Hartford Jazz Society

Thimble Islands Saxophone Quartet.
2025-12-13 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Best Video Film and Cultural Center, 1842 Whitney Ave, Hamden, CT
This is a group of four professional musicians that perform a wide variety of music, representing classical, jazz, traditional and contemporary musical genres, holding to a philosophy, “that good music is good music no matter the genre”. Some of the composers represented are: JS Bach, WA Mozart, Samuel Barber, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Scott Joplin, Frank Vasi, as well as traditional American folk and popular music. All have a place side by side on a TISQ concert program.

All music is arranged by Tenor Saxophonist and composer Frank Vasi. Along with Frank Vasi, the members of TISQ are Chris Herbert, Steve Mustakos, and Tim Moran. For this show, the quartet will play compositions by Miles Davis, Mozart, Thelonious Monk, Frank Vasi, Dave Brubeck, Samuel Barber, and Scott Joplin.

Jazz Jam at Cafe Nine
2025-12-13 16:00 - 19:00, 2025-12-06 16:00 - 19:00 | CT
Every Saturday, 4-7

Ricky Ford Quartet
2025-12-12 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Join us for a special night of jazz with Saxophonist Ricky Ford and his Quartet!
Ricky Ford – Tenor Saxophone
John Kordalweski – Piano
Tony Marino – Bass
Thurman Barker – Drums
American jazz saxophonist Ricky Ford has played alongside Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Lionel Hampton, Benny Golson…
Ricky Ford, Jazz Tenor saxophonist, was born in Boston March 4th, 1954. He studied saxophone at the New England Conservatory of Music with Joe Allard from 1970 to 1974. Bachelor in Music 83. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller. Perfomed with Sonny Rollins (1973) at The Jazz Workshop Boston. Ricky joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976. Charles Mingus (1976-1977), Dannie Richmond (1978-1981), Lionel Hampton (1981), Mingus Dinasty (1982), Abdullah Ibrahim 1985. He has recorded extensively as a leader for MUSE, Candid and jazz Friends.
His discography is extensive having recorded with nearly every one in jazz Sonny Stitt, Red Rodney, Mc Coy Tyner, Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, Pete Laroca, Rhoda Scott, Dannie Richmond, Benny Golson, Gerry Mulligan, Nat Adderly Joe Williams, Mal Waldron, Yusef Latif and Betty Carter. Ricky also helped discover various musicians on his cds for Muse records Wallace Rooney, Roy Hargove, Christian Mc Bride, Danilo Perez, and Jeff Kezzer, Ricky has held academic affiliations with Brandeis University Masters in Music Composition (1989) and Istanbul Bilgi University (2000 to 2006). He is credited with being one of important teacher to many saxophonists in Turkey today.
In 1991 he received the medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
Ricky recorded two CDs with the ZE BIGBAND based in Rennes. He commissioned Benny Golson for a composition in Big Band format. They performed together on mezzo tv in 2014.
Ricky Ford has participated in numerous film : Choclate (1988) and No Fear No Die (1990). Ricky Ford Encore is a mid-career documentary by Lionel Boncompagnie.

Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra & Jazz Ensemble
2025-12-12 19:30 - 21:30 | Crowell Concert Hall – Wesleyan University, 283 Washington St, Middletown, CT
The Wesleyan University Jazz Orchestra, directed by Professor of Music and African American Studies Jay Hoggard ’76, MA ’91, and the Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble, directed by Noah Baerman, present an exciting evening of classic and contemporary jazz repertoire.
This event will also be live-streamed on YouTube.

Yoko Miwa Trio
2025-12-12 19:30 - 21:30 | Beekley Community Library, 10 Central Avenue, New Hartford, CT
Miwa performs with her trio featuring bassist Matt Stavrakas and drummer Scott Goulding.
Miwa’s musicianship evokes the harmonic finesse and rhythmic brilliance of key influences like Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Oscar Peterson. Her expansive, versatile writing presents both a remarkable ear for melody and an earthy, intuitive feel for groove. As a bandleader, Miwa heads one of the finest jazz trios playing today. In his 4-star DownBeat review of Miwa’s 2019 release Keep Talkin’, Carlo Wolff noted “the blend of intimacy and power this unusually gifted trio can muster.”
Internationally acclaimed pianist/composer Yoko Miwa is one of the most powerful and compelling performers on the scene today. Her trio, with its remarkable telepathy and infectious energy, has brought audiences to their feet worldwide. Their 2021 release Songs of Joy received wide acclaim and reached #1 on national jazz radio charts. Jazziz called it “a radiant new collection.” Her 2019 CD, Keep Talkin’, showcases Miwa’s fine playing and artful compositions and the trio’s uncanny musical camaraderie. DownBeat gave the recording four stars, calling it “a beautifully constructed album” and noting “the drive and lyricism of a pianist and composer at home in bebop, gospel, pop, and classical.” For more than a decade Miwa’s trio has played regularly at major jazz clubs in their home city of Boston, as well as venues around the world. A favorite of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Miwa was chosen to play on “Marian McPartland & Friends,” part of the Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival. Miwa also appears regularly at New York’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club as well as Birdland and has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of jazz greats including Sheila Jordan, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Jazzmeia Horn, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, esperanza spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kevin Mahogany, John Lockwood and Johnathan Blake, among others.

