Hartford Jazz Society

Wes Lewis Quartet
2025-11-15 18:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Encore by Goodfellas, 702 State Street, New Haven, CT
With Jeff Fuller on bass and Ben Bilello on drums

Steve Nelson Quartet
2025-11-14 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Steve Nelson – Vibraphone
Rick Germanson – Piano
Kiyoshi Kitagawa – Bass
Charles Goold – Drums
Steve Nelson is an acclaimed American jazz vibraphonist and marimba player, widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent modernist performers on the instrument for his inventive, fluidly harmonic, and chromatic approach.
Introduced to the vibraphone in high school by his teacher George A. Monroe—a steelworker by day and a gifted vibraphonist in the Milt Jackson tradition—Nelson also received early instruction in piano and jazz fundamentals from Monroe, to whom he later dedicated the track “Blues for George A.” on his album Full Nelson. He began his professional career in Pittsburgh, quickly progressing to gigs with guitar legend Grant Green after a recommendation from local musician Jerry Byrd.
Nelson earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Rutgers University, studying in the renowned Jazz Studies program under pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Ted Dunbar. His debut recording was on James Spaulding’s Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington (1983), followed by collaborations in the early 1980s with Barron, David “Fathead” Newman, Bobby Watson, and the George Shearing big band.
Throughout his career, Nelson has been the vibraphonist of choice for jazz icons, including long-term partnerships with pianist Kenny Barron, saxophonist Jackie McLean, drummer Lewis Nash, pianist James Williams, bassist Curtis Lundy, and pianist Mulgrew Miller’s Wingspan Sextet. Since the 1990s, he has been a core member of bassist Dave Holland’s Quintet and Big Band, contributing to decades of composing, performing, and touring.
As a leader, Nelson has released albums such as Live at Acireale (Red Records), Full Nelson(Sunnyside), and Communications (Criss Cross), showcasing his personal voice on vibes. In 2025, he earned a Grammy nomination for his work on Barron’s quintet album Beyond This Place, praised as “one of the best career efforts of the number one vibes player of his generation.”
In addition to performing worldwide, Nelson serves as an educator, teaching jazz ensemble at Montclair State University and mentoring young vibraphonists, as featured in the 2023 short documentary Sparni.

Benjamin Simmons
2025-11-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center, 605 Main Street, Middletown, CT, United States
Benjamin Simmons is a Hartford-based tenor saxophonist who specializes in modern and straight ahead jazz. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies. Throughout his time at the University of Hartford, Benjamin studied with world renowned saxophonist, Abraham Burton, as well as Nat Reeves, Rene McLean, and Steve Davis. Since graduation, Benjamin has shared the stage with notable Hartford musicians Nat Reeves, Jonathan Barber, and Matt Dwonszyk. Benjamin is a prominent player in the Hartford scene and on the rise in New York City.

