On June 22, the Morris Museum in Morristown, N.J., kicked off its Jazz on the Back Deck season with the Antoinette Montague Experience. Harlem calls her their own, although she is known throughout the tri-state area and beyond for her boundless vocal expressions that leap genres from jazz to blues and spiritual experiences. She will be joined by her longtime all-star group: pianist Danny Mixon, bassist Melissa Slocum, drummer Bobby Sanabria, and featured tap dancer AC Lincoln.
Bring chairs and refreshments to the Montague Experience, to be held atop the Morris Museum’s elevated parking deck. Tickets are $50 and $25. For ticket information, call the box office at 973-971-3706 or visit the website, morrismuseum.org.
The seasoned vocalist Mary Stallings fortified her reputation as one of the most influential singers in the annals of jazz. The native of San Francisco, who sang in the church choir as a youngster, has been enchanting audiences for six decades. In building her career, she has performed with Ben Webster, Earl Hines, and the multi-instrumentalist Louis Jordan’s Tympani Five (he infused jazz, blues, and lots of R&B), who helped her enhance her jazz chops and R&B swing.
On June 22–25, Stallings returns to the upper westside mecca the Smoke Jazz & Supper Club (2751 Broadway). She will be joined by the trio of pianists Emmet Cohen (Thursday, Friday, and Sunday) and Cyrus Chestnut (Saturday), bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Joe Farnsworth.
Stallings’s vocals are flawless as she lyrically dances through little-known jazz standards and blues tunes that conjure up seeded memories and soulful nights that still linger. Her stylings are an exquisite intersection of Nancy Wilson, Shirley Horn, and Dinah Washington. Within this divine trio, Stallings’s sultry voice is uniquely grounded in her own experience.
She toured with Dizzy Gillespie and the orchestras of Billy Eckstine and Count Basie (three-year residency, 1969–1972). She has recorded with pianist Monty Alexander (“Manhattan Moods,” 1997 Concord Music) and “Remember Love” (Half Note, 2005), which was produced by pianist Geri Allen, who also plays piano and organ. For me, her most-revered album was her 1962 debut collaboration “Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings” (Fantasy Records). Tjader, whose career was deeply immersed in Latin jazz, stepped out of his comfort zone to accompany Stallings in her world of intensified blues tunes, pop, and standards, from “Mighty Rumblin’ Blues” to “Why Don’t You Do Right” and “Ain’t Misbehavin.’” The album is truly a collector’s item.
Stallings’s performances are two sets (7 p.m. and 9 p.m.) on Thursday; three sets on Friday and Saturday (7 p.m., 9 p.m., and 10:30 p.m.; and two sets on Sunday (7 p.m. and 9 p.m.). For reservations, visit the website smokejazz.com or call 212-864-6662.
Caribbean music, Calypso, carnival celebrations, and steel bands are all reflective of those colorful harmonic textures. That feeling, those emotions, will be amplified June 23–24 when the Caribbean Diaspora Big Band converges on Dizzy’s jazz club (Broadway and 60th Street). Two sets each night at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
It is music’s evolution—a celebration of Caribbean culture. The ensemble will be led by bassist Jonathan Michel. Some of the band members (rising stars) will include trumpeters Kali Rodriguez-Pena and Giveton Gelin (protégé of Roy Hargrove), pianist Willerm Delisfort, alto saxophonists Christopher R. McBride and Mervin Toussaint, trombonists Dion Tucker and Rashaan Salaam, and drummer Harvel Nakundi.
For reservations, visit the website jazz2023.org.
Dizzy’s late-night sessions have returned, Thursdays–Saturdays beginning at 11:15 p.m. Visit the website for info.
On June 25, the Universal Temple of the Arts “Love in Bloom” concert on Staten Island will explore life’s concepts and the power of love in relationships and as a healing power through music, dance, and the arts. The long list of performers will include vocalist Antoinette Montague, percussionist Leopoldo Fleming (Nina Simone’s longtime musician), Nubia Braithwaite, Dorian Lake, and Gregory Taylor, among others.
This event is free and open to the public, and will take place at Wagner College Theatre (1 Campus Road). RSVP at UTA-Loveinbloom2023.eventbrite.com. For more information, call 718-273-5610 or visit the website at utasi.org.
Harlem Stage is a reservoir for live music dancing in and out, culture, and conversation that spark truth and enlightenment. On June 28, at 7:30 p.m., the “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” Panel Series on History and Cultural Identity as Inspiration will present composer Tamar-kali in a discussion with writer, historian, and professor Melissa Cooper, PhD; multidisciplinary artist, curator, and administrator Jon-Sesrie Goff; and multidisciplinary artist Sheldon Scott. They will discuss their shared Gullah Geechee heritage and Tamar-kali’s ”Sea Island Symphony: Red Rice Cotton and Indigo,” an orchestral love letter to her roots.
The event will be at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse (150 Convent Avenue). It is free but RSVPs must be made at harlemstage.org. For more information about the continuing Freedom is a Constant Struggle Panel Series, visit the website.