Fridays with Frank
2025-12-12 17:15 - 19:00 | Institute Library, 847 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT
Join renowned jazz historian and Jazz Haven Board member Frank Cochran for BYOB “Fridays with Frank.” Happy Hour jazz listening sessions are held every Friday from 5:15 to 7:00 pm at the Institute Library in downtown New Haven. Each Friday Frank selects iconic jazz LPs to play from the Library’s extensive collection. Discussion follows. BYOB and please give a modest donation towards the IL’s spiraling utilities. A $5.00 contribution is welcome.
This Friday, December 12th, Frank will feature the music of Lee Konitz. Between the 1940s and his death at 92 in 2020, Konitz played with most everyone, and made records with most. From the 1949 Birth of the cool, a long though intermittent association with Lennie Tristano, gigs with Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Giuffre, Harold Danko in the 1980s, and Warne Marsh in the 90s, he was constantly showing up on LPs, always with an intellectually relaxed sound like no one else. Even when Elvin Jones was the drummer. We’ve got a bunch of his records; you will, Frank believes, be in for a treat because there will be at least one you’ve never heard.

Firehouse 12 Weekly Concert Series
2025-12-12 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-12-05 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.

New Haven Improvisers Collective performance series
2025-12-11 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.

Bob Gorry / Steve Chillemi Duo (Black Iron CD release)
Harshing Mellows (Mike Brooks, Conor Perreault)
COMBO NHIC

If you’d like to be part of COMBO NHIC, get there and be ready by 7pm. It would be great to have you as part of it. Music will start promptly.
CD Release Show for Black Iron
This will be the last show at the Ely Center on Trumbull St and your last opportunity to play and listen in this cool space, so I hope to see you there.
There will be no NHIC workshop in December. Happy Holidays. Working on plans for 2026 now.

Black Eyed Sally’s Jazz Jam - Haneef Nelson Quintet
2025-12-10 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

Michael Palin's Other Orchestra
2025-12-09 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-12-02 20:00 - 22:00 | The Hungry Tiger, 120 Charter Oak Street, Manchester, CT
It’s a funky Big Band thang, a large jazz ensemble that rocks the house. Playing music from Tower of Power, Frank Zappa, The Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorious, Steely Dan, The Yellow Jackets, Bob Berg…..You’ll want to see them again and again!
https://www.facebook.com/OtherOrchestra/

Jazz at Cafe Nine
2025-12-09 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.

Tuxedo Junction
2025-12-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Guilford VFW Post 9666, 104 Mill Road, Guilford, CT
For over 24 years, hosting public rehearsals every Monday night, now at Guilford VFW Post 7666.
Tuxedo Junction was started in 1989 by Pete Jacobs (trumpet) and Will Tayler (drums), WWII veterans who set up an 8-piece Dixieland jazz band in the basement of the senior citizens center in Madison, CT. Pat soon joined on piano.
The band quickly grew into a full swing band as Pete added big band arrangements and people joined: everyone from high school students to retired music teachers started to fill out the sections. Tuxedo Junction moved its practice home to the Westbrook Elks briefly, and in 1997 Paul James suggested that Bill’s Seafood restaurant in Westbrook would be a great place to share the sounds of swing. After more than 20 years of Monday nights at Bill’s, originally outnumbering the customers and staff before turning it into the most happening place on the Shoreline for a Monday night, we moved outside to Town Greens, Overlook Farm in Killingworth, and the Guilford VFW.
Tuxedo Junction plays original big band arrangements from the 30’s through the present, including charts from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Sy Zentner, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more. We focus on danceable tunes from swing to waltz, foxtrot to two-step, Latin and even some rock. The band has weekly open rehearsals at local venues on the Eastern Connecticut shoreline. The public is invited to dance and listen in at no charge. We are also available for hire at public and private events throughout Connecticut.
After more than 1,001 performances, Tuxedo Junction has become a musical success story. We are now eighteen passionate musicians, men and women of all ages, following the great jazz tradition and warmly welcoming visiting jazz musicians to sit in.