Firehouse 12 Weekly Concert Series
2025-11-14 08:00 - 17:00 | Firehouse 12, 45 Crown Street, New Haven, CT
November 14: Otherlands Trio
November 21: Jon Irabagon Quintet
December 5: Matt Mitchell & Sara Serpa
December 12: Tyshawn Sorey Trio
December 19: Ingrid Laubrock’s Grammy Season + + DoYeon Kim
Tickets are $20 for the 8:30pm performance and $15 for 10:00pm. All tickets can be purchased online or, subject to availability, at the box office on the night of the show.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
2025-11-13 19:30 - 21:30, 2025-11-11 19:30 - 21:30 | Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street, New London, CT, 06320
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue is an American funk, jazz, and soul band led by the talented trombonist and trumpeter Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews. Hailing from New Orleans, the group blends a variety of musical genres, including jazz, funk, R&B, and rock, creating a high-energy sound that captures the essence of their hometown’s rich musical heritage. Known for their electrifying live performances, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue have garnered a global following with their dynamic, horn-driven music and Trombone Shorty’s virtuosic skills on brass instruments.
Born Troy Andrews, Trombone Shorty got his start (and nickname) earlier than most: at four, he made his first appearance at Jazz Fest performing with Bo Diddley; at six, he was leading his own brass band; and by his teenage years, he was hired by Lenny Kravitz to join the band he assembled for his Electric Church World Tour. Shorty’s proven he’s more than just a horn player, though. Catch a gig, open the pages of the New York Times or Vanity Fair, flip on any late-night or morning TV show and you’ll see an undeniable star with utterly magnetic charisma, a natural born showman who can command an audience with the best of them.
Since 2010, he’s released five chart topping studio albums (his most recent being 2022’s Lifted); toured with everyone from Jeff Beck to the Red Hot Chili Peppers; collaborated across genres with Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Foo Fighters, ZHU, Zac Brown, Normani, Ringo Starr, and countless more; played Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk, Newport Jazz, and nearly every other major festival; performed four times at the GRAMMY Awards, six times at the White House, on dozens of TV shows, and at the star-studded Sesame Street Gala, where he was honored with his own Muppet; launched the Trombone Shorty Foundation to support youth music education; and received the prestigious Caldecott Honor for his first children’s book.
Meanwhile in New Orleans, Shorty now leads his own Mardi Gras parade atop a giant float crafted in his likeness, hosts the annual Treme Threauxdown shows that have drawn guests including Usher, Nick Jonas, Dierks Bentley, Andra Day, and Leon Bridges to sit in with his band, and has taken over the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s hallowed final set, which has seen him closing out the internationally renowned gathering after performances by the likes of Neil Young, the Black Keys, and Kings of Leon.
Since the release of Lifted, Shorty and his band have made appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, TODAY and Good Morning America, and CBS Mornings. Shorty has also recently performed at the MusiCares pre-GRAMMY Awards gala, the Roots Picnic with Lil Wayne, on the instantly legendary NPR Tiny Desk featuring Juvenile, and at the White House’s 2024 Juneteenth concert. His recent 2024 summer tour featured special guest Big Boi and included a stop at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Elliott Sharp & Janene Higgins: Entanglement Suite
2025-11-13 19:30 - 21:30 | Holyoke Media, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke, MA
Elliott Sharp (guitars), Janene Higgins (live video)
Elliott Sharp and Janene Higgins will present Entanglement Suite, a structure for improvisation using video and sound. In their work together, the images provide a visual counterpoint to the music. Foreground and background are continuously shifting as both sound and visuals emerge from fixed elements and then expand with improvised extrapolations. The projections may solidify the abstract but may also elevate that which is obvious to another level of meaning, never literal, never explaining, but creating an immediate visceral response.
Sharp will also read from his latest book, Feedback: Translations From The IrRational. Feedback is a wide-ranging meditation on music, sound, artificial intelligence, consciousness, contemporary culture and politics, and the life of the touring musician. Author Elliott Sharp is considered one of the central figures in NYC’s Downtown Scene and is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, visual artist, and educator. Starting from a background in the sciences, Sharp found his passion for music as a teen, and it has never abated. His philosophy is informed not just by music and its creation but by continuing studies in physics and genetics and a visceral interest in our modern world and its joys and horrors. In Feedback, Sharp engages in speculative thought about how consciousness might have arisen and what the future holds for humanity with the advent of an Artificial Intelligence that is certainly artificial but might not exactly be intelligent. The “Improviser’s Mind” is discussed in the context of post-quantum physics, probability, socio-acoustics, and Butoh dance. Sharp loves to digress into unpredictable areas but ties it all together in an overarching narrative that is both personal and conceptual.
As a composer, Sharp’s strategies encompass fractal geometry, chaos theory, algorithmic approaches, genetic metaphors, and new techniques for graphic notation to yield work catalyzing a synesthetic approach to music as well as functioning as retinal art. A multi-instrumentalist, Sharp will perform on guitars and electronics.
A graphic designer by profession, Janene Higgins uses original footage, hand-painted textures, and digital processing in her projection design which she may then manipulate live, using various software operations.
Sharp and Higgins have created a number of operas with the visuals providing set and setting as well as commentary. The operas include Binibon (2009), Port Bou (2014), Filiseti Mekidesi (2018), and Die Grösste Fuge (2021). In addition, their Entanglement Suite was premiered in Naples, Italy in September 2023 by the Ensemble Dissonanzen.
JANENE HIGGINS is a video artist and graphic designer based in New York City. Her work spans several genres, from video performance in the experimental music scene to commercial videos, to the design of CD packages for such record labels as Sony, BMG, PolyGram, and a wide variety of independents. Her collaborators include Ikue Mori, Mari Kimura, Alan Licht, Nurit Tilles, Okkyung Lee, Aki Onda, and Zeena Parkins. In addition to video performance, she has directed several short experimental videos, often with sound design by notable avant-garde artists including Elliott Sharp, Parkins, Christian Marclay and John Duncan. Her work has been performed and exhibited at The New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center; Documenta in Kassel, Germany; The Kitchen, NYC; Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon; City of Women festival, Slovenia; The Chelsea Art Museum, NYC; HiTeca Festival in Porto, Portugal; Art Institute of Chicago; Experimenta Festival in Buenos Aires; The Hamburg Short Film Festival; and at The Impakt Festival in The Netherlands.
ELLIOTT SHARP is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who leads the projects Orchestra Carbon, SysOrk, Tectonics and Terraplane. His compositional strategies have encompassed the use of fractal geometry, chaos theory, algorithms, genetic metaphors, and new techniques for graphic notation to yield work that catalyzes a synesthetic approach to musicmaking as well as functioning as retinal art. In 2015, Sharp was awarded both the Berlin Prize and the Jahrespreis from der Deutscher Schallplatten Kritiks. In 2014 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fellowship from the Center for Transformative Media. He has been featured in the Darmstadt and Huddersfield festivals, New Music Stockholm, Au Printemps-Paris, Hessischer Rundfunk Klangbiennale, and the Venice Biennale. His book IrRational Music, a mix of memoir, cultural discussion, and music theory was published in 2019. He is the subject of the documentary Doing The Don’t and has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. Sharp’s composition Storm of the Eye, composed for violinist Hilary Hahn, appeared on her Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces. His opera Filiseti Mekidesi premiered at the RuhrTriennale in 2018 and his Walter Benjamin opera Port Bou premiered in NYC in 2014 at Issue Project Room and in Europe at Berlin Konzerthaus in 2015. His sound installations include Foliage, Fluvial, Chromatine, and Tag. Sharp’s collaborators have included Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; pianist Cecil Taylor; Ensemble Modern; pop singer Debbie Harry; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; Arditti, JACK, and Kronos quartets; jazz greats Jack Dejohnette and Sonny Sharrock; media artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka.

