, visit flushingtownhall.org or call 718-463-7700.
Quincy Delight Jones Jr.—his middle name says it all. For seven decades, he has been delighting audiences with an eclectic array of hits as a record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. He has won 28 Grammys. On June 16, he will receive yet another honor: the naming of the Quincy Jones Conservatory—formerly the Conservatoire de la Communauté urbaine Grand Paris Seine & Oise—in Mantes-la-Jolie, France. The mayor of Mantes-la-Jolie will participate in the celebration of the only conservatory in the world to bear Jones’s name.
Jones has worked with an enormous list of outstanding artists, including Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder, and has a close connection with the region and considers France as his second home.
Nadia Boulanger, one of the world’s most influential composition teachers (died in 1979 at age 92), will also be celebrated at the event when the Conservatory’s auditorium is named in her honor.
In a letter to Jazz Festival producer Jean-Pierre Vignola, Jones wrote, “It makes my soul smile to know there is a school of music named ‘Quincy Jones’ in France, my second country! I was fortunate to be on the shoulders of the greats; it is an honor to be able to contribute in the legacy of music education. My memories of France are intimately tied to my beloved Nadia Boulanger, and I cannot express how flattered I am to be her neighbor with a school named after me!”
Jones’s outrageous music beats are among the most sampled by hip-hop artists. From bebop to bossa nova, soul to futuristic big bands to funk soundtracks, his musical genius has left a prolific mark on American music. He owes much of his success to his early teacher, Boulanger. She has been described as “the most influential teacher since Socrates,” and counted George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein among her pupils, in addition to Jones. Boulanger was the first woman to conduct the Boston and New York Philharmonic orchestras.