Damian Curtis Ensemble
2025-12-08 13:15 - 15:00 | Loomis Chaffee School, 4 Batchelder Road, Windsor, CT, 06095
Damian Curtis, also known as “King Solomon,” is a Connecticut-based jazz pianist who performs various genres, including jazz, Latin jazz, salsa, and hip-hop.
Having performed with renowned artists like Jackie McLean and Eddie Palmieri, Damian Curtis has produced several albums, and is an in-demand educator for young artists—our Loomis Chaffee students are so fortunate to work with Damian Curtis.
Damian Curtis was featured in the film Diaspora Stories: Hartford where he described the intergenerational nature of Hartford’s African and African Diasporic arts community and its impact on his career.
If you’ve been to Monday Night Jazz in Bushnell Park or the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, you know Damian Curtis is a stalwart—and immensely inspiring– presence in today’s jazz world!
Hubbard Performance Hall

Christian Sands Trio
2025-12-07 20:00 - 22:30, 2025-12-06 20:00 - 22:30, 2025-12-05 20:00 - 22:30 | Side Door Jazz Club, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, United States
Jazz history is filled with stirring torch songs and ballads — brilliant expressions of suffering after love has gone awry. The jazz record shelf even contains some classic album-long explorations of melancholy. But it’s hard to find precedent in pianist Christian Sands’ new Embracing Dawn, his fifth full-length effort for Mack Avenue Records.
Sands’ LP is nothing less than a cinematic narration of the stages of grief, crafted by one of jazz’s finest young composers. It’s a “breakup record,” to be sure — composed while Sands was experiencing the hurt that only a sudden absence of love can deliver — but it’s so much more. In its thoughtfully assembled nine tracks are a group therapy session, a guide to healing, and an understanding that Sands’ deeply personal angst could apply to any person who has lost a partner, a job, a loved one, an opportunity, the list goes on. In other words, Embracing Dawn is for everyone.
“I actually tried not to write this record,” Sands says with a laugh. “It was painful. I was going through heartbreak, and I didn’t know what to do — and so I decided to put it all into music. But I knew I wasn’t alone in this feeling. So why not create a safe space for people to go when they’re having this feeling, when they’re having these thoughts or questions?”
Embracing Dawn trails 2023’s acclaimed Christmas Stories and 2020’s GRAMMY-nominated Be Water. Following that album’s release, the New York Times commented, “Equipped with a crisp but forceful touch, he seems always to be flowing in new directions, integrating elements of prog rock, gospel and Western classical into a forward-tumbling jazz conception.” Embracing Dawn furthers Sands’ uniquely cultivated jazz language, where agile post-bop meets soulful bluesy tinges and gorgeous swells of strings. Sands’ love of classical orchestration, he explains, is rooted in his lifelong obsession with film.
Ultimately, Sands’ sound and philosophy are informed by two of his most essential mentors: bass maestro Christian McBride, who, as Sands’ longtime employer, taught him the importance of always being yourself; and the late piano legend Dr. Billy Taylor, who stressed how crucial it is to connect jazz to a wide-ranging audience. “I want Embracing Dawn to be something you gravitate toward because of the story,” Sands says

Manchester CT Jazz Festival
2025-12-07 13:00 - 17:00, 2025-12-06 18:30 - 22:30 | Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall, 177 Hartford Road, Manchester, CT, 06040
Performers include Grammy winner Dan Pugach with his Jazz Orchestra with guest vocalist Grammy winner Nicole Zuraitis. Also vocalist Vanish Gould with the Alex Nakhimovsky Trio, Jonathan Barber with Vision Ahead, the Liviu Pop group, the Hall Monitors and Grass Routes Bluegrass.
Additional performers include award winning Hall High School and Timothy Edwards Middle School Jazz Combos.
The festival, which has sold out for the past 3 years, promises to be extraordinary! Look forward to seeing you there!

Dr. G’s Jazz Brunch
2025-12-07 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.