New Haven Improvisers Collective performance series
2025-11-13 19:00 - 22:00 | Ely Center of Contemporary Art, 51 Trumbull St, New Haven, CT
A new music series on the 2nd Thursday of every month. It will feature groups and ad hoc combinations of New Haven Improvisers Collective folks.
Show up with your instrument before 7pm and join COMBO NHIC.
CD release for Roundhouse

Roundhouse Quartet (Diane Buettner / Bob Gorry / Michael Paolucci / Conor Perreault)
Concussion (Nick DiMaria / Bob Gorry / Dan Klug)
COMBO NHIC

Black Eyed Sally’s Jazz Jam - The Hartford Jazz Project
2025-11-12 19:00 - 22:00 | Black-eyed Sally’s Southern Kitchen & Bar, 350 Asylum St., Hartford, CT, 06103
Located in downtown Hartford, for the aficionado, musician, or the curious first-timer, Black Eyed Sally’s Jazz Jams are the best taste of live jazz in Hartford. Set in the southern juke joint atmosphere of Black-eyed Sally’s, these jam sessions will strike a chord as you hear what our local talent has to offer, with regular special appearances by big city jazz names. Experience the cool original music of the jam session while you enjoy the hot fierce cookin’ of Hartford’s favorite BBQ joint.
After a long hiatus due to the pandemic, regularly scheduled jazz jams have returned to Black Eyed Sally’s every Wednesday. There will be a featured jazz ensemble followed by an open jam session. Bring your axe and be ready to jam!
The music begins at 7:00 PM, jam session begins after 1st set. No cover charge most nights, under 21’s welcome.
Presented by the Hartford Jazz Society and Neefjazz Entertainment

Omar Sosa Quarteto Americanos - Live recording at Studio 9
2025-11-12 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-11-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Studio 9, 18 Veazie Street, North Adams, MA
Quarteto Americanos is Omar Sosa’s first U.S.-based jazz ensemble since the 1990s! Featuring drummer Josh Jones, bassist Ernesto Mazar Kindelán, and saxophone / clarinet / flute player Sheldon Brown, the group came together in February 2021 when Omar was in the Bay Area for several live streams. Connecting with Josh and Sheldon was a gratifying reunion for Omar, as he played extensively with them during his early days in San Francisco and Oakland in the late 1990s.
Omar’s Quarteto Americanos plays a number of arrangements of Omar’s signature compositions from his early career, including ‘My Three Notes’, ‘Angustia’, and ‘Toridanzón’, as well as new songs written by Omar in Barcelona during the lockdown in 2020. Like Omar’s oeuvre, Quarteto Americanos’ repertoire is eclectic and energizing. Its improvisational approach seamlessly fuses elements of jazz, Latin, hip-hop, and electronica into an exciting, passionate, contemporary sound.

Jazz at Cafe Nine
2025-11-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Cafe Nine, 250 State Street, New Haven, CT, 06510
Presented by New Haven Jazz Underground on the 2nd & 4th Tuesday every month.

Visions of Steveland: Noah Baerman plays Stevie Wonder
2025-11-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Olin Library – Wesleyan University, 252 Church Street, Middetown, CT
Jazz pianist and Director of the Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble Noah Baerman presents a program of instrumental interpretations of Stevie Wonder’s “message music” in celebration of his new album, Right Now Volume 4: Visions of Steveland.
Noah Baerman is a jazz pianist, composer, educator, and activist who has recorded sixteen acclaimed albums under his own name and several more as a co-leader of cooperative ensembles including Trio 149, Envisage Collective, and Playdate, earning praise from Downbeat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, the NYC Jazz Record, WNPR’s Jazz Corridor, and the Village Voice. He is the author of ten instructional books published by Alfred Publishing Company and has taught in various capacities at Wesleyan University, where he is the jazz piano instructor and has directed the Jazz Ensemble since 2007. In 2012 he founded Resonant Motion, a non-profit dedicated to the intersection of music and positive change. In recent years, he has been awarded an Artists Respond grant from the CT Office of the Arts and the Arts Advocacy award from the City of Middletown, where July 10, 2020 was declared “Noah Baerman Day” in the city.
RMI Records, a division of the nonprofit Resonant Motion, is proud to announce the release of Noah Baerman’s Right Now Volume Four: Visions of Steveland. The follow up to the first three volumes, Songs of Conflict and Comfort, Songs of Solidarity, and Our Search for Peace, this collection of Stevie Wonder interpretations is the final edition in the four-volume series created in the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election. Recorded alone at home, this represents a selection of Stevie’s “message music,” which is as pertinent to the present moment as it was decades ago.
On the morning of December 27, 2024, having already completed the first three volumes’ worth of recordings in the prior weeks, Baerman found himself still feeling restless, both musically and emotionally. Stevie Wonder had been one of his most central sources of inspiration dating back to Baerman’s “origin story” of pointing to the TV upon seeing Stevie perform “Superstition” on Sesame Street and saying “that’s what I’m going to do!” As such, the fire to use Wonder’s material to express the co-occurring sentiments of dread and hope became the obvious path, and by dinnertime, he had recorded these eight songs. As with the prior volumes, Baerman performs here on various combinations of piano, organ, and Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, all but one of the tunes serving as duets between two of those instruments.
The album opens up with a driving jazz waltz interpretation of “Big Brother,” inspired in spirit and approach by Baerman’s other most central influence, John Coltrane. He has performed this one often in a trio setting, and here it is the piano and Rhodes taking center stage. From there he moves to the Wurlitzer for a contemplative and slow-building solo interpretation of the earliest composition in the collection, “Evil.” Following this is an up-tempo, swinging interpretation of the classic “Higher Ground,” also betraying a significant degree of Coltrane inspiration. The mood lightens a bit musically, if not necessarily in terms of substance, with a slinky cha-cha-cha piano and Rhodes duet on “Love’s In Need of Love Today.”
At the halfway point, the content takes a more optimistic turn with a tender piano and Wurlitzer take on the ballad “Visions.” The music and content become even more upbeat with a hard-swinging performance of “Smile Please” on piano and organ. The organ then pairs up with Rhodes for perhaps the most faithful-to-the-original track here, “As.” This piece is dedicated to Ana Grace Márquez-Greene, her family, and the spirit of enduring love even in the face of loss. The album then wraps up with a comparatively brief and straightforward romp through one of the most optimistic songs here (and the only one not from the 1970s), “Tomorrow Robins Will Sing.”
“Stevie Wonder is profound even when singing about seemingly simple matters like love and childhood innocence,” says Baerman, “but his depth as a cultural critic and an unyielding voice of peace is such a vital source of nourishment and such a wake-up call to our society’s soul and conscience.” While this album wraps up the “Right Now” project (for now at least), Baerman remains determined to keep shining a light on injustice and on our capacity for resilience and integrity in the face of it. “This may be an odd statement for an artist, but I do look forward to this music hopefully becoming less relevant,” he says, “and in the meantime I hope it can offer a balm to those who need it right now.”
Note that the album is being offered for as little as $1 by RMI Records, as listeners are encouraged to donate instead to charities working to protect our society and its inhabitants from the current onslaught. For those who choose to purchase from RMI in addition, all proceeds will go towards Claire’s Continuum, a Resonant Motion initiative, in Claire Randall’s memory, to commission first-time collaborators to create socially conscious art together.
Preview the album here.

JHunter Group
2025-11-09 17:00 - 20:00 | Steak Loft, 27 Coogan Blvd, Mystic, CT, United States
Live Jazz, Blues and other grooves and Great Food
Cecil Carter vocalist
Steven Marien saxophonist
Rufus Davis pianist
James Hunter bassist
Jacob Grahm drums