Sara Serpa/Matt Mitchell Duo
2025-12-06 19:30 - 21:30 | Institute for the Musical Arts, 165 Cape Street, Goshen, MA, 01032, United States
Sara Serpa (voice), Matt Mitchell (piano)
Sara Serpa and Matt Mitchell are long-time collaborators. The duo appears on Ingrid Laubrock’s new release, Purposing the Air, featuring the poetry of Erica Hunt.
“Serpa possesses a preternatural cool, injecting weightless sophistication and melodic grace into everything she touches.”
– Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
A native from Lisboa, Portuguese Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music, since moving to New York in 2008. Literature, film, visual arts, nature and history inspire Serpa in the creative process and development of her music. Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianists, Danilo Perez and Ran Blake, and saxophonist Greg Osby.
As a leader, she has produced and released over ten albums, including Recognition (2021), a multi-disciplinary work that traces the historical legacy of Portuguese colonialism in Africa, and Intimate Strangers (2021), a collaboration with Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma. Her latest recording, Encounters and Collisions (2024), features Erik Friedlander, Ingrid Laubrock and Angelica Sanchez.
Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians.
“A pianist of burrowing focus and an indispensable fixture of the contemporary vanguard”
– Nate Chinen, The New York Times
Matt Mitchell is a pianist, composer, and electronic musician interested in the intersections of various strains of acoustic, electric, composed, and improvised new music. He has released several forward-thinking, critically acclaimed, and influential albums as a leader on Pi Recordings, Screwgun Records, and Out of Your Head Records, and together with Kate Gentile he runs Obliquity Records. He leads the ensemble Phalanx Ambassadors and co-leads Snark Horse with Kate Gentile, These and other bands he regularly presents feature many of the current foremost musicians and improvisers, including Patricia Brennan, Kim Cass, Kate Gentile, Jon Irabagon, Ava Mendoza, Miles Okazaki, Mariel Roberts, Sara Serpa, Sara Schoenbeck, Brandon Seabrook, Ches Smith, Chris Tordini, Anna Webber, Dan Weiss, and Miguel Zenon.
He is an member of several significant and acclaimed creative music ensembles, including Dan Weiss’s Starebaby, Miles Okazaki’s Trickster, Ches Smith’s We All Break, Kate Gentile’s Find Letter X, Anna Webber’s Simple Trio, Jon Irabagon’s Outright!, Sara Serpa’s IntimateStrangers, and Yuhan Su’s Liberated Gesture. He has a longstanding association with Tim Berne, and he has played extensively in the ensembles of many major figures in improvised music, including Dave Douglas, Steve Coleman, David Binney, John Hollenbeck, Miguel Zenon, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Linda May Han Oh, Jonathan Finlayson, Mario Pavone, and Darius Jones.
He has taught extensively with the Brooklyn-based School for Improvisational Music, as well as at the New School, NYU, and the Siena Jazz Workshop. He is a 2015 receipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award and a 2012 recipient of a Pew Fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

HJS - Celebrate the Holidays Fundraiser
2025-12-06 19:00 - 22:00 | Artists Collective, 1200 Albany Avenue, Hartford, CT
The Hartford Jazz Society invites you to an unforgettable evening of jazz, community, and celebration at their 2nd “Celebrating Jazz & Community” event on Saturday, December 6th, from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. This exciting event will be held at the Artists Collective Ballroom, located at 1200 Albany Avenue in Hartford.
Immerse yourself in the captivating performance of Linda Ransom and Friends, who will fill the air with classic jazz tunes and beloved favorites. This is a unique opportunity to experience exceptional live music in a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere.
Please join us as we honor percussionist Abu Alvin Carter with the Hartford Jazz Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition to the phenomenal music, attendees can participate in a raffle with exciting prizes, including:

Gift baskets
Jazz photos by Maurice Robertson
Backstage passes to the Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series
And much more!

Indulge in delectable hors d’oeuvres prepared by East West Grill and enjoy the convenience of a cash bar throughout the evening. Ample parking is available.
Get your tickets early – purchase by November 6th for a discounted rate.

$40 HJS member
$50 Non-Member
$75 Includes ticket and HJS Membership

After November 6th

$50 Hartford Jazz Society Members
$60 Non-Members
$75 Includes ticket and HJS Membership
Tickets can be purchased at the door

Buy Tickets on Eventbrite
Proceeds from this event will directly support the 2026 Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series and the Hartford Jazz Society’s Scholarship Fund, which helps nurture the next generation of jazz musicians.
Don’t miss this unforgettable community celebration of Jazz!
About the Hartford Jazz Society: The Hartford Jazz Society is dedicated to cultivating an appreciation for jazz music, culture, and history. Founded in 1960, it is the longest continuously operating jazz society in the country. Through live events, educational programs, and community outreach, the Hartford Jazz Society enriches the Greater Hartford community and preserves the spirit of jazz.