Omar Sosa Quarteto Americanos
2025-11-09 16:00 - 18:00 | Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity, 130 Pine Street, Northampton, MA
Featuring Josh Jones, Sheldon Brown, and Ernesto Mazar Kindelán
Quarteto Americanos is Omar Sosa’s first U.S.-based jazz ensemble since the 1990s! Featuring drummer Josh Jones, bassist Ernesto Mazar Kindelán, and saxophone / clarinet / flute player Sheldon Brown, the group came together in February 2021 when Omar was in the Bay Area for several live streams. Connecting with Josh and Sheldon was a gratifying reunion for Omar, as he played extensively with them during his early days in San Francisco and Oakland in the late 1990s. Josh Jones’ Trio at the time, including Omar and bassist Geoff Brennan, played frequently at Bay Area clubs. Josh remains one of Omar’s favorite drummers – a versatile musician and educator equally at home in Latin, jazz, hip-hop, and fusion styles. Sheldon Brown was a member of Omar’s first Septet ensemble in the Bay Area, performing in San Francisco and Oakland and around the world in support of Omar’s earliest recording projects, ‘Free Roots’, ‘Spirit of the Roots’, and ‘Bembón’, also known as the Roots Trilogy. Sheldon is a talented composer, arranger and producer whose first recording, ‘Shifting Currents‘, caught Omar’s ear when he first moved to San Francisco in 1995. Ernesto Mazar Kindelán is a dynamic Cuban musician who came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014 following a ten-year stint with Charanga Habanera, the celebrated Cuban timba band from Havana.
Omar’s Quarteto Americanos plays a number of arrangements of Omar’s signature compositions from his early career, including ‘My Three Notes’, ‘Angustia’, and ‘Toridanzón’, as well as new songs written by Omar in Barcelona during the lockdown in 2020. Like Omar’s oeuvre, Quarteto Americanos’ repertoire is eclectic and energizing. Its improvisational approach seamlessly fuses elements of jazz, Latin, hip-hop, and electronica into an exciting, passionate, contemporary sound.

Zaccai Curtis Quintet
2025-11-08 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Zaccai Curtis – Piano
Jeremy Bosch – Flute
Alex Ayala – Bass
Reinaldo De Jesus – Percussion
TBD – Drums
Zaccai Curtis is an acclaimed recording artist and producer, recently honored with the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. He leads his own groups, the Zaccai Curtis Quintet and Sonido Solar, and after five successful releases, is set to release his new album Sonoluminescence in 2026.
Together with his brother Luques, Zaccai co-founded the record label TRRcollective, a collaborative space for musicians to produce and release their own music. He is also proud to have produced the Grammy-nominated album Entre Colegas by Andy González (2016).
A native of Connecticut, Zaccai moved to New York City in 2005, where he has performed with renowned artists including Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, Cindy Blackman Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Lakecia Benjamin, Brian Lynch, the Mambo Legends, Avery Sharpe and many others.
In addition to his performance career, Zaccai is a respected educator, teaching at the University of Hartford’s Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division. He is also an author, having written two instructional books: Art of the Guajeo and Theory of the Common Voicing, which support students in their Jazz and Latin Jazz studies.
A three-time ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award winner, Zaccai is a prolific composer and arranger for his own groups, as well as artists like Little Johnny Rivero, Steve Kroon, Waitiki 7 and Sonido Solar. His quartet was chosen by the U.S. State Department for the American Music Abroad (Jazz Ambassadors) program twice, touring South Asia in 2006. In 2007, he received the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Artist Fellowship for original composition. In 2017, he was awarded the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant, and in 2020, he was named Rising Star in the DownBeat Critics Poll.

Zaccai Curtis Quintet
2025-11-07 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Zaccai Curtis – Piano
Jeremy Bosch – Flute
Alex Ayala – Bass
Reinaldo De Jesus – Percussion
Willie Martinez – Drums
Zaccai Curtis is an acclaimed recording artist and producer, recently honored with the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. He leads his own groups, the Zaccai Curtis Quintet and Sonido Solar, and after five successful releases, is set to release his new album Sonoluminescence in 2026.
Together with his brother Luques, Zaccai co-founded the record label TRRcollective, a collaborative space for musicians to produce and release their own music. He is also proud to have produced the Grammy-nominated album Entre Colegas by Andy González (2016).
A native of Connecticut, Zaccai moved to New York City in 2005, where he has performed with renowned artists including Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, Cindy Blackman Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Lakecia Benjamin, Brian Lynch, the Mambo Legends, Avery Sharpe and many others.
In addition to his performance career, Zaccai is a respected educator, teaching at the University of Hartford’s Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division. He is also an author, having written two instructional books: Art of the Guajeo and Theory of the Common Voicing, which support students in their Jazz and Latin Jazz studies.
A three-time ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award winner, Zaccai is a prolific composer and arranger for his own groups, as well as artists like Little Johnny Rivero, Steve Kroon, Waitiki 7 and Sonido Solar. His quartet was chosen by the U.S. State Department for the American Music Abroad (Jazz Ambassadors) program twice, touring South Asia in 2006. In 2007, he received the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Artist Fellowship for original composition. In 2017, he was awarded the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant, and in 2020, he was named Rising Star in the DownBeat Critics Poll.

Thames River Big Band
2025-11-07 19:30 - 21:30 | Norwich Arts Center, 62 Broadway, Norwich, CT, 06360
The Thames River Big Band is a musical ensemble known for performing classic big band jazz, swing, and contemporary arrangements. Based in the Thames River region, the group features talented musicians who pay tribute to the rich tradition of big band music through energetic live performances. Their repertoire often includes timeless hits from legendary artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller, as well as modern jazz standards. The band is popular for entertaining audiences at local events, festivals, and private celebrations, bringing the vibrant sound of the big band era to contemporary listeners.
​$10 Adults
$8 Seniors/Military/Student
$5 Members

New Jazz Underground
2025-11-07 19:30 - 21:30 | Morse Recital Hall – Yale University, 470 College Street, New Haven, CT
The bold and innovative trio infuse modern jazz with hard bop, hip-hop, and pop for a sound that’s “classy and classic” (NPR) — bringing fresh perspective while honoring tradition.
Abdias Armenteros, saxophone
Sebastian Rios, bass
TJ Reddick, drums
Tickets start at $26, Yale faculty/staff start at $19, Students start at $11

David Finck & Alexis Cole
2025-11-07 19:00 - 23:00 | Palace Theater Poli Club, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury, CT
$37 (plus fees) – 7PM & 9PM
Known as one of today’s most versatile bassists, David Finck has performed with legends across genres—from Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, and Michel Legrand to Rod Stewart, Dionne Warwick, and George Michael.
Joining him is the celebrated Alexis Cole, an acclaimed jazz vocalist who has shared the stage with artists like Fred Hersch, Bucky Pizzarelli, Don Braden, and Matt Wilson. For six years, she served in the U.S. Army as the vocalist for the West Point Band’s Jazz Knights, and her career since has taken her to prestigious venues around the world.
Together, Finck and Cole promise an evening of world-class jazz, exceptional artistry, and intimate musical connection.
The Poli Club provides the perfect backdrop for this experience—an intimate venue with excellent sound, affordable drinks, and convenient parking just across the street. It’s the ideal setting for a night out with friends or fellow jazz lovers.

Joe Carter / Jeff Fuller
2025-11-07 18:00 - 21:00 | Bangkok Room, 76 Main Street, Ansonia, CT
Brazilian music

Jazz at Three Sheets
2025-11-07 18:00 - 21:00 | Three Sheets, 372 Elm Street, New Haven, CT
New England Jazz Underground presents jazz on the 1st and 3rd Friday every month.

Black Eyed Sally’s Jazz Jam - Trailways
2025-11-05 19:00 - 22:00 | Black-eyed Sally’s Southern Kitchen & Bar, 350 Asylum St., Hartford, CT, 06103

Ned Rothenberg
2025-11-02 17:00 - 19:30 | Wistariahurst Museum, 238 Cabot Street, Holyoke, MA
Ned Rothenberg (saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi flute)
“Rothenberg pushes sonic and spatial barriers… as he explores combinations of vacillating intervals and knotty melodic kernels, and balances evolving patterns with ripe arpeggios and colorful harmonics.” – Fred Bouchard, DownBeat
“Rothenberg reconciles an unapologetically cerebral approach with accessibility and emotional expression. No mean feat, indeed.” – Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Hailed as “America’s most intimate composer and improviser” (All Music Guide), multi-instrumentalist Ned Rothenberg has evolved a singular and deeply personal language on an array of woodwinds – primarily alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and shakuhachi flute – over the course of four and a half decades of investigatory musicianship. On Looms & Legends, his first solo recording since 2012’s clarinet-focused World of Odd Harmonics (Tzadik), Rothenberg once again reveals himself to be a captivating storyteller and an unparalleled sonic architect.
To be released on September 5, 2025 via Pyroclastic Records, Looms & Legends hints in its title at the fundamental elements that make Rothenberg’s unaccompanied excursions so compelling: its deft, multi-hued weaving and the spellbinding eloquence of its unfolding narratives. “I think of those elements as the X and Y axes of my approach,” Rothenberg explains. “In my improvisations, there are the more melodic pieces that have a definite sense of starting at a certain place and taking you along a storyline. Then there are the ‘loom’ pieces which present the listener a rich and atypical aural environment in which to weave their own subjective narrative.”
Rothenberg’s travels have taken him across five continents, he has studied deeply the diverse traditions of African and Asian music, and has communicated his discoveries to students through his Global Perspectives course at The New School. He has so imbibed this never-ending research that it resists the lure of pastiche, instead emerging as something uniquely his own, an embrace of the idea of “future primitivism.”
As he explains, “I like to imagine my music as the indigenous sounds of a country that hasn’t been discovered yet. I love the idea that there’s some weird culture out there whose traditions are built on circular breathing through reed instruments, and it sounds like what I’ve been doing in New York since the early ‘80s.”
While he stops short of offering Looms & Legends as an outright political statement, Rothenberg does allow that it is an oasis of concentration and immersion at a moment when our culture is oriented to short attention spans and instant gratification. “I feel like musicians who are doing work of depth need to push back against the TikTok culture,” he says. “In many ways an album like this goes against the grain of our current culture, where music has to grab you in 30 seconds. I can unapologetically say that’s never what I’ve been about.”
Composer and performer Ned Rothenberg has been internationally acclaimed for both his solo and ensemble music, presented for the past 40 years on five continents. He performs primarily on alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and the shakuhachi. Rothenberg’s solo work utilizes an expanded palette of sonic language, creating a kind of personal idiom all its own. In an ensemble setting, he leads the quartet Crossings 4, with Sylvie Courvoisier, Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara, as well as his longstanding trio Sync, with Jerome Harris (guitars) and Samir Chatterjee (tabla). He has collaborated around the world with fellow improvisers including Evan Parker, Marc Ribot, Sainkho Namchylak, Masahiko Sato, Samm Bennett, Kazu Uchihashi, Paul Dresher and John Zorn. Notable recordings include Lockdown, with Courvoisier and Julian Sartorius on Clean Feed; Quintet for Clarinet and Strings with the Mivos Quartet, World of Odd Harmonics, Ryu Nashi (new music for shakuhachi) and Inner Diaspora, all on John Zorn’s Tzadik label; and Live at Roulette with Evan Parker, The Fell Clutch, and Are You Be on Rothenberg’s own Animul label.