Papo Vásquez and his Mighty Pirate Troubadours
2025-12-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Black-eyed Sally’s Southern Kitchen & Bar, 350 Asylum St., Hartford, CT, 06103
Real Art Ways welcomes trombonist, composer and arranger Papo Vázquez back to Hartford for our annual concert and holiday parranda. Bring an instrument and get in free! Otherwise, general admission is $10.
Please note, the venue for this event will be Black Eyed Sally’s at 350 Asylum Street in Hartford.
Parranda de aguinaldo (Christmas folk music), is an Afro-Indigenous musical form played during the holidays in various Caribbean and Latin American countries including Puerto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad, and the coastal area of the states Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela.
Papo Vázquez is a trombonist, composer, and arranger with over 40 years of a career spanning Jazz, Latin, and Afro-Caribbean music. Papo is a National Endowment for the Arts Master Artist and Grammy Nominee and was featured in the 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.
•Musical Director for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Orchestra, (NYC/WABC) 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 •Commissioned by Wynton Marsalis to compose music for Jazz and Art series, conducted and performed with J@LC orchestra, CD release August 2019 •New York Pops Education, Board of Education certified, 2018 and 2019 •Commissioned new music for Afro Latin Jazz Alliance for “Nueva Musica” concert series •Grammy nominated for Papo Vázquez’ Mighty Pirates, Marooned/Aíslado, 2008 Papo was deeply moved by jazz at a young age. His appreciation and knowledge of the indigenous music of the Caribbean provides him with a unique ability to fuse Afro-Caribbean rhythms with freer melodic and harmonic elements of progressive jazz. Learn more about Papo by visiting his website. — Real Art Ways le da la bienvenida de regreso al trombonista, compositor y arreglista Papo Vázquez a nuestro concierto anual y parranda navideña. Parranda de aguinaldo (música folclórica navideña), es una forma musical afro-indígena que se toca en temporada de vacaciones en varios países del Caribe y América Latina, incluidos Puerto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad y la zona costera de los estados de Aragua y Carabobo en Venezuela.
“En fin, Vázquez junto a sus Mighty Pirates Troubadours e invitados exponen un proyecto exquisito y cadencioso que se transforma en un banquete para los amantes del género.” – El Vocero, 2020 (In short, Vázquez along with his Mighty Pirates Troubadours and guests present an exquisite and lilting project that becomes a banquet for lovers of the genre.)
Band of Pirates:
Papo Vázquez – Trombone, Leader
Jose Mangual – Vocals, Percussions
Ivan Renta – Tenor Saxophone
Silvano Monasterios – Piano
Raul Reyes Bueno – Bass
Alvester Garnett – Drums
Carlos Maldonado – Percussions
Jose Claussell – Percussions

Ian Hendrickson-Smith & Friends
2025-12-05 20:00 | Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon Streen, New Haven, CT
Saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith is known for his rich tone, soulful style, and blues-driven melodies. A genre-hopping musician with six Grammys and decades of performances at the world’s top venues, Ian currently tours with The Roots and plays on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Ian has recorded or toured with artists including The Roots, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Al Green, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Bob Dylan, Lizzo, and many more.
Ian will perform with Al Street (guitar), Eric Finland (organ), and David Hawkins (drums) for one special performance at NMS

Jazz at Three Sheets
2025-12-05 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.

Laroo/Byrd Funky4
2025-12-05 17:30 - 21:30 | The Flying Monkey, 2095 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT
Join us for Laroo/Byrd Funky4, where we bring our signature blend of jazz, funk, and blues “to the max”. Expect soulful improvisations, groovy rhythms, and feel-good vibes that just might move you from your seat to the dance floor if the spirit calls you!

Joe Morris / Stephen Haynes / Matt Rouseau / GoBruCcio
2025-12-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Ely Center of Contemporary Art, 51 Trumbull St, New Haven, CT
Joe Morris / Stephen Haynes / Matt Rouseau
GoBruCcio (Bob Gorry / Pete Brunelli / Peter Riccio)

Black Eyed Sally’s Jazz Jam - Mentorship VI - Keenan Asbridge ft Chase Wohl & Nathan Ben-Ari
2025-12-03 19:00 - 22:00 | Black-eyed Sally’s Southern Kitchen & Bar, 350 Asylum St., Hartford, CT, 06103