Montgomery Variations
2025-11-02 15:00 - 17:00 | Woolsey Hall – Yale University, 500 College Street, New Haven, CT
This powerful program explores themes of resilience and remembrance through Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations, community singing, and Sanctum by NHSO Composer-in-Residence Courtney Bryan.
Music Director Perry So says, “In this concert I am thrilled to welcome our new composer-in-residence, Courtney Bryan, to New Haven. Over the next two seasons we will explore Courtney’s music, and get to know her multifaceted musical world that encompasses everything from concert music and jazz, to spirituals, improvisations and collaborations with visual artists. We will begin this exploration with her piece Sanctum, which weaves together recorded sermons and Courtney’s musical response to police brutality. The concert closes with a rediscovered masterpiece, Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations, written at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, that takes us into the heart of a composer’s experience of the heroic struggle the brutality of the Jim Crow South.”
Tickets to this concert start at $15 for adults. Kids under 18 go free with the purchase of an adult ticket.

Dr. G’s Jazz Brunch
2025-11-02 12:00 - 15:00 | Quattro’s Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar, 14 Water Street, Guilford, CT
Dr. G’s Jazz Brunch held on the 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays from 12pm (noon) until 3pm at Quattro’s Italian Restaurant:

All events will also include jazz masters Jeff Fuller on bass and Barry Ries on drums &/or trumpet. “Dr. G” will provide guitar accompaniment.

Dave Pietro Quartet
2025-11-01 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Dave Pietro – Alto Saxophone
Gary Versace – Piano
Jay Anderson – Bass
Billy Drummond – Drums
A native of Southboro, Massachusetts, Dave Pietro has been on the New York music scene since 1987. His talents as a gifted saxophonist, composer, and educator have made him an in-demand musician who has performed at jazz clubs, jazz festivals, schools and concert halls in more than 30 countries throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America. Pietro is a member of the GRAMMY® Award-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra, and two GRAMMY®-nominated groups – Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and the Gil Evans Project. From 1994-2016 he played lead alto saxophone and recorded six albums with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. He has also performed, toured, and/or recorded with the bands of Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Louis Bellson, Anita Brown, Harry Connick Jr., John Fedchock, Mike Holober, Jihye Lee, Michael Leonhart, Pete McGuinness, Arturo O’Farrill, Jared Schonig, Helen Sung, and Chris Zuar. Pietro has worked with many other well-known musicians such as Paul Anka, Blood Sweat & Tears, David Bowie, Bobby Caldwell, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Chaka Khan, Liza Minnelli, James Naughton and John Pizzarelli. In addition, he has studied East Indian music and performed with various groups led by Indian tablist Sandip Burman.
As a leader, Pietro has released 11 albums and his latest recording Satori (East 15 th -2025) features Michael Rodriguez, Gary Versace, Johannes Weidenmueller and Johnathan Blake. Esteemed jazz critic Bill Milkowski says “Satori is imbued with ebullience, crackling interplay and virtuosic displays of soloing. It’s a feast for the ears.” In 2024 Pietro released The Talisman, his first album for the storied Steeplechase label, featuring Scott Wendholt, Gary Versace, Jay Anderson and Billy Drummond. Stamish Malcuss of Jazz Sensibilites said of it… “The Talisman is a fine addition to the jazz canon, a beacon for Pietro’s discography, and it embodies the spirit of exploration and innovation at the heart of the genre.”
Hypersphere (ArtistShare-2020) features Alex Sipiagin, Gary Versace, Johannes Weidenmueller and Johnathan Blake, with guests Ryan Keberle and Rogerio Boccato. “With it Pietro has emerged as a leader of importance” says Thomas Conrad of Stereophile. Pietro’s first ArtistShare release New Road: Iowa Memoirs (2017), co-sponsored by the University of Iowa, was called “a carefully measured balance between structure and spontaneity, filled with inspirational performances by a top-flight ensemble” by Mark Holston of Jazziz magazine.
Embrace: Impressions of Brazil (A Records-2004), which features a host of musicians including Brazilian pianist Helio Alves and renowned Brazilian drummer Duduka DaFonseca was considered “a triumph…one of the most satisfying Brazilian jazz mixes since the first bossa nova tsunami” by Judith Schlesinger of AllAboutJazz. Standard Wonder: The Music of Stevie Wonder, (A Records), featuring Scott Wendholt, Pete McGuinness, David Berkman, Scott Colley and Brain Blade was voted one of the top-10 jazz albums of 2001 by Bob Blumenthal of the Boston Globe and Bill Milkowski of Jazz Times. Earlier A Records releases include Now Becoming Then (1999) with this same band except Mike Holober on piano, and his first two label releases for the label – Forgotten Dreams (1994) and Wind Dance (1998), both featuring the rhythm section of Kenny Werner on piano, Dave Holland on bass and Bill Stewart on drums.
Pietro co-led an international quartet “The New York-Tokyo Connection”(NYTC) with pianist Jonathan Katz; their third album Precious (Seven Steps) was released in 2014. In 2005 and 2007 Pietro received grants from Chamber Music America’s New Works Programs to compose and perform his new extended work The Chakra Suite (Challenge Records). Featuring Gary Versace, Rez Abbasi, Todd Isler, Johannes Weidenmueller and Adam Cruz, it was voted one of the top CD’s of 2008 by All About Jazz.
Pietro received a bachelor’s degree in music education from North Texas State University where he toured and recorded four albums with the school’s One O’Clock Lab Band. He has a Master of Arts degree in jazz composition from New York University where he is currently the Director of Jazz Studies. Pietro has given hundreds of workshops and concerts at schools around the world and is sponsored by D’Addario Woodwinds, the Conn-Selmer Instrument Company, and R.S. Berkeley Musical Instruments.

Ace Livingston
2025-11-01 18:00 - 22:00 | Infinity Hall – Hartford, 32 Front Street, Hartford, CT, 06103
Join Legacy friends and supporters at Infinity Hall, Hartford, for an unforgettable evening filled with elegance, entertainment, and purpose.

This year’s Little Black Dress event honors our Champions of Education—remarkable individuals and organizations making a lasting impact in the lives of young scholars.

🎶 Enjoy a live local music showcase featuring talented performers.
🍴 Savor delicious food and drinks crafted for the occasion.
💫 Celebrate with us as we uplift education, community, and the power of coming together.
Your presence supports the mission of Legacy to empower and inspire future leaders through education and opportunity.

Russell Hall Quintet
2025-10-31 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Mike Troy – Saxophone
Esteban Castro – Piano
Leo Larratt – Guitar
Russell Hall – Bass
Matt Lee – Drums
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Russell Hall migrated to the United States in 2007 where his double bass studies progressed quickly through the rigorous programs of The Dillard Center for the Arts and The Juilliard School. Russell deeply understands the jazz tradition, having studied with many of the double bass world’s most renowned artists including Ron Carter and Ben Wolfe. Still, he is also an artist looking forward with his own distinct approach to the double bass.
As a first-call bassist in New York City, Russell has performed with some of the biggest names in music including Joey Alexander, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Jon Batiste, Roy Hargrove, Kathleen Battle, Christian McBride, Emmet Cohen, Russell Malone, George Coleman and many more.
Well known for his work with the Emmet Cohen Trio alongside drummer Kyle Poole, Russell also leads his own bands, including Bessie and the Rainbowkids to much critical acclaim.

Hey Love... Collective ft. Yunie Mojica & DJ OOOChild
2025-10-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Artists Collective, 1200 Albany Avenue, Hartford, CT
Get ready to immerse yourself in a dynamic fusion of hip-hop, R&B, electronic music, and jazz — bridging contemporary Black music with deep-rooted traditions. This special event celebrates the recent release of Hey Love… Presents: Volume 1, the highly anticipated collective album by DJ OOOChild and YunieMo, presented in collaboration with the independent label Sonic Messengers. This in-person event promises to be a night to remember. Don’t miss out on this unique experience! See you there!
Free with RSVP
